Super Metroid: Pantheon
Release date: Oct 16, 2008
Author: squishy_ichigo
Download: Version 1.0 [UH] (1933 downloads)
Download: Version 1.0 [H] (1290 downloads)
Genre: Exploration [?]
Game: SM
Difficulty: Veteran [?]
Average runtime: 5:27
Average collection: 75%
Read Me: [None]
Forum Thread: [None]
Rating: Star Star Star Star Star
Description
Updated Description:
This hack is not as easy as I originally claimed it to be. As such, the original description below is a tad misleading. Not to mention, its riddled with problems, including but not limited to:
-tiling errors/bad tiling
-poor enemy placement
-unobtainable items
-no save stations

Despite these problems, people have still enjoyed this hack. It offers a unique item progression, interesting area transitioning for easier movement around the map, and people seemed to enjoy the exploration.

My personal opinion? Don't play this, go play something else. I made this back before I really knew what I was doing, and it shows. And its worse that I never bothered to go back, and fix these problems, for an updated experience. But if you want to see what all the fuss is about, give it a go.
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Old Description:
This hack is NOT a skill based hack, hell, its not even a hard hack, its aimed at those of you have beaten Super Metroid, and want to play alittle more, but ALL those other hacks are to hard;) That being said, theres still plenty of tricky puzzles for you experts, so give this a go either way, you will not be dissapointed. Thanks for playing, good luck, and MOST importantly, have fun!;)

SKILLS NEEDED: Walljumping, Mid-air morphball (w/ bombing)

MISC: There are no savestations except your ship, so that means using Savestates. I'm sorry if you don't like using them, there is a very good reason for not having them. The reason is the escape timer. If you save during an escape, and reload it, the timer is gone! SO, the only way to fix this in such a large scale exploration hack, is to get rid of savestation.
Screenshots
Screenshot Screenshot
Ratings and Reviews
By Zhs2 on Apr 01, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
64% in 4:56
Original meme review: ORANGE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Serious time: I don't think I actually completed it until just now (10/19/22). I don't remember the dick moves squishy_ichigo pulled in Tourian, much less half the hack. *Ahem* This is actually good for a 2008 hack, though there are a lot of pitfalls to be had straight out of Amateur Hacking 101. To recount a few: walljumping required just about everywhere, high jump and spring ball are hidden behind advanced techs (high jump is much easier to get than spring ball imo), hack seemingly untested without those two items, charge is late-midgame so you better bring a bunch of missiles for Botwoon, you can get stuck in later underwater areas if you bring the untested items, tiling errors plague Norfair, and rooms in the hack can be divided into two categories: 2% changed from the original or retaining the same structure but with a ton of copy-pasted architecture. And despite all of these flaws it still retains a solid progression, one that is not unfun for a veteran player and definitely nowhere near the level of stupid some of these other hacks bring to the table. It is still very completeable despite morph ball being the sixth major item you get and bombs the eighth (or just about, I didn't count.) Bring your savestates though because the hack is an open world during the escape and at the time squishy_ichigo did not have the technical knowledge to make save stations not remove the timer, you can probably even go back down the Tourian elevator but I didn't check. Animals saveable, that I did check. All in all I just want to start a petition to have this hack renamed to Painful Hallwaytheon because it really has a number of those. Anyone?
By Cirno on Apr 19, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
By Vismund Cygnus on Apr 20, 2015 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
By Aran;Jaeger on Dec 08, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
99% in 4:38
[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 Black Luster Soldier on May 16, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
62% in 2:38
No Save Stations (because of the escape sequence). Some items seem almost impossible to get in real-time. Would not recommend, especially on console (unless you do single-segment playthroughs often) and/or if you want to get 100%. I wished Squishy_Ichigo updated this hack; it seemed promising when I first saw it long ago.
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.
By Syphon on Dec 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
67% in 4:25
This hack is ok.

Didn't really like that Morph Ball and Bombs were later than usual. Generally not a fan of that. Feels very restrictive. Also there was a bit too much backtracking for my liking.

Other than that there's not much to say what's not already in the description. Tourian was a little annoying and the escape was disappointing.

I guess it's something to play if you're bored but this was more of a weak 3 out of 5 than a strong 3 out of 5.
By Insomnia Speed on Feb 16, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
87% in 8:55
No save stations in the game. The only way you can save the game is at ship, so used savestates. It's a good hack and has some pretty interesting challenge. Animals saved.
By neen on Apr 19, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
61% in 5:51
for some reason, all of the boss rooms are not placed correctly on the map. no save stations. this would be a good candidate for a remaster or improved version. modern tools would allow for making sufficient room states to eliminate the problem of saving during the escape.

overall, not bad. some frustration with room and level design. after obtaining supers, the path to use them to progress was relatively clear. i found spore spawn to be the most difficult part of the hack. used savestates.

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