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[Guest]

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[Grime]

This list is very open to suggestions/improvements in the future. Also, since the item that will be replacing power bombs hasn't been decided yet, it has been excluded from this list for the time being. All this is, is something to give all of us a general direction of when the items should be introduced; don't pay too much mind to the extra details I described. Those were just to help me come up with the order in the first place. In true Super Metroid fashion, I tried to save the more badass items for later in the game. Please read over this and drop some input if you have any.

- Samus starts on her ship at the landing site with charge beam, varia suit, 25 missiles, morph ball and bombs.

- Navigates about 6-10 rooms with respawning baby metroids (modified rinka enemies) and a few other small-time enemies. Morph ball/bomb passages, missile doors, and maybe small parts of a "heated" (cascading BG effect) area (so the game starts off not feeling like the beginning of Super Metroid. Snazzy, right?)

- Enters a new part of Crateria (tileset 2), and after a few rooms, fights spore spawn as the first boss. Missiles don't harm spore spawn's center when it opens up, only charged shots do. Spore spawn's behavior is mostly the same, except its room of course will look very different, and its color/graphics will be altered. Will probably move at its fastest speed all the time instead of getting faster as it takes damage.

- A few rooms after spore spawn, Samus finds the "CHARGE UPGRADE (BLITZ)" item. Maybe introduce a new enemy or two after this point that are only harmed by charged shots?

- Level design transitions to an ancient underwater area. Lots of vegetation, ruins and whatnot. Needs to be murky and pretty. Begins a short underwater gravity suitless portion. Underwater physics will be modified so water doesn't suck to navigate through.

- After traveling downward a few rooms, Samus enters a new area perhaps? Very cavern-y; possibly Norfair and some other mixed sets to create an "old underground base" atmosphere. 3 different kinds of space pirates are introduced. Yellow pirates that die from any kind of beam shot, blue pirates that only die from ice beam (or beams combined with it), and red pirates that only die from spazer (or beams combined with it). Maybe offer a freebie energy tank or missile (not super missile) tank after making it through a few pirate rooms.

- Somewhere, there needs to be a morph tunnel with crumble blocks that keep Samus from crossing. Elsewhere, the "MORPH BALL UPGRADE" item needs to be placed, which increases morph ball's rolling speed and lets her pass over the crumble bridge and get to a new door.

- Noticable variation to the "old underground base" tileset, like a palette change and different choice of tiles used. Morph tunnels and blue/red space pirates to avoid. Very large room that's mostly winding, well-designed caverns and 4 enemy types. Yellow/blue/red space pirates and some other enemy type. Metal door at the end opens up when all enemies that can die in that room by normal beam shots are dead (DOOR A). 2 other metal doors in the same room. One that opens when all enemies that can be killed with just power/ice beam are killed (DOOR B), and another that opens when all enemies that can be killed with power/ice/spazer are killed (DOOR C). That made sense, right?

- Door A leads to a short path to the ice beam and maybe a hidden energy tank nearby.

- Door B, which can now be opened after getting ice beam, leads to several new rooms, which then lead to a boss lair. Area needs to be creepy and unique, with a shortcut door that gets the player out quickly after the boss is dead. Boss lair needs to be jump-oriented, like making it through dangerous rooms with spikes and lava. Killing the boss earns you the BOMB UPGRADE, which lets bombs destroy a new BTS block that they couldn't before.

- A hidden morph ball passage elsewhere with some of these BTS bomb upgrade blocks in it. Leads to a few new rooms. The last room closes a metal door behind Samus, and has enemies in places that beams and missiles can't shoot through (enemies trapped behind solid walls). Must find wave beam hidden somewhere in the room to kill the enemies and unlock the metal door.

- Door C, which can now be opened after getting ice + wave beam will lead to a few rooms that transition to a new area (or new tileset/choice of tiles for the rooms). This area needs to be somewhat big, around 10 rooms. Maze-like, but not really a maze, a few good secrets, and a few hidden passages leading to a room with the first super missile tank.

- A super missile door somewhere else as the entrance to a small lair of some kind. Scenery for this area could include egg sacs and other living... things. No blue doors in this area, but door tiles in the scenery. Working your way downward eventually gets you to bomb torizo's room, who's holding a super missile tank in the chozo ball. Would like the bomb torizo to be in a room about 2 screens long, have a fair amount of HP, new colors and maybe some slight AI changes if any good ideas pop up.

- The lair you're in is inescapable because high-jump boots are needed, so you must bomb a place in the floor somewhere to continue downward. Make your way to an elaborate, pretty room that gives Samus the "TOP SPIN" item.

