Best hacks to experience for 1st time?

[supa]

Before even thinking of hacking, I've never played any metorid game before.

The first time I play, I want to try hacks that will improve the resolution (1080p) and graphics, and add to the game by introducing new features/areas etc. without making it too much harder. Which are the best hacks I should try? Thank you!

[alexman25]

As a rule of thumb, you should always play the unmodified version of a video game before delving into any mods that may exist for it.

If you really must play a hack first in this case, I recommend Ancient Chozo or Project Base (preferably the widescreen versions)

[Tower]

As a rule of thumb, you should always play the unmodified version of a video game before delving into any mods that may exist for it.

Just in case the guy would played nestroid here is my advice
Modify the hell out of the game or try metroid planets version.
Original is already ridiculusly hard.

[supa]

As a rule of thumb, you should always play the unmodified version of a video game before delving into any mods that may exist for it.

Just in case the guy would played nestroid here is my advice
Modify the hell out of the game or try metroid planets version.
Original is already ridiculusly hard.

As a rule of thumb, you should always play the unmodified version of a video game before delving into any mods that may exist for it.

If you really must play a hack first in this case, I recommend Ancient Chozo or Project Base (preferably the widescreen versions)

Thanks for the replies, I wanted to start with the superior game (SM) rather than the NES prequel. I was thinking of trying Ancient Chozo but read some people saying it's more frustrating due to boss changes/added spikes/no X-Ray vision so thinking to just go with Project Base?

How do I add widescreen, i tried starting the vanilla game on wii virtual console but it had some terrible warping effect at the screen edges. I was also looking at LTSchmiddy/super-metroid-pc-edition-snex9x-public and his Better Map Rom, but he used 'Project Base 0.7.2 - Gameplay Only' which means I wouldn't get the graphics improvements? would you guys recommend I add any other hacks with other QOL/abilites or is it only one hack at a time?

[FelixWright]

Before you delve into romhacks this is my recommendation:

Metroid Zero Mission
AM2R and/or Samus Returns
Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion

Then start worrying about playing hacks. Playing hacks before playing the original is like using worcestershire sauce on a steak before tasting it first. I find it to be bad manners. Also, the original games have a lot to teach you. Many hacks demand advanced moves you will not know if you dive right into a hack instead of anything else. And really? What do you know about one game being superior compared to the others without having played any of them?

[alexman25]

Before you delve into romhacks this is my recommendation:

Metroid Zero Mission
AM2R and/or Samus Returns
Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion

Then start worrying about playing hacks. Playing hacks before playing the original is like using worcestershire sauce on a steak before tasting it first. I find it to be bad manners. Also, the original games have a lot to teach you. Many hacks demand advanced moves you will not know if you dive right into a hack instead of anything else. And really? What do you know about one game being superior compared to the others without having played any of them?

I know a few people who make steak exclusively as a vessel for consuming the sauce.

[supa]

Before you delve into romhacks this is my recommendation:

Metroid Zero Mission
AM2R and/or Samus Returns
Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion

Then start worrying about playing hacks. Playing hacks before playing the original is like using worcestershire sauce on a steak before tasting it first. I find it to be bad manners. Also, the original games have a lot to teach you. Many hacks demand advanced moves you will not know if you dive right into a hack instead of anything else. And really? What do you know about one game being superior compared to the others without having played any of them?

True I'm going on what I've read from others, saying SM is the best game of all time. Which would you say is the best of the series? Isn't Project Base vanilla with enhanced graphics and added moves/QOL? I want to experience it in it's best form benefitting from enhancements people have added, that's how I enjoy games, sorry nothing personal against you.

[supa]

What's the easiest way to widescreen Project Base?

[FelixWright]

Before you delve into romhacks this is my recommendation:

Metroid Zero Mission
AM2R and/or Samus Returns
Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion

Then start worrying about playing hacks. Playing hacks before playing the original is like using worcestershire sauce on a steak before tasting it first. I find it to be bad manners. Also, the original games have a lot to teach you. Many hacks demand advanced moves you will not know if you dive right into a hack instead of anything else. And really? What do you know about one game being superior compared to the others without having played any of them?

I know a few people who make steak exclusively as a vessel for consuming the sauce.

