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    Revisiting Metroid

    I have been on a bit of a Metroid binge so I thought I could discuss a little of what I have found and I guess I'm always wondering - what could they do for a Metroid 5? Is it even possible in a post-Prime world? So what happened was that my Switch went to Nintendo to be fixed and I was left with only one thing connected to my television: the SNES Mini. So I started up Super Metroid and played all the way through. Confession: I had never finished Super Metroid until this playthrough. So how does it hold up? Well...

    SUPER METROID

    Early on Super Metroid can be quite daunting because it really doesn't hold your hand. You have no idea where to go or how to get there. But this very quickly becomes something to its credit because, very early on, pretty much as soon as you get bombs, Super Metroid requires you to find a hidden passage by blowing up a wall in order to proceed. So at that point, the game tells you - this is a game where you will have to search for the hidden routes to get anywhere. From that point on, I (and I imagine most players) change how I make my way through the game and it becomes a game of discovery.

    And that's the real genius behind Metroid. I'm sure it was there in the first (a tiny bit more on that below) but it is what Super Metroid is built around and it's fantastic.

    In order to make this work and not frustrating, Super Metroid does a whole bunch of things exactly right. Firstly, it's almost never a chore to backtrack. Super Metroid can be challenging in places but, to me, it seems way easier to make it through areas than many games of its time. As you build up your power and get new pickups, you can race through places at a great speed and it's pretty fun. Another thing it gets spot-on is that it always rewards exploration and never punishes it. There are so many hidden upgrades to find that even exploring the wrong place will usually get you a reward. And they signal that with a lovely fanfare too.

    And one of the main things they get right, and I'm honestly not sure how this works, is that without almost any signposting they manage to keep you generally on the right track. And that has to be some miracle of game design. It has a flow that feels remarkably natural in the design and that's an amazing thing.

    Like going through areas, the bosses are pretty easy too in that you can figure them out in a couple of goes. The only real challenge I think is Ridley and you can just brute force him if you have enough energy tanks.

    In terms of negatives, what doesn't hold up now, some of the control is awkward. Having to cycle through the select button gets tedious and the grapple beam is very janky as is the super jump thing, which is bizarrely tricky to time sometimes.

    But the game looks amazing, sounds amazing and, for a large part, holds up today in a way that most games from its time just can't.


    METROID FUSION

    I went from Super Metroid to its GBA sequel: Fusion. Now this game is a mixed bag to say the least. It looks pretty good. Some lovely pixel art but the locations are often dull. It is set on a space station and the game doesn't hugely sell that. It doesn't feel like a real place. Samus' sprites are great. They're actually my favourite of the series. I love the colours of those suits but I especially love how bulky they are. That's something that was lost in the Prime era. They feel heavy and I love that.

    Fusion has a pretty good idea behind it with the X parasites and the way they mimic other creatures and are now integrated into Samus. I think that's quite cool. And it really streamlines the control. Gone is the select button cycling. The aiming diagonally down can be a little tricky but it's not something that really causes a problem in the game except in a couple of boss battles. Overall, the control is better.

    But the game has one huge crime as a Metroid game - the open exploration is lost in favour of constantly being told what to do next. And it's not just that, it's not left as optional. The game puts a huge amount of arbitrary locks in place at various times to make sure you don't go too far off. And coming from Super Metroid to this, I found that incredibly frustrating. The joy of Metroid for me is that exploration and Fusion just misses that. It actively prevents it in places.

    I actually remember the game being better, that it opens up more but, on this playthrough, I found it very limiting and never once got the joy of exploration.

    The other frustration was in the boss battles. They often take place in cramped areas and you can get easily trapped so the boss just gets into a cycle of hitting you and that's just annoying. The spider boss was the worst where it just feels like random chance getting through it. Oddly, the last couple of boss battles are among the easiest and most enjoyable too. But mostly, the bosses are a chore in this game.

    It's not a bad game at all. It's just not a great Metroid in my opinion.


    METROID SAMUS RETURNS

    I'm now playing this 3DS remake of Metroid II and I'll pick this thread up later but two things are immediately apparent. One is that the new combat mechanics change the nature of the game considerably in terms of how you get through places. It has a sort of parry mechanic that is essential and it also has a pretty cool feature of being able to lock yourself down and shoot in any direction. The result is that how you make it through other Metroid games is not at all how you do it in this one. It takes a little while to get used to that but I quite like it. I don't think it's better but I don't think it's worse. It's just different.

    The other thing that jumps out is that this game is gorgeous. The backgrounds are amazing. So many beautiful details and little animations and it's so atmospheric. They really have done the Metroid world justice in this game. Samus is skinny and light, at odds with how she felt in Fusion, and I'm not a huge fan of that. And actually that also applies to the weapons. The rockets for example don't feel like they have power to them whereas they do in Fusion. But the animation is nice. Overall the game is gorgeous.

