GuestLog in

The new graphics, story, powerups, characters, enemies and sound effects are nice and all. However, the blue mechas frequently kicking their shells at you and the first secret exit only being accessed by a shell jump made this unenjoyable for me. The player should be able to access the secret exit with some kind of flying powerup, an invisible vine or at least wall jumping instead of a Kaizo trick. This hack is far from the worst of 'Super Mario World,' but I also don't want to be sniped from off-screen every time I move.

My curiosity was piqued after reading a very laudatory review on the recently released Sicari 2, so I decided to give Sicari a try and start with the first one.

It kept me engaged to play until the end, which means it obviously did something right. The general setting is solid, the two different characters are an interesting novelty. I must admit I am not a huge fan of the sprite work, there are other hacks out there with vastly superior sprite work like Super Mario Ultimate or SMW Redrawn. But these hacks worked with already established characters, as opposed to 100% original ones (as far as I know) for Sicari, so kudos for trying something new.

The level design is pretty solid as well, but expect a significantly harder difficulty than the original SMW. I used savestates because I have zero patience for redoing segments again and again in order to learn a stage and succeed. It's not too hard to beat it that way, but I thought some levels would be pretty rage-inducing played without savestates. There are many devious traps, the enemy placement is carefully crafted to ensure you will lose lives. Speaking of which, there might be a bit of an overreliance on Blue Koopas without Shells.

The bosses are pretty tough and are vastly superior to most bosses on SMW hacks. They are not lazy oversized versions of regular enemies, they all have their own sprites and their own patterns. Again I am not crazy about the general style of the sprite work, but I commend the creator but having a vision and realizing it. The levels, on the other hand, are beautiful.

Has anyone else found some sort of super duper secret exit in Nuclear Sewers ? I went through some narrow passageway, ended up falling into the setting but didn't die. I got into a pitch black corridor with cryptic messages written on the "wall". Does that count as a secret exit ? btw this level happens to be my favourite with the great tune from The Lost Vikings, great choice. The music selection in general is great, which is a huge plus in my book, except maybe for the ending credits theme which is a bit off key at times.

All in all, great hack, I recommend it, try it and form your own opinion !

So wait, this is Super Mario World? Huh, odd....could have sworn it was a different game entirely....

GAMEPLAY: Okay, that was probably one of the dumbest intros I've had to one of these things, lol. Well the thing is, Sicari Remastered is a SMW hack, and yes it plays like typical Mario fare...but it feels like something very different from Super Mario World. For one thing, you control two characters: the agile assassin, Sicari, and her powerful robot "sister" K-16. This is the single biggest difference of this hack in comparison to other SMW hacks. Not only can you change between the two characters at special blocks typically at the beginning and middle of a stage, but both actually play differently. Sicari is significantly more agile, able to utilize spin jumps, dash much faster, and even swim when in water. K-16, on the other hand, is slower due to the weight of her robotic body and sinks like a rock in water, but she is able to make very high jumps while in water and constantly has an arm cannon (think Mega Man's Buster) that can fire without needing a power-up to use. The main draw of the hack is using both characters to progress through the stages, particularly when certain areas require particular characters to bypass. Do you need K-16's firepower? Or do you need Sicari's agility?

WORLD: There's plenty around in Sicari's world of Paradia. The various lands all are bright and vibrant, but this is admittedly something of a slightly smaller game in comparison to most other SMW hacks. If anything, it feels a little closer to the base game in size and shouldn't take too long to finish. The occasional detour for secrets aren't hard to find and they usually lead to bonus levels and extra Challenge Houses with their own rewards. Not the biggest world, but there's enough of a variation in the world to feel like we are indeed on a long journey.

FUN: Yeah, this is a pretty fun game. There's several characters to play as, a couple "off the beaten path" areas to find and explore though less than even the base game, and the story isn't too bad either, as Sicari is a reformed assassin trying to stop the evil Niscura in retribution for her own crimes. The challenge isn't so bad, and there's nothing particularly stand-out in terms of super difficult spots. The music is quite good throughout most of the hack, but I in particular love the custom sprite-work. All playable characters have their own animations, and they actually are very good.

MY RATING: 8/10

Sicari Remastered is a lovely little diversion. It's a SMW game that both is and isn't a SMW game. It plays like the base game for the most part, but you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a different game as several base mechanics change it up from how the original SMW played. Two characters to play as gives you plenty of variety in how you complete the stages, and there's plenty of custom work throughout the entire hack that shows plenty of dedication to this project went into it. It's none too difficult and it's a fun play. It doesn't do anything particularly extraordinary, being fairly straightforward for an SNES game of the time, but hey, no need to reinvent the wheel, eh? The game is fun and the detailed work that went into it is highly commendable. I for one would be up for playing a sequel should the creators decide to work on one.

I've actually played this already but since this is now on RHDN I thought I'd give it a nice review. SMW is one of my favorite Mario games and this hack is just incredible! All the new content such as new music, graphics, gameplay mechanics, and levels are meticulously crafted and very well done! I've had such a great time playing this hack from start to finish!

As I've said before, SMW is one of my favorites and I enjoy all the great hacks out there for the game, and this one is one of the best for it!

Thank you for this great hack and I can't wait for the sequel!

Highly recommended!!

9.5/10

This is undoubtedly one of the Smw hacks that I have seen that have put more effort into making it perfect. I have played the hack and I have loved it with beautiful graphics and characters other than Mario and Luigi I recommend it for anyone looking for a different experience at Smw

Compared to, K-16 - Story of Steel, the original Sicari game. Much -BETTER- ideas put into the recent remaster.

• Most Levels do not have midway points if you die.

• Self designed graphics are good but needs more work done.

Example: sunset background picture with colored water pedals or..?

Level design is good as well, my only gripe is making long jumps, wall kicks in tight cornered areas.

It's worth a play though, but i recommend this for young teenagers middle school kids.

What madness is this? How does an awesome hack like this one not have any reviews yet?

This hack is pretty good, it doesn't feel like a Mario game, it feels like a completely different game with some Mario similarities but still. It feels completely different, the sprites done in this hack are pretty good too.

So you have 2 playable characters here and both have their own unique quirks, you can switch between those characters by hitting a special block with the head (like those coin blocks) and you switch between them instantly. One of them is a robot girl and the other is a normal girl, pretty cool.

Anyway, stop reading this already and go play this hack damn it!