Super Metroid: Escape II
Release date: Mar 31, 2014
Author: Hiroishi
Download: Version 1.9 [UH] (7604 downloads)
Genre: Exploration [?]
Game: SM
Difficulty: Unknown [?]
Average runtime: 6:03
Average collection: 82%
Read Me: [None]
Forum Thread: Forum Thread
Rating: Star Star Star Star Star
Awards:
  • Top Hacks 2014: Best Challenge, Best Exploration, Best Overall
Description
Here is a level hack for Super Metroid which changes the levels and colors of the game. The read-me documents included are in Japanese which gives the premise of the game.
Screenshots
Screenshot Screenshot
Ratings and Reviews
By Cirno on Apr 06, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
105% in 0:16
It's very blue.

That aside, this is one of my personal favorites. It's got a bunch of neat things such as manually controlling shinesparks, a hub area, bonuses for saving the animals early and more.

Full playthrough below, but there was tools used.

http://www.hitbox.tv/video/175225
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/175226
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/175507
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/176100
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/176105
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/176106
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/176107
http://www.hitbox.tv/video/176108
By FullOfFail on May 18, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Blue!!!
By MetroidMst on Oct 25, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 4:38
Escape II is an enjoyable hack filled with some pretty interesting stuff, and a lot of blue. (Literally everything is blue.) It's got a nice hub, and plenty of secrets. Not to mention every major item can be grabbed from multiple spots it seems. Plenty of secrets make this to be something you'll get plenty of time exploring.

There are some different features in this hack, including a Super Missile Beam and Shinespark control. The shinespark control in particular sets up for some interesting puzzles and does allow for some very interesting movement through rooms. The hack does have some problems though. For one, it uses one color. Another thing is a particular X-Ray room is extremely obnoxious, even if finding it uses an underused feature of the Googly Eye enemies. And sometimes, the hack just doesn't flow too well. Might be from entering the warp zone on accident and having to take a long way back, but there were some dull points.

I would definitely recommend this hack. Planet Blue SpoSpo is worth visiting and you'll likely enjoy it. It feels a lot like a single-color extended edition of a vanilla hack with additional features.
By Vismund Cygnus on Nov 08, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
83% in 5:13
Don't stop me now
I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball
Don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
Just gimme a call
Don't stop me now ('cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me
Yes I'm having a good time
I don't wanna stop at alllllllllllll
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05gUmiMkFnA&list=PLLHMfTgkm_ohVfDg_65l6GgjqcXx5Ps-1
By kojakt on Feb 11, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Escape 2 does a lot of things really well, and the alterations to the movement mechanics are some of the most ambitious and rewarding that I've come across. The reason I gave this a 4 is because of how confusing I found it to make my way around the planet. With that said, it's a really well made hack and pretty fun as well. 8.25/10
By Pixel_Tiger on Jun 23, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
88% in 9:52
You need some knowledge to finish this hack without any tool assisted stuff!

For more information checkout my 'review' at: http://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,3125.msg59822.html#msg59822

PS: Don't hate the final escape! The game is gradualy teaching you all the basics you need to get past it. If you can't do it, hate yourself, not the hack!
By Aran;Jaeger on Aug 25, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
106% in 6:01
[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 Mumu_Didi on Nov 01, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:37
Animals Saved, Spore Spawn killed :) (RTA timing)
By sanojes on May 14, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 8:22
9/10
I've never seen so much blue in a game.
By Iscariath on May 23, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
56% in 6:30
A frustrating hack that I grown to like. This game have so many dead end. You go down a path forever to discover that you don't have the necessary upgrade to push through at the very end. Level design is bland in many places and there's a lot of padding. The hub mechanic is interesting but also not intuitive. Graphics are alright but rough in some spots. I also got the Wave beam glitch that broke my beams and made them likes infinite super missiles with plasma, wave and ice properties. It kinda broke the balance of the last part of the game, which might actually be a good thing since I could breeze through it. Difficulty is vanilla for the most part with a bit of a spike by the end. Even with all the frustration, I found myself wanting to play more and ended up finishing it. It's worth playing through but require some patience.
By cazort on Aug 24, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
80% in 7:21
I think this is one of the best-of-the-best hacks. It was delightful to play and had the longest engaging playtime of any hack I've played to-date. My play time estimates 7:21 but that was the QUICKEST I beat it, skipping some major sections. I went back and got quite a lot more play out of it. I think it has high replay value too, and offers speedrunning challenge as well.

