Randomizers

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MSR1701
Posts: 1509
Joined: April 29th, 2019, 7:53 am

Randomizers

Postby MSR1701 » July 28th, 2021, 10:29 am

Several years back, I was shocked to learn that someone had made a program that took Zelda NES and randomized the item locations in the game (later randomizer updates would make more significant changes as options, such as enemies, HP values of enemies and Link, sprite updates, dungeon and cave locations, etc.), and thought it was a neat concept. Soon after, Zelda SNES and Super Metroid had Randomizers made of them, and as time rolled ever on, far more games have had Randomizers made. Some have thriving communities (both playing and developing), some just exist (Metroid II was one that had a Randomizer made, then was abandoned).

Randos are now available for scores of games and systems, from NES Dragon Quest/Warrior games to Turbografx's Neutopia games, to Castlevania Symphony of the Night, to more modern games such as Metroid Prime 2 and Zelda Wind Waker. And not just randomizing games, functions such as Crowd Control (where viewers can use their account currency to affect the games that are being played, either to help or hinder the player), Multi-World (where you link up your game to another via the net and what happens in one game can affect the other and vice versa) and even more as time goes on.

Also, a joke in the Zelda SNES/Super Metroid Rando community led to the creation of one of the greatest Randomizers, Super Metroid + A Link to the Past (SMZ3/SMZLttP Rando), where both games are combined into a single game file and have items shuffled between the two.

Randomizers have been so prevalent of late, even recent game releases (such as Switch game Nexomon: Extinction) have had modes added in (sometimes via patch) to offer Rando-like options to the games.

Anyone else here tried or sampled Randomizers? If so, what are your thoughts and favorite Randos?

Here's a brief list of my faves:

SMZ3
Zelda - Link's Awakening
Pokemon Red (there is a specific Poke Red Rando that adds in options from later games (such as creature types and moves), and can add in custom sprites for later Pokemon that never were on the Game Boy)

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ActRaiser
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Joined: April 8th, 2015, 12:38 pm

Re: Randomizers

Postby ActRaiser » July 28th, 2021, 1:06 pm

I've never tried them before but that sounds pretty amazing. Very cool.

Voor
Posts: 1555
Joined: April 14th, 2015, 8:08 pm

Re: Randomizers

Postby Voor » July 28th, 2021, 2:00 pm

I watch a BUNCH of metroid randomizers, as there is a league with tournaments pretty often.

I haven’t dipped my top in the metroid/zelda combo randos but I know they are very popular. Other games are picking them up—dark souls, hollow knight….basically any game that uses items to progress to different parts of the game AND has some tricks to “sequence break” the intended routes.

What’s really interesting is that some developers are seeing this trend and including it in their games. I think the new Axiom Verge will have a randomizer mode (on top of the already existing speedrun mode).

Here’s an example:

https://youtu.be/6k35rUeRueo


I will say I’m not a fan of crowd control. Just way to unpredictable and kind of …..silly for my sophisticated tastes. Lol
Last edited by Voor on July 28th, 2021, 3:48 pm, edited 3 times in total.



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