“Where ASM is either NOProblem, ORA pain in the butt”
ClaireDiviner's Ratings and Reviews
Easily the most creative hack I've played. Given other hacks that exist, this is saying an awful lot. From all the custom sprite work and assets, to the overall world, and power-ups/progression, this game hits all notes just about as perfectly as one could hope a Metroidvania, rom hack or not, would.
If there's only one nitpick I have, it's one particular attack that isn't very well telegraphed, making it very difficult to avoid, which also makes possible any% runs harder than anything (won't elaborate, because I dare not spoil a single thing). Outside of that, I thoroughly enjoyed this hack, and had the most fun with this since Subversion, and V I T A L I T Y before that, and Escape II before that.
I couldn't recommend this anymore than I already am. If macabre and dark/gory visuals isn't your thing, this MAY not be your cup of tea, however. Easily a 5/5, I'd give it a 6, if I could. Great job on this hack. The work poured into this really shows.
If there's only one nitpick I have, it's one particular attack that isn't very well telegraphed, making it very difficult to avoid, which also makes possible any% runs harder than anything (won't elaborate, because I dare not spoil a single thing). Outside of that, I thoroughly enjoyed this hack, and had the most fun with this since Subversion, and V I T A L I T Y before that, and Escape II before that.
I couldn't recommend this anymore than I already am. If macabre and dark/gory visuals isn't your thing, this MAY not be your cup of tea, however. Easily a 5/5, I'd give it a 6, if I could. Great job on this hack. The work poured into this really shows.
Junkoid by P. Yoshi, Mindflower [
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 10, 2023 (
)
![[Watch Video]](images/video.png)
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 10, 2023 ( )
% in 1:36
Just like its successor, this hack has tons of visual creativity, including changing a couple of aspects upon entering a specific area. The difficulty is fair, and so too is the difficulty progression. There's a small secret in the game that can also be found, if you know how to go about reaching it (I won't say here, for spoiler reasons).
All in all, this is a solid hack that I highly recommend any NEStroid fan. You can tell this was but a taste of what would later become its sequel, Super Junkoid.
All in all, this is a solid hack that I highly recommend any NEStroid fan. You can tell this was but a taste of what would later become its sequel, Super Junkoid.
Super Metroid: So Much Hell Apocalypse "Q" by The Monster of Surrealton [
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 11, 2023 ( 
)
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 11, 2023 ( )
98% in 4:39
I've had some time to reflect on this. Initially, I was going to give this a 1/5, like the others, but upon looking back on this game... Yeah, it's a pretty bad hack. It's not without its merits, though.
For starters, this game is what you get when you have most of the bad design ideas in a Mario Maker game slapped into a Super Metroid hack, including spike spam, and rooms that's filled with nothing but lava and/or acid... WITH spikes, because "Ha ha! You died, scrub! lul!" Despite this, there were some parts that I genuinely liked overcoming. Once you get the Daemon Armor (Gravity Suit), the game becomes much easier, until it doesn't anymore, which I'll elaborate more...
SPOILER AHEAD:
For starters, the rooms that are acid-filled, or rooms where acid fills quickly are pretty harsh, to say the least, but can be overcome with proper movement, and shinesparking (in the case of the Pillar Room). However, the Ridley fight, which has no platforms on which to stand, and is a room that is nothing but spikes, with an acid bath at the bottom was just ridiculous. Practically speaking, you will need to find every bit of ammo and E-Tank you can find. The bosses' health has been buffed, so you're looking at way more than 35 Supers to take Rodney down.
You would think that Ridley would be the hardest fight, because it's Ridley, and he has the most health, but no... There's Botwoon, with a room full of acid instead of water, with spikes everywhere, and then Draygon, which is pretty much like Botwoon, except there are turrets that cannot be destroyed. You WILL be hard-required to use well-timed Crystal Flashes throughout the fight to even survive (the ammo provided up to this point allows no more than 4 Crystal Flashes, so use your ammo and CFs wisely).
END SPOILER:
Where I give this a 2/5 instead of a 1 is the challenge that I think is pretty fun, all things considered, with the exception for what I mentioned in the spoiler section. Also, the custom Metroid sprites looked pretty dope too, so those get a point as well.
Clearly not a hack for everyone, so only play this if you're morbidly curious, believe you have the skill to persevere, and/or are purely a masochist.
For starters, this game is what you get when you have most of the bad design ideas in a Mario Maker game slapped into a Super Metroid hack, including spike spam, and rooms that's filled with nothing but lava and/or acid... WITH spikes, because "Ha ha! You died, scrub! lul!" Despite this, there were some parts that I genuinely liked overcoming. Once you get the Daemon Armor (Gravity Suit), the game becomes much easier, until it doesn't anymore, which I'll elaborate more...
SPOILER AHEAD:
For starters, the rooms that are acid-filled, or rooms where acid fills quickly are pretty harsh, to say the least, but can be overcome with proper movement, and shinesparking (in the case of the Pillar Room). However, the Ridley fight, which has no platforms on which to stand, and is a room that is nothing but spikes, with an acid bath at the bottom was just ridiculous. Practically speaking, you will need to find every bit of ammo and E-Tank you can find. The bosses' health has been buffed, so you're looking at way more than 35 Supers to take Rodney down.
You would think that Ridley would be the hardest fight, because it's Ridley, and he has the most health, but no... There's Botwoon, with a room full of acid instead of water, with spikes everywhere, and then Draygon, which is pretty much like Botwoon, except there are turrets that cannot be destroyed. You WILL be hard-required to use well-timed Crystal Flashes throughout the fight to even survive (the ammo provided up to this point allows no more than 4 Crystal Flashes, so use your ammo and CFs wisely).
END SPOILER:
Where I give this a 2/5 instead of a 1 is the challenge that I think is pretty fun, all things considered, with the exception for what I mentioned in the spoiler section. Also, the custom Metroid sprites looked pretty dope too, so those get a point as well.
Clearly not a hack for everyone, so only play this if you're morbidly curious, believe you have the skill to persevere, and/or are purely a masochist.
Gaslight, Gate Glitch, Miniboss by Croakomire [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 02, 2023 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 02, 2023 ( )
9% in 0:38
Given that this game was released on April Fool's Day 2023, I have to rate it accordingly. This game promises everything that the title advertises, so there's points for that. You need to know some obscure tech to get through several of the game's rooms. Everything else is just execution, really. Only thing preventing me from giving this a perfect 5/5 is the first save room, which commands perfect gate glitching thrice in a row, which sucks.
I only recommend for those who are willing to see how far they can go, and for the novelty of it.
I only recommend for those who are willing to see how far they can go, and for the novelty of it.
Another Super Metroid by Banana Oyaji [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 07, 2024 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 07, 2024 ( )
100% in 2:13
For the earliest hack on the site, and a hack this old, I can't judge it harshly. It's a half-hack, except there's genuine effort put into the structure of many of the rooms. If you know vanilla Super Metroid, you'll know where to find everything, so in that regards, it's very simple. Still, it's a nice look at what rom hacks were like that early. Not great, but not bad. Feels more like a test of what one can do with whatever tools they had back then for hacks.
It's weird. A few minor changes in the beginning, but it's vanilla for almost the whole way. Oh, except for the Save Room in Parlor... Won't say what that's about; best to find out for yourself. The new intro dialogue was half-amusing, but nothing is done with it. Mediocre overall. Had it not been for the fact that this was merely a test, I'd have given a 1/5. Still, this didn't need to be a hack released on the main site.
I give this a 1.5/5, so I'll round it up to 2. The idea has potential, but the execution is downright unfinished. Once you beat Kraid, and Bomb Torizo, that's it. There's no proper ending to this game, so don't expect much outside of a few minutes or so worth of gameplay.
Fun idea, especially from a hack this old. My only gripe are the hidden Grapple blocks that cannot be revealed until shot with Grapple, and some of the obtuse, cryptic paths forward. I ended up grabbing items out of sequence using Spike Suit, among other tricks. When the path forward isn't made too apparent, it's a flaw in my book. Some of the cool things were pretty cool, but that's about it.
I like the obstacle course style of this hack. It does what it set out to do, simplistic as it may be. My only criticism is the lack of an actual ending, but at least you'll know when you reach the end. I liked it more than I thought I would, but nothing too special overall.
Super Metroid: Ultimate Challenge 1 by Popple_Waffles [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 07, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 07, 2024 ( )
15% in 0:00
Your run-of-the-mill obstacle course hack. This one isn't for beginners, but those who are half-adept in Super Metroid movement should be okay, especially since you start with max E-Tanks.
Super Metroid: Confinement by Bolognab [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 07, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 07, 2024 ( )
7% in 0:00
I would've liked this hack. Probably would've given it a 3. However, with the exception for Missiles, all items in this game share the same ID, as stated by caauyjdp, so if you reload your save (assuming you saved after getting Morph), all the items will be gone, irreversibly locking the save.
One will need to either play from start to finish without any deaths, which is made difficult by the 60-damage spikes, and no E-Tank until the very end, or rely on savestates (I did the former). The one saving grace of mercy is that once the E-Tank is collected, you can save just fine, and not worry about a locked save. The game ends after Botwoon, but has no actual ending.
One will need to either play from start to finish without any deaths, which is made difficult by the 60-damage spikes, and no E-Tank until the very end, or rely on savestates (I did the former). The one saving grace of mercy is that once the E-Tank is collected, you can save just fine, and not worry about a locked save. The game ends after Botwoon, but has no actual ending.
Super Metroid: Ultimate Challenge 2 by Popple_Waffles [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 08, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 08, 2024 ( )
6% in 0:00
My biggest gripe with this hack isn't the acid and spikes, because I can handle that. It's the fact that - unless I overlooked something - there is NO Screw Attack to collect, which is supposed to be the win condition for this hack. I reached an area I'm guessing was supposed to house the Screw, but it had no item, let alone Screw Attack. And to make doubly sure I wasn't crazy, or being gaslit, I took the liberty of using Game Genie codes to walk through walls, and even give myself X-Ray Scope. Guess what? Nothing was found. I'd have given it a 2/5 otherwise.
It's literally just vanilla Super Metroid, with tankier enemies, and nerfed drops (Big Health gives 10 instead of 20). The Landing Site is slightly different in appearance only, but that just gives a false sense of something different, until you actually play the game. It's lazy at best.
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.
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.
Weird level layout, and a weird hell run, made weirder by the lack of a proper moving camera. Ceres was also really troll, though I managed to get through it (and the rest of the game) deathless. Overall, I kinda like it, and the challenge it presented. Nothing about which to write home, but I found it (mostly) harmless.
Super Metroid: Expert Edition by Dark Knight Kain [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 13, 2024 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 13, 2024 ( )
74% in 1:09
It's more or less like Hard, except it's even more vanilla than that. Many of the bosses are hardly buffed, and... There's really nothing I can add to this. At least Hard changed the look of Landing Site somewhat, and buffed all the bosses (sans Mother Brain). This is a hard pass from me.
The Ceres station was somewhat almost interesting, but there was nothing too special. Making the fake wall with the morph tunnel unviewable with X-Ray Scope was a tad bit of a dick move, but I've seen worse cases of this. You're given 10 seconds to escape, which isn't enough time to do so. Even if it was, you're trapped in a room with Metroids that will give you the succ. Upon reloading the game, the Ceres station will still have the escape flag on, allowing you to instantly escape at the elevator. After that, it's literally vanilla Super Metroid. I went as far as Varia, to see if the suit colors were different, at the very least, but they sadly were left unchanged. You're free to finish the game proper, but seeing as Ceres is the only point of this hack, there's no reason to play what is basically OG Super Metroid again beyond Ceres.
Super Metroid: Battle by Banana Oyaji [ Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 13, 2024 ( )
Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 13, 2024 ( )
30% in 0:38
As the name implies, this is a Boss Rush of sorts, but it's a little more than that. Rather than beat a boss, and go to the next room for the next boss, you still need to find items in the order you normally would in the vanilla game to progress to the next area housing the boss. Each area isn't big at all, usually no more than 2-4 rooms, give or take, but the item progression is enough to require some thought to progress. The boss fights themselves were not much different stat-wise, but the rooms for a majority of them were different, changing up how they're fought. The Mother Brain fight is only different in the first phase; the other phases are the same. However, from my playthrough, I only found 3 E-Tanks, so you gotta make sure your Mother Brain fight is on point. The escape sequence is similar to Another Super Metroid, with some minor differences. Though you can save the animals, the way in which it's done is subtle enough for the player to not realize what triggered the save.
Regrettably, I never got to find the Spring Ball during my playthrough, and I'm sure it is somewhere in this hack, but I could be wrong. Overall, this hack, especially for one so old, ended up being better than I thought it would be. And it's short enough where it doesn't overstay its welcome. I think a solid 4 does this hack justice, especially when comparing to other hacks of 2004.
Regrettably, I never got to find the Spring Ball during my playthrough, and I'm sure it is somewhere in this hack, but I could be wrong. Overall, this hack, especially for one so old, ended up being better than I thought it would be. And it's short enough where it doesn't overstay its welcome. I think a solid 4 does this hack justice, especially when comparing to other hacks of 2004.
The (as of writing this) last hack of 2004. While, in my opinion, not the best hack, what with the weird design and progression decisions, the routing and item progression still makes this hack an interesting playthrough. While not exactly a half-hack, it still falls in the category of vanilla+, due to the general structure of the game world, with one major exception, which I'll get to.
My only gripe with this hack... I honestly don't have much complaints, as the path forward isn't so blatantly hidden in trollish ways. The complaints I do have, however include the tedious maze that's in Forgotten Highway, and the maze of rooms where one would normally expect to see G4. That latter part, however, can be cheesed, if one knows how and where to do it, and while there are no visual cues/clues as to how to navigate the maze, each room is very different from one another, so you can still map out where you've been before.
Overall, not a bad hack, and arguably one of the better ones of 2004. Only thing stopping me from giving a 5/5 is some of the design choices in certain rooms, and - while few - some softlock potential, if you're too reckless.
My only gripe with this hack... I honestly don't have much complaints, as the path forward isn't so blatantly hidden in trollish ways. The complaints I do have, however include the tedious maze that's in Forgotten Highway, and the maze of rooms where one would normally expect to see G4. That latter part, however, can be cheesed, if one knows how and where to do it, and while there are no visual cues/clues as to how to navigate the maze, each room is very different from one another, so you can still map out where you've been before.
Overall, not a bad hack, and arguably one of the better ones of 2004. Only thing stopping me from giving a 5/5 is some of the design choices in certain rooms, and - while few - some softlock potential, if you're too reckless.
This isn't really much of anything. Showcases one-way tiles, essentially, but that's it. There's nothing beyond landing site, except a soft lock. It's not like it's the first hack to utilize this either, as there are earlier hacks that has used these, like Reverse.
This game is unfinished, so I'll only review this for what it is currently:
It's still a mess. For starters, hiding Super Missile blocks in seemingly arbitrary places that's meant to progress is not good design. I'd have more truck with it if the X-Ray Scope, or Bombs were given from the onset, but you don't get Bombs until you're already deep enough into the hack to not care anymore. Also, there are issues with certain enemy placements, as the game crashes upon loading certain rooms, or loading certain enemies.
I ended up using Game Genie walk-through-walls cheats to explore the places that was otherwise unreachable, to find that there was slightly more things being worked on, but still unfinished (West Ocean, in this case), including Zebs or something that crashes the game upon loading. The Wrecked Ship is literally unchanged, which is fair, since it's a place you're not supposed to reach anyway. When entering The Mushroom Kingdom room, the game crashes, so you effectively reach the end of the hack upon entering that door.
I'd give the hack 2/5 for some ideas, but because of softlocks, crashes, and stupid placements of Super blocks, with hardly much in the way to refill ammo until after the planet's awake, this sits firmly with a 1/5.
It's still a mess. For starters, hiding Super Missile blocks in seemingly arbitrary places that's meant to progress is not good design. I'd have more truck with it if the X-Ray Scope, or Bombs were given from the onset, but you don't get Bombs until you're already deep enough into the hack to not care anymore. Also, there are issues with certain enemy placements, as the game crashes upon loading certain rooms, or loading certain enemies.
I ended up using Game Genie walk-through-walls cheats to explore the places that was otherwise unreachable, to find that there was slightly more things being worked on, but still unfinished (West Ocean, in this case), including Zebs or something that crashes the game upon loading. The Wrecked Ship is literally unchanged, which is fair, since it's a place you're not supposed to reach anyway. When entering The Mushroom Kingdom room, the game crashes, so you effectively reach the end of the hack upon entering that door.
I'd give the hack 2/5 for some ideas, but because of softlocks, crashes, and stupid placements of Super blocks, with hardly much in the way to refill ammo until after the planet's awake, this sits firmly with a 1/5.
Super Metroid: Magma by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 19, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 19, 2024 ( )
33% in 1:29
The idea behind the hack is pretty neat. The planet is basically a volcano. There isn't a lot that is done with the idea, but what is done is still neat all the same. Some of the color palettes were pretty cool, with the color of the Gravity being my personal favorite custom color. Progression forward can be a bit confusing, and by the point, the hidden Grapple blocks that progresses through the game become more obvious for those who have dealt with them in other hacks before (still sucks that they're still a thing in this hack, though).
All in all, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would have; probably more than I should have. Regardless, it gets a 4/5 from me.
All in all, I enjoyed this more than I thought I would have; probably more than I should have. Regardless, it gets a 4/5 from me.
Searching for Items by Terimakasih [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 22, 2024 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 22, 2024 ( )
85% in 2:36
The hack was neat, but some things hold it back. The most glaring of which is the save. Saving anywhere in Crateria will render the save unplayable, as you'll end up softlocked out of bounds in Spore Spawn's area somewhere. Maridia's save is fine. Norfair's save, however, places you in a watery room a room or two before the actual save room. Bottom line: Saves are broken, so don't save in Crateria. I was forced to use savestates at save points, in place of actually using the save, which sucks, because I don't like using savestates, especially when I don't have to. Only thing that saved me from the Crateria save softlock was by resorting to using an Action Replay code that allowed me to select in which area to load my save (Norfair was the safe option).
Another point against the hack is some of the obtuse item locations, most especially Ice Beam. This is a hack that practically forces the player to use X-Ray Scope EVERYWHERE the moment they get it, and sometimes, it doesn't really help much. Also, there are a few doors that cannot be entered, which act as red herrings to the player. To see if they led anywhere, I took it upon myself (after my playthrough) to use a "Walk Through Walls" cheat to enter the door, in which it led to a softlock. Also, unless proven otherwise, there are no animals to save. Or if there are, the means to do so isn't made apparent, if at all possible.
The good things it does have otherwise is its map layout and - barring the item locations - item progression. The boss fights were pretty standard, though most boss rooms were changed to make them more interesting. Ridley's room, however, was annoying; it made the fight harder than it needed to be, which I feel was unnecessary.
I'm giving it a 3/5, because there was genuine effort put into this, though some of the execution was a bit lacking. I would've given this a 4/5 if the save issues weren't a factor.
Another point against the hack is some of the obtuse item locations, most especially Ice Beam. This is a hack that practically forces the player to use X-Ray Scope EVERYWHERE the moment they get it, and sometimes, it doesn't really help much. Also, there are a few doors that cannot be entered, which act as red herrings to the player. To see if they led anywhere, I took it upon myself (after my playthrough) to use a "Walk Through Walls" cheat to enter the door, in which it led to a softlock. Also, unless proven otherwise, there are no animals to save. Or if there are, the means to do so isn't made apparent, if at all possible.
The good things it does have otherwise is its map layout and - barring the item locations - item progression. The boss fights were pretty standard, though most boss rooms were changed to make them more interesting. Ridley's room, however, was annoying; it made the fight harder than it needed to be, which I feel was unnecessary.
I'm giving it a 3/5, because there was genuine effort put into this, though some of the execution was a bit lacking. I would've given this a 4/5 if the save issues weren't a factor.
Another major hack that isn't a half-hack. This one appears to be well put together, and with no hidden Grapple shenanigans. There are a few moments where they hide the path forward behind fake walls, which is annoying, but the progression feels like a little higher than vanilla difficulty, which is fine by me. If I had one critique, I'd say it should've made the path to some major items a little more apparent, like Speed Booster, Wave Beam, or the way to Wrecked Ship. Also, the map breaking when loading a save also sucks, but it's the curse of old hacks. Overall, compared to some of the other old hacks, this one is by far one of the most robust. I thought about a 4/5, but I'm giving it a 5/5, and it's probably more than I should give.
Enemy Scroll Concept by Jathys [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 23, 2024 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 23, 2024 ( )
No completion stats.
There's potential here. The hack itself is just vanilla outside of Parlor, so don't expect anything outside a showcase of a potential idea for an autoscroller. That said, I'll give this a 2/5, despite the hack barely even being a hack, simply for the concept alone. I really hope someone, in the future, takes this concept, refines it, and makes something out of it.
This is an edited/updated review. It has come to my attention that the patch for this hack is (as of writing this) mislabeled as an unheadered patch, when it's actually for headered. Shoutout to Neen, for getting me an unheadered patch, so that I can review this properly:
The ideas here are neat, and the custom enemies, though few, are definitely something I've yet to see in a hack up to this point. The low gravity areas were cool, and the pallets were also nice. Though Ceres is now used as an actual explorable area, little is done with it. I didn't know where the hack actually ended, but I believe after the Baby encounter, the game can be considered done. Beyond that point is just the vanilla game, but with a few caveats, which I'll explain below (Spoiler Warning):
- Exiting the Baby room to the left takes you to a room where the camera breaks. Going to the right gets Samus an E-Tank, while going to the left exits the room toward the sand pit in Botwoon E-Tank Room. The game proceeds from there, but with broken graphics. However, saving and reloading will fix it. From there, much of vanilla Zebes is explorable, emphasis on "much"
- DO NOT enter Save Rooms where the entrance is through doors to the right (the only exception being Business Center); the Save Rooms are broken, probably wouldn't even work, if you found the save machine, and you end up softlocking, trying to explore an out-of-bounds area. Maybe there's something out there if one is tenacious enough, but I didn't spend too long exploring it to find out.
- Many of the rooms for this hack are just modified versions of otherwise vanilla rooms. For that reason, exiting Big Pink to the left (save for the Waterway) will result in Samus exiting to one of the rooms made for the hack, but stuck in a wall, resulting in a softlock. While some doors won't softlock, they will - all the same - return you to the main hack map proper.
- The only modified enemy (other than The Baby) appears to be modded from what was a Kago. This is made apparent when you enter Mushroom Kingdom, as the Kagos are replaced by them, which makes for an amusing encounter.
-There are doubles of quite a few items, including Ice Beam, Varia Suit, etc. There are, however, many items that won't be in their usual locations, like most of Big Pink's items. I don't know if they're simply not there, or if they share an ID with an item acquired in the main hack map.
- The one thing preventing a higher score than a 2/5, personally, is the lack of a proper ending. Tourian is completely broken, and entering Tourian from G4 will result in a softlock in a room of garbage graphics, making Mother Brain impossible to reach.
Overall, it was okay, but I would've liked an actual ending. Oh well.
The ideas here are neat, and the custom enemies, though few, are definitely something I've yet to see in a hack up to this point. The low gravity areas were cool, and the pallets were also nice. Though Ceres is now used as an actual explorable area, little is done with it. I didn't know where the hack actually ended, but I believe after the Baby encounter, the game can be considered done. Beyond that point is just the vanilla game, but with a few caveats, which I'll explain below (Spoiler Warning):
- Exiting the Baby room to the left takes you to a room where the camera breaks. Going to the right gets Samus an E-Tank, while going to the left exits the room toward the sand pit in Botwoon E-Tank Room. The game proceeds from there, but with broken graphics. However, saving and reloading will fix it. From there, much of vanilla Zebes is explorable, emphasis on "much"
- DO NOT enter Save Rooms where the entrance is through doors to the right (the only exception being Business Center); the Save Rooms are broken, probably wouldn't even work, if you found the save machine, and you end up softlocking, trying to explore an out-of-bounds area. Maybe there's something out there if one is tenacious enough, but I didn't spend too long exploring it to find out.
- Many of the rooms for this hack are just modified versions of otherwise vanilla rooms. For that reason, exiting Big Pink to the left (save for the Waterway) will result in Samus exiting to one of the rooms made for the hack, but stuck in a wall, resulting in a softlock. While some doors won't softlock, they will - all the same - return you to the main hack map proper.
- The only modified enemy (other than The Baby) appears to be modded from what was a Kago. This is made apparent when you enter Mushroom Kingdom, as the Kagos are replaced by them, which makes for an amusing encounter.
-There are doubles of quite a few items, including Ice Beam, Varia Suit, etc. There are, however, many items that won't be in their usual locations, like most of Big Pink's items. I don't know if they're simply not there, or if they share an ID with an item acquired in the main hack map.
- The one thing preventing a higher score than a 2/5, personally, is the lack of a proper ending. Tourian is completely broken, and entering Tourian from G4 will result in a softlock in a room of garbage graphics, making Mother Brain impossible to reach.
Overall, it was okay, but I would've liked an actual ending. Oh well.
While I enjoyed the changes made to the major item location, and changes to the routing, it's still ultimately a vanilla+ hack. Granted, more effort and thought was put into this than some other half-hacks, but it's still a half-hack all the same. I do appreciate the bosses' health being adjusted accordingly, with the order in which they're meant to be fought, like Ridley being the second boss, for example (his lowered health does make him stupidly easy, however).
The changes to Samus's color pallet is nice as well, though I can see some not liking it. Also, while the opening intro's narrative was changed, nothing in this game exactly references it, making it pretty pointless, if not somewhat amusing. While some newcomers may find a somewhat decent challenge here, veterans of Super Metroid can generally blaze through this just fine.
The changes to Samus's color pallet is nice as well, though I can see some not liking it. Also, while the opening intro's narrative was changed, nothing in this game exactly references it, making it pretty pointless, if not somewhat amusing. While some newcomers may find a somewhat decent challenge here, veterans of Super Metroid can generally blaze through this just fine.
There's really not much to this hack. It is what it says it is, to be fair. This is something you give to your young nephew, or something, to introduce them to Super Metroid. Even then, a kid could reasonably beat this, as most people on this site did just fine during their childhoods in this game. My one nitpick is the removal of the hidden path with the crumble block in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room (Taco Tank Room), as it was there as a safety measure, should the player run out of Power Bombs; with that path removed, a player can softlock if they happen to use their last PB, and proceed to Billy Mays.
Super Metroid: Grapple by Crocomire [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 25, 2024 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 25, 2024 ( )
52% in 1:07
There's a good concept in this hack somewhere. The issue is how awful it's executed. What can I say that hasn't already been said by others? Well, I can say what I would have done to improve upon the concept:
I would remove the ability to jump altogether, let alone the ability to wall jump (not sure if this would impact jumping off walls from a Grapple position). That way, a hack can be built around the full focus of the Grappling Beam and its mechanics. The ideas and pieces are there; maybe someone will make something polished out of it, if it hasn't been done already.
A couple of troublesome things to note:
- The entrance to Lower Norfair has not been altered, as far as I was able to tell, and without the Space Jump, or grapple blocks to use Grappling Beam, the player is forced to do a Gravity Jump in Lava Dive in order to enter Lower Norfair. I thought maybe the back door into Three Musketeers would have been opened to compensate, but that isn't the case.
- The Plasma Room in Maridia is completely unaltered, so if the player, without thinking, kills off all Pirates in the room, they'll be effectively softlocked, not unless a stupidly precise wall jump out is possible, but most players aren't adept enough for such a trick. Either way, that room was badly handled as well.
I gave it a 2/5 because I like the idea... but that's all it has going for it. Everything else is... eveything else.
I would remove the ability to jump altogether, let alone the ability to wall jump (not sure if this would impact jumping off walls from a Grapple position). That way, a hack can be built around the full focus of the Grappling Beam and its mechanics. The ideas and pieces are there; maybe someone will make something polished out of it, if it hasn't been done already.
A couple of troublesome things to note:
- The entrance to Lower Norfair has not been altered, as far as I was able to tell, and without the Space Jump, or grapple blocks to use Grappling Beam, the player is forced to do a Gravity Jump in Lava Dive in order to enter Lower Norfair. I thought maybe the back door into Three Musketeers would have been opened to compensate, but that isn't the case.
- The Plasma Room in Maridia is completely unaltered, so if the player, without thinking, kills off all Pirates in the room, they'll be effectively softlocked, not unless a stupidly precise wall jump out is possible, but most players aren't adept enough for such a trick. Either way, that room was badly handled as well.
I gave it a 2/5 because I like the idea... but that's all it has going for it. Everything else is... eveything else.
Super Hard Metroid by Crocomire [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 27, 2024 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 27, 2024 ( )
97% in 4:28
I really wanted to like this hack, because the truth is, I low-key enjoy challenge hacks with spikes, provided the spike placements aren't stupid. For the most part, that's what I feel we have with this hack. The routing is also interesting, and replacing the water in Moat with lava was an interesting choice, among many others. However, there are several things that prevent me from giving it more than a 2/5:
- The biggest issue for me are the troll traps, whereby you fall through a crumble block, and end up irreversibly trapped in a pit of spikes; sometimes these are the result of picking the wrong path forward. Shit, like this, is the kind of amateurish design shitty Mario Maker level creators do with the thought that it's "challenging". It isn't a challenge, it's tedious and stupid. There are other trial and error hacks, like Super Mega Metroid X-2, and Kaizo Possible, but they have the decency to implement an instant respawn. A hack like this shouldn't have such trolls, espeicially for players who happen to have not saved in a while. When I think "challenge", I picture an obstacle that's transparent to the player, so that said player uses their skill to get through it, and not because of blind chance.
- Some of the items appear to be impossible to obtain. Specifically the E-Tank in the Big Pink Water Speedway, and the Power Bombs in the top-right corner of Landing Site. The former is just blocked off, with no discernible way to reach it (X-Ray Scope reveals nothing here either); the latter crashes the game upon using Power Bombs to open the door to the room housing the Power Bombs. There's one other item that is too obtuse to obtain, and that's the Main Street Missiles; the speed block reforms, trapping the player in, forcing a softlock. The only way to get it is for the player to have the forethought to use Blue Suit obtained from Draygon, or with speed keep, using X-Ray Scope for turning (and I'm not sure if that method is realistically feasible.
- Another major issue that many hacks released since this seem to have, is that the Baby Metroid's sound effect is different, for some weird reason. On its own, it's no big deal, but when Samus is grabbed, and drained to 1 health, the game's audio goes ape shit, and soft-crashes the game, causing a hard crash upon loading the next room. This hard-forces the player to have to Baby skip, which would be fine, if the game wasn't being run on the PAL version (oh, we'll get to that).
- Finally, this game runs on the PAL version. Even if you apply this patch to an NTSC version rom, the PAL version's quirks will overwrite. I've never played the PAL version before (only ever hearing about it), but from what I've played, it really messes with the muscle memory, and physics that the vast majority of Super Metroid players know. Speed Booster is different, item fanfares are longer, beam and missile cooldown is longer, the list goes on; it runs slower than NTSC, at (from what I was told) 50 FPS. Why you chose to go with PAL is beyond me, especially when your previous hacks are the standard NTSC.
Despite everything listed, I didn't hate the hack. What I liked in it, like the actual challenges, I did like (even Ridley's room that amounts to "Oops! All Spikes!"). However, the issues I did have with the game REALLY hurt it, to the point where I'm giving it a 2/5, instead of a 3 or 4.
- The biggest issue for me are the troll traps, whereby you fall through a crumble block, and end up irreversibly trapped in a pit of spikes; sometimes these are the result of picking the wrong path forward. Shit, like this, is the kind of amateurish design shitty Mario Maker level creators do with the thought that it's "challenging". It isn't a challenge, it's tedious and stupid. There are other trial and error hacks, like Super Mega Metroid X-2, and Kaizo Possible, but they have the decency to implement an instant respawn. A hack like this shouldn't have such trolls, espeicially for players who happen to have not saved in a while. When I think "challenge", I picture an obstacle that's transparent to the player, so that said player uses their skill to get through it, and not because of blind chance.
- Some of the items appear to be impossible to obtain. Specifically the E-Tank in the Big Pink Water Speedway, and the Power Bombs in the top-right corner of Landing Site. The former is just blocked off, with no discernible way to reach it (X-Ray Scope reveals nothing here either); the latter crashes the game upon using Power Bombs to open the door to the room housing the Power Bombs. There's one other item that is too obtuse to obtain, and that's the Main Street Missiles; the speed block reforms, trapping the player in, forcing a softlock. The only way to get it is for the player to have the forethought to use Blue Suit obtained from Draygon, or with speed keep, using X-Ray Scope for turning (and I'm not sure if that method is realistically feasible.
- Another major issue that many hacks released since this seem to have, is that the Baby Metroid's sound effect is different, for some weird reason. On its own, it's no big deal, but when Samus is grabbed, and drained to 1 health, the game's audio goes ape shit, and soft-crashes the game, causing a hard crash upon loading the next room. This hard-forces the player to have to Baby skip, which would be fine, if the game wasn't being run on the PAL version (oh, we'll get to that).
- Finally, this game runs on the PAL version. Even if you apply this patch to an NTSC version rom, the PAL version's quirks will overwrite. I've never played the PAL version before (only ever hearing about it), but from what I've played, it really messes with the muscle memory, and physics that the vast majority of Super Metroid players know. Speed Booster is different, item fanfares are longer, beam and missile cooldown is longer, the list goes on; it runs slower than NTSC, at (from what I was told) 50 FPS. Why you chose to go with PAL is beyond me, especially when your previous hacks are the standard NTSC.
Despite everything listed, I didn't hate the hack. What I liked in it, like the actual challenges, I did like (even Ridley's room that amounts to "Oops! All Spikes!"). However, the issues I did have with the game REALLY hurt it, to the point where I'm giving it a 2/5, instead of a 3 or 4.
Super Metroid: The Darkness Spreads 1 by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 28, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Feb 28, 2024 ( )
97% in 2:05
It's a half-hack, with different routing. Some of the item locations are different, which is neat. If you're a casual, you'll likely follow the intended path, but veterans will more than likely stray from the main route and find more items than they need by the time they fight the first intended G4 boss encounter. Some of the bosses were vastly buffed (in health, not damage) while others were greatly nerfed, for the sake of the routing. Not much else to say, really. My only gripe is, despite the name, the aesthetics of Zebes (or Dark Zebes, in this case) looks literally no different than ordinary Zebes. At least Samus's suits have different colors. As something to note: Like with Super Hard Metroid, the Baby Metroid encounter uses a different sound effect for the Baby Metroid, making the game very likely to crash if it grabs Samus, and reduces her health to 1, forcing the player to have to Baby skip, which is always annoying.
P.S. Where the hell is Spazer?!
P.S. Where the hell is Spazer?!
There's a few things that can be said about this. Many others have already said what I would say, honestly, so to not beat a dead horse, I'll go over my review briefly.
What I liked: The fact that it's a full hack, and one particular section of the escape sequence was really cool.
What I didn't like:
- Some of the obstacles are a little obtuse in telegraphing to the player what to expect. The Speed Booster section comes immediately to mind; the end of which many players will likely die during their first rodeo, not knowing they need to charge for a shinespark, let alone when to actually charge it.
- The Grapple section leading to Phantoon is harder than it needed to be. It could have used either less Atomics, or... Nah, just remove the Atomics altogether, because the obstacle's a good enough challenge without them disrupting the flow of it.
- Maridia. Beyond the glass tube, proceeding forward results in the player unable to backtrack, nor can they return beyond the broke glass tube after that section is done. This creates a major issue; Plasma Beam is in a hard-to-reach area, and if that area isn't reached, you missed your chance. Beyond that point, whether you get Plasma or not, is the Gravity Suit, which requires blue suit, which is fine, but a player who doesn't know what that is can easily lose it, and potentially softlock themselves. After gaining Gravity, and proceeding to the exit of Maridia, assuming you didn't get the Plasma Beam, you will have permanently missed your chance. It punishes the player for not happening to know this would happen.
- The troll crumbles during the escape sequence. They do nothing but to hemorrhage time, which you're given little for the length of the escape. The final part is literally the only cool thing about it.
Overall, some neat ideas here and there, including the routing, but the execution in many regards fall flat, with sections being hard because of bad design choices. Had this hack given the player the chance to return to post-glass tube room for a second chance at Plasma, I'd have given this hack a 3/5 instead of a 2.
What I liked: The fact that it's a full hack, and one particular section of the escape sequence was really cool.
What I didn't like:
- Some of the obstacles are a little obtuse in telegraphing to the player what to expect. The Speed Booster section comes immediately to mind; the end of which many players will likely die during their first rodeo, not knowing they need to charge for a shinespark, let alone when to actually charge it.
- The Grapple section leading to Phantoon is harder than it needed to be. It could have used either less Atomics, or... Nah, just remove the Atomics altogether, because the obstacle's a good enough challenge without them disrupting the flow of it.
- Maridia. Beyond the glass tube, proceeding forward results in the player unable to backtrack, nor can they return beyond the broke glass tube after that section is done. This creates a major issue; Plasma Beam is in a hard-to-reach area, and if that area isn't reached, you missed your chance. Beyond that point, whether you get Plasma or not, is the Gravity Suit, which requires blue suit, which is fine, but a player who doesn't know what that is can easily lose it, and potentially softlock themselves. After gaining Gravity, and proceeding to the exit of Maridia, assuming you didn't get the Plasma Beam, you will have permanently missed your chance. It punishes the player for not happening to know this would happen.
- The troll crumbles during the escape sequence. They do nothing but to hemorrhage time, which you're given little for the length of the escape. The final part is literally the only cool thing about it.
Overall, some neat ideas here and there, including the routing, but the execution in many regards fall flat, with sections being hard because of bad design choices. Had this hack given the player the chance to return to post-glass tube room for a second chance at Plasma, I'd have given this hack a 3/5 instead of a 2.
Boy, I knew I was going to get around to reviewing this sooner or later. I'll try to give my own take, as to not parrot what the others have said.
The only positive I can think of, is that it isn't vanilla, and that's the best I can think of. Some of the challenge was neat, I suppose, but everything else sours the whole of the experience, the challenges in this hack, having now become a dime a dozen, makes me want to play hacks that are hard (some almost unfairly so), but fair.
Let's go over the issues I did have with it:
- Bomb Torizo. The game crashes upon initiating the Bomb Torizo fight. Granted, it IS possible for the fight to start without an issue, but one must be lucky for the audio conflict to not spaghetti the game. Either one must brute force the fight over and over until they get a fight that won't crash the game, or find an alternate route around the game to allow the player to return to BT with Spike Suit (oh, there's plenty of spikes in the game off which to do that), and shinespark out with the Bombs.
- Progression is... weird, for lack of a better way to describe it. I had to cheese Power Bombs early to progress beyond Bomb Torizo, so I know not the intended route, though that hardly matters, as well-known Super Metroid streamer, Oatsngoats, managed to lock himself out of progression; he managed to initiate Bomb Torizo without a crash, and proceeded through the game presumably as intended, with the result being that a Power Bomb pickup vanishes. There is an item in the game that must share the same ID as said Power Bomb (the very one I cheesed early), causing it to vanish.
- X-Ray Scope is a potentially dangerous item. You get it stupidly late, and I assume it's because of the power that item has in the hands of those who know how to abuse it. Either that, or the hack maker simply didn't want the player to get help in finding ways to items until late game. However, there are some rooms where unseen items (likely out of bounds) are set with the respawn flag, which results in the game hard crashing upon using X-Ray. Though I haven't experienced it, I hear that there's a risk the crash can wipe one's save.
- There are plenty of "red herrings" throughout this hack; either doors that cannot be entered, items that cannot be reached, or in one case, a path that results in getting lost, and possibly softlocking out of bounds. It's bad design meant to only frustrate the player. It's not a challenge, it's a troll.
There are a myriad of other things that is wrong with this hack that I cannot begin to cover in a single review (I don't have the mental fortitude to even go over its issues, as I can go on 'til rapture). All I know is that this game is awful, and feels like it was the maker throwing darts at a dart board, seeing what sticks, and all the darts happen to hit and stick to a bench below said board. A game that feels like it was barely put together, and was likely never playtested by anyone other than the author. If I could, I'd rate this a 0/5, but since the lowest score that can be given is 1, it's the next best thing I can do to get my own point across. What a shame.
The only positive I can think of, is that it isn't vanilla, and that's the best I can think of. Some of the challenge was neat, I suppose, but everything else sours the whole of the experience, the challenges in this hack, having now become a dime a dozen, makes me want to play hacks that are hard (some almost unfairly so), but fair.
Let's go over the issues I did have with it:
- Bomb Torizo. The game crashes upon initiating the Bomb Torizo fight. Granted, it IS possible for the fight to start without an issue, but one must be lucky for the audio conflict to not spaghetti the game. Either one must brute force the fight over and over until they get a fight that won't crash the game, or find an alternate route around the game to allow the player to return to BT with Spike Suit (oh, there's plenty of spikes in the game off which to do that), and shinespark out with the Bombs.
- Progression is... weird, for lack of a better way to describe it. I had to cheese Power Bombs early to progress beyond Bomb Torizo, so I know not the intended route, though that hardly matters, as well-known Super Metroid streamer, Oatsngoats, managed to lock himself out of progression; he managed to initiate Bomb Torizo without a crash, and proceeded through the game presumably as intended, with the result being that a Power Bomb pickup vanishes. There is an item in the game that must share the same ID as said Power Bomb (the very one I cheesed early), causing it to vanish.
- X-Ray Scope is a potentially dangerous item. You get it stupidly late, and I assume it's because of the power that item has in the hands of those who know how to abuse it. Either that, or the hack maker simply didn't want the player to get help in finding ways to items until late game. However, there are some rooms where unseen items (likely out of bounds) are set with the respawn flag, which results in the game hard crashing upon using X-Ray. Though I haven't experienced it, I hear that there's a risk the crash can wipe one's save.
- There are plenty of "red herrings" throughout this hack; either doors that cannot be entered, items that cannot be reached, or in one case, a path that results in getting lost, and possibly softlocking out of bounds. It's bad design meant to only frustrate the player. It's not a challenge, it's a troll.
There are a myriad of other things that is wrong with this hack that I cannot begin to cover in a single review (I don't have the mental fortitude to even go over its issues, as I can go on 'til rapture). All I know is that this game is awful, and feels like it was the maker throwing darts at a dart board, seeing what sticks, and all the darts happen to hit and stick to a bench below said board. A game that feels like it was barely put together, and was likely never playtested by anyone other than the author. If I could, I'd rate this a 0/5, but since the lowest score that can be given is 1, it's the next best thing I can do to get my own point across. What a shame.
This hack is interesting. After years in the military, under the command of Adam Malkovich, Samus Aran goes her own way, working hard to make a name for herself as a bounty hunter. She is well renowned in the galaxy, as the Galactic Federation often calls on her to take on missions even their own trained military forces cannot. Why wouldn't they? Even from childhood, Samus has lived her life working; training her body to become physically strong, and flexible, to the point she can perform feats no ordinary human can. Granted, much of that heavy lifting was due to her DNA being combined with that of the Chozo, making her overqualified for many tasks considered too dangerous for a human otherwise.
She has infiltrated the Space Pirate base on Zebes, to fell their leader, the Mother Brain, and during that mission, she had to navigate the treacherous caverns, even going so deep as to reach volcanic chasms, where she encountered the likes of Space Pirate generals, Kraid and Ridley; formidable foes, the latter of whom was responsible for Samus being an orphan, and being plunged into the life in which she currently lives.
Fast forward to the Prime series, where she has tangoed with more Space Pirates, including a returning Ridley, and has also tangoed with other bounty hunters, some of whom proved as formidable as Samus herself. That's to say nothing of the Metroid Prime, which ultimately became a ferocious dark-side version of Samus, a foe even more dangerous than Ridley and Mother Brain could ever hope to be.
Then she was tasked to explore the Metroid-ruled planet of SR388, where her mission was to destroy all the Metroids that thrive there, a job no other human could accomplish, given the danger the Metroids posed. Not just the standard life-draining Metroid larvae, but she also tussled with their more mature stages, including Beta, Zeta, and the fearsome Omega, leading up to the behemoth that was the Metroid Queen. It was there, she encountered a baby Metroid. The last of its kind, who mistook Samus as its mother. Having shown such intelligence, Samus didn't have the heart to eradicate the larva, and instead, took it with her.
All this leads up to the events of Super Metroid, AKA Metroid 3. And after all that she has been through up until this point, the bitch definitely more than deserves a vacation. To hell with Zebes, to hell with Ceres, to hell with the Galactic Federation, Samus is going out to Space Hawaii to sip on mimosas and having her Metroid baby as a companion, because not even Adam Malkovich can tell her she ain't earned her time to put her feet up. Yes, Adam, there is an objection, and Samus will dare you to do something about it!
She has infiltrated the Space Pirate base on Zebes, to fell their leader, the Mother Brain, and during that mission, she had to navigate the treacherous caverns, even going so deep as to reach volcanic chasms, where she encountered the likes of Space Pirate generals, Kraid and Ridley; formidable foes, the latter of whom was responsible for Samus being an orphan, and being plunged into the life in which she currently lives.
Fast forward to the Prime series, where she has tangoed with more Space Pirates, including a returning Ridley, and has also tangoed with other bounty hunters, some of whom proved as formidable as Samus herself. That's to say nothing of the Metroid Prime, which ultimately became a ferocious dark-side version of Samus, a foe even more dangerous than Ridley and Mother Brain could ever hope to be.
Then she was tasked to explore the Metroid-ruled planet of SR388, where her mission was to destroy all the Metroids that thrive there, a job no other human could accomplish, given the danger the Metroids posed. Not just the standard life-draining Metroid larvae, but she also tussled with their more mature stages, including Beta, Zeta, and the fearsome Omega, leading up to the behemoth that was the Metroid Queen. It was there, she encountered a baby Metroid. The last of its kind, who mistook Samus as its mother. Having shown such intelligence, Samus didn't have the heart to eradicate the larva, and instead, took it with her.
All this leads up to the events of Super Metroid, AKA Metroid 3. And after all that she has been through up until this point, the bitch definitely more than deserves a vacation. To hell with Zebes, to hell with Ceres, to hell with the Galactic Federation, Samus is going out to Space Hawaii to sip on mimosas and having her Metroid baby as a companion, because not even Adam Malkovich can tell her she ain't earned her time to put her feet up. Yes, Adam, there is an objection, and Samus will dare you to do something about it!
Super Metroid: Marathon by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 03, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 03, 2024 ( )
No completion stats.
Run boy run! This world is not made for you
Run boy run! They're trying to catch you
Run boy run! Running is a victory
Run boy run! Beauty lays behind the hills
Run boy run! The sun will be guiding you
Run boy run! They're dying to stop you
Run boy run! This race is a prophecy
Run boy run! Break out from society
Tomorrow is another day
And you won't have to hide away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!
Run boy run! This ride is a journey to
Run boy run! The secret inside of you
Run boy run! This race is a prophecy
Run boy run! And disappear in the trees
Tomorrow is another day
And you won't have to hide away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!
Tomorrow is another day
And when the night fades away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!
Run boy run! They're trying to catch you
Run boy run! Running is a victory
Run boy run! Beauty lays behind the hills
Run boy run! The sun will be guiding you
Run boy run! They're dying to stop you
Run boy run! This race is a prophecy
Run boy run! Break out from society
Tomorrow is another day
And you won't have to hide away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!
Run boy run! This ride is a journey to
Run boy run! The secret inside of you
Run boy run! This race is a prophecy
Run boy run! And disappear in the trees
Tomorrow is another day
And you won't have to hide away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!
Tomorrow is another day
And when the night fades away
You'll be a man, boy!
But for now it's time to run, it's time to run!
Screwed And Chopped by InsomniaDX [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 04, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 04, 2024 ( )
No completion stats.
It's a shame this game is unfinished, though I understand there's a version of this that actually was made to be finished, and not as jank. As the name implies, it is screwed up, and chopped up, and put together by Scotch tape. Some neat ideas and layouts, sure, but if you save in Maridia, you'll end up in a state where you won't be able to progress further upon reloading your save. Oh well.
(Played Extreme Mode)
I have quite a few issues with this hack. The first major issue to get out of the way are some of the Missile pickups; there are 2 Missiles in West Ocean, a Missile in Kraid's Warehouse, etc. that crashes the game upon collecting them. I don't know if it's an emulator issue or not, but it prevented me from getting max collection %. The good news is that they're just Missiles, and not something important, like Bombs, or Gravity.
The progression is weird, and the ways to get some items seem to be more annoying than actually difficult, like Speed Booster, for example. It's a half-hack, so you'll know the locations to most items, though some items have been changed around. This, however, leads to my biggest gripe...
The location of the Charge Beam. Why in the blue hell would anyone put it in a save room, especially when it's a save most Super Metroid veterans would normally ignore? Every other save room in the game lacks items, though I suppose I'm just too stupid to take the subtle hint of Chozo statues in right-ward save rooms alluding to one of them potentially holding a Chozo orb. See, it's MY fault, the player, for not reading the mind of the hack maker, and what they want the player to do. Of course, I say all this with sarcasm.
I could forgive all of that, had it not been for Draygon's section in Maridia. Botwoon, and Draygon have unholy amounts of health, which is no problem if one had Charge Beam, as to microwave them with charged Plasma shots; because of the Charge Beam's location, I was forced to fight Botwoon with ammo, by way of getting stuck in the door, to avoid Botwoon's body, as it does almost 100 damage per hit (projectiles were more forgiving), and in a room layout that's too ridiculous to make fighting and beating Botwoon feasibly possible with just ammo.
I mentioned Draygon's section; if you go past the Botwoon E-Tank room, you absolutely cannot go back without Spring Ball. Draygon guards the Spring Ball. Draygon's room makes hitting him with Supers nearly impossible, and the turrets cannot be destroyed. Draygon also does a shit-ton of damage, making that fight impossible without Charge Beam. I had thought myself irreversibly functionally softlocked. I ended up X-Ray climbing out of bounds in Botwoon E-Tank Room, and trying to find a loading zone that can potentially get me out. By some miraculous stroke of serendipitous bullshit, I managed to reach a replica of Botwoon's room, and navigate it half-blind to reach a loading zone to safety, allowing me to continue the game.
All that said, one would think I'd give this a 1/5, but no. There are a few challenging spots I enjoyed, all things considered. The location of the Plasma Beam, for example, was pretty amusing, among other things. Still, I can't recommend this, unless one is curious to see the weirdness put together in this hack, as if someone from the Memphis Group was given a rom hack to make.
P.S. Why was this called "Super Metroid: Colors", when the colors and aesthetics didn't look any different or more colorful than vanilla?
I have quite a few issues with this hack. The first major issue to get out of the way are some of the Missile pickups; there are 2 Missiles in West Ocean, a Missile in Kraid's Warehouse, etc. that crashes the game upon collecting them. I don't know if it's an emulator issue or not, but it prevented me from getting max collection %. The good news is that they're just Missiles, and not something important, like Bombs, or Gravity.
The progression is weird, and the ways to get some items seem to be more annoying than actually difficult, like Speed Booster, for example. It's a half-hack, so you'll know the locations to most items, though some items have been changed around. This, however, leads to my biggest gripe...
The location of the Charge Beam. Why in the blue hell would anyone put it in a save room, especially when it's a save most Super Metroid veterans would normally ignore? Every other save room in the game lacks items, though I suppose I'm just too stupid to take the subtle hint of Chozo statues in right-ward save rooms alluding to one of them potentially holding a Chozo orb. See, it's MY fault, the player, for not reading the mind of the hack maker, and what they want the player to do. Of course, I say all this with sarcasm.
I could forgive all of that, had it not been for Draygon's section in Maridia. Botwoon, and Draygon have unholy amounts of health, which is no problem if one had Charge Beam, as to microwave them with charged Plasma shots; because of the Charge Beam's location, I was forced to fight Botwoon with ammo, by way of getting stuck in the door, to avoid Botwoon's body, as it does almost 100 damage per hit (projectiles were more forgiving), and in a room layout that's too ridiculous to make fighting and beating Botwoon feasibly possible with just ammo.
I mentioned Draygon's section; if you go past the Botwoon E-Tank room, you absolutely cannot go back without Spring Ball. Draygon guards the Spring Ball. Draygon's room makes hitting him with Supers nearly impossible, and the turrets cannot be destroyed. Draygon also does a shit-ton of damage, making that fight impossible without Charge Beam. I had thought myself irreversibly functionally softlocked. I ended up X-Ray climbing out of bounds in Botwoon E-Tank Room, and trying to find a loading zone that can potentially get me out. By some miraculous stroke of serendipitous bullshit, I managed to reach a replica of Botwoon's room, and navigate it half-blind to reach a loading zone to safety, allowing me to continue the game.
All that said, one would think I'd give this a 1/5, but no. There are a few challenging spots I enjoyed, all things considered. The location of the Plasma Beam, for example, was pretty amusing, among other things. Still, I can't recommend this, unless one is curious to see the weirdness put together in this hack, as if someone from the Memphis Group was given a rom hack to make.
P.S. Why was this called "Super Metroid: Colors", when the colors and aesthetics didn't look any different or more colorful than vanilla?
Super Metroid: Resurrection by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 07, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 07, 2024 ( )
96% in 4:03
I could've given this hack a low rating pretty easily, especially with some of the jank in this hack, including permastuck in a corner, like in Amphitheater, or Fish Tank. And don't get me started on the godawful layout that was The Worst Room in the Game; that could have, and should have been implemented so much better. Yet, despite all of that, the one thing I really enjoyed about this hack more than anything is the routing.
It can be easy to get lost, or forget where one can go. Thing is, I'm not going to fault the maker for the routing confusion, because in hindsight, I should have known of some alternative ways to get around Zebes, when the usual route that most players know won't cut it. Granted, I did figure it out eventually, but it only made me more aware of some of the way one can get around Zebes (the fact the Forgotten Highway has its namesake can potentially be the reason a player unfamiliar with routing can get stumped).
I would've like Phantoon to have more health, given how late in the game he's encountered, but I'm guessing the hack maker figured there'd hardly be a point, given the gear acquired by then, trivializing Phantoon regardless. All in all, I liked it despite the frustration, maybe more so than this hack deserves.
Also, I unironically like the Samus sprite colors, from the Power Suit, to the Varia, and the Gravity. While the Gravity is my favorite aesthetically, the dark sprite can make it hard to see Samus in quite a few rooms, which can be a potential annoyance. That's about it. Not much else I can add to this.
It can be easy to get lost, or forget where one can go. Thing is, I'm not going to fault the maker for the routing confusion, because in hindsight, I should have known of some alternative ways to get around Zebes, when the usual route that most players know won't cut it. Granted, I did figure it out eventually, but it only made me more aware of some of the way one can get around Zebes (the fact the Forgotten Highway has its namesake can potentially be the reason a player unfamiliar with routing can get stumped).
I would've like Phantoon to have more health, given how late in the game he's encountered, but I'm guessing the hack maker figured there'd hardly be a point, given the gear acquired by then, trivializing Phantoon regardless. All in all, I liked it despite the frustration, maybe more so than this hack deserves.
Also, I unironically like the Samus sprite colors, from the Power Suit, to the Varia, and the Gravity. While the Gravity is my favorite aesthetically, the dark sprite can make it hard to see Samus in quite a few rooms, which can be a potential annoyance. That's about it. Not much else I can add to this.
Super Metroid: Full Run by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 07, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 07, 2024 ( )
36% in 0:25
Just a more fleshed out version of Super Metroid: Marathon. Not much substance to this. Some softlock potential, but as long as the player isn't dumb enough to needlessly waste ammo, they'll be fine. The Baby Metroid has the issue that some early hacks have, using a different sound effect, resulting in a game crash if it grabs Samus and reduces her health to 1, forcing the player to Baby Skip. Had it not been for that, I'd have given this a 3/5.
Super Metroid: The Darkness Spreads 2 by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 10, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 10, 2024 ( )
65% in 6:08
There are two major issues I have with this hack, preventing me from rating this any higher than a 3:
- It's BORING and TEDIOUS to navigate. To elaborate, there are way too many instances where rooms are laid out to have a lot of narrow passages, requiring Morph and Bombs to proceed. It becomes a slow slogfest, with the purpose of aggravating the player. I could easily forgive it, if the hack gave the player Spring Ball early, but no, it's given significantly late in the game. It should be a requirement for hack makers to give Spring in hacks where they insist on tedious Morph Ball mazes, do not debate me.
- Red herrings; this game has a lot of them. Grey doors that don't open, and even if they did, leads to nowhere, or even if they had a loading zone, like Crocomire's room, it's impossible to enter them. This is made more egregious when Crocomire's door, which is grey, flashes after defeating Ridley, as a way to taunt the player. There's no reason for that. While I haven't used any Game Genie codes to walk through walls, to see what was down there, I do speculate that Crocomire's area is purely unchanged from vanilla, because why would it be different if it can't be entered? On a related note, the map remains unchanged from vanilla, so rooms that are omitted from the hack are still displayed, incluidng Croco's room, Hi-Jump Boots Room, etc.
After reading the reviews after my playthrough, I'd parrot what caauyjdp said; I used Crystal Flash to enter the bottom door of Crateria Super Room. What I didn't realize was that it was meant to be an exit. I collected a Power Bomb within. During the escape sequence, the top door of that room opens to the player, where they are meant to go around to the bottom of Craterai Super Room, collect the Power Bombs, and escape. If you collect the PBs before the escape sequence, it will be nearly impossible to escape (not sure if the Boyons in the room, which can be killed with a single Bomb, drops Power Bombs).
At that point, I was forced to hard-reset the run, but by way of Spacetime Beam, as to keep my items, and speed through the game to Tourian. Had it not been for that, I'd have been forced to start a whole new playthrough, and it would technically be the fault of the player, but it's still an awful thing to put necessary items during the escape sequence, because of occasions, like these.
Other than those gripes, I did enjoy the routing, the aesthetic, some of the genuine effort, and the challenge presented in the hack. This could have been executed better, but for what it is, and what we got, it could've been so much worse.
- It's BORING and TEDIOUS to navigate. To elaborate, there are way too many instances where rooms are laid out to have a lot of narrow passages, requiring Morph and Bombs to proceed. It becomes a slow slogfest, with the purpose of aggravating the player. I could easily forgive it, if the hack gave the player Spring Ball early, but no, it's given significantly late in the game. It should be a requirement for hack makers to give Spring in hacks where they insist on tedious Morph Ball mazes, do not debate me.
- Red herrings; this game has a lot of them. Grey doors that don't open, and even if they did, leads to nowhere, or even if they had a loading zone, like Crocomire's room, it's impossible to enter them. This is made more egregious when Crocomire's door, which is grey, flashes after defeating Ridley, as a way to taunt the player. There's no reason for that. While I haven't used any Game Genie codes to walk through walls, to see what was down there, I do speculate that Crocomire's area is purely unchanged from vanilla, because why would it be different if it can't be entered? On a related note, the map remains unchanged from vanilla, so rooms that are omitted from the hack are still displayed, incluidng Croco's room, Hi-Jump Boots Room, etc.
After reading the reviews after my playthrough, I'd parrot what caauyjdp said; I used Crystal Flash to enter the bottom door of Crateria Super Room. What I didn't realize was that it was meant to be an exit. I collected a Power Bomb within. During the escape sequence, the top door of that room opens to the player, where they are meant to go around to the bottom of Craterai Super Room, collect the Power Bombs, and escape. If you collect the PBs before the escape sequence, it will be nearly impossible to escape (not sure if the Boyons in the room, which can be killed with a single Bomb, drops Power Bombs).
At that point, I was forced to hard-reset the run, but by way of Spacetime Beam, as to keep my items, and speed through the game to Tourian. Had it not been for that, I'd have been forced to start a whole new playthrough, and it would technically be the fault of the player, but it's still an awful thing to put necessary items during the escape sequence, because of occasions, like these.
Other than those gripes, I did enjoy the routing, the aesthetic, some of the genuine effort, and the challenge presented in the hack. This could have been executed better, but for what it is, and what we got, it could've been so much worse.
Neat concept, but nothing is done with it. It can barely be called an alpha build. The game crashes upon entering Bomb Torizo's room; once that happens, the playthrough is done. 18 years later, and I doubt this hack idea will ever go beyond what is here.
The very first true challenge hack on the site. Yeah, there were hacks, like Ultimate Challenge 1 and 2, Super Hard Metroid, and Super T-Metroid, but this one feels far more fleshed out, with the challenges really thought through in how one progresses through the game. I did enjoy the challenges and routing, for sure, but this game is not without its issues, as I'll go over first.
My biggest issue, more than anything, is the location of some items. There are many places that are way too obtuse to figure out, like grabbing the Missile in Aqueduct, for example. The player absolutely cannot and will not know about how to get said Missile, and there's no way to cheese it either. Damning still is that X-Ray Scope (oh, I'll get to that) doesn't reveal anything either. The player has to somehow know there's a hidden crumbling Grapple Block on the right side of the door leading to Botwoon Hallway, literally right below the loading zone. One must time a jump with Spring Ball as the Grapple Block crumbles, as it does reform, and must do so without hitting the loading zone. HOW THE HELL IS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?! IT'S BULLSHIT! Literally, one is forced to look at the hack in an editor, like SMILE in order to know that it's there; there is no universe, no timeline where a player accidentally stumbles upon this intended little path to the Missiles. There are plenty of obtuse instances of items being this well hidden for no reason. The X-Ray Scope does reveal most things otherwise.
Speaking of X-Ray Scope, the location is just plain mean spirited. While there's a non-zero chance the path to the Aqueduct Missile can be accidentally found, there is literally no way anyone could have found X-Ray Scope on their own. This one hard-requires either prior knowledge, or opening the game in an editor to see where it is. It's found in Three Musketeers' Room, and requires a Crystal Flash into the wall between the right side, and FrankerZ Missiles, but in a very specific stretch of tiles, as there's a hidden path within. Immediately from there, one must navigate in Morph Ball in a crawl space above, and ceiling bomb jump across a 1-tile gap, or else one will fall through to the main area below, with no way back up, except another Crystal Flash. Once across said 1-tile gap, the X-Ray Scope is to the far right of that section.
