Escape from Metroid Zero Mission

Edit history:

uNsane: 2009-02-18 09:13:00 pm

2009-02-18 06:41:41 am

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It is finished.

Quite possibly the most absurdly difficult hack ever created is finished.

I've never played Impossible or the original Escape from Metroid, but this hack is absurd.

Just by downloading, you die twice.

Morph Ball
Bombs
Missiles
Super Missiles
Power Bombs
Varia*
Gravity
Space Jump*
Plasma Beam
High Jump*
Screw Attack*
Speed Booster
Ice Beam

Items with * are not required and are generally very difficult to find/reach.

Single-wall walljumping
IBJ
Climbing on frozen Metroids
Savestates. Seriously.

I included both an ips and a ups.

[hr]

Edit: Thanks a lot, Quietus, now I have to post a fix. Luckily, it reminded me of another bug I never got around to fixing, so Escape from Metroid Zero Mission version 1.02 is out.

Also, some good pictures and more description are now up.

Thread title:

It is finished.

Quite possibly the most absurdly difficult hack ever created is finished.

I've never played Impossible or the original Escape from Metroid, but this hack is absurd.

Just by downloading, you die twice.

[spoiler="Screenshots"][img]http://img144.imageshack.us/img144/5697/99771414wx5.png[/img]

[img]http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/8319/61237469sy9.png[/img]

[img]http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/2207/11404763vm6.png[/img]

[img]http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3271/67302055yy9.png[/img][/spoiler]

[spoiler="Key items you can get"][list][*]Morph Ball[*]Bombs[*]Missiles[*]Super Missiles[*]Power Bombs[*]Varia*[*]Gravity[*]Space Jump*[*]Plasma Beam[*]High Jump*[*]Screw Attack*[*]Speed Booster[*]Ice Beam[/list]
Items with * are not required and are generally very difficult to find/reach.[/spoiler][spoiler="Required abilities"][list][*]Single-wall walljumping[*]IBJ[*]Climbing on frozen Metroids[*]Savestates. Seriously.[/list][/spoiler]

I included both an ips and a ups.

[hr]

Edit: Thanks a lot, Quietus, now I have to post a fix. Luckily, it reminded me of another bug I never got around to fixing, so Escape from Metroid Zero Mission version 1.02 is out.

Also, some good pictures and more description are now up.

attachments:

Escape_from_Metroid_Zero_Mission_v1_02.ips

Escape_from_Metroid_Zero_Mission_v1_02.ups

Crys

2009-02-18 07:37:38 am

Green-Kirby, ROAR!

I really don't want to play some thing with glitchy background. :/

uNsane

2009-02-18 09:37:24 am

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Sorry; DH wouldn't let me import to every room, plus every time I tried to use the header editor to change them, it would crash.

You could always press Ctrl+4 to disable them, but then you would miss the awesome non-glitchy ones.

Also, that picture is very old; the background isn't quite that distracting anymore.

Opium

2009-02-18 10:42:27 am

I cant get it to work. I suspect that my ROM isn't the right version. Which version should I be using?

Quietus

2009-02-18 10:54:36 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

My best guess is that it should be the US version - Metroid Zero Mission (U), as is the case with nearly 100% of hacks. Very few hacks use other versions of the ROMs.

Opium

2009-02-18 11:14:43 am

Got it working, thanks. I had the right version but there must have been something wrong with my ROM because it worked once I obtained a new one.

Anyways, this game IS absurd. I can't survive for longer than 10 seconds. Is this a real hack or a joke ?

Quietus

Edit history:

Quietus: 2009-02-18 02:29:27 pm

2009-02-18 01:57:06 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

I think it's been designed for an insane TAS run.

EDIT: In saying that, with a little save-state abuse, I've now reached Kraid, which leads me to a bug report: Once you reach the eye-door, if you return to the right, into the Save Room, you get stuck in the door.

