the original metroid 2 was a game about the mindless genocide of an entire planet, piece by piece. everything about it, intentional or otherwise, felt fit to purpose

the environments lack colour and distinguishing features, the metroid fights are messy and repetitive, the music can be just horrifying

it's not a fun game in the traditional sense, but it sells the themes of the game perfectly and the feelings it elicits are unlike any game i've ever played

it's a long, one way descent into the heart of a dying planet that becomes even more lonely and alien the deeper you go, with plenty of time to be left alone with your thoughts

i resent the idea that this or samus returns are replacements for it; there's a lot of games out there like those two, but none quite like metroid 2

AM2R feels reverant and respectful of the original in the sense that the map and structure and all that literal stuff have been lovingly recreated and modernised, but those very abstract, specific qualities metroid 2 has have been lost i think

but that aside, it's a very well designed, polished, professional and fun game that stands alongside the very best of the official games, and if i didn't know any better i'd probably mistake it for one

it understands on a very deep level what makes the later metroid games so fun and satisfying, but maybe not what made metroid 2 satisfying in its own way

basically what i'm trying to say is, they're both awesome, play both! (and maybe samus returns as well idk i haven't played it)

this is like top 3 nintendo and its not even by nintendo! OMG! the movement is so freeing, the dash and the screw attack make me (samus) feel in complete mastery of my domain. The dash is easier to use and better implemented here than it was in zero mission, and much better than in prime (it wasnt in prime) backtracking here isn't a problem because you could be across the map in 20 seconds. But there really is not much backtracking here at all. You COULD backtrack, but every area feels very separate and distinct. Once you're done with one, you go onto the next. All the times i was lost and decided to backtrack, every single locked door that i now had access to just led to missile upgrades or something, not much progression or whatever. Progression in this game goes like this: u go into an area, this area has a set amount of metroids. You kill them all, then an earthquake happens and it drains some lava so you can go there and go to the next area to kill the next area's metroids. On the one hand, the metroid killing objective always gives u some kind of direction, it feels cooler than just being there “to kill the space pirates” cus your goal being destroying an invasive species before it inevitably consumes every ecosystem in the galaxy is cold as fuck. On the other, it makes everything feel segmented and further disincentivizes backtracking. Which could be a plus? I mean, I really enjoyed this setup. It felt a little linear, I guess, but I liked it. I understand both sides but i'm leaning more towards cool. If you read my zero mission review you know how much I loved fighting the metroids in that game. Each one needing the specific method to be defeated and how relentless they were in both movement and numbers made them such fun enemies. In this, there's "evolved" metroids which.. yeah, took another approach which I didn't appreciate nearly as much. But hey, at least zero mission metroids are still in this game. Doesn't excuse the boring and monotonous bullet sponge evolved metroid fights in this. Oh well. In other news, the rest of the bosses in this game are beautiful. Gone are the giant stationary dudes with one weakness!!! these bosses take full advantage of your mobility, they don't just test your ability to measure how short of a jump you need to shoot your missile at their weak point, you gotta do other cool stuff too that I don't wanna spoil. The final boss? boom? u guys know what im talking about. this guy gets it. Now, I was really close to giving this a 5/5. And the hesitation is what took it down to a 4 and a half. I just thought you guys should know I considered it. I'm really excited to play super metroid next, because apparently that's the videogame to end all videogames. So far i've been very impressed with the metroid series. And to all my vampire the masquerade bloodline awaiters, I will finish that game too. Give me time! Im doing malkavian so it takes me 20 minutes to respond to each dialogue choice.

The most striking thing about AM2R is certainly the story behind it. There’s something uniquely compelling about a passion project 10 years in the making, tragically cut down before it’s prime that’s clearly resonated with a lot of people, including myself. The most striking thing about actually playing AM2R is just how damn polished it all feels. The pixel art is stunning, it runs like a dream, and the smoothness of the controls rivals even Zero Mission. The quality of the world design in particular really grabbed me, each area has such a distinct and well-conceived theme with some of the more creatives puzzles I’ve seen from this series. It’s borrowing the gated funnel structure of Metroid II, but the addition of a map (and notably, no map stations) makes exploration feel incredibly fulfilling and the most player-driven it’s been since… I dunno, Super? It’s clear the team working on this were incredibly devoted to making the best possible version of this game they could and I think they succeeded. I don’t play a ton of fan games myself, but the ones I have played have never been even close to this level. This is on par with any official Metroid release, and in some areas even surpasses them.

Where I’m less sold on Another Metroid 2 Remake is, funny enough, as a remake of Metroid II. Which is to be expected, honestly. I don’t think you actually can remake Metroid II without fundamentally ruining most of the things that make it interesting. The obscure graphics, the awkward music, the monotonous structure, the claustrophobic screen crunch, all that Gameboy jank was such an integral part of Metroid II’s deliberately uncomfortable atmosphere. Any additional layer of polish you add on top of it only serves to strip it of its identity. This isn’t to say AM2R doesn’t have an identity if it’s own—it has loads!—but it’s not the same identity, it’s not even in the same ballpark. Most of the time, I forgot I was even playing a remake of Metroid II at all.

