Hats off to this ambitious total conversion ROMhack!
This game was distributed as a patch to the original NES Metroid in 2017. Grimlock and team sought to create a new experience, a prequel to M1, with mostly new assets. It integrates many welcome changes to the original engine from earlier patches, such as saving, a minimap, and beam stacking, but goes beyond that with new abilities for M1 like the walljump, as well as all-new enemies, bosses, and areas to explore… not to mention adding slopes to a game that was originally so rigidly block-based!
The story is intriguing. Using the M1 manual backstory as its basis, you play as Dawn Aran, modified and raised by Ridley as a ruthless agent of the Space Pirates. The Pirate ship serves as a hub as you explore new regions of SR388 to find a Metroid specimen. This takes you through deep forests, submerged caves, Chozo ruins, a downed GF ship, and into a thriving Metroid hive, all dripping with atmosphere thanks to their stark colour schemes and occasionally animated backdrops. Dawn’s conscience will be tested, and the plot elements, though light, are well integrated.
The most arresting feature of this unofficial Metroid instalment is its use of graphic tiles (and negative space) to represent the game world. The heavy use of unique sprites and their clever arrangement gives the areas a realistic feel, be it the natural ecosystems or the constructed ship zones. The level design is also much more intricate and complex than in M1 despite being bound by the same limitations of alternating horizontal/vertical aligned rooms; it makes the repetitive, static screens of the original seem bland and unambitious in comparison. The one aspect in which this falls down is the two looping maze sequences, which break the map and rely on trial and error; I spent a while frustrated and lost in these, which are relatively early in the game.
The other clever use of graphics to work around Metroid’s limitations is the in-game text. Some screens will have dialogue or signs displayed in text simply overlaid on the screen. Like the ambient cutscenes of Half-Life 2 these don’t interrupt your actions, or are there to aid navigation, remind you of your objective, or just flesh out the world, it’s very cleverly done. There’s also a ton of secrets to find, from sequence-breaking early powerups to convenient recharge points, to hidden Metroids drawn out in object graphics or just silly Easter eggs!
I have to give it to Grimlock and the team behind this. They took the clunky Metroid we know and gave it a total overhaul, a cool new story, and made something that feels fresh within the constraints of the NES. Aside from those damn mazes, there’s a lot to love here. Check it out!
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