This is near perfect and undoubtably the best way to experience the original Metroid. Controls are tight, nothing mandatory is frustrating to get (that’s saved for some optional shinespark puzzles which I’m alright with), music is great given the GBA’s soundcard, and visuals are amazing. The addition of an icon on the map that lets you know if there’s an item somewhere in that tile and if it’s been collected is a godsend coming from Super Metroid where I circled back through areas so many times. Also, the brief extra cinematic moments were awesome and really helped in terms of atmosphere. They also made entire sections of the original with now standard controls and items in mind along with straight up new content that keeps things really fresh.

However, three of those items are relegated to endgame just for completion purposes without having a real purpose in the main adventure which is a little weird. The four other new items are incorporated really well, though. Another flaw with it is that the bosses can be really easy, save for Mother Brain.

This is easily the best way to play Metroid 1 and one of the best in the series I’ve played so far. Even with my few small issues, none of them really prevented me from loving this game front to back.

It's a fuckin classic, c'mon.

Super Metroid pretty much nails everything and does most of it arguably better than any other entry in the franchise. Still has the best soundtrack of the series, Planet Zebes is so atmospheric and fun to explore, puzzles are mostly satisfying to complete, and the moment-to-moment gameplay is amazing.

I still have to lower the score cause of three things in particular.

1. Dedicated run button
This didn't bother me too much when I first played it and I just got used to it, but after playing all future 2D games in the series, it's a little annoying to come back to again.

2. Obtuse required puzzles
This very easily could just be me, but I felt like a few of the required items (Gravity Suit in particular) were oddly annoying to get. It seems to completely throw out the problem-solving skills you obtained through most of the game just for a one-off puzzle where the main premise behind it doesn't show up again and it's just weird.

3. Flawed map system
For the first time in the series, there's a map! And it's usually great and does everything it needs to do, except for one glaring issue. Items are marked with dots on the tiles, but they never change to indicate that you've gotten that item. Future games have unobtained items as circles that change into dots once you get them which makes backtracking infinitely easier, but not here. I ended up wasting so much time running through past areas over and over again cause I couldn't keep track of what I already had.

Still kicks ass though

The definitive way to play Metroid II.

Remaking Metroid II with the visuals and controls of Super and Zero Mission is such a simple idea and it works perfectly.

However, there are moments of difficulty where I'm reminded that it's a fangame. Super aggressive enemies, crazy bosses out of nowhere and lack of good backtracking tools makes me unable to recommend this to anybody just starting with Metroid.

To anybody who's experienced with Metroid though, it's an easy recommendation.

This game confuses me. Not just cause of all the mazes in this, but how people look back on it today. If you've never played the original Doom and have only heard people talk about it, you'd think it's this amazing, blazing fast and gruesome destruction of demons while awesome metal blasts in the background. Essentially a primitive version of the Doom reboot games we got. I don't think that's accurate at all.

The game tricks you into thinking everyone is right, though. The beginning levels kick ass, flow super well, have awesome music, etc. It really does feel like you're the dude on the cover just killing the shit out of anything that tries to touch you. However, after that, it quickly changes its tune.

The game starts to slow down incredibly. Long annoying mazes, unnecessary darkness everywhere, key hunts, throwing a million enemies at you instead of actual level design, etc. all drag the action down to a halt. It turns into a chore to play.

Music is still good for the most part, but I don't think it's nearly as amazing as most people remember it being. There's also some weird tracks that don't have a lick of metal in them and end up sounding really generic. I ended up making a metal playlist of my own and playing that in the background. That was really fun.

If you do want to come back to this, play it with GZDoom. It's infinitely more enjoyable with modern tweaks like full 3D environments and aiming which makes it play more like a modern shooter. I'm giving it this score with GZDoom in mind.

I like Prime 2. I really really do. It's a great experience that builds off of what Prime 1 got right with more emphasis on original material, since the first game owed a lot to Super Metroid. The bosses here are much better and consistent, even if Metroid Prime is the better final boss. The story between the Luminoth and Ing is nice to read up on, but there's still a lot of great environmental storytelling outside of the few cutscenes. Dark Samus is fucking cool. It's a more atmospheric and serious take than the original, and it works. It nails most of it pretty well, even if the Aether/Dark Aether is pretty much just Light World/Dark World from aLttP.

