MetroidNerd#9001's Ratings and Reviews
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Super Metroid: Subversion by TestRunner and AmoebaOfDoom [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Sep 05, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
75% in 5:26
NOTE: If you are playing this hack on an emulator, use Mesen-S to minimize graphical glitches, and up the audio latency to avoid audio popping.

I have some gripes with this hack, but there's too much awesome stuff in it to give it anything but 5 orbs. The sheer amount of new and interesting features this hack has to offer is mind-blowing. You will be pleasantly surprised many times.

My biggest overall issue with the hack is that sometimes progression can be obtuse, and the world is rocky to navigate at times. A few extra shortcuts and some permanence to terrain clearing would help a lot with the latter issue, and some slightly stronger hinting could help with the former. Most of my other gripes are nitpicks that mostly apply to me anyway, so they're not worth mentioning here.

Any gripe I have is overshadowed by how amazing this hack is. I highly recommend you play this yesterday.
Metroid: Scrolls 6 by Conner, OneOf99, CaptGlitch, JRP [MZM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Feb 14, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
85% in 1:25
[Watch Video]  
When I judged this hack for the Berserker Contest, I gave it a perfect score. This hack deserves such praise even more now that it's fully complete. A refreshing spin on the typical Zero Mission experience, this hack thrusts you into completely new environments with lush custom graphics and well-made custom music. Extremely nonlinear, but fairly balanced (for the most part), repeat playthroughs always have something new to bring to the table. Highly recommended.
V I T A L I T Y by Digital_Mantra [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 14, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
61% in 3:50
From a gameplay perspective, it's pretty good, but nothing too spectacular. What makes this hack so great is all the detail put into every single room and the progression of the world. The story is well told and interesting. My biggest gripe is a nitpick, but it's still prevalent, and that's the map. At this point, it's not that hard to add doors to the map, so unless something else in the hack takes up that space, it would be greatly appreciated. Other than that, this hack is pretty fantastic and I highly recommend it.
SMChallenge by SMILEuser96 [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
104% in 0:12
This hack was an absolute blast. It is super fast to get into and extremely nonlinear, so the hack is very replayable. Nothing feels unfair due to the surplus of items, and collecting them is really fun. I highly recommend this hack if you want 15 minutes of fun!
Metroid II EJRTQ Colorization 1.3 by Quantam [M2 Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 2:13
This hack does for Metroid 2 what Metroid + Saving does for Metroid 1. It is a whole new experience to play this game in full color, and this hack is able to completely replace the original. If you want to play Metroid 2, play this instead.
Super Metroid: Ascent by Benox50 [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on May 28, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
77% in 6:00
This is one of the, if not the best hack I have ever played. For one, every room looks amazing. No part of the hack was hard to look at, and some rooms boast simply beautiful tiling and effects. Though the locking of previous areas may seem offputting, each area is so big that going back won't even cross your mind. Luckily, each area has its own completion percentage, so you can know if you completed an area before moving on. The custom music used in this hack also works very well in the areas it is used, only serving to deepen immersion into the hack. The changes to the upgrades are also refreshing and well implemented, but I won't give away too much. Overall, this is a hack that everybody should play, and everyone should be able to take something out of this hack to use in their own hacks.
Super Metroid Nature by Jefe962 [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 24, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
92% in 0:00
This hack is really good. It keeps the feel of vanilla with unchanged physics and mostly similar tiles, but it freshens it up with new palettes, music, and a whole pile of beautiful looking rooms to explore. This hack looks amazing, but it also plays very well. I had fun wandering around, sequence breaking, and seeing how well designed parts of this hack are. You never feel like you're being forced the way you're supposed to go. It's very open and fun to explore. I had a few annoyances along the way, but nothing made me want to stop playing the hack because a lot of it was me sequence breaking and trying too hard to get where I'm not supposed to go. The hack allows for it, but it won't always be easy, and that's good. This is a joy to play. 10/10 would recommend. Give this hack a run through. You won't regret it.
SM Redesign: Axeil Edition by Drewseph [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 18, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
78% in 8:32
Traveled: 217.42 km
Energy Lost: 39,542
Enemies Killed: 2,254
Shots Fired: 18,395
Doors Travelled: 1,856

I went into this hack with low expectations because of all the negative buzz around it, but I ended up enjoying this hack a lot. Unlike the original redesign, I didn't have any points where I got super frustrated and wanted to stop playing. There were a few annoying spots, but overall, it was very flowing and I enjoyed playing it. Version 1.6 is the version I played, and it probably fixed a lot of the problems that the reviews above mention. This hack is great. My main problems are the forced linearity and the fact that you can't jump off of crumble blocks at all. There are a couple of other minor things that were a bit annoying, but overall the hack was great. Tourian was not as bad as people made it out to be, but the escape had a bit too many rooms with rising lava that I was lucky to not fall in to. Either way, this is a fun hack.
Project Base 0.8.1 by begrimed [SM Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jan 15, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
101% in 1:54
I don't think that there is anything I can say that hasn't already been said. This hack is amazing, and has paved the way for even more amazing hacks like Hyper Metroid. It's so speedrunnable. I just don't get why the maximum completion % is 101.
Hyper Metroid by RealRed [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jan 02, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
84% in 5:22
I started this hack and simply could not put it down until 1:00 AM. The whole hack was so nonlinear, It gave me so much to do. This is the first hack I have ever played that I haven't felt like I'm simply trudging through whatever perils the creator wants you to go through. The hack has as much polish as the original Super Metroid, and it looks amazing. I liked the shared ammo system. Finding Power Bombs was a bit of a hassle, but I ceiling climbed to get Super Missiles on my first try. I wish there was a sequence break like that for Power Bombs too.
There were only a few times near the end where I found myself looking at a guide of some sort to find things, and even then, it was just Draygon and Plasma Beam. The difficulty seemed to flow very well, and I was rewarded many times for exploring difficult areas. (Mostly by an extremely tough Kraid, but I got Space Jump from it.) The physics changes felt good, and everything flowed really well. I loved the addition of respin, running in Morph Ball, chain Shinesparking, and continuous momentum whilst running. (I've never played Project Base by the way.)
Either way, this is by far the best hack I've ever played. If you like Super Metroid, play this hack.
Super Metroid Arcade : Endless mode by Lioran, Tewtal [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 12, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I hate Scisers and Puyos. I love everything else about this hack, but I hate Scisers and Puyos.
Metroid: Desolation by jasinchen [MZM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 28, 2023 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 3:43
Reviewed after finishing the "Normal" mode with the "Lifelong Enemy" ending.

This is a good hack, but I have some gripes with it. The room design is top-notch, and the rooms themselves are very interesting. The map design is also usually pretty good, facilitating for a very good gameplay flow from one major item to the next, with some exceptions. The story is pretty cool, though it is very much in the background for most of the hack, which can sometimes make it hard to understand what you are supposed to do.

On the more negative side, there are some room designs in this hack that are agonizing to traverse. Some of these will be fixed in later versions, however (I played on version 1.1.1.). The constant use of borrowed music is also kinda tacky at times. There are a few points where the game locks you in an area where almost all the paths are blocked by an upgrade, making the area super annoying to navigate, but then when you get that upgrade, so much opens up that you have no idea what to do next. This only happens a couple times, but it's quite a drag when it does.

