hmsong's Ratings and Reviews
Super Metroid: Subversion by TestRunner and AmoebaOfDoom [
Exploration],
rated by hmsong on Mar 26, 2024 (
)
Exploration],
rated by hmsong on Mar 26, 2024 ( )
100% in 8:52
Metroid Subversion
I only played v1.2 at the normal difficulty. And I got 100%, although it took me a long time (near the end, I used the online map to find all items). The difficulty isn't vanilla though -- it's definitely more difficult than vanilla, although you don't need to know any of the "hidden" techniques, such as wall jump.
The short version of the review is -- VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED. I played plenty of the top-quality SM hacks (such as Hyper Metroid, Ascent, Vitality, Junkoid, and Ancient Chozo), but Subversion tops them all, by a huge margin. I shall do a full review, with pros/cons.
PROS:
- The logbook is really nice. Not only does it add a lot of extra layer into things and hints about the bosses, but when I get a new equipment, I can just read about its ability to learn the basic (such as the Speed Ball and Speed Booster). And if I'm struggling against bosses, the logbook gives me hints (such as against Crocomire and Phantoon).
- The level design is great for the most part (one issue mentioned in Cons below). While there are some going back and forth for the key items, but for the most part, you can get the rough idea by looking at the map. And there isn't mindbogglingly amount of backtracking either -- just enough to not become mindnumbing. Very nice.
- Most bosses were absurdly amazing. The little changes you did for the bosses made them more fun (and challenging). Spore Spawn and Phantoon were very hard, but in a good way. And the fact you encounter Ridley is great, although you won't be able to beat him until much later. It makes Ridley seem like an "unbeatable force", in a good way.
- The ammo -- I love how the missile/s.missile/power bomb uses the same ammo pool (different ammo usage). It makes things SO much less frustrating. And the ammos you can get (2, 5, 10) were nice touch, with new sprites too.
- I love how you gave the Spring/Speed Ball early. Waiting for the bomb to explode to make a tiny jump was a pain in the ass. And you also have the dash with the Morph Ball for puzzle purpose. Very nice.
- I love the new items mechanics, like higher damage/charge speed items, Night Visor, Grappling Beam switch, the new blocks that can only be destroyed with Spazer or Plasma Beam, and the necessity of freeze/missile combo to destroy certain enemies (nicely described in the logbook). Even the "negative" mechanics, like the limited Space Jump and Refuel Tank are better than the original, because sometimes, limitation makes things more fun (actually, Refuel Tank in vanilla was just terrible, as it was just Energy Tank). And the fact you can use Hyper Beam in certain conditions is awesome. Also, I love how Metroid Suit is weak to cold, even from your own beam. Nice attention to detail.
- Some of the puzzles were very ingenius. You had to turn off certain items to get past the obstacles. That's so smart and satisfying.
- While Suzi Ruins seem like unnecessary place that was just "added on" for the sake of adding on (because you don't need to tackle it at all to beat the game), but I have a feeling it's sort of like an "Extra Secret Dungeon/Boss" that you see often in modern JRPGs. If you take it like that, then it's sort of fun. I wish it was more battle-focused (ie locked in a room with multiple of tough enemies), rather than puzzle solving. But the boss is tough, so I can live with that. Hypercharge is just a bragging-rights reward though.
CONS:
- Regarding the level design, by the time you get the Grappling Beam, you'd already have Space Jump, which means it's a completely wasted potential. Sure, there are some switches that can only be opened with the Grappling Beam, but it still doesn't change the fact that going around with Grappling Beam will basically be not used (because you already have the better option -- Space Jump).
- X-Ray comes WAY too late in the game. Right now, the earliest I can get it is after the Grappling Beam, which is very close to the end (not counting Suzi Ruins). That's way too late. The whole point of that item is for the anti-frustration feature, but you'll be almost done by the time you get it. Sure, backtracking is a part of the game, but I would rather it be, "I can see it, but can't access it yet" than "I can't see it at all and therefore must bomb every surface". Very frustrating.
- Crocomire is even easier than vanilla. Sure, you won't figure it out until you see the logbook, but on the replay, Crocomire can be beaten in 5 seconds or so. Maybe make Crocomire start closer to the spike wall, and there it must be pushed nearly to the back before Speed Booster can be used? Or maybe have Speed Booster BEHIND Crocomire, so that you'll have to push the boss back in order to get the item?
