When do monstars change direction and when do they fall?

Question

When a marching monstar (aka. goomba) arrives at the end of a platform, sometimes it will change direction and walk back, other times it will walk off the edge and fall.

What determines which happens, and how can I tell beforehand? Is a property of the monstar, or the platform?

The only way to know "beforehand" is to observe their behavior and rewind time :p — Nolonar, May 18 '14 at 22:30
An idea (unconfirmed): goombas fall from sloping platforms, but reverse on flat platforms. — Colonel Panic, May 18 '14 at 23:18

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 18 '14 at 22:45

This is an excellent question, so I've popped open the game to experiment with their behavior.

Based on my research, there are no visible differences between goombas that walk off the edge and those that turn the other direction. Nevertheless there are goombas that exhibit both, which leads me to believe it is simply a hidden property.

I can say though that every goomba in a local area exhibits identical behavior; if you see one walk off a ledge, others nearby do too.

Thanks. Yes, a friend asked it to me, and I realised I didn't know, despite having completed the game twice through. — Colonel Panic, May 18 '14 at 23:16

Colonel Panic · Answer 2 · 2014-12-21T16:31:04.777

1

It's a property of the monstar. In the level editor, it's called afraid_of_heights. In game, they otherwise look the same.

edited Dec 21 '14 at 16:31

answered May 19 '14 at 21:10

Colonel Panic

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When do monstars change direction and when do they fall?

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