I understand why the X-Ray Scope was placed in such a stupidly cryptic manner, and while I don't like or agree with the choice, I can respect it. I learned, while playing this game, that the hack's author, Saturn, is a known TASer, and knew just how powerful a tool the X-Ray Scope can be in the hands of those who know how to really use it beyond the devs' intended function. If the X-Ray Scope was acquired earlier, or more easily, one can cheese parts of the game, including the acquisition of the Gravity Suit MUCH earlier than intended. I agree with Saturn's motive, just not the method.
The one saving grace, however, is that ALL hard-required items are pretty straightforward. From my experience, only the truly esoteric and cryptic items are optional, including the X-Ray Scope, and isn't needed to progress through the game. Granted, sticking to ONLY the required items will make life harder, as one will have less resources, like ammo and energy for later bosses and areas - oh, I'll get to that too!
The areas are hard, but it's to be expected. Norfair's "Oops! All Hell Runs!" was a bitch to do, but was still fun in its challenge. Definitely NOT for everyone, but anyone who plays this game should know what to expect. The bosses are also hard as well, though to some detriment. Phantoon was alright for the most part. Kraid was annoyingly bulky, and hit harder than usual, but nothing too bad. Draygon, on the other hand, was WAY too stupid. For starters, it hit like a truck; I don't even know if the damage was buffed from it or the surrounding turrets, but they all hit stupidly hard all the same. To add to this, Draygon's health has been significantly buffed, and the turrets are impossible to destroy. This makes the fight less about skill, and more about RNG. If the game decides "Here's a dick," you can't do anything about it; you have to take it and start again. The only saving grace is that the save point is, like, right there... which cannot be said about Ridley.
Ridley has also been buffed significantly in health. Either that, or his resistance to Super Missiles were increased. Either way, the fight isn't easy, since you'll be in a hell run throughout, meaning the fight with Ridley is a DPS race. That itself isn't a problem. What is, however, is the fact that the closest save is in the Red Kihunter Shaft, meaning every death results in a tedious trek back to Ridley, and an even more tedious health/ammo grind, using the wasps in the Lower Norfair Farming Room before Ridley. They could have placed an energy and Missile refill in there or something, to mitigate the tedium.
Mother Brain is a major pain in the ass. Everything she throws at you does an illegal amount of damage, and her health has been heavily buffed. So knowing how to deal with all of her attacks, especially her bombs, are important. Also, health management is equally important, as you need to put yourself within range for MB's rainbow beam to initiate the Baby cutscene, or else you die to Mother Brain's projectiles during her taunting phase. The escape after that gives you only 1 minute, with very little room for error. Tourian Escape Room 3 is easily the worst part of it, requiring not only a shinespark, but weaving through a Morph crawl space before shinesparking to the top-right door. One can mess that up once, and still have just barely enough time to escape, so not all is lost. I am 100% convinced, unless I see proof to the contrary, that the animals are impossible to save successfully.
Overall, I still enjoyed everything else in the game, most especially the routing, what with where the game places Varia. Once that is acquired, A, you're pretty much at the end game, and B, there's a genuine feeling of accomplishment. Draygon and Ridley does sour the experience quite a bit, but what's good in this game is pretty damn good in terms of testing one's skill. That said, I can't give this more than a 3/5, because of Draygon and Ridley made to be more aggravating than challenging, and the way in which this game hides most of the item pickups. Still, I liked it more than anything.
My biggest issue, more than anything, is the location of some items. There are many places that are way too obtuse to figure out, like grabbing the Missile in Aqueduct, for example. The player absolutely cannot and will not know about how to get said Missile, and there's no way to cheese it either. Damning still is that X-Ray Scope (oh, I'll get to that) doesn't reveal anything either. The player has to somehow know there's a hidden crumbling Grapple Block on the right side of the door leading to Botwoon Hallway, literally right below the loading zone. One must time a jump with Spring Ball as the Grapple Block crumbles, as it does reform, and must do so without hitting the loading zone. HOW THE HELL IS ANYONE SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?! IT'S BULLSHIT! Literally, one is forced to look at the hack in an editor, like SMILE in order to know that it's there; there is no universe, no timeline where a player accidentally stumbles upon this intended little path to the Missiles. There are plenty of obtuse instances of items being this well hidden for no reason. The X-Ray Scope does reveal most things otherwise.
Speaking of X-Ray Scope, the location is just plain mean spirited. While there's a non-zero chance the path to the Aqueduct Missile can be accidentally found, there is literally no way anyone could have found X-Ray Scope on their own. This one hard-requires either prior knowledge, or opening the game in an editor to see where it is. It's found in Three Musketeers' Room, and requires a Crystal Flash into the wall between the right side, and FrankerZ Missiles, but in a very specific stretch of tiles, as there's a hidden path within. Immediately from there, one must navigate in Morph Ball in a crawl space above, and ceiling bomb jump across a 1-tile gap, or else one will fall through to the main area below, with no way back up, except another Crystal Flash. Once across said 1-tile gap, the X-Ray Scope is to the far right of that section.
I understand why the X-Ray Scope was placed in such a stupidly cryptic manner, and while I don't like or agree with the choice, I can respect it. I learned, while playing this game, that the hack's author, Saturn, is a known TASer, and knew just how powerful a tool the X-Ray Scope can be in the hands of those who know how to really use it beyond the devs' intended function. If the X-Ray Scope was acquired earlier, or more easily, one can cheese parts of the game, including the acquisition of the Gravity Suit MUCH earlier than intended. I agree with Saturn's motive, just not the method.
The one saving grace, however, is that ALL hard-required items are pretty straightforward. From my experience, only the truly esoteric and cryptic items are optional, including the X-Ray Scope, and isn't needed to progress through the game. Granted, sticking to ONLY the required items will make life harder, as one will have less resources, like ammo and energy for later bosses and areas - oh, I'll get to that too!
The areas are hard, but it's to be expected. Norfair's "Oops! All Hell Runs!" was a bitch to do, but was still fun in its challenge. Definitely NOT for everyone, but anyone who plays this game should know what to expect. The bosses are also hard as well, though to some detriment. Phantoon was alright for the most part. Kraid was annoyingly bulky, and hit harder than usual, but nothing too bad. Draygon, on the other hand, was WAY too stupid. For starters, it hit like a truck; I don't even know if the damage was buffed from it or the surrounding turrets, but they all hit stupidly hard all the same. To add to this, Draygon's health has been significantly buffed, and the turrets are impossible to destroy. This makes the fight less about skill, and more about RNG. If the game decides "Here's a dick," you can't do anything about it; you have to take it and start again. The only saving grace is that the save point is, like, right there... which cannot be said about Ridley.
Ridley has also been buffed significantly in health. Either that, or his resistance to Super Missiles were increased. Either way, the fight isn't easy, since you'll be in a hell run throughout, meaning the fight with Ridley is a DPS race. That itself isn't a problem. What is, however, is the fact that the closest save is in the Red Kihunter Shaft, meaning every death results in a tedious trek back to Ridley, and an even more tedious health/ammo grind, using the wasps in the Lower Norfair Farming Room before Ridley. They could have placed an energy and Missile refill in there or something, to mitigate the tedium.
Mother Brain is a major pain in the ass. Everything she throws at you does an illegal amount of damage, and her health has been heavily buffed. So knowing how to deal with all of her attacks, especially her bombs, are important. Also, health management is equally important, as you need to put yourself within range for MB's rainbow beam to initiate the Baby cutscene, or else you die to Mother Brain's projectiles during her taunting phase. The escape after that gives you only 1 minute, with very little room for error. Tourian Escape Room 3 is easily the worst part of it, requiring not only a shinespark, but weaving through a Morph crawl space before shinesparking to the top-right door. One can mess that up once, and still have just barely enough time to escape, so not all is lost. I am 100% convinced, unless I see proof to the contrary, that the animals are impossible to save successfully.
Overall, I still enjoyed everything else in the game, most especially the routing, what with where the game places Varia. Once that is acquired, A, you're pretty much at the end game, and B, there's a genuine feeling of accomplishment. Draygon and Ridley does sour the experience quite a bit, but what's good in this game is pretty damn good in terms of testing one's skill. That said, I can't give this more than a 3/5, because of Draygon and Ridley made to be more aggravating than challenging, and the way in which this game hides most of the item pickups. Still, I liked it more than anything.
Super Metroid: Redesign by Drewseph [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 16, 2024 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 16, 2024 ( )
86% in 12:13
So here we have the rom hack that really put Super Metroid rom hacks on the map. When I first played this a while ago, I initially didn't like it. Then I revisited it. After having more of an open mind, I decided to play this again, to see if my opinion on this game has changed. Long story short: Yes, it changed, and for the better, though the game isn't exempt of criticism for flaws, some of which are really bad, which I'll be going over.
First thing's first: The physics change seems to be the usual point of criticism for many who do not like this hack. I feel that to be unfair, as yes, it goes against everything we're used to in vanilla Super Metroid. The hack is called Super Metroid: REDESIGN for a reason. Rather than treating this game as a hack of Super Metroid - and I get it, it is a rom hack - this should be treated as a totally different Metroid game entirely. When you disconnect this game from what is established in vanilla Super Metroid, and play this game for what it is, and not for what you want it to be/what it's not, you'll have an easier time accepting its physics at face value.
That out of the way, let's talk about some of the things I hate, because there are a few, and they're egregiously assholish. The Grappling Beam section; the increased gravity/fall speed of Samus, paired with her lack of aerial mobility (we'll get to that) makes swinging from one Grapple point to the next much harder, and more precise than it needs to be. On top of that, should you fail to leave the Grappling Beam area by way of a missed Grapple shot on a Grapple block, you fall into the acid and die, and you can't do anything about it. I could have easily forgiven that, had the save point before Grappling Beam wasn't placed so far before said item, meaning any deaths suffered after Grapple means having to spend roughly 5 minutes reacquiring Grappling Beam, which makes this stupidly tedious.
My other biggest gripe with the game, as I'm sure many others before me had, is the Chozo Statue hunt. To gain access to Tourian, one must find standing Chozo Statues, and Morph into their hands to activate their triggers. There are three such Chozo Statues in each area (3 in Crateria; 3 in Brinstar, etc.), which isn't an issue by itself. What is an issue, however, is that quite a few of these Chozo Statues are super-well hidden, with no hint as to where or how to find them. One must get lucky enough to X-Ray Scope the path leading to a Chozo Statue to find them, or just accidentally find the path without it. In one instance in Brinstar, to the right of the Dachora, the X-Ray Scope doesn't even reveal the fact you can simply Morph Ball through the wall. It's a bad design choice that I feel needed second opinions from playtesters before deciding it was good to go. I feel it should be a requirement for hack makers to put markers on the map that helps with pointing out the general location of said triggers, whether it's the Chozo Statues here, or the Door Triggers in Metroid Mission Rescue, or the Green Doors in Super Metroid: Lost World. All that said, I do know that this issue was addressed and fixed in the later-released "Axeil Edition" of this game, which is great, but I have to rate this game for what it has.
The Tourian escape is unnecessarily tough. Between losing nearly all major items from Mother Brain's rainbow beam, to the escape being really long for the timer to be 25 minutes, to some rooms having trollish routing, precise jumps, and even a Missile pickup that is hard-required to open two red doors during the escape (DO NOT waste any of those Missiles, because you are given no way to farm any, should you miss a shot), it makes one wonder if "Veteran" is truly the appropriate difficulty with which to label this hack. One thing is for sure: This game is NOT for those who are casuals to Super Metroid.
About the aerial movement: From the start, your jumps are hard to control, and you only ever get any real horizontal movement when getting a running start. This makes some jumping sections harder/more tedious than they need to be. That said, however, when you acquire the Space Jump, your aerial movement speed greatly improves, and the Screw Attack only improves it even further, to the point of being hard to control sometimes. Thankfully, the Screw Attack can be triggered by holding the run button, and if you don't want to keep using it mid somersault, you can let go of the run button to dial it down, which I felt was smart. Morph Ball movement is also very slow and clunky, but improves significantly when acquiring the Hi-Jump Boots, which has Spring Ball built in. So while Samus's mobility does feel hampered, it does feel rewarding when you collect the items that help improve it; it really makes you feel stronger, and more accomplished.
Some of the items in the game are placed in really bad areas. The areas themselves isn't bad in the sense that they're hard to find, but rather, the means to get to the items are way too frustrating for most people to want to do, including a Spring Ball/Bomb Jump gauntlet in Norfair, to get a Power Bomb pickup. It's as if Drewseph used save states to see if it was technically RTA possible, saw that it was, and made it the player's problem. Another Power Bomb pickup in Crateria hard-required IBJ, which is notoriously difficult to accomplish because of A, the high gravity, which wouldn't have been too bad had it not been for B, the Bomb use limit. You are given a three-Bomb limit for laying Bombs within a time window. If all three Bombs are used, you must wait for a lengthy cooldown before you can use Bombs again. It is possible to IBJ by timing the Bomb jumps, so that you don't lay the third Bomb by the time the second bomb cooldown is complete. This makes IBJ insanely precise for no real reason. I'd say it was to discourage cheesing/sequence breaks, but IBJ is a feature that was intended by Drewseph to acquire an item or two in the game, so there really wasn't a need to put such a limit on Bombs other than to annoy the player.
Finally, the path forward can be a little too obtuse at times, like finding your way to Phantoon's area through Crateria; there's a hidden Morph tunnel that - unless you know to go in it, or use X-Ray Scope to see it - is almost impossible to notice. Why make the way forward hidden? I would have expected that for a side item pickup for a Missile, or a non-essential luxury item, like Screw Attack. Speaking of Phantoon, the Lost Caverns, or whatever it's called, is annoying, and while there are visual cues that hints to the player how to solve it, it's too cryptic for most people to realistically figure out on their own. I was able to solve it in my most recent playthrough because of prior knowledge gained from a playthrough some time ago before it. Maze-type areas need to have a more transparent hint to the player, or else it just leads to needless frustration, to the point where solving it doesn't even feel rewarding.
All that said, I genuinely enjoyed everything else in this game. There are a lot of great ideas, and a ton of work was put into this from the ground up. It really is a benchmark hack that shows the potential for Super Metroid rom hacking, showing what rom hacks can really do, and be. For that reason, despite my gripes with the game, I can't give it any less than a 4/5. On a side note, saving the animals is made way out of the way during the Tourian escape. Obviously, it's not required to beat the game, but the location of the animals (which should be obvious), and what it takes to get to them, combined with the time of the escape really does feel like an accomplishment. Again, not needed to beat the game, but a nice flex to say "Yeah, I did it", so kudos to Drewseph for the way saving the animals was done.
First thing's first: The physics change seems to be the usual point of criticism for many who do not like this hack. I feel that to be unfair, as yes, it goes against everything we're used to in vanilla Super Metroid. The hack is called Super Metroid: REDESIGN for a reason. Rather than treating this game as a hack of Super Metroid - and I get it, it is a rom hack - this should be treated as a totally different Metroid game entirely. When you disconnect this game from what is established in vanilla Super Metroid, and play this game for what it is, and not for what you want it to be/what it's not, you'll have an easier time accepting its physics at face value.
That out of the way, let's talk about some of the things I hate, because there are a few, and they're egregiously assholish. The Grappling Beam section; the increased gravity/fall speed of Samus, paired with her lack of aerial mobility (we'll get to that) makes swinging from one Grapple point to the next much harder, and more precise than it needs to be. On top of that, should you fail to leave the Grappling Beam area by way of a missed Grapple shot on a Grapple block, you fall into the acid and die, and you can't do anything about it. I could have easily forgiven that, had the save point before Grappling Beam wasn't placed so far before said item, meaning any deaths suffered after Grapple means having to spend roughly 5 minutes reacquiring Grappling Beam, which makes this stupidly tedious.
My other biggest gripe with the game, as I'm sure many others before me had, is the Chozo Statue hunt. To gain access to Tourian, one must find standing Chozo Statues, and Morph into their hands to activate their triggers. There are three such Chozo Statues in each area (3 in Crateria; 3 in Brinstar, etc.), which isn't an issue by itself. What is an issue, however, is that quite a few of these Chozo Statues are super-well hidden, with no hint as to where or how to find them. One must get lucky enough to X-Ray Scope the path leading to a Chozo Statue to find them, or just accidentally find the path without it. In one instance in Brinstar, to the right of the Dachora, the X-Ray Scope doesn't even reveal the fact you can simply Morph Ball through the wall. It's a bad design choice that I feel needed second opinions from playtesters before deciding it was good to go. I feel it should be a requirement for hack makers to put markers on the map that helps with pointing out the general location of said triggers, whether it's the Chozo Statues here, or the Door Triggers in Metroid Mission Rescue, or the Green Doors in Super Metroid: Lost World. All that said, I do know that this issue was addressed and fixed in the later-released "Axeil Edition" of this game, which is great, but I have to rate this game for what it has.
The Tourian escape is unnecessarily tough. Between losing nearly all major items from Mother Brain's rainbow beam, to the escape being really long for the timer to be 25 minutes, to some rooms having trollish routing, precise jumps, and even a Missile pickup that is hard-required to open two red doors during the escape (DO NOT waste any of those Missiles, because you are given no way to farm any, should you miss a shot), it makes one wonder if "Veteran" is truly the appropriate difficulty with which to label this hack. One thing is for sure: This game is NOT for those who are casuals to Super Metroid.
About the aerial movement: From the start, your jumps are hard to control, and you only ever get any real horizontal movement when getting a running start. This makes some jumping sections harder/more tedious than they need to be. That said, however, when you acquire the Space Jump, your aerial movement speed greatly improves, and the Screw Attack only improves it even further, to the point of being hard to control sometimes. Thankfully, the Screw Attack can be triggered by holding the run button, and if you don't want to keep using it mid somersault, you can let go of the run button to dial it down, which I felt was smart. Morph Ball movement is also very slow and clunky, but improves significantly when acquiring the Hi-Jump Boots, which has Spring Ball built in. So while Samus's mobility does feel hampered, it does feel rewarding when you collect the items that help improve it; it really makes you feel stronger, and more accomplished.
Some of the items in the game are placed in really bad areas. The areas themselves isn't bad in the sense that they're hard to find, but rather, the means to get to the items are way too frustrating for most people to want to do, including a Spring Ball/Bomb Jump gauntlet in Norfair, to get a Power Bomb pickup. It's as if Drewseph used save states to see if it was technically RTA possible, saw that it was, and made it the player's problem. Another Power Bomb pickup in Crateria hard-required IBJ, which is notoriously difficult to accomplish because of A, the high gravity, which wouldn't have been too bad had it not been for B, the Bomb use limit. You are given a three-Bomb limit for laying Bombs within a time window. If all three Bombs are used, you must wait for a lengthy cooldown before you can use Bombs again. It is possible to IBJ by timing the Bomb jumps, so that you don't lay the third Bomb by the time the second bomb cooldown is complete. This makes IBJ insanely precise for no real reason. I'd say it was to discourage cheesing/sequence breaks, but IBJ is a feature that was intended by Drewseph to acquire an item or two in the game, so there really wasn't a need to put such a limit on Bombs other than to annoy the player.
Finally, the path forward can be a little too obtuse at times, like finding your way to Phantoon's area through Crateria; there's a hidden Morph tunnel that - unless you know to go in it, or use X-Ray Scope to see it - is almost impossible to notice. Why make the way forward hidden? I would have expected that for a side item pickup for a Missile, or a non-essential luxury item, like Screw Attack. Speaking of Phantoon, the Lost Caverns, or whatever it's called, is annoying, and while there are visual cues that hints to the player how to solve it, it's too cryptic for most people to realistically figure out on their own. I was able to solve it in my most recent playthrough because of prior knowledge gained from a playthrough some time ago before it. Maze-type areas need to have a more transparent hint to the player, or else it just leads to needless frustration, to the point where solving it doesn't even feel rewarding.
All that said, I genuinely enjoyed everything else in this game. There are a lot of great ideas, and a ton of work was put into this from the ground up. It really is a benchmark hack that shows the potential for Super Metroid rom hacking, showing what rom hacks can really do, and be. For that reason, despite my gripes with the game, I can't give it any less than a 4/5. On a side note, saving the animals is made way out of the way during the Tourian escape. Obviously, it's not required to beat the game, but the location of the animals (which should be obvious), and what it takes to get to them, combined with the time of the escape really does feel like an accomplishment. Again, not needed to beat the game, but a nice flex to say "Yeah, I did it", so kudos to Drewseph for the way saving the animals was done.
Super Metroid: Dependence by Black Telomeres [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 18, 2024 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 18, 2024 ( )
88% in 4:14
This was an interesting full hack. Definitely not for the casual players, but isn't hard enough for me to consider this a challenge hack in the same way Super Hard Metroid, or even Super T-Metroid were. There wasn't anything that stands out in this hack, however; it's pretty standard. That said, I do have two issues with this:
- The path forward in ProtoTourian (Maridia): There are Power Bomb blocks at a ceiling in a Metroid room that would more than likely not be seen by the player. The X-Ray Scope cannot reach that high, unless the player had the forethought to freeze one of the Metroids, and use them as platforms. You can bomb the ceiling to reveal them, but the position of said blocks means the player would more often than not have had to find them by accident. It could've been implemented better, and be made more transparent to the player.
- Red herrings: There are a few doors in this hack that cannot be reached, and the player is given the impression that there's some kind of secret way into the door, or some path that leads out of it. The truth is that these doors go nowhere, and are simply there to piss people off. Case in point, there's a blue door in the room where Screw Attack is acquired that is normally unreachable. When X-Ray Climbing, one can reach said door. Entering it will take the player to another Lower Norfair room that can be reached elsewhere, making that door above the Screw Attack absolutely pointless.
Other gripes include the path forward in Tourian being one of those hidden paths that X-Ray can't reveal, etc. Also, I must be superhuman as Black Telomeres says I could be, because I did not find the Spring Ball, nor could I find it, so it was not for a lack of trying. If anyone knows where that hidden sumbitch is, I'd love to know.
Those issues out of the way, everything else is pretty straightforward. Some parts can be seen as challenging to the average player, while to veterans, not so much. I think the biggest selling point for this game, more than anything, for better or worse, is its open-endedness, as the player can take almost any route they want to proceed. Of course, this means some parts of the game will become harder, depending on where one chooses to go first, but that's part of the charm. Overall, I give this a 3/5.
- The path forward in ProtoTourian (Maridia): There are Power Bomb blocks at a ceiling in a Metroid room that would more than likely not be seen by the player. The X-Ray Scope cannot reach that high, unless the player had the forethought to freeze one of the Metroids, and use them as platforms. You can bomb the ceiling to reveal them, but the position of said blocks means the player would more often than not have had to find them by accident. It could've been implemented better, and be made more transparent to the player.
- Red herrings: There are a few doors in this hack that cannot be reached, and the player is given the impression that there's some kind of secret way into the door, or some path that leads out of it. The truth is that these doors go nowhere, and are simply there to piss people off. Case in point, there's a blue door in the room where Screw Attack is acquired that is normally unreachable. When X-Ray Climbing, one can reach said door. Entering it will take the player to another Lower Norfair room that can be reached elsewhere, making that door above the Screw Attack absolutely pointless.
Other gripes include the path forward in Tourian being one of those hidden paths that X-Ray can't reveal, etc. Also, I must be superhuman as Black Telomeres says I could be, because I did not find the Spring Ball, nor could I find it, so it was not for a lack of trying. If anyone knows where that hidden sumbitch is, I'd love to know.
Those issues out of the way, everything else is pretty straightforward. Some parts can be seen as challenging to the average player, while to veterans, not so much. I think the biggest selling point for this game, more than anything, for better or worse, is its open-endedness, as the player can take almost any route they want to proceed. Of course, this means some parts of the game will become harder, depending on where one chooses to go first, but that's part of the charm. Overall, I give this a 3/5.
Super Metroid: Mission Bicho by don gato pato [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 18, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 18, 2024 ( )
100% in 2:16
This game is mostly lazy spike spam, and breakable blocks (including Super Missile, Power Bomb, and Crumbling Grapple blocks). The item locations, save for a couple of exceptions, are exactly the same as vanilla, thought the routing differs a little, because of some obstacle placements.
I didn't hate the hack, and actually kind of liked some things about it, but it was rather shallow in the end. I'd give this a higher score if the obstacles, spikes included, weren't placed so arbitrarily, and the breakable obstacles did reform; the Speed blocks that block Taco Tank, for example, will reform quickly, softlocking you, if you shinespark to get it. I had to use a temporary Blue Suit in order to get it without softlocking. There are other instances where one can softlock, if they're not careful, and that is mostly a failure on part of the hack maker than the player.
I didn't hate the hack, and actually kind of liked some things about it, but it was rather shallow in the end. I'd give this a higher score if the obstacles, spikes included, weren't placed so arbitrarily, and the breakable obstacles did reform; the Speed blocks that block Taco Tank, for example, will reform quickly, softlocking you, if you shinespark to get it. I had to use a temporary Blue Suit in order to get it without softlocking. There are other instances where one can softlock, if they're not careful, and that is mostly a failure on part of the hack maker than the player.
As others have said, this is almost no different than Super Metroid: Expert Edition. Only change from Expert Edition is Ridley having a ton more health, but it doesn't change the difficulty of the fight. Just like Expert Edition was just a lazy editing of some numbers, and nothing more, this one is just as lazy. Take vanilla Super Metroid, edit some enemy stats, and call it a rom hack? Blah!
Super Metroid: Golden Dawn by Black Telomeres [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 20, 2024 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 20, 2024 ( )
80% in 4:20
Let me get something out of the way right now: I unironically really like this hack. Before I elaborate, let me go over what I didn't like:
- The gunship being the only save in the game, I admit, really sucks. I do understand that implementing save points was a difficult thing to do in hacks back then. But there are hacks, like Redesign, that was able to pull it off just fine. It could just be me, but I wondered if asked for help in something like this, someone maybe could have given some pointers or something.
THAT being said, the hack maker does give the player their blessing to use savesates (oh I'll get to that). Sadly, those who want to play this on console, aren't afforded the luxury. Also, while I do say it sucks, it does, however, add to the high stakes/high reward aspect of the game, where one has to make a choice as to whether or not to save, to preserve the items they got, or to keep going to avoid the trek all the way back to the ship. Of course, dying means losing any progress you've made since saving at the Landing Site, so the player MUST take stock in their situation, and decide accordingly whether they're confident they'll survive going further.
- Mother Brain... I really really hate that the area where Mother Brain is encountered uses the Red Tower music, because this results in a VERY high chance the game crashes upon beating MB1. I've tried just about every emulator, and the issue is the same. I hear even console has this issue, but don't quote me on that one.
I never had to use savestates during the course of my playthrough, as the game can be conquered without it, but this is the first non-TAS-only hack (so far), where I was hard-forced to use a savestate, or reset to have to trek ALL the way back to Mother Brain from the gunship. I've lost count the number of times I reloaded the state, but if you take the time it takes to reach Mother Brain from the gunship, and multiply that by the number of times I've reloaded the state, it would mean literal hours of grinding and grinding, and beating MB1 over and over, until the game accidentally works. For the sake of my sanity, the playthrough, and my stream/viewers, I had no alternative but to rely on savestates, and pretend I just reached Mother Brain from the ship that many times.
- I understand there are items super-well hidden, not unlike what is seen in Impossible. I am not a fan of items like that, as A, the X-Ray Scope couldn't even reveal or hint at them, making the player none the wiser, and B, it forces the player to have to look in an editor to see that the items are there. Specifically, a Missile pickup in the big room before Grappling Beam, and a Power Bomb in the big green room leading to Kraid.
Everything else was pretty much fine. Some of the obstacles were pretty cheap in its difficulty, but nothing too overtly troll, as far as I can tell. The Speed Booster escape was absolute hell, but to the maker's credit, the player can literally see the room's layout before getting Speed Booster, and try to plan accordingly. Some other weird changes include enemies, like Mocktroids and Cacatacs being immune to Grappling Beam for some reason, etc.
The path forward is FAR linear than Super Metroid: Dependence, for better or worse. Some may like that, some won't. I'm mostly indifferent, and if nothing else, it makes it more fun to try and figure out ways to sequence break wherever possible (there are VERY few opportunities for sequence breaks, as far as I can tell). Still, the progression was interesting, and the challenge was genuinely fun for me.
The Tourian(?) escape sequence was definitely something. I won't spoil anything, but it was tough, and in some cases, a bit annoying. I liked it more than I was annoyed with it, so it's a net positive overall. My only complaint is that the timer breaks in the middle of the escape, and it never fixes itself. I get why it does that, and I don't know if there's any way for anyone to fix the issue. Otherwise, I liked it. What I didn't like is that there are no animals to save; I really like trying to save the animals, whenever I'm able. Unless they can be saved, and I never knew?
Also, let me talk about the look. I'll be the odd bitch out and say that I do like the aesthetics. Granted, the really green room in Crateria (when you know, you know) was... really green, but everything else was fine. Norfair, Brinstar, Wrecked Ship, and Ceres-style rooms were left mostly unchanged aesthetically. However, the Sky Temple, with the really bright yellow, and lime green bricks, was quite the cool thing, in my opinion.
Yeah, the Sky Temple visuals can certainly blind a player, especially when they've been so used to the dark, dank environments of everywhere else, but I really like how unique it was compared to other hacks I've seen; we've seen a million red Craterias/sky backgrounds, but how many hacks have a background that literally lives up to the hack's name?
So why am I giving it a 3, instead of a 4, or 5/5? Well, the lack of saves do hurt it, but not as much as one may think. Like, yeah, it sucks, but it can be a non-issue if the player uses savestates, or in the case of myself and some others, have the necessary skill to persevere using ONLY the gunship as the save point. Still, it's something that I take into consideration, given the difficulty of some sections, and having too much path between you and the ship.
The other issue, which is the biggest downside for me, is the Mother Brain crash. I hate using savestates, unless it's hard-required, like the original Kaizo. So having to be effectively forced to have to use it at MB1 just felt really wrong to me. It also makes one wonder if this game was ever playtested up to that point, either by Black Telomeres themselves, or someone else. If so, they may have reached MB1, got lucky that the game didn't crash the first encounter, and thought, "Yeah, it's good to go."
If anyone, even if it's Black Telomeres themselves, ever decide to go back to this hack, and update it with a little polish in the same way Digital_Mantra did with Cliffhanger Redux, that would be pretty awesome. Even if the choice to have no saves outside of gunship is kept, just fixing the Mother Brain crash issue will definitely shoot this hack to a 4/5 for me. Maybe even a 5/5, just for the ambition, the aesthetics, and the fact that not one bit of this hack has anything vanilla as far as room/map layout is concerned.
- The gunship being the only save in the game, I admit, really sucks. I do understand that implementing save points was a difficult thing to do in hacks back then. But there are hacks, like Redesign, that was able to pull it off just fine. It could just be me, but I wondered if asked for help in something like this, someone maybe could have given some pointers or something.
THAT being said, the hack maker does give the player their blessing to use savesates (oh I'll get to that). Sadly, those who want to play this on console, aren't afforded the luxury. Also, while I do say it sucks, it does, however, add to the high stakes/high reward aspect of the game, where one has to make a choice as to whether or not to save, to preserve the items they got, or to keep going to avoid the trek all the way back to the ship. Of course, dying means losing any progress you've made since saving at the Landing Site, so the player MUST take stock in their situation, and decide accordingly whether they're confident they'll survive going further.
- Mother Brain... I really really hate that the area where Mother Brain is encountered uses the Red Tower music, because this results in a VERY high chance the game crashes upon beating MB1. I've tried just about every emulator, and the issue is the same. I hear even console has this issue, but don't quote me on that one.
I never had to use savestates during the course of my playthrough, as the game can be conquered without it, but this is the first non-TAS-only hack (so far), where I was hard-forced to use a savestate, or reset to have to trek ALL the way back to Mother Brain from the gunship. I've lost count the number of times I reloaded the state, but if you take the time it takes to reach Mother Brain from the gunship, and multiply that by the number of times I've reloaded the state, it would mean literal hours of grinding and grinding, and beating MB1 over and over, until the game accidentally works. For the sake of my sanity, the playthrough, and my stream/viewers, I had no alternative but to rely on savestates, and pretend I just reached Mother Brain from the ship that many times.
- I understand there are items super-well hidden, not unlike what is seen in Impossible. I am not a fan of items like that, as A, the X-Ray Scope couldn't even reveal or hint at them, making the player none the wiser, and B, it forces the player to have to look in an editor to see that the items are there. Specifically, a Missile pickup in the big room before Grappling Beam, and a Power Bomb in the big green room leading to Kraid.
Everything else was pretty much fine. Some of the obstacles were pretty cheap in its difficulty, but nothing too overtly troll, as far as I can tell. The Speed Booster escape was absolute hell, but to the maker's credit, the player can literally see the room's layout before getting Speed Booster, and try to plan accordingly. Some other weird changes include enemies, like Mocktroids and Cacatacs being immune to Grappling Beam for some reason, etc.
The path forward is FAR linear than Super Metroid: Dependence, for better or worse. Some may like that, some won't. I'm mostly indifferent, and if nothing else, it makes it more fun to try and figure out ways to sequence break wherever possible (there are VERY few opportunities for sequence breaks, as far as I can tell). Still, the progression was interesting, and the challenge was genuinely fun for me.
The Tourian(?) escape sequence was definitely something. I won't spoil anything, but it was tough, and in some cases, a bit annoying. I liked it more than I was annoyed with it, so it's a net positive overall. My only complaint is that the timer breaks in the middle of the escape, and it never fixes itself. I get why it does that, and I don't know if there's any way for anyone to fix the issue. Otherwise, I liked it. What I didn't like is that there are no animals to save; I really like trying to save the animals, whenever I'm able. Unless they can be saved, and I never knew?
Also, let me talk about the look. I'll be the odd bitch out and say that I do like the aesthetics. Granted, the really green room in Crateria (when you know, you know) was... really green, but everything else was fine. Norfair, Brinstar, Wrecked Ship, and Ceres-style rooms were left mostly unchanged aesthetically. However, the Sky Temple, with the really bright yellow, and lime green bricks, was quite the cool thing, in my opinion.
Yeah, the Sky Temple visuals can certainly blind a player, especially when they've been so used to the dark, dank environments of everywhere else, but I really like how unique it was compared to other hacks I've seen; we've seen a million red Craterias/sky backgrounds, but how many hacks have a background that literally lives up to the hack's name?
So why am I giving it a 3, instead of a 4, or 5/5? Well, the lack of saves do hurt it, but not as much as one may think. Like, yeah, it sucks, but it can be a non-issue if the player uses savestates, or in the case of myself and some others, have the necessary skill to persevere using ONLY the gunship as the save point. Still, it's something that I take into consideration, given the difficulty of some sections, and having too much path between you and the ship.
The other issue, which is the biggest downside for me, is the Mother Brain crash. I hate using savestates, unless it's hard-required, like the original Kaizo. So having to be effectively forced to have to use it at MB1 just felt really wrong to me. It also makes one wonder if this game was ever playtested up to that point, either by Black Telomeres themselves, or someone else. If so, they may have reached MB1, got lucky that the game didn't crash the first encounter, and thought, "Yeah, it's good to go."
If anyone, even if it's Black Telomeres themselves, ever decide to go back to this hack, and update it with a little polish in the same way Digital_Mantra did with Cliffhanger Redux, that would be pretty awesome. Even if the choice to have no saves outside of gunship is kept, just fixing the Mother Brain crash issue will definitely shoot this hack to a 4/5 for me. Maybe even a 5/5, just for the ambition, the aesthetics, and the fact that not one bit of this hack has anything vanilla as far as room/map layout is concerned.
As of writing this, this is personally, by far, the worst rom hack I've played on this site. This is because of two factors: The beginning, and the end.
- The start of the game is incredibly badly designed. Midair morphing to avoid spikes that one can hit because of luck (oscillating hitboxes, or whatever it's called) means you will die more times because of the unlucky roll of the RNG dice. After one gets past that, there's a gauntlet of crumble block jumps, followed by 1-tile blocks that have hidden conveyers on top. For me to realistically get through it, I was forced to wall jump off the sides of each platform, and even that didn't guarantee anything, as the nature of the conveyer means you could be pushed a little farther from the platform to wall jump off of it.
If that weren't bad enough, you are given an E-Tank with which to run through Speed Booster Hall. It's mostly vanilla, save for the red door requiring 1 Missile (it'd be impossible to survive otherwise, I'd guess). The next room is a gauntlet where one must navigate a "maze" in Morph Ball form, and by the time you reach this, you have too little health to survive a hit. This maze also include falling down into gaps, and god help you if the oscillating frames decide to give you a dick through no fault of your own. In several cases, an unmorph into remorph is required to get through this. That's to say nothing of the timed Bomb Jumps one must perform to cross one-tile gaps with spikes while in a 1-tile Morph tunnel.
If you managed to survive that, the next room has Speed Booster, and below that is a pit of spikes, and a 1-tile Morph tunnel one must carefully unmorph and remorph to enter, or face a death. Beyond that are Speed Blocks that lead back out into the Landing Site, AND THEN you're able to save. If this game threw in a save point somewhere before the room where Bombs are acquired, I'd have forgiven this game, and given it a 2/5.
- I mentioned the end. The escape is very trollish, but it's not the worst I've seen, and I could forgive even that, had it not been for Tourian Escape Room 4; There are Metroids (more on those later) that, while they can die to Hyper Beam, leave behind their shell sprites. This creates an issue with the sprite limit, between the explosion sprites in the room, and the Metroid shell sprites, this creates a chance that the game can crash upon loading the next room through no fault of the player.
This is clearly a hack that was not playtested by the maker, and I'm willing to bet they couldn't even beat their own game without savestates. No care was put into the balance of this game, and while some other games have very high difficulty, they were balanced out with either items, or well-placed save points, sometimes both. The only thing I can say I liked about the hack were the Metroids in Tourian; it made for a fun little "puzzle" of sorts, trying to figure out the best way to maneuver them, and take them out.
I'll likely play even worse hacks than this, I'm sure, but right now, this is the worst I've played thus far. I won't update this review to reflect the fact I happen to play something worse, but I will say this hack is a hard pass from me. If this site allowed a negative rating, I'd give this a -3/5. Hell, if we were allowed to give a 0/5, I'd do that too, but the lowest score I can give is a 1/5, and that is more than what this hack deserves.
- The start of the game is incredibly badly designed. Midair morphing to avoid spikes that one can hit because of luck (oscillating hitboxes, or whatever it's called) means you will die more times because of the unlucky roll of the RNG dice. After one gets past that, there's a gauntlet of crumble block jumps, followed by 1-tile blocks that have hidden conveyers on top. For me to realistically get through it, I was forced to wall jump off the sides of each platform, and even that didn't guarantee anything, as the nature of the conveyer means you could be pushed a little farther from the platform to wall jump off of it.
If that weren't bad enough, you are given an E-Tank with which to run through Speed Booster Hall. It's mostly vanilla, save for the red door requiring 1 Missile (it'd be impossible to survive otherwise, I'd guess). The next room is a gauntlet where one must navigate a "maze" in Morph Ball form, and by the time you reach this, you have too little health to survive a hit. This maze also include falling down into gaps, and god help you if the oscillating frames decide to give you a dick through no fault of your own. In several cases, an unmorph into remorph is required to get through this. That's to say nothing of the timed Bomb Jumps one must perform to cross one-tile gaps with spikes while in a 1-tile Morph tunnel.
If you managed to survive that, the next room has Speed Booster, and below that is a pit of spikes, and a 1-tile Morph tunnel one must carefully unmorph and remorph to enter, or face a death. Beyond that are Speed Blocks that lead back out into the Landing Site, AND THEN you're able to save. If this game threw in a save point somewhere before the room where Bombs are acquired, I'd have forgiven this game, and given it a 2/5.
- I mentioned the end. The escape is very trollish, but it's not the worst I've seen, and I could forgive even that, had it not been for Tourian Escape Room 4; There are Metroids (more on those later) that, while they can die to Hyper Beam, leave behind their shell sprites. This creates an issue with the sprite limit, between the explosion sprites in the room, and the Metroid shell sprites, this creates a chance that the game can crash upon loading the next room through no fault of the player.
This is clearly a hack that was not playtested by the maker, and I'm willing to bet they couldn't even beat their own game without savestates. No care was put into the balance of this game, and while some other games have very high difficulty, they were balanced out with either items, or well-placed save points, sometimes both. The only thing I can say I liked about the hack were the Metroids in Tourian; it made for a fun little "puzzle" of sorts, trying to figure out the best way to maneuver them, and take them out.
I'll likely play even worse hacks than this, I'm sure, but right now, this is the worst I've played thus far. I won't update this review to reflect the fact I happen to play something worse, but I will say this hack is a hard pass from me. If this site allowed a negative rating, I'd give this a -3/5. Hell, if we were allowed to give a 0/5, I'd do that too, but the lowest score I can give is a 1/5, and that is more than what this hack deserves.
Super Metroid: Gravy by Cardweaver [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 23, 2024 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 23, 2024 ( )
84% in 4:50
I really hate this hack. The main issue lies in its routing. Everything is stupidly hidden from the player, forcing them to Bomb EVERYWHERE, or accidentally find a hidden Morph tunnel, or a hidden Grapple block.
Now, here's the thing: I could have truck with this if the X-Ray Scope was found reasonably early, as it does reveal pretty much all obtuse shit in this hack. The problem is that you need X-Ray Scope to find X-Ray Scope. By that, I mean the way to it is so cryptic and hidden, I challenge anyone who can find someone who managed to find it on their own without looking at a playthrough, or a level editor. I'll stake my life in such a person not existing.
I'll save you the trouble of shoving your thumb up your ass, trying to find it, and tell you here (so an obligatory spoiler warning): It is located in Mama Turtle's Room. The problem is that you need to find a super-hidden Morph tunnel under the ledge under the eastern door of Mt. Everest, of all the places to put that shit! No hint or clue, be it visual or anything telegraphs to the player that there's anything at all there. It isn't something you can Bomb either; it's a hidden Morph tunnel hidden within the rocky terrain, too high up, and in a spot that is largely unremarkable. LITERALLY NO ONE WILL THINK TO CHECK THERE!
Worst part is that the path forward, especially to Lower Norfair, is also as stupidly hidden as the X-Ray Scope, as there's a hidden Morph tunnel in Lava Dive that the player simply won't know to check at all, and only the X-Ray Scope can reveal it, hence the issue.
That's to say nothing of the door leading to Bowling Alley in West Ocean. It's a locked door with no hint as to how to open it. You MUST kill 15 enemies (the Zebs in the Zeb nest will count). Thing is, unless someone happen to need to do extensive energy/ammo farm, no one will know to do this; I had assumed I was missing some Boss or some other trigger to open the door.
Here's another thing: I am convinced the hack maker, and likely others beyond this, likely saw Impossible, and thought, "Wow, I want to make a hack like that!" without actually knowing what made Impossible work. Yeah, Super Metroid Impossible had an awful lot of cryptic and obtuse item locations, and X-Ray Scope is literally impossible for anyone to find on their own, even by accident. But the thing is, all of those super-obscure, super-hidden items are not needed; they're optional, and the path forward is also transparent to the player. You can get the items that are easy enough to see and acquire, and while it's the bare minimum, it's still all you need to beat the game's challenges.
This hack (and likely others I'll be playing) completely misses the point, and poorly emulates what made Impossible good. By hiding X-Ray Scope in such a way, that alone isn't an issue. What is an issue is hiding the path that progresses the game in such a way, it may as well require X-Ray Scope to find. Therein lies the egregious oversight presented here. This hack isn't without its cool ideas, but the frustrations of finding one's way to the end of the game is just too much for me to give this game anything higher than a 1/5, and I'm surprised I'm the only one (as of writing this) to give it this low a score.
Here's to hoping Cardweaver's other hacks are made better, and more transparent than this. I can handle hard games. I don't mind a challenge. But being super-cryptic in the same vein as something, like Shadowgate on the NES, or that one cryptic tornado puzzle in Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, does not a good game (much less a hack) make.
Now, here's the thing: I could have truck with this if the X-Ray Scope was found reasonably early, as it does reveal pretty much all obtuse shit in this hack. The problem is that you need X-Ray Scope to find X-Ray Scope. By that, I mean the way to it is so cryptic and hidden, I challenge anyone who can find someone who managed to find it on their own without looking at a playthrough, or a level editor. I'll stake my life in such a person not existing.
I'll save you the trouble of shoving your thumb up your ass, trying to find it, and tell you here (so an obligatory spoiler warning): It is located in Mama Turtle's Room. The problem is that you need to find a super-hidden Morph tunnel under the ledge under the eastern door of Mt. Everest, of all the places to put that shit! No hint or clue, be it visual or anything telegraphs to the player that there's anything at all there. It isn't something you can Bomb either; it's a hidden Morph tunnel hidden within the rocky terrain, too high up, and in a spot that is largely unremarkable. LITERALLY NO ONE WILL THINK TO CHECK THERE!
Worst part is that the path forward, especially to Lower Norfair, is also as stupidly hidden as the X-Ray Scope, as there's a hidden Morph tunnel in Lava Dive that the player simply won't know to check at all, and only the X-Ray Scope can reveal it, hence the issue.
That's to say nothing of the door leading to Bowling Alley in West Ocean. It's a locked door with no hint as to how to open it. You MUST kill 15 enemies (the Zebs in the Zeb nest will count). Thing is, unless someone happen to need to do extensive energy/ammo farm, no one will know to do this; I had assumed I was missing some Boss or some other trigger to open the door.
Here's another thing: I am convinced the hack maker, and likely others beyond this, likely saw Impossible, and thought, "Wow, I want to make a hack like that!" without actually knowing what made Impossible work. Yeah, Super Metroid Impossible had an awful lot of cryptic and obtuse item locations, and X-Ray Scope is literally impossible for anyone to find on their own, even by accident. But the thing is, all of those super-obscure, super-hidden items are not needed; they're optional, and the path forward is also transparent to the player. You can get the items that are easy enough to see and acquire, and while it's the bare minimum, it's still all you need to beat the game's challenges.
This hack (and likely others I'll be playing) completely misses the point, and poorly emulates what made Impossible good. By hiding X-Ray Scope in such a way, that alone isn't an issue. What is an issue is hiding the path that progresses the game in such a way, it may as well require X-Ray Scope to find. Therein lies the egregious oversight presented here. This hack isn't without its cool ideas, but the frustrations of finding one's way to the end of the game is just too much for me to give this game anything higher than a 1/5, and I'm surprised I'm the only one (as of writing this) to give it this low a score.
Here's to hoping Cardweaver's other hacks are made better, and more transparent than this. I can handle hard games. I don't mind a challenge. But being super-cryptic in the same vein as something, like Shadowgate on the NES, or that one cryptic tornado puzzle in Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, does not a good game (much less a hack) make.
The One Room Hack by Digital_Mantra [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 26, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 26, 2024 ( )
No completion stats.
Every hack maker has to start somewhere, and that start is always their first ever hack. Some hack makers debut with a hell of a strong start; others debut with a rough-as-hell game. Digital_Mantra needs no introduction to anyone who is in the Super Metroid rom hacking community, either as a creator, a player, or both, and has become one of the more respected high-tier makers around.
All that said, however, I'm going to review this hack fairly, and from what I've played here, yeah, it really does show that this was a first ever hack for a maker. As the name implies, it's exactly that: A One Room Hack, not unlike Landing Site Abuse. Like Landing Site Abuse, this hack has a lot of problems, and all of them stem from one main issue: A lack of transparency. Just like with other hacks before it, including Super Metroid: Gravy, and Super T-Metroid (to name a couple), this game's progression is incredibly cryptic, with zero hint as to how to progress. Worse still is the tired gimmick of having hidden Grapple blocks that even Bombs can't reveal.
Another issue, and probably the biggest, is a PLM issue involving the gates. It's never made clear to the player if the lack of function on the gate is supposed to be a feature or not, and yeah, it's actually a feature. The most egregious being required to open a hidden door behind a Gadora eye at the top part of the room. Only then will the upper-most gate be operational. I had thought I broke something in the game, and ended up restarting a fresh file multiple times, when it's the game gaslighting the shit out of me. I swear, makers have no idea how uncool that shit is.
The last issue I have is the lack of a clear win condition. The description doesn't mention anything of the sort, and you wouldn't really know where the end was, unless you found it by accident. Long story short: You must find a hidden map station that looks nothing like a map station, where you will see a message that essentially congratulates you, and that's it. That's the end of the game. Can't say it's the worst win condition, but it's still quite anticlimactic, but I'll get to the map thing in the next paragraph.
Let's talk about the things that are cool in this hack. It most certainly is not the challenge/obstacles, because they're too convoluted. The things I found cool were the aesthetics, and the message received when activating the map station. Those have since become staples of DMan's hacks. A signature, if you will. From the unique use of the Chozo assets, to the structure of the tiles. It screams Digital_Mantra. I do wonder if the lore presented in each of DMan's hacks ties in to one another, or if they're all standalone. Either way, it's those aspects that do make me appreciate, at the very least, that part.
Overall, though, I have to rate it as the game that it is, and the game that it is isn't good. A 1/5, which while unfortunate, given the hack maker, it is his first attempt at a hack. I reiterate: Not every artist's debut can come in strong, but it's still interesting to see the major difference in growth between DMan's first hack, and his later masterpieces, like Eris, or V I T A L I T Y.
But yeah, this hack sucks.
All that said, however, I'm going to review this hack fairly, and from what I've played here, yeah, it really does show that this was a first ever hack for a maker. As the name implies, it's exactly that: A One Room Hack, not unlike Landing Site Abuse. Like Landing Site Abuse, this hack has a lot of problems, and all of them stem from one main issue: A lack of transparency. Just like with other hacks before it, including Super Metroid: Gravy, and Super T-Metroid (to name a couple), this game's progression is incredibly cryptic, with zero hint as to how to progress. Worse still is the tired gimmick of having hidden Grapple blocks that even Bombs can't reveal.
Another issue, and probably the biggest, is a PLM issue involving the gates. It's never made clear to the player if the lack of function on the gate is supposed to be a feature or not, and yeah, it's actually a feature. The most egregious being required to open a hidden door behind a Gadora eye at the top part of the room. Only then will the upper-most gate be operational. I had thought I broke something in the game, and ended up restarting a fresh file multiple times, when it's the game gaslighting the shit out of me. I swear, makers have no idea how uncool that shit is.
The last issue I have is the lack of a clear win condition. The description doesn't mention anything of the sort, and you wouldn't really know where the end was, unless you found it by accident. Long story short: You must find a hidden map station that looks nothing like a map station, where you will see a message that essentially congratulates you, and that's it. That's the end of the game. Can't say it's the worst win condition, but it's still quite anticlimactic, but I'll get to the map thing in the next paragraph.
Let's talk about the things that are cool in this hack. It most certainly is not the challenge/obstacles, because they're too convoluted. The things I found cool were the aesthetics, and the message received when activating the map station. Those have since become staples of DMan's hacks. A signature, if you will. From the unique use of the Chozo assets, to the structure of the tiles. It screams Digital_Mantra. I do wonder if the lore presented in each of DMan's hacks ties in to one another, or if they're all standalone. Either way, it's those aspects that do make me appreciate, at the very least, that part.
Overall, though, I have to rate it as the game that it is, and the game that it is isn't good. A 1/5, which while unfortunate, given the hack maker, it is his first attempt at a hack. I reiterate: Not every artist's debut can come in strong, but it's still interesting to see the major difference in growth between DMan's first hack, and his later masterpieces, like Eris, or V I T A L I T Y.
But yeah, this hack sucks.
Super Metroid: Puddin by Cardweaver [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 31, 2024 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Mar 31, 2024 ( )
74% in 5:25
Fuck this hack! I'm moving on...
Super Metroid: Boss by Cardweaver [ Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 19, 2024 ( )
Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 19, 2024 ( )
48% in 0:18
It's a pretty standard Boss Rush. I like how certain rooms transition, and how the bosses are fought in accordance to their areas, and not really the order in which they're casually fought (with one little exception). The only sad thing is no animals to save. Other than that, it's better than some of the other Boss Rush hacks I've played so far, so it gets a 3/5.
Playground by Cardweaver [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 19, 2024 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 19, 2024 ( )
No completion stats.
My biggest issue with this hack is how stupidly obtuse progression is in the beginning. Everything else was actually fine. Between trying to find a stupidly hidden bomb block, to kagoing upward through a slope, which runs the risk of softlocking the player, this hack feels largely unpolished. Could've been worse; I've played worse.
Super Metroid: Glitchtroid by ducknerd [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 25, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 25, 2024 ( )
45% in 0:00
So, this is going to sound weird, but I'm giving this a 4/5, when everyone else gave it a 1. My reasons explained below:
First and foremost, you can tell this game was made to abuse savestate, for better or worse. Personally, I detest the use of savestate, and generally don't use it, even in hacks where the creator encourages it (like Super Metroid: Golden Dawn). However, with the lack of any real save points (save for one in Norfair), and two boss fights being unbelievably hard, this game forced me to go the savestate route. Normally, I'd resent it, if not for one thing: Preeeetty sure this hack was made with TAS in mind.
Now, the real issue I have with this hack, other than the lack of saves, forcing me to savestate (I really wouldn't have savestated if there were well-placed saves), is the abundance of softlock chances. And I don't mean locking to the point of reloading your save and trying again, but literally 2-3 moments in this hack can make it so the player has to restart the whole thing from the very beginning if they lock their whole save due to weird-ass routing. Ordinarily, that'd take a point off, but again, pretty sure this game was made for TAS (we'll get to that).
I was able to beat the game, albeit with savestates. The only times I really needed to load the state aggressively was during the fight with Bomb Torizo, Draygon, the path toward the Varia Suit, and a few other spots that was deemed rather difficult, and needed a savestate for safety, or else lose a ton of progress. I would love to see someone attempt to beat this without savestating at all. I imagine it'd be a hell of an endeavor, with just Bomb Torizo alone, much less Draygon.
I enjoyed some of the puzzles the hack actually has. However, another issue I have with the hack is that there isn't much in the way of required glitches as the hack's name would imply. X-Ray climb, Gate Glitch, and... That's pretty much all I can remember, as far as actual glitches go. Everything else are merely just tricks that, in many cases, are dev intended (well, maybe not short-charged speed boosts). All the same, was still fun. It's a shame there's no proper ending; once you reach the Red Tower elevator, and go up it, the game crashes, and that is actually intended to be how the game actually ends, so no Zebes-shattering kaboom.
As for the TAS, Sapphron did share a link to a TAS that SMFTP made, which showcases how the game was meant to look when played and beaten, and that is where the hack shines the most, as it was made specifically for that, or so I'm sure. It makes for an entertaining-as-hell watch, and while there are no moonfalls (probably was made before its discovery), it still looks cool everywhere else. The link to the TAS video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTmDUDRtlto
First and foremost, you can tell this game was made to abuse savestate, for better or worse. Personally, I detest the use of savestate, and generally don't use it, even in hacks where the creator encourages it (like Super Metroid: Golden Dawn). However, with the lack of any real save points (save for one in Norfair), and two boss fights being unbelievably hard, this game forced me to go the savestate route. Normally, I'd resent it, if not for one thing: Preeeetty sure this hack was made with TAS in mind.
Now, the real issue I have with this hack, other than the lack of saves, forcing me to savestate (I really wouldn't have savestated if there were well-placed saves), is the abundance of softlock chances. And I don't mean locking to the point of reloading your save and trying again, but literally 2-3 moments in this hack can make it so the player has to restart the whole thing from the very beginning if they lock their whole save due to weird-ass routing. Ordinarily, that'd take a point off, but again, pretty sure this game was made for TAS (we'll get to that).
I was able to beat the game, albeit with savestates. The only times I really needed to load the state aggressively was during the fight with Bomb Torizo, Draygon, the path toward the Varia Suit, and a few other spots that was deemed rather difficult, and needed a savestate for safety, or else lose a ton of progress. I would love to see someone attempt to beat this without savestating at all. I imagine it'd be a hell of an endeavor, with just Bomb Torizo alone, much less Draygon.
I enjoyed some of the puzzles the hack actually has. However, another issue I have with the hack is that there isn't much in the way of required glitches as the hack's name would imply. X-Ray climb, Gate Glitch, and... That's pretty much all I can remember, as far as actual glitches go. Everything else are merely just tricks that, in many cases, are dev intended (well, maybe not short-charged speed boosts). All the same, was still fun. It's a shame there's no proper ending; once you reach the Red Tower elevator, and go up it, the game crashes, and that is actually intended to be how the game actually ends, so no Zebes-shattering kaboom.
As for the TAS, Sapphron did share a link to a TAS that SMFTP made, which showcases how the game was meant to look when played and beaten, and that is where the hack shines the most, as it was made specifically for that, or so I'm sure. It makes for an entertaining-as-hell watch, and while there are no moonfalls (probably was made before its discovery), it still looks cool everywhere else. The link to the TAS video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTmDUDRtlto
This is one of the worst hacks so far, and given some of the obtuse exploration hacks I've played, that says a lot. First off, no saves. I can have truck with that, except the bosses have been buffed to hell, which is also not that big of an issue, were it not for the fact that (save for Kraid and Gold Torizo), all boss rooms have been altered to be as unfair as possible. The hack maker has the gall to suck their own dong and say "unless you're the boss fight expert". You goddamn right I am; I could beat these bosses just fine, even with buffs, but you throw in obstacles that do nothing but aggravate the player, it literally forces the player to - at the very least - save state before a fight, which is dogshit design. Throw a save point for god's sake; I would've never resorted to save states otherwise.
For context, Spore Spawn has low-level water with 60-damage spikes on the side of the room. Crocomire has crumble blocks, though the lava has been replaced with water, in the only act of mercy. Phantoon has two small-ass platforms on which to stand to avoid the lava below, with (what I'm guessing are) 60-damage spikes in the top corners of the ceiling. Botwoon has spikes in all four corners of the room, meaning no safe spot on which to stand, so you are literally at the mercy of RNG. Draygon has one turret that is indestructible, but if you're used to suitless Draygon fights, you'll be mostly okay. And all of this is done without a Varia Suit.
Worst of all is if someone had it in them to actually play through this and go the distance without save states, and to actually gain the favor of RNGesus, it will all be for nothing, because after the battle with Gold Torizo, the player is put in a glitchy mess of a room that cannot be progressed further, effectively ending the playthrough. It should be a hard requirement for hack makers to get playtests and opinions from other members before uploading a thing! Blah!
Frustration aside, a hack like this makes me petition for reviews to allow for a 0/5. In fact, I challenge the hack maker, Bolognab (if they're even still around) to beat their own hack without save states. If they can do this live, I will personally give them $100. I could not recommend this game less.
For context, Spore Spawn has low-level water with 60-damage spikes on the side of the room. Crocomire has crumble blocks, though the lava has been replaced with water, in the only act of mercy. Phantoon has two small-ass platforms on which to stand to avoid the lava below, with (what I'm guessing are) 60-damage spikes in the top corners of the ceiling. Botwoon has spikes in all four corners of the room, meaning no safe spot on which to stand, so you are literally at the mercy of RNG. Draygon has one turret that is indestructible, but if you're used to suitless Draygon fights, you'll be mostly okay. And all of this is done without a Varia Suit.
Worst of all is if someone had it in them to actually play through this and go the distance without save states, and to actually gain the favor of RNGesus, it will all be for nothing, because after the battle with Gold Torizo, the player is put in a glitchy mess of a room that cannot be progressed further, effectively ending the playthrough. It should be a hard requirement for hack makers to get playtests and opinions from other members before uploading a thing! Blah!
Frustration aside, a hack like this makes me petition for reviews to allow for a 0/5. In fact, I challenge the hack maker, Bolognab (if they're even still around) to beat their own hack without save states. If they can do this live, I will personally give them $100. I could not recommend this game less.
So, I can respect the idea behind the concept, but it falls flat with how unintuitive the controls really are. Despite the hack's name, I felt like I had less control, but maybe it's just my muscle memory being so ingrained to vanilla Super Metroid, that this kept throwing me off, especially when wanting to aim diagonal-downward. The removal of moonwalk is also an unneeded choice. I understand the motive, but don't agree with the method. The removal of downbacking is also unnecessary, unless that's just a byproduct of the control change.
I will say this: This has a ton of opportunity for a TASer to do things with this hack that cannot be done in vanilla, though the lack of moonfalling and downback will hurt it some. But that's all it's got. The least this hack could have done is have a different map to utilize the different controls, but it's still just vanilla Super Metroid at the end of the day. I can only recommend this as a play-around, just to see the gimmick of the different controls, but that's it.
I will say this: This has a ton of opportunity for a TASer to do things with this hack that cannot be done in vanilla, though the lack of moonfalling and downback will hurt it some. But that's all it's got. The least this hack could have done is have a different map to utilize the different controls, but it's still just vanilla Super Metroid at the end of the day. I can only recommend this as a play-around, just to see the gimmick of the different controls, but that's it.
Not a fan of the high Redesign-like gravity, but it's mostly harmless. It's short, but the biggest issue with the hack is the same MB1 crash issue that plagued Super Metroid: Golden Dawn, as well as a stupid hidden path in Green Hill Zone during the escape that leads to the Speed Booster needed to proceed. Outside of that, it was really underwhelming.
Super Metroid: Rush by Dark_Echoes [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2024 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2024 ( )
26% in 0:18
I have nothing to really say. Just another boss rush with nothing unique to offer to it. It isn't stupid, unlike Warfare, so it gets a 2/5, at the very least. No animals to save, sadly.
