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LTTP LTTP: Metroid Samus Returns. What's the concensus of this game?

(Late to the party)
Twinsen

Twinsen

Moblin
So I have been playing Samus Returns ever since a week in preparation to Metroid Dread. I had actually bought it at launch but for some reason I quit everytime soon after I started. I think I was just done with the 3DS but going through it now has kind of rekindled my love for the handheld.

Anyway. Game is really dope so far. Mercury Steam seems to really like their Metroid games difficult I have to believe the impressions for Metroid Dread. What's quickly noticable with Samus Returns as well is that you have to be a lot more careful traveling through the levels. Enemies deal more damage and there aren't too many E health tanks till later in the game.

But at its core the game IS just a metroid 2 so there's only so much you can do with it. From that standpoint the game feels a lot more basic than the other games. Killing all the metroid bosses is a repetition you don't find in the other games and it's a love or hate thing. Personally I like it because they being as challenging as they are feels good when you get the pattern down. Love it when a new one is introduced and is hard at the beginning but ends up a cakewalk in the end.

The environments look very repetitive though which is perhaps something that could become exhausting? For some players. Not sure if that's the right word. 2d metroid always feels like a claustrophopic experience but for some reason it is a bit worse in this game I can't explain it.

I am close to the end with only 4 Metroids left to kill and overall I really like this game and think it's on par with other metroid games. But what is the concensus for this game with Famiboard? How many have actually played the game?
 
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It’s a fantastic game and remake, only held back a bit by its roots as a GameBoy game.

The Metroid fights do get repetitive though.
 
I don't really think there is one. A lot of people say it's decent, a lot of Metroid II fans think it's missing the atmosphere of the original. I wish it wasn't made for 3DS.
 
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I thought it was a solid game. But for me, it was really uncomfortable to play on the 3DS. The game itself is a good effort from MercurySteam and is very much worth playing, but I just felt like it was a bit held back a bit by the 3DS.
 
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It’s a good game but not a great one. It’s held back by being a remake of a game with a fundamentally flawed design (I love OG Metroid II, but it’s true) and by being on 3DS. I think people will look back on it more favorably now since it was the stepping stone that got us to the phenomenal Dread.
 
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It's a very good remake of an ultimately flawed game that was held back by the constraints of the hardware it was on and the game it was adhering to. Worth playing, but Dread was what Mercury Steam had been building towards all along, very clearly.
 
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I enjoyed it a lot, it was actually my first 2D Metroid, though I was familiar with the series already via Prime and just general internet culture. It has some really great and memorable bosses, Diggernaught is amongst the best in the series. It definitely does show signs of being held back by the source material and hardware it’s on, but it’s still the definitive way to play the story of Metroid II.

I know the surprise appearance of Ridley as the final boss is contentious for some, but I ultimately really liked it, since the fight itself was great and it gives some good moments for the Samus/baby Metroid dynamic.
 
Good game and remake held back mostly by being possibly overly faithful to a GB game and having mechanics that hadn’t quite gotten fully perfected (compare the melee counter in SR to the one in Dread.)
 
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I like it a lot. You can tell it's a more experimental remake and the studio's first attempt at a 2D Metroid game, but I think they did a great job. The game is also a bit limited by keeping the original's general structure, but it's understandable.

After I finished it, I was really hoping for MercurySteam to get a crack at Metroid 5. I'm really glad that ended up happening.
 
I must protest this slanderous scapegoating of Return of Samus for holding back Samus Returns when the remake did nothing with the most interesting parts of the Game Boy original.
 
Sheldon said:
I must protest this slanderous scapegoating of Return of Samus for holding back Samus Returns when the remake did nothing with the most interesting parts of the Game Boy original.
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When I finally finished Metroid II for the first time I thought the ending was so sweet and touching. Then in the remake uh... well I guess I get why they did it 😂
 
Great game, was my second favorite 2D Metroid until Dread (which is kinda just a strictly better Returns in a lot of ways). It did what I had honestly considered impossible by making Metroid combat consistently fun, which is something that Dread improves on, and the level design is pretty solid considering the limitations of making a remake of Metroid 2

I'd actually argue though that having to make a remake of Metroid 2 is why Mercury Steam managed to improve Metroid combat so much. With so many Metroid fights they were practically obligated to do something to make them more interesting.
 
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Brock Reiher said:
When I finally finished Metroid II for the first time I thought the ending was so sweet and touching. Then in the remake uh... well I guess I get why they did it 😂
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I mean, yeah, George Lucas syndrome and all, but the original's ugly, ugly combat is also something no one would do today - or probably would have done even back then if they had known any better. Many of the intriguing elements of Return of Samus are accidents, so it's understandable why developers would want to correct them.
 
