SM Redesign: Axeil Edition FINAL

[CaRmAgE]

Leno, please calm down, purple doors have been reduced to important places.  the numbers are def lower than before.

He probably just searched for the word 'purple' in your list of changes without actually reading the list.  Don't worry; I believe you.  I'm about to try it out now, actually.

Really minor issue: Under Design Changes in the readme, the text for the Express Elevators is the same as before, despite the change in the mechanic.

EDIT:
Just discovered a problem early on that could cause players to rage quit.  In the hallway directly east of the Crateria elevator in Brinstar, there are a bunch of spikes that cause 8 damage.  However, the spike pit right before the morph ball tunnel does a whopping 44 damage.  That's a lot when you don't have any energy tanks yet (especially when the spikes look like every other set of spikes in the same room).  You might want to change its damage to match the other spikes before someone else rages for real.

[Lenophis]

Leno, please calm down

Trust me, I am quite calm. If you would like to see me not calm, watch Technomagus' play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7GD8A_i4u8&list=PLNAhFYgsBsangNLyyTa20i9PtjIGfQgy1&index=13

purple doors have been reduced to important places.  the numbers are def lower than before.

Your readme previously stated that purple doors guarded "important places" but they were everywhere. If you could be more specific, how many purple doors were in 1.4, and how many are now in 1.5?

Since you didn't address it with your changelog, I'll ask it here, because I know others will also ask.

• Is Screw Attack still required?
• Is Screw Attack still useless in Tourian?

Drew, make your sales pitch. Why should I play this version over the ones I played previously? Honestly, what is better about this one? Make me believe that this is worth it.

He probably just searched for the word 'purple' in your list of changes without actually reading the list.

Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups. You just committed a big one.

Don't worry; I believe you.  I'm about to try it out now, actually.

Well, you be hopeful then. Lemme know how that works out for ya.

[Hitaka]

Purple doors:
[spoiler]For the most part, now only guard major bosses, guardians, and the rooms with the final set of zebetites. There's a couple others that unlock shortcuts; none of the express elevators have them. There's hardly any early-game. I think Kraid is the first one you can find?[/spoiler]

Also, the bug with Ridley's health has been fixed. Turns out it was only an issue if you re-enter Ridley's room on Ceres.

[Lenophis]

That is significant. See, that was newsworthy. :)

[Boomerang]

Unless it was changed from the version of 1.5 I playtested, the Screw Attack was made much more useful in Tourian now that it can destroy Rinkas.

Code Select Expand

Testers: Grime, Qactis, TheAnonymousUser, Zeran, Elminster, Hitaka, RealRed

tfw not a playtester :(

[Steel Sparkle]

[spoiler]So far im up to the Gravity Suit. I was able to skip the entire Crateria Depths thanks to a well placed crumble grapple blocks at the entrance. Im not sure if this was intended but i pretty much did no real trekking through the area. Can someone tell me if this was intended to be done this way or i found a faster way through?
Look at the red line. where i start and where i skipped through to(From left to right) [/spoiler]

[Drewseph]

I updated the read me, sorry about forgetting to update the testers.

Steel, yes that is a new route

[Steel Sparkle]

I updated the read me, sorry about forgetting to update the testers.

Steel, yes that is a new route

Ah okay. That is sweet. Im liking this new version a lot so far. Especially the new express system. Excellent job on that.

[A Dummy]

Sweetness! I enjoyed the original Redesign, now looks like a good time to try out the remake.
Maybe I'm just a weirdo, or maybe I just haven't tried speedrunning this at all, but I liked the Purple doors for letting me pound away at a door with missiles, I think I just like the sound it makes when a missile impacts the door with that heavy "thump" sound.

[Steel Sparkle]

I beat the game! Yay! Click spoiler for thoughts and stats
[spoiler] Yea im not very fast xD
Well that was something else. I absolutely loved the changes and i had little to no trouble at all playing this version of the hack. Tourian is still a maze but with the nerfed metroids i have no complaints. When it comes to searching for the guardians i had no trouble searching for them either thanks to the hint system showing their location upon finding the entrance to Tourian and trying to gain access.

