Sapphron's Ratings and Reviews
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Metroid + Saving by snarfblam [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Project Base 0.8.1 by begrimed [SM Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Yeah, it's good. Surprised I haven't reviewed it yet. Basically the Super Metroid hack that everyone should play.
retroactively rated, don't remember IGT/%
Super Metroid: Subversion by TestRunner and AmoebaOfDoom [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 04, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 7:39
Absolutely incredible. No complaints.
10/10
Also if I said anything then that would spoil stuff and I can't let that happen
Super Metroid CRE 2 by Tundain [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Aug 31, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:18
Excellent quick play.
It's CRE 1 but somehow better. Level design is improved, cool concepts, and most importantly the actual CRE. It's super impressive. Everything in the hack is CRE just like last time, and it looks great here. You should be proud, Tundain. It's rather short but is just long enough to warrant a quick play and can be sat down for in about 30 minutes and finished.
Finished.
Highly recommend.
Super Metroid CRE by Tundain [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Apr 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 0:38
I mean, the map is shaped like a CRE block. 5 stars for that alone, man.
The block art is super well done and same with the enemies. Pretty short but it does what it does really well. There are a couple secrets (one required)that I had a really hard time finding the answer to due to a misleading block but eventually found it.
Finished.
Recommend.
SM - Cryogenesis by Onnyks [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
96% in 3:13
Absolutely incredible. DMan-esque as Syphon said, so much fun to play.
Finished.
Highly recommend.
Super Metroid Arcade : Endless mode by Lioran, Tewtal [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Good to kill a few hours. Basically functions as a randomizer with quite a few different settings. If you like this, you might want to check out the Route Randomizer.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
Spooky Mission 2: The Nightmare Before Christmas by Spooky Team [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jan 08, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 4:07
Excellent hack! The largest ZM hack we've had to date, and it's a really interesting adventure. Lots of cool puzzles and rooms, music is great, not too difficult either. Highly recommend!
Super Duper Metroid by Metaquarius, Daltone [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jan 06, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 4:36
Really impressive that a mirror mode and randomizer were built into the ROM, huge props for that.
A Super Duper solid hack with lots of secrets and basically no intended path.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Hotlands by MetroidNerd#9001 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 27, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 0:54
Excellent short hack! The music arrangement is really well done along with the custom tracks. Level design is top notch as usual from MetroidNerd, and it's just really fun to play through overall.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid YPX by YP [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jun 07, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 4:17
Really fun! Instakill spikes were less than desirable but didn't cause too many deaths fortunately. A lot of cool walljump speed booster puzzles, new areas, and new graphics. One thing I didn't like was that I could see vanilla SM room design in certain rooms, but it usually wasn't an issue, just something I noticed. Good exploration though.
Finished.
Recommend.
WHERE ARE THE ANIMALS
Polarity by Oi27, Moehr [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on May 06, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 1:47
Excellent hack. Super creative use of room elements, custom music, graphics, etc. It's definitely an aesthetic hack, and it's good for what it does. Story was a little odd and some of the rooms made no sense moehr-style, but that's okay. Especially the xenoparasite rooms and the outbreak system...given that it's a contest hack, I give it 5 stars for the speed and the effort put into it.
So Little Bubble by Conner [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:09
Fun and short; very impressive how much he got done in such a short amount of time. Would recommend.
Metroid: Scrolls 6 by Conner, OneOf99, CaptGlitch, JRP [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:45
Great music, great areas, not much more to say. Probably the best long ZM hack today.
V I T A L I T Y by Digital_Mantra [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Oct 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
91% in 5:25
[Watch Video]  
What more is there to say that hasn't been said already? The experience was incredible especially when doing zero sequence breaks. I feel like that's the thing that pushed this above and beyond, nothing felt out of order. I never got stuck for more than 20 minutes; lots of QOL changes and massive rooms, virtually no lag, etc. It's crazy. If you have the time, beat it a second time. It makes a lot of the experience more understandable, at least for me.
Playing this as blind as you can also helps the experience, along with understanding the lore of a certain movie franchise.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Pit of 100 Trials by MetroidNerd#9001 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Oct 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
84% in 2:06
Very well done! Normal Mode was quite easy in most parts, but some parts it was definitely deserving of Veteran difficulty. Lots of shortcuts if you were to die and it's just fun to trek through all the rooms again, super OP.
Hard Mode was...very difficult, only died once due to a purposefully-caused scroll glitch. Difficulty was well-balanced, enemies have a lot of special vulnerabilities if you're willing to look for them. Almost none of the rooms felt super unfair, and the boss fights were rather easy to be honest.
Highly recommend if you're looking for a new, very different experience although rather short and 100% linear.
Temple of the Winds by Moehr and Albert V. [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:49
Best hack of 2020 (or Vitality, or Y-Faster 2).
Tons of custom ASM and an unforgettable experience overall. Tilesets make the world come alive and the music is legendary.
Play this.
Super Metroid: Y-Faster 2 Fast by Metaquarius [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Apr 13, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
101% in 2:00
Oh my god...one of the best hacks to exist so far. Takes a few pretty good hacks (and one special one, in particular)and puts mini versions of each of them in each given area. It works out perfectly. I won't spoil which areas are which, because that takes the fun out of it.
I beat this on my second try, first one was full of exploring and getting lost in the world which I really liked. Timer was surprisingly tight, but I did go for hundo to be fair. Thanks to Meta for helping out with the last few items in chat.
The whole experience felt somewhat surreal because I'd already played these hacks before (4 of the 5 base ones)and it was just done so well. Lots of ASM hacks that made the environments fit in a few areas and the physics of original Y-Faster too.
No softlocks, one hardlock in the special area I mentioned so don't go grappling red pirates like a dunce.
Honestly, you won't get nearly as much enjoyment out of this hack as you would if you'd played most of the hacks that are present.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid: Oil Spill by Spedimus [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 17, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 2:30
[version 1.5]
The best Fusion hack that will exist for a long time, I believe. Nonlinearity is executed extremely well, and nothing felt jank like it did in C.L.E.A.N. Station. Beams unfortunately suck, but it's a good thing actually! I used my missiles all the time which is what they're for. Everyone always uses the beams in Fusion instead of those.
The Cargo Hold's tileset was made entirely custom by Sped himself, and it looks great. Other tilesets are recolored/repaletted well. SA-X chases are well-implemented and don't feel shoehorned in at all. Mega-X fight is godly, too. That brings me into another point, the bosses in this hack are excellently balanced to fit their terrain well and don't really discourage you from killing them if you come in with bad upgrades or whatnot.
Overall, excellent hack. I recommend to all.
Max% is 48%, but v1.5 scales it up to 100%.
Metroid Mother Visibility Rearranged and Compactified by metalmight [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:37
What kkzero said. This was an excellent vanilla hack. Made the original game a million times more fun to play! Getting out of item rooms was neat as they actually used the gimmicks that the items provided. Navigation wasn't hard, graphics were gud, 10/10.
Finished.
Recommend.
time is rta
Super Metroid Clocktoberfest by Aran;Jaeger, moehr [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 2:05
This lovechild of Aran;Jaeger and moehr will blow your mind away. Everything is unique in this hack, and it definitely has a Castlevania vibe to it. All the items are altered in some way and the music is mostly from Castlevania I believe. Visuals are mindblowing if you can stand the colors.
This is an experience you will never forget.
Finished.
Recommend through the roof.
Eris by Digital_Mantra [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 09, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
95% in 4:31
Hard and beautiful. Excellent challenge/exploration hack.
Play it.
One Room ZM hack (ing-ing) by ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jan 12, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:10
Simple little hack! One of Ing's best.
Metroid SR387 by OneOf99 and NathanTech [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:22
Excellent hack!
Loved the custom music and custom graphics. Phazon Mines was my favorite area.
The fast-paced section before getting Ice Beam was really fun. It was difficult, but I really liked it. Also, it turns out that the Research Facility's music is corrupted but the creators decided to keep it in! Thought that was interesting.
Vanilla physics, massive world to explore with a lot of fun and massive rooms. You have to search for some minor items if you wanna live, but I love exploration so it wasn't a problem.
Ridley fight, on the other hand, was really bad. Crumble blocks on the floor just make it so I can sit in the bottom farming missiles waiting to kill him. He can't even hit me down there, a boss rework would be good honestly. Kraid was fine.
I feel like there wasn't much sequence breakability, but I played it how the creators intended I think.
Overall, extremely fun hack and I think everyone should play this if they have 2-3 hours to spare.
Finished.
Metroid II EJRTQ Colorization 1.3 by Quantam [M2 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Nov 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 3:14
Solid color hack! Breathes life into the game. My first playthrough, and it definitely enhanced it.
Metroid - Rogue Dawn by Grimlock, Optomon, snarfblam [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Nov 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
94% in 1:47
Wow. Just wow.
So far, the best NEStroid hack to exist.
It has Metroid + Saving applied to it. Custom hud, ENTIRELY custom graphics, amazing music, new level design, many flaws of the original game fixed. And new items! You won't believe what this hack has in store for you. I cannot recommend it enough.
10/10
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid: Wart's Invasion by AlexAR [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Oct 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:58
This hack is extremely good. If you like NEStroid, you'll love this.
Metroid: Wart's Invasion takes a rather linear approach to progression, and executes it very, very well. Every sprite you can find is custom, and some optional items are hidden but not too many. Searching around was fun and I didn't feel bored during it, even though each area was about the normal size like in vanilla, but was still great.
I highly recommend this. One of the best NEStroid hacks around, I promise.
Finished.
time is rta
Super Metroid: Y-Faster by Metaquarius [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Oct 06, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 0:51
Very nice speed-based hack. Palettes are good, level design is good, music is good, what more can you ask for? Walljumping is nice and Spring Ball is OP.
Metroid - Mission 187 by Odb718 [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:48
Incredible hack.
This hack had some very good palettes, a little bit of unusual exploration, but held up really well. It starts off very slowly, but the pace ramps up shortly after. Metroid + Saving means that you get Ice+Wave, saving/keeping your health, and a fully custom map. Crazy.
100% recommend.
Finished.
time is rta
SMChallenge by SMILEuser96 [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
113% in 0:10
I LOVED this hack.
The items having ZERO fanfare was amazing and everything got straight to the point, item collecting was a breeze and being able to navigate so fluidly was so much fun.
The final boss fight. Oh my. I kind of feel bad for the little guy but he got what was coming.
10/10.
Super Metroid: YPR by YP [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 23, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 4:15
This hack did (almost)everything right for me. The palettes + foreground effects were beautiful. Tiling made it seem like a much older hack but it did it well. Some puzzles were genius and I felt really smart figuring them out. Shinespark was slowed down too, which I am indifferent on. There's pixel art in a few different areas of different game characters, they look really well done. The boss rush at the end of the hack was quite interesting and definitely a new experience, not one I've seen before.
One thing I did not like was how the path to Phantoon was laid out. Your answer is in a wall somewhere and I felt that the surrounding area wasn't a very good way to indicate where you had to go.
Overall, I really enjoyed the eccentricity of this hack and I definitely recommend this to other people.
(I'm not sure why some people rated it so lowly, it's an amazing halfhack)
Sigma++ by Silver_Skree [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:20
This was a delightful hack to play through! The level design was really nice in some parts, the speed at which you gain bluesuit was very good, progression was nice, custom suit colors and hud, etc.
I definitely recommend trying this out if you have an hour to spare! You won't regret it!
Sadly, no ending though.
time is rta
Super Metroid: Recovery by MetroidNerd#9001 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 2:26
It's good. Felt like a new experience with Tourian and the areas were very well-crafted and clearly thought out very carefully. Highly recommend.
Super Metroid: Ascent by Benox50 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on May 28, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 6:50
Low% is accounted for in this hack, which earns it a big thumbs-up in my book.
The room names are very unique
Respin
Door unlock system and warp stations for each zone
Good item progression
Lots of puzzles that make you think

Play this.
New Wet Dream by TROM [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 13, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
145% in 8:55
This is definitely one of my favorite hacks.
The title is misleading, as this is actually a halfhack of Super Metroid: Life, while using some of Wet Dream's tilesets, but it's still extremely well done.
TROM's unique and astonishing graphical abilities strike again, and exploration is phenomenal. The progression isn't very linear, so you can go to many places.
I highly recommend this hack to anyone who has a few days to spare, you won't regret it.
Super Metroid Nature by Jefe962 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 25, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 0:00
Hands down, the best vanilla hack that I have played. Go check this out now, it'll be worth it.
So Little Garden by MetroidMst [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 0:53
Not enough shaktool
Hud looks really nice
Plenty of hidden items and ice's gimmick is really cool
Music was also really nice
Metroid: Falling by TN [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Bosses are hard, but if you take them on late enough they shouldn't be too much of a problem. The item progression is unlike any other that I've seen so far, it was really creative. The exploration and possibilities for sequence breaks were also great. Highly recommend this hack but watch out for bosses.
Hyper Metroid by RealRed [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 5:51
Only gripe was waiting so damn long for a certain item.
Tourian gates didn't take too long to find and the game opens up a ton after supers.
Escape was really nice.
Super Metroid: Arrival by Jefe962 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
101% in 2:13
Honestly beautiful. Nothing was too hard to find, music was great, really liked the physics changes, graphical changes made me feel like I was in the world.
SM Redesign: Axeil Edition by Drewseph [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
96% in 0:00
I don't know what to say about this hack that hasn't been said already, but I really liked it.
The Early Power Bomb Challenge is a really nice touch, too.
Opposition by mccad [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Unfortunate that it's unfinished, but what's here is really good and impressive. Really recommend you give it a shot, worth it even in this state.
Finished.
Recommend.
retroactively rated
One Mind by FreyasSpirit [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Works really well, witnessed a playthrough at SGDQ this year (4p2c!!). Like BlackMage said, there are potential issues with seeing who's really controlling Samus at a given time, but it does switch every second so it's not much of an issue.
Global Warming by Noxus [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jun 17, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
99% in 3:25
Unique halfhack with a gimmick that's pulled off really well. Very neat redesigns of rooms and the water movement doesn't feel insanely sluggish, and provides good practice for underwater physics and such.
Some passages are entirely unhinted which can be frustrating and somewhat pointless, but that's really my only nitpick. It's a neat one, give it a shot.

Finished.
Recommend.
Hallow Eve by Grime [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
24% in 0:03
Very cool challenge hack! Super short and very doable with a half hour to spare, gets really fun on repeat attempts as you get more confident and quicker. Would be a fun speedrun.

Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Black Plague by JamieWebb16 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
21% in 0:00
Good atmosphere, fun little hack. Physics changes aren't too bad and it's not difficult, good to play if you wanna waste 20 minutes.

Finished.
Recommend.
a nice place visit by neen [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jan 01, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
26% in 1:39
Neat hack!
A lot of the level design in this hack is extremely unusual but it goes quite well with the hack. It's something I haven't quite seen before, and has some really interesting things in store. Some decently advanced tech is required but you don't need all of it to beat the game. All in all, a nice place visit.

Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid Alliance by Mentlegen, Tundain, Dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 1:20
Good quick play hack. Custom music is nice, and there's plenty of content. A lot of the rooms are quite samey but it allows the hack to have more room and more exploration feel overall. Rather nonlinear which is always a plus but like mentioned before does have a huge difficulty spike toward the end. The contest's theme was certainly shown in the hack and done well for what it was, but I would have liked to see more fleshed out use of it. Overall, it's a neat and quick hack to spend a couple of hours on.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Ethical Metroid by dewhi100 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 1:25
Really good hack. I'm a huge fan of vanilla-style hacks such as Legacy, and this one satisfies my liking for that. It's quite unique and has its own unusual area which can be quite a pain to navigate if you're stubborn. It gets easier. Level design is great and you can tell which rooms are from where in the original game, but they are definitely massively changed around. The thumbnails don't really show what this hack is, so I recommend you play it to find out yourself.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid: Extraction by Conner, Exister, Raygun [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Apr 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:30
Cool short hack! Made in 24h, very impressive. Music's good and there are a lot of rooms for how short it is. Hard mode's boss is a bit difficult and you might need some patience to get through it.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid Fugue on Globe by JaceTheBodySculptor [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Apr 01, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
98% in 3:19
If you're willing to butt your head against a wall for a while, there's a very unique hack in store for you here.
The tiling style and the rooms are super weird but in a way I liked. The ASM is very well done with a couple hiccups and crashes, saves are frequent enough for the crashes not to be much of an issue but I really hope they get resolved, obscure as they are.

Some of the roomstates are incredibly frustrating, especially the ones with the wind. You can find yourself blocked off from a boss entirely, which is annoying when you're basically done with the area and just want to fight it and leave. Heat also stops you from doing a lot of the things you want to. Also, did I mention the bangs??
The item progression is almost entirely nonlinear and like Sickwood said you can get early-game items super late (and vice versa)which can be really rewarding or offputting depending on how you play. Major items also have no special rooms for the most part, you really just find them sitting somewhere in an orb in a room. I'm used to the typical dedicated item room for something and said item being required for something close by, but not in this hack. I guess that has to do with the rooms changing for each weather cycle.