I only played v1.2 at the normal difficulty. And I got 100%, although it took me a long time (near the end, I used the online map to find all items). The difficulty isn't vanilla though -- it's definitely more difficult than vanilla, although you don't need to know any of the "hidden" techniques, such as wall jump.
The short version of the review is -- VERY MUCH RECOMMENDED. I played plenty of the top-quality SM hacks (such as Hyper Metroid, Ascent, Vitality, Junkoid, and Ancient Chozo), but Subversion tops them all, by a huge margin. I shall do a full review, with pros/cons.
PROS:
- The logbook is really nice. Not only does it add a lot of extra layer into things and hints about the bosses, but when I get a new equipment, I can just read about its ability to learn the basic (such as the Speed Ball and Speed Booster). And if I'm struggling against bosses, the logbook gives me hints (such as against Crocomire and Phantoon).
- The level design is great for the most part (one issue mentioned in Cons below). While there are some going back and forth for the key items, but for the most part, you can get the rough idea by looking at the map. And there isn't mindbogglingly amount of backtracking either -- just enough to not become mindnumbing. Very nice.
- Most bosses were absurdly amazing. The little changes you did for the bosses made them more fun (and challenging). Spore Spawn and Phantoon were very hard, but in a good way. And the fact you encounter Ridley is great, although you won't be able to beat him until much later. It makes Ridley seem like an "unbeatable force", in a good way.
- The ammo -- I love how the missile/s.missile/power bomb uses the same ammo pool (different ammo usage). It makes things SO much less frustrating. And the ammos you can get (2, 5, 10) were nice touch, with new sprites too.
- I love how you gave the Spring/Speed Ball early. Waiting for the bomb to explode to make a tiny jump was a pain in the ass. And you also have the dash with the Morph Ball for puzzle purpose. Very nice.
- I love the new items mechanics, like higher damage/charge speed items, Night Visor, Grappling Beam switch, the new blocks that can only be destroyed with Spazer or Plasma Beam, and the necessity of freeze/missile combo to destroy certain enemies (nicely described in the logbook). Even the "negative" mechanics, like the limited Space Jump and Refuel Tank are better than the original, because sometimes, limitation makes things more fun (actually, Refuel Tank in vanilla was just terrible, as it was just Energy Tank). And the fact you can use Hyper Beam in certain conditions is awesome. Also, I love how Metroid Suit is weak to cold, even from your own beam. Nice attention to detail.
- Some of the puzzles were very ingenius. You had to turn off certain items to get past the obstacles. That's so smart and satisfying.
- While Suzi Ruins seem like unnecessary place that was just "added on" for the sake of adding on (because you don't need to tackle it at all to beat the game), but I have a feeling it's sort of like an "Extra Secret Dungeon/Boss" that you see often in modern JRPGs. If you take it like that, then it's sort of fun. I wish it was more battle-focused (ie locked in a room with multiple of tough enemies), rather than puzzle solving. But the boss is tough, so I can live with that. Hypercharge is just a bragging-rights reward though.
CONS:
- Regarding the level design, by the time you get the Grappling Beam, you'd already have Space Jump, which means it's a completely wasted potential. Sure, there are some switches that can only be opened with the Grappling Beam, but it still doesn't change the fact that going around with Grappling Beam will basically be not used (because you already have the better option -- Space Jump).
- X-Ray comes WAY too late in the game. Right now, the earliest I can get it is after the Grappling Beam, which is very close to the end (not counting Suzi Ruins). That's way too late. The whole point of that item is for the anti-frustration feature, but you'll be almost done by the time you get it. Sure, backtracking is a part of the game, but I would rather it be, "I can see it, but can't access it yet" than "I can't see it at all and therefore must bomb every surface". Very frustrating.
- Crocomire is even easier than vanilla. Sure, you won't figure it out until you see the logbook, but on the replay, Crocomire can be beaten in 5 seconds or so. Maybe make Crocomire start closer to the spike wall, and there it must be pushed nearly to the back before Speed Booster can be used? Or maybe have Speed Booster BEHIND Crocomire, so that you'll have to push the boss back in order to get the item?
Well, this was certainly very interesting. So far, out of the SM hacks (I played this, Ascent, and Vitality), and I like this the best. I used the online map though, since I don't like bombing every surface -- that'll take forever, and I have better things to do than that. But I did get 100% map, which was why it took a bit long time. With that in mind, I shall do a pro/con review.
Pros:
- I love how the bombs explode a lot quicker. And you can have 5 shots/bombs on the screen, instead of 3. True anti-frustration features that make the game so much more enjoyable.
