Warning, there will be spoilers for both remakes of Metroid 2.
Metroid 2: Return of Samus is a weird case. One one hand it's arguably one of the most important games in the series. It's story, minimal as it was, heavily influences every game that comes after it on the franchise timeline and it introduced a lot of staple power-ups. On the other hand, it's also one of the least talked about games. It doesn't have the vaunted reputation of Super Metroid or the Prime Trilogy, nor the exact opposite as with Other M or Federation Force. Maybe because it's probably one of the least played games and people sort of forget about it?
And then there's the other thing. It has not one, but two remakes.
To finally get to the point, I've since played and completed both the Game Boy original and both remakes, and I feel like sharing some thoughts.
Long story short, I like Metroid and wanted to talk about the latest two games (even if one is unofficial).
If anyone has a differing opinion, I'd love to hear it. If you want to tell me I'm a buffoon who doesn't know a thing, you can do that too.
Metroid 2: Return of Samus is a weird case. One one hand it's arguably one of the most important games in the series. It's story, minimal as it was, heavily influences every game that comes after it on the franchise timeline and it introduced a lot of staple power-ups. On the other hand, it's also one of the least talked about games. It doesn't have the vaunted reputation of Super Metroid or the Prime Trilogy, nor the exact opposite as with Other M or Federation Force. Maybe because it's probably one of the least played games and people sort of forget about it?
And then there's the other thing. It has not one, but two remakes.
To finally get to the point, I've since played and completed both the Game Boy original and both remakes, and I feel like sharing some thoughts.
Usually shortened to AM2R. A fan-game mostly made by one guy (I've learned it landed him a job at Moon Studios, the dev of Ori and the Blind Forest. Good for him) using GameMaker and assets from Zero Mission, Fusion and a bunch of new stuff.
As a remake, it takes the Zero Mission approach i.e. taking the old game and bring it up to the standards of the rest of the 2D games, which arguably boils down to 'more like Super Metroid' (except the music, which is very Prime-y). That's fine, btw. Super was, and still is, a great game. Like Zero Mission, it also adds a bunch of new content like new areas, new bosses, extra power-ups and a log book. And, most notably, all the advanced moves you could pull off in Super/Zero Mission, like bomb climbing, wall jumping of a single wall and shinesparking, opening up all the sequence breaking shenanigans those bring.
I liked how the different areas in the game were given their own identity. A temple, a water treatment plant, an abandoned research ship or a weird biomechanical bubble land, instead of some minor variation of samey cave like in the original game. The extra bosses provided some nice variety to the Metroid fights, which did get old, even as they get shorter as you get more powerful. I also liked the log book and little subplots about the Chozo and a Federation research expedition. They have no influence on the main plot of 'kill all Metroids', but do add more life to the world.
As a longtime Metroid fan, I enjoyed my time with AM2R, even though I don't think it's as well-polished as it would be if Ninty had made it themselves. It's the most traditional of the two remakes, as obvious as that may sounds, being a game made by fans for fans. Which, again, is fine. Fans have been clamoring for more old school 2D Metroid. If you know and love those games, you already know about 90% of what to expect here and AM2R arguably delivers better on that front than Samus Returns does.
As a remake, it takes the Zero Mission approach i.e. taking the old game and bring it up to the standards of the rest of the 2D games, which arguably boils down to 'more like Super Metroid' (except the music, which is very Prime-y). That's fine, btw. Super was, and still is, a great game. Like Zero Mission, it also adds a bunch of new content like new areas, new bosses, extra power-ups and a log book. And, most notably, all the advanced moves you could pull off in Super/Zero Mission, like bomb climbing, wall jumping of a single wall and shinesparking, opening up all the sequence breaking shenanigans those bring.
I liked how the different areas in the game were given their own identity. A temple, a water treatment plant, an abandoned research ship or a weird biomechanical bubble land, instead of some minor variation of samey cave like in the original game. The extra bosses provided some nice variety to the Metroid fights, which did get old, even as they get shorter as you get more powerful. I also liked the log book and little subplots about the Chozo and a Federation research expedition. They have no influence on the main plot of 'kill all Metroids', but do add more life to the world.
As a longtime Metroid fan, I enjoyed my time with AM2R, even though I don't think it's as well-polished as it would be if Ninty had made it themselves. It's the most traditional of the two remakes, as obvious as that may sounds, being a game made by fans for fans. Which, again, is fine. Fans have been clamoring for more old school 2D Metroid. If you know and love those games, you already know about 90% of what to expect here and AM2R arguably delivers better on that front than Samus Returns does.
