Super Metroid QOL (first post)

[olias]

Hey guys, new to the forum. I joined to ask a simple question for the older members of the community.
I'm a longtime fan of the series, I've recently completed Metroid mOTHER on original famicom hardware, and yesterday I finished the new Metroid II remake on 3DS. Next I want to play an "updated" version of super metroid, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer volume of hacks available

My request is for recommendations of Super Metroid hacks that don't make many (if any) changes to the original game content, but ad quality of life improvements, namely make the physics more similar to the GBA titles: faster, and less floaty. Other changes are welcome too! If there's a generally accepted "Super Metroid Plus" package for idealists then that's just what I'm looking for! Thanks!

There's a huge amount of hacks out there, and I don't think any of them are categorized into "quality of life" enhancement hacks. Thanks in advance.

[Boomerang]

You're not going to find many "QOL" hacks that just make the physics tighter and more akin to the GBA games - mostly things that help with controls like Control Freak, or hacks that make things smoother overall (Project Base). Based on the idea of a simple enhancement hack, Project Base would be your best bet. Grime, the hack's creator, included a bunch of versions that you can use to suit your tastes; some people don't appreciate the more washed-out colours and the generally warmer palettes used for the areas, so there is a "original colours" version.

Project Base adds in respin, shinespark recharging (like in the GBA games), maintained momentum upon landing from a jump, ball-speed boosting (no dedicated ball spark, though), changes to the item-pickup fanfares (most items just play a small soundclip as opposed to the seconds-long fanfare of the original), the ability to turn around while in blue suit whilst maintaining speed boost, some new shortcuts added to the more isolated areas, quicker door opening animations, along with a list of other neat features.

There is also Control Freak, which, while I haven't played it myself, supposedly introduces a good number of control-changes that makes the controls more like the GBA games. Personally I never bothered with it, and instead key-mapped a controller so that dash is on R1, aim up and down are on the L1 and L2 buttons respectively - just to make running, jump and shooting at the same time much less awkward to control for me personally.

There is one hack out there that does change the physics to be more like the GBA games, or more specifically Zero Mission - and that's Redesign and Redesign Axeil, whose physics are the source of contention among people who have played it. In my opinion, the tighter physics of those hacks prove in some respect that the Super Metroid "engine" simply wasn't built with those kinds of physics in mind.

Along with the aforementioned hacks, I would like to give a shoutout to my favourite hacks: Hyper Metroid (good for people who have beaten Super Metroid), Eris (good for people that are good at Super Metroid), Super Zero Mission (similar to Eris - just don't play the Hard version unless you're fucking amazing), and Redesign Axeil, which has a similar difficulty level to Eris.

[Quietus]

I'm with Boomerang. If you want QOL, you'll need to do some work in adding individual patches yourself. Otherwise, you can go with something like Project Base, though it's got a bunch of extra rooms over the original game as well as the gameplay changes. Or you can go with hacks that change up the physics, but won't be the original game. Unfortunately, most hackers are looking to change things round, rather than trying to polish the original.

[Amorsis]

Project Base is a great start when it comes to QOL. I urge you to try it out. @begrimed  did alotta cool things with the physics. There is a patch he put out that only changes the physics and not the level design or palettes.

[olias]

Thanks everyone for the recommendations! Project base looks like exactly what I'm looking for. I didn't have the vocabulary for it before, but my biggest annoyances with returning to Super Metroid after playing Samus Returns 3DS and the others was just the things you mentioned: loss of momentum after a jump and door speed. Awesome!