Overall, this hack can be pretty polarizing and confusing but it can also be a really interesting romp and wow you with some of the custom stuff.
Finished.
Kind of recommend. (once again, what kind of player you are matters)
Harvest by Oi27 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Apr 01, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
39% in 2:18
Really weird hack, I liked it.
Unique music and areas with some really well-utilized mechanics.
Strawman buddy was very cool and unexpected, and there are a few nice twists. Final boss is a bit hard, died once or twice but easy to get the hang of, especially with enough e-tanks. Pretty good replayability with not too much linearity and cool paths.
Recommend.
Finished.
second playthrough was 1:42 71%
Suber Meptroid (DEMO) by Exister [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
25% in 0:33
Really nicely done!! This is a really good hack for a demo, it's got some great stuff in it. Items are placed very well and don't feel super obtuse to get to. It's kind of a jokey hack too, with its unfinished status and the last screenshot. Lots of stuff you can do in this, and I'm excited to see what Exister comes up with in the future!
Finished w/ true ending.
Recommend.
Super Metroid Biohazard by Mentlegen, SMILEuser96 [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 2:03
Quite good, if really repetitive at times.
Progression isn't quite too obvious but there are a lot of things that make up for it, like the excellent custom tracks and GFX use. Really liked this for its flaws, and especially since it was so large for something made in 6 months!
Finished.
Recommend.
SMConflict by SMILEuser96 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
A smiley hack through and through. Lots of hidden items and plenty of ASM stuffs. I do wish it was longer, though.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
B2-TW by Grime [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Fun and very short morph challenge hack. Final boss could be a little difficult if you didn't get all the tanks.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
Ancient Chozo by Albert V. [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Beautiful graphics, Albert V. is crazy with this stuff. Same with Temple of the Winds, really. It's still a halfhack though and is on PB 0.7 which I can't really blame him for, but just something to note.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
Super Metroid: Advent by Shadow96 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Saving at the ship causes you to fall OOB for some reason, but reloading fixes it. Just in case anyone has an issue with that. (unfortunately wipes the map though :/)
The lush scenery is super well done and the hack isn't too long, beam doors can be a little annoying with needing to change. I believe you can do the VAR beam glitch to get both activated at the same time to open doors if you'd like. A good short romp with some beautiful rooms.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
Reimagined by SavageWizzrobe [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Vanilla-style full hack. It's actually pretty good, more than I used to give it credit for. I think finding Ice was quite hard for some reason. Item puzzles are good and stuff. Brinstar was bigger than I'd like it to be personally, maybe some other areas deserved some love. I remember Norfair being pretty weird too. But, if you're looking for a full hack similar to vanilla you're in the right place.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
Super Metroid: Darkholme Hospital by Cloud12 [SM Quick Play], rated 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
Searching for Items by Terimakasih [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I think this was one of the first hacks I ever played! Good memories.
It's a really easy hack with very amateur design but the main part of the hack makes up for it. You'll be looking for items in every room and you'll probably find one! It's a good hack for how old it is.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
Super Metroid: Escape II by Hiroishi [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
106% in 2:40
I played the hard mode of this first, total disaster. Really wouldn't recommend that. If you go on normal mode, there's a super cool hack in store. The blue theme can feel quite old after a while but the hack has some nice hex tweaks and design. I didn't like the shinespark control personally, but I think that's just a personal thing. Warp area is nice for such a big planet. Not too difficult either.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated from 2018
stats from my speedrun
Super Metroid Exertion by Mentlegen [SM Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
33% in 0:38
[Watch Video]  
Nice hack! Fit the theme well, and didn't overstay its welcome. The equipment additions were cool but did feel a bit shoehorned in. Custom music is good, level design is good, good hack. Only problem is that the hack crashes when grabbing Gravity Suit on SNES Classic, so I either needed a custom patch or to play on a different emulator.
Finished.
Recommend.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from April 2, 2019
Metroid: The Blue Plague by Nodever2 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:45
[Watch Video]  
Pretty good contest hack. The warehouse area was a great palette although it did feel quite long. The blue theme of it was executed well, but the ending was a little buggy and you could actually stop the escape timer if you wanted to. Overall, a nicely themed quick contest hack with some good graphics and exploration.
Finished.
Recommend.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from April 3, 2019
Metroid: Odyssey of Aran Demo by Caldw3ll [MZM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jan 08, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
49% in 1:27
Really nice hack! The narrative/text is a neat touch but it does get kind of long sometimes. Level design was fine although there were a lot of tiling errors and various bugs, such as music stopping after saves/map stations and such. Progression was neat and allowed for lots of sequence breaking, and it has an ending!!
Finished.
Recommend.
GR2 Halfhack2 by GR2 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 06, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
87% in 3:56
This is an excellent hack with a lot of ASM and love put into it. Even though it's a total halfhack it changes around nigh-everything that you can do, while still maintaining a major amount of non-linearity which is always welcome. Multiple ways to get to each item, and things usually aren't locked off. I had a hard time finding supers and to speak to that nonlinearity that didn't matter at all in the long run. Custom text and the HUD is very welcome making the hack feel quite original on top of everything. Highly recommend if you want a challenge and have decent knowledge of Super Metroid's tech. Unfortunately, there are a few glitches, potential softlocks/permastucks and stuff that hasn't been totally ironed out, and the fact that it's also a halfhack holds it from being a 5-star hack.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Unambitious by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 05, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:26
Really good for someone's first hack! A few tiling errors are littered throughout and the design feels a bit samey, but overall it's a quick little venture that's not too difficult. Some may find Draygon to be a bit more difficult than normal however due to the lack of Charge but the fight is totally manageable. Good hack!
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid Ruin by personitis [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
70% in 0:14
Short hack with a bit of grappling and a couple boss fights. Atmosphere is done well and the game isn't too hard for what it puts in front of you.
Finished.
Recommend.
Mintroid by Golden Warrior [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 0:17
Pretty short hack, and it's pretty good too. The mint theme doesn't exactly hurt your eyes which is a good thing, and the theming is rather clever. Not much else to say that anyone else hasn't!
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Y-Faster 2 Furious by Metaquarius [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Jul 11, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
77% in 1:59
Show me your moves!
This is meta's second Y-Faster 2 hack, in which he takes 5 hacks and mashes them all into one game and somehow makes them work. The hack is done really well like last time, although a bit of a departure from what we saw in Fast. Not sure which one I liked more as they're both incredibly unique. Heavily recommend if you've played some of the hacks here, although I'd only played 3/5 before starting.
Super Metroid: Federation Force by Metaquarius [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Jun 30, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
this gets a metconst/10
finished, recommend :)
Super Metroid: Infiltration by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 23, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
39% in 2:08
Really, really fun hack. Only downsides are redesign physics and the fact it's not finished.
Has really good room design, fun world to explore, good palettes, etc. my favorite part was the Tourian area.
Lots of sequence breaks too, was able to get about half of my major items by sequence breaking. Pretty cool!
Not a lot of bugs, rather solid game as a whole. Shame it wasn't finished, I would love to see the finished product of this.
Finished.
Recommend.
Escape from Planet Metroid by Sylux [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 23, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
62% in 1:35
Very well done.
Super nonlinear, I recommend doing what webber said and go back into Red Brinstar. It makes the game playable and fun, basically.
The sequence was quite nice, and for something that came out in 2012 and was supposed to be a first experience with hacking was really good. Unfortunately, the water section dragged on with quite a few secrets (couldn't find progress post-boss).
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: space Junk (Not Contest Ver.) by Crystal Knight [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on May 22, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 0:55
Fun contest hack! Sticks to the theme quite well, and it's a lot of fun to play.
Pretty compact map and really nice graphics, fun room design etc.
Finished.
Recommend.
SMContention by SMILEuser96 [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on May 18, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 0:14
Very fun hack. Some hard hitting enemies, be careful in the seizure section. Really easy to get underpowered at the end boss like Syphon said. Lot of secrets too!
Finished.
Recommend.
Melancholia IV by FullOfFail [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 18, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
86% in 1:03
I had to check myself, this hack truly is 20 rooms.
Really fun to play. Liked the dark aesthetic, a lot of good room design piggybacking on that low room count, and many hidden items. Final section's a bit confusing, but everything else is good.
Finished.
Recommend.
The Adam Virus by Crystal_Knight [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 18, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 0:16
I found an OOB situation early on, but other things were fine. Pretty interesting hack with a lot of secret items in it, neat environments and good use of the one tileset that was in it.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid Yp -Hell- by Emodoran [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 16, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:13
29 deaths.
That was a hard one! Super unique with its challenges, really nice visuals, and well-done. Lots of one-shot enemies and tight platforming, and the final boss was rather difficult until I found the unhinted secret item and its weakness.
Finished.
Recommend.
Volta by FirePhoenix [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on May 16, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:25
Really fun little hack, really has the old hack vibe to it. Colorful landscapes, fun rooms to progress through, this was a nice adventure. Shame that neither of the screenshots are rooms we get to play :(
Recommend.
time is rta
SM Weekend III by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
95% in 0:26
Pretty good for its shortness, easy to die in acid in one of the rooms.
Good for something made in 48h, especially with ASM stuffs.
Cider Demo by Cardweaver [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Aug 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:30
This review SHOULD be from July 24, 2020. I forgot to write it then.
Really nice demo! Thanks to cardweaver I was able to get a more updated version of this hack...
And yes, he is still working on it. Getting closer!
Has some incredible ideas, good palettes, suitless underwater is fine, it's just a very good playthrough overall.
Highly recommend.
I don't know where the demo actually ends for the one here, but mine ended right before Ridley/Plasma Beam.
Did not finish.
Recommend.
Return of Justin by squishy_ichigo [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 26, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:15
An excellent hack for what it is. Takes Metroid: Zero Mission and imports it into Super Metroid along with a bit of custom ASM.
The graphics are very excellent and definitely take some time to get used to. They grow on you though.
Some of the progression is kinda late and the game ends at Chozodia very abruptly.
For what it does have, it's a very good hack.
Could not finish.
Recommend.
time is rta
Samus vs. Karid-X by RT-55J [M1 Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:09
Nice short M1 hack. Easy for anyone to get into! It's a great introduction and the tiles are fantastic.
Level design is well done and it was just enjoyable overall.
Finished.
Recommend.
time is rta
Samus Goes To The Fridge To Get A Glass Of Milk II by kkzero [M2 Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:08
melk
Metroid: Expedition Z by DarkSamus [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 1:07
Really, REALLY cool contest hack!
Felt quite nonlinear but it was actually pretty linear, for what the creator wanted you to do.
No locked escape doors, some really cool item puzzles here and there (one crumble grapple though, ew!).
Level design is top notch, but some tiling errors and collision issues are kinda sucky. There are 2 softlocks in the escape, but nowhere else. Can tell that it was completely rushed right at the end just to get it out in time.
Regardless, one of the best contest hacks ever.
Finished.
Recommend.
Oxide by Cyclamen32 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 03, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
172% in 1:30
Neat hack, kinda funny.
Highlight of the hack is having 575 missiles everywhere and the absurd amount of pickups that are present all around the map. Fun playthrough.
Can honestly kill Kraid, Draygon, or Phantoon first if you'd like. Very nonlinear.
Finished.
Recommend.
Event Horizon Demo by DSO [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jun 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Absolutely incredible graphics. Gameplay is interesting, but it really shines graphical-wise. Saving at the high-gravity zone causes you to hardlock for whatever reason (you can't get out no matter what).
Did not finish.
Recommend.
Metroid Auto by anonymous [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
53% in 0:02
Much better than Super Metroid Automatic. This actually has some neat ideas in it :D
Worth checking out. It stops at the baby's room, but I was actually able to beat it by having 350-450 HP after GT's room where it forces a spark. You stop in the landing site and you can leave.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid RBO GR2 by GR2 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
83% in 5:07
Hack with some unique ideas. Certainly better design-wise than aigamerDS' RBO series. Cool to figure out the puzzles and locations of all the items, but I got stuck at GT for a long time before realizing that my method takes too much damage. (hint: there's one TAS-only way to do it and one RTA-doable way to do it. You have all the items you need at that point.)
Bosses get harder and it makes sense, because normally in RBO they would get easier as you went on. Phantoon has been buffed a decent amount. I really didn't like the room before vanilla Speed Booster hallway, with the huge maze. My mistake was coming there without Varia instead of exploring elsewhere cuz I was being dumb. Come back there with Varia. Spore Spawn was really hard, but you can actually get him down in a pattern as long as you stay focused-ish.
Other than that, some of the stuff here was laid out incredibly well and was fun despite being really hard.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid Gathering by Leodox [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Apr 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
34% in 0:49
Good hack. This feels kind of like a boss rush, but a lot of neat stuff in between. A few puzzles and some really good room design. Didn't feel stale which is unusual!
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid: Recovery Mission by alexman25 [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Apr 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:29
bubble, gun
seconds igt
Super Metroid Kaizo Possible by Lioran [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Mar 28, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
43% in 4:24
Finished, savestateless.
Excellent challenge hack. This is more than just a spike hack, even though that's what the screenshots show. Exploration is very open but you don't actually have many places to go, it's very linear except for a few unintended sequence breaks. This hack excels at what it goes for, and I'm so glad that I played this. It was amazing. A quick note, no e-tanks in this hack. Almost all ammo you can get is required. And if you want to make it a little easier on yourself, there's the spoiler log. I used it because it's nearly impossible to figure out where to go on your own for some of the hack, and ptoil made a map that marks all the missile locations, here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TXrs5Euxxzf7YPVZHV-ISgAY5muBEaug I also used that. Thanks to Lioran for fixing this hack up and making it fun!
Finished.
Do not recommend (without savestates).
Metroid Subzero by Conner [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Mar 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:26
Good
Angry Remnants by DSO [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 1:04
Amazing hack! DSO's tiling work is always beautiful and a sight to behold. Oddly enough, I played this before AFC.
AngryFireChozo-esque physics are shown off in this hack, and dang are they wonky. They're good though!
Lots of items to collect, not too insanely hard, but lots of permastuck possibility due to Boost Ball so that's why I knocked it down to 4.
You can actually skip the final boss with clever usage of items, just saying...
Finished.
Recommend.
A New Mission by snipereighteen [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Mar 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
13% in 0:28
Excellent hack!
Has some really nice repalettes, and good level design. Some quirky stuff to be found, I liked it. However, there are quite a few permastucks at points and if you don't have 2 or so e-tanks by the hellrun, good luck.
Finished.
Recommend.
Project ZM by FelixWright [MZM Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:44
[v0.51 review]
Solid remake. Few issues here and there, but was a really good improvement hack for Zero Mission!
Finished.
Recommend.
Hey, imagine how good this is now that it's at version 0.73!
Samus Goes To The Fridge To Get A Glass Of Milk by kkzero [MF Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Mar 09, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
9% in 0:01
S-tier
Better than Oil Spill (sorry Sped)
Adam Please by Ing-ing [MF Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Mar 08, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
14% in 2:10
Good hack! Has a lot of frustrating stuff at the start, very few e-tanks, but gets better as it goes, mostly after Sector 2. Watch out for the Sector 6 SA-X softlock! Don't let it see you!
I believe max% is 14%?
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid Fusion T.S by Meilove [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 3:33
Certainly not what I expected.
A complete overhaul of Metroid Fusion, and a good one at that. Entirely new rooms and a fully new map, different boss rooms, tons of cool stuff. However, it's riddled with a few problems.
The beam damage at the beginning of the game is painfully low. Be careful with your hp. Due to the room headers not being changed, the map is really confusing at times, but if you can figure out how to piece it together it kind of makes sense. Bomb and power bomb timer are reduced, making for a LOT less tedium. Probably saved me 30m by itself. Some enemy vulnerabilities are changed, especially bosses. The Core X's vulnerability was really cool and unexpected. I liked it! Some of the tiling is a little repetitive and off, but it's excusable. There's a certain maze in Sector 6 (shown in screenshot 3) that's really annoying, and brings me to my next point. Missile exploits. You have to abuse the physics of missiles to clip them through walls in various points, and it's a little tedious. It's not hard, but anyone who doesn't know about it is SOL. Spark puzzles weren't that bad, surprising for a Chinese hack. Now the bosses. Specifically BOX-2, Ridley, and SA-X come to mind. BOX-2's arena is hell. Literally. It's so hard. It took me about 8 or so tries, over half of my total deaths. Ridley wasn't too bad, but his core took like 30 missiles. Get ready for a tedious fight. And speaking of tedious, SA-X. It's a long fight that you can't freeze it in, so get ready to jump around and learn how to avoid it. Omega Metroid sucks if you don't know the safe strat.
Other than the typical Chinese hack jank, this hack had some really cool puzzles and great exploration. Totally recommend.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid FreezeFlame by Conner [MZM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Feb 29, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:35
Good short hack! Uses the hot and cold worlds concept really well, but has a few design quirks that are kinda weird. Good hack, recommend.
Faster Fusion by Den [MF Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Cool! Heavily needed for subsequent playthroughs if you wanna speed through.
Did not start.
Recommend.
Metroid - Racing by ShuiJing [MF Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Feb 17, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:03
Really fun challenge/race hack! Relies on you grabbing your stuff from the Debug Menu and just going at it. Doesn't expect you to have Space Jump for any of it, so some rooms are trivial. Worth a playthrough I'd say. Ends at room that says "GOOD."
There's one room that uses a very tight shinespark recharge to go through it, but it's doable RTA. Might want to use a savestate for it. 2 rooms also have the platform clipdata, which you can consult the playthrough for.
Finished.
Recommend.
time is rta
Symphony of Soap by Ing-ing [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jan 12, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:24
Solid Ing hack, probably my favorite ZM one. Has unique physics and good tiling, but a few problems. I found a couple permastucks in the hack, but it was an Ing contest hack. You can also get stuck in Norfair quite often (beachy area).
Overall though, it's a good Ing hack. I recommend it.
Metroid: Return to Zebes by alexman25 [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jan 12, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
88% in 1:10
Really good hack that falls a bit short of perfection, unfortunately.
Some areas were kinda ruined because sequence breaking doesn't allow for some doors to be unlocked. New music is good for the most part, sounds kinda off but really it's the best you can do with the GBA's processor.
Overall, a good hack. Just try not to stray from the intended path too much and you'll do great.
Metroid: Spooky Mission by Magconst [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 1:18
Excellent hack, honestly. Clearly a collab hack but in a good way. Really liked it. Can't really say what hasn't been said already. However, it's not a 5 star hack to me.
Recommend.
Deep Freeze by Cpt.Glitch [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
98% in 0:47
Really good ZM hack, especially for being so old.
Gimmick of everything being frozen was cool. Palettes were great and frozen enemies were cool (pun intended). Item progression was cool too.
Epilepsy mothership was not cool though. Knocked down to 4 stars for that.
Finished.
Metroid: Takeover by Spedimus [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
74% in 3:08
Pretty cool hack.
Really liked Maridia. Hack was rocky at the beginning, but opened up a lot at later points. Throws some curveballs at you, and the green pirates suck.
Exploration is great and Tourian is different. Good hack, I recommend.
Finished.
Metroid: Combat by Multi-Man [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 19, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
171% in 0:24
Ability to skip bosses was very cool.
Boss fights were unique, only noticed a single tiling error. Lava dealing lots of damage was not fun, however.
Secrets were fun to find.
Played on Hard, was a pretty good challenge. Died 9 times.
Definitely recommend!
Can't wait to see what else Multi makes, he has lots of potential.
Rotation by SMILEuser96 [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Dec 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
13% in 1:56
Not 5 stars because there are still a few problems with this hack. Many easy permastucks and such. However, a lot of the hack opens up which I like a lot. Crumble blocks are basically entirely removed because they'd be useless vertically, which makes for some nice sequence breaking possibilities.
Also, this is low%. 13% is lowest percentage possible.
Super Metroid HOTA by Hotarubi [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Dec 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
85% in 20:55
NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS FOR HARD VERSION v1.5
Hands are shaking at the time of writing this review.
This is an extremely long hack, and if you have little experience with SM in the first place/don't know a lot of tech, don't even bother patching this hack to a ROM. I mean it.
This hack will thoroughly test all of your skills, and force you to learn lots of new tech. Most of the puzzles in this hack are absolutely brilliant, but I guess a few of them are quite obnoxious and can take multiple hours to execute if you don't know what you're doing.
Exploration didn't seem to be much of a problem, as I was able to remember where I needed to go next most of the time. Sequence breaks are non-existent due to how dang linear the game is, but it does work out well that way.
Every room is different from vanilla SM, while still keeping the layout very similar to the original game. It is a halfhack, after all.
The original version of this hack was released to the public after about 3 months' worth of work, so it has quite a few tiling errors (especially in Norfair/Crateria)if you look close enough. Despite this short timespan, I NEVER found a single permastuck/softlock in this hack. He did an excellent job of preventing softlocks, and I applaud him for that.
Onto execution...
The execution that you will need in this hack is basically unparalleled. Lots of tricks happen to be super tight or one frame tricks, even. Expect to get frustrated and rage quit many times if you try to beat this.
The escape is quite interesting, as there (almost)isn't a single puzzle in sight. It's all execution. I'm fine with this except for the final trick that you have to execute, which is a super short charge. These are normally fine except this time I had to use a practice ROM to learn the timing for the short charge. I normally do a stutter 3 tap so this isn't a problem, but you need a 2 stutter 3 tap at least for the last part. It's very stressful. But at least you have ~15 minutes, right?
I played the "hard" version and I'm not sure how much the puzzles were toned down on the Super Mild edition, as it doesn't seem like much of the difficulty can be relieved honestly. I recommend Super Mild if you try it regardless.
The game isn't also straightforward all the time. It can be really hard to figure out what to do for certain puzzles, and I did look up the solution for a fair few puzzles. Not too many, though. I figured out most of the hack on my own which I am proud of.
Bosses aren't really changed health-wise, but look out for the actual boss room layouts. They are quite difficult, especially Kraid. That one was the worst.
TLDR; this hack is probably the most challenging hack one will ever play in any aspect. It's probably not worth your time unless you know so much tech that you feel extremely confident coming into this (like I did).
Finished, 88 deaths. NO SAVESTATES.
Recommend solely if you have lots of SM tech knowledge.
Super Metroid: Pantheon by squishy_ichigo [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
87% in 6:49
It's actually a pretty good hack for being so damn old. Interesting route and item choices, lack of savestations kinda sucked, very non-linear but that also creates a lot of issues with softlocks and things, especially at Botwoon. I escaped with like 1 ammo after failing at him a ton.
Overall, good hack that does a lot of unique things.
Recommend.
Metroid Action by Jumzhu [MZM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Nov 18, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 1:01
Got really hard early on, even in 15-50%. Was a very good boss rush hack, very innovative/special. Seems like it has a few different routes you can take, and you can skip a few items early on if you're bad enough like me. Can be very unfair at points.
Recommend.
EDIT: After playing the second difficulty mode, the game opened up a lot and it became very fun. So far, the best way to play is on 15-75%. Bumping it up to 4 stars for this.
igt: 45:49, 75% for any%
Menu Hack by Trunaur68 [MZM Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This is a great idea and echoing what MetroidNerd said, how it really should've worked in original ZM.
Did not finish/start.
Recommend? If you're thinking of patches to put in your ZM hack this should be one of them.
Lost World by TROM [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Nov 12, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
106% in 14:22
Damn good hack, one of the best exploration hacks.
This hack has some great design and graphics, and pretty good level design for the most part. However as Syphon mentioned, there are a few problems with the hack. It's an exploration hack though, what do you expect? Permastucks in a lot of places too, but that's typical TROM. You get used to it honestly. (edit: wow this was a bad take)
The door hunt at the end of the game is quite obnoxious though. The map that's included makes it a lot less painful though.
Also, maximum percentage is 117%.
Metroid Ridley X Hack by Ridley X [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:52
Really nice hack, but a few flaws.
Keeps to the original NEStroid by having a ton of hidden passages everywhere, but it is common so you can't miss it much.
I'd estimate that there are about 15 different elevators in this hack, and it's pretty huge anyways. You'll want a map.
Norfair is extremely maze-like which bothered me, I didn't bother mapping part of it out because it made no sense.
The graphics looked really nice and were a good break from the monotonous bricks of NEStroid. Really liked them.
Difficulty is a little above NEStroid, but it is definitely playable and was a fun journey.
I did have to use Editroid to figure out where Tourian was due to the hidden passages, and it was nowhere close to where I thought it would be.
Recommend.
time is rta
Inceptroid by Odb718 [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:22
Extremely neat concept, and executed very well.
A map is included because it uses Metroid+Saving, which is good by itself.
Progression is a little unique and I liked the room design. Didn't feel stale even though you went through the same rooms 4 times.
Tourian was great! New design in every room and zebetites before Mother Brain's room which I really liked.
And wave+ice stack!! What more could you ask for?
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid: Ice Break by ThatSpoiler [M1 Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Aug 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:16
Really good short M1 hack.
Fits to the theme really well!
Items are kind of given to you and you don't really have to look around much for them, but that's a very minor nitpick.
Some enemies are resprited + Brinstar & Tourian are resprited and retiled. They look really nice!
Overall, it's a fun short hack that I definitely recommend if you have 10-15 minutes to spare.
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid: HD Custom Edition 2.1 by Aclectico [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 28, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:50
Nicely done! Getting all the custom files to work was really annoying, but I partially did it in the end. The redone tiles look gorgeous, bosses have been given a makeover.
Definitely a good experience if you want to play M1 all over again.
Frustration along with incompatibility with lua script knocks this down to 4 stars, but if you're not looking to fully customize or use said script it's definitely 5 stars.
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid X by Rage Games [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Aug 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:30
Really good hack!
Doesn't rely much on original NEStroid to get its ideas and rooms.
Every area is much larger than it is in vanilla, especially Brinstar.
Tourian was changed a lot (the escape was really cool too), so that gets bonus points.
Kraid is accessible early but he's extremely difficult to kill.
Almost every single item that you come across (aside from missiles, of course)is basically needed to beat the game. E-tanks are pretty scarce, only a max of 5 I believe.
Overall, this is a really good hack and I totally recommend it.
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid mOTHER by dACE [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:49
Vastly improves NEStroid...so much better.
The updated tiles look gorgeous. Bosses look new and stuff!
I didn't like Samus' sprite, looked really unnatural.
Ice Beam was given a huge upgrade and it can easily kill enemies if you stagger your shots, so much better than the original.
Ridley being on a platform really made the boss fight obnoxious but with Ice I was able to kind of get through it.
Metroid + Saving is applied, so you keep your health upon Up+A! Genius. Some lag seemed to be reduced, but not by much.
This is the best way to play original NEStroid.
Finished.
time is rta
Precision by Bolognab [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 13, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 6:15
High quality challenge hack...but not as good as Cliffhanger Redux.
This hack doesn't rely on spikes all of the time, rather on precision walljumps and quick thinking. I really liked what it did different from all those bad challenge spike hacks, similar to Cliffhanger Redux in that way. However, it puts an amazing spin on vanilla SM..
The progression is very unique, sadly the game sometimes makes you think that you might need x item to get past this blockade, but you can actually make it past/head another way. Somewhat confusing at parts. Enemy vulnerabilities are changed, so Screw is not nearly as powerful as it usually is.
It is a very difficult hack and requires a few hellruns, the first one being very tight. You're not locked off from different sections of the map like you are in Impossible, like you can go back to Green Brinstar after you have Power Bombs.
Despite being this open, I was not able to find any easily doable sequence breaks. However...I did manage to break the game open with a couple very obscure/difficult breaks. I am very sure that neither of these were intended because I had gotten a few items seemingly in the wrong order.
Lower Norfair was very difficult and had a few water rooms that I thought were barely possible w/o Gravity Suit. However, I was probably overcomplicating it by a lot.
The layout is altered so much from the original, but you can still see which room is which. Different rooms link up to other rooms, so you don't always know what room you're entering which was a really nice touch. And the minimap is changed! Rejoice!
Something I really did not like were the mazes, particularly the maze outside of the attic of Wrecked Ship...it's too long and there are spots with crumble blocks, you have no Spring Ball so you have to time it very precisely which gets obnoxious after a while. I had to end up savestating for one section of it because it's nearly impossible to roll across 2 crumble blocks straight with no speed (I eventually ended up using ceiling IBJ). Only savestate that I used, though.
There's a decent amount of suitless underwater, but not that much, and your reward for it is pretty great. Has some nice puzzles.
Lastly, there are a few permastucks. I only noticed a few in the really late-game sections, but they were pretty far away from a save so I had to repeat the boss I was fighting. Be careful near Plasma room + some of Lower Norfair.
Overall, if you're looking for a good challenge hack, you've found it. It's totally worth a go just to see all the cool things that were done to this hack. I recommend Cliffhanger Redux over this, but this is the next best option so far.
Edit: This can be compared to Super Metroid HOTA, but as a less puzzly and more execution-wise hack.
Super Metroid: Escape by Mr. Hiroishi [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 29, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
86% in 2:55
Extremely good halfhack, especially for a description of n/a!
All of the palettes are changed. Some of the colors are REALLY extreme (see: 2nd screenshot)but for the most part the colors are beautiful and complement their areas.
The warp zone really connects the hack together and makes navigation a breeze.
Enemy vulnerabilities are changed (most enemies are vulnerable to Grapple which gave me a good chuckle).
There is tons of sequence-breaking possibilities, mainly getting some end-game items first by doing a couple different hard tricks. You can go anywhere you want, really. And there are grapple blocks everywhere so you aren't locked off from some areas. It's really neat.
This is a halfhack that exceeded my expectations by a lot, and I totally think that more people should try this out. It's a blast.
a few notes: in some maridia sandpits you can go OOB by going too far left/right, and for those who don't know a few items require you to spark up through an elevator transition to get a bluesuit.
Platinum Hexidecimal by seastorm [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I thought this was a really interesting and unique hack, it made really good use of the 16 rooms that it had. Level design was really good in some parts. Sadly, the suit palettes did not look that good. I knew what the creator was going for but the colors are too harsh against the background.
Got all items except one missile expansion
p.s. hack ends when Ridley flies off. Nothing happens afterwards.
Super Metroid: Panic Mode by personitis [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
66% in 1:35
I chose Fastest Mode.
Early game is extremely stressful, running on only one tank (but I grabbed blue brin e-tank with a dboost so I had 2)but the rest of the game isn't that bad. When getting suits, the damage per second seems to increase slightly, upping the difficulty physically and mentally. I got all e-tanks and reserves to be safe, but you don't need nearly all of them to make it through just fine.
Something I really didn't like was that in the escape, the standing gray pirates weren't vulnerable to hyper beam, which was a really odd and unwelcome change...probably just an overlooked side-effect.
This was a really fun hack, I totally recommend it if you've speedran the game before. Very unique spin on vanilla that barely feels boring (except for the LONG farm sessions and e-tanks only refilling 100 instead of back to max)
Animals saved of course :D
Digital Cube by Cloud12 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
44% in 0:12
This hack took me 4 hours and 28 deaths.
Playing Digital Cube without savestates and going for 100% (aka 47%)is going to frustrate you. A lot.
A certain grapple puzzle to get a rocket may force you inside a wall, forcing you to reset which is like 15 minutes into the game. Some door transitions (when entered in spring ball jump) put you too high, setting you inside a solid block that you can't escape from again, stucking you.
The trial and error aspects were kind of stupid imo, it's such a linear path but at least it forces you to think where your next objective is.
This hack is really good if you play it with savestates. If going for 100% without, don't even bother. You'll be quite frustrated by that one puzzle and end up resetting 4 times like I did.
Metroid: Operation Save Thanksgiving v1.1.1 (No Longer Broken) by Nodever2 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Really fun short hack.
Snowglobe by Scyzer [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:06
i was able to murder an animal so this gets a thumbs up in my book
Pleasant music too.
Legend of the Beast - Prologue by statik [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
36% in 0:37
Encountered one permastuck and a crash right on the endgame block, but wasn't able to reproduce it. Going back through a certain room in the final area leads you into a solid wall, stucking you so don't do that.
And no save stations. Be careful.
Fun hack though, overall. Very unique tiling and a very nice hud
Super Metroid: Hidden by TN [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 4:52
This was pretty good. The progression paths will confuse you plenty at some parts and most of the tiling is atrocious (mostly fixed in my patch), but it has some really nice ideas and good gameplay.
Cliffhanger Redux by Digital_Mantra [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
80% in 9:17
This is indeed a challenge hack and savestates are probably needed for some parts. Tons of beautiful art is on display in this masterpiece. Heat runs, interesting item progression, difficult puzzles, a pretty big world, and much more. If you consider yourself a good player, you should consider checking out this hack as it'll teach you some stuff.
Super short charge is necessary.
Super Metroid Containment Chamber by Lioran [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
16% in 2:26
I really liked this hack. It has tons of tech and some really odd but good puzzles. If you are willing to learn new tech, this is the hack for you (and Contamination, but that's harder).
Super Metroid: Hydellius by TROM [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
67% in 9:41
This was a good one.
Item collection only goes up to 76%.
Twin doors weren't too bad even though the planet was pretty massive. Item progression was cool for some parts and I really liked the heavier physics.
Super Zero Mission by SBniconico [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
63% in 7:15
Surprised I managed to finish this. The pirate ship is very well-executed, but you need god-like skills to make it through there without detection.
I liked respin and slope re-sparking though.
Eternal Spikesuit by UNHchabo [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Does what it says on the tin! Can be applied to different roms which is a nice benefit.
otherRotation by BuggMann [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jun 17, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
68% in 1:36
This hack doesn't offer anything new gameplay-wise that Rotation doesn't, other than crumble chain blocks, so it's really just Mirrortroid + Rotation. The graphical changes are very impressive and really funny, can't imagine how much time they took to implement so kudos for that. One thing I really don't like is the lesser sequence break possibilities. Gates not present in Rotation are put back, some crumbles are restored, etc. and that limits the options a decent amount which I'm not a fan of. Overall, good effort put in but I do personally prefer Rotation.

