“Black Falcon, you are the MAN”
| Super Metroid: Unknown | ||
Release date: Apr 20, 2012 |
Author: Reita
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Genre: Incomplete [?] Game: 
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Difficulty: Unknown [?]
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Average runtime:
8:15 Average collection: 81% |
Read Me: [None] |
Forum Thread: [None] |
Rating:
  
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Description
Here is a level hack for Super Metroid which changes the levels and colors of the game. New (cloned) enemies have been added to the game. This hack looks like a demo. Beatable, but unfinished. Most of map wasn't changed. Not much is documented on this hack due to it being of Japanese origin.
Screenshots
Ratings and Reviews
![[Watch Video]](images/video.png)
No animals to be saved.
Quick Summary of the meaning of my SM hack ratings:
5 orbs: SM hacks within the 80% to 100% (90% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; SM hacks for outstanding wholesome playing experiences and at most minor inconveniences.
4 orbs: SM hacks within the 60% to 80% (70% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Well done SM hacks with noticeable design problems.
3 orbs: SM hacks within the 40% to 60% (50% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Normal decent average SM hacks.
2 orbs: SM hacks within the 20% to 40% (30% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Overall messy, confusing, or punishing SM hacks with some upsides.
1 orb : SM hacks within the 00% to 20% (10% ± 10%) range of perceived perfection; Ruthlessly unplayable, broken, or barely from the original game changed SM hacks.
Judgement parameters summary:
° Creative ideas and features, polished design, how enjoyable and fun the hack can be, lack of hard to find or cryptic required game elements, the difficulty, and if the hack can be finished without major guides or tools.
° Note that the length of a SM hack will not necessarily contribute to my rating of the SM hack, since instead the averaged out experience over the whole hack will be taken into account to get a relative comparison between SM hacks.
° Besides this, lack of impactful changes from the original SM game also went into the evaluation of SM hacks (otherwise one may consider them among the 3 stars hacks) as follows: Ultimately, for my ratings I consider a situation in which an SM enthusiast that already has, knows about and is familiar with the original game and its prominent mechanics could only choose 1 new SM hack to play and thus would really want to make sure he/she will get a fresh and fantastic experience or journey out of his/her 1 choice.
The goal of all these SM hack ratings is so that rather new players have an overview of the whole spectrum of SM hacks and how to sort them in, in relation to each other, where SM hacks that are rated lower might still be enjoyable for more experienced players.
Finally, sometimes for SM hacks it can be relevant that they may be significantly more enjoyable from a player standpoint at which the player is well practiced and familiarized with Super Metroid's game mechanics in general, and that in particular some of the best SM hacks may not be the outright best first SM hack choices to play otherwise because of this, and for beginner SM hack players this typically steers the best first SM hack choices towards some of the SM hacks that I rated with 4 orbs instead of 5.
Rating for some hacks may be off by 1 Star, but arguably not more, and ratings are not attempted to be provided within the precision of ''half orbs''.
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''.
The description is misleading: while this is a half-hack, this isn't really a demo; it's a thorough hack that can be completed and has lots of room and item changes, as well as a whole bunch of neat ideas. The patch also requires a headered ROM, not an unheadered ROM.
So yes, this hack does a few neat things, including partial versions of a few ideas I've had! Of particular note:
- the Gravity Suit does not automatically grant Varia Suit, so heated rooms and lava will hurt you (albeit more slowly)
- each Super Missile upgrade requires all prior Super Missile upgrades, and in some cases this fact is implemented somewhat creatively
- unusual routes through various parts of the hack, including having to go through Lower Norfair backwards
- and (at least at first) the hack seems to be designed to discourage doing the wrong thing: bombs take longer to explode (so no IBJ) and heat/lava/acid sap health RAPIDLY, almost to the point of insta-death (so no heat runs) — wall jump is unimpeded, and possibly also mockball, but I forget now
Of course, over time, that last point becomes a sticking point, particularly since, as I write this, there is virtually *NO* information on this hack anywhere — not even a playthrough on either English or Japanese video sites to watch! There are some things that just take too long; in particular, you have to plant two bombs to get from Crateria to the Wrecked Ship, which gets annoying, especially since I kept getting lost because I kept missing the path to one item. I did eventually get used to it.
And yes, I did wind up getting lost a lot of the time, particularly when finding the first Super Missile (because I somehow missed a shot block). I might do a playthrough some time, but it'd probably not be a live thing because of the biggest issue I am about to mention.
The biggest issue with this hack that is independent of the amount of info available on the hack is that the enemies and bosses jump from only slightly tougher, if at all, to MUCH HARDER TO KILL at about the halfway point, with no transition. I might have been going the wrong way, of course, but when the Plasma Beam doesn't really feel like much of an upgrade and certain frequent enemies are immune to Screw Attack and/or Speed Booster (hi giant Desgeegas, Ki Hunters, and *especially* Beetoms!)...