This is a very good hack, and I do recommend playing it.
Metroid Fusion: Special Edition by Lostglaceon [MF Vanilla+], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Feb 24, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
98% in 1:39
I like the way the game accommodates your sequence breaking into the story, allowing you to skip certain sequences if you did them early. This can lock you out of 100% if you're not careful though. Overall, the other tweaks are quite nice, especially the Hard Mode changes to the boss arenas, but I think too little is changed for it to warrant a 5 orb rating. It's still pretty fun overall though, and a fresh Fusion experience for those who haven't played in a while.
Super Duper Metroid by Metaquarius, Daltone [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jan 12, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 4:19
So there's a lot of good things about this hack, but I also have some issues with it too. This hack has really good flow with its movement, and its openness makes the world fun to explore, but it may also be the hack's greatest flaw.

In your exploration of the hack, you are bound to hit some kind of progression chokepoint. Everywhere you haven't explored is blocked off by stuff you don't have, except for the path to one of the items you need. For me, this happened when everything was blocked off by either Speed Booster or Power Bombs, and the path to Speed was blocked behind a hidden wall that X-Ray wouldn't reveal. Why is X-Ray inconsistent about these things? Sometimes it works, but other times it will tell you something is solid when it's either bombable or not solid. It's little things like that which really hamper the hack's overall quality.

This may just be a Project Base thing, but this hack way overdid it with its Speed Booster mechanics. There are just too many ways to activate speed, even by accident, that it takes away the thrill of using the upgrade almost entirely. Not to mention some of the ways you can activate it make absolutely no sense.

A lot of other upgrades also seem haphazardly hidden, especially the beams. Why is Charge so well hidden? Why is Ice one of the last upgrades in the game? Where even is Spazer? Both suits are also hidden in such a way that I don't even know which one you're "supposed" to find first. Varia continues to confound me in this hack. No matter which path you take, you will have to take some level of heat damage to get it, but this isn't communicated to the player at all, and depending on what path you take, you may be spending a very long time in superheated rooms before you get there. Instead of making Varia satisfying to find though, this design choice just makes you go "oh finally" in a very frustrated tone when you get the suit.

Another little thing: why can you shoot foreground tiles? Yeah, it's a cool effect, but it's also really distracting. Similarly, parts of the hack feel a bit too consistent with which tiles are breakable. Some areas have breakable tiles everywhere, but most of them just amount to nothing, making players feel like they just wasted their time.

Wow. I've been pretty negative up to this point, so I guess I should end with some positives. The new intro sequence is kinda cool, the tiling looks fantastic, and I like the QOL changes to the pause menu. A highlight of the hack for me had to be all the roomstate shenanigans around the glass tube in Maridia. I've never seen a hack do something like that before, but it was really cool to see it implemented. Overall, this is a good hack that I recommend playing, but I still have several issues with it from a game design perspective. Don't let that keep you from enjoying it, though.
Symphony of Soap by Ing-ing [MZM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
81% in 0:28
Completion time in minutes:seconds.
This hack is quite fun, has good graphics, neat music, and a well-implemented gimmick. The main thing holding it back is the annoying enemy balancing, especially the final boss sometimes dealing 10 damage and sometimes dealing 200 damage. Beyond that, this hack is great and you should give it a try.
The Adam Virus by Crystal_Knight [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
81% in 0:16
A fun hack that sticks well to the theme of the hack it was made for, the Authorized Contest. The heat run was a bit annoying, but otherwise, it's a pretty solid contest hack.
SMContention by SMILEuser96 [SM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 27, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
61% in 0:12
It's a nice, fun, short hack that is easy to get into. Unfortunately, it is also easy to wander into death. You can go straight to the final boss from the get-go, and you will die. Most of the major upgrades that are almost required are hidden in random locations. You can probably still find them, but don't be surprised when you enter a room and die rather quickly. Be prepared, and you will enjoy yourself.
Metroid 99 by Maximum Potion [M1 Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I could say that this makes NEStroid a bit too easy as it lets you just reset and refill your health, but it's NEStroid. Take any opportunity to make the game not archaic that you can. Use this in your hacks.
INERTIA by squishy_ichigo [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:06
A fun little hack with amazing graphics and neat gameplay. The physics are a bit wonky, but you'll still have a fun few minutes playing this hack.
Score: 105
Tallon IV Tours: Chozo Ruins Rumble by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 31, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
75% in 0:24
Decently fun hack that has some really clever workarounds of Prime mechanics. Unfortunately, the lack of enemies in some rooms means you'll have a hard time refilling if you get low on health, which you probably will because of how much damage the poison water does. Could use some updating, but it shows a lot of potential for a larger SM-Prime hack.
Menu Hack by Trunaur68 [MZM Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This is how ZM's menu should have worked in the actual game. Not overly useful, but it's nice to have. At it's best when it's an addition to another hack.
Metroid: Oil Spill by Spedimus [MF Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 02, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
39% in 1:51
There are a lot of good and bad things about this hack. The story is good, and it's well implemented. The new tilesets look amazing. There are also a lot of really good puzzles. Unfortunately, the difficulty is very uninviting. This is the best full Fusion hack I've played, but it is still not outstanding. It takes a certain type of player to enjoy this hack.

The first half of the game is frustrating to get through. Progression is hard to find, and enemies do a lot of damage while having lots of health. Lacking bombs was annoying as it made navigation significantly harder than it needed to be. Especially by the time the path splits when you enter the ventilation area, there are so many places to go that lead nowhere that I stopped playing for a bit. You know your progression is rough when I considered fighting bosses in heated rooms without Varia to be the best option. This could have been fixed if the actual path to Varia was more clear about what you needed to do, as I thought I had just trapped myself in an unwinnable battle.

The second half of the game is much more enjoyable. When the game opens up again after unlocking the ship, I found myself really enjoying running around beating bosses and finding random pickups in rooms I couldn't get to before. I had never even found Speed Booster by the time I stumbled across the end of the game.

There are some glitches in this hack that are a bit annoying, but it's nothing too major. The biggest problem was fighting Zazabi without bombs, and that the oil did too much damage. (The high-damage oil is a problem throughout the hack, not just in that fight.) Some of the morph ball obstacles should have been made out of Screw Attack blocks to make navigation easier towards the end of the game. If the glitches are fixed, and the difficulty is balanced into fairness, I may consider replaying this hack. For now, be warned that playing this hack is a challenge, sometimes unfairly so.
Super Made In Metroid 2: The Rinkas Came Back by pontarou [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 0:07
Completed on Normal Difficulty. This is a pretty fun hack once you understand what you're supposed to do. Falling into water that damages you without knowing how to drain it is pretty stressful, but once you know you can change the environment through a few triggers, it's pretty fun. The Ice physics are a bit weird, and there is the glitch where Samus inches forward after landing, but otherwise, it's a mostly solid hack.

