Happy Holidays!... and new Demo!
First of all, you can find the new demo in THIS PAGE. Go on, leave it downloading while you read the rest of the post.
So, I was planning to do an early release of this new demo. Like always, there were complications and delays here and there, and what used to set me back a day or two now takes me a week worth of free time. It's hard, but possible.
I have to thank all the great people that helped out this time. Awesome artists that expanded the existing graphic style of the game, great writers who provided both the intro and log texts in great English, patient and thorough testers who found each small detail to be polished into the solid game that AM2R is now.
Ok, I guess I'll be adding more mirrors and adding some screenshots and a trailer after Christmas. Until then, enjoy the demo, and have a wonderful Holiday celebration with the people you love.
Happy Holidays!
Edit: I managed to replicate and fix these 3 annoying bugs that made it into the release:
- Start button couldn't be changed when using a joypad
- Save File not being detected after exiting the game
- Game crashing after first Alpha battle, in certain situations
Please redownload the game if these issues were bothering you. Sorry for the inconveniences!
So, I was planning to do an early release of this new demo. Like always, there were complications and delays here and there, and what used to set me back a day or two now takes me a week worth of free time. It's hard, but possible.
I have to thank all the great people that helped out this time. Awesome artists that expanded the existing graphic style of the game, great writers who provided both the intro and log texts in great English, patient and thorough testers who found each small detail to be polished into the solid game that AM2R is now.
Ok, I guess I'll be adding more mirrors and adding some screenshots and a trailer after Christmas. Until then, enjoy the demo, and have a wonderful Holiday celebration with the people you love.
Happy Holidays!
Edit: I managed to replicate and fix these 3 annoying bugs that made it into the release:
- Start button couldn't be changed when using a joypad
- Save File not being detected after exiting the game
- Game crashing after first Alpha battle, in certain situations
Please redownload the game if these issues were bothering you. Sorry for the inconveniences!
Comments
Will be playing this today, I'll try to send you my feedback!
Thank you again for all your hard work on this project. You and your family have a merry Christmas!
I defeated the first metroid and walked back, there was an error variable shaking 19 or so...demo ended :(
But it was very nice to this point of gaming.
Unfortunately I have a lot to do right now, so testing the new demo has to wait.
Anyway, I wish you and your family a happy holiday Doc = )
You didn't managed yourself for this demo. Thanks and Merry Christmas !
It´s a shame it doesn´t run on my Windows 8. Will try to play it with my XP tomorrow.
I just wanted to say that the new demo is brilliant! I was blown away by the new music, the brilliant atmosphere, the new area, the secrets, hidden surprises and battles. You have outdone yourself. Graphics, Sound, Balancing, everything was perfect. i was sad that the demo ended. Well done!
I will enjoy to see the finished product when it comes!
Sincerely, thank you, doc.
As a metroid fan, I've been updating myself on this project but this is my first demo try and its awesome! Gameplay, music etc was very much perfect. Just a few prolong loads and a little lag, but overall, I cannot wait to get the full version :)
Have a great Christmas and enjoy the holidays doc :)
1) The game seemed like it wouldn't load sometimes. Would get to the second loading screen (with the copyright disclaimer, right after the old title screen) and just hang there. Let it go for a few minutes, but nothing. I'm running Windows 8. All I could do was hit Alt+F4 to force quit, and then restart it. Then it would work fine. This happened twice.
2) I couldn't map the "Start" button on the joystick. Not a deal-breaker, but it would be nice not having to grab the keyboard to read all the awesome flavor text.
3) The Arachnus fight was a little rough. Personally I loved the challenge, but I imagine the difficulty spike would be a bit much for some people. Then again, who's gonna play this that isn't a hardened Metroid veteran?
Honestly, that's it. Really minor stuff. Thanks for the early Christmas present and keep up the amazing work. We can't wait to see the finished product!
When you try to fire diagonally by holding up and left at the same time, you cannot fire. You can, however, if you hold the diagonal aim key.
t3rr4
One thing I did notice was that when you had the Ice Beam and the Wave Beam equipped at the same time, the max semi-auto fire rate was lowered. Was this intentional? When you have just one or the other equipped, the fire rate is fine, but not when both are up.
