Super Metroid: Darkholme Hospital
Release date: May 01, 2012
Author: Cloud12
Download: Version 2.0 [UH] (1595 downloads)
Genre: Quick Play [?]
Game: SM
Difficulty: Unknown [?]
Average runtime: 0:59
Average collection: 89%
Read Me: [None]
Forum Thread: Forum Thread
Rating: Star Star Star Star Star
Awards:
  • Top Hacks 2012: Most Creative Gameplay, Best Quick Play
Description
Credits and thanks :
I want to thank the precious help and advices from Quietus, Shadow96, Mon732, JAM, A_red_monk_called_key, and all peoples giving to me tips and solutions to my problems, collaborating with the community is something really pleasant. People like Shadow, Mon and JAM have worked actively on the hack with a lot of fixes and ideas to bring. I also want to thank all peoples following the progress of my project, guests and users of Metroid Construction. :)

Story :
Three years after the explosion of Zebes, Samus came back on Earth to investigate on strange events disturbing the Darkholme Hospital, a military medical complex build 50 years ago.

About gates :
- Blue Gate - Need a shoot or blast
- Red Gate - Need a missile
- Green Gate - Need a rocket
- Yellow Gate - Need an explosive
- Arrow Gate - Need to cross it with velocity
- Magnetic Lock Gate - when light at the top is red, shoot the shutter with magnetic key, and wait it turns to yellow and green to cross it
- White Gate - Need to shoot the shutter with Machine Gun
- Switched Off Gate - Always closed, or closing with delay

About blocks :
Blue Block - Need a shoot/blast
Green Block - Need a rocket
Yellow Block - Need an explosive
White Block - Need a blast
Red Block (in velocity room)- Need 80 missiles

About elevators :
Automatic elevator - Yellow - Classic elevators from Super Metroid.
Manual elevator - Green - Need a shoot/screw attack/blast to activate it.
It turns to automatic at the exit of Hospital.
Screenshots
Screenshot Screenshot
Ratings and Reviews
By thedopefish on Apr 02, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:03
Pretty fun hack with a different feel than usual. Very atmospheric. It's a pretty quick play if you're not trying to hunt down all the secrets. Also includes some neat replayability features by the inclusion of "keypatches", where you find codes hidden in-game and use them to unlock new .IPS patches that change the game in various ways.

There's not much variety in terms of environments, enemies, or music choices. Not that you should expect a lot, given the theme of the whole game taking place in a single building, but it is a thing.
By Bloodsonic on Apr 02, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
For the purposes of making an eerie hospital that gets creepier and creepier, not to mention out of good old super metroid tiles, this hack is a success.
Its flaws lie in the complete lack of enemy variety (it's almost literally one enemy through most of the game) and the unending ceres music that rapes your ears after the first two minutes. Good but could easily be a lot better.
By MetroidMst on Apr 02, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:00
Darkholme is a pretty bland hack in terms of visuals and enemies. Nearly no variety at all in that department. But, I give it an easy pass for that since it is absolutely located within one small area that the player is exploring. So it fits in a logical sense. But the hack is a really good, exploration filled, and somewhat challenging hack. The biggest issue is that the ship is the only save, and while you're never too far away, it would be nice to have a save right at the start of every level of the world, especially toward the end.

Would definitely recommend it for at least one playthrough, and the extra "keypatches" provide an interesting layer of playability no other hack has.
By Mon732 on Apr 04, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Darkholme sets a dark scene with it getting darker as you go deeper and some really nice area variation despite the same tileset being used throughout.
The enemies could be a bit more varied and the last area is a bit unfair, however this hack is pretty solid.
The addition of "keypatches" spices things up and lets you play this in a slightly different way.

