Author Topic: Hey Jon, map accecptance question  (Read 49756 times)

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Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Hey Jon, map accecptance question
« Reply #15 on: March 19, 2014, 10:39:26 am »
Impressive. I hope you didn't play all of these all the way through to capture them all though, that would be insane... You know, seeing how many hacks there are and knowing the average quality and intent behind most hacks (cranked up difficulty and the need to master every known move and glitch to make any progress), I wonder how many of these are actually *fun* to play like the original game...
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Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Trop

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Re: Hey Jon, map accecptance question
« Reply #16 on: March 19, 2014, 01:10:43 pm »
I did play every hack in my mini map set, and a bunch more.  In fact I've played through about 75% of them now and dipped my feet into all but seven.  ALL hacks -ALL- require stunts you would never use in Super Metroid.  You more or less live by wall jumping and mid air morph ball.

Most hacks are minor mods with about double difficulty.  About 10% of hacks are brand new fun games.  About 10% of hacks are unplayable or incomplete glam hacks.  Another 10% are unbeatable torture level difficulty hacks.

Glitches aren't that frequent but when they do come up about half of them break the game entirely.  There's a lot of design flaw too.  Necessary items can be too well hidden.  Bad room order, sticky spots, flawed balance or no balance, silly graphics, and worst of all way too many life force doors.

Almost all hacks fail to dish up the kind environment SM Samus fits comfortably into.  It's almost as if every hack requires Spider Ball and never gives it too you.  Each hack seems to be better suited for some other platform game character who never shows up.  Still it's hard to wreck Super Metroid completely so I never stopped playing even when things got annoying.

As for my recommendations:
Eris - New planet, new everything
Oxide - like a strange Metroid based dream
Digital Cube - A fun puzzle
Phazon - play as Dark Samus
Ice Metal - SM meets Paladins Quest
Zero Mission - SM rebuilt into Zero Mission
Airy - Zebes yet not Zebes
Exercise - smooth outside the box design
Pantheon - the right way to rearrange Zebes
Stardust - short and sweet

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: Hey Jon, map accecptance question
« Reply #17 on: March 19, 2014, 06:06:44 pm »
This shows just how important balance is when making a game. The best games, those that are remembered as true classic, have incredibly fine-tuned balance and that's something that not even professionals get right all the time. By the way, I never did finish playing Super Metroid: Stardust (although I was pretty far along)...
Current project:
Mega Man: Powered Up (PSP)

Offline Trop

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Re: Hey Jon, map accecptance question
« Reply #18 on: March 20, 2014, 08:52:13 am »
Stardust boiled down to one long hallway.  If you really want a flaw free SM hack that still has all the parts you'd expect go with Exercise.

Offline Trop

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Re: Hey Jon, map accecptance question
« Reply #19 on: May 18, 2014, 09:18:01 am »
I've done it!  All Super Metroid hacks played and mapped!  I am officially a Metroid nut!
« Last Edit: May 18, 2014, 09:19:38 am by Trop »