P.S. "Form" is misspelled as "From" on the pause menu.
Metroid II EJRTQ Colorization 1.3 Beta by Quantam [M2 Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Good, but not as good as the final version.
Super Metroid Brew by Cardweaver [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 0:12
I didn't realize that you had x-ray and could use it as a flashlight. Still a pretty fun hack, and it looks cool too. It has a nice eerie vibe going for it. I would recommend this; it's pretty fast, and you won't have a bad time.
Super Metroid: Black Plague by JamieWebb16 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
21% in 0:27
This hack is an enjoyable experience. It looks cool, it has a nice atmosphere, and it's fun. The physics changes are a bit weird, and some enemies do too much damage at the beginning, but it's pretty fun. I hope that the finished version comes out at some point, but unfortunately, it does not seem likely.
Metroid: The Blue Plague by Nodever2 [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
50% in 0:28
This was the best hack from the Deep Blue Contest. The blue is done very well and fits in with the rest of the graphics, which look good as well. The progression is also fun, and so are some of the puzzles. A well-made contest hack.
Metroid Fusion Repalette by MollyAncalime, Doc 4non & JKMaxx [MF Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:59
A nice refreshing look at Fusion. I don't like all of the palettes, but most of them are pretty good, and the rest are mostly underwhelming. It's fun to play through again; underwater AQA is beautiful. There are still a few bugs, but nothing too major.
Super Metroid: Depth by Tedicles [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Feb 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
12% in 0:20
A nice, small hack that has a neat atmosphere. It is a bit too dark, but I like the eerie feel it gives to all of the rooms. My main thought going through this hack was: "Thank you for balancing all the enemies to the abilities Samus has!" It is pretty well built and is fun to play; it could use a bit more polish, but it doesn't detract from the whole hack that much. Give this one a try!
Super Metroid: Arrival by Jefe962 [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 21, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
94% in 2:14
This is a fun hack. It looks great and the physics flow pretty well. There are a few annoyances though. There is a bit too much back and forth across the map with little sense of direction, and the hunt for the Chozo Keys is annoying, but it was still fun to play. I recommend playing this.
Super Metroid: space Junk (Not Contest Ver.) by Crystal Knight [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 18, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
97% in 1:15
Overall this was a pretty fun hack to play. I enjoyed the custom graphics. Though there were a few errors still in things like slopes, it didn't really break the flow of gameplay all that much. I also liked the new names for the items. There were some annoying spots, including getting to the pre-Draygon area early and not wasting time thinking I could get up the room, and one of the grapple puzzles was also a bit annoying. Also, the Missile Refill pre-Crocomire does not work. Either way, this is a fun hack, and you should play it.
Stargazer by Ing-ing [MZM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 16, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
95% in 0:33
For a hack that was built in a day, this is really impressive. At first, I felt that SM graphics in ZM looked weird, but it fits this hack's aesthetic really well and does its job. An actually not impossibly hard Ing-Ing hack is a nice thing to see as well. The custom music sounded a bit ear grading at first, but I ended up liking it a lot. Only a couple of complaints, mostly being rios dealing too much damage for when you encounter them, and the final boss is convoluted in its weakness, and it deals too much damage. I think it'd be cool to have a "polished version" to see what it would look like if it had more time, but also still have the "original" 24-hour hack. Overall really fun, I definitely recommend this hack.
Metroid 2: Metroid Purge by Liam Najor [M2 Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 16, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
50% in 0:13
This hack received a complete overhaul on March 13th, 2020, so I am redoing my review based on that version. The overhaul greatly improves the graphical blandness of the original version, though it still has problems. Most of the rooms are visually and structurally better, but the design is still very repetitive. Rooms are devoid of regular enemies still, (I don't know if enemy editing is possible yet.) but some of the Metroid fights are rather creative. I once again stumbled on the queen by accident, but I don't think the save prior trapped me, which is good. I had only killed 4 Metroids up to that point, so I lacked several extra items; as such, my percentage is once again an estimation. Keep up the good work! I hope to see more Metroid II hacks in the future!
Metroid Fusion: Google Translate Edition by kkzero [MF Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 12, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 2:03
Yes, I 100%'d this. The text changes are quite fun to read. I was always looking to see if any of the sentences made any sense. Only a few did. Everything else was pure comedy. You wouldn't think that some lines would change the way they do, but they do, and it's hilarious. Plus, it's Fusion, and Fusion is fun. (Except when your emulator doesn't let certain button combinations register) Overall a fun playthrough. I agree that there is little replay value, but that is to be expected with "Spoof" hacks. I hope that the Google Translate edition of Metroid Prime is just as good. (Though I have no way of playing it)
Rotation by SMILEuser96 [SM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 11, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 2:17
Welcome to Walljumping: The Hack! For such a simple concept, this hack is pretty fun. Most rooms are decently moderate in difficulty to traverse through, which is par for the course considering that Super Metroid is not meant to be played this way. That being said, some rooms absolutely suck. That may have been partially due to the route I took, so I won't take off too much. Plus, they added underwater walljumping to make the rooms possible in the first place so I also can't complain too much. If you are looking for a challenge, this is the hack for you!
Super Metroid: Z-Factor by Metaquarius [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 16, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 8:00
This hack kind of hits a middle ground for me. The level design here is spot on and the rooms look amazing; however, the way you navigate this hack is so convoluted that it takes so long to figure out where to go. The beginning is rather interesting, but the excitement of this hack slowly wanes into tedium to no end. My biggest gripe with this hack is the persistence of the one-way passages. The map is so restrictive in where you can go and when, and most of the major upgrades are behind hard to find paths that take a while to find.

This hack also feels very linear. One item leads to another, and the only sequence breaks I know of involve gate glitches or the Super Secret Room, the latter of which I did. I had heard of the tedium of the Wrecked Ship, so I decided to so the SSR. Using a map and savestates it wasn't too bad, but I can only imagine trying to do it blind with neither of those two things. This brings me to my main complaint: Zaridia. This area is so convoluted and restrictive that a map is almost required to get to Draygon.

In general, the level design of some of these rooms later in the hack feels downright mean. Maybe it's my fault because I decided to go through Lower Norfair before getting Space Jump, (Which is only one hex-edit away from being possible) and I had a bad time. After beating Ridley, I went through the maze that is Zaridia, then backtracked all the way around the world to get to the back of the Wrecked Ship. This would have been more tolerable if there were more ways to navigate through the world in faster ways as you progress.

Despite all those gripes, Tourian was amazing. Everything Meta did with the FX to create this final area is perfect. The escape is pretty brutal though; you HAVE to know where to go or else you will die. There are also a few mean rooms in the escape, (If you've beaten this hack, you know what I mean) but it's pretty fun once you get it down.

Don't get me wrong, I want to like this hack, but there are so many annoying things about playing this hack that I found myself frustrated going through so many places. If you think you're up to the challenge, by all means, play this hack. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Original Score: 3 Chozo Orbs

Edit after my second playthrough:

This hack was much more enjoyable on a second playthrough, and I can more so see why so many people like it. The beginning and Tourian are still great, and I like the custom graphics, but I still found the middle part of the hack becoming dull after a while. Some rooms still feel a bit annoying in design, while paths feel arbitrarily linear. There are lots of circles to loop, and most of them end up with one-way passages that don't stay open after you've used them, causing you to have to make the same loop again later. There are also still a few tiling errors that should be fixed, but I think for the most part it's fine.

Ending Stats on second playthrough:
Time: 7:22
Items: 89%
Ancient Chozo by Albert V. [SM Vanilla+], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Feb 03, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
71% in 2:05
Review rewritten for Version 1.1.0:

This is a good hack that is bogged down by a few minor annoyances. The graphics of this hack are phenomenal. My main gripe is that the hack still feels linear to an extent. Though this is mostly near the beginning of the hack. I found myself very frequently being blocked off by power bomb doors. If they were gone, the hack would be much more open, and less annoyingly streamlined. Later on, the hack opens up, but that's after you get power bombs. This mostly just forces you to take "alternate routes" to get places. You can get to both sides of the door, but you have to go in a giant circle to get from one side to the other.