The official remake by MercurySteam (they did Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and its sequel) and Nintendo themselves, and more than likely the reason AM2R got DMCA'd. You know, aside from Big N really not liking fan-games in general.
Their approach to remaking the Game Boy original is a little different. If I had to call it, I'd say it takes Prime-like visuals with gameplay made up pieces of Zero Mission, Fusion and, of all things, a little bit of Other M. The latter mostly because of the melee counter that opens attacking enemies up for a cinematic counter-attack.
The game has a larger focus on combat in general. Enemies are plentiful and aggressive, rapidly rushing you as soon as soon as you enter aggro range. Maybe a little overly so, making the game a stop-and-go affair where you're constantly halted in your tracks to deal with them. They can deal significant damage too. Samus Returns is probably the first Metroid where I found myself sometimes dying to common mooks, at least until you get the Screwattack and can just barrel through them. On the whole, I feel Samus Returns might be one of the most difficult Metroids.
I think it also it does do a better job with the Metroid battles, giving them a wider range of new attack patterns than AM2R does. Keeps them feeling fresh a little longer. There are also a couple of new bosses, like a pretty damn hard one against a giant digging robot and one way at the end.
Aside from that, new content includes some returning power-ups and the new Aeon powers. One of those is an area scan that reveals surrounding rooms and items. It changes the flow of the game in a major way, making progress and collecting items less 'Where do I go?', and more 'What do I do to get there?'. No new areas, although the existing one got a new layout. Shame a lot of them look so samey tho. Like the original, it's mostly variations of differently colored caves and ruins. What is new is the teleport mechanic. You can find pads that let you teleport to and from other areas, making backtracking less tedious. They're spaced pretty smartly so they shorten the distance but you still need to do some traveling to where you actually need to be.
Overall, it's a fine game. Polished and fun to play, with a nice balance between being old school challenging and providing some modern conveniences. I do have some gripes though. Since many of the advanced moves from earlier 2D games are absent or tweaked so you can't use them to get to areas early, making sequence breaking hard and often impossible (hence the Fusion comparison, although the Game Boy original was quite linear as well). Not a personal dealbreaker, but I know many people like this aspect of old Metroid. There are also some potentially frustrating difficulty spikes.
Other than that, it's mostly what I wanted from a new(ish) Metroid. It also seems like it's doing pretty well commercially, so maybe enough to convince Nintendo to make more games like it? Continue on from Fusion perhaps? Time will tell.
Their approach to remaking the Game Boy original is a little different. If I had to call it, I'd say it takes Prime-like visuals with gameplay made up pieces of Zero Mission, Fusion and, of all things, a little bit of Other M. The latter mostly because of the melee counter that opens attacking enemies up for a cinematic counter-attack.
The game has a larger focus on combat in general. Enemies are plentiful and aggressive, rapidly rushing you as soon as soon as you enter aggro range. Maybe a little overly so, making the game a stop-and-go affair where you're constantly halted in your tracks to deal with them. They can deal significant damage too. Samus Returns is probably the first Metroid where I found myself sometimes dying to common mooks, at least until you get the Screwattack and can just barrel through them. On the whole, I feel Samus Returns might be one of the most difficult Metroids.
I think it also it does do a better job with the Metroid battles, giving them a wider range of new attack patterns than AM2R does. Keeps them feeling fresh a little longer. There are also a couple of new bosses, like a pretty damn hard one against a giant digging robot and one way at the end.
It's Ridley. I don't mind, it's a good boss, but it seems like every Metroid needs a fight against everyone's favorite space dragon. I think only Prime 2 and Hunters don't have one.
Overall, it's a fine game. Polished and fun to play, with a nice balance between being old school challenging and providing some modern conveniences. I do have some gripes though. Since many of the advanced moves from earlier 2D games are absent or tweaked so you can't use them to get to areas early, making sequence breaking hard and often impossible (hence the Fusion comparison, although the Game Boy original was quite linear as well). Not a personal dealbreaker, but I know many people like this aspect of old Metroid. There are also some potentially frustrating difficulty spikes.
In particular a sequence where you have to outrun a wall of death while rolling, bombing and grappling through a series of obstacles as the aforementioned digger robot chases you with an insta-kill drill arm. There seems to be some rubber banding in effect and no matter how fast you are, the drill will accelerate to catch up so you will only ever have barely enough time to make it through. It's annoying and frustrating fake difficulty.
If anyone has a differing opinion, I'd love to hear it. If you want to tell me I'm a buffoon who doesn't know a thing, you can do that too.
, it reminds me if the B.O.X bot from Fusions. Overall I agree to what you have said.