Finished.
Ice by Crys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jun 13, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 2:41
Solid halfhack, pretty interesting. Palette changes and a lot of changed item locations, overall run of the mill but worth checking out as a predecessor to IMU.

Finished.
Super Metroid: Rulers Of Ruin by jk16bit-palmy- [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
59% in 0:08
Very unusual hack. Like ZSS said, it gets super rushed towards the end. The beginning is interesting and the tiles are cool, unfortunately if you die you have to reset the game due to a save glitch (and don't try saving!) It's really not that bad, and kinda worth it just to see the tileset.

Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Depth by Tedicles [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
13% in 0:27
It's alright, bit too dark for my tastes. Atmosphere is good but a little tedious/confusing to find where to go, as well as encountering a crash in BT's room that I was somehow able to get around by spamming pauses. All in all, pulls the atmosphere off well but is a little frustrating to go through.

Finished.
Super Metroid Evacuation by personitis [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Jun 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
1% in 0:01
The landing site hack of all time
Super Metroid 32 by snipereighteen [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Actually liked this a decent amount. Very, very dark and samey tiling but it worked okay for the hack. New tiles look pretty good along with the doors and has some good exploration. Like MetroidNerd said, you'll have to look out for those metroids at the beginning as you really only have 100 health. Unfortunately the hack isn't finished and is rather short but it doesn't offer enough to play in my opinion.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Weekend IV by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
22% in 0:17
At least it's beatable now!
Fun short hack. Has some good secrets and a lot of lava. Escape is very abrupt and the supers mechanic was quite interesting though not very useful as the hack is pretty easy and simple. Good quick-play though!
Finished.
Recommend.
SM HotSurface by Benox50 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
25% in 0:16
This is definitely a hack that was made.
It's a very odd hack with a major amount of issues including the many random crashes that I got, forcing me to start from the beginning again because I was a dummy and forgot to put the SD card in the flashcard to save SRAM. Was 2 stars before I figured this out, now it's 3.
It's got some cool ideas especially in the lower section, and a looooot of stucks. Overall it was okay and had some good stuff in it, but the way it's structured definitely isn't ideal.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Magaluf by Jordan5 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Grapple section sucked like caauy said, but the rest of the hack was pretty neat. Really short too, with one tileset for almost the whole game really.
Pretty decent for a short hack though, not much here to challenge you.
Finished.
Recommend.

retroactively rated
AN.T.I [ANother Terrible Idea] by TriAsUnit [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Decent, Accel Charge sucks and so does the lack of walljump. Exploration's pretty good and a few items are very well hidden.
Finished.
Recommend as a short romp.

retroactively rated from 2018
SM:Decision by JoshShoeWah [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:46
The gimmick of the hack is nice but there's really not much else here. It's a pretty standard hack and like Zhs2 said I guess it's a bit low for the standard of quality in 2018. The item choices can be pretty odd/unbalanced, and there are many tiling errors.
Finished.
Do not recommend.

retroactively rated from 2018
stats from my speedrun
Super Metroid: Life by Nevyn 1.0 / DCR 1.2 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:51
Good halfhack, apparently DCR got rid of Red Crateria. How could he?!?!
Really linear and repurposes a lot of vanilla rooms/drags them around, and has some neat progression stuff. Screw Attack is nerfed, just make it Evasion-style at this point.
And the map doesn't break!
Finished.
Recommend.

igt from speedrun
Legacy by Banana Oyaji [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 2:50
[Watch Video]  
This is a pretty historical hack, basically the first full hack ever. It's pretty good except for the map breaking, really frustrating which knocks it down to 3.
Finished.
Recommend.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from July 13, 2019
Super Metroid: Hermit Kingdom by Kojakt [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:39
Really open halfhack with quite a few changes and rearrangements. Quite a bit to do in this hack. Good for Kojakt's first hack, but I do wish there was more.
Finished.
Recommend as a halfhack.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from February 24, 2019
(stats taken from my speedrun)
Airy by Cyclamen32 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
94% in 3:02
Weird hack with a lot of visual effects and changed palettes. Really large and empty rooms litter the areas and as the name suggests the physics are a bit floatier.
Finished.
Recommend, it's not too bad.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from February 14, 2019
So Little Time by MetroidMst [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:35
[Watch Video]  
MST hack with a ton of bubbles. This hack is really frustrating and practically requires you to have a good memory or map out many things as you're gonna get lost a lot. Definitely not one of his better hacks.
Finished.
Do not recommend.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from April 13, 2019
Ice Metal Uninstall by Crys [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
86% in 2:42
[Watch Video]  
This hack is...really weird. It has a lot of custom palettes and a different HUD, but it has a problem with its lack of direction; it can be really hard to figure out what to do next. It's unique and has an extra upgrade too, and fortunately isn't too difficult. Ending's kinda cool too. Lack of direction bumps down to 3 stars.
Finished.
Recommend.

