Super MAYhem 17 (v1.0)

What a set of maps. At first I only expected random maps that use use Mario textures, but this is so much more. From the cutesy bullet puffs of the weapons, to the plasmagun sprites, there have been more changes than "just" textures. All together they form a very, very coherent picture which makes you almost disappointed, that there are no Mario enemies in the game.

Even then, the actual quality of the maps surprised me quite a bit as well. Very, very fun to play from the beginning to the end, with admittedly frustrating parts (the map featuring only Archies and Revenants or the map featuring ice and wind. Oh god, the ice...). These are not just simple techbases given a Mario texture paint, these maps are well thought out and tailored to the textures, ranging from grass lands, over desert to impressive castle scapes and even an air ship. I played on TYTD not only because I am a wimp, but also because those maps are really, really hard and have some frustrating moments. It speaks for this mapset's quality, though, that you can live with those moments and still enjoy the maps.

Try it out at least.

I'd give this mapset a friggin 0 if I could. This mapset is terrible to its very core. It pulls all sorts of asinine moves to make sure you die at least 3 to 4 times in a level, on HMP at least. I wouldn't dream of playing UV for this mapset, not that there is much of any difference when mapping philosophy is "aggravation central".

Lets list out all the things wrong with this mapset:

1. Ammo and Health starvation.

2. Claustrophobic ambushes stuffed with so many enemies you can barely move around in.

3. Cheap tricks such as a teleporting cyberdemons that teleport every 3 seconds across 3 elevated levels.

4. Archvile abuse.

5. Slaughtermap-esque encounters.

What were these people going for when they made this? Sure, it has colorful Mario graphics and short length. That essentially ends it here. These ppl had to go out of their way to handcraft each way they could send you back to the loading screen. No difficulty or "skill" could possibly fix the deranged minds of these sadists. Map 18 for one, has at the end, a cyberdemon to kill you as you go towards the exit of the level with no way to get out of the cyberdemon's way because its a narrow passage. Map 15 Ziegenhous, I am going to single out as the worst offender. 16 archviles, 55 revenants make up 90% or so of this ridiculous map. This map also has the teleporting cyberdemons I mentioned earlier. Had to MDK these guys as it was too ridiculous to try and kill them conventionally. Map 21 Rainbow Road is another stain with it shoving you into cramped slaughter arena fights; one of these fights has an archvile duo with another monster for cover and poles that can barely block line of sight, not that it matters as the arena is too small to move in and is open to fire from two cyberdemons that dominate the map and can snipe you from long range.

One of the worst mapsets I've played. If savecumming, headache-inducing aggravation in colorful, cheerful environments with fun music is your thing, then check this out. Otherwise, for the normal folks, stay far away from this mapset.

Mario.

what do you consider to be the greatest MAYhem wad out there? I'd say this is a pretty decent contender for that.

well, it's very good as far as the multiple Mario-themed settings go. got ourselves with settings reminiscent of many Mario games, from SMW, to SMB2, to SMB3, to even SML and Captain Toad as well (although that map, dobu's map in particular was a REAL puzzler). most of the maps have a moderate monster count, but manage to be tough in loads of ways. the first map is quite peculiar and honestly MAP08 should have been the first map (but I guess to maintain thematic consistency, because you go from some worlds to the next, they decided to go from grass to desert to ice and so forth).

and speaking of ice, MAP12 is a candidate for "that one map" thanks to its usage of wind and instakill fall-offs, very tricky (and the music changes to wind to match). MAP14 also, with some really nasty traps. then you get to MAP15, another review flat-out hated it and it's easy to see why. Xaser proves to be an asshole by mostly using revenants and arch-viles, and the cyberdemon fight is literally a "think outside the box" tactic if you ever want to get those guys to stop teleporting. MAP32 is a nice SML reference, while MAP31 though will get you stumped, with dobu's immaculate switchery. MAP21 is a nice little hub map based off of Rainbow Road, but the one after it? real tricky. the boss map on MAP26 is actually quite easy, ignore Bowser and try to get those blasted hordes of enemies, let him infight too.

perhaps if there is one major problem with this wad, is that if you want to kick ass with it, you'll have to really have to use preknowledge in some of the maps, MAP22 in particular is a BITCH, and there's no way to not figure out the cyberdemon thing on MAP15 in the first time. know what you're dealing with I'd say and it will be even more fun.

Super Mayhem 17 was a fun ride from start to finish. Its a varied mapset, plenty of different and interesting gameplay styles, very doom like while doing a excellent tribute to super mario series. A team of talented authors, a space limitation actually worked to its benefit, unique and distinguishable aesthetic is what makes it a endearing project. If you enjoy community projects, doom in general (or maybe a mario fan who also loves doom), you are gonna love every second of this.

I am new to the Super Mayhem series, but wow what a Mario themed megawad community project. For those new as I am, they have Doom enemies and weapons, but they take place in the beautiful world of Mario. The architectures of Doom go a long way to making the Mario feel a lot more real than if this pack remade actual Mario levels. These levels look fun, sound fun, and play fun. The first set of levels I played through were healthy sized, with good challenge, nothing tough, nothing easy.

The real draw here is Mario, but the maps felt quality with good architecture and design. If you strip away everything Mario, these would still be good maps to play through. Well constructed levels with big courtyards, various paths, flooding enemies with the weapons and ammo to defeat them. It was a lot of fun. Everything looked Mario, but felt Doom. Going up steps to use pipe transporters, the music, Mario 3 bricks, P-switches, rockets have wings, arachnatron's using the fireball sound from Mario 1. I can imagine streamers and Youtubers having a lot of fun with these who wouldn't normally play traditional Doom megawads.

Its fun to just use idclev to see the variety of levels. Coinships, castles, generic Mario courses that are more Doom, but beautiful, Mario 2 hill zones. deserts and so on. They are consistent and fun. Perhaps further into the levels they reach bone crushing difficulty or become wildly inconsistent, but the level pack makes a great impression to start with.

Note: I had to reupload to fix a minor but immersion breaking bug in MAP25. Make sure to redownload the WAD!

Also every map in this is great, this was prob the first project I have worked on\tested where I would describe the experience as heartwarming. Some people may disagree about some of the more difficult maps I guess, but even if they are too hard for you there's something in this WAD you're bound to enjoy.

[obligatory my map sucks comment to close the review]

I don't recall the past MAYhems being borderline bullshit in the difficulty department but this one definitely pushes it with some of its levels (I'm especially looking at you, map 31). The intermission screens did get me to chuckle though. It was a fun ride though, even if I got my ass kicked on several occasions.

Great work everyone else involved, although map21 kicked my ass.

Awesome megawad