[SM] Z-Factor Hack v1.3

[godeny]

Thanks for the explanation, Quietus. About the linking, I'll be more careful next time.  :yay:

[Nikoshiba]

Hi there !

I have a silly question : is it possible to go to the "super secret room" when you've got the full equipment ?

[M1CR0H4CK3R]

Nikoshiba, no. You need to go through Zaridia Gravity Suitless before you beat Phantoon, using the elevator in Zaridia that leads to the Wrecked Ship.

[Nikoshiba]

Okay thanks !

[godeny]

Permastuck found. See the bomb explosion in the ceiling.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[bobisadrummer]

So I'm stuck.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[MetroidMst]

Try laying a Power Bomb on the suspicious looking floor in that room.

[Quietus]

Or you can save going down at all by running from the room to the left, jumping through the door, and performing some fancy wall-jumps. :^_^:

[M1CR0H4CK3R]

Or you can save going down at all by running from the room to the left, jumping through the door, and performing some fancy wall-jumps. :^_^:

I don't think he has Gravity yet.   :nope:

[Quietus]

Yes, but you can see from the pic that the water level is quite low.  I'm pretty sure that jumping from the room before means you don't touch the water, and can wall-jump up. :^_^:

[M1CR0H4CK3R]

Yes, but you can see from the pic that the water level is quite low.  I'm pretty sure that jumping from the room before means you don't touch the water, and can wall-jump up. :^_^:

I know, but if the previous room is completely submerged in water, he cannot get enough speed to make the leap anyway.

[Quietus]

The room before isn't submerged.  Check DMan's video [noembed]here[/noembed]. :^_^:

[M1CR0H4CK3R]

Okay, I stand corrected. I would've looked into it deeper, but it was still early(ish) and I was still half-asleep.  :heheh:

[Metaquarius]

After seeing this thread coming back from the deads, I thought about making another hack update (it's been a long time since last one though). Aside from a few permastuck fixes, i'm planning to rearrange some SM songs (mainly original instrument swapping - 80% done already). I may consider doing some palette changes, but not sure right now. A few bosses might get tweaked further (flipped, ...). Making easier grapple sections of course. May be including a simple hard mode setting patch (more enemy damage, less amo, forced use of special moves)
Dunno. What do you think of it ? Do you have more ideas ?

[Quietus]

Ideas?  Yeah.  Make sure you let me know as soon as, so that I can cancel my ever-so-slowly-getting-done speedrun, and play the latest version. :heheh:

[Metaquarius]

Well, this is just a thought right now, I just want to know if players would be interested in another update. If not, it's cool too. :^_^:

[craighypheno]

I've really enjoyed it when I have played through it so any excuse to play it again would be fantastic  :^_^:

[DonnyDonovan]

I'm not a big replay guy for whatever reason so for me it depends on how much is changed.  For example, I certainly played and enjoyed Eris 2012.  If enough has been changed/polished to make it a somewhat different experience I'd give it a go.  If it's just a bugfix here and there or very minor tweaks I'd probably pass on it, although I did love this hack.   Just my 2 cents.

[Nikoshiba]

I've really enjoyed it when I have played through it so any excuse to play it again would be fantastic  :^_^:

+1 !!!  :bounce:

[Vexium]

So I just finished this hack. Thus far I've completed SM Redesign, Super Zero Mission, Darkholme Hospital, and Digital Cube, alongside this one.

I have to say I really enjoyed it. It was really well-made, and the vast majority of the secrets were very intuitive. In many ways, it surpassed SZM and Redesign in terms of discovery. None of the secrets were too difficult to find, and there was almost always a specific path you could see developing.

High point for me was Zaridia, which turned out to be one of the most creative underwater levels I've seen in a game yet. It had great atmosphere and overall feel throughout, from plunging in early on from Brinstar and later when you take the deep dive straight in from the Wrecked Ship. What a fun level.

I have one critical remark, though. I got stuck for quite a while in 2 places. The first was trying to find where to go after obtaining Ice Beam. I saw, obviously, the turtles to climb to the higher portion of Brinstar, but I couldn't see what to do next. I ended up going around the left part of Crateria and the upper middle portion of Brinstar. Eventually, I found the Varia Suit, but there was no real indication that finding that was what I needed and its placement was rather tricky. Still, this all started with my main issue, and that is the fake wall you can shoot to break in the bottom left of upper Norfair (which you run past 3 golden drillers, or whatever they're called, to get to the Ice Beam).

I think you can safely remove that wall and that will save a lot of grief, in my opinion. I ended up wandering with the Varia Suit for a very long time trying to find where to go. It was very enjoyable to find the path, finally, but I don't think it's needed. It can cause more confusion than enjoyment, speaking as someone who spent well over an hour trying to find it (and I completed with 99% with no aid, so that's saying something).

In any case, amazing hack, really enjoyed it. Thanks for your creation and I hope you continue making great content.

[Metaquarius]

Yay another Zaridia lover ! :lol:

In fact, most of what you said is the complete opposite of what has been told about this hack until the last update, from "failing so hard at basic level design choices" (won't forget this one, still laughing at this) to "terrible secret placement". Thanks for your comment. Hope you're gonna try some other cool hacks out here and write more interesting reviews.  :^_^:

[MetroidMst]

As for remaking the hack into a "hard" version, just re-release the 1.0 patch and do your little updates to the bosses on that one. That should be just about perfect.

[Metaquarius]

So the update is discarded, I figured I should concentrate my efforts on something new.

[Lady Aran]

Hi everyone! This is my first post here. I've been into Metroid since the first Prime, but I'm still fairly new to playing hacks. That said, so far I've completed Metroid Super Zero Mission, Legacy, Redesign and now Z-Factor. I gotta say, Z-factor was probably the most unique from an environmental standpoint - all those minute little details, like during the beginning when you're walking through the dark caves and there's water dripping everywhere, or the pairs of red eyes looking at you in the background, and a whole bunch of other cool little details really adds to the sense of apprehension.

[spoiler]And towards the end when you explore Tourian in the dark? I can't remember feeling so nervous while playing a game in my life! It may sound weird, but that sequence has to be my favorite part![/spoiler]

I thought the level/room design was excellent. The only frustrating part for me was Maridia. I must have spent two days just trying to get to Botwoon and Draygon. That said, I like how you made Zebes just a bit bigger, but without it being so big that you lose interest in exploring, something I discovered with Redesign.

I love to replay (good) games. Will I be playing this one again? Hell yes! Absolutely fantastic job Metaquarius! I'm happy to say I got 90% of the items in the game - not bad for my first playthrough. Next time I'll try for 100 percent.

I give this one a 9.8 out of 10  :cool:

[Quietus]

The only frustrating part for me was Maridia.

Zaridia thanks you for your patronage.  Come again soon. :^_^: