This setting affects how the rooms are arranged on the map:
- Vanilla: The rooms are arranged as they are in the vanilla game, i.e. there is no
map randomization.
- Tame: The rooms are arranged in a random but relatively friendly way: one-ways
tend to have short return paths that loop back around.
- Wild: The rooms are arranged in a more random and less friendly way: there will
often be one-ways with only long return paths.
Be aware that randomized maps (even "Tame" ones) tend to be much more difficult than the vanilla map:
expect to encounter frequent risks of death & softlock, particularly at the beginning of the game.
"Tame" maps should be relatively straightforward to navigate once you have collected enough items, but
reaching that point probably won't be easy. "Wild" maps are even more spicy and tend to contain some very long
one-way loops (like the Lower Norfair loop in the vanilla map, or even longer).
When using Vanilla map, it is suggested to use "Neutral" item progression (instead of "Forced")
since otherwise the location of key items may be overly predictable.
Details
On all settings, the randomizer
guarantees that one-ways (such as falling through crumble blocks) always loop back around somehow,
though the path back could be long and require certain items. This setting ("Tame" vs. "Wild") affects
the typical length of such paths.
The "one-ways" considered here are situations where navigation in a "wrong" direction might not be not possible
within the room, even with all items collected, without the use of techniques above Basic:
- Crumble blocks in Spore Spawn Super Room, Green Pirates Shaft, Big Pink, and many other rooms.
- Sand transitions.
- Green gates (whether or not they are glitchable).
- Speed blocks in Crateria Super Room and Crocomire Speedway.
- Big Pink morph tunnel Super block.
- Acid in Amphitheatre.
- The barriers in Spore Spawn's Room, Crocomire's Room, and Botwoon's Room.
- Acid and solid block in Acid Statue Room.
- Bowling Alley Chozo.
- The walls separating the Main Street morph tunnel from the rest of the room (a "zero-way").
- Mother Brain Room, Aqueduct, and Bowling Alley (top vs. rest) are also treated as zero-way.
Likewise, in measuring the length of paths to reverse a "one-way", the types of paths considered are those
which will be possible with all items collected but without the use of techniques above Basic.