    And in terms of exploration, it's a return to form. It does give you an ability to see hidden passages very early on. I don't mind that we have that but I feel it should have been held back until later. Anyway, I shall continue!


    But just one last thing for this post...


    METROID


    I have never finished this game. Turns out I have made it quite far into it, as I found when I loaded up my save in Metroid Zero Mission's bonus NES version, but I have never finished it. I loaded it up again after playing Super Metroid to see if I could get through it but I didn't have the patience for it and it's due to one simple thing - the lack of a map. The game looks so samey that, without a map, I have no idea what I have explored and what I haven't. Back in the day I probably would have got a magazine with a map or even mapped it out by hand but I don't have the patience for that these days. But the game does control really well for NES game. I will never finish this game.


    So... anyone played through the Metroid games recently? Thoughts? Feelings? Is a Metroid 5 possible, picking up from after Fusion?

    #2
    I was playing the famicom floppy version yesterday. Although I think I need to start a new game? There was a save file, and I started next to an area where you get roll into ball thing. How do you do a high jump? I think my pad buttons need a clean, but on mario and metroid, I just struggle doing high jumps.

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      #3
      Originally posted by vanpeebles View Post
      I started next to an area where you get roll into ball thing. How do you do a high jump?
      That's right at the start of the game. The high jump might be an ability that comes later but, if you hold the button down, you jump higher than if you just tap it if I remember correctly.

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        #4
        I might have to clean my pad out then, the high jump seemed a bit random

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          #5

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            #6
            It's been a long while since I last did a Metroid. I have fond memories of Fusion but reading your post it does remind me that I recall it being a simpler affair than most other entries. Super Metroid is one I've regularly dropped part way through - for me the series is mostly about Metroid Prime 1 and 3. I hope to try II Returns at some point though, I think I dabbled on GB with it as a kid but hit the same walls you do with the original

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              #7
              Yeah, the original GB one of Metroid II is another one I have tried, although not in this batch. And yes, it has the same problems, made worse by the fact that Samus is so big on screen that you don't even have the context of what's around you to get your bearings. You can only see a few feet in any direction.

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                #8
                Great Thread Dogg, I always felt the primes were a huge step back in games design. Something like the Warframe engine would suit, a modern Metroid game far better.

                I think the series struggles with its first two games and didn't really come alive until the third.

                The map for the original Metroid is in the manual, but even then I found it a horrible game to play with so many rooms looking exactly the same, it's a confusing mess. I used a full colour map to finish it a few years back and it was just a nightmare to play and finish. Controls well, but the design is awful for the first game, I am amazed it got a sequel, but then it did keep Nintendo hotline in business.

                For me the first game on NES is a real stinker of a title, one that I won't be replaying or enjoyed when I played it. Unlike Super Metroid which, I've finished at least four times now.

                I would love to see Nintendo do a Metroid V, but I don't think they have the talent to pull it off now.
                Last edited by S3M; 30-09-2019, 12:17.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by S3M View Post
                  The map for the original Metroid is in the manual.
                  Ah! I didn't know that. I didn't see the game back in the day and I haven't ever looked at the manual.

                  Yeah, I would love a Metroid 5 and Samus Returns gives me hope that it could be done. But would Nintendo make a 2D-playing Metroid? And if it's not 2D, wouldn't it just be a Prime game? I'd love to see them build on the concepts of Fusion in terms of what changes the story outcome could bring and some of the technicalities of the Samus Returns 3DS remake with some lovely Switch graphics. But it could be tough to live up to the classics while feeling fresh at the same time, especially as we've had so many outings with essentially the same progression.

                  So for me, I'd love to see them mix it up a bit. Like, maybe following on from Fusion, we're with a much older Samus (what age would she be now in real time given the series debuted in the '80s?) and maybe the X parasite/metroid bond has totally broken down, meaning that she not only doesn't have her abilities but she might even be a step backwards from that - rubbish gun, she's slower and so on. And she'll die without absorbing more X and/or metroid DNA. So she goes back to the planet which is now a mix of natural areas, ruins but also broken space station parts that life has taken over and has to try to find these things and they build her back up but with new abilities due to the X morphing abilities and in a very different order. Like maybe she gets a tentacle-type whip thing first and gets her speed back and some other abilities but the familiar morph ball is held back much, much later so it's a far bigger deal when you eventually get it.

                  I don't know but I think it could be possible to build on the end of Fusion to provide something that is simultaneously familiar and different.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
                    Ah! I didn't know that. I didn't see the game back in the day and I haven't ever looked at the manual.
                    Mind you it's not a full map, only a baseline guide, but it does help greatly at the start.

                    3D wise they could do something with a lot more paces and control. Trouble with FPS view is it makes jumping a nightmare and also slows down the pace of the game. Hence why I mention Warframe as a 3D engine like this would be able to make her the nimble fox she is in 2D in a 3D engine. The Primes make Samus slow to control.



