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I gave it my best shot but my Patience broke when I needed to just *know* to grapple a block that does not look grapple-able, in a location that looks like it needs Power Bombs behind two different walls.

I understand this was back in 2009 but I'll do my best to be objective.

Given this was made nearly 15 years ago from this review, I'll ignore aspects, No viewable Map and Save stations is a little annoying but circumvented with Save States. Not Legit Hardware friendly.

I went back and forth for hours after getting grapple and Varia just to look up what I had to do which was when I learned the first statement above.

The fact that you CAN see the grapple Blocks with X-ray Scope AFTER you get it, is bad design philosophy, had a gate required you to open it with the same method before, Then I would of been a bit more lenient.

I Broke realizing after I got X-ray I'd have to go Block hunting for the ONE block to make progress, probably multiple times I'd hazard, and already not having a good time with it deciding it was a good time to stop.

The Premise of the Hack is solid though, Solving puzzles to reach essentially what could be compared to "Fusion's Door Unlockers" is a nice concept that not a lot of hacks (At least not the couple dozen or so I've played through) use.

But the "Find single Item to Backtrack to the literal opposite side of the explorable area." schtick Multiple times definitely feels like "This is what Metroid is supposed to be, Right?" Mentality.

Unfortunately can't Recommend it. Did not Age well.

Okay, yes, I make lame jokes. Anyway, this is Mockingbird Station, that for some reason seems to make me think a fair bit of Star Trek: TNG. Samus is on a mission to an abandoned station and must escape!

THE WORLD: Well, the station, as the whole game takes place in the titular Mockingbird Station, lol. This is an interesting one, as SM always had you exploring various caverns and such in addition to fortresses, ruins, and the like. There's a major technological feel to the location this time, more like Metroid Fusion when playing on the Main Deck. Overall, each area has its own individuality and they look pretty good.

GAMEPLAY: Typical SM-fare, but this hack treads a bit of a thin line between being accessible to casual gamers... and requiring an advanced player to play. It starts off easy but then slowly progresses into needing to pick your movements carefully, taking chances where you may simply run into trouble, and, eventually, needing to know a few advanced techniques in order to complete the game. This could be a divisive point here, but all in all, it's nothing too bad or too hard if you know some of the basic SM techs.

FUN: Yeah, this is a pretty fun one. Some of the items are hidden in rather interesting locations, requiring you to be careful and think about how to maneuver through the obstacles ahead to get them. Some of them require you to pay attention to the occasional, "out of place" clues on where to check. And *GASP!* some spots are actually red herrings, leading to or being NOTHING AT ALL! You should pretty well learn this trick as you go and what the secret to it is, but it was a fairly bold and clever move, Xaggoth, you devious person you. All in all, challenge is about mid-range. It's not grueling, but you need to know your SM if you're gonna play this.

MY RATING: 9/10 All in all, there's probably better ones out there as far as being "more casual" or "more advanced", but if you're looking for something that allows you to actually test you skills with Samus without having to be a SNES-God or whatever, this is the hack to do it with. The levels are varied and fairly interesting, challenge isn't over the top, item acquisition can be pretty fun with the various obstacles and hidden areas, and you can learn a few nifty tricks for those more advanced games if you decide to play them later. There's a couple rather tough spots (such as that first dip in the water in Deck C) that may leave you feeling like there's no way of doing it, but there's always a way in, out, and to do things. So give this one a try if you're looking for a good balance of challenge and leniency.

Mockingbird Station uses a very interesting idea to limit the players' progress until they have collected a certain item(s), and it does it quite well. Mockingbird Station is a harder hack. It isn't impossible, but it is definitely not going to be a cakewalk. Expect some serious challenge, both in terms of enemies and exploration.

Pros:

• Interesting use of door PLM indexes to make the "locking" system
• Items are hidden well, and in spots that are fun to figure out
• A lot of problem solving
• Very good use of implying things to throw the player off
• Very good with small visual hints
• Fun for very skilled and technical players

Cons:

• Never have enough energy
• Spikes are everywhere
• Not easy to traverse the world
• Some very tight timing is required in some spots

Mockingbird Station is not for a casual Super Metroid hack player. The difficulty is easily above that of the original, and it requires a good eye to see the hints to continue onward. The premise of the hack is a really, really rad idea. Open a doorcap in one location to unlock one in another area. Never been done before, and hasn't been done since. The idea is very solid, and pulled off extremely well.

This hack is geared more toward a technical style of player, or one that is very skilled. Getting across the rooms the hack is not an easy task. Many areas aren't very forgiving, which makes managing your energy another task you need to beware of. It all sounds like the hack is just another challenge hack, which to an extent is true, but Mockingbird Station feels like a well-done challenge hack.

I would suggest being good at the game before trying this one out. It isn't too difficult though. It is entirely possible with a normal human player. Xaggoth is also very good at implying some things within the game that leads to some very clever secrets. The max item total was changed to 50%, and finding all the items is another fun challenge in the hack.

I would highly recommend this hack, but it really isn't for everyone. If you want to get into harder hacks, this is a good starting point. It rides that line between hard-too hard very well. If you aren't very skilled with the game though, avoid this hack for the time being because it will be too much. If you are looking to make a hack, this is a must play just to see how the ideas are used and pulled off.