SMILEuser96
Originally published in 1994, “Super Metroid” is notorious for being difficult – much like many of its retro counterparts. This critically acclaimed mega-hit set the bar for what it means to be a quality 2-D action-adventure game and even helped spawn an entirely new genre of games dubbed “Metroidvania.” Along with the “Castlevania” games, if there is one things that is said about “Metroidvania” games, it is that they are not hard enough. Apparently, that is the case anyway, because a user by the name of SMILEuser96 from metroidconstruction.com decided to make “Super Metroid” borderline impossible to beat while still giving you the slightest glimmer of hope.
In his forum post, SMILEuser96 released the latest update for his aptly-named “Super Metroid Rotation Hack” yesterday, January 4, after originally releasing it back in July 2014. This mod rotates the map 90 degrees clockwise while maintaining the orientation for Samus and her enemies. Suddenly “Super Metroid” becomes a lot less action-adventure and a lot more platforming nightmare. In fact, with the rotation, “Super Metroid Rotation Hack” plays a lot like the popular “endless runner” genre than its alma mater.
The new version of the game is not for the faint of heart as it requires some serious trick-jumping to pull off. Movement is almost entirely restricted to wall-jumping and even one of the early levels requires an expert maneuver known as “infinite bomb jumping. If you can pull off these feats, then “Super Metroid Rotation Hack” might be a mod worthy of your time. It is fully-beatable, thanks to a community effort to iron out some kinks in the system caused by the rotation.
So if you are interested in a white-knuckle, teeth grinding challenge, head to Metroid Construction to pick it up and be sure to leave SMILEuser96 and his helpers a thank you!