Video Game Saga *

About two months ago I got my brand new copy of Super Metroid in the mail. That is Super Metroid Redesign. It came with a very beautifully handcrafted black box, with custom artwork on the front. In the box was a well-done poster, map, manual, and a cartridge with custom art work on it. Not to mention it had a handcrafted SNES game box with it as well. I was excited like never before. "This should be a gas!" This is what I said when I first opened the package up.Super Metroid is my absolute favorite game ever, and here I held in my hands a fan made "redesign".

I thought this game was going to be a breeze, but boy was I DEAD wrong... I have to give props to not only the person who hand made this lovely piece of work, but the people who designed this game. Before I ever popped the game in, I took a look at the manual and on the very first page, even before the meat of the manual, I was already on the edge of my seat. "The escape sequence takes 26 minutes..." That is probably paraphrasing, but since I currently lack the manual at college I decided to just wing it. 26 minutes folks, what does this tell you? It only told me that there is no turning back... but I liked it.

Super Metroid Redesign is exactly what the name says. The developers of the game swallowed the map of the original game and spat it out after grinding it with their teeth. The game is MASSIVE, stunning in design, and bares no resemblance to the original layout- save for the beginning part with Ridley. Let's talk about the graphics and gameplay. I noticed little to no graphic changes, but that is fine because it is already a stunning masterpiece. The mechanics have been drastically altered but for the better. Samus Aran no-longer moves like she use to. Instead the designers made the movement more akin to Zero Mission, in which you run and jump faster. This is actually a welcome thing for me, because after all these years playing Metroid games, a majority of the time has been with a speedy and agile Samus.

I want to now focus on the difficulty aspect, I think the majority of you reading this are dying to know about this. I use the word difficult very seldom because I believe very few things in life are truly difficult. When I say difficulty aspects, I truly mean this because Super Metroid Redesign is certainly one of the most challenging games I have ever played and that is good news. Your pace at collecting power ups is quite slow, but that only makes you get use to being limited in capabilities. A lot of the enemies are certainly tougher and take more time to kill. I notices some changes in boss fights as well but I refuse to spoil those parts for the reader. It has taken me two months to finish this game. I admit I was not always playing it.

Now for a little humor for the review, I was about half way through the game about a week ago. By accident I happened to bump the SNES I was using, which inevitably caused me to lose my saved data. Can you imagine the internal frustration I had knowing all was lost? I purchased this game through Time Walk Games for $195.00. That's right I payed a steep price for this but it was worth it. Do not bother trying to order from Time Walk as they are only taking orders from former customers now and they limited this game to 20 copies in print. That is right, not only is this an expensive masterpiece, but it is also incredibly limited in quantities, and I will never let go of this game. If anyone has a copy of this game as well, give us a hollar let us know your out there. It takes true patience to finish this game.