Also, I used an XBOX controller, and for some reason you couldn't remap the "Start" button. It was preset to the Left Stick Button, which was sort of odd. Also, I would recommend giving some sort of autolatching to the Spiderball, I had a lot of trouble sticking myself to ceilings from a Spring Ball or Bomb Jump (especially the later).
Other than that, loved it! I've been a follower from the beginning and this demo really made me smile so much. Thanks for all the work you have put into this!
Looking forward to the next demo/release of the finished product. Your love for the Franchise shows through your work on this game.
___________________________________________
ERROR in
action number 1
of Step Event
for object k0ud_P2A__9:
Error in code at line 1:
if(SB_MJW__fzV__x.shaking and active=1)or!instance_exists(SB_MJW__fzV__x){mover=instance_create(0,0,i11iOil)mover.delay=4 mover.targety=800 instance_destroy()}
^
at position 19: Unknown variable shaking
Having said that, there are some things I've noticed (I don't know if you meant to do them or not):
1. When you press the start button, some areas in the map are marked missing, even though I've been to that location. I'm guessing this is just an error.
2. I think that there's one area near the end where missile is surrounded by the walls, but I see no way to access that.
3. When you start a new game, save at the save point, then quit to menu, you cannot continue. But you can continue once you quit the program and restart it.
4. It would seem that there's no health/missile recovery stations. I thought every metroid games had that (including Metroid 2 for Gameboy). If you think having those makes the game too easy (I honestly don't think so, since metroids, even the alphas, are so freaking hard), then maybe you can include destroyable blocks that generate health/missiles.
Despite some shortcomings that I mentioned, I can just tell that this will be the greatest masterpiece among homebrew games. Keep up the good work.
1. Cannot disable the upscaling filter. Previously there was no filter if you played on Windows 7 (and on XP you could just run the game at 320x240)
2. You cannot map the "Start" function in the joypad controls.
There are a few things that bothered me:
1 - The enemies' death explosion looks kinda.... generic, I dunno.
2 - The first beam doesn't have a different sound when it's charged. I think this one is already going to change, since the Ice Beam does.
3 - Like others, I played using an Xbox controller, and Start was assigned to the left thumbstick. It wasn't exactly a problem, as I could still play nicely that way, but it would be nice to assign it to the actual Start button.
All in all, can't wait for the full release!
I loved the new puzzles and enemys thrown into the game, and the raised difficulty compared to the original Metroid 2. The boosted challenge makes the game extremely fun and playable. My favorite part of the demo was area 2. The hydro station looked amazing. I LOVED the water pumps and machinery throw into it, and how you used those added in elements in the puzzle solving. Just amazing.
I can't be more satisfied in this demo. This taste of the game makes waiting for the final version worth it. My hype for the final release is now through the roof. I can't wait to see what surprises are hiding in the next few areas.
AMAZING JOB. I can't even begin to express my gratitude for you making this game. Please keep it up, and good luck. I hope you have a happy holiday season.
Some feedback is in place.
1)Background images may not glue end-to end continously while scrolling. I noticed this a few times in the tunnel where we first meet the big frogs. It seems to be a performance problem. Will test on my faster computer to verify this.
2)Loading times between areas can be improved. On slower systems or systems low on RAM, bg music loading makes the game virtually pause for 4-9 seconds between areas. This can be negotiated either by clever compression of the music files, and/or by letting the game keep multiple tracks in its working memory (for instance, if you go back to the previous area, the track wouldn't have to be loaded again since it was second latest to be loaded). You can also experiment with preloading the music of the expected next area.
3)Arachnus is a great challenge but as already mentioned by some, newcomers won't find this boss beatable for without a lot of practice. I'm not sure what step is appropriate here. Reducing damage taken might just make the fight tiresome, for instance.
Other wise, this demo is amazing! This project truly puts Nintendo to shame, boundlessly. It really makes one think "What the fuck is Nintendo doing?"
Keep up the amazing work Dr. M!
I still fall through the map, but now in the 3rd room instead of the 1st.
Gonna patch that up, in the meantime, you can change the activation at the options screen.
But i had a few suggestions:
* Spiderball isn´t activated by pressing down, its the same Buttons as diagional Aiming. That confuses me and makes the game harder to play.
* The dropfish in the beginnig area (first lava section) looks a little bit lousy.
