Actually, Return of Samus is the best out of the 3 well-known ways to experience the darkest and most genocidal chapter in Samus' life. It's old, I get it, but it uses the Game Boy's limitations to create atmosphere and tension, and that's what this series is best known for. It deviated itself from the formula stablished by the first game, but somehow captures the same feelings of isolation, visceral horror and bittersweet adventure. The ending has to be one of the most impactful and groundbreaking moments in all of gaming, specially in how it tackled one of the hottest topics of debate this medium has sparked, violence in video games, as far back as 1991.

Decided to play this after playing Metroid NES on the NSO service and used a map, and I have to say, it's a major improvement over the original! You can aim downwards now, jump in morph ball without needing to bomb jump, crouch, and have a slew of new handy abilities in this game to traverse the world such as the Spider Ball and the introduction of the Space Jump.

The game is fairly repetitive with mostly easy bosses (other than the troublesome Zeta and Omega Metroids), but the final boss is far better designed than in Metroid NES. I actually had a lot of fun figuring out its pattern on how to stun it and drop bombs in its gut, and the lead up to it with the Metroids guarding it was also well done.

The game is fairly linear which is a good design choice after Metroid NES was insanely labyrinthian and given this was also a handheld game to begin with. Looking up a map will help you get most of the missiles and health upgrades you need and to avoid getting stuck though, even if it's not nearly as easy to get lost as the original game is, and I recommend playing the game with that rather than without.

While this game is even more visually bland/samey than Metroid NES's locales (even if that game also looked like a lot of the same), the atmosphere is a lot better in terms of setting a more dreary tone and the adventure theme is pretty nice for a GB title.

I played this on the NSO service and used the Gameboy Color option for this game which made it look a lot nicer, giving all of the walls and such a nice blue color and Samus a contrasting orange/red that fit her well. I would've gotten more annoyed at the tedium of the scenery if I was forced to look at the game in pure black and white or pure green/black so I'm very thankful that was an option.

While still not an outstanding game, it's a major improvement over the flawed original Metroid, and I can see how this game set up a lot of the foundation that Super Metroid went on to polish to a shine to make one of the best Metroidvanias ever that captured the minds and hearts of many players. Definitely play this with a map if you plan to at all though, it helps a lot in making the game more fun.

With this, I've officially beaten every official iteration of the 2D Metroid mainline games, remakes and all. Now I'll turn my attention more toward the appealing Metroid Zero Mission and Super Metroid hacks that this passionate creative fanbase has made to stave off my Metroid craving, at least until we hopefully get another 2D Metroid title in 2 years or so.

Total playtime (including game overs/rewinds according to my Switch Playtime): Roughly 4 hours

Total playtime from in-game file counter: 2 hours, 23 minutes.

See you next mission!

What the hell guys? This game is a masterpiece. A giant leap from its predecessor, introducing almost all skills and items (in 1991!?!?) that the franchise has ever seen and utilizing them in ways that all sequels have not even come close. (The vertical gameplay with space jump and spider ball is just brillant)

They should have called this game „Metroid: Annihilation“. The main plot is as badass as anything I have ever played. Miss Aran travels to the home planet of the Metroids with only one goal: To eridicate every last one of them before the Space pirates can get them. The main objective to actually hunt down all metroids is extremely motivating and delivers great exploration opportunities and encounters with many suprising secrets and clever traps.

Since you have to scan every corner of SR388 to eliminate every last one of the evil brains or whatever the metroids actually are (their various and challenging evolutionary states are both fascinating and horrifying) , I automatically found every uprade which was very rewarding. The map and general presentation is beautiful and feels very authentic and mysterious.

The late game or let’s say Samus' final rampage completely changes the pace of the adventure and really lets you show off all the weapons and skills you have gained on your journey.

The plot twist at the end made me tear up and I will boldly claim that Moon Studios have been paying a huge homage to this narrative in "Ori and the Blind Forest".

It's the perfect Gameboy game. Anybody who does not believe me, please turn on your switch, print out the map and let the great space genocide begin!