- Next up is Kraid's lair, and the first big boss. The lair itself needs to be pretty big, and feel like a dungeon/hide-out that leads to something bad (and good). Save point at the entrance, lots of rooms to make your way through, and a shortcut door out of the lair near the end. Kraid will have new palettes, and his room will most likely have the same structure, but look much cooler. Decent amount of HP so he takes longer than ten seconds to kill.

- After Kraid is killed, the door behind him should lead to a long fall, then a couple of rooms with several mini Kraids and some other tough enemies, where Samus gets the "MAGNET SHOES" item. At this point, walljumping is sort of required. The player will need to learn that Samus can now cling to walls and jump off them to get out of Kraid's lair, in addition to just jumping higher. Will probably include an obvious hint/instruction in the item's message box.
I probably already mentioned it, but wallJUMPING will never be required to progress in the game. WallCLINGING with magnet shoes on the other hand is A-okay, as long as it's fairly obvious to the player when they should be using them.

- Magnet shoes allow Samus to access the right side of the landing site. A new room state for outside Crateria rooms, which changes the night time sky into a day time sky should trigger after Kraid is dead or magnet shoes are picked up (whichever is easier).

- The first few rooms on the right side of the landing site should vaguely resemble the first few rooms on the left side, as well as lead to a small segment of gravity suitless underwater, or perhaps just frequently needing to be in or out of the water to make your way through. The tileset should start to look more murky, or otherwise different from the left side of the landing site. Eventually, Samus enters Botwoon's room and fights him without gravity suit.

- The rooms after Botwoon should have areas of air tiles where Samus takes damage by touching them. I'm liking that "Dark World" concept of Crys' for this part of the game because of the safe points where health is regenerated. Also, there will be several "pits" along the way that Samus can fall into. These are doors that lead to a lower level with a dead end, forcing Samus to go back and start over. A little ways in, Samus finds the "SHINE SPARK" (modified speed booster item).

- In the room after shine spark is obtained, there's an energy/missile refill station and a save station. Now that Samus can run faster, there are no more safe points to keep Samus' health from draining. Yup, this is pretty much a "varia suitless heat run." It won't be nearly as hard as it sounds, because Samus' energy will drain slowly and the path to the end won't be too difficult to figure out.

- In the room after the safe point (and where the rooms' air no longer hurt Samus), there is a door at the end of a long hallway, near it, an obvious place to use the vertical shinespark and bust through the ceiling. Choosing to shinespark through this block will take Samus into a door that leads to a room near the surface of Crateria. Yeah, I know, this is slightly evil because it takes the player a long ways back, but it wouldn't take more than five minutes or so to get back if you knew where you were going. It's also a short cut out of that area that could be taken later.

- Going through door and not shinesparking through the ceiling will lead to a new area. :)

- After exploring this new area for awhile and perhaps finding some goodies along the way, Samus enters a hidden 1x1 room with water that looks kinda like a small pond. The center/bottom of this pond is actually a hidden door that takes Samus down into a new room that's filled with water and contains the "GRAVITY SUIT" Lots of ways to progress the game from here, such as underwater areas that Samus couldn't reach before, pits that Samus can now pass over because of gravity suit-activated BTS blocks.

- The room containing gravity suit has a door that continues on to a large underwater area, which I guess would be considered the game's "Maridia." As you might expect, lots of rooms to explore, enemies to kill, puzzles to figure out for items and progression, yada yada. Once you make through all of that, it's on to Phantoon. Same old routine, new boss colors, cooler looking room, possible AI changes and unlocked metal doors in the area.

- The area doesn't end with Phantoon, but continues on for quite a few more rooms, which eventually lead to a new area (or tileset), and a door that takes Samus on a shortcut back towards the Crateria surface. Also, a save station and energy/missile recharge station since the new area Samus enters will be more challenging.

- The path to this new area (or tileset) should be downward. It will need to feel like it's very deep underground, 'cause it is. Acid will be present, and blue in color (Phazon, yo). The tileset should look like a cavernous area with Phazon present (DSO glow patch for chunks of Phazon ore sticking out of walls, anyone?) and phazon-infected plants and whatnot. A short ways into this area, Samus finds the "SPAZER", which will be helpful in dealing with the considerably tougher enemies that hang out here.