- I love how the missiles/super missiles/power bombs now all use one pool of ammo (different ammo usage per shot though). That is so much better, because it allows you to weigh the options, and refilling the ammo is so much quicker.
- The difficulty (exploration/battle against normal enemies) was slightly harder than vanilla, but very fair. It kept you on your toes (in a good way), because if you got careless, you would receive damage constantly -- you can't just rush like crazy. Very nice.
- I like how later bosses are actually quite difficult. Without strategy, you basically lose. I esp like how you made Gold Torizo fight available somewhere in the middle, but you have very little chance of beating it until you get all the necessary upgrades (ie the Gravity Suit and Plasma Beam). That was very refreshing -- you can fight the battle, but you won't win until you get lots of upgrades.
- Thank you very much for giving access to X-Ray early. It is such an anti-frustration item.
- I like all the new skills you gave Samus. I esp like how you gave Spring Ball a Morph Ball dash. It adds more to the puzzle solving.
- The gate system was great. You get access to Tourian pretty early, but you you can't really go far until you open all the gates. Some gates are easy to access, while others are difficult.
- I like how wall jumps are necessary to beat the game (ex: getting out of Wrecked Ship). And the little critters teach you that pretty early on (first missile), if you don't know that already.
Con:
- Ice Beam's color was absolutely terrible. I mean, yellow? And why would freezing something turn that yellow? That's a terrible choice of color. If you wanted color it to something other than vanilla (ie light blue), then you should have gone for white (ice is actually clear color, but white would be better in this context). But really, vanilla's light blue is the best.
- While the level design is good, but it was really far too spread apart. I mean, too many times, you have to wonder around aimlessly. I often find myself finding a key upgrade, then I have to go on the other side of the map to find another key item, then come back to fight the boss. Lots of wasted time, and it would have been a real pain without the map. I don't mind backtracking for non-mandatory upgrades, but for the key items? No.
- I don't like how you can't beat the game unless you learn the "hidden" skills, such as slowing down the Speed Booster, or getting up while Morph Ball dashing. Nothing teaches you that, there's no hint, and it's not very intuitive either. So the game is basically unbeatable unless you accidentally find out such thing even exists.
Pros:
- I love how the bombs explode a lot quicker. And you can have 5 shots/bombs on the screen, instead of 3. True anti-frustration features that make the game so much more enjoyable.
- I love how the missiles/super missiles/power bombs now all use one pool of ammo (different ammo usage per shot though). That is so much better, because it allows you to weigh the options, and refilling the ammo is so much quicker.
- The difficulty (exploration/battle against normal enemies) was slightly harder than vanilla, but very fair. It kept you on your toes (in a good way), because if you got careless, you would receive damage constantly -- you can't just rush like crazy. Very nice.
- I like how later bosses are actually quite difficult. Without strategy, you basically lose. I esp like how you made Gold Torizo fight available somewhere in the middle, but you have very little chance of beating it until you get all the necessary upgrades (ie the Gravity Suit and Plasma Beam). That was very refreshing -- you can fight the battle, but you won't win until you get lots of upgrades.
- Thank you very much for giving access to X-Ray early. It is such an anti-frustration item.
- I like all the new skills you gave Samus. I esp like how you gave Spring Ball a Morph Ball dash. It adds more to the puzzle solving.
- The gate system was great. You get access to Tourian pretty early, but you you can't really go far until you open all the gates. Some gates are easy to access, while others are difficult.
- I like how wall jumps are necessary to beat the game (ex: getting out of Wrecked Ship). And the little critters teach you that pretty early on (first missile), if you don't know that already.
Con:
- Ice Beam's color was absolutely terrible. I mean, yellow? And why would freezing something turn that yellow? That's a terrible choice of color. If you wanted color it to something other than vanilla (ie light blue), then you should have gone for white (ice is actually clear color, but white would be better in this context). But really, vanilla's light blue is the best.
- While the level design is good, but it was really far too spread apart. I mean, too many times, you have to wonder around aimlessly. I often find myself finding a key upgrade, then I have to go on the other side of the map to find another key item, then come back to fight the boss. Lots of wasted time, and it would have been a real pain without the map. I don't mind backtracking for non-mandatory upgrades, but for the key items? No.
- I don't like how you can't beat the game unless you learn the "hidden" skills, such as slowing down the Speed Booster, or getting up while Morph Ball dashing. Nothing teaches you that, there's no hint, and it's not very intuitive either. So the game is basically unbeatable unless you accidentally find out such thing even exists.