Xaggoth

2009-02-18 04:32:56 pm

If the first room is any indication of what the rest of the hack is like, I'm not going to proceed any further. Maybe it makes a cool TAS, but it doesn't seem like something I want or can play.

uNsane

2009-02-18 04:40:35 pm

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A tip for the first room: It's much easier to dodge all the metroids if you already know where they're all going. Run up against a pillar for a bit before getting the missile tank to make the last metroid on the return journey fully enter, then jump around them.

Also, the first room is by very far the hardest room in the hack. The only room even close to its difficulty isn't actually necessary.

Quietus

Edit history:

Quietus: 2009-02-18 08:26:50 pm

2009-02-18 05:16:35 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

First room: Avoid everything (obviously), and...

Collect the Missiles, and shoot the block below where you start.

EDIT: Found another bug: If you have a Metroid attached to you, and you go through a door, you get stuck with 'underwater' status, despite having the Gravity Suit. .vbm attached.

EDIT 2: Either I'm missing something obvious, or I am stuck in Chozodia. I've acquired my suit back, but can't find the way out, even though it doesn't seem that different from the original game. Eh?

attachment:

Metroid - Zero Mission.vbm

Xaggoth

2009-02-18 07:12:35 pm

Gave it another go, after a dozen or so tries I savestated my was past that first room. Confused on where to go now though, doors that go different places are confusing.

I have:

missiles, super missiles, varia, ice beam, 3-etanks, The only places I see are a powerbomb door, and some power bomb blocks

Quietus

Edit history:

Quietus: 2009-02-18 08:31:34 pm

2009-02-18 08:28:03 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

It's a little cheeky, but you should check:

Where you got the Super Missiles. aiwebs_011

And for everybody else giving up in the first room, which is ridiculous, the hack isn't actually tough at all, to be honest. You just have to get past that first room, and you're set.

uNsane

2009-02-18 09:15:13 pm

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

By the way, the first person to get any of the *d items in the list in the first post other than Varia, which is easy enough to get, wins. Everything.

Xaggoth

Edit history:

Xaggoth: 2009-02-19 03:12:07 am

2009-02-19 02:23:30 am

Quote from uNsane:

By the way, the first person to get any of the *d items in the list in the first post other than Varia, which is easy enough to get, wins. Everything.

Those were not difficult to find. Powerbombs were difficult to find =p. Entering Kraid now...

Edit: I'm somewhat confused now, ever since entering the Ridley map the game has looked identical to the original (which doesn't seem right). Also varia gave me the "use unknown items" state, not sure if that's supposed to happen either. If it was I collected space jump before varia, making it gray out an be unusable.

attachment:

Escape from MZM.png

Quietus

2009-02-19 04:17:59 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

uNsane: Any hints about Chozodia? I have the suit, and seem to just be looping round in circles in the same rooms over and over again... Eh?

uNsane

2009-02-19 06:19:45 am

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Xaggoth wins! Everything!

Anyways, I was too lazy to change Tourian, Ridley and Chozodia (except for preventing access to certain areas). Those places are exactly like in the original.

LAZY!

Varia is indeed intended to give you the ancient abilities when you get them, but I never really thought anyone would be able to get any of them before Varia. Hm.

Also, actually getting Screw Attack and High Jump is indicative of obsessive bomb-searching.

Xaggoth

2009-02-19 01:37:58 pm

I guess I've effectively finished it then, I accidentally lost my savestate after mother brain. Sounds like the game is the same from that point on anyways? I don't want to play through it again to find my percentage, but I did find all of the major items you listed, other totals were something like 5 etanks, 30 missiles, 10 supers, 4 power bombs.

There were two difficult parts in this hack, that were a lot worse than "Oh look I guess there are more metroids in Brinstar frustrations. Firstly, the starting room, 'nuff said, everyone will see it. Secondly, getting to and back from space jump with no spare e-tanks or varia (the room next to the save room). At the time I thought that was required, I didn't know how many doors didn't link back to each other. You should use the on/off item switch patch, it would fix the issue of getting space jump before varia. Gameplay past these two points was pretty easy, no navigating past some parts without power grip was pretty damn frustrating (Getting next to mother brain's container for example). I felt particularly over powered as soon as I could deal with metroids.

