Help Needed! The Ultimate Metroid Strategy Guide (Hopefully for Charity)

2012-02-02 02:34:29 pm

Strategy Guide Writer

Hello all,

I'm in the planning stages of putting together (aka: writing and editing) the ultimate Metroid Strategy Guide in time for the series' US 25th Anniversary. It'll cover all of the major releases (Metroid 1, 2, Super, Prime Trilogy, Fusion, Zero Mission, Hunters and Other M) and apart from being 100% strategy guides, there'll be plenty of Sequence Breaking, Secret Worlds and version difference coverage at the very least. It'll be a hard-back, premium-quality printed book (most likely also available digitally) and - if I can get Nintendo's agreement to effectively leave me alone with this - make it so all profits go to charity.

I'm thinking of this as my 'swan song' to the Metroid series and as such, I want to make this a real collector's item (and it'll most likely be printed by an on-demand printer so surplus stock isn't created).

I've already purchased a Standard Definition upscaler so I can capture the Prime Trilogy and Other M screenshots in '720p HD' myself (for better quality), but I'm looking for volunteers who're prepared to record 100% natural route runs on emulator so I can play the video back and take emulator screengrabs for maximum print quality. I'd happily record them all myself, but with a baby on the way in 7 weeks, I'll just about have enough time to do the many, many thousands of words required to write the guide.

I've got a professional graphic designer with print experience offering to do the whole layout for free and I'm looking to get on board the guy who created my iPhone app characters to create special Metroid drawings to compliment the text and layout.

So... anyone here happy to record 100% 'natural-route' hardest difficulty playthroughs on emulator? Full credit for all help will be given and readers who submit full playthroughs (that I can use) will also be sent a free copy of the finished article (due in time for August's Anniversary).

Thread title:

Hello all,

I'm in the planning stages of putting together (aka: writing and editing) the ultimate Metroid Strategy Guide in time for the series' US 25th Anniversary. It'll cover all of the major releases (Metroid 1, 2, Super, Prime Trilogy, Fusion, Zero Mission, Hunters and Other M) and apart from being 100% strategy guides, there'll be plenty of Sequence Breaking, Secret Worlds and version difference coverage at the very least. It'll be a hard-back, premium-quality printed book (most likely also available digitally) and - if I can get Nintendo's agreement to effectively leave me alone with this - make it so all profits go to charity.

I'm thinking of this as my 'swan song' to the Metroid series and as such, I want to make this a real collector's item (and it'll most likely be printed by an on-demand printer so surplus stock isn't created).

I've already purchased a Standard Definition upscaler so I can capture the Prime Trilogy and Other M screenshots in '720p HD' myself (for better quality), but I'm looking for volunteers who're prepared to record 100% natural route runs on emulator so I can play the video back and take emulator screengrabs for maximum print quality. I'd happily record them all myself, but with a baby on the way in 7 weeks, I'll just about have enough time to do the many, many thousands of words required to write the guide.

I've got a professional graphic designer with print experience offering to do the whole layout for free and I'm looking to get on board the guy who created my iPhone app characters to create special Metroid drawings to compliment the text and layout.

So... anyone here happy to record 100% 'natural-route' hardest difficulty playthroughs on emulator? Full credit for all help will be given and readers who submit full playthroughs (that I can use) will also be sent a free copy of the finished article (due in time for August's Anniversary).

BioSpark

2012-02-02 04:17:38 pm

so i take it that tases don't count?

Andrew Mills

Edit history:

Andrew Mills: 2012-02-02 04:54:31 pm

Andrew Mills: 2012-02-02 04:52:42 pm

2012-02-02 04:52:33 pm

Strategy Guide Writer

I like where your thinkings at Biospark. A cunning plan if ever there was one...

The only thing is to get the exact ROM and emulator versions to match the TAS movie file to prevent desynchs. Anyone know of matching TAS's/ROMs and Emus?