* There are rockets packed in stone and no hint how to reach them. No bombing, rockts or laser will give entry.
* Demo ends abrupt. I thought about it, and it comes...but END DEMO....nah...its strange ^^
Last two words: FUCKUNG AMAZING
The first thing I noticed was that this game actually was looking like an official released metroid game by nintendo. After playing the first demo I was a little dissapointed because of the look which was impressive, due to the program you are using and the sprites you where able to implementate, but the gameplay wasn´t that what I was expecting for. BUT afterwards, after playing the new demo (christmas release) I was completly confirmed about your ability to make a GREAT GAME. The demo is so much improved in comparison to the old releases!
Please go on and do your duty ;-)
Nevertheless I have some little notes which I want to tell you.
1) it would be great if the pictogram of samus would change by selecting an item (e.g. formshape: power-/varia-/gravitisuite; [maybe visor, gunarm, hand changes due to items])
2) the "sand pallets" are missing in AM2R. In Metroid II:return of Samus there are many .."sandy objects" which can be destroyed, even without any purpose, but in order to reabuild your environment ( even some objects [e.g. missile container] are hidden in within these).
3) some enemies are... a little bit to..well..I dunno to tell..surreal(?). -->(e.g.) the blue spike thingly creatures, crawling around the edges of a platform in the corridors between the areas, even when they are non vivid animated in the original, they imaginated some sort of living beeing in our mind due to the limitation of pixels and sprite size. May you could think about using more darker and realisic sprite patterns in the way they have been used in super metroid.
nevertheless you are doing are very good job! ...really YOU ARE!
"ERROR in
action number 1
of Draw Event
for object Z_T_rAF2p4r:
Trying to use non-existing surface."
:c
Thanks for the new Demo i will Test this, (if i have some free Time) on Win8.
Will it still be possible to walljumt to the Exit with nox Textures ? Im Happy Thank you.
- Save File not being detected after exiting the game
- Game crashing after first Alpha battle, in certain situations"
It's funny, how all of these 3 happened during the first time I played it xD
I tried to set the start button at first-> didn't work, then I played and the game crashed after the first alpha battle and after restarting the demo, I had to start from scratch xD
Nice work though, the demo is great!
The only thing that I didn't like though is, that the jumping mechanics seem a lot faster than in Zero Mission to me, a little bit too fast if you ask me.
and yet even without the spideball i used infinite bomb jumping to get to where i needed to. lol
just want to say thank you for all the effort you have been putting in.
the new demo plays very smooth. the sound is awesome...even samus' footsteps change noise when she changes terrain..good job keep it up...arachnus was epic!!!
my one issue..its only minor, but...
in the room before you get the HIGH JUMP BOOTS,(the green room with the moving pillars and a pink blast door at the bottom) if you have ran out of missiles when you reach the bottom, you cannot open the blast door...your only hope is too kill the enemies in that room and hope they leave a pick up...if they dont....it is EXTREMELY HARD to get out of the room otherwise...even a skilled play like myself found it a little tedious to get out...even with bomb jumping and wall jumping(which i have no problem doing)
any way i thought maybe you should change something in order to make it easier to get a pick up, a save state..or even chaging the door blue , instead of pink
ANY WAY GREAT JOB , HOPE THINGS ARE WELL FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY..KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK...
TERRA
Another potential useful or perhaps unnecessary change: when alt-tabbing to a browser window running in the background, the game still remains the active window. If one wanted to refer to a walkthrough, or respond to a chat msg/Facebook, alt-tabbing to a background window and back while full screened is not possible. Sure, could easily remedy that with taking off full screen, but more user-friendly things like this would generate more positive feedback I'm assuming.
One more thing, just a minor typo: under the Intel heading for Research Team on the line "scans of Metroid specific energy patters" should be modified/edited to "specific energy patterns" :D
Great work so far though; I really gotta say I'm loving this remake! Especially the extra mini-bosses and advanced AI (especially the Alphas and their little dash attacks and the full-on ramming attack!) among many other changes I'm excited to see in the finished product :)
This Demo is awesome, although I am a little disappointed there was no Gamma fight. But, that aside, this was really amazing! Can't wait to play the finished project!