I don't think there is much of a consensus, in part also because AM2R came out like a year before and was a very different take on a Metroid 2 remake. It's difficult to forget that fans made a rather faithful "Zero Mission"-ization of Metroid 2 and then Nintendo pulled the plug and sold us the game that would serve as a jump off point for Metroid Dread.

As for Samus Returns itself, I played it twice to completion and enjoyed it both times. It's a good game which could have been even better. To some degree it's true that its two worst aspects (the linearity and the lack of boss variety) it owes directly to the original. However, it already strays from Metroid 2 in so many crucial ways that it makes one wonder - why stop there?
 
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The addition at the end of Samus Returns is actively a good change to the story, not even close to "George Lucas syndrome". It helps add cohesion to the whole plot through the 2D and 3D games alike.
 
Sheldon said:
I mean, yeah, George Lucas syndrome and all, but the original's ugly, ugly combat is also something no one would do today - or probably would have done even back then if they had known any better. Many of the intriguing elements of Return of Samus are accidents, so it's understandable why developers would want to correct them.
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Oh, I think I read your post as the opposite. I like the metroid fights better in Metroid II, they're less annoying.

Phantom Thief said:
The addition at the end of Samus Returns is actively a good change to the story, not even close to "George Lucas syndrome". It helps add cohesion to the whole plot through the 2D and 3D games alike.
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I'm just gonna say there's a reason AM2R knew not to do that
 
Brock Reiher said:
I'm just gonna say there's a reason AM2R knew not to do that
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AM2R knew not to do that because it was going for a more literal interpretation of the original story as understood by fans. And that's fine, clearly that works well for a lot of people. But it is not in any way inherently superior to SR's approach, particularly when that approach
canonizes the Prime games, helps clarify and tie together Super's intro with the previous 2D games, and also gave us one of the best boss fights in the series, while also rehabilitating Samus' character and doing some cool ass storytelling showing her bond with the baby Metroid

Again, it's okay to prefer one approach over the other. If you just wanted a modernized take on the original, AM2R exists. That does not inherently make SR's additions inferior, especially with all the stuff they bring to the table.
 
Phantom Thief said:
AM2R knew not to do that because it was going for a more literal interpretation of the original story as understood by fans. And that's fine, clearly that works well for a lot of people. But it is not in any way inherently superior to SR's approach, particularly when that approach
canonizes the Prime games, helps clarify and tie together Super's intro with the previous 2D games, and also gave us one of the best boss fights in the series, while also rehabilitating Samus' character and doing some cool ass storytelling showing her bond with the baby Metroid

Again, it's okay to prefer one approach over the other. If you just wanted a modernized take on the original, AM2R exists. That does not inherently make SR's additions inferior, especially with all the stuff they bring to the table.
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I don't particularly like either, but it does ruin a very sweet and somber ending I think. I'm not sure it really does what your spoiler suggests either, those two series aren't really compatible for reasons bigger lore heads than me can go into.
 
Brock Reiher said:
I don't particularly like either, but it does ruin a very sweet and somber ending I think. I'm not sure it really does what your spoiler suggests either, those two series aren't really compatible for reasons bigger lore heads than me can go into.
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Yeah, like I said, I get why fans prefer the somber nature of the original ending. And I am glad AM2R modernizes it faithfully! But my only point is that unlike the George Lucas fuckery, SR's changes are not negative, and actively make good changes. it's possible for people to prefer one direction without implying the second one is inherently inferior or shit, and a lot of Metroid fans still can't draw that distinction.
 
Phantom Thief said:
Yeah, like I said, I get why fans prefer the somber nature of the original ending. And I am glad AM2R modernizes it faithfully! But my only point is that unlike the George Lucas fuckery, SR's changes are not negative, and actively make good changes. it's possible for people to prefer one direction without implying the second one is inherently inferior or shit, and a lot of Metroid fans still can't draw that distinction.
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I don't think it's a good change, but I get why they did it especially after playing Dread.
 
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Brock Reiher said:
Oh, I think I read your post as the opposite. I like the metroid fights better in Metroid II, they're less annoying.


I'm just gonna say there's a reason AM2R knew not to do that
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No, I think you read it correctly. I just go further than you.

The ending of the remake compared to the original was a creator getting the chance to retro-actively tie a prequel more closely to the sequel and making it worse, ergo George Lucas syndrome.

But on top of that I also like more obviously bad things about the original. Like the combat. It's objectively atrocious. But it sort of works with the atmosphere Return of Samus creates. As Samus maybe I don't want to be able to elegantly avoid hits, maybe I don't feel like skillfully picking openings in the enemies defense, maybe I don't want it to seem like I'm in control. Alone, stranded on a hostile planet, with only an alien suit between me and certain death, it's okay if I'm getting stuck on rocks, tossed around by a Metroid, constantly taking damage, and my only strategy is frantically letting loose every bit of firepower I have into the unknown and hoping my armor holds up long enough. It fits the game.
 
