Alexman25's Ratings and Reviews
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Menu Hack by Trunaur68 [MZM Improvement], rated by Alexman25 on Nov 06, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
41% in 16:32
I am nearly at a loss for words.

Trunaur68's "Menu Hack" for Metroid: Zero Mission restores the unused item-toggling feature within the game, carried over from Super Metroid. This is a big deal. A huge deal, even. The hugest deal there ever was.

Item toggling is core to the Metroid experience. Within the cult masterpiece, Super Metroid, released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the ability to, get this, DEACTIVATE items which you have already collected has to be the single most important addition which that game has added to the Metroid formula, before or since. No longer was Samus restricted to have to shoot enemies an extra time thanks to the Ice Beam. No longer did the Screw Attack interfere with Ice Beam platforming. But, that's not why it's so good.

Everyone knows that Super Metroid made certain... Unsavory additions to the series. It added some of the worst upgrades. Speed Booster, a mechanic that sets the player avatar into such quick motion that they cannot possibly platform properly in a PLATFORMER. The Gravity Suit, which makes the entire water area in the game nearly pointless, as the water has no effect on Samus' movement. The Charge Beam, which serves to completely remove the utility of missiles in late-game combat. You heard me right: Your main collectable throughout the game is made entirely irrelevant by an item you pick up within the first half-hour.

But, Nintendo R&D1 knew what they were doing. These game-design geniuses remembered what made Metroid so great. The freedom to go where you want and do what you want. To break the rules and forge your own. Sequence-breaking is a commonly cited example; the developers trust the player's intelligence enough to allow them to make the decision to access areas before they are intended to. Thusly, these LEGENDS of the industry extended that same trust to the player's own arsenal. They provided the player with the ability to actively turn off these useless gimmick items, because they knew they were bad inclusions. Likely mandates from the higher-ups.

"Sonic is fast, so make Samus fast enough to compete!" "The Super Nintendo uses purple branding, so make Samus purple!" "Mega Man can charge his arm cannon, let Samus do it too!" It all reeks of corporate meddling. Yet, Nintendo R&D1 and Intelligence System are artists for the people. They stand up for the little guy. They knew that the influence of their brutally authoritarian company was compromising the integrity of their art, and they did not let it happen laying down. No; Just as Samus would learn to do later in the phenomenal sequel for the GameBoy Advance known as Metroid Fusion, the developers stood up to their commanding officers and did what they knew was right. Yoshio Sakamoto is a classical example of the true American hero. A myth, an idea, given human form. Yoshi Soccermario rises up to oppression and fights for justice like any self-respecting human should. He was cruelly taken from us in the year of the cosmos 2021. May his soul rest in peace.

Yet, Super Metroid made a fundamental flaw in its inclusion of the item deactivation mechanic. The HUD items cannot be deactivated. That's right, dear reader; your eyes aren't deceiving you. No matter what you do, they will never leave your HUD. Forever will each new item in your arsenal force you to mash select yet another time. Oh, how the torture never ends! The Y Cancel feature is a bandaid solution to this, but there is no good replacement for a simple missile toggle.

It gets worse still. If you happen to have power bombs selected, and for some god-unforsaken reason have Charge Beam and one other beam activated (what's the matter with you?) then Samus will perform Satanic magic to summon overpowered homosexual laser attacks. These bedeviled projectiles will wave around your screen in eccentric and seductive patterns, attempting to groom your children into joining their ranks, and providing Samus with yet more unnecessary, overpowered abilities. This, bizarrely, was not even censored in the North-American release.

It gets worse. If you navigate to select the Power Bombs in the HUD, proceed to activate Morph Ball, then press down on the d-pad whilst simultaneously holding L, R, and the shooting button, Samus will strip nude in front of the player and begin to restore her health. Nintendo does not even try to hide the sexual nature of this bizarre addition, as it is referred to as the Crystal Flash. That's right: Samus is, in fact, flashing the player. They said it themselves. My heart cannot take this. Samus, in a children's video game, is not only using gay satan magic, but stripping and being rewarded for doing so. I do not understand what sort of message Nintendo was trying to spread, but this is not a good look. They somehow managed to ruin what should have been the best feature in the game. Surely, Miyamoto was rolling in his grave. Women should not have bodies.

Trunaur68's Menu Hack patch for Metroid: Zero Mission is the best ROM hack to ever exist. It restores the greatest feature ever to be included in Metroid. Once more can Samus know the unrestrained freedom brought on by the ability to deactivate her items. The developers likely removed this feature from the final release due to some minor beam graphical errors that can occur by toggling them off while one is on screen. Yet, it is a small price to pay for salvation.