Overall I give Darkholme a 4/5.
By squishy_ichigo on Apr 11, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
By Vismund Cygnus on Apr 20, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The hack fails to draw the player in by constantly breaking up the flow of gameplay with pointlessly contrived puzzles, and endless loop of boring music and average visuals, lackluster and repetitive enemies and a lack of save stations. That last one is particularly unforgivable when there are enemies that can kill you in one shot.
The keypatch idea was neat and well-implemented, however I can't recommend the hack for that one feature alone. Personally I'd avoid it.
By Hiroshi Mishima on Apr 30, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
81% in 0:02
The concept of Samus going in to investigate an abandoned hospital, closed under mysterious circumstances is a very appealing one. It's a small scale hack, and the whole "world" is just one complicated building. I liked the atmosphere, the amusingly renamed power-ups, and how Darkholme got.. well, darker the further down you went.

The teaser trailer for Darkholme 2.0 is what convinced me to try it out, I might add.

However, while the custom tiles look great, and there's certainly some good ideas in here.. it honestly felt like the thing could've used some more polish. The enemy variety is nearly nonexistence and the lack of save stations becomes a problem by the time you get to Level 4 or 5. It got increasingly annoying to have to drop everything and return to your ship.

But oh gods, the escape sequence.. it was worse than the old Redesign one. It made what would've probably been a good 4/5 score almost into a 1, but since I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the hack, I figured I'd be more reasonable.

I haven't even touched on the Keypatches because I have only found two of them so far. All they do is make the game harder, which isn't the sort of thing I'd be interested in. I've heard there's one for an alternate ending sequence, which hase me worried given when I read on the forums.

So yeah, great concept, loved the atmosphere. Had some cool ideas, but just needs some work, and an overhaul on the escape.
By Dynastyx on Jun 05, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:00
One of the best hacks I played so far. It's very creepy and has lots to explore despite being kinda small (half hack size). It is challenging and well paced, although a bit linear. Beat it multiple times due to the various ips patches to change a certain gameplay element (you can also stack them to add up the different changes).

Last part of the game was pretty hard, but not impossible. A great hack for those not afraid of a challenge that consists of more than just mockballs, shinesparks and tons of spikes.
By CrAzY on Jun 07, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack had only one major problem with it, in my mind. It is the lack of enemy variety. Everything else is really well made, It's a shame that this hack didn't live up to its true potential. I definitely recommend a play through, though.
By DeadSkullzJr on Jan 04, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This is one awesome hack, has the best creepy factor during the game, although I wish it had creepy custom music with it, but other than that was an awesome game!
By RT-55J on Sep 03, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I was enjoying this up until the very end, where the game just decided to throw an HP check at me. I dropped the hack like a bad date right then and there.
By hypercoyote on Nov 25, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
84% in 0:03
Right off the bat, I could tell that a good amount of time was spent on level layout. As others have mentioned, the enemy and music variety are almost non-existent. But there is a LOT of attention given to puzzles. My only grip at this point was that the only save station is your ship, which you have to travel all the way back to the surface to get to.

Up until the last area, like Hiroshi Mishima, I was really enjoying the game. It was the last area that really made me drop my rating from a 4 to a 3. The difficulty ramps up with one-hit kill enemies who just randomly appear and kill you. Combine this with the lack of save stations and you have a lot of repetition, which results in a very dissatisfied gamer. The ending sequence was clever, but it did not leave any room for mistakes and gave little to no hints or direction, which means you end up redoing it over and over until you get it right, which combined with the one save spot again, makes for a frustrated gamer. Apart from the punishing gameplay, I thought the way the escape sequence was done was clever, it just needed to provide the gamer with more direction and a closer save station would've really been nice.

Samus's no-suite sprite during the death sequence may have been edited to remove her clothes. I felt that was pretty tasteless and knocked another star off. If you want to make video game porn, post it somewhere else.

Finally, the keypatches was brilliant, in my opinion. As Hiroshi Mishima, I didn't even mess with them only because they are meant to make the game harder and quite frankly, after I beat it and suffered through all that, I didn't want to go back again with more difficulty. But I would love to see other patches implement something like this.
By Aran;Jaeger on Dec 08, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:48
[Watch Video]  
No animals to be saved.