I have no complaints about this version as it was a ton of fun for me to play from start to finish. With the weaker enemies,Nerfed metroids,increased morph ball speed and easier to find Guardians along with many welcomed changes i say this version improves greatly on 1.4. Lastly the express elevators. Those were done amazingly well and are a nice fast way of getting from point A to point B. Great job Drew. I loved playing this all the way through.Im not sure future versions are needed but i would love to see more from ya.[/spoiler]

[Metaquarius]

Good job on those new Express Elevators, Drewseph. They definitely fulfill their intended use now.

[CaRmAgE]

Drew, I found a fatal scrolling error in one of the redesigned rooms that kills you if you go too far off-screen.  I PMed you the details.

To explain: If you are dropping down the shaft at the southwestern-most save station in Maridia, don't hold left on the way down.

[Drewseph]

Fixed bug, it was a one tile type missing type of thing, so I replaced the zip.  minor fix, same version number.

[Boomerang]

I wrote short review based on this version of the hack. I'll include it along with my review of 1.4 since it completes my thoughts, somewhat. I tried to update my review on the main website but was forbidden to do so, for whatever reason. If it gets ironed out I'll update it as soon as possible.

[1.5 Edition] (90% score... the site doesn't allow for anything beyond the 1/5 increments :P)

After a myriad of improvements, I felt it would be prudent if I gave my thoughts on the newest edition. I will say that I played a pre-release version of 1.5 where some of the changes found in the current release might not have been present in the version I played. I'll just trust that the positive stuff I'm going to talk about here are still true in the release version :P

The vast majority of the positives found in 1.4 Edition are still there, so read up on those if you want my thoughts on anything not mentioned in this section of the review.

The first and most major change to talk about are the new Express Elevators. Aside from a few replacements to help the game flow a little better, they now connect to all other Express Elevators and can be conveniently used to zip to any corner of Redesign's massive map with relative ease. While there are some sections where you're a little too far from an Elevator for my tastes, the majority of the time you're not too far away from one of these babies. They present an interesting choice to the player: you can either take the elevator and move more quickly to the next objective, or go the scenic route and collect powerups along the way with newfound abilities. All in all, a massive improvement over the original Express Elevators, and they help immensely.

Some of the Chozo Guardians have been repositioned to less conspicuous places. I didn't have TOO much of an issue finding them in 1.4, but I think that might have been because I played the original Redesign. In 1.5, they've nonetheless been slightly repositioned to be fairer to find.

Many enemies have had rebalanced beam vulnerabilities to make dealing with them less tedious. They're no less hard, just less tiresome to destroy them. Similarly, beam and missile firing speeds have been made faster slightly to accompany the increased vulnerabilities. In general, fighting is less of an annoyance and feels better.

Minor physics changes were made, specifically suitless underwater physics. As is the trend so far, Samus' running and ball speed have been increased to make the suitless sections (the notable ones being Red Brinstar and Crateria Depths) much more bearable. Ball speed in the air has been increased, too.

Purple Doors have been reduced, which now only guard specific things like bosses and Guardians. I've never been a fan of them (and would have preferred to have Power Bomb doors, personally), but lowering their number is always welcomed.

Early Energy Tanks have been repositioned to aid players unable to find them. You have access to the same number as before, but now they've been made much easier to find. This should make early stages of the game more bearable.

The Speed Booster escape has been made more bearable, though I can't give specifics. However, the lava rising speed seems to be much slower.

Ridley's boss fight was changed to not be absolute horseshit when you fight him. He no longer has (unsaid in the previous readme) increased damage output the more you shoot him in Ceres. This removes a real dick move present in 1.4 where players would go into the fight thinking they only made him weaker, when they really made him much more threatening.

AND NOW THE BIG ONE.

Tourian has been made soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more enjoyable. It's still a bit of a tedious area given that you have to dismantle the entire base like you did in 1.4, the difference is that the Metroids aren't absolute bullshit insane hellspawn. Yes, even the infamous feeding pit Metroids have been tamed slightly, now that their mechanics have been changed. Now, Bombs will set them into their maximum stun duration, making fighting them not completely and utterly obnoxious.