note: This is retroactively reviewed, from March 9, 2019
Limit by Sin [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Feb 12, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
87% in 3:39
Yeah, it was alright.
For 2005 it was surprisingly well done but it has its flaws, including the map issues.
You can be permanently locked off from items which is a big no-no but I shouldn't expect so much from a hack as old as this. Unless you're looking for a challenge that you haven't found after playing a ton of hacks, I wouldn't recommend this tbh.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid zero mission Harder by yohann [MZM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jan 10, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
59% in 2:27
It's alright for a halfhack, nothing too special imo. Pretty linear and wasn't crazy difficult.
Did I mention the missile blocks?!?!?!
Finished.
Reverse by Sin [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 28, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
61% in 1:55
This is a super odd hack, and gates a lot of stuff off. You'll think you're going to go somewhere and the game says "no, go here instead." Like MST said there's a big maze, along with some really, really cool shinespark chains. It's not too difficult overall and is pretty linear with the exception of a sequence break or two, but it's pretty neat and unique for a 2004 hack. That early?!?!
Finished.
Somewhat recommend.
Super Metroid: Breach by Leodox [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 27, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 3:48
What an odd hack. This definitely has some good stuff, but it really looks like quintessential baby's first full hack. The map breaks when reloading/dying and the separation of the map itself is an issue, but it's good to take into account that the hack was made without a map in mind. The map work was done by Schmeman, and he did the best he could with what he had.
The game's kind of buggy and rough around the edges and I believe has a softlock or two, along with having somewhat halfhacky design with rooms that look very very similar to vanilla. My memory of it overall is a bit foggy due to playing it about three weeks ago, but I do remember an issue in Maridia with not knowing how to progress, but I don't think that's an actual big issue. Overall, a big vanilla-style hack marred by a broken/upset map and some weird design choices.
Finished.
...recommend? Iffy about it. Maybe if you've beaten a lot of the hacks on the site already.
Vismunds Sidehopper Special by Vismund Cygnus [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
29% in 0:24
Good hack! Quite short and like the description says backtracking is recommended. I stumbled right into Ridley which wasn't too great but only lost a couple of e-tanks. Players with less experience will want to explore a lot. Colors are a bit dull as a result of being so dark and the reliance on sidehoppers isn't the most fun thing, especially the giant desgeegas taking a whole tank of your health. Overall, a pretty good short hack but a couple flaws for sure. Lack of saves also doesn't help.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Hauntroid by Scyzer [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
34% in 0:20
Creepy atmosphere, really unusual. Good ASM showcase and a good Halloween hack. Took me a while to find the last two ghosts and the weird beam-thing tripped me up for a few minutes.
Finished.
SMContest by SMILEuser96 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
11% in 0:09
It's alright, like MST said it's more of a tech demo for that item than anything. The bangs are stupid and the whole purpose of the room sucked once I realized what I could do. Item was a bit buggy too but that's really beside the point. Mediocre hack overall.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Zero Fall (Alpha) by Passarbye [MZM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Dec 03, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
9% in 0:06
Really unfortunate that it's so short, but what's here is atmospheric and quite good. The tilesets are the best use I've seen of the AM2R ones, and the place is quite moody. Very well put together but once again really sad that it probably will never get finished. 4 stars if it were longer.
Finished.
Recommend.
So Little Collab by MetroidMst/Vismund [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 18, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
81% in 0:00
It's ok. Would be 4 stars without grapple rooms making you fall so far and a really bad scroll bug as a result.
lost my igt, might recommend.
Super Metroid: Paddle by Mr. Hiryu [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on May 25, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 2:04
One of the wackiest hacks I've played, it feels like it was made as a joke.
The sheer amount of design issues/level design errors is incredible, and the hack feels like it was corrupted but author did the best he could with said corrupted from.
Despite that, it was an interesting experience. I ended up lava diving into Lower Norfair and fighting Ridley early which was a mistake, considering the stupid tile error IN the Ridley platform. Makes the fight 10x harder. I went back after getting Grapple to continue normally, but just wanted to be done by then.
If you don't sequence break into LN I imagine it'd be a bit more fun, so do what you will with that information.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Unknown by Reita [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on May 25, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
103% in 5:26
This hack was really good until the super hunt.
Really unique progression, fun room changes, some good hex tweaks, etc.
Enemies are made a lot harder which sucks if you don't sequence break Screw Attack, especially in Green Brinstar. Kraid is also just a tank, taking at least like 40-50 charged full beam shots. Not a fun fight.
And the super hunt, you need every last super that you can get before getting the next item, which means there's namihes/funes that take 40 or 45 supers, and you don't know how much each one is until you try it. The escape is surprisingly broken for a vanilla hack, too. Scroll didn't initiate properly for me so I had to go through Parlor basically blind. Overall, it's a really good hack, but don't go for 100%. That ruined the 4-star rating for me, having to do all that super crap. If you don't do 100%, play this! You'll probably like it.
Finished.
Recommend.
Rise by begrimed [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on May 23, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
15% in 0:39
One of the most unusual hacks I've played. Fitting, since grime made it.
Physics are wonky but exploration's quite interesting, they somehow complement each other.
Lots of secrets and a LOT that I didn't find, including supers. Spent a while on GT, but there's a lot of stuff you don't need to do in this hack.
If you want to hunt for a ton of secrets and do some fun platforming, this is the hack for you. If not, might wanna search elsewhere.
Finished.
Do not recommend, personally.
Super Metroid: Substitute Turkey by Crystal_Knight [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 22, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
29% in 0:10
Fun hack. Didn't like Phantoon's location as it's rather easily forgettable, but excusable in a hack this small. Found 2 permastucks, one being OOB and one being a slope stuck. If you don't do those stupid things, it's a fun little adventure. Knocked down from 4 stars for the permastucks.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Sunshine Oddity by Vismund Cygnus/Quote58 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 19, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
19% in 0:35
An incredibly jank but interesting hack.
Never found out how to switch to Plasma, Dark Visor was cool but useless, plenty of secrets. Really pretty rooms, but it's hard to distinguish foreground from background. Pausing is a really bad idea, it takes forever to fade back in.
2 -> 3 stars for the effort put into it.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Battle by Banana Oyaji [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on May 16, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
36% in 0:29
Pretty good for a really old boss rush hack, the screw room was not very fun and lost a few e-tanks in there. Escape was changed which is nice, but the "end miniboss" wasn't very challenging, moreso a timewaste.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Subpar Metroid by WompaStompa [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on May 06, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
35% in 0:46
Meh.
Funny concept and executed somewhat well, but you can tell that some rooms were really crammed and some were rather large to make up for the smallness of some rooms (like, red tower is tall to make the map fit is what I mean)
Like ptoil said, lots of enemies and lots of lag especially with Screw Attack but that's honestly what I expected.
A few tiling errors, scrolling issues in Landing Site and scrolling sky being bad in general, but that's it for objective errors.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Retroid by ProjectXVIII [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
33% in 0:58
Not very faithful to NEStroid, sadly.
It keeps most of the basic room design but it's VERY linear unless you bomb jump everywhere which...would kinda suck.
Ridley is SM Ridley and Kraid is NEStroid Kraid, Botwoon and BT are thrown in there for some spice. Item progression isn't the same as usual. Some extra shortcuts and some rooms were cut out (I think). If you wanna play NEStroid in SM, this is the closest we'll get for a very long time.
Superblood by KT JDDD & PHOSPHOTiDYL [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 2:33
Really unusual.
Keep in mind that this is a hack of a hack of a hack, originally being Super Metroid Blood -> Super Metroid Blood+ -> this.
Phospho did a decent job fixing up this hack. There's a lot of graphical issues and one softlock if you get PBs early, but didn't find much else.
A lot of the rooms felt very...bland and uninspired. Lot of backtracking for very little reward.
Oh, and this hack has a custom hud and an INCREDIBLE amount of ASM for a SM hack. Way more so than you usually see. So there's some cool stuff there.
Finished.
Somewhat recommend.
Super Metroid: Vino by Cyclamen32 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 2:20
Decent halfhack.
Some good palettes and room designs, along with Maridia and Lower Norfair being totally redesigned basically. In a good way.
If you manage to get early PBs and go into Norfair through the PB door (don't ask how lol)you'll need to hellrun to get out of there. There are a few misleading things in this hack and some stuff is hidden a bit too well along with having a LOT of speed locks, but it does some good stuff.
Finished.
Somewhat recommend.
Super Made In Metroid 3: Geemers Are The Mighty by pontarou [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 23, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:33
Cool hack.
Couldn't run it on my SNES Classic due to not being able to jump...it's quite weird. Worked on 9x just fine though.
Played on Easy after 6 deaths on Normal cuz it's surprisingly hard, and it was pretty fun.
Finished.
Recommend on easy.
DOOMtroid by Jefe962 [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
25% in 0:19
Pretty decent hack.
Level design felt basically the same in every area, just platforms in big rooms.
The puzzles had some nice solutions and were fun.
Double Jump can easily be abused to be just regular Space Jump if you break spin and respin.
There were lots of enemies in tunnels that you just had to damage boost through which was just really stupid imo. At least make them 2-tile-high passages, Jiffy.
Think I got max%? Dunno why he didn't scale.
Low enough level of polish to warrant 3. Had it been 2 weeks probably 4 stars.
Finished.
Somewhat recommend.
Super Metroid: Tallon IV by silverpaw84 [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:30
Neat hack! This had some pretty interesting stuff. Unfortunately it's not even close to finished :( it's got some cool stuff in it though. Black Falcon HUD is glitchy as always, but what can ya do?
Did not finish.
Recommend.
time is rta
MockingBird Station by Xaggoth [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
34% in 2:12
A...special hack.
Quite difficult and not many sequence breaks. Suitless underwater is forced, and the final boss is quite tanky. I really didn't like the room for it but it made for a special challenge.
No map quite sucks. There are probably quite a few things I skipped too.
Door locks were used quite well in this hack, probably the first to use them this extensively.
Ice's location was incredibly stupid for me, it took some guiding from Ri2 to find it. Same with Spring Ball. Once again, not having a map hurts the experience quite a lot.
Music is eerie, level design isn't out of place for a station like this, the atmosphere is quite good. It's on the hard side.
44% in 2:00 second playthrough.
Finished.
If you're willing to use savestates, I recommend.
Wibrarne by Taco [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
4% in 0:14
Boss broke on me at phase 3, repetitive challenges, but a lot of new ASM and cool things to see.
Finished.
Recommend.
Super Metroid: Zeran Demo by Alexi Laiho [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jun 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:30
This started off really strong! Except for some ibj shenanigans which weren't too bad.
Nice world to explore, but a ton of issues like not being able to reach Kraid so you couldn't full clear Brinstar, charge was locked behind unopenable doors by a BT that didn't exist there, etc.
It's pretty good and I wish it was finished, but unfortunately due to the issues in the ROM it most likely never will be.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
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Sigma Boss Rush by Silver_Skree [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
35% in 1:24
All I have to say is, this is an old version of Sigma++ that's beatable. Play the unfinished Sigma++ for a better experience.
Also, get Plasma before Phantoon. Please. It takes ~40 minutes w/o.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Tricks by XiaiBaiyun [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
49% in 2:46
Vanilla halfhack that could have been a lot better. Early-game changes (pre-Wrecked Ship)were really good, but he honestly didn't change much after that. Worth playing the beginning section of, but not much else.
Finished.
Do not recommend past Wrecked Ship.
Super Metroid Leodix-Final 3 by Leodox [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
80% in 2:14
Changes up a lot from vanilla. New item progression, new boss order, not many hellruns, cool rooms, all that. It's actually a good hack. Tiny bit of suitless Maridia is required, by the way. Unfortunately there's a bit of potential for softlocks and there's some bad tiling, so it gets knocked down to 3 stars.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid Acrash by Heyhooheyhoo [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Apr 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
101% in 3:18
Started off bad, and got extremely good mid-game. Lots of ASM in this hack and a whole new world to explore plus a mostly-working map.
Thing is, there's a lot of issues that make it kinda bad. Some crashes, the music doesn't work half the time, other stuff. It was an experiment for sure. All these issues can PROBABLY be fixed but I don't know how to do them...
Also, there's a room with screeching noise. Be warned.
Impressive for its technical feats, but has plenty of bad in it.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Chester Can't Find His Goggles by Leodox [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
41% in 1:00
Unique hack! Has a lot of cool puzzles in it. There's some tech that the average player might not know in this, but check out eternisedDragon7's video on this for hints to finish it.
Has some cool tiling and is not what I expected. Fun!
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid Fusion: Evilution by kkzero [MF Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Mar 08, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:34
Really fun hack! Has a lot of custom music and good game design. Event sequence has been completely altered and it's really fun. Ends after BOX.
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Metroid Fusion: The Mass by Heyhooheyhoo [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 08, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
27% in 2:17
One of the most unusual hacks I've played so far. Custom physics, custom graphics, a lot of cool things to see here. The game ends shortly after Yakuza sadly. This hack has a lot to offer though! Was pretty good. Mild seizure warning in this hack, in Sector 6. You'll think the game has crashed, but it hasn't. Speaking of crashes, don't die in Morphing Ball. The game literally hardlocks and you have to reset.
The way forward isn't always that clear, and a lot of Sector entrances are inside OTHER sectors. You can fall out of bounds a lot surprisingly, so be careful about that. Enemies deal a looooot of damage too.
Overall, unique hack and probably the first sequence breaking hack of its kind which warrants a positive rating.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid-Reversed Fusion by ShuiJing [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
96% in 4:25
Started absolutely excellently at first. This hack is kind of like a mini-hack of Fusion, then you later see that all those rooms you didn't see have been repurposed or at least most of them. The tiling was excellent, good challenge, etc. But this hack has a LOT of problems.
There are no saves in this hack besides your ship and the saves at the beginning of each sector. Considering how hard this hack gets, that's inexcusable. Most of the exploration made sense, but there were a few parts (Yakuza's section comes to mind)that kinda sucked.
Ridley.
Ridley's area was the worst in the game I'd say. You go through a MASSIVE shinespark sequence and afterwards you get a pretty solid chance of softlocking right at Ridley, making you do all that again. Again, inexcusable. There's no saves after Ridley, by the way! You better beat that in one sitting! And you can softlock before final SA-X if you go the wrong way, which means you have to fully restart from Ridley save.
I used 1 savestate in the entirety of this, in the last room of the spaceboost sequence immediately before Ridley. All else was savestateless and 99% blind. If you wanna play this hack, you're best off doing up until Yakuza and quitting to be fully honest. It goes downhill from there.
Finished.
Do not recommend (due to difficulty).
Review by huanmengxujing [MF Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Mar 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
12% in 2:13
Like kkzero said, it's a mixed bag. Custom room designs, cool secrets, lots of neat stuff to be seen here. Also custom graphics! Yay!!
Unfortunately, the entire map is broken making for frustrating navigation. Sector 2's entire palette is like vomit, it kind of hurts your eyes to go through it. It's manageable though. I got softlocked in Zazabi's room because I managed to break the event sequence somehow, despite literally having the correct event ready. Also no SA-X to be seen in this hack. The hack has a lot of enemies from different sectors, and fortunately their damage is toned down quite a bit. The evirs won't kill you in one hit.
Overall, I found 4 e-tanks and ended up with 50 missiles. Probably pretty close to max%.
Finished.
Recommend.
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Metroid - Fusion X by ShuiJing [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
51% in 2:49
Was actually a pretty good halfhack. Didn't switch around room locations which I like, because hacks that have done that are historically bad. Added a new feel of exploration to Vanilla. I liked it overall. Item locations have been changed and they're now harder to find. But not stupid hard. Sometimes they're above crumbles and hardly ever in the spots you expect them to be. Finding them all becomes extremely easy once power bombs are gotten, but what do you expect really?
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid Fusion: Google Translate Edition by kkzero [MF Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
50% in 1:06
Yes, I 50%'d this.
Has a few funny things, but most is nonsense. Worth a playthrough.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid Fusion: Get to the F'n Point! by DestroyerOfAglets [MF Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Faster Fusion, but slightly longer.
Did not start.
Recommend.
Metroid Fusion Rebuild by huanmengxujing [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
38% in 3:27
A pretty good hack of Metroid Fusion that gets more confusing as it goes on. It started excellently, but progression after Sector 4 AQA (especially getting out)felt kinda convoluted. Definitely had some cool design stuff and quirks such as no visible items. Overall, pretty decent hack.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid: Zero Mission - AP Boss Rush by Trivial Man [MZM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jan 03, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
52% in 0:10
Decent boss rush hack, better than Boss Rush Mode but you're better off playing Metroid Combat if you want a real boss rush experience.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid: Zero by OneOf99 and CaptGlitch [MZM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jan 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
75% in 1:18
Holy crap! That was close. I left one super pack uncollected and ended up with one super left after MB. Also probably an e-tank or two. Charge Beam is definitely required, and grabbing every item is basically required. Pretty cool, ends after escaping from Mother Brain. Had same Kraid issue as caauyjdp, but not a big deal.
Finished.
Recommend.
Temporus by Grime [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
47% in 1:31
Wow...
Very good palettes. Good enemy resprites and good hidden items.
Bombs are OP and the rest of the items suck, basically. The changed physics honestly ruined the experience for me, because when you turn around sometimes you get launched in a direction. WHY?!?!?!
Also the atomic-like things (I forget their names, they follow you)do WAY too much damage and they respawn. Makes no sense. That entire room is a shitfest.
A certain super pack is hidden behind an unhinted grapple block, and X-Ray is almost useless. The visor extends about a few pixels tall. That's it.
Overall, I don't actually recommend this hack. It was frustrating in the beginning and towards the end, I didn't like it.
Finished.
Stargazer by Ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:33
Ugh...besides from what the other people felt, I did not like this hack much.
Sure, it's a good hack for something in 24 hours, but there were still parts that sucked. See: post-Ice Beam Metroid room. And the treadmills are bad too.
Imago Bee's fight is just a farm fest until you realize you can down it in two supers.
It's very small, which is good. Ing-ing hacks like Summer Mission SHORT were annoying because they were so long. If they were shorter, they'd be better hacks in my opinion.
Graphics are nice honestly. SM tiles are always gud
Mother Brain isn't that fun if you don't have Space Jump, but I did. Screw Attack is forced and I'm grateful for that.
Escape is annoying if you used up all your ammo on Mother Brain.
Oh yeah, and the beeping persists after the escape too. Into the credits. Have to listen to that while you wait.
Finished.
Metroid - Birthday Mission by Metroid Violinist [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:06
Very small, but decent. Suit flashes to regular color when you shoot, but minor nitpick. A couple map tiles point in the wrong direction.
Good hack for being so small.
Can apparently get softlocked at Kraid for getting there without Bombs, but I didn't do that.
Finished.
So Little Piracy by mccad/MetroidMst [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Nov 28, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
700% in 1:08
I played this hack when it first came out, about 8 months ago. Very good contest hack.
Good music and graphics. Samus' suit looks gorgeous.
Mccad's side was very good (the right side), but MST's side (left side)had grapple shenanigans that weren't fun, and lots of spikes/obnoxious stuff.
The Crocomire fight was very unique, only other hack that tops it in terms of creativity is probably Super Metroid HOTA at around a similar level.
Overall, good hack.
Recommend.
By the way, ending percentage is out of 1000 which is the amount of dabluens you can get.
Metroid - Rechoose by huanmengxujing [MZM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
20% in 0:29
Pretty good boss rush. It has more than two saves, unlike the last one. What I like about it is that it does something really special.
Optional items! You can choose your own adventure if you please. Decide between missiles and major items or what-have-you. It was fun trying to figure out what my best option would be.
It's not that long either, and has every boss (I believe).
Finished.
Recommend.
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Metroid Deluxe Reduxe by The Rooser [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Nov 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:33
Very average, honestly.
Shows its age by the old palettes and odd level design, but does hold up. Fun exploration hack. If you don't use the map, it's very fun to get around and some of the progression is a little neat.
Finished.
Recommend.
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Samus: Mother Brain Returns by Odb718 [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Nov 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:32
Went into this hack expecting a lot, but came out with a little.
Beginning of the game was nice, custom Samus and cool rooms. But, once you get to the boss lairs everything changes. It becomes a maze. A real big one. It's not fun.
Tourian has an escape unlike a few other hacks I've seen, which is good. That's basically it.
Do not recommend.
Finished.
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Final Fantasy Chaos Realm by ronaldo79 [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Nov 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:00
Eh, this was decent.
Graphics were really nice. Norfair was a really confusing maze but the map was provided so it made it much easier. I skipped Kraid, Tourian was pretty simple but a little longer than usual.
Overall, decent hack.
Somewhat recommend.
Finished.
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Metroid Revival by Polick [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Oct 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:50
Pretty cool. Never found Ice so I had to savestate my way through last room of Tourian. Pretty cool palettes and level design otherwise. You might want a map for Norfair, but I skipped Ridley because I wasn't able to find the elevator after 40 minutes or so.
Finished.
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Metroid Genocide by Dude Man [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The hack looked really good, don't get me wrong. But huge Kraid mazes bother me, especially without a map. Even with one, it'd be obnoxious.
I really liked the redone music and new item locations, HUD looked great and enemy resprites were the best I've seen probably.
Recommend, if you use a map.
Did not finish.
Metroid Origin by JoQualian [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:12
Neat hack. Unfortunately, it had an extremely large amount of softlocks/permastucks in it, especially early game. Knocked down to 3 stars for that, but at least you always start with 70 health! If you play this hack, use the enhanced ips provided in the zip file. It's a much better experience.
Level design was really nice, graphics were very pretty. There were not many dead end spots.
Something that kind of bothered me was the lack of distinguishing between red and yellow doors, as they're the exact same color. You kinda have to guess for some parts. I believe up+a/death warp is kind of forced in 1/2 spots?
A map is not necessary.
Recommend.
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The Next Quest! by zaphod [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:09
Cool hack! Did not skip Kraid or Ridley.
Puts a big enough spin on the original that it's fun to play. Liked the palette changes, and didn't really find any dead ends. Norfair was kind of a maze, but with a map I was able to figure it out. I don't really think you need a map for this hack. Tourian was very large and kind of a maze which I didn't really like. I prefer it when Tourian is linear instead of having some branching paths, but only in NEStroid.
Overall, I recommend.
Finished.
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Metroid Planet by Metroid Planet [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:01
Good vanilla style hack.
Keeps the same layout for 80-90% of it but manages to feel fresh. Attention to detail is needed for a few parts, a map is not necessary but recommended. Palettes were changed and room locations were too, they were fine.
Ridley's little gimmick/trick was really neat, I really liked that.
Kraid's lair was pretty boring, but I decided to do it anyways because I liked the rest of the hack. It was alright.
I recommend.
Finished.
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Metroid Mission Zero by Meeptroid [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Mediocre vanilla hack.
Changes a few items around and a bit of terrain, uses some different sprites that I saw in another hack.
When I did Up+A with one e-tank, i started with 30/299 energy which I found really odd. Shouldn't it be 199? And I did another Up+A when I grabbed another e-tank and stayed at 299 hp afterwards. Slight bug? Not gamebreaking though.
Hi-Jump is forced for the escape, and I managed to get there without getting the item...Ridley skip kills me sometimes. I didn't bother going back since it really did not matter.
Did not finish (but I got to the escape).
Metroid Remix by Litmus Dragon [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:45
Interesting...
Altered the layout right at the beginning a lot. Didn't really know where I was going but it worked out in the end. Got slightly early Varia, cool that a specific item was right at the beginning.
Kraid's lair was extremely confusing, but I managed to get through it. I fought Kraid with 1 e-tank and varia (had to use a savestate here)and managed it after 3-4 tries. Really difficult.
I skipped Norfair/Ridley's lair entirely and went to Tourian, nothing was changed there.
You get almost NO e-tanks early game, so getting around is really obnoxious. I only got one total, so that really sucked. 1 tank MB is not fun at all.
Finished.
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Metroid Omega by Redrum [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:15
Definitely a challenge hack. Had some fun with it!
Only Brinstar is changed, so Norfair, Kraid (did not check), and Tourian were left normal which is kind of disappointing. Decent design otherwise.
Finished.
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Metroid Alpha by Byvegeta [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:06
Really interesting that a PAL hack exists.
Few rooms were modified later in the game, mostly in the start. Gets 3 stars because of the graphics looking nice. Some item doors were removed, so you can get Long Beam early and such.
Finished.
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Metroid 2000 by ColinB [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Some pretty good level changes. Died after Kraid and stopped because I got bored.
Did not finish.
Metroid 99 by Maximum Potion [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:58
I can't really hold this to the same standard as regular SM hacks as there's less to modify anyways.
NEStroid is 2 stars for me as a base, and this being 99 hp/full energy puts it up to 3.
What would've been better was if all missiles were refilled too.
Finished.
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Super Metroid: Rebuild 3 by Dark099 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
113% in 2:41
Much better than Rebuild 1 & 2.
A few enemies are buffed and the same vulnerabilities are present, bosses are buffed massively like in the first two.
You can tell that a lot more time went into general level design because there's less errors and more fun terrain to play around with.
I liked the progression, particularly how late a super important item was.
I actually got Varia first and Gravity later, despite the creator's wishes...it was right there once I went back, what did they expect?
Item totals were changed heavily, ended up with over 300 missiles. Why more in this version?? The second one did it right and reduced missile numbers...I don't understand.
The pathway to normal plasma room was ass. The normal two ways that you would get to it are TOTALLY blocked off, forcing you to go all the way up, through Forgotten Highway, get the item, then leave through Forgotten Highway. Did I mention mazes?
Overall, it's better than 1 & 2 (and 4, after playing it).
Kind of recommend.
Super Metroid: The Darkness Spreads 2 by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 5:41
This is one of the best SM halfhacks I have played, improving on Darkness Spreads 1 in every way. It combines an entirely new route with some amazing level design, making each room look almost nothing like it did in vanilla SM.
Enemies are buffed and missiles fire slower, but they have some really new and nice palettes.
I noticed plenty of places where you can get stuck however, so once you have supers + powerbombs be sure to stock up on them wherever you go. There's a LOT of blockades.
I never ended up finding Wave Beam which meant I had to gate glitch quite a few times (still not sure where it is), and Screw Attack was in a pretty stupid location.
The minimap is not changed at all (if you were to use the map station, it's even worse)so finding which doors still exist and which don't can be really annoying :/
Also, Tourian is really obnoxious and if you can't baby skip, you'll want a reserve or two.
If you can look past these issues, you'll find a halfhack that is super original and brings a new look to Super Metroid. Lowered to 3 stars because of Tourian and the permastucks.
Highly recommend.
Control Freak by Kejardon [SM Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
32% in 1:11
The idea is actually pretty unique and well-executed, I really didn't mind the rebinding of things. The patch can be applied to almost any SM hack.
Give this a go if you want a new SM experience with minimal effort.
Super Special Metroid by ma2ken [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 3:06
YOU MUST PICK THE HEADERED DOWNLOAD + A HEADERED ROM TO PLAY.
Chose Special Metroid 3 as I would believe it's the most up-to-date one.
Actually a really decent halfhack. Didn't notice any tiling errors.
The progression actually kept me guessing for once and the paths were very unconventional, like heading through Norfair and Maridia suitless. I had a lot of fun with it.
Vanilla++ by squishy_ichigo [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
63% in 1:35
Decent vanilla improvement hack.
Changed physics were less than ideal, removing ibj and walljumping really removed a lot of opportunities for fun.
Screw Attack does 1 damage per frame instead of 4096 like in vanilla, so it's almost useless if you want to kill things. There is one potential softlock in the Etecoon pit if you save down there without Ice Beam or Space Jump as you cannot walljump out of the pit.
Something I found really odd with the physics was that diagonal shinesparks are now at about a 30° angle instead of 45°, making Mt. Everest a little more annoying to climb.
Main annoying point with the hack was that Boost Ball seriously destroyed my jump height so I had to turn it off right after I got it. (HJ and Spring are bundled together)
There is no Varia Suit at all in the game, so be prepared for a very slow hp-draining hellrun through Norfair and LN. It's not that bad considering you can get like every other item though.
Bumped up to 3 stars for the hud, suit palettes and tile palettes. Very pretty.
(max% is 66)
Playground by Cardweaver [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I actually kind of liked this hack except for the 60 damage spikes early on and a slope stuck right near Hi-Jump Boots. It was pretty decent (Ridley was nerfed, no longer a hellish fight)
INERTIA by squishy_ichigo [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 22, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Short little christmas hack with very beautiful tiles, but being forced to stay in morph ball sucks and the acceleration of speed booster can somehow mess up your spring ball jumps if you roll for too short.
score: 175
Super Metroid: OHKO by Leodox [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
36% in 1:10
Forces you to be really careful about what you do, I enjoyed this.
18 deaths
PS. Ceres Ridley is damaged for you and flies off immediately. No need to suffer!
Ceribris by bydolord [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This patch is for a headered rom.
I had really low expectations coming into this hack but I was pleasantly surprised by how well some of the rooms I found were tiled. Some looked extremely nice. I feel like this hack was kind of promising, but it sadly didn't have enough. (note: this hack is actually beatable as of 6/3/22 but was not known at the time)
Note: If you do play this, note that in the Blue Brinstar E-Tank room, if you enter it while the planet is not awakened the game crashes immediately. After awakening the planet, it works just fine.
Metroid Grime: Dream Sequence by Grime [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack has some REALLY cool rooms, but the progression is kind of weird. 60 dmg spikes, too many missile doors, hard to figure out where to go in the beginning. Such a shame that it was left unfinished, as it had lots of potential.
Super Metroid: A More Different Zebes by Xaggoth [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 12, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 1:32
This was, well, interesting.
The different paths are really cool (I took the shortest, without knowing it)but after a while, it can get confusing because you don't know where to go. I probably spent an hour scouting around for things but never got any progression because I was already done in the game's mind!
I really liked the palettes though and where some items were placed. I did sequence break one item that helped a lot, so there are breaks to be made!
Super Metroid: Gelid by Scyzer / Begrimed [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:08
Decent for a contest hack. Came across a hardlock caused by death and a crash on one of the crystals. You can't adjust your controls so you have to play with default, which knocked a star off by itself because it's so uncomfortable for me to play the way I'm forced to.
And a really weird ending + lag everywhere.

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Super Metroid: Bluestar by MetroidNerd#9001 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:00
Fun, short & linear hack. The blue hurts my eyes a little bit but it's fine overall.
Super Metroid: Aggressive by TheOrigin [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:04
The room was a little dim, but thankfully there were recharges and energy tanks. This is a little precision hack, but I had a lot of fun with it.
Winter09 by GF_Kennon [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
14% in 0:06
Really nice graphics in some rooms and a BT + Kraid fight, but nothing special to really see here. Tons of open spaces and enemy-locked doors. Wasn't too bad though, considering it was made in 30 minutes!
Save Room - Darkness Returns by Crys [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
37% in 0:15
Really liked the major change in the middle, did not see it coming at all. Very good hack even though I accidentally skipped a few rooms and couldn't go back.
Wet Winter by Crys [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
11% in 0:09
Short but fun. Liked the tileset but the bosses were unexpected.
Super Metroid: Ice Returns by Crys/Metaquarius [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
18% in 0:23
Was a good, well thought out hack with a nice new tileset. Underwater travel w/o gravity is never fun, but the other things in the hack seemed to make up for it. Good for a contest hack.
Note: You need Charge Beam for the final boss. Cannot skip it.
Super Metroid Brew by Cardweaver [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 13, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:08
This was kinda cool. Failed to take screenshot. was certainly an interesting feature, and x-ray really lit up the hack.
Super Metroid: Z-Factor by Metaquarius [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
86% in 6:00
Lower Norfair was annoying and so was the Wrecked Ship
Everything else was nice. Maridia wasn't as bad as people made it out to be and Tourian was the second best I've played in a hack, only to Redesign Axeil.
Phazon Hack by A_red_monk_called_Key [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
67% in 6:19
A certain necessary item took forever and the beam combination quirk was kinda cool. I felt lost for a really long time. But that's good.
I will say, this has the worst Tourian I've gone through. Went on for way too long and there was nothing special. Also a fight can just be skipped if you're observant enough.
Metroid Mission Rescue by Mettyk25jigsaw [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
76% in 39:08
NOTE: Newest version is on page 17 of the forum page, v2.5 Easy
[time was in-game]
This hack was probably the most interesting one I've played. I played on v2.45 Easy because I didn't know what to expect in Normal or Hard.
I think people with some patience should give this hack a try/playthrough. It's definitely an interesting ride. I came out of this a different person.

Pros:
-The level design is decent for the most part
-Tons of areas to go, 8 total planets
-699 total rooms (on Hard)
-Hint room that gives the general area for your next major item
-Many items and puzzles
-Challenging, even on Easy Mode
-Ammo/hp pickups were increased (on Easy)
-Special morph ball item combo that works pretty great
-Custom HUD and new item names
-Custom bosses

Cons:
-The massive endgame door hunt
It's about 3 times as obnoxious on Normal or Hard because you have to find 24 of these stupid doors in stupid locations. But hey, at least there's a map.
-Some enemies hit like tanks
-Few permastucks (to be fair, you have to try hard to get stuck)
-A tight heat run, but that can be a plus if you like those
-Progression is extremely convoluted, stuff is hidden behind normal-looking walls and other awesome places
-Suitless underwater is prevalent
-Only one ammo per upgrade
-No bomb jumping or mockballing
-Obnoxious Maridia music
-Almost no sequence breaks, path is extremely linear
-Area names/item names are unpronounceable
-Only 9 e-tanks
-Insane amounts of farming

TL;DR: If you have some patience, give this hack a go. You might regret it but it's an interesting journey through and through.
Super Metroid - Fusion Suit / Mode by SuperMetroidSamus [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Suit change, but it's basically broken.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Hyperion by silverpaw84 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
19% in 1:27
Really dark and obtuse hack. You run back and forth over and over, and some grapple puzzles make you retry them if you fail at all. A lot of hidden items and "easter eggs" which is cool, but the balancing is weird and the early game is kinda harsh.