No longer is Samus forced to interact with disgusting mechanics, like the Speed Booster, or even the new Power Grip. Samus can once more enjoy the brilliant simplicity of her NEStroid days with this patch. But, it gets better. Not only can Samus now deactivate her Power Bombs, as well! Granted, regular Bomb must be deactivated as well, but we will take what we can get.

Not only this, but due to changes in the weapon-arming System, Super Missiles can be ignored entirely! Even if you cannot deactivate them, you can still simply never select them and still be able to arm missiles with one button. As well, there are no abhorrent secret devil techniques which Samus can perform this time around, meaning that this is a perfectly safe video game for your children to play. Truly, it is a devastating loss that we were so close to greatness, that this revolutionary game design addition was banished to be forgotten to history.

Nintendo learned from their mistake, however! They knew how much of an utterly stupid move this was to remove. Believe it or not, they actually went on to make an ENTIRE GAME about disabling items, known as Metroid: Other M for the Nintendo Wii. Metroid is already renowned for justifying its game mechanics within the lore, and this is yet another brilliant example. They wrote a whole story about one single game mechanic that they felt wasn't given the love which they deserve.

What could have been a tragedy has had a happy ending. Not only was the mechanic restored by the legendary Trunaur68, but Nintendo gave it the biggest honor they could by giving it its very own video game.

Toot toot, space warriors. Six orbs well earned.
Metroid X by Rage Games [M1 Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Jul 12, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
94% in 2:52
[Watch Video]  
Played this a long time ago, but never beat it. Decided to give it another go; this time I beat it!

I've gotta say, for being the first known NEStroid hack, this really holds up today! In many ways, I think the average player might even enjoy this more than the original game.

Items are all in the same place, as expected, but the map is different enough to make it still feel fresh and unpredictable what you'll find! I recommend that you draw your own map as you go for the full experience, if you're willing! If not, use RT's map (and also use it for 100% if you wanna go for it! I'm definitely going to)

The level design is all quite nice and varied, and plenty of fun platforming and combat! Even some clever item progression locks! Ice beam is particularly useful, here. You don't actually have to get morph or bombs for quite a while, either, and I found wave beam early enough that it served me well throughout most of the game!

I think Kraid's hideout kinda sucks, though. It's a super long linear path straight to him, and you have to do it all over again if you die. Definitely stock up on etanks, varia, and ice beam if you can!

Tourian was a little disappointing in the beginning, since it was basically laid out exactly the same in terms of screen position. The extended escape, however, was very cool!

I think this still stands as one of the best NEStroid hacks there is, which is astounding considering it's literally older than me by five years. I mostly played it for the purpose of potentially remaking it in Zero Mission, as I have a particular interest in doing so with NEStroid hacks (I also like seeing Metroidvanias remade in other Metroidvania engines in general).

Finished, recommended! If you like NEStroid, anyway. I certainly do!
T O U R O F I T A L Y by RT-55J [SM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Jul 02, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 1:45
Probably my favorite Super Metroid hack right now. Looks very cool, fun level design, clever new items that are actually well utilized, the works!

SPOILERS AHEAD










I really like that all of the suspicious tiling actually had stuff behind it. You're rewarded for keeping a keen eye, because there's hidden passageways and shortcuts everywhere!

Can definitely sequence break pretty hard; I didn't get espresso ball until I had already machballed all of its puzzles

The swirl jump (I think that's what it's called) was so much fun, and a lot of the level design utilized it well! Only think that would make it feel better IMO is respin. It also has a lot of cool tech you can perform with it if you're clever!

Hack makes really good use of morph and spring ball, too. I had a blast!

There's suitless underwater, but it's actually really well done!

I didn't like having to refight the core X after getting the station keys, but that's forgivable.

Very impressive, even if it wasn't a contest hack!
Control Freak by Kejardon [SM Improvement], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 12, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
58% in 3:12
This is the only way I can enjoy playing Super Metroid.
Sequence Breaking Fusion by Kazuto [MF Vanilla+], rated by Alexman25 on May 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
60% in 4:29
Good hack. Makes Fusion better. Great for a base hack. Recommended.
Metroid - Rogue Dawn by Grimlock, Optomon, snarfblam [M1 Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on May 13, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Great graphics, great music, great level design, great hack.
Super Metroid Brinstar/Maridia by FaiskaBr [SM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Mar 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
79% in 3:59
This is the absolute best hack I have ever played.
Metroid: Zero Mission - Chozo Hint Statue Removal by spiffy [MZM Spoof], rated by Alexman25 on Feb 28, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Hack.
Super Metroid: Ascent by Benox50 [SM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 16, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Five orbs well deserved.
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 5 by Juan Dennys [SM Challenge], rated by Alexman25 on Dec 18, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 2:20
Loved it. Best hack.
Metroid II EJRTQ Colorization 1.3 by Quantam [M2 Improvement], rated by Alexman25 on Dec 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Makes the best game better.
Metroid: Oil Spill by Spedimus [MF Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Aug 15, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
39% in 1:40
Without a doubt the best Fusion hack to date. You did good Spedimus, I'm proud of you.