Quick Summary of the meaning of my SM hack ratings:
5 orbs: SM hacks within the 80% to 100% (90% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; SM hacks for outstanding wholesome playing experiences and at most minor inconveniences.
4 orbs: SM hacks within the 60% to 80% (70% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Well done SM hacks with noticeable design problems.
3 orbs: SM hacks within the 40% to 60% (50% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Normal decent average SM hacks.
2 orbs: SM hacks within the 20% to 40% (30% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Overall messy, confusing, or punishing SM hacks with some upsides.
1 orb : SM hacks within the 00% to 20% (10% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Ruthlessly unplayable, broken, or barely from the original game changed SM hacks.

Judgement parameters summary:
° Creative ideas and features, polished design, how enjoyable and fun the hack can be, lack of hard to find or cryptic required game elements, the difficulty, and if the hack can be finished without major guides or tools.
° Note that the length of a SM hack will not necessarily contribute to my rating of the SM hack, since instead the averaged out experience over the whole hack will be taken into account to get a relative comparison between SM hacks.
° Besides this, lack of impactful changes from the original SM game also went into the evaluation of SM hacks (otherwise one may consider them among the 3 stars hacks) as follows: Ultimately, for my ratings I consider a situation in which an SM enthusiast that already has, knows about and is familiar with the original game and its prominent mechanics could only choose 1 new SM hack to play and thus would really want to make sure he/she will get a fresh and fantastic experience or journey out of his/her 1 choice.

The goal of all these SM hack ratings is so that rather new players have an overview of the whole spectrum of SM hacks and how to sort them in, in relation to each other, where SM hacks that are rated lower might still be enjoyable for more experienced players.

Finally, sometimes for SM hacks it can be relevant that they may be significantly more enjoyable from a player standpoint at which the player is well practiced and familiarized with Super Metroid's game mechanics in general, and that in particular some of the best SM hacks may not be the outright best first SM hack choices to play otherwise because of this, and for beginner SM hack players this typically steers the best first SM hack choices towards some of the SM hacks that I rated with 4 orbs instead of 5.

Rating for some hacks may be off by 1 Star, but arguably not more, and ratings are not attempted to be provided within the precision of ''half orbs''.
By VictoriaViper on Mar 09, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
83% in 0:03
(v2.0 reviewed)

I love when Metroid gets spooky, and when I heard someone had specifically made a horror-themed hack called Darkholme Hospital, I was eager to get my creep on.

The titular hospital has no save points. You can only save your game at your gunship. Thankfully, each floor of the hospital is fairly small, with all of them branching off from a central elevator that has your ship at the top. This means your save point is always just an elevator ride away. I know some reviewers complained about the scarcity of save locations, but I think it adds to the hack's tone, leaving you with only one truly safe place in the whole game world.

Things are pretty eerie in Darkholme during the opening minutes, partly thanks to the abundance of new background graphics. Things like signs and restroom stalls give the world a more lived-in feel than you typically expect from Metroid, which makes the quiet emptiness of the hospital's halls all the more creepy. There's no music on the first few floors of the hospital, just Ceres Station's humming roomtones. There's not even much in the realm of enemy encounters. It all feels like it's building you up to something scary.

Sadly, it doesn't quite work out that way. Instead of being spooked-out, you'll probably be spending a lot of time grumbling over the endless mid-air morphs and careful speed booster jumps you have to do just to get from room to room, while the backgrounds become more and more repetitive to look at. This isn't helped by the enemies, who are far more obnoxious than scary, and have very dull designs. If you're hoping for some Giger-esque terror-beasts, you're out of luck.

