For personal reference more than anything else.

First time playing this game. Played on Switch through NSO. Normal Difficulty. 46% item collection rate.

Truthfully I had actually played a little of this before, I was really into it but didn't really get far (literally like 15 minutes at most) because I was emulating it (and I get worried about saves when emulating games) so when I got NSO I wanted to play it properly, only I got confused on what I actually played. I tried the original Metroid but there was a problem when the game looked very different from how I remembered it (bangin title screen music though) and then I realised that it wasn't the game I played. So I ended up coming back to this game in a web browser or something and it still felt wrong, it wasn't until I tried playing a little bit of Metroid Fusion on NSO that I came to realise that the first game I tried wasn't Zero Mission but instead Fusion. I did want to start off with this though as its a remake of the original Metroid (which from my short time trying it out I don't think I will be playing) and I've seen it get recommended a lot to people who are just starting off with this franchise (which I still kind of am).

But for real this game is so fucking good, It was a bit of a shock finding out just how much I got on with this game. The time flew by playing this and I'm partially sad its over but at the same time kind of excited because it means the time it will take me to want to play another one probably won't be too long.

Dread really helped out with my view of this game as well, as two of my biggest problems with Dread aren't a thing here, the length and how to use the various power ups. This game feels very short and sweet and it stays at a high consistent quality throughout (there is a section (or two) that does drop off for me though) which is great, it feels like a game that I'll want to come back to. Where using the power ups in Dread felt unnecessarily awkward they basically all feel so much more practical here and easier to pull off, the extra jumps are still kind of an issue for me though, although not as much. Also, I did find that having to press like three buttons really close together at times was a little strange (jumping and firing a missile).

As for the drops in quality though. I really didn't like the Mother Brain boss fight, I take issue with any game that tries to be difficult by way of overwhelming the player by throwing so much shit to deal with at them and this fight felt like it fell into that trap. This then gets followed up shortly afterwards by a stealth section (of sorts) which at times was really good and felt like a nice change of pace, it was quite ambitious and impressive I thought, but it didn't stay like that all the time. There were sections that just felt like you couldn't avoid getting seen and then you had to deal with a wild amount of enemies that are all faster than you and kill you incredibly easily. The game does make up for it though as once you get Samus's full suit you can turn the tables on them which was really fun and felt like a nice moment storywise.

As for the other boss fights, I wasn't too sure about most of them but I did enjoy them I think. Just a lot of aiming at a smallish spot on the boss and firing missiles which was a little annoying as the spots seemed really small but it did make it a lot more satisfying when I did hit them. I think I was more into how they looked as they were all distinct from one another and looked interesting. Speaking of enemies, most of them were fun to fight but I really didn't like the brains that would latch onto Samus, just frustrating trying to get them off and get away fast enough to freeze and kill them without them catching up and latching onto her again. Also, not really sure whether it can be considered an enemy or not but I really liked that barrel thing that you have to shoot at to get it to move and the moment when you're trying to escape the ship quickly as the countdown for the self-destruct is going off and there's just one in the way was genuinely hilarious and I was so into it that I wasn't even remotely mad.

As per usual with games like this, I had to consult a guide at times. I don't consider certain things that I could and or should do, I also don't really notice certain things, these really don't help with a game like this but I can't really help it, I recognise that its my fault and not the game's but I still can't act like it doesn't affect my enjoyment somewhat (not by much here though, especially as I didn't have to do it often). Something I do think was kind of on the game though was having areas hidden by acid or lava that wasn't actually there and faded away once Samus touched it, why would I consider going into the thing that hurts me and I've learnt from the game to avoid? It makes no sense to me whatsoever.

I always find it hard to talk about games like this because I did really enjoy it but I can't exactly describe it. As I've written a few of these now, I've come to realise that I tend to focus more on the negative aspects rather than the positive ones and I'm not particularly keen on that but at the same time I think I get it, its just easier to say that I didn't like something and explain why as opposed to saying what I liked and why. Like I enjoyed the gameplay a lot but I don't really know how to properly express that in away that isn't just what I just said or something like "I had fun playing this game". It might be something I can work on as I do more of these but I don't really know. No matter what though, I still thought that this was a very good game and I'm looking forward to playing even more from this series.