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Kirby and more Zelda Hacks
Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe (Switch) - A port/remake of the Wii-U Kirby game, which includes four-player capability similar to Kirby Star Allies and a massive minigame collection. While I think on the whole I’d call it weaker than Kirby Star Allies (there are a lot more places where the multiplayer is clearly an afterthought; the “Merry Magoland” area kinda removes the point of unlocking minigames in the ship; and half the “completion” percentage is just playing the game a second time on hard mode), I appreciate the variety of new stuff and the easy mode features they added. (And while the options for multiplayer characters are more limited, the option to play as additional Kirbys really makes up for it, because that gives you access to everything.) The Magolor epilogue section was actually really good new material, and though it involves a bunch of grinding to unlock all of the powers, I had a middle schooler on spring break who did that for me. If you want more Kirby, it’s a great source of more Kirby.
Zelda: Meadow of Shadows (SNES, Played on Trimui Smart Pro) - Another 18-hour hack, this one uses a Minish Cap-style custom tileset. I found it particularly obtuse and couldn’t get into it.
Legend of Zelda: Interconnected Strongholds (SNES, Played on Trimui Smart Pro) - This hack of ALttP is really solid (if nasty at some points—save states are really helpful). There’s a central town and tower, and four areas with two dungeons in each of them, each with an item readily available to you and each totally dependent on that item to get through. I suspect you could cheese some of the nastier areas if you got other items first—I got the Hookshot last, and that probably increased the difficulty of the Boots area significantly because you have to dash-bounce everywhere. At the end of each dungeon is a small key that you can use to get further up the tower, which holds half the heart containers and the two sword upgrades. And a final battle with Ganon is at the top of the tower. I definitely missed some secrets (the readme claims there’s a tunic upgrade, plus two medallions and the Ice Rod I never found), but I found this entertaining and a decent length.
Legend of Zelda: The Shadow's Fall (SNES, Played on Trimui Smart Pro) - Another 18-hour hack, this one having no regard for difficulty; it makes you fight Trinexx in the first dungeon with a basic sword and three hearts (though I think you could come up with four pieces and a bottle on the overworld if you scoured it, and the potion shop is there…so four hearts and one potion). The gimmick is that ghostly women wait on the overworld to give you prophetic hints, which is cute. (Though the entire plot is that you’re warned a lot, then Ganon murders you because you aren’t the hero—the final battle is unwinnable.) The coolest thing here is that exiting the forge the first time brings you to an altered overworld, and then re-entering brings you to the dungeon. So yeah, a few clever bits and some original dungeon areas, but crazy difficulty.
Zelda: Meadow of Shadows (SNES, Played on Trimui Smart Pro) - Another 18-hour hack, this one uses a Minish Cap-style custom tileset. I found it particularly obtuse and couldn’t get into it.
Legend of Zelda: Interconnected Strongholds (SNES, Played on Trimui Smart Pro) - This hack of ALttP is really solid (if nasty at some points—save states are really helpful). There’s a central town and tower, and four areas with two dungeons in each of them, each with an item readily available to you and each totally dependent on that item to get through. I suspect you could cheese some of the nastier areas if you got other items first—I got the Hookshot last, and that probably increased the difficulty of the Boots area significantly because you have to dash-bounce everywhere. At the end of each dungeon is a small key that you can use to get further up the tower, which holds half the heart containers and the two sword upgrades. And a final battle with Ganon is at the top of the tower. I definitely missed some secrets (the readme claims there’s a tunic upgrade, plus two medallions and the Ice Rod I never found), but I found this entertaining and a decent length.
Legend of Zelda: The Shadow's Fall (SNES, Played on Trimui Smart Pro) - Another 18-hour hack, this one having no regard for difficulty; it makes you fight Trinexx in the first dungeon with a basic sword and three hearts (though I think you could come up with four pieces and a bottle on the overworld if you scoured it, and the potion shop is there…so four hearts and one potion). The gimmick is that ghostly women wait on the overworld to give you prophetic hints, which is cute. (Though the entire plot is that you’re warned a lot, then Ganon murders you because you aren’t the hero—the final battle is unwinnable.) The coolest thing here is that exiting the forge the first time brings you to an altered overworld, and then re-entering brings you to the dungeon. So yeah, a few clever bits and some original dungeon areas, but crazy difficulty.