Rules:
ROM hacks are allowed, and must have at least 7 exits (SMW).
Tool-assisted runs are allowed.
Game Genie is banned.
If I play the same game multiple times in the same year, it must be on a different console to count for this challenge. Playing the same game on the same system multiple times doesn't count to the challenge.
Playing:
Super Mario RPG [Any%] (SNES Mini)
Kirby's Dream Course {Any%} (SNES Mini)
Tales of Phantasia {Any%} (PC, Emulator with DeJap translation)
Quickie World 2 (PC, Emulator)
Mega Man 10 {Bass, Normal} (Wii)
Super Bomberman R [Veteran Difficulty] (Switch)
Spyro: Year of the Dragon {117% + All Skill Points} (PC, Emulator)
Super Metroid {69%} (SNES)
Vitality {Any%} (PC, Emulator)
Terranigma (SNES)
Planning to play:
Illusion of Gaia (SNES)
Either Metroid: Dread or Super Mario Bros. Wonder (Switch)
Hades (Switch)
Final Fantasy V PR {Four Job Fiesta} (PC, Steam)
Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
Completed:
1. Super Mario World (SNES Mini) {No Star World} [Finished Jan 1]
Still one of the best games in the franchise. The game has a couple challenging levels, but doesn't reach the difficulty that the Kaizo genre goes to. No wonder this game has over 20,000 ROM hacks, 10,000 custom songs and 300 custom bosses made for it. 37 exits cleared.
2. Super Metroid Route Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {50 Room Challenge} [Finished Jan 6]
A fun way to get better at Super Metroid. The most challenging part of this seed was the final boss and the escape, which caused both of my deaths in this run of the randomizer. Animals saved.
3. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Custom Difficulty} [Finished Jan 7]
An easy to get into randomizer for one of the greatest games of all time. The difficulty can be customized depending on the user's skill level, and it was fun seeing different areas with different palettes. Would recommend this wholeheartedly. 49% of items obtained, animals killed.
4. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Custom Difficulty} [Finished Jan 12]
Every seed of this randomizer is a completely different game. In this seed, Bombs were only obtained after both Kraid and Draygon were defeated, and the Spazer and Space Jump were actually obtained this seed. Finding Phantoon was a bit of a challenge, but when I did, winning the game was quick. I enabled the option to fight Mother Brain 3 this seed, unlike the previous seed. 43% of items obtained, animals saved.
5. Final Fantasy VI (SNES Mini) {Any% No Sketch} [Finished Jan 12]
This game is the highlight of the Final Fantasy franchise. The characters are well-developed, the story is awesome, and Kefka is the single greatest villain in gaming history. The opera scene is one of the best pieces in all of game music, as is Dancing Mad. This is one of the very few games where every song in it is great. While Kefka's Tower is a difficulty spike, it is still such an awesome dungeon. 11 out of 14 characters recruited, 17 out of 26 Espers obtained.
6. #0 Iggy's Castle (PC, Emulator) {All Endings and Achievements} [Finished Jan 13]
A short but creepy hack of Super Mario World. The hardest achievement by far was Elusive, which requires beating a challenging final boss without taking damage once. This is one to add to the spooky season list. Less than a month after full-clearing 1.0, a major update with new endings went into beta testing.
7. Super Mario RPG (PC, Emulator) {Most of the Stuff} [Finished Jan 16]
One of the best RPGs of all time, and the perfect game to start people on JRPGs. The music is incredible, the gameplay is fun, and the limited inventory system meant that it's likely you'll use powerful healing items. The Lazy Shell armor is so broken that even Culex is easy to beat with it equipped, not to mention the rest of the game. I will be adding this to my replay annually list of games.
8. Final Fantasy III PR (Switch) {100% Bestiary} [Finished Jan 17]
Most of the "quality of life features" this port added severely cut down the difficulty of a game infamous for its high difficulty, to the point where I'd recommend downloading the NES version's fan translation and playing that to maintain the FF3J experience. The 4x experience and gold boosts in particular are even more broken than the Vanish-Doom combo and Economizer from FF6. Of the three NES FF games, my favorite is easily FF1. One neat thing the Switch version did was allow you to choose original NES OST and Remastered OST. I played the game with the original soundtrack.
9. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES Mini) {100% Completion} [Finished Jan 22]
While I had beaten this game multiple times before, I had never 100% completed it. This game is one of the greatest games of all time, with incredible music, graphics, and gameplay. Like always, I do Thieves' Town before Skull Woods and Swamp Palace, which gives early Tempered Sword access. The worst part of 100% completion was grinding Rupees for max capacity Arrows and Bombs, but even that took less than 15 minutes. Many of the items are really useful, and there aren't any truly useless items except the Magic Boomerang. I highly recommend this game.
