Metroid Fusion is the fourth game in the main Metroid storyline. Once again, you don the Chozo-infused armour of the galactic bounty hunter, genocide enthusiast, and all-around errand girl for a dubious space empire, Samus Aran. After returning to the planet from the second game (where she killed all but one of the Metroids), she gets infected by a different parasitic alien species, the "X," and almost dies. This all happens before you even press start at the title screen.

To save her from certain death at the hands of her X infection, a bunch of science guys inject her with an infusion of Metroid DNA that they happened to have lying around. This miraculously cures our heroine and conveniently gives her the ability to absorb X to regenerate her health and for some reason, missiles. This is convenient for two reasons. One is because the science station is quickly overrun by the X, and also because after the last Metroid died saving Samus from Mother Brain in the previous game, the developers were running out of reasons to call the series "Metroid." Although, as we all know, it would be more accurate if they renamed this series "Nothing Ever Really Dies."

Anyway, Samus ventures to the newly X-infected science station in her very weakened state. The science guys had to "surgically remove" her old suit to save her life. But don't worry, guys, she grew a new one or something. For you speedrunning hoarders out there, never fear, if you beat the game fast enough while collecting enough junk, you can still see pictures of Samus in her underwear. Joined on her journey to the obviously going-to-self-destruct-at-some-point science station is a plucky AI co-pilot who may or may not be the resurrected brain of her former commander who was conveniently retconned into the story to vomit exposition and move the game along. Remember, Adam Malkovich won't actually appear in the series for another eight years when Metroid: Other M is released.

That's probably the longest preamble I've written to date, which is a testament to how much more story they've seemingly added to the game. Although where Super Metroid communicated its story quite masterfully with atmospheric cues, Fusion beats you over the head with it at every opportunity.

From a visual perspective, Fusion is an improvement over Super Metroid. The art is more detailed and generally more readable. The animations are much smoother too, both for Samus and for the enemies she encounters. Most of it works well, although some of the more familiar bosses look more like Saturday morning cartoon versions of themselves than they probably should.

The audio is a bit of a mixed bag. The music is pretty whatever. Half the time, I didn't even realize it was there. There's nothing as notable as some of the themes used in Super Metroid. The sound effects are all over the place. Some are punchy and crisp, while others are muddled or feel out of place.

The gameplay is fine but it doesn't live up to Super Metroid. Throughout the game, the AI points you to where to go next, so you never explore the map for yourself. There's a clear path the game sets out for you and little reason to go off script. Most of the enemies are recycled from other games, although instead of dropping missiles and energy pellets, they transform into X upon defeat, which Samus can then "absorb." The bosses are all over the place. Some are quite interesting and offer a fun challenge. Others are cheesy and feel more unfair than challenging. And the final boss is a bit anti-climactic. This also leads me to bring up the SA-X. You see, the pieces of Samus' old suit that the science guys removed have T-1000ed themselves back together and become a new, more powerful X version of Samus with all of your old abilities. You're constantly told that the SA-X is hunting you through the science station, but apart from a handful of scripted encounters and one mediocre boss battle, the SA-X is very little like the "Dark Link" or "Tyrant" the game makes them out to be.

If it sounds like I have nothing good to say about Fusion, don't take me the wrong way. I enjoyed Fusion. I've played it twice now and had a good time each time. But it's not as good as it could have been, and that's a shame.

the discomfort zone got too comfortable so we made the comfort zone discomfortable. samus: meet samus

where super dove uncritically into the power fantasy that metroid II (the game with a literal Genocide Counter in the UI) unmasked and deflated, this feels like it's turning it inward against you personally. Your body, Your likeness, and Your autonomy hijacked; Your celebratory past tense role as (repeated) casual annihilationist to reckon with and cower from

it operates as something of a Super Negative Image Metroid: an inversion right down to the uncomfortable, choking grip of the direction. all that clammy ADAMsplaining, those sequestered zones, the redline urgency; everything's dialed perfectly into the exact same channel with uniform intent. even the woozy alien psychedelia's been spirited away in favour of clinical, detached interiors and astroturfed xerox biomes with some of the most appropriately sterile Oops No Backlight lighting on the GBA

and no, it obviously doesn't accomplish the same things as its predecessors, but it's not attempting to. this is a game about lack of control, and altering the format would be akin to breaking the spinal column that holds it upright. fusion's big successes (the pacing, brevity, tonal and thematic consonance, and delicate curation of tension and challenge) are the result of its structural changes. being shunted around a tiny sarcophagus isn't a flaw, it's the entire premise. duh

even without all that though it's impossible for me not to love a game with nightmare, the Profaned Baja Blast Suit, AQA's sunken banger, shots like this, and those absolutely psychotic ridley screams

quite possibly the best SA-X heavy fusion since the sultry sounds of steely dan

Mine can be considered an hot take, but.... I think Fusion is the best Metroid.

Many may consider it a step-down compared to its predecessors or the title that came after it, and I can see why: specifically because it drops the maze like structure of the map in the past games, for a more linear exploration, that can make the Research Station a bit too "Videogamy" compared to Planet Zebes and the other iconic locations in the series.