105 rockets
4 heart container
27 (9) metroids to move
Ice, wave and charge beam
Have i missed something?
Its a wonderful game!
One issue: I was going to hunt down that last metroid and Varia suit, but I mistakenly hit "New Game" when I was going to continue. I was dismayed to see that it immediately overwrote my saved game, even though I instantly exited and tried to continue.
I think it's way too easy to overwrite your saved game--at the very least, you should get until the first save point on a new game before replacing your saved game, to avoid mistakes (like mine), and then it may be helpful to have a prompt.
Thank you again for all your work. This is amazing--even as a game, it holds its own, and it's hard to believe we still have a full game coming. Incredible work.
Now that that's out of the way: thanks so much for the amazing demo, I was entranced with every bit of it. Please have a wonderful holiday season, and enjoy the New Year. Cheers!
Though I CAN map the start button, when I press it nothing happens.
1. The Alphas have a very impressive AI and all... but I think they are still a bit hard. Not really hard, just annoying. The metroids in the "vine area"... They are harder than they should be. Especially because of their erratic movements and of their avoiding.
2. I think it would be good if unread entries, were marked as "New", or something like that.
3. The Arachnus boss should be a little easier. I mean, some new people may have problems with it the first time.
4. Just like ith other Metroid games, saving in Save Staions should be optional. Basically, you could use the stations only for recharging, saving only if you wish.
That aside, this demo is great! I really look forward for this game to be finished.
NOT ME THATS FoR SURE..
games are too easy these days...players are losing the ability to try again if u die
terra
otherwise fantastic demo
--Arachnus was AWESOME! It was an interesting and completely learn-able battle that made sense. I beat it on the first try, but I was try-harding and I only beat it barely! Really creative, the player felt rewarded for figuring it out, and felt capable once he did.
--I wish the sound effect for the lava-lowering earthquake was much more powerful--one of my favorite parts of the original was the epicness of a new area opening, a real reward for the player.
--The wall jump is VERY difficult to execute, when compared to Super Metroid (it's usually my main mode of vertical transportation!) Don't know if you are looking to make it difficult so that it's not overused, and if so, nevermind.
--I found it a bit annoying (sorry) that if I was in the crouched position, if I hit left or right there was a small pause before I moved. This was a problem especially in the chozo hallway boss with the different colored lasers. I was trying to stay crouched an maneuver left and right, but had a hard time judging how far I'd walk and end up walking into spikes.
--Bombs blow up really quickly. I don't think it's a problem, but something I always loved to do was just spider-ball around a huge area and constantly bomb everything. With how fast bombs explode, you can't really bomb any non-straight areas, so you can't bomb a corner in a ceiling, for instance. I guess if you don't hide anything there, it doesn't matter too much.
--Love the music now. I'm really looking for forward to the more dramatic music toward the end (caverns 3, Omega area)
--I do miss the music/soound effect of killing a metroid. Makes it feel more like an accomplishment. Of course, I think it might be inappropriate for the tone you're going for.
--The alpha battle began to annoy me.... Because they weren't very predictable (especially toward the end) I found myself be punished not for making bad or sloppy decisions, but at random. The most striking example was when I got down to just a few hits before death, recharded at a neardby station, and came back only to beat the metroid by lucking out with it swinging overhead at the right moments--it was done in seconds. The lack of control and feeling of earned achievement made alphas progressively more harrowing and unpleasant to deal with.
--Kinda random, but I thought for a short while that the yellow arrow in the upper right corner of the mini-map was supposed to be pointing me toward something. Then I realized that that was silly. Still, I'm sure others will make the same mistake.
--I'm extremely appreciative of the custom key-mapping. I can't play a lot of games well due to forcing me to play with uncomfortable keys.
