When I started this, a friend described it as a great game, but a bad Metroid. An absolutely bang-on description.

It runs at a good clip with straightforward linear progression and is just very satisfying. Creepy as shit being pursued almost by the spectre of how you're perceived. Suddenly powerless before yourself with no option but taking flight.

I can totally understand why this is many folks' fave entry, as the usual exploration and backtracking the series is known for isn't to everyone's taste. Just a tight few areas that you can plow through in no time. Where the other games kinda force you to tread carefully, this really feels like it's running behind you with its hands on your back, propelling you forward and screaming "YES! YES! YES!".

Great game. Samus owns.

This is my least favorite of the 2D Metroids, but it's still a great game. It's a lot more linear and limiting than the other games which I personally don't like, but that could make it a great start for people just getting into the series. However, the story could be a little confusing as it's the latest in the Metroid timeline, and the bosses could prove to be a challenge. Metroid games have some of my favorite bosses, but sadly many of the bosses in Fusion are unfair to the point of it being frustrating. That being said, the rest of the game is a joy, especially because the movement is so fluid and polished.

As a followup to Super, it falls flat. The movement definitely feels better and missiles feel a lot crunchier to land hits with. Boss fights are way better then its predecessor where there is an actual strategy you have to employ to tackle some of these guys. However, the level design is extremely linear and some solutions in order to progress can be obtuse with invisble corridors that you can't reveal with anything and only have to guess or know that they are there. The linearity can hamper replay value but on a first time go through is intriguing to go through the story. Speaking of story, the game has fantastic implications and great atmosphere and environmental storytelling in the form of the SA-X. The alien parasite's form and footsteps puts you on edge throughout the adventure and honestly terrifies you when it approaches. Once you finally face off against the creature, the satisfaction of finally besting the creature is something to behold. Overall while still a good game, it falls short in being what Super Metroid was.

Very solid Metroidvania. Combat feels good and is engaging, and the world is full of little secrets to discover everywhere to the point where you'll wonder if you were actually supposed to discover something when you did. My only gripe with it is that while within each subarea exploration is encouraged, it's a very linear game otherwise - you're always told to which room of which subarea you need to go to progress, forcefully blocking you from exploring other places.

Now, this does help Fusion in avoiding some of that typical Metroidvania dead time when you just have no idea of where to go and have to backtrack through the whole map to find out, which means you're always making meaningful progress at a fast pace (important for a handheld game). Still, I think the game needed just a little less guidance.

While not as mechanically sound as any of the previous Metroids (Zero Mission, AM2R, & Super), Fusion is still pretty solid. I particularly enjoyed the maps and art, and the fusion suit is my favorite design of Samus thus far. The map in Fusion is my favorite of any game, both the playable map and the start button map. Unlike previous Metroids, this game actually has a story presented to the player throughout the game rather than some small thing mentioned at the beginning or end of the game. Unfortunately, that story isn't really much of note, but it's a nice change of pace nonetheless. Sadly, this is where the praise ends. Despite being made in 2002, Fusion feels like a Wii/Wii U era Nintendo game where every fun mechanic is entirely gutted. No bomb jumps, God-awful walljumps, and only one button to aim diagonally. On top of these issues, the game is excruciatingly linear to the point of tedium. There is one section in the entire game that can be sequence broken, and even then it isn't a particularly fun one to break as you're immediately sent back to do what you should've done in the first place. A fair amount of the bosses are garbage, taking up half the screen and zipping around with the smallest damage zones of all time. I wish this game were better, as it's the only Metroid I actually own, and I've had it since I got my Gameboy Advance back in like 2003. I have a really heavy soft spot for it, but unfortunately the game just isn't that good by Metroid standards. Still a better game than plenty others I've played, but after playing the previous three games, I gotta say this was clearly the weakest.

I don't get this game. It's Metroid, without what made Metroid worthwhile to play. Exploration had always been what pushed Metroid forward, and it's what pushed down the flaws from the surface. Sure, the items, secrets, and sometimes even the way forward seem completely arbitrary, but it doesn't matter, because I'm exploring right? I found this, and now one more part of this uncharted world is charted! But, with Metroid Fusion, there is none of that. You're told, "go here, do this, get that." and suddenly, you aren't charting an unexplored area, you're going to this spot on your map, and for some reason the way forward to it is bombing some random block in the middle of nowhere, and you aren't having fun anymore, you're just following orders.

I can't understand any reason to do that. To connect to the story of Samus losing her agency? It's a bad way to do that. Many games have had their tone, and themes connect to gameplay without sacrificing what makes them fun. For instance The Last of Us Part 2 wants you to feel miserable, and angry like Ellie, but it doesn't mean the game is miserable to play. Even earlier Nintendo games don't do this, like Majora's Mask. That involves a sense of doom, and hopelessness, but playing the game doesn't make you feel hopeless, that's still fun, it's the story, and the world around you that does it.