There are some changes to the game dynamics, including the introduction of a warp zone, and the ability to change directions and morph while shinesparking, which is wild! Areas are renamed, and the entire map is totally redesigned, but in spite of that it mostly feels pretty vanilla, i.e. one area feels like Brinstar, another like Norfair, etc. The map is huge and areas require revisiting more different times in a typical course of play.

People complain about "everything being blue", but...come on, it's not that bad! Yes, there is a lot more blue, but there were plenty of other colors in the palette too. I never felt like the color palette bored me. Also, come on, blue Norfair? That's some genius to make it mostly blue and still look and feel very "hot". I say, well-done. And the base background of blue makes the other colors (red, green, yellow) really pop out visually. Blue, being a calm color, is a good choice for background colors. I actually thought the color palette worked pretty well; it never looked amateurish.

Highlights:
* Very accessible, and difficulty level ramps up gradually. The hack's difficulty is listed as "unknown" but I'd characterize it as vanilla. This struck me as no harder than the original game, and easier in many points. I would recommend this as a good first hack to play.
* Tons of secrets. Secrets also have a wide range of difficulty levels, both in terms of level of observation to find them, and difficulty of getting into them or through them to get whatever items they contain. Some secrets even evade detection by the X-ray scope, which I like: it makes the X-ray scope useful, but it also makes it not take the fun out of the game. The secrets make the world fun to traverse over and over again. This game is also GREAT at giving hints, things like "Hey, look, there's this area over here you can't access...maybe look for a secret in a nearby room." And, just as I like, some of the hints are more obvious than others.
* The world is massive, but very easy to navigate. The warp zone is a cool idea; I think it is well-executed. There are so many different ways back to the warp zone that it makes the world feel like everything is close to everything else. I never felt like I was bored running from one corner of the map to the other. I also think that the warp zone and well-connected world minimizes the need for savestating.
* AMAZINGLY non-linear, and the nonlinearity is executed better than in any other hack. There are multiple ways to get nearly every major item, and this includes both the item being found in multiple locations, and in some cases, the access to an item in a particular place being accessible by multiple paths. Sometimes an item can be gotten with great skill earlier on, but accessible by anyone later, like the X-ray scope in Brinstar which you can nab with a grapple swing...but one that takes a lot of skill and luck...or you can get it by tricky IBJ off a long surface of crumbleblocks...but it's easiest to get with the speed booster, which you probably will get much later. So a lot of the items become progressively easier or more obvious to get, over time.
* Rich potential for sequence breaking. Even though there doesn't seem to be a single, intended linear path, there do seem to be multiple intended / "normal" paths, but on top of that there yet more ways to find alternate paths relying on secrets or more advanced techniques.
* Walljump, and more advanced techniques like IBJ, mockballing, shortcharges, and opening doors from the wrong side, never seem to be required, but can benefit you and allow you to save time and/or sequence break. I like this.
* Controllable shinespark is cool and avoids some of the INSANE difficulty of the shinespark puzzles in the Hyper metroid hack. Doesn't require shortcharges (a beef I have with some hacks, *cough* SM Decision *cough*)
* I loved the Megaman-games-style "You need to fight every boss again all at once." deal at the end. It may have been unrealistic and breaking in spirit with the rest of the game, but I thought it was creative and fun.
* This hack manages to keep the nonlinearity going right up until the end. Not only does the escape sequence have multiple ways out...but...even before that, there are multiple paths to mother brain. I was impressed with this, and it makes the game engaging to play through more than once.

