Crudelo Sphere

Crudelo Sphere is the fifteenth and final course of Super Mario 74 Extreme Edition, requires 110 stars to enter, and one of the hardest levels along with Veneno Sphere. This level is based on the Ombru-Sphere and Luminium-Sphere stages from Super Mario 74, but just like the Veneno Sphere, this castles in this stage point sideways. Mario starts on the horizontal castle walls that formed the highest levels of Veneno Sphere and must climb his way up to the walls far above him, collecting the Power Stars along the way. The sphere stages are some of the most linear stages in this hack, with generally one single path upwards that leads to each of the stars in turn (and numerous side paths that only lead to red coins). This level is "the mechanical temple of cruelty", a hellish world housing incredibly tight jumps across narrow ledges. The 'sides' (now floors) of virtually every tower and many of the thin upper ledges of tall walls in this stage are covered in a bright red substance that drags Mario in as soon as he touches it (functionally identical to quicksand). Halfway up the stage is the Kubus of Death, a black and red cube sticking out of a wall. The Kubus is said to be the force of nature that throws video game characters into the "GAME OVER Zone" when they run out of lives. This level has five (technically six) infomation signs scattered about it, the first two of which offer lore of the stage while the latter three simply state insulting and apathetic statements about how little Mario has actually accomplished in the stage. Additionally, this level contains an enormous 20 red coins that need to be collected to earn the final star in the course.

Contents

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Stars

Star 1: The Nightmare Begins

After a long introductory somersault through the air, Mario will land on a platform at the bottom of the stage. Turn around and follow the narrow path to the opposite side of the map. Mario must jump around the thin wall here to land on the slope on its opposite side. From the next platform, some tiny ledges extend out of the wall above Mario. He must triple jump wall kick off of and onto these tiny ledges to reach the top of this platform, all while an Amp is harassing him. On the far side of this long platform, Mario must combine side flips, wall kicks, and jump kicks to ascend the steep slopes jutting out of this wall (The Kubus of Death extends out of the opposite side of this wall). Another wall kick from the tiny flat ground he can stand on will bring him to a spire sticking out of this wall, and from that he can reach the next floor of the stage. Simply long jump past the death-topped horizontal towers and then jump to the thin ledge to the left. A fair distance away, a few floors below this point, a tiny building is jutting horizontally out of a wall. Though it may seem far, a long jump from here will reach this tiny hollow building, which has a star inside of it.

Star 2: Just Go Crazy

As this course is so linear, Mario will basically have to follow the same path as before to reach all of the first five stars. Follow the route listed above, except don't long jump down to the first star. Instead, keep going forward to cross this path and reach a wall with three vertical ledges sticking out of it. Use these ledges to go around the left side of this wall and jump from there to one of the lower crenels on the next wall (The upper four crenels have red quicksand on them while the fifth one has a Kuromame on it). Climb up to the fifth crenel so Mario can long jump to the thick pillar extending horizontally out of the next wall. Jump onto the horizontal leg of the next platform, then side flip and wall kick back and forth between either side of this platform to climb up to its upper ledge. From here, Mario can jump to the upper thick horizontal pillar, and from there Mario can wall kick back and forth between the second and third castle wall to gradually reach its far side. A small castle juts horizontally out of the wall on this side, and a star is placed in an alcove in the front of a castle. Keep in mind that while Mario is wall kicking to this castle, he must avoid going too high (as the top of the entire third wall is covered in red quicksand) and must bypass the tall rectangular hole in the side of the second wall.

Star 3: Straight From Hell

Follow all of the steps in the previous star until Mario reaches the upper thick pillar extending horizontally out of the far wall of the castle. Instead of wall kicking back and forth to reach the far side of the third castle wall, simply triple jump into the near side of that wall and wall kick off of it to reach a ledge hanging down from the tower above. Mario can go across the overt ledges in the towers here (watching out for all of the invisible walls surrounding them) until he reaches the ring around the top of a tower. The path extending out from this ring is completely vertical at one point and too high to bypass, so Mario can't climb it. Instead, he should long jump and wall kick between the two pillars to his right to climb onto the platform above them (The platform with a signpost on it). Side flip to grab the platform above this one, avoiding the red quicksand on it, and move to the far side of that platform. There is a small crevice in the base of this platform with a star at the end of it. To reach it, Mario needs to jump off this side of the platform to land on a sloped surface by its base, slide down that slope and jump into the crevice, then repeatedly and quickly wall jump back and forth in this narrow corridor until he reaches the star. If he misses a single wall jump, he'll fall onto the red quicksand below.

Star 4: Traumatising Experience

Take the same route as in the previous star until Mario is on top of the platform containing star 3. A long jump from this platform with enough speed will reach the crumbling castle wall (acting as a floor) across the wide gap. Long jump to the opposite side of this crumbling platform to reach a Purple Switch. After pressing the switch, quickly retrace your steps to reach the signpost beneath the platform containing star 3. Mario will see a timed box a short distance away that he can reach with a double jump. As long as he didn't waste too much time getting here, he can do a long jump and a few wall kicks off of the familiar hollow tower above him to reach the star at the top of this hollow hole.