MockingBird Station by Xaggoth [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 15, 2024 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 15, 2024 ( )
42% in 4:53
This hack is awful. The idea is neat on paper, but the execution is absolute trash. For starters, no saves. Like, did ya'll really have some misplaced sense of pride in the late 2000s that ya'll couldn't ask others for help in that regard, or help those who didn't know how to? If Redesign could do it, I know save points could've been implemented. I'll likely see more and more of these issues with these 2000s hacks. Another issue is how obtuse this game's progression is; too many hidden blocks that lead to progression, and even the X-Ray Scope won't guarantee you'll find the path forward. Also, the red herring that is the yellow doors; this hack has no Power Bombs, so I'm saving whoever is reading this the trouble of looking for or expecting a way into yellow doors. There is no way in them, and are there purely to point at, and laugh at the player, like a dumbass.
I could forgive all of that had it not been for two things: The godawful Phantoon fight, and what comes after. I am 100% convinced Xaggoth cannot beat Phantoon without save states (I did it save stateless), until proven otherwise. Between the room layout being a goddamn Morph maze, and Phantoon being vulnerable ONLY to Bombs, there clearly was zero thought put into the fight. No sense of balance, reason, or even vision. "Oh, Impossible made a really hard Draygon fight. I'm going to make a hard Phantoon fight!" Yeah, guess what, you failed at realizing what makes a hard boss fight good; this was just a bad fucking fight!
Then there's the issue that follows the Phantoon fight. Be sure to backtrack allllll the way back to your ship to save, because the path forward from Phantoon is a room with three Metal Pirates that crashes the game due to some issue with the audio. Either retry over and over again, loading your game every time, until you get lucky, or middle finger the hack's design and save state in front of the room's door, brute forcing reloads until the sound stops having a fuckin' seizure! God help those who decide not to save after Phantoon, or else they'll have to refight him after the game crashes. Oh, and the location of the Gravity Suit was a dick move. I had to look at Dragon's playthrough to find it, and I wasn't even looking for Gravity at the time; I assumed it was locked behind Phantoon.
Shit design, shit philosophy, shit execution, shit game. This game sucks, and the hack maker should not be proud of this.
I could forgive all of that had it not been for two things: The godawful Phantoon fight, and what comes after. I am 100% convinced Xaggoth cannot beat Phantoon without save states (I did it save stateless), until proven otherwise. Between the room layout being a goddamn Morph maze, and Phantoon being vulnerable ONLY to Bombs, there clearly was zero thought put into the fight. No sense of balance, reason, or even vision. "Oh, Impossible made a really hard Draygon fight. I'm going to make a hard Phantoon fight!" Yeah, guess what, you failed at realizing what makes a hard boss fight good; this was just a bad fucking fight!
Then there's the issue that follows the Phantoon fight. Be sure to backtrack allllll the way back to your ship to save, because the path forward from Phantoon is a room with three Metal Pirates that crashes the game due to some issue with the audio. Either retry over and over again, loading your game every time, until you get lucky, or middle finger the hack's design and save state in front of the room's door, brute forcing reloads until the sound stops having a fuckin' seizure! God help those who decide not to save after Phantoon, or else they'll have to refight him after the game crashes. Oh, and the location of the Gravity Suit was a dick move. I had to look at Dragon's playthrough to find it, and I wasn't even looking for Gravity at the time; I assumed it was locked behind Phantoon.
Shit design, shit philosophy, shit execution, shit game. This game sucks, and the hack maker should not be proud of this.
I was expecting yet another lazy half-hack, since that was all the rage in the previous years. Instead, what we have here is an interesting rerouting of the vanilla map, albeit with some tweaks to accommodate it. Essentially, the route is supposed to be RDPK, though the order isn't strict (I beat Phantoon last), which gives the player freedom to sequence break here and there. Some thought was also put into some of the rooms, to ensure the player doesn't accidentally softlock.
That said, there are two instances of where the player can potentially softlock, and that is Old Mother Brain Room, where the Power Bomb block going down into the item location reforms. Of course, the odds of locking down there is incredibly low, but not zero. Also, the Bomb Torizo being immune to all but Missiles and Super Missiles, meaning if you decapitate it, and you happen to run out of ammo, there's no way to beat it, forcing a death/reset.
Enemies have been changed to accommodate the routing as well, so places that normally have giant Desgeegas will have the normal-sized ones, etc. The bosses have also been tweaked as well, with Kraid having really fat-fat HP (probably the same as vanilla Ridley), while Ridley's health is rather low, to emphasize his first-bossness.
All in all, a neat hack, and a nice change from some other half-hacks. It's still a half-hack all the same, so it gets a 3.5, but because I'm rounding up, it gets a 4/5.
That said, there are two instances of where the player can potentially softlock, and that is Old Mother Brain Room, where the Power Bomb block going down into the item location reforms. Of course, the odds of locking down there is incredibly low, but not zero. Also, the Bomb Torizo being immune to all but Missiles and Super Missiles, meaning if you decapitate it, and you happen to run out of ammo, there's no way to beat it, forcing a death/reset.
Enemies have been changed to accommodate the routing as well, so places that normally have giant Desgeegas will have the normal-sized ones, etc. The bosses have also been tweaked as well, with Kraid having really fat-fat HP (probably the same as vanilla Ridley), while Ridley's health is rather low, to emphasize his first-bossness.
All in all, a neat hack, and a nice change from some other half-hacks. It's still a half-hack all the same, so it gets a 3.5, but because I'm rounding up, it gets a 4/5.
Ridley's Challenge by squishy_ichigo [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 14, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 14, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Honestly, I didn't mind the overall design of the hack. It's one of those usual old one-room challenge hacks. There were a few parts of it that are easily cheesed, though I'm guessing this was made before said cheese strats were developed/known at the time.
What makes me give this a 1/5 rating, however, is the Ridley fight itself. Making the whole main platform into crumble blocks, forcing the player to dodge Ridley, while trying to avoid falling in acid does not make a good challenge; it's just made to frustrate. I don't recommend this hack.
What makes me give this a 1/5 rating, however, is the Ridley fight itself. Making the whole main platform into crumble blocks, forcing the player to dodge Ridley, while trying to avoid falling in acid does not make a good challenge; it's just made to frustrate. I don't recommend this hack.
Not the biggest fan of this hack. The concept isn't bad, but the execution is. The blind jumps downward really hurts, as the player isn't given time to react fast enough, resulting in a room reset. The final stretch is especially bad with this. Also, there are a few points where a softlock can occur, which is just unpleasant.
Super Metroid: Containment by reaper901 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 14, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 14, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
The tiling is interesting, and the area that was modified was neat. After Crocomire, however, it becomes vanilla Super Metroid the rest of the way... sort of. Any attempts to reach Crateria either ends in a softlock, or going back to the starting area of the hack, as the beginning rooms are just Crateria and Brinstar rooms, just modified. You can beat Ridley and Draygon, but that's as far as you'll get. There is no proper end to this hack.
One would assume by this time, people would have been done with these uninspired, troll-sih 1-room hacks, yet here we are with this shit-tastic hack. Obtuse progression, and death traps everywhere. I could forgive most of it if the items didn't perma-despawn upon death, like it did in Super Metroid: Confinement. While save states aren't exactly a must, it will save you the trouble of having to erase your save and start over from scratch after every death. This hack is just crap.
Super Metroid: A More Different Zebes by Xaggoth [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 14, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 14, 2025 ( )
69% in 2:33
An interesting concept. Honestly, my mistake was not fully reading the description of how the hack works; I chose a route that ensures there were no Power Bombs, which was something that confused me. It did make for interesting routing throughout, but my biggest issue with the hack is that there's nothing that tells the player that Tourian becomes accessible the moment they acquire Speed Booster and Grappling Beam, with no particular need to beat the G4 bosses. This left me scratching my head, turning what should have been an hour or so hack into a 2 1/2 hour (over 5 hours real time) playthrough of aimless wandering, and looking for what amounted to nothing significant. Good attempt overall, but the the fact that the player wouldn't know that Tourian is technically just open, unless they make a habit of visiting G4 the first chance they get, kinda hurts it enough for me to give a 2/5.
Super Metroid: Soup by Cardweaver [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 21, 2025 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 21, 2025 ( )
69% in 3:49
This was an interesting hack, and probably my favorite of the Cardweaver hacks. There are some questionable design choices, like filling Ridley's room to the top with acid (although reducing Ridley's health to compensate helps), but I kinda liked the routing and some of the layout changes to what would have otherwise been just another half hack. It does nothing stellar by any means, but I did like the challenge. Certainly no Impossible or the like, but definitely NOT for the casual. I may be giving it a higher rating than it deserves, but given some of the other crap I've played from 2008, this was certainly a fresh step up by comparison.
Super Metroid: Shadow by Acheron [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 21, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 21, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Only good thing I will say is that some of the tile sets look neat. Otherwise, there's really no way to progress further beyond Brinstar. Even after using Action Replay codes to give myself infinite health and blue suit to explore beyond what I could, it amounted to not an awful lot. It's unfinished, and unpolished. Had some potential, but it's just another incomplete abandoned hack.
This is just Hangtime, but with better tile sets, some new tricks added, and a custom power up. Not that I got to see any of that, seeing as I accidentally found myself out of bounds, and ended up inadvertently beating the game in short time. Still, not my personal cup of tea, but can see the appeal of it.
I could have forgiven this hack, honestly, had it not been for the godawful placement of Bombs in the upper-right room, next to the Landing Site. Outside of that, the rest of the hack is pretty generic overall; we've seen boss rush-style hacks like this before.
So the biggest problem with this hack that I personally have is the lack of save points. I don't know if it was because Digital_Mantra didn't know how to implement them at the time or not, but having the player rely on save states isn't a very fun way to go. Either that, or someone can painfully grind for over 30 hours just to say "Yeah, I beat this save state-less." If one was going to go the way of Golden Dawn, and make a hack without save points, it'd be better to just balance the difficulty, so that the player has plenty of opportunities to go back to the ship and save whenever they can. The first trip to Norfair to get Speed Booster, as well as the first rodeo through Wrecked Ship are especially egregious in this regard. If a hack has to encourage the use of save states, I feel it's the failure of the hack more than that of the player. But that's what the Redux version of Cliffhanger is for (Oh, I'll get to that at a future time).
That said, onto the actual challenge of the hack. One problem with the hack is not exactly knowing where to go or what to do. In the beginning, the path is rather linear, but after Wrecked Ship, everything starts to get confusing. The path forward isn't made obvious to the player, and would have the player ask "Am I even supposed to be here without x item?" Because of this, I felt I had to punch holes through as much of the hack as I could to force a way forward by way of glitches, like gate glitching for X-Ray Scope, or using said X-Ray to cheese for early Varia Suit. This is clearly a hack that almost requires you to take notes of areas you've seen, so you know to go back to them when you think you have the necessary things to get through.
Enemies were weird. For the most part, many remain unchanged, but the Reos were given steroids, and WILL one-shot, unless you have enough health, and they themselves can take a ton of punishment. The Bulls were also heavily buffed, requiring multiple Super Missiles to fell, and God help those who think they can easily kill them with Grappling Beam.
So all the shit I've been saying about this hack, is there anything about it I actually liked? Well, yes. Some of the obstacles and challenges were genuinely fun, but without save points, failing a single one means having to do a tedious-as-hell trek from your ship all the way back to the obstacle. All things considered, there is fun to be had here, and the effort in making a creative, yet hard hack is there. But if you want to play this without the frustration of no saves, or don't want to use save states, just play Cliffhanger Redux.
That said, onto the actual challenge of the hack. One problem with the hack is not exactly knowing where to go or what to do. In the beginning, the path is rather linear, but after Wrecked Ship, everything starts to get confusing. The path forward isn't made obvious to the player, and would have the player ask "Am I even supposed to be here without x item?" Because of this, I felt I had to punch holes through as much of the hack as I could to force a way forward by way of glitches, like gate glitching for X-Ray Scope, or using said X-Ray to cheese for early Varia Suit. This is clearly a hack that almost requires you to take notes of areas you've seen, so you know to go back to them when you think you have the necessary things to get through.
Enemies were weird. For the most part, many remain unchanged, but the Reos were given steroids, and WILL one-shot, unless you have enough health, and they themselves can take a ton of punishment. The Bulls were also heavily buffed, requiring multiple Super Missiles to fell, and God help those who think they can easily kill them with Grappling Beam.
So all the shit I've been saying about this hack, is there anything about it I actually liked? Well, yes. Some of the obstacles and challenges were genuinely fun, but without save points, failing a single one means having to do a tedious-as-hell trek from your ship all the way back to the obstacle. All things considered, there is fun to be had here, and the effort in making a creative, yet hard hack is there. But if you want to play this without the frustration of no saves, or don't want to use save states, just play Cliffhanger Redux.
This hack was actually pretty neat. What I will say is an issue, personally, is the location of the Varia Suit; no one is going to know to look for it under the Ridley's room Gadora. Other than that, I liked the routing, though I admit, I did cheese the hell out of the game by way of clipping into Etecoons, for early Power Bombs, allowing me items, and a route that would have not been possible otherwise, and allowing me to beat the bosses out of order, with Draygon, Phantoon, Kraid, and then Ridley.
The bosses were fine, for the most part. While Phantoon's body does one-shot the player, smart movement will make it trivial, especially with the very early Screw Attack that's acquired. Kraid's room, however, was a pain in the ass. Not only does Kraid, and the spinning claws one-shot, but all walls and platforms are spike tiles, forcing the player to stay airborne, turning the fight into a damage race. At least Kraid's health isn't buffed heavily, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
All in all, I had fun with this.
The bosses were fine, for the most part. While Phantoon's body does one-shot the player, smart movement will make it trivial, especially with the very early Screw Attack that's acquired. Kraid's room, however, was a pain in the ass. Not only does Kraid, and the spinning claws one-shot, but all walls and platforms are spike tiles, forcing the player to stay airborne, turning the fight into a damage race. At least Kraid's health isn't buffed heavily, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
All in all, I had fun with this.
Super Metroid: Derprevation by Super_Metroid_1990 [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 27, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 27, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
The hack is incomplete, and you can't even progress much either, due to the game crashing upon entering some doors. Wrecked Ship is inaccessible, so you wouldn't be able to beat the game anyway, unless you X-Ray Climb up G4 into Tourian, but who would wanna spend the time doing that? Everything beyond Crateria is vanilla, save for some rooms and item placements (some rooms have no items at all, for example). Only reason I give it a 2/5 is because of the look of Crateria. It showed potential for what could have been, but that's it.
I've noticed a trend with some of these 2008 rom hacks; many of the hack makers wanted to be the next Saturn, and make the next Super Metroid Impossible. What many fail to understand, however, is what made Impossible work. This hack is no exception. Let me preface this by saying that Super Metroid Impossible had its fair share of obtuse bullshit, even in the form of how to progress, and people playing that hack now will know where to go because we have the benefit of seeing people, like Zoast and Oatsngoats speedrun it. That said, this hack tries hard to be that, but fails in several ways.
First of all, the progression. While at the start of the hack, progression seems fine, it is when you get to Norfair where problems begin to arise. Barely enough E-Tanks/Reserves to hell run into Bubble Mountain casually speaking (I'll elaborate more on that later). The fact that you have to kill all enemies in Cathedral Entrance to open the metal door, then leave to save and health grind, then to do the same thing for Cathedral is dumb as hell, given the energy the player would likely have.
On the issue of E-Tanks. I understand that hell runs are a part of the game's progression, and therefor, so too is collecting enough E-Tanks to survive said hell runs. However, one egregious example of hiding that progression behind something so obtuse is the Taco Tank in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room. It isn't obvious to the player that there is a fake Morph tunnel through which the player can proceed to collect it. Bombs can't reveal it, and the player isn't given the X-Ray Scope until endgame. If you're going to make any hack, hard or not, it is never okay to hide the path forward in such a dick way. When the player has to look at another player's playthrough (like how I skimmed EternisedDragon's playthrough to find out how to get Taco Tank and even Ice Beam), or look at a hack through SMILE to know where shit is, or where to go next, it serves as an example of the failure of the hack. I could forgive this if the hack hid non-essential items in obtuse ways, because those are always optional. But items that are necessary to beat the game? There's "Impossible", and then there's being a Super Mario Maker 2-level of amateurish design meant for the frustration of the player, and nothing more. This hack really teeters between that boundary.
I had to find ways to cheese the hell out of the game, and I spent hours to do it. From Moondancing into Etecoons, to bullshitting my way into Mama Turtle for early Power Bombs that I never knew were there. This hack compelled me to break the rules of the intended routing, in an attempt to even the playing field. Where is the fun in that? ... Well, okay, there was some fun and satisfaction to be had when I break the game and find alternate means to beat it, but I shouldn't have to resort to that.
Was there anything I liked about this hack? Well, yes, there are quite a few things I did like. Barring the confusing part of progression, I did enjoy much of the challenge of the hack, and respect the routing the hack maker was going for. When all the necessary items are acquired, the obstacles serve as a pure skill and knowledge check of the player, like pausing at 0 health to manually fill from Reserves to survive intentional acid baths, etc. The bosses are... pretty much unchanged from the first RBO, save for Phantoon, whose room is now more narrower, increasing the risk of its body hitting the player, even WITH Screw Attack. But they were interesting enough for me to revel in the challenge, though I think you may have overdone it with Kraid and Phantoon's health buff a bit; they wore out their welcome after a while.
Overall, while I'm not a fan of this particular attempt at a challenge hack for the issues I mentioned, I didn't outright hate it, or think the hack is pure trash overall. It just could have been better executed in its balancing.
First of all, the progression. While at the start of the hack, progression seems fine, it is when you get to Norfair where problems begin to arise. Barely enough E-Tanks/Reserves to hell run into Bubble Mountain casually speaking (I'll elaborate more on that later). The fact that you have to kill all enemies in Cathedral Entrance to open the metal door, then leave to save and health grind, then to do the same thing for Cathedral is dumb as hell, given the energy the player would likely have.
On the issue of E-Tanks. I understand that hell runs are a part of the game's progression, and therefor, so too is collecting enough E-Tanks to survive said hell runs. However, one egregious example of hiding that progression behind something so obtuse is the Taco Tank in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room. It isn't obvious to the player that there is a fake Morph tunnel through which the player can proceed to collect it. Bombs can't reveal it, and the player isn't given the X-Ray Scope until endgame. If you're going to make any hack, hard or not, it is never okay to hide the path forward in such a dick way. When the player has to look at another player's playthrough (like how I skimmed EternisedDragon's playthrough to find out how to get Taco Tank and even Ice Beam), or look at a hack through SMILE to know where shit is, or where to go next, it serves as an example of the failure of the hack. I could forgive this if the hack hid non-essential items in obtuse ways, because those are always optional. But items that are necessary to beat the game? There's "Impossible", and then there's being a Super Mario Maker 2-level of amateurish design meant for the frustration of the player, and nothing more. This hack really teeters between that boundary.
I had to find ways to cheese the hell out of the game, and I spent hours to do it. From Moondancing into Etecoons, to bullshitting my way into Mama Turtle for early Power Bombs that I never knew were there. This hack compelled me to break the rules of the intended routing, in an attempt to even the playing field. Where is the fun in that? ... Well, okay, there was some fun and satisfaction to be had when I break the game and find alternate means to beat it, but I shouldn't have to resort to that.
Was there anything I liked about this hack? Well, yes, there are quite a few things I did like. Barring the confusing part of progression, I did enjoy much of the challenge of the hack, and respect the routing the hack maker was going for. When all the necessary items are acquired, the obstacles serve as a pure skill and knowledge check of the player, like pausing at 0 health to manually fill from Reserves to survive intentional acid baths, etc. The bosses are... pretty much unchanged from the first RBO, save for Phantoon, whose room is now more narrower, increasing the risk of its body hitting the player, even WITH Screw Attack. But they were interesting enough for me to revel in the challenge, though I think you may have overdone it with Kraid and Phantoon's health buff a bit; they wore out their welcome after a while.
Overall, while I'm not a fan of this particular attempt at a challenge hack for the issues I mentioned, I didn't outright hate it, or think the hack is pure trash overall. It just could have been better executed in its balancing.
Super Metroid: Training Camp by RealRed [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
There isn't much to this hack. Go to the room to the right after collecting Morph, and you'll find a room with nearly every item in the game. The Landing Site acts as a sort of "playground" to just do things. There are indestructible Chozo Orbs laid throughout the area, so my guess is the player challenges themselves to reach each orb, just to say they could. There are better ways to make a training hack, I would think, but for what this is, and what it does, it's passable.
To be fair to this hack, the description gives you exactly what you would expect. Crateria is an assault on the eyes, and everything else is just... vanilla. Well, except about 2% of Tourian. I still found this hack very amusing, from respawning items, to Missile packs that gives over 1200 missiles, to some E-Tanks giving enough health for even casual Super Metroid players to successfully hell run Upper Norfair. I don't recommend this hack, but I didn't hate it either.
P.S. My percentage given is just made up, because of the weird Missile pickups, my in-game percentage read "AJ99%".
P.S. My percentage given is just made up, because of the weird Missile pickups, my in-game percentage read "AJ99%".
Super Metroid: Training by Bioniclegenius [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 28, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Not a fan of this hack, mostly because of the water Morph tunnel maze to the left of Landing Site that can softlock a player. Not much in the way of obstacles to really "train" or practice. Super Metroid: Training Camp did it better.
Another lazy attempt at a "Hard Mode" hack of vanilla Super Metroid by way of increasing enemy damage, and decreasing ammo yields from item pickups. I thought romhacking would've moved past this type of junk after 2005. Don't waste your time with this.
So there are some issues I have with this hack. Most of them more or less mirror my gripes with RBO Impossible. That said, I didn't hate this quite as much as I did its predecessor. In fact, I kinda liked my experience with this hack for some part. Enough to give a 3/5 instead of a 1 or 2. However, I must be realistic and say that aside from some of the obtuse shit as far as progression goes, the fact that I had to resort to cheesing this hack harder than I have any other hack shows that playing this hack as intended wouldn't have been a lot of fun. My fun derived in the way I could dissect this game as much as I could, and being rewarded for it.
Case in point, GT Code. It is usually a last resort-type of thing for anyone to wanna do, but for me, I just didn't want to deal with the bullshit that Lower Norfair had to offer. It trivialized much of the rest of the hack, and I didn't care. The true challenge of this hack, however, even in spite of the GT Code, are some of the interestingly coded enemies, which I'll elaborate in the next paragraph...
There are several enemies in this game that are coded to insta-kill Samus upon being hit. Beetoms are a popular choice in this. However, the hack goes one step further than this; any type of damage inflicted to said enemies, whether a beam shot, a Missile shot, or even Bombs will instantly kill Samus, forcing the player to have to avoid all interactions with the enemies. There are also some surprising choices of enemies for whom this code was implemented. Aside from the aforementioned Beetoms, the other enemies that will insta-kill Samus when hit by them, or when damaging them ("damaging" being the loose term, as these enemies are functionally immortal) include the green sparks in Wrecked Ship, Kraid's flying claws (have fun with that one), and egregious still, Rinkas in Tourian, making it especially tricky. One would think it'd make the experience super-frustrating, and yes, they certainly can, but I also had fun trying to find a way to weave around them to avoid them.
Kraid pretty much hard-requires Screw Attack, which can be acquired fairly early. I had the misfortune of doing the GT Code after having already collected Screw, so I was forced to Spacetime Beam, resetting the game state, and playing from the beginning, just to reacquire the Screw Attack. I don't fault the game for that in this regard, as GT Coding was purely my decision.
Still had to throw a few save states here and there to cut down on the tedium of hiking it back through a really easy obstacle, like going from Forgotten Highway Save Room to Phantoon via Wrecked Ship's back door; it's not hard, but is annoying to have to do that after every failure, so I save stated at Phantoon's door, because I'm only gonna be back there easily anyway. That's just one such example.
Let's talk about the Tourian escape. That one caught me off guard. Changing the pirates vulnerability to Missiles and Bombs only was... a choice. You're given 10 minutes, and thankfully, that was more than enough, as I had a couple of minutes to spare, even after saving the animals. Not exactly my cup of tea for a Tourian escape, but I have seen worse.
I enjoyed the routing, and the freedom I had to just play surgeon with the hack, but like RBO Impossible, it could have been very much executed better. If I hadn't had as much fun experimenting with the hack, I probably would have given this a 2/5 instead. Again, this is a hack that will more than likely require a SMILE program to see where to go or what to do. I only figured things out on my own because of the lessons learned from RBO Impossible.
Case in point, GT Code. It is usually a last resort-type of thing for anyone to wanna do, but for me, I just didn't want to deal with the bullshit that Lower Norfair had to offer. It trivialized much of the rest of the hack, and I didn't care. The true challenge of this hack, however, even in spite of the GT Code, are some of the interestingly coded enemies, which I'll elaborate in the next paragraph...
There are several enemies in this game that are coded to insta-kill Samus upon being hit. Beetoms are a popular choice in this. However, the hack goes one step further than this; any type of damage inflicted to said enemies, whether a beam shot, a Missile shot, or even Bombs will instantly kill Samus, forcing the player to have to avoid all interactions with the enemies. There are also some surprising choices of enemies for whom this code was implemented. Aside from the aforementioned Beetoms, the other enemies that will insta-kill Samus when hit by them, or when damaging them ("damaging" being the loose term, as these enemies are functionally immortal) include the green sparks in Wrecked Ship, Kraid's flying claws (have fun with that one), and egregious still, Rinkas in Tourian, making it especially tricky. One would think it'd make the experience super-frustrating, and yes, they certainly can, but I also had fun trying to find a way to weave around them to avoid them.
Kraid pretty much hard-requires Screw Attack, which can be acquired fairly early. I had the misfortune of doing the GT Code after having already collected Screw, so I was forced to Spacetime Beam, resetting the game state, and playing from the beginning, just to reacquire the Screw Attack. I don't fault the game for that in this regard, as GT Coding was purely my decision.
Still had to throw a few save states here and there to cut down on the tedium of hiking it back through a really easy obstacle, like going from Forgotten Highway Save Room to Phantoon via Wrecked Ship's back door; it's not hard, but is annoying to have to do that after every failure, so I save stated at Phantoon's door, because I'm only gonna be back there easily anyway. That's just one such example.
Let's talk about the Tourian escape. That one caught me off guard. Changing the pirates vulnerability to Missiles and Bombs only was... a choice. You're given 10 minutes, and thankfully, that was more than enough, as I had a couple of minutes to spare, even after saving the animals. Not exactly my cup of tea for a Tourian escape, but I have seen worse.
I enjoyed the routing, and the freedom I had to just play surgeon with the hack, but like RBO Impossible, it could have been very much executed better. If I hadn't had as much fun experimenting with the hack, I probably would have given this a 2/5 instead. Again, this is a hack that will more than likely require a SMILE program to see where to go or what to do. I only figured things out on my own because of the lessons learned from RBO Impossible.
I kinda liked this hack. Another half-hack, so nothing too special, but the routing is different enough to not be boring. There is an obviously intended route, where you're meant to go through Lower Norfair, and weather some acid baths with Varia, but with some cheese strats, I was able to cheese my way to Gravity Suit, which made my trek through Lower Norfair a cake walk. I think that's why I liked the hack, because I was able to break it in half with my current skill set, and ignore the established path. Some rooms had lava added to them, which can catch some players off guard, but other than those differences here and there, there's nothing too special about this.
Let me start off by saying I was only able to beat this by using the Action Replay code that allows for the player to walk through walls. It was how I was able to enter Lower Norfair through the back door, to beat Ridley, and continue onto Tourian. Had X-Ray Scope existed in this hack, I could have used G-Mode to enter the back door, but that clearly wasn't possible.
As for the hack itself, it's a weirdly-made half-hack. It has some things in it, like death traps, and weird door warps that attempts to live up to its odd namesake, but not enough of it to really impress. Amusing at times, but that's it. Lower Norfair is impossible to do. The only direction one can go in Main Hall is to the right, and the Fast Pillars Setup Room is completely broken. You can get softlocked in the room itself. If you can manage to find your way into the non-solid parts of that room, the only way out is through a loading zone that gets you stuck in Main Hall's upper-right wall, above the door. Even if you found a way through to the left of Main Hall, and into Gold Torizo, going past the Fast Ripper Room will take you back into the broken mess of Fast Pillars Setup Room, where there's no way to progress, making the hack functionally unbeatable.
A real shame, too, because there are changes in enough of the Lower Norfair rooms, and even Tourian to suggest the hack maker maybe intended for the hack to be beatable, but overlooked some broken code or something. There's really not much else to say about it. I didn't hate what I got to play legitimately. Hated that I hard-required Action Replay codes to beat it.
As for the hack itself, it's a weirdly-made half-hack. It has some things in it, like death traps, and weird door warps that attempts to live up to its odd namesake, but not enough of it to really impress. Amusing at times, but that's it. Lower Norfair is impossible to do. The only direction one can go in Main Hall is to the right, and the Fast Pillars Setup Room is completely broken. You can get softlocked in the room itself. If you can manage to find your way into the non-solid parts of that room, the only way out is through a loading zone that gets you stuck in Main Hall's upper-right wall, above the door. Even if you found a way through to the left of Main Hall, and into Gold Torizo, going past the Fast Ripper Room will take you back into the broken mess of Fast Pillars Setup Room, where there's no way to progress, making the hack functionally unbeatable.
A real shame, too, because there are changes in enough of the Lower Norfair rooms, and even Tourian to suggest the hack maker maybe intended for the hack to be beatable, but overlooked some broken code or something. There's really not much else to say about it. I didn't hate what I got to play legitimately. Hated that I hard-required Action Replay codes to beat it.
Super Metroid Revolution EX by RealRed [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 30, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 30, 2025 ( )
71% in 3:50
This hack pissed me off something fierce. The routing, the obstacles, and just about everything about it is... fine, for the most part, with a few obtuse progression points here and there. However, there is one thing that pissed me off about this hack. The whole "You might even have to reset the game..." portion of the description. First of all, no one remembers descriptions of rom hacks. Secondly, there is absolutely NOTHING in game that hints to needing to reset (spoiler ahead).
For context, there is a very specific save point near where you find a room with the Tourian Sand Torizo. That save room is very unremarkable, and not much special or different than other save rooms, save for being a bit smaller than your average save room. In it is an Energy Tank, and nothing else. I had to sequence break to acquire X-Ray Scope, and X-Ray revealed nothing in that room, so it would stand to reason that one would think there's nothing there, especially with a lack of any kind of in-game map system.
What the player is supposed to do is save at that save point, and then immediately reset the game. Loading the save file will bring the player to that same save room, but in a different state, revealing a Morph tunnel that leads to progression, and ultimately the Gravity Suit. This has got to be the most obtuse and cryptic way to implement such progression in any rom hack I have ever played by far. There is zero reason to think, even with the subtle hint in the description, that the player will know to do this, much less at THAT specific save point. It is awful, and I only knew of it because I had to watch Dragon's playthrough of it.
The only way any player would progress from there is by sheer accident, either dying after saving there, or turning the game off after saving in that room, with the intention of returning to continue the game. There is another hack that does this, but does this the right way, and it's a well known hack known as V I T A L I T Y, by Digital_Mantra. Without spoiling too much, there is a save point at which the player is expected to save, just to fall into a death trap, and by the time they realize it's too late, they're already dead, forcing them to load their save, and continue the narrative in that manner.
This hack does not do this. They don't force the player to have to reload their save after saving there. The player is free to leave and explore some more, and presumably save at other save points, negating the purpose of the E-Tank Save Room. I can say with confidence that I would never have figured that out myself, even by accident, and would stand to reason that other people would have the same issue I did.
Another issue are the pirates. I get what they were going for, but making the Pirates weakness specific single beams is just tedious, having to pause to unequip and re-equip beams to deal with them. I do appreciate the color coding of said pirates, indicating their weakness, but it could have been implemented better. The rest of the hack is just okay. The rooms are just rehashes of vanilla rooms, just moved around, and rearranged. The visuals are decent, and the rest of the progression is also fine. The escape sequence is definitely dickish, but can be managed a second rodeo, if the first attempt is a failure. Overall, this hack was just tiring. It felt okay until the save point issue, and even then, between the tedium of the backtracking, beam switching for pirates, and visual fatigue (a lot of the visuals weren't really that... great), this ended up being a hack with neat ideas, but with mediocre execution.
For context, there is a very specific save point near where you find a room with the Tourian Sand Torizo. That save room is very unremarkable, and not much special or different than other save rooms, save for being a bit smaller than your average save room. In it is an Energy Tank, and nothing else. I had to sequence break to acquire X-Ray Scope, and X-Ray revealed nothing in that room, so it would stand to reason that one would think there's nothing there, especially with a lack of any kind of in-game map system.
What the player is supposed to do is save at that save point, and then immediately reset the game. Loading the save file will bring the player to that same save room, but in a different state, revealing a Morph tunnel that leads to progression, and ultimately the Gravity Suit. This has got to be the most obtuse and cryptic way to implement such progression in any rom hack I have ever played by far. There is zero reason to think, even with the subtle hint in the description, that the player will know to do this, much less at THAT specific save point. It is awful, and I only knew of it because I had to watch Dragon's playthrough of it.
The only way any player would progress from there is by sheer accident, either dying after saving there, or turning the game off after saving in that room, with the intention of returning to continue the game. There is another hack that does this, but does this the right way, and it's a well known hack known as V I T A L I T Y, by Digital_Mantra. Without spoiling too much, there is a save point at which the player is expected to save, just to fall into a death trap, and by the time they realize it's too late, they're already dead, forcing them to load their save, and continue the narrative in that manner.
This hack does not do this. They don't force the player to have to reload their save after saving there. The player is free to leave and explore some more, and presumably save at other save points, negating the purpose of the E-Tank Save Room. I can say with confidence that I would never have figured that out myself, even by accident, and would stand to reason that other people would have the same issue I did.
Another issue are the pirates. I get what they were going for, but making the Pirates weakness specific single beams is just tedious, having to pause to unequip and re-equip beams to deal with them. I do appreciate the color coding of said pirates, indicating their weakness, but it could have been implemented better. The rest of the hack is just okay. The rooms are just rehashes of vanilla rooms, just moved around, and rearranged. The visuals are decent, and the rest of the progression is also fine. The escape sequence is definitely dickish, but can be managed a second rodeo, if the first attempt is a failure. Overall, this hack was just tiring. It felt okay until the save point issue, and even then, between the tedium of the backtracking, beam switching for pirates, and visual fatigue (a lot of the visuals weren't really that... great), this ended up being a hack with neat ideas, but with mediocre execution.
Super Metroid: Zeon by TheBigM [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 30, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack cannot be beaten, because there is no G4 or Tourian. Not unless you maybe use an Action Replay code that allows you to choose Tourian as your loading point, but this hack isn't worth that effort. It's too broken with softlocks/crash opportunities. Some rooms crash the game upon loading, like Crocomire Escape, for example. Kraid's room is especially bad, as there is no collision on the ground where the spikes are located, nor any collision on the platforms above during the second phase, causing the player to fall out of bounds. The ship at Landing Site is a dangerous save point, as loading a save at that point causes the player to load inside a wall somewhere, effectively locking that save, and forcing the player to have to start the game over from the beginning. The pallet is nauseating, and the overall quality, or lack thereof suggests the hack maker tried... something at the start, and just gave up partway through. Don't waste your time with this.
I hated this hack. There are too many tedious sections, especially The Climb Room section. One would think there'd be a shortcut to Blue Brinstar from Crateria, but no, you have to go through the spike gauntlet every single time. That's just the least of this hack's issues. I understand the hack is called "Precision", but it really gets out of hand with that idea in many places. The most egregious for me being the stupidly-precise wall jump into Warehouse Entrance; I would have less of an issue with it if the water didn't bob up and down, like the asshole design choice it was, but the player has to time their jump with that water, and pray they get that timing EXACT. If they're off by a frame or a few, they fail the jump, because the water prevents a wall jump. I've spent what felt like 30+ minutes on that alone; it was such a brain-numbing grind to get seemingly lucky.
Saying the hack isn't as hard as the name suggests is misleading as hell, especially with the actual contents of the hack. I swear, unlike what the description reads, some parts felt like a short charge was absolutely necessary to get through. Most notably, Red Tower. Needing Power Bombs to blow away the PB blocks, and then to shine spark upwards, after doing a short charge. There's also a forced hell run through Cathedral that requires perfection in both execution, and RNG drops from enemies, or else the player gets fucked. I only got through that by cheesing for an extra E-Tank (more on that in a bit).
You're not offered as much freedom of exploration as the hack seems to lead on. Much of the exploration will just lead to dead ends locked by a yet-to-be-acquired item, or a Wrecked Ship robot head... which I guess is the same thing, honestly. After poking and prodding for some way to explore and acquire more items (especially E-Tanks), I was left with no choice but to cheese the game with an obscure trick that managed to reward me greatly (spoiler ahead).
Starting from Gauntlet Energy Tank Room, I acquired the Blue Suit and very carefully made my way to Morph Ball Room, where pink pirates await. These pirates are invulnerable to nearly everything the player has at this point, with the exception of Shinespark echoes. It was with careful positioning, I was able to kill all of the pirates, and open the way to Construction Zone. From there, I proceeded right, and did a combination of careful wall jumps and bomb jumps into the room above the Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room. Dodged some unexpected Metroids, and was rewarded with, of all things, Ice Beam. It was with that Ice Beam, I was able to destroy the robot heads blocking various paths, and acquire some extra item pickups, including an E-Tank in particular that turned the Cathedral hell run into a barely more manageable mess of a trek.
Not long after, after having cheesed the game one more time by way of ice clipping past a crumble block in Bubble Mountain, I came across Gold Torizo. It was there, I had made up my mind, and thought the hack overstayed its welcome; I used the GT Code to give myself everything, barring Screw Attack. Of course, the rest of the hack became MUCH easier as a result, but I didn't care at that point. I was just mentally drained trying to find the way forward, and I knew what to do with the Wave Beam one would acquire after GT, but I didn't bother to see what was beyond Wrecked Ship's Attic; I just wanted the hack to end.
Varia Suit being found in Lower Norfair was a real dick move, given what the player would have had to do to get there without any suits, and Gravity Suit was no better, being at Mama Turtle's room. There were also a few softlocks in Lower Norfair, both of which I ended up suffering through no fault of my own. To add insult to it all, the Screw Attack, which you get after Ridley, is the Screw Attack you get from Temu, as many enemies are immune to it, many of whom shouldn't really be.
The escape sequence differs from vanilla, but because of The Climb being unclimbable, and the player needing to traverse the mazelike layout of Crateria Super Room (though there is a shortcut going upward only), and the two minutes afforded to the player, you're given not much time to actually escape, and the animals are functionally unable to be saved.
I could have forgiven much of this if the description went so far as to describe the fact that this is a challenge hack. Hell, even the difficulty category reads "Unknown", leaving the player out of the loop of what to expect despite the hack's description. Just another 2008 hack trying to be Saturn, trying to make the next Impossible. Guess what? You're not Saturn, and this isn't Super Metroid Impossible. I understand there is an "easy mode" version of this hack, which I haven't played, and refuse to play at this point, but when a hack needs an "easy mode" to offset the difficulty of its normal mode, there's a problem, unless the hack is advertised as one of those challenge hacks. RBO Impossible, and RBO Insane were stupid, yeah, but at least I had a semblance of an idea of what to expect. This one, not so much.
Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say on this.
Saying the hack isn't as hard as the name suggests is misleading as hell, especially with the actual contents of the hack. I swear, unlike what the description reads, some parts felt like a short charge was absolutely necessary to get through. Most notably, Red Tower. Needing Power Bombs to blow away the PB blocks, and then to shine spark upwards, after doing a short charge. There's also a forced hell run through Cathedral that requires perfection in both execution, and RNG drops from enemies, or else the player gets fucked. I only got through that by cheesing for an extra E-Tank (more on that in a bit).
You're not offered as much freedom of exploration as the hack seems to lead on. Much of the exploration will just lead to dead ends locked by a yet-to-be-acquired item, or a Wrecked Ship robot head... which I guess is the same thing, honestly. After poking and prodding for some way to explore and acquire more items (especially E-Tanks), I was left with no choice but to cheese the game with an obscure trick that managed to reward me greatly (spoiler ahead).
Starting from Gauntlet Energy Tank Room, I acquired the Blue Suit and very carefully made my way to Morph Ball Room, where pink pirates await. These pirates are invulnerable to nearly everything the player has at this point, with the exception of Shinespark echoes. It was with careful positioning, I was able to kill all of the pirates, and open the way to Construction Zone. From there, I proceeded right, and did a combination of careful wall jumps and bomb jumps into the room above the Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room. Dodged some unexpected Metroids, and was rewarded with, of all things, Ice Beam. It was with that Ice Beam, I was able to destroy the robot heads blocking various paths, and acquire some extra item pickups, including an E-Tank in particular that turned the Cathedral hell run into a barely more manageable mess of a trek.
Not long after, after having cheesed the game one more time by way of ice clipping past a crumble block in Bubble Mountain, I came across Gold Torizo. It was there, I had made up my mind, and thought the hack overstayed its welcome; I used the GT Code to give myself everything, barring Screw Attack. Of course, the rest of the hack became MUCH easier as a result, but I didn't care at that point. I was just mentally drained trying to find the way forward, and I knew what to do with the Wave Beam one would acquire after GT, but I didn't bother to see what was beyond Wrecked Ship's Attic; I just wanted the hack to end.
Varia Suit being found in Lower Norfair was a real dick move, given what the player would have had to do to get there without any suits, and Gravity Suit was no better, being at Mama Turtle's room. There were also a few softlocks in Lower Norfair, both of which I ended up suffering through no fault of my own. To add insult to it all, the Screw Attack, which you get after Ridley, is the Screw Attack you get from Temu, as many enemies are immune to it, many of whom shouldn't really be.
The escape sequence differs from vanilla, but because of The Climb being unclimbable, and the player needing to traverse the mazelike layout of Crateria Super Room (though there is a shortcut going upward only), and the two minutes afforded to the player, you're given not much time to actually escape, and the animals are functionally unable to be saved.
I could have forgiven much of this if the description went so far as to describe the fact that this is a challenge hack. Hell, even the difficulty category reads "Unknown", leaving the player out of the loop of what to expect despite the hack's description. Just another 2008 hack trying to be Saturn, trying to make the next Impossible. Guess what? You're not Saturn, and this isn't Super Metroid Impossible. I understand there is an "easy mode" version of this hack, which I haven't played, and refuse to play at this point, but when a hack needs an "easy mode" to offset the difficulty of its normal mode, there's a problem, unless the hack is advertised as one of those challenge hacks. RBO Impossible, and RBO Insane were stupid, yeah, but at least I had a semblance of an idea of what to expect. This one, not so much.
Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say on this.
This is the equivalent to one of those mazes on the back of those IHOP kids menus that comes with cheap crayons for your 5-year-old nephew to finish. That is to say, it's extremely short, with no substance. The background color was nice, at least.
Legend of Doom by devonodev [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 30, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Apr 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
A little better than devonodev's other hack, Maze, but not good enough to be anything special, or substantial. Didn't see any apparent way into Space Jump, so I didn't bother. This hack was just a nothing burger.
Super Metroid: Pantheon by squishy_ichigo [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 01, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 01, 2025 ( )
81% in 4:39
Compared to the last several hacks of 2008 here on MetroidConstruction, this was certainly a fresh step up. Let's go over what I didn't like, because there are only a few: The lack of save points was annoying. I get why the hack maker omitted them, but I feel with some time and patience, they could code the save points to be disabled during the escape sequence. Either that, or route the escape as to be linear, leading directly to the ship. Second thing is the lack of direction, which I'll elaborate, but also want to say that this is also a bit of why I liked the hack too.
This is probably one of the more open-ended hacks I've played. There's still restrictions on where one can go if lacking items, and so there is a route for progression, but given the freedom granted to the player from the start, you can either head west, as intended, or east, if you've the wall jumping skills (which isn't really hard at all). What you choose to do grants you items that changes the game's overall difficulty. After acquiring Speed Booster, a majority of the game is open for exploration, though much of that exploration may only yield minor items here and there.
The game is perhaps a bit too open, however. There is a possibility for a softlock in Maridia, if you either go the wrong way, or are unprepared. You also wouldn't be able to tell if you're supposed to be in Maridia, when in fact, you are supposed to progress through it. The item progression is a bit obtuse in that regard, but nothing too bad, especially if your skill set includes many tricks most Map Rando players would have at this point in time.
As with Golden Dawn, and Cliffhanger before it, the lack of a save means having to go all the way back to your ship whenever you want to save. And while the game isn't difficult by any real means, there are some sections that can warrant a player to backtrack to the ship, as to not lose any progression. It's this tedium that hurts the hack a bit, and even more so when there isn't much in the way of a shortcut between areas of the game. It makes progression feel much slower than it would otherwise.
The escape sequence is probably my favorite thing about the hack, honestly. It's the most open-ended escape I've seen, as you can pretty much go anywhere in the game, and route the escape however you want. It grants the player 15 minutes, which realistically, is WAY more than enough to escape, even with saving the animals. But that time does allow for any player of any skill to escape however they see fit. It was pretty amusing.
All in all, I liked this. Effort was clearly put into it, and that's something I can appreciate. The challenge was fair; slightly above casual, but not really hard either. It was the kind of exploration I've wanted after going through half of 2008's shit.
This is probably one of the more open-ended hacks I've played. There's still restrictions on where one can go if lacking items, and so there is a route for progression, but given the freedom granted to the player from the start, you can either head west, as intended, or east, if you've the wall jumping skills (which isn't really hard at all). What you choose to do grants you items that changes the game's overall difficulty. After acquiring Speed Booster, a majority of the game is open for exploration, though much of that exploration may only yield minor items here and there.
The game is perhaps a bit too open, however. There is a possibility for a softlock in Maridia, if you either go the wrong way, or are unprepared. You also wouldn't be able to tell if you're supposed to be in Maridia, when in fact, you are supposed to progress through it. The item progression is a bit obtuse in that regard, but nothing too bad, especially if your skill set includes many tricks most Map Rando players would have at this point in time.
As with Golden Dawn, and Cliffhanger before it, the lack of a save means having to go all the way back to your ship whenever you want to save. And while the game isn't difficult by any real means, there are some sections that can warrant a player to backtrack to the ship, as to not lose any progression. It's this tedium that hurts the hack a bit, and even more so when there isn't much in the way of a shortcut between areas of the game. It makes progression feel much slower than it would otherwise.
The escape sequence is probably my favorite thing about the hack, honestly. It's the most open-ended escape I've seen, as you can pretty much go anywhere in the game, and route the escape however you want. It grants the player 15 minutes, which realistically, is WAY more than enough to escape, even with saving the animals. But that time does allow for any player of any skill to escape however they see fit. It was pretty amusing.
All in all, I liked this. Effort was clearly put into it, and that's something I can appreciate. The challenge was fair; slightly above casual, but not really hard either. It was the kind of exploration I've wanted after going through half of 2008's shit.
Rainbow City by squishy_ichigo [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 01, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 01, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This was certainly a fun proof of concept. It's largely unfinished, sadly. Everything, minus items have been reskinned, and I find it very impressive the amount of work put into this hack for its time. A bit sad that the music wasn't altered, but given the date of this hack's creation, it was during a time when music mods was non-existent. There's only one boss, and that's Botwoon. I... don't think the player is ever given enough ammo to beat it, though. After using cheat codes for infinite ammo, blue suit, and walk through walls, I found there really isn't anything after Botwoon, so that's functionally where the hack ends.
A neat look at what could have been. A ton of ambition, but I think it was abandoned after burnout, which is fair. Still a cool hack, if only for the aesthetics.
A neat look at what could have been. A ton of ambition, but I think it was abandoned after burnout, which is fair. Still a cool hack, if only for the aesthetics.
Sigma Boss Rush by Silver_Skree [ Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 01, 2025 ( )
Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 01, 2025 ( )
33% in 2:09
This hack was okay. Definitely more effort than most other boss rush-style hacks. It's not without its issues, however. Finding the items needed to leave Landing Site was annoying, requiring the player to search every tile, or accidentally find them through luck. The progression felt a bit back-and-forth as well, but at least the world map isn't really huge to make that as tedious as it otherwise would have been.
I now understand why the description mentioned Phantoon the way it did; why in the hell would you buff Phantoon's health so much? Starts off red, and when you do enough damage to it, it underflows and changes to its normal color, before changing to red again. I was the victim of the sunken cost fallacy, and ended up taking almost an hour to beat Phantoon; I didn't get Plasma until after. The fact that Phantoon instantly vanishes after any hit ensures it cannot be dopplered, making the fight last MUCH longer than it should have.
The Tourian save point is broken. Saving, and then reloading the save will cause Samus to spawn in a strange-looking refill room that can softlock, if your initial movement isn't specific. At least any Metroids defeated remain so. Speaking of Tourian, the escape is dickish, in that you need to find an item mid-escape to progress, or die to the acid that rapidly fills the room. The 30-minute timer, honestly, felt like a joke, as you don't even need 5 minutes to escape.
There were a few other quirks with the hack here and there outside of that, but otherwise, this wasn't a bad experience. I liked it just fine.
I now understand why the description mentioned Phantoon the way it did; why in the hell would you buff Phantoon's health so much? Starts off red, and when you do enough damage to it, it underflows and changes to its normal color, before changing to red again. I was the victim of the sunken cost fallacy, and ended up taking almost an hour to beat Phantoon; I didn't get Plasma until after. The fact that Phantoon instantly vanishes after any hit ensures it cannot be dopplered, making the fight last MUCH longer than it should have.
The Tourian save point is broken. Saving, and then reloading the save will cause Samus to spawn in a strange-looking refill room that can softlock, if your initial movement isn't specific. At least any Metroids defeated remain so. Speaking of Tourian, the escape is dickish, in that you need to find an item mid-escape to progress, or die to the acid that rapidly fills the room. The 30-minute timer, honestly, felt like a joke, as you don't even need 5 minutes to escape.
There were a few other quirks with the hack here and there outside of that, but otherwise, this wasn't a bad experience. I liked it just fine.
Neat concept, but the game is just Vanilla, with Maridia drained, with some lava here and there, and Norfair flooded with water. Would've liked it more had they changed item order/routing. Getting Gravity early after Phantoon makes everything super-trivial. I did like the palettes at least.
I kinda liked this hack. I will say I'm not a fan of the wall jumps being modified to instantly break spin, making continuous wall jumps impossible. The routing was pretty interesting, but not a fan of where Gravity Suit was located, seeing as what was needed to reach it in the first place being a little outside-the-box to be able to navigate to it. The weird warp points for some of the doors were an interesting choice; not the biggest fan of it, but it's interesting all the same. Also, the modified Spring Ball was... really fun, and very overpowered when one knows how to fully utilize everything it can do. It's a shame it's acquired really late in the game, making its value diminished. A half-hack, sure, but it's changed enough for me to give it a 3/5.
For what it is, I liked the way it was executed. Better than other hacks with similar concepts. The fact that the player is given a choice between hell running and grabbing Varia to alter the challenge of the hack is nice, and the only real challenge to this is to test oneself, to see how fast one can beat it. Short, simple, and executed pretty well, especially for its time. The custom visuals are pretty cool too.
Avenger's Hack by Ult. Avenger [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Mediocre at best. There's really isn't any notable substance to it.
Avenger's Hack 2 by Ult. Avenger [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This was more of a challenge than Avenger's Hack, so I guess there's slightly more to this than its predecessor. Some confusing parts here and there, but is a really short hack all the same.
Super Metroid: Rebuild by Dark099 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
97% in 1:49
It was alright. The routing is nothing too special. Some rooms changed here and there, but is ultimately just another half-hack. Metroids in Maridia area was an interesting choice, as was placing Varia where Speed Booster normally is. Though, if you follow the general PRKD route, you'll get Gravity before that, making hell runs non-existent.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 2 by Dark099 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 05, 2025 ( )
68% in 1:36
Not much changed from the first Super Metroid: Rebuild. Some room layouts were changed, and some item placements were also changed, but overall, it's the same thing, mostly. I'd skip this one.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 3 by Dark099 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
93% in 2:33
Better than the second rodeo, but my biggest issue is with the routing a bit, especially Maridia. Gaining access to the Plasma Beam room requires a trek through the Forgotten Highway. The top door in Oasis is completely blocked off on both ends, making it tedious to have to go to and from Plasma Beam room via Forgotten Highway. Honestly, not much else to this hack, other than being like Rebuild 1 and 2, but with some different room layouts and routes, etc. It's worth a playthrough.
A couple of short obstacles in a one-room Landing Site hack. Not really worth the time.
Super Metroid: Few Room Hack by Shadow34370 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
A short hack with the objective being finding the next item, using the last item you collected. Shouldn't take too long to figure out where to go and what to do next, given there's only so many places one can check. The game is pretty much over after collecting X-Ray Scope, which serves no real purpose at that point in the hack.
Torture Hack by Ult. Avenger [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
There really wasn't anything in here that was torture. A seasoned player could get through this just fine. Also, the description lied; you start with a crap-ton of health, making this all the easier. You'll know when the hack ends, and its rather anticlimactic.
Speed Booster Practice by Ult. Avenger [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Not much here to practice. If you wanna practice anything Speed Booster-related, just play the Super Metroid Practice Rom.
Super Metroid: Hard Mode Gamma by reaper901 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 06, 2025 ( )
49% in 1:35
I'll pretty much parrot what Syphon stated: It's just another hard mode hack. It is a little better than other hard mode hack attempts by actually being hard mode in many aspects, but at the end of the day, if the player is a seasoned Super Metroid veteran, they can get through this hack just fine. 49% is the max percentage for item completion.
Super Metroid: Fear by MetroidMst [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 08, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 08, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
What little this hack had to show was creative visually, for sure. But to say it's unfinished is an understatement. The hack ends after, like 5 or six rooms. Any further exploration just softlocks in untouched vanilla rooms. It's 2025, so I doubt this hack will ever get finished.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 4 by Dark099 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 08, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 08, 2025 ( )
80% in 2:37
So while this one was certainly different than the other Rebuilds, by the time I got to Rebuild 4, the formula started to feel tired and boring. Still a half-hack, with nothing much to offer. And my god, why was Botwoon buffed so much? Same with Gold Torizo? They're not even hard fights, as their damage output remained unchanged; they just take long to kill, becoming tedious. Overall, the hack isn't terrible, but it ain't half-good neither. Wouldn't really recommend.
So, I understand this is called TAS Practice, and so human players shouldn't be playing this, but there could have been a better way to go about the room layout. I got as far as the first speed ball section, and then gave up, but not before seeing the next two obstacles, using cheat codes, and yeah, there's really no reason for this hack to be on the main site. I don't even know if this hack has a proper ending, and I didn't think it was worth the time cheating to even see that far into it. Don't bother with this hack, unless you know how to actually TAS. Even then, there are better hacks that you can practice on; this one isn't so much a practice than it is a TAS Exam.
Ridley's Revenge by Tyjet66 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 09, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 09, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Let me start off by saying that, as of writing this review, there is something wrong with the upload.
The unheadered patch is actually for the 2008 rom hack, Ridley's Challenge, by squishy_ichigo. The only patch that is available it the one for a headered rom. That out of the way, the hack itself was alright. There wasn't really much of a challenge to it; get one item to get the next item, and so on, until you have enough items to fight and beat Ridley. After Ridley, you come across a modified Ice Beam Gate Room with no functioning gates, and both doors looping to one another, effectively ending the hack. That said...
I was able to use the Walk Through Walls Action Replay code to make my way to the bottom portion of the room, and beyond that was... the rest of the game, but completely vanilla. So I did the only thing anyone would've done; I played through the rest of it, albeit as fast as I could, because it was just another vanilla Super Metroid, avoiding all instances of Crateria (when needed), and Lower Norfair, since Ridley was already beaten. Sadly, after Mother Brain, going up past The Climb and into the modified Parlor softlocks the game, making beating the game functionally impossible.
Still, had fun, albeit more with the stuff I wasn't supposed to do.
The unheadered patch is actually for the 2008 rom hack, Ridley's Challenge, by squishy_ichigo. The only patch that is available it the one for a headered rom. That out of the way, the hack itself was alright. There wasn't really much of a challenge to it; get one item to get the next item, and so on, until you have enough items to fight and beat Ridley. After Ridley, you come across a modified Ice Beam Gate Room with no functioning gates, and both doors looping to one another, effectively ending the hack. That said...
I was able to use the Walk Through Walls Action Replay code to make my way to the bottom portion of the room, and beyond that was... the rest of the game, but completely vanilla. So I did the only thing anyone would've done; I played through the rest of it, albeit as fast as I could, because it was just another vanilla Super Metroid, avoiding all instances of Crateria (when needed), and Lower Norfair, since Ridley was already beaten. Sadly, after Mother Brain, going up past The Climb and into the modified Parlor softlocks the game, making beating the game functionally impossible.
Still, had fun, albeit more with the stuff I wasn't supposed to do.
Volta is an unfortunate case in the fact that it has since been abandoned, and will likely never see a finished state. What we do have is a very intriguing rom hack with really nice visuals, and a nice progression flow. There are also places to explore beyond the surface level of what the hack offers, to give you a little extra game, but the sad part is that it eventually ends. No final boss fight, no ending sequence.
Some of the room layouts were definitely well thought out, and borrows a page from Redesign in making rooms function as backgrounds to other rooms, etc. Any doors you see that you cannot access are rooms that were never meant to be entered. After reaching the functional end of the hack, I used Walk Through Walls cheats to see where they lead, and for the most part, they lead to nowhere. I hear there is supposed to be a way to access Power Bombs, and then to Charge Beam, but I haven't been able to find that, and likely never will.
For what it has, this was a fun experience. My guess is that FirePhoenix burnt out after a while. I also got some insight that apparently, many of these old hacks were made by then teenager hack makers, some with high ambitions, and many would eventually abandon some of their hack ideas because real life happens, which is fair. Life and careers happen, and this is likely one of those hacks where real life had to come first, and what we have was what could have been.
Rambling aside, this gets a 4/5, because of the creativity behind it all. Will it ever get finished someday? I'm betting no. But this was certainly a showcase in the old days of what people could really do with rom hacking, even with whatever resources they had available.
Some of the room layouts were definitely well thought out, and borrows a page from Redesign in making rooms function as backgrounds to other rooms, etc. Any doors you see that you cannot access are rooms that were never meant to be entered. After reaching the functional end of the hack, I used Walk Through Walls cheats to see where they lead, and for the most part, they lead to nowhere. I hear there is supposed to be a way to access Power Bombs, and then to Charge Beam, but I haven't been able to find that, and likely never will.
For what it has, this was a fun experience. My guess is that FirePhoenix burnt out after a while. I also got some insight that apparently, many of these old hacks were made by then teenager hack makers, some with high ambitions, and many would eventually abandon some of their hack ideas because real life happens, which is fair. Life and careers happen, and this is likely one of those hacks where real life had to come first, and what we have was what could have been.
Rambling aside, this gets a 4/5, because of the creativity behind it all. Will it ever get finished someday? I'm betting no. But this was certainly a showcase in the old days of what people could really do with rom hacking, even with whatever resources they had available.
Not sure why the genre is labeled "Quick Play" when the hack is certainly longer than a quick play hack. Though I suppose, technically, depending on what you choose to do, it can be beaten quickly, which I'll go over in a bit.
First, what I didn't like: The physics. Just because an accidental quirk was found doesn't mean it'd make for a good gameplay concept. The weird gravity made the whole experience feel sluggish, boring, and tedious. The first set of crumble blocks you come across were annoying as all hell. I don't know if there was a dev-intended way to get past it, but I had to use weird jumping to get past them; mockball will not work. Finally, the Boost Ball. First of all, that item is hard as hell to figure out, and took me a while to realize how it's used. Secondly, the way to exit the room where you acquire the Boost Ball is way too obtuse and esoteric, that the player will either figure it out by accident through sheer luck, or assume they're softlocked and reset. It is a very awful design, and so too is the way in which you get into the room. A game like this begs for the player to have X-Ray Scope early in the hack, and they likely will never get it.
Everything else about the hack is... fine, for the most part. The visuals are rather nice, and it isn't a half-hack, like many other hacks in 2009. That said, I felt like I missed a ton, because I did beat the game what felt like much earlier than I thought I would have. Like I skipped out on over 60% of the game. And the thing is that I didn't do any sequence breaks or the like; I just played. The final boss is... weird. I get the gimmick, but Gold Torizo's health was buffed a little too much, to the point of the fight feeling like a slog. The escape sequence was interesting, but the inability to tell how much time the player has is a bummer.
Overall, an interesting concept bogged down by garbage physics, and obtuse paths. A shame, honestly.
First, what I didn't like: The physics. Just because an accidental quirk was found doesn't mean it'd make for a good gameplay concept. The weird gravity made the whole experience feel sluggish, boring, and tedious. The first set of crumble blocks you come across were annoying as all hell. I don't know if there was a dev-intended way to get past it, but I had to use weird jumping to get past them; mockball will not work. Finally, the Boost Ball. First of all, that item is hard as hell to figure out, and took me a while to realize how it's used. Secondly, the way to exit the room where you acquire the Boost Ball is way too obtuse and esoteric, that the player will either figure it out by accident through sheer luck, or assume they're softlocked and reset. It is a very awful design, and so too is the way in which you get into the room. A game like this begs for the player to have X-Ray Scope early in the hack, and they likely will never get it.
Everything else about the hack is... fine, for the most part. The visuals are rather nice, and it isn't a half-hack, like many other hacks in 2009. That said, I felt like I missed a ton, because I did beat the game what felt like much earlier than I thought I would have. Like I skipped out on over 60% of the game. And the thing is that I didn't do any sequence breaks or the like; I just played. The final boss is... weird. I get the gimmick, but Gold Torizo's health was buffed a little too much, to the point of the fight feeling like a slog. The escape sequence was interesting, but the inability to tell how much time the player has is a bummer.
Overall, an interesting concept bogged down by garbage physics, and obtuse paths. A shame, honestly.
Lunar Pull by Cardweaver [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 12, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 12, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
I would've given this a 3/5, but wanted to give this a 1/5. I felt generous and gave it a 2/5. My biggest issue with this? The wall jump out of the rising and descending water tide. The jump itself isn't what pissed me off, but the troll immediately afterward that causes Samus to fall through a 1-way platform, punishing the player for doing what the game asked. It has nothing to do with the theme of the hack, or its challenges, and was a sour spot of the game. Everything else was fine; as long as you understand how Super Metroid's water physics work, and you know how to play around it, this hack won't be too hard. Tricky, sure, but not hard.
This hack was kinda trash. Too much obtuse hidden paths in rooms that didn't need it. It necessitates the use of X-Ray Scope, which is always tedious. Placing the first intended Power Bombs in the first intended Super Missile room also sucks, because it relies on the player to remember to visit that room later to get it, or wander around aimlessly, wondering where to go. The Plasma Beam Room in Maridia is bad in particular, because one of the wall pirates on the right side of the room will vanish if it jumps from its position, so if you don't kill it before that happens, you never will be able to, softlocking Samus in the room, forcing a reset. You cannot save the animals during the escape, and the door from where you exit in Landing Site remains blue, allowing the player to re-enter, and presumably get into Parlor; doing so crashes the game mid-door transition.
I get it, this hack is made by someone when they were a noob, as the description reads, but did Crys really need to upload this to the main site? Whatever, the hack is pretty bad, but not the absolute worst I've played.
P.S. There are a couple of rooms where X-Ray Scope will crash the game. Big Pink in particular have an E-Tank that infinitely respawns. Same thing with Green Bubbles Missile Room, where entering the room will always produce a Missile pickup. Those can obviously be abused to the player's advantage.
I get it, this hack is made by someone when they were a noob, as the description reads, but did Crys really need to upload this to the main site? Whatever, the hack is pretty bad, but not the absolute worst I've played.
P.S. There are a couple of rooms where X-Ray Scope will crash the game. Big Pink in particular have an E-Tank that infinitely respawns. Same thing with Green Bubbles Missile Room, where entering the room will always produce a Missile pickup. Those can obviously be abused to the player's advantage.
This hack is dogshit, plain and simple. It isn't the face-value challenge, nor the increased gravity. It isn't even the shitty softlock potential during the escape sequence. It's the betrayal to the player of the rules established by the game. From the start, the player is taught to avoid all the spikes, as being 60-damage spikes, they will kill Samus. So tell me why, of all the things this hack maker can do, do they put important hard-required progression items behind inconspicuous fake spikes that look no different than any other spike. They could have given some kind of visual clue to the player, by making the spikes not animate or something, but no, they don't. Super Missiles are found in the middle of a spike pit that happen to be made of fake spikes, and the Wave Beam behind a fake wall with a fake spike, with real spikes ahead of even that. The player has to look at the hack through a rom editor, like SMART, to know this, be stupidly lucky, or in my case, watching someone else's playthrough, and to do either of those things as a crutch, to know how to progress through any hack, shows the failure on both the hack maker's end, as well as the design of the hack.
Had the fake spike shit been a non-issue, I'd have given this maybe a 3/5, or likely a 2/5. But as it stands, I give this shit show a -5/5. The 1/5 displayed is a visual glitch.
Had the fake spike shit been a non-issue, I'd have given this maybe a 3/5, or likely a 2/5. But as it stands, I give this shit show a -5/5. The 1/5 displayed is a visual glitch.
Metroid Grime: Dream Sequence by Grime [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 13, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 13, 2025 ( )
63% in 1:43
Don't be fooled by the 3/5 rating I'm giving, as this hack has quite a few things wrong with it. The biggest issue being that this feels like an unfinished mess, put together with duct tape. To be fair, this hack is unfinished, but why it was released on the main site in this state is beyond me. So what did I like about it? Well...
The visuals (well, the ones that had work done) looked pretty grimy, which fits with the hack's name. The routing in the beginning was interesting enough. Nothing here felt too difficult or obtuse. However, there are a couple of things I didn't like. Several, actually. One being that because this hack is unfinished, some doors lead to either dead ends, out of bounds, broken save rooms, etc. You have to take caution when entering doors, because it could lead to a reset. Next is the suit upgrades. You'll eventually find two suits from which to choose. Their Chozo orbs regenerate, so while you collect one suit, the other goes back into its Chozo orb, and then the other suit becomes inaccessible. This is likely because Varia and Gravity share the same item ID. Unlike previous hacks before this, Gravity Suit DOES NOT protect against heat, so which suit you choose will have to be chosen wisely, unless you're able to collect both suits fast enough before the other vanishes. For me, I took Gravity, headed toward Lower Norfair (one of few places left untouched), headed for Gold Torizo, and GT Coded to acquire the Varia Suit, which I would have otherwise lacked.
This is a weird hack, though not really weird by design, more so than weird because of jank. I did have genuine fun with what it was, though. The fact you can actually beat this hack, and even save the animals was what really made me give it a 3/5. Would have been a 2/5 otherwise.
The visuals (well, the ones that had work done) looked pretty grimy, which fits with the hack's name. The routing in the beginning was interesting enough. Nothing here felt too difficult or obtuse. However, there are a couple of things I didn't like. Several, actually. One being that because this hack is unfinished, some doors lead to either dead ends, out of bounds, broken save rooms, etc. You have to take caution when entering doors, because it could lead to a reset. Next is the suit upgrades. You'll eventually find two suits from which to choose. Their Chozo orbs regenerate, so while you collect one suit, the other goes back into its Chozo orb, and then the other suit becomes inaccessible. This is likely because Varia and Gravity share the same item ID. Unlike previous hacks before this, Gravity Suit DOES NOT protect against heat, so which suit you choose will have to be chosen wisely, unless you're able to collect both suits fast enough before the other vanishes. For me, I took Gravity, headed toward Lower Norfair (one of few places left untouched), headed for Gold Torizo, and GT Coded to acquire the Varia Suit, which I would have otherwise lacked.
This is a weird hack, though not really weird by design, more so than weird because of jank. I did have genuine fun with what it was, though. The fact you can actually beat this hack, and even save the animals was what really made me give it a 3/5. Would have been a 2/5 otherwise.
Super Metroid X - Chapter 1: Investigation by reaper901 [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 13, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 13, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
I thought this hack was neat. Progression was linear, which isn't a bad thing sometimes. The challenge is fair, though some of the enemies felt stronger than they should be. There isn't much else to be said of this, as there isn't much to really play. The hack really just ends after acquiring Bombs. A shame it'll never be finished.
First Horizon Demo by Lion/Rebel [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 14, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 14, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
So this hack feels like someone took Super Metroid: Redesign, and tried to make a rom hack out of it. For all I know, that's exactly what this is, as just about everything about the physics feels just like Redesign. For what little it had to show, it was pretty fun, and easier than Redesign, in my opinion. A shame it won't ever get finished. I had fun dissecting the game with cheat codes, once I was done playing it properly.
Let me say what I didn't like about the hack first: The biggest issue I have is the way Super Missile blocks look. I didn't know what I was looking at, but they didn't look like Super blocks. I only found out that Supers destroy them purely by accident. The other issue is the path to many of the items feeling obtuse, and I couldn't find X-Ray Scope (not even sure if it's in the hack, honestly) to help me find the path to one Missile in particular, forcing me to have to cheese to get it.
That out of the way, everything else was pretty damn good. The routing was fine, subtle-as-fuck Super Missile blocks notwithstanding, and the palettes were good too, if a bit dark and dank. More than anything, though, is the gameplay and physics change; many may recognize them from being from Project Base. This hack feels like a prototype, or rather, a proof of concept that would later be seen in Project Base, as well as other hacks after that, like Hyper Metroid, etc., and given begrimed was one of the people behind Project Base, it really shows. Just the gameplay changes alone would help pave the way for some future hacks, and in my opinion, certainly for the better. It's these changes to the gameplay, and making it feel so nice to play that earns this a 5/5.
That out of the way, everything else was pretty damn good. The routing was fine, subtle-as-fuck Super Missile blocks notwithstanding, and the palettes were good too, if a bit dark and dank. More than anything, though, is the gameplay and physics change; many may recognize them from being from Project Base. This hack feels like a prototype, or rather, a proof of concept that would later be seen in Project Base, as well as other hacks after that, like Hyper Metroid, etc., and given begrimed was one of the people behind Project Base, it really shows. Just the gameplay changes alone would help pave the way for some future hacks, and in my opinion, certainly for the better. It's these changes to the gameplay, and making it feel so nice to play that earns this a 5/5.
So, this one is a weird one. Let me preface this by saying I had to use cheats to beat this hack, which I will explain shortly. This hack was actually pretty neat, especially for a half hack. Some items are in their usual spots, while others are in unexpected locations, like Screw Attack. The room layouts are also different enough from vanilla Super Metroid in most cases, that the routing is very much different from a few other half hacks.
So, what about this cheating business? Well, that's the sad thing about the hack; in its current state, it is not beatable. Mind you, I played the Unheadered version, so I don't know if the Headered version will be any different. In Noob Bridge, upon entering, the door behind you closes shut, and turns into a metal door. My guess is that the hack maker meant for either Bomb Torizo or Spore Spawn to be the trigger that unlocks it, but something went wrong, and the door never unlocks. There is literally nowhere else in the hack that will allow the player to proceed anywhere. You'll acquire Bombs, a couple of E-Tanks, and some Missiles, but that's all you'll get, and none of it allows the player to leave. So I used a Walk Through Walls Action Replay cheat to bypass the presumably meant-to-be-open metal door, and played the rest of the hack as normal.
There is another opportunity for a softlock, possibly locking your save if the player ends up entering G4 by way of what would normally be the entrance to Waterway Energy Tank Room. Without Speed Booster, you cannot leave the area at all, and nothing else can allow the player to leave, making that part another oversight by the hack maker.
On that note, I think I know where Gravity Suit is supposed to be, but didn't see it there. I can't tell if that's because it was accidentally left out, or if it was simply removed by the game after I used GT Code to acquire Gravity that way. I could always check that out someday (probably not).
The escape sequence was a bit assholish in the way the player proceeds past the Tourian Escape Room 4. And to leave Parlor to the Landing Site hard requires the player to know how to really short charge. Nothing TAS level, but short enough that most casuals will likely find it too difficult to escape. But hey, the animals can be saved.
One other thing: Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room is bugged. If you proceed more than halfway through before the planet "awakens", the room will lag SEVERELY. The only way out is to either reset, or speed up the emulator 5000% and make an about-face to leave the lag threshold. It's the weirdest quirk, and it no longer becomes an issue after awakening Zebes.
Overall, if I could disregard the two softlocks, including the one that makes the game unbeatable in the first place, as well as the weird lag in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room, this ended up being a hack I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. If anyone can look into the Noob Bridge door issue, that'd be great, because it sucks to have to resort to Game Genie/Action Replay to have to proceed through a hack. Especially one that I would actually recommend otherwise, despite the other save lock and pre-awakened Zebes lag issue.
So, what about this cheating business? Well, that's the sad thing about the hack; in its current state, it is not beatable. Mind you, I played the Unheadered version, so I don't know if the Headered version will be any different. In Noob Bridge, upon entering, the door behind you closes shut, and turns into a metal door. My guess is that the hack maker meant for either Bomb Torizo or Spore Spawn to be the trigger that unlocks it, but something went wrong, and the door never unlocks. There is literally nowhere else in the hack that will allow the player to proceed anywhere. You'll acquire Bombs, a couple of E-Tanks, and some Missiles, but that's all you'll get, and none of it allows the player to leave. So I used a Walk Through Walls Action Replay cheat to bypass the presumably meant-to-be-open metal door, and played the rest of the hack as normal.
There is another opportunity for a softlock, possibly locking your save if the player ends up entering G4 by way of what would normally be the entrance to Waterway Energy Tank Room. Without Speed Booster, you cannot leave the area at all, and nothing else can allow the player to leave, making that part another oversight by the hack maker.
On that note, I think I know where Gravity Suit is supposed to be, but didn't see it there. I can't tell if that's because it was accidentally left out, or if it was simply removed by the game after I used GT Code to acquire Gravity that way. I could always check that out someday (probably not).
The escape sequence was a bit assholish in the way the player proceeds past the Tourian Escape Room 4. And to leave Parlor to the Landing Site hard requires the player to know how to really short charge. Nothing TAS level, but short enough that most casuals will likely find it too difficult to escape. But hey, the animals can be saved.
One other thing: Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room is bugged. If you proceed more than halfway through before the planet "awakens", the room will lag SEVERELY. The only way out is to either reset, or speed up the emulator 5000% and make an about-face to leave the lag threshold. It's the weirdest quirk, and it no longer becomes an issue after awakening Zebes.
Overall, if I could disregard the two softlocks, including the one that makes the game unbeatable in the first place, as well as the weird lag in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room, this ended up being a hack I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. If anyone can look into the Noob Bridge door issue, that'd be great, because it sucks to have to resort to Game Genie/Action Replay to have to proceed through a hack. Especially one that I would actually recommend otherwise, despite the other save lock and pre-awakened Zebes lag issue.
BOOP! BOOP! BOOP! BEEEEEEEEP!
Nyoooooooooooooooooonyoooooooooooom! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyooooooooooooooooooooom! ERRRRRK! Nyooooooooooooooooooooooom! NYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! ERRRK! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom! ERK! Nyooooo- ERK Nyoo-ERK! Nyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! ERRRRRRRRRRRK!
"FINISH!"
Nyoooooooooooooooooonyoooooooooooom! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyooooooooooooooooooooom! ERRRRRK! Nyooooooooooooooooooooooom! NYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! ERRRK! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Nyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom! ERK! Nyooooo- ERK Nyoo-ERK! Nyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonyoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooonyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! ERRRRRRRRRRRK!
"FINISH!"
This hack sucks. I get what they were going for, but the execution was awful. Doors that can lead to a softlock if you enter from where you came, items that can be missed, and the only save in the hack outside of the ship is the last Tourian save, and god help you if you missed a second E-Tank before that point. There are other boss rush-style hacks that are better than this. The fact I used savestates out of fear I might accidentally pick the wrong door and softlock myself is a failure on the hack maker, and further solidifies the lack of quality control on this site.
Wasn't really a big fan of this one. The routing was alright, and some of the room layouts were neat, but the fact that so much of the hack was underwater really took the "Wet" part of Wet Dream, and really ran with it. You also get Gravity Suit really late in the hack too, so by the time you get it, you had to have gone through the slog that was the rest of the hack leading up to it. It could've been executed much better.
Still have no clue what the hell those random smiley faces are, or what purpose they serve throughout Norfair.
Still have no clue what the hell those random smiley faces are, or what purpose they serve throughout Norfair.
This hack feels a little longer than a mere Quick Play hack, though I do understand why its genre is labelled as such, since it isn't as long as some dedicated full hacks either. The hack was pretty good overall. The forced hell run to get the Varia is my only gripe, but that's mostly minor. Progression feels kinda free, for better or worse, and there's enough exploration to be had that rewards those looking to do just that.
The escape was kind of weird, and having item pickups in the middle of the escape is kind of annoying, but nothing that's badly implemented or anything. Also, no animals to save, so sad face there. Not a bad hack to burn some time. Don't expect anything too grand out of this. Oh, and the palettes were also quite nice in some places.
The escape was kind of weird, and having item pickups in the middle of the escape is kind of annoying, but nothing that's badly implemented or anything. Also, no animals to save, so sad face there. Not a bad hack to burn some time. Don't expect anything too grand out of this. Oh, and the palettes were also quite nice in some places.
Normally, I dislike vanilla+ hacks, and so I thought this would be no exception. However, this hack changes so much of the physics and ways to play, that it ends up being more fun than anything. Definitely not for the casual, given the lack of Varia Suit, and the Gravity does NOT protect against heat. However, the hell runs reduces health significantly slowly as to not be a problem for most seasoned players. The Plasma and Spazer were switched around, weirdly, and so Plasma was nerfed, while Spazer was given Plasma's power, which was an interesting choice. The Missile and Super Missile had their rate of fire heavily nerfed, so quick killing Kraid is much harder, if not impossible.
The gravity was comparable to Redesign, so no bomb jumping can be had. Also, no wall jumps means the player effectively has to play this hack going the vanilla casual route, which in most cases would be annoying, but I had fun trying to find the way forward outside of what was intended; I couldn't really find any way to sequence break outside of early Supers. Also, lack of wall and bomb jumps mean that Etecoons room is a soft lock, and if you save at the bottom of Etecoons, consider your save file effectively locked.
Outside of the Etecoons lock issue, this hack was a fun experience, just because it challenged me to see if I can play this hack outside of its intention, and I effectively failed, which was actually a good thing. I'd like to see a full hack where the routing and world was built with these physics changes in mind... And I'm not talking Redesign.
The gravity was comparable to Redesign, so no bomb jumping can be had. Also, no wall jumps means the player effectively has to play this hack going the vanilla casual route, which in most cases would be annoying, but I had fun trying to find the way forward outside of what was intended; I couldn't really find any way to sequence break outside of early Supers. Also, lack of wall and bomb jumps mean that Etecoons room is a soft lock, and if you save at the bottom of Etecoons, consider your save file effectively locked.
Outside of the Etecoons lock issue, this hack was a fun experience, just because it challenged me to see if I can play this hack outside of its intention, and I effectively failed, which was actually a good thing. I'd like to see a full hack where the routing and world was built with these physics changes in mind... And I'm not talking Redesign.
I wasn't too fond of this hack. It was amusing for the most part, I will admit, but it gets so tedious very quickly. For starters, Metroids EVERYWHERE. Just because the series is called "Metroid" doesn't mean one should run with it. And if one was going to do that, why buff the Metroids? They require 10 Missiles/2 Super Missiles to kill, making ammo management annoying, and some Metroids require multiple shots with Ice Beam to actually freeze. It makes navigating rooms a slog, and ends up being less a challenge, and more a test in patience and frustration.
My biggest issues with this hack are two things: The first being Red Tower. The player is allowed at the top of Red Tower, but you'll acquire no Power Bombs up there. If you happen to save up there (which most players understandably would), you'll lock your save, forcing the player to start the game fresh from the beginning... Or be a spiteful bitch, like me, and use Action Replay to simply walk through the door from where you entered Red Brinstar Elevator Room/Caterpillar Room. The other issue is the Amphitheater; how the hell is the player supposed to know there are speed blocks through which the player must shine spark, except by pure accident? The X-Ray Scope cannot reveal it either, as the player isn't able to get high enough for the camera to show that part of the screen. I had to be told the answer, and that really pissed me off. It's a failure in design by the maker.
Everything else was just a challenge hack, with challenge hack stuff, like lava/acid-filled rooms and the like. Nothing too difficult, all things considered, but goddamn, those Metroids really slow the playthrough down to a crawl. I wanna like it more. Maybe if the Metroids' stats were left unchanged, and the Amphitheater fixed, and the softlock in Red Tower removed, I would have liked it more than I did, and likely given a 3/5. As it stands, this hack kinda sucks.
My biggest issues with this hack are two things: The first being Red Tower. The player is allowed at the top of Red Tower, but you'll acquire no Power Bombs up there. If you happen to save up there (which most players understandably would), you'll lock your save, forcing the player to start the game fresh from the beginning... Or be a spiteful bitch, like me, and use Action Replay to simply walk through the door from where you entered Red Brinstar Elevator Room/Caterpillar Room. The other issue is the Amphitheater; how the hell is the player supposed to know there are speed blocks through which the player must shine spark, except by pure accident? The X-Ray Scope cannot reveal it either, as the player isn't able to get high enough for the camera to show that part of the screen. I had to be told the answer, and that really pissed me off. It's a failure in design by the maker.
Everything else was just a challenge hack, with challenge hack stuff, like lava/acid-filled rooms and the like. Nothing too difficult, all things considered, but goddamn, those Metroids really slow the playthrough down to a crawl. I wanna like it more. Maybe if the Metroids' stats were left unchanged, and the Amphitheater fixed, and the softlock in Red Tower removed, I would have liked it more than I did, and likely given a 3/5. As it stands, this hack kinda sucks.
The only complaint I have with this hack is that it's too short. It's a proof of concept more than anything, so I guess the fact it's really short shouldn't be surprising. That said, I really love the concept. I just wish there were hacks that utilize this more. Yeah, Ascent does implement something similar, but to have a hack where this is the main focus would be nice.
Super Metroid AQUA FINALZ by RYNO [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
189% in 2:13
This hack is awful. Landing Site is a glitched-out mess, and the fact RYNO saw this and thought, "Yeah, it's good to go", is unacceptable. The player have to either blindly explore through something they can't possibly see, or view the rom in a hack editor to see where to go. A lot of Crateria is just a mess, really, as if a 5-year-old did whatever the hell they wanted in the SMILE editor.
Progression was weird, but the game overall was... boring. Felt like a chore to get through and progress, and some parts of the hack are completely unchanged from vanilla. There is a hidden Missile in the lava in Green Bubbles Missile Room that infinitely respawn, so the player can grab as many Missiles as they please (it's how my item collection reads 189%). You will need all of those Missiles, though, as Metroids were buffed immensely, requiring 54 Missiles to kill, which was annoying as hell.
At least the hack is beatable... I guess. I don't recommend this at all, though. Broken graphics, PLM error crashes (like the Etecoon Energy Tank Room), and an overall boring experience makes this hack unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
Progression was weird, but the game overall was... boring. Felt like a chore to get through and progress, and some parts of the hack are completely unchanged from vanilla. There is a hidden Missile in the lava in Green Bubbles Missile Room that infinitely respawn, so the player can grab as many Missiles as they please (it's how my item collection reads 189%). You will need all of those Missiles, though, as Metroids were buffed immensely, requiring 54 Missiles to kill, which was annoying as hell.
At least the hack is beatable... I guess. I don't recommend this at all, though. Broken graphics, PLM error crashes (like the Etecoon Energy Tank Room), and an overall boring experience makes this hack unforgettable for all the wrong reasons.
Metroid Bloodstone by NORTHa [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
On paper, this hack is a Quick Play, but in actual practice, you'll likely spend much longer trying to find the way forward, and then repeating the way forward multiple times due to cheap troll deaths. It isn't as small a hack as the description implies, and has far more rooms than just "a few". The biggest issue this hack has are, again, the pick-a-path troll deaths, where if you pick wrong, or do something incorrectly, you get unfairly fucked for no reason. I could have easily forgiven that aspect of the hack, and have given this a 3/5 if there were save points, but there isn't, so you're better off using save states and saving yourself the annoying tedium of starting over from the beginning again and again. I don't recommend this.
Metroid Classic Demo by JAM [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
For its time, the idea was really cool, but unfortunately, there's a lot that's missing. Literally only the top part of Brinstar is almost done, with the Long Beam chamber/hall being absent, and the path to Tourian leading to a flashbang of a dead end room. Other than that, the rest of the game is just vanilla, which was disappointing. You can't even beat the game, as the game crashes upon getting past the Big Boy Room.
There's already a hack that recreated NEStroid, and arguably better than the ambitions set by this one; a hack called Retroid. This was still interesting to see that recreating NEStroid was an idea someone had back in 2009.
There's already a hack that recreated NEStroid, and arguably better than the ambitions set by this one; a hack called Retroid. This was still interesting to see that recreating NEStroid was an idea someone had back in 2009.
Holy hot damn! The aesthetics chosen for this is absolutely amazing! Definitely reminiscent of the silhouette levels of Donkey Kong Country Returns and Tropical Freeze, and this hack precedes those games! Unfortunately, it's unfinished, and like Sapphron, I ended up in a broken mess of a room; not sure if a headered version would be any different. Because there's so little in this proof of concept, I can't give this more than a 3/5. I would have given a 4/5, but the broken room really hurt, and the lack of game also kinda sucks.
If anyone can make a full hack based on these visuals, or make a hack where an entire area uses this aesthetic, that would be pretty awesome.
If anyone can make a full hack based on these visuals, or make a hack where an entire area uses this aesthetic, that would be pretty awesome.
Super Metroid: Hard Mode by personitis [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 20, 2025 ( )
55% in 1:44
Another lazy "Hard Mode". Removing the ability to mockball, and making wall jump height shorter forces the player to play the route fairly vanilla. Honestly, if you want a Hard Mode hack done decently, play Hard Mode Gamma. This one is just another boring, uninspired slog.
Super Metroid: Oblivion by Gamefreq [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 21, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 21, 2025 ( )
55% in 1:25
This hack changes some things, especially in the beginning, but that isn't enough to make this not feel boring. There's a challenge on paper, but even for 2009, it wasn't really hard, much less in 2025, where the general skill level of players are high enough to make some headway through Impossible. The idea is to have to hell run through Norfair, do whatever you need to do, to get Speed Booster, and then fight Kraid for... Gravity Suit? Yeah, there is no Varia in this hack. Or, you can go to Wrecked Ship early, fight Phantoon, and get a Gravity Suit in its usual location. I don't know why there are two Gravity Suits, honestly.
Anyway, it was tedious and pretty boring, so it gets a 1/5.
Anyway, it was tedious and pretty boring, so it gets a 1/5.
The fact that it's the first hack I know that has custom music is impressive on its own. The custom visuals and Christmas aesthetic was also nice, and the theme of the hack is very on point for what it wants to do. A quick, short hack, but was still amusing.
Would've given this a 4/5... BUT THE LITTLE CHRISTMAS HATS ON THE TINY METROIDS, THOUGH! And the Christmas boots on the hoppers, and Christmas tree Cacatacs, and the candy mint worms! The overall aesthetics were great too. Looked Sonic-like.
Wasn't too bad. The visuals were nice, but that's pretty much it. It was really short, and there wasn't exactly anything that screamed "Christmas". Would've like for it to be a bit longer, and have more in the way of actual Christmas aesthetics.
Aside from the .srm file issue in the beginning, this hack is way too short. Worst of all, there is no file select screen; you just go right into the gameplay, which presents two problems: You cannot remap your controls, forcing the player to play with the vanilla button scheme (which is no problem if, say, you're Oatsngoats), and you cannot turn on moonwalk... not that moonwalking would have been much benefit in such a short hack anyway. The only real thing I can say about this hack that's good is the tile set. I wish more was done with it.
Super Metroid: Fantasy and Dazzle by backfire [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 22, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 22, 2025 ( )
119% in 1:48
This hack was not fantastic, nor was it dazzling. It's just another half hack with routing that makes it different from vanilla. There are many changes to some of the rooms to help force said routing, but overall, this was just another standard half hack with not a lot of substance. The buffs to bosses didn't really add much of a challenge either.
Super Metroid: Vino by Cyclamen32 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
88% in 3:23
Wasn't really a fan of this hack. A lot of cryptic progression points (spoiler ahead), like a hidden Super block that takes you into Crocomire, or a hidden enemy in "Wasteland" in the corner of a wall that needs to be killed while the pirates are ignored. Worse still, is the location of the Wave Beam; I'll save ya'll the trouble and just straight up tell you that you need to go into Lower Norfair through the back door to find it in "Three Musketeers Room", using a Power Bomb to break your way into the usual Missile location. Without that Wave Beam, you ain't progressing anywhere. If this hack did anything for me, is teach me to make a habit of checking if Lower Norfair can be entered through the back in any hack I play moving forward. I can see why someone would rate this a 3/5 or more, but this hack just didn't do it for me.
Super Metroid: Samus Returns by pomtt [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Literally unplayable. Landing Site does not load properly, preventing the player from even starting the game. I even went so far as to use an Action Replay code to force start in Brinstar's Big Pink, and the game crashed upon loading Green Brinstar Main Shaft. This hack is a lost cause. Why was this even allowed to be uploaded and kept on the main site? This hardly even deserves a spot on the forums... not that it even has a forum thread for it.
Super Metroid: ÊÐæÏ@!Ðúi by squishy_ichigo [ Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
% in 0:42
What a horrible day to have eyesight.
Super Metroid: Automatic by aigamerDS [ Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
0% in 0:04
Neat little 4-5-minute carnival ride, but that's about it. Would've liked it more if it went all throughout Zebes in some way, leading to Tourian. I still liked the concept enough.
Event Horizon Demo by DSO [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
A great hack demo, with god-tier custom visuals. Nothing too fancy gameplay-wise, save for a high-gravity section. Other than that, it's a shame this will likely never see a finished state.
Sigma++ by Silver_Skree [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 24, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This is pretty much a remake of Sigma Boss Rush, which was a hack I already liked well enough. This one is just better, and more polished, with better visuals, better gameplay, especially with Charge Beam healing whilst charging, and Speed Booster triggering MUCH sooner. The bosses were buffed, but don't remember if they were buffed from Sigma Boss Rush, or the same as its predecessor. My only complaints are that A, it's unfinished (and will likely never be), and B, for some reason Bombs harm Samus; not sure why Silver_Skree thought that was a good idea.
The hack ends after Crocomire.
The hack ends after Crocomire.
Super Metroid: SnowCrash by uzqap [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 25, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 25, 2025 ( )
94% in 2:48
Let me start off by saying that the unheadered patch is broken. To progress through the hack, the player is forced to go through Gauntlet early, and that room is a broken mess of yellow door tiles. Someone should either fix the issue, or remove the unheadered patch from the main site. The headered patch, however, works just fine.
The hack itself was okay overall. Given the challenge of the hack, I'm assuming uzqap was making this hack in the mid-2000s, during the height of Impossible's popularity, and decided to finish and upload this hack in 2010. I say this, because there are a few things that very much feel SM Impossible-like, most especially the Post Crocomire Jump Room. There's a maze of morph tunnels not unlike Impossible, but somehow, it's made more tedious and annoying, especially with all the crumble blocks, and mockball requirements (I'll get to that soon). Only upside is that falling all the way down doesn't spell instant death for the player, but still sucks, because acid damage.
A ton of the hack feels like "Mockball: The Game". There isn't anything inherently wrong with it, but it feels like the hack maker didn't really know how to make a challenging section outside of mockball across crumble blocks. It does get dull after the first 100 or so of these. Also, I read in Sickwood's review that you need to do Crystal Flash to get an item. I'm guessing it has something to do with the door leading to X-Ray, but I never got to find where to Crystal Flash, and gave up. I really don't like that kind of obtuse level design, even if the item isn't really required to beat the game. It sucked in SM Impossible; it sucks here.
I was close to giving this game a 2/5, but I did genuinely like some of the challenges in this hack, as repetitive as some definitely felt. The overall routing could have been better, though. You can't enter Wrecked Ship via Forgotten Highway, for example, because of a metal door that never opens, forcing the player to have to go around through Red Tower, and out West Ocean to enter Wrecked Ship.
A very soft 3/5.
The hack itself was okay overall. Given the challenge of the hack, I'm assuming uzqap was making this hack in the mid-2000s, during the height of Impossible's popularity, and decided to finish and upload this hack in 2010. I say this, because there are a few things that very much feel SM Impossible-like, most especially the Post Crocomire Jump Room. There's a maze of morph tunnels not unlike Impossible, but somehow, it's made more tedious and annoying, especially with all the crumble blocks, and mockball requirements (I'll get to that soon). Only upside is that falling all the way down doesn't spell instant death for the player, but still sucks, because acid damage.
A ton of the hack feels like "Mockball: The Game". There isn't anything inherently wrong with it, but it feels like the hack maker didn't really know how to make a challenging section outside of mockball across crumble blocks. It does get dull after the first 100 or so of these. Also, I read in Sickwood's review that you need to do Crystal Flash to get an item. I'm guessing it has something to do with the door leading to X-Ray, but I never got to find where to Crystal Flash, and gave up. I really don't like that kind of obtuse level design, even if the item isn't really required to beat the game. It sucked in SM Impossible; it sucks here.
I was close to giving this game a 2/5, but I did genuinely like some of the challenges in this hack, as repetitive as some definitely felt. The overall routing could have been better, though. You can't enter Wrecked Ship via Forgotten Highway, for example, because of a metal door that never opens, forcing the player to have to go around through Red Tower, and out West Ocean to enter Wrecked Ship.
A very soft 3/5.
Super Metroid: Kill Time by Stacy [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 25, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 25, 2025 ( )
78% in 5:21
There were some things I liked in this hack, like the challenging obstacles (save for one, which I'll go over in a bit), and some of the routing. Also, even though this feels like a half hack, the rooms are all pretty much different in layout and structure, so the only recognizable thing about vanilla is the general world layout.
The things I didn't like are few, but really really annoying (spoilers ahead). First, some of the item placements, like Hi-Jump Boots; there's no indication where they were, and for the longest time, I thought the room where Below Spazer room should be had nothing more than what is shown on the surface level. Turns out, you CAN go up by bombing a tile at the top middle part of the ceiling, leading to Hi-Jump, which are hard-required for exploring through Lower Norfair, which is required for getting Gravity Suit, which is required for Maridia.
As bad as that is, however, absolutely nothing is as bad as Plasma Beam's placement. For starters, this hack has a ton of conveyer tiles, which push Samus in whatever direction they do, and this even happens when in the air, as even the air can be made up of this stuff. It adds less of a challenge, and more to frustration. Which brings me to Plasma Beam...
First off, to even get to the obstacle leading to it, there are a couple of hidden Grapple crumble blocks one must break to the right of the Dachora in the room where Crab Tunnel would normally be. This leads to a middle path between the upper and lower paths through the Sand Halls. Then you'll come to a secret in Pants Room, and this is where the game eats dog shit. It's a winding path upward with a sandfall in which you cannot Space Jump, must Grapple onto Grapple blocks, and avoid spikes on the way up. But that's not where the bullshit ends; alongside the sandfall, all air tiles are made up of conveyers, which will shove you back down, disrupting your climb attempts. Not bad enough? Well any ground that isn't spikes are crumble blocks (save for the very bottom), maximizing the amount of frustration given to the player during the climb. Then when you reach the top, there is a hidden morph tunnel into which you must Grapple clip, which leads to the other side of Pants Room. Shaktool Room is annoying, as you're greeted with a Tourian Hopper that hits significantly hard, and the path Shaktool carves out for you has spikes lining the ceiling and the floor. At the end of all of that shit is the room containing Plasma. Easily the most not-worth-the-effort Plasma I've ever seen, bar none.
I was so tempted to give this a 2/5, but some of the routing issues were kind of on me. And Plasma is not needed for beating the game, so that bullshit slog fest is entirely optional. The escape is tricky, if you forget that there's a Super Missile Block in Landing Site above the ship you need to break, so don't ignore the Cacatac in Parlor to get at least 1 Super drop. Overall, what I liked, I liked enough. What I hated were mostly optional, so I think it all balances out to a 3/5.
The things I didn't like are few, but really really annoying (spoilers ahead). First, some of the item placements, like Hi-Jump Boots; there's no indication where they were, and for the longest time, I thought the room where Below Spazer room should be had nothing more than what is shown on the surface level. Turns out, you CAN go up by bombing a tile at the top middle part of the ceiling, leading to Hi-Jump, which are hard-required for exploring through Lower Norfair, which is required for getting Gravity Suit, which is required for Maridia.
As bad as that is, however, absolutely nothing is as bad as Plasma Beam's placement. For starters, this hack has a ton of conveyer tiles, which push Samus in whatever direction they do, and this even happens when in the air, as even the air can be made up of this stuff. It adds less of a challenge, and more to frustration. Which brings me to Plasma Beam...
First off, to even get to the obstacle leading to it, there are a couple of hidden Grapple crumble blocks one must break to the right of the Dachora in the room where Crab Tunnel would normally be. This leads to a middle path between the upper and lower paths through the Sand Halls. Then you'll come to a secret in Pants Room, and this is where the game eats dog shit. It's a winding path upward with a sandfall in which you cannot Space Jump, must Grapple onto Grapple blocks, and avoid spikes on the way up. But that's not where the bullshit ends; alongside the sandfall, all air tiles are made up of conveyers, which will shove you back down, disrupting your climb attempts. Not bad enough? Well any ground that isn't spikes are crumble blocks (save for the very bottom), maximizing the amount of frustration given to the player during the climb. Then when you reach the top, there is a hidden morph tunnel into which you must Grapple clip, which leads to the other side of Pants Room. Shaktool Room is annoying, as you're greeted with a Tourian Hopper that hits significantly hard, and the path Shaktool carves out for you has spikes lining the ceiling and the floor. At the end of all of that shit is the room containing Plasma. Easily the most not-worth-the-effort Plasma I've ever seen, bar none.
I was so tempted to give this a 2/5, but some of the routing issues were kind of on me. And Plasma is not needed for beating the game, so that bullshit slog fest is entirely optional. The escape is tricky, if you forget that there's a Super Missile Block in Landing Site above the ship you need to break, so don't ignore the Cacatac in Parlor to get at least 1 Super drop. Overall, what I liked, I liked enough. What I hated were mostly optional, so I think it all balances out to a 3/5.
Super Metroid: Kaizo Edition by Green Samus [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
I knew I would eventually get around to this one, the infamous Kaizo Edition. There are some things I want to say about this, not the least of which includes the name, "Kaizo" Edition. So what exactly is a "kaizo"? Well, in Japan, it's a word that means "rearranged", but because of the release of T. Takemoto's Kaizo Mario World back in 2007, it's difficulty (most notably), popularity at the time, and legacy over the years, "kaizo" has become a word synonymous with high difficulty here in the west, so any rom hack with the name that includes "Kaizo" is nearly guaranteed to be very hard, and likely created by players of high skill/understanding of the game for which they made the kaizo hack.
So, history aside, Green Samus set out to make a very specific hack, and to that end, was a success... kind of. Don't misunderstand, this hack is extremely hard, literally hard-requiring save states to even get anywhere in this game. But therein lies the problem; it fails at being a kaizo. "Kaizo" is a genre that is indeed indicative of difficulty in a modified game, but should also be reasonably beatable without the need for save states, much less TASing. What we have here is a game that should swap names with Impossible, because Impossible is a perfect example of a kaizo; being exceedingly hard, but can be conquered without save states by those who are either skilled enough, or stubborn enough. Other notable examples include Cliffhanger, and its Redux remaster, Super Mega-Metroid X-2, Super Metroid HOTA, Metroid Super Zero Mission (Hard Mode), and funny enough, Super Metroid Kaizo Possible, which is an actual kaizo-fied version of this hack, one that can be beaten without save states hard-required.
There is a TAS by Hoandizi for this hack that shows how it can be beaten, and by what is shown, it really does showcase just how functionally impossible it is for a non-TASer to beat this. Save states on its own can only go so far; I was shocked I managed to make it through one lap of the left side of Landing Site, grabbing Morph, then Grapple, then Bombs, and working my way back to Landing Site with just save states. I then was able to reach the Speed Booster with a combination of save states and slow downs, but it was there I threw in the towel, as those actions must be repeated multiple times throughout a regular run. As a side note, unless proven otherwise, I made it farther in Kaizo Edition than anyone else with save states as of writing this (TASers notwithstanding), so I have that under my belt.
So what exactly is this, if not a kaizo? Well, it's purely a TAS hack, similar to PangaeaPanga's Item Abuse series of hacks for Super Mario World; hacks that transcend kaizos, and become its own thing. This is strictly a hack that challenges TASers to beat, and no one else. To that end, it is indeed a success. And when one TASes and beats it, it becomes an entertaining watch. But that's all it is. It's a fine test to see how far a player can get with just save states (or without, if you're really masochistic/insane), but this hack is quite literally as impossible as Super Metroid Impossible thought itself to be.
As a kaizo, it gets a 1-2/5, but as a TAS-only challenge, it gets a 4-5/5. Why a 4? Because Green Samus overlooked a detail in Parlor, where a Missile infinitely respawns, allowing the player to constantly collect it and make the Missile check requirement in Tourian easier to acquire than to hunt down all Missile locations. Would be nice to see a TAS that ignores this, and grabs all intended items in their locations; really wanna see what that post-Ridley acid dive in OG Kaizo looks like. That said, it all balances out to a 3/5.
So, history aside, Green Samus set out to make a very specific hack, and to that end, was a success... kind of. Don't misunderstand, this hack is extremely hard, literally hard-requiring save states to even get anywhere in this game. But therein lies the problem; it fails at being a kaizo. "Kaizo" is a genre that is indeed indicative of difficulty in a modified game, but should also be reasonably beatable without the need for save states, much less TASing. What we have here is a game that should swap names with Impossible, because Impossible is a perfect example of a kaizo; being exceedingly hard, but can be conquered without save states by those who are either skilled enough, or stubborn enough. Other notable examples include Cliffhanger, and its Redux remaster, Super Mega-Metroid X-2, Super Metroid HOTA, Metroid Super Zero Mission (Hard Mode), and funny enough, Super Metroid Kaizo Possible, which is an actual kaizo-fied version of this hack, one that can be beaten without save states hard-required.
There is a TAS by Hoandizi for this hack that shows how it can be beaten, and by what is shown, it really does showcase just how functionally impossible it is for a non-TASer to beat this. Save states on its own can only go so far; I was shocked I managed to make it through one lap of the left side of Landing Site, grabbing Morph, then Grapple, then Bombs, and working my way back to Landing Site with just save states. I then was able to reach the Speed Booster with a combination of save states and slow downs, but it was there I threw in the towel, as those actions must be repeated multiple times throughout a regular run. As a side note, unless proven otherwise, I made it farther in Kaizo Edition than anyone else with save states as of writing this (TASers notwithstanding), so I have that under my belt.
So what exactly is this, if not a kaizo? Well, it's purely a TAS hack, similar to PangaeaPanga's Item Abuse series of hacks for Super Mario World; hacks that transcend kaizos, and become its own thing. This is strictly a hack that challenges TASers to beat, and no one else. To that end, it is indeed a success. And when one TASes and beats it, it becomes an entertaining watch. But that's all it is. It's a fine test to see how far a player can get with just save states (or without, if you're really masochistic/insane), but this hack is quite literally as impossible as Super Metroid Impossible thought itself to be.
As a kaizo, it gets a 1-2/5, but as a TAS-only challenge, it gets a 4-5/5. Why a 4? Because Green Samus overlooked a detail in Parlor, where a Missile infinitely respawns, allowing the player to constantly collect it and make the Missile check requirement in Tourian easier to acquire than to hunt down all Missile locations. Would be nice to see a TAS that ignores this, and grabs all intended items in their locations; really wanna see what that post-Ridley acid dive in OG Kaizo looks like. That said, it all balances out to a 3/5.
Super Metroid: Dark by DarkSamus [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack sucks. The visuals were a'ight, and the spots that drain and refill health were neat (as seen in Dark World), but that's it. Bomb Torizo's room is a mess, the tiles in Terminator Room are scrambled to hell, and the metal door to the left of Landing Site doesn't even open after beating Bomb Torizo... Not that it would matter, because I used Action Replay walk-through-walls cheats to get in, just to find out Parlor (or what's supposed to be Parlor) crashes upon loading, rendering this "demo" unplayable.
Speaking of, I did use cheat codes to see what this hack did have to offer, by way of going through the wall on the right. There are some different room layouts the player was never meant to see, including a very small Wrecked Ship area with a buffed Phantoon at the end of it. You can also access Red Tower with weird tiling, and broken scroll PLMs. Alpha Power Bomb Room and Beta Power Bomb Room functions just fine, but Hellway crashes upon loading. Didn't bother checking Maridia's back door. The save room is broken, and can only be exited through the right side, which softlocks the player out of bounds. Speaking of Power Bombs, Power Bomb pickups give 50, while Missiles give 230. There are no Super Missiles to find, but I'm guessing they also give 50.
There was some interesting tidbits on what the hack could have potentially been, as I used Action Replay to give myself all equipment, and most of them had different names:
Charge Beam: (Unchanged)
Ice Beam: Dark Beam
Wave Beam: Light Beam
Spazer: Tri-Beam
Plasma Beam: Ammilator
Varia Suit: DarkEnergy
Gravity Suit: LightEnergy
Morphing Ball: Ball'O'Morph
Bombs: Grenades
Spring Ball: (Unchanged)
Screw Attack: Killer Attack
Hi-Jump Boots: SpaceJumpBoots
Space Jump: Screw Jump
Speed Booster: (Unchanged)
All that said, this hack is a mess, and not really playable, so it gets a 1/5.
Speaking of, I did use cheat codes to see what this hack did have to offer, by way of going through the wall on the right. There are some different room layouts the player was never meant to see, including a very small Wrecked Ship area with a buffed Phantoon at the end of it. You can also access Red Tower with weird tiling, and broken scroll PLMs. Alpha Power Bomb Room and Beta Power Bomb Room functions just fine, but Hellway crashes upon loading. Didn't bother checking Maridia's back door. The save room is broken, and can only be exited through the right side, which softlocks the player out of bounds. Speaking of Power Bombs, Power Bomb pickups give 50, while Missiles give 230. There are no Super Missiles to find, but I'm guessing they also give 50.
There was some interesting tidbits on what the hack could have potentially been, as I used Action Replay to give myself all equipment, and most of them had different names:
Charge Beam: (Unchanged)
Ice Beam: Dark Beam
Wave Beam: Light Beam
Spazer: Tri-Beam
Plasma Beam: Ammilator
Varia Suit: DarkEnergy
Gravity Suit: LightEnergy
Morphing Ball: Ball'O'Morph
Bombs: Grenades
Spring Ball: (Unchanged)
Screw Attack: Killer Attack
Hi-Jump Boots: SpaceJumpBoots
Space Jump: Screw Jump
Speed Booster: (Unchanged)
All that said, this hack is a mess, and not really playable, so it gets a 1/5.
This hack has some really neat visuals, but most of it is really dark, and makes it hard as hell to see, or even tell where you're going, or what you're doing. The vibe has some survival horror elements to it, which is neat, what with 90% of enemies being Metroids/Mocktroids. The hack, on paper, is short, and can be beaten in about 15 or so minutes, but the difficulty definitely pads the play time.
That said, there is one extremely fatal flaw to this hack (spoiler ahead), and that is the final room with the group of Red Metroids. There is a Power Bomb in that room that is required to beat the hack. The problem is that there is an item in the game that shares the same ID as said Power Bomb, effectively despawning the Power Bomb, and rendering the save unbeatable. The item in question: A Reserve Tank in the room following where Noob Bridge generally would be; you'll come across a room with a Reserve Tank, with an Energy Tank right next to it, and to the right, a door that leads nowhere, with a Red Metroid hiding behind it. DO NOT collect that Reserve Tank, as it WILL despawn the Power Bomb needed at the end. It took me several playthroughs, and getting the bare minimum items before I was able to beat it, because I didn't know which item was the culprit. It wasn't until days later, I finally acquired the SMILE program, just so I can see which item it was for the sake of this review, since no one seems to wanna say what the offending item is. But there you go, now you know.
It is that awful oversight that nets this hack a 1/5 from me. The visuals and idea are great, and the execution is okay, but it isn't all that, and without that item ID issue, I'd have given this a 3/5. What a shame.
That said, there is one extremely fatal flaw to this hack (spoiler ahead), and that is the final room with the group of Red Metroids. There is a Power Bomb in that room that is required to beat the hack. The problem is that there is an item in the game that shares the same ID as said Power Bomb, effectively despawning the Power Bomb, and rendering the save unbeatable. The item in question: A Reserve Tank in the room following where Noob Bridge generally would be; you'll come across a room with a Reserve Tank, with an Energy Tank right next to it, and to the right, a door that leads nowhere, with a Red Metroid hiding behind it. DO NOT collect that Reserve Tank, as it WILL despawn the Power Bomb needed at the end. It took me several playthroughs, and getting the bare minimum items before I was able to beat it, because I didn't know which item was the culprit. It wasn't until days later, I finally acquired the SMILE program, just so I can see which item it was for the sake of this review, since no one seems to wanna say what the offending item is. But there you go, now you know.
It is that awful oversight that nets this hack a 1/5 from me. The visuals and idea are great, and the execution is okay, but it isn't all that, and without that item ID issue, I'd have given this a 3/5. What a shame.
The Technique Trainer by Untouchablekill [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
24% in 0:09
As was stated by others, Grapple Beam crashes the game when attempting to grapple swing. Also, unless you pan the camera far enough to the left, attempting to save at the invisible ship will cause a giant Dessgeega to spawn, and then crash the game. Furthermore, move ahead enough in the hack past a glitched-looking Kraid, and a giant Dessgeega, and you'll load in an off-screen Ki Hunter that straight up crashes the game, making progression normally impossible. However, if you're able to take a Beetom and drag it with you back to the weird Hi-Jump graphic morph tunnels, you can freeze it, and ice clip into said morph tunnels to beat the hack that way. The ending is very anti-climactic.
That said, what was this hack trying to train the player to do? It didn't feel like it was training me anything, and some areas straight up heal the player to full health, so there isn't much in the way of consequences for messing up, for better or worse. Either way, this hack was a mess, and I am no fan of it.
That said, what was this hack trying to train the player to do? It didn't feel like it was training me anything, and some areas straight up heal the player to full health, so there isn't much in the way of consequences for messing up, for better or worse. Either way, this hack was a mess, and I am no fan of it.
Super Metroid: Opus 1 by Gamma_Metroid [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
93% in 1:34
Don't let my completion stats fool you; this hack cannot be played as it currently stands, as Landing Site has uninitialized data. This results in random garbage tiles, including some that can crash the game. Even then, Samus cannot move from her starting position either, so this hack is impossible to play... under normal circumstances.
But you look at how I play Super Metroid rom hacks, and how I like to approach and even dissect them, and you'll know that I'm not normal. You see, I used Action Replay codes to select where on Zebes I wanted to start, so I chose Brinstar and went from there. So far, only Landing Site suffers from this garbage, as all other rooms are perfectly fine.
So what does this hack actually have that's worth anything? Well, it's a half hack, with some interesting room layout changes, and item placements, but that's all it's got. Doesn't even change all areas, as Wrecked Ship, Lower Norfair, and Tourian are all completely unchanged. While what is changed is half-decent, it wouldn't have been enough to rate this higher than a 2/5, assuming Landing Site was fixed.
Probably asking yourself, "How the hell did she even beat the game, if Landing Site is broken?" Well, some of the garbage tiles can be broken with Screw Attack, though interacting with some tiles can crash the game. Also, the ship is impossible to reach even after Screw Attack, as there are solid tiles blocking the way, so a walk-through-walls Action Replay code was used to circumvent that. So while my completion time isn't exactly valid, I did show that there are things in this hack that was meant to be played and seen by the player.
However, Landing Site is broken, and for that reason, I absolutely cannot give this hack anymore than a 1/5, since playing a hack is the point, which this hack misses.
But you look at how I play Super Metroid rom hacks, and how I like to approach and even dissect them, and you'll know that I'm not normal. You see, I used Action Replay codes to select where on Zebes I wanted to start, so I chose Brinstar and went from there. So far, only Landing Site suffers from this garbage, as all other rooms are perfectly fine.
So what does this hack actually have that's worth anything? Well, it's a half hack, with some interesting room layout changes, and item placements, but that's all it's got. Doesn't even change all areas, as Wrecked Ship, Lower Norfair, and Tourian are all completely unchanged. While what is changed is half-decent, it wouldn't have been enough to rate this higher than a 2/5, assuming Landing Site was fixed.
Probably asking yourself, "How the hell did she even beat the game, if Landing Site is broken?" Well, some of the garbage tiles can be broken with Screw Attack, though interacting with some tiles can crash the game. Also, the ship is impossible to reach even after Screw Attack, as there are solid tiles blocking the way, so a walk-through-walls Action Replay code was used to circumvent that. So while my completion time isn't exactly valid, I did show that there are things in this hack that was meant to be played and seen by the player.
However, Landing Site is broken, and for that reason, I absolutely cannot give this hack anymore than a 1/5, since playing a hack is the point, which this hack misses.
Metroid Switch by anonymous [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 26, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Super-short puzzle hack, with no proper ending. The hack ends after acquiring Power Bombs. I would've liked to see more, but what we got, especially with the Geemer and the Etecoons were quite clever.
A weird little hack with a similar concept to Super Metroid: Automatic. (spoiler ahead) It's more elaborate than Automatic, with a pretty funny ending that results in a randomly humorous death. That said, it is possible to beat this hack properly if you exit Ridley Tank Room with 3 E-Tanks worth of energy remaining. That's pretty much it.
This hack was pretty badass, although it barely eked out a 5/5. The tile sets are all fresh and unique, and the color palettes were mostly good. There were some places that felt a little too dark, however, like Maridia (Deep Ice), for example, but overall, it wasn't hard to navigate... for me, and there lies a potential issue. So the hack is VERY open-ended, so with some exceptions, you can explore just about anywhere. I got lucky with the route I chose to take, and got rewarded with items that ultimately helped with further exploration/progression. It is possible for the player to explore an area that would make life harder/more tedious in terms of movement/exploration, and that's the issue I have with such open-ended hacks, as having a little linearity and guidance to the player on how to gain progression items does go a ways to prevent unnecessary confusion and slog.
That said, I'm basing this review/rating off of my own experience, and what was available at the time in 2010, and it was very much positive. To my knowledge, there are no items on the map you won't know about, as every item I've found had a dot on the map to show that it's there, so by the time you're done with the hack, you should have a healthy amount of ammo and E-Tanks. I wasn't lost or stuck for extended periods wondering where I needed to go either, as paths are generally not super-hidden or anything, and even then, you can get X-Ray Scope very early, which helps immensely in the exploration aspect. Without X-Ray, I'm sure I would've had more of a miserable time, so props for allowing the player quick access to X-Ray.
The final boss and escape sequence was also unexpected. I won't give a spoiler here, but I will say it was certainly unique for the time, and it wasn't a hard slog either, neither did it overstay its welcome. Just a shame that animals cannot be saved. If I had to give any complaints, it's the nerfing of beams. Plasma Beam, in particular, was heavily nerfed, to the point where you wouldn't want to use it, and a surprising number of enemies were immune to the Wave Beam, so the best beam combo is Ice and Spazer for max damage potential. Also, more of a personal problem, but I never found Screw Attack, which kinda sucks, because it would've come in handy in a few areas, but you really don't need it.
Overall, this hack kicked ass, and I'm glad I can mark this down as another major full hack I got to play.
That said, I'm basing this review/rating off of my own experience, and what was available at the time in 2010, and it was very much positive. To my knowledge, there are no items on the map you won't know about, as every item I've found had a dot on the map to show that it's there, so by the time you're done with the hack, you should have a healthy amount of ammo and E-Tanks. I wasn't lost or stuck for extended periods wondering where I needed to go either, as paths are generally not super-hidden or anything, and even then, you can get X-Ray Scope very early, which helps immensely in the exploration aspect. Without X-Ray, I'm sure I would've had more of a miserable time, so props for allowing the player quick access to X-Ray.
The final boss and escape sequence was also unexpected. I won't give a spoiler here, but I will say it was certainly unique for the time, and it wasn't a hard slog either, neither did it overstay its welcome. Just a shame that animals cannot be saved. If I had to give any complaints, it's the nerfing of beams. Plasma Beam, in particular, was heavily nerfed, to the point where you wouldn't want to use it, and a surprising number of enemies were immune to the Wave Beam, so the best beam combo is Ice and Spazer for max damage potential. Also, more of a personal problem, but I never found Screw Attack, which kinda sucks, because it would've come in handy in a few areas, but you really don't need it.
Overall, this hack kicked ass, and I'm glad I can mark this down as another major full hack I got to play.
Platinum Hexidecimal by seastorm [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Misspelling of "Hexadecimal" aside, this hack wasn't too bad. The progression was pretty fair, and the palettes were interesting, though the suit colors could've been executed better. The fight with Ridley, which, weirdly enough, is the Ceres version, is a little bugged, as he'll fly off screen and stay off screen until you lay a Power Bomb, after which he'll stay in the battle without bugging out. The fight is also made harder than usual, as it takes more than 100 shots to make him run away, and the only part of him that deals any real damage is his main body, at 100 damage, meaning him running away from damaging Samus isn't likely to happen. In either case, the hack ends when he runs away. Nothing else happens; no escape sequence, nothing. Samus just stays in the room, and you can't do anything else afterward. An anticlimactic end, for sure.
P.S. I don't believe X-Ray Scope can be acquired. It's just there to taunt the player. Although, even if you could get it, it'd be too late into the hack to be of any use.
P.S. I don't believe X-Ray Scope can be acquired. It's just there to taunt the player. Although, even if you could get it, it'd be too late into the hack to be of any use.
Legend of the Beast - Prologue by statik [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
35% in 0:49
Overall, this hack was kinda boring. It's a full hack, at least, but it was still short overall, and some of the pacing can either be quick or slow, depending on how you go about it. The lack of a save outside of the ship only exacerbates the pacing a bit. The visuals were fine, save for the first room of Wrecked Ship, where the background becomes an eyesore, at least until after you collect Wave Beam, it seems. The end was also bugged; approaching the trigger for the end causes the game to crash. I did reclose the wave gate, and then approached the trigger in morph form to successfully trigger the ending, if that means anything. Also, there was no beast anywhere in the hack, despite the hack's name. In the end, I was rather underwhelmed.
How the hell does Tyjet66 go from making a really good hack (Stardust), to this? So, for the most part, this hack is... a'ight in terms of obstacles... that is until the Zeb freezing section. For some reason that I can weirdly imagine, conveyer tiles cover the air going up, making the ascent one of the bigger pains in the ass I've seen in rom hacks. After enough experimenting, I figured out a way to make life as easy as possible:
When you freeze the Zeb, continually jump on it, and if you see yourself move significantly on either side upon landing, mid-air morph to land on the Zeb in morph form, and then unmorph WITHOUT standing; while in this position, the conveyer will not move Samus. Basically repeat until you reach the top. If upon landing on the Zeb after jumping, you don't move to either side, it's safe to just stand on it; crouching or morphing at that point will actually push you off. It's really weird, and really stupid. The rest is just a tight Space Jump section through a spike path, and an annoying Morph Ball maze. The E-Tank at the end is the hack's win condition, and grants you max E-Tanks, which honestly, would have been a lot helpful much earlier in the hack.
That said, this hack is pretty bad, and I don't recommend it to anyone of any skill level. 1/5.
When you freeze the Zeb, continually jump on it, and if you see yourself move significantly on either side upon landing, mid-air morph to land on the Zeb in morph form, and then unmorph WITHOUT standing; while in this position, the conveyer will not move Samus. Basically repeat until you reach the top. If upon landing on the Zeb after jumping, you don't move to either side, it's safe to just stand on it; crouching or morphing at that point will actually push you off. It's really weird, and really stupid. The rest is just a tight Space Jump section through a spike path, and an annoying Morph Ball maze. The E-Tank at the end is the hack's win condition, and grants you max E-Tanks, which honestly, would have been a lot helpful much earlier in the hack.
That said, this hack is pretty bad, and I don't recommend it to anyone of any skill level. 1/5.
Super Metroid: Eternity by Kasel [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This was too short to be much of a demo. Just like First Horizon Demo, this hack felt like someone took Super Metroid: Redesign, and tried to make a rom hack off that, what with some of the game physics, etc. There wasn't much to this hack. Some of the door warps were also broken too. When progressing past Bomb Torizo's room the first time, you come to a dead end because of a door you cannot open. Progress to that point a second time, and the room changes to a broken mess that cannot be progressed, softlocking the player. Progress elsewhere in the hack, and you'll come to another broken door that leads to the top of Amphitheater, behind a wall, softlocking/killing the player. Had the potential for promise, but it ended up being nothing.
Super Metroid: Perspective by ZENE09 [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Here's my perspective: This hack absolutely sucks! There is too little to it to be called a hack, and after getting Super Missiles, there's literally nothing else you can do, as you cannot escape the room in which you acquire them. Don't waste your time with this.
Wasn't too big of a fan of this, but will give credit for its visuals, and some of the gameplay, and challenge, as well as Halloween theme. What I didn't like was some of the obtuse ways to progress, especially the final stretch with speedballing; not sure how begrimed expected people to figure that out on their own, except by sheer accident. Also, I know it's a challenge hack, but did you really need to have to make 80% of the hack a bullet hell? Anyway, overall, this was okay, though not my cup of tea. 3/5.
P.S.
The Game. Now piss off.
P.S.
The Game. Now piss off.
Some of the things here is just okay. Overall, it felt kinda bland, and the progression was also just as boring. The visuals were a little too dark and dank, even with the Halloween theme. So why do I give this a 4/5? Well, I won't say; play through to the end to find that out.
KT JDDD Halloween by KT JDDD [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack has literally nothing in it that suggests this was made for Halloween. It's just a really short hack with a few issues. The biggest one is the lack of an item farm, so goodness help you if you use your only Power Bomb, and didn't leave any crabs alive that could help give a PB drop. Furthermore, this hack ends with a weird death, so it has no proper ending. Really mediocre, even when disregarding the "Halloween" part of it.
Sam & Phazar's Halloween Hack by Phazar [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 30, 2025 ( )
4% in 0:03
If the only thing about this hack being "Halloween" was Samus's pumpkin-colored power suit, then this hack failed in making a properly-themed hack. Death traps, spikes, and the overused red Crateria litters this hack. Also, though it does have a proper ending, it is still very much anticlimactic. A waste of time, really.
Super Metroid: True Boss Rush by KT JDDD [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 31, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 31, 2025 ( )
58% in 0:14
Not half-bad a boss rush hack. Nothing too extraordinary about it, though. That said, I do prefer the Hard Mode variant, as it changes the physics a bit (gravity increases), changes a couple of the boss behaviors, buffs bosses a bit, and the escape sequence is an actual escape sequence, albeit short. My only complaint is the inability to save the animals.
Completion status is based on Normal Mode playthrough.
Completion status is based on Normal Mode playthrough.
Super Metroid: emoD by EMODORAN/Backfire [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 31, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on May 31, 2025 ( )
98% in 2:44
There are quite a few things in this hack I enjoyed, most notably, the challenge overall. Granted, it does nothing really new, as far as challenging obstacles go, what with the usual 60-damage spikes scattered around the world, including the start of the game, making traversing to the Morph and Missiles the real tough part of the hack. Beyond that, yeah, there's still spikes around the game, but the rooms have also been changed, some significantly more so than others, to make a route that is completely different from the usual vanilla route. In fact, some room layouts differ so drastically, you can barely recognize them as their original counterparts (The Climb, and Terminator immediately come to mind).
