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This is one of my favorite hacks of all time and has sort of redefined by idea of what a truly great hack should be. As a former more or less purist of classic games (I couldn't even handle like released versions of my old favorites with like the slightest changes), I have fallen in love with P. Yoshi's almost iconoclastic approach to rom-hacking. I was just jaw droppingly amazed at the inventiveness and creativity that seemed 100% inspired, unforced, and natural somehow. It was so cool to play something so idiosyncratic and yet so self assured.

I was actually blown away at the philosophical and spiritual implications of the game too. Some hater might say its pretentious or trying to be overly deep or something. But, if something works this well and appears as genuinely inspired as this game is, to me, that's actually the opposite of pretentious- there's an authentic and raw creativity to it.

Mindflower's soundtrack invokes a PERFECT brooding, spellbinding 8 bit atmosphere for this amazing game as well. I actually played it through it twice. I just wanted to spend more time in that world and appreciate all the nuance and personality it has to offer.

I can't believe that Junkoid, which can truly hang with 8 bit classic games only has a couple thousand downloads. Do yourself a favor and check it out: As an old school gamer (as probably literally everyone else who visits this site is) it's quite the treasure to discover a game that takes the aesthetic and feel we've loved for decades and somehow makes it feel completely novel and fresh again. Indeed, when you love these older games like we do, it's sort of miraculous haha I'll return to this dark, obscure, and hauntingly beautiful gem until the end of my gaming days, I'm sure!

Probably the most well thought out and imaginative NES Metroid hack I've come across, with great mechanics and clever level design through areas that have great atmosphere. Lots of fun tension delving the lower areas of the map. While the game only has a couple new mechanics, the very inspired level design makes it feel far from a rethread of the original. The original soundtrack is also really good, more traditional than regular Metroid's strange ambient score but not lacking in personality at all. Art is slightly better than the original, with pretty good enemy reskins and tilework. The sequel, a SM hack aptly titled Super Junkoid, is a wonderful work as well, surpassing even this one! Junko forever

Hey, it's me, the creator of the soundtrack for this game, Mindflower. First of all I wanted to mention, I compiled an album of the soundtrack to listen to outside of the game. I made the soundtrack using MetroidTuner, aka directly inserting txt-files into the Metroid sound engine. for this reason I have no .nsf-files, but I compiled an album with lossless .flac-files, for your listening pleasure. Due to links being rejected, just ping me and I'll contribute you the link for the album. You're welcome!

On to the review: I didn't have anything to do with graphics and level design, so i post my 5 cents on the game.

The game has phenomenal pacing, I think it strikes the perfect balance between guided linearity and open world meta. I think that's an important factor for every Metroidvania. Never was there too much backtracking or tedious repetitiveness. A trap especially Metroid 1 Hacks can fall into too easily.

The graphical edits, while not being super ambitious throughout, very much underline the atmosphere and have a nice effect. The overall visual design is top notch.

Difficulty-wise this could have been harder, on the other hand it's a total blast to run through. Depends a bit on what you are searching for.

I also liked the way secrets and items were hidden. not too cryptic but not too easily handed out either.

Overall, play this hack, it's gorgeous. 9.5/10

I'm an absolute sucker for unique hacks. and this caught my attention. Mainly the music just is so damn good I could listen it for hours.

Since I literally haven't played original Metroid yet, the gameplay is confusing for me lol. However levels can sometimes confuse beginners like me - like there's so much ways you'll have to go that I ended up to the 2nd stage early - and of course bothered me by missing a lot of stuff.

I don't know if this is a NES Metroid thing but still I really like the idea of this hack. 9/10

This is exactly what I've been looking for in a Metroid hack! A lot of care obviously went into it and the music and style are amazing. On par with Rogue Dawn in my opinion.

Fantastic take on the original Metroid taking advantage of the strong points of the original game while creating its own original independent thing.

The level design is clean and well-thought. Different sections have different themes and overall structure to distinguish from each other, and each room is unique to help with the navigation and keep the sense of discovery and exploration alive. There's no copypaste here and no dead ends, every place has a purpose. And, most welcome, you don't have to shoot and bomb every square to find your way or items. Every single destructible block is identified as such one way or another and every secret passage can be found by careful examination and finding visual hints. It's very rewarding and you feel accomplished for solving another little puzzle by your own means.

Also the stages are surprisingly detailed without being cluttered offering some nice platforming. It isn't anything world-changing, but the world is Junkoid is rather pretty and fun to traverse considering the limitations of the Metroid engine.

And then there's the atmosphere. The surface world with caves and winter. The marine trenches, dark and deep, wet and forgotten. The pulsating demon heart with rivers of blood. Sheol itself, the Jewish hell built out of corpses piled upon corpses. Everything is a bit familiar, yet alien and otherworldly. Discordant yet tied by its dream-like nature. A world of horror and nightmares hostile and devoid of humans, still familiar enough to get mesmerized by it and to keep plunging, reaching for its end. It's beautiful in its own perverted way.

And the music, oh, the music. Beautiful and melancholic (but not somber) chiptunes that match perfectly the game, rounding its personality. I could listen to the music for hours (and I did while playing the game) without getting bored.

Even if you don't like the original Metroid (in fact I don't, even though I love the sequels and Metroidvanias in general!) you should try it. If I had played this in a NES back in the day I would have been blown away by its design and art.

A word of caution: without delving into spoilers, there's one segment featuring nudity. It's not sexual, violent or even graphic (there's only so much you can draw on a NES sprite, anyway) and it matches the overall nightmare theme, but you should keep that in mind if that bothers you.

This hack is really worth playing if you're looking for something different in Metroid. The main character, enemies, graphics and level designs won me over. Every Metroid fan has to give this hack a try, I hope to see more of this franchise down the road, it's really great. :)

It's amazing. It's an adventure in a world completely different from Metroid. It's a nightmare world with a laid-back humor, but I really like it. Junko running is very cute. Oh Junko, calling your name makes me very sad ;)