Speaking of enemies, there's very little variety to the baddies you'll encounter, and the enemies you face most often are the most annoying: they spawn endlessly, fly, home in on your movement, can pass through any and all objects, and often take more than one charged shot to destroy. One section tasks you with making careful jumps over a deep body of water before you get the gravity suit (or "immersion suit" as I think it's called in this hack), all while these things are ceaselessly spawning in over your head. You can eventually find an item that makes this section much more tolerable, which is a nice way of making the player feel power growth. Until then, it's just teeth-gnashing frustration and as you clunk your head against these pests and endure yet another slow, watery tumble to the bottom.

The hack also has trouble with visual conveyance in several instances: a dangerous-looking floor texture is actually just a harmless conveyor belt; a shootable node that looks exactly the same as the ones you usually bomb to open instead requires a completely different weapon; and you never see the magnetic key gates visibly change, as they simply become intangible when unlocked, requiring you to walk through a seemingly-solid object. (And for the record, having an item that's just a key is a crappy idea for a Metroid game. Yes, like keys, a lot of items in Metroid allow access to new areas, but they also do other things that make them useful during moment-to-moment gameplay. That's a big ingredient of why the series is so fun.)

And on the subject of confusing visual design, why was Samus's sprite modified so that she's nude when she dies? I mean, it's not like it's offensive, but it feels immature and out-of-place in this grim and spooky hack.

Still, it's not all bad. The background designs do gradually become more twisted and warped, working to deliver on the hack's early promises of horror. And there's one particularly harrowing segment near the end where you're temporarily barred from backtracking. You're forced to push forward through tunnels of dangerous, disorienting obstacles and incredibly deadly enemies, all while your HUD glitches out and makes it hard to gauge your status. If the whole hack could've offered this kind of weirdness and tension, it would've been amazing.

Also, special commendation has to be given to the final escape sequence. Instead of using the usual countdown timer, Samus's energy is constantly drained, meaning that instead of it just being a race back to your ship, it's also a race to the next health station. This results in a thrilling series of peaks and valleys in the tension, as you fumble desperately through the myriad obstacles, and then have a brief sigh of relief when the welcoming green light of the next health station comes into view. Admittedly, the solutions for circumventing some of these obstacles are rather arcane (heck, I beat the hack and I still don't know what triggers some of those doors to open), and you can probably end up totally screwed if you didn't find many energy tanks in your playthrough. Those concerns aside, it's still a very exciting way to cap off the story.

And I suppose I should mention the rather clever keypatch unlock system featured in Darkholme Hospital. You can find information terminals that will unveil a bit more of the backstory, and also give you special passwords to open the Keypatch ZIP files embedded in Darkholme's ZIP archive. These patches apparently have various effects, often making the hack more difficult, but I never actually bothered to try any of them. Still, if you really enjoy Darkholme, this is a good way to boost the replay value. That's assuming you can actually find these terminals, of course, since most of them are pretty difficult to access.

So, what to make of Darkholme Hospital? It's got a strong start, a strong ending and some pretty creative concepts, but with a fair share of mediocrity and irritating gameplay in the middle. I still had fun with it, and hope to see its sequel, Equinox, some day, but I can only hope its successor can iron out some of Darkholme's more tedious aspects.
By CaptRicoSakara on Apr 08, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:05
Call me crazy, but I like Darkholme Hospital for the ALIEN 3 vibe it gives me. The setting reminds me of Fury 161 from the film. It just has that "whole place is a basement" vibe.

The only beef I have with the game is getting the speedrun down below an hour to get the best ending, especially after I do a few reruns of the game and memorizing the room layouts. I just think that is kinda unfair for those who don't have all the special moves down, like wall jump and the diagonal aim speed run and shinespark. Personally, if it were my game, I would have the best ending available at below 1 hour 30 mins, instead of below an hour. Gotta think of those who don't have a mastery of the special moves. The only other beef is the 1-hit kills by the ghosts on level 6. I would NEVER allow that, even in a game that's meant to be challenging.

Overall, the design and item arrangement was good and spot on. The enemies are simple, even if they get tougher the more you go down each level. Also, some of the room designs add to the difficulty.