With regards to level design and background stuff, the new Brinstar tileset is cool, but not having backgrounds in many of the rooms sucks. The first room when revisited looks even worse. I was somewhat disappointed when other areas had their old tilesets after seeing the first one, especially after seeing something like the Brinstar-Norfair elevator. The changed room layout feels very small by comparison to what it replaced, reeeeeally small.

I don't recall ever needing to freeze metroids to stand on them.

I guess I've effectively finished it then, I accidentally lost my savestate after mother brain.  Sounds like the game is the same from that point on anyways?  I don't want to play through it again to find my percentage, but I did find all of the major items you listed, other totals were something like 5 etanks, 30 missiles, 10 supers, 4 power bombs.

There were two difficult parts in this hack, that were a lot worse than "Oh look I guess there are more metroids in Brinstar frustrations.  Firstly, the starting room, 'nuff said, everyone will see it.  Secondly, getting to and back from space jump with no spare e-tanks or varia (the room next to the save room).  At the time I thought that was required, I didn't know how many doors didn't link back to each other.  You should use the on/off item switch patch, it would fix the issue of getting space jump before varia.  Gameplay past these two points was pretty easy, no navigating past some parts without power grip was pretty damn frustrating (Getting next to mother brain's container for example).  I felt particularly over powered as soon as I could deal with metroids.

With regards to level design and background stuff, the new Brinstar tileset is cool, but not having backgrounds in many of the rooms sucks.  The first room when revisited looks even worse.  I was somewhat disappointed when other areas had their old tilesets after seeing the first one, especially after seeing something like the Brinstar-Norfair elevator.  The changed room layout feels very small by comparison to what it replaced, reeeeeally small.

I don't recall ever needing to freeze metroids to stand on them.

uNsane

2009-02-19 03:34:27 pm

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quote from Xaggoth:

I didn't know how many doors didn't link back to each other.

Strange... I thought I had all the doors connected properly. Can you give me some rooms/screenshots?

Quote from Xaggoth:

I felt particularly over powered as soon as I could deal with metroids.

Yeah, that is a problem. I don't really know of a way to fix this... The only thing I could think of would be to have different kinds of metroids vulnerable to different things, or have more health, or something. An unfreezable metroid would be pretty nasty.

Quote from Xaggoth:

not having backgrounds in many of the rooms sucks.

I wanted to change this, but importing a background into every room would be absurd and DH wouldn't let me repoint them.

Quote from Xaggoth:

The first room when revisited looks even worse.

An experiment went awry in that room and I couldn't fix it and didn't realize it until it was too late to simply revert to a backup.

Quote from Xaggoth:

I don't recall ever needing to freeze metroids to stand on them.

That is really only required for the first shaft if you want to get... well, you know what, early.

[quote="Xaggoth"]I didn't know how many doors didn't link back to each other.[/quote]Strange... I thought I had all the doors connected properly. Can you give me some rooms/screenshots?[quote="Xaggoth"]I felt particularly over powered as soon as I could deal with metroids.[/quote]Yeah, that is a problem. I don't really know of a way to fix this... The only thing I could think of would be to have different kinds of metroids vulnerable to different things, or have more health, or something. An unfreezable metroid would be pretty nasty.[quote="Xaggoth"]not having backgrounds in many of the rooms sucks.[/quote]I wanted to change this, but importing a background into every room would be absurd and DH wouldn't let me repoint them.[quote="Xaggoth"]The first room when revisited looks even worse.[/quote]An experiment went awry in that room and I couldn't fix it and didn't realize it until it was too late to simply revert to a backup.[quote="Xaggoth"]I don't recall ever needing to freeze metroids to stand on them.[/quote]That is really only required for the first shaft if you want to get... well, you know what, early.

Quietus

2009-02-19 04:36:27 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Completed.