Ridley and Kraid (the last two bosses, in that order) are also tougher; Ridley takes more hits to kill, but Kraid's fight is harder in a significant way AND he's *incredibly beefed up*. Here's a hint: hope you found Plasma Beam and have mastered Space Jump, because you'll need them...
Also frustrating: the ship no longer refills weapons, only energy and reserve tanks.
A few other notes and curiosities, some of which are spoilers:
- Spore Spawn doesn't respond to Missiles. You'll need to find Charge Beam to hit it (and you can't skip it).
- Work Robots can be destroyed with bombs. You'll need to know this to get to Phantoon, which is the first boss you'll need to fight.
- Most of the map stations were removed, but the path to Crateria's is still there. The room seems pointless, but it becomes important when it's time to go to Tourian.
- Some of the item dots on the map and item platforms are really nothing at all.
- Despite what Aram;Jaeger says (did you use an unheadered ROM?) you can save the animals.
- You will get Gravity Suit before Varia Suit. Be sure to remember Brinstar's secrets to find the former.
- The staircase room in Brinstar before the noob bridge has some speed boost blocks in the ceiling near the end. Grapple Beam is there; you'll need Super Missiles.
- The two special Chozo Statues that you activate with morph ball are gone.
- Near the leftmost Brinstar elevator is a door that leads to Tourian-like rooms that connect back to a fake tunnel in Crateria. Entering those Tourian-like rooms screw up the map (at least in bsnes v080); I'd suggest avoiding them. You can get to the Crateria fake tunnel with Super Missiles at the bottom of the old escape chute; X-Ray Scope is here and you will need Power Bombs.
- Wave Beam is where the missile refill near Draygon used to be. You'll need Grapple Beam. Make sure to not completely forget this like I did :D
- The gray doors in Crateria Main Street are only open in the escape sequence. You'll need Super Missiles to get through from underneath normally.
- My Kraid fight was particularly painful because I expected the refill room from the original. It's not there; you have a Norfair-style 5-enemy generator instead, and I couldn't find a way back to it after jumping into the other side of the room with the boss door. Be sure to fill first!
- And my most important piece of advice: the way to get to where you would normally get Gravity Suit is now where you get Super Missiles; you don't get in the usual way (in fact there is no way to get to the usual way). And be sure to shoot the floor to find the morph ball tunnel to get in. This very likely accounts for most of the wasted time in my playthrough, hence "most important" :D
The item stats for 100% are:
all vanilla items
14 Energy Tanks
4 Reserve Tanks
265 Missiles
50 Super Missiles
15 Power Bombs
Note this is almost identical to vanilla; the extra Missiles match the missing Power Bombs.
So yes, my verdict: definitely a half-hack worth giving a chance, especially for the various original ideas in it (if I remembered them all here). Not sure how good it is for speedrunning, and the difficulty might not spike so much when played correctly (but I don't know for sure) so I'm not sure if it's also good for casual players either. But it's definitely not a *bad* half-hack, and should get some more attention. I'll still consider making a video of it sometime...
So yes, this hack does a few neat things, including partial versions of a few ideas I've had! Of particular note:
- the Gravity Suit does not automatically grant Varia Suit, so heated rooms and lava will hurt you (albeit more slowly)
- each Super Missile upgrade requires all prior Super Missile upgrades, and in some cases this fact is implemented somewhat creatively
- unusual routes through various parts of the hack, including having to go through Lower Norfair backwards
- and (at least at first) the hack seems to be designed to discourage doing the wrong thing: bombs take longer to explode (so no IBJ) and heat/lava/acid sap health RAPIDLY, almost to the point of insta-death (so no heat runs) — wall jump is unimpeded, and possibly also mockball, but I forget now
Of course, over time, that last point becomes a sticking point, particularly since, as I write this, there is virtually *NO* information on this hack anywhere — not even a playthrough on either English or Japanese video sites to watch! There are some things that just take too long; in particular, you have to plant two bombs to get from Crateria to the Wrecked Ship, which gets annoying, especially since I kept getting lost because I kept missing the path to one item. I did eventually get used to it.
And yes, I did wind up getting lost a lot of the time, particularly when finding the first Super Missile (because I somehow missed a shot block). I might do a playthrough some time, but it'd probably not be a live thing because of the biggest issue I am about to mention.
The biggest issue with this hack that is independent of the amount of info available on the hack is that the enemies and bosses jump from only slightly tougher, if at all, to MUCH HARDER TO KILL at about the halfway point, with no transition. I might have been going the wrong way, of course, but when the Plasma Beam doesn't really feel like much of an upgrade and certain frequent enemies are immune to Screw Attack and/or Speed Booster (hi giant Desgeegas, Ki Hunters, and *especially* Beetoms!)...
