ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS: Zombies Ate My Neighbors - The Sequel

A complete hack of Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES, conceived as a sequel/continuation of the original game, similar to what Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels is to Super Mario bros.

The initial release was a four man project that took eight months to be ready, and after a few more months of work we are proud to present version 1.1!

Watch the release trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm44_kCE9cg

Watch also the version 1.1 trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFUoHtC00Fk

PLOT

Kelly Flock, the director of the original ZAMN, is pissed at Zeke and Julie for beating the game he put so much effort into, so he has taken over the late Dr. Tongue’s army of monsters to exact his revenge on the protagonists and finish what Dr. Tongue started.

FEATURES:

Don't forget to check the readme file for additional information, a changelog and instructions.


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ZOMBIES ATE MY NEIGHBORS: THE SEQUEL
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By Chromister, Droter, Jon Groobz and Piranhaplant.
Ver. 1.1.
19 Aug 2018

Thank you for downloading ZAMN: The Sequel!
This project was conceived as a continuation of the original ZAMN, similar to what "Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels" is to "Super Mario Bros."
The initial release of the hack took eight months to be ready and it was finally released on the second of September, 2017!
We hope you enjoy it!

Have a spare minute?
Then check out the release trailer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm44_kCE9cg
And here is the trailer for version 1.1!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFUoHtC00Fk



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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1. FAQ
2. PLOT
3. CHANGES AND FEATURES
4. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
5. KNOWN ISSUES
6. CHANGELOG
7. CREDITS



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1. FAQ
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Q: How do I play this?
A: You need to patch an original ROM of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and run the patched ROM on an emulator.
Check section "4. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS" to learn how to do that.

Q: Is this for the SNES or the Sega? Can you do a Sega version of the hack?
A: It's for the SNES. A Sega version is not planned.

Q: Which emulator should I use?
A: The hack has been tested and works on ZSNES 1.51, SNES9X 1.54.1, and BSNES 0.84, but it should work on other emulators too.
Check section "5. KNOWN ISSUES" for further details on the performance of each emulator.

Q: How hard is this hack?
A: It's harder than the original game, but it's not meant to be extremely difficult. The difficulty increases gradually,
although there are a couple of difficulty spikes here and there. Overall, the hack should provide a challenging and
enjoyable experience.

Q: Why is this called "The Sequel"? ZAMN already had a sequel.
A: Yes, I am aware that the title may be confusing and that an actual sequel exists. This hack is not meant to belittle
Ghoul Patrol or Herc's Adventures for that matter. For the record, I actually wanted to call the hack "The Lost
Levels", but I couldn't manage to make that fit on the title screen. After considering several other titles, I settled
for "The Sequel" because it fits the title screen nicely, it makes sense plot-wise, and after all, the hack is meant
to be an extension of the original ZAMN.



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2. PLOT
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The story takes place shortly after the defeat of Dr. Tongue, the main villain of the original Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

Kelly Flock, the director of ZAMN, is extremely pissed at Zeke and Julie. The rascals not only killed Dr. Tongue and beat
the game that Mr. Flock had put so much effort into, but they also stormed into the Lucas Arts offices soon after,
disrupting their workflow and giving him a wicked headache. Now Mr. Flock wants revenge, so he has taken over Dr. Tongue's
army of monsters to finish what he started. Dr. Tongue, who actually survived in the form of a talking skull, is not
happy about having his monsters stolen, so now he's helping Zeke and Julie in their new adventure.
What horrors await our protagonists? What nasty tricks will they have to endure? Will Zeke and Julie survive this ordeal?
You'll have to play the game to find out!



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3. CHANGES AND FEATURES
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- 55 completely new levels, made from scratch!
Includes 5 bonus levels, a credit level and a special challenge level!
- A side quest for completionists!
Try to find the Dollar hidden in each level!
- New and rebalanced items!
There's a new item that revives your neighbors!
Tomatoes have been turned into powerful Eggs!
Squirtguns and flamethrowers give less ammo on pickup but are more common!
- Reverse item cycling!
Hold L while changing items to cycle them back!
- Seven custom background palettes!
- A friendly NPC: Dr. Tongue's skull!
It will give you tips and warnings in some levels!
Simply approach him to talk to him. Press any button to close his dialogue and continue playing.
- Cabinets and other plunderables have a custom loot table!
Some items no longer drop, some new items may drop, and some items have different chances to be found.
- Some end of level bonuses are worth a lot more points now!
- There's a new end of level bonus that is granted for killing 8 of certain large monsters...
- Killer Tomatoes roam around some levels...
- And some of the old monsters may surprise you...