Finished.
Do not recommend.
ConCons first hack by Conner [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Sep 14, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:03
If there ever was a hack, it would be this one.
Super Metroid - Vengeance SE by Noxus [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
98% in 2:37
This hack is very odd, a mishmash of random GFX and ASM patches and some interesting level design. It doesn't quite feel coherent, but can definitely be fun at times.
I'm not a fan of the minor physics changes but they really don't hurt that much. Noticed a couple of broken rooms that permastuck you so save often. Custom music is nice and the palettes are okay but very jarring in some spots. Mainly Maridia and LN, really weird and abrasive colors.
Overall, it's a halfhack.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Weekend by dewhi100 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
4% in 0:07
As the others said, nothing special.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
So Little Room by MetroidMst [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
MST if he took shrooms, so basically MST
Maze bad
Finished.
Do not recommend.

retroactively rated
Super Metroid Funfar 2 - Funfarrer by Noxus [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Feb 13, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 2:11
Mediocre halfhack, and even Noxus agrees!
The hack's got a couple interesting things and follows in the same path as Funfar 1, with some unusual routing and such. Sequence breaks are quite doable, but there's a particular issue with the end of the game that's really frustrating if you don't do it beforehand. Progression wasn't really in a path that was easy to follow but that's halfhacks for you!
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Dirty Pair Flash: Trapped Angels by unknown [M1 Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Dec 28, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Decent, but as the uploader says there's really not much offered here. The game's made a bit easier by the modifications that are done, as can be seen in a couple of the screenshots and such. I got up to Varia and stopped because there really wasn't much changed that was worth seeing, but the sprite and tilework was nice. Two stars for that, it's all arbitrary in the end!
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Screwed Chopped and Restitched by Noxus, InsomniaDX [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 28, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
24% in 1:44
Unfortunately this hack hasn't been restitched very well. Noxus did a good job but there's a lot of stuff that went unchecked and quite a few softlocks, some not even by sequence breaking. I liked the hack when it was incomplete, and now that it's in a complete form it almost feels like it lost its charm, which I don't think it should've. Not Noxus' fault at all though. It was nice to actually be able to beat the game, and what's here is quite...interesting.
Finished.
Do not recommend, at least in current v1.0 state.
Super Metroid: Magma by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 27, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
34% in 1:00
Pretty mediocre overall but good for how old it is. Kind of a minihack in the sense that a few areas aren't there, but I really don't like the amount of backtracking that is expected of you, like how nodever said. Bomb timer sucks, and you can get into Tourian early and softlock if you don't have the right stuff. The escape gave me a lot of trouble, I ended up finishing with only 0.83 seconds left. Wild.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Funfar by Noxus [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 22, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
57% in 1:13
It's okay, but doesn't do anything remarkable. It's honestly just a halfhack with very few changes. Norfair and Maridia were streamlined quite a bit which is nice, I guess? There's just not a whole lot to say about it. Hopefully the sequel is more interesting.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Lab of Cerbewz by pedro123 [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Dec 05, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
61% in 1:02
This is one of pedro's better hacks, I'll say. Doesn't really mean much for him though, does it? There isn't as much stupid garbage as you would normally see, but it follows the same general rules that pedro hacks do. The boss order's changed, and you can skip almost an entire area if you know a bit of spring ball jump tech. I'm not sure of what was changed in Norfair as a result but I'm sure it was pretty vanilla. Overall, nothing special to see here other than early spring.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Frostbite by Jefe962 [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
88% in 0:17
It's a bunch of samey rooms. The physics make it more annoying to move through and the lack of dashing really sucks. Enemies (rios) hit for quite a lot and the Ridley fight might catch some players off guard. The ending was also super sudden, too.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Low Impact by Daltone [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
23% in 0:36
Played normal mode.
This was really hard, and has a lot of single grapple blocks that make it quite difficult to actually latch onto anything. I used morphing out of grapple to stop my momentum, hopefully that'll help someone.
The hack looks great and is very well-done visually, but once again that challenge is just too much for this hack in my opinion. The scaling of fall damage is also way too high and that's really the main issue here, coupled with a lack of health refilling.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
AngryFireChozo by DSO [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 19, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 1:31
I-what? What is this hack???
The description of this hack being quite difficult and cryptic is 100% fitting. Thanks to Aran for his video, used that to find Wave Beam and a few early major items.
The physics are incredibly jarring coming from vanilla SM, it's the opposite of redesign. You fall super slow and ascend super slow, with the exception of running jumps mucking that up.
There are many areas to go to and the art is done incredibly well, but it's just...such a tiring journey. I didn't expect to beat this in one sitting, a lot of luck played into that. And the final boss is, indeed, rather difficult. If you're willing to put up with the frustrating physics and really difficult exploration, this may be a really good hack. I like the art, but a lot of other things + the lack of testing really drives it down.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Scavenger 120 by SmokeyTB125 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 19, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 2:02
Neat idea, was kind of fun to explore the planet to its fullest. Unfortunately, other than that it doesn't have all that much going for it. It's the same game with different item placements.
Lots of items in places, and so many of them are hidden. Going for 200% would be quite hard, I imagine. Can be quite tedious to go on a fetch quest for these items too.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Dread - The Reawakening: Remastered Edition TURBO by mccad [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on May 18, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
14% in 0:09
Great hack. Really nice design from mccad, who knows his way around the game quite a bit. The screenshot shows how much is really changed in this universe. Definitely worth a play and not worth incinerating.
Finished.
Screwed And Chopped by InsomniaDX [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 17, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 4:00
Definitely one of the weirder ones I've played, up there with Tallon IV.
I spent about 4 hours on this hack continuously rewinding from the door transitions that either led to other rooms that I didn't want to go to, or just going out of bounds from some of them. Also, some saves take you to other saves that aren't in the game!!! Use savestates if you want to play this.
Really unusual rooms and good use of reflectors, but a lot of easy crashes from doors etc. broken rooms, broken graphics, but I give it two stars because of the sheer size and the fact that this was made in 2005. Quite impressive.
Could not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Nostalgia by jewelediris [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 16, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
62% in 1:00
This was a very amateurly-made hack, with many, MANY tiling errors throughout. The rooms were rather ugly but at least they were quite retiled.
The norfair screenshots are basically the only good-looking rooms in this, but some have...unique designs.
Tons of item locations are changed around, basically all the major items are different. Not many spikes!!!
Finished.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Challenge by Quasius [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:15
Seems decent. Finished Kraid and Brinstar + a bit of Norfair, but couldn't do Ridley skip or skip either of the bosses for that matter. Didn't wanna trudge through Ridley's lair so I stopped.
This hack has some good challenges in it, and it's really frustrating at the start. If you use a map like I did you can have a pretty good time with this, I think.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Super Mocktroid by Henryphage [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
85% in 3:25
Sounds like just another SM halfhack, and it basically is. I liked SM Precision more, honestly.
Found one crash in LN and there are a lot of invisible floor tiles in places which is just bad design. Hellruns are forced which is okay, but you go ALL the way into LN and right back out only to go there very late in the game for some reason. Ridley is hard.
There's some suitless stuff (if you can mid-air spring ball jump once you're ok)and some bosses have been buffed. The map isn't updated at all which is really a shame, because most items aren't in their vanilla rooms anymore. Enemies not dropping ammo/hp is just frustrating and forces you to backtrack a lot. I don't like it.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Renewed - The Final Escape by Rennew [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:21
Uninspired reverse boss rush as Syphon said.
Nothing special here.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Renewed - The Battle of Enemies by Rennew [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 0:45
Meh, it was okay.
Cool backgrounds in the rooms and the bosses weren't really that bad. The main offender of this hack is the escape. It's filled with acid. It took me 12 e-tanks + a refill that's given to you to make it out. Definitely doable with savestates, but I did it without.
Zoomers/Geemers deal 1400 damage so STAY AWAY.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid 9yin Version 2 by GuduJimoYigeren [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jun 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 4:02
Shit hack, but better than 9yin Version 1 AKA Ultimate Hidden Version.
Couldn't find Ice, Wave, or Plasma in any of this so I had to PB the metroids.
Some item locations were stupid, lots of crumble blocks, etc. not fun to play.
Little bit of hellrun, lot of suitless Maridia.
You're required to know a lot of tech about this game including how to execute a ceiling clip, green gate glitch, grapple hitbox manipulation, and more. Didn't find any stucks, surprisingly.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Weekend II by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
17% in 0:24
Veeeeeeeeery different! Not the worst I've seen, though the tiling felt like a pedro hack.
Lots of open rooms and about 9 items to find. I couldn't find the last one no matter how hard I tried.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Aquamarine by NORTHa [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jun 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
28% in 1:45
Very, very unusual hack. It's not that intuitive.
Puzzle-style challenge hack with some really weird stuff in it...there's a maze about a third of the way through that I had to use ED's video to figure out. It's basically a 0.4% chance of finding the solution randomly.
Lots and lots of permastucks throughout, but some neat gimmicks and ideas, especially the grapple geemer and the mirror room in Maridia.
No saves because they somehow destroy the entire game which I don't understand, and some items seem to be totally optional like Varia.
Finished.
Do not recommend. Used ~6 save slots.
Super Metroid: Aggressive III by TheOrigin [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 19, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:04
Ended very abruptly, was surprised.
Definite step up in difficulty from AG1, not sure about AG2 since I haven't played it. Was a good challenge hack, not many complaints. 2 stars for the really heavy difficulty.
Finished.
Recommend with savestates, which I used 4-5 of.
Sil by Obsy [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I couldn't find Morph for like 20 minutes because I'm dumb, but imo it wasn't hinted well enough. Early lava pits suck and I ended up getting stuck in a broken room which didn't happen to anyone else.
It's just a little tech demo, but it bothered me.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Samus Aran, Pacifist! by moehr [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Cool idea, but couldn't find a lot of the stuff unfortunately. Was too hidden.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Rush by Dark_Echoes [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
24% in 0:20
Very typical boss rush. Few softlocks, notably if you go back through Croc's door and if you ceiling clip in Phantoon's room.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid WTF Boss Order by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
55% in 1:24
Interesting concept. Sadly, doesn't change enough.
Fighting MB 3 times is actually pretty neat, except for the fact that the first fight is basically a charge-ice fight. So some people might need to use savestates.
Most of the game is unchanged, and you can get 8 e-tanks before entering Tourian for the first time.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Ultimate Vanilla by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
45% in 0:59
Not much was changed. You get a LOT of endgame items right at the start and the only thing that's blocked off is Kraid. You do have to kill him, but don't worry too much about locating the item needed for it.
Draygon + Ridley are buffed immensely in terms of HP, but don't do much more damage. Wasn't the worst thing ever. Spring Ball is in a dumb spot, but if you remember the PLM Conservation Law you should be able to find it pretty easily ;)
For reference, the PLM Conservation Law is a law of low-quality halfhacks where if an item/door shell (aka a PLM) is removed from a room, there is a decent chance that there's another item somewhere else in that room.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Nereler 4B by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 09, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Played Trash Version. Normal version is apparently very different.
Started out pretty funny actually, the breakable blocks were pretty odd. Sadly the game stops changing things after Ridley. Gravity Suit despawned due to me picking up a different item, making the game unbeatable. Don't really wanna redo it.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Super Hell by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 07, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
78% in 1:43
Like Syphon said, actually a decent pedro hack. Phantoon at the beginning with 0 tanks is frustrating for some, but it's doable. Power Bombs are in a weird spot like Syphon said.
Acid bath in the entirety of LN is hard honestly. Start your crystal flashes at about 180 hp or so. Can probably make it to Ridley with about 3 crystal flashes' worth of ammo. 30 supers 35 powerbombs.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Happy Awesome Fun Land Extreme Deluxe Edition by Leodox [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
60% in 1:41
Not awful to play, but not something I'd recommend to anyone. Still better than some of his other hacks. Changes rooms and adds some spikes, keeps vanilla progression but increases linearity. Maridia bosses suck.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid SuperBOSSRush by THEyShxGtg [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
54% in 0:18
Usual boss rush hack, but "looks" unbeatable after Phantoon. You can break the glass tube and carry as usual though, going to Botwoon the vanilla way. Constructed well for the most part, but boring.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Stupid by Crys [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
66% in 1:36
Decent halfhack by Crys that doesn't really have that much to show off. Has some cool custom music and palette changes, but not many level design changes. Major item locations are changed around quite a bit, and no you don't need to ammo kill Mother Brain.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Seberus Secret by jk16bit-palmy- [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
117% in 0:09
What was the creator thinking when they made this? It's a terribly-put-together small hack that reuses vanilla rooms but uses new tilesets, and does some janky shit. Ridley and GT are the highlights/lowlights of this hack.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Leo's Tasty Seed In Your Mouth by Leodox [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Apr 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
99% in 2:25
Vanilla hack that doesn't really change much other than your max ammo counts. Bit of linearity and a forced hell run into LN, but you can actually find Gravity before Ridley.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Freshyz by FaiskaBr [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Mar 29, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
47% in 1:37
Another pedro hack. This one changes up the boss order to DRKP which is really weird. Other than that, Wrecked Ship has some spikes and the Ridley fight is really bad. You have to use peashots to take down 75% of his vanilla HP. I used 3 savestates because I didn't want to do it forever.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Short Charge Practice by XiaiBaiyun [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
2% in 0:00
Lets you practice short charges anywhere from 24 to 15 blocks, and provides visual indicators.
Did not finish.
Recommend.
time n/a
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 8 by Juan Dennys [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Short and sweet. Bad Ceres station, but gave it 2 stars because of how quickly it ended (at landing site).
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Boss Rush w/ C.Beam by FaiskaBr [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Mar 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
76% in 0:12
This hack certainly has an interesting difference, in that all of your regular shots are now charged regular shots. And you shoot fast.
It's a typical pedro (aka jailsonmendes)hack otherwise, that's it.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Automatic by aigamerDS [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Mar 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
0% in 0:04
This one's funny to look at. Not quite as great as Metroid Auto, but it's gud.
Finished.
Recommend.
Metroid Zero Mission: Deluxe by DarkLink1996 [MZM Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 0:45
Pretty boring. Doesn't change much. Buffs bosses a lot, so you'll need more ammo than the beginner any% route does. Kraid was fine, but Ridley was a lil bit hard and Mecha Ridley sucked a lot.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Fusion Zero by Meilove [MF Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Mar 13, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
23% in 2:03
Played v1.21.
Meh hack.
It's a pretty hard hack, not as bad as Glitch says (though I did play on Easy mode. ARE YOU HAPPY?!?!!?). Died a total of 30 times including Serris resets. Couple good extra music tracks, and the world has been completely changed around. It's nice. However, the challenge is why this sux. It's really hard. Core X's have been buffed tremendously and they're hard now. It was an interesting hack, I don't recall much more.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Fusion C.L.E.A.N. Station by Mar99troid [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 09, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
55% in 1:11
Pretty sucky actually.
Very few save stations and very few e-tanks too. Couldn't find Gravity so I was wandering around the map looking for it and never did. Still not sure where it is.
Interesting hack though, good gimmicks and stuff. Early powerbombs are achievable. The low-grav physics are neat, but when there's a lot of purple pirates it gets frustrating and you die a lot especailly with that low energy.
Also, why is there porn in this game? (granted, it is difficult to get to, but why?)
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Alt-Fusion [Demo] by Electrometer Prime [MF Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:38
Decent-looking halfhack, good for its time. Locks you out of progression after leaving Sector 1.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Converse Fusion by ShuiJing [MF Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Feb 17, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:49
Chinese halfhack by ShuiJing that isn't very good. Has some fun stuff in the beginning, but once you get to the water level puzzle, it becomes hell. You have to keep a very tight shine chain all the way from the Navigation room to the water room. I didn't bother trying to do it as after Sector 4 the game's changes end.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Fusion HACK (4 zones completed) by anonymous [MF Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Feb 16, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:28
This is a rehash of vanilla, but with a Chinese twist. Sounds fancy, but that just means the map is broken, rooms lead to weird places, and stupid room layouts. First Fusion hack I've done, off to a pretty bad start.
Has like one or two redeeming qualities, AQA was actually kinda neat. There were a few hidden missile blocks in spots which I hate.
The hack ends at first entry of PYR which I got to.
Do not recommend.
Did not finish.
time is rta
Disturbance by interdpth/raygun [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jan 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
80% in 1:12
Not that great. Doesn't change a whole lot, I've played better halfhacks probably.
Not worth your time, dunno what to say that caauyjdp didn't already say.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Zero Mission: Boss Rush Mode by monkeyboi [MZM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jan 03, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
76% in 0:10
Interesting graphics! Didn't always work out too well, but I liked the Matrix style. Clearly very old as doors are too long, tiling errors as results of bosses being shifted, among other things. Lots of item collection at the beginning, probably took longer than the rest of the hack did honestly. Lots of random door transitions that I suppose were meant to warp you out of certain areas, was kinda disorienting. Charlie can be skipped if you walljump up to the top, as there's an air block in the top left that just lets you get past and fight Mecha Ridley as suitless Samus. FUN! It's also impossible. Served its purpose as a Boss Rush hack, but not worth a playthrough.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Zero Challenge by Ing-Ing [MZM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jan 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 1:20
Why did I finish this, especially without savestates? 70 deaths. Ended up picking up almost every item basically because I wouldn't have gotten anywhere with like 5 missiles and 1 super. MB was pretty bad because rng, but the rest of it was okay-ish.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Something by raygun [MZM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Dec 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:52
Arachnus! But he doesn't work right.
This hack pulls off a couple cool things, but you're better off skipping it in my opinion. Spazer has an annoying hitbox compared to SM also. Few permastucks, one of them being RIGHT after a one-way save so you have to start the game over. Not cool.
Didn't finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Vermifugal by alexman25 [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Dec 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 0:20
I mean like this wasn't actually that bad LMAO
Sure it has millions of flaws but it was fun to play. Be sure that you get Morph Ball before you fall down that hole in the ground. You'll regret it.
Interesting hack, decent/bad music, every item respawns, cool palette for main area.
At least you can beat it!
Odd Mission by Ing-ing [MZM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Dec 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
47% in 2:34
WTF was this hack?
Started out extremely badly. Forced me into Kraid right at the start, and a softlock right after that if you look around enough. Doors are oddly placed, blocks are inconsistent, bad level design and scrolls, all that jazz.
The difficulty was so unrealistic, getting a few major items was just relying on IBJ and HIBJ. Stupid.
Norfair's a hassle to navigate through, and some of the items just plain aren't there. I couldn't find Screw Attack at all, like what?
All you need to beat the hack is to kill Mother Brain. So you need Kraid and Ridley. Ridley isn't even a real boss lair, it's just something that looks like it's straight out of a boss rush hack. Kiru Giru is useless, and if you fall down after him the game literally hardlocks. Only other crash/stuck I know of in this hack.
Despite all this nitpicking, it was still a very, very interesting hack. The routes are totally changed up, rooms are suuuuper different (for better or for worse, mainly worse). I ragequit at one point but decided to keep playing like a minute later so it was basically in a single sitting.
Overall, I wouldn't recommend this hack honestly. It's too frustrating to recommend to basically anyone and it's just...not fun.
Summer Mission SHORT by Ing-ing [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Nov 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
37% in 2:42
NOTE: This review is for version 2.05 of the hack, which you can find on the release thread. The link on this site does not properly link for it so you have to search for it.
Horrible. Honestly.
No walljumping, Imago Bee respawns, some rooms are inconsistent, yadda yadda yadda.
The entire map is a heckin maze, I can't find my way around anywhere. It took me like 5 hours to beat this game, why? It's supposed to be SHORT smh
Overall, I don't recommend this hack because of the things it does. It's just obnoxious. Never found SJ/SA.
Oh, and the low HP amounts + Mother Brain fight. Why did he think this was a good idea ITS NOT
Finished, somehow.
Winter Mission by Ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
25% in 0:33
Oh my god why.
Cool concept, but there were so many things wrong with this hack.
The escape section is total ass, I was freaking out during the entire thing. A few passages are totally hidden and the one e-tank you get is totally hidden from you, you need a keen eye to find it. Imagine going through the hack without that e-tank, I know I can't. This was painful, especially with no savestates.
Finished, do not recommend. D:
Zero BOSS Mission by Meilove [MZM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
12% in 0:39
This is a pretty difficult boss rush hack. It doesn't give you many items and you have to find the 1 e-tank that it provides.
Bosses are buffed quite a bit, so be careful. And Charlie isn't necessary right at the beginning fortunately. The second save room was broken (which I fixed)so I used a savestate there and before Mecha Ridley.
Typical bad Chinese tiling, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Starts out well.
Finished.
Not sure if I recommend.
time is minutes:seconds
Metroid: Zero Mission - Chozo Hint Statue Removal by spiffy [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Really cool idea, I actually like this. Good if used as a base for a hack, but not by itself.
Did not finish/start.
Recommend to use as a base or something.
Metroid Zero Mission - NoMap by Asaki [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Decent idea, but doesn't change enough to be good/worth a real playthrough in my opinion. Gets 2 stars because there's a Lite version. I like that.
Did not finish/start.
Do not recommend.
Crocomire Demo by Trunaur68 [MZM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Crocomire Demo. What do you expect? It's actually made decently well, but doesn't function like regular Crocomire. Slightly disappointing. However, it's been used in two hacks that I've seen. It actually works decently but has a lot of kinks to be ironed out.
HECKTROID by alexman25 [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Nov 13, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
47% in 1:03
This hack is the best joke hack I've seen.
It has a lot of great stuff in the game and it's shorter than you think! Graphical glitches could possibly trigger epilepsy so be warned.
There are quite a few warps, Mecha Ridley shows up in like ten different places, everything is fun and happy.
This was a lot of fun. I highly recommend savestates as there is only one working save in the game, and there are quite a few permastucks in one way or another. I ended up using about 18 save slots.
It's very low quality but it's pretty funny, hence the low rating + recommendation.
Finished.
Recommend.
Project Ridien by Nathan Serubin [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Sep 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It has a cool story and stuff (it's like ten pages, wtf?).
But it's WAY too long and unrewarding.
I played about an hour or two, explored all of Brinstar (and nothing else)only to get two upgrades in the entire thing, being Morphing Ball and Missiles. This hack doesn't really reward exploration despite being so large as there are sections of the map that literally loop around on themselves. For no reason. WHY?!?!
The vertical climbs are obnoxious and I don't like where Morph was. It can be easily missed.
I encountered ~2-3 stucks, which really sucked. Spent about 15 minutes trying to get back to where I had gotten stuck and it turned out to be useless anyways.
The graphics are original but they get really stale after a little bit, no variation in level design at all. Most rooms are exact replicas of each other (yes, I know that's what NEStroid does but it's especially bad here).
And you WILL need a map if you decide to play this. You won't get anywhere efficiently if you don't have a map.
Do not recommend at all unless you have lots of patience, love boring tiling and M1.
Did not finish.
Metroid Master by Chris Allen [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Meh...
Lots of wandering around and dead ends. Why are these even a thing?
Map is probably needed, got to about Norfair and then stopped because of a major issue.
When you die, some of your pickups are erased. I lost all 15 missiles and an e-tank, starting back at 30 again. I lost my patience and stopped.
Also, a dboost through a respawning block is forced. Not a cool idea. I spent about a half hour with my map trying to figure out where to go and that was actually the way...like why?
Did not finish, do not recommend.
Metroid Adventure by Nathan Serubin [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 3:00
A big ol' freakin maze.
You need a map to get through this hack. If you don't have a perfect memory, good luck. I struggled for about 3 hours even with Kraid skip...
You are totally starved of energy in the beginning and only get your first and second tanks in Ridley, like what?!?! Why?!?!
I really did not like this hack and do not recommend.
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid M by Mega-Dog [M1 Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Aug 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is MASSIVE. Brinstar has easily been expanded to double its regular size, making it really easy to get lost. And not in a good way.
I got past Bombs and decided to stop because the progression was spread so far out and I didn't think I'd manage to get through it without a map. You need one to beat this.
Obviously did not finish.
Metroid Mutation by Tek [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Graphics hack, looks nice...and that's it.
Not worth a playthrough.
Did not finish.
Bionic Metroid by Defgav [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Simple resprite.
Game says YOU DIED when you end it, 10/10
Did not finish.
The Hallway by alexman25 [M1 Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Aug 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:10
Running back and forth, the game.
4/10, don't really recommend.
Finished.
time is rta
Super Samus by Grond [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Very simple sprite change, but it's literally just that. Spinjumping looks REALLY fast.
Did not finish.
Metroid Walljump by Parasyte [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Adds walljumping. Simple.
Did not play/finish.
Metroid Automap by Parasyte [M1 Improvement], rated by Sapphron on Aug 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Adds a minimap. Simple.
Did not finish.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 4 by Dark099 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
78% in 2:53
...no.
I expected this to be better than R3. The more time, the better, right?
No.
The color vulnerabilities that were described partially do not work. The pink pirates are vulnerable to like everything, and green pirates not being vulnerable to plasma makes ZERO sense. Minor nitpick.
I noticed the most possibilities for permastucks in this, some doors that you need supers/powerbombs to get out of and you can't refill inside. Back to the last save!
If going to Forgotten Highway, you have to go in and out the way you came. Just like R3.
You will notice a lot of random blockades in the middle of rooms, like in the second screenshot. Why are they here? They have no purpose other than being annoying!
The suitless section was really bad.
How am I supposed to figure out that a few spikes out of the twenty or so are actually crumble blocks? Do you really want me to jump on EVERY single one until I find out? I had to look up the answer to proceed. The rooms that you proceed through suitless are REALLY laggy so prepare to spend quite a bit of time in them, goin' slooooow.
Even more morphball mazes than last time, almost all are suitless.
Bosses are buffed the same amount, going to Maridia before LN is not a good idea even though the creator recommends it.
Ugh. If you're going to play a Rebuild hack, play 3.
Super Metroid: Rebuild by Dark099 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:44
Pretty uninteresting.
It has Red Crateria and some really obnoxious standing pirates, and lastly some really bad suit palettes but that's really all of my major complains about the hack.
The progression was interesting and a hellrun is forced.
Bosses are buffed a TON (except for Kraid) and there are actual Metroids in Maridia? Why? I didn't even have Ice Beam to take them on so I just had to charge through them...
You get a lot more super packs and pb packs than you do in vanilla, which should always be done since who uses all 230 of their missiles once they have Plasma/Screw? Yeah, no one.
Hardly noticed any tiling errors, maybe one or two but done okay for the most part. Not many rooms were changed (probably a good thing though)which kinda sucks.
Overall, it's a very vanilla halfhack.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: The Darkness Spreads 1 by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:58
Solid halfhack...but it doesn't change enough.
Right away, you can totally sequence break the game by walljumping up to Gauntlet, it breaks the entire sequence so much. It's really weird, and I'd think the creator would know about something as small as this...but oh well.
90% of the item locations were barely changed at all, but some items were swapped and Gravity was in a cool location.
The suit colors look really bad, except for the Power Suit. It looks like they just threw a bunch of colors onto one suit and decided that was the end of it.
Some bosses like Kraid and Draygon were buffed a lot, and with your low-ish firepower once you get to them, it makes for some pretty long and boring fights.
Overall, decent halfhack but I didn't think it changed enough.
P.S. Failing baby skip can be a hardlock (not as bad as you think) and the Crateria PBs room hardlocked me too. You have been warned.
Super Metroid: Gazz by crimsonsunbird [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Aug 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
78% in 2:36
This was a pretty alright crimsonsunbird hack.
All the items were at reasonable spots that I didn't have to search for (except PBs, had to look it up to find it)
Item progression was interesting and took advantage of different beam vulnerabilities for a certain room.
You start out with 60 hp and are forced to go through a path that has a decent amount of spikes, so be careful. Door warps aren't common but I remember one or two in the Landing Site and I think that was it.
Black Falcon HUD is broken and no hack should use it except for Mission Rescue.
Also, wtf are the shot and missile sounds??? This is unbelievably bad!
It is a very long hack though, and the suits were in weird spots (Varia was in a spot that isn't even in vanilla SM!)
Decent hack, but I do not recommend.
Ferrawrd by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 3:03
This was actually pretty decent considering that it's a crimsonsunbird hack, which are notoriously bad.
I liked most of the palettes, but some of them were too extreme.
I hate door warps as they make no sense and I'm used to the normal map, so the few warps that were used bothered me quite a bit. There's a decent amount of forced spike damage and an acid hellrun early on in the game (with 1 e-tank)that is surprisingly precise. I died about 5 times and was left with only 15 or so HP at the end. Not fun.
The item progression was actually pretty interesting as I had to guess what items were coming up instead of just knowing, but some items were way too late.
The workrobots.
Some of the robots in the game are stationary and block off 5-6 e-tanks which is really annoying when trying to just make it through the game without dying. I figured out that they can be killed by spark echoes, which is definitely not the way to do it, but oh well.
Overall, I actually somewhat enjoyed this hack and maybe recommend it for a playthrough if you've played all the other good hacks.
Super Metroid: Swifty! by EpicAndroid [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
22% in 0:39
Way too fast for me. Morphing Ball's speed is way too high and gets even higher when mockballing. Speed booster's charge is way shorter than PBase and you can keep the charge literally anywhere you go. It lasts over 2 minutes, from my tests. Guessing it stays forever if it stayed this long...
The physics would be good in a really fast-paced speed booster based hack, but in vanilla they do not fit. I did not like Gravity Suit's palette but Power Suit and Varia Suit were alright.

In conclusion, if you want a fast-paced vanilla hack that's really polished go play Project Base. This isn't worth it.
Super Easy Metroid by Crocomire [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jul 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
15% in 1:04
Something that bothered me about this hack is that the enemies are halved in dmg + health, but environmental damage (like spikes, acid, etc.) are not halved. I know that's not in the description at all but it would've been a nice touch.
Mother Brain has 18,000 HP instead of 9,000 like the hack would lead you to believe, making my low% +1 a little more stressful. :p
One other thing is that the creator did not group together shot blocks/bomb blocks like they're grouped in vanilla, like you can see in the screenshot on the right. Some blocks also respawn when they shouldn't, making things a little annoying at times like climbing Red Tower.
Overall, it is what it says. A super easy metroid.
Metroid Classic Demo by JAM [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Neat idea, but there are some death traps in rooms and the scrolling doesn't work that well. The tiling is kind of off, but it is in M1 so that's not a fair complaint.
Didn't really like this as it doesn't offer much and there's a newer MUCH better version by ProjectXVIII (can be found here https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3234).
SMNonCompetition by SMILEuser96 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
52% in 0:16
This was quite mediocre. I felt lost a few times and the screen flashed WAY too many times, possible epilepsy warning if you try to play this hack. The grapple rooms have an extremely long reload timer if you fall due to door transition bs.
The SMB3 Ice song I heard had horribly desynced instruments.
I don't really recommend this. Can tell how much Smiley tried, but I didn't like it.
The One Room Hack by Digital_Mantra [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Digital Mantra's tiling skills are shown once again, but it's just another one room hack with a ton of spikes, crumble grapple blocks and limited health. Did not finish because I just got frustrated and the hack was stupid.
Marida/Norfair by Crys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 0:58
This hack was really boring. I went Phantoon first because I couldn't be bothered to actually trek through Maridia to get to the Wrecked Ship, and that basically ruins the hack. I didn't get to see much of Maridia and what I did see hurt my eyes (see pre-pre-Plasma room). Cool concept, but was not executed well at all.
However, some of the palettes looked REALLY nice, like the ashy one in main Norfair. I thought that looked great.
Dark World by Crys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 22, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Really like the concept here and how it takes you back through the rooms, but the refill on the light orbs and how fast the hp drain happens makes you wait around for a looooong time. Dark world had a really nice palette and said light orbs looked very good.
Good Fun Rush by BFrobber [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
16% in 0:21
Love Kojakt Beam and Light Speed. Genius items :D
Pretty mediocre boss rush hack otherwise, tbh.
Blitz by KT JDDD [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 19, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
46% in 0:29
This hack is alright.
There are a few rooms where if you go back when it's not intended, you will get stuck because the door takes you to the wrong place and you can't escape. Would be 3 stars but this happened on 2-3 occasions so it gets taken down to two.
And GT does a lot of damage, beware.
Super Metroid: SnowCrash by uzqap [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
95% in 3:16
This hack was really promising at the beginning.
I liked the progression and where I could go, but once I got to grapple...it all changed.
Grapple's location has an extremely stupid crumble gauntlet that you have to go through with an extremely low amount of energy. The way to Phantoon isn't really hinted at (partly cuz I'm bad), Draygon is all glitchy graphics-wise, etc.
I liked this hack, but it certainly had a few flaws (aside from being a halfhack)
Super Metroid X - Chapter 1: Investigation by reaper901 [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:32
The constant Ceres humming sound really got to me after a while, and this took like half an hour. The tiling is all the same and there are a lot of places to get stuck in. The progression is really slow, too.
time is rta
Stardust by Tyjet66 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
85% in 1:18
This was an alright hack for being so dang old. I really didn't like that there were items in Tourian & the escape. For people going for 100%, that's always really obnoxious.
Palettes were kind of nice, progression wasn't that confusing and some areas were quite nice to look at.
Also, no save stations, the ship is your only save. This gets a star knocked off because it can take quite a while to get back to Mother Brain if you die.
Maridia by Kyodo [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
MANY slope stucks, the doors leading to Bomb Torizo go seizure mode and lock your game up hard. The idea was really neat, but not executed well or tested well in this demo. Also extremely bland tiling is to be expected for Maridia, but I don't like it regardless.
Super Metroid: Retaliation Demo by DarkSamus [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:28
Nice tileset, fun little secrets.
time is rta
Super Metroid: Ultimate Challenge 1 by Popple_Waffles [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:12
Platformer with some hidden paths. Pretty difficult. The screenshots are actually for Ultimate Challenge 2, this is a hack with landing site graphics instead.
time is rta
Super Metroid: Space Adventures by DaveBatista [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
9% in 0:17
This was cool, but it had a lot of weird design choices and a few stucks. For such a short hack, it was hard to find where to go some of the time.
Super Metroid: Few Room Hack by Shadow34370 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:38
Fun little hack, but a few of the upgrades are hidden really stupidly.
time is rta
Super Metroid: Blackout by JAM [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 1:29
This hack was kind of fun, but it'd be hellish if you've only played through vanilla a couple of times. Norfair's heated sections kind of ruined the darkness as you can see where you are using the lights (including LN)and bosses were easily visible.
Super Metroid: True Boss Rush by KT JDDD [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
47% in 0:16
I really didn't mind the physics changes. The bosses were quick and weren't really buffed (I played Hard Mode) but GT was missing. D:
Worth a quick playthrough, I suppose.
Super Metroid Redirect by j2001m [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
104% in 1:36
This hack has crumble grapple blocks up the ass.
Maridia was extremely dumb as there were crumble blocks everywhere I went, the way to plasma was really dumb to figure out, etc.
I've seen better vanilla halfhacks.
Ridley's Revenge by Tyjet66 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 12, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:22
Was pretty fun if you disregard the red crateria. The hack ends after Ridley, running through a hallway for eternity.
time is rta
Super Metroid: ÊÐæÏ@!Ðúi by squishy_ichigo [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Jul 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Best graphics overhaul of SM I've ever seen. This hack will hurt your eyes and confuse you, even though it's the vanilla layout.
I did finish this, but no completion stats because that text is garbled too. :P
Impossible by Saturn [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 4:11
This hack is a reaaal challenge.
There are spikes placed in strategic spots, there are (almost)zero opportunities for sequence breaks, hellruns to Ridley and suitless all the way through Maridia, gates blocking almost every path, buffed enemies, buffed bosses, a hellish Mother Brain 2 & 3 fight and a super difficult escape (if you don't know what do to right away)
12 hours rta, 141 deaths. Savestateless.
If you are looking for a challenge that will take you forever and frustrate you to no end, this is the hack for you.
And by the way, most items are hidden so well you can't find them without watching the 100% playthrough.
Arena 2 by Jathys [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 0:17
Patch is for headered rom.
This hack was not very good, but it had like one cool room (and the rinkas were a cool gimmick).
Varia Suit was out of the way and took me a while to find (thought I had to hellrun through LN room to Ridley), the path to Kraid was absolutely stupid and I had to get help from the readme, tons of items are missable, but I have one major complaint.
There is no Charge Beam.
You must save all of your ammo as best you can/refill ALL of it at Draygon because you need every little bit of it for Mother Brain. It's stupid. I reset two times because of this, and Plasma disappears if you exit the room where it's located!! It's so dumb.
Overall, this is a hack that I would *kind of* recommend playing if you know what to do, but a few parts are just so stupid.
Avenger's Hack by Ult. Avenger [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Little bit of speed booster. Short fun hack but if you fall down below through the passage to the right of the ship, you go OOB.
Super Metroid: Apocalypse by DarkSamus [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
8% in 0:00
Died in an out-of-bounds area.
This hack isn't really playable, once you get bombs it's basically over.
However, the graphics outside look really nice so it gets two stars.
2nd Quest by Arva [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 2:38
Sure, it's a new experience, but hardly anything is changed. The door warps make no sense and just confuse you. A certain early sequence break is hard to find and if you do find it, you'll find it after it's useful...and you won't ever play it again to get it early. The changed music is a very nice touch, however.
The "Rocket Ball" feature did not work AT ALL for me so I was forced to carry a shinespark suit all the way to Draygon from the surface.
Not worth a playthrough imo. Changes so little that it isn't worth your time.
Super Metroid: Even Less Ambitious by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is kind of a puzzle hack, the layers were used really well but some of the gates were way too hidden and left me scratching my head at points.
Criminal Intent by Obbligato [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
78% in 2:54
A halfhack with lots of linearity. Do not recommend.
Lunar Pull by Cardweaver [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:25
The rooms are really obnoxious, but this can teach you some underwater stuff I suppose.
time is rta
Legend of Doom by devonodev [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:00
Not too bad, precision walljumps and a maze. Space Jump is not hard to get but I did not want to jump into spikes to claim my prize.
F-Metroid by mrkishumo [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
14% in 0:12
KILL THE BABY
There are a few permastucks, red crateria, etc. but I enjoyed it.
Ceres by Jathys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Cool idea, but if you die you just end up in the normal game. Download does not work, got it from a different source.
Super Metroid: Grapple Challenge by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
21% in 0:27
Wow. This hack was special.
The grappling wasn't creative and you had cramped corridors with single blocks (spikes all over the floor too), not good design.
Boss battles were kind of stupid, no difficulty in them at all.
Do not recommend. Just frustrating.
Super Metroid: Crystal Flash Training by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
226% in 0:04
Quick little hack that can help you with learning Crystal Flash and performing under pressure.
Super Metroid: Escape from Norfair by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:02
Beaten w/o savestates, cool little hack that helps with learning suitless Lower Norfair.
Super Metroid: Golden Dawn by Black Telomeres [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 23, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
74% in 6:22
Please don't play this hack. No save stations, a disgustingly bright final area, unbelievable requirements for progress, hidden passages up the ass, etc.
However, I must say that it has some extremely interesting design aspects + lots of cool exploration if you do play it, and it gets bumped up to 2 stars for that.
420 spike landing site cre edit insta death barf kraid grapple clip hack by H A M [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Dec 16, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:05
Super Metroid Dread- Prime 4 - The Adventure of Samus Returns by tedicles [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on May 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:02
This is the best Tourian Directory hack that has ever been made.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Seven Star by Mr. Hiryu [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on May 21, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
43% in 1:00
Pretty uninspired. The physics are pretty unusual (in a bad way), the hack pretty much just becomes a boss rush with few rooms in-between, and like others said, bombs is in a really bad spot. Graphics were also pretty bad, lots of level design errors/tiling errors.
Also, second screenshot is nowhere to be seen in the hack?
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Rainbow City by squishy_ichigo [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on May 18, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:21
I really didn't like this hack. Like nerd said, it was quite samey. All the rooms felt similar, there's too little energy/ammo, the "end boss" is way too difficult when you're this underpowered (but you aren't softlocked if you run out of ammo)
Same music, same tileset for the whole game.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid 2000 2000 by Ing-ing [MF Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 6:30
Softlocked right at the end.
If you save out of Ridley's area (which is possible, there's a stupid door warp)you can't go back in AT ALL if you don't have a save in that part of Sector 1. The path to progress there is completely unhinted but technically possible by space jumping around (that's your hint).
Other than that, typical Ing hack with his hard quirks and few energy tanks.
Has some cool sections but the path forward is so obtuse and stupid at times that I don't recommend trying it. If I didn't softlock, it would probably be a 3 star hack due to being one of the first full Fusion hacks.
Ing-ing is working on actually finishing this hack, but don't expect it to happen anytime soon.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Super Metroid: So Much Hell Apocalypse "Q" by The Monster of Surrealton [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
91% in 3:12
Beaten cheat/savestateless except for 1 rewind in the escape. ~43-44 deaths
Draygon is fucking frustrating.
Not dignifying this with a review.
Finished.
Do NOT recommend.
#MSTSucks
Super Metroid Renewed - The Station by Rennew [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Gave up at Ridley. I'd be able to do it with morph ball but I am NOT doing it without.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Renewed - The Beginning of the End by Rennew [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
52% in 1:35
Allowed myself to savestate whenever I got back to the ship. No other saves though. You'll need savestates to beat this hack, for sure. I needed the video to get through ANY of this hack. You will too.
Acid mazes, lava mazes, mazes in general, heat runs, spikes, lack of a map, permastucks, this hack has it all.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Correction 3 by lebonchocolat [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 13, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Avoid.
This is an amalgamation of Redesign and vanilla Super Metroid with permastucks, broken doors, and bad tiling all over the place.
It's a decent idea, but it's executed terribly. The physics are jarring, the map is completely broken if you leave the area and come back, progression is unclear, etc.
One good thing I have to say about this hack is it had icy X-Parasites as Phantoon's flames. That's it.
Oh, and you never get Gravity Suit. You have to trek through all of Maridia with Varia.
I was forced to stop near the end because you have to let the baby drain all of your health, and I opted to do a baby skip with slowdown. This is not possible to beat the game with. You need at least 5 minutes to beat it, and you only have 3.
If you have Crystal Flash ammo, or 3-4 reserves, it is possible. You just can't baby skip with it though because you'll ruin it.
A waste of 7 hours.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Alter Arsenal by Praetarius5018 [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
88% in 2:02
Shit hack.
Cool ASM! Everything else sucked.
Enemies deal way too much damage, health system was bizarre (not in a good way), etc. Mother Brain was the worst I've come across in a hack, seriously.
I had to do a crystal flash during her rainbow beam in order to stand up and actually deal damage to her instead of waiting until the end phase where YOU DON'T GET HYPER BEAM so you're forced to stand there and hit her amongst the incredible amounts of blue rings and balls flying out of her maw.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: GBA Style! by ShadowOne333 [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
36% in 0:42
Just felt like vanilla but more tedious. I don't like gba physics being imported into SM as I feel SM's physics are better, but oh well.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Bloodstone by NORTHa [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:10
This hack is not short.
It has a few different stages, and there's some really weird puzzle-y type things. Lots of permastucks/insta-death spots, and the tiling is really bad honestly.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Boost Training by Spark [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Jun 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:15
What even was this?
It was just a janky room with a lot of slopes and shot blocks. Couldn't find Charge so I couldn't beat Phantoon, like kk said OG SM is better than this.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Super Metroid Nightmare by JAM [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 16, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 4:36
BARF
God this sucked. I beat the entire thing savestateless except for a savestate right after I killed Ceres Ridley.
It's just a tedium fest, super linear route and pb doors are the worst offenders here. It seems impossible to get into LN since the doors take like 10 hits and you only have 9 pbs at that point, but there is a way. Just have to position yourself right. Of course JAM probably didn't account for this I'd have to guess...also you need 100% to beat this. 50/10/10 ammo. It is IMPOSSIBLE to kill MB without it. And you have to break her tank first. You can leave Tourian which you're forced to do about 5-6 times.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
81 deaths.
Super Metroid Matias Gomas by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
337% in 0:06
Neat that it dropped you in somewhere other than Ceres Station, but it was a terribly built hack.
Pre-MB was the only hard part, not dying in the acid and all.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Gold Chozo Double Kill by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:09
wtf was this?
Bad underwater wall jump physics, stupid navigation, broken graphics, you name it. Dumb fights too, extremely easy if you know their cheese spots.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Super's Gravity by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
carpal tunnel: the hack
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid FL by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 10, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 2:17
It's beatable unlike what Syphon said, actually.
Morph is in Landing Site and you can get to it if you have Speed Booster.
It's just a regular bad hack that forces some late items like Bombs to be in dumb places, and buffs a few bosses. Avoid.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Final Crimson RBO by crimsonsunbird [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 09, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Trash hack.
The path forwards isn't obvious at all...you have to go left first, get an e-tank and missiles+morph, then head right and down Red Brinstar. Forced to enter LN with 2 tanks and even with the slower heat damage it's a FKING PAIN because of the yellow pirates on your path through. I gave up at that point with about 50 deaths, even WITH savestates. It's just another shit pedro hack.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Ernesto Gonzagga Killer by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 07, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Didn't finish this. It's just too annoying to spend this much time opening doors. I was at 30 minutes before getting back to the ship, man. Tedium
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Holocauzto Edition by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 07, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Pseudo Screw Attack by jailsonmendes [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on May 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Screenshots show it's bad, and the gimmick really isn't all that special after a few minutes.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.