Nicely done, overall.
By Pixel_Tiger on Jun 26, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:03
Oh boy... this gonna be gud

First things first tho: The introduction got me really interested in this hack. Make sure to READ the README files to hype up your gameplay and not get stuck at the first gate like me. (The basics needed to proceed had to sink in a bit... lel)

This is NOT a typical Metroid hack packed with action!!! This one is more about EXPLORATION, SURVIVAL and DISCOVERING THE TRUTH.

The design and love for details is amazing. I loved every single thing my eyes caught on to. The items were placed in good spots, easy to spot and sometimes hard to find, but fair all the way to the end. Another thing to mention is... the ATMOSPHERE is amazing. It's gloomy, dark and you can't shake of this feeling that this hospital has some really dark secrets waiting for you <3

The first few rooms are a bit difficult to navigate through in terms of avoiding enemies. It's a life managing struggle until you find some E-Tanks. The only savestation you got is your SHIP, so make sure to stop by once in a while!!


NOW.... sadly there's a BAD part.. like.. for real.. and it has a name... THE MAGNETIC FIELD/TURBINES and THE ESCAPE.

I heard about the last part being unnecessary hard but I beg to differ. Throughout the leves, the enemies and the pace caught on as if the game wanted to prepare you for something... HARD. Once you reach lvl6 it gets HARD... but not in a way that it's unfair... no - just STUPID!

I REALLY liked the ghosts that can ONESHOT you. It made the whole experience EXPLODE with tension - but combine them with weird magnetic fields / turbines... and oh boy... it's beyond BAD - it's GARBAGE!!

IF YOU WANT TO ENJOY THIS HACK, PLAY UNTIL YOU REACH LVL6 - THEN GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE!!! (That's my advice)

I got oneshot by a ghost once because of my own lack of reasoning, that I will admit. But let ask you something: WHY WOULD IT BE A GOOD DECISION TO LET GHOSTS SPAWN IN AN ELEVATOR AREA?? I got some items, wanted to go up and while I was going up, a ghost spawned inside me.. killed me WHILE RIDING THE ELEVATOR!?!? STUPID.. plain.. and simply.. STUPID (by the way, the same thing CAN and WILL happen to you, if you're not watching out and just want to simply REFILL your health!!)

Secondly... WHAT'S WITH THAT UNNECESSARY STRONG TURBINE/MAGNETIC FIELD STUFF? Only way to get out of it is doin Bluesuit...which doesn't help if a ghost spawns near or inside you... BAD DESIGN AGAIN!

Last but not least, after reaching the boss room and killing the boss (I had 7 E-Tanks at that time) I couldn't figure out WHERE THE HELL I'M SUPPOSED TO GO. My life was draining way to fast to keep calm and check it out... after 5 tries I was so angry and fed up with it.. I asked someone to help me. Let me ask you again: WHO THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO PUT A TURBINE THINGY THAT KEEPS YOU TRAPPED WHILE GETTING HIT BY GHOSTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM WHERE YOU HAVE TO GO TROUGH TWICE, WHILE DYING OF DEADLY GAS LEVELS??? BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD!!!!


Summary: I really liked the hack and DID enjoy it until I reached the last stage/the end.. (thats why 4 stars!) - but it ruined the whole experience. I thought those EVIDENCE rooms where an optional secret like the readme files told you, but instead, you HAVE to get those (some are on the escape route) while ESCAPING or you can't DO THE ESCAPE!!! (THEN MENTION THAT IN THE FILES TOO!!! SO ANGRY >.<)
By Cpt.Glitch on Jul 12, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I only finished this because I did a blind race of it with a few people. (Though not everyone was playing blind.) Playing it in such a setting makes large sections of the hack less memorable already, so my review may be a bit skewed as a result.