It's a great game, but the lowest of great 2D Metroids (which excludes OG I and II, for those are not great 2D Metroids)

Haven't had the pleasure of playing Dread yet, but before that one the definitive power rankings were ZM > Super = Fusion > SR. But it's still extremely rad despite being last on my list. Just love that the game is a Metroid genocide mission. The boss battles are excellent too, as is the counter move

Man I can't wait until I can finally play Dread. The wait is killing me!
 
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It's not my favorite Metroid, but it's a great return (lol) to the series. I don't think Dread would play as amazing is without Samus Returns.
 
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It’s just a good game. It’s fun to play, the combat is improved (yes even with the still melee) the boss fights are great, and I like sweeping it for 100%

It’s biggest problems imo are it’s structure (which is just a Metroid 2 problem anyway) and it lacks environmental cohesion and thus isn’t as memorable. Also the OST outside of remixes.
 
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I rank it towards the bottom of the Metroid series (below Super, Fusion, Zero Mission, Dread, and all three Prime games, but above the original NES game, Return of Samus, and Other M). I didn't like the structure as much as other Metroid games (staying in one area until you've cleared out all the Metroids, then moving on completely to the next one), and the Metroid fights can get repetitive. It's still a good game despite that, though.
 
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It was a very important return to form for the Metroid series, which had suffered a string of really bad games.

On the other hand, as someone who's first ever Metroid game was Metroid II on the Game Boy, it didn't feel like Metroid II at all. Didn't have the atmosphere, the difficulty, or even the same feeling of level design.

As for gameplay, it was pretty good, but every enemy instantly doing a counterable move made the combat really repetitive. The backgrounds were pretty plain which made the areas unmemorable.

But it played well and that's what mattered. Still, the leap MercurySteam made between this game and Dread was shocking. Dread isn't a level above M2, it's multiple levels above. I really didn't think they had it in them. So happy to be wrong.
 
It’s OK

Jk

It’s

“Wouldn’t our lives all have been way better had we gotten more games like this over the past two decades?”

I think that’s the concensus
 
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I think it’s a great update of the original and I don’t quite see it as held back by the GB original like many seem to. It’s quite different in many ways.

However, that game destroyed my hands. I hope it’ll get a Switch remaster so it’ll not only look and run better, but also let me enjoy it without feeling pain from playing a game like that on the 3DS.
 
I have some nitpicks about Samus Returns, its extended length (mostly due to the stationary melee counter and small screen), the control bottleneck, the questionable Ridley fight (it was still very fun), and lack of cohesion in the world, but ultimately the game is a blast! We needed a new, great 2D Metroid game after such a long gap and the lessons Mercury Steam learned making it clearly helped make Metroid Dread a masterpiece.

Super > Dread > Samus Returns > Zero Mission > Fusion > II > original imo. All awesome games well worth playing.
 
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I don't think Samus Returns is a great game, and I'm firmly on the side of it killing the atmosphere of the original. It's pretty fun, though. I wasn't much of a fan of Mercury Steam, but they really outdid themselves with Dread.
 
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It will always have a soft spot in my heart for being the game that brought 2D Metroid back, but playing Dread has shown me how limited it is by the 3DS itself. It's not just the 30fps cap, but the overall speed of the game and how samey its environments are.
 
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It was very alright, and right now it feels like it was the necessary middle step to nail Dread down. A lot of the things that make Dread amazing are basically refinements on concepts and gameplay beats SR introduced.
 
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Structurally a little quirky, and a little harder than I would have liked at times, but I enjoyed my time with it. Most of the issues I have with it stem from it being Metroid 2, which I ranked near the bottom of my Metroid tier list. Still worth playing though if you have access to it.
 
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I finished the game since my last post. The last part with the bosses was really great. MercurySteam does bosses well that's something they definitely got right from the get go. Makes me wanna pick up their castlevania game heh.

I dont think this is bottom tier metroid. I appreciate this game a lot. I'm gonna sound blasphemous as I know how well regarded it is but I think super metroid has been surpassed by a lot that came after simply from the technical capabilities of later hardware. I watched a longplay to refresh my memory of super metroid and it's definitely a special game for its time but when I played it on WII U for the first time I thought it was alright. That was the feeling I got going through it. Samus Returns and actually every 2d game that came after SM is at least on par if only because of how much better they control. The bosses are really awkward in SM imo.