The intended routing is fairly linear, though the player can deviate from the intended sequence here and there with trick/technique knowledge, and can actually reward the player greatly, such as getting Grappling Beam earlier than intended. Some might find issue with the progression, but you're allowed X-Ray Scope early-ish enough, so that the majority of the hack isn't an obtuse slogfest.
The bosses have been mostly buffed/changed. Spore Spawn, in particular, was actually pretty tough due to its obnoxious room layout, though I have experienced worse Spore Spawns. Ridley was also particularly bad, though thankfully, it's a damage race most seasoned players can win just fine. Overall, the bosses weren't too hard beyond that.
My only real gripe was Terminator Room (spoiler ahead). The player is supposed to take the Speed Booster, and head toward Crateria through Terminator, to fight Bomb Torizo and get Bombs, to then go all the way back to Crocomire, to gain Grappling Beam, with which to gain access to Phantoon in Wrecked Ship. The problem is that to proceed through Terminator, one must find a shot block in a ceiling that is pretty much hard to find. So hard, in fact, I never actually found it, and decided to cheese my way into Crocomire by busting through the bombable block with speed keep blue suit. It wasn't until after I got X-Ray Scope, I was able to find the shot block, and proceed through the rest of the game just fine. On the plus side, sequence breaking the way I did allowed me a more efficient route than the back-and-forth I would have had to do otherwise.
The way into Tourian was also interesting as well. The room to G4 was unique, and surprised the hell out of me. Tourian itself, however, remain mostly unchanged. The escape sequence was pretty cool. The Tourian Escape Rooms weren't changed, but The Climb Room, and the way one shine sparked up it was rather neat. Saving the animals was a pain in the ass, however, as the only way I know to get in there is to speed keep blue suit down to the door leading to BT Room. The problem is that the steam is very disruptive, and will really kill much of your short charge attempts. Took me one Zebes explosion before I was successful in saving the animals.
Overall, I had fun with the challenge. It was hard enough without being totally degenerate. I give it a 3/5 because it is just another challenge hack with the usual tropes we see in others like it, enjoyable as it was.
The intended routing is fairly linear, though the player can deviate from the intended sequence here and there with trick/technique knowledge, and can actually reward the player greatly, such as getting Grappling Beam earlier than intended. Some might find issue with the progression, but you're allowed X-Ray Scope early-ish enough, so that the majority of the hack isn't an obtuse slogfest.
The bosses have been mostly buffed/changed. Spore Spawn, in particular, was actually pretty tough due to its obnoxious room layout, though I have experienced worse Spore Spawns. Ridley was also particularly bad, though thankfully, it's a damage race most seasoned players can win just fine. Overall, the bosses weren't too hard beyond that.
My only real gripe was Terminator Room (spoiler ahead). The player is supposed to take the Speed Booster, and head toward Crateria through Terminator, to fight Bomb Torizo and get Bombs, to then go all the way back to Crocomire, to gain Grappling Beam, with which to gain access to Phantoon in Wrecked Ship. The problem is that to proceed through Terminator, one must find a shot block in a ceiling that is pretty much hard to find. So hard, in fact, I never actually found it, and decided to cheese my way into Crocomire by busting through the bombable block with speed keep blue suit. It wasn't until after I got X-Ray Scope, I was able to find the shot block, and proceed through the rest of the game just fine. On the plus side, sequence breaking the way I did allowed me a more efficient route than the back-and-forth I would have had to do otherwise.
The way into Tourian was also interesting as well. The room to G4 was unique, and surprised the hell out of me. Tourian itself, however, remain mostly unchanged. The escape sequence was pretty cool. The Tourian Escape Rooms weren't changed, but The Climb Room, and the way one shine sparked up it was rather neat. Saving the animals was a pain in the ass, however, as the only way I know to get in there is to speed keep blue suit down to the door leading to BT Room. The problem is that the steam is very disruptive, and will really kill much of your short charge attempts. Took me one Zebes explosion before I was successful in saving the animals.
Overall, I had fun with the challenge. It was hard enough without being totally degenerate. I give it a 3/5 because it is just another challenge hack with the usual tropes we see in others like it, enjoyable as it was.
This hack was okay. Like other challenge hacks before it, lots of spike placements, and room layout edits to make the game harder, more inconvenient, and more tedious. Tedium aside, I did like some of g the room layouts presented; nothing that required extreme levels of precision, but still precise enough where mistakes can be lethal.
Another issue I have is a few of the items being really obscure to get. Granted, for the most part, almost all items are found in their vanilla room locations, their positions in said rooms mostly differ (spoiler ahead). This isn't so bad, but there is a Missile in West Ocean that is a bit obtuse to get, as X-Ray Scope doesn't do much to help in finding the path to get it. I had to use SMILE to know how to grab it, and stupidly, it was somewhere that could have been found if I used a Power Bomb to blow open an off-screen bombable block.
One major gripe I had with this hack more than anything, though, are the enemy buffs. While it makes the game harder in the beginning part of it, more than anything, upping enemy health makes playing this feel more like a chore. Hoppers taking a million shots to kill just to have to move on does not feel good to play. If this hack kept enemy health pools unchanged, the experience would have been far more enjoyable. Also, the hack has a weird habit of putting conveyer tiles in weird places, and can often wreck an unsuspecting player (conveyer tile moving player into spikes, for example).
Bosses were also changed, mostly in room layout, though some have noticeably larger health pools. The worst boss, honestly, was Spore Spawn, given its spike-filled room layout, and Spore Spawn being positioned lower means you can't avoid it, even when in morph. Honestly, it would have been pretty free, had I known where to find the E-Tank in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room, and Gauntlet Energy Tank Room, so technically, Spore Spawn's difficulty was on me.
I guess all in all, the hack wasn't the worst I've seen, and I actually kind of enjoyed the challenge it has. Again, dumb down the enemy buffs, and make the bosses less obnoxious, and... well, I'd still give it a 3/5, because it's just another half hack, but it still would've been better off.
Another issue I have is a few of the items being really obscure to get. Granted, for the most part, almost all items are found in their vanilla room locations, their positions in said rooms mostly differ (spoiler ahead). This isn't so bad, but there is a Missile in West Ocean that is a bit obtuse to get, as X-Ray Scope doesn't do much to help in finding the path to get it. I had to use SMILE to know how to grab it, and stupidly, it was somewhere that could have been found if I used a Power Bomb to blow open an off-screen bombable block.
One major gripe I had with this hack more than anything, though, are the enemy buffs. While it makes the game harder in the beginning part of it, more than anything, upping enemy health makes playing this feel more like a chore. Hoppers taking a million shots to kill just to have to move on does not feel good to play. If this hack kept enemy health pools unchanged, the experience would have been far more enjoyable. Also, the hack has a weird habit of putting conveyer tiles in weird places, and can often wreck an unsuspecting player (conveyer tile moving player into spikes, for example).
Bosses were also changed, mostly in room layout, though some have noticeably larger health pools. The worst boss, honestly, was Spore Spawn, given its spike-filled room layout, and Spore Spawn being positioned lower means you can't avoid it, even when in morph. Honestly, it would have been pretty free, had I known where to find the E-Tank in Blue Brinstar Energy Tank Room, and Gauntlet Energy Tank Room, so technically, Spore Spawn's difficulty was on me.
I guess all in all, the hack wasn't the worst I've seen, and I actually kind of enjoyed the challenge it has. Again, dumb down the enemy buffs, and make the bosses less obnoxious, and... well, I'd still give it a 3/5, because it's just another half hack, but it still would've been better off.
Super Metroid Nightmare by JAM [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 02, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 02, 2025 ( )
200% in 5:02
What in the hell was this?! This hack is an awful hack, and possibly the worst on this site thus far! Mind you, this takes into consideration hacks that are broken, unfinished, and/or made stupidly, whether Warfare, NoobSmasher, Super T-Metroid, or even Super Metroid AQUA FINALZ! The worst part is that the general idea isn't bad, but the execution is worse than dog shit; at least dog shit can be used to grow a dandelion or some other shitty weed. This hack, however... Well, let's go over why this hack is less than shit.
First, let's go over the worst part of the hack, and it happens from the word "Go": Ceres Station. Ridley will not run from the player, so the player is hard-required to fire 100 shots to initiate the escape. This doesn't sound bad on paper, and is normally very doable. Hell, Super Metroid: Escape II did this with their Hard Mode patch. However this hack decides to add bullshit onto this task by making Ridley's fire breath deal 15 damage (which isn't that bad), his body deal 30 damage, and his tail, of all things, deal 60 damage; the same amount as the most savage spikes. This is a big issue, due to Ridley's actions being entirely RNG, and he has only three moves; fire breath, swoop, and tackle. Fire breath can be dodged, and therefor avoided, while the swoop is trickier, but can be managed. The tackle, however, is what WILL fuck you, as there is zero cue (visual or otherwise) to allow the player to anticipate and avoid it, and because of RNG, Ridley can and often will spam just that! Worse still, his tail is often swinging around, and has a disjointed hitbox, so when Ridley tackles, oftentimes, the player will take damage from the tail's hitbox over Ridley's body, meaning you could die within seconds of the battle starting. Had the damage been reversed, where the tail did 15, body did 30, and breath did 60, this could have been easier to digest.
Now if that weren't bad enough, not only do you have to simply get lucky during the Ridley encounter, but the Ceres escape sequence only allows the player 15 seconds to escape. To put that in perspective, that is the same amount of time given to the player in Super Metroid: Kaizo Edition, so if the player's movements aren't perfect, and steam/rubble RNG doesn't align, you'll have your attempt forfeit, and have to start all over again with the Ridley fight. I begrudgingly used save states after the Ridley fight, after over an hour of grinding, because I got too aggravated. I later find out, in EternisedDragon's playthrough, that the steam during the escape does damage Samus, so if the player damages down fast enough during the escape to 0 health before the timer runs out, restarting will put Samus on the elevator while Ceres's escape flag is still active, allowing the player to cheese the escape. This pissed me off, because I could have done that, and not have to need to save state, and for that, I will forever have resentment toward this hack and its maker!
After all that, the game itself doesn't stop with its bullshit. The world map is entirely vanilla, with minor changes. These changes are some doors here and there, to allow the player to not need ammo in certain places to proceed. There's a reason for this. The first Missiles acquired grants 5 ammo, which is to be expected. However, all other ammo pickups, including other Missiles, will give only 1 each. This leaves the player with a max ammo count of 50/10/10. Under ordinary circumstances, this doesn't really do all that much, but in this hack, it's a problem, as red doors require 25 Missiles generally, all green doors require 5 Super Missiles, and yellow doors are heavily varied; one yellow door may require 5 Power Bombs, while another can require up to 25 Power Bombs. For this reason, it is ordinarily impossible to open the yellow door leaving Red Tower from the top. Some doors also hard-require the player to blow all of their ammo on a door, and then grind for more ammo from surrounding enemies to continue with opening the door.
The bosses are obnoxious in their HP buff and damage output. But none more so than Spore Spawn. Spore Spawn, unlike many other Spore Spawns, will continue to move, even when its shell is open. This results in there being no safe spot to hide from it, forcing the player to run back and forth to avoid it, and it gets even worse when Spore Spawn speeds up. Worse still, Spore Spawn has an unholy amount of health, so you can spend upwards of 30+ minutes fighting it, the time mostly spent dodging it while farming ammo and health, all the while, Spore Spawn's body does around 48 damage, making it a two-hit KO in most circumstances, because Energy Tanks don't offer much of anything for health, increasing health by 25 every tank. If that wasn't bad enough, after Ceres, you start the game off with only 49 energy. If you're able to do the escape cheese ED did, you can mitigate this by starting the game with 99 energy, allowing for 50 more energy than normal.
Enemies were also insanely buffed, some of them being able to one-shot outright before suits and more E-Tanks, including Hoppers, Ki Hunters, and Desgeegas. Their health was also buffed, requiring tedious firing of your beam to kill them; even Zebetites were insanely buffed, making Missiles alone inadequate to deal with them. Plasma feels underpowered late game as a result of these mindless buffs. Alongside enemies, lava and acid were also insanely buffed as well. Lava, even with Varia Suit, will drain health about as fast as acid does to a suitless Samus, while acid's damage is so vicious, your health will just vanish in a near-blink of an eye.
Tourian is stupid. While the usual Metroid rooms are whatever, the room with the two Tourian Sidehoppers is what showcases the true stupid of Tourian here. The way forward is blocked by a metal door, so you must kill both Hoppers using your ammo (minus Power Bombs). That's not all, though, as killing the Hoppers won't immediately open it; you must leave, refill ammo, and return to kill one more Hopper for the door to open. And that seems to be the main theme of this hack; proceed through to a colored door, blow all your ammo on it, grind for 30 minutes to get ammo back, and repeat, sometimes needing to grind in the middle of trying to open the door.
The very first chance one gets, which won't happen until late game, I highly recommend saying "Fuck you!" to this hack, and using GT Code. This will grant you far more health and ammo than the game is supposed to allow, literally doubling your max ammo amount, while also giving the player a ton more health than what is achieved by end game normally. It also evens the playing field against Gold Torizo, Ridley, and Mother Brain, the last of which is not much different from her SM Impossible counterpart. On a side note, MB1 will require ALL of your ammo; all 50 Missiles, all 10 Supers, and even all 10 Power Bombs (yes Power Bombs does damage MB1). GT Code is also how my completion stats read 200%.
Literally, the only one positive, if I absolutely must say anything nice about this hack, is that the player is hard-required to save the animals, or else the door leading out to Landing Site remains a metal door. It was a cool thing, and I think some more hacks should implement something like that. Otherwise, this entire hack is just not fun. It is the antithesis to the concept of fun. It's as if JAM woke up and thought, "How can I make vanilla Super Metroid as unfun, boring, hard, and tedious as humanly possible?" And decided to act upon those intrusive thoughts. There are a ton of hacks that are hard due to design, including obstacles, etc., as well as hacks that are hard from broken coding, and then there's this, a hack that is hard for all the wrong reasons that I can't see anyone realistically enjoying, and anyone who claims this hack to be good, or claim they enjoyed it are bold-faced liars.
This hack sucks, and is likely the worst Vanilla+ hack on MetroidConstruction, and will likely remain the worst.
First, let's go over the worst part of the hack, and it happens from the word "Go": Ceres Station. Ridley will not run from the player, so the player is hard-required to fire 100 shots to initiate the escape. This doesn't sound bad on paper, and is normally very doable. Hell, Super Metroid: Escape II did this with their Hard Mode patch. However this hack decides to add bullshit onto this task by making Ridley's fire breath deal 15 damage (which isn't that bad), his body deal 30 damage, and his tail, of all things, deal 60 damage; the same amount as the most savage spikes. This is a big issue, due to Ridley's actions being entirely RNG, and he has only three moves; fire breath, swoop, and tackle. Fire breath can be dodged, and therefor avoided, while the swoop is trickier, but can be managed. The tackle, however, is what WILL fuck you, as there is zero cue (visual or otherwise) to allow the player to anticipate and avoid it, and because of RNG, Ridley can and often will spam just that! Worse still, his tail is often swinging around, and has a disjointed hitbox, so when Ridley tackles, oftentimes, the player will take damage from the tail's hitbox over Ridley's body, meaning you could die within seconds of the battle starting. Had the damage been reversed, where the tail did 15, body did 30, and breath did 60, this could have been easier to digest.
Now if that weren't bad enough, not only do you have to simply get lucky during the Ridley encounter, but the Ceres escape sequence only allows the player 15 seconds to escape. To put that in perspective, that is the same amount of time given to the player in Super Metroid: Kaizo Edition, so if the player's movements aren't perfect, and steam/rubble RNG doesn't align, you'll have your attempt forfeit, and have to start all over again with the Ridley fight. I begrudgingly used save states after the Ridley fight, after over an hour of grinding, because I got too aggravated. I later find out, in EternisedDragon's playthrough, that the steam during the escape does damage Samus, so if the player damages down fast enough during the escape to 0 health before the timer runs out, restarting will put Samus on the elevator while Ceres's escape flag is still active, allowing the player to cheese the escape. This pissed me off, because I could have done that, and not have to need to save state, and for that, I will forever have resentment toward this hack and its maker!
After all that, the game itself doesn't stop with its bullshit. The world map is entirely vanilla, with minor changes. These changes are some doors here and there, to allow the player to not need ammo in certain places to proceed. There's a reason for this. The first Missiles acquired grants 5 ammo, which is to be expected. However, all other ammo pickups, including other Missiles, will give only 1 each. This leaves the player with a max ammo count of 50/10/10. Under ordinary circumstances, this doesn't really do all that much, but in this hack, it's a problem, as red doors require 25 Missiles generally, all green doors require 5 Super Missiles, and yellow doors are heavily varied; one yellow door may require 5 Power Bombs, while another can require up to 25 Power Bombs. For this reason, it is ordinarily impossible to open the yellow door leaving Red Tower from the top. Some doors also hard-require the player to blow all of their ammo on a door, and then grind for more ammo from surrounding enemies to continue with opening the door.
The bosses are obnoxious in their HP buff and damage output. But none more so than Spore Spawn. Spore Spawn, unlike many other Spore Spawns, will continue to move, even when its shell is open. This results in there being no safe spot to hide from it, forcing the player to run back and forth to avoid it, and it gets even worse when Spore Spawn speeds up. Worse still, Spore Spawn has an unholy amount of health, so you can spend upwards of 30+ minutes fighting it, the time mostly spent dodging it while farming ammo and health, all the while, Spore Spawn's body does around 48 damage, making it a two-hit KO in most circumstances, because Energy Tanks don't offer much of anything for health, increasing health by 25 every tank. If that wasn't bad enough, after Ceres, you start the game off with only 49 energy. If you're able to do the escape cheese ED did, you can mitigate this by starting the game with 99 energy, allowing for 50 more energy than normal.
Enemies were also insanely buffed, some of them being able to one-shot outright before suits and more E-Tanks, including Hoppers, Ki Hunters, and Desgeegas. Their health was also buffed, requiring tedious firing of your beam to kill them; even Zebetites were insanely buffed, making Missiles alone inadequate to deal with them. Plasma feels underpowered late game as a result of these mindless buffs. Alongside enemies, lava and acid were also insanely buffed as well. Lava, even with Varia Suit, will drain health about as fast as acid does to a suitless Samus, while acid's damage is so vicious, your health will just vanish in a near-blink of an eye.
Tourian is stupid. While the usual Metroid rooms are whatever, the room with the two Tourian Sidehoppers is what showcases the true stupid of Tourian here. The way forward is blocked by a metal door, so you must kill both Hoppers using your ammo (minus Power Bombs). That's not all, though, as killing the Hoppers won't immediately open it; you must leave, refill ammo, and return to kill one more Hopper for the door to open. And that seems to be the main theme of this hack; proceed through to a colored door, blow all your ammo on it, grind for 30 minutes to get ammo back, and repeat, sometimes needing to grind in the middle of trying to open the door.
The very first chance one gets, which won't happen until late game, I highly recommend saying "Fuck you!" to this hack, and using GT Code. This will grant you far more health and ammo than the game is supposed to allow, literally doubling your max ammo amount, while also giving the player a ton more health than what is achieved by end game normally. It also evens the playing field against Gold Torizo, Ridley, and Mother Brain, the last of which is not much different from her SM Impossible counterpart. On a side note, MB1 will require ALL of your ammo; all 50 Missiles, all 10 Supers, and even all 10 Power Bombs (yes Power Bombs does damage MB1). GT Code is also how my completion stats read 200%.
Literally, the only one positive, if I absolutely must say anything nice about this hack, is that the player is hard-required to save the animals, or else the door leading out to Landing Site remains a metal door. It was a cool thing, and I think some more hacks should implement something like that. Otherwise, this entire hack is just not fun. It is the antithesis to the concept of fun. It's as if JAM woke up and thought, "How can I make vanilla Super Metroid as unfun, boring, hard, and tedious as humanly possible?" And decided to act upon those intrusive thoughts. There are a ton of hacks that are hard due to design, including obstacles, etc., as well as hacks that are hard from broken coding, and then there's this, a hack that is hard for all the wrong reasons that I can't see anyone realistically enjoying, and anyone who claims this hack to be good, or claim they enjoyed it are bold-faced liars.
This hack sucks, and is likely the worst Vanilla+ hack on MetroidConstruction, and will likely remain the worst.
Super Metroid: Life by Nevyn 1.0 / DCR 1.2 [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 10, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 10, 2025 ( )
93% in 3:09
This hack was alright. It feels half-hack-ish, but not exactly. There are enough differences where one can wonder if it's technically considered a full hack. Item progression was interesting, and the ways to get certain items, though strange (looking at you, Space Jump), was kinda fun, and rewarding. Actual forward progression was a bit confusing, but can be managed. My only gripe, honestly, is the path to Tourian being well hidden, where one would have to either find it by accident, or use X-Ray Scope everywhere you go. In my case, I ended up using SMILE to find it, which never feels good. Another gripe I have: Where the hell was Ice Beam?! I never found it, and having to use Power Bombs on Metroids was not a really fun experience, especially given how limited Power Bombs were in this hack. Those gripes out of the way, this hack was pretty decent overall. Nothing to write home about, but still good enough to drain about 4+ hours out of your life.
P.S. The animals can't be saved. Which really sucks. The door that leads to them stays closed during the escape sequence.
P.S. The animals can't be saved. Which really sucks. The door that leads to them stays closed during the escape sequence.
Super Metroid: Space Adventures by DaveBatista [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 10, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 10, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
So seeing as this hack is built using Vanilla++ as a base, I was expecting something decent. Truth is... it ain't too bad, despite my 1/5 rating, but my issue is the end, as well as the journey there. There really isn't much at all to this hack. In practice, it's incredibly short with hardly any content to be had, and some of the progression was a bit obtuse here and there, with some possible perma-stucks.
As for the ending (spoiler ahead), I didn't actually know there was an ending sequence to this hack. It wasn't until after I accepted there being no ending, and moving on that I saw in ED's playthrough that there actually is an end to the hack. To be fair, the description does also allude to this. To the left of the Power Bombs is a hidden morph tunnel that needs said Power Bombs to break through. Entering the morph tunnel, and touching the loading zone triggers the planet explosion ending. It's for this reason, I have no completion stats. Furthermore, the ending is too well hidden for most players to know that it's even there.
Overall, there wasn't much to this. Not the worst of the hacks I've rated 1 orb by any means, but still felt like a waste of time.
As for the ending (spoiler ahead), I didn't actually know there was an ending sequence to this hack. It wasn't until after I accepted there being no ending, and moving on that I saw in ED's playthrough that there actually is an end to the hack. To be fair, the description does also allude to this. To the left of the Power Bombs is a hidden morph tunnel that needs said Power Bombs to break through. Entering the morph tunnel, and touching the loading zone triggers the planet explosion ending. It's for this reason, I have no completion stats. Furthermore, the ending is too well hidden for most players to know that it's even there.
Overall, there wasn't much to this. Not the worst of the hacks I've rated 1 orb by any means, but still felt like a waste of time.
Super Metroid: Apocalypse by DarkSamus [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 10, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 10, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack is really shallow at best. There are some perma-stucks, and worst of all, Morph Ball cannot be acquired; it just sits there behind a wall, taunting the player. I did use a walk-through-walls cheat code to grab it, though, and even with that, it doesn't allow for much beyond that. The hack, casually playing, ends when Bombs are acquired, as Bomb Torizo's room cannot be escaped, unless again, one uses walk-through-walls cheats. Even with granting myself all power-ups, beams, etc., and a walk-through-walls code, the hack doesn't offer anything much beyond Bomb Torizo. My playthrough ended when I fell out of bounds, and couldn't find my way back.
The palettes were neat, but that's all it has. This hack is 14 years old (as of this review), and nothing else manifested from this, so we can safely assume we'll never see a finished version.
The palettes were neat, but that's all it has. This hack is 14 years old (as of this review), and nothing else manifested from this, so we can safely assume we'll never see a finished version.
Super Metroid: Super Kill Time by Stacy [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 11, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 11, 2025 ( )
74% in 3:50
This hack has many obtuse routing and progression issues, not unlike its predecessor, Super Metroid: Kill Time. The issue immediately begins in Wrecked Ship, as the path forward isn't made obvious. Worse still, all doors in the really big room, save for the door on the left (from where you entered), and the door on the bottom, leads to the center room. This wouldn't be much of an issue. In fact, the middle room should be a godsend, given it's a health refill room. The problem is that whatever music/sound track is used upon entering, it has a 90% chance to crash the game, forcing the player to have to reset, sometimes requiring a hard reset. This is annoying, and why this was never fixed is beyond me. DO NOT enter the center room.
The item progression is also weird, and save for some obvious progression item orders around the start, it's not really made clear what the intended order to progress actually is. The way to Phantoon, the way to Kraid, and the way to Draygon are all cryptic or hidden, or both (spoiler ahead). In the "Red Tower" section of Brinstar, you'll see three identical rooms on the left, each with a Chozo statue that has seemingly nothing. However, the bottom-most room among them is the path forward, as the Chozo statue can be destroyed, and the way to Kraid opened. Phantoon, being the first intended boss, is reached by bombing an inconspicuous tile in the bottom-right corner of the room, above a Chozo statue. The player would have to either be lucky, or be super-attentive to find this path forward; I used the SMILE program. Draygon is very tricky. You'll come across a room with a monster head, similar to what's seen in vanilla SM's Warehouse Entrance. What the player is meant to do is in the hall prior to that room, one must shine spark up the middle of the corridor. If the player goes back from the monster head room, the corridor loaded is different, and cannot shine spark up the center. Only by entering the corridor from its left side can the player proceed, so charge a shine spark going in from the left.
Everything else is fine for the most part. There are plenty of dead ends and red herrings that lead to nothing, mostly Chozo statues holding pure white orbs; they serve literally zero purpose, and the worst of them is the Mama Turtle Room, as that has literally nothing to acquire, and all you'll find, other than the turtles, is a Chozo statue holding a useless white orb, and non-solid tiles in the shape of a heart. It really is an anomaly, if not a troll.
For all my gripes with this hack, it isn't terrible, but is certainly near the bottom of the totem pole of hacks I've given 3/5 for a rating. This could have been put together better, and the path forward more apparent to the player. I'm not a fan of obscure and cryptic paths forward, and this hack has plenty of those, as well as the godawful crash of the center room in Wrecked Ship's gigantic room.
The item progression is also weird, and save for some obvious progression item orders around the start, it's not really made clear what the intended order to progress actually is. The way to Phantoon, the way to Kraid, and the way to Draygon are all cryptic or hidden, or both (spoiler ahead). In the "Red Tower" section of Brinstar, you'll see three identical rooms on the left, each with a Chozo statue that has seemingly nothing. However, the bottom-most room among them is the path forward, as the Chozo statue can be destroyed, and the way to Kraid opened. Phantoon, being the first intended boss, is reached by bombing an inconspicuous tile in the bottom-right corner of the room, above a Chozo statue. The player would have to either be lucky, or be super-attentive to find this path forward; I used the SMILE program. Draygon is very tricky. You'll come across a room with a monster head, similar to what's seen in vanilla SM's Warehouse Entrance. What the player is meant to do is in the hall prior to that room, one must shine spark up the middle of the corridor. If the player goes back from the monster head room, the corridor loaded is different, and cannot shine spark up the center. Only by entering the corridor from its left side can the player proceed, so charge a shine spark going in from the left.
Everything else is fine for the most part. There are plenty of dead ends and red herrings that lead to nothing, mostly Chozo statues holding pure white orbs; they serve literally zero purpose, and the worst of them is the Mama Turtle Room, as that has literally nothing to acquire, and all you'll find, other than the turtles, is a Chozo statue holding a useless white orb, and non-solid tiles in the shape of a heart. It really is an anomaly, if not a troll.
For all my gripes with this hack, it isn't terrible, but is certainly near the bottom of the totem pole of hacks I've given 3/5 for a rating. This could have been put together better, and the path forward more apparent to the player. I'm not a fan of obscure and cryptic paths forward, and this hack has plenty of those, as well as the godawful crash of the center room in Wrecked Ship's gigantic room.
Super Metroid: Intense by Eddy23911 [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 11, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 11, 2025 ( )
100% in 2:36
So this hack, like others before it, is mostly just spike spam, with no difference in item placement, though actual progression does change a bit, such as hard-requiring Grappling Beam to enter Wrecked Ship, for example. The rate of fire on Spazer is rather nice, as is Plasma+Wave+Ice combo. Some bosses are decently buffed, while others are hilariously nerfed (looking at you, Gold Torizo). My biggest issue with this hack, other than just being mostly spike spam, is the weird, and even godawful music choice; MB2 fight music for most of Upper Norfair gets really tiring really quickly. Speaking of Mother Brain, the music choice in MB's room causes the game to crash hard after defeating MB1. I found that after destroying all Zebetites, and her glass tank, then leaving to save and come back, it was able to work fine, though it might be me having gotten lucky? (Spoiler ahead) Another issue is the way to Gravity Suit. You must enter Bowling Alley through the upper door, as there is no access through its front door. This wouldn't be an issue normally, except the screen scroll PLM does not work, so going down from the Reserve Tank means having to navigate half-blind, through the robots and spike pits. Not too hard to do, but is still annoying as hell.
I do appreciate the buffed health drops, which one would think would mitigate farming, but Missile drops only yield 1 Missile, so it kinda evens out to about the same as normal. I did enjoy some of the challenge that came with it, but because it's something we've seen countless times before, this ends up being nothing special, and kind of tedious, and even a tad boring. I liked it just enough for this hack to barely eke a 2/5 from me.
I do appreciate the buffed health drops, which one would think would mitigate farming, but Missile drops only yield 1 Missile, so it kinda evens out to about the same as normal. I did enjoy some of the challenge that came with it, but because it's something we've seen countless times before, this ends up being nothing special, and kind of tedious, and even a tad boring. I liked it just enough for this hack to barely eke a 2/5 from me.
Super Metroid: Puzzle by Eddy23911 [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 11, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 11, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Under normal circumstances, you cannot get past Big Pink, as the entrance to Green Hill Zone is closed off by a yellow door. But have you met me? I'm me! Of course I moondanced into Etecoons Room to get early Power Bombs. What was beyond anything PB-locked was... just vanilla Super Metroid, which to be fair, is expected, given the hack was supposed to be unfinished.
That said, even with that, the game is functionally unbeatable, because of Landing Site. There is a crumble block that leads into Parlor, which isn't the bad part. What is bad, however, is to get back to your ship, you must break a Super Missile block, and if you know Mother Brain 2, you know that she drains all of your ammo (except Missiles, if you have enough of them). This makes it practically impossible to escape, unless someone manages to deep-stuck themselves into the lower-left door of Landing Site, X-Ray climb up to Gauntlet's door, and then escape that way, but between steam hindering short charge attempts, and the limited time offered during the escape, yeah, it's impractical. The only real way to ensure you have enough Super Missiles is multiple instances of the Spacetime Beam glitch, so that you can collect enough Supers to have some leftover after Mother Brain's rainbow beam. At least you can save the animals, I guess.
The biggest issue with this hack is that it doesn't do anything interesting, other than adding some obstacles to rooms to make navigation more tedious. Worse still, despite its namesake, this hack has absolutely zero puzzles of which to speak, so it fails in doing what its name was supposed to imply. A waste of time for something with subpar effort at best.
That said, even with that, the game is functionally unbeatable, because of Landing Site. There is a crumble block that leads into Parlor, which isn't the bad part. What is bad, however, is to get back to your ship, you must break a Super Missile block, and if you know Mother Brain 2, you know that she drains all of your ammo (except Missiles, if you have enough of them). This makes it practically impossible to escape, unless someone manages to deep-stuck themselves into the lower-left door of Landing Site, X-Ray climb up to Gauntlet's door, and then escape that way, but between steam hindering short charge attempts, and the limited time offered during the escape, yeah, it's impractical. The only real way to ensure you have enough Super Missiles is multiple instances of the Spacetime Beam glitch, so that you can collect enough Supers to have some leftover after Mother Brain's rainbow beam. At least you can save the animals, I guess.
The biggest issue with this hack is that it doesn't do anything interesting, other than adding some obstacles to rooms to make navigation more tedious. Worse still, despite its namesake, this hack has absolutely zero puzzles of which to speak, so it fails in doing what its name was supposed to imply. A waste of time for something with subpar effort at best.
Super Zero Mission by SBniconico [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 14, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 14, 2025 ( )
101% in 2:20
So, this hack right here is what I like to call a "Big One", or "Big Hack". It's a distinction I personally give to rom hacks that go above and beyond what is normally seen in rom hacks. Transcending the usual full hack, "Big Ones" are hacks that have custom code and other changes, on top of being a full hack, and/or sometimes can have custom tiles/sprites along with the whole full hack thing. An overhaul, if you will. Other hacks that come to mind in this include Super Metroid: Redesign and its Axeil Edition, Super Metroid: Golden Dawn, Cliffhanger and its Redux version, Eris, Ice Metal Uninstall, and plenty others I won't go over, as they're released after this hack, and I'll get to those when I do.
What can I say about this? Well, for starters, it recreates the visuals of Metroid: Zero Mission, the GBA remake of NEStroid, and it does so rather well. The tiles look very well polished, and doesn't look out of place. Not surprising, as the GBA is like a handheld SNES. The world map is massive! About as big, if not larger than Redesign, which is a feat in itself. And if you're one who is very familiar with Metroid: Zero Mission's map and progression, not one bit of that shit will help you in navigating this hack. While it recreates the "story" and aesthetics of Zero Mission, that's pretty much where the similarities end. It is neither a half hack, nor is it a true remake. This is its own thing, but staying true to the spirit of Zero Mission.
Gameplay-wise, you have some quality-of-life changes that not only helps with navigation, but also stays true to the spirit of its GBA counterpart. Namely, it borrows a page from Redesign, and adds respin for somersaulting midair, which is great for wall jumps, as well as the ability to catch slopes during shine spark, allowing the player to go from shine sparking, to running animation for shine spark chains, like in Redesign/Zero Mission. To accomplish this is tricky, however; the player must keep the run button held while they shine spark, and hold forward. If done correctly, you'll catch the slope.
(Spoiler ahead) The routing is also interesting, as there is no G4 in this hack. Instead, progression is locked behind various door locks that must be activated. You'll know when you can unlock them when you see a switch with a sign that reads "Lv 1", "Lv 2", and so on beside them. It's these locks that dictate the path forward, but there are TONS of ways the player can sequence break the game as well, and much of those sequence breaks appear to be dev-intended, save for a few here and there.
Other custom code include the "Unknown Items" as seen in Zero Mission. You'll know what the item is (Screw Attack, Plasma Beam, etc.) when you see them, but they cannot be used. However, like in Zero Mission, collecting them allows the player to progress further in the hack by allowing their corresponding blocks to be broken, or allow the player to be able to stand on otherwise non-solid blocks. These items can only actually be used when Gravity Suit is acquired.
Now, the hack isn't without its issues, as amazing as it is. For starters, it can be difficult to find the path forward, even the intended casual path. This is especially apparent for the Pirate Ship/Chozodia (yes, those are in this hack); they're VERY huge areas with different states depending on whether you tripped the alarm or not, which can make navigation confusing, and sometimes frustrating. As much as I've played this hack before, I STILL don't know the full layout of those areas, or how to effectively navigate them outside of a speedrun route.
Another issue is the Gravity Suit. Not the item itself, really, but the location. It's in Chozodia, yes, but one must go through water to get it, meaning suitless underwater navigation is required, which for me, personally, is never fun. This can be another point of frustration for a casual player, especially when it can make one question if they're even supposed to be there in the first place.
There are some items that can be acquired earlier than usual. Casually speaking, you'll come across Power Bombs and X-Ray Scope in Tourian. However, they will be inaccessible, and by the time the player beats Mother Brain, and clears Tourian, returning to the area shows the Power Bombs and X-Ray are gone. This is because they were moved elsewhere, both in Chozodia, and Pirate Ship respectively, and acquiring X-Ray in the Pirate Ship is especially tedious. However, a player who is either creative/savvy enough, or just plain knows how to get these item early in Tourian will have a much easier time, as after acquiring these early, it makes the rest of the game not only easier, but removes the need to find all the colored locks in Pirate Ship to acquire X-Ray otherwise.
Max percent in this hack is 101%. There are a few items that will be inaccessible, however, depending on how one approaches this. There is a Power Bomb above in Parlor. This can be reached by entering the door that normally leads to "Gauntlet". However, to open this door, one must acquire Power Bombs first. Casually, one must beat Mother Brain and beat Tourian to get Power Bombs in Chozodia. Therein lies the problem, as once Tourian is beaten, the door to "Gauntlet" collapses, and the Parlor Power Bombs are forever lost. Unlike Tourian's X-Ray Scope and Power Bombs, there are no items that share the same ID as Parlor's PB, which would have allowed the player to find them elsewhere. Either get the Parlor PBs before beating Tourian, or relinquish the chance permanently. There is, however, one way to get them after the fact, but requires the player X-Ray climb out of bounds in post-Tourian Parlor from the right door, and navigate a long-winded out-of-bounds area to find a copy of those same Power Bombs out there. It's possible to find a loading zone leading to Terminator, but beneath the door, deep in the ground, where the player then must X-Ray climb out of the ground, allowing the player to make off with Parlor Power Bombs if missed the first time.
The other missable items include 2 Missile packs. One of which come after the final boss, Mecha Ridley (Draygon); there is a boss check, and a line of gates through which the player can't pass if any bosses were not defeated. Each boss has a corresponding gate, and if a boss was missed, their gate will instantly shut, preventing the player from acquiring the Missile. The other missable item is a Missile in Pirate Ship that can ONLY be acquired during the final escape. There is an esoteric route that will take the player to the animals. Saving the animals will result in a room later on to be easier to navigate, as instead of needing to go through a painful morph maze, the room's barriers at the bottom deactivates, with the animals having been implied to be the ones to deactivate them. To the right of the Dachora there is a wall that cannot be destoryed by anything other than enemies, and the animals are coded as enemy actors. The Dachora will break through this wall, allowing the player access to the Missile pack. This is the only way to get it, and serves no purpose other than swag.
That is to say nothing of Hard Edition, because this hack has a hard mode. Without being too verbose (more than I already am), it changes enemy types, as well as room layouts to be much harder, requiring more wall jumps, forced hell runs, forced lava damage, and a totally different route, as many doors had their locks changed. For example, it requires Lv 3 locks in Tourian to open the door to Varia, when in normal mode, Varia can be acquired pretty much whenever you're able to reach its room. There's also an ammo check that requires a ton of Super Missiles to reach Hard Edition Varia Suit... but this can be bypassed with a shine spark clip. Item placements are the same, but the manner in which most are acquired, and the routing required to reach them differs greatly. It's definitely something I could call "Kaizo" in difficulty, and is a great challenge to test the skills of any veteran Super Metroid player.
This hack had a ton of work put into it. It really does show, from the scope, to the routing, to the visuals, to the custom code, to its execution; the hack maker really put a lot of thought on how one can route this hack, and with many different ways to play and route this, it went above and beyond most hacks, full hack or otherwise. The same can be said of Hard Edition; while a little more restricting, casually speaking, there are still a few places where the player can sequence break for early items, and can reward the player GREATLY as a result. This is very easily a 5/5 hack, and easily the best of 2011. If anyone wants a large-scale full hack that they can easily sink hours into, this is certainly the hack to do it.
Completion Time and item collection is from my 101% Hard Edition speedrun (not linked).
What can I say about this? Well, for starters, it recreates the visuals of Metroid: Zero Mission, the GBA remake of NEStroid, and it does so rather well. The tiles look very well polished, and doesn't look out of place. Not surprising, as the GBA is like a handheld SNES. The world map is massive! About as big, if not larger than Redesign, which is a feat in itself. And if you're one who is very familiar with Metroid: Zero Mission's map and progression, not one bit of that shit will help you in navigating this hack. While it recreates the "story" and aesthetics of Zero Mission, that's pretty much where the similarities end. It is neither a half hack, nor is it a true remake. This is its own thing, but staying true to the spirit of Zero Mission.
Gameplay-wise, you have some quality-of-life changes that not only helps with navigation, but also stays true to the spirit of its GBA counterpart. Namely, it borrows a page from Redesign, and adds respin for somersaulting midair, which is great for wall jumps, as well as the ability to catch slopes during shine spark, allowing the player to go from shine sparking, to running animation for shine spark chains, like in Redesign/Zero Mission. To accomplish this is tricky, however; the player must keep the run button held while they shine spark, and hold forward. If done correctly, you'll catch the slope.
(Spoiler ahead) The routing is also interesting, as there is no G4 in this hack. Instead, progression is locked behind various door locks that must be activated. You'll know when you can unlock them when you see a switch with a sign that reads "Lv 1", "Lv 2", and so on beside them. It's these locks that dictate the path forward, but there are TONS of ways the player can sequence break the game as well, and much of those sequence breaks appear to be dev-intended, save for a few here and there.
Other custom code include the "Unknown Items" as seen in Zero Mission. You'll know what the item is (Screw Attack, Plasma Beam, etc.) when you see them, but they cannot be used. However, like in Zero Mission, collecting them allows the player to progress further in the hack by allowing their corresponding blocks to be broken, or allow the player to be able to stand on otherwise non-solid blocks. These items can only actually be used when Gravity Suit is acquired.
Now, the hack isn't without its issues, as amazing as it is. For starters, it can be difficult to find the path forward, even the intended casual path. This is especially apparent for the Pirate Ship/Chozodia (yes, those are in this hack); they're VERY huge areas with different states depending on whether you tripped the alarm or not, which can make navigation confusing, and sometimes frustrating. As much as I've played this hack before, I STILL don't know the full layout of those areas, or how to effectively navigate them outside of a speedrun route.
Another issue is the Gravity Suit. Not the item itself, really, but the location. It's in Chozodia, yes, but one must go through water to get it, meaning suitless underwater navigation is required, which for me, personally, is never fun. This can be another point of frustration for a casual player, especially when it can make one question if they're even supposed to be there in the first place.
There are some items that can be acquired earlier than usual. Casually speaking, you'll come across Power Bombs and X-Ray Scope in Tourian. However, they will be inaccessible, and by the time the player beats Mother Brain, and clears Tourian, returning to the area shows the Power Bombs and X-Ray are gone. This is because they were moved elsewhere, both in Chozodia, and Pirate Ship respectively, and acquiring X-Ray in the Pirate Ship is especially tedious. However, a player who is either creative/savvy enough, or just plain knows how to get these item early in Tourian will have a much easier time, as after acquiring these early, it makes the rest of the game not only easier, but removes the need to find all the colored locks in Pirate Ship to acquire X-Ray otherwise.
Max percent in this hack is 101%. There are a few items that will be inaccessible, however, depending on how one approaches this. There is a Power Bomb above in Parlor. This can be reached by entering the door that normally leads to "Gauntlet". However, to open this door, one must acquire Power Bombs first. Casually, one must beat Mother Brain and beat Tourian to get Power Bombs in Chozodia. Therein lies the problem, as once Tourian is beaten, the door to "Gauntlet" collapses, and the Parlor Power Bombs are forever lost. Unlike Tourian's X-Ray Scope and Power Bombs, there are no items that share the same ID as Parlor's PB, which would have allowed the player to find them elsewhere. Either get the Parlor PBs before beating Tourian, or relinquish the chance permanently. There is, however, one way to get them after the fact, but requires the player X-Ray climb out of bounds in post-Tourian Parlor from the right door, and navigate a long-winded out-of-bounds area to find a copy of those same Power Bombs out there. It's possible to find a loading zone leading to Terminator, but beneath the door, deep in the ground, where the player then must X-Ray climb out of the ground, allowing the player to make off with Parlor Power Bombs if missed the first time.
The other missable items include 2 Missile packs. One of which come after the final boss, Mecha Ridley (Draygon); there is a boss check, and a line of gates through which the player can't pass if any bosses were not defeated. Each boss has a corresponding gate, and if a boss was missed, their gate will instantly shut, preventing the player from acquiring the Missile. The other missable item is a Missile in Pirate Ship that can ONLY be acquired during the final escape. There is an esoteric route that will take the player to the animals. Saving the animals will result in a room later on to be easier to navigate, as instead of needing to go through a painful morph maze, the room's barriers at the bottom deactivates, with the animals having been implied to be the ones to deactivate them. To the right of the Dachora there is a wall that cannot be destoryed by anything other than enemies, and the animals are coded as enemy actors. The Dachora will break through this wall, allowing the player access to the Missile pack. This is the only way to get it, and serves no purpose other than swag.
That is to say nothing of Hard Edition, because this hack has a hard mode. Without being too verbose (more than I already am), it changes enemy types, as well as room layouts to be much harder, requiring more wall jumps, forced hell runs, forced lava damage, and a totally different route, as many doors had their locks changed. For example, it requires Lv 3 locks in Tourian to open the door to Varia, when in normal mode, Varia can be acquired pretty much whenever you're able to reach its room. There's also an ammo check that requires a ton of Super Missiles to reach Hard Edition Varia Suit... but this can be bypassed with a shine spark clip. Item placements are the same, but the manner in which most are acquired, and the routing required to reach them differs greatly. It's definitely something I could call "Kaizo" in difficulty, and is a great challenge to test the skills of any veteran Super Metroid player.
This hack had a ton of work put into it. It really does show, from the scope, to the routing, to the visuals, to the custom code, to its execution; the hack maker really put a lot of thought on how one can route this hack, and with many different ways to play and route this, it went above and beyond most hacks, full hack or otherwise. The same can be said of Hard Edition; while a little more restricting, casually speaking, there are still a few places where the player can sequence break for early items, and can reward the player GREATLY as a result. This is very easily a 5/5 hack, and easily the best of 2011. If anyone wants a large-scale full hack that they can easily sink hours into, this is certainly the hack to do it.
Completion Time and item collection is from my 101% Hard Edition speedrun (not linked).
Honestly, there isn't an awful lot that can be said of this hack. It's pretty straightforward, yet not linear either. I think I chose the correct casual-progression path, but I'm not entirely certain. If I had any real complaint about this hack, it would have to be the path to Ridley, being behind a fake wall, which I amazingly kept missing with X-Ray Scope. Beyond that, the item progression was fine, and the bosses were... stupidly easy. Many were nerfed, while a few remained unchanged. I did like the pallets, especially the "Shiny Metagross"-colored Spore Spawn. I guess another nitpick I have is the amount of kill doors in this hack, making progression not so much tedious, but kinda feels like it pads the playtime a bit. Oh, and the one and only Missile pack in the game giving the player 575 Missiles was amusing. You think they gave enough? Also happy that the animals could be saved. An overall pleasant experience that was more fun than a 3/5 for me, so I give it a 4/5.
Super Metroid Blood by KT JDDD [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 16, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 16, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
A broken, unfinished mess. There are some neat color pallet choices, but that's all it has. Even then, there are some rooms that assaults one's sense of sight. Avoid this hack.
Phazon Hack by A_red_monk_called_Key [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 19, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 19, 2025 ( )
113% in 6:08
Let me be clear from the word "go"; this game's visuals, especially the backgrounds, as well as a few boss encounters did a ton of heavy lifting to influence my 3/5 rating. I would have given this hack a 2/5 otherwise.
First, what I hated: The enemies were damage sponges, and beams were very much underwhelming. I don't know what the maker was thinking with this decision, but I find there are a lot of early hacks that do this, thinking this makes for a good challenge. It doesn't; it makes the game more of a tedious slog, and isn't fun. Who the hell sits there, spending 15 seconds firing at an enemy over and over and over and over and over again, and think, "Oh boy! This is so fun!" Not a single goddamn human with a sliver of a functioning smooth brain stem, for sure. Worse still, stacking some beams actually makes the beam shots even weaker, WHILE reducing the rate of fire (like Ice Beam)! Why was that thought to be a good idea?! It's dog shit design! Even Plasma feels undercooked as hell!
Second, the hunt for the Valkyrie keys. I get there's a navigation room in each area that hints to the location of each of these keys, but the hints are too vague, and there are no in-map indicators as to where they could be, which is a bad design choice for something so crucial to actually finishing the game. The Phazon Particles weren't any better, even with rooms telling you how many you have left to find in a given area. They're well hidden, and usually in walls, floors, and even ceilings, a few of which are so inconspicuous, you can't be realistically expected to be able to find them all on your own without a ton of aimless wandering. (spoiler ahead) To its credit, it's very well worth the effort, as it pretty much unlocks Hyper Beam, which functions as it should, rate of fire and everything.
Next is the navigation. The map is beyond large, with rooms being just as big, and many of these large rooms amount to literally nothing. It's a chore to navigate, and to go from one side of a map to another feels tiresome. There is a warp system, but it feels half-baked, as it's only found in one room of each area, and if you're far enough away from said warp, you're probably better off ignoring it, and going to the next area the ordinary way. The door system was also really bad, and confusing. There are quite a few different colored doors, and some doors must be opened either with specific beams, ammo, or by activating a terminal that allows certain doors to open. There is a yellow door terminal that allows yellow doors to open, yet when you see some doors of that same color, it cannot be opened, as Power Bombs will be needed for certain yellows. There are also dark purple-ish doors, as well as some red doors that can be opened by Missiles, while others cannot. It's extremely confusing. If the download included a "Read Me", or some kind of manual to explain this system, it would've been better received, I'm sure. As it stands, however, this is one of the worst door systems I've seen in a hack.
And then there's the room where you get Bombs, as well as the room where you fight Botwoon. Now, maybe it was on me, because I did use GT Code (more on that later), and perhaps doing so fucked with something in the game's code or something, but the door that closes underneath you in Bomb room remains metal, and cannot be opened, and entering Botwoon's room leaves you in a room state where Botwoon never shows, and both doors remain locked. There were no triggers I could find to fix this, and so I ignored Bombs (since GT Code gave them to me anyway), and ended up having to use a walk-through-walls cheat code to get through Botwoon's room. In either case, it was a real shame, especially since I really can't know what I did wrong, or why these situations occurred. All I know is that GT Code makes it seem like it was my fault, and for all I know, it wasn't GT Code; it was just some quirk that could have been avoided in-game that I didn't avoid.
Also, the routing. I did not think I was sequence breaking the game, but I ended up fighting Phantoon earlier than I was supposed to, and the result was being locked out of Varia for - what I understand - to be a while. For how long before you're given a chance to acquire Varia afterward is unknown to me, because I ended up out of bounds (albeit by accident), crashed the game, and the result of the crash was my 5 and a half hour save data being wiped. Yeah, a lot of fun that was, but I did take the second rodeo to correct my routing and grab Varia. Then again, when I first got to Phazon Mines the first time, I didn't realize I could have opened one of the doors with my Missiles, because again, the door system, and the weird-ass colors made me assume I couldn't do dick there.
This is one of those "Big Ones" I mentioned in my review for Super Zero Mission, but this does show that just because a ton of work, including making a unique full map, and having unique tile sets/visuals was put into a "Big One", it doesn't necessarily make it good. The execution here was really rough, which is a shame, because I was looking forward to this. Literally, the only thing I liked were the backgrounds, especially in Omnium Drift, and some of the bosses. Everything else was just... sad.
I understand there are different "universes", and each save slot offers a different experience to the game. I also understand that those modes aren't finished either, rendering them pointless at this time. This game (as of this review) remains in a 0.4.0 state, and seeing that this review was written in 2025, I don't see this hack ever being fully fleshed out the way the hack maker wants it to be. Just sad all around.
First, what I hated: The enemies were damage sponges, and beams were very much underwhelming. I don't know what the maker was thinking with this decision, but I find there are a lot of early hacks that do this, thinking this makes for a good challenge. It doesn't; it makes the game more of a tedious slog, and isn't fun. Who the hell sits there, spending 15 seconds firing at an enemy over and over and over and over and over again, and think, "Oh boy! This is so fun!" Not a single goddamn human with a sliver of a functioning smooth brain stem, for sure. Worse still, stacking some beams actually makes the beam shots even weaker, WHILE reducing the rate of fire (like Ice Beam)! Why was that thought to be a good idea?! It's dog shit design! Even Plasma feels undercooked as hell!
Second, the hunt for the Valkyrie keys. I get there's a navigation room in each area that hints to the location of each of these keys, but the hints are too vague, and there are no in-map indicators as to where they could be, which is a bad design choice for something so crucial to actually finishing the game. The Phazon Particles weren't any better, even with rooms telling you how many you have left to find in a given area. They're well hidden, and usually in walls, floors, and even ceilings, a few of which are so inconspicuous, you can't be realistically expected to be able to find them all on your own without a ton of aimless wandering. (spoiler ahead) To its credit, it's very well worth the effort, as it pretty much unlocks Hyper Beam, which functions as it should, rate of fire and everything.
Next is the navigation. The map is beyond large, with rooms being just as big, and many of these large rooms amount to literally nothing. It's a chore to navigate, and to go from one side of a map to another feels tiresome. There is a warp system, but it feels half-baked, as it's only found in one room of each area, and if you're far enough away from said warp, you're probably better off ignoring it, and going to the next area the ordinary way. The door system was also really bad, and confusing. There are quite a few different colored doors, and some doors must be opened either with specific beams, ammo, or by activating a terminal that allows certain doors to open. There is a yellow door terminal that allows yellow doors to open, yet when you see some doors of that same color, it cannot be opened, as Power Bombs will be needed for certain yellows. There are also dark purple-ish doors, as well as some red doors that can be opened by Missiles, while others cannot. It's extremely confusing. If the download included a "Read Me", or some kind of manual to explain this system, it would've been better received, I'm sure. As it stands, however, this is one of the worst door systems I've seen in a hack.
And then there's the room where you get Bombs, as well as the room where you fight Botwoon. Now, maybe it was on me, because I did use GT Code (more on that later), and perhaps doing so fucked with something in the game's code or something, but the door that closes underneath you in Bomb room remains metal, and cannot be opened, and entering Botwoon's room leaves you in a room state where Botwoon never shows, and both doors remain locked. There were no triggers I could find to fix this, and so I ignored Bombs (since GT Code gave them to me anyway), and ended up having to use a walk-through-walls cheat code to get through Botwoon's room. In either case, it was a real shame, especially since I really can't know what I did wrong, or why these situations occurred. All I know is that GT Code makes it seem like it was my fault, and for all I know, it wasn't GT Code; it was just some quirk that could have been avoided in-game that I didn't avoid.
Also, the routing. I did not think I was sequence breaking the game, but I ended up fighting Phantoon earlier than I was supposed to, and the result was being locked out of Varia for - what I understand - to be a while. For how long before you're given a chance to acquire Varia afterward is unknown to me, because I ended up out of bounds (albeit by accident), crashed the game, and the result of the crash was my 5 and a half hour save data being wiped. Yeah, a lot of fun that was, but I did take the second rodeo to correct my routing and grab Varia. Then again, when I first got to Phazon Mines the first time, I didn't realize I could have opened one of the doors with my Missiles, because again, the door system, and the weird-ass colors made me assume I couldn't do dick there.
This is one of those "Big Ones" I mentioned in my review for Super Zero Mission, but this does show that just because a ton of work, including making a unique full map, and having unique tile sets/visuals was put into a "Big One", it doesn't necessarily make it good. The execution here was really rough, which is a shame, because I was looking forward to this. Literally, the only thing I liked were the backgrounds, especially in Omnium Drift, and some of the bosses. Everything else was just... sad.
I understand there are different "universes", and each save slot offers a different experience to the game. I also understand that those modes aren't finished either, rendering them pointless at this time. This game (as of this review) remains in a 0.4.0 state, and seeing that this review was written in 2025, I don't see this hack ever being fully fleshed out the way the hack maker wants it to be. Just sad all around.
Super Metroid: Hard Mode (Other M) by Wildfire [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 20, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 20, 2025 ( )
54% in 1:45
I understand what this hack was going for. In Metroid: Other M, Hard Mode makes it so you get no ammo outside of the initial ammo finds, so you only ever have 10 Missiles, etc., as well as no E-Tanks. It worked for Other M, because of things, like the concentration mechanic, among other systems, but here, it doesn't work as well. So let's talk about what this hack actually does.
So as said earlier, there are only 1 ammo pickup for all ammo types, except for Super Missiles, as there is apparently a second Super Missile tank in Wrecked Ship somewhere (I didn't bother getting it, as I assumed there were no more items beyond the initial finds). And recreating Other M's difficulty, there are no E-Tanks to find, so you're locked at 99 health. The enemy damage is balanced to accommodate this somewhat, but it's still a Hard Mode hack, so you'll have to do your best to avoid damage. Enemies and bosses were also buffed, becoming bigger damage sponges, and none exemplify this more so than Phantoon, who can take a long time to beat, especially with the limited Missiles. Speaking of, the Missile rate of fire was lowered as well, making dopplers on Phantoon far less effective.
Wall jumps were also changed, and not for the better. Samus's horizontal movement off a wall jump goes very far, very fast, which sounds neat on paper, but is annoying in practice, as it makes wall jumping up single walls more difficult than they should be. This makes the Climb Room, or the Hero Shot trick in Red Tower slower/harder. The HUD is also annoying, as it uses the same system seen in Control Freak, and later hacks, like Metroid Mission Rescue. It prevents beam combinations, and many of the beams, including Plasma feels underpowered.
The map is generally vanilla, so you'll know how to navigate the world. There are many doors that turned into locked metal doors that cannot be opened, like the door to Gauntlet, for the obvious reason being that those rooms would be redundant to explore, given the hack's imposed item limits. There are, however, a couple of rooms that have changed, and not for the better. Plasma Spark Room is a bit odd, but the door to Plasma Climb must be entered by going up and around from the left, as opposed to wall jumping from underneath, as there are crumble blocks above. And the worst change is Red Kihunter Shaft in Lower Norfair. The door to the right at the top is metal, so most players will assume it's locked by either killing all Kihunters, or by killing Ridley; neither condition opens the door. The door, in fact cannot open, so the player would assume they'd be forced to do an acid dive by way of reverse Amphitheater, which at 99 HP, is pretty much impossible. Instead, the Fireflea Room can be entered by way of a hidden Morph tunnel in the ceiling of Red Kihunter Shaft, between the two doors. Now the problem with this is there are zero visual cues for this, so there is no way for the player to know. Secondly, the room to X-Ray is also permanently locked, so the player cannot acquire X-Ray Scope to help them. It's literally a blind solution, and the hack maker cannot expect the player to figure out, except by sheer accident, that there is anything up there. I only know it was up there because I used X-Ray Scope... which, I know what I said, but I used GT Code to give myself a major advantage, including the 700 health, which trivialized the rest of the hack, as well as all the ammo I could need, and the X-Ray Scope that otherwise couldn't be acquired. Of course, you're free to forgo GT Code, if you want to play the game with the intended challenge, but who the hell has time or patience for that (well, except the three yahoos above my review)?!
With only 99 health, Mother Brain was balanced with this in mind, as her rainbow beam will only do 50 damage to Samus. Of course, this means don't get hit, if you wanna survive, which is doable, but annoying, I can imagine. With the health I had, that wasn't an issue, but damaging down became a tad annoying matter on its own. Mother Brain 1 has a lot of health, and requires the Missile refill station placed beside her to be used, which I didn't need, but also understand it's bugged, and that there is a condition one can accidentally meet (and easily too), where the refill station no longer works, softlocking the save, as Mother Brain has more health than the damage 10 Missiles, and 10 Supers can inflict, which is a real shame.
Everything else is... well, everything else. It's just vanilla the rest of the way. The slight physics change means you can't exactly cross the moat without beating Kraid, getting Varia, and then Grapple, like in vanilla, so it kind of forces the player to stay on that path, which I didn't mind that much. I will say that one other thing this hack captures in the spirit of Other M is the Gravity Suit. In Metroid: Other M, Samus's suit doesn't change color to purple. Instead, it has this weird purple glow, to indicate that Gravity Suit is active, and the glow only happens when underwater, or in places where Gravity isn't normal. This hack colors Samus's sprite in a weird way to simulate this, so its a neat touch, although it does make the sprite look a tad ugly. One more thing to note, the Hyper Beam is bugged a bit; by holding the fire button, the game lags hard for about 3 or so seconds every shot, so the player must tap the fire button for each shot of the Hyper Beam to prevent the lag. This doesn't occur exclusively in MB3 fight either, but in general, so something to keep in mind.
Overall, I've seen worse Vanilla+ hacks, and the changes and intention of this hack just barely eked a 2/5 from me.
So as said earlier, there are only 1 ammo pickup for all ammo types, except for Super Missiles, as there is apparently a second Super Missile tank in Wrecked Ship somewhere (I didn't bother getting it, as I assumed there were no more items beyond the initial finds). And recreating Other M's difficulty, there are no E-Tanks to find, so you're locked at 99 health. The enemy damage is balanced to accommodate this somewhat, but it's still a Hard Mode hack, so you'll have to do your best to avoid damage. Enemies and bosses were also buffed, becoming bigger damage sponges, and none exemplify this more so than Phantoon, who can take a long time to beat, especially with the limited Missiles. Speaking of, the Missile rate of fire was lowered as well, making dopplers on Phantoon far less effective.
Wall jumps were also changed, and not for the better. Samus's horizontal movement off a wall jump goes very far, very fast, which sounds neat on paper, but is annoying in practice, as it makes wall jumping up single walls more difficult than they should be. This makes the Climb Room, or the Hero Shot trick in Red Tower slower/harder. The HUD is also annoying, as it uses the same system seen in Control Freak, and later hacks, like Metroid Mission Rescue. It prevents beam combinations, and many of the beams, including Plasma feels underpowered.