In all, this is AMAZING and anything I criticized with minute, picky, and probably preferential. Keep it up, it's awesome! :D ♥
There is one odd bug that I felt was worth mentioning, but it might not affect many people. Some people had mentioned the "not loading" bug, and I just thought maybe it was because I was on a 64-bit system. So, I fired up my VirtualBox copy of Windows XP, and even though the game was playable, a couple of things stood out. First, the game only displayed in full-screen mode. Whenever it was windowed, nothing showed up, because the contents of the window were being written out of the view. So, when I turned on full screen, it was visible, but it wouldn't stretch to fill the entire window. I suspect this is just because of the virtualization, because when I got it to run on my real hardware, it displayed fine, both windowed and stretched in full screen mode. During gameplay on the virtual machine, I think the game also ran into a little glitch in one of the Golden Temple areas that had robots on the wall. It looked like a screen buffer became corrupted, and it was visible whenever I entered a new room or obtained a major item that caused text to be overlayed on a darkened screen. In both situations, instead of showing darkened versions of the room you are in/going to, it showed a garbled mess. I took a couple of screenshots of when I collected items, and the portion of the screen that isn't garbled is where the text was overlayed, which is how I figured out where the buffer became corrupted, and why I think that is the problem. Again, I don't think those issues will affect to many, if any, people, but it might be something to keep in mind since you want to get this polished so well.
Happy New Year!
- Like I said before, the first beam doesn't have a different sound when it's charged. I think this one is already going to change, since the Ice Beam does.
- The Wave Beam's reduced fire rate bothered me. I'm quite used to how it behaves in Zero Mission and Fusion.
- There's a little delay to walk when crouched.
- The Morph Ball's jump doesn't have sensibility, unlike Samus' jump. Like, when you press the jump button quickly, Samus just does a short hop, but the Morph Ball always jumps at maximum height.
- Some enemy death explosions, especially the early ones, are a little generic, I think.
- Like others, I think the Arachnus battle should be a little easier. However, I do mean JUST A LITTLE, so don't make it TOO easy. One thing I think could use a change is how he telegraphs that laser-claw-attack-thingy... I think he should telegraph that attack like he does in Fusion.
And that's about it. I could barely wait for this game to come out, but now this demo is gonna keep me tight until the full release. =)
And just so it doesn't feel like I have nothing but complaints, here's stuff I loved about the game:
- The Spider Ball using Prime's design. SO PRETTY.
- Hydro Station's music. SO PRETTY.
- The Varia Suit. SO PRE... you know what, you get the gist of it.
- That "automatic Morph Ball" thing. That thing's so useful, I accidentally tried doing that in Zero Mission. And was disappointed that Zero Mission didn't have it. LOVE IT.
- The backgrounds! ......sopretty....
- And... the overall quality of the game, I guess. I mean, nitpicks aside, it feels just like a Metroid game, and that's awesome!
Also, the wave beam doesn't discover bomb blocks and you can't shoot wave+ice as fast as the power beam.
I agree with everything gurrrrrllllll said, my thoughts exactly. They arent big issues, just little things that popped into my mind while playing.
Someone above mentioned how the Rate of Fire changes when you get the wave beam and i agree with them, it becomes a little bit too slow.
I have to point out how much i love the music. You have done such a great job. The feel of the game is epic, particularly in the cave where the hydro station is
Its definitely worth the wait to see such a polished, solid game, but its so good that its addictive!
Please release MOAR ASAP!
Thanks again Doc.
Just one bug to be aware of...
When I turned off the auto ledge grip by mistake, at times it refused to come back on, even when I set back on in the settings. This made the game impossible to beat when in the water plant, as I could not grab the ledge above the 2 spike walls to roll into a ball and reach the second breeding area.
Please redesign this spot so it either no longer requires the grip, or make sure the grip works properly when shut on and off.
Otherwise, your demo is brilliant and I am begging you to get the final product done at some point soon. I crave the whole game badly.
(Interesting that you removed the gamma metroids from where they should be. I guess you wanted to leave them a surprise for the final product)
This really brought back some of how I felt playing Super Metroid, a game that, in my opinion, achieved a level of greatness no game since it has achieved. It's a masterpiece, and this remake you've brought to the table is great! I had a blast. When I reached that final cavern and the text "Demo Over" came up, I was so sad! Nooooo!
I can't wait to play the full version. Just out of curiosity, what % of the full game was the Demo?
My only suggestion is to have the option of setting a windowed resolution. I mean, I guess you can manually resize the window, but getting it perfect is a pain. Unless there's already an option and I'm just missing it.
I have one suggestion for control option: I have a wired Xbox 360 controller that I use for AM2R. Is there a way to make the D-Pad work with AM2R? I don't think the analog stick is the best solution for 2D Metroid ;)
On my wired Xbox 360 controller I can only use the analog pad for movement. Is it possible to allow the usage of the d-pad for movement? I think that would be better for 2D-Metroid games.
