Best casual player ROM hacks

BNW is great of course, but you already know about that one.

The 8th Vanilla Level Design contest has some great levels in it, although it isn't a cohesive game in the traditional sense. I think the level of difficulty is probably appropriate, although it may swing too far sometimes. https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=...s&id=11254. Most of the SMW hacks that stand out to me are the more difficult ones (like JUMP) though, so it's hard to recommend other good ones. Brutal Mario might fit, but it's on the edge.

I really wish there were some in depth LTTP hacks that focused more on exploration than difficulty. It's hard to recommend any big ones here.

Despite being on Insane Difficulty, FFIV The Darkness Within is worth a look for this. I know that you know about Unprecdented Crisis already though.

Oh, and this is a pretty good option: https://youtu.be/awtf_lKNaNw?t=28s