Video Games are awesome

A general discussion forum, plus hauls and silly games.
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

Post by Dominic »

The guides are not organized in any coherent way, and the writers cannot be bothered to edit for general readability.

With "A Link to the Past", the guides listed items alphabetically, by which area they were in. There was usually a brief description of the item, what it was used for, along with how/when to get it. The "Super Metroid" guides that I have seen are not that organized. (I need to set aside time to figure out how to get an energy tank near a boss (I think in Brinstar). The guide offers very little help.

-edit: Maybe retropixel.net
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Dominic wrote:The guides are not organized in any coherent way, and the writers cannot be bothered to edit for general readability.
I find that several of the guides on GameFAQ's are perfectly coherent, and edited for general readability. Some of them even list "version information" in which they point out editing changes they've made, often times having a updates just for things like structure and grammar.
With "A Link to the Past", the guides listed items alphabetically, by which area they were in. There was usually a brief description of the item, what it was used for, along with how/when to get it. The "Super Metroid" guides that I have seen are not that organized. (I need to set aside time to figure out how to get an energy tank near a boss (I think in Brinstar). The guide offers very little help.
What about that link I gave you listing all of the upgrades in Super Metroid? It may not have been in alphabetical order, but it was in order of when you should be picking-up the item. And it gave a brief description of the items, what it was used for, and how to get it. That same website also had a decent walk-through from what I saw. Some of the guides on GameFAQs also breaks things down like that as well. I don't know which guides you're looking at exactly, but there are guides that have exactly what you're talking about here. I think you're just being way overly picky if you think the entire Metroid fan base can't write a decent enough guide.
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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At this point, I have to start over.

Last night, I made the mistake of playing when I was tired...and made a mistake on the printed map that I was using. And....did I mention I was tired. I threw the map away.... And, it had mistakes on it... Yeah, I could have salvaged things. But, I was tired. Just gonna start over, using RetroPixel (which is the best guide that I have found so far).


I find that several of the guides on GameFAQ's are perfectly coherent, and edited for general readability. Some of them even list "version information" in which they point out editing changes they've made, often times having a updates just for things like structure and grammar.
The guides I have found on GameFAQs are less than stellar.
Last edited by Dominic on Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Dominic wrote:The guides I have found on GameFAQs are less than stellar.
To each their own. I've always found some pretty good guides on there personally. They've always been able to walk me through a part of a game I couldn't figure out at any rate. Not to mention, there are so many other good resources out there as well...
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Jakks Pacific "World of Nintendo" Samus":

Despite cutting down on action figures, and trying not to start new lines, I broke down and ordered this from Game Stop last week. (This is an older figure from a cancelled line, so it is hardly a question of starting a new line. The fact that it was <$15 after shipping also helped sell me.)

14 points of articulation: neck (1), torso (1), shoulders (2), elbows (2*2), hips (2), knees (2), ankles (2). The number of movable parts are about right for a figure from 10+ years ago. But, similar to many Marvel figures, they are not allocated well. The shoulders are particularly irksome, being in the style of an 80s figure (simply plugged in to the torso).

The paint is lacking. The colors are right, but there are details that should have been picked out more cleanly. (A case could be made that the suit's yellow base color should be gold.) My copy has some paint slop. But, I am not sure what the quality-control on Jakks figures tends to be, so I am hesitant to take too many points off for this.)

The accessory is Samus curled up into a ball, meaning that it is technically a second figure of Samus. It is a well sculpted and painted figure of a....basic form. (Samus is a ball with some greebling.) it looks good. It rolls well enough. Uh....technically the scaling is right by virtue of being screen-accurate. But, it highlights the game's lack of scale. (It would be the equivalent of a ~6 foot person curling up in to something the size of a small beachball.) Metroid (like most games) has more than its share of impossible physics.

