Hero of Hyrule
Frieren the Slayer
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So, Metroid Dread is coming up, and it looks excellent, and I figured with it being the conclusion to the mainline saga arc, I should take this time to address a gap in my personal video games history that has gone unaddressed for too long - Metroid. I love Metroidvania games, and while I have played some of multiple Metroid titles in the past (notably, I had played a bit of the original, Super, Prime, Fusion, Prime 2, Prime 3, Zero Mission, and Samus Returns, and I've seen a fair bit of every other game in the series played), I'd never really completed one.
Time to change that.
I figured I'd do the 2D series ahead of Dread's launch. For this, I narrowed it down to the following games:
- Metroid Zero Mission (subbing in for the original)
- Metroid Samus Returns (subbing in for Metroid 2)
- Super Metroid
- Metroid Fusion
What this also means is that effectively, I played all games on native hardware - Super Metroid was the only emulated one (which did help, save states helped me deal with some of its more frustrating sections).
So with all that context out of the way, here's where I ended up landing on the series after having gone through them all one by one:
METROID: ZERO MISSION
I loved Zero Mission. It's an absolute joy to play. The controls are snappy and instant, the world design encourages player engagement and curiosity but is kept manageable so you never feel lost, player guidance exists, but is never overt, and almost always optional (it might be totally optional, but I can't really say that either way since I engaged with it most chances I got). It's extremely well designed, and it's such a great example of the archetypical Metroidvania template. The world instantly has roadblocks that you know you can't get through yet, and powers help instantly recontextualize combat, traversal, and exploration. It's never obtuse, never unfair, and always a joy to play. I still boot it up every now and then just to run and jump around as Samus. She controls wonderfully, and the world is designed to be her playground.
Zero Mission even handles a forced stealth section well! While this kind of forced linearity is antithetical to Metroid design, it helps that it's only a short section here, and the payoff is amazing, especially with the more triumphant rendition of the Brinstar theme playing in the background. If I could only ever recommend one Metroid game to a newcomer, Zero Mission would be it - it's not the best game in the series, and it absolutely has shortcomings (bosses are too one note, the world design never reaches the highs of later games in the series, and I still can't figure out the space jump in this game reliably, lol), but it's a wonderful game, and it was a great way to kick off the marathon.
Final Rating: 8.5/10
METROID: SAMUS RETURNS
Samus Returns is great, and honestly deserves a far better reputation than it has (though I understand it was a victim of the timing of its own release in more ways than one). The combat is top notch in this game (absolutely my favourite, actually), with some of the greatest boss battles in the series (Diggernaut and the final boss fight are both excellent), and the game also doing an excellent job of solidifying/rehabilitating (depending on your experience with the series up to this point) Samus' character, with some amazing in-game storytelling (notably, the moment Samus first encounters the Metroid larva, or the final boss fight, are incredible moments of storytelling). Samus Returns also has some excellent QoL (the Scan Pulse is probably the single best implementation of in game player guidance the 2D series has had - it gives you just enough information to try and parse out dead ends, but leaves everything else up to you; and even then it is optional!), the powers are among the most imaginative in the series, and while the broader p would rogression is linear, within individual areas, the design has some pretty high highs.
With all of these highs, Samus Returns does have multiple stumbles - but most of these are related either to it being tied to the hardware it is on (the 3DS is simply not suited to a quick combat focused action game, and controls for Samus Returns feel cramped; and 30fps is a huge step down from the other games in the series), or in adhering to the structure of the original game (the general linearity or the repetition in Metroid fights is what it is, you can't really get around that more than Samus Returns already does). In spite of my issues with it, Samus Returns gave me some of my fondest memories and highs from the whole series, and it gives me great confidence in MS and Nintendo's ability to achieve something truly special with Metroid Dread, unfettered as they will be by the shackles of the 3DS or a 30 year old Gameboy game.
Final Rating: 8/10
SUPER METROID
Alright, here's the big one. Super Metroid is so legendary, it's daunting going into it as (functionally) a first timer. It's impossible to not have the hype and the game's reputation, as well as your own awareness of it, influence you at least a little going in. Since Super Metroid was also going to be the oldest game in the series I would be playing, I was naturally unsure of exactly what my takeaway from it would be.