Main gripe aside, the only other thing that really bugged me was the abundance of 60 damage spikes near the beginning. Without an energy tank, players will find themselves dying a lot, causing them to get annoyed and possibly lose interest.

Other than that, this hack is very good. I do recommend it, but I will keep my rating at 4/5 since there are still some gripes I have with it. I don't really want to go through every opinion I have with this hack because that would take too long. Long story short, play this hack. Once you get past the beginning, you'll have a pretty good time.

Original Stats for Version 1.0.9:
Time: 2:31
Items: 83%
Rating: 4/5
Gist of Review: Half hack done right, amazing graphics, liked music changes. Forcibly linear, Too many spikes, some difficulty spikes, don't let X-ray be missable.
SMContest by SMILEuser96 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 11, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
11% in 0:30
This was quite a neat hack. One of my favorite touches was that the first room of the game explodes when you leave it and is demolished if you re-enter it. The concept was fun with the Remote Bombs. I think they have the potential to be in a larger hack. My main gripe was the fact that the unused enemies would kill you in one hit if you had not collected the well-hidden energy tank. The boss was fun too, but it was still somewhat hard to figure out what you were supposed to do. The puzzle before it was neat, and the end was a surprise. (But I won't spoil it for newcomers)
Super Metroid CRE 2 by Tundain [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Sep 02, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
94% in 0:14
I am consistently impressed with Tundain's ability to use the CRE's tiles in such a versatile way. There's a lot of cleverness with it, and the final boss especially is a treat in this style. The rest of it is still a bit samey. If you're fine with that, you'll probably enjoy this hack. Otherwise, you'll get tired of the grey rather quickly. The gameplay of this hack is good, but it's nothing too special. Recommended.
Super Metroid Alliance by Mentlegen, Tundain, Dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 08, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
75% in 1:17
I have a fair amount of problems with this hack, mostly stemming to a lot of things feeling arbitrary, but it still has enough good qualities that I can't bring myself to rate it 2 orbs. Given that this was a contest hack, it has a lot of room to improve, and it likely will be improved vastly beyond the 1.02 version I played. Be sure to read the latest reviews, too, instead of just judging the hack off of this one.

This hack's graphics feel bland most of the time, and the tiling is rather samey. The rooms are somewhat difficult to distinguish from each other too, which can make it easier to get lost. The music is okay, a little quiet and not too spectacular, but it's a nice change of pace from just having vanilla music.

My biggest issues with this hack come from the map design and layout. Progression feels very arbitrary, especially when it comes to random blockers that you get your "allies" to clear out for you. The one in the fire area is executed very well, and I wish I had seen that concept expanded upon, but the rest are docile at best and obtuse at worst.

Beyond the arbitrary obstacles lies the random-feeling nature of how some major upgrades are placed on the map. Oftentimes, nothing really pulls you in; you just kind of stumble upon them. It's not always obvious how much getting a new upgrade really helps you in the grand scheme of things, or you get a helpful upgrade in a place where you really feel like you should be getting a different one (*cough* why are power bombs where they are?).

The hack also has a very apparent lack of polish. Usually, it's passable and doesn't affect gameplay, but then you stumble into a massive difficulty spike with enemies that deal 50 damage to you as you're walking out of a door. This hack definitely needs some beta testers.

Overall, this is a decent hack with some nice ideas with lackluster execution. I don't recommend this version, but if they give it a good polish in the near future, I'm sure you'll enjoy it then.
Metroid Fusion: Get to the F'n Point! by DestroyerOfAglets [MF Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 28, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
If you play this game a lot, so much so that you don't care about the story at all, play this instead. It basically just lets you focus on the gameplay, keeping the story from wasting your time.
Faster Fusion by Den [MF Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 28, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
If you play this game a lot, so much so that you don't care about the story at all, play this instead. It basically just lets you focus on the gameplay, keeping the story from wasting your time.
Metroid: Extraction by Conner, Exister, Raygun [MZM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 06, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
75% in 0:23
This hack has some neat ideas, but it overall left a sour taste in my mouth due to its poor balancing, especially surrounding its bosses. While the custom music was neat, some of it was also ear grating. I don't know exactly how custom music works for GBAtroids, but I think that some of those songs could have used some instrument changes to help them work with the GBA's sound font more. The new features are a welcome addition, but they're really the only thing bringing this hack up. The overall level design is passable but unremarkable. By far, though, my biggest issue is the boss balancing. The main boss takes forever to kill if you haven't found all the secrets, but one of those secrets is locked behind a secret boss that deals way too much damage and is immune to Super Missiles for some reason. With some rebalancing, I think this hack has potential, but right now (Version 1.2), this hack has a few too many issues for me to be able to enjoy it fully.
Super Metroid CRE by Tundain [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Feb 24, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
72% in 0:30
This hack is kinda fun, and the reimaginings of enemies and bosses using CRE tiles are pretty creative, but nothing else stands out too much. The level flow is pretty good, but I do still have some issues.

The general blockiness of the CRE can be a bit cumbersome to navigate at times. I noticed there were attempts at using roomstates to permanently clear out obstacles, but they were iffy in how often they stayed broken, leading to some unnecessary and annoying backtracking (I'm looking at you, shinespark room). While the hack's use of CRE tiles is creative, it can still get samey at times, and the overabundance of space pirates before you get Spazer, combined with their low drop rates, is also annoying. There's also a lot of vertical door transitions without caps, which can be annoying since you can easily fall right back through them if you didn't jump correctly.

