Update #2 [Fri 1st Dec, 2023 09:00 GMT]: Infidelity's SNES port of the NES classic Metroid is now available.
The developer describes it as "the most extensive port I've ever done" – the culmination of two months of effort. You can download the patch directly from this tweet.
Update #1 [Fri 13th Oct, 2023 15:15 BST]: Infidelity's Super Nintendo port of Metroid is now available in beta form. You can download the game directly from the link included in his latest tweet.
One of the quality-of-life features already introduced in the SNES port of the game is the ability to save & load up to 3 files, which you can name (similar to the Famicom Disk System version). When picking your file, this system will display how many times you've died (up to 255 times), the number of energy tanks you've collected (6 max), and your missiles and their capacity, but does not currently list your last known health values.
As Infidelity notes in the save.txt, this new system for the most part coexists nicely with the existing password system. However, he warns that if you decide to start a game off with a password and then try and save your progress, it will overwrite whatever is in file 3. A warning for this is included on the start screen to try and prevent instances of this from happening.
Original Story [Fri 8th Sep, 2023 16:30 BST]: Infidelity, the romhacker and serial porter behind the fanmade SNES ports of The Legend of Zelda, DuckTales, Mega Man II, and Mega Man IV, has revealed he is about to start work on a port of the Nintendo classic Metroid for the 16-bit console.
As Infidelity mentions in the announcement for the port, he initially didn't want to tackle the game because he felt that Super Metroid was already the "definitive way to play a Metroid game on the SNES". Nevertheless, after completing his port of The Legend of Zelda earlier this year, he began getting an itch to port Metroid over to the console too.
As we've noted before, in order to get these ports working, Infidelity essentially takes the original game and then manually ports it over to the SNES using the Hexadecimal code and the Mesen2 debugger. This opens up the possibility of future enhancements further down the line, including updates to the game's audio, performance, and graphics.
We'll obviously be keeping an eye out for updates as the port progresses and will let you know once it is available to try out. For now, though, you can support Infidelity's work on Patreon, to thank the creator and see new builds of his projects before anyone else.