Prime Hunter

2012-02-02 05:34:52 pm

Don't have a lot of experience with 100% runs, especially when going through on a more natural route. Doesn't mean I can't give it a shot with Super and/or ROS (if I go find it) though since I think those would be my best chances at doing something well enough for you to be able to use it. There's nothing special to how this works right, just start playing and have the video recording (from the emulator itself, not an external recording program) while going through the game?

For any of these would you want/need any sequence breaking material at all (in a different video/run for example) since it looks like you're covering that?

Quietus

2012-02-02 08:15:01 pm

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

I was more curious as to how you wanted people to record their runs. If you're asking for a natural route 100% run, then where will the sequence breaking come in to play? Do you want those recorded as well, as a separate video?

Andrew Mills

2012-02-04 07:14:49 am

Strategy Guide Writer

The ideal scenario is a highly-optimised route that will help a player (of any Metriod experience) to easily beat the game with 100% using a natural route. It'd then be nice to have seperate sequence breaks recorded for taking screenshots from. The recording would be in the emulator file format (small) so I'd need a copy of the same ROM and emulator used in the recording.

The sequence breaking will be appended into the regular guide when the opportunity to SB appears in that part of the game (e.g. SJF in MP as soon as you land on Tallon).

Prime Hunter

2012-02-05 08:06:55 am

I just finished a 100% run of Super that hopefully follows the guidelines you're looking for. (It's about 3 hours real-time I think. All one video)

Some of the expansions might have been gotten a little early but I did my best to avoid that if I could. It's not as optimized as it probably could be either, but I was also running under the thought of grabbing some expansions early to give less experienced players a little bit of an edge at times. (Such as grabbing everything possible before Lower Norfair despite getting stuff after it with my usual route) I fully plan on running it again using my usual sequence breaking route if this run ends up being good enough for what you need.

So you need the emulator I used, the game ROM, and my recording, right? How do you want to receive them? (Right here as attachments, through a private thread, e-mail, etc)

Opium

Edit history:

Opium: 2012-02-05 08:25:56 am

Opium: 2012-02-05 08:25:47 am

Opium: 2012-02-05 08:23:47 am

Opium: 2012-02-05 08:23:22 am

2012-02-05 08:22:40 am

My 100% route doesn't involve any super-difficult sequence breaks. They are:

Early supers in green brinstar
Skip Spore Spawn trick
Kraid before High Jump
Early speed booster
Early Wave Beam
Early Power Bombs in norfair

The rest of it involves a lot of groovy moves, but not actual breaks. It could include early Ice Beam, but getting it early on this route doesn't give you any time advantage. By the time you get that much stuff there's not alot to break anymore.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2012-02-05 08:54:39 am

2012-02-05 08:53:48 am

That sounds pretty close to what I do, seeing as I think you helped me with my current route to begin with. The only major difference I can think of other than getting the intended power bombs first is breaking into the Wrecked Ship without the grapple beam.

But yeah, once you get to a certain point it's more about the route itself and any speed tricks you can come up with rather than sequence breaking.

Opium

Edit history:

Opium: 2012-02-05 10:05:51 am

Opium: 2012-02-05 10:02:40 am

Opium: 2012-02-05 10:00:26 am

2012-02-05 10:00:03 am

I actually grab the grapple beam right after the early PB's. I use it in the room before wrecked ship (missile lake), but I speed boost in the next room to actually get to the super missile door that goes into WS.

Quietus

2012-02-05 10:54:54 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Skipping Grapple is pretty much standard fare for any sequence breaking run. Your first visit to Norfair is very shallow, as you essentially get Hi-Jump, Speed Booster, Wave, Ice, and then exit.

Opium

2012-02-05 11:21:56 am

It's so close to where the early PB's are, and getting it then means I don't have to get it later (for 100%). How much time does it save to get it later on?

Quietus

2012-02-05 11:29:37 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Loads, as when you first enter Norfair, you don't go anywhere near to Crocomire or Grapple. Even if you don't do the Hero Shot to get early Power Bombs ( to save you having to reenter Kraid's lair for the Missiles), you get the items from Norfair, then come up to the 'proper' set, and head straight to the Wrecked Ship. The hardest part without Grapple is actually cocking up the falling platforms in the ET room in the Wrecked Ship, which is not really that tough.

