My only experience with Metroid before this game was me playing Super briefly on emulator as a teen (and dropping it since I didn't realize there was a map system and got lost), and playing a bit of Metroid Prime 1 on the Wii U VC collection (also dropped since I got stuck and young me was too stubborn to use guides, though I'm not these days). I also tried my hand at Castlevania Rondo of Blood in the past to see if Metroidvanias were for me, but also dropped that one since it was really difficult and felt really archaic/clunky, didn't like how slow Richter was.

I always wanted to give Metroid another chance and run through the mainlines, so my roommate directed me toward the proper story order and the remakes to play, and I started this one a little under a week ago. I was surprised to find how much I ended up loving this game and how tightly balanced/streamlined it is! The mobility Samus has and how fluid the combat and physics are had me spellbound. The feeling of progression as Samus continues to get more and more powerful as you go through the game and find more secrets you couldn't access before was really empowering, and I haven't felt that kind of progression in a long time in gaming, so that was amazing to re-experience. The atmosphere is also unrivalled, never thought of the creepiness and thrills an isolated sci-fi planet journey like this one could give me, and I was very impressed. Definitely not a game I'd recommend to young kids though, the remake of Samus's first outing (and the series in general) definitely feels aimed at teens/young adults in general.

I played on Normal, and the game was pretty challenging as is, but I still had a ton of fun. The game was short but very sweet, and I definitely can see myself replaying it for fun and better runtimes in the future. Not sure if I'd play on Hard Mode but maybe in the future if I replay the game a few times and like it enough.

Also wanted to say that I'm very glad my years of playing Smash Bros. came in handy here, if I didn't know that bomb hopping was a thing or about wall jumping thanks to them, I would've gotten way more stuck on a lot of things in the game. Definitely some things I'd wish to tell people in advance about this game. Also knowing to bomb everything you can and any cracked spots on walls/floors would help too. The most valuable thing it taught me though was how to kill Metroids (freezing them, and then shattering them with an explosive attack), which would've stumped me for a long while had I not known due to fighting the Metroid assist trophy in Smash.

The game was very light on story which I expected, but I did really like the nuggets of text/nuanced lore they did have in there to flesh out Samus. I plan to read the Metroid Manga soon which was released alongside this game's remake to better understand the events leading up to this point and gain a better appreciation for Samus's character, though I already really liked what I saw of her here.

I don't want to spoil anything, but I will say that the new content added to the game in this remake really surprised me in a good way, and had me on the edge of my seat for the last leg of this game. Really awesome addition to an already solid game that raised it even higher for me!

All in all, this felt like the introduction to Metroid that I'd been searching for and truly enjoyed, and I'm excited to play later games in the near future. The short playtime is also super refreshing for me personally, having games to beat in a reasonable amount of time now that work is leaving me with little free time to game is very nice, haha.

Total playtime (including game overs according to my 3DS Playtime Activity): 8 hours, 43 minutes.

Total playtime from in-game file counter: 5 hour, 5 minutes, 46 seconds.

Item Collection Rate: 58% (Didn't realize what the real final boss was and that I couldn't backtrack to get what I missed, will remember for future playthroughs).

Not my favorite Metroid, but pretty good nonetheless. Zero Mission takes the less faithful route to remakes, possibly a necessary choice given that Metroid's design would likely not work in a more modern context, but one that does, inevitably, erase some of its original legacy to replace it with its own. And I do like a lot of Zero Mission's ideas. The stealth section, and the story that surrounds it, is great, and even just the idea of adding a surprise extra chapter to a story is very cool.

However, I do think Zero Mission goes a bit too far in some ways. It, essentially, almost always points you to your next destination at all times, with the rare few exceptions of you needing to find a powerup before you can actually reach your given destination. You can choose to ignore it, but on a first playthrough, why would you? Inheriting Fusion's more action-y controls is also a mixed bag. They are, for most, inherently more fun than the Metroid to Super Metroid's floatier, slower controls, but not only do they fit the atmosphere of exploring through an unknown planet less than the originals. I think there was a lot of identity in that slow, deliberate approach that it lost here. To me, Zero Mission is almost a Fusion lite, trying to meld its story and action-driven philosophy with the originals' exploration. And... I don't think that works super well. All Zero Mission does right is what it does as a game of its own, and I think it luckily does most of that very well. As a remake, though, I think it does fail.

Samus controls really well. I like the progression of everything. Environments look pretty good. Going from place to place is really fun because of how snappy and tight Samus is. My main problems is that the game doesn't feel very challenging. It feels very railroaded. A lot of the skips and shortcuts feel very artificial and placed in, like they're not an actual part of the world. It ruins the immersion a bit for me. The final act is also feels like its missing something. Otherwise, great game. I think its a really good introduction to the franchise.

I didn't particularly care for the original Metroid, I'll be honest. I find it unique for its game design at the time, but incredibly stiff and frustrating to play as a whole.

Years later I gave this a shot and it made it feel better but at its core...

...It's still Metroid but somehow just as boring to me.

I wasn't huge on most of the game compared to Fusion and Super, but especially this game's biggest drag is the entire added endgame and just how bland it honestly looks and feels. I wish I enjoyed this more with what it had to offer, but it feels like unnecessary additions to an already bland game.

Knock 'em out the box, Luke.

It's actually pretty good for what I've seen, definitely worthy for being the 500th game to be logged on this odd site. A bit of a shame knowing that I got distracted by... a lot of things.

(Review made for a friend of mine).