Super Spartan Bros. (Hack) (NES) - Blind Playthrough

Game: Super Spartan Bros. (Hack) Author: Belial The Hedgehog on romhacking.net Platform: NES Completed: April 8, 2021 Rules: Beat the game I finished up my "Mario's Keep" hack of Super Mario Bros and saw in a comment that this game shared the same music. I had never heard of this hack so that was enough to get me to give it a try. I'm really glad that I did. This was a totally blind playthrough so I didn't know what to expect. Mario's Keep was very difficult and required a very calculated approach to get through it. That hack was awesome and this one is the perfect hack to follow. It's also really fun, but takes a totally different approach. Super Spartan Bros is more difficult than the second loop of the original Super Mario Bros but not by a lot. It gives you a tight time limit and focuses more on reflex and speed. Because of that, I kind of sped through a lot of it, and I was intentionally trying not to stumble on any warp zones (if there are any) because I wanted to make sure I got to play through every level. The Halo theme was a cool touch and I can tell a lot of effort went into it, as the majority of the graphics were all changed to match the theme. The fireballs even look like little grenades if you pause the video and look close enough. A few highlights: 18 minutes, 15 seconds - I had a bad feeling that jumping up there was a bad idea but I had to try it anyways. Nothing left to do but goof off and admire my "ammo clip" count while the Hunter below dances in celebration. Then once I returned and beat him, the Energy Sword didn't actually cut the bridge! Oh well. 23 minutes - I did an odd pipe clip here and cut myself on the serrated edges. Also finished the level with 4 seconds on the clock. Radical. 29 minutes, 20 seconds - This little dude was a Spiny, right? How did he move so quickly at first and then slow down? That threw me off guard and I jumped right on him. 31 minutes, 30 seconds - I kind of wish I checked that box, but I'm almost certain it's just there to cause you to run out of time. How could you get out? 38 minutes, 10 seconds - Kind of wanted to test this. Apparently you're invincible after grabbing the flagpole. Interestingly, that wasn't the case in Mario's Keep. You can see Master Chief's shadow in the doorway when the Drone walks in front of it. 42 minutes, 30 seconds - This guy has nothing to say? I was kind of surprised that Ring 8-1 was the final level, so I used the level select after beating the game to run through it again just in case anything changed. Doesn't seem like it, and I kind of enjoyed the surprise ending! Overall I really enjoyed this hack and had a lot of fun running through it. Nice job, Belial The Hedgehog! Oh by the way...yes this game and Mario's Keep use the same song, so I guess that's another Touhou copyright claim for me! "Super Spartan Bros. (Hack) - All Levels - 040821"