                    Story wise I think Metroid IV did leave a few loose ends it wasn't clear, the space pirates were all dead. They also never went into her background with the Chozo and it's clear from the technology she has some of the Chozo are still alive and have been aiding her, over the years.

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                      #11
                      That does look pretty good. For me, the Prime games feel very different. I like them but I consider them a separate thing to the main Metroid games. To me, Metroid still plays 2D because the Prime games aren’t really that in 3D if you know what I mean. But actually that video looks quite like the 2D games in 3D so perhaps it’s possible. Other M is a warning though!

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                        #12
                        Another M was terrible as was Ninja Gaiden 3 which Team Ninja released around the same time, they both had rather poor stories. That went against the back story of both characters in those franchises, not too much some strange design choices to boot.

                        I think many gamers pretend it doesn't exist, that said there was a reason for it. FPS games sell poorly in Japan and none of the Metroid Primes did well in Japan. It was an attempt to get the series more loved in Japan, but Team Ninja were really off the ball for a few years after Tomonobu Itagaki quit.
                        Last edited by S3M; 30-09-2019, 22:00.

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                          #13
                          I'm realising one huge advantage that Samus Returns on the 3DS has is in the control. The game gives Samus a lot of different tools and that was something that became awkward in Super Metroid due to having to cycle through them with the select button. Whereas Samus Returns can put some of its abilities on the touch screen. The result is that every button is used, including the d-pad directions, and also three abilities on the touch screen. Sounds like it could get complicated as I write this but, actually, it feels really streamlined and clear and the control in Samus Returns is very intuitive and feels simpler than it is.

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                            #14
                            I finally finished...

                            Metroid Samus Returns
                            This has to be the longest of the 2D-playing Metroids. Took me about 14 hours and I can see that there are 18 hours clocked up on my previous save. Overall, it's a superb Metroid. It is very simple to get into, has a very clear goal and so there is no real barrier to clicking with the game. It has a whole host of upgrades and abilities and this game does two things right with them. 1) They are all easy to use. No faffing about here. 2) You are given plenty to do with them. And this is important because, in Fusion, I often didn't feel the benefit of an upgrade. For example, in Fusion you get the Gravity Suit so you can move normally in water... except there is almost no water before you get the upgrade. So you don't really feel the benefit. The same isn't true here. Almost every time you get an upgrade here, you instantly think back to somewhere you could have used it.

                            True to the earlier Metroids, the game encourages and rewards exploration. What Samus Returns adds to this is that, when you find where a hidden upgrade is, it's often not just sitting there for you to take. You usually have a little puzzle to solve in the form of navigating the terrain using your abilities to get it. And this makes earning the reward all the sweeter. It's really good and adds a lot to the game even if you'll never ever need the amount of missiles you can pick up.

                            There are something like 40 Metroids to hunt down and they get bigger and harder as things go on. There is a risk that could have got boring but it doesn't and getting them feels very rewarding throughout. There is one section where you have to outrun a big digger machine that does feel at odds with the rest of the game due to the instant deaths but that part is mercifully short. The boss battle that follows is long and tricky though. But overall, the bosses challenge without ever being annoying - you'll always make progress next time.

                            I really only have one criticism with this Metroid and it might seem like a small thing but I think the effect is pretty huge. The locations are gorgeous (that's not the criticism) and varied but each area contains a very large number of types of locations. For example, they'll all have a hot part with lava and it will play the Magmoor Caves theme from Prime when you go in a room like that. The result of this is that the larger areas don't have any sense of their own identity. It's like they are made up from little visual themes that have been shuffled across all the areas. The effect is that it removes some of the sense of progression. You don't get to associate each area with a visual style or theme and then get wowed by the next one when you make it to a new area. While there are new visuals later, it's hard to notice because it has all been shuffled up to that point.

                            So I think, comparing to how each location felt in something like Super Metroid, the sense of progression is affected by a lack of clear identity to each area.

                            One little edit here to add this - the spider ball! This is I think the only 2D Metroid with the spider ball and, if I remember correctly, it was limited to special tracks in the Prime games. The spider ball is a fantastic addition for exploration and it's also really good for some of those pickup puzzles. They really thought about how to use it. The one downside is that it's a very slow mode of transport and I found it tended to slow the game down as I tried to abuse it to explore everywhere before getting the space jump.

                            But overall, this is one of the meatiest Metroids and incredibly enjoyable. It has lots to offer. It brings up some questions, however, about how Samus is willing to attempt genocide but then isn't all that good at it.


                            Zero Mission next.
                            Last edited by Dogg Thang; 10-10-2019, 12:17.

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                              #15
                              Actually, here's a question for anyone who has actually played the GB Metroid 2. How similar are these games in structure? Did they stick with the same general layout and abilities for the 3DS remake?

                              Has anyone ever actually played through the GB version...?

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