Control Freak
Release date: Dec 25, 2007
Author: Kejardon
Download: Version 1.0 [UH] (1582 downloads)
Genre: Improvement [?]
Game: SM
Difficulty: Vanilla [?]
Average runtime: 1:38
Average collection: 60%
Read Me: [None]
Forum Thread: [None]
Rating: Star Star Star Star Star
Description
It's a new hack that features absolutely NO change in level design. Instead, Control Freak features a significant overhaul of the gameplay controls.

Run is now toggleable between Run and Walk. Moonwalk has been deleted, and the setting is now used to toggle Auto Run.

Aim Up is now the only aim button, 'Aimlock'. Holding it will make Samus aim at a certain angle, and aim higher or lower if you tap up or down. Samus also has the ability to run and aim straight up at the same time now. Select Item will still be used to select missiles, super missiles, power bombs, or the grapple beam. It no longer selects X-ray, which now has its own button. Items that are empty can be selected, but of course will not be used. Beams can still be used at any time, even when missiles and super missiles are selected.

Item cancel has also been removed, as it now activates the x-ray scope.

Aim Down has become Brandish, which, when held, will toggle between Beams and the item currently selected. This is somewhat... abusable. :) Beams can be charged and remain charged while you fire missiles, but you still have to wait for cooldown till you can release a charged shot, or else you'll just waste your charge. Powerbomb attacks are also now easy to control, just tap Brandish when you want to trigger them.

Spinjump controls have also been improved a bit - Walljumping should be a bit easier on a d-pad, and Samus will fire in the direction you're pressing instead of just forward, if you press fire. The controls are configurable to ANY combination. Aim is not limited to L and R.

And for some disclaimers... This hack is a bit of a rushjob. I have not spent much time bughunting, but I have fixed nearly every bug I've run into. If you run into any bugs, mention it and I'll try to fix it. There's one minor graphical bug I haven't fixed: If you start charging and brandish a missile, the charge graphic will continue to grow but the charge counter will not actually increase. There's no goo
Screenshots
Screenshot Screenshot
Ratings and Reviews
By Aran;Jaeger on Dec 09, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:36
[Watch Video]  
Animals saved.

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

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

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

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

Rating for some hacks may be off by 1 Star, but arguably not more, and ratings are not attempted to be provided within the precision of ''half orbs''.
By 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.
By MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 1:12
This is a sister review to mine of the hack Super Metroid Turbo, as that hack uses this feature.
I get the idea behind this, but it doesn't really work for me. It may work for some, but I too often found myself accidentally firing off a Super Missile, or shooting in a random direction, or getting confused on how to navigate the HUD that the new controls detracted from my experience. Also, Grapple really shouldn't operate with the same controls as Missiles do, requiring holding down an extra button or two depending on how you want to fire the beam. It makes precision grappling a lot more clunky and annoying. Overall, some people may welcome this change, but I would rather stick to the original controls.
By Kremit44 on Aug 09, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I tried a play through of Super Metroid with this and found it interesting. I prefer the original controls but these certainly work and was an interesting attempt to change some things up. I liked X-ray being a different button and although I didn't use Autorun I suspect it could be useful for those with controller or personal limitations. It's interesting and well executed in the very least.
By alexman25 on Jan 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 3:12
This is the only way I can enjoy playing Super Metroid.
By ClaireDiviner on Apr 27, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
43% in 1:00
[Watch Video]  
So, I can respect the idea behind the concept, but it falls flat with how unintuitive the controls really are. Despite the hack's name, I felt like I had less control, but maybe it's just my muscle memory being so ingrained to vanilla Super Metroid, that this kept throwing me off, especially when wanting to aim diagonal-downward. The removal of moonwalk is also an unneeded choice. I understand the motive, but don't agree with the method. The removal of downbacking is also unnecessary, unless that's just a byproduct of the control change.

I will say this: This has a ton of opportunity for a TASer to do things with this hack that cannot be done in vanilla, though the lack of moonfalling and downback will hurt it some. But that's all it's got. The least this hack could have done is have a different map to utilize the different controls, but it's still just vanilla Super Metroid at the end of the day. I can only recommend this as a play-around, just to see the gimmick of the different controls, but that's it.

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