Another problem regarding controlls is that whenever I run to the right Samus aims to the upper-right corner.
Thanks for all your work!
Apart from that, I found all of the upgrades pretty easily (I think I got all of them, at least), and while I died once on the new boss enemy, I found it far easier on the second time around once I knew what to do. The alpha metroids were interesting too, but not all that difficult.
All that said, I'm very used to the 2d Metroid games, so I'm guessing someone new to them would have a much different experience. I think your work is up there with Zero Mission, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion in terms of quality - which isn't to say I think all of those games are equally as good as the other (Super Metroid > Zero Mission > Fusion), but still. Great job.
The defense turrets, called "Autrack" didn't have any sound effects when say constantly shoting.
Please put it some sound effects for this enemy
terra
-Hanging on fall blocks doesn't cause them to disappear. I'm not sure if this is intentional or not, just informing you.
-Pink jumping enemies at back of hydrostation get stuck in the walls when they fall, causing them to slowly nudge their way up until they get loose.
-In the wave beam room, I switched my beams to turn off ice beam, and then none of them made any sound. Upon leaving the room and changing again, they all made sound in all combinations.
Then one last comment, not what seems like a bug, just a comment of the mechanics:
Alpha Metroid dodge mechanics are seem pretty overpowered for the metroids, especially in the last battle in the demo because you are on very small blocks. I like the mechanic, I just don't like it when the Metroid is a few pixels away from Samus, and can dodge her attack, while hitting her too. I would recommend either having them only occasionally dodge, have them have a certain number of dodges before having to recharge, or making them unable to dodge at extremely close range.
Those are just some thoughts, but overall the demo was really amazing great work!
The highlight for me were the metroid fights. Clever little £$%^@:~#!! :) Not scared of the ice beam, these! I could barely do more than two in a row without running for a refill, even with the upgrades.
The Arachnus boss was super fun as well. I died twice, but the 2nd attempt was SO close. Perfect difficulty if you ask me :)
How do you get that missile upgrade that's on the floor, surrounded by pipes (not too far from Arachnus)?
I seem to have the same problem getting past the loading screen when the xbox controller (wireless) is on. I'm on Win 8, 64 bit. I only seem to be able to make it to the start screen once every 8 or so attempts. When the controller is disconnected, it always loads fine.. Let me know if I can help debug this further.
I found wall jumping really hard to do as well. Thankfully, it wasn't required for the demo. Is it a controller thing?
Thanks again! Now please release the whole thing before Ninten.... oops! Sssssssh :)
Nitpicks (don't let these detract from the general tone being impressed!)
1 - The circle-flying enemy with the spike on the bottom looks flat compared to other sprites.
2 - The metroid rooms, especially later in the demo, feel randomly put together. You could tie all the little platforms together with some sort of background set piece to make it less strange.
3 - The delay in running right after you land is just slightly too long.
As an aside, is it just me, or does the percussion in the music seem kind of weak? Was this to make it seem more ambient?
... And if Nintendo decides to get uppity, like Square did with those Chrono Trigger remakers, we shall just have to launch a petition to make this an official Metroid 2 remake. It's too good to be left in the dark!
i played the demo i can't wait to see the final game.
So much cause i didn't played the orignal game at first time.
So guys, keep it up. If only i could be of some help
I restarted the program; if I run back into the start room as soon as I leave it, the camera works fine in the start room, but it's still locked to viewing the start room.
Exiting the game forceably via Task Manager reports a floating point division by zero error.
Found one small problem. The chozo minibos's rail appears over the spiky pillars, covering the top. I'm not sure if it's a bug or this only happens on my computer.
Geep up the good work Doc.
Soundtrack is great, Background is Great, everything is greaT ! lol
I also am one of the people who found this a few years ago. Take your time on this project man i want this game to be perfect !
ONE REQUEST THOUGH:
-It would be nice if you include a difficulty setting so newcomers and veterans could enjoy this game equally
That is all, keep doing a great job man <3
I fucking love this game. So damn awesome. Seriously, Nintendo should hire you.
I say to take down Nintendo and force them yo give you Metroid license.