Subtle Critiques / Room for Improvement:
* Morph ball too easy to get. Come on! This is so trite, at least make me go through a few areas to find the morph ball.
* No original music. For how new and different this hack was, I thought the vanilla music was conspicuous.
* Besides color changes, pretty much no changes to the visuals. The tiles aren't even used in particularly creative ways; the world felt mostly like the original game, just new, different, and bigger.
* Uncreative bosses. I also though the bosses were way too easy. This is the only game where Phantoon was a joke, and Draygon and Gold Torizo were also major pushovers. Except Ridley who killed me once, none of the other bosses killed me. I like to be challenged. I think part of this is that you can get WAAAY too many energy tanks before getting to any of the major bosses.
* Some puzzle rooms, especially shinespark ones, started to get repetetive. Contrast with Hyper Metroid where each puzzle room is fundamentally different and makes you think in a fundamentally new way or discover a new technique or trick. In this hack, the first shinespark maze was fun, but after that they got tedious.
* I wasn't crazy about the "fall through a pit and get warped back to the start of the puzzle room" dynamic that many puzzle rooms rely on. Although convenient for the player, it made this hack feel a little contrived or unnatural. I like the way the original game and most other hacks work, which is to build the "reset" into the structure of the room, i.e. fall through a crumble block, roll back to where you started.
* I found the "same major item occurs in two places" feature to be annoying. Many times I solved some puzzle or discovered a secret, only to find an empty chozo statue, which I learned from subsequent playthroughs and/or watching others' videos, was actually an alternate way to get an item I had already gotten. I didn't like this. I'd rather the alternate ways of getting items instead rely on multiple paths converging to a single spot to get the item.
* Gray door abuse. This is a criticism that I also have of Hyper Metroid. There are too many gray doors and they're positioned in such a way that makes unclear what you need to do to open them. Some open when you kill certain bosses, some open when you save the animals, some you need to kill enemies in the room itself, and some open from the other side. I think a lot of these could be avoided by better design.
* For how nonlinear this hack was, I still got stuck twice. I found it very hard to find Phantoon and I actually only found him after getting the X-ray scope and scouring everything. That held me back a lot, because lacking Varia pretty much ground my progress to a halt. The second time I got stuck was trying to find out how to get into lower norfair and access Ridley; it was partly due to my sequence breaking and getting power bombs earlier during a heat run and forgetting about the (obvious) entrance. But it was still slightly annoying.
* Some of the items in later areas were too obvious. Like in lower norfair, both a missile and energy tank sitting right out in the open? Come on; what a waste! Especially given how you need to power-bomb a floor under lava to even get into lower norfair in the first place. At least make the player do something interesting so they can feel a sense of accomplishment getting these items. This felt disappointing.
* I think the dynamic where if you save the animals, it opens up a bunch of secret doors that make certain items accessible very early, kind of ruins the fun of the game. Part of what makes Metroid and its hacks so fun, in my opinion, is the process of wandering around the map searching for the next major item(s) that will open up new paths for me. I like to feel a little stuck at least for a little while, and I like the hack to make me work. In this hack, you can bypass this by saving the animals (one you have the firepower and tools to do so) and opening up those doors, and it just got too easy. Thankfully I discovered this later than I think some people do...but...it didn't sit well with me and I think it threw off the balance of the game, which was already on the easy side. Getting screw attack early REALLY unbalances the game.
* Secret area's quick path to "alternate mother brain", skipping all of Tourian and some of the unique things about this hack that come with it. Yet another example of making it too easy and taking the fun out of it. I even was able to skip Ridley (probably if I had saved the animals earlier I could have skipped more major areas.) I wasn't crazy about this. And putting a recharge station right in front of Mother Brain? That was too much hand-holding for me...it's like a cheat that breaks the game.
* The quick-way-out of the escape sequence? Come on. Yet another example of taking the fun out by making it too easy. The shortcut makes too big a difference...the escape goes from actually somewhat hard to trivially-easy, and that's no good. I'd rather the hack make secrets like this bypass only a modest portion of the escape sequence, i.e. make it a bit easier but without giving you too much.

In spite of all these criticisms, I think this hack is still golden. Yes, it could be improved. But...it's already so freaking good. None of these complaints even docks it one star. And if you don't want those "cheats" you can always just refrain from taking the items opened up from saving the animals and entering the secret area.

