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== Day In The Life ==
==  By Darkanine   ==
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--Personal Note--

Let's be honest; nobody reads the readme. Y'all just want to play the game. I get that, I respect that. Nothing in this file is required reading, so feel free to skip it if that's your jam.

When I stumbled into the Kaizo Mario community in 2018, I never anticipated the numerous ways the community would impact my life. I was going through a very bad bout of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and all things in between. The community welcomed me and possibly saved my life. I felt welcomed, and I felt like people were there to empower each other, challenge each other, and troll each other (in good fun of course!). Kaizo Mario is not an accessible style of game, and until I started playing Quickie World, I never thought I'd be able to complete a single kaizo hack, let alone build one. Yet here we are.

This hack is an expression of myself, in as many ways as possible. It has some BS, it has some trolls, but I hope that it will also bring joy for you. If not, that's fine! If you're not having fun, it's ok to stop playing. I promise I won't take it personally. Life is way too short to spend valuable time not having fun.

It's not much, but I hope this hack helps give back to the community I love, and I look forward to many more years with y'all.

-Dark


--Overview--

This hack provides 10 exits (one of which was a race level), no bosses in them (they're not needed for kaizo hacks, fight me).

Press Start on the overworld to save at any time, which will also save midways. Start+Select is enabled on all levels.

No water levels, no cape levels. I like both of these things, but I didn't feel like designing levels based around them. Maybe for Week In The Life.

No tutorial (you're welcome). If you're confused on what a particular custom block does, I trust you'll figure it out.

Things the hack expects you to know how to do (not an exhaustive list):
1) Controlling your jumps/fall speed
2) Some shell tech, including backshots.
3) Basic-Intermediate understanding of how most sprites work, in particular things like how various wake-up timers work (bob-omb, koopaling-in-shell, etc).
4) Intermediate understanding of common sprite-block interactions.
4) Controlling your jumps/fall speed
5) Basic understanding of sprite spawning/despawning in Super Mario World.
6) Did I mention controlling your jumps/fall speed?

Difficulty: Upper intermediate? I have no idea. I did not design this hack for a particular difficulty, but instead just made things I enjoy. Some of the levels will feel tougher than others, and while there is a curve of sorts, there are difficulty spikes. Welcome to kaizo; life ain't fair sometimes <3.

Confused on how to do something? Find some inspiration* from the soundtrack/clear video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XcjO-pX7R8

* The video was recorded on hard mode prior to release. There may be small changes between that and what you're playing. I cheesed two things in that video (I won't tell you what here); always look for what feels good for you and not just what you see somebody else do. Found a cool strat? Feel free to show me! I have no intention of patching out any "alternate strats" post release, unless it's something that completely breaks the intention of a section.


--Hard Mode--

Unashamedly stolen from Peachy Moat World, Day In The Life has a "hard mode." This mode removes checkpoints from all the levels. There are some notes about this mode:

1) You can switch back and forth between Normal and Hard Mode during file select (replaces 1/2 Player Select).
2) Clearing an exit in one mode will "clear" it for the other, allowing progression through either mode.
2a) You should not do hard mode for your first play. It's doable, but less fun to learn levels that way.
3) If you save a midway in Normal Mode, that midway will still be saved even if you beat that same level in Hard Mode.
4) Speedruns will be accepted from either mode.
4a) No, I won't be making a Hard Mode category. Feel free to track hard mode times yourself if you'd like.


--Patches and Custom Stuff--

Gameplay-wise, this hack is mostly vanilla in level design, with some quality of life patches and a few custom patches and sprite tweaks. That said, there are some very custom things that I'm sure you'll discover. What better excuse for me to learn 65c816 ASM?


--Final Thoughts--

I appreciate you downloading this hack. This is an extremely personal project for me, and it represents hundreds of hours of my life distilled into a silly children's game. It's important to recognize and nourish the things in life that truly bring you joy.
