Super Metroid: Pit of 100 Trials

[MetroidNerd#9001]

Inspired by the dungeons of the same name from the Paper Mario series, I present Super Metroid: Pit of 100 Trials! Challenge yourself to a test of endurance and skill. Venture through 100 rooms of Zebes, defeating enemies and slowly gaining powerups along the way to aid in your quest. Careful though! You can only move through each room once, and they get more challenging as you go along. Can you beat Ridley at the end of room 100 and claim victory?

Screenshots:
[spoiler] [/spoiler]

ASM Credits:
Scyzer
Amoeba
Nodever2
Benox50
Moehr
Caauyjdp
Dewhi100

Beta Testing Credits:
Caauyjdp
Aran;Jaeger
Benox50
Moehr
MrGuyAverage
Bob4224
Multi
Mentlegen

[DonnyDonovan]

Did the first 70 or so rooms last night.  Pretty fun.  Wish you had a few more puzzles like the one in the room in the mid 30s where I had to think for a bit how to get through.

Edit:  My goodness room 99...   Had been easy up until now.  Further edit:  Room 99 has me ready to ragequit.  Even when I win (and I have, a few times) I don't have enough energy left for Room 100.  You need to put a charge station or an e-tank in there.  Now perhaps I missed too many e-tanks on my way through.  If I had one or two more I think I would be OK.  That's entirely possible. 

Final edit:  I finally did the last two rooms well enough back-to-back that I won.  Like I said, pretty fun, my complaint about the penultimate room notwithstanding.  Again, I wish there had been a few more puzzles.   I had 80%.  Not sure how the numbers are calculated.  I think the only major powerup I never obtained was [spoiler]space jump.
My final totals were 5ET, 75M, 15SM, 5PB, 2RT[/spoiler] 

[MetroidNerd#9001]

[spoiler]You we're missing 2 Energy tanks. There are 7 total.[/spoiler]
I think I was going to nerf room 99 again, but I forgot to. I will fix that in version 1.1, the release of which will coincide with the release of Hard Mode, in case anyone is interested.

[Ambureon]

With apologies to Danidub:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

That high-detail style of map is something I've wanted to emulate for a while, and this neat, relatively sizeable but still manageably short hack presented a great opportunity to realistically finish something. As for feedback on the hack itself: Really fun, a nice linear challenge, though seems to lose some steam in the Norfair section -- though my judgement may be impacted by my rushing through that last stretch and failing to remember most of it distinctly.

[advancedpillow]

Not too many people have commented here but I just wanted to say that I loved your hack. Loved the concept and the execution. Halfway through I was like, "this is so easy!" Made it to Ridley. Died. I didnt realize the game would autosave my progress. I loved that. I would really love to see a hard mode. More short cuts to get to Ridley if you died like me, to avoid running through the whole map again. And, maybe a save station at room 50 or something. Great job. I'm always on the lookout for fun minihacks like this. I had fun. Thanks!

[MetroidNerd#9001]

I'm glad you enjoyed the hack, and you're in luck! I am almost done with Hard Mode, and it should be released hopefully in the month of September. The shortcuts only go up to room 60 because after that, there's nothing else I can block your path with since you have both Supers and Power Bombs. Hard Mode will introduce a couple new concepts that will spice things up in addition to the harder room design and tougher enemies. There will also be a new escape which can be previewed here:
[spoiler]https://youtu.be/_L32ZOwK_h0[/spoiler]

[MetroidNerd#9001]

Version 1.1 includes the following changes:
Slowed rising acid in Room 99
Edited bomb blocks for slightly easier navigation in rooms 53 and 97
Fixed scroll snap in room 41
Fixed charge particle palette error
Altered ending text
Fixed unnecessary air tile in room 72
Reduced ROM size from 4MB to 3MB

Expect to see Hard Mode coming out later today!

[MetroidNerd#9001]

It's finally here! Hard Mode is complete! Test your skills further in this advanced course of combat and puzzles. Changes from Normal Mode include:
Buffed enemies
Harder level design
More enemies
Harder enemy layouts
Altered item progression
And some surprises!

ASM Credits:
Scyzer
Amoeba
Nodever2
Benox50
Moehr
Caauyjdp
Dewhi100
Personitis
Adamf
Kejardon
Jathys
Mon732
PJBoy
SMILEuser96
Jordan5

Testing Credits:
Caauyjdp

[advancedpillow]

Hard mode is the definitive version of this hack. But what were you thinking with room 99? I'm done with this. Great concept, fun for us soulsborne fans, mostly well-executed, but room 99 is an abomination. There's no way Ridley could possibly be harder...unless there is also rising acid and breakable blocks that you need to stand on..that screw attack destroy. What's the escape like? 25 seconds? Lol! Hard mode made me love this hack but things need to be addressed — secret items have (nearly always) no hint. Shooting and bombing like a manic isnt the best, and that doesn't make it hard. But the biggest issue for me personally is the punishment for dying is far too severe. Room 99, dead...and I go all the way back to the beginning. Not sure how to fix it without comprising your 100-room-challenge vision; but a question you might want to consider is will the average player want to continue playing your hack if there is no way to save their game progress? Most people who die on room 99 will never continue playing, this applies to normal mode too. Overall, I enjoyed it, Hard Mode way more than Normal. But I'm done. One thing I want to commend you for, is that throughout the whole hack, your Hard mode felt fair and balanced, even if some enemies felt bullet spongey at first. There wasnt any bs spike hell rooms, no veteran skills required. It was difficult and well done. But clearly you tossed that out the window to troll the player in room 99. But before that, I felt it was good. Another thing I loved was having to pick one upgrade over the other. That was brilliant. Also, damn you (joking) for removing the items I didnt choose when I went back after a death! Lol!

Overall, if I were you, I would consider Hard Mode the definitive version of this hack. Great job....except for room 99.

[MetroidNerd#9001]

[spoiler]Ridley is actually basically the same as vanilla. What makes him challenging is how much health/ammo you don't have going in, as well as not having some of the items you had to choose between. Room 99 seems to be the thing most people complain about in both Normal and Hard mode. The escape actually is much longer in Hard Mode; it tests some speed booster skills, but I expect if any player is good enough to make it to the end, chances are they know how to do basic short-charges and speedball. I'm sorry room 99 ruined the hack for you, but I'm glad you enjoyed the rest of it![/spoiler]