Exister's Hack Reviews - Metroid Construction

Super Asteroid by Ob [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Jul 07, 2024 (

)

No completion stats.

This is a great hack, the visuals alone sell it. I said it in the discord but I'll say it again here: it should be required by law to have drop shadow on tech tiles, after seeing how well they work here. The rooms are full of creative layouts, challanges, and puzzles, and the combat is interesting through the midgame. It felt really easy twords the end, but maybe I just found too many e tanks (I had like 13). I needed all of those e tanks for the final boss though, which was also a great challange. Speedkeep was also well utilized here, in conjunction with the previously mentioned puzzles and the dk canons. Speedkeep used to feel off to me, but between this and biohazard I've really come around to the mechanic. Only thing that was akward with this hack for me was the location of the bomb launcher, I didn't find it on first pass and looped aroun exploring the whole map fruitlessly. Aside from that the pacing was great. Thanks for the hack!

Super Junkoid by P. Yoshi [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Sep 10, 2023 (

)

95% in 0:00

Wonderful wonderful hack, visuals are incredible, level design and combat are top-notch, and progression is amazing! (Anytime you can go to one area, die, and then decide to go to a different area I am blown away. Makes death feel less like a punishment and more an invitation to try something different) This is one of the most enjoyable hacks I've ever played, right up there with the goats of Vitality and ascent. Highly recommend to any and all.

Super Metroid: Pit of 100 Trials by MetroidNerd#9001 [

Challenge], rated by Exister on Dec 20, 2022 (

)

No completion stats.

This is an incredibly fun hack. As benox mentioned, combat is not SM's strong suit, but every room is created in a precise manner to create a fair but interesting playing field in each room. Every enemy, every gimmick, and every idea is explored to the fullest in interesting ways that continued to impress me as I played. I consider this a masterclass in SM level design. There was one room in Ridley's lair that was unfair, and it's unfortunately right before ridley. I missed the pirate in the lower right because the swooping enemies made me want to jump up to the higher levels. When I got around to trying to kill that ninja pirate, it was only when I got back to the room after dying that I realized I had been fighting it from the wrong side, which was why it wouldn't jump. This was perhaps the only moment in the entire hack that I felt miffed by the room design, but a 99% incredible hack is still something to be treasured. Highly recommend!

Super Metroid: Ascent by Benox50 [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Oct 22, 2022 (

)

No completion stats.

This is without a doubt one of the best hacks of all time, with it coming close behind VITALITY as number 2. It has tight and engaging level design with clever gorgeous visuals, vast and expansive areas that have well thought out progression, and best of all is the sheer variety in gameplay between rooms due to clever usage of vanilla and asm mechanics. If you haven't already played it, play it asap.

Super Metroid: Subversion by TestRunner and AmoebaOfDoom [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Sep 04, 2022 (

)

75% in 6:32

This was an amazing hack! The general design philosophy of a ton of smallish areas meant there was a ton of visual and music variety throughout, and the gameplay remained stellar aside from a few hiccups with some frustrating temporary blockades near the end it was good through and through! If you haven't played it, play it now, it's hands down the hack of the year. And if you ever feel like you're absolutely stuck/softlocked, read the log! Don't be dumb like me! (Though I swear those enemies should have been colored differently, despite my glaring skill issue) Enjoy!
Animals not saved, >:) I have no idea where they are

Super Metroid Nature by Jefe962 [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Apr 18, 2022 (

)

68% in 2:47

Fun hack! Very solid vanilla feel with a lot of really cool moments. Ridley's lair has to be my favorite part, was a very very fun section even though I skipped the acid lower torizo lol. The recolors all looked nice, the tiling was good, and level design was spot on. I do have a couple of critiques though: Speed booster lava escape was absolute BS, if you made any mistakes you were done for because of how slow you move in lava. Ironically this structure was fixed in the ridley's lair escape, where it was one small room that eased you into the idea that you should be trying to ascend as fast as possible before letting you into rooms that actually test your skills. I think the speed booster escape if structured this way, would work much better and avoid what's essentially a guaranteed first playthrough death. The only other critique I have is a minor one, and that's that the escape pallet in Tourian flashed quite a bit too much. I don't have epilepsy but it did make my eyes hurt. Shame that's the last impression you get, but the tight timer still made the escape fun with how tense it got. I only had 5 seconds left! Overall a very good hack and one I'd definitely reccomend.