- Many rooms explored, secrets discovered, missiles/super missiles/energy/reserve tanks found here and there. A decent sized area that challenges the player to make it through tricky rooms and enemy gauntlets. Near the end (after making a big 'loop' across the map and being somewhat close to the entrance), Samus finds another missile/energy recharge station and save station.

- After the save station is a room with a chozo statue holding an orb. Inside the orb is a super missile pack (again), and the statue breaks to begin a fight with the golden torizo. Like the first torizo fight, the room should be a couple screens long. Like you'd expect, the golden torizo will be pretty pretty difficult boss if you're not used to fighting it. A metal door prevents Samus from going back to the recharge/save stations, even after golden torizo is dead.

- A few small rooms later (without any energy pick-ups), and it's a fight with Draygon with however much energy Samus has left from the golden torizo fight. This boss fight isn't underwater, so Draygon's graphics will probably need to be modified a little bit so he looks like a flying creature that's been corrupted by Phazon (but still looks like Draygon). Killing him opens the metal door leading out of the golden torizo room and earns Samus the "EVASION" item.

- Samus will need to find the "MORPH ZENITH" item which is well-hidden, and will require the "gravity mode" item to reach. Morph zenith is required to reach the final area (which will need an entire area and probably 2 tilesets devoted to it) by breaking through new BTS blocks using the boost ball, and (hopefully) navigating a series of spider ball tracks.

- Gravity mode is found by backtracking to an earlier part of the game and finding a secret that your new abilities allow (like a hidden morph ball tunnel with speed blocks in it). This will apply to a lot of other hidden items if Samus hasn't been re-visiting older areas after collecting new things. This would be akin to exiting lower Norfair after beating Ridley and re-exploring everything.

- Once the path to gravity mode is located, Samus enters a volcanic looking area. It needs to look volcanic without looking like Norfair. The volcanic part itself isn't too long, but easily spans several rooms that will take Samus to a save station, and in the next room, a fight with Crocomire. The Crocomire fight will be more difficult than usual if possible. After he's dead, Samus gains the "GRAVITY MODE" item, which significantly lowers gravity for as long as the HUD icon is selected. The super high-jumping ability will be what is needed for Samus to reach the path to morph zenith.

- The "HYPER MODE" item will be hidden somewhere else in the game and most likely require gravity mode or morph zenith to reach, but it's not required to beat the game. Same goes for the "FLECT CANON" (modified plasma beam item).

- The entrance to morph zenith's path should be be somewhere on an area's map where there's a good chunk room space to work with, because there will be about 6 rooms to travel through to get it. No boss fight this time, unless a boss that's already been killed could be cloned and be somehow different from its look-alike. Either way, Samus gains the "MORPH ZENITH" item, which is needed to get back out of the small area it's in.

- At last, Samus gains entry to the huge final area. I haven't considered what this area should look like just yet, but one tileset won't be enough to design all of it.

- Not very far into the last area, Samus is pitted against Ridley. This fight could either be fairly simple or very hard, depending how many upgrades the player has collected before this point. In the room after Ridley, Samus finds the "HYPER SUIT" item and a save station (a metal door prevents Samus from leaving the final area after killing Ridley). Beyond this point is a long and difficult journey to Mother Brain that will need to test the player's skill in many ways. If Samus has the "HYPER MODE" item, things will be quite a bit easier because of having screw attack and rapid-fire charged shots.

- After the Mother Brain is killed, she dies normally. However, there is no escape timer, and Samus isn't given the hyper beam. Instead, a metal door in a nearby room is unlocked that takes Samus on a short path to the final area's exit, and eventually back to the landing site. NO ESCAPE SEQUENCE, NO ENDING? Not yet.

- Hyper suit allows Samus to walk around in acid (liquid Phazon) unharmed, hinting that the player has to revisit the Phazon caverns from a bit earlier in the game where there was lots of Phazon present. Samus will need to find a new hidden area in the Phazon caves. These caves will need to have a heat bit that drains Samus' energy quickly without the hyper suit equipped, so it would be impossible for a player to make it all the way through this area without it (with a possible exception for some insane TASing).

- This FINAL final area's tileset needs to be heavily Phazon-influenced, and somewhat large (maybe about 8 not-so-small rooms). The path to the FINAL final boss battle should be very straightforward, and more like an obstacle course, because the player will be leaving the same way on a time limit after the last boss is dead.

- At the end of the final Phazon area, Samus finds a save station and a missile/energy recharge station. This is the 'last' save station in the game, because entering the next room means the game will either be beaten or Samus will die.

