Metroid (Plus hack 0.3)(NES, 1986)
Graphics-7 Sound-7.5/8* Control-7 Challenge-7.5 Story-5.5
Level Design-6 Frustration-8 Fun-6 Originality-7
Overall Score-6
*FDS ver.
+
Some interesting mechanics (bomb jump, freeze enemies and use them as platforms, dkc-style jump, rolling ball, disappearing and reappearing blocks, etc.)
Good jump height- and mid-air control
Introduces the DKC-style double jump (clunkier and rarely useful here though)
Some memorable locations (mother brain base, norfair, elevator and item rooms)
Some sequence breaking is possible (can skip ridley and high jump boots)
Hack combines wave and ice beam+adds a basic map (should've shown more at once as well as item and red door locations - still want to use a guide map initially as a first time player)
Mostly good visual clues for hidden items and paths
Some decent platforming puzzles
Decent art direction (somewhat abstract and minimalistic) which fits well with most of the soundtrack
Large world to explore for the time
Adds a save feature (one slot per game, three slots that show progress through special items collected; need to reset to save?, can't pause and choose to reload - need to die)
Multiple endings depending on your time and completion percentage (minor differences though)
Upgradeable health (e-tanks) and ammo (missile tanks)
Good final boss and build-up before it
Escape sequence after the final boss (very easy though)
Enemy weaknesses and strengths to different weapons
Some enemies feel like they're inhabitants of the game world rather than placed there to attack the player
Reasonable knockback and invincibility time (the knockback suddenly gets longer during the final boss though)
Does an OK job at opening up piece by piece to the player and giving a natural sense of progression
+/-
Decent initial variation then gets repetitive overall
Two ice beams (maybe they thought people wouldn't find the first one)
Much harder to bomb jump than in SM (there's a code that makes it easy but then it's too easy)
Final boss is a lot tougher than the rest of the game
Hard to grind for HP/ammo in the final area
Some engrish
Female protagonist
Unlimited ammo on the main weapon
Auto-fire (it's a bit slow though)
No full health bonus like in Zelda
You can easily get past enemies in some areas (makes backtracking a bit less tedious)
Off screen enemy respawning
Somewhat unforgiving hit detection when picking up missile tanks
No in-game explanations of mechanics or item uses
Doesn't show boss HP
Can't skip the "get item" theme
Basic text intro
Big focus on collecting (it doesn't become a goal in and of itself until the end game though)
-
Overly drawn out level design
Backtracking (no teleportation, very few shortcuts)
Can't duck and shoot or shoot downwards (there's a GG code for the former though)
Too easy to get lost due to the repetitive room designs
Trial & error (some hidden items and paths, boss patterns, dead ends and red herrings (room near the first ice beam, northeastern brinstar, fake kraid area)
Health and ammo grinding (no ammo/health stations, the intentional grinding spots are too inefficient without GG codes that make enemies drop more HP/ammo, enemies can drop ammo intead of health even though you have full ammo but low health)
Annoying beeping sfx when low on health
Start out with only 50 HP even after reloading
Hard to jump vertically upwards past a block above Samus without her hitting her head against it
Some tedious near pixel perfect jumps out of lava
Can't remove more than 10 or so disappearing blocks at a time
No weapon inventory (can only switch between beam or missiles)
Long beam is a lame upgrade
Some unavoidable damage when entering rooms
Annoying sine wave pattern flying enemies cheaply placed near lava pits early on (they take too many hits to kill)
Some slowdown whenever there are 3+ enemies on screen (gets more severe in some segments)
No new abilities in norfair/ridley's area
Simple bosses (kraid and ridley) and they're too small to be intimidating
Safe spot at the ridley boss fight
No point in taking an alternate route early on since you'll want the bomb/missile/long beam/e-tank and probably the ice beam as soon as possible
No difficulty or control options
No second quest (Zelda 1)
Somewhat slow falling speed
No neutral creatures
Repeats enemy types a lot
Ridley's area theme
Notes:
-Need to turn off the lower shot code after getting the wave beam or the game will crash when shooting upwards
Level Design-6 Frustration-8 Fun-6 Originality-7
Overall Score-6
*FDS ver.
