Just played this game after Super Metroid it's a bit different from it's predecessor, mainly the fast-paced gameplay (due to the limit of space in the different zones of the game) which offers a more fluid feeling of movement, and thus the backtracking wasn't really a problem for me this time.
One thing that you should probably not due if you're not playing on emulator, is to 100% this game, after a certain point some of those platforming sections are infuriating and almost impossible to do without save states (fuck the persons who designed some of those speed booster blocks)

21st April 2024

My first Metroid experience and what a way to start!

Extremely fun. Fantastic level design and progression through abilities and power ups.
Amazing boss fights.

Some frustrating sections and confusion about where to go next but this didn’t bother me too much.

Looking forward to the whole Metroid series.

Metroid Zero Mission, the expanded remake of original metroid from NES, released in 1986. While easily being better than the original, to no one surprise, it's not without it's fair share of flaws.
Pros:-
>gameplay being up to the modern standards of 2D Metroid games of that time & fast-paced & level design

>visuals, while may not be superior to Metroid Fusion's extremely varied landscape, it's still pretty great, which is ironic considering it's made on a modified engine of Fusion

>the "expanded" part of this remake, which is the new maps Chozodia, Chozo Ruins & Space Pirates' Mothership, which begins with Samus in her most vulnerable state, blue Zero Suit, where she has no choice but to avoid any confrontation with enemies & sneak her way through the areas to look for her Power Suit & escape, also adding more of her backstory lifted from the Metroid manga, which I found exceptionally cool.

the mixed:-
~the music, either hit or didn't. Most notable ones are Brinstar, Norfair, Kraid's Lair, Ridley Boss theme, Escape from Tourian & Mecha Ridley boss theme. Rest all are lacking either the creepiness & omnious vibe of Fusion or straight up trash

the bad:-
>the mini-bosses, all but one (Imago the giant bee stinger one) sucked balls, only added to increase the playtime just for the sake of it, which is baffling considering Metroid Fusion literally had more boss variety & are still memorable

>disappointed with new final boss mechanically (no pun intended), Mecha Ridley. While I understand it was supposed to be an unfinished prototype, it still should've put more fight. Rather, it was as easy as the first mini-boss of the game, Mua the One-Eyed Centipede, which is insane.

Final rating: 7.5/10

Why is the metroid franchise so fucking good guys?

Like seriously, all the metroid game I played so far are, at the very least, good. And even if it probably wont be the case once I play metroid other M or even the original one of the NES, the remake of the latter genuinely is extremely good.

If you told me that you could turn the slow and confusing original metroid into a fast pace, rewarding and great looking game with really good level design, I wouldn't have believed you, and yet, here we are.

Samus in this game control. Just. Incredibly well. Unlike super Metroid, where its age kinda shows sometimes, this one just control flawlessly start to end. Every move is responsive, aiming is precise and the speed and momentum of samus is just right. I would even argue that this game feels even better to play than Fusion, but more so because the level design of Zero mission is fundamentally better, which was something I didn't expected for the remake of a NES game. While the world of Fusion was fine, but admittedly not as fun to explore due to its very linear design, zero mission, while still having a main route to follow, allows you to take actual shortcut and to find secret item more frequently, by making use of every single move that Samus possess more frequently than fusion ever did.

But while the game feels spectacular to play, has incredible level design, and of course, wonderful visual, the game still has two shortcomings: the soundtrack, that I found oddly unremarkable for a metroid game, and the bossfight, that, while have their fairshare of goodbossfight (Kraid, mecha Ridley) suffer from really easy bossfight (Ridley, all the mini-boss) or, in the case of motherbrain, really bullshity gameplay. Those two points are probably caused by what the original metroid did, but those are still kind of low point for it.

But, without being said, the remake still add a lot of things to compensate, such has brand new cutscenes, who had context and even a bit of lore to what you are doing, and even a post game sequence where you have to infiltrate the space pirate's base to recover a ship and your armor that you lost after being takedown by them after your fight against motherbrain. Infiltrating the base, while trying to survive while you only have a stun gun and places to hide, before tearing apart the whole base once you recover your armour, plus other abilities that you previously couldn't use was fantastic, and a tremendous way of ending this wonderful remake.