- The next room after the save station will need to be EXTREMELY Phazon-looking. Very blue tiles (some that glow), a cascading heat BG with cool black/blue designs, and an item attached to the ceiling in the center of the room that looks like part of the scenery, but flashes differently from everything else. Collecting this item replaces all of Samus' beams with the hyper beam, and unlocks a metal door that allows entry to the next room where the FINAL final boss waits.

- This boss doesn't need to be difficult or elaborate, but it needs to be custom. My initial idea is a kind of orb/round looking Phazon creature that flies around the room quickly and sometimes moves off-screen (vaguely similiar to Phantoon). It's always vulnerable to hyper beam shots, but its fast movement makes it tricky to hit. The battle will essentially consist of Samus trying not to get bashed to death while unloading hyper beam shots at it.

- After the boss is killed, the escape sequence triggers, and Samus is given an appropriate amount of time to get to her ship and end the game.

[squishy_ichigo]

I'm working on a Desert like tileset.

And I'd like to call the Kraid's Lair area for it.
I'm a curious what this TOP SPIN item is... I don't see it in the asm list.

[Grime]

Top spin is a modified version of space jump:

Space Jump: "SPACE JUMP" is replaced with "TOP SPIN" (modified space jump item; could probably use a better name). Makes Samus fall slower in the air while in the spinning animation as long as the jump button is being held, and much slower in water. Changes the spinjump animation to the space jump animation (but not the space jump sound).

If things are handled right, there'll be more gameplay between top spin and magnet shoes than you might think. Places where this item could be useful would be things like gaps with low ceilings where a normal jump wouldn't get you across. Could also be used in long falls with spikes and enemies present that would best be avoided.

I'm cool with Kraid's lair being desert-themed. Nobody else has claimed Kraid's lair yet, so it's all yours.

[Crys]

I only read the first half of the item order and I would like to raise an objection. While I have nothing against having a set path, there should be options to retcon it for a harder path if the player has the skills. (AKA sequence breaking. Kinda...)

One of the more fun aspects of super metroid is that there are so many ways to beat it... plus you don't even need all items to do so! Grappling beam and X-ray can both be skipped for example. Hi-jump can be skipped if you have the skill to walljump and spring ball is not needed at all.

It's not that I don't like the path you set up, it sounds good from what I have read. But the option to take more "fun" paths for more skilled players should be there... it should just not be very obvious!

[FullOfFail]

I agree with Crys. We should set it up in such a way that it would be linear for new players and non-linear for pros. There's many ways to do this. I also think we should keep the ecitoons in so people can learn to walljump, just incase somebody forgot how to do it, or never has. Maybe even if we don't want to have people getting items early, we can still have explorable areas if people are good enough to reach them early, maybe just give them a missile pack for their efforts. We just need to make sure it's bug/permi-stuck proof. Because regardless if we want people to reach places early, they're gonna find a way to do it anyway, you already know the TASers will, might aswell cater to them. Also, it'd be neat to have some Easter Eggs somewhere, like a secret room dedicated to metconst or something. Maybe even play with the alternate endings some more. Also has anyone discussed music yet? Are we using the original soundtrack or custom?

[Crashtour99]

- This boss doesn't need to be difficult or elaborate, but it needs to be custom. My initial idea is a kind of orb/round looking Phazon creature that flies around the room quickly and sometimes moves off-screen (vaguely similiar to Phantoon). It's always vulnerable to hyper beam shots, but its fast movement makes it tricky to hit. The battle will essentially consist of Samus trying not to get bashed to death while unloading hyper beam shots at it.

If someone makes the room I'm pretty sure I could come up with some interesting sprites for this.  Perhaps a new kind of phazon mutated metroid or something (I think I could turn regular metroid sprites into a pretty groovy new boss).  And now that I think about it, SadFish's AI for his Impulsion metroids would probably work pretty good for this (providing it uses the tilemaps for metroids).  Using his AI would of course be his decision though.

[DSO]

- Enters a new part of Crateria (tileset 2), and after a few rooms, fights spore spawn as the first boss. Missiles don't harm spore spawn's center when it opens up, only charged shots do. Spore spawn's behavior is mostly the same, except its room of course will look very different, and its color/graphics will be altered. Will probably move at its fastest speed all the time instead of getting faster as it takes damage.

If I may... I'd like to make this room/fight first before any graphics editing of him to see if you like the idea I've come up for the room.