That is disgusting. Steak sauce replaces the flavor of the steak. You're just eating the sauce at that point. It's just like when people put hot sauce or ranch on everything.

True I'm going on what I've read from others, saying SM is the best game of all time. Which would you say is the best of the series? Isn't Project Base vanilla with enhanced graphics and added moves/QOL? I want to experience it in it's best form benefitting from enhancements people have added, that's how I enjoy games, sorry nothing personal against you.

I am partial to zm but it has its flaws like any other game.
Project base is mostly an improvement hack but there's enough other stuff going on with it that it is more like its own thing by this point. There's new alternate routes and a lot of special moves and stuff but again, if you haven't played vanilla you won't know what's new and what you can already do. You really should be playing vanilla to start with, there's a reason people say that it's aged like wine.

What's the easiest way to widescreen Project Base?

This video has links in the description for making the hacks widescreen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfV-AB9UTLU

[alexman25]

Before you delve into romhacks this is my recommendation:

Metroid Zero Mission
AM2R and/or Samus Returns
Super Metroid
Metroid Fusion

Then start worrying about playing hacks. Playing hacks before playing the original is like using worcestershire sauce on a steak before tasting it first. I find it to be bad manners. Also, the original games have a lot to teach you. Many hacks demand advanced moves you will not know if you dive right into a hack instead of anything else. And really? What do you know about one game being superior compared to the others without having played any of them?

I know a few people who make steak exclusively as a vessel for consuming the sauce.

That is disgusting. Steak sauce replaces the flavor of the steak. You're just eating the sauce at that point. It's just like when people put hot sauce or ranch on everything.

True I'm going on what I've read from others, saying SM is the best game of all time. Which would you say is the best of the series? Isn't Project Base vanilla with enhanced graphics and added moves/QOL? I want to experience it in it's best form benefitting from enhancements people have added, that's how I enjoy games, sorry nothing personal against you.

I am partial to zm but it has its flaws like any other game.
Project base is mostly an improvement hack but there's enough other stuff going on with it that it is more like its own thing by this point. There's new alternate routes and a lot of special moves and stuff but again, if you haven't played vanilla you won't know what's new and what you can already do. You really should be playing vanilla to start with, there's a reason people say that it's aged like wine.

What's the easiest way to widescreen Project Base?

This video has links in the description for making the hacks widescreen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfV-AB9UTLU

Yeah. They just want the flavor of the sauce, but also want some substance as opposed to just straight up drinking it. I personally don't mind, though, I'll straight up drink a bottle of good ranch.

(I will stop posting irrelevant content now)

[DonnyDonovan]

If you have never played a SM hack before (I assume you've played the original vanilla SM?  If not ABSOLUTELY play that first), I would start with Hyper Metroid, Ancient Chozo is a good suggestion if you want to play a game with a similar layout, Redesign: Axiel would also be a decent choice.  From there just try them out.  The ratings here are helpful.  Decide what you like -- exploration?  challenging moves?  large hacks?  smaller hacks?  Everyone has different tastes.  You'll learn that you like certain authors.  It's a whole world to explore.  Good luck!

[MetroidNerd#9001]

I also highly recommend playing Vanilla first because it's the best way to learn the mechanics of the game, even though I may enjoy playing hacks more. There are a lot of subtleties in the design of vanilla meant to teach you things that most hacks don't have because they expect you to already know the mechanics. Project Base is super optimized, but in a way, it makes the game too fast to fully grasp the genius of Vanilla's design.

[supa]

This video has links in the description for making the hacks widescreen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfV-AB9UTLU

Thanks for the link :) I must admit to enjoying the sauce more than the steak!  :blush: but really it's down to limited time and backlog, so if I play vanilla I might not get around to playing hacks, so I'm just gonna try out  Project Base and try to appreciate it, I've been meaning to play this for ages as it's considered best game of all time by many.

[UDtheAesir]

I concur what the others say. Do vanilla first, then Ancient Chozo (no idea what the bad reviews are, I thoroughly enjoyed it), Hyper, whatever else you see fit. To me, Ancient Chozo is like pure eye candy the vanilla team should've used in the first place.

In any case, best of luck!