Tourian was also given a few quality-of-life additions to make the place less of a grind. Specifically, a health station located after phase 1 of the complex. Now you don't have to exit the entire place and go to either Maridia or Crateria to refill your health. There have been ledges added near the death beams to help stop players from accidentally getting their shit rocked in half a second because of falling into one. Lastly, Rinkas can now be destroyed with the Screw Attack, making the thing actually useful during Tourian.

It cannot be stated enough that Tourian has been de-fanged to the extent that it's still a threatening place, but it's no longer going to emotionally break you like it did me when I played 1.4. That shit alone bumps my score of this game like 15% ALONE.

All that aside, I think this is easily the best version of Redesign out there. I still have my qualms with it, as I'm still not the hugest fan of the physics, some of the puzzles are still too esoteric, the 8-super missile pillar of doom is still in Lower Norfair, morph ball puzzles are too Major League Gaming pro for my tastes, and some of the design choices to make unintentional sequence breaking are a bit much since if you want to take alternate paths through the game you're going to follow Drew's grand design in one route, or another (emphasis on grand--the amount of thought and effort put into this hack is insane, in a good way).

If I may quote another reviewer, it's Redesign, except without the stupid. Well, most of the stupid, considering that 8-super missile pillar still taunts me to my very soul. If you enjoyed the original Redesign or any version of Axeil Edition, you're in for a treat. If you were on the fence, you'll probably like it. If you disliked it, maybe this will change your mind. If you hated it, well, it's still Redesign at its core.

All in all, I give this version 90%. It's a great hack that has been patched up and made incredibly enjoyable. Amazing work as always, I wish I had Drew's hacking skill as I can't do much else in SMILE other than fuck things up and do badly. :P




My 1.4 Review:

[spoiler][1.4 Edition] (60% score)

Okay, so... Super Metroid Redesign: Axeil Edition. I will preface this by saying that I have played the original Redesign and that I got to Tourian, but stopped due to school work piling up and other life things getting in the way. I should probably finish it to complete the Redesign legacy. I played version 1.4. I will also say that I'm not the greatest Super Metroid player; my any% PB for Super Metroid is 1:00 (in-game time), though that's just playing as fast as I can with my preferred though sub-optimal route without any actual practice. I've also completed Eris 2009 and 2012 Editions (my run through 2009 edition was on a keyboard!), Hyper Metroid and Stardust. I've also gotten a fair bit through Impossible and I Wanna Be the Guy. My PB for Guacamelee! 100% is 3:56:41 playing casually after having left it on for 30 minutes to eat dinner. At the time I completed it, it was ranked 43rd on the leaderboards.

It sounds like I'm (undeservedly, I admit) tooting my own horn at this point, but this is all to say that while I'm not the greatest Metroidvania-type player, I'm not bad. I'd venture to say I'm pretty good, actually, so no one can say "oh, you just suck at Metroid, then" if I bring up any criticisms of the challenge of the game (of which there are many, but more on that later).

Also, for the sake of simplicity, I'm going to refer to this version of Redesign Axeil as simply "Redesign." So, without further ado, on to the review!

I will begin by saying that I honestly overall enjoyed this hack. There are a lot of things to love about Redesign that I feel people aren't giving enough credit for because of all the other stuff weighing down the hack.

* The world is absolutely gigantic and methodically crafted; it's abundantly clear that years worth of time and effort went into creating a sprawling, gigantic world that is both intimidating to look at on the map screens and beautiful to experience when playing. This is to say that clearly no effort was spared when creating this gigantic piece of work.
The subtle changes to the tilesets also assist in creating an immersive world, to the point that Redesign looks leaps and bounds better than the original game. Everything looks like it makes sense, every tunnel looks natural and every structure looks like it was built onto the world in ways that just make sense.

* There are a lot of neat ideas, such as the new auto-morph mechanic which is a blessing for players troubled with the new physics, though there are definitely some tunnels that the auto-morph doesn't work in.

