RBO Impossible

RBO Impossible
Release date: Jul 27, 2008	Author: aigamerDS	Download: Version 1.0 [UH] (1338 downloads)
Genre: Unknown [?] Game:	Difficulty: Unknown [?]	Average runtime: 4:36 Average collection: 84%
Read Me: [None]	Forum Thread: [None]	Rating:

Description

I have completed my second rom hack. Not only it will force you to go in reverse order but in the hard way (Like Saturn's hack.) For those who think my last hack was too easy and hardly change anything, this might be a better choice for you. Here's my download link below.
RBO = Reverse Boss Order

Screenshots

Ratings and Reviews

By Aran;Jaeger on Dec 08, 2016 (

)

101% in 4:25

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 kkzero on Mar 25, 2020 (

)

No completion stats.

Bad challenge halfhack. Do RBO in vanilla instead.

By Sapphron on May 02, 2020 (

)

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.

By ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2025 (

)

92% in 6:01

I've noticed a trend with some of these 2008 rom hacks; many of the hack makers wanted to be the next Saturn, and make the next Super Metroid Impossible. What many fail to understand, however, is what made Impossible work. This hack is no exception. Let me preface this by saying that Super Metroid Impossible had its fair share of obtuse bullshit, even in the form of how to progress, and people playing that hack now will know where to go because we have the benefit of seeing people, like Zoast and Oatsngoats speedrun it. That said, this hack tries hard to be that, but fails in several ways.

First of all, the progression. While at the start of the hack, progression seems fine, it is when you get to Norfair where problems begin to arise. Barely enough E-Tanks/Reserves to hell run into Bubble Mountain casually speaking (I'll elaborate more on that later). The fact that you have to kill all enemies in Cathedral Entrance to open the metal door, then leave to save and health grind, then to do the same thing for Cathedral is dumb as hell, given the energy the player would likely have.

On the issue of E-Tanks. I understand that hell runs are a part of the game's progression, and therefor, so too is collecting enough E-Tanks to survive said hell runs. However, one egregious example of hiding that progression behind something so obtuse is the Taco Tank in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room. It isn't obvious to the player that there is a fake Morph tunnel through which the player can proceed to collect it. Bombs can't reveal it, and the player isn't given the X-Ray Scope until endgame. If you're going to make any hack, hard or not, it is never okay to hide the path forward in such a dick way. When the player has to look at another player's playthrough (like how I skimmed EternisedDragon's playthrough to find out how to get Taco Tank and even Ice Beam), or look at a hack through SMILE to know where shit is, or where to go next, it serves as an example of the failure of the hack. I could forgive this if the hack hid non-essential items in obtuse ways, because those are always optional. But items that are necessary to beat the game? There's "Impossible", and then there's being a Super Mario Maker 2-level of amateurish design meant for the frustration of the player, and nothing more. This hack really teeters between that boundary.

I had to find ways to cheese the hell out of the game, and I spent hours to do it. From Moondancing into Etecoons, to bullshitting my way into Mama Turtle for early Power Bombs that I never knew were there. This hack compelled me to break the rules of the intended routing, in an attempt to even the playing field. Where is the fun in that? ... Well, okay, there was some fun and satisfaction to be had when I break the game and find alternate means to beat it, but I shouldn't have to resort to that.

Was there anything I liked about this hack? Well, yes, there are quite a few things I did like. Barring the confusing part of progression, I did enjoy much of the challenge of the hack, and respect the routing the hack maker was going for. When all the necessary items are acquired, the obstacles serve as a pure skill and knowledge check of the player, like pausing at 0 health to manually fill from Reserves to survive intentional acid baths, etc. The bosses are... pretty much unchanged from the first RBO, save for Phantoon, whose room is now more narrower, increasing the risk of its body hitting the player, even WITH Screw Attack. But they were interesting enough for me to revel in the challenge, though I think you may have overdone it with Kraid and Phantoon's health buff a bit; they wore out their welcome after a while.

Overall, while I'm not a fan of this particular attempt at a challenge hack for the issues I mentioned, I didn't outright hate it, or think the hack is pure trash overall. It just could have been better executed in its balancing.

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