Okay! Let me first say that I LOVE Super Adventure Box. This is the festival with the greatest hold on my heart. I ground out all my tribulation weapons the first year they were available, have several more of both weapon sets (stowed away as Tribulation Coins) stowed away in the bank, and—despite always burning myself out by the end of the festival—continue to be hyped every. darn. year. it returns. Here’s the problem… As much as Super Adventure Box caters to my tastes, there are a relatively small list of somewhat persistent issues that contribute to my burnout by the end of the festival. I will try to articulate these issues below, provide potential solutions to solve them, and very much encourage feedback and discussion about what others think! MINOR QUALMSLet’s begin with the small stuff that feel more like splinters—painful, but not game-shattering in any way: ? HEALTH IS NOT REFILLED AFTER DYING TO A FALLWhile my Infinite Continue Coin doesn’t mind this much, it is frustrating to return to the spawn gate only to have your last heart immediately aced by a ninja. I imagine this issue also impacts players who do not have the advantage of an Infinite Coin, as it results in a frustrating death that couldn’t be avoided. Potential Solution: Whenever you die—whether to the environment or a baddie—it’d be nice to start back at the shrine at full health.? HEALTH POTIONS ARE TOO EASY TO ACCIDENTALLY USE.To address this, I stopped buying them a few years ago because I kept accidentally hitting the key in Tribulation Mode. While my Infinite Continue Coin affords me that leniency, I imagine it’s not as easy on others who are still buying coins or relying on having those health potions. Potential Solution: Like the Bombs or Slingshot, it would be cool to have some sort of confirmation when drinking a health potion. I’m not sure a FULL SECOND STEP is the answer, but something to prevent them from being gulped down (since it does have a bauble cost) would be most appreciated.MODERATE QUALMSNow let’s touch on some of the things that are hard to miss and frustrating (at their best): ? TRAMPOLINES OFTEN CHOOSE TO NOT WORK.Both trampolines and bouncy mushrooms don’t like to play nice in an online environment at times. This is particularly noticeable in a few places: World 1-2: Even in the shortcut worm, tribulation can be punishing simply because you need to be using your momentum when hitting the infinite trampoline of its intestines.World 1-3: When you jump from mushroom to mushroom on the way up to the glitch, they will sometimes ignore your landing and throw you into the swamp below.World 2-2: Many of the jumps in Ninja World require you to be accelerating in the direction you want to be launched as you hit the trampoline. This often results in you running off the edge of the trampoline instead of you launching upward.In each of these instances, deaths can often be attributed to the trampolines failing to activate in a way that the player expects. In World 2-2, in particular, the jumps are so precise that it can be a major point of frustration to miss them.Potential Solution: This is a tough one since it likely has a bunch of networking elements. Perhaps the “hit-box” of the trampoline could be expanded? Perhaps they could adapt the functionality of jumping mushrooms so they auto-magically fling you to the next spot? Maybe the particularly difficult jumps could be simplified a tad so that we don’t have to maximize every jump.MAJOR QUALMSOkay...now to the big stuff. My (personal) biggest pain point with Super Adventure Box really comes down to Worlds 2-2 and 2-3. When it was first announced that World 2 would have levels “as big as all three World 1 levels combined,” I was one of the people who was really excited about that idea. At first it was great. Then…it was less so… Now I am mostly going to focus on World 2-2 and 2-3 as the main pain points. (World 2-1 is actually pretty good and relatively on par with the World 1 levels in terms of length, difficulty, and pain points. There are some areas where the pace is slowed, but it doesn’t have the same momentum-killers as its World 2 counterparts.) So, without further ado, here are the aspects of World 2 that make it really hard to love: ? THERE ARE LOTS AND LOTS (AND LOTS) OF SMALL FRUSTRATIONS.There are a ton of splinters that can cause you pain as you run through the levels on both normal and Tribulation mode: World 2-2: Fish de-spawn from your hands and disappear if you’re in the air.World 2-2: The Assassin boss halfway through the level is WAY too tanky, and significantly slows the pacing of the level.World 2-2: Much of the level is spent being knocked down and recovering from being hit: mostly because every enemy has CC that stuns you for a few seconds as you recover. Whether you’re dodging ninja stars or samurai swords, the enemies are constantly testing your patience.World 2-2: The squid is a major flow-breaker. It would be okay if you only had to feed it twice. The third feed and the fact that the scale dips below the plane of the platform(s) makes it an unnecessary pain point that irks me every time.World 2-3: Like 2-2, enemies like the banana and polar bears are just there to slow you down—making their knock-backs and stuns more frustrating than their damage? EVERY JUMP IS PRECISE.Whereas World 1 offers a lot of room (and even multiple routes) to make your way through the levels, EVERY jump in World 2-2 and 2-3 are extremely precise. This makes the levels—and Tribulation mode, in particular—extremely frustrating, since one missed jump can cost you a good deal of backtracking time from the last spawn point. ? THE LEVELS ARE TOO DAMN LONG.Above all else, that very thing that made the levels unique and exciting end up being their biggest pain point, especially as you begin to play through the levels for drops, glitch chests, or Tribulation coins. Neither zone allows much in the way of deviation from the intended path, and are so long that the rewards are not worth the time investment to run and complete. There is little room for mistakes and no halfway point to bail out if you don’t have an hour (or more) to complete the missions (in normal or Tribulation mode). For perspective: whereas the entirety of World 1 can be run in Tribulation Mode in about 30 minutes (once you’ve learned the levels, plus or minus variances in your puzzle performance), World 2, Zone 2 and 3 take about an hour each once you get the jumps down. The difference: the number of precise jumps you need to make and the sheer length of the levels. ⬇ ⬇ ⬇ Potential Solution(s)This is obviously a bit tougher. There has already been some work to add some shortcuts to the levels, but I think more needs to be done to make them more accessible to the average (and potential) jump-masters. My suggestions: Split both 2-2 and 2-3 in half. Probably easier said than done, but there is enough content here to flesh out both ninja world and the mountaintop with multiple levels. By splitting each level in half, you'd be providing greater rewards for players running them regularly, and better stopping points for those who have a limited amount of time or patience to play. A good splitting point in World 2-2 would be after the block-puzzle temple, where you have to ring the first bell (I believe). A good splitting point in World 2-3 would probably be right before the Qbert section.Add a halfway chest with end-chest rewards. A second chance to roll for rewards would be an easier way to provide incentive to run through the more difficult worlds. It doesn't solve the problem of the levels being too long, but at least provides more incentive to put in the time to run through them.Add the Path of Fire checkpoint system. It was a good system! Let people leave a level at any time and return to their last checkpoint—at least until they complete the world. Paired with the addition of halfway chests, you pretty much tackle the time it takes to run the levels and the incentive to do so.My main goal is to promote a consistent, enjoyable experience in both normal and Tribulation mode! Let me know what you think about these ideas, whether you have others, or if you have any questions; I am more than happy to discuss and see what we can do to make next year's festival even better! :) Happy jumping!
I want to quickly steer this back on track by clarifying that my own feedback is not aimed at nerfing Tribulation mode, but instead improving the pacing and rewards of the 2-2 and 2-3 levels. Regardless of the fact that I've completed all the tribulation collections and every achievement outside of the super rare drops (that being a separate subject of discussion), none of this is about making them easier, but making them more accessible to people who wouldn't normally participate in the festival or don't have several hours to invest in a run-through of a single world.
