Top Hacks
Introduction --
Best Aesthetics --
Most Creative Gameplay --
Best Quick Play --
Best Challenge --
Best Exploration --
Worst Hack --
Best Overall --
Closure
Closure 2011
Honorable Mention: Super Metroid: Redesign
What is this, you might ask? This is a way to give mention to the great hacks of yesteryear which may have been nominated for TopHacks, but were not receiving of any TopHacks awards, or otherwise are too old to have received the same honor. Why Redesign? Well, let me tell you.
Back in the days of yore, there were a good few notable hackers or editor creators, the ones noted for the creation of this hack being Drewseph, the author; Jathys, the creator of SMILE and contributor of ASM to the project; and Kejardon, MathOnNapkins, and jman2050, who otherwise tuned Super Metroid's engine specifically for the creation of this project. Despite being the most publicized hack of its time, and the one that spurred the popularity of the now mostly defunct #jzd, m2k2 hacking boards, and this site years later - not to mention many other would-be hackers into creating their own spectacular projects - it is an excellent hack overall, but not one without flaws.
Most beams have been tweaked to more Prime-like standards - power beam is fast but weak, ice beam is slow but freezes targets, wave travels through obstacles but is otherwise average in performance - which, more often than not, leads to some enemies taking too many shots before dying until the end of the game, which is more an annoyance than anything. Some cases even involve enemies that are invincible unless killed with weapons that have limited ammunition, which is often more limited than you'd like - usually expansions for missiles give you two extra instead of five, and you use them quite a bit. Another problem, which you run into in Brinstar after gaining Super Missiles, is enemies that kill you in two hits - ouch! The ones I speak of are the giant Sidehoppers, and touching them twice sends you straight back to a save point. One is encountered near to charge beam, and two more you find if you go too far to the right later on.
There are other little niggling things about the hack, but you didn't read up to this to hear me bitch. The game is fairly balanced overall; despite some unforgiving deaths, and even more unforgiving learning curves in some places, let's list the positives:
- The new physics: Okay, so this isn't totally positive. However, for those of you who absolutely hated how floaty Samus was in the original game (who didn't expect that? You're on an alien planet in a space suit with additional functions for movement control and explorability), you were in luck. Samus moves faster overall, and is quicker to respond in many cases. Walljumping was slightly tougher, but no problem for a certified pro. Speaking of walljumping...
- The new treasures: Samus is a bounty hunter, right? Well, she gots the treasure. Despite two features already present in vanilla being removed initially, they were reimplemented as powerups - the walljump boots, and the beam combo. It was a homage to the two games that preceeded Super Metroid, where Samus could not combine beams nor walljump. The balance of Redesign takes this into account, and presents them to the player in a more nostalgic fashion. And last, but not least...
- The new level design: You thought you knew Zebes? Think again. New landscapes, special vertical terrain that can't be walljumped from, reflectors to be shot with missiles to unlock new places, a brutal heat run through the depths of superheated Norfair, caverns to get lost in, twelve different statues to find and unlock - the fun never gets old. Quality control over exploration may have been slightly lacking, but there were little number in corridors that ended in absolutely nothing for the player to find. It most certainly would have won Best Exploration and Best Challenge back in the day were Metconst alive then.
Overall, this was a great hack for its time. Quite a few enthusiastic hackers today have attempted to reuse its content in their own creations - some to success, others in vain. Today, it has aged a bit; the view of the community has since shifted from hacks of difficulty to ones that simply challenge the player in the most creative way possible. Even if some parts may be tedious, though, it is still a great hack. As our lord Drewseph says: OMFG!
I hope you enjoyed this year's TopHacks production, fellow Metconstians! I look forward to your nominations next year! Until then, keep on hacking, Metconst!
- Zhs2
What is this, you might ask? This is a way to give mention to the great hacks of yesteryear which may have been nominated for TopHacks, but were not receiving of any TopHacks awards, or otherwise are too old to have received the same honor. Why Redesign? Well, let me tell you.
Back in the days of yore, there were a good few notable hackers or editor creators, the ones noted for the creation of this hack being Drewseph, the author; Jathys, the creator of SMILE and contributor of ASM to the project; and Kejardon, MathOnNapkins, and jman2050, who otherwise tuned Super Metroid's engine specifically for the creation of this project. Despite being the most publicized hack of its time, and the one that spurred the popularity of the now mostly defunct #jzd, m2k2 hacking boards, and this site years later - not to mention many other would-be hackers into creating their own spectacular projects - it is an excellent hack overall, but not one without flaws.
Most beams have been tweaked to more Prime-like standards - power beam is fast but weak, ice beam is slow but freezes targets, wave travels through obstacles but is otherwise average in performance - which, more often than not, leads to some enemies taking too many shots before dying until the end of the game, which is more an annoyance than anything. Some cases even involve enemies that are invincible unless killed with weapons that have limited ammunition, which is often more limited than you'd like - usually expansions for missiles give you two extra instead of five, and you use them quite a bit. Another problem, which you run into in Brinstar after gaining Super Missiles, is enemies that kill you in two hits - ouch! The ones I speak of are the giant Sidehoppers, and touching them twice sends you straight back to a save point. One is encountered near to charge beam, and two more you find if you go too far to the right later on.
There are other little niggling things about the hack, but you didn't read up to this to hear me bitch. The game is fairly balanced overall; despite some unforgiving deaths, and even more unforgiving learning curves in some places, let's list the positives:
- The new physics: Okay, so this isn't totally positive. However, for those of you who absolutely hated how floaty Samus was in the original game (who didn't expect that? You're on an alien planet in a space suit with additional functions for movement control and explorability), you were in luck. Samus moves faster overall, and is quicker to respond in many cases. Walljumping was slightly tougher, but no problem for a certified pro. Speaking of walljumping...
- The new treasures: Samus is a bounty hunter, right? Well, she gots the treasure. Despite two features already present in vanilla being removed initially, they were reimplemented as powerups - the walljump boots, and the beam combo. It was a homage to the two games that preceeded Super Metroid, where Samus could not combine beams nor walljump. The balance of Redesign takes this into account, and presents them to the player in a more nostalgic fashion. And last, but not least...
- The new level design: You thought you knew Zebes? Think again. New landscapes, special vertical terrain that can't be walljumped from, reflectors to be shot with missiles to unlock new places, a brutal heat run through the depths of superheated Norfair, caverns to get lost in, twelve different statues to find and unlock - the fun never gets old. Quality control over exploration may have been slightly lacking, but there were little number in corridors that ended in absolutely nothing for the player to find. It most certainly would have won Best Exploration and Best Challenge back in the day were Metconst alive then.
Overall, this was a great hack for its time. Quite a few enthusiastic hackers today have attempted to reuse its content in their own creations - some to success, others in vain. Today, it has aged a bit; the view of the community has since shifted from hacks of difficulty to ones that simply challenge the player in the most creative way possible. Even if some parts may be tedious, though, it is still a great hack. As our lord Drewseph says: OMFG!
I hope you enjoyed this year's TopHacks production, fellow Metconstians! I look forward to your nominations next year! Until then, keep on hacking, Metconst!
- Zhs2
