I remember "Mudkip BossBattle" being widely anticipated in my friend group back when it was being built. Oocher's username at the time was GMDMudkip, for God's sake. How could this be anything but a rarefied classic? I think in retrospect, the first thing that strikes me with this boss fight is how aggressive it feels. This encounter does not feel like a calculated attack - the mudkip comes at you with full force, striking over and over again in quick succession as if it's stuck in a blind rage. I can't help but wonder if Mudkip being a Level 1 evolution had an effect on this level's structure - had it been a more mature evolution, something like "Marshtomp BossBattle" or "Swampert BossBattle" instead, maybe the attacks would have been rendered in a way that is alien to the fight we inevitably got. The fight we're greeted with here, with its quick flailing motions and lack of reasoning, perfectly embodies the thoughtless rage of a child, and I'd argue it showcases a side of Starter Pokémon that people don't really talk about. Despite my high praise, I still wouldn't call this a perfect level by any means, largely due to a lack of attack variety - I distinctly remember working on a Sylveon boss fight level around the time this came out, probably directly inspired by Oocher's work, and it namedropped specific Pokémon moves such as Moonblast, etc. It might be presumptuous to say, but part of me feels that "Mudkip BossBattle" could have benefitted from a similar level of attention to detail. All in all, this is a tightly constructed level - definitely one of the more visceral things to come out of 2016's underground scene even if there's still some room for improvement. It may only be medium in length, but I think most who played this level in 2016 came to same conclusion - that Oocher had just about said it all.

Comment from fakesynthi

"How did u verify this????"

8 years ago • 1 like