A Few Basics Of The Flametowers And What They Can Do

[MessengerOfDreams]

So recently Runouw updated the Level Designer to put in two items he had left out prior to this- Flame towers and Thwomps. The Thwomps are pretty straightforward if you ask me, but the flametowers are something really excellent as far as weapons go. Here's a bit about them.

What exactly are flame towers?
Succinctly put, they are an adjustable-length of space that, for some period of time, you cannot step on. The fire will instantly take away two health bits from you as long as it is there and you are as well. Simple stuff.

But here's a few other obvious notes that you can use to your advantage.

Flame Towers are invincible
As you may have noticed, you cannot kill a flame tower, only avoid it and hope to god you don't get burnt. This means that they are some of the most powerful harmful substances in the game (in the same realm as Thwomps/Moving Blocks, Lava and of course, good old fashioned falling out of the sky.)

The adjustable length and running time of the Flame Towers makes them incredible for many different purposes
However, unlike most enemies in the game, you can adjust the reach and control the behavior of the flame towers. They can go up to the heavens or be deceptively small. They could run forever or for sporadic moments at a time. You could even time some of them correctly and create layers and waves, upping the ante.

Metal Stars make you invincible to Flame Towers, no matter what.
Keep in mind that the Flame towers are the only things other than Lava that Metal Stars are invincible to. This expands the use of the metal star beyond the lava-beats-water technique it is known for.

They can be disabled without code hacking.
This doesn't mean that much, but this means the fire would make good decoration.

So now that we have this down, what else does this mean?

Flame Towers can make impassible barriers, however...
It's not as easy as it looks. Unlike mesh metal gates, you can pass through them by taking damage and riding the invincibility recovery wave to the other side. Multiple flame towers or even a good old fashioned gap afterward can put a stop to this cheat.

This also means Metal Stars can act like Invisibility Stars to Flame Gates
What difference does this make as opposed to a Metal Gate? First off, flame towers, if pulled off in the right setting, look a lot better than the jarring, jutting metal gate. Also, unlike an Invisibility Star, Mario takes damage from common enemies (goombas, koopas, thwomps/blocks), so you don't have to worry about the Invisibility star making enemies useless and can keep up the same gameplay with Mario with the use of a metal star.

Mind Games.
Mixing in non-lethal disabled flame towers within a bunch of working ones, or even just a cautious diversion to a proper path can definitely mess with one's mind. There's no difference in appearance between an active and disabled flame tower, so feel free to ♥♥♥♥ with people!

Sexy Advanced Techniques
Simply put, the wave and the multi-tower. The wave is time-coordinating a bunch of towers in a row so they go off in a set or coded order that the player has to memorize or react to. The multi-tower is simply putting layers of flame throwers on top of each other and time-coordinating them so they can grow to different heights at different times.

That's my take on things. Anything you'd like to add?

[Asterocrat]

Graphic stuff.

Flame Towers Make Torches
When disabled and mixed with some small Rotating Blocks, small Flame Towers make perfect torches.

[BrawlerEX]

Sexy...



Thank goodness there's is no code hacking with this.

[SuperMIC]

I was experimenting with these thingies. Take a look.

http://puu.sh/vqrx
http://puu.sh/vqCn
http://puu.sh/vqGk
http://puu.sh/vqMP
http://puu.sh/vqTU

A few ideas.~

I haven't included all that I've found, because I'd like to reserve them for my LDC entry~

[nin10mode]

I was experimenting with these thingies. Take a look.

http://puu.sh/vqrx
http://puu.sh/vqCn
http://puu.sh/vqGk
http://puu.sh/vqMP
http://puu.sh/vqTU

A few ideas.~

I haven't included all that I've found, because I'd like to reserve them for my LDC entry~

Really simple. I demand something that I can't think of. OH RIGHT YOU CAN'T BECAUSE SMIC

[Master1.0]

I about fell from by chair looking at image 4. :3

[koolkid]

LOL,img 4=FEIRY AWSOMNESS (instert more 's)
so is this like implemented,or not,or already or.... ACK...im confusing myself
CAN THEY BE MADE,period?
LOL

[-BY]

The invisible ones for working poison, acid and spikes

3D effects, and even short animations with them.

(Maybe laser by fixing the x length around 5).

Fire spitting boo with disabled boo and fire.

Fire circles with lots of turned fire throwers.

That's enough for now.