Release of Super Metroid: Control Freak

[Kejardon]

It's a new hack that features absolutely NO change in level design. Instead, Control Freak features a significant overhaul of the gameplay controls.

Run is now toggleable between Run and Walk. Moonwalk has been deleted, and the setting is now used to toggle Auto Run.
Aim Up is now the only aim button, 'Aimlock'. Holding it will make Samus aim at a certain angle, and aim higher or lower if you tap up or down. Samus also has the ability to run and aim straight up at the same time now.
Select Item will still be used to select missiles, super missiles, power bombs, or the grapple beam. It no longer selects X-ray, which now has its own button. Items that are empty can be selected, but of course will not be used. Beams can still be used at any time, even when missiles and super missiles are selected.
Item cancel has also been removed, as it now activates the x-ray scope.
Aim Down has become Brandish, which, when held, will toggle between Beams and the item currently selected. This is somewhat... abusable. :) Beams can be charged and remain charged while you fire missiles, but you still have to wait for cooldown till you can release a charged shot, or else you'll just waste your charge. Powerbomb attacks are also now easy to control, just tap Brandish when you want to trigger them.
Spinjump controls have also been improved a bit - Walljumping should be a bit easier on a d-pad, and Samus will fire in the direction you're pressing instead of just forward, if you press fire.
The controls are configurable to ANY combination. Aim is not limited to L and R.

And for some disclaimers... This hack is a bit of a rushjob. I have not spent much time bughunting, but I have fixed nearly every bug I've run into. If you run into any bugs, mention it and I'll try to fix it.
There's one minor graphical bug I haven't fixed: If you start charging and brandish a missile, the charge graphic will continue to grow but the charge counter will not actually increase. There's no good way to fix this, unfortunately, but you can tell if you have a full charge still if Samus is flashing.

Also, while Japanese text won't break the game, I haven't adjusted the Japanese menu screens for the hack, so they'll be off. None of the item box messages have been edited either.

Feel free to use it in your own hacks or whatever. If you want, I can upload the source as well.



The patch is for a headerless JU rom. In other words, exactly 3 mB, or 3072 kB, NOT 3073 kB.

Bugfix 1:

• X-ray now requires you have the x-ray scope.
• More Auto-Cancels removed. I'm pretty sure I've got them all now.
• Also fixed an auto-arm pump that I thought I already fixed. >_<

[Gaius_4]

Edit (text deleted)  Okay, I see.  This will take some getting used to.  :-k

Also, I see you already have the x-ray.  Is that how it's supposed to work?  Won't that eliminate the need to actually get the X-Ray?

BTW: Thank You for making this.  8-)  I suppose some credit goes to Sabre in Blue (since I heard him say this once/ask for it)...? 

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Edit:  I think whenever you're at zero on an item and you press the 'brandish' button that it shouldn't change the turret.  IMO.  :-?

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Edit2: Jumping then pressing the Aim button...  but when you want to first/originally aim diagonally down...  this is a bit of an issue. 
Edit3: Or maybe I just need to get used to it..

#8: Aiming diagonally up, then ducking = Not ducking, just aiming diagonally down.  This might make some Boss fights difficult.  #9:  Duck first, then Aim up diagonally.  The Draygon fight didn't go as usual.  I had to use the Grapple beam, instead of the charging and shooting upward from a crouched position.

But I'm liking the Brandish idea Very Much!  8-)

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Edit4: What about just holding the 'brandish' button and pressing fire when you're in the Ball form to Lay a power-bomb?  Even without selecting it?

#10: Take the area outside of the wrecked ship for example.  Where you need to use the super missle to get into the small morph-ball maze, but also use the PB to blast out the bomb blocks.  IMO - doing this quickly is a bit tricky.

If you need the beam shields - then I guess you could select it.

Maybe the only things that need to be green are either the missles or super-missles...?  I mean, only when either one is selected.

These are mostly ideas/suggestions.  I hope you find them useful.

I'll play more to see how more things work.

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Edit5: After getting hit while aiming - your aim returns to diagonally up.

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Edit6: What about gaining so much speed up to a point but you don't want to go into full speed so as to not break through any 'speed dash blocks' that my be under foot?  :P  ....#7:  Just hold walk. 

