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You might've seen "This game is rather challenging and requires a lot of precise jumps and timing," and think, "Oh, boy; this is another one of those frustrating hacks that require liberal use of states," but you'd only be partially right. It starts off really hard in the first stage, but it eases up after that; you'll still have the occasional difficulty spike, but most of the game's challenge is pretty on-the-level. Even so, this is absolutely worth playing for the atmosphere alone. Every stage is a dark, nightmarish wasteland, not in the sense that it's inherently frightening, but more in the sense of a creeping dread that you don't really know where you are or what's going on. Even the enemies contribute to this; most of them look like they're drowning in a sad anguish, or at least feeling glum and dissonant, and there is no Bowser equivalent; his chamber is usually devoid of life. It's beautiful, too; it has a neat checkerboard aesthetic, and most everything else is empty black with a brightly-colored outline, including even the water and lava. There are underwater stages with long stretches of swimming through long stretches of empty blackness, and it's subliminal bliss. The underwater sections also replace the coral with these weird screaming ghosts. One of the most striking moments was 8-1, which is the only stage that doesn't have a black background. It's a dull blue color that resembles dawn, as though the dreamer is about to awaken; perhaps coincidentally, this is the only stage in which the timer ticked below 100, giving an even stronger impression that the dream is about to end. If you enjoy dreams, or just want something surreal to absorb you for awhile, I simply cannot recommend this hack enough; it is one of my absolute favorites.

Played through this and was pretty impressed, the level design's a bit challenging but doesn't require save-states or use cheap tricks. The graphics are a little simple but they fit the theme well. The music changes were really surprising, all the original tracks are replaced and the new tracks are pretty catchy and fit the theme nicely. The star's the only power-up and all enemies can't be killed by jumping on them which gives the gameplay a nice change of pace.

Their's a few minor flaws. Theirs falling platforms over solid blocks in some places which can lead to glitching through solid bricks. Bowser gets replaced with a supersped up spiney/firebar combo which is sorta odd. The pipe animation's also a little odd looking because the pipes are transparent. I didn't really care for the water levels because because of the small passageways.

All in all even with the minor flaws this is still one of the most well done complete SMB1 hacks. The graphic, music, & enemy modifications make this feel like a new game.

Review for "Mr. Sandman!" (Super Mario Bros. Hack by The Eadernator - Patch Version 1.0)

I played through this hack from beginning to end and I enjoyed it. This hack is the result of five months of work, and I believe that it shows as you are playing it. New graphics, new music, and altered physics are among the changes in this hack. It was fun to bounce off of the same Goomba numerous times and build up a high score. That change reminded me of "Luigi vs. Mario - Stomp on Brother's Head" by Kaeri, another Super Mario Bros. hack. I would recommend this hack for anyone who enjoys Super Mario Bros. hacks. It is not that difficult of a hack, so you should really give it a try and see how far you can go. ;)