The map is generally vanilla, so you'll know how to navigate the world. There are many doors that turned into locked metal doors that cannot be opened, like the door to Gauntlet, for the obvious reason being that those rooms would be redundant to explore, given the hack's imposed item limits. There are, however, a couple of rooms that have changed, and not for the better. Plasma Spark Room is a bit odd, but the door to Plasma Climb must be entered by going up and around from the left, as opposed to wall jumping from underneath, as there are crumble blocks above. And the worst change is Red Kihunter Shaft in Lower Norfair. The door to the right at the top is metal, so most players will assume it's locked by either killing all Kihunters, or by killing Ridley; neither condition opens the door. The door, in fact cannot open, so the player would assume they'd be forced to do an acid dive by way of reverse Amphitheater, which at 99 HP, is pretty much impossible. Instead, the Fireflea Room can be entered by way of a hidden Morph tunnel in the ceiling of Red Kihunter Shaft, between the two doors. Now the problem with this is there are zero visual cues for this, so there is no way for the player to know. Secondly, the room to X-Ray is also permanently locked, so the player cannot acquire X-Ray Scope to help them. It's literally a blind solution, and the hack maker cannot expect the player to figure out, except by sheer accident, that there is anything up there. I only know it was up there because I used X-Ray Scope... which, I know what I said, but I used GT Code to give myself a major advantage, including the 700 health, which trivialized the rest of the hack, as well as all the ammo I could need, and the X-Ray Scope that otherwise couldn't be acquired. Of course, you're free to forgo GT Code, if you want to play the game with the intended challenge, but who the hell has time or patience for that (well, except the three yahoos above my review)?!
With only 99 health, Mother Brain was balanced with this in mind, as her rainbow beam will only do 50 damage to Samus. Of course, this means don't get hit, if you wanna survive, which is doable, but annoying, I can imagine. With the health I had, that wasn't an issue, but damaging down became a tad annoying matter on its own. Mother Brain 1 has a lot of health, and requires the Missile refill station placed beside her to be used, which I didn't need, but also understand it's bugged, and that there is a condition one can accidentally meet (and easily too), where the refill station no longer works, softlocking the save, as Mother Brain has more health than the damage 10 Missiles, and 10 Supers can inflict, which is a real shame.
Everything else is... well, everything else. It's just vanilla the rest of the way. The slight physics change means you can't exactly cross the moat without beating Kraid, getting Varia, and then Grapple, like in vanilla, so it kind of forces the player to stay on that path, which I didn't mind that much. I will say that one other thing this hack captures in the spirit of Other M is the Gravity Suit. In Metroid: Other M, Samus's suit doesn't change color to purple. Instead, it has this weird purple glow, to indicate that Gravity Suit is active, and the glow only happens when underwater, or in places where Gravity isn't normal. This hack colors Samus's sprite in a weird way to simulate this, so its a neat touch, although it does make the sprite look a tad ugly. One more thing to note, the Hyper Beam is bugged a bit; by holding the fire button, the game lags hard for about 3 or so seconds every shot, so the player must tap the fire button for each shot of the Hyper Beam to prevent the lag. This doesn't occur exclusively in MB3 fight either, but in general, so something to keep in mind.
Overall, I've seen worse Vanilla+ hacks, and the changes and intention of this hack just barely eked a 2/5 from me.
Super Metroid: Tallon IV by silverpaw84 [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 21, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 21, 2025 ( )
49% in 2:27
This hack is broken garbage. First, let me preface this review by saying my completion stats are invalid, as I used cheat codes to accomplish this, which I'll go over later. This hack CANNOT be beaten otherwise. That out of the way, this hack has a lot of problems in the routing forward, hiding shot blocks toward progression, as well as having confusing room layouts. Furthermore, not one bit of those screenshots shown are present in this hack, and it makes it feel as if the wrong patch file was uploaded, but turns out, what we actually play is, in fact, Super Metroid: Tallon IV.
Some random softlocks, permastucks, and out of bounds, the game effectively ends after acquiring everything one can in Norfair. After that, I highly recommend turning the game off and walking away. Oh, also, this hack has a plethora of broken graphics, ranging from disruptive to gameplay, to being an absolute eyesore, the latter of which is normally not seen during normal play (more on that soon). You'll come across Fish Tank, which is modified, but it looks like the hack maker gave up a quarter way, and left the hack in the mess we see it now, but if one uses Spike Suit, or uses cheat codes to give oneself Gravity Suit, one can enter Mt. Everest through one of the two doors at the top, and the rest of the game is mostly vanilla from there.
There is no Wrecked Ship or Phantoon in this hack. Or rather, if they are here, there are no loading zones that takes the player there, so defeating Phantoon is impossible. The room to G4 is also impossible to reach, but with walk-through-walls cheats, one can weasel their way down Brinstar's Elevator Room, and in the door that's normally an exit from Etecoons is where one will find G4. Of course, with Phantoon being impossible to beat, one must use codes that forces the event that opens Tourian to be active. Tourian is all vanilla, but the graphics become a broken mess, and a terrible eyesore. If that weren't bad enough, it is impossible to defeat MB1, as she has infinite health, preventing MB2's fight to trigger. Also, Zeb Skip is functionally impossible as you can't combine beams in this hack, and Rinkas thaw extremely quickly, which is funny, because Zeb Skip is hard-required to get through MB's room, as the first Zebetite, upon being destroyed, instantly respawns, as if nothing had happened to it in an infinite loop of Zebetite 1. I even used a cheat code to allow each of my Super Missiles to inflict over 30,000 damage per Super, and the Zebetite still cannot stay destroyed, nor can Mother Brain 1 be defeated.
The only way I was able to "beat" this hack is with a cheat code where pressing the start button instantly triggers the ending cutscene. So yeah, I may have completion stats present, but again, those are invalid as fuck, and so too is this shitty hack. I can't believe I poured more than 5 and a half hours into something I knew was gonna be impossible and shitty, yet, here I am, having wasted more than- THOSE ARE 5 HOURS I CAN NEVER GET BACK! Fuck this hack!
Some random softlocks, permastucks, and out of bounds, the game effectively ends after acquiring everything one can in Norfair. After that, I highly recommend turning the game off and walking away. Oh, also, this hack has a plethora of broken graphics, ranging from disruptive to gameplay, to being an absolute eyesore, the latter of which is normally not seen during normal play (more on that soon). You'll come across Fish Tank, which is modified, but it looks like the hack maker gave up a quarter way, and left the hack in the mess we see it now, but if one uses Spike Suit, or uses cheat codes to give oneself Gravity Suit, one can enter Mt. Everest through one of the two doors at the top, and the rest of the game is mostly vanilla from there.
There is no Wrecked Ship or Phantoon in this hack. Or rather, if they are here, there are no loading zones that takes the player there, so defeating Phantoon is impossible. The room to G4 is also impossible to reach, but with walk-through-walls cheats, one can weasel their way down Brinstar's Elevator Room, and in the door that's normally an exit from Etecoons is where one will find G4. Of course, with Phantoon being impossible to beat, one must use codes that forces the event that opens Tourian to be active. Tourian is all vanilla, but the graphics become a broken mess, and a terrible eyesore. If that weren't bad enough, it is impossible to defeat MB1, as she has infinite health, preventing MB2's fight to trigger. Also, Zeb Skip is functionally impossible as you can't combine beams in this hack, and Rinkas thaw extremely quickly, which is funny, because Zeb Skip is hard-required to get through MB's room, as the first Zebetite, upon being destroyed, instantly respawns, as if nothing had happened to it in an infinite loop of Zebetite 1. I even used a cheat code to allow each of my Super Missiles to inflict over 30,000 damage per Super, and the Zebetite still cannot stay destroyed, nor can Mother Brain 1 be defeated.
The only way I was able to "beat" this hack is with a cheat code where pressing the start button instantly triggers the ending cutscene. So yeah, I may have completion stats present, but again, those are invalid as fuck, and so too is this shitty hack. I can't believe I poured more than 5 and a half hours into something I knew was gonna be impossible and shitty, yet, here I am, having wasted more than- THOSE ARE 5 HOURS I CAN NEVER GET BACK! Fuck this hack!
Super Metroid: Zeran Demo by Alexi Laiho [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 22, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 22, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
So, this hack has some neat tiles and pallets, but that's mostly it. Progression is obscure and obtuse in several places. Uhhh, I guess there's also more to explore in this game than most demos offer? A shame that there's a section in Brinstar where a Torizo was supposed to appear, to initiate a boss fight that never happens, effectively softlocking the hack, making progression further in impossible. I would have used cheat codes to dissect the hack further, but I chose to just give it a rest after that point of ending. Overall, it had some promise, and I would have liked to see where this went, but I guess that'll never happen.
Super Metroid: Hyperion by silverpaw84 [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 22, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 22, 2025 ( )
13% in 1:43
This hack's biggest issue is its progression. Not necessarily the item order, but the path forward to each of them. There are two points where the player has to just know there are hidden paths forward, with no clue where they are. And without X-Ray Scope, the player has to either find it by accident, or bomb/press against every surface of the world map to figure out where forward is. This turns what should be a Quick Play hack into a much longer slog. Another shit room is one where the player must Grapple swing across. On paper, not an issue, but the fact that Grapple points are off screen, forcing blind Grapple swings, and two Mocktroids that can cock-block your Grapple shot, falling down is more than likely, and doing so forces the player to have to tediously trek through the whole world map, around back to the Grapple swing Mocktroid room, just to have another chance at it. Not an awful lot of thought was put into the balance of this hack's difficulty, nor its execution. How it got the award for "Best Quick Play" is beyond me; maybe it's the pretty custom tiles and graphics? Maybe it's a few of the gameplay changes? Those do not a good hack make when the world map is put together in such a mediocre way. The fact I needed to use SMILE, and receive help from my Twitch chat makes it all the worse. This hack sucks, and while not the worst of the 1/5 hacks I've reviewed, it's still bullshit enough where I just can't give it any higher than a 1/5.
P.S. Even the ship isn't consistent; while it looks neat in Landing Site, its appearance becomes Samus's regular gun ship when escaping an exploding Zebes.
P.S. Even the ship isn't consistent; while it looks neat in Landing Site, its appearance becomes Samus's regular gun ship when escaping an exploding Zebes.
A New Mission by snipereighteen [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 22, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 22, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Before I get to my review, I have to let ya'll know that as of writing this review, this hack reads "unheadered", when in fact, it requires a headered rom to function. Someone ought to look into that. Onto the review...
This hack was TERRIBLY mid at best. The pallets were quite nice, though. The biggest issue is the progression requiring finding obscure hidden paths, made only with the purpose to frustrate. The world map is rather small, so the player should (hopefully) figure out the way forward eventually. My only advice is that you DO NOT travel east from the start at all.
That said, I give this a 2/5 because unlike the other reviewers above, I couldn't finish the hack; during the escape sequence, after acquiring the Gravity Suit (or not, because it doesn't matter whether it's collected or not), the game will crash upon loading the next room. I tried many things to see if I can get through, including save states, and patching/unpatching the Fanfare Removal patch (something I use for much of my playthroughs), but to no avail. A bummer, really, because I'd have rated this 3/5 otherwise.
This hack was TERRIBLY mid at best. The pallets were quite nice, though. The biggest issue is the progression requiring finding obscure hidden paths, made only with the purpose to frustrate. The world map is rather small, so the player should (hopefully) figure out the way forward eventually. My only advice is that you DO NOT travel east from the start at all.
That said, I give this a 2/5 because unlike the other reviewers above, I couldn't finish the hack; during the escape sequence, after acquiring the Gravity Suit (or not, because it doesn't matter whether it's collected or not), the game will crash upon loading the next room. I tried many things to see if I can get through, including save states, and patching/unpatching the Fanfare Removal patch (something I use for much of my playthroughs), but to no avail. A bummer, really, because I'd have rated this 3/5 otherwise.
Super Metroid Blockland by Sludkip [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 23, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 23, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
:)
Who the hell thought making a pick-a-door maze with decoupled entrances was remotely a good idea?! I know the description says that this encourages the use of pencil-to-paper path making, for the player to keep track of where things lead, but A, who the hell wants to actually do that? And B, There are identical rooms where even a pencil-to-paper map will be somewhat unreliable anyway!
(spoiler ahead) Honestly, as annoying as this was, I could have forgiven some of it, had it not been for the hunt for Power Bombs. Eventually, you'll come across a seemingly endless loop of Holtz rooms, where you'll find various different-colored Holtz. Initially, I thought you had to keep following the right path until you find your way forward into a Chozo room containing Power Bombs or something. But no, the answer is the little alcove in which the Holtz is trapped. There is one room in particular among them, with a red-orange Holtz, with a green eye where you'll find Power Bombs. You can actually jump into the little alcove that traps the Holtz, and to the right of it is a part of the wall that breaks, revealing Power Bombs. Literally nowhere in this hack hints this. I suppose after an hour of aimless wandering with one's thumb up their ass, the player is bound to experiment with those alcoves, after figuring out they can actually get in. Either way, this is beyond dog-shit design, and I don't know what the fuck MetroidMst was thinking when making this section of the hack. Had they placed a Chozo orb where the Power Bombs were located, that would've gone a fuck-ton of a long way to improve it. Hell, I'd even consider giving this shit stain of a hack a 2/5. But between the Power Bomb issue, and then the dark-as-fuck, seizure-inducing visuals toward the tail-end of the hack, I feel I'd be violating the Geneva Convention if I gave this anymore than the lowest possible score. How is shit, like this, even allowed on MetroidConstruction?!
(spoiler ahead) Honestly, as annoying as this was, I could have forgiven some of it, had it not been for the hunt for Power Bombs. Eventually, you'll come across a seemingly endless loop of Holtz rooms, where you'll find various different-colored Holtz. Initially, I thought you had to keep following the right path until you find your way forward into a Chozo room containing Power Bombs or something. But no, the answer is the little alcove in which the Holtz is trapped. There is one room in particular among them, with a red-orange Holtz, with a green eye where you'll find Power Bombs. You can actually jump into the little alcove that traps the Holtz, and to the right of it is a part of the wall that breaks, revealing Power Bombs. Literally nowhere in this hack hints this. I suppose after an hour of aimless wandering with one's thumb up their ass, the player is bound to experiment with those alcoves, after figuring out they can actually get in. Either way, this is beyond dog-shit design, and I don't know what the fuck MetroidMst was thinking when making this section of the hack. Had they placed a Chozo orb where the Power Bombs were located, that would've gone a fuck-ton of a long way to improve it. Hell, I'd even consider giving this shit stain of a hack a 2/5. But between the Power Bomb issue, and then the dark-as-fuck, seizure-inducing visuals toward the tail-end of the hack, I feel I'd be violating the Geneva Convention if I gave this anymore than the lowest possible score. How is shit, like this, even allowed on MetroidConstruction?!
Escape from Planet Metroid by Sylux [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 24, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 24, 2025 ( )
62% in 2:00
This hack was... interesting. Not exactly a great hack, but has some neat ideas. For starters, this is the earliest hack on the site that has refill stations that fill all health AND all ammo types, so that's cool. The routing is odd, however, as after Morph, you're given free reign to go and explore wherever, and I just so happen to stay in the water area, killing a ton of time for not much reward (was still rewarded, though). To be fair, the player isn't normally supposed to be in the water section, and most casuals would nope out of it. That said, if the player isn't privy to underwater Spring Ball jumps, they may end up softlocked down there, if they explore too deep (I'm not entirely sure). There are also quite a few doors that are locked behind a boss kill, so it helps for the player to remember all of them (there aren't too many to remember, but one or two can be forgotten).
I dunno, there really isn't too much for me to say about this. It's pretty open-ended, for better or worse, the boss fights were okay, and the exploration was fine, though the water section is pretty slow and miserable without Gravity. Some paths forward are a little obscure too, but not stupidly so. If I have to have one really big complaint, it's the room where one gets Plasma Beam; there's a high chance the room crashes because of BGM choice, which really sucks, but it's Plasma, so it's worth brute forcing it until the game decides not to crash upon entry.
(spoiler ahead) What I don't understand is that this hack is called "Escape from Planet Metroid", which I understand well enough. There is no final escape sequence with a timer or anything; after grabbing Speed Booster, you're able to access your ship, which then leaves the planet after doing so, without much fanfare. If that was what could have happened, why couldn't Samus just enter her ship from the start and leave immediately upon landing? Then again, I don't recall ever entering the ship at the start of the hack, so what do I know? I dunno, just something I thought was silly.
I dunno, there really isn't too much for me to say about this. It's pretty open-ended, for better or worse, the boss fights were okay, and the exploration was fine, though the water section is pretty slow and miserable without Gravity. Some paths forward are a little obscure too, but not stupidly so. If I have to have one really big complaint, it's the room where one gets Plasma Beam; there's a high chance the room crashes because of BGM choice, which really sucks, but it's Plasma, so it's worth brute forcing it until the game decides not to crash upon entry.
(spoiler ahead) What I don't understand is that this hack is called "Escape from Planet Metroid", which I understand well enough. There is no final escape sequence with a timer or anything; after grabbing Speed Booster, you're able to access your ship, which then leaves the planet after doing so, without much fanfare. If that was what could have happened, why couldn't Samus just enter her ship from the start and leave immediately upon landing? Then again, I don't recall ever entering the ship at the start of the hack, so what do I know? I dunno, just something I thought was silly.
I saw this hack was made by JAM, and immediately assumed the worst, after the shit show that was Super Metroid Nightmare. However, I actually like this hack more than I thought I would. The description pretty much says what it is; it's vanilla Super Metroid, except all rooms are blacked out, so you're pretty much "blind", as you traverse, forcing you to really know Super Metroid, to memorize how to navigate rooms... but with a little nuance. Some things cannot be blacked out, it seems, whether because of technical reasons, or a conscious choice by JAM, there are some things that can be seen in the dark, including bosses, some objects, and some terrain. Case in point, there's the green glow of Wrecked Ship (post Phantoon) that will be seen, some red glow throughout Tourian, and really cool still is much of Norfair, as many heated rooms have a sort of red/yellow glow to them, allowing the player to pretty much see the rooms just fine; makes for a nice visual.
Biggest issue I have, honestly, is the Aqueduct Save Room, as entering it will crash the game... for some reason, so definitely avoid that. Everything else is fine, so there isn't much else to say about this. It's a neat gimmick for a meme hack, but that's about it.
Biggest issue I have, honestly, is the Aqueduct Save Room, as entering it will crash the game... for some reason, so definitely avoid that. Everything else is fine, so there isn't much else to say about this. It's a neat gimmick for a meme hack, but that's about it.
Super Metroid: Unknown by Reita [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 25, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 25, 2025 ( )
103% in 8:03
So, this review will have spoilers from the get go, so don't read if you don't want that.
First off, this hack requires a headered ROM, so someone needs to fix the labeling of the downloads (as of writing this). Secondly, the progression was not too bad; pretty interesting, as a matter of fact... until Grappling Beam, which is poorly hinted, and normally hard-required for progression. I was able to acquire Wave Beam and Varia Suit without Grapple by way of clip jump cheese, and Spike Suit respectively. That said, Grappling Beam is in Green Hill Zone, up speed blocks on the ceiling close to the Noob Bridge door. While you can technically have X-Ray Scope to help find it, even the X-Ray Scope's location is obscure beyond reason; it's in a room below Climb, hidden in the right side of the room, requiring Power Bombs, and a few Super Missiles to reach it.
Speaking of which, hunting for Super Missiles is a hell of a headache. After the first Supers, all other Supers require a Super Missile check, using the previously acquired Super Missiles. Normally, I wouldn't have too much of a gripe with this, except grinding for Super Missiles is a hell of a chore; it feels like enemies have their Super Missile drops nerfed to hell. Even Cacatacs and Baby Kraid yield zero Supers! Worse still, the ship was also nerfed, restoring ONLY health and Missiles, leaving Supers and PBs untouched... Who the fuck thought that was anywhere close to a good idea?! However, Super Missiles ARE NOT needed beyond the first two you acquire, which I didn't realize until late in my playthrough. Had I known this, I would've just went to Tourian with the bare minimum. Speaking of Tourian, it's found in Parlor, to the left of the bottom door. I'm saying this, because most people would likely not even check over there, so you're welcome.
So with all the complaints I have, did I like anything about it? Well, yeah. Save for Grappling Beam's location, I quite liked the routing for progression items, although much of it revolves around going to one end of the world, grab item, run to the other end, grab next item, and so on. Also, don't even think about hell runs, as A, they buffed heat damage so much, your health will vanish in the blink of an eye upon entering a heated room, and B, Gravity DOES NOT protect against heat. On that note, you do need to travel through Norfair to progress without Varia, but they altered the rooms, so that much of Upper Norfair isn't heated, so keep that in mind.
Honestly, I just wish the Grappling Beam was better placed/hinted. Had it been hinted better, I might have considered giving this a 4/5. Everything else with which I had issues was technically mostly on me. X-Ray's location sucked, but at least it isn't a required item, and again, you DO NOT need to hunt all Super Missiles, unless you really want the max%, which I'm unsure what it is, as I ended up with 103%. Anyway, not the worst executed hack I've played.
First off, this hack requires a headered ROM, so someone needs to fix the labeling of the downloads (as of writing this). Secondly, the progression was not too bad; pretty interesting, as a matter of fact... until Grappling Beam, which is poorly hinted, and normally hard-required for progression. I was able to acquire Wave Beam and Varia Suit without Grapple by way of clip jump cheese, and Spike Suit respectively. That said, Grappling Beam is in Green Hill Zone, up speed blocks on the ceiling close to the Noob Bridge door. While you can technically have X-Ray Scope to help find it, even the X-Ray Scope's location is obscure beyond reason; it's in a room below Climb, hidden in the right side of the room, requiring Power Bombs, and a few Super Missiles to reach it.
Speaking of which, hunting for Super Missiles is a hell of a headache. After the first Supers, all other Supers require a Super Missile check, using the previously acquired Super Missiles. Normally, I wouldn't have too much of a gripe with this, except grinding for Super Missiles is a hell of a chore; it feels like enemies have their Super Missile drops nerfed to hell. Even Cacatacs and Baby Kraid yield zero Supers! Worse still, the ship was also nerfed, restoring ONLY health and Missiles, leaving Supers and PBs untouched... Who the fuck thought that was anywhere close to a good idea?! However, Super Missiles ARE NOT needed beyond the first two you acquire, which I didn't realize until late in my playthrough. Had I known this, I would've just went to Tourian with the bare minimum. Speaking of Tourian, it's found in Parlor, to the left of the bottom door. I'm saying this, because most people would likely not even check over there, so you're welcome.
So with all the complaints I have, did I like anything about it? Well, yeah. Save for Grappling Beam's location, I quite liked the routing for progression items, although much of it revolves around going to one end of the world, grab item, run to the other end, grab next item, and so on. Also, don't even think about hell runs, as A, they buffed heat damage so much, your health will vanish in the blink of an eye upon entering a heated room, and B, Gravity DOES NOT protect against heat. On that note, you do need to travel through Norfair to progress without Varia, but they altered the rooms, so that much of Upper Norfair isn't heated, so keep that in mind.
Honestly, I just wish the Grappling Beam was better placed/hinted. Had it been hinted better, I might have considered giving this a 4/5. Everything else with which I had issues was technically mostly on me. X-Ray's location sucked, but at least it isn't a required item, and again, you DO NOT need to hunt all Super Missiles, unless you really want the max%, which I'm unsure what it is, as I ended up with 103%. Anyway, not the worst executed hack I've played.
Super Metroid: Darkholme Hospital by Cloud12 [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 26, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 26, 2025 ( )
73% in 1:00
So this hack is pretty extraordinary, as it has everything needed to be a "Big Hack", except for one thing; it isn't exactly big. As a matter of fact, this hack is pretty easy to navigate and progress, especially if the description and Read Me files are read over prior, to give the player instructions on the flow of the hack, which is very much appreciated. This hack, in practice, is also on the short side, where a player can beat this in a couple of hours or so blind.
So, for starters, I really like the progression flow overall. You get one item, and you pretty much know where you can go with it. There shouldn't be many places, if any at all, that should trip you up as far as figuring out where to go is concerned. It's a pretty linear hack, with some side exploration here and there. The difficulty curve also feels appropriate, getting progressively harder the further down you explore.
(Spoiler ahead) There appears to be little combat initially, until lower floors are visited. Even then, the enemy types are quite few, consisting of Atomics, Mocktroids, Funes, Namihes, and Coverns. That said, there doesn't really need to be anymore, given the size of the hack, and the themes, seeing as this takes place on Earth (what giant-ass bug exists on Earth for Geemers to exist?). There are no save rooms whatsoever, so the only save is the ship. Normally, this would be a bit of an issue in most hacks, but here, there's an elevator room linking all floors in the center of the world map, acting as a hub of sorts, so going back up to the ship to refill and save, although a tad tedious, is fairly quick and simple. You'll notice "save rooms" marked on the map, except those aren't save rooms, but modified map rooms that cannot be interacted with like regular map terminals, but must be destroyed to allow access into the doors of the lower floors, which I thought was pretty neat.
There are also special rooms, well hidden to the player, but can be accessed if you know where they are; these rooms are the locations of map terminals that can be interacted with, and rather than give a map, they give the player lore of the game, as well as a password to unzip the folders to the Keypatch files that comes with the download. The Keypatches are a great way to add to, and customize the experience of this hack, and all are needed if you want to apply them all for "Pro Mode", as some of the patches add more to the difficulty, including adding a 99'99'99 timer at the start that kills the player if not beaten fast enough (saving does save the timer's last state), buffing Atomics, and even lowering Samus's defense with the tradeoff being a different-looking armor. A ton of thought and work went into this hack, and between the base hack itself, and the added Keypatches, it really shows. Some of the Keypatch rooms are VERY well hidden, and aren't meant to all be found in a single playthrough, but is supposed to require, bare minimum 3 playthroughs for the whole experience.
Let's talk about the end. The only boss in this hack is Mainframe (which is just Spore Spawn). It is found in the bottom floor, and defeating it initiates the escape sequence. However, there is no escape timer (likely because of Keypatch E, which adds it at the start). Instead, the player takes damage rapidly, as if in acid, and must maintain full health, using various health refill stations. It's pretty hectic, and can cause some players to panic, but it isn't as hard as it sounds, as the refill placements are fine as they are. There are two opportunities the player has during this point to find their way into two Keypatch station rooms, and they give Keypatches A and E respectively. There are no animals to save, unfortunately, but given it takes place on Earth, it makes sense there'd be no Etecoons or Dachoras to save. After escaping and beating the game, one can end it there and call it a day, but again, there are Keypatches that adds more to the experience.
I'll talk about "Pro Mode" here, as it has all Keypatches applied.
- Keypatch A buffs Atomics, by giving them more HP, and making them faster. It also nerfs Screw Attack, making it a multi-hit item, as opposed to one-shotting enemies.
- Keypatch B replaces the rapid-fire Machine Gun item with Combustion, which essentially functions as Hyper Beam, at the cost of Spore Spawn being immune to it.
- Keypatch C changes Samus's suit to be more black in color scheme, but at the cost of defense, making her take significantly more damage from everything, including spikes.
- Keypatch D makes the world darker than usual, and the further down you go, the darker it gets; Level 6 becomes practically pitch-black.
- Keypatch E adds Hover Boots (Space Jump), and Goldeneye (X-Ray Scope) as items. They're bundled together, so once acquired, you'll have both. This is intended to be used to help the player find the rest of the Keypatch rooms, and it also adds 6 additional rooms to find. It also changes the routing significantly, by changing gate colors/types, as well as item placements, so it's like a "2nd Quest" of sorts. You'll see an "eye" symbol on walls that match the X-Ray Scope menu icon; those indicate a secret room somewhere in there that can be found using said X-Ray Scope. This patch also adds the 99'99'99 timer, which sounds crazy initially, but is way more than enough time to beat the hack, even when going at a moderate pace.
- Keypatch T... Well, I think this patch was actually removed from the current upload, but I somehow got an older release of Darkholme Hospital (still 2.0, though). It reads "Alternative Ending. A change of the ending scene"...
Anywho, this hack was already fun enough as is in base form, but the Keypatches, and the way one can mix and match them, to customize how they want to experience it, as well as "Pro Mode" giving you a legitimate challenge really impressed me. I really have no real complaints to give; the instructions were clear and easy to understand, so I can't recall ever feeling like I was lost, or wondered where I needed to be next. Personally, even with all that, I was still thinking of giving a 4/5, because it was a pretty short hack all the same... But Keypatch T happened, so 5/5. >w>
Completion stats are for my "Pro Mode" playthrough (not linked)
So, for starters, I really like the progression flow overall. You get one item, and you pretty much know where you can go with it. There shouldn't be many places, if any at all, that should trip you up as far as figuring out where to go is concerned. It's a pretty linear hack, with some side exploration here and there. The difficulty curve also feels appropriate, getting progressively harder the further down you explore.
(Spoiler ahead) There appears to be little combat initially, until lower floors are visited. Even then, the enemy types are quite few, consisting of Atomics, Mocktroids, Funes, Namihes, and Coverns. That said, there doesn't really need to be anymore, given the size of the hack, and the themes, seeing as this takes place on Earth (what giant-ass bug exists on Earth for Geemers to exist?). There are no save rooms whatsoever, so the only save is the ship. Normally, this would be a bit of an issue in most hacks, but here, there's an elevator room linking all floors in the center of the world map, acting as a hub of sorts, so going back up to the ship to refill and save, although a tad tedious, is fairly quick and simple. You'll notice "save rooms" marked on the map, except those aren't save rooms, but modified map rooms that cannot be interacted with like regular map terminals, but must be destroyed to allow access into the doors of the lower floors, which I thought was pretty neat.
There are also special rooms, well hidden to the player, but can be accessed if you know where they are; these rooms are the locations of map terminals that can be interacted with, and rather than give a map, they give the player lore of the game, as well as a password to unzip the folders to the Keypatch files that comes with the download. The Keypatches are a great way to add to, and customize the experience of this hack, and all are needed if you want to apply them all for "Pro Mode", as some of the patches add more to the difficulty, including adding a 99'99'99 timer at the start that kills the player if not beaten fast enough (saving does save the timer's last state), buffing Atomics, and even lowering Samus's defense with the tradeoff being a different-looking armor. A ton of thought and work went into this hack, and between the base hack itself, and the added Keypatches, it really shows. Some of the Keypatch rooms are VERY well hidden, and aren't meant to all be found in a single playthrough, but is supposed to require, bare minimum 3 playthroughs for the whole experience.
Let's talk about the end. The only boss in this hack is Mainframe (which is just Spore Spawn). It is found in the bottom floor, and defeating it initiates the escape sequence. However, there is no escape timer (likely because of Keypatch E, which adds it at the start). Instead, the player takes damage rapidly, as if in acid, and must maintain full health, using various health refill stations. It's pretty hectic, and can cause some players to panic, but it isn't as hard as it sounds, as the refill placements are fine as they are. There are two opportunities the player has during this point to find their way into two Keypatch station rooms, and they give Keypatches A and E respectively. There are no animals to save, unfortunately, but given it takes place on Earth, it makes sense there'd be no Etecoons or Dachoras to save. After escaping and beating the game, one can end it there and call it a day, but again, there are Keypatches that adds more to the experience.
I'll talk about "Pro Mode" here, as it has all Keypatches applied.
- Keypatch A buffs Atomics, by giving them more HP, and making them faster. It also nerfs Screw Attack, making it a multi-hit item, as opposed to one-shotting enemies.
- Keypatch B replaces the rapid-fire Machine Gun item with Combustion, which essentially functions as Hyper Beam, at the cost of Spore Spawn being immune to it.
- Keypatch C changes Samus's suit to be more black in color scheme, but at the cost of defense, making her take significantly more damage from everything, including spikes.
- Keypatch D makes the world darker than usual, and the further down you go, the darker it gets; Level 6 becomes practically pitch-black.
- Keypatch E adds Hover Boots (Space Jump), and Goldeneye (X-Ray Scope) as items. They're bundled together, so once acquired, you'll have both. This is intended to be used to help the player find the rest of the Keypatch rooms, and it also adds 6 additional rooms to find. It also changes the routing significantly, by changing gate colors/types, as well as item placements, so it's like a "2nd Quest" of sorts. You'll see an "eye" symbol on walls that match the X-Ray Scope menu icon; those indicate a secret room somewhere in there that can be found using said X-Ray Scope. This patch also adds the 99'99'99 timer, which sounds crazy initially, but is way more than enough time to beat the hack, even when going at a moderate pace.
- Keypatch T... Well, I think this patch was actually removed from the current upload, but I somehow got an older release of Darkholme Hospital (still 2.0, though). It reads "Alternative Ending. A change of the ending scene"...
Anywho, this hack was already fun enough as is in base form, but the Keypatches, and the way one can mix and match them, to customize how they want to experience it, as well as "Pro Mode" giving you a legitimate challenge really impressed me. I really have no real complaints to give; the instructions were clear and easy to understand, so I can't recall ever feeling like I was lost, or wondered where I needed to be next. Personally, even with all that, I was still thinking of giving a 4/5, because it was a pretty short hack all the same... But Keypatch T happened, so 5/5. >w>
Completion stats are for my "Pro Mode" playthrough (not linked)
Super Metroid Yp -Hell- by Emodoran [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 26, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 26, 2025 ( )
5% in 0:25
It was okay. The visuals were pretty neat, and some of the challenge was fun enough, but there are a few places where it got either too obtuse, or too... Well, obtuse. (Spoiler ahead) The early part after acquiring Bombs was annoying; I needed help from my own chat to know there was a method to the gate switch puzzle that I might not have solved on my own for a while. That could've been presented better. The rest of that section is pretty straightforward otherwise. The section with the three Trippers was also annoying as hell to figure out. First off, messing up once means you die. Secondly, you can't just release them all in quick succession, as the third (top) Tripper must be released much later than the others, for timing reasons. Then the obstacle throughout the room is... annoying. Not too brutal or anything, but really annoying. Once you know what to do, and how it works, it's pretty much smooth sailing.
Then there's the boss. It's just Phantoon, but with 1 E-Tank, it becomes a bit of a chore to fight and dodge it, but nothing that can't be managed. The worst part, however, is the fact you only have 1 Missile to work with, and I mean 1 actual Missile; NOT 1 Missile Tank that gives 5 Missiles. So that makes reducing the boss's health to 0 take much longer than it should have, since you can't doppler or anything. Maybe if they reduced the boss's health, so that it didn't drag on for as long as it did, it would've been better.
As it stands, there's not much else to it. The ending trigger was pretty cool, at least. But overall, I'll give this a 2/5. Not exactly a low 2/5, but a 2/5 all the same.
Then there's the boss. It's just Phantoon, but with 1 E-Tank, it becomes a bit of a chore to fight and dodge it, but nothing that can't be managed. The worst part, however, is the fact you only have 1 Missile to work with, and I mean 1 actual Missile; NOT 1 Missile Tank that gives 5 Missiles. So that makes reducing the boss's health to 0 take much longer than it should have, since you can't doppler or anything. Maybe if they reduced the boss's health, so that it didn't drag on for as long as it did, it would've been better.
As it stands, there's not much else to it. The ending trigger was pretty cool, at least. But overall, I'll give this a 2/5. Not exactly a low 2/5, but a 2/5 all the same.
Super Metroid: New Zebes by MATHGODpi [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 27, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 27, 2025 ( )
106% in 4:14
This hack is a true piece of trash. First of all, tons of damage sponges for enemies, as well as said enemies hitting hard for no reason. Mind you, I played this on "Normal" Mode. Between the enemies being buffed, beams feeling underpowered (around as bad as Phazon Hack, actually), and this hack's progression being so ass-sideways, I did not have fun at all. (Spoiler ahead) For those reading this review, allow me to help you with some progression points here, because clearly, the hack maker made this hack purely to piss people off, for the sake of getting a laugh. So to you, the reader, I give you these bits of info:
- X-Ray Scope can be found in the room where Brinstar's Map Room normally is located. Why there? Maybe for the hack maker to point and laugh and go, "Hurrr! You never would've looked there! Hurrr!" Anyway, X-Ray Scope doesn't help with progression per se, but can be useful in some cases, though there are more than a few occasions where X-Ray Scope WILL NOT help the player find hidden paths. Speaking of which...
- The first intended Power Bombs are found in The Final Missile room in Parlor. You must go through Blue Brinstar via Green Hill Zone to get there. The problem is that there's a decent chance you'll bomb the block barring the way, see that it's a Power Bomb block, and then leave, thinking there's no way forward. But no, above the Power Bomb blocks are regular Bomb blocks through a ceiling you'd never guess was fake. Having X-Ray Scope would have helped find this out, but given the location of X-Ray being in a room most players would understandably ignore, I couldn't have known about this at all. It's dog shit design that only the hack maker could know about, and not the player.
- Gravity Suit is found in Main Street, where Super Missiles normally are. You'll have to venture via Forgotten Highway, or go around Everest, into Aqueduct's sand pits, and through Crab Hole to reach the path that ultimately leads to the Gravity via Fish Tank. Oh, and the wall you see immediately to the right upon entering Fish Tank from its lower-left door is a fake, and you can walk through it, which is needed.
- This shouldn't be too hard to figure out, but Charge Beam can be acquired by freeing the Dachora, and letting it break the otherwise unbreakable blocks, or you can Crystal Flash clip to acquire it. Either way works.
- What in the holy mother of all that is fuck was the maker thinking with Post Crocomire Jump Room?! The way into Grapple Beam Room is blocked by speed blocks, but the way in is awkward as fuck, which wouldn't have been stupidly awful, had it not been for the blocks regenerating quickly after destroying them. I don't know what the fuck was the intended way in, but all the same, it's easy to get softlocked as speedblocks reform on top of you, forcing a reset. The way I got in was a slow speed boost run (requiring stutter step 3 taps or better), and then a well timed Spring Ball jump through the blocks. You need to be just fast enough to make it above the regenerating speed blocks; go too slow, and you'll either softlock, or will end up falling below the speed blocks, forcing you to make another attempt. There was clearly zero playtesting for players to give feedback on how to fix this shit stain of a room idea. I don't even think the hack maker can get through this room on their own! What the fuck!
- Wasteland CAN be exited; you're not softlocked. To the upper-right side of the door, where a loading zone should have been is a Morph tunnel that cannot be seen, even with X-Ray Scope. How the player it supposed to know this is beyond me; I found it by accident.
- Leaving Lower Norfair into Single Chamber room via the back door does not lead to a dead end. You'll see a strange wall that X-Ray Scope cannot interact with, as well as a couple of invisible walls that CAN be revealed with X-Ray. There's a hidden Morph tunnel within that strange wall; just morph into a ball, use Spring Ball, and hold left.
Everything else ranged from annoying to aight. But the overall difficulty lies not in the combat, though that does have its moments (including and especially bosses), but more so in the weird-as-fuck map layout that makes sense to the maker alone. As a matter of fact, I challenge the hack maker to beat their own hack, and record themselves doing so, to see if they can even beat their own game without the use of any outside help, including SMILE... Although, I did just give some major guide pointers above, so even if the hack maker forgot the layout and routing of their own hack, I'm sure my guidance would be a significant help. Doubt the challenge would be accepted, let alone taken seriously. A resounding 1/5. Fuck this hack!
P.S. There is an "Easy Mode", and an "INSANE! Mode", neither of which I played. Easy Mode is likely what Normal Mode should have been, and INSANE! Mode is supposed to be more... well, insane. Except all INSANE! Mode does is change some numbers around, like a lowered escape timer, and E-Tanks giving a paltry amount of HP, which isn't a significant enough of a change to warrant a playthrough of what would essentially be the same fucking experience. At least True Boss Rush, Super Zero Mission, and Darkholme Hospital (among other hacks) actually change the core experience of the game, whether it's the way bosses are fought, or the routing of the world map, or both. Plus, INSANE! Mode wouldn't have been that much more of a challenge, as the extremely lowered HP pool would be negated by GT Code, which I would have been more than happy to abuse. So if you play one mode, you may as well have played them all. What a waste of my time...
- X-Ray Scope can be found in the room where Brinstar's Map Room normally is located. Why there? Maybe for the hack maker to point and laugh and go, "Hurrr! You never would've looked there! Hurrr!" Anyway, X-Ray Scope doesn't help with progression per se, but can be useful in some cases, though there are more than a few occasions where X-Ray Scope WILL NOT help the player find hidden paths. Speaking of which...
- The first intended Power Bombs are found in The Final Missile room in Parlor. You must go through Blue Brinstar via Green Hill Zone to get there. The problem is that there's a decent chance you'll bomb the block barring the way, see that it's a Power Bomb block, and then leave, thinking there's no way forward. But no, above the Power Bomb blocks are regular Bomb blocks through a ceiling you'd never guess was fake. Having X-Ray Scope would have helped find this out, but given the location of X-Ray being in a room most players would understandably ignore, I couldn't have known about this at all. It's dog shit design that only the hack maker could know about, and not the player.
- Gravity Suit is found in Main Street, where Super Missiles normally are. You'll have to venture via Forgotten Highway, or go around Everest, into Aqueduct's sand pits, and through Crab Hole to reach the path that ultimately leads to the Gravity via Fish Tank. Oh, and the wall you see immediately to the right upon entering Fish Tank from its lower-left door is a fake, and you can walk through it, which is needed.
- This shouldn't be too hard to figure out, but Charge Beam can be acquired by freeing the Dachora, and letting it break the otherwise unbreakable blocks, or you can Crystal Flash clip to acquire it. Either way works.
- What in the holy mother of all that is fuck was the maker thinking with Post Crocomire Jump Room?! The way into Grapple Beam Room is blocked by speed blocks, but the way in is awkward as fuck, which wouldn't have been stupidly awful, had it not been for the blocks regenerating quickly after destroying them. I don't know what the fuck was the intended way in, but all the same, it's easy to get softlocked as speedblocks reform on top of you, forcing a reset. The way I got in was a slow speed boost run (requiring stutter step 3 taps or better), and then a well timed Spring Ball jump through the blocks. You need to be just fast enough to make it above the regenerating speed blocks; go too slow, and you'll either softlock, or will end up falling below the speed blocks, forcing you to make another attempt. There was clearly zero playtesting for players to give feedback on how to fix this shit stain of a room idea. I don't even think the hack maker can get through this room on their own! What the fuck!
- Wasteland CAN be exited; you're not softlocked. To the upper-right side of the door, where a loading zone should have been is a Morph tunnel that cannot be seen, even with X-Ray Scope. How the player it supposed to know this is beyond me; I found it by accident.
- Leaving Lower Norfair into Single Chamber room via the back door does not lead to a dead end. You'll see a strange wall that X-Ray Scope cannot interact with, as well as a couple of invisible walls that CAN be revealed with X-Ray. There's a hidden Morph tunnel within that strange wall; just morph into a ball, use Spring Ball, and hold left.
Everything else ranged from annoying to aight. But the overall difficulty lies not in the combat, though that does have its moments (including and especially bosses), but more so in the weird-as-fuck map layout that makes sense to the maker alone. As a matter of fact, I challenge the hack maker to beat their own hack, and record themselves doing so, to see if they can even beat their own game without the use of any outside help, including SMILE... Although, I did just give some major guide pointers above, so even if the hack maker forgot the layout and routing of their own hack, I'm sure my guidance would be a significant help. Doubt the challenge would be accepted, let alone taken seriously. A resounding 1/5. Fuck this hack!
P.S. There is an "Easy Mode", and an "INSANE! Mode", neither of which I played. Easy Mode is likely what Normal Mode should have been, and INSANE! Mode is supposed to be more... well, insane. Except all INSANE! Mode does is change some numbers around, like a lowered escape timer, and E-Tanks giving a paltry amount of HP, which isn't a significant enough of a change to warrant a playthrough of what would essentially be the same fucking experience. At least True Boss Rush, Super Zero Mission, and Darkholme Hospital (among other hacks) actually change the core experience of the game, whether it's the way bosses are fought, or the routing of the world map, or both. Plus, INSANE! Mode wouldn't have been that much more of a challenge, as the extremely lowered HP pool would be negated by GT Code, which I would have been more than happy to abuse. So if you play one mode, you may as well have played them all. What a waste of my time...
I had the privilege of playing both the original 2009 release of this hack, as well as its current 2012 release, and yeah, there are some notable differences. I won't go over them in detail, but to put it simply, I prefer the current version, as it's a tad more restrictive in routing, item collecting, and exploration. Sounds like a negative, sure, but in a game as large as this, it helps for items to lead to the next, rather than have the player wander aimlessly, wondering where the hell to go next, and in what order. I like non-linearity in a Metroidvania, don't misunderstand, but I also enjoy a certain sequence to the game flow, and Eris's 2012 version nails that pretty well.
Let's talk about the obvious thing about this hack; the visuals. From my understanding, it's all vanilla assets, just used in creative ways, not unlike the previous Cliffhanger hack, and The One Room Hack. Compared to Cliffhanger, Eris feels incredibly creative in asset usage, to the point where you'd be forgiven to think some tiles were completely custom. The rooms, and their details also paints some lore through subtext about the game world. It really felt like an ancient civilization once lived there, and the deeper you go, the more impressive it becomes.
Speaking of the world map, the exploration is pretty good in the 2012 version. It's also fine in the 2009 release as well, but again, the older version feels a tad too open, and can lead to pacing/routing issues. However, this hack isn't without its flaws, like obscure paths to find. While they are relatively few, they are quite annoying, one Morph tunnel in particular being incredibly hidden, with a hint too subtle for people to realistically find it on their own... Never mind that I managed to find it by mistake. There is no X-Ray Scope in this hack either (as far as I'm aware), so finding the path forward will be all the more difficult (not sure if GT Code will give X-Ray, if GT Code even works at all in this hack).
There are also some obstacles, including suitless water sections that makes this hack more for veterans of Super Metroid than casuals. Not challenge-hack difficulty by any means, but anyone relatively new to SM shouldn't be playing this, especially with some enemy placements spelling a significant challenge for some.
The Artifact hunt is similar to things we've seen prior, like the Chozo Statue hunt in Redesign, or the Valkyrie Keys in Phazon Hack, where you need them to progress to the final area of the game. Unlike the other two hacks, however, there aren't anywhere near as many of them to hunt down, and the game world isn't so big as to make the hunt as tedious as other games with similar key mechanics, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. They're not super hidden either, and should be found naturally, if not easily, even to the point where this hack shouldn't need a system where the Artifacts are hinted on the map, so kudos for that.
I played the 2009 version first, and then the 2012 version later. My experience with the older version, as different as some of the routing was, still helped with my playthrough of 2012, and was able to beat 2012 version much faster than my first time as a result, which is nice for those familiar with either version wanting to play the other.
That's pretty much it. I don't have much else to say; anything else I could share would just spoil things, like specific areas, or the ending, etc., and I don't wanna do that. A 5/5.
My completion stats are based on my playthrough of the current 2012 version. The 2009 version cannot be found on the main site.
Let's talk about the obvious thing about this hack; the visuals. From my understanding, it's all vanilla assets, just used in creative ways, not unlike the previous Cliffhanger hack, and The One Room Hack. Compared to Cliffhanger, Eris feels incredibly creative in asset usage, to the point where you'd be forgiven to think some tiles were completely custom. The rooms, and their details also paints some lore through subtext about the game world. It really felt like an ancient civilization once lived there, and the deeper you go, the more impressive it becomes.
Speaking of the world map, the exploration is pretty good in the 2012 version. It's also fine in the 2009 release as well, but again, the older version feels a tad too open, and can lead to pacing/routing issues. However, this hack isn't without its flaws, like obscure paths to find. While they are relatively few, they are quite annoying, one Morph tunnel in particular being incredibly hidden, with a hint too subtle for people to realistically find it on their own... Never mind that I managed to find it by mistake. There is no X-Ray Scope in this hack either (as far as I'm aware), so finding the path forward will be all the more difficult (not sure if GT Code will give X-Ray, if GT Code even works at all in this hack).
There are also some obstacles, including suitless water sections that makes this hack more for veterans of Super Metroid than casuals. Not challenge-hack difficulty by any means, but anyone relatively new to SM shouldn't be playing this, especially with some enemy placements spelling a significant challenge for some.
The Artifact hunt is similar to things we've seen prior, like the Chozo Statue hunt in Redesign, or the Valkyrie Keys in Phazon Hack, where you need them to progress to the final area of the game. Unlike the other two hacks, however, there aren't anywhere near as many of them to hunt down, and the game world isn't so big as to make the hunt as tedious as other games with similar key mechanics, so it doesn't overstay its welcome. They're not super hidden either, and should be found naturally, if not easily, even to the point where this hack shouldn't need a system where the Artifacts are hinted on the map, so kudos for that.
I played the 2009 version first, and then the 2012 version later. My experience with the older version, as different as some of the routing was, still helped with my playthrough of 2012, and was able to beat 2012 version much faster than my first time as a result, which is nice for those familiar with either version wanting to play the other.
That's pretty much it. I don't have much else to say; anything else I could share would just spoil things, like specific areas, or the ending, etc., and I don't wanna do that. A 5/5.
My completion stats are based on my playthrough of the current 2012 version. The 2009 version cannot be found on the main site.
Super Metroid: Escape by Mr. Hiroishi [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 27, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 27, 2025 ( )
73% in 2:21
As a disclaimer, my 5/5 rating is largely my bias, because this game's sequel is not only great, but I also speedran it (I'll get to that one eventually).
I had a lot of fun with this hack, but let's be real, this hack, casually playing, can be potentially confusing as hell to navigate, especially with hidden paths everywhere, and one-way tiles, and X-Ray Scope not revealing as much as it should. It can be so easy to get really lost here, I would imagine. So why do I give this such a high score? Well, bias aside, this hack, albeit unintentional, GREATLY rewards the player for cheesing the game, and there are TONS of opportunities to do so, especially with how early one gets X-Ray Scope. If you know how to cheese with it, you can pretty much bend this game's route to progress more or less how you see fit, and goodness knows I've become especially proficient at it.
(Spoiler ahead) I was right to forgo the Wave Beam, which can be found stupidly early (actually, a lot of great items are given pretty early), because right before you fight Brinstar Spore Spawn, there is a hidden morph tunnel in the right-hand corner that leads to... another Wave Beam. But just like its sequel, this Wave Beam is special, as it bestows the player a "Super Missile Beam", which is exactly what it sounds like; turning your beam shots (save for charge shots) into Super Missiles, granting infinite Supers. It has its own quirks, chief among them being taking on the properties of whatever beams are equipped. Spazer, in particular, is a rapid-fire beam, so having a sort of gatling gun that fires Super Missiles is a feeling that needs to be experienced. It does trivialize the ever-living fuck out of the game, including and especially bosses, but it just feels so good to play the role of walking Death. It even has the properties of Super Missiles, opening red and green doors, and breaking Super Blocks just fine. It weirdly cannot open green gates, though.
The animals can be saved at the very start of the hack, if you know where to look. I found them by accident, and wasn't even that hard to find them. Saving them when you're able to rewards the player with a secret flashing door during the Tourian escape sequence, that takes the player to their ship MUCH faster, so it's a neat reward for doing something that otherwise rewards the player with nothing.
Bottom line: This hack is a ton of fun, if you know how to bend, or even break it. Casually speaking, however, I can see people rating this anywhere between a 3-4... maybe even lower, and I wouldn't really blame them. But even as casuals go, this is still a damn solid hack all the same. It's cool to see the predecessor of what would be its more well-known sequel, Super Metroid: Escape II. I can also imagine this hack being fun to route and speedrun.
I had a lot of fun with this hack, but let's be real, this hack, casually playing, can be potentially confusing as hell to navigate, especially with hidden paths everywhere, and one-way tiles, and X-Ray Scope not revealing as much as it should. It can be so easy to get really lost here, I would imagine. So why do I give this such a high score? Well, bias aside, this hack, albeit unintentional, GREATLY rewards the player for cheesing the game, and there are TONS of opportunities to do so, especially with how early one gets X-Ray Scope. If you know how to cheese with it, you can pretty much bend this game's route to progress more or less how you see fit, and goodness knows I've become especially proficient at it.
(Spoiler ahead) I was right to forgo the Wave Beam, which can be found stupidly early (actually, a lot of great items are given pretty early), because right before you fight Brinstar Spore Spawn, there is a hidden morph tunnel in the right-hand corner that leads to... another Wave Beam. But just like its sequel, this Wave Beam is special, as it bestows the player a "Super Missile Beam", which is exactly what it sounds like; turning your beam shots (save for charge shots) into Super Missiles, granting infinite Supers. It has its own quirks, chief among them being taking on the properties of whatever beams are equipped. Spazer, in particular, is a rapid-fire beam, so having a sort of gatling gun that fires Super Missiles is a feeling that needs to be experienced. It does trivialize the ever-living fuck out of the game, including and especially bosses, but it just feels so good to play the role of walking Death. It even has the properties of Super Missiles, opening red and green doors, and breaking Super Blocks just fine. It weirdly cannot open green gates, though.
The animals can be saved at the very start of the hack, if you know where to look. I found them by accident, and wasn't even that hard to find them. Saving them when you're able to rewards the player with a secret flashing door during the Tourian escape sequence, that takes the player to their ship MUCH faster, so it's a neat reward for doing something that otherwise rewards the player with nothing.
Bottom line: This hack is a ton of fun, if you know how to bend, or even break it. Casually speaking, however, I can see people rating this anywhere between a 3-4... maybe even lower, and I wouldn't really blame them. But even as casuals go, this is still a damn solid hack all the same. It's cool to see the predecessor of what would be its more well-known sequel, Super Metroid: Escape II. I can also imagine this hack being fun to route and speedrun.
This hack was fun, which is the most important quality in any hack. The concept is pure trial & error, with the requirement that you memorize what not to do in your next attempt, because YOU WILL die on your first attempt, and will very likely die in subsequent attempts, as you piece together the route you're supposed to take. The game has no save points, or checkpoints of any kind, so it's definitely rough when you make the wrong choice, and die for it. Thankfully, the hack, in practice, is actually pretty short, so each attempt shouldn't feel like as long a slog as it could have been. Think of Super Mario Maker troll levels, where you make a wrong choice in progression, pay for it, but know what to do the next attempt. Also, the visuals, the labeling of rooms, and the overall theme of the hack is superb... and I've never seen the Cube movies that inspired this hack (as of writing this).
(Spoiler ahead). My biggest issue with this hack is room A6, as well as room F6. A6, on its own, is mostly harmless. It's when trying to get the Super Missile in the wall to the left that the issue arises, as the player can accidentally softlock themselves, because of Grapple jank embedding the player into some tiles. Thank goodness the room was heated, and I was able to damage down to Crystal Flash, and escape the lock. F6 is an "Infinite Room" with zero hint on how to solve it. My first time, I chose the door on the right to proceed from there, and the room kept looping in on itself, as the "Infinite Room" label would imply. At first, I thought it was a cruel prank that softlocks the player, because "Haha! You chose wrong! Now eat shit!" However, that room is required for progressing through to the right, and I know not the solution, as my second attempt at it, I entered the door on the right again, and instantly found myself progressing to the final major item. There no rhyme or reason behind the room, and I wish I knew what the solution was, rather than accidentally solving it; it left me feeling empty, like I didn't learn anything.
All in all the whole of the hack is great, and the pacing is also pretty nice. I kinda wish it had better music than Tourian, but other than that, I found this to be a fun couple of hours. Definitely not for the casual.
(Spoiler ahead). My biggest issue with this hack is room A6, as well as room F6. A6, on its own, is mostly harmless. It's when trying to get the Super Missile in the wall to the left that the issue arises, as the player can accidentally softlock themselves, because of Grapple jank embedding the player into some tiles. Thank goodness the room was heated, and I was able to damage down to Crystal Flash, and escape the lock. F6 is an "Infinite Room" with zero hint on how to solve it. My first time, I chose the door on the right to proceed from there, and the room kept looping in on itself, as the "Infinite Room" label would imply. At first, I thought it was a cruel prank that softlocks the player, because "Haha! You chose wrong! Now eat shit!" However, that room is required for progressing through to the right, and I know not the solution, as my second attempt at it, I entered the door on the right again, and instantly found myself progressing to the final major item. There no rhyme or reason behind the room, and I wish I knew what the solution was, rather than accidentally solving it; it left me feeling empty, like I didn't learn anything.
All in all the whole of the hack is great, and the pacing is also pretty nice. I kinda wish it had better music than Tourian, but other than that, I found this to be a fun couple of hours. Definitely not for the casual.
Super Metroid: Advent by Shadow96 [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 28, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 28, 2025 ( )
33% in 1:09
The visuals were really nice, but that's mostly it. Everything else is a mixed bag. On one hand, the item progression is fine, while on the other hand, the route to said progression is stupid in its obscurity. I haven't tested any of the save rooms in this hack, because I read in others' reviews that they're broken. Only "safe" save is the ship, and I put that in quotes, as saving at the ship will crash the game; resetting after saving, however, will allow you to resume normally. Weirdly, you can still refill at the ship, not save, and continue on without crashing. Weird how that was botched. (Spoiler ahead) One of the paths forward to progression is in the Save Room of the Chozo Ruins; the bombable part of the wall on the right is poorly telegraphed, you'd likely find it by happenstance, or from bombing every inch of this hack, which is never fun gameplay. The rest of the hack is pretty straightforward from that point. You have doors that open with specific ammo, which is a cool concept; magenta doors open with Wave Beam, and green doors open with Plasma. The problem is that you can't combine beams, and have to switch between beams to open their respective doors... Unless you do what I did, and do the VAR Beam glitch, to force them to combine, and yes, when combined, they open both doors without the need to switch beams, on top of being a more powerful shot.
After beating Ridley, the escape sequence happens, which isn't much of a sequence, and has no timer. However, there is a gray door that can be accessed during this point, and it's there you can acquire an extra Super Missile, as well as fight Phantoon. There is no benefit to beating Phantoon, other than just saying to fought him. On top of that, he doesn't even stay dead, as the fight can be triggered over and over again. A shame there are no animals to save.
P.S. The pretty graphics really did a ton of heavy lifting in my review score. I'd have given this a 2/5 otherwise.
After beating Ridley, the escape sequence happens, which isn't much of a sequence, and has no timer. However, there is a gray door that can be accessed during this point, and it's there you can acquire an extra Super Missile, as well as fight Phantoon. There is no benefit to beating Phantoon, other than just saying to fought him. On top of that, he doesn't even stay dead, as the fight can be triggered over and over again. A shame there are no animals to save.
P.S. The pretty graphics really did a ton of heavy lifting in my review score. I'd have given this a 2/5 otherwise.
Super Metroid: Black Plague by JamieWebb16 [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 28, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 28, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
The hack was really short, but I liked the look and feel of it. Could've been done a tad better in some parts, but overall, it was a neat demo. Too bad it'll never get finished. There is no real ending; just a softlock room with credits on the screen. At least it doesn't overstay its welcome.
Super Metroid 32 by snipereighteen [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 28, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 28, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack was pretty short, but it's also unfinished, so it was to be expected. The game's pretty straightforward with progression, though there is some backtracking in it, which doesn't get too crazy, thankfully. The beginning is probably the hardest part of it, as you're avoiding Metroids, like it's some horror game, which isn't a bad thing. After that, it's mostly smooth sailing the rest of the way. Progression after Power Bombs is a bit well hidden, especially if you forget to visit early areas after a while, because how many people will remember details from older areas to visit after acquiring specific power ups? The hack ends abruptly, as you end up out of bounds in Maridia's toilet, to then be taken out of bounds in Oasis, with nowhere to go, ending the hack. What this hack does have in playable form is pretty good, though, so I'll give this a 3/5, and that might be a tad generous on my part.
Super Metroid: Z-Factor by Metaquarius [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 29, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 29, 2025 ( )
66% in 6:27
There's a lot to unpack here, so let me get the negative out of the way.
To those giving this hack a low rating, I can understand why. While I definitely disagree with your sentiment, I am not going to pretend like this game is flawless, because it does have quite a few flaws. Much of it comes down to its progression, which is exacerbated by its size. Figuring out where to go next, and remembering where one can go after acquiring the next progression item can be hella daunting. It's made worse by the fact that there are plenty of progression points hidden by fake walls and shot/bomb blocks that either require the player to shoot/bomb everywhere, or rely on X-Ray Scope, the latter of which doesn't reveal anything at times. The difficulty in this regard is definitely higher than vanilla, and most certainly higher than the description lets on.
That being said, what did I like about this, and why? Well, ironically enough, it was the exploration aspect of it. Plenty of cryptic routing for sure, and I really wish some of the paths forward was made more obvious to the player, but the stuff that works (which are plenty) really fuckin' works, while the stuff that doesn't is relatively few(er) by comparison. This hack also has quite a bit of sequence break potential (I'll get to that), which caters to those exceptionally experienced in tricks/glitches, and can be rewarded for doing so. Whether it was by design or happenstance is beyond me, but the fact that those savvy enough in Super Metroid gameplay can really benefit from going beyond the norm.
The assets in this hack, while 90% vanilla, also borrows from other games, like Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Zero Mission, and they don't look out of place. Amazing still is a couple of these assets have coding that interact with the game state, like the Chozo statue's eyes glowing in the background upon collecting Morph Ball, or Metroid Fusion's Kihunter cocoons disappearing, with Kihunters taking their place. It's really well thought out, and while it's no Eris, or V I T A L I T Y in its narrative, you can tell there is some lore to be had in this world, told through subtle enough subtext.
(Spoiler ahead) Bosses are more or less what you would expect, with a few differences for several of them. First, let's talk about one custom boss in particular, the three Chozo Orbs. I don't know how it was done, but playing a game of Pong with orbs was not on my BINGO card when playing this hack. It's not a hard encounter, but not a cake walk either. It's well balanced enough, and if nothing else, quite amusing. Then there's Crocomire. Crocomire is often the innocent creature that Samus attacks first, provoking it into fighting, which always makes me feel bad whenever I have to fight it. However, in this hack, Crocomire ain't fuckin' around, and immediately charges at Samus, all the way to the spike wall, forcing the player to fight or die; Crocomire singing to Han Solo with that one. And then there's Draygon. What a way for that fight to trigger; I know I put "Spoiler ahead" in parenthesis, but I'll let the player see this one for themselves.
(MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) Now, I mentioned the routing, and how it can be confusing to most players, and yeah, that's still true. For my own experience with that hack, I went into Maridia, and found Speed Booster (which is normally intended, and weird as hell), which then led me to Kraid, which led me to Grappling Beam. All of that is intended by Metaquarius. However, what I didn't realize was where I needed to go next from there; the player is supposed to go to Wrecked Ship next, but my tunnel-vision ass thought Maridia was the place to naturally go, and by the time I realized maybe I was sequence breaking the hack, I was already in too deep and committed to see just how far into Maridia I'd go. And holy Christ, suitless Maridia in this hack is a hell of a different beast. I started to lose my mind trying to find a way out of there, never mind forward. Led me to fighting both Botwoon and Draygon suitless, which I later found out I didn't need to do that, going through a ton of obscure obstacles, and hidden-as-fuck paths just to finally escape. I would not have been able to figure it out on my own (well, maybe I would, after another 3-5 hours of aimless wandering) without some guidance and hints from my Twitch chat. That, and a couple of instances of using SMILE to find the next door. In all of this, I don't blame the hack, nor Metaquarius for my misery, as by the time I realized what was going on, I knew this was all optional, and for all I knew, couldn't even be done because out-of-logic shit. After what felt like hours in Maridia, I finally found freedom into the Wrecked Ship I wanted to visit and progress the game further, but through its back door. Entry into Wrecked Ship ended up being closed off, so clearly, I wasn't supposed to be there. But I didn't know this until I entered the only door available, leading to a long hall, leading to one hell of a find; the Super Secret Room. It grants the player three of the most powerful items in Super Metroid, turning the rest of the hack into "Easy Mode"... until Lower Norfair, anyway. Items so powerful, Super Metroid Arcade puts time limits in their use. Suffice it to say, I felt accomplished, and relieved... but was also mad because I still couldn't get into Wrecked Ship, and had to go all the way around the world, but at that point, it was easy enough to do so. I later found out that somewhere in the game (which I found, and won't say where), there's dialogue that actually hints to the Super Secret Room, for those who want to give this hack a second rodeo, so at least it isn't too obscure. About the right amount of cryptic obscurity as Mortal Kombat's "Look to La Luna" hint for fighting Reptile, which is a good kind of cryptic.
Let's talk about Tourian. So, there are some obscure paths, including Morph tunnels here and there, but nothing too hard to find. Other than that, it's just Tourian... until you cut its power. There's a strange machine powered by Zebetites, and when those Zebetites are destroyed, the entirety of Tourian's main section turns dark, with only a spotlight on Samus to guide the player in seeing where one can go... that, and the X-Ray Scope. The music stops, and all you can hear are the cries of Metroids. As you progress, you see the dried, dusty husks of Space Pirates scattered around the area, and then, before you know it, the Metroids appear. It turns the section into a sort of horror game, except you're fully decked out in gear, so it isn't too scary in practice, but the atmosphere definitely changes, and one must navigate the darkened halls of Tourian to reach the second section of it. It really threw me in for a loop. After passing the dark section, the rest of Tourian is pretty much what you'd expect; find Mother Brain, beat her, escape, win, etc. I was sad, because I thought there were no animals to save, but I later found out you can, but doing so is significantly more difficult with the tight-as-hell timer. Maybe I'll revisit someday to save them.
So overall, what did I think? Well, some of the obscure paths and routing aside, this hack was fuckin' awesome. I would have preferred the path forward in some places be a bit less obtuse. Also wish the progression path was a little more obvious; the first visit to Maridia might make the player question if they're supposed to even be there, when yes, they are, to get Speed Booster to progress, but where it works, it feels like it flows naturally. The coding changes to some bosses, and the inclusion of a fully-custom boss felt refreshing as well. With all of that, I had contemplated giving this a 4/5, because of some of the routing issues, but after seeing Tourian and how it was handled, as well as a badass reward that is the Super Secret Room, I'd feel it'd be disingenuous to give this anything less than a 5/5.
Contragulations!
To those giving this hack a low rating, I can understand why. While I definitely disagree with your sentiment, I am not going to pretend like this game is flawless, because it does have quite a few flaws. Much of it comes down to its progression, which is exacerbated by its size. Figuring out where to go next, and remembering where one can go after acquiring the next progression item can be hella daunting. It's made worse by the fact that there are plenty of progression points hidden by fake walls and shot/bomb blocks that either require the player to shoot/bomb everywhere, or rely on X-Ray Scope, the latter of which doesn't reveal anything at times. The difficulty in this regard is definitely higher than vanilla, and most certainly higher than the description lets on.
That being said, what did I like about this, and why? Well, ironically enough, it was the exploration aspect of it. Plenty of cryptic routing for sure, and I really wish some of the paths forward was made more obvious to the player, but the stuff that works (which are plenty) really fuckin' works, while the stuff that doesn't is relatively few(er) by comparison. This hack also has quite a bit of sequence break potential (I'll get to that), which caters to those exceptionally experienced in tricks/glitches, and can be rewarded for doing so. Whether it was by design or happenstance is beyond me, but the fact that those savvy enough in Super Metroid gameplay can really benefit from going beyond the norm.
The assets in this hack, while 90% vanilla, also borrows from other games, like Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Zero Mission, and they don't look out of place. Amazing still is a couple of these assets have coding that interact with the game state, like the Chozo statue's eyes glowing in the background upon collecting Morph Ball, or Metroid Fusion's Kihunter cocoons disappearing, with Kihunters taking their place. It's really well thought out, and while it's no Eris, or V I T A L I T Y in its narrative, you can tell there is some lore to be had in this world, told through subtle enough subtext.
(Spoiler ahead) Bosses are more or less what you would expect, with a few differences for several of them. First, let's talk about one custom boss in particular, the three Chozo Orbs. I don't know how it was done, but playing a game of Pong with orbs was not on my BINGO card when playing this hack. It's not a hard encounter, but not a cake walk either. It's well balanced enough, and if nothing else, quite amusing. Then there's Crocomire. Crocomire is often the innocent creature that Samus attacks first, provoking it into fighting, which always makes me feel bad whenever I have to fight it. However, in this hack, Crocomire ain't fuckin' around, and immediately charges at Samus, all the way to the spike wall, forcing the player to fight or die; Crocomire singing to Han Solo with that one. And then there's Draygon. What a way for that fight to trigger; I know I put "Spoiler ahead" in parenthesis, but I'll let the player see this one for themselves.
(MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) Now, I mentioned the routing, and how it can be confusing to most players, and yeah, that's still true. For my own experience with that hack, I went into Maridia, and found Speed Booster (which is normally intended, and weird as hell), which then led me to Kraid, which led me to Grappling Beam. All of that is intended by Metaquarius. However, what I didn't realize was where I needed to go next from there; the player is supposed to go to Wrecked Ship next, but my tunnel-vision ass thought Maridia was the place to naturally go, and by the time I realized maybe I was sequence breaking the hack, I was already in too deep and committed to see just how far into Maridia I'd go. And holy Christ, suitless Maridia in this hack is a hell of a different beast. I started to lose my mind trying to find a way out of there, never mind forward. Led me to fighting both Botwoon and Draygon suitless, which I later found out I didn't need to do that, going through a ton of obscure obstacles, and hidden-as-fuck paths just to finally escape. I would not have been able to figure it out on my own (well, maybe I would, after another 3-5 hours of aimless wandering) without some guidance and hints from my Twitch chat. That, and a couple of instances of using SMILE to find the next door. In all of this, I don't blame the hack, nor Metaquarius for my misery, as by the time I realized what was going on, I knew this was all optional, and for all I knew, couldn't even be done because out-of-logic shit. After what felt like hours in Maridia, I finally found freedom into the Wrecked Ship I wanted to visit and progress the game further, but through its back door. Entry into Wrecked Ship ended up being closed off, so clearly, I wasn't supposed to be there. But I didn't know this until I entered the only door available, leading to a long hall, leading to one hell of a find; the Super Secret Room. It grants the player three of the most powerful items in Super Metroid, turning the rest of the hack into "Easy Mode"... until Lower Norfair, anyway. Items so powerful, Super Metroid Arcade puts time limits in their use. Suffice it to say, I felt accomplished, and relieved... but was also mad because I still couldn't get into Wrecked Ship, and had to go all the way around the world, but at that point, it was easy enough to do so. I later found out that somewhere in the game (which I found, and won't say where), there's dialogue that actually hints to the Super Secret Room, for those who want to give this hack a second rodeo, so at least it isn't too obscure. About the right amount of cryptic obscurity as Mortal Kombat's "Look to La Luna" hint for fighting Reptile, which is a good kind of cryptic.
Let's talk about Tourian. So, there are some obscure paths, including Morph tunnels here and there, but nothing too hard to find. Other than that, it's just Tourian... until you cut its power. There's a strange machine powered by Zebetites, and when those Zebetites are destroyed, the entirety of Tourian's main section turns dark, with only a spotlight on Samus to guide the player in seeing where one can go... that, and the X-Ray Scope. The music stops, and all you can hear are the cries of Metroids. As you progress, you see the dried, dusty husks of Space Pirates scattered around the area, and then, before you know it, the Metroids appear. It turns the section into a sort of horror game, except you're fully decked out in gear, so it isn't too scary in practice, but the atmosphere definitely changes, and one must navigate the darkened halls of Tourian to reach the second section of it. It really threw me in for a loop. After passing the dark section, the rest of Tourian is pretty much what you'd expect; find Mother Brain, beat her, escape, win, etc. I was sad, because I thought there were no animals to save, but I later found out you can, but doing so is significantly more difficult with the tight-as-hell timer. Maybe I'll revisit someday to save them.
So overall, what did I think? Well, some of the obscure paths and routing aside, this hack was fuckin' awesome. I would have preferred the path forward in some places be a bit less obtuse. Also wish the progression path was a little more obvious; the first visit to Maridia might make the player question if they're supposed to even be there, when yes, they are, to get Speed Booster to progress, but where it works, it feels like it flows naturally. The coding changes to some bosses, and the inclusion of a fully-custom boss felt refreshing as well. With all of that, I had contemplated giving this a 4/5, because of some of the routing issues, but after seeing Tourian and how it was handled, as well as a badass reward that is the Super Secret Room, I'd feel it'd be disingenuous to give this anything less than a 5/5.
Contragulations!
Super Metroid: Retaliation Demo by DarkSamus [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 30, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jun 30, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack wasn't all that great. Hidden morph tunnel by the ship to progress to Missiles wasn't a good design choice. The tile set was neat, though, so it gets a point for that. Otherwise, it was way too short and shallow to really mean anything.
So, there's a bit to talk about here, but let me get something out of the way. For those having trouble collecting Morph Ball, the solution is to Kago through that... face thing blocking the way. Those are actually not tiles, but coded as enemy actors that can be shot, bombed, etc., except they're generally unkillable in most hacks.
With that out of the way, let's talk about this hack. I have to say that there are tons of great ideas here, including custom boss coding, some tricks needed to progress, puzzles that utilize said tricks, and a really weird, but fun route and item order. I really like the new HUD feature of switching between different statuses, though I personally prefer the in-game timer HUD. There are plenty of weirdness to this hack as well, that makes the player feel gaslit. It initially sounds bad, but when you look into how the hack actually flows, it not only works, but is pretty good, even if the flow is a bit shaky in some areas.
(Spoiler ahead) Despite all the cool things I really liked about this hack, there is one thing that absolutely soured the experience greatly; the purple "gate" switches. So, early in the hack, you'll come across the usual pink/red (however you wanna see that color) gate, which opens with Missiles. Nothing out of the ordinary there. However, later on in the playthrough, at Warehouse Entrance (normally, the elevator to Norfair), you'll come across what looks like a purple gate. Interacting with the purple-colored switch with literally anything you have at that point has no effect, leaving the player to understandably believe they don't have the needed item to deal with it; I initially believed Wave Beam was needed, given the purple color. I have spent hours on the hack, trying to find my way forward, only acquiring items, including major upgrades by way of cheesing the hell out of this hack, and not once could I figure out the purple switches. With the help of my Twitch chat, it turns out that the way it is solved is in an adjacent room, there is another purple switch (which I did find, but assumed I couldn't interact with it), and that purple switch must then be hit with 5 Missiles. Doing this, the purple "gate" in the next room will be open, and the purple switch will change from purple to blue, indicating it worked.
There is NOWHERE in the hack that teaches the player how to interact with these purple switches, so it would stand to reason that most players will likely assume they don't have the necessary items needed to progress at that point. It doesn't mention these purple switches anywhere in the hack's description either, so this was a big failure on the part of GR2's design. There are a few ways this issue could have been fixed, to teach the player how to progress past these:
- Introduce a room(s), be it early or not, where the player cannot escape until they solve the purple gate puzzle, adding a means to refill Missiles (preferably a Missile refill station). This would have told the player that the two switches relate to one another, and the Missile refill would have hinted at the need for Missiles to solve it.
- Change the switches from purple to pink/red, that way, upon first encountering this, the player can still have it in their mind that Missiles could be involved in progressing past them, even if Missiles won't work past the "gate" point, but will work for the trigger that opens it.
- Detail the purple switches in the description.
Had any one of these things been implemented in the hack (or the description, in the case of the third point), I would have easily given this a 5/5. As it stands, it only has a 4/5. That said, there's still a little more to this hack. (MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) This hack has a sort of "second mode" to play. Players will notice at the bottom of Green Pirates Shaft is a metal door that opens when all enemies are killed, including the two Golden Pirates at the top (killed by Power Bombs). Upon entering, you'll see a barricade that seems to add more barricades as you progress. Those are boss checks, and the more bosses you defeat, the more barricades it adds to the path. It is impossible to progress through this through ordinary means; the player can only progress past this if no bosses were beaten. This is possible to do; there is a fake ceiling in Parlor that allows you to bypass Bomb Torizo, leaving to Landing Site, and continuing from Gauntlet and beyond. The fun part is figuring out a route that gets you the necessary items to get through that room. It doesn't stop at the boss check either, as beyond that, there is a Missile check containing Blue Brinstar angry heads, each requiring 10 Missiles to destroy, and there are 10 of them, meaning the player must acquire 100 Missiles to proceed. Doesn't stop there, as there is a spike obstacle up ahead that acts as a health check, requiring adequate E-Tanks are collected to proceed. Beyond that is a puzzle/obstacle area with speed blocks, requiring Speed Booster, but also requires the player to know how to short charge and speed keep to proceed. If the player can make it through all of this, they will be taken straight to Big Boy Room, encountering the Baby Metroid, and can continue and finish the game from there. I can't tell if this route is any faster than the usual route, but it's a great skill test for the player to try and aim for this alternate way to beat the game.
Speaking of Tourian, there is a boss rush during this point, where all G4 bosses are fought, and are made harder. It's a cool little thing to have, and gives Tourian more substance than it normally does. The alternate "No Boss" route bypasses all of that, for better or worse. On that note, there are TONS of sequence breaking opportunities in this hack, made especially easier with the help of the X-Ray Scope, which can be used to climb up the far-right side of Climb (the door leading to Crateria Super Room), and acquire Gravity Suit MUCH earlier than intended. You can try to climb up Crateria Super Room, but embedded in the walls above are spike tiles that punish the player for trying to cheese Gravity in this manner, though I guess X-Ray climbing up left-facing doors might not have been very well known, and The Climb was left unaltered, thinking the player couldn't X-Ray climb up it... either that, or GR2 forgot to de-cheese it.
Finally, the warp point puzzles. I don't know how best to describe them, but there are several instances where trying to pass a certain point in a room will instantly teleport Samus to another part of the room. The best and earliest example of this is Crateria Tube, where trying to enter Crateria Kihunter Room just teleports Samus to the left of the tube, creating the illusion of an infinite loop. There are a few mazes where the player must navigate morph tunnels, going into the correct warp point to progress to an item, for example. It's a pick-a-path in nature, but it's very intuitive, fun, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. Probably one of the coolest puzzle implementations I've seen in a hack, and hope to see this used more.
Overall, this hack was great, and I had a ton of fun with it, minus the purple switch issue. Had the purple switch been implemented better, this hack would have been all the better for it, but it really does leave a sour taste in my mouth, which is a real shame. Still, with everything else, and how fun the whole of the hack was, I have to give it, at the very least, a 4/5.
P.S. This might trip some players up, but when you get Spazer, the exit to Big Pink that's normally blocked by a Super Missile block; there is a Spazer block (yes, there are beam-specific blocks in this hack) right above the Super block. I never knew this, and assumed I was softlocked without Supers. Either replacing the Super block with the Spazer block, or making the Spazer block visible to the player from the get go would have easily solved this issue.
With that out of the way, let's talk about this hack. I have to say that there are tons of great ideas here, including custom boss coding, some tricks needed to progress, puzzles that utilize said tricks, and a really weird, but fun route and item order. I really like the new HUD feature of switching between different statuses, though I personally prefer the in-game timer HUD. There are plenty of weirdness to this hack as well, that makes the player feel gaslit. It initially sounds bad, but when you look into how the hack actually flows, it not only works, but is pretty good, even if the flow is a bit shaky in some areas.
(Spoiler ahead) Despite all the cool things I really liked about this hack, there is one thing that absolutely soured the experience greatly; the purple "gate" switches. So, early in the hack, you'll come across the usual pink/red (however you wanna see that color) gate, which opens with Missiles. Nothing out of the ordinary there. However, later on in the playthrough, at Warehouse Entrance (normally, the elevator to Norfair), you'll come across what looks like a purple gate. Interacting with the purple-colored switch with literally anything you have at that point has no effect, leaving the player to understandably believe they don't have the needed item to deal with it; I initially believed Wave Beam was needed, given the purple color. I have spent hours on the hack, trying to find my way forward, only acquiring items, including major upgrades by way of cheesing the hell out of this hack, and not once could I figure out the purple switches. With the help of my Twitch chat, it turns out that the way it is solved is in an adjacent room, there is another purple switch (which I did find, but assumed I couldn't interact with it), and that purple switch must then be hit with 5 Missiles. Doing this, the purple "gate" in the next room will be open, and the purple switch will change from purple to blue, indicating it worked.
There is NOWHERE in the hack that teaches the player how to interact with these purple switches, so it would stand to reason that most players will likely assume they don't have the necessary items needed to progress at that point. It doesn't mention these purple switches anywhere in the hack's description either, so this was a big failure on the part of GR2's design. There are a few ways this issue could have been fixed, to teach the player how to progress past these:
- Introduce a room(s), be it early or not, where the player cannot escape until they solve the purple gate puzzle, adding a means to refill Missiles (preferably a Missile refill station). This would have told the player that the two switches relate to one another, and the Missile refill would have hinted at the need for Missiles to solve it.
- Change the switches from purple to pink/red, that way, upon first encountering this, the player can still have it in their mind that Missiles could be involved in progressing past them, even if Missiles won't work past the "gate" point, but will work for the trigger that opens it.
- Detail the purple switches in the description.
Had any one of these things been implemented in the hack (or the description, in the case of the third point), I would have easily given this a 5/5. As it stands, it only has a 4/5. That said, there's still a little more to this hack. (MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) This hack has a sort of "second mode" to play. Players will notice at the bottom of Green Pirates Shaft is a metal door that opens when all enemies are killed, including the two Golden Pirates at the top (killed by Power Bombs). Upon entering, you'll see a barricade that seems to add more barricades as you progress. Those are boss checks, and the more bosses you defeat, the more barricades it adds to the path. It is impossible to progress through this through ordinary means; the player can only progress past this if no bosses were beaten. This is possible to do; there is a fake ceiling in Parlor that allows you to bypass Bomb Torizo, leaving to Landing Site, and continuing from Gauntlet and beyond. The fun part is figuring out a route that gets you the necessary items to get through that room. It doesn't stop at the boss check either, as beyond that, there is a Missile check containing Blue Brinstar angry heads, each requiring 10 Missiles to destroy, and there are 10 of them, meaning the player must acquire 100 Missiles to proceed. Doesn't stop there, as there is a spike obstacle up ahead that acts as a health check, requiring adequate E-Tanks are collected to proceed. Beyond that is a puzzle/obstacle area with speed blocks, requiring Speed Booster, but also requires the player to know how to short charge and speed keep to proceed. If the player can make it through all of this, they will be taken straight to Big Boy Room, encountering the Baby Metroid, and can continue and finish the game from there. I can't tell if this route is any faster than the usual route, but it's a great skill test for the player to try and aim for this alternate way to beat the game.
Speaking of Tourian, there is a boss rush during this point, where all G4 bosses are fought, and are made harder. It's a cool little thing to have, and gives Tourian more substance than it normally does. The alternate "No Boss" route bypasses all of that, for better or worse. On that note, there are TONS of sequence breaking opportunities in this hack, made especially easier with the help of the X-Ray Scope, which can be used to climb up the far-right side of Climb (the door leading to Crateria Super Room), and acquire Gravity Suit MUCH earlier than intended. You can try to climb up Crateria Super Room, but embedded in the walls above are spike tiles that punish the player for trying to cheese Gravity in this manner, though I guess X-Ray climbing up left-facing doors might not have been very well known, and The Climb was left unaltered, thinking the player couldn't X-Ray climb up it... either that, or GR2 forgot to de-cheese it.
Finally, the warp point puzzles. I don't know how best to describe them, but there are several instances where trying to pass a certain point in a room will instantly teleport Samus to another part of the room. The best and earliest example of this is Crateria Tube, where trying to enter Crateria Kihunter Room just teleports Samus to the left of the tube, creating the illusion of an infinite loop. There are a few mazes where the player must navigate morph tunnels, going into the correct warp point to progress to an item, for example. It's a pick-a-path in nature, but it's very intuitive, fun, and it doesn't overstay its welcome. Probably one of the coolest puzzle implementations I've seen in a hack, and hope to see this used more.
Overall, this hack was great, and I had a ton of fun with it, minus the purple switch issue. Had the purple switch been implemented better, this hack would have been all the better for it, but it really does leave a sour taste in my mouth, which is a real shame. Still, with everything else, and how fun the whole of the hack was, I have to give it, at the very least, a 4/5.
P.S. This might trip some players up, but when you get Spazer, the exit to Big Pink that's normally blocked by a Super Missile block; there is a Spazer block (yes, there are beam-specific blocks in this hack) right above the Super block. I never knew this, and assumed I was softlocked without Supers. Either replacing the Super block with the Spazer block, or making the Spazer block visible to the player from the get go would have easily solved this issue.
I'm writing this review despite not remembering too much of it, which yeah, kinda bad, because you want a hack to be memorable, but this hack isn't without its memorable moments.
(Spoiler ahead) The most notable thing I can remember is some of the routing. It's a bit confusing, but once you grab an item, you'll know where to go immediately to progress... on paper. The problem, however, is this hack lacks a description, and this is a hack where Varia and Gravity Suit are completely absent, which is info that the player could use beforehand, so they know they have to do Maridia suitless, and Norfair suitless. On that note, this hack is a bit of a challenge as a result, but not too hard either. Maridia is modified to make it possible to be done suitless throughout, and some rooms in Norfair has been de-heated to ease the burden of the hell runs required (Crocomire's room being heated is probably the hardest part of Norfair, and even that's not that bad).
Overall, not too bad a hack. It's a neat half hack to kill a few hours, but that's pretty much it. Not much else to say about it. a 3/5.
(Spoiler ahead) The most notable thing I can remember is some of the routing. It's a bit confusing, but once you grab an item, you'll know where to go immediately to progress... on paper. The problem, however, is this hack lacks a description, and this is a hack where Varia and Gravity Suit are completely absent, which is info that the player could use beforehand, so they know they have to do Maridia suitless, and Norfair suitless. On that note, this hack is a bit of a challenge as a result, but not too hard either. Maridia is modified to make it possible to be done suitless throughout, and some rooms in Norfair has been de-heated to ease the burden of the hell runs required (Crocomire's room being heated is probably the hardest part of Norfair, and even that's not that bad).
Overall, not too bad a hack. It's a neat half hack to kill a few hours, but that's pretty much it. Not much else to say about it. a 3/5.
Super Metroid: Boss Attack by b_a_c_k__f_i_r_e [ Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 07, 2025 ( )
Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 07, 2025 ( )
70% in 2:27
First of all, who the fuck labeled this a "Boss Rush"?! This was barely even an exploration hack! Even then, it's hard to quantify what this is, but a Boss Rush, this is not.
(Spoiler ahead) This hack was just awful, and has the usual tropes seen in lazily put-together hacks. First of all, I doubt any real playtesting was done for this, as it has quite a bit of jank, most especially Wicked Ship (Wrecked Ship) entrance to the east of Landing Site. After beating Phantoon, and the Wicked Ship awakens, the right side, for no reason, changes, so that entering it traps you in a sheer wall. Whether this was by design, or from incompetence is beyond me.
Speaking of Landing Site, the music... The music in Landing Site is so grating and repetitive. Initially, it's just irritating, but when entering Landing Site from anywhere, the same tune is then played at a frequency that would piss off dogs. The progression was confusing, and knowing where to go, or how to progress was equally confusing. Finding the Spazer in Landing Site was annoying as hell, requiring bombing every inch of that morph maze to the right of the ship to get to it.
Enemies are buffed for no reason. This wasn't advertised as a challenge hack, and even if it was, enemies being damage sponges, or worse, being immune to your beams is annoying as fuck, and doesn't make the hack more challenging; it makes it tedious for the sake of it. Some enemies can outright one-shot you, because why not? While some enemies you'd expect to one-shot you are somewhat harmless by comparison.
By the time I reached Tourian, I felt hella underpowered, having missed Plasma, Gravity Suit, Spring Ball, X-Ray Scope, and Space Jump. Where the hell were they? Did I care? Kinda, because those would have made the escape sequence more digestible. Speaking of, the escape was horrible. Giving an 8-minute timer, you go through awfully put-together rooms with Pirates that do far more damage than they have any right to. You then travel through a room with fake walls, a spike gauntlet, and that's to say nothing of the encounter with a suped up Bomb Torizo during the escape. While the fight itself is manageable, it does glitch the timer, so you can't really know how much time you have left. The in-and-out acid during the fight makes the encounter hella annoying, especially if you only have Varia. For the record, GT Code doesn't work, so you can't cheese the game that way. Either that, or it only works at Bomb Torizo during the escape sequence, which I didn't think to do during that time. Still, it's a chore to play this, and isn't fun in the least.
Between the enemies, confusing progression, awful sounds, awful escape, glitches, permastucks, lack of playtesting, ugly colors, ugly aesthetics, underpowered gear, shit escape, lack of being a true boss rush, over-inflated map, no guidance, no real flow, no coherency, and no animals to save, this hack ranks among those belonging in a pile of shit too good for it. I'd rather replay So Little Time blind, because as shitty as that was, at least it has a theme. What's the theme of this hack? Give your little nephew a hack editor, and let them go crazy with what imagination they have? Yeah, no. To hell with this hack!
(Spoiler ahead) This hack was just awful, and has the usual tropes seen in lazily put-together hacks. First of all, I doubt any real playtesting was done for this, as it has quite a bit of jank, most especially Wicked Ship (Wrecked Ship) entrance to the east of Landing Site. After beating Phantoon, and the Wicked Ship awakens, the right side, for no reason, changes, so that entering it traps you in a sheer wall. Whether this was by design, or from incompetence is beyond me.
Speaking of Landing Site, the music... The music in Landing Site is so grating and repetitive. Initially, it's just irritating, but when entering Landing Site from anywhere, the same tune is then played at a frequency that would piss off dogs. The progression was confusing, and knowing where to go, or how to progress was equally confusing. Finding the Spazer in Landing Site was annoying as hell, requiring bombing every inch of that morph maze to the right of the ship to get to it.
Enemies are buffed for no reason. This wasn't advertised as a challenge hack, and even if it was, enemies being damage sponges, or worse, being immune to your beams is annoying as fuck, and doesn't make the hack more challenging; it makes it tedious for the sake of it. Some enemies can outright one-shot you, because why not? While some enemies you'd expect to one-shot you are somewhat harmless by comparison.
By the time I reached Tourian, I felt hella underpowered, having missed Plasma, Gravity Suit, Spring Ball, X-Ray Scope, and Space Jump. Where the hell were they? Did I care? Kinda, because those would have made the escape sequence more digestible. Speaking of, the escape was horrible. Giving an 8-minute timer, you go through awfully put-together rooms with Pirates that do far more damage than they have any right to. You then travel through a room with fake walls, a spike gauntlet, and that's to say nothing of the encounter with a suped up Bomb Torizo during the escape. While the fight itself is manageable, it does glitch the timer, so you can't really know how much time you have left. The in-and-out acid during the fight makes the encounter hella annoying, especially if you only have Varia. For the record, GT Code doesn't work, so you can't cheese the game that way. Either that, or it only works at Bomb Torizo during the escape sequence, which I didn't think to do during that time. Still, it's a chore to play this, and isn't fun in the least.
Between the enemies, confusing progression, awful sounds, awful escape, glitches, permastucks, lack of playtesting, ugly colors, ugly aesthetics, underpowered gear, shit escape, lack of being a true boss rush, over-inflated map, no guidance, no real flow, no coherency, and no animals to save, this hack ranks among those belonging in a pile of shit too good for it. I'd rather replay So Little Time blind, because as shitty as that was, at least it has a theme. What's the theme of this hack? Give your little nephew a hack editor, and let them go crazy with what imagination they have? Yeah, no. To hell with this hack!
And so here we arrive at my first Pedro hack. I've only heard nightmares of this hack maker, shitting out the worst kinds of garbage that is amateurish at best, and maliciously troll at worst. This isn't one of those, it would seem. I'm sure I'll come across the ones that gave the hack maker his notoriety, but until I do, here's my take on this particular hack.
(Spoiler ahead) To put it simply: It's weird. Not a bad weird either. Just... weird. You have doors with loading zones that take you elsewhere, but isn't confusing once you encounter them, and they don't overstay their welcome, as they're used sparingly. Item progression and routing is also pretty interesting, if not as weird as the rest of the hack. I mean, you acquire Gravity Suit before Varia after Kraid. Speaking of, maybe it's my past experience with other half-hacks that do similar shit, but as long as you make a conscious effort to check EVERY SINGLE room in this hack, including rooms that normally contain nothing (like save points, or refill stations), you'll be fine, as there are some that contain items, one of which is a hard progression item.
Everything else in this hack is okay. No spike spam I can think of in particular, at least nothing I found problematic. If I have to say one thing that did annoy me, it's some of the acid run rooms in Norfair, where acid appears and disappears periodically. Not the first hack to have something like this, and it doesn't really make the game frustrating or anything, but it's worth noting. Also, this is not for casuals, as some tricks are needed to progress, including leaving the Red Kihunter Shaft, which requires the player to IBJ, and either time it to continue IBJing after blowing open the ceiling to freedom, or laying a Power Bomb mid-IBJ to continue with the ascent.
Overall, I didn't hate this hack. Wasn't exactly good either, but it was just fine enough for me to give a 3/5, which surprised me. This certainly won't be for everyone.
P.S. The stationary Workrobots you see throughout the game are meant for endgame; they're vulnerable to Plasma Beam, which is acquired after Ridley... Or, you can cheese it with shine spark echoes, if you're willing to abuse Spike Suit.
(Spoiler ahead) To put it simply: It's weird. Not a bad weird either. Just... weird. You have doors with loading zones that take you elsewhere, but isn't confusing once you encounter them, and they don't overstay their welcome, as they're used sparingly. Item progression and routing is also pretty interesting, if not as weird as the rest of the hack. I mean, you acquire Gravity Suit before Varia after Kraid. Speaking of, maybe it's my past experience with other half-hacks that do similar shit, but as long as you make a conscious effort to check EVERY SINGLE room in this hack, including rooms that normally contain nothing (like save points, or refill stations), you'll be fine, as there are some that contain items, one of which is a hard progression item.
Everything else in this hack is okay. No spike spam I can think of in particular, at least nothing I found problematic. If I have to say one thing that did annoy me, it's some of the acid run rooms in Norfair, where acid appears and disappears periodically. Not the first hack to have something like this, and it doesn't really make the game frustrating or anything, but it's worth noting. Also, this is not for casuals, as some tricks are needed to progress, including leaving the Red Kihunter Shaft, which requires the player to IBJ, and either time it to continue IBJing after blowing open the ceiling to freedom, or laying a Power Bomb mid-IBJ to continue with the ascent.
Overall, I didn't hate this hack. Wasn't exactly good either, but it was just fine enough for me to give a 3/5, which surprised me. This certainly won't be for everyone.
P.S. The stationary Workrobots you see throughout the game are meant for endgame; they're vulnerable to Plasma Beam, which is acquired after Ridley... Or, you can cheese it with shine spark echoes, if you're willing to abuse Spike Suit.
Super Metroid: Aquamarine by NORTHa [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 08, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 08, 2025 ( )
28% in 2:04
We really need a petition for this site to have quality control, because what the fuck was this shit?! For starters, this hack cannot open in SMILE RF, as it causes it to crash, so good luck trying to find your way forward. I don't even think I want to go into a deep dive into this shit hack. It's the same, tired bullshit you see from shitty hack makers, including obtuse paths forward, no save points, and bullshit door "mazes" where you have to guess which uncoupled door to enter to find the right path forward. Permastucks and crashes also litter this sad attempt at what NORTHa calls a hack. Oh, it's a hack alright; a fucking hack job, more like it! Add a stupid-ass Landing Site that can keep the player running around with their thumb up their ass, wondering where to go, and a lack of ceiling, allowing the player to go out of bounds (not that there's anything to find up there), and you've got something that I am 100% convinced was made by a 10-year-old with no idea what makes a hack fun, or even decent. Genre and Difficulty are labelled "Unknown"; this should be labelled Shit and Bullshit respectively, because that's exactly what you'll get. Why the hell would anyone think Metroid Bloodstone was good enough to warrant a sequel?! Bloodstone was already a bad hack, with barely passable shit here and there, and someone thought "Whoa! This game is really hitting it big!"? Literally no one asked for this! Save your own time and sanity and forget this game even exists. No one deserves to put themselves through this hack! I would sooner replay and learn to speedrun Super Metroid Nightmare by comparison.
P.S. The answer to the maze section is to spell "METROID"; beginning from the room where you get X-Ray Scope, go right, right, left, left, right, right, left, right. Nowhere in this hack hints this! You're welcome!
P.S. The answer to the maze section is to spell "METROID"; beginning from the room where you get X-Ray Scope, go right, right, left, left, right, right, left, right. Nowhere in this hack hints this! You're welcome!
Super Metroid: Nocturn by NORTHa [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 08, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 08, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
The screenshots hide the immediate dog shit you'll encounter as soon as you start the hack. From spike spam, to invisible-fucking spikes EVERYWHERE, you will not have a pleasant time. Save states are pretty much required for this, though if you wanna play this without, to suck your own dick, you're more than free to farm that clout. Otherwise, stay away from this shit. Oh, and obtuse routing, making it frustrating to find forward progression. The hack ends when you reach the room beyond the yellow door. A heated room that says "END", that kills you outright, because what better way to end the hack than to disrespect the players' time? The only good thing I can say about this is that this is the maker's final hack, so if you happen to be doing what I am (playing all hacks in release order), you'll get no more shit from this hack maker.
Super Made In Metroid - Attack Of The Rinkas by pontarou [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 08, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 08, 2025 ( )
90% in 0:05
This was a cool arcade-style hack. Shoot targets to get points, until you die, or you reach 1000 points. This might just be me, but when I played, dying crashed the game. Not sure if it was because of the Item Fanfare Removal patch I added to it or not, but it didn't take away from the experience. Definitely a fun, short distraction to play, but has not much else of substance. Custom Samus sprite at the end of the game, when she's shown under the Chozo Suit was pretty neat.
Completion stats are from Easy Mode.
Completion stats are from Easy Mode.
Metroid X: The 101% Run by dark_rocco [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 09, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 09, 2025 ( )
84% in 3:42
It's a half-hack of Super Metroid: Dependence, so someone took a rom hack, and made a rom hack out of that rom hack. If you played Dependence, you should more or less be familiar with the routing here. Room layouts are changed, but actual progression remains mostly consistent with the original. Some issues, including permastucks, and even a crash upon jumping past the top of "West Ocean" hurts this hack some, but overall, it's aight. Not much else I can say here that hasn't already been covered in my review of Dependence.
Hiper Metroid by piridry [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 10, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 10, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
This hack is broken. As was said in Sapphron's review, entering Blue Brinstar softlocks the game, as that room is completely corrupted, whether you play this headered or unheadered. I did use Action Replay codes to give myself Morph and Missiles, to bypass visiting that area, and what was seen was a mess of arbitrary block and spike placements, before the Spore Spawn Kihunter Room ended up softlocking the game for much the same reason Blue Brinstar did. Even if this hack was playable, you could tell this would have been an absolute mess in design choices, so don't waste your time with this.
The Samus color pallet was nice, at least.
The Samus color pallet was nice, at least.
So much of what I have to say mirrors Caauyjdp's review. I liked the idea, but the execution was pretty rough. Not a fan of the physics changes to Samus's acceleration, and wall jumping feels unnecessarily nerfed. There is a possible stuck in a Pink Brinstar room where you can enter a pipe on the left wall, taking you out of bounds. It's possible to get back in bounds from there, but it's a tricky pain to do so, so word of warning. There's also a puzzle toward the end that really sucked, but in hindsight, it does make sense on how one could progress through it. Despite my gripes with the hack, I would have forgiven all of it, and rated this a 3-4/5, had it not been for one thing; broken saves. The one near the start works, and there's one that apparently starts you in Draygon's room somehow. There is also one save in particular, at the start of Brinstar, where loading softlocks the save file, forcing you to start all over again, or use an Action Replay code, to allow you to select in what area to start. It calls into question whether this hack was properly playtested, and that's a real shame, as it really sours the experience, especially for those without the means or know-how to use cheat codes to circumvent situations, such as that.
Overall, good attempt, but the landing was just not all there. What a bummer.
P.S. (Spoiler ahead) The puzzle in question involves shooting the moving Zelda spike traps, to push them into place, to break blocks that otherwise impedes your progression upwards.
Overall, good attempt, but the landing was just not all there. What a bummer.
P.S. (Spoiler ahead) The puzzle in question involves shooting the moving Zelda spike traps, to push them into place, to break blocks that otherwise impedes your progression upwards.
So there's a lot to be said, but at the same time, not as much as I want to. Many of my criticisms mirror those of the previous reviews before mine, including obtuse and cryptic progression, stupidly hidden shit, including fake walls that X-Ray cannot/will not reveal, and some bosses being too stupid in their buffed designs, specifically Crocomire and Ridley. This is NOT a hack for any casuals, even when doing an any% playthrough, as there are many places that will require tricks above casual skill level, including short charge, speed keep, mockball, etc.
(MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) So what is it about this hack that makes me like it? Well, I'll say right now, I was teetering between a 2-3 out of 5 for my rating, but this hack has a few neat designs for getting items, even if it does mean having to use SMILE to find where they are. But more than that is the reward given to the player depending on how they play. There is a metal door in Statues Hallway that can only be opened upon acquiring 100% of the items (a feat in itself with or without SMILE). There, you'll come across an optional area called "Unknown", which is a very very small Tourian with not much to see, save for a metal door that's labelled "NBMB" above it (I'll get to that soon). Continuing through, you'll come across a save point, and beyond that, you'll come across Gold Torizo. This Gold Torizo is the "superboss" of the hack, with a really smart way to fight it. I won't spoil how to actually fight it, but you'll have to really think about what ways you can make it vulnerable to Missiles it would otherwise dodge. It hits really hard too, as superbosses tend to do, and after beating it, you'll be rewarded with the Hyper Beam as an item. Sadly, it doesn't carry over between saves, so you'll have to carry it to the end of the game without reloading, but it does trivialize the hell out of Ridley, who is otherwise very difficult.
Aran;Jaeger mentioned "No animals to be saved." Turns out, that is incorrect. That "NBMB" door I mentioned earlier; turns out, that door will ONLY open to those who reach it without beating a single boss. The only boss that cannot be skipped is Bomb Torizo, so that's the only exception. It is indeed possible, and requires an alternate route for items intended by the hack maker. Of course, to reach this door in the first place requires 100% of the items, so items that are normally acquired from bosses, like Super Missiles from Kraid, E-Tank from Phantoon, Grappling Beam from Spore Spawn, etc. can be acquired in alternate locations. You may have noticed some empty-handed Chozo statues, or empty item pedestals; those would be those alternate locations. It also requires movement and glitches from normally higher-skilled players to accomplish, like X-Ray climb, speed ball into speed keep, to HBJ, to name a few, but it can be done. After getting every item, the door in Statues Hallway opens, and with no bosses engaged or beaten, the "NBMB" door also opens. Inside the door, you're greeted by the animals, with the Hyper Beam item (which becomes useless at that point, as there's no exiting the room from where you entered), and a message that reads "Congratulations! You are awesome!", with your gunship at the end of the room. Walking to said ship ends the hack, initiates the planet explosion cutscene, and in that cutscene, the animals can be seen escaping, making it the only way to save the animals.
Now, playing this blind/casually, this hack has a ton of issues with pacing, routing, and hiding where one must go to progress, which is never good design. However, the game becomes really fun only AFTER knowing where to find everything, and how the world's routes work, because then one can try and figure out a route for 100% "No Boss" route, and that's where the hack's true strength lies. Sadly, as fun as I had my second rodeo, I cannot ignore the issues I had during my first playthrough, and for that, I give this a 4/5. It would have remained a 3/5, had it not been for the animals being able to be saved as a reward to those who can figure out the no-boss route. This hack begs for a 5/5, but the flaws are just too glaring for even me to ignore.
Completion stats is for my 100% No-Boss playthrough (not linked).
(MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD) So what is it about this hack that makes me like it? Well, I'll say right now, I was teetering between a 2-3 out of 5 for my rating, but this hack has a few neat designs for getting items, even if it does mean having to use SMILE to find where they are. But more than that is the reward given to the player depending on how they play. There is a metal door in Statues Hallway that can only be opened upon acquiring 100% of the items (a feat in itself with or without SMILE). There, you'll come across an optional area called "Unknown", which is a very very small Tourian with not much to see, save for a metal door that's labelled "NBMB" above it (I'll get to that soon). Continuing through, you'll come across a save point, and beyond that, you'll come across Gold Torizo. This Gold Torizo is the "superboss" of the hack, with a really smart way to fight it. I won't spoil how to actually fight it, but you'll have to really think about what ways you can make it vulnerable to Missiles it would otherwise dodge. It hits really hard too, as superbosses tend to do, and after beating it, you'll be rewarded with the Hyper Beam as an item. Sadly, it doesn't carry over between saves, so you'll have to carry it to the end of the game without reloading, but it does trivialize the hell out of Ridley, who is otherwise very difficult.
Aran;Jaeger mentioned "No animals to be saved." Turns out, that is incorrect. That "NBMB" door I mentioned earlier; turns out, that door will ONLY open to those who reach it without beating a single boss. The only boss that cannot be skipped is Bomb Torizo, so that's the only exception. It is indeed possible, and requires an alternate route for items intended by the hack maker. Of course, to reach this door in the first place requires 100% of the items, so items that are normally acquired from bosses, like Super Missiles from Kraid, E-Tank from Phantoon, Grappling Beam from Spore Spawn, etc. can be acquired in alternate locations. You may have noticed some empty-handed Chozo statues, or empty item pedestals; those would be those alternate locations. It also requires movement and glitches from normally higher-skilled players to accomplish, like X-Ray climb, speed ball into speed keep, to HBJ, to name a few, but it can be done. After getting every item, the door in Statues Hallway opens, and with no bosses engaged or beaten, the "NBMB" door also opens. Inside the door, you're greeted by the animals, with the Hyper Beam item (which becomes useless at that point, as there's no exiting the room from where you entered), and a message that reads "Congratulations! You are awesome!", with your gunship at the end of the room. Walking to said ship ends the hack, initiates the planet explosion cutscene, and in that cutscene, the animals can be seen escaping, making it the only way to save the animals.
Now, playing this blind/casually, this hack has a ton of issues with pacing, routing, and hiding where one must go to progress, which is never good design. However, the game becomes really fun only AFTER knowing where to find everything, and how the world's routes work, because then one can try and figure out a route for 100% "No Boss" route, and that's where the hack's true strength lies. Sadly, as fun as I had my second rodeo, I cannot ignore the issues I had during my first playthrough, and for that, I give this a 4/5. It would have remained a 3/5, had it not been for the animals being able to be saved as a reward to those who can figure out the no-boss route. This hack begs for a 5/5, but the flaws are just too glaring for even me to ignore.
Completion stats is for my 100% No-Boss playthrough (not linked).
Despite the name, this isn't a rom hack of Wet Dream, but is instead a half-hack of Super Metroid: Life. If you generally know where to find things there, then this shouldn't be too difficult to figure out the route. Some sequence break potential to be sure, to get items wicked-early. My only real complaint is some of the tiling, making spikes near-impossible to see in Maridia, and Norfair's map room; the map room in particular, when activating the map station, will cause the game to lag HEAVILY while opening, panning, and closing the map. This is fixed when the player saves and reloads their game. Also, parts of this game, especially Brinstar, is annoying as hell to navigate, with all the annoying Morph-sized tunnels and paths. The escape sequence is also weird, and can be easily cheesed by way of saving during the escape, ensuring that, no matter what, the planet's escape flag is set, giving the player infinite time to escape after reloading the save.
Overall, not too bad, but it ain't all that great either. Pretty much down-the-middle good.
Overall, not too bad, but it ain't all that great either. Pretty much down-the-middle good.
So this hack isn't too bad overall, but has some issues, the main one being that the path forward is often well hidden behind breakable blocks, and unseen paths that the player wouldn't just think to up and check. (Spoiler ahead) The path to Lower Norfair, for example, is hidden behind the Chozo statue where Speed Booster is obtained; no one would normally think there'd be anything beyond that, unless they so happen to use X-Ray there, or just straight up use bombs above the Chozo statue's head. The path to Orion (Ceres) can also be overlooked, which can potentially lead to a headache of aimless wandering.
The hack, otherwise, has pretty interesting progression, and can be sequence broken to obtain some powerful items early, including Wave, Plasma, and Screw Attack, to name a few, which isn't too hard to do, if one is used to underwater suitless Maridia exploration. The ending was also a bit surprising, with a bit of a twist in Tourian. Sadly, however, no animals can be saved. That's pretty much it. Sure wish the actual progression path was made more apparent to the player.
The hack, otherwise, has pretty interesting progression, and can be sequence broken to obtain some powerful items early, including Wave, Plasma, and Screw Attack, to name a few, which isn't too hard to do, if one is used to underwater suitless Maridia exploration. The ending was also a bit surprising, with a bit of a twist in Tourian. Sadly, however, no animals can be saved. That's pretty much it. Sure wish the actual progression path was made more apparent to the player.
I... don't understand why this was made. It was amusing, at least, unlike So Little Time. Between the Tetris Type-A playing in the background, to the seizure-inducing visuals, this must have been the result of a fever dream, while high off the dankest of shit made manifest.
(Spoiler ahead) When you finally pass the Shacktool section, you'll come across one of those shitty door mazes. I accidentally found the way through it; from the first room, just keep alternating between the south door, and the west door, and you'll reach the game's end. You're welcome.
(Spoiler ahead) When you finally pass the Shacktool section, you'll come across one of those shitty door mazes. I accidentally found the way through it; from the first room, just keep alternating between the south door, and the west door, and you'll reach the game's end. You're welcome.
So this hack is a skill check throughout its entirety, testing the player on their knowledge and ability to perform various tricks and glitches. With that, this hack succeeds in what it wants to be. It doesn't do anything special beyond that, so it doesn't get anymore than a 3/5. That said, I do have one particular gripe with this hack.
(Spoiler ahead) This hack requires the player to hell run through Lower Norfair, picking up E-Tanks along the way for heals, in order to fight Ridley. Ridley is what has the Varia Suit, and it is on the way out of Lower Norfair where the player acquires the Spring Ball; another important item hard-required for progression. Now, this normally isn't the problem. What is, however, is that it's not exactly conveyed well to the player that a LN hell run would be needed to progress. It's another case of a hack wanting to do what Impossible did. Because I didn't know the progression, I ended up using GT Code, and by the time I realized what the game wanted out of me, I had already saved after GT Coding, so I felt a bit bad about it, which is rare.
There is also one other weird design choice. The game can be beaten without ever engaging any of the G4 bosses. For some reason, in the G4 Room, the floor leading to Tourian's elevator is made up of shot blocks, allowing the player to simply collect the bare minimum needed to beat Tourian, then head down there to Mother Brain. Not sure if this was intentional, or an oversight, but early Tourian is an option. Another weird-as-hell quirk is in Mother Brain's room. There is a weird piece of door sticking in the right wall during the Mother Brain 1/2/3 fights, and that door DOES contain a loading zone. Entering the loading zone takes the player back to the G4 room, which I suppose is a way to leave Tourian after the Baby Metroid's room. Thankfully, MB's rainbow beam, provided it's shot at a lower angle, will not bring Samus's body to the loading zone, allowing you to beat MB just fine. Funny enough, when the escape sequence triggers, you can leave through that loading zone, be taken to G4 Room, and do whatever during the 3-minute escape, including saving the game, allowing the player to save the escape flag trigger between save file loading. It's also faster to escape that way than the usual Tourian Escape Rooms. It really is such a quirky thing; I like it.
Overall, I enjoyed this test of skills and knowledge, and it didn't seem to feel like it overstayed its welcome for me. Nothing great, but nothing bad either.
(Spoiler ahead) This hack requires the player to hell run through Lower Norfair, picking up E-Tanks along the way for heals, in order to fight Ridley. Ridley is what has the Varia Suit, and it is on the way out of Lower Norfair where the player acquires the Spring Ball; another important item hard-required for progression. Now, this normally isn't the problem. What is, however, is that it's not exactly conveyed well to the player that a LN hell run would be needed to progress. It's another case of a hack wanting to do what Impossible did. Because I didn't know the progression, I ended up using GT Code, and by the time I realized what the game wanted out of me, I had already saved after GT Coding, so I felt a bit bad about it, which is rare.
There is also one other weird design choice. The game can be beaten without ever engaging any of the G4 bosses. For some reason, in the G4 Room, the floor leading to Tourian's elevator is made up of shot blocks, allowing the player to simply collect the bare minimum needed to beat Tourian, then head down there to Mother Brain. Not sure if this was intentional, or an oversight, but early Tourian is an option. Another weird-as-hell quirk is in Mother Brain's room. There is a weird piece of door sticking in the right wall during the Mother Brain 1/2/3 fights, and that door DOES contain a loading zone. Entering the loading zone takes the player back to the G4 room, which I suppose is a way to leave Tourian after the Baby Metroid's room. Thankfully, MB's rainbow beam, provided it's shot at a lower angle, will not bring Samus's body to the loading zone, allowing you to beat MB just fine. Funny enough, when the escape sequence triggers, you can leave through that loading zone, be taken to G4 Room, and do whatever during the 3-minute escape, including saving the game, allowing the player to save the escape flag trigger between save file loading. It's also faster to escape that way than the usual Tourian Escape Rooms. It really is such a quirky thing; I like it.
Overall, I enjoyed this test of skills and knowledge, and it didn't seem to feel like it overstayed its welcome for me. Nothing great, but nothing bad either.
Not much to say here. It's really well made, with some cool custom sprites, and some neat custom coding. My only gripe is that there isn't more of this hack; it's really short. Hoping someone will make a full, fleshed out hack out of this concept... Probably won't happen, though.
A neat hack with cool visuals. Granted, the tiles are vanilla; it's the way in which they're used that's pretty cool. A shame it's short, but better that than a slog that overstays its welcome. A shame there are no animals to save.
A really short hack. Nothing much to it. Weird, abrupt ending. The only notable thing is the remote Bombs puzzle, but that's it.
Super Metroid: Rulers Of Ruin by jk16bit-palmy- [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 22, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 22, 2025 ( )
57% in 0:26
It's just aight. It's neat seeing Symphony of the Night tiles, but it doesn't really do anything special, on top of being a really short hack, with an abrupt, anticlimactic end.
Save Room - Darkness Returns by Crys [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 22, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 22, 2025 ( )
37% in 0:18
Ironic that this has "Save Room" in its name, since there are no functioning save rooms in this hack. It's short, and doesn't do much in terms of gameplay, but what it does do is offer a very interesting presentation of graphics, and what one can do with it as a concept. I won't say, because I'd rather not spoil, but it impressed me enough to give a 3/5, where I'd otherwise give a 2.
Super Metroid: Equilibrium by Shadow96 [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 22, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 22, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Weird-ass hack. For starters, it will not function properly on the Mesen-S emulator. Secondly, There's an item that requires the Select button to not be re-mapped, as it requires Select + L/R to use, and altering the Select button makes it so the item can't function. There's another item that activates by holding the L button when jumping underwater. Other than that, some of the custom stuff is pretty cool, but the hack feels overall shallow, with not much to offer. The custom items are indeed cool, but there isn't much offered after getting them. The fact the hack lacks a proper end to it kinda sucks too. Oh well. At least one of the item effects would be better implemented in Super Metroid: Subversion years later.
Super Metroid: Low Impact by Daltone [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 23, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 23, 2025 ( )
22% in 0:39
In March of 1986, Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo, in the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, co-discovered the virus that causes HIV/AIDS. After many years of research, Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, the latter of whom was a part of Montagnier's team, were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008, for Physiology or Medicine, thanks to their efforts. When they viewed the virus in a microscope, its appearance just so happen to look EXACTLY like how this shit stain of a hack looks.
Seriously, how the hell does someone take a potentially interesting concept, and fuck it up this bad?! First off, fall damage?! Who, in their right mind, thought that utilizing such a mechanic from Super Metroid: Tallon IV, itself a shitty fuckin' hack, was a modicum of a good idea?! If that weren't enough, Samus feels like she drops like a stone, and unlike Tallon IV, where fall damage was pretty inconsequential, the damage in this hack scales according to how high you fall. They made it so Samus's bones were made of literal fuckin' glass, because a fall from a moderate height insta-kills her without E-Tanks, and even with E-Tanks, it still does a phenomenal amount of damage.
The bullshit doesn't stop there either; there's only one save point (not sure if the starting point counts, but you wouldn't want to return there anyway) in the middle of the world map, when there should be save points between obstacles; this would have literally saved the hack overall, but the hack maker decided that only one usable save station was enough, because reasons?! And if that weren't shitty enough, this hack even has the audacity to have troll crumble blocks that serves only to kill the player, entertaining those who happen to dine exclusively on boxes of crayons!
(Spoiler ahead) Oh, but wait, it doesn't stop there! To enter Tourian beyond the green door, you don't find Super Missiles, because there are none to be found! Instead, that door acts as an item check of some kind, turning blue when the player grabs either a certain percentage, or maybe a specific item? I don't fucking know, but seeing as others have gotten anywhere between 23-25%, while I collected 22% means it's anyone's guess how the fuck that door can be turned blue. Any normal person would encounter the door, see that it's green, and NEVER return until they find the Super Missiles that are as real as the goddamn Tooth Fairy!
Literally, save points would have saved this, and I do not exaggerate this. This hack is a joke, with a shit idea, shit execution, shit everything! And the custom tile colors and visuals don't do dick to redeem one bit of this ass fest! Do yourself a favor, and either use save states, or better yet, don't even play this load of pig shit!
Seriously, how the hell does someone take a potentially interesting concept, and fuck it up this bad?! First off, fall damage?! Who, in their right mind, thought that utilizing such a mechanic from Super Metroid: Tallon IV, itself a shitty fuckin' hack, was a modicum of a good idea?! If that weren't enough, Samus feels like she drops like a stone, and unlike Tallon IV, where fall damage was pretty inconsequential, the damage in this hack scales according to how high you fall. They made it so Samus's bones were made of literal fuckin' glass, because a fall from a moderate height insta-kills her without E-Tanks, and even with E-Tanks, it still does a phenomenal amount of damage.
The bullshit doesn't stop there either; there's only one save point (not sure if the starting point counts, but you wouldn't want to return there anyway) in the middle of the world map, when there should be save points between obstacles; this would have literally saved the hack overall, but the hack maker decided that only one usable save station was enough, because reasons?! And if that weren't shitty enough, this hack even has the audacity to have troll crumble blocks that serves only to kill the player, entertaining those who happen to dine exclusively on boxes of crayons!
(Spoiler ahead) Oh, but wait, it doesn't stop there! To enter Tourian beyond the green door, you don't find Super Missiles, because there are none to be found! Instead, that door acts as an item check of some kind, turning blue when the player grabs either a certain percentage, or maybe a specific item? I don't fucking know, but seeing as others have gotten anywhere between 23-25%, while I collected 22% means it's anyone's guess how the fuck that door can be turned blue. Any normal person would encounter the door, see that it's green, and NEVER return until they find the Super Missiles that are as real as the goddamn Tooth Fairy!
Literally, save points would have saved this, and I do not exaggerate this. This hack is a joke, with a shit idea, shit execution, shit everything! And the custom tile colors and visuals don't do dick to redeem one bit of this ass fest! Do yourself a favor, and either use save states, or better yet, don't even play this load of pig shit!
Vismunds Sidehopper Special by Vismund Cygnus [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 23, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 23, 2025 ( )
29% in 0:32
Well, there be a lot of Sidehoppers for sure. It's really short, and ends abruptly. Not exactly hard, and the only save point is the ship. The problem, however, is that the game kinda breaks when saving at the ship, forcing the player to have to reset after saving. Other than that, nothing else special about it. Insanity Patch isn't really insane. As a matter of fact, it just feels like enemy damage is just that of vanilla Super Metroid, which I guess makes giant Sidehoppers/Dessgeegas more dangerous? Still wasn't hard.
Completion stats is from Insanity Patch playthrough (not linked).
Completion stats is from Insanity Patch playthrough (not linked).
This hack is certainly something. (Spoilers ahead) So the route starts off requiring the player to head east toward Wrecked Ship, and through to Maridia via Forgotten Highway. The rooms are altered to allow the player to do this without the Morph Ball. Matter of fact, Maridia's Plasma Beam Room is where you find it. On that note, you better brush up on wall jumping, because you will need to do a lot of it, including leaving said room where you get the Morph. From there, you have to navigate all the way back to Landing Site and into Gauntlet, and that is where the game's difficulty is made apparent, as the player will need to wall jump on the right side of the room, to wait for a Tripper platform to return while avoiding the rising acid. Be careful on the way to Brinstar, as if you're careless, you can accidentally softlock yourself on the way down the Green Pirate Shaft. Mushroom Kingdom has some 60-damage spike hazards to dodge too, and that's pretty much the start of the hack.
E-Tanks only give a fraction of what they normally do, which is ordinarily a problem with the forced hell runs you'll be doing in Norfair, and Reserves don't do much better, providing a max of 20 health each tank. Thankfully, the path through Cathedral has a few to keep you from dying along the way. It's for this reason, it's a good idea to collect all E-Tanks you can find prior to entering Norfair. Expect some annoying kill doors, like in Bubble Mountain, where you need to kill all enemies, including a Pink Pirate (that is only killable with pseudo Screw), to proceed downward. Speaking of Norfair, Lower Norfair expects a tight hell run through it, and if you didn't collect enough E-Tanks, expect to have a bad time, especially the Ridley fight, being a pure damage race, even with his nerfed HP; even the E-Tank provided in his room will end up stretching your health quite thin.
This hack seems to have some arbitrarily placed hidden Morph tunnels that make progressing annoying, like the Lower Norfair Fireflea room; rather than leaving through the fake wall as usual, there's a hidden path underneath it in the Fune's line of fire. After leaving LN, you will have to go back to fight Gold Torizo, as you acquire Space Jump along the way out of LN, granting access to GT; the "RBO" in the hack's name implies more than just G4 bosses, as you have to fight all bosses in reverse order, including mini bosses. To ensure this, many doors are locked gray, to force the boss progression, as each boss unlocks either a major progression item, or unlocks an otherwise metal door, or both. Speaking of Gold Torizo, not only is that fight a damage race, but it has the most random of weaknesses, being only vulnerable to Bombs, which is beyond fucking stupid. There is an E-Tank at the feet of GT, assuming you keep him at the right side of the room against the wall, which is needed to keep your health filled mid-fight.
Gold Torizo opens the door to Speed Booster Hall, which one would be forgiven to believe it implies that's the next logical step to take. Do not go that way, as it's impossible to acquire Speed Booster at that point; it hard-requires the player have Varia Suit, which isn't acquired until much later. GR2 turned the room into a bullshit maze of Morph tunnels, but with no way of knowing where one can go, forcing the player to either feel their way through it, or use X-Ray Scope, the latter of which doesn't do much to reduce the tedium of it.
Getting to Draygon is an annoying slog fest. Alongside suitless Maridia shenanigans, there are hidden, cryptic paths along the way, and with no X-Ray Scope at this point in the game, it makes finding the path a needless pain. Power Bombs help just a smidge in a few places, including with the finding of items peppered throughout the hack. As a matter of fact, because E-Tanks, Reserves, and ammo pickups give significantly less than vanilla, there are far more items embedded in walls all around the world map to compensate. Not sure why this design choice was made, but it does add far more to find for 100%. Speaking of Draygon, you'll be singing to Super Metroid Impossible with that fight, as you have to do it suitless, and the turrets cannot be destroyed. At least Draygon's health wasn't buffed.
Eventually, after Botwoon (whose room layout is hella annoying), you'll come across Wrecked Ship, requiring Power Bombs and Super Missiles to progress. Although, it may be possible to cheese Power Bombs and Super Missiles earlier than intended with glitches/tricks, like moonfall clipping, using two Zeelas in Green Brinstar Elevator Room, etc. Phantoon hasn't really changed, but the Atomics sure have. Why were they juiced the hell up? Not only do they hit hard, they can take 4 Super Missiles to the face (if they had a face), and keep smiling at you (if they could smile). I get this is the really later part of the hack, but buffing any enemy to this degree, while not providing much in the way of beam firepower is pretty ridiculous.