* The gravity is also less punishing, with horizontal jumps being made easier and Samus not falling like a rock the moment she reaches the apex of her jump.

* Shinesparking is made a little easier, as horizontal shinesparking in the original Redesign and vanilla Super Metroid was finicky and tough to accomplish.

* Auto-walljumping is also great as it does prevent hand cramps.

* The auto-map system has been ridiculously improved! This is probably the best map system of any Super Metroid hack out there. I'd be happy if every hack from hereon out incorporated some version of this map system; it prevents clutter, makes doors easy to spot, and is overall an incredible addition.

* The hint system is wonderful. It prevents a LOT of aimless searching and streamlines the game. I've heard of previous versions not incorporating hints for some of the Chozo Guardians, which is baffling to me. However, 1.4 did fix those issues.

* The endgame statistics screen is very neat and a nice way to cap off the adventure.

* Manual scrolling was a nice feature. There are, unfortunately, many places within the original Redesign that have you jumping blindly into enemies because they're too far below screen, but Axeil makes it somewhat more tolerable with this system. That being said, this feels more like a safety net for bad room design rather than a good mechanic in and of itself. Players shouldn't need to stop and look down for a couple of seconds when you could just structure the room in a way that players can see all they need to see at all times.

* The nameplates for the areas is a NICE touch. I suggest adding more in there in future editions! So far, I count: Crateria, Crateria Depths, Brinstar, Norfair, Lower Norfair, Maridia, Tourian Access and Tourian. There could definitely be more added in, especially in Brinstar and Maridia. One of my favourite parts of Metroid Prime is that every room has a NAME, which lends an identity to each area.

* Quicksand doesn't suck ass anymore. Thank god!

* Exiting water without the Gravity Suit is actually possible in this version! HUZZAH!

* The optional Hell's Run is very much appreciated. While the Hell's Run was something of an iconic moment of the original Redesign, it was the source of incredible frustration due to death pits and there being absolutely no room for error on the player's part.
The early Power Bomb challenge is very neat. I won't say much more about it due to not having attempted the challenge, but it's still a very cool feature.

* Speedbooster and Power Bomb blocks staying destroyed even when exiting a room is great!

* The idea to weaken Ridley's health in Ceres to aid in your fight against him in Norfair was a very cool idea... HOWEVER... I will go into why it's super bullshit later on.

* The express elevators are a nice addition, which helps cut down on the backtracking somewhat. However, I didn't make much use of them myself because I honestly forgot where they would go and would rarely take me to where I needed to go if I did remember where they went. Maybe notating them on the map somehow would help?

AREA SPECIFIC

* CRATERIA: The early Power Bomb challenge is very well presented. There are subtle environmental cues to show which trip wires won't set off the alarm, which is a neat addition.
* BRINSTAR: Honestly, Brinstar was my absolute favourite part of the hack, especially Red Brinstar. Sidehoppers always will suck, and the Mega Sidehoppers taking off more than an Energy Tank is bullshit, but I still enjoyed it immensely.
* NORFAIR: Not much to say, as it didn't feel too different (though I admit I played Redesign a couple of years ago), though the added save points is a plus. Also, and I don't know exactly how to quantify this, but the Grapple section in Norfair wasn't as much of a nightmare, thank god.
* MARIDIA: Quicksand isn't stupid shit anymore.
* TOURIAN: Despite my outburst in my previous post, Tourian does have some neat ideas. The idea to destroy Zebetites to deactivate lasers is definitely pretty cool, though I'd totally scale it back a bit with how extreme it is. It's a well-crafted location... even if tedious.

The hack definitely feels more accessible this time around, with enemy damage being taken down and health drops being buffed (small energy now heals 10, and large energy heals 25). The additions really help new players ease into the game and I will definitely say that I had more fun at the beginning of the hack than I did in the original Redesign.

Now, all that having been said...

I have quite a few criticisms with the hack. As many people have vented their frustrations to you in this thread, which will always be a tough pill to swallow, I won't go full rage mode or anything.

* The physics, while made better, are still annoying to deal with. The most important question you should ask yourself when creating a game or making a hack is "what does this bring to the table?" For example, what do the heavier physics bring to the table? You mentioned in your readme for the original hack that they add a sense of unfamiliarity, which might be true to an extent, but I still felt like I was playing Super Metroid, anyway. After that, they just lend a sense of frustration to players trying to navigate the often tight, methodically constructed rooms and maps of the game. Another member mentioned that they'd have more fun if the original physics were present, which is a statement I'm going to support. Also, as an aside, you mentioned in the original hack's readme that your decision to add in the heavier physics was supported by a Pirate Data Entry in the Logbook which states that Tallon IV and Zebes have similar masses... but, you don't jump as high in Metroid Prime, and if you adjust for that I think you'd find that Tallon IV and the original Super Metroid Zebes do have similar gravity. Just something to keep in mind.

* Similar to the different physics, why was the crumble jump removed? I know crumble jumping allowed players to circumvent your puzzles, but wasn't that part of the reason why people liked Super Metroid in the first place? The important thing to note is player agency here, in that in Super Metroid you're given all these different options as to how you can approach the game. It lends a sense of replay value that isn't found in other games that Metroidvanias excel at. I know it sucks to work super hard on a puzzle just for people to ignore it in favour of a different solution, but sometimes the developer must make concessions for the players: Miyazaki of Dark Souls fame speaks of this in an interview in which he says that despite there being sequence-breaking bugs in his games (I think the skip in questions is the skip to the Adjudicator in Demon's Souls' Shrine of Storms 1), the fact that they add something to the game and become a part of its identity is something that must be considered or even kept in when designing games in this era in which we can patch out bugs and the like. Totally restricting player agency like that is BOUND to frustrate players, and strips Super Metroid of something that helped make it so loved in the first place.

* Similarly, why the heck did you make arm-pumping slower, dude?!

* The Morph Ball rolling speed is way, way too slow. I realize you wanted to give an added benefit to getting the Hi-Jump Boots, but why? What purpose did it serve? The fact that you can jump higher and while in a ball is reward enough. The default rolling speed should be the speed you have with the Hi-Jump Boots equipped, because as it stands it's just tedious.
Those Morph Ball maze tunnels also suck the big one. You know, the ones where you need to make these incredibly tight jumps or else you risk falling onto a crumble block (which, need I remind everyone, you can no longer jump out of and save yourself losing a shit-ton of progress). I'll admit I save-stated the HELL out of those sections to save myself the immense frustration. And, to add insult to injury, you're given measly rewards like 2-Missile Packs once you've completed them.

* That brings me to my next point, which is also true of the original Redesign. The different sizes of Missile packs, while a neat idea, don't add much but frustration to the game. Early on, you're forced to deal with criminally low Missile levels which makes the player farm for ammo, which is never a good thing. This combined with those fucking Purple Doors, makes resource management all the more tedious.

* Purple Doors. Why, Drew? What do they add to the experience? People were never really big fans of the 5 Missile Doors in Super Metroid and the addition of 1 Missile Doors in Zero Mission was universally praised, so why make it even more extreme and tedious? Again, you have to ask yourself what Purple Doors bring to the table. Missile Doors are basically locks to prevent the player from exploring until they have the appropriate power up, this case being the Missiles. While maybe having one Purple Door might be good to force players to explore and find the appropriate amount of missiles, there's like a fucking million of them in the hack. Super Missiles also fire more slowly, so you're forced to sit and wait for longer than what is reasonable to open these damn doors. I say take them out and replace them with 5 Missile Doors or Power Bomb doors or whatever. Or, even better, 1 Missile Doors!

* Early Energy tanks have been moved around, creating a shortage of them pre-Hell's Run.

* Which reminds me, why do Supers fire slower? Supers were already made somewhat pointless by Charge+Ice+Wave+Plasma totally out-damaging them, so lowering their firing speed is just a totally ridiculous nerf. Maybe if they were godlike like they are in Zero Mission would this be an okay decision, but here it's just silly. They're totally useless, after a certain point.
The shot block that looks like a bomb block is stupid and only serves to confuse players. There's no reason for its inclusion.