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Edit10: Possible Bug.  When I was in Maridia and using the Grapple-Beam against the red crab things...  It was if item cancel was being used.  No items were highlighted after I used it, and immediately after I used the Grapple beam on them it reverted back to the Beam.  :-?

#11?: It's not just in Maridia.  It cancels in any place -anytime you use the grapple on an enemy.

[Kejardon]

Saber did supply most of the ideas for it, so I guess he gets credit as project designer. :P

Also, I see you already have the x-ray.  Is that how it's supposed to work?  Won't that eliminate the need to actually get the X-Ray?

... whoops. I forgot that the only check for the x-ray scope was the check to select it. I'll fix that in a bit.

Edit:  I think whenever you're at zero on an item and you press the 'brandish' button that it shouldn't change the turret.  IMO.

hm. I kinda prefer the way it is now, but I could fix this if several people want it.

#8: Aiming diagonally up, then ducking = Not ducking, just aiming diagonally down.  This might make some Boss fights difficult.  #9:  Duck first, then Aim up diagonally.  The Draygon fight didn't go as usual.  I had to use the Grapple beam, instead of the charging and shooting upward from a crouched position.

This messed me up numerous times too. :P It's more something to get used to than something to try to fix, I think.

Edit4: What about just holding the 'brandish' button and pressing fire when you're in the Ball form to Lay a power-bomb?  Even without selecting it?

I guess I could do this... since all other items do nothing different when morphed.

Edit5: After getting hit while aiming - your aim returns to diagonally up.

This is nearly unfixable, and makes some sense anyways.

Edit10: Possible Bug.  When I was in Maridia and using the Grapple-Beam against the red crab things...  It was if item cancel was being used.  No items were highlighted after I used it, and immediately after I used the Grapple beam on them it reverted back to the Beam.  Confused

#11?: It's not just in Maridia.  It cancels in any place -anytime you use the grapple on an enemy.

Gah! The grapple beam has a ton of checks for auto-cancel, which I converted to selected item. I apparently missed some of them. I'll fix that too.

[SABERinBLUE]

Yeah, super big thanks to Kejardon for doing this.  My idea with it was basically to make SM control as closely to the GBA games as possible, since I greatly prefer their streamlined controls.  Everything else just kind of built on that.

[Edward_Tohr]

Wow... apparently you've been busy, Kej. :P The real question is, though, will Insanity use these controls, the standard SM ones, or an entirely new set just to screw with us? :P

[Dragonmetroid]

Gif me a description

[Gaius_4]

Personally I find it much harder to use the grapple-beam with this set-up. :-?

I'm kinda interested in what other control layouts you may have tested.

[Panzer88]

Wow... apparently you've been busy, Kej. :P The real question is, though, will Insanity use these controls, the standard SM ones, or an entirely new set just to screw with us? :P

how about two releases, one with one control, the other with the other, or have it be independant, so that you could use them both by patching them both to the rom, or using softpatching the way zsnes does it.

I'll wait till the few small things are updated with this to check it out.

[Kejardon]

Control Freak is simply incompatible with Insanity and Redesign and possibly a few other hacks. I'd have to customly make a version of Control Freak to work with them. And there are a few things in Insanity that just really won't mesh well with Control Freak.
Also, at the moment, the only thing really missing is always going to Power Bombs when Brandishing as a morph ball. Unless other people have found bugs they haven't mentioned yet.

[SABERinBLUE]

This just in: it works wonderfully* on my flash cart!

*as good as a normal SM rom, meaning playable but with some issues.

[FirePhoenix0]

I like the controls, but I'll stick to the normal ones.  These controls make firing missiles too complicated to me.

It's still a decent achievement though.  Great job. :)

[Gaius_4]

I'm kinda interested in what other control layouts you may have tested.

Okay.  I was hesitant to say this but...  I like the idea of the brandish button.  But I still prefer the old ways of aiming with the top L & R buttons.

What about making 'item cancel' the 'special weapon' (that is currently selected) and PB as morphball?  As in: You can fire and charge up beams with the normal fire button, and fire missles (if you should have them selected) with the special weapon button.  edit:  Nah.  :|

Or the Run button as the 'Brandish' button and Item cancel as 'Walk' (or walk toggle)?