Once you get through the first room, and then the first 10 minutes or so and get the Ice Beam, the rest of the game is no more difficult than the original.

I could have stayed longer in Chozodia, and the Mothership, to gain more items, but those two areas bore me to death.

attachments:

Metroid - Zero Mission_01.bmp

Metroid - Zero Mission_02.bmp

Xaggoth

2009-02-19 04:44:02 pm

Quote from uNsane:

Strange... I thought I had all the doors connected properly. Can you give me some rooms/screenshots?

I mean like walking into the first save room next to the shaft in Brinstar, having only the door I came in as an exit, walking back through it to take me somewhere else, turning around again and finding myself at the top of the shaft. I don't have the means to make screens right now, but I can later if this doesn't make sense.

uNsane

2009-02-19 05:02:47 pm

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Blah... Now I have to go back through every door and find out which ones broke for no reason whatsoever.

Quietus

2009-02-19 05:30:20 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

I don't think he means it's broken, but is referring to the doors that do not take you back the way you came, as they take you to another location in a circuitous manner.

Also, I got perma-stuck at one point and had to load an old state.

In the mothership, when you get to the part that looks like a huge window, and you can go down the small hole on the left-hand side, through a small tunnel, and then acquire some Power Bombs, I couldn't get back out, as I didn't have the Power Grip. Rooms 2e and 2d in Chozodia in Double Helix, if you prefer.

Also, you may want to make the Screw Attack easier to find, as I had to read up on a 9% guide, just to figure out how to escape Chozodia without it.

uNsane

2009-02-19 07:15:51 pm

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Quote from Quietus:

I don't think he means it's broken, but is referring to the doors that do not take you back the way you came, as they take you to another location in a circuitous manner.

To me, doors that do not connect to each other are broken. Especially if they lead to supposedly well-hidden items much earlier than you are intended to get them.

Quote from Quietus:

In the mothership, when you get to the part that looks like a huge window, and you can go down the small hole on the left-hand side, through a small tunnel, and then acquire some Power Bombs, I couldn't get back out, as I didn't have the Power Grip.

First off, could you really not IBJ back up? Second off, that technically isn't intended for you to be able to pass through, so DH screwed up again.

Quote from Quietus:

Also, you may want to make the Screw Attack easier to find, as I had to read up on a 9% guide, just to figure out how to escape Chozodia without it.

I thought we had already established that this hack is intended to be difficult.

[quote="Quietus"]I don't think he means it's broken, but is referring to the doors that do not take you back the way you came, as they take you to another location in a circuitous manner.[/quote]To me, doors that do not connect to each other are broken. Especially if they lead to supposedly well-hidden items much earlier than you are intended to get them.[quote="Quietus"]In the mothership, when you get to the part that looks like a huge window, and you can go down the small hole on the left-hand side, through a small tunnel, and then acquire some Power Bombs, I couldn't get back out, as I didn't have the Power Grip.[/quote]First off, could you really not IBJ back up? Second off, that technically isn't intended for you to be able to pass through, so DH screwed up again.[quote="Quietus"]Also, you may want to make the Screw Attack easier to find, as I had to read up on a 9% guide, just to figure out how to escape Chozodia without it.[/quote]I thought we had already established that this hack is intended to be difficult.

Quietus

2009-02-19 07:51:23 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from uNsane:

To me, doors that do not connect to each other are broken. Especially if they lead to supposedly well-hidden items much earlier than you are intended to get them.

That's what made the Varia so easy to find early on. .vbm attached with the rooms in question.

Quote from uNsane:

First off, could you really not IBJ back up?

No, as the screen transition means that it is impossible, since if you fall back down, the bombs have disappeared.

Lastly, regarding the difficulty, this hack is not hard at all, in my opinion. There is obviously the first room, and a few parts after that, but once you get ice (not far in at all), and can then defeat the Metroids, the rest of the game is on par with the original game, with the exception that I didn't find Hi-jump, so I had to do a lot of IBJing.

attachment:

Metroid - Zero Mission.vbm