The sculpt is based on Samus in the heat-resistant armor. This is nothing wrong with this decision. But, it strikes me as odd. (There are 2-3 other sculpt and coloring variants they could have gone with, including the pre-upgrade suit.) And, like most "Metroid" art and merchandise after the 90s, the sculpt is clearly female (based on proportions). Normally, I do not demand retro sculpting and aesthetics. But, I do think that something is lost when Samus' armor highlights her gender. (Still, it is better than the skin-suit from more recent games.)


Grade: B/C Worth getting if you like "Metroid" as a property.



I have been playing "Super Metroid" more for the last week or so. (A combination of scheduling and weather have kept me off the campaign trail, and I have been using the game as a way to de-stress.)


I am currently doing 2 pay-throughts.

With the first play-through, the goal is simply to finish the game and collect ~80% of the items. If I can bring it in under 10 hours, that will be good (but is hardly a guarantee). I have died 8~9 times, and am planning to grab a few items before starting the water section. Game clock is 6 hours and change

With the second run, the goal is to finish the game without dying, collect ~80% of the items and finish the game either in <10 hours or 90 minutes less than the first run (whichever is a larger drop). No deaths. Just found the grappling beam. Planning to get one of the gun upgrades, x-ray vision and a few other items before tackling the ship.


I really enjoy the fact that the open nature of the game means that players can plan different routes for later runs, or use the same routes while applying different techniques.


I still have not mastered wall-jumping.
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Sparky Prime
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Dominic wrote:The sculpt is based on Samus in the heat-resistant armor. This is nothing wrong with this decision. But, it strikes me as odd. (There are 2-3 other sculpt and coloring variants they could have gone with, including the pre-upgrade suit.)
The Varia Suit generally serves as her de-facto suit.
And, like most "Metroid" art and merchandise after the 90s, the sculpt is clearly female (based on proportions). Normally, I do not demand retro sculpting and aesthetics. But, I do think that something is lost when Samus' armor highlights her gender. (Still, it is better than the skin-suit from more recent games.)
Yeah, I don't really get why they've feminized the design of her suit over the years when the original idea behind the character was that it was supposed to be a surprise Samus was a woman. Not that it really applies anymore given it is now well known Samus is a woman, but still... I'd have to agree, it looses something by having the design of the suit highlight her gender.
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Over the weekend, I cleared the water section of the map, and went back to the land of shit and fire in "Super Metroid". The game clock stands at ~9 hours, maybe a bit more.

The guide at RetroPixel gave me a skewed perspective on Ridley and the two guards. The Guards were much more difficult than I anticipated (particularly following the advice on RetroPixel), and managed to kill me on my first attempt. Ridley, in contrast, was much easier than I expected.

Surprisingly, the large chamber that fills with lava did not kill me at all. (Admittedly, that was a near thing. But, I made it through without dying once.)
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Finally finished "Super Metroid" last night.

The game clock was ~11 hours and 20-ish minutes. Item collection rate was 80-something percent.


For the second play-through, I am hoping to bring it in under 9 hours, with maybe 75% items collected. (Most of the items I skipped are missiles, along with a few super bombs. Not skipping any of the capital stuff.) Current game clock is just over 3 hours. Planning a short item run, then I will tackle the crashed ship.
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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After a brief set-back, second run through of "Super Metroid" is going well.

Last week, I made it to the crash-site, beat the boss and got killed (by a spike hazard) before saving. The problem is that I had not saved for some time before that (during an item run), meaning that starting over from the save-point would add close to an hour to my game time. And, because I was tired, I forgot that just turning off and restarting the game-system would have allowed me to start playing from a save point without adding more time to the clock.

So....I cleared the game.


Current game clock: ~6 hours
Location: ready to fight the golden statue

At this point, I need to have a few hours to play, and I need to be relatively awake (as the remaining sections of the game require some attention).
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Dominic
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Re: Video Games are awesome

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Finished "Super Metroid" for a second time.

No death run.
6:11
88% collection rate.


At some point, I will make another run and try to finish in <5 hours with >80% collection.
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