A remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus
Metroid: Samus Returns is a remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus. It uses a 3D graphic style with a side view camera that zooms in and changes for cutscenes. It also has new mechanics, items, and abilities. "Brave the hostile terrain of an alien planet teeming with vicious life forms as legendary bounty hunter Samus Aran. Her mission? Terminate the Metroid menace in this masterful reimagining of her 1991 Game Boy adventure. Samus Aran’s arsenal has been enhanced with new moves and abilities that are sure to help her face the deadly surprises that await. This intense, side-scrolling action platformer is a great entry point into the Metroid franchise and perfect for returning fans as well, and it’s available only on the Nintendo 3DS family of systems."
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Its okay
Samus Returns misunderstands what Metroid 2 is on a fundamental level and tries to fix problems that didn’t exist in the original, resulting in a game where Samus swashbuckles through xenocide in heavily gamified tunnels.
From a gameplay standpoint it's a fine update to Metroid 2, but feels slower and clumsier than Fusion or Zero Mission did. Especially with the addition of Aeon Abilities that adds what feels like another unnecessary resource into the game and the melee counter attack, which halts Samus in place while using it and devolves a lot of the combat into waiting on enemies to do their very obviously telegraphed attack that allows you to insta-kill them and then your encounters with anything that isn't a boss becomes robotic and boring.
I'm mixed on the presentation. On one hand, I appreciate the soundtrack being reasonably faithful to the original; really atmospheric and unsettling tracks. But then it throws in random remixes from other game like Ridley's lair and Red-soil Brinstar and man. Remember when Ridley's lair was a cool track hyping up your approach to Ridley, it got brought back in Prime 1 as a nice simple callback, and here it's been reduced to "Fire level music". Jesus.
The backgrounds on their own are nice looking, but they really undercut the tension of Metroid 2 because of how brightly lit and visibly teeming with life they are. Metroid 2 is one of the mainstream Nintendo games with THE most rancid vibes ever and it feels off that a remake of it sticks in a giant fungus forest for no reason.
Speaking undercutting the tension, remember how in Metroid 2, it's just a constant decent deeper and deeper into a cave system, a linear trek downwards to a point where you can't help but think "wow I am really deep underground at this point, when the hell am I ever going to see the surface again?" Well, they stuck teleport stations in so you can just zap back to the surface whenever it's convenient to you. Yay.
And y'know, Metroid 2 is not a glorious game. You're almost basically doing a villain's dirty work by going to a planet to wipe out all of a species by some vague metric of them being "too capable of being used as bioweapons". And it felt very purposeful that killing a Metroid in the original game hardly ever felt gratifying. And that hits especially hard in a post-Fusion world where we see the consequences of Samus' actions, cause it turns out playing god and killing an entire species because they're too inconvenient isn't a very good idea because it can fuck the ecosystem up to a catastrophic degree. So it then feels RIDICULOUSLY tone deaf for Samus Returns here to have all these glory kill cutscenes against these things like it's trying to sell us on how cool Samus' job is.
And as if that wasn't enough, it completely butchers the ending. Like, Metroid 2's ending stands out because pretty much every other Metroid game ends on some big, climactic setpiece, escape sequence or not. Metroid 2 instead has you quietly take the baby Metroid back to the surface, in an almost somber and reflective manner. You just murdered this species out of existence when it's just an animal all the same as anything else. Is what you just did right? Or does it just make you as much a cold killer as the ones supposedly posing to use Metroids as weapons?
That's too lame for us gamers, gotta take the baby Metroid around the world to go 100% the game and then fight a boss because we need a big red arrow pointing at the REAL bad guy in this situation. Bllllluuuuuuuugh.
I like this game in the end, it's not like my mountain of problems with it makes it unplayable. But look at this game and all the missed potential and feel very :/
I'm mixed on the presentation. On one hand, I appreciate the soundtrack being reasonably faithful to the original; really atmospheric and unsettling tracks. But then it throws in random remixes from other game like Ridley's lair and Red-soil Brinstar and man. Remember when Ridley's lair was a cool track hyping up your approach to Ridley, it got brought back in Prime 1 as a nice simple callback, and here it's been reduced to "Fire level music". Jesus.