Star 5: Morbid Deadly Puzzle

The title for 'hardest star in this game' is a toss-up between this star, the Crudelo Sphere red coins, or the red coins in Ztar Zanctuary. As before, climb up to the crumbling castle wall on top of the stage. At the far end of this platform, triple jump to land in the indented crevice of the adjacent tower. A spinning heart is available in this crevice in case Mario needs to heal, and the Rare logo from Ombru-Sphere is here as well. A double jump will get Mario out of this crevice and land him one of the thin ledges of the 'Intense Challenge' area from Ombru-Sphere. Five golden spots are placed around this area, marking the five secrets Mario needs to collect to activate this star. Since so many floors in this area are covered in red quicksand, it will take all of Mario's wall jumping skills to reach all of these secrets without falling at the wrong time or grabbing the wrong ledge and climbing onto the red quicksand. The secrets are located in the following places:

1. The right side of the thin ledge Mario is currently on
2. On the side of a slope extending beneath the tower with the room with the Rare logo
3. On the left side between the first and second tall wall in this area, just below the roof between these walls
4. Above the right side of the top of the third tall wall in this area
5. On the left side between the third and fourth tall wall in this area, at the very bottom of these walls, just above the red quicksand (a flamethrower shoots periodically at this secret, and must be avoided)

After triggering these final secrets in the game, the star will appear above the roof between the first and second walls.

Star 6: Bloody Scream of Rage

If the previous star was not the hardest star in the game, this almost seems like the definite choice. All 20 of these red coins are in dangerous locations, over perilous paths, empty voids, and red quicksand. Mario will have to scour every nook and cranny of the stage to find all 20 of them, and it will take an incredible level of skill to survive this search. The locations of the red coins are as follows:

1. Between the two horizontal castle walls in front of Mario's starting position
2. On a spire at the far end of the two horizontal castle walls in front of Mario's starting position
3. In an alcove on the left side of Mario's starting platform
4. Against the thin wall at the end of the path behind Mario's starting position
5. On top of one of the tiny ledges in the wall with the Amp
6. In a red quicksand-filled crevice below the Kubus of Death
7. A tower hangs out of the wall of the platform below the Kubus of Death. A red coin is on the spire of this tower
8. On a spire on the far side of the platform below the Kubus of Death
9. On the sloped wall above the Kubus of Death
10. On a ledge below the left side of the two death-topped horizontal towers past the Kubus of Death
11. On a spire below the central platform that Mario longs jumps off of to reach star 1
12. High between the wall with the three vertical ledges sticking out of it and the wall with the tall rectangular hole in it
13. On the sloped ledge above star 1, reachable by jumping down from the crenels of the wall with the tall rectangular hole in it
14. On the far rear side of the wall with the thick pillars extending horizontally out of them, reachable by jump kicking to cross its slope while facing downhill
15. On top of one of the thin pillars leading to the platform with a signpost on it near star 3
16. The back of the platform containing star 3 is connecting to a winding path into the side of a lower wall. A red coin is at the bottom of this winding path
17. On a spire right next to the crevice leading to star 3
18. On the middle of a thin horizontal pillar below the left side of the crumbling castle wall with the Purple Switch
19. On the base of the slope with secret #2 on it, listed in star 5 above
20. Beside the spawn point for star 5

With all 20 red coins in hand, after crossing every inch of this hellish stage, the star will appear on the platform below the Kubus of Death.

Enemies

• Snufit
• Lakitu
• Kuromame
• Chuckya
• Mr. I
• Moneybag*

*This unique enemy appears to be a coin until approached, like a Moneybag, but will not jump at Mario, and has the sprite of Mr. I's iris

Trivia

• There is a single 1-Up Mushroom in this stage, in a red-quicksand filled crevice next to the wall of the platform beneath the Kubus of Death.
• Though there appears to be only five signposts in this stage, there's a hidden sixth sign that's very difficult to get to. This signpost is on top of the underside of a ring of a horizontal tower, above the thick pillars extending horizontally out of a far wall. The sign reads: "Crudelo Info 6 of 5. ...wait, WHAT? There's something wrong. You shouldn't be here. Shhhh! Away with you!"
• Though this level's geometry is virtually identical to Ombru-Sphere's, some notable changes were made to the layout, both to make it more difficult in places and to make it possible to scale certain areas of the stage. These changes are:
  • Most of the 'wall' Mario starts the course on has crumbled away
  • Most of the 'wall' on the top of the stage with the Purple Switch has crumbled away
  • Tiny ledges have been added to the wall near the start, with the Amp
  • A ledge has been added to a tower above the thick pillars extending horizontally out of the wall (The ledge surrounded by invisible walls)
  • A thin pillar has been added to the tower beneath the platform with the signpost by star 3

References

This article "Crudelo Sphere" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Crudelo Sphere. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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