The non-linearity is great, all the palettes and tilesets look amazing, the layout is thought out, and I like all of the area themes.

The only thing I didn't like were a few places were a bit out of my skill level, but that's a personal problem on my end and I won't knock your score for it.
Deep Freeze by Cpt.Glitch [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Aug 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
42% in 0:27
The first Zero Mission hack that can be considered nothing less than great. The new palettes are very nice. The theme is spectacular, and the layouts are very good.

Everything looks very nice and feels organic, and brings back the feeling of just being able to explore a new map.

Being the first Metroid ROM hack I've played a few years ago, nostalgia certainly plays a part in my view on this hack, but I genuinely believe that it deserves it's praise.

While there are newer hacks that are arguably better, I think this one deserves that extra 5th star for helping kick off the Zero Mission hacking scene and indirectly bringing said hacks into existence.
Project Base 0.8.1 by begrimed [SM Improvement], rated by Alexman25 on Aug 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
43% in 3:50
A very great hack well deserving of it's rating.

The new map is great, the physics changes don't feel bad, and the palettes are very nice.
Snowglobe by Scyzer [SM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Jun 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:20
A great hack for what it is. Well designed, looks pleasing, and has a neat story. It's long enough to feel significant, but not too long to overstay it's welcome.

I had issues with some of the advance tricks, but that's just from me being bad at Super Metroid.
Over the Moon by TestZero [M1 Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Feb 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It's pretty good, with a unique aesthetic. I really enjoyed it! It's biggest strength is how open-ended it is.
Metroid SR387 by OneOf99 and NathanTech [MZM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 18, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
73% in 1:30
A pretty decent hack in all regards. I'll start with the positives. The music was pretty good, and enjoyable throughout. The visuals were pretty nice as well. I liked having a new planet to explore, that had a great mix of nature and technology.

But as with all hacks, there's downsides. I'll start with my biggest gripe, the room sizes. A lot of the rooms seemed like they were large and obtuse for no reason other than "Because I can".

This wouldn't be too bad if it was limited to a few instances, but it's pretty much every room. It bloats the areas more than they need to be.

A lot of the rooms were large and hard to quickly navigate through, and this ended up making the shortcuts end up the only way I'd want to keep exploring the area. I don't think it's a good thing when I want to avoid traveling through rooms more than once in an exploration based hack.

Another thing is, it ended a lot sooner than I expected. It felt abrupt. Just walking then bam! Suddenly, final boss. The escape was also slightly disappointing.

All in all, a great Zero Mission hack with a few issues. 4/5, I'll be playing this again in the future.

2022 EDIT: Just replayed the hack for the first time in a good while. It's actually even better than I remember it. There's a lot of things I appreciate now that I didn't before, which I think bring the hack up to a 5/5 for me.

1: The aforementioned large room sizes. While, yes, they can be annoying, in a lot of cases they actually work really well. Many of them provide fun platforming and combat challenges, as well as making a neat atmosphere in general.

You really get the feeling that you're in a titanic facility when every room towers a good hundred feet over your head. It's a nice change of pace compared to the typical hallway and shaft structure. I can see the screen-crunch being kind of annoying, but so long as you play carefully it'll be fine.

2: The difficulty balancing is really nice. It doesn't fall into the "too easy" trap that I see a lot of Metroid hacks fall into, while also not being too hard at the same time. You have to actually pay attention and fight the enemies properly to get through instead of just brute-forcing. The hack manages to makes missile tanks feel actually useful, which is always a plus, and it makes energy tanks feel even better than before.

3: The visuals. While, coloring-wise they aren't my preference, I do appreciate the effort to craft a new environment. The space pirate base and phazon mines all like very interesting, and I appreciate both the choice and usage of tiles.

4: The tone. This has more of a serious tone than most other ZM hacks, and it has the great, original design to back it up. More than any other ZM hack, to me this feels like an entirely new Metroid game. While, having a serious tone isn't inherently a positive or negative, I appreciate its inclusion and execution very much here.

5: The areas are actually pretty fun to explore. A lot of Metroid areas tend to fall into a trap of areas kind of being too small and simple. While, bloating things out isn't necessarily always a good decision, I think this hack has just the right amount of bloat to make exploring feel both substantial, worthwhile, and pretty fun.

My only really big complaints nowadays are that A: It's a bit short and ends abruptly, and B: Sequence breaking doesn't seem very feasible.