The backgrounds on their own are nice looking, but they really undercut the tension of Metroid 2 because of how brightly lit and visibly teeming with life they are. Metroid 2 is one of the mainstream Nintendo games with THE most rancid vibes ever and it feels off that a remake of it sticks in a giant fungus forest for no reason.
Speaking undercutting the tension, remember how in Metroid 2, it's just a constant decent deeper and deeper into a cave system, a linear trek downwards to a point where you can't help but think "wow I am really deep underground at this point, when the hell am I ever going to see the surface again?" Well, they stuck teleport stations in so you can just zap back to the surface whenever it's convenient to you. Yay.
And y'know, Metroid 2 is not a glorious game. You're almost basically doing a villain's dirty work by going to a planet to wipe out all of a species by some vague metric of them being "too capable of being used as bioweapons". And it felt very purposeful that killing a Metroid in the original game hardly ever felt gratifying. And that hits especially hard in a post-Fusion world where we see the consequences of Samus' actions, cause it turns out playing god and killing an entire species because they're too inconvenient isn't a very good idea because it can fuck the ecosystem up to a catastrophic degree. So it then feels RIDICULOUSLY tone deaf for Samus Returns here to have all these glory kill cutscenes against these things like it's trying to sell us on how cool Samus' job is.
And as if that wasn't enough, it completely butchers the ending. Like, Metroid 2's ending stands out because pretty much every other Metroid game ends on some big, climactic setpiece, escape sequence or not. Metroid 2 instead has you quietly take the baby Metroid back to the surface, in an almost somber and reflective manner. You just murdered this species out of existence when it's just an animal all the same as anything else. Is what you just did right? Or does it just make you as much a cold killer as the ones supposedly posing to use Metroids as weapons?
That's too lame for us gamers, gotta take the baby Metroid around the world to go 100% the game and then fight a boss because we need a big red arrow pointing at the REAL bad guy in this situation. Bllllluuuuuuuugh.
I like this game in the end, it's not like my mountain of problems with it makes it unplayable. But look at this game and all the missed potential and feel very :/
Finally went back for the 100% before Metroid Dread. Pretty much as beautiful and engaging as I remember it, and the added difficulty with Hard mode this run was much needed. Still, the “endgame” for hopeful 100%-ers—rounding up all the items that were previously locked behind walls that are now open—is a drag and highlights my main problem with most games in the series: why are there this many expansions to find and just WHEN am I gonna need all these damn missiles anyway???
Next time I’ll go for Fusion mode.
Next time I’ll go for Fusion mode.
Finally went back for the 100% before Metroid Dread. Pretty much as beautiful and engaging as I remember it, and the added difficulty with Hard mode this run was much needed. Still, the “endgame” for hopeful 100%-ers—rounding up all the items that were previously locked behind walls that are now open—is a drag and highlights my main problem with most games in the series: why are there this many expansions to find and just WHEN am I gonna need all these damn missiles anyway???
Next time I’ll go for Fusion mode.
Next time I’ll go for Fusion mode.
Congratulations, Samus Returns. You're the first 3DS game to ever give me hand cramps.
The atmosphere is on point, and the soundtrack is great, but that's where the stringless positives end. It's just too painful trying to play the game with a circle pad. The lack of shinespark especially holds back both movement and puzzles. I know it's hilarious to suggest, but I think we might need yet Another Metroid 2 Remake for the game to reach its full potential. This time with better controls, less bosses, better pacing, shinespark included and some way for the baby metroid to not unlock half the game's collectibles at the 11th hour.
I did have fun overall, but I'm never going to replay it and I'm not going to recommend it or any other version of Metroid 2 to anyone.
The atmosphere is on point, and the soundtrack is great, but that's where the stringless positives end. It's just too painful trying to play the game with a circle pad. The lack of shinespark especially holds back both movement and puzzles. I know it's hilarious to suggest, but I think we might need yet Another Metroid 2 Remake for the game to reach its full potential. This time with better controls, less bosses, better pacing, shinespark included and some way for the baby metroid to not unlock half the game's collectibles at the 11th hour.
I did have fun overall, but I'm never going to replay it and I'm not going to recommend it or any other version of Metroid 2 to anyone.