badatmetroid's Hack Reviews - Metroid Construction

Lost World by TROM [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Dec 28, 2021 (

)

88% in 17:52

This map is great, but long. It's item progression is probably too linear meaning that if you don't know where to go next you'll find yourself lost for hours at a time. Luckily there are custom map items indicating "go here after speedbooster/wavebeam/grapple" which I think would nudge you in the right direction. Also I did find the non-sequence break super missiles and figured out all the gate locations. I'm putting together a map and a guide, but if you're stuck and reading this before then, DM me.

Really, there's so much good stuff in this map, but it's just diluted behind being too large.

Super Metroid: Arrival by Jefe962 [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Dec 30, 2021 (

)

94% in 3:09

Fun hack. I like the idea of wall jump being an item instead of a starting mechanic, but I don't know if it made a difference. The overall ambiance was really good and I felt like the areas were very distinct in both appearance and layout. Definitely one of the prettier hacks.

Oxide by Cyclamen32 [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Jan 08, 2022 (

)

168% in 2:21

"Down or... I'll go left first... Wow lotta vertical wall jumping... Oh wow multiple infinite bomb jumps, just to backtrack? ... It's been like an hour I thought this was short. I'll check nordub... Oh ffs."

I never claimed to be good at this.

Airy by Cyclamen32 [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Jan 22, 2022 (

)

89% in 4:30

This hack is good, but definitely needs to be trimmed to be great. The mechanic changes also should be taken out. Since it's so large the backtracking is really annoying and I caved and loaded the hack in smile because I couldn't find the last key item.

Spoiler that you might find useful:

There are just power bombs lying around. I ignored a map dot and didn't get the powerbombs near dragon. Had I done this I would have saved myself about 45 minutes of backtracking to get some very important items nearby.

Tallon IV Tours: Phendrana Frolics by dewhi100 [

Quick Play], rated by badatmetroid on Apr 03, 2022 (

)

91% in 0:51

Really cool hack. I spent like an hour or so searching for items that didn't exist (there are 3 block types that I think are unbreakable). I really wish there was more of this game since the wild new items would be fun in a larger context.

Super Metroid YPX 1.21 Redux by Noxus, YP [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Apr 13, 2022 (

)

100% in 2:02

I delayed playing OG YPX for a month (maybe more) because the physics annoyed me. But after I got the hang of it, YPX is now definitely my favorite map. Resetting the jump physics makes a lot of rooms much easier. I think the hack is definitely worse for these changes.

I'm unsure how quite to rate this hack. If people who wouldn't have ever played YPX give it a go, this is a net good. But if fewer people play OG YPX, this is a net negative. I also don't know if "adding an easy mode to a 5-star hack" can really be rated. Other than resetting the gravity and wall jump, there are some minor changes to prevent sequence breaks, so there was care and attention in this map. but most the rooms that were hard in OG I breezed through on my first try in redux (especially the speedbooster wall jumps, which were the most satisfying part). It also blocked the two sequence breaks I found in Gorfair, but no points off for that.

If you try YPX and just really can't stand it, play this.

Edit: Also I forgot to mention that they didn't reset all the controls, just the jump height (about 2 blocks less in YPX), fall speed (considerably faster in YPX), and wall jumps (vertical wall jumping was harder in YPX). The bombs explode instantly and don't boost you. Had Noxus allowed for IBJ, this would have been broken wide open due to possible early power bombs opening the map wide up.

Super Ethical Metroid by dewhi100 [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Apr 26, 2022 (

)

80% in 2:00

Pretty good. I was expecting more out of the title since everyone made such a big deal of it in the reviews, but it was really just meme item names.

Super Metroid - Vengeance SE by Noxus [

Vanilla+], rated by badatmetroid on May 24, 2022 (

)

98% in 3:03

I haven't played any of the funfar games, so I can't compare this. I really enjoyed it and there's a lot of interesting takes on rooms. I think 90% of rooms have been reworked in some way.

Requires a lot of tricky mockballing in the first half the game.

Super Metroid SCM by YP [

Challenge], rated by badatmetroid on Aug 01, 2022 (

)

78% in 3:29

Great map if you want to learn slow charge. I used slow motion to cheese anything that needed a shorter charge than I could 3-tap (there are a few puzzles that need stutter 3-tap).

Interactive map available at Project Maptroid (maptroid.unrest.io)

Super Metroid: Colors by After K [

Unknown], rated by badatmetroid on Aug 11, 2022 (

)

98% in 4:16

This map wasn't as bad as I thought it would be from the other comments. Every room has been tweaked slightly. Some really cool and interesting. Others are "well, the item that is supposed to be here isn't, maybe I should start shooting the walls". The progression was changed a bit. My biggest complaint was many enemies were made way to hard (>2x hp) for no reason.

They skipped several rooms and I kind of wish they skipped more or left them unchanged. Overall this is like 1.5 hours of fun in a 4 hour hack.

Very useful spoiler below that would have probably saved me an hour.

Spoiler below! This is your last warning.

...

...

...

Charge beam was moved to spospo save room. I use save states and rarely use actual saves so I killed botwoon and tried to fight dragon without charge (or plasma). Highly recommend you x-ray them because they have like 4x hp and annoying obstacles in the room. They might have been interesting fights if it weren't for their health.

Rotation by SMILEuser96 [

Spoof], rated by badatmetroid on Aug 21, 2022 (

)

77% in 2:22

I put off playing this because it seemed like a novelty to me. I really enjoyed it. So many fun surprises realizing how the rooms and enemies work different. The only down side is that I recommend you be fairly familiar with the original before playing this because everything is so weird that some areas would be really difficult otherwise. Because the game usually has fewer rows than columns, when you rotate the two certain walls are out of view.

Super Metroid: Subversion by TestRunner and AmoebaOfDoom [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Sep 16, 2022 (

)

85% in 7:21

My only complaint is that it drags a little here and there. There are some redundant areas and the hack probably could have been trimmed by about 10%. That's definitely just a preference though and I'm sure many people will think this is perfectly paced.

But otherwise... just... wow... I was worried that SM hacks had peaked but now I feel like this is the beginning of a new era. There are so many brand new concepts that are introduced and this feels like they have just scratched the surface of what is possible. Can't wait to see what SMART makes next. I have played about 50 rom hacks and thought I understood the limits of what could be done, but all my assumptions have been shattered.

SM - Cryogenesis by Onnyks [

Exploration], rated by badatmetroid on Dec 25, 2022 (

)

75% in 2:41

A-tier hack. Not much to add that other reviews haven't said. Good atmosphere. Very interesting use of a z-layer rooms (just play it, you'll understand what I mean) and room state. I liked the special item, but I feel like it wasn't used to great effect.

I hope the author cycles back and adds the "dlc" to this.

Metroid: Expedition Z by DarkSamus [

Unknown], rated by badatmetroid on Jan 26, 2023 (

)

91% in 1:19

Pretty fun hack. There were a few minor bugs that people mentioned, but really the reason I'm giving this 4 stars is because there's nothing amazing about this.

There is one obscure grapple technique I had to watch the Aran;Jaeger video to do. He then used an obscure missile clip (which wasn't actually required for that room). Otherwise it's vanilla difficulty.

Rewind by squishy_ichigo [

Unknown], rated by badatmetroid on May 09, 2023 (

)

76% in 2:45

KPRD. Pretty fun map for what it intended to be. It feels more like a randomizer than a rom hack.

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