Was it for the sake of making it easier to navigate the world in short bursts because it's a portable game? Then why not keep the sense of exploration like Metroid 2 did so well 11 years earlier. Was it to make it easier to play without losing progress, if so, why not bite the bullet and just let you save anywhere you want?

In any case, I don't think it was worth the sacrifice you get from this game, and it's a shame since the game controls better than any of the previous games did, even if the enemies aren't well suited to the movement you have. They often attack ferociously, and deal insane amounts of damage, a common enemy sometimes takes almost an entire energy tank in one hit. This frustration is helped no less by the standard health and missile containers being turned into the X parasites, which fly away, and sometimes even turn into enemies, taking away the gratification from killing an enemy in the previous games, and turning it into a frustrating nuisance, and because of this I felt weaker at the end than I was at the start, which even made me not want to explore for more secrets, since I would lose so much energy for little to no gain.

I'm glad so many can enjoy this game, and I didn't completely hate my experience, but I didn't find it enjoyable like Super Metroid, or have the gratifying exploration, and goal that kept me playing Metroid II. It got to the point where I felt like I just wanted to put it down, or even cheat just to get through it. I hope I can revisit this game one day and love it like so many seem to, but I just don't.

Played on the mGBA emulator.

completely different design philosophy from the one seen in super metroid, but still it feels like not a sequence that does better or worse, but a complementation to metroid 3. it is less aesthetically oppressive but then samus don't have the amount of gadgets you used to have at the end of super metroid - but a virus does have and it is searching you. you don't have that amount of freedom in its level design, too, feeling way more like millimetric calculated segments. what this could be considered a "loss", i find pretty interesting and it is what made the game so special for me: it allows the player to feel full tension while being chased by SA-X and some exits and interconnections are very smartly implemented. the geography logic does less sense than super metroid but still, thinking in-universe, are just a bunch of different habitats in a research facility - by that, it does makes sense. also, i like the bosses! nightmare did live up to his name, probably the most difficult fight in the game but it is so well-made: the hitbox is horrendous but propositally, to make you feel really claustrophobic; as you shoot him, he'll cry until he reveals his gross face. i guess that this boss can say a lot of what metroid fusion search and, to me, accomplishes

Let's get right to the heart of the matter: Fusion is, in my estimation, the worst entry in the core Metroid series. While that might be the bottom line, it's still a pretty great game. Unlike its contemporaries Zero Mission and Aria of Sorrow, Fusion feels smaller in scope and scale than its predecessors, which is both a boon and a bane. Hardcore genre aficionados might be somewhat put off by its relative linearity, but I personally don't mind it, and it opens up quite a bit past the first hour.

As a whole, Fusion makes some smart changes to the formula that Super Metroid established. The GBA's form factor and limited buttons necessitated a change in controls, but for my money, jettisoning the useless run button and simplifying Super's clunky weapon selection scheme are both significant improvements. The improved map is also a notable quality-of-life change, making it easier to see what color doors you've run into, as well as helping you track of whether or not you've nabbed a collectible that you found. Given that you'll often run into reserve tanks that you can't immediately pick up without a certain piece of tech, this is a welcome change.

For me, Fusion is a great game on paper, but its flaws all come from sketchy execution. The idea of making a more story-focused Metroid game was a decent direction for the series, but the narrative here leaves a lot to be desired. The X parasite is a fascinating concept that never really gets fleshed out, despite the constant exposition dumps that slow the game to a crawl. I really enjoy narrative in games, but there was really nothing to Fusion's story that improved the experience, other than the vague sense that you were going against the computer's desires in the later stages of the game. It could've made for a more HAL-style experience, but instead, all you get is a pretty flat turnabout in the last five minutes of the game that left me feeling pretty underwhelmed. It also planted the seeds for the rampant sexism of Other M, but that's not really Fusion's fault, so I can't really hold that against it.

Metroid Fusion also has some pretty serious issues with its difficulty curve. This isn't a particularly difficult game to finish, but it does seem like enemies deal a fairly ridiculous amount of damage, especially considering that the only healing pick-ups you get for 90% of the game give you 10 energy at a time. When even weak enemies deal 30, 50, or even 70 damage per hit, that's a lot of grinding for resources, and it's not like there are a ton of energy refill chambers throughout the station. Conversely, I only picked up something like 70% of the game's tank pickups, but I never found myself hurting for power bombs or missiles at any point in the game, which is an issue endemic to the Metroid series. Fusion also has some surprisingly creative boss fights, but their difficulty is all over the place: for example, I struggled against some nameless bosses halfway through the game, but breezed through some Iconic Series Foes near the end. It made for a pretty flaccid finale.