[Daltone]

- Noticable variation to the "old underground base" tileset, like a palette change and different choice of tiles used. Morph tunnels and blue/red space pirates to avoid. Very large room that's mostly winding, well-designed caverns and 4 enemy types. Yellow/blue/red space pirates and some other enemy type. Metal door at the end opens up when all enemies that can die in that room by normal beam shots are dead (DOOR A). 2 other metal doors in the same room. One that opens when all enemies that can be killed with just power/ice beam are killed (DOOR B), and another that opens when all enemies that can be killed with power/ice/spazer are killed (DOOR C). That made sense, right?

This sounds pretty neat-o.
I'm gonna start on that set, if that's alright.

[Grime]

Crys: Oh, don't worry. I'm with you on that. I more meant that walljumping shouldn't be required to advance in the game or reach any items. Like, say there's an upgrade that's really high up and lots of walljumps could reach. If the player can't walljump, a door later on would take them to that same upgrade and allow them to fall down the walljump shaft to where they were earlier. Things like that. The game will be somewhat linear in the order that the player is expected to go, but I do intend to make sure that the order can be broken just a little bit if they've got the smarts and the skills.

FullOfFail: Way ahead of ya. The n00biest of the n00bs, to the TASingest of the TASers will be considered as this hack is made. Bugs and perma-stucks shouldn't be much of a problem. On one hand we'll have a bunch of people testing things out as it's made, then the beta testing stage for any others we might have missed. I'm pretty OCD about perm-stuck places and scenarios, and good at spotting them. Some of the others involved are surely the same way. As for music. Eventually, yeah, I'd like each song in the game to be modified. I don't necessarily mean using completely different songs, but taking the existing songs and 'remixing' them a bit. Like taking the elevator room music and adding some drums or another instrument to it, changing the drumlines, rhythms or instruments a little bit in the others. Enough for people who are familiar with the original game's music to notice right away. We're still awhile from that part.

I'm not sure how making new music for the game will work yet. I'll most likely have to beg Sadiztyk later down the line, and give her MIDI files or MP3s of the song changes that I have in mind so she has an idea of which song portions to edit. If anybody else is musically inclined, they could try their hand at it too. Easter eggs? I'm sure there will be a few of them eventually.

DSO: Sure thang. Spore spawn and his room are all yours.

Daltone: That tileset won't be needed for little awhile, but if you're itching to get the ball rolling, take a clean ROM and start making the tileset on that. Do whatever you want with it. I can copy your tileset from the clean ROM and into a repointed set for the hack when the time comes.

[JAM]

As far as I know, there are 5 free bits at $7E:09A2(09A4). Are you planning to use them for extra items?

Even 3 bits for the beams at $7E:09A6(09A8) can be used as items. 2000, 4000 and 8000 at 09A6(09A8) will not screw up your beams. So, 8 items in total.


Edit: fixed addresses

[Grime]

8 should be plenty. Would starting Samus out with charge beam, 25 missiles, varia suit, morph ball, and bombs need 5 more items, or could something else be jimmied to start with those and edit the original item?

[JAM]

If you decide to place Varia Suit, Morhing Ball and all other items in menu AND make player be able to turn them on/off, then yes. You'll need 4 extra items just for that. Missiles are don't count because they are using different slots in memory ($7E:09C8 for max missiles, $7E:09C6 for current missiles. Charge Beam is using slot for beams, so CHARGE UPGRADE must use 1 more bit ($7E:09A8 for collected beams, $7E:09A6 for equipped beams). So, 4 free items are left.

If you decide not to draw default items in menu, then you can freely use 8 new items. In this case, all refers to the old values should be replaced. For example, there are a few checks in code somewhere in banks 90-91 for value 0004 at $7E:09A2. If this bit is set, then player can morph. For morphing ball from start, you should remove all checks for value 0004 to make player be able morphing without any item. Just in case, if you don't know.

But there is another way: draw items that you have from start in menu as the part of background. This will prevent player from selecting them and turning them off.


And what do you think about new frame for items in menu? 8 items is too much for the right half of menu screen. I'm thinking about "BALL" (or BALLS, lol) frame located between "SUPPLY" and "BEAM" frames where all ball-related items will be, such as Morphing Ball, Spring Ball, etc.

There is also a small limitation. 3 new bits for the beams (2000, 4000 and 8000) must have a separate frame. It may be "BOOTS" frame, if there'll be only 3 items, or "BALL" frame with 3 items, if you like the idea.


EDIT: Wait, no Power Bombs? If so, you can freely create 16 new items even more, using slot for quantity of power bombs as item bits.

EDIT2: I was wrong. 09A4(09A2) is for items, 09A8(09A6) is for beams. All my posts are fixed now