But this doesn't stop the gameplay for feeling immaculate, especially for a GBA title: Samus' moveset is fluid and leads to a gameplay loop that lets you move around the map in a thrilling way, and lets you enjoy the various quality in the map sections, enemies and bosses.

The biggest aspect of Fusion for me is its writing: Samus reactions to ADAM and the corrupted decisions of the galactic federation leads to the best characterization for the bounty hunter in the entire series.
The terrifying sequences and enemies you encounter literally turns this title into a horror game, that will keep you on your toes as you fight nightmares reminiscent to Jon's Carpenter's The Thing.

(side note but it also confirms that Samus canonically saved the animals at the end of Super Metroid, so that is a giant plus for me :D )

Absolute banger game. Highly recommended!

Pros: Captures the gameplay of Super Metroid in many ways, and in some ways, does things better, with improved mechanics like grabbing onto ledges and climbing certain walls, where you can even fire your arm cannon blaster while hanging on, feels pretty good too. And in general, this game has the staples of a finely crafted Metroid adventure, with an interesting new storyline involving X parasites, where you're trapped on a spooky space station, with various sectors, hatches, and biomes to make your sci-fi journey a memorable one.

(also, I adore those little animal buddies, the Dachora and Etecoons. They're so cute!! There's even a baby Dachora in this game, d'awww! Honestly, probably my favorite part of this whole adventure, haha!)

Cons: I didn't care for the story much, well, I didn't care how it was told, its presentation rather. Near the second half of the game, we start to get dialogue and a lot of personality with Samus, which, was a hint of things to come with Other M, Sakamoto's next Metroid project. I'm of the crowd that would rather Samus be more of a blank slate protagonist, and not speak so much, in order for me, the player, to fill the role of the character, which strengthens the immersion of the adventure, especially when isolation is involved. I felt Super Metroid and especially Metroid Prime did this perfectly, but here, it was a bit of a step backwards.

Also, not exactly a fan of the setting. The space station pales in comparison to a full blown planet to explore, it just never felt like a natural world I was discovering and trekking through, even with the various biomes in each sector on the map. It felt more confined, more artificial, and also unfortunately, linear, as the game railroads progress in such a way where instead of feeling like I'm making discoveries on my own, the game is simply telling me what to do... And that backstory for Samus, sorry, I just couldn't care. The X-parasite stuff was cool, provided plenty of scary fun moments, like whenever the SA-X showed up, it was a thrill, but those moments where they did were disappointingly few and far between. Little aspects here and there of the game bugged me, like an instance where you had to find an invisible opening through a wall, one without bombs, to progress, or the fact that there's no single imposing villain, just "the system" and "the virus", was something that compelled me through this adventure less than other Metroid games.

And lastly, I don't much care for the aesthetic of Samus's new suits. It's kind of Nickelodeon Gak lookin, which, that's fun, but feels very weird for how serious the game tries to present itself in other areas... I dunno, just didn't work for me.

What it means to me: I tried to pick this game up throughout the years, in an attempt to beat it, but time and time again, lost interest partway through for some reason or another. And only just recently beat it in full... It's alright, solid Metroid mechanics, smoother than Super in some ways, like in the way movement works, but still not as smooth as Zero Mission, Samus Returns, and especially Metroid Dread. But y'know, it's cool that 2D Metroid returned in such high quality the way it did here, this was a revival game for the series alongside Metroid Prime after all. But when all's said and done, this is maybe my least favorite 2D Metroid, well, I've still yet to finish Metroid II/Samus Returns, we'll see after that. This wasn't the big glorious revival for the series anyhow, we had Prime for that, and boy was it ever!!

Genuinely a pretty incredible portable-ization of the Metroid formula. It never crossed my mind that this game would feel so linear and mission based, but the story really pulls everything together in a super interesting way, which is something I haven't been able to say about a Metroid game really. Sure, the atmosphere and aesthetics are usually on full blast with this series, but this really brings the entire thing to a full on space epic, with character motivations, backstories, and plot. Plot! In a tiny GBA cartridge meant to be played on a handheld without a fucking backlight! The game is also just gorgeous. Nintendo did their absolute damnest to make the colors and art direction of each area pop, and feel unique. The conceit that this entire station was a galactic nature preserve is such a fascinating concept, and the infestation of the X parasites leads to some genuinely incredible and horrifying enemy design. It's also the snappiest set of controls the series has had yet. Something as simple as grabbing onto ledges became instantly gamechanging, with traversal and discovery finding new avenues and still feeling fresh after 4 games. The upgrades themselves feel much more organic with their depiction in this game, and pacing of upgrades is especially excellent. Previous games felt a little bit like each weapon or method of movement was put on full blast before moving to the next, at least if you always sought out the items at your earliest convenience, which I would always do. Oddly enough, having less player freedom (which I usually advocate against), completely turns this system on its head.

