Yea, I followed the design very closely, every room from the real game was included. Getting the room sizes and layout right was a challenge, but I think I got it mostly right.
If only I could get my demo to work on windows 7… stupid gamemaker >_>
BTW, I still a got a ton of stuff (sprites, backgrounds, etc), if you need any of that, let me know.
Absolutely yes. A few pixels shorter.
EDIT: And this is why, for anyone who didn’t read the thing-
This is eased because the PQ takes damage no matter where you hit it, plus shots could be lined up from multiple places.
Example:
The real issue I have is shooting things in the background goes against the core fundamentals of a 2D game. It feels awkward, looks awkward, and it’s difficult to tell which part you’re supposed to shoot at.
2D Metroids are built for the X/Y axis… bringing the Z into it just doesn’t really work.
Also:
I fail to see why this is an issue?
Yes, vertical dodging and shooting around platforms and obstacles can be frustrating.
That’s also how Metroid’s always done it. Look at the Mother Brain battles for instance. Kraid too, as acknowledged above.
I’m inclined to agree - a side-view PQ would be a much more satisfying battle. After all, either she’s above Samus or she’s “behind” her - it just wouldn’t look OR feel right if you could walk through her but still hit her by aiming straight up (or in any direction, really).
That mockup looks WAY more fun and epic and intense than the front-on mockup. That just feels… to steal the wording above, “floaty” and boring.
well when compared in actual size the small samus doesnt look quite as awkward with a few pixels cut off
the big one looks derptastic
hell part of the visor is gone and errythang
cant even tell the helmet is red at all
lots of issues
Just want to say I disagree with these as arguments for the same reason- being done before doesn’t automatically make them better (or not worth changing). Like CMC just showed Samus’ head getting cut off looks really dumb. ZM having the same thing doesn’t make it look less dumb.
[sub]And as far as the PQ fight subjectivity is subjective I guess. For me the frustration of vertical platforms is much more of a negative than breaking the 2D plane, but that’s just me.[/sub]
A lot of it is due to the pose of our Samus, which is less dynamic. If we arch her over like in ZM it would look fine. Then again, at that point we’re redoing her anyways, so might as well pick a nice round number.
When it comes to the boss though, Side-to-side can arguably be fixed (instead of knock back, a simple upwards bounce, and damage animation). Background shooting is just broken. Period. Shooting things that are behind you while you’re facing to the side just doesn’t work. One is broken because of how it’s done (knocking off of platforms), one is broken because it breaks the whole concept of a 2D game.
I think “because it’s how 2D Metroid bosses work” is a better argument than “this is kind of sort of resembling how it works in the 3D Metroid” on account of we’re trying to make a 2D Metroid here.
im torn between the two PQ battle styles
mainly because the vertical style would make more sense
but the other would just look AWESOME (other then the awkward shooting)
it makes me sad, but i have to side with function over form, imma side with the vertical fight
All I was saying is that we shouldn’t do things just because it’s how they’ve been done. There are still other reasons to do the vertical PQ which is totally fine, but that’s not one of them.
My point is that the other Metroids do it like that for a reason - and that the same reasons apply here.
I think you’re overthinking this.
You can expand that to say ALL 2D games do that. Maybe not to the side, but either the sides, above, or below. NEVER behind.
The thing is with the PQ, it’s a vertical boss (taller than it is long), so you can’t put it above the player, because widescreen.
Circling back to the Samus topic though, what is our target resolution? That’s going to play an important factor in deciding what we do. I would personally love drawing the rooms out for a full-HD sidescroller, but that’s just not realistic.
Contra does it the other way with some frequency, actually. It works when it works - but it doesn’t fit the PQ as well as a side-view, I’d say.
Obviously not since Zurg’s reason (no offense here) for ignoring the head cutting off was that ZM did it. That’s just something we should try to avoid. That’s all I’m saying.
To be fair I didn’t check how much of our sprite gets cut off. 
Not exactly. There are parts of bosses behind you sometimes, but never parts that you can shoot (bar the pseudo-3D stages). The big issue is the PQ is damaged wherever you hit her.
Well, at least in Prime she took way more damage to the face, so that could be an overlaid second sprite that “moves” around the main body - youtube a video of the last battle of Castlevania Legends for a (far more drastic) example.
Obviously I’m in the minority here but I don’t see what’s particularly broken about that.
Also Wario Land 3 and the GB Donkey Kong did it with platforming.
im actually more torn now…
and now wish i could delete that poll i made lul
I have an idea- maybe we should just wait and try both when the engine is up to it before we sprite the PQ?