10. Of Jumps and Platforms (PC, Emulator) {All Exits} [Finished Jan 23]
A perfect game for those wishing to get started with more challenging Mario World ROM hacks. The music is awesome, the difficulty was never too punishing while still being challenging, and the custom mechanics are neat. I loved the custom color palettes the game used to give a sense of progression in Mario's journey.
11. Super Metroid (PC, Emulator) {True 100% Completion} [Finished Jan 26]
Still one of the best Metroidvanias, and best games of all time. The gameplay is easy to learn but difficult to master. A lot of this run, I ended up using wall jumps to get to areas early. The graphics are among the best of the SNES, and all of the bosses and minibosses were fought. True Completion requires 100% of items, 100% of map tiles turned pink, Ceres Ridley defeated, All Zebitites defeated, all map rooms visited and the animals to be saved.
12. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode} [Finished Jan 30]
A nice refreshing way to celebrate one of the best games of all time. In this seed, you have to defeat the four mini-bosses. For a lot of the game, I had forgotten that Golden Torizo was right by the ship, and I ended up looking for Tourian thinking it was in there. 46% of items obtained, Animals saved.
13. Super Ghouls N Ghosts (SNES Mini) {Beginner, Tool-Assisted} [Finished Feb 2]
This game is so challenging that even beginner mode required the use of savestates for me to finish. Apart from that, it's a typical Platform Hell game that has great graphics and music for being early in the SNES's life.
14. Contra (NES) {Konami Code} [Finished Feb 13]
A nice place to start on playing the Contra franchise. I loved the gameplay, and the music. It's a shame that this port lacks some of the cool graphical effects of the Famicom version.
15. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode, Custom Difficulty} [Finished Feb 18]
The hardest part of this seed is getting Varia Suit, which requires defeating Metroids with Power Bombs. After that, the major items were easy to find, as were the minibosses and Mother Brain. 26% of items obtained, Animals killed.
16. F-Zero (SNES Mini) {Beginner, Knight/Queen RTA, King Tool-Assisted} [Finished Feb 21]
While the first two leagues are fun to play as well as the practice mode is fun as well, the worst part about this game is the King League's absurdly high level of difficulty, to the point that Super Ghouls N Ghosts was easier. Also, the ending is just as bad as NES Ghostbusters and Mass Effect 3's infamous endings, not even saying congrats for beating such a hard game.
17. Super Metroid Rotation (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished Feb 21]
The one change of rotating the map 90 degrees means that vertical rooms that are hard in vanilla are easy here, while some rooms that are easy become challenging affairs. I love some of the small details and changes that make this hack work, such as entering Maridia through what in vanilla is its exit. The rooms that gave me the most trouble were the metal pirates room and Draygon's room, which caused two of my very few deaths in this playthrough. Being good at walljumps and mid-air morphing is required to beat this game. 77% of items obtained, Animals saved.
18. Antinomia: Final Fantasy VI (PC, Emulator) {Any%} [Finished Mar 13]
The best thing about this ROM hack is the expansion of General Leo's character as a result of his survival. But in order to add him to your party, you have to wait for him at the Floating Continent. I also loved the turntable sidequest that plays beloved songs from FFIV and FFV, giving stat boosts to party members. Apart from that, the Colosseum being controlled duels meant that I was able to get two Growth Eggs and a Celestriad, which made Kefka fall pretty quickly. As a hack that left the gameplay intact but focused much more on adding to the story, I feel it did what the hack set out to do very well. DM me for the patch file if you want to play it. 9 of 14 characters recruited.
19. Super Mario Odyssey (Switch) {Any%} [Finished Mar 26]
One of the best Mario games of all time. I loved the level design, the creativity, and the music. I especially loved the capture mechanic, which allows for players to take control of enemies. The graphics are among the best in the franchise's history. So many creative areas in this game really worked. This is a game to buy a Switch for.
20. Super Metroid Map Randomizer (PC, Emulator) {Mini-Boss Mode, Custom Difficulty) [Finished Mar 26]
In this seed, Gravity Suit was completely optional, as was Morph Ball Bombs. The last of the four minibosses was two rooms away from Mother Brain. The final boss and the escape was a huge difficulty spike compared to the rest of the seed, but it was so satisfying to win. 26% of items obtained, animals saved.
21. Soul Blazer (PC, Emulator) {All Achievements} [Finished Apr 18]
The first of the Quinet Trilogy is a hidden gem. Every amount of progress you make contributes to the game world. The decision to have achievements to beat the bosses without getting hit meant that every boss defeated was so satisfying, especially Deathtoll. Would recommend trying this on emulator before splurging on a cartridge.