Technically cheated by playing this on GBC emulation and with a map but fuck do I care. Metroid II: Return of Samus still successfully scared the shit outta me.

A lot of what I have to say has been said already by the top dogs of Backloggd.com so I'll keep it straightforward. By far the best thing about Metroid II is the well-crafted, incredibly creepy atmosphere of SR388 that is backed by not just its uncanny sound design and music, but also its monotone, dull environmental design. An entire planet where everything looks just about the same with long, acid pool corridors and towering pits that blend together so well, the player barely knows where they are half the time, creating the illusion of entrapment. Metroids that are disturbing in design (except the Zeta Metroids which look more cool than creepy) which also emit some of the most haunting and chilling sounds when hit, almost as if it were a wail of pain as you mercilessly tear it to shreds with your missiles.

All of which culminates in a final act where immediately after a grueling gauntlet of 3 Omega Metroids with minimal resources, the environment suddenly shifts to a bone-chilling rollercoaster ride where the tension rises tenfold as the Metroid counter suddenly spikes, allowing a looming sense of dread to drip slowly into the player's mind as they struggle against the unexpected onslaught of Metroids. But when all is said and done, Samus, whose journey has been hallmarked and can essentially be written off as federation-mandated genocide, has a rare moment of compassion as it spares a singular, child Metroid as the terrifying shrieks of the final phase die out to be replaced with a melancholic, bittersweet tune that compared to everything the player has experienced beforehand, is relieving and somewhat... calming, yet does not completely brush off Samus' insufficiently justified actions of murder. It's a beautiful game.

But as much as it is a well designed game thematically, just like God of War, in practicality there are a lot of flaws present within Return of Samus.

Despite all its positives Metroid II still suffers from being a game of its era, with all its hardware limitations making modern game standard affairs like an overworld map absent. This also means that the game suffers from clunky controls and questionable design choices. Most notably the space jump, which is not only absurdly precise in its timing, but is also inconsistent in its activation because Samus will either jump without curling into a ball, or awkwardly jump straight upwards. This issue is further worsened by the aforementioned amount of tall pits, especially those in the late-game that mandate the usage of space jump to traverse; it also hurts the Omega Metroid fights substantially, not getting a Screw Attack jump when you want to consistently absolutely stinks.

The spider ball, meanwhile, as a crucial element for Metroid II's exploration is slow, clunky and just as inconsistent with its movement as the Space Jump, with most of my issues stemming from unresponsiveness when I attempt to scale the various pillars needed to unlock extra item expansions.

Finally, there's the... interesting design choice regarding Samus' hit detection. While from a design standpoint, Samus' large sprite enhances the sensation of entrapment within SR388, it also has the unfortunate side effect of making her more prone to getting hit by attacks. And for whatever reason, instead of being granted i-frames for a brief moment after getting hit, Samus instead rebounds in an awkward angle that more often than not results her in getting hit... sometimes even by the same enemy. Yes, you have a recovery jump after getting hit, and sometimes the optimal choice is to intentionally take damage to reach higher ground, but in most cases, especially Metroid boss fights, it becomes a major inconvenience.

Oh, and the plasma beam is fucking useless with its tiny hitbox.

All of these issues combined are sufficient that despite my best efforts to appraise the overall package of Metroid II: Return of Samus as a thematically rich work of art like most have, I am constantly taken out of the atmosphere by one small problem or another that sours the experience. This leads to Metroid II feeling more like a flawed game that happened to accidentally struck upon a stroke of genius. Yes, video games can be works of art, but I suppose the main takeaway here is that despite that being the case, video games are meant to be... viewed as video games to most people, including myself.

And that saddens me somewhat.

Final score: 8/10
Focus: The flaws that claw at Metroid II: Return of Samus' achievement as an artform.

Definently underrated. I came into this game as a fairly experienced Metroid player and didn't really have any problems with navigation, but an in-game map still would have been appreciated. The secrets all feel great to find. The fights with later stages of the Metroids get a little annoying, but I love the way that less creatures are able to survive the closer you get to the Metroid nest, and just love the games themes overall. The game didn't feel too unforgiving either, plenty of save states, I didn't even worry about having to resort to save scumming (played on 3ds). The game hasn't aged perfectly, but I still had a really good time with this one.