Which sounds really negative but honestly I… don’t really care. Much like Zero Mission, what we have here is such a thrilling, enjoyable experience on its own that I’m more than willing to put asides any shortcomings it has as a recreation of a game that I’ve already played and still have full access to. Judged on its own merits, what we have here is a Metroid that feels great to control, offers a brilliantly thought-out and realized world, and adds in a wealth of new ideas I haven’t seen before. I can’t really ask for more than that. AM2R is a blast, and absolutely deserves a spot on the shelf with all the other Metroids—and not too far from the top of the pile either. This is the real deal.

Oh yeah and fuck Nintendo lmao

Pra começar, parabenizo o esforço monstruoso de fazer um jogo deste naipe como um amador que sabia que não ganharia um centavo por isso.

AM2R, vindo de Metroid Zero Mission, é um upgrade direto, no clássico mantra que costuma acompanhar as versões “II” de cada série: maior, melhor, mais ambicioso. A ambientação e os controles mais moderninhos (embora não tenha gostado de usar o míssil via “Toggle” e muito menos ainda dele via “Hold”) foram bem vindos, além dos efeitos especiais que o GBA nunca daria conta de renderizar. Foi nesse jogo que aprendi o shinespark, e, com ele, junto de um Space Jump que veio um pouco mais cedo e Super Bombs que revelam todos os segredos do mapa, acabei me divertindo bem mais do que esperava ao sair por aí tentando descobrir segredos - que pareciam menos óbvios que os de Zero Mission, acaso infeliz para cérebros de ervilha como eu.

Onde mais me conflito são nos titulares metroids: odiei todas as lutas com eles, a única que teria qualquer coragem de chamar de boa sendo a última. Ainda assim, me pergunto: deveria me divertir com os metroids? Minha missão era vir aqui dizimá-los, e são o topo da cadeia alimentar, jogando em casa - o que tenho é um trabalho sujo a completar. Com Samus segura dentro de seu traje, pisando em formiguinhas e explodindo morceguinhos,sempre me sentia em controle de qualquer situação. Isto é, até encontrar um metroid: ponto em que fazia o que podia pra me enfiar numa sarjeta e sapecá-lo de mísseis até morrer eu ou ele - por alguns momentos, me sentia a presa. Já com os bípedes era diferente: otimizei a caça e sabia descascá-los lentamente e metodicamente, o predador apex reduzido à besta burra diante do meu equipamento e coordenação. O que não perdôo são as lutas com os metroids “clássicos”, estes sim são uma puta duma merda irredimível e mal feita - ao menos é uma sessão bem curtinha. Desesperador; enigmático; frustrante; entediante - adjetivos que descrevem bem a situação em que Samus se encontra em SR338, portanto aceito a frustração que o jogo me impôs, e especialmente a reconheço como genuíno mecanismo de tensão e dissolução na luta final e na explosão da usina geotérmica, situações em que me senti sacando a vitória direto das presas da derrota - o jogo sabe, melhor que seu antecessor, ser surpreendentemente cinemático. No fim, não me diverti tanto quanto em ZM, porém encontrei um experiência mais rica do que o esperado. Avante ao SM.

I still feel that the hurtboxes for the Alpha and Gamma metroids should be slightly tweaked to be more forgiving. They still feel slightly more punishing than in the original 1991 version. Currently blasting the metroids with missiles can feel like trying to snipe an arbitrary game object with a bullet rather than impacting a metroid nucleus with splash damage.
The omega metroid nest is also teeming with enemies, which is weird to me. Especially since the final stretch towards the queen is barren similar to the original. The original Metroid II lurches in pace after area 3, and AM2R thankfully remedies this by heavily reworking the game past said point.
Overall a truly excellent remake that mostly does justice to the tone of the original, marred only slightly by metroid encounters that feel slightly finicky-er than their original incarnations. Ice Beam is rather hidden too tbh. Still found it on the second sweep though. Oh yeah AM2R also employs pixel-rotations. Absolutely disgusting.
Great game. I recommend.

AM2R is clearly a product of love for the series. It understands a lot of what makes great Metroids tick, and does such a good job that it stands among its official series entries with ease.

If SM stands out for its atmosphere, Fusion for its narrative, and Dread for its boss fights, AM2R stands out for its surprises. Some of those are meant to hit for dedicated series fans; obscure callbacks and specific allusions really tickle the mind and work to create new connections (that it can then surprisingly subvert). Many of them are just jaw-dropping "oh shit!" moments that pull the rug out from under you to put you in mix of delight and panic. I'd first played this game around its release, and I still found myself remembering many of this game's coolest inclusions simply because of how memorable they are.