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4. INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
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- Obtain a headerless ROM of the North American version of Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Headerless ROMs have the .sfc extension)
- Download Lunar IPS (http://fusoya.eludevisibility.org/lips/)
- Place both the ROM and the .ips patch inside the Lunar IPS folder.
- Run Lunar IPS and click on "Apply patch"
- A window will pop up. Select the .ips patch.
- A second window will appear. Select the ROM.
- Lunar IPS will apply the patch to the ROM and it'll be ready to play!
- (Optional) Rename the patched ROM to "ZAMN - The Sequel v1.1" for easier identification.



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5. KNOWN ISSUES
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GENERAL ISSUES:
- Level 29: It's possible to force a softlock in this level.
SOLUTION: Follow the natural flow of the level to prevent the game from softlocking accidentally.
- Level 45: Opening the first skull door before you're meant to will cause major graphical glitches on some enemies.
SOLUTION: Kill the enemies in the starting area of the level to fix the issue.

EMULATOR SPECIFIC ISSUES:

ZSNESW v1.51: No issues were reported during both testing phases.
BSNES v084 (perfomance build): No issues were reported during both testing phases.
SNES9X v1.54.1: A single, random crash was reported in level 20 during the pre-release testing phase.
No issues were reported during the pre-v1.1 testing phase.

Although you're not likely to experience a crash, you should use save states every now and then, just to be safe.



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6. CHANGELOG
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VERSION DATE OVERVIEW
1.0. 02 Sep 2017 Initial release.
1.0.1. 27 Sep 2017 Fixed some minor sprites.
1.0.2. 17 Oct 2017 Reduced the difficulty of the game, minor fixes.
1.1. 19 Aug 2018 Major improvements to most areas of the hack.

PATCH NOTES:

1.0.1.:
- Fixed Piranhaplant's and Kuma's color palettes.

1.0.2.:
- Increased the amount of medkits and other pickups throughout the game.
- Fixed a few spawners that had spawnrates way higher than intended.
- Reduced monster spawnrates in several levels.
- Adjusted a couple of level layouts.
- Made most secrets easier to spot.
- Removed the custom palette in level 32 while it's being improved.
- Fixed the placement of the two Chainsaw Maniacs in level 13. They shouldn't get stuck in the wall when spawning anymore.
- Improved the ingame text formatting when possible.
- Added two new advice skulls.

1.1.:
GENERAL CHANGES
- Increased the amount of points that players receive for the "Massive Destruction" bonus from 3500 to 5000.
- Increased the amount of points that players receive for the "No Bazooka Fired" bonus from 4500 to 6000.
- Decreased the amount of points that players receive for the "Vampire Destroyed" bonus from 8000 to 7000.
- Fixed an issue that made the second player receive 10000 points for the bonus instead of the intended quantity.
- Increased the amount of points that players receive for killing a Killer Tomato from 750 to 1000.
- Increased the amount of points that players receive for killing a Doppelganger from 20 to 100.
- Increased the amount of points that players receive for picking up a Dollar from 1000 to 1500.
- Added extra advice skulls that briefly introduce Dr. Tongue's skull and its role to the player.
- Formatted the ingame text better to make it more readable.
- Fixed a misplaced tile on the final boss' sprite.
- Updated Piranhaplants's credit sprite.
- Added a credit sprite for Joseph K.
- Updated the title screen.

ITEM CHANGES
- Added a new item to the game: The Victim Up. (Thanks to Piranhaplant!)
- It grants you an extra victim after you complete the level.
- It stacks with the "Extra Victim" bonus.
- It's scarce.
- Reworked the Tomatoes as a weapon.
- They're Eggs now.
- Considerably increased the amount of damage they do.
- Updated the sprite, inventory icon and throwing animation accordingly.
- Considerably decreased the total amount of 1ups.
- Slightly decreased the total amount of Fire Extinguishers, Dishes, Footballs and Soda Cans.
- Slightly increased the total amount of all other pickups.
- Decreased the chance to find Medkits in cabinets from 150% to 125% (percentages are respective to the original game)
- Decreased the chance to find Crosses in cabinets from 100% to 66%.
- Increased the chance to find Eggs in cabinets from 100% to 200%.
- Removed the chance to find Fire Extinguishers in cabinets.
- Added a tiny chance to find Martian Guns in cabinets.
- Added a tiny chance to find Victim Ups in cabinets.