Yzz said:
I hope your fingers are flexible lol. The control layout will push your limits.
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Miraj said:
I think it’s a great update of the original and I don’t quite see it as held back by the GB original like many seem to. It’s quite different in many ways.

However, that game destroyed my hands. I hope it’ll get a Switch remaster so it’ll not only look and run better, but also let me enjoy it without feeling pain from playing a game like that on the 3DS.
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I had that with the last 2 bosses only lol. Was no problem overall. I thinl it was because I sat straight behind the desk.

No issues thankfully!
 
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It's worth playing as a one and done. I think most people will have a harder time playing Samus Returns after experiencing Dread's QoL changes.
 
Violette said:
It's worth playing as a one and done. I think most people will have a harder time playing Samus Returns after experiencing Dread's QoL changes.
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That’s what I thought as well. It was a good game, but I don’t feel any incentive to go through it again, whereas I’m not even finished with Dread and I already see myself loading up a new game right after.
 
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Miraj said:
I think it’s a great update of the original and I don’t quite see it as held back by the GB original like many seem to. It’s quite different in many ways.

However, that game destroyed my hands. I hope it’ll get a Switch remaster so it’ll not only look and run better, but also let me enjoy it without feeling pain from playing a game like that on the 3DS.
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If you have a decent PC and dont mind setting up citra. It looks and plays great on there. And you can use any controller you want
 
Heron said:
But it played well and that's what mattered. Still, the leap MercurySteam made between this game and Dread was shocking. Dread isn't a level above M2, it's multiple levels above. I really didn't think they had it in them. So happy to be wrong.
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This makes me really excited!
lemonfresh said:
If you have a decent PC and dont mind setting up citra. It looks and plays great on there. And you can use any controller you want
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Isn't the game much more intuitive because of the touch screen use? Changing beams and rockets doesn't sound practical on a pc.
 
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I really enjoyed this game and I am glad I played it before Metroid Dread because certain concepts started there that are now standard with Dread - Melee Counter for example.
 
I loved it. It was the game that finally got me into 2D Metroid games.

Hopefully we get it in some form on the Switch down the road.
 
Loved it beat it on all difficulity modes even the amiibo locked one. That final boss dang..... but yh i prefered it over am2r. Was such a amazing snappy game. And the fast paced gameplay was lit. Dread improved upon that insanely.

I get the many metroid boss battle complaint but it's mostly because it's metroid 2 that game has alot of repetition by design with the metroids because of the story and design. Atleast they stayed true to it well 🤷‍♂️

But yep Mercury Steam proved themselves to be a very capeable developer with some good direcrtion. Crazy to think they worked on both castlevania and metroid now. I personally loved the LoS franchise but yh i can see why ppl had massive concerns when they saw them work on metroid.
 
It was good but flawed.
Shout out for some of the boos fights which are very cool.
Overall a return to form for the franchise.
 
It was a good game, but it had a few flaws that prevented it from being great. Over-reliance on the melee counter meant that there's no real point in shooting anything until you have endgame equipment because the enemies have too much health. There was a lack of enemy variety. I did like how the Metroids varied slightly between encounters so you weren't playing the exact same boss multiple times. The music was too ambient; and thus forgettable. It also sounded too much like Metroid Prime and didn't have it's own identity.

The bosses were mostly very fun and well designed, and I liked the new ones. The controls were successfully modernised and I enjoyed all the control and moveset additions, especially the spiderball/power bomb combo. That being said Dread improves on it in virtually every way.
 
Twinsen said:
I finished the game since my last post. The last part with the bosses was really great. MercurySteam does bosses well that's something they definitely got right from the get go. Makes me wanna pick up their castlevania game heh.

I dont think this is bottom tier metroid. I appreciate this game a lot. I'm gonna sound blasphemous as I know how well regarded it is but I think super metroid has been surpassed by a lot that came after simply from the technical capabilities of later hardware. I watched a longplay to refresh my memory of super metroid and it's definitely a special game for its time but when I played it on WII U for the first time I thought it was alright. That was the feeling I got going through it. Samus Returns and actually every 2d game that came after SM is at least on par if only because of how much better they control. The bosses are really awkward in SM imo.




I had that with the last 2 bosses only lol. Was no problem overall. I thinl it was because I sat straight behind the desk.

No issues thankfully!
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Yeah that Ridley fight broke me. Almost literally! My hands hurt even worse than when I played Kid Icarus 😆
 
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The fight against Ridley is the best in the whole franchise. The animations are very cool and the controls are good.

It's only held back by staying true to its roots (short GB game). It's a solid 7/10, but way below Dread.

30fps hurts the eyes and the 3DS cramped controls doesn't help. I think it would profit from a remaster on Switch.
 
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