With some polish, I could see this hack earning 4 orbs, but for now, 3 is as much as I can give it.
Metroid - Racing by ShuiJing [MF Speedrun/Race], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I got stuck in the Sector 5 speedboost area that Sapphron was talking about, so I stopped there. It's fun in parts, but other segments overuse crumble blocks. The tiling is also pretty bad. The rest is enjoyable though.
Super Metroid: Substitute Turkey by Crystal_Knight [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 24, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
24% in 0:11
Neat visuals, kind of fun level design, but nothing too spectacular. It's a fun 15ish minute hack.
Super Metroid Clocktoberfest by Aran;Jaeger, moehr [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 01, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I tried to play this hack, but it always felt like it was fighting back at me. I appreciate the attempt at a new visual style, but it doesn't sit well with me because it makes it nigh impossible to tell what is and isn't solid at first glance. This, combined with rather strange color combinations makes room navigation more tedious than it should be. You deal with this all the while trying to find the right way to go, avoiding Space Pirates you can't kill, but easily chip away at your health with no easy way to recover. Even on my third attempt when I actually found the daggers, I still couldn't kill them. After dying again, I just gave up. At least the music is pretty good. Maybe you'll find something in it that I didn't, but I did not enjoy this hack.
Super metroid turbo! by samsamcmoi [SM Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 1:12
Proper timing display: 1:12:51
There are some decent features here, but its nothing groundbreaking. Most of what can be found here can also be found elsewhere. Features like the instant-bomb and the fast text boxes were a welcome addition, but so little else was changed to warrant playing this as a standalone hack. It's nice as a base for a hack that doesn't quite want to use Project Base, but still wants some of the features it offers. The main problem is that the faster door transitions sometimes cause the game to freeze up a bit after Samus has already entered the room. This only lasts for a split second at a time, but it is enough to be annoying. Hopefully, it is fixable. I also have my own opinions about Control Freak, but I will voice them in a sister review.
Seven Star by Mr. Hiryu [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 1:07
This hack is quite odd. The beginning is atrocious, with no sense of direction and required items hidden in stupid places. The tiling is also terrible. It looks ok in the screenshots, but it's actually really bad. The hack gets better later on, turning into a pseudo boss rush, but the entire level design feels uninspired and dull. There are also some physics changes that are hard to get used to and make platforming really wonky. I do not recommend this hack, but it does have some redeeming qualities.
Super Metroid: Ice Returns by Crys/Metaquarius [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Really good graphics with poor gameplay implementation. I stopped playing because the main boss isn't very fair.
Super Metroid: Retaliation Demo by DarkSamus [SM Incomplete], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
7% in 0:13
A decently fun hack with a nice tileset. It doesn't have much else to offer though. My main gripe is the inconsistent sloping of the ground making running quite an annoyance. I hope this gets completed someday, but I don't know if that will happen.
Disturbance by interdpth/raygun [MZM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
84% in 1:29
This is kind of a weird half-hack that has some neat parts and some annoying parts. Starting with the fully-powered suit is a neat change to progression, but it makes the end of the game a bit harder to figure out since you can't go to Tourian. It's still fun to figure out, but there are parts that need to be fixed.
Super Metroid: Containment by reaper901 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
12% in 0:21
The palettes are nice, but the tiling is very lackluster. The progression is short but annoying. Still kind of fun, though.
Marida/Norfair by Crys [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
59% in 1:22
This hack is incredible in concept, but painfully mediocre in execution. I love the idea, but there is so much in this hack that shows me that not enough work was put in to make it work. I doubt Norfair would be completely underwater from the flooding, just the lower areas. Progression is weird and the enemies are not balanced at all. Fish should not be floating in midair in the heated Maridia. Really, the enemy sets should have switched between the areas. There are rooms that make no sense, like rooms full of lava in the flooded Norfair, flooded save rooms in the heated Maridia, and other quirks. This just goes to show that not enough was put into this hack to make it work well. Most unforgivable is that the required route takes you through sand that you can't escape if you fall into it. It's things like this that show how much effort wasn't put into this hack. Some of the rooms look nice with their palette changes, and some of them look absolutely atrocious. Play this hack if you'd like, but don't expect anyting amazing.
Super Metroid: Training Camp by RealRed [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
99% in 0:15
Surprisingly fun for a one-room hack. There are no annoying spike jumps, impossible mockballs, or anything of the sort that you usually see from these kinds of hacks. Some of the orbs take skill to reach, but it's an enjoyable process, and you don't feel mad at the hack after you are done. (For the most part) It could definitely be improved, however. Time calculated RTA after having reached every item sphere.
Wet Winter by Crys [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
12% in 0:13
It's short, it's a bit fun, it looks good, but it's nothing too special.
Rainbow City by squishy_ichigo [SM Incomplete], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Though neat hack with nice graphical edits, this hack suffers from samey level design and some poor design choices. There is a severe lack of direction, and you don't get enough missiles. I wish that this could be a finished product.
Super Metroid: Crystal Flash Training by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 19, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
226% in 0:05
This hack does exactly what it sets out to do. A fun little experience with little else to offer. If you want to get better at crystal flashing, this hack is for you.
Super Metroid: Escape from Norfair by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:02
An actually kind of fun hack. It could have used more polish, but it's still ok. As the screenshots suggest, use savestates.
Super Metroid Exertion by Mentlegen [SM Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 16, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
37% in 0:59
A relatively blue hack that is a good showcase of the 4 suits feature. Quite a buggy hack (I played 1.1, they may have been fixed in 1.2) that does what it needs to do, and does it right. Looking forward to seeing the 4 suits in a full hack! The concept has a lot of potential.
Metroid Fusion C.L.E.A.N. Station by Mar99troid [MF Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 18, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
69% in 1:07
A nice Fusion hack that unfortunately is really mean about hiding where you are supposed to go. There are still a lot of bugs to iron out, but it is fun to play once you figure out what to do.
Super Metroid Containment Chamber by Lioran [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 17, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
An interesting hack with a lot of really difficult puzzles. The difficulty level is Expert as there many of the puzzles require mastery of advanced techniques not known to most players. Some of the puzzles are gratifying to figure out, and some are rather frustrating head-scratchers. It's a well-built hack that thankfully is quite forgiving if you mess up. It's really good for helping you learn advanced techniques if that's what you're into, otherwise, you won't get half of these puzzles. If you already know the techniques, you will have a blast. It's not for everyone, but it's a good hack nonetheless.
Super Metroid: Equilibrium by Shadow96 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jan 18, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
30% in 0:18
I enjoyed the new things the hack had to offer, at least the ones I found. There were some neat spots, but also frustrating ones. A gripe I have is that there is no indication of how to use the Gravity Boost when you get it, but more frustrating was the silhouetted Botwoon. I was probably supposed to have the thermal visor there, but I couldn't fund it, and when I looked around a bit and wandered back to my ship, the hack just ended. Buggy hack, interesting graphics. I hope to see the new upgrades in a full hack someday. (Completion stats are estimates)
Super Metroid 32 by snipereighteen [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jan 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Decent hack with nice thematics. The Metroids at the beginning add a lot to an eeriness factor but are also frustrating without the ability to kill them. The tiling is somewhat bland, but it still looks decent. Unfortunately, this hack is not complete, though it's still fun until the Bomb Torizo fight. Just no.
Super Metroid Redirect by j2001m [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 03, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
101% in 2:23
Review written for version 1.2

This is a decent half hack of project base. That being so, it is harder to tell exactly what was made by the hack maker, and what was originally in project base. Either way, this hack, despite moving the items around, feels way to vanilla. Most rooms flow in almost the same way, and a lot aren't even changed at all. The original rooms, for the most part, are pretty good though.

The other main problem with the hack is the way some of the redirection is implemented. In my own playthrough, I wasn't really redirected by not having the necessary upgrades to proceed, but it was by arbitrary blockages. Locked doors, one-way passages, solid tiles that cut rooms in half requiring you to take a massive loop to get to the other side, these are the main culprits, but they are all really frustrating.