That's not to mention the fact that you have Plasma, which'll one-shot Crocomire.

Quietus

2012-02-05 11:30:19 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

It sounds like the early PBs may be the issue. Do you get them for Kraid's area?

Opium

2012-02-05 11:31:47 am

I guess i just get them because I can, I don't really need them. I could just get the intended first PB's in red brinstar.

Prime Hunter

2012-02-05 10:25:21 pm

Gah, forum ate half my post from a few hours ago since it had been running incredibly slow for me for some reason.

Thought of another one that might be harder to do, which is getting to the Springball without grapple. The one that forces you to do the ice beam trick where you freeze those bouncing worm enemies and jump through the ceiling to get around the crumbling grapple block. Still gives me trouble.

Opium

2012-02-05 10:57:52 pm

I can't do that one consistently enough to rely on it. It takes me about 6-8 attempts.

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2012-02-06 03:25:34 am

Prime Hunter: 2012-02-06 03:25:05 am

2012-02-06 03:24:22 am

Decided to go ahead anyway and do a sequence breaking oriented run. It has a couple of screw ups here and here, the biggest being that I accidentally fell into the right sand section twice during the Maridia cleanup, but I think it's more or less a solid run otherwise. It was somehow 10 minutes slower than my best 100% time but the route and the tricks are what counts for this since the time is still pretty nice. I did shake things up a little from what I've done in the past by getting most of the Brinstar cleanup between the Wrecked Ship and Maridia instead of after Lower Norfair, but I don't think that would account for the time difference.

Still, I've got two recorded 100% runs for Super ready for you to check out now, one on a more natural route and the new one with SBs involved.

Opium

Edit history:

Opium: 2012-02-06 07:55:19 am

2012-02-06 07:55:01 am

What order did you get shit in?

Quietus

Edit history:

Quietus: 2012-02-06 08:21:33 am

2012-02-06 08:20:56 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Would it not be best to just provide clips of all the sequence breaks? No run will include them all, as some have the same goal.

Also, it's actually tough to do a natural route run now, as I'm so used to breaking. Think

Opium

Edit history:

Opium: 2012-02-06 08:29:03 am

2012-02-06 08:28:45 am

Quote from Quietus:

Would it not be best to just provide clips of all the sequence breaks?

Doesn't the main site already have that available?

Prime Hunter

Edit history:

Prime Hunter: 2012-02-06 08:30:37 am

2012-02-06 08:30:05 am

Um... let's see. This is what I did for my recorded SB run:

Usual start up to early Super Missiles via mockball
Spore Spawn skip to get his supers, Charge Beam, early Spazer, early Kraid/Varia Suit
Hi-Jump, wall jump up to Speed Booster, early Wave Beam (got all items in the bubble area), Ice Beam
Up to Power Bombs, break into Wrecked Ship early through shinespark across the first water room and then precise jumps in the lake room
Wrecked Ship
Went back to the landing site to recharge, shinespark up to the power bomb door at the LS, jump with speed boost across the LS to get to the upper left area of Crateria
Western Brinstar cleanup (Etecoons area, rest of Spore Spawn's area)
Maridia (Shinespark through the first large grapple room, Space Jump, fell through right sand room, Spring Ball, accidentally fell through right sand room again, Plasma, fell through left sand room, out)
Crocomire's area, Lower Norfair, out of Norfair through the grapple room two above Croco to get that missile
Brinstar cleanup (Morph Ball area plus X-Ray Scope)
Crateria cleanup (Escape Shaft)
Tourian and escape sequence

My SB run got a bunch of them but there's no way I can get all of them since I can't do some of the harder ones like shinesparking the entire way across the lake room or anything required for 14%. I could check the list on the main site to see which ones I didn't cover there and list them or something if he ends up using my videos.

