It has the essentials of a tutorial conveying the very basics of play and has a considerably high threshold for failure.
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*bump*
The guy who made Metroid Eris (Digital Mantra) 11 years ago released a new Super Metroid hack (named “Vitality”) *checks clock* …about 22 hours ago:
I beat it in about 5 hours in-game time (so probably somewhere between 5 and a half to 6 hours of real time).
Anyhow, like Eris it has some really well done maximalist multilayer tilework with neat palettes and effects and atmosphere, etc, etc. Unlike Eris, it’s completable by normal humans (IIRC the author had his girlfriend playtest it just to make sure). It’s still a decent bit more difficult than the original game, but compared to Eris the enemy damage and boss health are more sensibly scaled, and the tech-skill requirement is much lower. Mid-air morphing is the only advanced technique that’s required, and wall-jumping is never needed.
There are some interesting things going on with the world design that remind me of (*namedrop*) Metroid 2, particularly with how some areas self-intersect, and with how it uses large cavernous rooms to give context to the various structures in each area.
The main thing that holds me back from giving this an unequivocal recommendation is that the hack is “Rated R” (according to the opening). This is most readily seen with the nude Samus on the title screen, which is a frame taken from the hack’s altered death animation. If you’re able to get past the groan-worthiness of that bit, then the rest of the hack isn’t that bad — at least until the final area, which has a moment that is both stunning and gross. Caveat ludor.
My thoughts are still fresh-n-jumbled enough that I don’t have much else to say at the moment.
Regardless, here's some pictures I took as I was playing
So yeah, this is a rather solid hack that gets a (qualified) recommendation from me (though the qualification is different than usual).
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These comments calling it the best hack ever, what is seperating it from the pack?
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Take all day-one reviews of hacks made by internally-well-respected members of the community with a grain of salt.
I personally think it’s pretty good, though I wouldn’t call it a “GoAT” (whatever that means) — it’s just alarmingly approachable for something of its provenance.
It does some interesting things with visual storytelling and narrative that help make it feel like it’s own thing and not just another-super-metroid-for-the-five-hundredth-time. For instance, there’s a clever throughline with some things that I thought were just background details that ended up being reflected in the game’s mechanics later on and in the narrative by the very end. Also, it cares enough about the (modestly interesting) story it’s telling to change the ending and replace the credits song with something more befitting of the mood. I think it stumbles a little bit in the execution, but I appreciated the effort, and I think this facet is what distinguishes it most from other SM hacks.
The world itself is competently constructed (though there are plenty of other hacks where I could say that is the case): things connect in interesting ways; the critical path is decently signposted; it accommodates advanced play; etc, etc. The difficulty is lower compared to other recent-ish community darlings, especially with regards to traversal (requiring fewer strange movements and gyrations), but it’s still willing to let yourself be out of your depth in areas you shouldn’t quite be in yet.
With all of that said, the main appeal is still the art direction and atmosphere (like Eris). If those don’t draw you in, then there not much point to it even if the rest of it is competently done.
Also, if you’re a stone cold Super Metroid Hater, then yeah I can’t see you liking this.
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i’ve never known, do people hold run all the time when playing super metroid the way one does with mario? it seems like the mechanic works a bit different: rather than temporarily raising the limit on your max speed, it acts more like an accelerator pedal, where you retain inertia after releasing it. wondering since there have been a few jumps in this that require it
I do hold run most of the time. but it works like that in mario too doesn’t it? mario also carries inertia with him from a run, like, running and crouching to slide is a thing because of that
yeah, but he reverts back to regular speed after you release it for a bit, while samus remains at full speed until you stop moving or change direction. if i had to guess it’s probably because they didn’t want to make the speed booster jump sections hard to pull off with the odd (and customisable) button mappings
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oh, you mean like that. I’ve played through super metroid twice and never noticed the running stays after releasing… that actually sounds super useful
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I like this window camera logic, SMB3 is more or less the same.
I don’t know if this is better, but it’s pretty neat. Super Metroid’s camera actually moves with you in the direction you’re going, but at a faster speed…I think
I really adore the wall jump in Super Metroid, but I didn’t like running. Idk if this had anything to do with the camera though, maybe it was the screen real estate.