Overall, a nice first hack, but it has a lot of flaws that need to be sanded down. There isn't that much about it that makes it stand out either. Not recommended to those who do not like half-hacks, and somewhat recommendable to someone who just wants to play a hack.
Super Metroid: Redesign by Drewseph [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 19, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
78% in 11:07
I'm going to go aside from my rant from earlier. This hack... I don't fully know how to describe it. The physics changes catch you off guard, and they make platforming very awkward. The hack itself is well built, many rooms are fun to go through, but often times the physics ruin the experience. That isn't the only gripe I have though. This hack is overly linear, and progression is incredibly slow. Some rooms catch you completely off guard with either enemies or the environment. This will lead to many deaths, often times far from the last save point.
By the way, 95% of save points are not marked on the map, making them sometimes hard to find and/or remember the location of. The only save station that is marked on the map is the last save station in the game.
Wall jumping is incredibly clunky and it seems inconsistent which platforms will and won't let you wall jump, and sometimes it seems very arbitrary. There are many places where, if you fall, you have to go in another circle to get back to where you were, but if you could wall jump, it would save lots of time. It seems this hack doesn't like you going fast at all. Power bombs do not destroy shot blocks, forcing you to take more time to slowly bomb your way through them.
Many paths are also very punishing when you fail. Often times with a lava or acid pit that you cannot escape, leading to even more death. This is specially compounded by the lack of save stations, which are incredibly sparce.
Another problem lies with the puzzles required to get items. These puzzles are punishing and cruel in many ways. Crumble blocks force you to do them again, and the rewards are very small, often in the form of 2 missiles. Many rooms also annoyingly require the wall jump, but it's physics are so hard to work with that falling is almost guaranteed. Morph lock is awful and is used in the stupidest of ways.
Tourian actually wasn't too bad, once I figured out the Drewtroids. I actually had fun with it. My main problem was the escape. You know an escape has overstayed its welcome when the screen flashing starts to hurt your eyes. The kill rooms with rising lava and acid were also annoying, as well as the unnecessary addition of Metroids.
I should probably stop ranting and conclude that this hack is well built in most places, but if it had vanilla physics, it would actually be pretty good. By the way, come in armed with a full map, and save states.
Super Metroid: Even Less Ambitious by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 11, 2017 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:18
I liked the concept of this hack very much, but the way everything was hidden was frustrating. (I know that's the point, but you catch my drift) The fact that you have to trek back to the ship if you miss a shot with a temple key gets annoying quite quickly. I frequently found myself completely lost, resorting to turning off layer 2 to figure out what I was supposed to do. I did however like the boss only being weak to the temple keys, and the convenient save right before it. (Just don't die during the escape.) Again, I liked the concept, but the execution could have been better.
Super metroid familiar by Tundain [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 14, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
55% in 2:04
This hack definitely feels familiar, but usually not in the best way. I am a fan of a lot of vanilla-esque hacks, though, so I gave it a shot. The most accurate way I can describe this hack is a demented version of Rotation. The description is right that you can usually tell what room something was built from, but they're often rotated 90 degrees in a way that doesn't work.

The tiling in this hack is mediocre at best and poor at worst. It usually gets the job done, but it's nothing eye-popping. The level design in this hack is bizarre at times, mediocre at other times, and downright irritating at other times. The worst offenders were the unnecessarily prevalent rising liquid (of any kind) rooms. That alone marred my experience of this hack enough to give it a 2 instead of a 3.

If you also really like vanilla hacks, you'll probably enjoy this one, but otherwise, you don't really need to play this hack.
Super Metroid: Zeran Demo by Alexi Laiho [SM Incomplete], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 28, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Has a decent beginning, but a general lack of direction and lack of polish make it hard to keep up the motivation to continue. I won't dissuade you from playing it, though. There's some interesting stuff here, and I'm sure you'll find more as you progress further than I did.
Metroid: Flying in the sky by jasinchen [MZM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 11, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I guess you're not supposed to take this hack very seriously, but I didn't find it fun at all. It's super short, though, so I didn't lose that much time playing it.
Super Ethical Metroid by dewhi100 [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 07, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
84% in 1:46
While I agree with this hack's message, most of it is just mediocre. The thing that makes this hack a 2 orb and not a 3 orb is the "Error" area. The more I found myself there, the more I actively disliked it. Not only is it hard to navigate, but it's also slow and painful, too. Even when you get the ability to see there, the constant flashing hurts my eyes, and it still only halfway solves the issue of sight. Not only that, but the lack of a map for most of it and the intertwining and looping nature of the doors is annoyingly confusing. As for the rest of the hack, I find its tiling subpar and its sense of progression lackluster. I beat the hack, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. Most of it was a lull, and the rest was actively annoying.
SM HotSurface by Benox50 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 03, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack has some nice ideas, and you can see where some of the ideas for Ascent started out, but this hack doesn't really stand well on its own. Too many things are broken or not built correctly that the hack can be annoying to play at times. I didn't finish because I went in a circle a few times, and the lack of a map meant I had no idea where I had been or where I could go. It's nice that this hack exists, but it's not something you need to play.
Super Metroid Weekend II by dewhi100 [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 27, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack was made in a weekend and it really shows. The tiling is pretty terrible and the rooms are weird. Progression is also strange and it's easy to die. I never found a save, so after dying to a random desgeega with no E-tanks, I just stopped playing. Not recommended.
Super Metroid: Destroy Bosses by TheOrigin [SM Boss Rush], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 20, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It's a very basic boss rush that is executed well enough to function, but it's still not that great. There's plenty of tiling errors and possible permastucks. I didn't finish the hack because I didn't have enough ammo after Ridley and couldn't get to Mother Brain. It's probably the most straightforward boss rush you'll see, so I recommend it if you are looking for that. Otherwise, no.
Samus Goes To The Fridge To Get A Glass Of Milk by kkzero [MF Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 02, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
9% in 0:01
An interesting and kind of funny showcase that doesn't do much else than what it intends to do. Play for a quick laugh.
Scavenger 120 by SmokeyTB125 [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack has an interesting concept, but it fails in execution. It seems simple enough, go from one number to the next, with each number telling you what item is next and what area it's in. The catch is, other than the numbers and the extra items, this hack is almost exactly the same as vanilla, except for where the items are. Basically, this hack is a Plando where a lot of the major upgrades are in spots where there are not normally items.
What happens due to this is one of two things:
1. You know where to go, but the area is completely unbalanced to what items you have, so you easily die, or
2. You know what area the item is in, but absolutely nothing else, aimlessly wandering, finding nigh-useless pickups with no sense of direction.
This lack of direction hit hardest in Norfair during the search for the grapple beam. Naturally, I checked its vanilla spot just in case, but it wasn't there, leading me to check all of the post grapple rooms, completely unchanged, without grapple. I then scoured the entirety of Norfair to no avail before finding the giant number nine in the room above where the Ice Beam normally is, only to find it hidden above the screen behind a shot block. That item, along with most of the other items, sent me across the entire map with little rhyme or reason as to why I was going to where I had to go.
I was originally going to finish this hack, but then I encountered #10, Hi-Jump, in Big Pink. The game suddenly departed from it's half-hackiness and had some invisible blocks around Hi-Jump, which was itself in a shot block next to the grapple blocks, one of them breakable but none of them useful, in the middle of Big Pink. After a while, I gave up on the hack, tired of putting up with its nonsense. There are a few other things that are annoying with this hack too, mostly the palette changes that don't fit with the environments at all, but I've gone on for long enough. This hack need a serious overhaul before I'm willing to go back to it, and unless that happens, you should stay away from it too.
Rise by begrimed [SM Speedrun/Race], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 22, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Super Metroid: Rise? More like Super Metroid: Falling! Ha ha! In all seriousness, though, this hack made me angry, so much so that I couldn't be bothered to try and finish it. This hack is made up mostly of long vertical shafts that force some precision platforming. Oh, and did I mention the janky physics you're expected to master? The first few rooms are ok, if annoying, especially given the constant knockback you'll be getting from Metroids. Just hope that you figure out that you can bomb enemies to get health back since your beam won't kill them. If you didn't find that out, you're screwed! The next room is heated, and as far as I know, it is not possible to get to the top of the egregiously tall tower without healing. It's doable, but annoying, especially with having to platform on 1/4 tile platforms. Just hope you don't accidentally spin jump or you're probably going to miss! This is where the hack began to fall apart.
The next major room features suitless underwater, a great thing to throw at players early in the hack while they're still getting used to new physics, especially when their wall jump for some reason is twice as high as their normal jump while underwater. There are enemies you can freeze to try to use as platforms, but they're more of a nuisance than a help, as trying to freeze them in a good spot where you can platform off them successfully is quite challenging.
If you've made it this far, you'll probably have run into a few saves, and maybe an E-tank. Then, you either will find a dead end, or fall into a room with Draygon in it! Not only does your beam do nothing to Draygon, but if you die, your save loads in Draygon's room! You probably have to bomb him, but I couldn't be bothered to try. I gave up soon after.
This hack tries to pull off its gimmick well, but it falls flat on its face with clunky physics, annoying level design, and an unforgivingness that will make you want to stop playing. I can see the appeal for some, but this hack is selective in its audience. At least it looks nice.
Samus' Turkey Journey by Sapphron [MZM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
90% in 0:06
A short hack that is kind of fun, but also quite lacking. Given how quickly it was created, it's hard to expect more. There are some neat things, and some decent designs, but there isn't enough to make the whole thing worth it. If a new version is released that fixes the main bugs and graphical issues, I may give it 3 orbs.
The One Room Hack by Digital_Mantra [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 27, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Nice tiling, not so nice hack.
Tenka by Mr. Hiryu [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 27, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:14
I was having an ok time until I got stuck in some respawning Speed Booster Blocks, so I looked in SMILE what the rest of the hack was, decided it wasn't worth it, and stopped playing. I'm therefrom copying Aran;Jaeger's time because that's probably what mine would've turned out about. This hack is ok, but it's rather poorly executed. The solutions to the puzzles aren't that great, and the whole thing is just a mess. You may have some fun, but be warned. The hack may fight back.
Control Freak by Kejardon [SM Improvement], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
65% in 1:12
This is a sister review to mine of the hack Super Metroid Turbo, as that hack uses this feature.
I get the idea behind this, but it doesn't really work for me. It may work for some, but I too often found myself accidentally firing off a Super Missile, or shooting in a random direction, or getting confused on how to navigate the HUD that the new controls detracted from my experience. Also, Grapple really shouldn't operate with the same controls as Missiles do, requiring holding down an extra button or two depending on how you want to fire the beam. It makes precision grappling a lot more clunky and annoying. Overall, some people may welcome this change, but I would rather stick to the original controls.
Metroid: Zero Mission - Chozo Hint Statue Removal by spiffy [MZM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This should probably be under resources, but it could operate as its own hack if you really just want to play ZM without the statues.
Lunar Pull by Cardweaver [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Interesting but frustrating. Not for the faint of heart.
Vermifugal by alexman25 [MZM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
16% in 0:00
This hack is extremely broken, but it has a few redeeming qualities. If it is beatable, I didn't figure out how. I would recommend it if it were not broken.
Playground by Cardweaver [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
15% in 0:35
The hack has some neat ideas, but is very convoluted in progression, hiding required paths in very stupid ways. The Ridley fight was also awful.
Super Metroid: Aggressive by TheOrigin [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:06
This hack reminded me a bit of VVVVVV in its level design. It's kind of fun, but it lacks easy recovery of progress after death, so try not to die. Good for learning how to navigate in the morph ball, though for some, you're probably better off playing B2-TW.
Super Metroid: Apocalypse by DarkSamus [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack has pretty poor gameplay, lacking a lot of polish. This is evident in the many permastucks I found before stopping. It looks nice though.
Escape from Metroid Zero Mission by uNsane [MZM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
40% in 1:04
This hack is annoyingly difficult at the beginning, with some stupid points of progression, but it becomes a lot less annoying once you get Ice beam, then it just becomes vanilla Zero Mission. The beginning of the hack made me hate Metroids more than any other hack I've played, but then it just became a meh hack. The new tileset looks ok, but some other parts look terrible. Overall, it's ok once you get past the beginning, but still not recommended.
Super Metroid: True Boss Rush by KT JDDD [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
57% in 0:17
A very basic hack that does what it sets out to do. It's set up more decently than I would have thought, but it doesn't do anything too out of the ordinary. An ok boss rush, if you like that kind of stuff, but not much value otherwise.
Yonpi ks One Room - TR by Yonpi [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 04, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:15
It's pretty bad and annoying, but at least you get Gravity.
Legend of Doom by devonodev [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 03, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:07
Decently annoying at some points, but nothing too terribly offensive. A decent challenge if you're into that kind of stuff
Super Metroid: Phantoon Challenge by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
113% in 0:06
The Missile spam is real. Not too difficult if you know what you're doing.
Super Metroid: Space Colony Revenger by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
0% in 0:03
An interesting idea for a hack that has very poor execution. Not worth a play unless you like having a challenge beating Ceres Ridley.
KT JDDD Halloween by KT JDDD [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on May 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
20% in 0:15
An interesting challenge to play, but not very user-friendly. Don't waste any supplies! Slightly spooky, since nothing is quite as it seems, but mostly just a meh hack.
GR2 Halfhack2 by GR2 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on May 13, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack has a lot of neat things, but also a lot of annoying half-hacky design quirks that make you not want to play it at all. Just keep in mind that one of the inspirations for this hack is Super Metroid Impossible.
Metroid Depression by Silver Wing [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Oct 18, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:00
This hack is extremely glitchy, uninteresting, and poorly tiled. It's not particularly difficult to screw up the camera, which makes it easy to fall out of bounds, which is what happened to me about 15 rooms in. The glitchiness alone makes this a hack I cannot recommend.
420 spike landing site cre edit insta death barf kraid grapple clip hack by H A M [SM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on May 24, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
5% in 0:05
Why does this hack exist? There may be an interesting idea in there with the escape trigger, but it's so underwhelming, and the rest of the hack is so unpolished, that playing this hack is pointless. You will not gain anything from playing this hack, so don't.
Super Metroid Gráfico Reserva by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 28, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It's just Super Metroid but worse. I guess the whole "reserve graphics" thing is supposed to mean that if there are 2 possible palettes for an area, he switched it to the opposite one? It's so pointless, though. There's a reason the developers chose the palettes they did. All the other changes to the gameplay just serve to make the game worse. Do not play this hack.
Metroid - Fusion Limit Operation (Earth Man Edition) by Meilove [MF Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 28, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is the pinnacle of terrible design, oftentimes worse than you would see in bad NES games. I bring that up in particular because not only are the rooms in this hack stupidly hard, but they also expect you to just know what is and isn't solid ahead of time. Random blocks and walls won't be solid, and required progression is locked behind these. Not only that, but it feels like this hack was designed around crumble blocks. Now that would be more acceptable in SM, but Fusion and ZM's crumble blocks are exceptionally difficult to jump off of, so you'll probably spend most of your time in this hack attempting jumps over and over again until you hit the super-precise window you need to hit to jump off them.

Stay far away from this hack.
Super Metroid 9yin Version 2 by GuduJimoYigeren [SM Exploration], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Apr 28, 2022 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
When I booted up the hack and saw that the landing site expected me to do some blind jumps, then it had the audacity to expect me to trust it by having me run on air, I knew I wouldn't enjoy it. I promptly closed the game and deleted all traces of it from my computer.

