Mario on the Orchestral Keys is a ROM hack made by Rovert and sm64pie, with 10 Stars.
2nd place winner of the SimpleFlips Music ROM hacking Competition. Open source: https://github.com/Rovert64/OrchestralKeys/tree/comphack Mario goes on vacation to relax at the Orchestral Keys, but the music on the island has been stolen away by an evil fiend.
Gameplay[]
Fall damage is disabled for this hack, as is the 100 coin Star spawn, although Mario will still scream while falling as though he is in danger. Coins, or wholes as they are in this hack, can be used to buy items from a merchant Boom Mate in Maraca Mainland. The pause menu is no longer visible although the game can still be paused.
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This hack has openworld area in which all of the courses, except for Dark Star Domain, can be freely navigated between. The world itself is a paradisiacal archipelago with four areas to it. Each area has one warp pipe that connects it to Maraca Mainland, although these warp pipes must be used going towards Maraca Mainland first, before their exit point becomes unblocked. This means that the warp pipe for each level can only be unlocked by travelling to the level and jumping into the warp pipe from that end.
Acoustic Atoll is where Mario's starting point is, near a house surrounded by Boom Mates. This area is two islands joined by a wooden bridge, with the larger island being home to a volcano.
Trumpet Towers is semi-central to the world, and is a large island with a lake in its centre.
Saxaphone Skerry is a long island bordering the map, mostly consisting of raised cliffs for Mario to platform across. A lighthouse stands at one end, which can be accessed by navigating a series of beat-block style platforms.
Maraca Mainland acts as the hub area for this hack. It is a town reminiscent of Delfino Plaza from Super Mario Sunshine, which has warp pipes leading to all other levels. Three out of four warp pipes lead to Acoustic Atoll, Trumpet Towers, and Saxaphone Skerry, and all three pipes are located in the town's centre. The fourth warp pipe leads to Dark Star Domain and is hidden behind a building up on a ledge.
Dark Star Domain is separate from the archipelago, and can only be accessed via a purple warp pipe hidden behind a building in Maraca Mainland. Dark Star Domain is populated by darker versions of Boom Mates that move erratically, have a wide range of detection, and deal an impressive five points of damage to Mario. A pipe located on the right side of this area will take Mario to the boss fight against the Dark Star, but requires all 10 Clefs to be collected.
Objects[]
Rather than collecting Power Stars, Mario is tasked with collecting Clefs. These are red, shining, and closely resemble a treble clef in appearance. There are ten in total to collect, although there will be no prompt to save after obtaining one, so it will not register on Star Display or on RHDC intergration.
This hack uses some custom objects in its levels. Two of them require at least one (?) Clef to be collected before they will begin functioning: the first is the note block that gives Mario a jump boost. Prior to obtaining any Clefs, the note blocks will be standard static platforms. After collecting a Clef, they will become active and take on the behaviour of a standard note block, and give Mario a significant jump boost.
The other object that requires Clefs to be collected to function is the beat block. Without a Clef, the block will not appear at all and remain just an empty frame. Once enough Clefs are collected, the beat blocks will start functioning in time to the level music and any cutscene music that plays.
Showdown Against Dark Star[]
This boss fight uses custom mechanics based off of Beat Saber. Mario will need to destroy certain blocks flying at him correctly while avoiding large long obstacles.
- Red blocks can be struck from below or kicked in mid-air.
- Blue blocks need to be hit from above. This can be done reliably by jumping anf kicking in the air when Mario is at the approximate height to correctly hit the oncoming blue block. The extra time in the air at this height should decrease the chances of missing the block.
- Walls are translucent coloured blocks stretching from floor to ceiling. They are not solid, but they will steadily deal damage to Mario as long as he is inside them at all.
Gallery[]