I think a "walk toggle" would also require a graphic display so the player can know if it's on or not.

Even a Run meter would be cool.  Run and charge it up so far, then switch to walk (or to stop increasing speed) run across a speed-block bridge, then switch back to run to gain full speed.

These are just some ideas.  I'm not saying you should go and change anything. :-?   But IMhO they'd be neat to try out.

edit: Here's another thought I had while playing.  It's probably not a good idea...  If you had one button for missles -what about pressing both buttons to shoot super missles?  :-?  Like in Samurai Shodown: you have one button for a light attack, the 2nd button for a stronger attack, but press both buttons for the strongest attack.

*Just tossing ideas around* 

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Edit:

I'm trying to stave off the flood of 'Can you do this?' or 'Help me do this!', and give people a bit of a starting place.

Okay.  I get it. 

[KennyMan666]

This is officially awesome.

[Narcoleptic]

This just in: it works wonderfully* on my flash cart!

*as good as a normal SM rom, meaning playable but with some issues.

What are the issues and what emulator are you using? I've been wondering if it's worth it to emulate SNES games on the DS.

[P.JMan]

He put the ROM onto a flash cart which allows him to play the game on the SNES, he's got no issues with any emulators

[Narcoleptic]

He put the ROM onto a flash cart which allows him to play the game on the SNES, he's got no issues with any emulators

What?! There are SNES flash carts? Well that explains a lot. I thought he meant a DS flash cart or something similar. Wow, don't I look link an idiot now.

[Black Telomeres]

I guess when people hear 'flash cart' they automatically think of the DS and not any older systems  :)

[KennyMan666]

Uh, Saber's playing it on his DS flash cart. Nothing else.

[ridleybeta84]

It's a new hack that features absolutely NO change in level design. Instead, Control Freak features a significant overhaul of the gameplay controls.

Run is now toggleable between Run and Walk. Moonwalk has been deleted, and the setting is now used to toggle Auto Run.
Aim Up is now the only aim button, 'Aimlock'. Holding it will make Samus aim at a certain angle, and aim higher or lower if you tap up or down. Samus also has the ability to run and aim straight up at the same time now.
Select Item will still be used to select missiles, super missiles, power bombs, or the grapple beam. It no longer selects X-ray, which now has its own button. Items that are empty can be selected, but of course will not be used. Beams can still be used at any time, even when missiles and super missiles are selected.
Item cancel has also been removed, as it now activates the x-ray scope.
Aim Down has become Brandish, which, when held, will toggle between Beams and the item currently selected. This is somewhat... abusable. :) Beams can be charged and remain charged while you fire missiles, but you still have to wait for cooldown till you can release a charged shot, or else you'll just waste your charge. Powerbomb attacks are also now easy to control, just tap Brandish when you want to trigger them.
Spinjump controls have also been improved a bit - Walljumping should be a bit easier on a d-pad, and Samus will fire in the direction you're pressing instead of just forward, if you press fire.
The controls are configurable to ANY combination. Aim is not limited to L and R.

And for some disclaimers... This hack is a bit of a rushjob. I have not spent much time bughunting, but I have fixed nearly every bug I've run into. If you run into any bugs, mention it and I'll try to fix it.
There's one minor graphical bug I haven't fixed: If you start charging and brandish a missile, the charge graphic will continue to grow but the charge counter will not actually increase. There's no good way to fix this, unfortunately, but you can tell if you have a full charge still if Samus is flashing.

Also, while Japanese text won't break the game, I haven't adjusted the Japanese menu screens for the hack, so they'll be off. None of the item box messages have been edited either.

Feel free to use it in your own hacks or whatever. If you want, I can upload the source as well.



The patch is for a headerless JU rom. In other words, exactly 3 mB, or 3072 kB, NOT 3073 kB.

Bugfix 1:

• X-ray now requires you have the x-ray scope.
• More Auto-Cancels removed. I'm pretty sure I've got them all now.
• Also fixed an auto-arm pump that I thought I already fixed. >_<

[Panzer88]

maybe you could have an option that took out walking all together, and just let you
either run or power run. that way you could be power running and slow to a run without having to stop or walk. is this possible.