Reviews for Bowser's Pit

[Teh-AnDrOiD]

Well done, but it seemed a bit hurried.

This was a very good effort, had good length and music, but the timing and spacing of said time was a bit off. There were moments that felt like fillers like when Mario was ducking the hammers he was down for too long and I almost stopped the movie there.

It was really clever the way Bowser Jr mimicked Mario, I remember thinking Mama Mia!

I really liked the variety of bosses, but one thing that got on my nerves is that some of the sprites did not match in resolution, it looks bad when the pixels aren't the same size. Also, I know it's a hassle, but whenever people use the newer Mario sprites, I know I for one would appreciate it if they opened them up in an editor first, even if it's just paint; and remove all the gray dots around the edges.

Like I said I know it's a pain but the one time I tried to make a sprite movie, my first choice was those sprites and I knew immediately that if I would want to see clean sprites than so would others. So, all I had was paint at the time but I still took the time to clean up an entire sheet of Mario, Luigi, Toad & Bowser. If you have something more advanced than paint though than it should be easy. Some day I will try sprites again.

I know I have nothing to show for it, I've been animating in flash for about 5 years now but I've never finished a project, at least not one I considered worthy of submission. My old computer died a horrid death so over 40 projects were left for dead forever. It was discouraging, but I've since started a few more, I hope to actually finish them!

All in all a decent attempt, it really needed sound effects though as I got bored a few times throughout. If the music wasn't so good and well attuned I may have blammed this, but I scored it a 3 average. I think you did a good job though, I can tell that you at least put a lot of effort into this. Keep on animating, you will get better! As long as you don't get worse, you will have the respect of most of the users for at least having actually submitted something!

Lastly, the basic fonts were somewhat of an eye sore; just look up some Mario fonts or use something other than a basic font; it makes the flash look like an old Powerpoint presentation.

Oh and almost forgot: why didn't Mario finish Bowser off? Or at least drop kick him, there was almost no visible fighting or powerups in the movie. That dropped my rating by 1 point, so it's a 5/10.

Shoot for the moon, and hope it doesn't shoot back!

[Segaslave]

you need some work...

This flash wasn't a bad effort. But if you're going to improve you're going to need a lot more than unfounded compliments. So I intend to offer some constructive criticism.

First off, the animation needs a lot of work. I understand you're new at animating, but still the fact remains. The animation was anything but fluid, and the fact that this is a sprite animation, where you don't have to draw every individual pose, doesn't help. Try to make the animation a lot less simplified and choppy, and at least consider making some new sprite poses that go along with the action. I'd rather watch a thirty second animation that flowed smoothly than a longer animation that's choppy. Likewise, it was interesting to see so many enemies, but this was watered down by the lackluster ways in which Mario defeats them. I'd rather see a well put together fight with one enemy than a hundred bland fights. Do you get what I'm saying?

Along the lines of sound, the music is good, but as you said it is the work of someone else. I will at least credit you for find a tune so suitable to this type of animation though. It'd be nice if this wasn't the only sound in the video though. Some well timed sound effects would increase the impact of the animation. Sound effects can be found just about anywhere on the internet, and are easy to download.

As to the story, it was a nice idea. Mario fights a whole bunch of enemies, but is finally overwhelmed by Bowser. It works, in a way. But to me what doesn't work is that Mario gets all the way up there, and then runs away. there's no real explanation for why he wanted to get up there in the first place. And when he just suddenly gets a cape and flies off, it makes me feel like you got tired of animating and wanted to end it already.

Now I do want to compliment you on the creativity of using the germs. The idea of them coming out and literally infecting Mario was interesting. Then I had to laugh when Mario pulls that "Green Mile" stunt and blows the germs out at the koopa kids. I'm not sure if you wanted that to be a gag, but that's how it came across.

My final synopsis is that if you want to make sprite animations, you're going to have to put a lot more effort into this. And sure I know most people would say that three months is a long time. And maybe you're satisfied with this as the finished product. But if you're not satisfied, then my advice is put a lot more time and effort into it next time, and you might have something impressive.

MurderMysteryMan responds:

I really appreciate the anaylysis. I agree wit what you're saying.

I'll try to work on the fluidity.
Thanks. I'll make the sound more complex in the future.
I'm sorry I gave the appearance of giving up. I was trying to go for "Mario was overwhelmed and was only trying to escape in the first place."
Thanks. That took a bit of ingenuity to think of.
Well I appreciate your synopsis.

[Gustavos]

ahh...lame.

This movie, with its idea and AWESOME music choice, had LOADS of potential. I mean Front Page potential. And although there were moments where I felt the need to cheer Mario on, there were multiple moments that left me feeling let down. Bosses going down with little effort. I'd say a good 70% of the bosses that appeared were ones we didn't see go down. 20% of the bosses went down like pussies with one hit or manuever by Mario, and the only two that fit in the category of a "battle" were Petey Piranha and Shadow Mario. None of that, however, comes close to the disappointment I felt in the final battle between Mario and Bowser. Come on, why would you do that?

Look, I get it, you spent three months on this, a lot of time and effort, but you could have done this better. Instead of plastering the movie with bosses you didn't plan out a fight for, just bring in the more powerful, more badass bosses whom Mario can really fight. On screen, I mean. You skipped way too much.