Samus Wants Robot

Samus Wants Robot
Release date: Jun 29, 2024	Author: Croakomire	Download: [OUTDATED - Contest Release] 1.0 UH (75 downloads) Download: SWR QoL Version 2.0 UH (137 downloads)
Genre: Speedrun/Race [?] Game:	Difficulty: Expert [?]	Average runtime: 12:06 Average collection: 55%
Read Me: [None]	Forum Thread: Contest Thread	Rating:

Description

Save a robot you just met (from other robots), and get out of there!
Maybe steal some of their electronics while you're at it.

A crossover hack between "Super Metroid" and my favorite flash game series "Robot Wants."
Made for the 2024 Star Base Contest
Themes: Escape, Hot/Cold, Time (Loosely)

Assembly Credits
Heat bit every room - Nodever2
Instant items - Oi27
Save / Load - Scyzer
Skip Zebes clouds - OmegaDragnet9
Skipping Ceres - Black Falcon
Water footstep removal + Skip hexagon map - Tundain
Instant Respawn - Tewtal
Shoutouts neen and others for answering a lot of my questions

Screenshots

Ratings and Reviews

By starlightintheriver on Jun 30, 2024 (

)

3% in 4:09

I really, really tried to see this one through to the end. The completion stats aren't actually my time when I BEAT this hack, just when I gave up on it, and the item percentage is 3% because that's how many unique items I was able to find. I SAW more, but for some reason I just couldn't reach them.

For a bit of context, the original Robot Wants series (or at least Robot Wants Kitty, which is the one I used as a reference) are a series of flash-made kind of... mini-Metroidvanias, where you explore a large maze and collect abilities that let you explore more of the maze. You die in one hit, but when you die, you instantly respawn at a nearby checkpoint, kinda like Celeste or Super Meat Boy or one of those other hardcore platformer types. You'd think this would translate well to a Super Metroid hack, right?

Well... this game is HARD. Enemies take you off guard and lock you into corners, large parts of the game are required hell runs, the layout is confusing and you seem to randomly jump all the way across the map, and when you die you have to sit through the whole rigamarole of the original game's death sequence. In particular I found myself using savestates to get past the first hell run, because every time you fail you have to spend about a minute travelling back from the previous save. But being hard isn't a problem, right? Kaizo Metroid is hard... but it also gives ample Saves and never tries to waste your time with death traps, plus it has a modified death cutscene so you respawn instantly. (I should specify that I haven't actually played Kaizo, I am not good at video games and that is likely not going to change.)

I've gotten explicit confirmation from Croakomire on the design philosophy. The idea is to encourage quick thinking, where every time you dive back into the station you get a little further until you finally burst through. It's extremely ambitious, a worthy goal, and I just don't think it was done well here.

That said, I do have one MAJOR positive: the use of GOLDENVENGEANCE is absolutely based and +Vpilled. Omoripilled. Me when i show up to a "having good taste in music" contest and my opponent is this guy (I'm cooked). Idk lol im trying to come up with some sort of joke here have mercy

By Kirarin on Jul 03, 2024 (

)

92% in 25:35

EDIT: Since the author added fast respawn, I bumped the rating to 5 orbs. Imo that was the only thing missing for the hack. I'll revisit this one at some point to see what else I missed/what was changed.

--

1.0 Review. Time is IGN. Real time it was probably between 6 to 8 hours.

This is the most impressive hack of the contest I played so far. Considering it was for a contest with time and design constraints this one is maybe the most impressive one for me since Super Junko. It has a lot of identity with its designs, themes and stuff I didn't see anywhere else.

Only reason I'm not giving this one 5* it's because it's batshit hard + lacks fast respawn and there's too many tricky parts where you'll die over, and over, and over, and over again, and you'll really wish there was fast respawn, because either you want to trial and error things, or you figure out the solution, and it becomes a matter of execution.

For the good stuff, the soundtrack is awesome, custom sprites are awesome, the theme is awesome. It really feels like a Soulsborne-esque, where your knowledge and execution becomes better and pay off as more as you play. You feel confident as you start getting items and figure out how the hack and its puzzles work.

The custom battles are very cool and the escape is AMAZING. Hard as hell, but the most fun one I played since... Ever? The escape also has a cute af thingie you need to rescue, like Mission Rescue, so a lot of extra points for that.

Some of its mechanics might be a bit too hidden and not easy to grasp for most players, and some I didn't even figure out, like having some gates locked and never figuring out what opens them. I got a feeling this hack has a lot of replayability, since some items disappear from one world if you pick them in another one.

In its current state, again, I can't recommend this 5* because this hack really needed fast respawn for me, and I feel this hack is nudging the Expert difficulty. If the creator did intend players to use savestates here and there, I feel the Veteran tag is appropriate. The Lava parts, for example, are near Expert difficulty since there's no saves/checkpoints between sections, and only a few parts you get refills.

I got a feeling one of the bosses is optional, but another one is mandatory.

If you enjoy challenge hacks, play this. It's great!

By junkrares on Jul 03, 2024 (

)

1% in 0:30

I wasn't going to put an orb rating or any completion stats, because that would be unfair given the little I played this -- but the site requires it. I'll give it two orbs because the music and graphics and ASM and just everything is well executed and on-theme.

But the gameplay?

