Dear player -

Before you dive in to these entries, a quick word.

The 72 levels in this year's KLDC represent thousands of hours of work, from dozens of people across the world. It is a communal savestate of the scope and depth of Super Mario World Kaizo romhacking in 2022, and each entry exists because its creator(s) had a desire to sink time, energy and effort into making something to share with the community.

Even though the desire is shared by everyone, not everyone brings the same technical skill or experience level with them to these contests. In capturing the whole community, we get levels from the most experienced of creators and levels by people just getting their feet wet. For some, it's about winning, and for some, it's about learning.

They all deserve our respect. The levels, and the people. Judges will be providing detailed critiques for all entries, as they have in years past, but those critiques have always come from a place of empathy and respect for the maker's effort and time, even if you may not be able to see that investment translated on screen.

We can't tailor the contest to best fit each person's motivation - ultimately, the end result of the contest is a scoresheet that will give each level a number that puts them in some sort of order. What we can do, however, is set a tone: we choose this year to celebrate just how much we've all accomplished together, and look at the community as a whole with pride.

Take this with you as you play this year's entries, and remember: every level in this contest is here because it wants to be a part of something bigger and better.

Because, at the end of the day, that's how we grow.

<3,

Doctor No
Host,
KLDC 2022