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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 16h

She's right.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 2d

At 0:12:
youtu.be/HQPvijx29m4?...

Sullied Grace Kirby Triple Deluxe

YouTube video by Rito

youtu.be

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 2d

Listening to the new NIN album, and are my ears tricking me or does the opening straight up copy the Queen Sectonia boss theme from Kirby Triple Deluxe?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jB80...

Nine Inch Nails - Building Better Worlds (Official Visualizer)

YouTube video by NineInchNailsVEVO

www.youtube.com

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 3d

That's also not Jack Packard standing next to her.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 3d

Is that Seven of Nine or Elizabeth Banks?

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 5d

I know, right? I never saw one until I visited Michigan earlier this year.

Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 6d

Dang, that was the one boss I remember being a decent, fun challenge. I read the IGN review last night and it said nothing took them more than two tries and then I feared this might have happened.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 6d

Is it the Capital Cashino boss?

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 8d

@mangom1lk.bsky.social Is that another Japanese Pop font?

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 8d

Really, the only positives are the controls and game feel (top notch for the franchise, honestly, Zero feels really good to play as), the graphics, and the music.

I had some fun here and there, but there are maybe 20 Mega Man games I'd replay before this one.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 8d

The game also feels really short for what it is. It teases some RPG elements and side quests but lasts all of two hours. Which sucks, because good ways to get crystals would've helped. The story had some interesting elements but felt like it didn't really amount to much.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 8d

Bosses are very exploitable with chips, except when they aren't. Your starting health is pitiful against bosses, and Phantom and Copy X get multiple healthbars and have no weaknesses. You're forced to mash through dialogue every time you die, which is really annoying. Even X6 and X7 didn't do that.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 8d

Much of what they changed to distinguish it from X is for the worse. Health and subtanks are tied to hidden cyber elves and then grinding hundreds of energy crystals. Lives don't replenish on a game over. The missions have bland level design and overly easy bosses to compensate for the retry chips.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 8d

Mega Man Zero (2002)

I'm not even trying for a hot take here, but this is one of my least favorite Mega Man games I've yet played. It's an excellent case study on how an otherwise good game can be ruined with a handful of bad design decisions. The lives system in particular is total crap.

5/10

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 10d

Here are my detailed thoughts on this year's big rom hack, Super Metroid X-Fusion:
bsky.app/profile/exop...

Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

Super Metroid X-Fusion (V1.2) (2025)

It's a rom hack of Super Metroid that reimagines Fusion with Super physics and new ideas, developed over ten years. It's probably the most impressive hack I've ever played, to the point that it feels like a whole new game. It's equal parts amazing and awful.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 10d

Once you get to the lagoon, that all changes. Tons of frittering back and forth to split up and switch characters, dragging Mumbo to pads, taxi packing characters around, and going to Wumba's to transform. Replaying it has made finishing them faster, but no less convoluted and overwrought.

7/10

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 10d

Banjo Tooie (2000) (R)

Replayed this to compare and contrast with DK64. I still think the first one is better, but I enjoyed Tooie slightly more on this playthrough. I realized the first few levels are pretty good; they succeed at expounding on the first game in a way that generally works.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 10d

Somehow I have trimmed my time down by 3 hours since the review. Guess which level still took the longest.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 10d

I think I made it as far as the Heartless gauntlet right before Ansem before packing it in. Second Chance doesn't come soon enough in that game.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

I should note, seeing as a bunch of people interacted with this post, that this is a rom hack called Super Metroid X-Fusion.

The hack is brutally difficult in parts and the final dungeon has a section that is basically TAS material. That's why I used such exasperated language.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

Yes, it's a rom hack called Super Metroid X-Fusion.

Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

Rating it out of 10 feels like an exercise in futility. I'd say overall I really enjoyed it and it scratched an itch I needed scratching, but there were also parts of it I hated, and I came close to packing it in a few times. If you're an experienced Metroid fan, it's well worth playing.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

The final dungeon is horrendous. It's like the Zero Suit stealth section except you die instantly. It doubles down on the worst instincts of the SA-X encounters and feels legitimately untested. I had to use an invincibility code to force through it. After that it gets really easy.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

Usually I'd play on a flash cart, but the game is so brutal and trial and error in parts that you kind of need save states just to stay sane. The down side is that shinesparks are annoying because SNES9x only lets you press a few inputs at once, so pressing down to store a spark just wouldn't work.

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Exo @exoparadigmgamer.bsky.social · 11d

This middle chunk of the game was the highlight, but it's also where the game world's convoluted structure started to get annoying. You might have to go through multiple sectors to get to the one you want, and there's no logic to the layout. Look up a map to know what I'm talking about.

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