I recommend: if you want to play this hack for real, either don't save the animals, or if you do, (a) stay out of the secret area accessed from the warp zone (b) don't get any of the items freed up from saving the animals, and (c) don't shinespark up the first shaft during the escape sequence. You can tell when you've entered the secret areas to get these items because of the peculiar background, the change in music, and appearing in the secret area on the map.
By caauyjdp on Nov 09, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 12:04
Great hack.
Worst thing about it were both ways of getting tourian missile(although there might be more than one?). I ended up doing both with blue suit, which might have been intended way because there's an easy renewable way of getting it in tourian.
Escapes were trivial compared to attempting to get that missile.
By Syphon on Feb 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 5:51
Awesome hack with a lot of blue and 3(!) SpoSpo fights. One of the best exploration hacks out there. It also has a long escape sequence which I am a big fan of.

It's not very difficult either with the exception of some shinespark puzzles for optional items (usually Missiles or Supers).

I fully recommend this hack.
By Ri2nOneRok on Jun 12, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Nice level creation, warp zones clever idea, and speed boosting is a game changer. Fearful laboratory spooked me at first. Inconsistencies in visuals, important item placements, and route imho.
By Kremit44 on Nov 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
83% in 7:02
It's awesome. Great layout, fun visuals (I like the blue), funny, some interesting mechanics around speed booster, and an insane Tourian. I was really surprised at how fun this hack was. I don't want to spoil it but the scene after Ceres made me laugh pretty hard as did Maridia's new name. It's a must play IMO.
By brized on Jan 29, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This is like if Takashi Tezuka made a Metroid game. Very fun level design and puzzles, and built for replays with sequence breaking and multiple routes.

This is the only romhack I've played where the X-ray visor feels good to use.

Maridia can be done without gravity suit. Impressive.

Directional shinesparking seems to have come from this romhack; if so that's a huge feat. I'd have liked for its "wall bounce" window to have a few more frames to make it feel more like a wall jump in execution. That, or make the window to unmorph and jump to retain speed boost to be 3-4 frames instead of 1. This would make the insane shinespark puzzles fun instead of frustrating. Or, if there are any techniques for retaining a speed boost charge so you *don't* need to shinespark wallbounce or speed unmorph and then store a shinespark, those techniques should be explained in the manual or through the game itself.

Got stuck finding Kraid and Ridley's lairs because I forgot I had passed their entrances before, but didn't have power bombs at the time. Making those entrances more emotionally striking with visuals would have helped with remembering.

One of the all-time best SM romhacks, blue or not.
By DramaticMarquinh0svi on Feb 04, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
101% in 7:29
This rom hack is amazing,it's very big,there are many paths to go to,the speed bosster steering is very good for puzzles,after you beat it,you have more fun the second time because you will know where the items are,and there are different ways to get power ups,i didn't find plasma beam,there is alternative paths to the escape at the end,thats amazing,theres a Boss Rush section,You can also "save" the animals,if you find the secret area and fight the boss and save the animals there,you unlock the ES doors,these doors give items early for you,i am amazed,this rom hack is the my favorite hack i played for now,play this rom hack,you will not regret it 5/5.
By OmegaMalkior on Jul 28, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
By Kriken Empire on Oct 07, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
A very cool hack with some major flaws. Shinespark tricks are very fun and I enjoyed some surprises regarding the boss fights (*cough* spore spawn *cough*). Despite the inherent goofy nature of "Planet Spo Spo", the world is actually fairly immersive and sometimes creepy. Phantoon's level was especially impressive and I appreciated that I was never forced into the underwater level until I had gravity. Moving on to the bad, sometimes there's clever signposting to discourage sequence breaking (the kind where you end up horribly stuck somewhere), but other times there's nothing and you just walljump or guess a direction and see what happens. To find the final level, you'd have to decide early on to shoot every tile block throughout the whole game to have a chance at finding its hidden entrance. It's like only half of the world was tested for coherence. Accidentally going into warps zones can also screw you up. I just used save states to avoid that issue.

I'll say this because it says the difficulty is "unknown". It's for veterans. You don't need to be a master, but you'll never get past Draygon (if you know you know) without knowing how to cheese her (and I don't mean with the grapple beam).

Oh and the amount of blue is fine. Maybe I was overly prepared, but it wasn't nearly as blue as I thought it'd be. There's a surprising amount of yellow, actually.
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
By therealsusan on May 09, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
The environment is often uselessly big, but it redeems itself with a really good map.