Did I mention that it's just "Another Super Metroid" again?
Super Metroid Puzzle Lunatic by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Interesting concept. Got past Bombs and saved, then realized I needed to go through gauntlet.
No.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Dragon Shot by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
What kkzero said.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Dark Nightmare by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Worst. Hack.
The room before climb has respawning pirates that take like 100 shots. I gave up there because this is a worse version of The Nightmare, which pedro also made.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
RBO Insane by aigamerds [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 3:54
A massive shitstain of a hack that does not deserve the reward of existing on the main site.
Beetoms are instakill, bosses are instakill for the most part, the escape is bar-none the WORST one I have EVER seen in a hack. It's 10 minutes long and you need all of them.
Enemy vulnerabilities suck, the design is bad, the game is way too unfair for anyone who plays it. I had to resort to savestates a few times. Death count? 71.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Leodox's Seed In Your Rectum by Leodox [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on May 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
89% in 2:35
"Challenge" halfhack with some bad design choices. Boss vulnerabilities make zero sense (Ridley/Botwoon are great examples)and much more.
This hack sux.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
RBO Impossible by aigamerds [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on May 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
59% in 3:22
Barffff.
Bad design choices, instakill beetoms (frogs), spikes EVERYWHERE, weird item progression, acid runs, etc.
Trash hack, do not play. Bosses are buffed IMMENSELY except for Mother Brain and Ridley and it just gets really frustrating.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Hard Metroid by Crocomire [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Apr 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
52% in 2:41
UGHHHHHH
This is a really bad hack. It's basically just a spikefest with unchanged item locations, frustrating permastucks, etc.
Don't play this.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
also! this is a PAL region hack, first of its kind.
Super Metroid Mother Brain Double Kill by jailsonmendes [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:12
Bad hack. You go into zebetite room and have to go right back out to get some items. Unintuitive.
Then you have to do Mother Brain TWICE because you need both Speed Booster and Grapple Beam, and can only get one at a time. Ew.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
end % was ?85%
Super Metroid Project Rage by Migosp [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
91% in 1:37
Old challenge halfhack that just puts spikes everywhere, creates permastucks, moves around items and such, bad. Tiling is horrible too.
Finished with 1 savestate in Awakening room and another in the room after it.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 5 by JAM [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 2:13
Even shittier version of Rebuild 4. Takes that hack and makes it worse. 0/10
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Reverse Tourian by FaiskaBr [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Apr 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:18
Shit hack by pedro once again. Enter Tourian, go all the way back to the entry save using power bombs to kill metroids, go back, do a dumb escape through normal rooms that aren't shaking. Nothing special here.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
% was ?71%, first digit is unknown.
SM Hard Mode by playerman1230 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Apr 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
30% in 0:48
Another hard mode hack that really isn't special. Doubles enemy damage and halves most item pickups.
Some missile packs actually give you 5 on accident instead of intended 2, so he clearly didn't quality-check this hack much.
Nothing important here.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Gráfico Reserva by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Apr 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
57% in 1:42
Just a more tedious vanilla SM.
Beam damage is changed, charged shots do lower than their non-charged counterparts. Because of this, Ridley and Mother Brain are a slog.
Linearity is increased, and my total fave part about that was going up Red Tower for power bombs then being forced to go back down for Grappling Beam, then back up. What a waste.
Oh, and the palettes! They hurt your eyes. They're really bad, and I chose some specific ones in the screenshots so you would understand.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid Noobs dont like this by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
1% in 0:00
Go to Terminator room, find a hidden shot block, dodge Metroids, what more could you want?
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 7 by Juan Dennys [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
56% in 1:46
Slows down shots. Forces linearity. Makes Kraid nearly impossible due to the slowed down shots, you literally need 2 supers beforehand and lucky Ice Beam SBA shots inside him for it to work. Disgusting. (by the way, Hyper isn't as slow as everything else.)
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 6 by Juan Dennys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
91% in 1:52
Another terrible homenag hack. Who'da thunk it?
Beams make this earpiercing sound. Tiles are strewn all over the place. Items are in dumbass spots (Gravity especially, + PBs and Varia)
Rooms suck. This hack is bad af.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 4 by Juan Dennys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:22
Terrible, like all other pedro hacks.
Ass tiling in the beginning, and you go down to red tower refill to get first missiles, then get Speed Booster in blue brinstar.
Then you get bombs which is not hinted to at all, and go to crateria PBs and grab a shitload of supers and e-tanks for the rest of the hack. You'll need at least 2 sets of the items.
Rooms are barely changed besides the ones early on, and the worst part about all of this is that the escape is literally IMPOSSIBLE without Hi-Jump which I decided not to get.
Bad idea. I would've gone back and got HJ but the door in Tourian seals you in and you can't leave. 69 second escape will do that to you. I basically finished 99% of the hack and that's good enough for me.
Did not finish (I couldn't).
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 3 by Juan Dennys [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Garbage tiles, you fall OOB and end up beating the game.
10/10
Finished.
Recommend ;).
Super Metroid Brinstar/Maridia by FaiskaBr [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Mar 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
76% in 2:15
Nothing special about this one. Another reminder that jailsonmendes, FaiskaBr, and crimsonsunbird are all pedro123! It hides 2 major upgrades in rooms that are never visited (hint: refill)just for fun.
Suitless Maridia is required. It's bad.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid AQUA FINALZ by RYNO [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Mar 18, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
60% in 1:31
Another bad hack. The beginning few rooms are frustrating, as you have to navigate through tons of air tiles for no good reason. Item locations are swapped around, no new rooms, kinda boring. Some enemies are buffed to hell and can one-shot you, especially later on.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
ZM: Samus Returns by alexman25 [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Mar 15, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:52
Bad. Enemies are buffed too much, maps are gone, this hack isn't good.
Did not finish. Beat Mother Brain and stopped
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Fusion - Phoenix Dance by Meilove [MF Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:35
Most frustrating hack ughhhhhhh. This hack has you searching for elevators in rooms constantly, taking up to 10 minutes just to get through a single room. I can't believe this hack. And it only gets worse. There's less items too, I only had 1 e-tank when getting to Zazabi.
0/10
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Fusion RBO by Phazar [MF Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Feb 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:27
Bad. It's just vanilla with early Yakuza because he screwed stuff up. Also the description is wrong, it's actually from One Room ZM Hack which is also ass.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid - Fusion Limit Operation (Earth Man Edition) by Meilove [MF Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Feb 22, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
51% in 5:11
For sure one of the absolute WORST hacks I've played. Constant crumble blocks, bad scrolling, bad tiling, horrible boss fights, dumb tricks, low sparks (sparks in a 2 block space on the ground), etc. Don't waste your time with this. I did it so you don't have to. I used MAGE at around 4-5 spots through this hack because finding the actual progression is unbelievably hard at points. Multiple softlocks were found, mainly towards the end of the game. No savestates were used.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Metroid Super Autosadism by Meilove [MF Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Feb 17, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 3:13
A total shitfest of a hack. Judging by the screenshots, you should be able to see how bad this hack actually is. It's extremely terrible. Do NOT play this. So many bad design choices and just plain frustrating things.
Finished. (no savestates/MAGE cheating either, impressed with myself)
Do not recommend.
Metroid Other ZM by Luce Seyfarth [MZM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jan 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Starts off really impressive! You're on the Landing Site! Isn't that neat?
Yeah it is, but the rest of it isn't.
This hack has sooooooo many issues that just made me stop playing after two hours or so. It has neat ideas but almost no redeeming qualities.
It's frustrating (which the creator expected)and tedious (same case here), but why would you make a hack that has these things, even intentionally?? It makes no sense to me.
Refilling sucks, as you can't really get HP anywhere before Kraid except for going back to Bombs room. Refill bugs literally have too much health and they don't always drop items when you try to farm them with Missiles.
Progression is confusing, and relies on single Bomb blocks or Missile blocks that you find in the ceiling. Enemies are buffed an unbelievable amount, and you have to sit there and shoot for like 10 seconds per enemy just to get them out of the way. My least favorite room from my 2 hours of gameplay was the Hive Room in Brinstar. Absolute bullshit that I died many times to with a save veeery far away from it. I eventually gave up after spending about 15 minutes looking for a missile block in an area that should have been hinted at, and I'm going to go watch a speedrun of it right now because I can't be bothered to finish it.
EDIT: Got back from watching most of the 3 hour speedrun. Glad I quit while I was ahead. There's a lot more interesting stuff here than I gave it credit for, so I am sorry Luce.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Metroid OneDay by JumZhu [MZM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jan 06, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
86% in 2:54
A lot of inconsistency here, sadly. Morph Ball moves at really weird speeds, and beginning puzzles are quite obnoxious actually. I tried to go for 100% but gave up on the room in the 3rd screenshot, acid Norfair room. Just too hard unless you can downwards ballspark or something.
Oh and the ten missile, and ten super doors!!!! WHY DID THEY THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?!?!
Didn't like it.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Unnamed Zero Mission Hack by Jefe962 [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jan 05, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:20
Literally just a room rearrangement of Vanilla's Brinstar and that's it. Softlock in Kraid, Norfair, and Crateria.
Did not finish but got as far as I could.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Complete Mission by Sephirous [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jan 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Vanilla with a Crocomire fight in the back alley of the Norfair PBs room that requires Gravity Suit to get to. That's all, and an extra e-tank.
Didn't even bother playing.
Do not recommend.
Neon City by uNsane [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jan 03, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:52
This hack had a neat idea, being suitless, but it executed it HORRIBLY.
It streamlines you along a veeeery linear path down to Ridley, where you have to farm a ton of blue Violas to get your health back after a heatrun, that can basically only be done if you have an extra e-tank.
In the beginning, there's a few paths you can go but none of them actually take you anywhere. It's just the vanilla map but with a blockade or two removed, and you end up going all the way to Bombs when you couldn't even get anything on the way there anyways. Some of the e-tanks are just taunts and you can't get them.
There are a few precision walljumps off crumbles in the room with the Power Grip blockade normally, and you have to get a frame perfect crumble jump.
Your beam does so little damage that it's unbelievable. The gadora right before Ridley takes like 30 shots, and the beam counter is full length. It's garbage. I killed Ridley (without savestates)and headed up to the elevator to leave, and was greeted by an elevator that leads me out of bounds so you can't go back at all.
OH YEAH AND THE BACKGROUND!!!! IT'S TRASH AND HURTS YOUR EYES. Cool neon tilesets but some of the tilesets are unchanged and some are made worse actually.
Cool concept but no. Don't play this.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Pro Mission by Crys [MZM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jan 03, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
52% in 1:42
Bad challenge halfhack. Played through all of it and only Brinstar, West Norfair and Kraid were changed. Basically a ton of acid in every room and tight HP. Not worth your time. i completed it anyways though.
Finished.
Do not recommend.
Another MZM Hack by uNsane [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jan 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:35
All edits are in Brinstar, and they aren't good. It's just kind of a challenge halfhack that uses a lot of walljumping. It's weird and I don't like it. It has some crumble blocks and Morph Ball's location is changed, nothing special about it. Ended at where the creator defined it being done, at Brinstar.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid Super Mission by Xyifer12 [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:05
It's like supposed to be Project Base, but it's not PBase.
It changes a couple things, only worth it if you wanna start from something that isn't vanilla and want to resprite some things. I personally don't like the look of the energy tanks though, too pink.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
uNsanity by uNsane [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:10
No. Challenge hack that looks disgusting in the first few rooms, forces red pirates on you when you're at max 99 hp (so they one-shot you).
Oh, and reset room. Room after the first save in Tourian, you literally have your game reset. It takes you back to the Game Boy screen. I'm serious.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta
Juice Metroid by Juice [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Dec 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 4:00
The hack stopped with changes at Ridley, so I stopped after killing Ridley and Imago Bee right after.
Don't waste your time with this hack.
It's an old 2007 halfhack that just tries to throw a ton of frustrating things at you. You can't leave through normal elevators for some of it, so you have to leave the area in some other way that isn't straight-forward. Hunting is required, and the amount of ammo you get per item is reduced to ONE, even for missiles. It sucks.
A shinespark chain through about 6 rooms filled with enemies is required. It took me about 40 minutes to pull off which is insane. This should not be a hack, man.
Finished (up to creator's end-point)
Do not recommend.
time is rta
One Room ZM Hack by interdpth [MZM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Nov 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
background says C.L.I.T.O.R.I.S and that's it.
10/10
also apparently you start out with Power Grip
Missile Door Hack by Trunaur68 [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Nov 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Why? Just why?
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
Metroid: Chaos Mission by biospark [MZM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Nov 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
48% in 1:09
This hack is total garbage. Do NOT play this.
It's a painful ride through the vanilla game that crashes about every ten seconds or so, or just plain stops you from proceeding in a room.
I managed to finish it using 130 savestate slots and probably died around 500 times. The emulator plain quit out at multiple points.
Mecha Ridley is everywhere and you can get stuck in boss fights a ton.
Finished with savestates.
Do not recommend.
Metroid: Rise of the Demiurge by Tahazzar [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Nov 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 2:13
This was an attempt to make a great NEStroid hack that sadly fell short. Within the first ten minutes, you'll notice most if not all of its flaws.
Morph and Bombs are hidden late. This wouldn't be a problem if the world was so large yet so restrictive. Using the map, 9/10 of the places you go basically require Morph and Bombs to get anywhere beyond them.
A complete lack of energy anywhere. I was (no exaggeration)2 hours into the game before I got my first E-Tank. I found it in Ridley's Lair. Keep in mind, all of the enemies do 24 damage in there. 5 hits and death. And of course, all I had at that point were 4 Missile Tanks.
Permastucks. I came across a few, specifically in some of the sand/water pits that you cannot escape. There are plenty right before Tourian, which I happened to find somehow.
Progression is very confusing. I couldn't figure out where I was going, and like I mentioned before I had spent 2 hours without getting a SINGLE major item (not on hud or w/e), along with 7 deaths that took me all the way back to where I was.
Speaking of deaths, another problem is the multi-elevator systems. If you die in Norfair, you'll end up in the left-most elevator where you might have died in the top right of the map. This cannot be fixed, but I feel like it could be accounted for better, especially when you're forced through a difficult path.
Despite all this, the hack has some nice imagery and special level design + a somewhat custom Kraid track, but its flaws outweigh its upsides.
The items that I ended up with after 2:13; 4 Missile Packs and 1 E-Tank.
1/10.
Did not finish.
Do not recommend.
time is rta (until I gave up)
Metroid - Captive by SPJ & sqpat [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 3:06
This hack is special levels of dumb. Real special.
The layout is very similar to the original game unlike what the description says, but rooms are definitely changed. Graphics look very nice, for the most part. Door blocks/transition blocks are used a ton and a few of them make for good puzzles, but a few of them literally lead you into solid blocks or OOB. Some areas that you could go to in the original are totally gone, like Varia Suit. You're stuck up there if you try to get up.
Kraid's Lair is a massive maze that makes no sense. Once again, the transition blocks are used. And they aren't used well. Kraid's fight literally needs Wave Beam and 1-2 e-tanks or you'll die in the acid. It's the only way to kill him and it sucks. I never found Varia...
And the worst part, which it shares with some other hacks.
You lose items.
Sometimes upon death/Up+A, you will lose 5-10 missiles and 1-2 e-tanks. It's total BS and I lost one e-tank upon entry to Tourian because of this. Fix your game!
And Tourian sucks. You have to forcefully despawn a Metroid to keep going, and it's in the worst room. MB's room is unchanged, and the escape is garbage.
Do not recommend one bit.
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid Revenge by L.Soft Hacks [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:14
Pretty trash.
This hack changes almost nothing once you get past the first morph ball structure (where the e-tank usually is)and the rest of it is vanilla except for palettes.
You can't enter Tourian without using https://www.truepeacein.space/ because the elevator is in the wrong room and you can't even access it!! WTF??? So I cheated only for that purpose.
The palettes don't even look good.
Finished.
Don't waste your time. Do not recommend.
time is rta
Metroid - Zebian Illusion by DragonEye Studios [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
What the fuck? Why was this thought of as a good idea?
I got super lost after Long Beam and decided to give up. Why?
Because I spent over an hour combined in the vertical shafts. Even after using a ton of savestates.
These shafts are an abomination of level design purely because of the fact that this game handles damage knockback incredibly poorly, and enemies are spewed out through the entire shafts. Why?!?!?!
The palette hurts my eyes. It actually looks disgusting...horrible shade of red and horrible shade of green.
Overall, do NOT recommend. This hack brought down some of my minor enjoyment for NEStroid singlehandedly. I can't wait to finish all of these hacks and be done with this game.
Did not finish.
Pitoid by frederickarte [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Sep 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 3:25
This entire hack is a maze. You need a map.
Brinstar is a really dumb area. Part of the area makes it look like you need to abuse enemy freezing to get to the next point and door climb to a certain item, but you can just come from above if you're sneaky enough. It makes no sense.
Some rooms lead absolutely nowhere! It's not too often in Brinstar but in Norfair and Ridley you will see plenty of them. No shortage at all.
Ridley's lair was incredibly stupid, 6 door shafts which basically lead nowhere. This time, it actually seems like you need to doorclimb to proceed. You probably do. And no hack should force that.
Norfair is a maze filled with rooms that either lead you to nothing or give you one missile pack. The way down to Ridley makes no sense.
I skipped Kraid because I didn't want to deal with the hack any longer, and it threw me another curveball.
I died in Tourian, and instead of starting at the elevator, I started at a static Mother Brain room that I couldn't go through. I kept wrapping left and right and was stuck there, I had to use https://www.truepeacein.space to actually leave the place and come back. Totally stupid. Test your hack!
Overall I think this is a super bland hack with poor palettes that fails in delivering difficulty and fun exploration.
Do NOT recommend.
Finished.
time is rta
Metroid Quest by MakouEyes [M1 Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Another graphics hack that looked really nice.
However, all of the items on pedestals were gone, so I couldn't get bombs, ice, long beam, etc.
Do not recommend as it doesn't seem beatable.
Did not finish.
Metroid Simplified by Malpercio [M1 Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:07
Not a good hack.
It's vanilla with a ton of rooms removed, and a few doors lead you out of bounds so you're stuck and forced to Up+A.
Tourian can be skipped (and so can everything else tbh), Kraid and Ridley both require Wave Beam to fight them so if you decide to go for 100% be sure to get that before you descend.
Items are sprawled all over the place so there is no difficulty/exploration aspect, it just waters down the original game.
I recommend OG NEStroid over this. That's unusual.
Finished.
time is rta
Drugtroid by TheDruggedMetroid [M1 Speedrun/Race], rated by Sapphron on Aug 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Caused eye strain in about a minute or two of playing.
Do NOT recommend at all...ugh
Did not finish.
Super Metroid: Kaizo Edition by Green Samus [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Aug 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
104 deaths to get back to the ship with ~10-15 different savestates.
This hack is really special...
It's super spiky and needs insane amounts of precision to get anywhere. Progression is convoluted and it's only fun to watch someone else play.
This hack is technically humanly completable. However, it is unbelievably unreasonable to attempt to finish it.
Two TASes exist of this hack, by Lioran and Hoandizi. I recommend watching both of them but Lioran's one is more entertaining. EDIT: RIP Lioran's TAS :(
Lioran also made a version of this named "Kaizo Possible" which can be easily found on the main site.
It's a humanly doable version of this hack. If you plan to play it, play that instead.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Full Run by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
37% in 0:26
This hack was bad.
It has a ton of tiling errors and a long hellrun to a boss that's basically already dead. Why even bother?
When breaking the Maridia tube, why do you have to re-enter the room to make it work!?!?
It's just really boring.
Don't bother.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 2 by Dark099 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
63% in 1:23
Rebuild 2 is... Rebuild 1 with a few changes.
Not original at all.
R1 got 2 stars because it actually changed things, but R2 just copied everything and made a few rooms worse/swapped around some items and the suit palette.
Definitely do not recommend.
Mindfuck by Crys [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Cannot proceed due to a broken LN room. Beat Kraid, Phantoon, and Draygon.
Some palettes were nice but most weren't, didn't have fun.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Oblivion by Gamefreq [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
93% in 1:48
NOTE: .ips patch is actually for a headered rom, not unheadered like it says in the download.
This hack changes like nothing. It should totally be in the incomplete category.
The few things that are changed are hardly difficult and you get Gravity Suit so early on that any threat is negated. I ended up finding 2 Gravity Suits because creator did not modify WS at all.
Really, it's just a failed challenge hack. CWJ's not even required and neither is Gravity Jump.
Play Cliffhanger Redux or something. That's a really good challenge hack.
Super Metroid: Gravity by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Aug 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
68% in 3:10
This hack is another typical jailsonmendes hack, absolute garbage.
You're severely punished for losing health. A small health pickup is 1 HP, and a large pickup is 2. Why was that even a thing that the creator thought of?!?!
The gravity only allows you to jump up to 4 blocks w/o Hi-Jump, and even with, it's about 5.5 blocks. It's so stupid.
The progression makes no sense and it's so linear, putting items that aren't even in the vanilla game in some spots.
Fortunately, there's only one door warp, and you find it early on. It's not too bad.
The suit colors are some of the worst I've seen in a while.
And the permastucks.
I encountered about ten of them, mostly because I fell into a pit of water or something, but there are so many spots where you need a certain item to get out and you do not have it. I don't think jailsonmendes was thinking at all when they made this hack.
Do not play any jailsonmendes (aka pedro123)hacks. They're all bad.
P.S. first missiles are in one of the dumbest spots ever.
Super Metroid: Nocturn by NORTHa [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Died 97 times with lots of savestates.
This hack is another landing site hack that's super unforgiving. There are invisible spikes in lots of places below crumble blocks, stupid paths, a bang puzzle that was actually really cool but executed poorly as it kills you in one hit. Right at the end, you need the bang so if you didn't lure your second bang to the left, forget it. You cannot beat the hack in that state.
Even if the bang puzzle worked better, it'd still be 1 star because there are no saves and basically no safe points. Some of the puzzles require you to abuse grapple's physics which is fine with me, but there are a few hidden crumble grapple blocks.
Game does not end normally, by the way.
Only recommend if using plenty of savestates.
Super Metroid: Intense by Eddy23911 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Aug 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
75% in 2:27
Intense?? It's a spike hack.
Like I Wanna be the Metroid-level spike hack. There are full damage spikes in every single room including the early-game ones, so you have to be careful. Gravity Suit's location is totally screwed up and the path to get there doesn't work visually because the scrolls were all messed up.
The MB fight doesn't work at first because the music makes the game crash, but if you leave the room after breaking MB's glass tank you can continue and beat the game. Similar to Tenka in this way.
Enemies are buffed WAY too much (and so is Phantoon), but you shoot extremely fast. Still doesn't make up for it though.
In conclusion, it's a challenge spike half-hack that is not rewarding or fun at all. Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: Mini Hack by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is just a half-hack of Another Super Metroid, the first ever SM hack. You don't get any e-tanks and no enemies give you health for some reason. It's just a bad hack, go play said hack if you want to play something similar to/better than this.
Super Metroid: Inverted by crimsonsunbird [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Aug 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Gave up after about 2:30, deciding that I didn't need to spend my time on this worthless hack.
The hack forces a 99 HP Phantoon fight with 5 missiles and a terrible room to fight it in. Had to use savestates at the start of the fight because the only save available is back at the ship.
Suitless Maridia seems to be totally forced and you have like no HP while enemies do full damage, so you must be careful.
I didn't mention the spikes.
I found spikes (full damage, of course)in every single room.
I looked on m2k2 to see where I had to go, and it turns out suitless Norfair is forced too! The progression makes no sense and I was just frustrated the whole time I played it. The room changes make no sense, too.
And I'm sure there's plenty of dumb major items hidden in normal-looking rooms like with XHPC. Don't play that either.
Do not recommend.
Super Metroid: XHPC by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
74% in 3:01
All of crimsonsunbird's hacks are total 1-star garbage.
This one is no exception.
It features:
Unhinted crumble grapple blocks needed for progress!
Rearranged items!
Bad tiling!
60 damage spikes (some invisible ones)!
Stupid progression!
The worst Ridley room I've ever seen in any hack, ever!
A big maze before Draygon!
Gray doors that actually aren't real!
Items that require OOB to get to!
Major items that are not hinted at, at all!
Tourian doors that warp you to different areas of the entire map!
Items in Tourian!
Seriously, I had to look up how to get Gravity Suit and Speed Booster. Speed is in a spot you'd never find w/o Spazer...or in general ever. After Ridley I was in a rush to complete the game as quickly as I could so I didn't have to suffer for much longer.
I do NOT recommend this or any other of crimsonsunbird's hacks.
Super Metroid: Resurrection by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 2:51
Really bad.
The suit palettes were horribly colored, especially the Varia Suit's.
There are plenty of places to get stuck in and there are full damage spikes around every corner. Some you have to trustfall through and hope you don't die, like in the beginning of the game. Not fun.
The level design was really bad along with the spikes and you can tell that the creator wasn't a very good maker. Air tiles, bomb blocks, super blocks, you name it. They're around every corner.
Super Metroid: Dismet by RealRed [SM Spoof], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:27
This hack assaults your eyes.
In order to beat it, you basically need varia/enough e-tanks so be sure to head down to Brinstar and grab those.
It's a terrible hack with terrible tiling and I don't recommend it to anyone. Not special.
Super Metroid: Expert Edition by Dark Knight Kain [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
41% in 1:02
Nothing to say, really, except it's another challenge halfhack that does absolutely nothing special. Don't waste your time.
Super Metroid: Samus Returns by pomtt [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The ship is stuck in the landing site/doesn't exist there, so you can't even play the game.
Waste of 4 minutes.
half A press by FreyasSpirit [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Aug 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
37% in 1:28
More frustrating than you might think.
The only way you can actually jump (excluding IBJ) is doing an autospinjump which puts you at full height for each jump. It takes forever.
Colosseum is super easy to get stuck in and barely doable without ice, I'd think.
IBJ is used to get to a lot of main items. Mockball is not doable at all and neither is walljumping, forcing a lot of boring movement.
Do not recommend. Wasn't fun at all.
Super Metroid Ultimate Hidden Version by GuduJimoYigeren [SM Exploration], rated by Sapphron on Jul 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
PLEASE READ THIS REVIEW BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS HACK. AND RENAME ".thing" TO ".zip"
edit 2021: it used to be .thing due to forum issues but it got fixed lol
You will not finish this hack if you go into it completely blind. I am almost completely sure that it is impossible to do in a blind setting before giving up because it is absolute bullshit.
This hack deceives you at the beginning and makes you think it's a cute little hack with the items all changed around and stuff. Cool, right?
As a concept, yes.
In practice...no. The creator being absolutely mentally insane and totally evil does not help with this.
A part of the description reads "only a few rooms have been modified" but more rooms than not, I found that it was altered a lot, especially in the case of some Norfair rooms. They do not look good. I am aware that this is the creator's first (and hopefully last)hack that they've made, but that is not an excuse for this hack at all.
Both X-Ray Scope and Wave Beam are insanely difficult to find (two major items that help with finding an actual item's location)and without using SMILE I guarantee you will not find them ever or without many hours of searching. So those ways of finding items are out of your reach, basically.
Trying to find items to progress is super frustrating and confusing as almost every single item has been changed, along with being hidden. Varia is no longer in its normal location. Gravity Suit is not. X-Ray Scope, Wave Beam, Ice Beam, Power Bombs, all of them are not. You'll find yourself wandering around for hours hitting EVERY single block with the Grappling Beam or bombing it, to no avail until you find a single missile pack and you keep going to hopefully get something better...which you won't.
There are blockades everywhere, mainly being these three: Speed Booster blocks, Power Bomb blocks, and crumbling Grapple blocks. The former two are considerably easier to search for than the last one as Grapple is finicky and is just bad overall. Another downside of crumble Grapple blocks is that they do not show up when they are bombed. They stay as their normal tile in the tileset. You have to attack every tile over and over again to try to find said block, and if you're lucky after ten minutes you **might** find it. Probably not.
Some rooms are filled with the item that you're looking for which makes it absolute hell to try and find it when you're being bombarded with the same block for so much space. It hurts.
I haven't mentioned fake items yet, either. There are some items that you'll find in their vanilla locations that are actually bomb/crumble blocks and some of them are even full damage spikes. The game punishes you for not looking around (a weak complaint but can help you avoid them).
My last complaint out of many is how misleading it can be. There are certain occasions where you are blocked by some gate, for example, and it looks like you can't go beyond it.
Sometimes, you can go beyond it with your current equipment and that is exactly what the creator expects with a certain early-game item that is 100% required to progress. What's the chance that you'll give up before finding it? Almost 100%.
In conclusion/TLDR:
Do not play this hack, period. Going into it blind will be a total waste of your time and even looking at it in SMILE will be a waste of your time. I did it so you don't have to.
I did not beat this hack. There is no way in hell or a thousand years that I will be coming back to this hack to beat it.


