----- Another World (Out of This World) by Caddie ----- Programming - 5 Nothing visible wrong with the programming. The main thing, of course, is the vertical scroll trick whish is really, really cool. The only problem is that is creates an ugly effect if the character goes high but not high enough to switch it for more than a split second. Regardless, impressive and it looks great the majority of the time so +2. Appearance - 4 While the stage isn't really a huge variation from the original, it still scores high because it was a good choice. All the additional animations really look great also. Overall - 9 ----- Balcony (Cave Story) by Hoshi ----- Programming - 3 Solid. Nothing wrong I can see! Appearance - 4 It's a little sparse, but it's understandable given the source material. Still, the stage could've been a little smaller to make this less noticable. I'll give an EXTRA POINT because the stage really makes me want to try out the original game. Overall - 7 ----- Blue Lake (Kid Chameleon) by Eep386 ----- Programming - 4 Everything looks good, including the enemy movement. Appearance - 3 Solid all around, but damn if I don't want to jump up and hit the P blocks. A little more contrast on them to seperate them from the foreground might've been nice. Overall - 7 ----- Brinstar (Super Metroid) by Kamek ----- Programming - 4 Solid, and the enemy movement is nice. Appearance - 2 This one is tricky. There's not really anything bad about the appearance per se, but there's just something off about the background. I think it has to do with the lack of contrast between the foreground and the background. If I looked at a screenshot I'd honestly think it was all part of the same thing. Overall - 6 ----- Butter Building (Kirby's Adventure) by GaryCXJk ----- Programming - 5 The whole 3D trick, while done before, is still really impressive. Cool! Appearance - 3 This one is a little tougher. While you did a good job resizing the stage, I think there's just way too much going on in the background. It seems like there's always three things flying by at any given time. If you spaced out the frequency of appearance more, I think it would look better and be less distracting. Overall - 8 ----- Cave of Sprits (Tales of Phantasia) by megaman_zer0 ----- Programming - 2 Everything looked fine, but I noticed some weird values for the foreground delta which made it look odd when one character went vertical while they other stayed on the ground. Changing the Y delta to "1" should fix that. Appearance - 3 I have to admit, I made some assumptions about this stage after only seeing the screenshot. When I played, however, I was pleasantly surprised. The different layers of cave looked good in motion, though the layers further back could've benefited from some more contrast. Also, the floor pattern is kind of plain, but I think that's more just the fault of the source material. That aside, an admirable attempt at a stage that would be a challenge for anyone to make look great. Overall - 5 ----- Comix Zone (Comix Zone) by P.o.t.S. ----- Programming - 5 Damn, this stage has a lot of stuff in it. Congratulations on putting it all in there and getting it to work. Appearance - 4 The stage looks really great, everything was pieced together nicely. The stage intro was cool too. But... default MUGEN lifebars are completely blocked out! Overall - 9 ----- Crystal Labyrinth (Gradius III) by Felineki ----- Programming - 5 I haven't peeked in the DEF file for this stage, but any method I could think of for cramming that much animation/movement into the background would require you to be insane. Simply amazing. Appearance - 4 Really, really well done. For something with as much potential to be boring as a space background, you really made it something awesome to look at. Background animation is, of course, fantastic. The fighting platform is really great as well, too. Parallax is a nice bonus, though I found myself wishing a little that the platform had a little bit of transparency so it looked more like the blocks flying by in the background. Overall - 9 ----- Fatal Judgment (Guilty Gear Judgment) by Kung Fu Man ----- Programming - 4 Solid, but otherwise nothing really spectacular going on. I do like the level of transparency on the floor, though, and you deserve a point for trying to rip from a PSP. (Or consider it a sympathy point for owning a PSP XD) Appearance - 3 This is a tough one to judge, as beat-em-ups tend to have stages that are suited for fighting games anyway, so they don't require much creativity. (Let alone a beat-em-up based on a fighting game.) It does look nice, however, save for some weird tiling on the clouds. Overall - 7 ----- Ice Temple of Quinnsveth by Moldredd ----- Programming - 3 Everything looks solid from here. Appearance - 2 There's definitely some props that need to be given for making an original stage. There's a couple of iffy things, though. The animation of the fire in the eyes isn't as smooth as it could be. Moreso than that though, the ice peaks that are in the stage have a number of issues with them. The main thing is that until you start moving, it is impossible to tell what is in front of the fighting platform and what is behind it. Making the ice peaks behind the platform a little smaller would help fix this some. Also, the transparency of the ice peaks in front of the platform can make things difficult to see at times, but it's not that big of a deal. Overall - 5 ----- Metro City (Biomenace) by aokmaniac13 ----- Programming - 4 At the risk of sounding repetitive, everything here looks pretty sol-- WHAT THE HELL LOOK OUT FOR THE GIANT MONSTER!!! Appearance - 3 The typical background contrast comment, though the deltas go a long way to separate everything. And usually I try to stray away from stages that have one pixel high or similarly short walking areas, as it can look a bit weird if both the character's feet aren't always on X position 0. Overall - 7 ----- Simba's Return (The Lion King) by Aztec Soldier ----- Programming - 3 Everything is A.O.K. I'm a little disappointed there's not vertical scrolling, but really, who am I to complain about that. Appearance - 3 It's a really solid stage, but the sky area looks a little barren. If you were able to put something there, I think it would go a long way to making the stage more interesting to look at. Completely unrelated, THE MUSIC SUCKS!!! Overall - 6 ----- Welcome to Monkey World! (Yoshi's Island) by Mature4Evr ----- Programming - 3 I appreciate all the monkey movement, but there's one thing I noticed that really bugged me. When the one monkey throws that whatever-the-hell-it-is, the sprite is behind the player. However, when that thing hits the water, the splash appears in front of the player. Having the splash appear behind the player and the thrown-thing disappear behind the fighting platform instead of in front of it would probably make it look less awkward. Appearance - 2 I hate to give the appearance this low of a score, because I think it's a little deceiving. I think the stage looks good, but I think a lot of what hurts it are MUGEN's own limitations. Not being able to slow down movement while in the water or create splash effects creates a scene that just looks... off. I also wonder about the choice of fighting platform, and if it wouldn't look better if it was something also taken from Yoshi's Island. Maybe some of the mud platforms from the same (and similar) stages would go well with it. Overall - 5