The hack has great atmosphere and gets darker as you progress. Progression feels very rewarding and is not too challenging by itself. There are very few enemy/boss encounters unlike typical metroid games. As a result, the few existing enemies are dangerous and force you to be cautious in order to survive. Exploring and surviving is key. The last area and certain flooded portions of the hack were very annoying though. (insta-kill enemies are almost always dumb). The enemy that OHKOs at the end is also one that actively targets the player's position. Despite this, it's a pretty neat hack. Definitely one of the most atmospheric hacks out there.
By STYVUX on Mar 22, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Loved the atmosphere, exploration, and pretty much everything about this hack except the escape sequence which was terrible.
By benox50 on Feb 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I really like this author for his global hack concepts ideas and they are actually well executed. A mysterious derelic hospital that gets worse as you go deeper, this is so good as a concept for metroid I just love it. The big down is that everything felt repetitive visually and enemies variety is quite low. This was probably because he needed to pick the right SM content/assets to fit with the hack mindset.
By Alter_Arrow on Mar 31, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
71% in 0:00
I loved the atmosphere of the game and the usage of the music tracks and lighting getting darker the deeper into the hospital you went. Even though there was only really one type of enemy it didn't bother me as they had a sort of evolution the deeper into the ground you went, giving a sort of progression feeling. The one thing I didn't like however was the escape sequence. That is probably one of the worst escape sequences I have ever seen. Super unfun to try to navigate through.

Other than the one gripe I would say I generally enjoyed this hack.
By Metaquarius on Jun 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 2:19
Excellent hack from Cloud!
Lack of save stations is annoying and some rooms are more cramped than they should be.
Spy Mode keypatch is really interesting for a second playthrought. Combine it with others if you want more difficulty (except Generator Off which I reasonnably can't recommand)
By DramaticMarquinh0svi on Dec 23, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 1:05
Really good hack,there are passwords that are hints to new stuff to the hack,thats amazing,it can make the second playthough different,i liked it,but the escape sequence is too hard,you need to be fast,like quite fast,this is very hard,the damages are too high,but still,very cool,i like it,almost got to 5/5,but it got 4/5.
By shaktool7 on Jul 09, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
60% in 3:50
not enough plague doctors [87
By Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
There's no save stations which gets really frustrating at the lower levels of the station. The constant drone of the SFX in the background really gets to me, and some of the enemies are way more difficult than they should be. Especially the ghosts...and the escape. However, the hack itself is really well made for what it has and has some really cool stuff with a rather cramped map.
Y-Faster 2 Fast paid a good tribute to this hack though, I must say.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
By KaptenR on Jul 09, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
76% in 1:37
[Watch Video]  
Sweet short interesting hack! The story is nice. Things/environment are looking really cool!
Liked that it got scarier and scarier. There is some challenge and some nice fun puzzles to solve too.

All the gate stuff made me a bit confused, magnetic key etc, I thought I had to do some timing or something, and I did not know if I had missed something or if the item came later (which it did)
but it turns out it was just normal grappling to open the gate, nothing complicated hehe.
One annoying thing was in the start (level 1).
I had no idea that some of the gates where time gates. therefore I first assumed that the there where no timed gates,
thus I spent a lot of time lost not finding where to go. It should be shown somehow that there are timed gates that you need to
hurry inorder to progress.

Other than that very nice hack!! I am giving the hack 3.5 / 5.
By Zincoshine on Aug 22, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
When I started this up, I was wowed by the modded title screen, then the modded intro, then the modded and well-done graphics at the start. I thought maybe I had finally found a super metroid based metroidvania that can compete with all the great metroid zero mission metroidvanias that have been made. Instead, it turns out this is just a precision platforming metroidvania that relies on really advanced techniques instead of combat to progress. It reminds me of unbound: worlds apart butnot as well designed. If you come across an obstacle that you don't know how to get through then you're stuck and that's exactly what eventually happened to me. It's a real letdown, this could have been both a great mod and a mod that teaches the player how to do advanced techniques but instead its basically just a challenge hack exclusive for the speedhackers on metconst. Still, I'm giving this 3 orbs for the excellent customization and high-quality feel. I'm not giving it a recommendation though.

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