Ridley and Kraid (the last two bosses, in that order) are also tougher; Ridley takes more hits to kill, but Kraid's fight is harder in a significant way AND he's *incredibly beefed up*. Here's a hint: hope you found Plasma Beam and have mastered Space Jump, because you'll need them...
Also frustrating: the ship no longer refills weapons, only energy and reserve tanks.
A few other notes and curiosities, some of which are spoilers:
- Spore Spawn doesn't respond to Missiles. You'll need to find Charge Beam to hit it (and you can't skip it).
- Work Robots can be destroyed with bombs. You'll need to know this to get to Phantoon, which is the first boss you'll need to fight.
- Most of the map stations were removed, but the path to Crateria's is still there. The room seems pointless, but it becomes important when it's time to go to Tourian.
- Some of the item dots on the map and item platforms are really nothing at all.
- Despite what Aram;Jaeger says (did you use an unheadered ROM?) you can save the animals.
- You will get Gravity Suit before Varia Suit. Be sure to remember Brinstar's secrets to find the former.
- The staircase room in Brinstar before the noob bridge has some speed boost blocks in the ceiling near the end. Grapple Beam is there; you'll need Super Missiles.
- The two special Chozo Statues that you activate with morph ball are gone.
- Near the leftmost Brinstar elevator is a door that leads to Tourian-like rooms that connect back to a fake tunnel in Crateria. Entering those Tourian-like rooms screw up the map (at least in bsnes v080); I'd suggest avoiding them. You can get to the Crateria fake tunnel with Super Missiles at the bottom of the old escape chute; X-Ray Scope is here and you will need Power Bombs.
- Wave Beam is where the missile refill near Draygon used to be. You'll need Grapple Beam. Make sure to not completely forget this like I did :D
- The gray doors in Crateria Main Street are only open in the escape sequence. You'll need Super Missiles to get through from underneath normally.
- My Kraid fight was particularly painful because I expected the refill room from the original. It's not there; you have a Norfair-style 5-enemy generator instead, and I couldn't find a way back to it after jumping into the other side of the room with the boss door. Be sure to fill first!
- And my most important piece of advice: the way to get to where you would normally get Gravity Suit is now where you get Super Missiles; you don't get in the usual way (in fact there is no way to get to the usual way). And be sure to shoot the floor to find the morph ball tunnel to get in. This very likely accounts for most of the wasted time in my playthrough, hence "most important" :D
The item stats for 100% are:
all vanilla items
14 Energy Tanks
4 Reserve Tanks
265 Missiles
50 Super Missiles
15 Power Bombs
Note this is almost identical to vanilla; the extra Missiles match the missing Power Bombs.
So yes, my verdict: definitely a half-hack worth giving a chance, especially for the various original ideas in it (if I remembered them all here). Not sure how good it is for speedrunning, and the difficulty might not spike so much when played correctly (but I don't know for sure) so I'm not sure if it's also good for casual players either. But it's definitely not a *bad* half-hack, and should get some more attention. I'll still consider making a video of it sometime...
Hidden gem of old type hacks.
This is one of the more challenging hacks I've played.
Save stations weren't loading properly for me, so save state every station.
High bytes need to be $80.
This hack taught me how to damage boost off a spike to clear a pit of lava.
I loaded from the wrong coordinates & was actually supposed to come from the other direction...
Thus the use of save states.
Never felt more like a ninja though. ^_^
Anyways, some advice for those who wish to venture into hell.
First is for exploring every part of norfair the first time & collecting your beam.
Look for some vanilla secret rooms in brinstar to find a suit.
This hack takes advantage of many rooms you would not encounter on any vanilla playthroughs...
Second is for exploring every part of zebes when in need of an equipment or ammo upgrade.
Search norfair for a backward entry into lower east norfair.
I'm not sure if you can get screw attack early on, so enjoy what is the first layer of hell.
Third is just a general gameplay procedure.
Do not waste your super missiles.
Always stay fully stocked.
Try to keep track of places you encounter consecutive super missile blocks.
Attempt to calculate how many you will need.
Very frustrating running to the same rooms to encounter the same dead ends.
Very slow to pick up, the challenge keeps it interesting.
Everything is very well hidden, even the main path.
You will pay for every single mistake you make.
Liquid just instantly disintegrates you.
Crumble blocks hate you.
Ninja part in maridia if you fail, you will fall so far & you just worked so hard to get there.
The worst part of your nightmares awaits you in east brinstar.
I first showed up with 180 missiles, 15 supers, & 699 health.
There's no fucking way.
A few more hours of searching & I came back with 240 missiles, 50 supers, & 1099 health.