Then there's Kraid. Entering the area is already rough enough, with Lower Norfair Kihunters blocking a kill door, and Metal Ninja Pirates in the Mini Kraid Room. And then the room before Kraid has 5 Mini Kraids that die to nothing but Speed Booster/Shine Spark echoes. Then Kraid himself being buffed, which isn't surprising. What is surprising is his spinning claws not only being immortal, but shooting them inflicts 200 damage to Samus, so avoid that at all costs. Then you unlock the Spore Spawn fight, which you can technically do early, if you have Spazer, and Speed Booster, and that fight is obnoxious, with the rapid open-close pattern of Spore Spawn's shell, while Rippers fly back and forth in the room, becoming not only interruptive, but can also block your Super Missiles from hitting Spore Spawn. The Rippers can be killed with Power Bombs, to farm them for Super Missiles/Power Bombs, which will be needed, as you'll likely miss at least half of your shots trying to get it into Spore Spawn's shell. After Spore Spawn, you'll be rewarded a Missile where Super Missiles normally are found, but under the Chozo statue are speed blocks, requiring the Speedball trick to acquire Plasma Beam just behind it.
The location of the Gravity Suit is especially stupid. It is one of the last items acquired, and locked by Spore Spawn. It is in the door that normally leads to Green Brinstar Fireflea Room, that is metal in this hack. Entering that door, however, takes you to Beta Power Bomb Room. Instead of giant Sidehoppers, you're greeted by giant Desgeegas, and the beta Power Bombs are in their usual location. However, the right-most Samus Eater has a hidden tunnel within it. Following that Morph tunnel rewards the player with the Gravity Suit, hidden in the ceiling somewhere.
Bomb Torizo was interesting, as you fought two at the same time, and like Gold Torizo, are only vulnerable to Bombs. The fight wasn't hard, however, which was surprising. And finally, Tourian was a weird area with some obtuse puzzle-like progression in some parts, with Rinkas that move really fast and hit hard. I'm surprised the Mother Brain fight didn't change at all. The escape sequence, however, sucked; The player is given 4 minutes, which is more than enough time to save the animals and escape... if you know how to navigate it. Tourian Escape Room 3 was annoying, but nothing too bad. Tourian Escape Room 4, however, had a maze through which one must navigate to escape, all while racing the rising acid. X-Ray Scope and Power Bombs does mitigate this a bit. Because you'll have no ammo to do so, you cannot escape Parlor into Landing Site, as it's Power Bomb locked. Instead, you must leave through Terminator, and go up and around through Gauntlet to escape. My first time doing the escape, I realized the progression path through it, but too late, and had to try a second time, which was successful.
Overall, the hack had its ups and downs. If nothing else, I did like the major item progression, but they really could have executed it better. Don't nerf item pickups, like E-Tanks, especially when they're hard-required for Lower Norfair hell runs. Don't make arbitrary changes to room layouts that hide the way through. There are quite a few things they could have done to really fix the shortcomings this hack has. I did enjoy the challenge aspect of it; it did feel like a neat skill check, and therefor a good test of one's own skills. But that's pretty much all it has going for it.
I cannot recommend it to casuals, but if you feel like you have good technical knowledge and skill execution, I say go for it. Just keep in mind that the hack will likely piss you off for its cryptic pathing, and even progression route.
E-Tanks only give a fraction of what they normally do, which is ordinarily a problem with the forced hell runs you'll be doing in Norfair, and Reserves don't do much better, providing a max of 20 health each tank. Thankfully, the path through Cathedral has a few to keep you from dying along the way. It's for this reason, it's a good idea to collect all E-Tanks you can find prior to entering Norfair. Expect some annoying kill doors, like in Bubble Mountain, where you need to kill all enemies, including a Pink Pirate (that is only killable with pseudo Screw), to proceed downward. Speaking of Norfair, Lower Norfair expects a tight hell run through it, and if you didn't collect enough E-Tanks, expect to have a bad time, especially the Ridley fight, being a pure damage race, even with his nerfed HP; even the E-Tank provided in his room will end up stretching your health quite thin.
This hack seems to have some arbitrarily placed hidden Morph tunnels that make progressing annoying, like the Lower Norfair Fireflea room; rather than leaving through the fake wall as usual, there's a hidden path underneath it in the Fune's line of fire. After leaving LN, you will have to go back to fight Gold Torizo, as you acquire Space Jump along the way out of LN, granting access to GT; the "RBO" in the hack's name implies more than just G4 bosses, as you have to fight all bosses in reverse order, including mini bosses. To ensure this, many doors are locked gray, to force the boss progression, as each boss unlocks either a major progression item, or unlocks an otherwise metal door, or both. Speaking of Gold Torizo, not only is that fight a damage race, but it has the most random of weaknesses, being only vulnerable to Bombs, which is beyond fucking stupid. There is an E-Tank at the feet of GT, assuming you keep him at the right side of the room against the wall, which is needed to keep your health filled mid-fight.
Gold Torizo opens the door to Speed Booster Hall, which one would be forgiven to believe it implies that's the next logical step to take. Do not go that way, as it's impossible to acquire Speed Booster at that point; it hard-requires the player have Varia Suit, which isn't acquired until much later. GR2 turned the room into a bullshit maze of Morph tunnels, but with no way of knowing where one can go, forcing the player to either feel their way through it, or use X-Ray Scope, the latter of which doesn't do much to reduce the tedium of it.
Getting to Draygon is an annoying slog fest. Alongside suitless Maridia shenanigans, there are hidden, cryptic paths along the way, and with no X-Ray Scope at this point in the game, it makes finding the path a needless pain. Power Bombs help just a smidge in a few places, including with the finding of items peppered throughout the hack. As a matter of fact, because E-Tanks, Reserves, and ammo pickups give significantly less than vanilla, there are far more items embedded in walls all around the world map to compensate. Not sure why this design choice was made, but it does add far more to find for 100%. Speaking of Draygon, you'll be singing to Super Metroid Impossible with that fight, as you have to do it suitless, and the turrets cannot be destroyed. At least Draygon's health wasn't buffed.
Eventually, after Botwoon (whose room layout is hella annoying), you'll come across Wrecked Ship, requiring Power Bombs and Super Missiles to progress. Although, it may be possible to cheese Power Bombs and Super Missiles earlier than intended with glitches/tricks, like moonfall clipping, using two Zeelas in Green Brinstar Elevator Room, etc. Phantoon hasn't really changed, but the Atomics sure have. Why were they juiced the hell up? Not only do they hit hard, they can take 4 Super Missiles to the face (if they had a face), and keep smiling at you (if they could smile). I get this is the really later part of the hack, but buffing any enemy to this degree, while not providing much in the way of beam firepower is pretty ridiculous.
Then there's Kraid. Entering the area is already rough enough, with Lower Norfair Kihunters blocking a kill door, and Metal Ninja Pirates in the Mini Kraid Room. And then the room before Kraid has 5 Mini Kraids that die to nothing but Speed Booster/Shine Spark echoes. Then Kraid himself being buffed, which isn't surprising. What is surprising is his spinning claws not only being immortal, but shooting them inflicts 200 damage to Samus, so avoid that at all costs. Then you unlock the Spore Spawn fight, which you can technically do early, if you have Spazer, and Speed Booster, and that fight is obnoxious, with the rapid open-close pattern of Spore Spawn's shell, while Rippers fly back and forth in the room, becoming not only interruptive, but can also block your Super Missiles from hitting Spore Spawn. The Rippers can be killed with Power Bombs, to farm them for Super Missiles/Power Bombs, which will be needed, as you'll likely miss at least half of your shots trying to get it into Spore Spawn's shell. After Spore Spawn, you'll be rewarded a Missile where Super Missiles normally are found, but under the Chozo statue are speed blocks, requiring the Speedball trick to acquire Plasma Beam just behind it.
The location of the Gravity Suit is especially stupid. It is one of the last items acquired, and locked by Spore Spawn. It is in the door that normally leads to Green Brinstar Fireflea Room, that is metal in this hack. Entering that door, however, takes you to Beta Power Bomb Room. Instead of giant Sidehoppers, you're greeted by giant Desgeegas, and the beta Power Bombs are in their usual location. However, the right-most Samus Eater has a hidden tunnel within it. Following that Morph tunnel rewards the player with the Gravity Suit, hidden in the ceiling somewhere.
Bomb Torizo was interesting, as you fought two at the same time, and like Gold Torizo, are only vulnerable to Bombs. The fight wasn't hard, however, which was surprising. And finally, Tourian was a weird area with some obtuse puzzle-like progression in some parts, with Rinkas that move really fast and hit hard. I'm surprised the Mother Brain fight didn't change at all. The escape sequence, however, sucked; The player is given 4 minutes, which is more than enough time to save the animals and escape... if you know how to navigate it. Tourian Escape Room 3 was annoying, but nothing too bad. Tourian Escape Room 4, however, had a maze through which one must navigate to escape, all while racing the rising acid. X-Ray Scope and Power Bombs does mitigate this a bit. Because you'll have no ammo to do so, you cannot escape Parlor into Landing Site, as it's Power Bomb locked. Instead, you must leave through Terminator, and go up and around through Gauntlet to escape. My first time doing the escape, I realized the progression path through it, but too late, and had to try a second time, which was successful.
Overall, the hack had its ups and downs. If nothing else, I did like the major item progression, but they really could have executed it better. Don't nerf item pickups, like E-Tanks, especially when they're hard-required for Lower Norfair hell runs. Don't make arbitrary changes to room layouts that hide the way through. There are quite a few things they could have done to really fix the shortcomings this hack has. I did enjoy the challenge aspect of it; it did feel like a neat skill check, and therefor a good test of one's own skills. But that's pretty much all it has going for it.
I cannot recommend it to casuals, but if you feel like you have good technical knowledge and skill execution, I say go for it. Just keep in mind that the hack will likely piss you off for its cryptic pathing, and even progression route.
Super Metroid: Exercise by Mr. Hiryu [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 29, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 29, 2025 ( )
77% in 5:11
From the start, I wasn't a big fan of the aesthetics. While there are some nice palettes in isolated cases, the whole game feels too damn dark, making it hard to see anything, including and especially the path forward. Case in point, from Landing Site, one must progress through a loading zone up top, which is hard to notice, and that's just the start of it. (Spoiler ahead) The item progression is also annoying, especially when you first enter Brinstar. The player is supposed to go up to the Etecoons, and have them break through an enemy block, and the path to Etecoons is right above the door from where you entered the room.
The biggest issue I have with this hack is a lack of good progression flow. Oftentimes, you'll get a major item, and then wonder where you could and should go next to progress. Ice Beam is hard-required to beat the hack, for example (Metroids are immune to Power Bombs), and that felt more hidden than it needed to be, even if the hack's map layout very loosely follows vanilla SM's. And I'm never a fan of placing Gravity Suit in Maridia, as most players would think they shouldn't even be there without having already found it first.
Overall, while not awful, it has quite a few shortcomings that makes me not really like this much, but not to the extent I'd give this anything lower than a 3/5. The gauntlet in Lower Norfair that leads to Plasma was a neat little reward, at least, and animals can be saved, so there's that.
The biggest issue I have with this hack is a lack of good progression flow. Oftentimes, you'll get a major item, and then wonder where you could and should go next to progress. Ice Beam is hard-required to beat the hack, for example (Metroids are immune to Power Bombs), and that felt more hidden than it needed to be, even if the hack's map layout very loosely follows vanilla SM's. And I'm never a fan of placing Gravity Suit in Maridia, as most players would think they shouldn't even be there without having already found it first.
Overall, while not awful, it has quite a few shortcomings that makes me not really like this much, but not to the extent I'd give this anything lower than a 3/5. The gauntlet in Lower Norfair that leads to Plasma was a neat little reward, at least, and animals can be saved, so there's that.
Metroid SuperBOSSRush by THEyShxGtg [ Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 29, 2025 ( )
Boss Rush],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 29, 2025 ( )
220% in 0:27
Not a well put-together boss rush hack. Aside from tiling errors here and there, the ability to play through most of vanilla Super Metroid when exiting the glass tube room through the top, and humorously still, items that infinitely respawn (use X-Ray Scope at your own risk, but you really don't need it for anything), this was definitely quirky, if nothing else. The door leading to Botwoon can potentially crash the game if shot at; never knew why, or what exactly triggers the crash. No animals to save either. My completion stats was purely from me abusing the respawning item pickups for ha ha's.
Super Metroid: Inverted by crimsonsunbird [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 30, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 30, 2025 ( )
93% in 4:23
I know I'm the minority in this, but I actually didn't hate this hack, all things considered. Some weird-ass routing and paths for sure, as well as weird-ass progression, but I've seen MUCH worse in other bad hacks. Hell, I've seen worse in some good hacks, like Super Metroid: YPR. What I will say is the worst part of this hack, in my opinion, is the beginning, where the only option the player has, is to fight Phantoon with no E-Tanks, 5 Missiles max, and a room layout that makes it a very tedious game of patience to farm health and ammo from Phantoon between each round of dopplers.
Some softlocks in this hack as well, like entering the Bowling Alley from the top door leads to an inescapable dead end, forcing a reset (not sure why that was considered a good idea to have in a hack). As well as in the Sand Halls, as you must navigate Maridia with no suit or even Hi-Jump Boots; the room was altered to make it possible, but the obstacles are really tricky, and punishing if the player lands in the sand. Speaking of suitless Maridia with no Hi-Jump, the player must navigate tile-wide gaps with an UWJ, which just adds to the tedium.
One big aspect that I liked is the ability to sequence break the hack, provided the player is creative enough with their skill knowledge to do so. You'll end up being greatly rewarded for your efforts as a result. Speaking of skill knowledge, there are quite a few items requiring some tricks to acquire, like needing to Crystal Flash clip, etc., and I think that's why I liked this; it is a test of one's abilities, even if it means being able to cheese things where Pedro didn't intend for the player to be able to do so.
(Spoiler ahead) The actual path forward, after acquiring Hi-Jump and Power Bombs, is to go through Norfair, and hell run through Lower Norfair, beating Ridley, and acquiring the Grappling Beam, which allows access to Parlor's front door. Parts of Lower Norfair had its heat removed, cushioning the difficulty, including Ridley's Room, so it's more than possible, and the Lava Dive was also altered, to give the player direct access to LN without needing to actually lava dive.
After getting Grapple, everything else seems to fall into place, like dominos, including acquiring Varia and Gravity Suit, etc; you should know what to do and where to go from there. Along the way, you'll find rooms filled with acid, or rooms peppered with spikes, and while it is an annoying trope in some challenge hacks, it doesn't feel too stupid here, especially when they generally lead to optional item pickups.
All in all, I can understand why people would give this a 1/5, as I'm not blind to its faults, but I personally kinda liked the routing of it, even if the flow and said routing isn't very well telegraphed to the player. It's played like a challenge hack, which to be fair, it is labelled accordingly, and so I thought it succeeded in that regard. My only real issue is the Phantoon fight in the beginning, and the fact that the hack's name feels... arbitrary. It has nothing to do with inversion or anything of the sort, so there's that. Second Pedro hack, and I don't hate it. Who would have thought?
Some softlocks in this hack as well, like entering the Bowling Alley from the top door leads to an inescapable dead end, forcing a reset (not sure why that was considered a good idea to have in a hack). As well as in the Sand Halls, as you must navigate Maridia with no suit or even Hi-Jump Boots; the room was altered to make it possible, but the obstacles are really tricky, and punishing if the player lands in the sand. Speaking of suitless Maridia with no Hi-Jump, the player must navigate tile-wide gaps with an UWJ, which just adds to the tedium.
One big aspect that I liked is the ability to sequence break the hack, provided the player is creative enough with their skill knowledge to do so. You'll end up being greatly rewarded for your efforts as a result. Speaking of skill knowledge, there are quite a few items requiring some tricks to acquire, like needing to Crystal Flash clip, etc., and I think that's why I liked this; it is a test of one's abilities, even if it means being able to cheese things where Pedro didn't intend for the player to be able to do so.
(Spoiler ahead) The actual path forward, after acquiring Hi-Jump and Power Bombs, is to go through Norfair, and hell run through Lower Norfair, beating Ridley, and acquiring the Grappling Beam, which allows access to Parlor's front door. Parts of Lower Norfair had its heat removed, cushioning the difficulty, including Ridley's Room, so it's more than possible, and the Lava Dive was also altered, to give the player direct access to LN without needing to actually lava dive.
After getting Grapple, everything else seems to fall into place, like dominos, including acquiring Varia and Gravity Suit, etc; you should know what to do and where to go from there. Along the way, you'll find rooms filled with acid, or rooms peppered with spikes, and while it is an annoying trope in some challenge hacks, it doesn't feel too stupid here, especially when they generally lead to optional item pickups.
All in all, I can understand why people would give this a 1/5, as I'm not blind to its faults, but I personally kinda liked the routing of it, even if the flow and said routing isn't very well telegraphed to the player. It's played like a challenge hack, which to be fair, it is labelled accordingly, and so I thought it succeeded in that regard. My only real issue is the Phantoon fight in the beginning, and the fact that the hack's name feels... arbitrary. It has nothing to do with inversion or anything of the sort, so there's that. Second Pedro hack, and I don't hate it. Who would have thought?
Super Metroid: Paddle by Mr. Hiryu [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 31, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 31, 2025 ( )
75% in 2:51
Not sure why this was called Super Metroid: PADDLE, but it's whatever. The hack is pretty annoying at the start, with some cryptic pathing, and a lack of saves in Crateria, and much of Brinstar. Everywhere else was... just okay. Nothing too remarkable. This definitely feels like somewhat of a half-ish hack, with enough differences to be an in-between that and a full hack. If I had one real complaint, it's that the game crashes when entering what I'm guessing is Bubble Mountain, which lies beyond Plasma Beam. I'm guessing there's some audio issue in that room that the game doesn't agree with, and is one of those things where brute forcing the room will eventually get it to work, but where's the fun in that? At least it's entirely optional, so you can easily ignore that section, though it does suck for those wanting to get 100%.
Overall, it's just "meh" to me. Creative enough where I can't give it less than a 3, but that's all it gets from me. At least the animals can be saved, and you're given adequate time to do it.
Overall, it's just "meh" to me. Creative enough where I can't give it less than a 3, but that's all it gets from me. At least the animals can be saved, and you're given adequate time to do it.
Super Mega-Metroid X-2 by FullofFail [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 31, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 31, 2025 ( )
12% in 1:25
Let me start off by saying my completion stats are invalid, as it's impossible to beat this hack under normal circumstances, which I'll elaborate in a bit.
This hack was actually fun. Granted, there is a version of this released some years later that received the Kaizo Possible treatment, by having actual save points, an instant reload, and actually being beatable, so you're better off playing that version instead (it goes by the same name as this release).
As the description implies, it was made for TASers, though you don't necessarily have to TAS anything to get through this hack outside of save states. By the way, save states are hard-required, unless you think you can beat this whole hack (or at least what you can beat) without dying even once (good luck with that). If you don't use save states, dying and reloading results in Samus entering an infinite death loop at her ship, which is weird.
Everything in this hack kills you in one hit, so you already have an idea of what to expect. More than that, however, each obstacle is laid out in a way that only those who are adept in Super Metroid gameplay can hope to get past it. Some enemy vulnerabilities were changed (mostly making them unkillable) to present more obstacles to have to avoid, by way of weaving between them, and the choice between two different paths, each with different obstacles, and each leading to the same destination, was a really cool design choice.
Add the tileset seen in Mega Man X2/X3 or whatever (I haven't played much of the X games in so many years), and you have a hack that also has a distinct look from most others. Bosses are made harder by virtue of Samus dying in a single hit, but some bosses felt like they were maybe buffed? I can't tell. Also, I didn't realize this until after my playthrough, but Charge Beam charges EXTREMELY fast, which is going to really help against most of them.
Speaking of bosses, Spore Spawn was a real bitch to fight, as was Phantoon, but none more so than Ridley. (Spoiler ahead) For the Ridley fight, you're given Power Bombs that will always fill, allowing you infinite Power Bomb use. You can't lay them, however, as their purpose is to activate Ice Shield. Only while Ice Shield is active, normal Ice Beam shots have 0 cooldown, allowing Samus to rapid-fire at an insane rate, and Ridley is vulnerable to normal Ice Beam shots. To maximize the stream of shots, I recommend hitting Ridley with three of the four Ice Shield projectiles; having all four will limit the amount of shots you can fire at once. This, is the only room where you are given this ability to infinitely use Power Bombs in this manner. And yes, Ridley still has his full normal HP, so you'll have to really work your ass off to dodge him, especially his fireballs and tail, and I promise, you will die... a lot... but the fight is possible. It's both a damage race, and an RNG fest, and easily the worst fight in the hack.
So you'll eventually come to a point where after seeing Etecoons, you'll come across an elevator. Going up this elevator, you'll notice some spikes on the way up. Passing through those spikes WILL register as a hit to Samus, making her die when she gets to the top. This effectively makes the hack incompletable. It's a really big shame, as it shows the hack maker likely didn't bother playtesting their own hack to see if it could be beaten, let alone beyond that point. They likely assumed the elevator was fine, and didn't even go up it to test. I was only able to get by it by way of an Action Replay code, to give myself infinite i-frames, until reaching the top of the elevator, in which I continued as normal from there.
The rest of the hack is exactly like what you'll experience in the updated later version, so you won't be missing a thing by playing that version over this one. All that said, I really enjoyed the challenge presented in the hack. Absolutely NOT for casuals, or for most players, but is perfect for those looking to test their skills, patience, and determination. I would have given this a 4/5, but because it A, lacks save points, and B, can't even be beaten, I'll give this a 3/5. Ordinarily, I give incomplete hacks a 1/5, but this hack is actually complete, just not beatable, A, and B, you can play through a whole hell of a lot of this hack before you come across the point of no progression. The effort is clearly there, and I do appreciate it, so I think a 3/5, despite its issues, seem fair.
This hack was actually fun. Granted, there is a version of this released some years later that received the Kaizo Possible treatment, by having actual save points, an instant reload, and actually being beatable, so you're better off playing that version instead (it goes by the same name as this release).
As the description implies, it was made for TASers, though you don't necessarily have to TAS anything to get through this hack outside of save states. By the way, save states are hard-required, unless you think you can beat this whole hack (or at least what you can beat) without dying even once (good luck with that). If you don't use save states, dying and reloading results in Samus entering an infinite death loop at her ship, which is weird.
Everything in this hack kills you in one hit, so you already have an idea of what to expect. More than that, however, each obstacle is laid out in a way that only those who are adept in Super Metroid gameplay can hope to get past it. Some enemy vulnerabilities were changed (mostly making them unkillable) to present more obstacles to have to avoid, by way of weaving between them, and the choice between two different paths, each with different obstacles, and each leading to the same destination, was a really cool design choice.
Add the tileset seen in Mega Man X2/X3 or whatever (I haven't played much of the X games in so many years), and you have a hack that also has a distinct look from most others. Bosses are made harder by virtue of Samus dying in a single hit, but some bosses felt like they were maybe buffed? I can't tell. Also, I didn't realize this until after my playthrough, but Charge Beam charges EXTREMELY fast, which is going to really help against most of them.
Speaking of bosses, Spore Spawn was a real bitch to fight, as was Phantoon, but none more so than Ridley. (Spoiler ahead) For the Ridley fight, you're given Power Bombs that will always fill, allowing you infinite Power Bomb use. You can't lay them, however, as their purpose is to activate Ice Shield. Only while Ice Shield is active, normal Ice Beam shots have 0 cooldown, allowing Samus to rapid-fire at an insane rate, and Ridley is vulnerable to normal Ice Beam shots. To maximize the stream of shots, I recommend hitting Ridley with three of the four Ice Shield projectiles; having all four will limit the amount of shots you can fire at once. This, is the only room where you are given this ability to infinitely use Power Bombs in this manner. And yes, Ridley still has his full normal HP, so you'll have to really work your ass off to dodge him, especially his fireballs and tail, and I promise, you will die... a lot... but the fight is possible. It's both a damage race, and an RNG fest, and easily the worst fight in the hack.
So you'll eventually come to a point where after seeing Etecoons, you'll come across an elevator. Going up this elevator, you'll notice some spikes on the way up. Passing through those spikes WILL register as a hit to Samus, making her die when she gets to the top. This effectively makes the hack incompletable. It's a really big shame, as it shows the hack maker likely didn't bother playtesting their own hack to see if it could be beaten, let alone beyond that point. They likely assumed the elevator was fine, and didn't even go up it to test. I was only able to get by it by way of an Action Replay code, to give myself infinite i-frames, until reaching the top of the elevator, in which I continued as normal from there.
The rest of the hack is exactly like what you'll experience in the updated later version, so you won't be missing a thing by playing that version over this one. All that said, I really enjoyed the challenge presented in the hack. Absolutely NOT for casuals, or for most players, but is perfect for those looking to test their skills, patience, and determination. I would have given this a 4/5, but because it A, lacks save points, and B, can't even be beaten, I'll give this a 3/5. Ordinarily, I give incomplete hacks a 1/5, but this hack is actually complete, just not beatable, A, and B, you can play through a whole hell of a lot of this hack before you come across the point of no progression. The effort is clearly there, and I do appreciate it, so I think a 3/5, despite its issues, seem fair.
Metroid Boost Training by Spark [ Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 31, 2025 ( )
Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Jul 31, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
What was the point of this hack? You can't beat it, there are two bosses (Phantoon and Draygon), and a whole lot of nothing else outside of a weird, arbitrarily-made obstacle course of sorts that doesn't really help the player with anything Speed Booster related. If you want to have any Speed Booster practice, there are hacks that do better in providing that. You can also just play the practice hack for vanilla Super Metroid, as that actually has tools and options to aid in bettering one's Speed Booster skills. Hell, even vanilla Super Metroid does the job just fine on its own. This was just a waste of time. It's more weird than anything else.
Super Metroid: X-Fusion by Metaquarius [ Total Conversion],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 03, 2025 ( )
Total Conversion],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 03, 2025 ( )
88% in 6:19
Review is for version 1.0, before the release of 1.1:
So, I am still riding the high that was my experience with this hack I've waited for so many years to play. Agree with me or not, I feel like this is Metaquarius's magnum opus. A hack that transcends anything that has ever been seen before, and likely will be seen for quite a while. One thing is for certain, this hack raises the bar, and set a scarily new and exciting standard to what we can potentially see in future ambitious hacks.
So let me start off by saying that A, it's clear by some reviewers above that they didn't bother reading the Read Me file; it's really important, as it goes over the game, what to expect, and how to play, etc. And B, this hack IS NOT for casuals at all. If you're not an expert in Super Metroid, this isn't the hack for you. And by that, I mean you need to be well versed in movement, and have a high skill set. Many enemies and bosses, for better or worse, will hit very hard, and some come across as a bit damage spongey (which I'm not exactly fond of), and needing to prepare for this is mandatory.
So, I won't really go over details that will spoil the game; I feel that even a "(Spoiler ahead)" warning will do this hack an injustice, as everything this hack has to offer really should be experienced from a blind playthrough perspective. If you're familiar with Metroid Fusion's mechanics and physics, this game has more of that than it does Super Metroid, but still carries a lot of the gameplay elements and even glitches from Super Metroid, including mockball, speedball, speed keep, moonfall, etc. It's essentially a marriage of the two games' engines combined into one, and it works amazingly well.
Without going into spoilers, the music, and all other custom assets, from sprites, to enemy behavior, to added enemies, bosses, sound effects, you name it go insanely hard. I have never seen or heard anything like this in a Super Metroid rom hack. You would be forgiven to think this was a Metroid Fusion rom hack, made as a light kaizo for that game, but it isn't; it is entirely Super Metroid, but you wouldn't know it without context. I can't even imagine how long it took for Metaquarius to do every single aspect of this hack; hell, I can't imagine how long it took to even custom code a single unique never-before-seen boss encounter. And while some hacks have some custom bosses, they generally have some jank to their code, be it movement, or other things. The bosses here are unbelievably polished, if not hard-as-fuck in some cases, but it was still a hell of a fun time all the same. Some frustrating sections were present, but those were intentionally made as part of the challenge of the hack.
That said, however, this game does lend itself to sequence breaks and cheese in some parts, allowing you access to areas and items earlier than intended, with the end result being some bosses being easier as a result, or some sections of the world being trivialized, which isn't a bad thing, as those are rewards for only those who are creative enough to bend the game's sequence, whether Metaquarius intended it or not. However, doing so can lead to route confusion, making one wonder where they can and should go for actual progression. Speaking of, some progression was a little hidden, one in particular took me way too long to find, although, looking back on it, I should have known progression would have been where it was, so anything that happens at my expense often is because it's my own doing, or my needing to simply "git gud".
I do have a few nitpicks with the hack, however. One of them is the lack of a mini map, though I understand why there isn't one. Save Points restoring no more than 3 E-Tanks worth of health can often suck. Enemies throwing haymakers, sometimes even OHKOing stings a bit. And lack of guidance as to where to really go. In the original Fusion, you're often shown a marker on the map where you need to go for the next progression. While not exactly holding the player's hand completely, it would be nice to be nudged in the right direction.
That's it. That's all I will say on this hack, because anymore I would love to talk about will just go into spoiler territory, and I refuse to do this hack such an injustice. Super Junkoid, for the last couple of years or so, has been my favorite rom hack on the site. I still can't let it go, so this hack has literally tied Super Junkoid as my absolute favorite Super Metroid rom hack. Though, that said, I can say that in my opinion, Super Metroid: X-Fusion is easily the greatest achievement ever to grace the rom hacking community for this site, and in my opinion, is the best hack period. All the years, and passion poured into this really shows.
Legacy, Super Metroid: Redesign, Temporus, Super Zero Mission, Super Metroid: Z-Factor, Super Metroid: Escape II, Project Base, B2-TW, Hyper Metroid, Axeil Edition, Ice Returns, Super Metroid: Ascent, Super Metroid: Subversion, Eris, V I T A L I T Y, Eleven, Y-Faster series, Super Junkoid; every one of those hacks have helped raise the bar, beginning with Legacy showing what a full hack can look like, while Redesign fired that bar straight into the sky for its technical finesse for its time. As time went on, many hacks, including and especially the ones listed has raised that bar further and further, though bit by bit. Super Metroid: X-Fusion then took that bar, strapped a rocket to it, and fired it up through to the stratosphere! The bar is now raised to an astronomical height, but that isn't a bad thing, because that just means someone out there might draw inspiration from the work and dedication Metaquarius poured into this passion project, compelling others to up their rom hacking game, and pump out goodness knows what. This hack is likely the beginning of a new, yet slowly developing frontier into what one can do with ASM wizardry in rom hacking.
I only give it a 5/5 because that's the max score, but I could've easily given this a 10/5.
So, I am still riding the high that was my experience with this hack I've waited for so many years to play. Agree with me or not, I feel like this is Metaquarius's magnum opus. A hack that transcends anything that has ever been seen before, and likely will be seen for quite a while. One thing is for certain, this hack raises the bar, and set a scarily new and exciting standard to what we can potentially see in future ambitious hacks.
So let me start off by saying that A, it's clear by some reviewers above that they didn't bother reading the Read Me file; it's really important, as it goes over the game, what to expect, and how to play, etc. And B, this hack IS NOT for casuals at all. If you're not an expert in Super Metroid, this isn't the hack for you. And by that, I mean you need to be well versed in movement, and have a high skill set. Many enemies and bosses, for better or worse, will hit very hard, and some come across as a bit damage spongey (which I'm not exactly fond of), and needing to prepare for this is mandatory.
So, I won't really go over details that will spoil the game; I feel that even a "(Spoiler ahead)" warning will do this hack an injustice, as everything this hack has to offer really should be experienced from a blind playthrough perspective. If you're familiar with Metroid Fusion's mechanics and physics, this game has more of that than it does Super Metroid, but still carries a lot of the gameplay elements and even glitches from Super Metroid, including mockball, speedball, speed keep, moonfall, etc. It's essentially a marriage of the two games' engines combined into one, and it works amazingly well.
Without going into spoilers, the music, and all other custom assets, from sprites, to enemy behavior, to added enemies, bosses, sound effects, you name it go insanely hard. I have never seen or heard anything like this in a Super Metroid rom hack. You would be forgiven to think this was a Metroid Fusion rom hack, made as a light kaizo for that game, but it isn't; it is entirely Super Metroid, but you wouldn't know it without context. I can't even imagine how long it took for Metaquarius to do every single aspect of this hack; hell, I can't imagine how long it took to even custom code a single unique never-before-seen boss encounter. And while some hacks have some custom bosses, they generally have some jank to their code, be it movement, or other things. The bosses here are unbelievably polished, if not hard-as-fuck in some cases, but it was still a hell of a fun time all the same. Some frustrating sections were present, but those were intentionally made as part of the challenge of the hack.
That said, however, this game does lend itself to sequence breaks and cheese in some parts, allowing you access to areas and items earlier than intended, with the end result being some bosses being easier as a result, or some sections of the world being trivialized, which isn't a bad thing, as those are rewards for only those who are creative enough to bend the game's sequence, whether Metaquarius intended it or not. However, doing so can lead to route confusion, making one wonder where they can and should go for actual progression. Speaking of, some progression was a little hidden, one in particular took me way too long to find, although, looking back on it, I should have known progression would have been where it was, so anything that happens at my expense often is because it's my own doing, or my needing to simply "git gud".
I do have a few nitpicks with the hack, however. One of them is the lack of a mini map, though I understand why there isn't one. Save Points restoring no more than 3 E-Tanks worth of health can often suck. Enemies throwing haymakers, sometimes even OHKOing stings a bit. And lack of guidance as to where to really go. In the original Fusion, you're often shown a marker on the map where you need to go for the next progression. While not exactly holding the player's hand completely, it would be nice to be nudged in the right direction.
That's it. That's all I will say on this hack, because anymore I would love to talk about will just go into spoiler territory, and I refuse to do this hack such an injustice. Super Junkoid, for the last couple of years or so, has been my favorite rom hack on the site. I still can't let it go, so this hack has literally tied Super Junkoid as my absolute favorite Super Metroid rom hack. Though, that said, I can say that in my opinion, Super Metroid: X-Fusion is easily the greatest achievement ever to grace the rom hacking community for this site, and in my opinion, is the best hack period. All the years, and passion poured into this really shows.
Legacy, Super Metroid: Redesign, Temporus, Super Zero Mission, Super Metroid: Z-Factor, Super Metroid: Escape II, Project Base, B2-TW, Hyper Metroid, Axeil Edition, Ice Returns, Super Metroid: Ascent, Super Metroid: Subversion, Eris, V I T A L I T Y, Eleven, Y-Faster series, Super Junkoid; every one of those hacks have helped raise the bar, beginning with Legacy showing what a full hack can look like, while Redesign fired that bar straight into the sky for its technical finesse for its time. As time went on, many hacks, including and especially the ones listed has raised that bar further and further, though bit by bit. Super Metroid: X-Fusion then took that bar, strapped a rocket to it, and fired it up through to the stratosphere! The bar is now raised to an astronomical height, but that isn't a bad thing, because that just means someone out there might draw inspiration from the work and dedication Metaquarius poured into this passion project, compelling others to up their rom hacking game, and pump out goodness knows what. This hack is likely the beginning of a new, yet slowly developing frontier into what one can do with ASM wizardry in rom hacking.
I only give it a 5/5 because that's the max score, but I could've easily given this a 10/5.
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag by Juan Dennys [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 25, 2025 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 25, 2025 ( )
101% in 2:52
It's strange, because prior to playing the first Pedro hack, Ferrawrd, I had this expectation that these hacks were going to be Geneva Convention violation-levels of awful. So far, I haven't come across such a Pedro hack; still expecting to see one sooner or later. That said, this isn't one of them. I understand the negative reviews given to this hack, as the layout and rooms are only really changed in annoying ways, but not to the point where I hated the experience. Granted, I will say the beginning really sucked, especially when trying to find the way forward. You really have to shoot in places you wouldn't think to shoot, and had this been the gimmick the rest of the hack, I'd have probably given this a 1/5. However, this game mercifully gives the X-Ray Scope early, provided you know the green gate glitch in the Pink Brinstar Hopper Room. From there, there isn't much of anything, save for maybe a few areas the X-Ray won't reveal, that can trip up the player.
The rest of the hack is pretty... arbitrary, in terms of progression, obstacles, etc. Like, nothing too challenging, but there are a few cheap moments here and there, but it was the kind of design that, while hard for any casual, it just screams a challenge, no matter how weird, to someone like myself. I don't know, maybe I'm just as weird as the Pedro hacks themselves, but I know I've played much worse hacks, either because of worse gimmicks parading as "challenges", or hacks with mechanics that make the game plain unfun (looking at you, Super Metroid: Low Impact). Perhaps someday, I'll come across that one Pedro hack that I say, "Fuck this shit!", but this hack isn't the one.
The rest of the hack is pretty... arbitrary, in terms of progression, obstacles, etc. Like, nothing too challenging, but there are a few cheap moments here and there, but it was the kind of design that, while hard for any casual, it just screams a challenge, no matter how weird, to someone like myself. I don't know, maybe I'm just as weird as the Pedro hacks themselves, but I know I've played much worse hacks, either because of worse gimmicks parading as "challenges", or hacks with mechanics that make the game plain unfun (looking at you, Super Metroid: Low Impact). Perhaps someday, I'll come across that one Pedro hack that I say, "Fuck this shit!", but this hack isn't the one.
Super Metroid: Patience by crimsonsunbird [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 26, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 26, 2025 ( )
97% in 2:42
Yet, another interesting entry in the Pedro series, starting off with a very different route to Morph Ball. There is a possible permastuck, should you go down Red Tower early, which the player couldn't possibly know, but at least this happens early enough to be nothing more than an annoyance than a major setback. Other than that, the hack is mostly a lot of back-and-forthing around the world map for items to progress. Nothing too special, but it wasn't badly executed by any means. Could have been better, for sure, what with other permastuck potential with reforming blocks, or straying from the intended path, but I quite enjoyed the item progression, and the change in item locations; just be sure to visit rooms you normally wouldn't in a vanilla game for items, and you'll be fine.
Super Metroid: Path To Darkness by SneakyLilFault [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 26, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 26, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
How the hell is this a "1.1", when it is in such a glitchy, broken mess, AND can't even be beaten? There's really nothing of value here; just a hack that shouldn't have had the time of day to be uploaded to the main site. Sad part is that the design almost show promise... almost.
Super Metroid: HISHE by Scyzer [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 26, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Aug 26, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Canon ending.
Super Metroid: Cristener Homenag 2 by Juan Dennys [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 03, 2025 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 03, 2025 ( )
95% in 1:44
Make no mistake, I didn't hate nor even disliked this hack. Only reason I'm giving it a 2/5 is because while I liked the changes made to the routing, item, and boss order, a good chunk of the hack felt a little too vanilla. Almost as if Pedro kinda gave up partway through, and made less and less edits as he went. Not the lowest 2 I'd give. More like a 2.7/5 or something.
Super Metroid: Lab of Cerbewz by pedro123 [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 03, 2025 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 03, 2025 ( )
71% in 1:44
I'm beginning to think something is wrong with me, when I don't mind these Pedro hacks. I totally get what others see that they would rate it low. I dunno, maybe I'm weird, and like weird? Anyway, everything I have to say pretty much mirrors what Sapphron said, so read that review for reference. The way the hack ended, was weird and abrupt, but wasn't the worst I've seen of endings like that... I guess?
Super Metroid But I Hate You by mysty_wysty [ Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 08, 2025 ( )
Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 08, 2025 ( )
97% in 7:19
I hate you too, kid.
Super Metroid: Sunshine Oddity by Vismund Cygnus/Quote58 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 08, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 08, 2025 ( )
21% in 0:51
Pretty neat, but rather buggy. For starters, it doesn't agree with all emulators (crashes on Mesen-S, for example). Then there's the lack of explanation of the Achievement system, or what achievements are even there to unlock. The custom music is nice, and the visuals are pretty cool, though I think the maker went a bit overboard with the layering, making it kind of hard to see where one can stand or go, etc. Not much else to say. I think 4/5 is me being a bit too generous, and it probably deserves no higher than a 3/5. Still, I liked the custom ideas implemented, hence my rating, so yeah.
Super Metroid: Ice Returns by Crys/Metaquarius [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 08, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 08, 2025 ( )
16% in 0:26
Ordinarily, this hack should get about a 2 or 3/5. However, the implementation of a completely custom boss here (obviously the contribution of Metaquarius) really impressed me for a hack released in 2014. Sadly, that's all the hack really has. Everything else was just... aight.
This was probably a test of what would ultimately be implemented into Super Metroid: X-Fusion.
This was probably a test of what would ultimately be implemented into Super Metroid: X-Fusion.
This hack's biggest issue: Lack of a save point, and no way to really recover health between obstacle rooms. The worst offender being the Grappling Beam section, riddled with 60-damage spikes with the no E-Tank you'll have going into it. Although, that being said, there is a cheese one can do in this hack. There is exactly one E-Tank you can acquire in the Grappling Beam course, and should you be unfortunate enough to die, you'll find that you end up keeping said E-Tank, albeit empty, and because you technically didn't save the game, the E-Tank in the Grapple gauntlet will be there again to be collected. So you can repeat the process of grabbing the E-Tank, dying, and repeating until you have 14 or even more E-Tanks, which makes the rest of the hack far easier than it otherwise would have been. Definitely not intended by the hack maker (I think). Assuming the intention was beating the hack with 0-1 E-Tanks, the rest of the hack is still really brutal, especially the final boss encounter, to expect anyone would be willing to beat this legit. At the very least, all of the issues plaguing this hack gets addressed in its more polished SMNonCompetition successor.
So Little Items by MetroidMst [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 13, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 13, 2025 ( )
66% in 1:46
Wasn't a fan of this one. Too many shitty design choices, but a lot of them don't overstay their welcome, so the slog is somewhat mitigated. The start is annoying as hell, but not too stupid to figure out. The path forward has some obtuse parts here and there. For sure, though, Botwoon is the worst part of the hack, as it's ammo gated; if you don't have 20 Super Missiles, and at least 40 Missiles, you're likely not getting past it, because this game had the weird-ass idea of not giving the player Charge Beam, as far as I know. Some other items seem to be unreachable, and might be red herrings (that, or I just never figured out how to get them). Nearly all the Shaktool fights are riddled with lag, exacerbating the annoyance. Overall, though, it's not the worst I've seen, and has some good things in it. And it uses the surface theme of Metroid 2's SR388, which is nice... though, get ready to get used to hearing that over and over again. Not bad enough for me to give less than a 3/5.
(Spoiler ahead): At the start, this is the path through the door maze:
To Missiles: Left, Up, Left, Down, Right
Main Path: Up, Up, Right, Down, Left
You're welcome.
(Spoiler ahead): At the start, this is the path through the door maze:
To Missiles: Left, Up, Left, Down, Right
Main Path: Up, Up, Right, Down, Left
You're welcome.
SMNonCompetition by SMILEuser96 [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 13, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 13, 2025 ( )
223% in 0:10
Certainly better than its predecessor for sure. The Grapple section has been completely overhauled, and made more fair, if a bit too easy, but I'd rather take that than what the previous SMCompetition had. There are no E-Tanks to exploit this time around, not that it's needed, as the game isn't anywhere near as hard or unforgiving as the last time. Funny enough, not that you need to do so to beat the game, but you can GT Code in this hack, trivializing to hell the rest of the hack, which explains my high percentage stats.
It was aaaight. Another half-hack, only this one felt lazy during Lower Norfair. This one was actually easy, because this was the first Pedro hack, where I was able to moondance into early PBs in Etecoons, and then got early Supers soon after, which pretty much blew the game wide open. I may have had a worse time with this, had I played as intended, maybe? Whatever the case, I didn't hate it. Wasn't that good either, but I thought it was overall harmless.
Super Metroid: Escape II by Hiroishi [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 16, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 16, 2025 ( )
106% in 1:06
So, my rating here will have bias attached to it. I started my full-time Twitch stream endeavor by speedrunning this very hack, so prior to my most recent playthrough, I got very familiar with this hack, and even when I played this the very first time 6 years ago (as of writing this), before I began streaming, I really enjoyed the experience provided by this hack, as it had secrets and very open exploration. There are design choices that allow and even encourage it as well, like suitless Maridia; you will not softlock in the sand, as the hack maker took that into account, and added a conveyer at the bottom of the sand, moving the player to where they can escape. Little things, like that, shows careful forethought on Hiroishi's side, which is always appreciated.
There's a lot to talk about with this hack, but I also don't feel like writing my usual "thesis" this time around, so I'll go over the jist of my review. Exploration is great, the path forward is varied from player to player in accordance to their skill set, many secrets abound, and by "secrets", I don't just mean hidden paths to E-Tanks, ammo, etc., there are literal secrets that can greatly reward the player for finding them (there's a purpose to those "ES" markers around the map). The difficulty seems fairly balanced across the board, likely to accommodate the fact that bosses can be fought in almost any order, and, if you're good and knowledgeable enough, most bosses can be outright ignored. A particularly special item reappears from the previous hack, Super Metroid: Escape (except in Hard Mode, where it's omitted entirely), and the Speed Booster has been revamped to allow Samus to steer the shinespark in all kinds of directions, which is needed for some tricky, albeit optional item pickups.
The escape sequence is truly something else. It's one of the longer ones, giving the player 20 in-game minutes, though, depending on how one played the game, the escape can either be extremely short and easy, or really long and complex, though not complex to the point of frustration, I feel. It really feels like there was a lot of balancing choices made to even the escape sequence, so that those who go the casual route will have more than enough time to escape, with not much fear of running out of time. Doesn't mean one should take their time either; it IS an escape, after all. I really have no negatives to say about this. There are slight glitches that can occur, but you'll likely not encounter them. If I absolutely have to find anything to say as a "negative", it's that the openness of the exploration could potentially confuse the player, making them wonder where to go, if they're suppose to be where they are.
An easy 5/5 for me. This is an overall fun experience, and I do genuinely enjoy replaying this.
Completion stats are from my most recent PB (as of writing this), for the 106% speedrun of Escape II (not linked in the review).
There's a lot to talk about with this hack, but I also don't feel like writing my usual "thesis" this time around, so I'll go over the jist of my review. Exploration is great, the path forward is varied from player to player in accordance to their skill set, many secrets abound, and by "secrets", I don't just mean hidden paths to E-Tanks, ammo, etc., there are literal secrets that can greatly reward the player for finding them (there's a purpose to those "ES" markers around the map). The difficulty seems fairly balanced across the board, likely to accommodate the fact that bosses can be fought in almost any order, and, if you're good and knowledgeable enough, most bosses can be outright ignored. A particularly special item reappears from the previous hack, Super Metroid: Escape (except in Hard Mode, where it's omitted entirely), and the Speed Booster has been revamped to allow Samus to steer the shinespark in all kinds of directions, which is needed for some tricky, albeit optional item pickups.
The escape sequence is truly something else. It's one of the longer ones, giving the player 20 in-game minutes, though, depending on how one played the game, the escape can either be extremely short and easy, or really long and complex, though not complex to the point of frustration, I feel. It really feels like there was a lot of balancing choices made to even the escape sequence, so that those who go the casual route will have more than enough time to escape, with not much fear of running out of time. Doesn't mean one should take their time either; it IS an escape, after all. I really have no negatives to say about this. There are slight glitches that can occur, but you'll likely not encounter them. If I absolutely have to find anything to say as a "negative", it's that the openness of the exploration could potentially confuse the player, making them wonder where to go, if they're suppose to be where they are.
An easy 5/5 for me. This is an overall fun experience, and I do genuinely enjoy replaying this.
Completion stats are from my most recent PB (as of writing this), for the 106% speedrun of Escape II (not linked in the review).
Super Metroid: Ridleys Revenge by Prime Hunter [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 16, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 16, 2025 ( )
100% in 0:00
Weird, but interesting hack. The Ridley fight is actually cool, and seeing custom boss behavior in a hack this old shows the potential hacking has reached back then. This hack also combines all beams without breaking the game, which is neat. Another weird thing is that when entering Gauntlet, you can play through almost all of the vanilla game. Careful when engaging the Metal Pirates in Lower Norfair, as the game wasn't modded to handle the full-combined beam being reflected, and will crash the game. Another quirk is that you don't actually have to beat Ridley; you can just go from the ship to the room on the right, to trigger the escape sequence, and just finish the game right then and there.
I'm still giving a 3/5, for the unique idea presented for its time. Otherwise, there's nothing more this hack offers beyond just a new Ridley experience.
I'm still giving a 3/5, for the unique idea presented for its time. Otherwise, there's nothing more this hack offers beyond just a new Ridley experience.
Super Metroid: Infiltration by BoostGuardian [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 16, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Sep 16, 2025 ( )
32% in 2:34
This hack makes me sad, honestly. Tons of promise, but it goes unfinished, like many other ambitious hack ideas before it. Especially when the hack feels like a hack of Redesign, which is even more sad, because I did enjoy what this hack have so far. The only upside is that the hack is beatable, but you can tell Tourian was just thrown in there, just to have an ending to an otherwise unfinished hack. Plenty of areas to reach for items, that I'm convinced wasn't supposed to be acquired by the player, like the Gravity Suit, or Power Bombs. There are also doors that lead to nothing, and by that, I mean they lack loading zones; just walls beyond the door, which only furthers the incompleteness of it.
That all said, I did enjoy what the hack had to offer. I give it a 3/5, mostly because it's incomplete, but beatable. Maybe someday, someone somewhere will take up trying to finish the overall vision and spirit this hack was going for? I doubt it, though.
That all said, I did enjoy what the hack had to offer. I give it a 3/5, mostly because it's incomplete, but beatable. Maybe someday, someone somewhere will take up trying to finish the overall vision and spirit this hack was going for? I doubt it, though.
I really wanted to like this, but this hack has quite the design flaws that make me rate it as low as I do. First, the door pillars; I get the idea, and on paper, it's a good concept, but the actual execution falls flat, as it hard-requires the player to either memorize the pillars they activated, or literally right down notes. Either case isn't exactly fun, nor intuitive. If the map had an icon for the trigger of its colored pillar counterpart, that would have fixed just about every issue I had with this. Being displayed as a dot on the map, like any other item, while the actual pillars through which you progress getting their own icon really sucks.
Secondly, the beams. So Plasma is still Plasma, and is a ferociously powerful beam, as to be expected; more powerful than Spazer. But there's a problem that the player isn't taught, and I only found out about this because I watched GaRan's TAS that made note of this: Charge Beam is severely nerfed, and charged Plasma shots even more so, dealing only 100 damage, while charged Spazer shots deal 300 damage. In either case, the beam is incredibly nerfed, which wouldn't be much of an issue had it not been for another bad design, which I'll go over in the next paragraph.
I don't know if this pertains to all bosses, but Ridley in particular has had his HP buffed almost 4-fold. At over 43,000 HP, and a paltry 300 damage from charged Spazer shots, expect that fight to drag the hell on. I had to resort to using the Murder Beam glitch, just to speed shit up. The glitch works amazingly well too, as the 200-per-tick damage from said glitch easily outpaces anything the player would have at that point in the game. Speaking of, what the hell was TROM thinking with the metal pirates in "Tourian"? There's no Mother Brain, so you have to fight the Metal Pirates, but their health has been buffed to stupid amounts, and in MB's room, you have to beat three of them. They're not exactly difficult, but it takes forever to kill just one of them.
Progression is also wonky, as you're oftentimes left lost and confused as to where to go. Which is weird, considering the map layout is very much vanilla, making this half-hack coded, despite its radical difference to vanilla. In practice, this should have taken the player roughly 4-5 in-game hours to beat, but between the shoddy execution of the pillars, the weird progression path, and... well, not much else, it's no wonder the average playtime is over 9 hours. I often had to resort to cheese to find any kind of progression, which speaks to the lack of flow to its design.
I did like the look of it, at least, and with all the shit I said about the pillar system, I really do like its idea, even if it wasn't executed as well as I would have liked it. One other issue are enemies taking a million hits to kill until you get your first big beam upgrade (Spazer). Buffing enemies doesn't make the hack harder, it makes it more tedious, and it pains me when rom hackers do shit like that.
Anyway, overall, it's pretty mid, despite a ton of promise. I can't recommend it, but it's still beatable, still playable, and isn't the worst 2/5 I've given.
Secondly, the beams. So Plasma is still Plasma, and is a ferociously powerful beam, as to be expected; more powerful than Spazer. But there's a problem that the player isn't taught, and I only found out about this because I watched GaRan's TAS that made note of this: Charge Beam is severely nerfed, and charged Plasma shots even more so, dealing only 100 damage, while charged Spazer shots deal 300 damage. In either case, the beam is incredibly nerfed, which wouldn't be much of an issue had it not been for another bad design, which I'll go over in the next paragraph.
I don't know if this pertains to all bosses, but Ridley in particular has had his HP buffed almost 4-fold. At over 43,000 HP, and a paltry 300 damage from charged Spazer shots, expect that fight to drag the hell on. I had to resort to using the Murder Beam glitch, just to speed shit up. The glitch works amazingly well too, as the 200-per-tick damage from said glitch easily outpaces anything the player would have at that point in the game. Speaking of, what the hell was TROM thinking with the metal pirates in "Tourian"? There's no Mother Brain, so you have to fight the Metal Pirates, but their health has been buffed to stupid amounts, and in MB's room, you have to beat three of them. They're not exactly difficult, but it takes forever to kill just one of them.
Progression is also wonky, as you're oftentimes left lost and confused as to where to go. Which is weird, considering the map layout is very much vanilla, making this half-hack coded, despite its radical difference to vanilla. In practice, this should have taken the player roughly 4-5 in-game hours to beat, but between the shoddy execution of the pillars, the weird progression path, and... well, not much else, it's no wonder the average playtime is over 9 hours. I often had to resort to cheese to find any kind of progression, which speaks to the lack of flow to its design.
I did like the look of it, at least, and with all the shit I said about the pillar system, I really do like its idea, even if it wasn't executed as well as I would have liked it. One other issue are enemies taking a million hits to kill until you get your first big beam upgrade (Spazer). Buffing enemies doesn't make the hack harder, it makes it more tedious, and it pains me when rom hackers do shit like that.
Anyway, overall, it's pretty mid, despite a ton of promise. I can't recommend it, but it's still beatable, still playable, and isn't the worst 2/5 I've given.
It was aight. A short obstacle course, with not much else to it. Very Hard difficulty was easier than I anticipated, suffering only one death.
Some ideas have potential, but they were all one-offs, with not much substance, sadly.
Vismund Presents: Spikes!! by Vismund Cygnus [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Well, this was certainly a hack.
Super Metroid: Adams Hack by Jefe962 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
10% in 0:07
The visuals were neat, but there's a softlock that sucks, and the hack felt anticlimactic. Also, this had nothing to do with Adam, as far as I could tell.
I Wanna Be The Metroid by Maxg26 [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
84% in 2:16
Pretty shitty hack. Random spike spam, and arbitrarily placed reforming ammo and crumble blocks that can lead to softlocks makes this a chore to play, especially the start. Willing to bet the maker never player the "I Wanna Be..." series, because this plays nothing like it, even in theming.
Super Metroid Lömpo by RetroKnuckles [ Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
Incomplete],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 17, 2025 ( )
No completion stats.
Some decent promise, but is horribly unfinished. The game effectively ends after acquiring Speed Booster. Also, what the heck is a Lömpo?
This was stupid, but it lets you save the animals, and it gave me a decent chuckle.
Really cool idea with the shop system. If the game was a bit longer, and the shop system more fleshed out, this would be really amazing. Hopefully, someone can utilize the full potential of this. The puzzles were neat, if a bit unintuitive. The music wasn't really as annoying as I thought it would be, and a couple of the custom assets were also well utilized. That's pretty much it.
So Little Collab by MetroidMst/Vismund [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 18, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 18, 2025 ( )
79% in 1:18
The visuals were neat, not unlike the hack, Rainbow City. The lack of any Mario music at all, let alone Mario 2 music, is a missed opportunity. My biggest complaint is the routing being confusing, and the pyramid being hard to navigate. But not more than Phantoon's location being behind a hidden morph tunnel in a location that looks like Samus would wedge herself into a soft lock; most seasoned players would normally avoid that part, especially when they become accustomed to softlocks BECAUSE of such geometry. Overall, not too bad.
Super Metroid: Magaluf by Jordan5 [ Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 18, 2025 ( )
Quick Play],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Oct 18, 2025 ( )
72% in 0:17
It was okay. The gimmick of Samus taking constant damage while outside didn't overstay its welcome. Outside of that, and a custom Samus bathing suit sprite, there wasn't much else going for this.
Wasn't a big fan of this one. The gimmick becomes tedious pretty quickly, some items are straight up impossible to acquire, and the Zebes escape is a bit annoying due to tight timing. Not the worst 2/5 I've given, but it still wasn't all that.
Super Metroid: XHPC by crimsonsunbird [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 02, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 02, 2025 ( )
77% in 3:48
Where the hell was Speed Booster? Gravity, being in X-Ray Scope's chamber, is hard locked behind needing Speed Booster. I even combed through some of the hack in SMILE, and still couldn't find it. The progression was aight, but the fact I lacked Gravity meant I was forced into suitless Maridia, which was a miserable time. I could forgive all of it, if Speed Booster was made more obvious. Pedro gives very little time for the Tourian escape; time that requires Speed Booster to escape, and once far enough into Tourian, there is no backtracking. I had to use a cheat code to give myself infinite time for what would otherwise be an impossible escape.
This goes to show you should never hide important progression items in whatever obtuse location one chooses, or at the very least, design the game to allow for said items to not be needed for progression, like giving the player the full 3 minutes for the Tourian escape. I would've given this hack a 3/5 otherwise, but as it stands, I cannot give it more than a 1.
This goes to show you should never hide important progression items in whatever obtuse location one chooses, or at the very least, design the game to allow for said items to not be needed for progression, like giving the player the full 3 minutes for the Tourian escape. I would've given this hack a 3/5 otherwise, but as it stands, I cannot give it more than a 1.
Super Metroid: Challenge by ThatNewGuy [ Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 05, 2025 ( )
Vanilla+],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 05, 2025 ( )
31% in 3:07
This hack was aight. A low 3/5, honestly. It felt like a soft half hack of JAM's Super Metroid Nightmare, minus the stupid-ass ammo doors, and with a different item route. Was it as challenging as its name implies? For casuals, sure. But those adept at Super Metroid should pass this hack just fine.
Super Metroid: Insane Escape by pedro123 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
999% in 0:22
I kinda liked this. If nothing else, for the route back to the ship. Only issue is that while I'm sure you're given enough time to escape, the timer is a non-factor, as you can save and reload, disabling the timer, but keeping the escape flag. The animals can be saved, and you can re-enter Crateria through Gauntlet, so that you're not permastuck. Overall, the execution could have been better, but I don't think the experience was bad. The completion percentage is because E-Tanks and Super Missiles gives the player an insane amount, which can lead to a glitched number for said completion rating, so I defaulted to 999%.
Super Metroid: HasKemBeerT by pedro123 [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
999% in 0:14
Didn't hate it, but it wasn't great either. I can sort of dig the concept, but its execution was... weird. The escape sequence was also equally weird. Everything in this hack was weird. Maybe if each target enemy not named Mother Brain didn't do unholy amounts of damage, I would have maaaaybe given this a 3/5?
Didn't hate it, but it was annoying. The Missile door is dumb. You can blow through millions of Supers, and the door would still sit there and smile right back. Use regular Missiles, and it open MUCH quicker. I get the feeling I'll see more of those in later Pedro hacks. Also, not sure how Pedro expected the player to escape, so I ended up cheesing my way to the ship. This wasn't very good.
Super Metroid Evacuation by personitis [ Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
Spoof],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
1% in 0:00
It is as advertised, to be fair.
Super Metroid: Desafio by pedro123 [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 09, 2025 ( )
999% in 0:15
Yeah, this hack was shitty. My first 1/5 for a Pedro hack, and likely not the last one.
Super Metroid: Rebuild 5 by JAM [ Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 11, 2025 ( )
Exploration],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 11, 2025 ( )
91% in 3:37
This hack was kinda boring, and annoying, and buffing the bosses' health made them more tedious than challenging. The hack kinda sucks, but it's also aight in some aspects, like the routing, though the location of Gravity was pretty stupid. All this to say, who the hell asked for a fifth rendition of Rebuild?
Super Metroid: Final Crimson by crimsonsunbird [ Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 11, 2025 ( )
Unknown],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 11, 2025 ( )
81% in 2:35
I liked the routing in this. Some of the items are placed in seemingly unreachable areas, but they require smart use of Crystal Flash to reach them. It just sucks it's tied to yet another half hack. 2014 has more than enough of those as is.
The concept was okay, but it doesn't do much else with it, other than have almost all doors open. My only complaint: Why the hell was the back door to GT blocked by a metal door?
Super Metroid: Pro Grapple by jailsonmendes [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 16, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 16, 2025 ( )
65% in 2:23
This hack is what Super Metroid: Grapple should have been. I really like the concept, but the execution wasn't perfect. Some cheap permastuck opportunities in a few spots kinda sours the experience a bit, and the Hi-Jump Boots having no real function, as Samus's base jump is the same as Hi-Jump is a weird choice, though it does increase jump height out of a grapple wall jump. The acid doing no damage to Samus, while lava insta-killing (unless equipped with Gravity Suit) was also amusing. With enough proper polish, I may have given this a 5/5.
Super Metroid: Space Colony Revenger by jailsonmendes [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 16, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 16, 2025 ( )
0% in 0:03
This was a nothing hack. To give it more than a 1/5 implies there was substance of any kind here.
Super Metroid: Kraid Challenge by jailsonmendes [ Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 16, 2025 ( )
Challenge],
rated by ClaireDiviner on Nov 16, 2025 ( )
2% in 0:05
It was just aight. It does what it says. Just save your missiles for the green Pirates in the Mini Kraid Room, or else you'll end up permastuck.