There's nothing particularly special about the world, but it's passable and mildly enjoyable.
By Tundain on Jun 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
68% in 8:10
really a great hack, I love the fact that there are a bunch of secret-and super secrets hidden throughout the entirety of the map. Made replaying a lot of fun, as the optional challenges are very cool. A lot of sequence break options, I kept finding new ways to get different items early!

On the negative side, the palettes were pretty saturated, wasn't a too pretty sight in some places (but that's really just a minor issue)
Play for a really nice time!
By Zincoshine on Aug 26, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
67% in 7:08
This is the first rom-hack-based normal-sized Metroidvania ever made that is good enough to be more than just a rom hack exclusive for other rom hackers and speed hackers. It won the award for best hack in 2014 and it certainly deserves it, nothing else from 2014 comes close. It isn't as good as super Metroid and it is quite hard so you'll want to play this only after playing super Metroid at least once. With that said, there are many unique positives and some negatives that should be mentioned.

The positives:
- The game adapts to your playstyle, with multiple ways of getting around the world depending on whether you're a speedrunner, a veteran, or a newcomer
- multiple possible escape paths for the endgame.
- an excellent map with innovations that would later become standard by the time the pandemic started.
- new mechanics for existing upgrades.
- vast world with many pathways and warp mechanics.

The negatives:
- lower norfair is badly designed with grey doors that remain inexplicably closed and the golden chozo going AWOL. I wasn't able to figure out how to get through and ended up taking the speedrunner path instead.
- The new mechanics are poorly taught or explained to the player. This is particularly problematic with the spring ball upgrade as it is never explained that it allows you to speed boost in ball form, an act that is necessary for collecting several missiles as well as the plasma gun and the screw attack.
- The world structure looks unrealistic and unprofessional. This is not surprising considering that the author's previous work was super Metroid escape which is the second worst Metroidvania mod ever made for super Metroid. Thankfully the tiling is decent and the geometry is good.
- ceres station is badly designed and I nearly quit at that early point.

Overall, a solid 4/5 that any Metroidvania fan can pick up and play.

Edit: This is also the only Japanese metroid hack I can recommend.
By vsf3000 on Nov 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 6:34
very surprised at how much i enjoyed this. wasnt a big fan of the whole blue scheme going into it, but it wasnt nearly as blue as some of the pictures seemed to be. still would have preferred less, but it didnt really take away from the experience, which i was quite honestly incredibly impressed with. one of the most fun experiences ive had playing a hack. still stuck to the main SM storyline and progression, but with some very unique twists, secrets and more. strongly recommend. even if the whole "blue" thing seems like a turn-off, don't let it stop you.

i personally couldnt really find much to complain about. imo it was among the least flawed hacks ive played. the only thing that i found odd was how my progression led to golden torizo not appearing, but i think my progression was probably not expected for someone playing it the first time (when a person plays it through and finds all the secrets, this will make sense)

side note, this is definitely for more experienced players. not supremely difficult, but its got its tough moments, particularly for those trying to get 100%.
By HillMessiah on Jul 19, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
There's a bunch of cool stuff in the hack, like being nonlinear and having (from what I saw) two major ways to beat the game. Some stuff is either well hidden or you get lucky going there earlier; in most cases you feel reward collecting items in this game.

I wasn't a big fan of the boss rush, but did it anyway. Also, felt like some hidden items and obnoxious puzzles should reward Supers or PB, I came across only 1 Super (right after the first Spore Spawn) and 2 PBs.

Color pallete was alright; I expected more blue, but there's quite some yellow, too. Some pirates look decent, others quite vanilla. MB's color pallete is quite ugly tbh. Most areas in the game are either vanilla recolor or done different.


For the most part, the game was easier than vanilla in terms of combat (bosses were a joke or alright even with me missing charge until after Draygon, read after), so it kinda made sense for me the author decide to make Spazer and Plasma well hidden. For me, the first time I went to Charge Beam room, I shot, bombed the switch but the gate never opened up for me, only got charge wayyy later when remembered it existed and I had Wave. Maybe it's an issue with the 1.9 version.