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[note: this is an excellent cite from Itay Keren (Mushroom 11)'s definitive analysis: https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ItayKeren/20150511/243083/Scroll_Back_The_Theory_and_Practice_of_Cameras_in_SideScrollers.php]
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Each is pretty well-suited to the game I think. SMW’s behavior of letting you go left a bit before moving the camera is probably for “taking a few steps back to prepare for a running jump” behavior that is natural in Mario. Then when you go left far enough it needs to correct more decisively with that big animation trigger.
I think the animation trigger in SMW is a little distractingly heavy-handed and in a more modern game you would see this kind of thing more continually connected to player movement instead of self-animating “out of control” after the trigger is hit, but otherwise it’s OK. (Indeed I see in the article that Cave Story does exactly this.)
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i think what i really don’t like in super metroid is turning around (except in midair or walljumping where it has a bit more of a decisive kick to it). when you hold a button in the opposite direction samus kind of takes a preliminary step during the turning animation, but immediately afterward has to build up her velocity from zero again. you can see the camera lurch a bit when you do this, though it’s just subtle enough an effect that i don’t really process the separate actions while playing, making the game seem jerky or unresponsive despite the rock solid framerate.
it’s even weirder if you’re running (particularly with the speed booster) as the game tries to smoothly slow you down during the swivel-around animation, but compresses this into the same window of time (around 10 frames) irrespective of the speed you’re going at. compare metroid fusion’s implementation, where samus is given the full time to skid to a halt from whatever velocity she was at before registering the command to move in the opposite direction. feels a lot more natural, to me
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yeah, the turn around animation is definitely the jankiest thing in super metroid. if it’s good for anything, it’s for unintentionally falling through moving platforms
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it looks cool when you catch samus in it and she’s staring at you right before the pause menu thouvh
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I really love the difference between a neutral and forward jump, I’d like to see more of that in non-fighting games.
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Last night I started playing Metroid 1 for the first time in earnest. I’m not using a map yet, but knowing what to expect has made it easier to navigate.
Samus is awkward, but I think not being able to crouch or aim downward make the encounters more engaging. Unfortunately, it seems as if she’s being corrupted by the alien technology and becoming more like a parasitoid. After getting the ice beam and while conserving rockets, she paralyzes the native life and lays her eggs on them.
I wish there was a quicker way to gain health, but dying doesn’t feel like a huge setback at least.
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ugh, i tried playing a fusion romhack and OF COURSE they figured out a way to remove the restriction on walljumping, then proceeded to make half the rooms consist of sheer vertical walls only traversable by having samus kick off from the wall, abruptly reverse course midair, meet the wall again higher up, and repeat this process over several times a second before your unbelieving eyes.
who is this gratifying for? it’s fiddly and repetitive to pull off, and it only trivialises the use of verticality in the level design. am i as a player supposed to feel freed; have they “fixed” the game by restoring this crucial part of the metroid experience? fusion has ladders, for god’s sake; you’re not fooling me into thinking i’m asserting any more “player autonomy” by performing this scrambly dance of button mashing when i already know you expect me to know how to do it because most of the time it’s the only thing i can do
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me, the wall-jump pervert
what hack was this btw? oil spill?
I haven’t played many GBA-troid hacks, but they have a reputation for being not very good. I get the sense that they’re being rated on a curve, moreso than the other games.
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Drawing even a crude in Metroid 1 as you go along I found really engaging and would recommend if you have a little notebook around. There are certain parts of it even that seem intentionally designed to fuck with you even when doing this and and getting your bearings of the world in spite of this was immensely satisfying for me at least.
One thing that did help a lot though when doing this was understanding an important technical limitation of the game namely rooms can only either scroll horizontally or vertically and will only switch this when entering doors.
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The health regain time becomes a real problem when you have like 5 etanks and still starting at 30 health. The farming for health near the elevator part of NES Metroid doesn’t have much to recommend it. I mean I guess it raises the stakes of dying but there are limits. Employing some sort of emulator cheat to regain health after dying wouldn’t be cheating yourself out of much.
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