oh, and there's a sequel. and a third one coming in 2020.
Super Metroid: Training by Bioniclegenius [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Features:
Non-solid blocks.
Some custom graphics which look...interesting. It's all shown in the second screenshot.
Getting almost every single item after another, about 2 minutes of fanfare.
A LONG underwater morphball maze (the size of West Ocean, right next to Moat)that you'll probably get to without Gravity Suit, it's 100% impossible without it. I spent about a half hour before looking in SMILE and finding it.
I spent way too much time on this, and you should not do the same.
Hack ends after Ridley, by author's definition.
Super Metroid: TR by Toraichi [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
98% in 3:10
I went into this expecting a decent hack, but my expectations were crushed.
Spikes are put in so many places, and almost every single one of them are full damage. Early game is an absolute nightmare with no e-tanks as you have to maneuver through gauntlet and beyond (with heavily buffed enemies)basically without taking a single hit. It's real hard.
A very bad part of this hack is the treadmills. Most of them are totally invisible and will push you off the edge of a platform into a 60 damage spike. They're EVERYWHERE.
Progression is normal but so many locations are blocked off early + item locations in rooms are altered really oddly.
Bosses are buffed a lot and do much more damage + have much more health than they did before. They are now actual challenges, somewhat.
As seen in the second screenshot, there are tiling errors EVERYWHERE. The entire place is a pain to look at and you can see how little care went into making it look nice. Because it doesn't.
In short, this is kind of a spike-bath challenge hack with not much to offer. Do not recommend.
Phantom by Zzanitari [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 29, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I hated this hack so much, and I shouldn't have spent an entire hour on it.
You have to break ~10 UNHINTED super blocks before you get Bombs, there are mocktroids which almost kill you in one hit, 60 damage spikes, full metroids w/o Bombs, bombing everywhere for the next point to go, etc.
And the hack crashes in 3-4 places, without warning. The end is near the brinstar elevator as that's probably needed for progress and you just end up crashing.
There are PBs located somewhere but I'll let you figure out where they are.
Don't play this hack. It's SO bad.
Hownst by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
88% in 2:17
Really did not like this hack.
The item locations are changed to some really stupid spots. Progression is pretty weird. There are a LOT of permastucks caused by the crumble blocks that the creator put everywhere without paying attention, and a butt-ton of super blocks to get a few particular items (and you'll really want x-ray for some points, it's not really an option).
It's a stupid halfhack. pedro's hacks somehow got worse, and I don't understand that.
Either way, don't play this hack or any of his other hacks.
Super Metroid: Derprevation by Super_Metroid_1990 [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Path to bombs is blocked by an invisible solid block, can't progress.
Palettes looked terrible and if you stream it, the snow outside destroys your bitrate. Suit color is not good either.
Deathtroid by Shadowtroid [SM Vanilla+], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
44% in 1:09
This hack would be alright (just barely, even though it's a stupid challenge halfhack)if Metroids weren't buffed SO much and rinkas having hitboxes that extend 3 blocks around them in each direction. It's so dumb.
Better challenge hacks exist out there. This one is just low-effort garbage.
Super Metroid: Glitchtroid by ducknerd [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Crumble jumping bomb torizo fight with only bomb vulnerability and then draygon later with no e-tanks.
Total bullshit. Don't even bother.
However, the TAS of it by SMFTP kicks ass. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTmDUDRtlto
Super Metroid: Perspective by ZENE09 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The hack has a few hidden shot blocks and leads you to the Maridia Aqueduct save where you get stuck immediately after saving.
Super Metroid: Opus 1 by Gamma_Metroid [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 22, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Landing site is broken, crashed in under a minute. Tiles strewn everywhere.
Super Metroid: Pro Grapple by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 22, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 3:28
Oh man this hack was terrible. Typical jailsonmendes.
This hack fills some rooms with acid that does no damage (and lava nearly instakills you). Spikes do 92 damage and some of them are invisible, there are plenty of stucks that can happen if you hold grapple for too little time. Some paths are totally blocked off by a single crumble block that forces you to go all the way around. Gravity and varia are in dumb spots, the progression feels weird, springball is forced and it is so late (in such a stupid spot, too). It was just such an obnoxious hack that forced death over and over and pure frustration due to no sequence-breaking possibilities and a lack of movement tech altogether. Oh, and nearly every item is moved from its vanilla location to some other absolutely stupid spot that makes zero sense.
I really don't recommend this hack. It had no cool ideas that anyone is missing out on.
Warfare by Bolognab [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 21, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The hack kind of ends after GT as you exit the room and are presented with a ton of buggy screens. I really didn't like this hack as it was very unfair and presented bosses to you with very little preparation. Not fun. Good boss rush hacks actually have saves and balanced difficulty/fights that don't entirely rely on RNG (like Botwoon for example). Sigma++ is a much better way to use your time if you want to play a boss rush.
Super Metroid: Marathon by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
No real ending. This is extremely boring, you just run around poorly tiled rooms and through open doors through Zebes. Not worth a playthrough (takes like 10 minutes)
Ends when you get back to the ship.
Titanic Ceres Arena by Jathys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Despite what the download says, this patch is for a HEADERED ROM. Not unheadered.
This hack takes you through a few altered rooms of ceres that have been filled with lava and you get a few upgrades.
Once the escape starts, every room is filled to the brim with lava so you better be sure you make it out quickly and efficiently.
I died during the escape, which took me to Zebes afterwards where I found myself stuck.
I didn't like this hack
Challenge by Webber1900 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
120% in 0:32
Wow! Blue haze!
This hack is a ton of CRE tunnels that abuse the instant bomb knockback patch and it's so obnoxious to play. MB fight at the end.
Super Metroid: New Zebes by MATHGODpi [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
81% in 5:51
NOTE: THIS REVIEW IS FOR INSANE MODE. this was a horrible idea and why I am so angry in this review (retrospectively, it probably wasn't that bad lol)
Fck this hack.
I mean it. This is (so far)the worst hack I've ever played.
The one good thing I have to say about this hack is that the palettes were beautiful. But that doesn't make up for the sorry excuse of a "perfect" hack that I played.
The progression is terrible and leaves you super confused most of the time, Phantoon first is forced (not really a problem but it is kind of difficult), 90% of the time you don't know where to go, bosses are WAAAAY too powerful and have to be exploited to be beaten, enemies are even more of tanks then they are in Redesign, Lower Norfair's design was the single worst I have EVER played in a single hack EVER, the list goes on and on for-fucking-ever. I hate this piece of shit.
The INSANE! mode's maximum of 229 active energy would not be an issue if the god damn hack didn't throw spikes and respawning enemies EVERY SECOND at you in LN & Tourian. Speaking of Tourian, the metroids respawn faster than you can react to.
I'm sorry, please don't play this. It's a massive waste of your time. It has a couple neat ideas that I encountered in my 10 HOUR PLAYTHROUGH but there's absolutely no point.
The hack tanks terribly once entering LN and beyond, but the other areas are actually crafted somewhat well if you look past that. Once again, not enough though.
And yes, I did beat this on INSANE! mode but I used savestates only after Lower Norfair pirates and through the end of the game.
Super Metroid: Extra by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 19, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
95% in 0:49
Oh man. This is one of the worst halfhacks I've played.
The suits are in extremely dumb locations, progression is super linear, there are plenty of places to get stuck in, bosses do 3 tanks a hit, the level design is absolutely horrid, there's rooms filled with acid in LN, etc. This hack is SOOOOOOO bad and I wish I hadn't played it.
0/10
Super Metroid: Hard Mode Gamma by reaper901 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 18, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
34% in 1:23
This hack certainly does deliver as a bit of a challenge hack. Doesn't mean it's good though.
Health pickups are divided by 3, E-Tanks give you 50 hp, there are only 10 supers and powerbombs, etc.
Your beam is extremely weak at the beginning of the game so I recommend using missiles.
This wasn't very fun to play through as almost nothing in the actual game was changed to make it enjoyable, just tedious farming and dodging.
I was super bored throughout the entire time I played this hack. Don't play it.
P.S.
Mother Brain 1 has 6,000 HP. Don't save after the baby with less than that amount.
Super Metroid: Path To Darkness by SneakyLilFault [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack changes almost nothing, it was really boring for what I played of it. The tile seen in the screenshot is used EVERYWHERE and it doesn't look good. Use some variation, geez.
I got softlocked at sporespawn save and decided to quit (because there's no exit door)
Super Metroid: Eternity by Kasel [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Died in a door transition taking me to the wrong room.
The path to missiles was stupid imo
Super Metroid: Dark by DarkSamus [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Really short and boring demo. Couldn't even get past what was after BT because the door was locked.
Super Metroid: Ultimate Challenge 2 by Popple_Waffles [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:37
This hack is a spike maze filled with acid and poor life choices. DO NOT PLAY THIS HACK
time is rta (I got to the end)
Sam & Phazar's Halloween Hack by Phazar [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
4% in 0:02
Red crateria!
Spike pits!
Bad suit palettes!
Stucks!
Crumble blocks and lava pits!
It has it all. Don't play this lol
Super Metroid: No Doors by CrAzY [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
35% in 1:04
I was promised no doors in the title (yes I read the description)and was disappointed at how many doors there actually were! There weren't that many sequence breaking possibilities.
Enemy Scroll Concept by Jathys [SM Incomplete], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:03
Cool little idea, screen jumps around if samus moves offscreen and gives seizures though. Not enough to give it two stars though.
time is rta
Super Metroid: emoD by EMODORAN/Backfire [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Gave up after getting softlocked in Pink Brinstar.
This hack is stupid, and the morph + missiles sequence back to the ship will really frustrate you (and I'm sure there's plenty more). Don't play this.
The Technique Trainer by Untouchablekill [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
21% in 0:05
Grapple crashes the game. Going through the intended path crashes the game due to a broken enemy.
How do you beat it?
Use the beetom for an ice clip in the HJ area.
Absolutely stupid.
Tubes by Jathys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Transportation tubes.
Just a bunch of slope elevators :P
Hard by Ir0n_BeasT [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 1:25
Followed caauyjdp's directions to make the hack work.
It's another boooooring challenge halfhack that changes nothing except the landing site.
Boss HP is multiplied about 4 times its usual amount, Phantoon is an annoying fight that took me ~15 minutes because of that.
Rinkas have the same problem as they do in Deathtroid, they have a hitbox that extends much further than their actual sprite. Tourian is hell because of this, not to mention metroids that tank 4 super hits.
REALLY do not recommend this hack. Boring and annoying.
Super Metroid: Hard Mode (Other M) by Wildfire [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack was originally going to get two stars.
But, there was a fatal flaw that the creator did not account for.
Upon breaking MB's glass and re-entering the room like I did to refill on supers, the missile refill does not work.
Mother Brain 1 has too much health to be killed by 10 missiles and 10 supers. I saved before, and now I am softlocked.
You'd be so wrong assuming I'd go through another 4 hours to finish this hack. It is not worth it AT ALL. Do not play this. The hud is glitchy, you only have 99 energy throughout the entire hack, escaping LN is absolutely stupid, etc.
Use your time some other way.
Ridley's Challenge by squishy_ichigo [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 12, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:10
The beginning is really bad, and well to be fair most of it is. The items are in extremely stupid spots and hidden where you'd never find them, crumble jumping under lava with speed, 60 damage spikes EVERYWHERE, etc.
Not a fun hack.
time is rta (finished, end is a tunnel loop)
Super Metroid: Mission Bicho by don gato pato [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 12, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
99% in 2:53
So. Many. Spikes.
This hack will throw constant shot block walls at you, messy suit palettes, terrible design, and there are probably around a MILLION 60 damage spikes everywhere. And super blocks, bomb blocks, powerbomb blocks, crumble blocks, so many blocks that the game gets overloaded and you can't shoot any more blocks, this hack has it all. It changes almost nothing in terms of how you can progress.
Stay away from this hack, I'm warning you.
Test by Jathys [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I was taken to MB with 10 missiles and 1 e-tank by searching around.
Don't play this, total waste of your time and nothing special at all about it.
NoobSmasher by Fizzer [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jul 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
23% in 0:38
Used some savestates, not too many. Not a very fun hack, the precision will make you want to tear your hair out and the deathtroids are certainly difficult.
TAS Practice by Tyjet66 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
...why is this on main site?
Did not bother playing as it's not doable RTA.
RBO by aigamerds [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 2:22
No.
Phantoon is a 1-shot kill with gravity and full tanks.
Kraid has air spikes all around the room.
Item progression is changed.
Level design changes are ass.
Do not recommend, there's better ways to use your time. Play some other hack!
Avenger's Hack 2 by Ult. Avenger [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Lots of trustfalls into spikes and crumbles everywhere. Suit color was nice but I didn't like it.
Arena 1 by Jathys [SM Quick Play], rated by Sapphron on Jul 06, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Like caauyjdp said, patch is for headered.
The first room was really garbage as you had to go around shooting the wall looking for a way out as you don't get Morphing Ball there.
You fight big sidehoppers with so little energy that you can get two-shot (they're placed in dumb spots too, ofc)and Kraid can easily be a softlock with so little missiles, which you can miss if you aren't careful.
Do not recommend.
Hiper Metroid by piridry [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack does not work. Upon entering Blue Brinstar, you are permastuck in powerbomb door tiles. There is nothing interesting about this hack except for (maybe)the suit as shown in the screenshots. You don't need to play this.
Starburst by Tyjet66 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The enemy ice-freezing section with treadmills is hellish, but the other parts look okay I suppose. Still not good enough to get two stars however.
Speed Booster Practice by Ult. Avenger [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:03
Hack does not end at a certain point, you just keep playing around. Good palette though
time is rta
Torture Hack by Ult. Avenger [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This isn't really even that hard, just frustrating and predictable.
Super Metroid: Training Camp by RealRed [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
99% in 0:00
A room with a few sparks. Doesn't really help for anything...
At least his graphics look nice.
Yonpi ks One Room - TR by Yonpi [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Grapple precision, crumble jumps and spikes. You get Gravity Suit so this pain is negated slightly, but it doesn't really help much.
Chararin by What Chara [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
52% in 1:48
Lives up to being a challenge hack, however tons of things are sequence-breakable and you can beat the game very quickly due to an odd design choice somewhere. Some of the design choices forbid you from going certain ways, and it's really obnoxious at times.
Do not recommend.
Maze by devonodev [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:00
Too short to be fun, but it has a smw brick tile :D so that's cool I guess
Landing Site Abuse by Spoo [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 1:41
(time is rta)
Don't waste your time. plenty of crumble blocks that AREN'T hinted at, bad design, death spots, etc.
Super Metroid: Insane Escape by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:16
Extremely stupid path that makes no sense, necessary items (like bombs) can be missed in the escape forcing you to reset, save rooms are open so the timer can be removed (but you can still escape).
Not fun.
Super Metroid: HasKemBeerT by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:11
i love this hack play it
This hack has overpowered enemies that have the powah to one-shot you at any time, but you have a lot of missiles so that's cool...right?
Typical mother brain action at the end.
Escape by devonodev [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Who doesn't love crumbles that drop you into spikes? Did not finish.
Enigma by Quietus [SM Unknown], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:00
Only memorable thing was the speedy jump through spikes, if you can call that memorable. It's just forgettable.
Super Metroid: Boss by Cardweaver [SM Boss Rush], rated by Sapphron on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
48% in 0:17
Your typical boss rush hack. Nothing special. Items are handed to you and you have to sit through quite a bit of fanfare.
Super Metroid: Down by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:04
Precise jumps, if you make a mistake it's all over.
Super Metroid: Beam Combo by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
21% in 0:07
Forced to kill geemers through CRE tiles using the SBA, metroids with no HP and no ammo (except for powerbombs).
Not fun.
Super Metroid: Desafio by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
66% in 0:14
Even worse than mockmetroid 1 & 2. Plenty of collision bs that has to be avoided and invisible spikes. Do NOT try this out, please
Oh, and there's a section that relies entirely on timing (that you can't control)to get through.
Tribute to Energy, Missile, Map Rooms by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
2% in 0:01
Invisible spikes :D a great example of what to NOT do as a hack.
Super MockMetroid 2 by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Stupid mockballs, like pedro123's other hacks. Who knew?!?!?!
After Draygon you can literally exit and play the game normally.
Ends at Gravity Suit.
Super MockMetroid by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
55% in 0:15
Please don't. There are like 4 mockball rooms and then it's your usual mother brain and unchanged escape.
Super Metroid Impossible Redesigned by pathomSM [SM Challenge], rated by Sapphron on Mar 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
96% in 5:14
This is your typical halfhack. It has bad colors, a red Crateria like every other one before it, spikes jabbing you around every corner, fake items, forced gauntlet, permastucks, etc. It is NOT a hack you play if you want to blow off some steam. There are gates in many different places making progression almost completely linear with the exception of a couple items. If you stop paying attention for a little bit, you might fall into one of the tens of death traps that were set, many of them being in Norfair and Maridia. The thing that probably bothered me the most was forcing the player to go through as much of a room as possible to get to the other side. What I mean by this is morph ball mazes, blocks placed just as obstructions so you can’t get to where you want to go the short way, invisible blocks, and other things.
In short, play this hack if you want to be confused and annoyed. And yes, it is fully beatable.