Overall, Fusion is still an engaging, fun game that kept me entertained throughout. However, it definitely exhibits some shortcomings that keep it from rising to the level of its immediate follow-up, Zero Mission. That said, if you're a fan of the series, there's no reason not to play it.

Metroid Fusion is a good-ass game. Going in, i had heard that this game is a lot more linear than other Metroid games and the early parts of the game kinda worried me it would be too linear but thankfully, the game quickly does away with that. So while it's still linear in the sense that your destination is usually marked on the map, you'll still be on your own when it comes to actually getting there. Gameplay-wise, it's basically a refined Super Metroid. And now that i've played a second Metroid game, i'm getting a newfound appreciation for one of the progenitors of the Metroidvania genre. There are a lot of good Metroidvanias out there but there aren't many that have that sense of pureness that 2D Metroid has. I'd say the Blaster Master Zero games come close but even they have their own little quirks that set it apart from Metroid.

My biggest problems with Metroid Fusion lie in the fact that bosses can essentially kill you after you've killed them. A few times, i killed a boss only to be killed by the X-Parasite that emerged from it and it's because of that that i'm really grateful for restore points. This game also does suffer from "what do i do moments" that affected Super Metroid but nowhere near to the same extent. I also kinda wish the SA-X was more prominent. Don't get me wrong, it's scary as fuck when it's chasing you but it only chases you for real like once. I never got the sense that it was hunting me down because of how rarely it showed up and most of it's appearances are a non-issue.

All that said, these issues don't really impact the game too much, as Metroid Fusion is a fantastic game and an overall improvement from the already fantastic Super Metroid.

Metroid Fusion opts for a more linear experience compared to the rest of the franchise, and I think there are pros and cons to that approach. In the context of a handheld game, it's a smart tactic as it keeps the pace moving and reduces the "downtime" of exploring. But let it be made very clear--Metroid Fusion will not allow you to forget your objective.

This approach is a double-edged sword in pretty much every way, and too often I landed on it being unfavorable, but I'll start with what I like about it. Metroid Fusion is a story about feeling powerless; you lose your abilities, you narrowly escape death, and you embark on your mission while in a weakened state. Meanwhile, a perfect replication of Samus and her old ability suite is parading around like the Terminator and will absolutely kill you on sight. This is legitimately perfect for a series that has embraced horror so thoroughly. SA-X's persistent hunting of Samus becomes a tool for the designers to creatively gate off areas; elevators will stop working, previously fine doors will become rubble. The environment is out of your control.

Without getting too deep into the weeds, Metroid Fusion is also a story about being kept in the dark. As a result, constantly feeding the player objectives to immediately react to is thematically appropriate. Don't think, just stick to the mission and reach sector 5; report back to the mission computer when you arrive.

So as a thriller/horror piece, Metroid Fusion is very on point, but I almost wish it wasn't a Metroidvania at all, since compared to the rest of the series it falls on its face in that regard. Metroid Fusion is like playing a Metroid game with a Nintendo hotline operator assigned specifically to you, on standby waiting for the call that they know is coming. I said the game won't allow you to forget your objective, but perhaps it'd be more accurate to say the game informing you of your objective is in fact its own form of classic Metroidvania gear-gating.

I grew to dread navigation rooms because the loop very quickly became obvious; once I completed the current objective [investigating signs of life, dealing with an imposing threat, whatever] I was going to have to go back to a navigation room. I could technically explore after completing those objectives, but odds are I wasn't going to accomplish a whole lot. The levels are designed in such a way that you will very rarely be rewarded for using new abilities to try to get new items or explore new paths, at least until the very final stretch of the game. So usually it was time to go pick up the phone and ask Nintendo what to do next, because that was actually how to progress the game.

Also, "informing" you extends to how the game largely tells its story. There is still effective environmental work here, but the game often comes to a dead stop for Samus to monologue to herself in text or chat with the mission computer. Atmosphere and tension are the greatest tools the game has, and these text asides detract from that.

But it plays like a good Metroid game! Some minor complaints aside [kind of feel like they killed the fun of wall jumps to be honest], the movement and ability set here is still satisfying. The boss fights are really neat as well and mostly don't feel like damage races, which a lot of old Metroid boss fights are guilty of. But this game is tearing itself apart instead of just confidently stepping away from [or cementing] the trappings of the franchise, and I think that's kind of a bummer. This could have been either an incredible narrative-focused action horror game or an amazing new Metroid entry, and instead it's a monstrosity attempting to combine the two.