2024 March 25
I decided to write something about that new Contra game that everybody in Neocity is talking about!
Jokes aside, I've actually had this article Mostly Complete for a couple months, thanks to the momentum from this weekend I had the energy to finish it up today.
2024 March 24
It's been a few more months than usual, but I have finally received enough questions to produce another mailbag. I think it has some of the best questions yet!
As always, I will plug my Cohost page and my guestbook as recepticles for your mail. Please! Feel free to send!
2024 March 23
In what can only be described as the quickest turnaround from project start to finish, I have made a map of Samus Goes to the Fridge to Get a Glass of Milk (the number 1 hit Fusion hack of 2020). It's only 11 screens large, making it literally half the size of its sequel.
The motivation for mapping it was (similar to Super Madtroid earlier this week) mostly as a proof of concept for GBA Metroid hacks (I have a few in mind, but I'm not gonna spill the beans).
Also I updated every page on the site to have a link to the guestbook. Please understand. :)
2024 March 20
Today's update is a very rare TRIPLE WHAMMY!!! *airhorn noises*
We got three orders of business:
The maps page has been updated to be more organized, with maps of different games being separated into their own categories. This entailed editing style.css, so it might not look quite right if your cache doesn't update.
We got another hotfix thanks to our wonderful friend Ambureon: the Metroid Blue map was missing an energy tank in Brinstar. Thanks for the tip! (Note: If you find an error in one of my maps, please let me know! It's one of the few ways I find out that people are using them.)
Our first map of a Super Metroid hack has been added to the site. The hack in question is... *drumroll* Super Madtroid!!!
Super Madtroid has an average rating of 1.60 orbs out of 5. The author made it in 7 hours. When I showed the map to the author, his reaction was (and I quote) "I barely remember making it lol." That's how you know the hack is quality.
Anyhow, don't go expecting very many SM hack maps from me. Those hacks tend to be much larger and more sophisticated, and there are already plenty of wonderful folks who have put in the blood, sweat, and tears to make the good maps of the good hacks. This map mostly serves as a proof of concept (in terms of workflow) in preparation for a couple other hacks I wanna map in the indeterminate future.
2024 March 15
HOTFIX: My friend Ambureon notified me that I forgot to place the bombs on my map of Ridley X Hack 2. This has been fixed. (Also this is the second item related error this map has had smh.)
HOTFIX 2 (Night Edition): The same friend alerted me that I just straight up forgot a missile door on my Over the Moon map. This too has been fixed. (If you can't tell this friend is a very good mapmaker and you should visit their website.)
2024 March 13
I bet you didn't expect the first update of this March to be another map, did ya?
...you did?
Yeah, sure. I guess that's fair.
Anyhow, the map this time is for Metroid Confrontation_NES, which is a surprisingly faithful demake of the fangame Metroid Confrontation, which was made by DoctorM64 as a way getting AM2R's engine seaworthy before setting out to complete that project. Both the original fangame and the demake are quite nice!
2024 February 24
Just did a minor bit of housekeeping -- nothing too interesting. After nearly two months, I finally shoved the previous quarter's updates into the archive.
More importantly, however, is that I fixed some links from previous quarters that had broken in the transfer from the front page to the archive (due to being relative links rather than absolute links). Apologies to anyone who stumbled into a dead link that way. I must humbly regret the error.
2024 February 22
Another update, another map. This time it's for a hack called Metroid Blue (or "Mebluetroid" if you're a sicko), which was the first Metroid hack of 2023 (of any Metroid game, at that). It's... okay. It's very clearly a hack made in a handful of days by someone familiarizing themself with the editor, and to be frank I think we need more of those kinds of hacks.
To the disappointment of my partner, there is no corresponding hack called Metroid Red, at least for now. Perhaps you, reader dearest, will be the one to make the change you wish to see in this universe.
Until next time, see ya!
2024 February 8
The first map of the year is here. It's for the hack Metroid Reborn: A Call to Valor, which you can find here.
Stylistically, this map is different from my usual maps, and there's a good reason for that! The author of this hack decided to refactor the level format to optimize it for space, to fit more data into the original 128 KB, so the hack is incompatible with any existing editors and thus incompatible with any reasonable workflow. Because of this, I chose to make a simpler map based off the one I made while playing the game.
What makes this hack special to me is that it is the only Metroid 1 hack to extensively wrap around the confines of the 32x32 grid of the map in order to produce a more interesting world shape. A few other hacks dabbled with this idea, but as far as I know this is the only one that modified the engine to properly support it without any jank.
One caveat with the map as it stands is that there are only 19 missile tanks instead of the usual 21. I couldn't find the 2 remaining tanks, but I think I know where they should be. If the author's comments are anything to go by, then it could just be a simple technical snafu causing them to not spawn.
Also the hack was never 100% finished, so the lack of a final area is represented by a bunch of X's.
Enjoy!
2024 January 30
Recently I commissioned my friend BachelorSoft to draw a portrait of me, and just the other day he delivered it (and boy howdy did he deliver!). Please, check it out posthaste on the received art page!
2024 January 24
I drew my interpretation of the character "blok" from Caves of ZZT a couple days ago, and have now added it to this website. Check it out in the visual art page!
2024 January 23
Happy New Year!! Can you believe this site is nearly a year old by this point? Time sure flies! This has been really fun, and I hope to continue doing this for several more years.
Anyhow, after a way too long time, I've finally come up with a reference drawing for my illustrious Frog Suit. Check it out on the references page in the about section! (Do not ask where the rear and side views of it are.)