Man, this game lives up to its reputation. It is legitimately a masterpiece on all fronts - a masterpiece of mechanics, of world design, of storytelling (seriously, still some of the best in game storytelling today, and it achieves it without having to rely on monologues or cutscenes). Pitch perfect pacing, and so far ahead of its time in so many ways (it lets you totally remap controls, which is something most modern games still don't let you do!), gorgeous and perfect sprite art, and some of the greatest atmosphere in a game ever (which, remember, for a 30 year old game on a 240p dinkey handheld, is no mean feat).
I loved almost everything about Super Metroid, even its controls, which I had heard the most criticism for going in. Arguably, Super Metroid has the most effective controls in the series - you get totalcontrol over Samus, and the ease with which you can pull off advanced maneuvers and moves (such as shinesparking) lets even less advanced players engage with the world in non linear ways. The bosses were excellent (Draygon, Phantoon, Crocomire, and Mother Brain being the obvious highlights), and even in terms of QoL, Super Metroid holds up surprisingly well (as mentioned, the controls were remappable, which was a huge help, and having an X Ray Visor helped mostly recreate the Scan Pulse functionality as well). I do have some complaints - the in game map is definitely a pretty big step down from Zero Mission and especially Samus Returns, and fuck Maridia (and not just the tunnel either). But this is a game so perfect in almost everything it sets out to do, even its shortcomings don't diminish its shine. There's a reason it essentially created a genre that it still reigns at the top of - it is absolutely as good as the hype suggests.
Final Rating: 9.5/10
METROID FUSION
I'm going to say a lot of nice stuff about Fusion first. For starters, I respect and admire the hell out of Fusion. To follow up on a game as legendary as Super Metroid is no mean feat, and to do it by going in the absolute opposite direction, defiantly sticking it to fan expectations percolated over eight years, takes a kind of audacity that you have to admire. Metroid Fusion is anathema to the Metroid template - it's a hyper linear game, constantly showing you where to go, keeping you on a short leash, restricting progress and exploration for overt storytelling (via dialog and cutscenes), but it makes it work. It's still Metroid, Samus is still Samus, and the micro-Metroidvania progression loops in the game feel really satisfying. The emphasis on boss fights (with some really imaginative ones thrown in there), science fiction body horror, and the almost survival horror style feel introduced with the game constantly trapping you and boxing you in with almost invincible enemies, helps Metroid Fusion carve out a great identity for itself.
Fusion is also a great sequel in terms of story and storytelling. Samus has far more dialog, but she still feels quintessentially Samus, and Adam is an actual sympathetic character in this game (compared to what I've seen of him in Other M), and the final cliffhanger with Samus defying the Federation and ultimately going rogue is such a bold direction to take the story (and it should be resolved... very soon now).
With all of this said - I do not enjoy this direction from a gameplay perspective as much. I mean I still like it enough, and there's zero denying how well it is done, but this is absolutely not what I am looking for in a Metroid game. I wouldn't even mind a more linear or narrative driven focus, but Fusion is toolinear, arbitrarily blocking me from even going back and exploring areas I already have for no real reason. It's a great linear narrative action adventure game - but that's not what I want from Metroid at all, and while I really respect where Fusion goes and what it does, it's really not what I want from Metroid games going forward. Ultimately, it's a very good game and I am glad I played it, but it is absolutely my least favourite game in the series, and I want very little of it imbibed in future games.
Final Rating: 7.5/10
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This was a long undertaking, but I am honestly glad I did it. These are four very well done games, each among the top of the batch at what it does. Playing through them gives me a lot of hope for Metroid Dread - I think the ideal Metroid game is one that can have the controls and accessibility of Zero Mission, the combat and QoL of Samus Returns, the world design and atmosphere of Super, and the tension of Fusion, and honestly, Dread looks like it might just be that.
And even without considering Dread, playing through the stalwarts of a game style I enjoy so much was an enriching experience. If nothing else, it gave me at the very least three games I love a whole lot, so I would say this was an incredibly successful endeavour, and I'm excited to repeat this with the Prime Trilogy ahead of Prime 4... hopefully.
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