Aside that, most of my criticism is in:

1) Maridia, because the physics there was erratic. In Ice Beam room, sometimes you gave those big jumps like you were Grapple pumping, in others, the jump was normal height (assuming no suit). In rest of Maridia, normal physics. The sandfalls were more annoying than ever.
2)Puzzles that put you in previous rooms when you mess up. Super annoying, and I'm surprised some hacks, like this one, use this mechanic so much. It's just artificial difficulty to increase the game time.
3)Big rooms for no reason. I think the game could've been cut by half in terms of rooms and it would've been just fine. Most warp doors aren't that useful the way I played; because I felt I'd lose progress going to one of them. I'd rather every session only had 1 warp point to the main hub, and maybe other warp points to other places in the world, like Mission Rescue and other hacks did.

4)The escape sequence is awful. It baffles me how the creator made the bosses easier than the OG game, aside Mother Brain and one of the Hidden Bosses, even going as far to put ammo+health refill just before Mother Brain's turrets, then made the escape sequence full of shinespark puzzles, puzzles where you go back 1-2 rooms if you fall, a room where it's better if you have Spring Ball (not that I have a problem with that, really like hacks where you get to use it), room where there's flying carriers where you travel with them... And it's LONG. Even Shaktool and Gary make an appearance! If the escape was easy or short I'd overlooked some of the obnoxious stuff, but that was too much. If the last room of Mission Rescue escape wasn't so bad, this would be hands down the worst escape in a SM romhack I played, easily.


So with those downsides and some stuff very vanilla, I gave it 4 orbs. My grade would be more like 3.5/5, but since this is a very old hack and made some interesting stuff for its time, and got it right in points hacks even from 2022 miss (like making a big romhack with barely connected world and lack of warp points), I round it up to 4/5. Pretty good stuff
By sbelmont85 on Aug 20, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
88% in 11:43
Very good hack, complete, multiple ways to get items so there's a high replay-ability. I liked the unique movement changes, the shinespark control, run-jump-land without loosing momentum like project base, wish it had respin also. The author did a great job, but I think they might be color blind: Deuteranopia or Protanopia, which make green and red look alike, which would make blues and yellows look better. The map is easy to get lost and many items and some paths are hard to find, need x-ray or just bombing everywhere, and there a handful of places that need an enemy to break the blocks which do not have any tale-tale identification under bombing or x-ray, some by dumb luck but definately makes you think in a different way for puzzle solving. I'm glad it didn't have too many tedious morphball switch mazes like redesign did. The map is a little unrefined and defainatly shows as an older hack compared to ascent, hyper, vitality, etc, but still very good. Over-all solid 4.75% Defiantly recommend.
By SeanCass on Sep 05, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
59% in 5:55
the least pleasureable experience ive had, this hack made me want to stop playing several times

most design was at best uninspired, and at worst created solely to frustrate the player

not sure what everyone sees in this hack or if i'm not in on some collective joke

don't bother
By Spospo on Sep 09, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:04
Evaluate with Ver2.0. (Ver2.0 is in the Forum Thread)
Compared to Ver1.9, shinespark is slower and easier to operate to some extent.
The enemies are also weaker, so it seems possible to clear it.
Although there are some silly parts and some parts that aren't as good as the latest hacks, there are also many well-written parts that I think you'll enjoy.
By RX-78-2 on Oct 11, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
102% in 3:44
I didn't think this hack would be this fun or enjoyable since I gave up multiple times last time I played it but this time I was determined to complete it and grab every item that I can and I gotta say, I'm really impressed by the amount of work that went into making this hack, I didn't think nor expect to like it this much




This hack is now one of my favorites, it takes everything I love about SM and makes it better.. it's an AMAZING hack that I think you most certainly should try out even if you don't end up finding everything or completing the hack



This hack does NOT disappoint by any means and honestly I'd give this hack an 11 outta 10 if I could but since I can't, 10/10.. nice work creator
By ironrusty on Mar 01, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Lots of fun, big world, new technology, inviting but challenging. Secrets! Very good for a first play or subsequent plays. I only have small complaints like the difficulty spike in collecting all items. Closer to a 5 than a 4.

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