It is pure punishment, simply because there is no quick respawn. Almost every move requires instantaneous decision making and frame-perfect timing. If they implemented some sort of system like V E R T I C A L I T Y uses for the teleport spikes, this may be a bit more tolerable. To rate this as a "Veteran" hack and a "Race" hack is rather disingenuous to how difficult this is. This is an expert-level hack, and not just an expert Super Metroid hack.

I really wanted to like this, but I cannot just sit there and get kicked in the teeth every 30 seconds, and then spend an equal amount of time restarting and replaying the same rooms.

By alexman25 on Jul 03, 2024 (

)

No completion stats.

I also didn't complete this, but I made it pretty far. I decided to give it a go this morning after watching Xander stream it last night, and I'll say that having that context really smoothens the experience. It's still punishingly hard and obtuse, but once you know what you're doing, it's quite fun to pull off the movement! The tiling is also remarkably consistent, which I appreciate, and the gimmick with the hot/cold worlds and the map flipping were pretty impressive!

I'd genuinely consider this a four star hack if the beginning hell run was made a little more forgiving and progression was made less obtuse all around.

EDIT 07/06/2024
Updated to four orbs to reflect post-contest changes

By RT-55J on Jul 07, 2024 (

)

82% in 0:25

[Note: I played version 1 to get a feel for it for the sake of contest judging, and then after 10 minutes or whatever switched to version 2 for the QoL.]

This is a very interesting, very trolly masocore take on Super Metroid. Unlike a lot of other kaizo-style hacks, this one focuses more on exploration, with the main challenge being able to figure out how to survive to get to a desired destination or push forward in a new direction.

For those of you who find the structure of this hack confusing and do not mind mechanical spoilers, the main gimmick is as follows: the space station is shaped like an hourglass. The top half is cold, the bottom half is hot, and you are funneled down (like sand) by various one-way paths towards the bottom. At the bottom corners are save rooms, where you can save, refill, and "wait" for the station to flip upside-down (this requires a reset in version 1, but is done automatically in version 2) so you can explore the station downwards in the opposite direction (and with the hot area now cold and vice versa). Half of the hack being non-linear hell runs means that a good portion of your playtime will be reconnaissance and planning, whether it be in the form of heading off in some unknown direction during a hell run, or analyzing the same area in its cold, upside-down state (scoping out a room in its hot state to explore when it's cold is also a thing).

Major items are few and far between, but there are a ton "ship fuses" scattered around the station. I would assume they pertain to all the locked barriers around the station, but I couldn't really figure it out. Regardless, collecting the fuses at least helped me feel like I was progressing, and gave me an idea of what I had already done.

The non-traditional bosses were very neat.

I recommend this hack to all of my enemies, and so should you.

By Zhs2 on Jul 25, 2024 (

)

No completion stats.

In the politest word KPF can possibly use: NO. You can keep your Super Meatroid Boy.

By Kremit44 on Aug 04, 2024 (

)

97% in 29:52

What a great idea and well made hack. I think the positive reviews do a great job explaining the positives and giving a run down of the mechanics. Fast restarts are a huge add, I can't even imagine playing it without them. However it has a couple extreme flaws that will make it unplayable for most and tedious for all but the most elite players.

I have no problem with hell runs but is it really necessary to make it so difficult? The homing saucer robots hit way too hard. In the cool areas they are justifiable but in the hot areas they shouldn't be there or if they must be they shouldn't hit nearly so hard. It would be very easy to make a far more accessible version just by removing/lessening the damage of this one enemy. It's such a great idea and well executed but it really isn't helped by being so brutal hard. It's a Kaizo hack only because of how hard this one type of robot hits. It's going to be hard even without them in the hell run parts. Later in the game some upgrades make traversal much easier but some of the ship fuses are still insanely challenging. I have no idea how to get the one in the block maze that seems to be only doable in the heat.

The last boss is also ridiculous, it would be acceptable if there was a checkpoint but as of now it's insane. The first section is by far the hardest and once you figure it out it's not as bad to beat the rest and it's certainly repeatable but one mistake and you're toast. This is especially tough to deal with if you try to get all the fuses, the one in the lava requires near perfection. That's a full on Kaizo boss. I really think there's no problem with having a version like this but it would take so little to make this a far more enjoyable hack for a much larger audience and it deserves to be appreciated by many. I actually loved the boss fight but feel like 1 etank per hit would have been a much more enjoyable experience for me or as i suggested earlier a checkpoint after the first part.

This should be an all time great hack but it's just too much of a slog to be enjoyed by very many IMO and that's a shame. This is a hack that would be immeasurably helped by having a normal and hard version. Regardless it's a great hack still and other than the difficulty it has exceptional execution in regards to it's mechanics. And i would be remiss not to suggest that perhaps there are some who would prefer this difficulty, I just think it's a very small number. It was still enjoyable for me and after going back for near 100% I almost decided for a 5 but it's still just too hard in areas. Thanks for the great hack, and carpal tunnel, I need to rest my hands for awhile now. LOL

By thedopefish on Aug 11, 2024 (

)

No completion stats.

I didn't finish this one. It's frustratingly difficult and feels directionless. Long heat runs, plus a really wide open map and no clear indication of where to aim for, makes for a poor combination. Also, the need to reset after saving meant I kept having to get up and walk over to my SNES, which added a bit of annoyance due to my streaming setup.

I probably would have powered through it if I was playing this by itself, but I decided I'd rather make sure I get around to the rest of the contest entries.

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