Goals and Tags
- ROM Hack
- Platformer
- Metroidvania
- Manipulates Luck
- Takes damage to save time
- 100% Completion
Language:
- M - Missile
- SM - Super Missile
- PB - Power Bomb
You can watch an encode with extra commentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX6pmDaeMJs&t=9s
About this game.
Metroid: Desolation is a ROM Hack of Metroid: Zero Mission created by Jasinchen, and it features new areas, bosses, power-ups, and music.
You can install the ROM Hack here: https://metroidconstruction.com/hack.php?id=732
This game also features many changes to the Zero Mission engine:
Changes
Aside for the level design, the different logo in the beginning and all of that, this hack features many changes in the mechanics:
- Textboxes that appears when you collect an upgrade are now removed.
- You now get 2 missiles per pack instead of 5.
- There is no escape sequence aside from the one after defeating mother brain.
- You can go to Samus's ship and leave the world anytime you want ot end your playthrough, as long as you're able to.
- You can now skip cutscenes
Routing
The routing was the most daunting task of the whole production, it took me around 1 month to do, and you do not want to see the images I used as a reference to the route.
Here's a map of the game: 
I will now talk about the many areas of the game.
Areas
- Desert
As the name implies, it's a desert, mixed with a cavern.
- Home to:
- The Morph Ball
- The Power Grip
- The Speed Booster
- The first Super Missile you're supossed to grab (you can grab one earlier in Tangle but it won't save time).
- I come to this area four times:
- The first one is because it is your spawn location, and it's where I get the Morph Ball and the Power Grip.
- The second one is where I come to get the first SM pack in the run, and the Speed Booster (since many areas from now on will require the Speed Booster, it is best to get it here).
- The third time I use as a bridge between Rocava and Tangle, since this is the most direct connection between the two.
- And the fourth and final time is when I come to do the cleanup and leave.
- Tangle
A heavely vegetated cave.
- Home to:
- The first Missile pack you're supossed to get
- Bombs
- The Space Jump.
- I come here three times:
- The first is where I get the first M pack in the run and the Bombs.
- The second one is, just like Desert, a bridge between two areas, those being the Desert and Bionicle (which I haven't explained, but to first get to Bionicle, you need to go through Tangle)
- The final visit is when I do the cleanup andget the Space Jump which is actually needed to climb the sandfall to escape and finish the run.
- Karst
A partially submerged grotto.
- Home to:
- The Charge beam
- The Spazer beam
- The Gravity Suit.
- I also come here three times.
- The first is where I get the Charge and Spazer beam.
- The second time I'm here is to get the Gravity Suit for a later area.
- And the third and final visit is just for cleanup and to go to Tangle, not much to say really.
- Nurk
Essentially the central hub of this game, not only is it the most visually varied, it's also an area that connects to almost all areas in the game, excluding Tangle and Bionicle.
- Home to:
- The tractor
- The Wave beam
- The Hi-jump.
- I come to this area a whopping five times, which is more than all other areas in the game.
- The first time is when I come from Karst and get the Tractor Beam.
- The second time is when I come from the Desert and go to Rocava, picking up the Hi-Jump along the way.
- The third time is when I'm about to revisit Karst.
- The fourth one is when I go from Karst to Acead (I know it lasts like 10 seconds, but it still counts).
- And the final visit is for the cleanup, where I also get the Wave Beam.
- Rocava
An opressing, fiery cavern (I ran out of synonyms for cave).
- Home to:
- The Varia Suit
- The Ice Beam
- The first obtainable Power Bomb pack.
- I only come to this area twice, and if I didn't need the Varia suit, I would only need to come here once.
- The first time I come here is to get the Varia Suit.
- and the other one is the cleanup along with the obtainment of the Ice Beam and some Power Bombs.
- Acead
This area is a break from all the caverns, it's instead an abandoned underground station of some sorts.
- Home to:
- The Screw Attack
- The Auto Missiles
- I come here the usual three times.
- The first time is when I'm forced here, and where I get the Auto Missiles.
- The second time is when I do the cleanup for most of the area, and it's when I defeat Mother Brain and become Zero Suit Samus.
- The third and final visit is just the cleanup.
- Bionicle
Basically Acead, but more vegetated.
- Home to:
- The Plasma Beam.
- Just like Rocava, I only come here twice.
- The first time is to get The Plasma Beam and do most of the cleanup.
- And the second visit is when I come as Zero Suit Samus to return to the Power Suit.
Bosses
Like I said before, this game features many bosses, many of who are skipped.
- Arachnus
You usually fight Arachnus to obtain the first intended M pack, but he's is initially skipped because of a tunnel placed by the developer that bypasses the M Door. Later though, I fight him, the last boss I fight is the first intended boss, it ties this TAS all together.
- Mua
Another boss that is skipped. When you defeat Mua, the water level is lowered, allowing for a ledge grab to be possible and for the Charge Beam to be obtained, but, with a well timed bomb jump, it's possible to grab the ledge with the higher water level, there is another problematic spot later, but that can also be skipped by going through an alternate path.
- Charge Beam Beast or Diorumu
The Charge Beam Beast (Yes, that is his actual name, and since he doesn't possess the Charge Beam in this hack, I'm gonna call him by his japaneses name, that being Diorumu). Anyways, Diorumu is the third boss in this run to be skipped, by skipping the area with the high water level, I also skipped Diorumu.
- Serris
Finally a boss that is not skipped! And this Boss is extremely interesting. Unlike in Metroid Fusion, Serris here is always vulnerable (except for the beggining), making for a much faster bossfight, maybe it could've been faster if I killed it quickly enough, but it's still interesting.
- Imago
Not much to say, he works like the usual, you kill it, it goes into wall. Wall breaks.
- Tangle Vine
The same as his original incarnation, but underwater.
- Kraid
Now it's time to talk about this dude. The way Kraid works in this hack is different to every other incarnation of him, he instead works more like Crocomire from Super Metroid, but, unlike Crocomire, he doesn't push back, Kraid just oscillates between two position, and his coding is way dumber, he doesn't detect the difference between a M and a SM and the shots do not stack, I mean they do, but it takes a long time to be able to hit him and cause a position change. But, since he never ever oscillated or stopped completely, this means that this boss was completed as fast as the game allows.
- B.O.X. Robot
This robot is not very interesting, you just hit it until it eventually breaks, I'm not sure the way I did it was the fastest, since taking damage slows things a lot, but I think it was faster than going around the block.
- Ridley
A boss that works similarly to his original appearance, I had to shoot the normal beam a couple of times to destroy the projectiles he breathes, but it was still pretty fast.
- Mecha Ridley
Another boss that is skipped.
- Mother Brain
She works like she usually does, I'm surprised how the amount of SMs I had were just enough for the perfect kill.
- Chozo Warrior
Another boss that is the same as normal.
- Kiru Giru
A boss that is also skipped, this one isn't even hard, you literally just leave the area, and the game doesn't try to stop you.
- Yakuza
This boss is also skipped.
New Powers
This game added some new power-ups, and I am going to talk about them:
- Tractor Beam
When charging the Normal Beam, enemy drops attract to Samus, this is very useful for ammo management.
- Automatic missiles
It makes it so you shoot automatically when holding the R button, it's was never used anywhere.
Extra Tricks
- One way to reduce lag is to press the R button, for some reason. It's most noticeable in the Ridley fight. Another way to reduce lag is to come out of a spinning animation by pressing A, I only did this once when in Zero Suit to reduce one frame of lag.
- One trick I discovered on my own is the fact that jumping out of a crawling state in Zero Suit is slightly faster than just running.
- There is a glitch where if you jump into a slope with sub-pixel-perfect precision with the shinespark, you can slightly clip inside the ground, where you then are able to go down the slope like normal. This was never used, since I couldn't get it to work, but it could have saved some time in the shinespark-holding section in Desert after beating Imago.
Suggested Screenshot
Frame 159628
Thank you guys for watching!
nymx: Claiming for judging.
nymx: This is a really good run. There is little that I could find to compare it too, since it is a really new hack. What I can say is that everything looks really sharp and nothing jumps out as an obvious problem. I did like the changes to the original game and the unique features added.
Game meets the requirements for "Full Completion" and worthy of publication.
Accepting.
fsvgm777: Processing.