Metroid: Zero Mission - Chozodia Energy Tank #3 Cheating!

I've been playing through various Metroid games recently, and I tend to get rather completionist about acquiring all the upgrades. One of the energy tank locations in Metroid: Zero Mission (the GBA remake of Metroid 1) requires far more platforming skill than I actually have. Specifically, Chozodia Energy Tank #3, as enumerated on metroid.retropixel.net.

So, as I did with my Owlboy Boguin Cannon Cheat, I figured it would be fun to make a little script to do that run for me, using a Linux util called xdotool. That's like AutoHotKey for Windows. For ease of tweaking and management, I did this via a short little Python script which builds the xdotool commandline and then executes it at the end. I should probably look into using PyAutoGUI for this kind of thing in the future, eh?

Here's the script: metroidzm-tank.py

The keys which it uses are hardcoded near the top of the file. It uses Ctrl-L to load the most recent snapshot, the numeric keypad number keys for directional control, and space for jump. The first thing it does, after a two-second delay (which gives you time to focus the emulator window), is load the most recent memory state. It expects that state to have Samus in the lower-left-hand corner of the watery area you start out in:

If you, too, are looking to cheat your way to 100% completion in Metroid: Zero Mission, but don't want to figure out running a Python script (but are running Linux, where xdotool is a thing), here's the resulting command that gets run (though obviously you'd have to change the actual keys being used, if your keybinds don't match mine):

xdotool \
    sleep 2 \
    keydown ctrl+l sleep 0.2 keyup ctrl+l \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keydown KP_Right sleep 2.75 keyup KP_Right \
    keydown KP_Down sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Down \
    keydown KP_Left \
    keydown space sleep 0.4 keyup space \
    sleep 1 \
    keyup KP_Left \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keydown KP_Left \
    sleep 0.3 \
    keyup space \
    keyup KP_Left \
    keydown KP_Down sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Down \
    keydown KP_Left \
    keydown space sleep 0.45 keyup space \
    keyup KP_Left \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown KP_Right \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup KP_Right \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup space \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown KP_Right \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keyup KP_Right \
    keyup space \
    sleep 0.1 \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keydown KP_Right \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup space \
    keyup KP_Right \
    keydown KP_Down sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Down \
    keydown KP_Left \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup KP_Left \
    keydown KP_Right sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Right \
    keydown KP_Left sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Left \
    keyup space \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown KP_Right \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup KP_Right \
    keydown KP_Left sleep 0.2 keyup KP_Left \
    keyup space \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keydown KP_Left \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup space \
    keyup KP_Left \
    keydown KP_Down sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Down \
    keydown KP_Right \
    keydown space sleep 0.5 keyup space \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space sleep 0.3 keyup space \
    sleep 0.8 \
    keyup KP_Right \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keydown KP_Right \
    sleep 0.5 \
    keyup space \
    keyup KP_Right \
    keydown KP_Down sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Down \
    keydown KP_Right \
    sleep 1.1 \
    keydown space sleep 0.3 keyup space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keyup KP_Right \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keydown KP_Left sleep 0.5 keyup KP_Left \
    sleep 0.5 \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keydown KP_Left \
    sleep 0.2 \
    keyup space \
    keyup KP_Left \
    keydown KP_Down sleep 0.1 keyup KP_Down \
    keydown KP_Right sleep 1.2 keyup KP_Right \
    sleep 0.5 \
    sleep 0.1 \
    keydown space \
    sleep 0.4 \
    keydown KP_Right \
    sleep 0.5 \
    keyup space \
    keyup KP_Right

I imagine for someone used to putting together AHK scripts for Windows, that would be pretty easy to adapt for that purpose. Let me know if you've got questions, or comments!

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