The first part is a sick space jump battle carefully using your ammo.
The second part is frantically shooting claws to get more ammo to get the fuck out of there.
32,000 hp, it just doesn't want to die.
A whole day of failure to one boss.
Nothing's worse than the bed of chaos though.
Maybe I'm just not hardcore enough.
Definitely want to play this a bunch more.
Thanks for the hack.
This is one of the more challenging hacks I've played.
Save stations weren't loading properly for me, so save state every station.
High bytes need to be $80.
This hack taught me how to damage boost off a spike to clear a pit of lava.
I loaded from the wrong coordinates & was actually supposed to come from the other direction...
Thus the use of save states.
Never felt more like a ninja though. ^_^
Anyways, some advice for those who wish to venture into hell.
First is for exploring every part of norfair the first time & collecting your beam.
Look for some vanilla secret rooms in brinstar to find a suit.
This hack takes advantage of many rooms you would not encounter on any vanilla playthroughs...
Second is for exploring every part of zebes when in need of an equipment or ammo upgrade.
Search norfair for a backward entry into lower east norfair.
I'm not sure if you can get screw attack early on, so enjoy what is the first layer of hell.
Third is just a general gameplay procedure.
Do not waste your super missiles.
Always stay fully stocked.
Try to keep track of places you encounter consecutive super missile blocks.
Attempt to calculate how many you will need.
Very frustrating running to the same rooms to encounter the same dead ends.
Very slow to pick up, the challenge keeps it interesting.
Everything is very well hidden, even the main path.
You will pay for every single mistake you make.
Liquid just instantly disintegrates you.
Crumble blocks hate you.
Ninja part in maridia if you fail, you will fall so far & you just worked so hard to get there.
The worst part of your nightmares awaits you in east brinstar.
I first showed up with 180 missiles, 15 supers, & 699 health.
There's no fucking way.
A few more hours of searching & I came back with 240 missiles, 50 supers, & 1099 health.
The first part is a sick space jump battle carefully using your ammo.
The second part is frantically shooting claws to get more ammo to get the fuck out of there.
32,000 hp, it just doesn't want to die.
A whole day of failure to one boss.
Nothing's worse than the bed of chaos though.
Maybe I'm just not hardcore enough.
Definitely want to play this a bunch more.
Thanks for the hack.
Wow. This is why i go through all these hacks even the ones that are not rated very good.
Awesome ideas in this Headered hack, although some shot blocks where tough to find and not very well hinted :D
I found
14 Energy Tanks
4 Reserve Tanks
270 Missiles
50 Super Missiles
15 Power Bombs
andlabs has the best description. My fault was missing an extra door in brinstar where you normally would need PB's to get in... there is where you will get gravity suit. For some reason i thought you had to go through marida first to get GS.. not sure how i got all the way to Draygon and beat him just to find out he does not give you gravity...stuck lol had to go back through save states to
get outta that one.
ridiculous fighting kraid.. impossible stuff there so i turned on "no loss" and got up in his face and shoved missing down his throat till he died lol *only really bad part of this hack
Loves these types of hacks where you just get random clues from other people and no info on the author!
Thanks for the hack who ever you are!!!
Awesome ideas in this Headered hack, although some shot blocks where tough to find and not very well hinted :D
I found
14 Energy Tanks
4 Reserve Tanks
270 Missiles
50 Super Missiles
15 Power Bombs
andlabs has the best description. My fault was missing an extra door in brinstar where you normally would need PB's to get in... there is where you will get gravity suit. For some reason i thought you had to go through marida first to get GS.. not sure how i got all the way to Draygon and beat him just to find out he does not give you gravity...stuck lol had to go back through save states to
get outta that one.
ridiculous fighting kraid.. impossible stuff there so i turned on "no loss" and got up in his face and shoved missing down his throat till he died lol *only really bad part of this hack
Loves these types of hacks where you just get random clues from other people and no info on the author!
Thanks for the hack who ever you are!!!
I like long hacks so after reading the comments I gave it a shot. Was definitely a very creative take for a half-hack. I did really enjoy the exploration and finding the necessary tools to advance. Item progression and rerouting of Vanilla were probably the highlights. I quit after reaching Kraid because by then you've pretty much done everything except go to Tourian and I wasn't that interested in grinding an absolutely stupid setup for him just to go fly away on a ship like every other hack. Would have been 4 orbs had it not been for Kraid.
Edit: played again and had more patience for Kraid. Still a really solid half-hack besides Kraid. And there is a total of 280 missiles actually
Edit: played again and had more patience for Kraid. Still a really solid half-hack besides Kraid. And there is a total of 280 missiles actually
very interesting item progression
requires patience and a headered rom
has a couple minor bugs
requires patience and a headered rom
has a couple minor bugs
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.
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.
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