Super Ethical Metroid by dewhi100 [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Apr 04, 2022 (

)

80% in 0:00

Really fun hack, the sampling from vanilla is done precisely and with enough variation that even though you can recognize bits from different rooms in vanilla it's still an entirely new experiance. I had some minor sequencing issues mid-game which were compounded by skill issues but once I got over that everything was smooth sailing. Oh, and this hack has an interesting twist of an area that provided an oppressive twist to a typical Metroid area and was certainly an experience I'd never had before. Said section is also unique from vanilla, and it's what bumps this hack from a 4 to a 5 for me. Again, fun hack, and I sincerely recommend it!

Super Metroid Biohazard by Mentlegen, SMILEuser96 [

Speedrun/Race], rated by Exister on Apr 02, 2022 (

)

No completion stats.

Chad tier "movement improved with various patches" "custom gfx from various hacks and resources" "player graphics from Opposition with permission from Mccad" hack. The developer spreads out items throughout the whole hack encouraging dynamic exploration of the entire world. The whole thing looks either fine to very good, and has very clever usage of vanilla tiles with nice-looking recolors and pleasant tiling. There are also lots of blank room segments that appear past scrolls the dev didn't bother to fill in, likely because the dev was pressed on time and had to save on data in the rom. One door in Phytor Ruins when entered from the left takes you to a higher door on exit, but this is fixed in a later version. Overall not a difficult hack and very fun with impressive polish for such a big hack made in 6 months. And the music is very catchy, I've found myself listening to it at Mentlegen's Music, the creator's youtube channel. 5/5 definitely recommend.

Harvest by Oi27 [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Apr 02, 2022 (

)

No completion stats.

Very very good hack. Subverts expectations at the beginning twice over and then proceeds to do so throughout the entire hack. There are so many neat moments, cool mechanics, and overall solid design that the hack is just an absolute blast. The only issue I have is that the second area is a bit cumbersome to wade through on a first playthrough but there's a very easy sequence break to kind of skip it so it ends up working out just fine. Highly highly recommend to any and all, play it and keep at it!

Metroid: The Blue Plague by Nodever2 [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Apr 02, 2022 (

)

87% in 0:59

This is a very fun hack, short and sweet stuff with steller design all around. The aesthetics are unique if not mind blowing, but it all still looks nice. Overall just a hack I had a really good time with and I can't think of a better reason to give 5 orbs.

SM - Cryogenesis by Onnyks [

Exploration], rated by Exister on Jan 18, 2022 (

)

No completion stats.

Very fun! Every area looked amazing and flowed well, overall item progression was fun and difficulty curved well. I didn't realize you could walk through the wall in front of wave, so I was stuck for a bit until I pulled it up in an editor. Other than that I went through the whole game smoothly and had a great time! Definitely recommend to anyone of any level.

Metroid: Symphony of the Light by starlightintheriver [

Incomplete], rated by Exister on Jul 07, 2024 (

)

No completion stats.

Great hack! This uses custom fx and some custom tiles to great effect, the chairs, tables, and doors go a long way in making the station feel a lot more like a place than ceres did, even. The secrets are all well made, and the exploration played out well, if a bit linear given the way items and item checks are layed out, but that's a fine choice and done well here. There was some fun sequence breaks to do too, I did a d-boost for an early late game item and "beat" the hack muh earlier than intended, and it made for a difficult but satisfying trick. SPOILERS: The dark world light world concept is done great here, the only thing I'm left wanting is some overcrossing puzzles like rpime 2, maybe a secret tunnel obvious in one world and needed to go through in the other? Stuff like that could be fun, maybe just for optional pickups. The other thing is x-ray, I understand some people like it but personally I despise it, it's very slow and I much prefer using bombs to find secrets. It's activesly negative to me since it adds another selection item as well, meaning item select is the only way to deselect even when missiles is your only ammo. I'd suggest moving the item from starting with it to very early in the game, maybe next to the first lore entry or something. Speaking of ammo, combat was pretty easy, but better too easy than too hard... hah...
I liked the story and am curious where it goes, I almost feel like it could even use an aditional wrinkle to give it more room to progress/stuff to discover? Your choice though. Great demo!

SM HotSurface by Benox50 [

Unknown], rated by Exister on Apr 02, 2022 (

)

18% in 0:00

This is a very up and down hack. It has things like no save stations, a non functioning map, and a gate that flat out didn't work which forced me to get a very useful item much later than I should've lol. But it also has some great rooms, moments, and the overall experience was definitely enjoyable. Give it a try, and use save states if you must.

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