While a lot of games in the series keep the world interconnected in order to keep things more fluid, Prime 2 feels more like a Zelda game with each temple serving as a dedicated dungeon with objectives, keys and a boss. The issue comes when you're spending a lot of time in a temple, and then you're suddenly ripped out because you have to get another item all the way across the map. I don't have a problem with a more dungeon-like approach, but the reason why they are so enjoyable in Zelda is because you're gonna have everything you need to complete it somewhere in the dungeon. Imagine if you were deep into the Forest Temple in OoT, when you find out you need an item from the Light Temple to finish it. I didn't like getting jerked around the world so much when I was so focused on an individual temple that I was making steady progress in.

The Sky Key hunt, while not as bad as I think people made it out to be, was frustrating cause of the mess of a menu in this game. It's so annoying to dive deep in and I had to resort to writing out all the clues somewhere else so I could finally see everything properly without wasting so much time in the menus if I forgot something.

I don't like it as much as Prime, but I would totally understand if somebody did because of what this game does differently.

I have mixed feelings on this. Since it's a remake of a 1992 game on the NES, it's a more traditional entry in the series. However, the way it was remade is kind of confusing. In terms of adapting it for modern day audiences, plenty of things were added. The weapon triangle was thrown out, Mila's Turnwheel introduced a simple way to correct mistakes and try again mid-battle, and It's possible to grind if you're underleveled, which is honestly a nice breath of fresh air in a series that is notorious for having to be mindful of who you level up due to a limited number of enemies and characters that are EXP traps. The presentation was also given an amazing new coat of paint, with a re-written script including new characters like Berkut that play into the plot well. It's all paired with wonderful performances by each characters VA that really elevate the story and bring it to life.

HOWEVER.

For all they did to bring Gaiden back and palatable for modern audiences, the map design is extremely traditional. While most good remakes make it so you're playing through what you think you remember as a kid, Echoes does not. While Alm's route is still pretty fun for the most part, Celica's is painfully stuck in 1992. Whether it's poison bogs, tight corridors or units that constantly respawn enemies, there's a fair amount of stuff to slog through that can impact your experience.

All that being said though, since it's usually limited to the latter half of one route, it's not a dealbreaker. I still really enjoyed my time with this game and for the most part, it was a good deal of fun. Due to the mix of modern fixes and outdated game design, I can't recommend this as an entry point for newcomers into the series. However, if you're ever interested in playing Gaiden, this should without a doubt be how you experience it. Hopefully we see more remakes (Tellius collection?) under the Echoes title in the future.

This game has been a parasite for almost 10 years of my life. Even though I play way less than I used to, I still do my daily logins if I have the time. The game's meta has advanced so far and it's not really beginner friendly anymore, unfortunately. Beating Oryx in like 2012 was an achievement since he didn't get absolutely steamrolled every single time, and to get that atmosphere back of "everybody has to put in the work but it'll be worth it" you'll most likely have to run dungeons with a smaller guild.

It's also important to know that the game as it exists today is WILDLY different than the game I fell in love with during middle school. What started as an insanely fun free MMORPG to play with friends ended up being bought out twice, both resulting in increases in microtransactions and other shitty business models. Most recently, they introduced a battle pass. These four stars are essentially just from my experience from early 2012 to 2014 and not of the game in its current state.

Despite that, there's something about this format of bullet hell-MMORPG fusion that I haven't seen done anywhere else. It's just so much more interactive, satisfying and easier to understand than something like FFXIV or any other game with passive attacks and massive skill menus, shit like that. RotMG has you constantly engaged and moving, so I'm always actually playing the game and in charge of my character's movements/attacks. Guilds were also extremely fun, and the sense of community that came with running dungeons with similarly-skilled players and helping each other out are some of the best memories I have with this game. This was my World of Warcraft or Runescape or whatever better MMORPG kids my age were probably playing.

It can feel like a slog near "endgame" since there's no definitive end and all you're doing is essentially grinding for better items and stuff, but they're doing an alright job of creating new endgame dungeons that are fucking insane to keep people busy.

If there are any other MMORPGs that have this style of combat and are better, please let me know. I miss this type of game so much.

Ike is one of my favorite characters ever, I'm biased.

I really hope this and RD get remade like Gaiden so we'd get "Echoes of Radiance" or something. If this happens, I'd want three changes in particular.

1. Change the shitty maps, don't be as conservative with them.

2. Let us "sharpen" laguz claws or some other form of upgrade so that they can keep up with late-game enemies. Some of these characters are really cool and it sucks that they become a liability down the road.

3. Let us see all the supports. You can keep the system where only 5 of them affect in-game stats, but there's so much enjoyable writing that's never really seen since you want to save your limited supports for their best elemental pairings.