Do not play this hack.
Super Metroid FL by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Sep 01, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
A very generic and arbitrary half hack. There's no rhyme or reason to any of the whacky design decisions you find here, and none of them serve to make playing it fun in the slightest. There's nothing particularly offensive, but there's also nothing of value here. Avoid this hack.
Metroid: Chaos Mission by biospark [MZM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 30, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is a horribly broken mess that is prone to crashing, spawning in random enemies, corrupting graphics, and making an overall terrible time. Skip over this hack.
Metroid Fusion Zero by Meilove [MF Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 29, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Incomplete, broken, basically unplayable. Stay away from this.
Super Metroid: Mission Bicho by don gato pato [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Dec 23, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
4% in 0:10
Aran;Jaeger's run is so much shorter than Sapphron's because he encountered a gamebreaking glitch. I encountered no such glitch, but I stopped at around the same spot becase this hack was not worthwhile for me to finish. The intro is neat if you know Spanish, but the rest of the hack is absolute trash. Do not play this.
Super Metroid: HasKemBeerT by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 27, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It's bad. I didn't bother finishing it. Do not play this.
Super Metroid: Dismet by RealRed [SM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 26, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
962% in 0:29
It's hard to believe that this hack was made by the same guy who made Hyper Metroid. Do not play this hack. It has bad palettes, bad level design, bad crashes, bad softlocks, bad everything. Just play Hyper instead.
Missile Door Hack by Trunaur68 [MZM Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This really should be under resources, not hacks. Don't play this. Only use this as a resource if you really want your hacks to have "that old, retro feel."
Good Fun Rush by BFrobber [SM Boss Rush], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I refuse to play this hack because of the instant kill floors that randomly show up in the landing site. It might be an ok boss rush, but if you're going to start a hack like that, most people will not get that far.
Warfare by Bolognab [SM Boss Rush], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Nov 25, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is awful. Do not play it. There are much better boss rushes out there.
Sam & Phazar's Halloween Hack by Phazar [SM Quick Play], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
4% in 0:03
This hack is very basic. It doesn't look good, there are a lot of ways to easily die, and it's not really fun.
Super Metroid: Kaizo Edition by Green Samus [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
You know a hack is going to be bad when the hack itself asks you why you downloaded it.
Super Metroid: Perspective by ZENE09 [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:04
From my point of view, this hack is bad. Also, it's not completable to my knowledge.
Super Metroid: Patience by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 10, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 5:17
I completely understand why Vismund got so mad about this hack. This hack is easily one of the worst hacks I have ever played. The progression in this hack is incredibly obtuse, forcing you to go back and forth across the map through the same godawful rooms for every major upgrade. A lot of the hack is vanilla, but the parts that aren't are 50 times worse. I had to look in SMILE several times to figure out what I was supposed to do. The rooms are not fun to traverse through, especially after the fiftieth time, and the random door warp makes little sense. There are points in this hack where it seems that progress is impossible for one stupid reason or another, but the solution is on the other side of the map, in one random room you couldn't check the last time you were there. I had to stop playing this hack several times because it was so infuriating to try to play. Do yourself a favor and never play this hack. It's abhorred.
Super Metroid: Insane Escape by pedro123 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Aug 05, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
% in 0:18
Y'know, escapes are supposed to have direction. This hack has almost no direction. In addition to the problems mentioned by Sapphron, this hack fails in every aspect of its purpose.
Super Metroid: Down by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:07
Not fun at all. Do not play this.
Super Metroid: Beam Combo by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
21% in 0:08
This hack is not fun, and it doesn't really help you out with using the Ice SBA in very useful ways either.
Titanic Ceres Arena by Jathys [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 24, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack does not function and is unplayable.
Super Metroid: Marathon by BoostGuardian [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
13% in 0:05
I literally just held the run button, a direction, and the fast forward button through half this hack.
Super Metroid: Dark by DarkSamus [SM Incomplete], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
2% in 0:05
There's not much to say because there isn't much there. It's confusing, part of it looks like a scrambled puzzle, and it is very unremarkable.
Super Metroid: Desafio by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 20, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
There is little point to this hack existing. It's not fun, and the tricks it has you pull off are not something you would encounter in any other hack. Do not play this.
TAS Practice by Tyjet66 [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 13, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Unless you are a human TASer, don't play this hack.
Arena 2 by Jathys [SM Boss Rush], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
It would be neat to play if it actually worked, but if you can't play the hack, it isn't worth squat.
Metroid 2: Challenge by RT-55J [M2 Spoof], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 0:01
It's the first Metroid 2 hack, but it's not the first real Metroid 2 hack. Only good if you want an easy way to get the best ending in Metroid 2.
One Room ZM Hack by interdpth [MZM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 09, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Just no.
Avenger's Hack 2 by Ult. Avenger [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
6% in 0:05
Not much to this hack. It's not that well designed, and it looks pretty terrible.
Escape by devonodev [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
8% in 0:19
Just another one of those one-room-landing-site hacks that throw you into a bunch of annoying situations with 60-damage spikes. It isn't worth your time.
Enigma by Quietus [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
3% in 0:05
At least it doesn't look terrible, but it's still pretty bad. Not much point in playing this.
Ridley's Challenge by squishy_ichigo [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jul 01, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
I wanted to try and finish this hack, but it's absolutely atrocious design made me quit. I was glad I did. I looked at the hack in SMILE and saw the absolute garbage it tries to make you do to progress. Parts that I experienced included:

- Wall Jumping around 60 damage spikes with no E-tanks and an energy refill that's annoying to get to.

- A morph maze requiring Mockballing through a tight gap that also randomly had solid blocks, hiding progression behind random blocks being shootable or bombable.

- One of those mazes where every square looks the same, but some are actually different. Some of them drop you into lava where you most certainly will die.

- Terrible puzzle Design.

Overall, the tiling is ok, but everything else is excruciating. Do not play this.
Super MockMetroid 2 by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Don't you just love super tight Mockballing around 60 damage spikes with very little chance to refill?
Super MockMetroid by pedro123 [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 08, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
A very poorly designed hack that may help you in some situations, but there are so many better ways to learn how to Mockball than this. Do not play this.
Super Metroid: Lunatic Insane Hard by jailsonmendes [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 07, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
0% in 0:02
You know a hack goes beyond a reasonable challenge when part of the solution is impossible to find without looking at it in SMILE.
Super Metroid Impossible Redesigned by pathomSM [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Mar 11, 2019 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
This hack is not worth your time. I've played hacks like this before, and I have never beaten a single one of them for one reason: they aren't fun. Being hard for the sake of being hard is almost never the way to go when making a hack. (It also reinforces the stereotype that this is all that ROM hacks are.) When players encounter situations where the game is being cheap, or unnecessarily punishing, it makes want to stop playing; this happens a lot in this hack. My hope is that the author takes the criticism of this hack and goes and makes a much better hack because this is not worth your time to try to play.
Ferrawrd II by crimsonsunbird [SM Unknown], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 22, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
No completion stats.
Welcome to another episode of how to not hack Super Metroid!

Today's Episode: Totally fun wall jumping puzzles in every room.

Featuring:
Single wall wall jumping!
Mid air morphing!
Spikes!
Water!
Taunting you with the fact that you don't have powerbombs!
Heat Runs!
Horrid Palettes!
Permastucks!
Level design choices that make no sense!
Falling!
And anger!
Good Fun Times by BFrobber [SM Challenge], rated by MetroidNerd#9001 on Jun 22, 2018 (Star Star Star Star Star )
7% in 0:12
Just don't play this hack. It's not worthwhile to try to figure out.