+
Some interesting mechanics (bomb jump, freeze enemies and use them as platforms, dkc-style jump, rolling ball, disappearing and reappearing blocks, etc.)
Good jump height- and mid-air control
Introduces the DKC-style double jump (clunkier and rarely useful here though)
Some memorable locations (mother brain base, norfair, elevator and item rooms)
Some sequence breaking is possible (can skip ridley and high jump boots)
Hack combines wave and ice beam+adds a basic map (should've shown more at once as well as item and red door locations - still want to use a guide map initially as a first time player)
Mostly good visual clues for hidden items and paths
Some decent platforming puzzles
Decent art direction (somewhat abstract and minimalistic) which fits well with most of the soundtrack
Large world to explore for the time
Adds a save feature (one slot per game, three slots that show progress through special items collected; need to reset to save?, can't pause and choose to reload - need to die)
Multiple endings depending on your time and completion percentage (minor differences though)
Upgradeable health (e-tanks) and ammo (missile tanks)
Good final boss and build-up before it
Escape sequence after the final boss (very easy though)
Enemy weaknesses and strengths to different weapons
Some enemies feel like they're inhabitants of the game world rather than placed there to attack the player
Reasonable knockback and invincibility time (the knockback suddenly gets longer during the final boss though)
Does an OK job at opening up piece by piece to the player and giving a natural sense of progression
+/-
Decent initial variation then gets repetitive overall
Two ice beams (maybe they thought people wouldn't find the first one)
Much harder to bomb jump than in SM (there's a code that makes it easy but then it's too easy)
Final boss is a lot tougher than the rest of the game
Hard to grind for HP/ammo in the final area
Some engrish
Female protagonist
Unlimited ammo on the main weapon
Auto-fire (it's a bit slow though)
No full health bonus like in Zelda
You can easily get past enemies in some areas (makes backtracking a bit less tedious)
Off screen enemy respawning
Somewhat unforgiving hit detection when picking up missile tanks
No in-game explanations of mechanics or item uses
Doesn't show boss HP
Can't skip the "get item" theme
Basic text intro
Big focus on collecting (it doesn't become a goal in and of itself until the end game though)
-
Overly drawn out level design
Backtracking (no teleportation, very few shortcuts)
Can't duck and shoot or shoot downwards (there's a GG code for the former though)
Too easy to get lost due to the repetitive room designs
Trial & error (some hidden items and paths, boss patterns, dead ends and red herrings (room near the first ice beam, northeastern brinstar, fake kraid area)
Health and ammo grinding (no ammo/health stations, the intentional grinding spots are too inefficient without GG codes that make enemies drop more HP/ammo, enemies can drop ammo intead of health even though you have full ammo but low health)
Annoying beeping sfx when low on health
Start out with only 50 HP even after reloading
Hard to jump vertically upwards past a block above Samus without her hitting her head against it
Some tedious near pixel perfect jumps out of lava
Can't remove more than 10 or so disappearing blocks at a time
No weapon inventory (can only switch between beam or missiles)
Long beam is a lame upgrade
Some unavoidable damage when entering rooms
Annoying sine wave pattern flying enemies cheaply placed near lava pits early on (they take too many hits to kill)
Some slowdown whenever there are 3+ enemies on screen (gets more severe in some segments)
No new abilities in norfair/ridley's area
Simple bosses (kraid and ridley) and they're too small to be intimidating
Safe spot at the ridley boss fight
No point in taking an alternate route early on since you'll want the bomb/missile/long beam/e-tank and probably the ice beam as soon as possible
No difficulty or control options
No second quest (Zelda 1)
Somewhat slow falling speed
No neutral creatures
Repeats enemy types a lot
Ridley's area theme
Notes:
-Need to turn off the lower shot code after getting the wave beam or the game will crash when shooting upwards