Arena 2
Release date: Jul 15, 2004
Author: Jathys
Download: Version 1.0 [UH] (304 downloads)
Download: Version 1.0 [H] (1245 downloads)
Genre: Boss Rush [?]
Game: SM
Difficulty: Vanilla [?]
Average runtime: 0:21
Average collection: 54%
Read Me: [None]
Forum Thread: [None]
Rating: Star Star Star Star Star
Description
A boss rush.
There are some very annoying graphical glitches in the hack.
Ignore them best you can. Once I find how to avoid them, I will.

The basic idea of Arena is to fight as many bosses in as short a time as possible. I can beat the hack in 20 minutes, if I get all the power-ups. If you get ''all'' the items, you'll finish the game with 73%.

I'd list the items, but some people want a bit of mystery. I will tell you that there are 7 energy tanks, 10 super missiles, 5 power bombs, and 75 missiles . . . Morph and bomb, obviously, but others as well.

As for bosses/mini-bosses . . . There are 7. You need to fight a minimum of 6.
Screenshots
Screenshot Screenshot
Ratings and Reviews
By Aran;Jaeger on Dec 08, 2016 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
[Watch Video]  
Proper Item Collection display: 0%.
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''.
By Sapphron on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 0:17
Patch is for headered rom.
This hack was not very good, but it had like one cool room (and the rinkas were a cool gimmick).
Varia Suit was out of the way and took me a while to find (thought I had to hellrun through LN room to Ridley), the path to Kraid was absolutely stupid and I had to get help from the readme, tons of items are missable, but I have one major complaint.
There is no Charge Beam.
You must save all of your ammo as best you can/refill ALL of it at Draygon because you need every little bit of it for Mother Brain. It's stupid. I reset two times because of this, and Plasma disappears if you exit the room where it's located!! It's so dumb.
Overall, this is a hack that I would *kind of* recommend playing if you know what to do, but a few parts are just so stupid.
By MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It would be neat to play if it actually worked, but if you can't play the hack, it isn't worth squat.
By caauyjdp on Jul 23, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 0:18
Patch is for headered rom despite what page says.
Huge improvement on Arena 1.
Animals saved.
Plasma was a bit glitchy, maybe spawn requirement is time? Gravity can be recollected.
Finding path to kraid was annoying even with eventual hint from the readme.
By Megabrainz 357 on May 03, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Works fine until both Spore Spawn and Bomb Torizo are down, and then you can’t go anywhere.
By ClaireDiviner on Feb 12, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
71% in 0:28
[Watch Video]  
I'd have given this a 3/5, but you had to go and hide the way forward in such a stupid way. I had to look at your Read Me file to see the hint. Yeah, hiding a morph tunnel you can't see above the blue door to the right of the ship wasn't cool. Hack makers really need to not hide progression in such an obtuse manner. It's fine for optional item pickups, like Missiles, etc., but not for progression.

As for the rest of the hack, it was fine otherwise. It certainly felt more like a boss rush compared to the first game, but ultimately, nothing beyond that.

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