LEVEL CHANGES
- Updated all level layouts in one way or another.
- Most levels have had minor tweaks and fixes.
- Some levels have had whole sections changed.
- A few levels have been completely reworked or scrapped and replaced.
- Fixed several spots that could cause the player to get stuck, softlocking the game. (Thanks to Joseph K.!)
- Fixed a collision issue in level 13 that caused the Chainsaw Maniacs to get stuck inside walls sometimes.
- Fixed a collision issue in level 18 that prevented the player and the Squidmen to swim near the dam.
- Changed the boss arenas in levels 36 and 48 to make them less punishing.
- Improved the hedgemazes in certain levels to make them less frustrating.
- Changed the location of many Dollars to make them harder to find.
- Adjusted the spawnrate of a lot of enemies.
- Changed the title of some levels.

CUSTOM PALETTE CHANGES
- Completely removed the original custom palette in level 32 "Hell".
- Added a new custom palette to level 32 "Eclipse".
- Added a new custom palette to level 37 "Spring Night".
- Level 37 now fades from "Spring Day" to "Spring Night" instead of fading to the regular "Night" palette.
- Updated the custom palettes in level 28 "Toxic", level 36 "Earth's Core", level 37 "Spring Day" and level 40B "Glacier".



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7. CREDITS
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A few words from Droter:

I want to give a huge thank you to everyone involved in this hack. All of you have been extremely helpful, diligent and
kind, and I've had a lot of fun making this project. The hack wouldn't have half of the quality it has without your assistance.
I'd also like to extend a special thanks to Skyhurricane89, whose YouTube tutorials inspired me to start this project.


CONTRIBUTORS

- CHROMISTER: Level Design Assistant.
Chromister's main role was to review every level after they were built, providing insights, feedback and suggestions
on how to improve them. Although he's never played ZAMN, his help and knowledge proved to be invaluable, and most,
if not all level layouts were substantially improved over their original conceptions thanks to him.

- DROTER (droteriumar@gmail.com): Level and Palette Designer and Main Spriter.
I'm the guy who started this project, and I took care of designing the levels, drawing the custom sprites and
creating the custom palettes, among a lot of other stuff.
Please don't hesitate on contacting me if you have questions, suggestions, feedback or if you find bugs or typos.
As the level designer, it's very important for me to make fun, engaging and intuitive levels. Watching the levels
in action is a great way to see if my design choices work as intended, so if you happen to play the hack and
record it, please let me know!

- JON GROOBZ (gravemistakemerch@gmail.com): Technical Assistant and Betatester.
Jon is one of the authors of "Oh No! More Zombies Ate My Neighbors!", a great ZAMN hack that you should check out
too if you haven't already.
Jon provided help in many ways. He contributed notes on where pointers were and how to find them, how to change
graphics and palettes and how to use related software, among other things.
He also provided the flamethrower pickup sprite and the code for the reverse item cycling feature from ONMZAMN.
And of course, he also beta tested the hack before release and gave invaluable feedback on the level designs and
custom sprites and palettes.

- JOSEPH K. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiOqRy7Z2IGb2J3pJcRU7wA | https://twitter.com/JosephK1990): Betatester for version 1.1.
Joseph K. was the first person to upload a public playthrough of "ZAMN - The Sequel" to YouTube, and gladly
accepted to betatest the new changes and levels for version 1.1 of the hack. Thanks to his thorough exploration
a lot of spots that could make the player get stuck have been fixed.

- PIRANHAPLANT (piranhaplant1@gmail.com): Programmer and Betatester.
Piranhaplant is the author of the amazing level editor used to build all the levels in "ZAMN - The Sequel".
Piranhaplant's contributions to this hack are numerous, and he helped both directly and indirectly: he provided
ASM code, technical help, tools, feedback on all areas, and many other resources, on top of constantly updating his
editor to make hacking ZAMN more and more convenient.
A lot of the content that you'll find in the game wouldn't have been possible to include without Piranhaplant's
diligence and knowledge.
And finally, he beta tested the hack several times, both before the initial release and for version 1.1, always
giving honest, useful and in-depth critique.


Thanks to Samu and Joseph K. for proofreading this file!



No-Intro Name: Zombies Ate My Neighbors (USA)
(No-Intro version 20130701-030720)
External Header No
File Size 1048576 (100000)
ROM Size 1048576 (100000)
ROM CRC32 7CFC0C7C
ROM SHA-1 1BE79496D7A38B293D6A5D9FBA0E16F3CB37D5FF
Checksum valid Yes