[ocesse]

supa, if you want play Super Metroid your first time and in Widescreen, then get bsnes-hd beta 10.2 and please use the settings I recommend here: https://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,5168.msg67980.html#msg67980

bsnes-hd beta 10.2
https://github.com/DerKoun/bsnes-hd/releases

And apply the Widescreen patch that I share with you in attachments, to Super Metroid (JU) [!] (Unheadered)

You can request Widescreen patches for your favorites Super Metroid Hacks here: https://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,5168.0.html

[Miranda Gemini]

This is absolutely the strangest thread I have ever read. I can't believe how much traction you managed to pick up on this.

If you've never played a Metroid game, you absolutely should not dive right in to hacks.
My recommendation is to play Super Metroid first. There is no hack that is better than the original game. Not only that, there is no hack that teaches you the ins and outs of the game mechanics and flavour even as close to as well as the original game does. There is also no Metroid game better than Super, no matter what Cosmic might like to think.
If you absolutely insist on playing it in widescreen, follow the advice in the post above. But you're insane if you jump straight in to hacks without trying the original first.
I recommend no hacks you absolute madman. Project Base is not vanilla. Hyper Metroid, Ancient Chozo, every other recommendation you might have seen, and not as good as vanilla, and they are never going to teach you to play like vanilla would.

I still can't believe there's actually some discussion around this that isn't just people calling you crazy like I am now.

[supa]

I completely understand, It's just the way I enjoy playing games. I admire the passion of everyone on this forum  :^_^:

I decided to try  LTSchmiddy/super-metroid-pc-edition-snex9x but I can't get my DS4 controller to work with it, running DS4Windows and not had problems with other games. Please could someone help me out, or direct me to where I could get help in troubleshooting? Thank you.

[Quietus]

Not tried it with the DS controllers, but sometimes the emulators can be fickle about the 360 controller I sometimes use. Often, unplugging it, then plugging it back in, then reopening the emulator seems to rectify it. Plugging it in after loading the emulator often means it's not detected, even though the controller seems fine in Windows.

[supa]

Oh I had to manually choose by pressing the  individual contoller button inputs in the snex9x pause menu and it's working now, strange it's the first time I'm using an emulator so I'm not used to that, normally the controller just works.

[Quietus]

Ah, yes, you'll need to set it up in pretty much all emulators. It's worth going through the other shortcuts too, as emulators often have handy features like speed up (great for door transitions and item fanfares) and rewind. :^_^:

[supa]

Oh thanks, Would you know exactly where those are located in the menu? I see in hotkey config it says speed+ and frame advance, what do they do?

Also I have to wait for the game to load then click detect controller changes to get it to recognise it, is that normal?

[supa]

Ah, yes, you'll need to set it up in pretty much all emulators. It's worth going through the other shortcuts too, as emulators often have handy features like speed up (great for door transitions and item fanfares) and rewind. :^_^:

That's strange, I opened the game up and after a few moments it stopped responding. I restarted and it refused to load, saying not responding. I tried deleting the save files, deleting snes9x.conf file, running as admin, no luck. I re-downloaded and it's still saying the same thing. W10 with net framework etc, it was working fine the first few times, all I did was change the contoller buttons. Any ideas? Edit: Ds4Windows was causing the problem, when I turned it off SM started running, how strange!

[Quietus]

Oh thanks, Would you know exactly where those are located in the menu? I see in hotkey config it says speed+ and frame advance, what do they do?

It's on the same screen as those two. :^_^:

Unless it's changed in the version you're using, it's just called 'Fast Forward'. All it does it boost the speed of the emulation while you're holding the button, so it's great for things like skipping the fanfares, as you just hold it for a short time (quarter or half a second), and it'll zip through what you need, then return to normal speed. Speed+ does the same thing, but it's permanent until you bring it back down to normal speed with the Speed- button or speed reset button.

Frame advance is a different beast entirely. It's usually used for creating a tool assisted speedrun, though occasionally if you want to get a good look at some graphics or animation in progress. What you do it pause the game, start a movie recording, then repeatedly press frame advance to move forward one frame of animation at a time. This allows you to do tricks that aren't possibly by humans, do things at super speed, or do insanely difficult things with ease. You then play the movie back at normal speed, and it looks like you're a gaming god. :cool: :grin:

See this movie for a relevant example of such absurdity. :^_^: