Hyper Metroid

[Boomerang]

Hey, made an account to give my input on the hack. My completion time was about 7:50 with 100% items collected.

Overall, this is one of the greatest Super Metroid hacks out there. The map is well designed, if a bit tedious to get from one end to the other (particularly in Norfair). The graphics are quite pleasing to look at and the room designs take full advantage of the different colours project base offers. The item progression doesn't leave you searching for most items for TOO long (with the exceptions being the Super Missiles and the Power Bombs), and the Plasma+Spazer is definitely neat. You can tell a lot of love went into making this hack.

Perhaps my favourite part about the hack, however, is that it's well-balanced in terms of difficulty. A lot of hacks like Redesign and the original Eris (which I consider to be more difficult than Eris 2012) punish the player for exploration with enemies that shave off massive chunks of damage. There are enemies like that in Hyper Metroid, particularly in Maridia if you mockball across the bridge you're intended to use the Spring Ball's speed ball mechanic. However, they're not too extreme and are meant to be light pushes in the right direction without hampering exploration. In Eris 2009 and Redesign, most enemies hit hard anyways and tough enemies were placed in easy-to-access locations that most players would naturally come across.

The atmosphere is mostly similar to Super Metroid, though the new tiles in "Lower Norfair" or rather Ridley's Lair, lend themselves to a Phazon Mines sort of feel, which is great. I love when hacks strike out on their own in terms of atmosphere and separate themselves from Super Metroid--Eris is a standout example of this--though Hyper Metroid is supposed to be evocative of the original, and it's no big deal either way, so it's no harm done.

As for my criticisms, well, they're nothing too major. My biggest criticisms lie in how unintuitive the Project Base Speed Booster mechanics are, particularly in how you can essentially reverse and slow down your boost with the spin jump. It still doesn't make much sense to me and I had to look up a solution for a particular room because I still didn't understand the new mechanics fully at that point, though I knew something was up when I could sometimes slow down my charge. I don't recommend taking this out because I imagine it's integral to many skips and sequence breaks (especially if you're brave enough to take down Ridley early), but I'd put some effort into making the mechanics more well-known, as they're easy enough to understand once the player is told. I don't know how I'd solve this issue myself, personally, though I'd definitely change up the room in which you get the Speed Booster to more properly teach the player how to use it.

The Spring Ball is handled a bit better, though it does have some of the same issues. I personally had no problem learning them, but other players have. I'd personally change the name of the item itself, as "Spring Ball" essentially makes Super Metroid veterans (the only people playing the hack) think "oh, this will let me jump as a ball!" and nothing else. Giving it a different name will make players think "Oh, there must be some new functions to this thing!" Maybe "Hyper Ball" would work? In fact, I'd do the same with the Speed Booster--maybe something like the "Speed Unit" or the "Kinetic Engine" or something weird. Something that will inform players that the mechanics are different in some respect. Maybe even button prompts like the backflip, despite their heavy-handed nature, would be good.

Other than those, my complaints are minor; Draygon sucks as a boss and the bullet hell projectiles plus Draygon's mechanics don't really combine very well... plus all the graphical glitches. Getting 100% items was a bit tedious, but such is the completionist life. Certain doors should also be notated on the map; it's fine once you actually enter them, but there is an abundance of doors you simply cannot enter until you either collect the right power up or access them from the other side and they're not notated at all on the map. For example, the power bomb door in upper Brinstar that leads to a gate switch can only be opened with Power Bombs, but on the map there's no indication of a door in that room. This is a minor complaint, but addressing this would just cut down on the tedium. Finally, I'd say that there is an overabundance of locked doors for me, personally. I realize this is not easily fixed and is meant to section off certain parts of the map for later exploration, but it's still a bit disappointing to explore a bit, only to be stopped by a gray door.

Overall, I'd give this hack a 5/5. It's fantastic, but has a few issues that can be ironed out in a later release. Great work!

[SlyPork]

Hey, made an account to give my input on the hack.

I recommend copy-posting in the New Beta Site  :^_^:

[Drewseph]

Completed Hyper:  6:52   72%

Mini review/rant:

[spoiler]
Overall the hack was frustrating, tedious.  well thought out, and horribly executed in certain places. Colors were pretty conflicting and bosses were damn near impossible for a beginner. (could not even hit kraid in the mouth)

The game was enjoyable once I got to maridia and tourian  those were two great areas.  The escape was great, with just enough time to get to the ship with a  minute to spare!  Saved the animals all in one try too.  The passion that went into the hack was clear from the start.  Fantastic new GFX sets set a moody atmosphere. (mostly hurt by the palette choices however)

Overall I still enjoyed playing the hack.  exploration was fun, though traversing an area once cleared was still tedeious because of all the zig zagging and no clear direct path.

speaking of path, this game suffered from the one flaw Super Metroid did not have.  It had no direction.  It was too open, and free to roam.  This is a bad choice because it leaves players wandering aimlessly from one end of zebes to the other in the beginning of the game.  in fact I think I ended up taking the same path Vismund took and because of that I really hated the difficulty of this hack.

In conclusion I would not be recommending this hack to beginner players, but veterans of SM will absolutely welcome the challenge that this game provides.

Overall I'm gonna rate this a 4/5.  Fantastic job Real Red![/spoiler]

[danidub]

After I made Hyper Metroid map I had the idea to do a Super Metroid Hyper Map

[altoiddealer]

speaking of path, this game suffered from the one flaw Super Metroid did not have.  It had no direction.  It was too open, and free to roam.  This is a bad choice because it leaves players wandering aimlessly from one end of zebes to the other in the beginning of the game.

I felt exactly the same way on my playthrough.  Still enjoyed it, but I was quite lost at times.

However, I've been watching my roommate play this hack, who is still a SM beginner and horrendous at walljumping.
Watching her play, ignoring all the walljump opportunities, it's actually quite linear so far up to the Wrecked Ship [spoiler]Except for the easy access to Norfair.  I forget how far you can go in the early game before having to turn around, but I gave her a hint to not go down there yet[/spoiler]
She rage-quit at Wrecked Ship and may not continue again  :sad:

She was not at all happy with:
[spoiler]Bomb Torizo immune to normal shots, then getting stuck down in the spikes and NOT spitting out the balls to replenish missiles.  She called me in from the other room and asked me what the hell she had to do and I told her she had to jump over him into the spikes, so to trigger him to spit out a means to get more ammo.  She got killed and pretty pissed about it, but next time around was careful to keep him on the central platform[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The 2 grapple hooks that move left and right in upper left Brinstar, BEFORE getting high jump.  She didn't have TOO much trouble with all the grappling you have to do to get up to this point, but she had a very tough time here getting from the first moving hook up to the second one.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]The trek you have to make to get to a Save Station once going to the Wrecked Ship.  The enemies there do considerable damage, and you have to do some "difficult" grappling.  She's died 4 times now before reaching a save station, having to travel all the way from Samus's ship.[/spoiler]

Will continue giving noob feedback if it holds any interest Red  :bounce:

[Digital_Mantra]

After I made Hyper Metroid map I had the idea to do a Super Metroid Hyper Map

I still feel your Hyper Metroid map needs the correct item icons.

[Quietus]

After I made Hyper Metroid map I had the idea to do a Super Metroid Hyper Map

I'd argue that Hi-Jump should be before Spazer, since the intended route is unlikely to include a wall-jump. :^_^:

[Zhs2]

[spoiler]Bomb Torizo immune to normal shots, then getting stuck down in the spikes and NOT spitting out the balls to replenish missiles.  She called me in from the other room and asked me what the hell she had to do and I told her she had to jump over him into the spikes, so to trigger him to spit out a means to get more ammo.  She got killed and pretty pissed about it, but next time around was careful to keep him on the central platform[/spoiler]

Bombs! Bombs are the answer!

[JAM]

I likes almost everything you did. The only thing I disliked is Bomb Torizo. He's acting like a complete dumbass. I guess, you couldn't make him work properly in Brinstar (not because you wanted him to act like a dumbass). And after awakening he is thinking like: "What the hell am I doind here? Let me go! I want to return to Crateria!".

[spoiler]All you have to do to place status with Bomb Torizo on enemy-breakable blocks. After falling from them, he will acts normally. And his orb shooting attack probably can be disabled by little hex tweak.[/spoiler]

[danidub]

I still feel your Hyper Metroid map needs the correct item icons.

It's done. [spoiler]Hyper Metroid Map[/spoiler]

I'd argue that Hi-Jump should be before Spazer, since the intended route is unlikely to include a wall-jump. :^_^:

I agree.

[RealRed]

Hey Danidub, on the very top left room in brinstar, 4x2 box shaped room, there's a super missile in the bottom right scroll that's not marked on your map.

[danidub]

Hey Danidub, on the very top left room in brinstar, 4x2 box shaped room, there's a super missile in the bottom right scroll that's not marked on your map.

Thank you, it's updated.

[graw-_@]

I'd like to try this hack but I'm having problems getting it to work. The rom seems to patch alright and I can do the intro area on the station but after the flying to Zebes cutscene I get nothing but a black screen. I've tried both the headered and unheadered patches and neither seem to work. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here.  I've tried using different roms and nothing seems to work.

[RealRed]

Sorry to hear that! Alternatively you could grab a .smc file from begrimed's project base page.
(it's at the bottom of the page)

[graw-_@]

Thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize there was an already patched rom :yay:. This one's working properly. I wonder if it was because I was using lunar IPS to patch it. I've had problems patching other roms in the past but it usually works alright.

Either way I'm looking forward to trying this hack out! :grin:

[Technomagus]

So I've gone and done a 100% Let's Play of the original Hyper Metroid (haven't gotten the patch yet as I never ran into any issues.)  Here is a link to the playlist.  I've put annotations throughout the videos giving upgrade notes and boss info as I encounter them.

[watsonsword]

Edit: Forgot to spoiler my points. Sorry.

BEST @#%$ING SUPER METROID HACK EVER!!! ... or at least until 2032 when Fear comes out. I'll be, damn, 48 years old then!

5:25, 88%.

[spoiler]Initially, I thought that Kraid and Golden Torizo were way the hell too hard. Then I discovered the proper sequence of this game. Honestly, keeping sequence in Hyper Metroid is like, three times harder than breaking it! But once I kept sequence, Kraid and Golden Torizo became manageable. Kraid actually becomes pathetically easy with early Spazer.

But one boss simply does not become manageable no matter how well prep'ed you are. Even with the best preparation--Screw Attack, Plasma, last event before Tourian--I can't beat Draygon without slowmo.

But the Tourian design was worth it. The Womb Level was born of the NES, and was mostly forgotten when that era passed. It was the most awesomely creepy and surreal idea that should never have fell into disuse.[/spoiler]

[advancedpillow]

This passed weekend I recently took a six hour plane ride. Hyper kept me sane the whole way. Finally beat the game this morning. 88% with like 8 hours and change. I got so lost looking for the frickin powerbombs. I wish there was a way to see the entire world map at once; that would have clued me into having to head back into the Wrecked Ship.

Amazing job overall, man. I'm not one to nit-pick, but I sometimes do I guess. This time though it was just a joy to play, even while lost I felt I was discovering new secret areas. The exploraion was awesome; every room seemed to connect to another. The graphics (colors, tilesets) were very well done. Deep maridia is so much better than vanilla. I loved the tweaks to the speed booster but I just wish there were more long stretches of blasting through blocks. Maybe like a "warp" tunnel where you could shinespark across the world? The puzzle rooms were fantastic too.

Question about gate 15: is it intended to only be able to reach it after defeating Draygon? I sort of got lucky speed boosting down to his lair; I can't imagine what I did was the intended route.

My favorite secret area is probably the area right above the landing site. You rarely see that used in hacks.

So, overall Hyper is one of the best SM hacks out there. Amazing work. In my top 3. Right up there with the collector's edition of Eris and Z-Factor for me. Axiel edition up next!

[Digital_Mantra]

So, overall Hyper is one of the best SM hacks out there. Amazing work. In my top 3. Right up there with the collector's edition of Eris and Z-Factor for me. Axiel edition up next!

Please make a limited boxset of Hyper Metroid.

[advancedpillow]

K.  :nod:

[ExhumedGrave]

Finished the hack

9:59:57, 86%

9/10 it was ok

[Digital_Mantra]

K.  :nod:

Lovers of this game, start getting in line, AP is at it again and you don't even want to know the inflation rate. Trust me on this one.

[Kapow]

map time

:>: Hyper Metroid v1.00 Map by Kapow

[RealRed]

map time

:>: Hyper Metroid v1.00 Map by Kapow

This is fucking FANTASTIC. I always considered your legacy/redesign map among the best/most professional looking maps. And now I have one of my own!  :cheers:
I might end up editting it to put the diagonal grid used in Hyper Metroid though. Hm...

[Kapow]

I might end up editting it to put the diagonal grid used in Hyper Metroid though. Hm...

You mean this grid? :cool: