Metroid X (Patch 1.4 Coming Soon!)

[Lunar Chris]

In the year 2871, Reploids have captured the city of New Cordahn and Raxus is responsible for the chaos. It's all up to Samus Aran to put a stop to the Mavericks in the world before the year of the Reploids commences under the rule of Sigma.


RAR: http://www.mediafire.com/download/17b31 ... oid+X1.rar
ZIP: http://www.mediafire.com/download/jm6bd ... roid+X.zip

Megaman styled episode

[electricpretzel0]

Looks nice. It's interesting how, many of the npcs don't look like they act the same because of all the custom sprites.

[JOSEX]

HELLO COULD HELP ME WITH A PROBLEM OF METROID X?
IS THAT WHEN I WANT TO ENTER THE FIRST LEVEL INTRO STAGE CALL ME AN ERROR JUMPING AND I CAN TELL ME HOW TO PLAY porfabor I correct?? THANK YOU

[Lunar Chris]

HELLO COULD HELP ME WITH A PROBLEM OF METROID X?
IS THAT WHEN I WANT TO ENTER THE FIRST LEVEL INTRO STAGE CALL ME AN ERROR JUMPING AND I CAN TELL ME HOW TO PLAY porfabor I correct?? THANK YOU

What are you saying? I can't understand

[JOSEX]

I WANT TO TELL YOU WHEN ENTERING THE FIRST LEVEL JUMP ME AN ERROR AND I CAN NOT PLAY

[Murphmario]

Why is this not in episodes.

Also, why is there nothing Metroid themed in this episode except Samus?

[Lunar Chris]

I WANT TO TELL YOU WHEN ENTERING THE FIRST LEVEL JUMP ME AN ERROR AND I CAN NOT PLAY

So the intro level has an error? Idk why you're having this issue but I'll see if there's something wrong

[FanofSMBX]

Why is this not in episodes.

Also, why is there nothing Metroid themed in this episode except Samus?

It's Metroid "X"

[Imaynotbehere4long]

Why is this not in episodes.

Oh, wow, this hasn't been moved to completed episodes yet. I guess that this was posted before members were allowed to create threads under the "Completed Episodes" section of the forums, but by that time, everyone just forgot about it (I don't blame them; this is a pretty forgettable episode).

Oh, and before I begin my review:

Spoiler: show

If it's in plain sight, it isn't an Easter egg!



There was an Erie here a moment ago...eh, it must have been off-screened.

AND NOW MY REVIEW OF METROID X

So, the first thing I noticed is that you left a save file in the episode (it isn't even a completed save file, either). I don't understand why people do this as it's annoying to have to go to the epsidoe's folder and delete it just so I can play the episode. Delete your test saves before uploading the episode; it's not that difficult.

Next, I should point out that there were quite a few grammatical oddities in this episode (not as much as some other episodes, but it's there):

Spoiler: show

Example: "reheal" isn't a word, and neither is "replanish." There were others, such as referring to the Space-Jump as the "Screw-Attack," but I'm sure you'll notice them if you reread your episode's script. I know this because "I am sidekick."

Speaking of the energy machine, why is the delay for energy pellets 6.9 seconds?? There's no reason to set the delay for power-up generators to be that long, especially in the hub. Change the delay to 0.1 seconds.

Another thing I noticed is that there were some oddities with the Samus playable:

Spoiler: show

You didn't always make sure that enemy hitboxes weren't the same size as their respective graphics, but even if you did, it won't do much good if Samus's sprites aren't correct . Look at the distance between her arm cannon and where the enemy was:

Even when you did make sure to alter the NPC's hitbox, without using gfxoffsetx/y, the hitbox is moved to the center of the NPC's graphic. In this screenshot, I am causing damage to the Mother Brain sprite swap:

Also, I think that all Link sprite-swaps should be given a shield; it's not like the shield is removed just because it isn't being shown. One more thing: Ice Samus's palette is a bit of an eyesore; I recommend using a darker blue.

Okay, on to the episode itself. First off, the first level:

Spoiler: show

You should make sure that there aren't any blind jumps in your episode (parts where you can't see where you have to jump to next). I went back to try to get that 1-up, but the bridge had collapsed when I went back.

Plus, the Mother Brain sprite swaps' effect sprite is cutoff. You should move the graphic (in the GIF) further to the left.

Also, this part is needlessly long. You could remove two screens-worth of this section without sacrificing anything.

On to Chill Penguin's stage:

Spoiler: show

Seriously, stop with the blind jumps.

Your Spark sprite swaps get stuck often (this is just one of many examples). The reason this happens is because its hitbox is too big; you will either need to decrease it to 37x37(at most) so it won't get stuck (of course, that would cause graphical oddities), or build the stages around this. Wait, why even are these Spark sprite swaps? That's not how they behaved in Mega Man X.

Also, the bosses disappointed me on two counts. First of all, they're just sprite swaps of SMBX's pre-programmed Boss AIs (not only that, but you practically only sprite swapped Ludwig and the SMB3 Bowser! It gets really annoying to have to fight the same two bosses repeatedly). Second of all, when they die, they teleport to the center of the room. It isn't that difficult to attach the boss to their respective death-scene layers so that when they die, it's where they were killed.

On to Armored Armadillo's stage:

Spoiler: show

Wait, wouldn't it make more sense for these guys to be hammer bro. sprite swaps...

and these guys be Birdo sprite swaps? (yes, I replayed Sting Chameleon's stage to remember its original AI)

The bar that's supporting the train looks like it can be stood on, and I died because of that. You should use an image that looks more like a background object.

Speaking of, the train part is pretty long and boring; the hammer bro. sprite swaps are too high up to attack me, and I can just stab the Para-Goomba sprite swaps as they approach me. You could seriously remove this entire section without much of a loss.

Zzzzzzzzzz...

The part where the train went off-screen and I had to avoid the enemies as they came toward me was pretty neat. If it were more of that, this section wouldn't be so bad.

Also, this Thwomp sprite swap is too high up off-screen for the player to see it, so when I got here, it hit me. Luckily, being in Space-Jump mode prevents the player from taking damage, so it was more annoying than anything. You should still change it, though.

Here's another screenshot showing not one, but two Spark sprite swaps that are stuck!

All right, moving on:

Spoiler: show

This mini-boss is annoying to fight. Although I did admire that you put forth the effort to provide its introductory frames, it gets tedious having to jump onto this platform, then jump off just to do 1 point of damage. The blob generators don't make it much more difficult, either.

Why do people arrange Super Metroid doors like this? It just doesn't look good in my opinion. It's not like Super Metroid did this. Just make a sprite swap consisting of the pinkish gradient without all of the details on the normal door-edge.

Also, what's the point of having a Space-Jump generator here if the section ends shortly afterward? Seriously, you have a bunch of areas like this that don't really have much purpose.

You want to know what would have been clever? If these cracked pictures of the ocean were actually cracked windows, and you could look out and see the level's background behind them. Also, there's cutoff with the support beams.

Another useless area:

Also, it's probably not a good idea to give the squid sprite swaps noblockcollision=1. Not only does this happen, but earlier, I just stood by and watched one swim outside the boundary of the water and fall off-screen.

On to Flame Stag's stage:

Spoiler: show

Having any image with pixels greater than 2x2 just makes it seem pixelated. Just decrease the mountains' size by half and duplicate them to fill up the entire background image (or use a different background).

Also, why did you make this thing a Mother Brain sprite swap? That only makes it more annoying to deal with, especially since I can just bypass it anyway.

In a bit of a departure from the norm, this thing (I don't know what it's called) got stuck instead of your Spark sprite swaps. Also, WHAT THE CRAP THERE'S RISING LAVA NOW NOTHING WARNED ME ABOUT THIS!!!

Okay, so there was the message that Major Olrock gave to Samus, but that was in the previous section, where the lava was very much in control. Also, you did a similar thing in the section afterward (with lava just sort of appearing from off-screen without warning). I'm okay with having these "race" sections, just give the player some sort of clear notification that there is lava chasing him/her in said sections.

Also, it's unintuitive that you have to hit the power-up blocks by the "generators" to proceed, especially since the NPC there says that I should go to the control room.

On to Wheel Gator's stage:

Spoiler: show

Just so you know, having NPCs on the same layer as the tank doesn't mean they will work properly. Not only does making the tank move make it super annoying to make jumps (because SMBX won't alter physics to match with moving layers that the player is on), but power-ups get pushed to the left...

and your Snifit sprite swaps fly off-screen to the right after jumping. I recommend you keep the tank stationary.

Also, you didn't sprite swap certain enemy effects, like this one:

Okay, so I made it to the end, but there's no warp here. Now I just have to sit here and wait for the tank to make it to the edge of the screen, and waiting is no fun. Also, having the warp to the next section at the edge of the screen doesn't leave any incentive for the player to actually make it to the end of the tank because the player can simply wait until the part of the tank he/she is at is at the section's boundary, then jump to the warp.

All right, on to Overdrive Ostrich's level:

Spoiler: show

You shouldn't have events paralyze the player if there are still enemies around! That Para-Goomba sprite swap almost hit me because I couldn't move while the turret was rising.

Also, I can hit the message box again and now it's FLOATING!

Speaking of the turrets, I liked how the second one self destructs and we blame it on the passing aircraft gets destroyed by the enemy airship. Of course, I don't need to activate the third one because I can just fly over it with the Space-Jump generators you provided me with.

Um, okay...it's a dead end. What do I do now? (this is my way of saying that you shouldn't put instant warps at the end of cliff-platforms like that. You should extend the blocks so that the platform goes off-screen, then put the warp at the end. That way, it's more intuitive)

By the way, I managed to lure Overdrive Ostrich off of the airship, and now I'm stuck. Also, I'm standing on nothing.

And now, the final stages: Why do they all have the same stage song?

Spoiler: show

When I first found out that the Metaurs were Koopa-troopa sprite swaps, I also found out you forgot to swap their effect graphic.

You have these Thwomp rows way too often, and in this part, the blocks are too low for me to jump over them like normal, so I just have to wait for them to go back up, and waiting isn't something you should make the player do.

I didn't get a good screenshot of it, but the graphic of the Birdo on the left is incorrect. You can see a row of pixels just under it that should be part of the next sprite.

AGAIN WITH THE SUDDEN HAZARDS!!! DON'T DO THIS!! I actually got hit by one of those Thwomp sprite swaps the first time I made it here because, when they appeared, not only did I not expect it, but I was also directly under one. You should at least provide some sort of warning for the player that they're there, such as having their layer visible upon entering the room or something.

Like Overdrive Ostrich before him, Sigma can end up off-screen and force me to exit the game (this happened to me twice, by the way). Removing the ceiling and the walls will fix this problem for him.

Why don't you believe it? His picture was at the base, and it was labeled!

Also, yay, I beat Sigma! (it is possible to run up and kill the NPC representing his introductory sprites)

All right, I beat the episode for real this time--wait, I'm paralyzed again! Why would you do this to me? I won't be able to avoid the Rinkas!!

So, yeah. This was when I activated God Mode because I felt cheated. In case you don't know, once an event cycle is initiated, there's no way to disable it. You could make a duplicate section with the explosions and warp the player there when the final boss is defeated, and that would prevent this unfair death.

Also, the castle keeps exploding long after sinking into the ground, and the explosions appear in front of the ending narration.

I will say, I'm glad you at least put forth the effort to make your own ending instead of simply using the base SMBX ending; not enough people do this. So now, I leave you with one more instance of a Spark sprite swap getting stuck.

Also:

IN CONCLUSION
So, it's pretty obvious that your episode is based on Megaman Xtreme, not only because of the sprite-swaps you used, but also because, after the first level, the next 8 can be played in any order. While this is somewhat unique as far as SMBX episodes go, it has the unfortunate side effect of needing those 8 levels to be a relatively equal challenge, or else the difficulty would be skewed. Unfortunately, for you and your episode, the difficulty never really went anywhere, even for the Sigma Stages. For the most part, stage design and enemy placement were just sort-of there, without anything unique or interesting being done (there were a few exceptions, though). On top of this, you overused Ludwig and the SMB3 Bowser, making the episode even more repetitive.

All in all, it seems like this was your first attempt at making an episode, and in that context, it wasn't too bad.