6. “Constellation” by MDBattleFrog

One of the hardest levels in the top ten and recipient of an ft029 Award for excellence in advanced-difficulty level design, “Constellation” is a meat-and-potatoes platforming challenge with a twist: You need to avoid the many invincibility stars littering the level. The reason for this is that, in Super Mario World, invincibility means you tear right through enemies—which would be a problem here, since instead of being able to bounce on them to progress, you’d just pass right through them to your death.

“When I was brainstorming what to build for KLDC, I took into account what I thought others would do, and saw creators leaning towards a custom gimmick or mechanic that heavily changes how SMW plays,” creator MDBattleFrog, who also made last year’s lauded Ultraviolet, explains. “I decided to make a level that still felt like Mario World while introducing fresh setups featuring interesting ways of avoiding the Star Man powerup. The idea was heavily inspired by a level inMostly Harmless, a hack by ThirdWall.”