It's not without fault - mainly, some of the fights against the later Metroid forms can be an absolute slog. Narrative elements are also pretty sparse, and the atmosphere is serviceable without being especially engrossing or memorable. But those qualms are holding it up to the standards of mainline series entries - something that AM2R thoroughly earns.

This is almost the perfect Metroid game, but it's let down a bit by being a Metroid 2 remake. Not because its varied, visually diverse areas, consolidated save and recharge points, and added boss fights feel like a departure from the original Metroid 2's mood, but more because its inherited central structure of a handful of mini-boss fights repeated dozens of times is a flawed foundation for a game that isn't committed to sacrificing everything in the name of atmosphere like the original. It's not all inherited problems though, as I think this game also shoots itself in the foot a bit by expanding the number of Metroid fights for no good reason. It also succeeds in adding a bit more depth to the battles, through a mixture of varied and evolving movesets and environmental hazards, but on some level I kind of think that's a net negative. Making the fights longer and more involved only kind of worsens the reality of having to redo the same 4 fights over 50 times.

I will say, I think this is pretty structurally perfect in terms of having open space for exploration while maintaining a sense of linearity. It succeeds in bridging the linear Metroid 2 with the controlled exploration that one expects from the Metroid series pretty much perfectly by creating medium sized semi-open zones with a hard linear path to progress into different zones. It definitely has the best controls of any Metroid I've played thus far, and also the most inventive puzzle and level ideas.

Is there an AM2RR?

How's this better than most of Nintendo's
efforts in the franchise? More fluid and
a joy to play, boss fights that crescendo,
and gorgeous visions of the alien
landscape. Even Samus' suit design shows
more charm than Zero Mission or Fusion.
Dread remains my favorite, although
AM2R makes a convincing stand.

The best feeling Metroid I've played so far, with also featuring some great bosses (the unique fights). Calling this fangame "impressive" leaves it short, but I'm not rating it as high as Super just by the fact that this is still a Metroid 2 remake. Inherently the story, repeat bosses (even more here actually), and level progression are still untouched from the original, so that brings it down a little. But if you enjoyed Zero Mission, you'll probably like AM2R even more, at least the gameplay side of it.

The biggest theme I could recognize in Metroid 2 is destruction. We take control of Samus on a mission to exterminate every single Metroid on planet SR388. The deeper you venture into the cavernous depths of Metroid 2, the lonelier it becomes. This feeling of isolation, pain and fear is only true to this fan-remake of the original Metroid 2, the latter of which is only slightly less grating than Metroid on the NES. It's impressive how such a mediocre game like Metroid 2 can be marginally improved by the passion and effort of fans.

As shown in the first few sentences of this review, I struggle even calling Another Metroid 2 Remake by its name and instead refer to it as Metroid 2. The reason for which is simple: This is the definitive and most refined version of Metroid 2 that has been released. It feels extremely familiar yet fresh to me, as someone who played Metroid: Zero Mission prior to this one. The controls, UI and movement are not unlike Zero Mission's, albeit with improvements to the menu, map and overall control of Samus.

The world is menacing and dark, getting lonelier and scarier the deeper you descend into SR388. All of this thanks to the amazing work of Milton Guasti, who somehow took a mediocre game and transformed it into something truly enjoyable. Not much to say other than hats off to Milton Guasti once again, who by sheer passion and dedication, crafted the definitive way to experience Metroid 2 that will likely never be topped and stands amongst the best installments of the franchise, without even being official.

THIS

this is by far, and i mean it, my favorite metorid game of all time

this game is a true love letter to the franchise, i wish it had been my first experience with metroid II, since the game is usually underappreciated or buried under the reimagination that samus returns brings

this is the more faithful remake, take that as you will, but the original message that the game is supposed to convey is here, it's all here, it adds tremendously to the metroid series without making too many non-canon decisions, this is the metroid II: return of samus that you're looking for, play this game

it made me laugh, it made me scream in terror and it made me cry, it's a very full game with a lot of care put into it

nintendo sucks for taking all of their fan projects down, especially with how well crafted this one is, how customizable it is, how INSANELY GOOD it is

i hope nintendo takes notes and lets people create more of these, more love letters to their games, or even just outright hiring these people who would passionately work on their new installments

godspeed, milton guasti, i'm dying to play ori 2

-z

Another Metroid 2 Remake is a prime example of how many skilled fan developers exist. Milton Guasti proficiently crafted one of the best — if not the best — remakes and fan games in existence.

AM2R is an expanded and faithful 16-bit remake of “Metroid II: Return of Samus”, technically based on Metroid: Zero Mission and amazes with fresh and new ideas, areas, puzzles, bosses, quick travel and a diary to register levels and enemies automatically, so you can always take a look for more lore details.

Its colorful and beautiful 2D pixel retro look is mesmerizing and its sound design is as atmospheric and metroid-ish as it can be, but the best part of this remake is its thoughtful level design: nothing feels unfair, the item and enemy placements are on point and its level design teaches you how to make use of your abilities.

Without a doubt, AM2R is the best way to experience Metroid 2.