And yeah, doing that natural route run took more concentration than I expected simply due to having to remember what I could and couldn't do and even then I know I screwed up with some of the expansions. Think I got the main items in a natural order though so that should be good.

Problem with using the clips is that Mills wants emulator video files so he can get high quality shots of everything. Wouldn't be able to get that from the videos already up there.

Um... let's see. This is what I did for my recorded SB run:

Usual start up to early Super Missiles via mockball
Spore Spawn skip to get his supers, Charge Beam, early Spazer, early Kraid/Varia Suit
Hi-Jump, wall jump up to Speed Booster, early Wave Beam (got all items in the bubble area), Ice Beam
Up to Power Bombs, break into Wrecked Ship early through shinespark across the first water room and then precise jumps in the lake room
Wrecked Ship
Went back to the landing site to recharge, shinespark up to the power bomb door at the LS, jump with speed boost across the LS to get to the upper left area of Crateria
Western Brinstar cleanup (Etecoons area, rest of Spore Spawn's area)
Maridia (Shinespark through the first large grapple room, Space Jump, fell through right sand room, Spring Ball, accidentally fell through right sand room again, Plasma, fell through left sand room, out)
Crocomire's area, Lower Norfair, out of Norfair through the grapple room two above Croco to get that missile
Brinstar cleanup (Morph Ball area plus X-Ray Scope)
Crateria cleanup (Escape Shaft)
Tourian and escape sequence

My SB run got a bunch of them but there's no way I can get all of them since I can't do some of the harder ones like shinesparking the entire way across the lake room or anything required for 14%. I could check the list on the main site to see which ones I didn't cover there and list them or something if he ends up using my videos.

And yeah, doing that natural route run took more concentration than I expected simply due to having to remember what I could and couldn't do and even then I know I screwed up with some of the expansions. Think I got the main items in a natural order though so that should be good.

Problem with using the clips is that Mills wants emulator video files so he can get high quality shots of everything. Wouldn't be able to get that from the videos already up there.

Prime Hunter

2012-02-06 08:37:08 am

For my recorded natural route run:

Morph Ball/Missiles/Bombs
Charge/Spore Spawn/Supers
Hi-Jump/Spazer/Kraid/Varia
Speed Booster (through the long path)/Ice Beam
Power Bombs
Crocomire/Grapple Beam/Wave Beam
X-Ray Scope (I think? I don't remember when I got it here)
Phantoon/Gravity Suit
Upper Crateria/Western Brinstar/Central Brinstar (Morph Ball area)/Lower Crateria (Escape Shaft Area)
Botwoon/Draygon/Space Jump//Right sand room/Spring Ball/Plasma Beam/Left sand room
Gold Torizo/Screw Attack/Ridley
Tourian and Escape Sequence

Quietus

2012-02-06 08:59:18 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from Opium:

Quote from Quietus:

Would it not be best to just provide clips of all the sequence breaks?

Doesn't the main site already have that available?

Some of the older stuff, yes, but most of the new stuff isn't on there. More importantly, I was referring to the OP's request for high quality vids for taking screencaps.

Andrew Mills

Edit history:

Andrew Mills: 2012-02-06 06:21:57 pm

2012-02-06 06:19:42 pm

Strategy Guide Writer

Hi Prime Hunter, thanks very much for recording the Natural Route 100% run so quickly, most appreciated :)

If you could e-mail the ROM/Emulator and movie file to my e-mail address: andrew [AT] samus.co.uk that'd be fantastic :D

I won't have the space (or time) to include all the SB's from Super Metroid (or any Metroid game). I'm looking for about 10 of the biggest in each game (Early Supers, the button code cheat in Lower Norfair, probably Space/Time glitch, crazy shit like that). Prime will be SJF, IBBF, DBJ over GTH bars, Prime 2 will have WTR, flickerball etc etc.

The tricks have to have the WOW! factor and allow me to explain it in the shortest amount of words possible. As far as videos go, individual clips would be preferred as I can keep a track of what SB's/glithces I've covered in the guide much more effectively that way (rather than hunt through full runs for each desired SB/glitch).