As weird as it is to say, I consider Metroid 2 a rare example of a Nintendo-made horror game. You're all alone on a dangerous planet, full of lifeforms that are continulously evolving into ever more dangerous forms. It feels like you're in a race against the clock, before the Metroid race evolves to a level where not even you will be able to stop them from consuming the rest of the galaxy. So, there you are, wandering deeper into the caverns, caverns that seem to be stretching on for infinity, your footsteps the only audible sound, until... wham! A metroid is flying straight at you, and a frantic battle of survival ensues.

Okay, so it's not actually scary at all, but I think that's what the developers wanted to evoke, I think that element of claustrophobia and "hunt or be hunted" is Metroid 2's core goal. The attempt at creating this kind of atmosphere for a Gameboy game is a respectable one, and is really the game's most redeeming aspect. I will always think of that "moment" when you enter the final area, it gives me goosebumps everytime. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself has aged even worse than the original Metroid 1, which is why I cannot ultimately recommend this one.

Taking away color and zooming the screen in did Metroid's exploratory focus absolutely no favors. Areas look even more dull than they used to be. There's caves upon caves, all repetitive, most difficult to memorize and distinguish from each other. And there's still no map, other than the one I heavily relied on from a guide.

There's something to be said about the pros of getting lost in video games, but I think that only applies when the areas you stumble into are distinct enough to a point where the feeling of discovering a new location heavily washes over you. Like when you decide to explore a different part of town in real life, after wandering throughout the same locales you've known for years, and this intense feeling of unfamiliarity hits you. I hope whoever reads this gets the analogy, because I have no better one to offer at 2AM in the night.

Anyway, Metroid 2 does not offer the feeling of getting lost in unfamiliar territory, all it has is the uncertainty of whether you're even lost or not. Constant doubt gets in the way of genuinely enjoying the game, and by a certain point, I get impatient and just want it to be over.

Other than the neat little thought about this being a horror game in disguise, I've gotten little out of the experience. The next Metroid game, Super Metroid, will be where I have more positive things to say. There's also the fanmade remake of Metroid 2, AM2R, which is so good that I treat it as an official Metroid game and wholeheartedly recommend you make that version of the game one of your top priorities.

So, when I beat NEStroid a few days ago I said that my biggest takeaway was how impressed I was by the technological leap to the SNES and Super Metroid. With that fresh in mind, I don't know if anything could have prepared me for how amazed the Game Boy entry would leave me.

To me the Game Boy has always been this antiquated piece of gaming history, like the evolutionary second step from calculator to video game, not entirely there yet. From the few games I'd given real time to, I don't think that was an unfair assessment, and in going through every Metroid game I initially skipped 2 because I thought there was no way it could hold up given the hardware it was chained to. I was wrong.

Metroid II is a game that, despite having many more, or at least many different, roadblocks than it's NES counterpart, manages to be a rousing success on nearly every front. It improves almost every element from the original and adds dozens of changes and new mechanics that would be series staples from here forward. The lack of a map still makes the game confusing, but the more linear and fair structure of the game makes it fully playable without a guide with very minimal friction.

The more legible structure of the game was a huge boost to my enjoyment already, but what frankly blew me away is the way that movement and combat function moment-to-moment in this game. Super Metroid, for what clunkiness it has, remains one of my favourite-feeling games to play, and so when I started playing Metroid II and found the gameplay to be nearly identical, with crouching, more manageable jumping and rolling, and other QOL features I missed, my jaw dropped to the floor. How was this running on what is functionally a souped up calculator?

It's not perfect. In some very obvious ways it's not perfect, like the lack of real bosses and the holdover of some identical rooms which make it very easy to get yourself turned around, but from start to finish there wasn't really a moment where I felt that the game was failing in any of the things it set out to do. Metroid II is a core link to what we know as Metroid today, and it's no wonder that it has been remade as many times as it has.