* Crateria Depths was increased? Why? WHY? It's easily the worst part of pre-Tourian. Underwater suitless isn't challenging or fun, it's just annoying and tedious. And why the heck did you keep it as part of the escape sequence?! Again, you must ask yourself what it brings to the table. Fighting the Elite Pirates was the only interesting part of it all.

* The abundance of Morph Ball Tunnel Puzzles. I like them as much as the next guy, but there's just too much. Add in the fact that many of them need double bomb jumping, and you have yourself many needlessly tedious sections of the game that could have easily been much more enjoyable had they been designed with reducing tedium in mind.

* The Speed Booster escape killed me like 4 times because of the incredibly tight window you're given to escape. You need to have a perfect run or else you're toast. After the vertical shinesparking section, if the lava gets too high you simply cannot escape. Make it so that you can escape even if you're stuck in the lava at that point.

* The Screw Attack puzzle is a bit too nebulous for my tastes. I had to look up the solution because I honestly never noticed that the switches ran on timers with differing lengths. This puzzle, along with the Lost Caverns, is easily the most "esoteric" for lack of a better phrase of the puzzles in Redesign. It's certainly a neat idea, but it will be the source of endless frustration for the vast majority of players unless this problem is addressed. The thing is with Metroid puzzles is that the player is taught to look for environmental cues and hidden passages and the like to discover items, and this is also true for the rest of the hack. However, the Screw Attack puzzle throws all preconceptions and intuitively-thought mechanics out the window in favour of a puzzle that will frustrate people. Players can easily miss out on the cues already given by not noticing a mere ONE SECOND of different between two separate switches. I realize you don't have problems with this puzzle, Drew, but that's because you created it.

* Fucking sandfalls in Maridia. They're just there to frustrate you and prevent you from reaching Botwoon early, the latter of which is absolutely fine, but did it have to affect the rest of the hack?

* Other than that, Maridia was honestly just kind of boring. Power ups were super scarce in comparison to other areas, especially Brinstar, and the enemies were damage sponges which would have been totally alleviated had we been given the Beam Combo earlier, but alas.
Why was the Plasma Beam kept until after Ridley? At that point, all you need to do is hunt down the Guardians and enter Tourian. There's just not much use for it outside of those instances. There's just not much to use it on aside from the Space Pirates in Tourian. Make it so that you can use it against Ridley, at least!

* Ridley's boss battle in Norfair. Attacking Ridley on Ceres was a SUPER cool idea, but your little readme neglected to mention that he'd deal more damage as a result. He shouldn't be taking off 3 energy tanks worth of health, god dammit. Either take out the damage buff or at least mention it in the readme before unsuspected players get gored on a totally bullshit and grimy trick.

* Acid. Now, this is a bit of weird point because I played 1.4 which cut back on the ridiculous damage given by Acid in favour of a suit integrity damage system, but it brings to mind a sort of cognitive dissonance that always pops in my mind whenever I think about Axeil: for a hack designed to be more accessible, why are there so many mechanics that are harder for the player?

* And now... for the big one. Tourian. Oh my gosh, Tourian. This was easily one of the least enjoyable experiences I've had playing a Metroid hack. I was not fucking ready for Tourian. No amount of trials and tribulations could have prepared me for the sleeping beast that lied dormant until I awakened those twelve fateful Chozo Guardians. Now, I realize I played version 1.4 which apparently cut back on the Metroids outside of the Ffff-ffEEEEDIng PIT aREAs... sorry, my rage peeped out for an instant. I'm sorry about that! Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, Tourian. As stated before, disarming the lasers was a cool idea, but it was pretty darn extreme. It's just super tedious, which you say is intentional but again you must ask yourself what the point of the tedium is. If you're designing a hack made to be more accessible, why would you deliberately design something more tedious? It's another sense of the cognitive dissonance I was talking about, and others have touched on this as well.