All in all, this is a great hack that I'm only now beginning to truly appreciate. 5/5.
Stargazer by Ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
One of the few good ZM hacks as of right now, and made in 24 hours to boot. I had a lot of fun when I played this. Exploration was fun but not frustrating, and has good sequence breaking iirc. Definitely recommended!
Samus Wants Robot by Croakomire [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by Alexman25 on Jul 03, 2024 (Star Star Star Star Star )
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
Metroid Mission II by Sapphron [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Jul 19, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
91% in 0:35
Was an okay hack.

Main issues were a few "surprise mother-fricker" type enemy placements, and the way some stuff was hidden. Due to the way the rooms were tiled in the first place, there was really no way to find expansions (one of which I think was required to progress) other than randomly shooting around.

Four orbs instead of three due to the time-frame it was made in. If given more time in the oven, the meontioned issues likely wouldn't exist to the same capicity.
Mintroid by Golden Warrior [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Jun 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:30
Nice hack. Good layouts, stuff was fun to find. Only complaints I suppose were a few meh room designs and ugly-ish palettes.
Metroid FreezeFlame by Conner [MZM Challenge], rated by Alexman25 on May 25, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 0:33
Good hack, heat run was pulled off spectacularly. Metroid: Zero Mission 2: Echoes is definitely a game worth playing.
Oxide by Cyclamen32 [SM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on May 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
163% in 3:28
Good hack. Very unique at times.
Ancient Chozo by Albert V. [SM Vanilla+], rated by Alexman25 on May 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
91% in 6:12
Seems very vanilla in layout to me, but extremely pretty hack that adds to the play-value.
Metroid Subzero by Conner [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on May 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
94% in 0:29
Good mini hack. Not amazing, just good.
Reimagined by SavageWizzrobe [SM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Apr 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Good hack, play
One Room ZM hack (ing-ing) by ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 28, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 0:10
Good, small hack. Play it.
Metroid: Combat by Multi-Man [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Nov 19, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Good hack, play.
Metroid - Zebian Illusion by DragonEye Studios [M1 Unknown], rated by Alexman25 on Sep 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Play if you like Christmas.
AMNR - Nes Mission by The Brothers Crafters [MZM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Jul 04, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:58
Just worse ZM for the most part. Stopped at pirate ship since according to others it's unchanged. Does some cool changes, Worth a play if you want a new experience, but not something too different.
ConCons first hack by Conner [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Mar 12, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
2% in 0:03
Not good at all, but worth keeping around for history's sake.

The green palette isn't atrocious, but far from pleasing to the eye.
Samus' Turkey Journey by Sapphron [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Dec 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 0:07
For a first attempt at a ZM hack and something only made in 10 hours, it could have been way worse.

Nothing was too hard to figure out, and everything at least made sense. A great start, and three orbs for effort.

(Completion in minutes:seconds)
Winter Mission by Ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Nov 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It was 'aight.
Zebes Returns by Crocomire [SM Unknown], rated by Alexman25 on Aug 23, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I like the name.
Escape from Metroid Zero Mission by uNsane [MZM Unknown], rated by Alexman25 on Aug 14, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
39% in 6:04
It was good for it's time.
Metroid Action by Jumzhu [MZM Boss Rush], rated by Alexman25 on Feb 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It's a pretty great and enjoyable hack. A massive improvement on the old boss rush hack,
Metroid: Takeover by Spedimus [MZM Exploration], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Certainly not the best hack out there, but pretty solid for (to my knowledge) a first attempt. The room design could use some work (a lot of tile errors/misuse and can be pretty blocky), and the map could use some work too. For a veteran difficulty hack, it's pretty easy too.

The most fun I had with the hack was traversing Norfair for the first time. The platforming was difficult and fun, and whenever I messed up it felt like it was my fault and not bad design. Going through the heat runs was pretty good too, but I'll admit I'm pretty sure I didn't get everything I was supposed yet to before I got into Norfair.

Overall, a decent hack, and I look forward to future hacks made by Spedimus.
Metroid - Birthday Mission by Metroid Violinist [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Jan 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
4% in 0:07
Time is in minutes:seconds.

For a hack made in less than a day, it's pretty good. And knowing the story behind it's creation is very heartwarming. A little more farming than I'd like, but it's really good for what it is.
HECKTROID by alexman25 [MZM Spoof], rated by Alexman25 on Jul 31, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Bad hack don't play
Vermifugal by alexman25 [MZM Quick Play], rated by Alexman25 on Mar 12, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
14% in 0:04
No
Drugtroid by TheDruggedMetroid [M1 Speedrun/Race], rated by Alexman25 on Nov 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Contrary to the other two reviews, this hack is in reality a masterpiece. It is a deep metaphor for our current world today, and our not so distant future of intergalactic psychedelic bounty hunting.