There’s something refreshing in playing a well-made romhack that properly replicated the feeling of being lost in a game pre-internet. Well, maybe refreshing isn’t quite the right word. In the first chunk of this game I was losing my mind, desperately trying to find anything resembling progress, but for each power-up found the world became a bit more understandable, a bit more explorable, and far more bearable. Before the bombs, before the hi-jump, and before the wall jump, this is a nightmare. Once they’re equipped, it’s a bouncy, violent jaunt across different biomes, collecting energy tanks, access codes, and powerful new beams that do not prepare you AT ALL for the final stretch of the game, something just as hard and painful as the original game’s march to Mother Brain.

Clever touches like faux-NPCs, talking to you via text in the background, gives this a unique flair over Metroid’s normal story, and Dawn Aran is a neat design, especially whenever the suit comes out on the surface. That she actually gets to feel like a person in the ending is a pleasant surprise. This has plot, baybee.

Can’t avoid mentioning the new game+ as well, with you all armoured and beamed up. A true NES touch that elevates this short romhack to something that feels believable as the genuine article. This is a good NES game, and you should all play it. Just remember that some of the spawning points for enemies can also be passages and you’ll be fine.