* The mega uber death lasers are a bit much. Tone down the damage because falling into one or jumping into one is instant death. Just make them a solid block that takes of a chunk of damage instead of sapping your health 300 HEALTH A FRAME.

* THE METROIDS. Ooooooooh man, the Metroids. I will admit I was pretty jazzed getting into Tourian as I honestly enjoyed myself despite all the criticisms I had for pre-Tourian sections of the game. I honestly, truly enjoyed myself, despite all the railroading and the blatant hate for sequence breaking and letting the player find their own route through the game, but then the Metroids attacked. The earth cracked and the sky shook with the ferocity of their attacks. I was emotionally spent after having completed the hack, and by golly god damn holy crap did those Metroids ever take a toll on me. There are just too much, they are too plentiful, they aggro from too far away, they hunt in these fucking packs, they take too much to get off, they're too fast, Supers are way too slow, they're too relentless, holy shit oh my gosh why

* THE FEEDING PIT. Wait! Let me... let me collect myself. I'm sorry, bad memories. Anyway, yes, the feeding pit. That feeding pit is the worst part of the hack, easily. I yelled, I was frustrated, it took forever, I had to make multiple trips out of Tourian and to my ship in Crateria to efficiently farm all that health back, and why did you put it in? Why did you put the feeding pit in a hack designed to be more accessible for players? WHY?! DREEEEEWWWWWwww... Anyway, yeah, they're a pain. Why do they dodge? Why do they take less time to freeze? Why don't Power Bombs work at all? Why do you need to kill them in an insanely fast amount of time? I got lucky and the Metroids decided to stay stunned for longer in the final feeding pit area, which was the sweet song of seraphim heard in my lover's bosom to me at that point, but AGAIN I must ask why it's included in a hack that's designed to be more accessible. If this was a challenge hack, great! Mission accomplished! However, neither this nor the original Redesign (though it's to my understanding that the Metroids weren't this insane in the original hack) were designed to be challenge hacks. In fact, as I've brought up doubtlessly countless times at this point, Axeil Edition was designed to be more accessible! So why, man? Why?

So, after having given an all-too-large bullet point list of my likes and dislikes of the hack (though I'll admit that I probably forgot a lot of stuff, though I feel others have stated their criticisms enough to cover the ones I forgot), I'll finish with my closing thoughts. I will restate that despite my criticisms, I still had fun with this game.[/spoiler]

[QRIJ]

I really enjoyed this before and now that the Feeding Pit Metroids have been toned down in 1.5 , I even enjoyed the entirety of Tourian as well.



I encountered a bad glitch that happens in certain situations.

What happened was that when I was running with the Speed Booster, I jumped into a wall. I somehow jumped through the wall, Samus kept flying through the screen, then died. I tried to reproduce but could only get lodged in the wall.

[spoiler][/spoiler]


Also, an audio bug. Didn't try to reproduce it because it happened during the escape sequence

[spoiler]I fell into some acid and it took me a bit to get out. When I was out, the critical health sound kept sounding throughout the entire escape sequence.[/spoiler]

[CaRmAgE]

I encountered a bad glitch that happens in certain situations.

What happened was that when I was running with the Speed Booster, I jumped into a wall. I somehow jumped through the wall, Samus kept flying through the screen, then died. I tried to reproduce but could only get lodged in the wall.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

That's a well-known issue with vanilla SM: Moving fast enough allows you to bypass really thin barriers.  I would imagine this would be easy to fix simply by making the wall thicker.

This reminded me of an issue I found with a particular shinespark. [spoiler=Norfair Eastern Guardian]If you shinespark from the wrong height, or lack the energy to make the full trip, you can walk inside the tunnel.  If you walk all the way to the end, you become trapped behind Speed Booster blocks, because no room connection was made to go back.  This could be easily fixed by replacing the Speed Booster blocks with bomb blocks.[/spoiler]

I actually finished v1.5 a couple days ago.  Completion time: 9:15 (didn't get the screenshot in time, so you'll have to take my word for it)

Tourian was still no walk in the park, but it was definitely playable this time around.  I was kind of disappointed you eventually had to add that energy recharge station.  I thought it was obvious based on the readme that you expected us to use CF in Tourian when necessary, but I guess most players didn't figure that out.