All in all, while one of two red dot rear their ugly heads, its still an awesome remake that you should definitely play over the original game. Original game that I am now going to try to finish. Hurrayyyy

Jogo bem gostosinho de jogar, é bem fluído e rápido de se movimentar, ainda mais depois de pegar o upgrade de correr. Bem que falam que essa franquia é bem legal, e é cheio dos segredinhos esse jogo, tive que ver vídeo pra pegar alguns tanques de HP e etc, tem momentos que você vai perder muita vida, então veja um detonado só pra ter o suficiente pra poder jogar sozinho. Dito isso, fique atirando que nem doido em todas as direções. Infelizmente eu zerei em 5H e 31 minutos, não consegui pegar a Samus de biquíni T-T

A very cool update to the original Metroid, making it feel a bit more of a filled-out experience with added bosses, maybe none of which are all that amazing, but at least Kraid and Ridley are less stat-checky now. The game actually does a nice amount of work keeping as much of the original atmosphere intact, with a lot of the environmental spritework being dark or even strikingly black like on the NES.

There is something to be missed out on, because enemies are a lot more manageable in this one, and that on top of Samus having a lot more finesse with her movement means this is less of a nail-biter than the original Metroid, when if anything I feel like the difficulty could've been kept since we have a good saving system that doesn't reset you back to 30 energy after you die.

I could also take or leave the added "epilogue" bit. On one hand, there was something almost kinda haunting and mysterious about acquiring items that aren't compatible with your suit. But it almost feels like an anticlimax to just find out they're old familiars that are locked away until you're basically at the final boss' doorstep. The catharsis of plowing through pirates after putting up with a stealth section was nice, but narratively I'm not sure how much it adds. It's the type of Metroid mythos I'm less of a fan of, and feels like it's weirdly there just to be all "See, THIS is how Samus' shoulder pauldrons got huge". Like, okay? And? Who actually cared that Metroid 1 Varia Suit didn't have the big shoulders?

Getting a bunch of upgrades at the last minute also means you gotta get off the pirate ship, go back to Zebes, and do a victory lap to get all the items you couldn't the first time through, and that just sorta killed my interest in 100%ing it. It's got neat and really tricky puzzles to get everything, but eh.

A worthy remake of the original that acts as a cool expansion, even if some of it feels like excess. And if nothing else, it comes with Metroid 1 on the cart, if you REALLY insist.

this game is tight and it makes me tight. atmosphere is still amazing and world design is pretty great with it being a remake of metroid 1, tons of memorable moments and brilliantly designed areas which feel like individual levels like fusion without the more closed off and dense design of fusion which i really like. this game has the best use of cutscenes in any game ive ever played, each of them are no longer than 15 seconds and yet are the hardest cutscenes i've ever seen, none of them are useless and give you information you wouldn't have had otherwise or introducing an area brilliantly. im sorry but just look up these cutscenes i love them (intro especially). Game is pretty short but also has a clear structure up untill you beat mother brain, and when it does switch up, its a well designed subversion of traditional metroid gameplay that won't be brought up until Dread. bosses are a low point for me, either go down in 5 seconds or are very frustrating with either a bunch of stuff on screen (mother brain) or a very small and tiny lil hurt box (mecha-ridley). I played this on emulator with an xbox one controller and 1st off, dont play this with a stick or bad d-pad, 2nd off, the GBA doesn't have enough buttons for good metroid with the controls being kinda clumsy sometimes. What hurts the game possibly the most due to the GBA is the screen size, constant enemies or platforms slightly off screen making it often for you to just run into them or have to guess where platforms are offscreen.
some problems when playing but looking back at this will make it look flawless, but stand strong, because the mind focuses on survival beyond all, and will help you forget bad things to help you move on, but I say to never forget.