Posted by gc

Well. Here's my very rough written design. Needs a lot of polishing.
Tried to get this out as fast as possible. I was away for 5 days on a school study trip in Singapore, and busy with the projects accompanying it.
Here it is:


Planets:
-The main planet –a rather large stone fortress/tower, with a flat plain extending out the front. It has quite a few airships hovering around it, some with Blasters mounted.
-Boss planet


Mario lands on a Starshroom floating over a large fortress, empty except for one Luma. The Luma tells him, “Bowser’s holding a Grand Star in this big base…But it seems to be heavily defended…Yikes! They’ve spotted us! I’ll be fine. Just go!” Mario has to rush to use the Launch Star produced, as many Bullet Bill Blasters mounted on airships are pointed at the Starshroom.
He lands near the edge walls of the round gray-tiled roof. The roof is covered with Undergrunt-manned cannons, shockwave-making enemies, and 4 enormous cannons firing 4 drastically enlarged Banzai Bills, and normal Banzai Bills in all directions per shot. He has to get past all these defenses, and to the other side of the roof, where a Sling Star is waiting.


It boosts him onto an airship with a blaster, hovering, like a few others, near a small balcony stocked with blasters. He has to jump off onto the balcony, where a couple Hammer and Boomerang Bros. jump out from behind the Blasters (so it looks like they were loading them on). The balcony connects to the mostly hollow inside of the tower.


Inside, there are many walkways with railings on different levels, with grey platforms near the walls moving up and down between them. Blasters of varying sizes are arranged everywhere in rows, along with many Bowser flags. (Non-stationary) Enemies finally start appearing, with more on the lower walkways. Of course, the player could simply jump down over the railings, but as a key to the next area is held by a slightly enlarged Magikoopa on a lower walkway, Mario would have to go back up to get it.
(I’m out of ideas for this section, I’ll expand on it later)


On the ground floor, there are quite a few enemies waiting for Mario. But after he takes them out, except for two doors (one big and blocked, one locked) , one warp pipe (which the previous key should’ve opened) and two homing Bullet Bill Blasters mounted over the big blocked door (main entrance?), there isn’t much to do. So Mario has to go through the warp pipe in the corner.


It dumps Mario in a water filled pipe. One end leads into a small pipe just big enough for a Banzai Bill to go through, but has a telekinetic block blocking it off. The other direction is where he’s supposed to go, but as Banzai Bills are rushing through at regular intervals, he has to duck into various notches and holes in the sides to not get blown up (they also have air). This doesn’t take too long though.


At the end of the short tunnel, there’s a small ladder near the blaster firing the Banzai Bills. It leads to a fiery room with lava pools, pieces of flat metal, and Ledge Hammers everywhere. Mario has to carefully weave his way through the lava pools, over pieces of metal (some are liquid splatters and have lava effects) and under the hammers. Bullet Bills and Banzai Bills are occasionally fired from below the lava (if possible), heading into various holes/tunnels/tubes in the wall. There is a Magikoopa holding a key in a corner, standing on a large yellow block next to a cannon. Mario has to get the key and use the cannon, which can get him back up to the ground floor.


Back behind the front door, the locked side door is now opened. It leads to a huge warehouse stocked with tons and tons of massive crates, and blasters of all shapes and sizes. Active ones. Mario has to run, dodging crates on the ground.


After he runs through the open door of the warehouse, he emerges on the flat rectangular grounds in front of the fortress. A half circle of blasters and Magikoopas and Hammer/Boomerang Bros. are expecting him though, and he must run again. There is a viewing platform styled tower (low, small but wide) on one side, and Mario must reach it, avoiding a few blockades like the one before set up in front.


When he reaches the tower, there is a spiral ramp leading up with many enemies on it. After clearing the ramp, he sees Bowser on his throne on top. “Wha-? How did you get here? I had the whole fortress on high alert when you approached! …Bah! Nevermind! I’ll just have to crush you myself!”


And so the battle commences. The only difference to the old fights is that Banzai Bill are fired at regular intervals at fixed spots scattered over the planet, cutting off some escape routes when Bowser attacks.