Before writing my review on the hack page, I wanted to run-through EPB again in order make my review as detailed as possible.  However, I think I might have hit a roadblock.

[spoiler=EPB Crateria Depths]In my first run, I used a shinespark to cross the gap at the entrance.  I'm assuming this is still what needs to be done, because the grapple blocks that were added in v1.5 are missing during EPB.  Originally, I used the hallway next to an express elevator in the area to charge a boost (#3 on Danidub's map).  In v1.5, the elevator was removed, but so was the hallway (the entire room is now just a single shaft).  I tried checking the room at the top of the shaft, but that hallway is blocked off.  None of the other rooms in the area seem to have long-enough stretches to charge a boost, either.[/spoiler]

Was the EPB route accidentally broken, or am I missing something?

[Drewseph]

There should be another place to get a charge.  Above the room where the old express was.

[CaRmAgE]

There should be another place to get a charge.  Above the room where the old express was.

I tried that already (unless you are referring to a different room).  I ran out of running room because of rubble created by the challenge.

[Drewseph]

Crap.  That shoulnt be there anymore.  Your right i broke the run.  Ill patch that as soon as i can.  In the mean time you can cheat yourself a shine spark to get across the moat.

::EDIT::
Well I knew it was inevitable.

1.51
- Unblocked a game breaker for Early Powerbomb Challenge
- Tried to fix issue where samus "bounces" when rolling on a flat slope
- a few level design fixes that accidently got lost and were meant to be in 1.5
- Fixed mockballing, samus keeps momentum on landing in the air when d pad pressing in MB mode. 
  somehow this got undone a while ago and I never noticed.

for the EPB it is essensial that you update the patch.  otherwise its recommended, but not required.  nothing should break... I don't think.

[Dustsoft]

I'm stuck here, I thought there was suppose to be a platform for me to jump on. I looked at some guides before I posted this and it indeed looks as if there was suppose to be a platform. So I could be perma stuck, and thought I'd share this.

[Technomagus]

I'm stuck here, I thought there was suppose to be a platform for me to jump on. I looked at some guides before I posted this and it indeed looks as if there was suppose to be a platform. So I could be perma stuck, and thought I'd share this.

You're not stuck.  You have to climb the right side of the room, and there'll be a morph tunnel along the left wall to get you out of that area.

[SirAileron]

So far, all of these changes have been very delightful, and while some parts can be challenging, it doesn't have the "unfair factor" that previous versions had. I'm in almost to Tourian, I'm just missing a single missile pack before I dive in. :grin:

[altoiddealer]

I found a missile expansion that was not indicated with a dot on the map.

[spoiler]In lower Crateria (south east) there was a missile expansion hidden behind one of those stationary enemies that the mites or whatever pop out of when you shoot it.[/spoiler]

[CaRmAgE]

I found a missile expansion that was not indicated with a dot on the map.

[spoiler]In lower Crateria (south east) there was a missile expansion hidden behind one of those stationary enemies that the mites or whatever pop out of when you shoot it.[/spoiler]

I'm pretty sure that was intentional, as most of the 10-missile packs aren't marked on the map.

EDIT: Does anyone who's done the EPB before remember how to do the last damage boost in Maridia?  I've completely forgotten what to do. :neutral:

[spoiler]I'm guessing I have to damage boost up the wall jump area or from the missile expansion cubby.  With the former, I can't get the height necessary to scale the wall, and with the latter, I keep hitting the ceiling and, thus, barely don't make it to the platform across the way.[/spoiler]

[Drewseph]

EDIT: Does anyone who's done the EPB before remember how to do the last damage boost in Maridia?  I've completely forgotten what to do. :neutral:

SHIT... I tweaked the damage boost to cancel when hitting your head.  I never realized you easily hit your head. in that room I'll have to tweak that when I get back.  I am currently away for vacation and will be back in a week.  for now you will either have to wait, or cheat to get past that part :/