MrAndyG's Ratings and Reviews
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Metroid: Scrolls 6 by Conner, OneOf99, CaptGlitch, JRP [MZM Exploration], rated by MrAndyG on Feb 25, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
95% in 1:40
WOW! This is one of the best hacks I've ever played. There are just so many positive things I can say here. I made it a point to try and clear it with 100% of items on my first run, but the end of the game kinda caught me off guard. Everything in this hack is just fantastic. The tilesets, the music, the alternate color palettes for enemies, the custom morph ball cannons (reminded me of MP2). All the different areas actually felt like totally different environments, which some hacks don't properly accomplish. The simple change of names to items you pick up was a very nice touch, and the collectable runes mechanic was well done too! Aside from some extremely minor minor issues, like I noticed one of the crystals in Mons had the top half covering Samus while the bottom half didn't, this is basically a flawless hack. Some items were extremely easy to find, while others made you literally run around the map to get them (kinda like Spider Ball in Metroid II), which I did enjoy. Now to find the final items...
Metroid SR387 by OneOf99 and NathanTech [MZM Exploration], rated by MrAndyG on Aug 05, 2021 (Star Star Star Star Star )
100% in 1:32
Original time was 52:53
I plan on updating this review, but I managed to do some sequence breaking here. Shortly after you enter Phazon Mines theres a long crumble block platform that I horizontal bomb jumped over. From there, I fought Kraid and got Speed Booster, went up to Research, and straight to Headquarters and fought Mother Brain. I'm gonna go back through and try to collect 100% of the items, as my only progress items are Charge Beam, Bombs, Screw Attack, and Speed Booster. But I enjoyed almost everything so far! As others have said, there are many large rooms that can be condensed, but the difficulty is comparable to vanilla, was pretty chill to playthrough. My main gripe is the escape sequence after fighting MB, I didn't like how you had to do trial and error to pick the right path to escape. Now, to go back and get everything!
I didnt make note of it previously but I love the music. The remix of the Fusion track in Mines is beautiful. Staying in Mines, I noticed two or three tiling errors, theres a long cold room near the bottom, right above Imago, and theres some blank tiles where there should be a solid block.
Other than those little issues, this was a solid hack! It definitely became easier once I actually had Ice Beam and Phazon Suit. The hardest expansion for me (of all of them, like really?) was a Missile pack behind a blue crack in the wall near the center of Command. Final time was a whopping 1:32:39
Super Metroid - GBA Edition by The Brothers Crafters [MZM Exploration], rated by MrAndyG on Dec 21, 2020 (Star Star Star Star Star )
82% in 1:33
Very good hack! While I did enjoy this hack, there were some things I'd like to criticize. First, there were some occasional spriting issues, such as when you get in the ship after fighting Mother Brain, you can see Samus poking out from underneath the ship. Aside from that and other minor visual bugs, the spritework was overall very well done, green soil Brinstar was a beautiful recreation. Another issue I encountered was in Maridia, where you have the two sand rooms with the one-tile-wide drops to items, they were quite finicky to actually enter, took me about half a minute to position myself perfectly. Otherwise this was a very good recreation of SM, I was happy with the inclusion of Crocomire, though conversely I was a little upset there was no Phantoon, or at least a replacement for it. The Spazer Beam inclusion was a pleasant surprise, and it made combat pretty trivial. Similarly, I feel the bosses at least should have been significantly buffed. Imago was fine, but Kraid and Ridley should have been way harder. Three Supers on Kraid like vanilla ZM was too quick, and Ridley died with just two regular charged shots, no missiles needed. Barring the issues I've listed, it was so much fun to play through, one and a half hours very well spent. And most importantly, though there's no special ending scene for it, you can save the animals!