Is it better than the series bastion of creative inspiration and quality, Super Metroid? No, probably not. That game still has the absolute best all around presentation of this formula, which is rare for an entry that basically cements the formula itself. The fact that it was Nintendo's first real go with all of these ideas, and the fact that it ended up being the crown jewel of the Super Nintendo puts it pretty solidly above Fusion for me. Fusion is still a triumphant effort though, and one I definitely see myself returning to.

Metroid Fusion takes the vast exploration of Super and splits it into smaller chunks - levels are largely sectioned off from each other and while each is kind of a mini metroidvania map in itself, the game is very much a linear progression that holds your hand on where to go. Combined with a revamped control feel and heavier emphasis on combat Fusion can sometimes feel more like an action game with some exploration than a "true" metroidvania
Now, that sounds pretty bad right. But here's the thing: on its own merits Fusion is REALLY fucking good. That previously mentioned revamped control feel? To accompany the newly placed emphasis on action Samus is no longer a floaty tank but an agile glass cannon with the dev team's work on Wario Land 4 helping inform how snappy Fusion feels. The emphasis on action means lots of boss fights and generally they're very dynamic and exciting, with figuring out how to beat them being half the battle and actually executing your strategy being a decent challenge. Fusion also looks fantastic, especially when using color correction to match how it would look on the original non-backlit LCD. The sound is slightly disappointingly just average overall, the GBA's limitations hurt some of the tracks and some of the sound effects aren't as satisfying as they are in Super.
Good game

I feel like it's bold of a sequel to at least sort of admit it can never be "Super Metroid", so Fusion here doesn't even try to be. It refines the movement to give Samus a little more finesse and the ability to be a little more mobile and makes things like wall jumps and space jump a little more consistent, but to make up for it, it cranks up the difficulty a lot. Samus in Super is a freight train of pain, Samus in Fusion is comparably VERY fragile, which really works for the horror-lite angle of this game. Even the health and ammo drops are trying to kill you in this game.

Speaking of horror, SA-X is a very interesting antagonist, getting to essentially be Samus in her prime but as a much colder, animal-like killer that you absolutely do not stand a chance against for most of the game. In execution, she turns up at set moments in the story and only one chase sequence is forced and is even all that difficult, so SA-X just isn't that scary to me. Though maybe I'd sing a different tune there had I played this when I was a kid and this game was new.

It's comparably very linear to other Metroids, very little being able to be sequence-broken, but it serves multiple story purposes, both in how there's a very set sequence of events to go through in the story and how it's reflective of the Federation keeping Samus under their thumb. It's claustrophobia but from a completely different angle, which then makes it gratifying when you get Screw Attack and can finally freely explore the station on your whim. To which they include a lot of tricky puzzles to practice. This does inevitably mean it has a "lap around the world" issue unlike Super, but I'm not sure how else they could've done it.

I do like this game, but I've never been able to fuck with it as much as Super or Zero Mission. The atmosphere and narrative are the strongest aspects, in my view. They streamlined the controls down to two buttons, owing to its platform, so well that I think it's better than Super Metroid, which over-complicated itself with redundant functions like the run button.

My main gripe with it is how railroaded it can get, it being linear wouldn't necessarily bother me as much if it didn't arbitrarily block you from backtracking in some of the sectors for seemingly no reason beyond denying you a second chance to get a missile expansion or energy tank you might have missed the first time through, the game often does this and it gets on my nerves whenever it happens as it just blocks any sense of freedom you get, I've seen some people argue this reinforces the theme of Samus not being in control this time around and being the one getting hunted as opposed to the hunter herself, but most of the time the blocks aren't from Adam but just convenient changes in the sector which stop you from properly exploring them unless you get everything possible on the first visit.

You might also think that it's not too big of a deal to wait till later to get all the items, but that's really where the big tedium in Fusion lies, going for 100%. Unless you're consulting a guide, it is not at all well communicated where the hidden paths and areas are to get a lot of the end-game powerups, unless you're spamming power bombs in every other area, the player on a first playthrough CANNOT use the elevators or go into a navigation room as that locks you into the endgame scenario where Adam forcibly locks all doors except the ones that go to the self destruct trigger, on subsequent playthroughs of the same file that restriction is removed, I have no clue why they did that, as the objective marker for the self destruct room is marked at all times, so it's unlikely any player is going to get lost even if they did put the game down for a time. In addition, most of the challenges to get the last few items are often very tricky, like shine spark puzzles or precise jump puzzles that require near pixel-perfect accuracy, or else you need to start over. Simply put, it's not very fun to do and can take up a fair bit of time in what's otherwise a brisk adventure.

Overall, I respect what this game was going for with its tighter hub-based level design and a greater focus on narrative and storytelling than any prior Metroid title, but I do think it loses some of the sense of isolation and piecing together events through what is shown rather than made explicit through an AI telling you everything. The changes to the level design make sense in context of its being a handheld game with a more bite-sized pick-up and play philosophy; that said, it does get a little too handhold-y for my tastes. I don't think the game's major themes would be hurt too badly if they made it a bit more open to at least letting the player backtrack through previously explored areas without arbitrary blocks at your expense.

Despite these flaws, it's still a well-made action game worth playing on its own merits and as a blueprint for where the series will go.