I gotta be honest, this month has not been the best. It's not like IRL events or anything bringing me down but I don't know lately been kind of sad some games I've tried playing weren't fun me. I tried playing Wario Land 3, Earthbound, and Zelda Minish Cap this month and I just dropped them for reasons and I wish I could like them. The next game I had planned to play was Metroid Fusion and I was honestly about to just not bother thinking it be pointless because well I don't really care for the series.

I do enjoy Metroid II and Super Metroid but for some reason with everything else I've tried, I just don't enjoy them. I found the first game to be very not fun even with a guide and I thought Zero Mission was dull and I really didn't like the new stuff they added. There was also Dread which might be one of the biggest buyer's remorse that has happened to me in my life. Last one I had tried was the remake of 2 which I just found too boring to finish. After that I just didn't bother, I have zero interest in the Prime series and I no longer was interested in the franchise. The only reason I even played Fusion was due to it being added to NSO via their awful drip feeding nonsense. Now before I start talking about Fusion I want to get this out of the way. Despite all I just said in this paragraph, I get why people like these games and I'm not gonna act like my opinions are right because god no they aren't. I just wanted to put context for what it was like before I tried Fusion for the first time.

Metroid Fusion tries to do some interesting things for the series. For one this game handles progression a lot differently. It's done in more of a linear way with you being told exactly where to go and are usually following a path to go to. I personally didn't mind it though maybe it's because I don't mind this kind of progression in games like this. I didn't hate it in II either to let you know.

It was nice playing this game and being more used to how it's more like Super though some changes were made like the removal of the run button. The wall jump is also a lot worse now. You can't like wall kick off one wall anymore which sucks but then again I'm not an expert at this series so maybe it wouldn't be too useful even if it was here. The controls work well but I still have no clue how the shine spark move works, I'm doomed to be too stupid. The space jump was a bit finnicky but I got used to it eventually. I also love that you can grab onto ledges, something I'm surprised took this long to be added.

You now get most important upgrades through data rooms or just defeating bosses. This does make defeating bosses feel fun to do since this game likes to make you feel weak in a dangerous location so it's more satisfying to get more tools to use. I really like when you get more beams. I like how missiles also stack with upgrades so now normal and super missiles aren't separate. Also writing this I just realize the grapple beam isn't in this game, odd. I do wish power bombs were more useful because they give you so many to obtain but I could rarely find a use for them.

Now while the game can be fun it does have somethings that I wasn't too big on. This one is on me rather the game but there were like three times I was confused about how to progress only to look up a guide and see there was just one block I forgot to check and I feel like an idiot everytime especially with how dumb I look bombing every single thing for checking stuff. There are parts where you have to avoid being caught by a thing called SA-X which possibly hot take here. I felt like the way I saw youtubers describe this stuff like it's some horror game but I didn't feel that way. I swear there was only 3 or 4 times it ever showed up where it could get you and only one them has you actually running away. I do like how when you do eventually fight it, it's actually really easy to show how strong you've gotten. There was also a boss called the Nightmare and idk if I just suck or something but I struggled with it so badly. I must have not understood how to dodge it better because every other boss was pretty easy.

I was surprised there was a lot of story here, I wouldn't say I felt much from it but it did catch me off guard seeing past games being connected with stuff like the other Metroid types from II including the location of SR388. There were even those funny animals from Super and they even save the day which I won't lie was a cute way to end the game. Samus also likes mentioning this guy named Adam and all my mind was thinking "wait isn't he the guy everyone hates from Other M?" It's not a mindblowing story imo but I do enjoy that they tried adding some here. This was the last game in the timeline for over a decade which was always odd to me as someone who doesn't really look into all the lore and stuff.

The game graphically looks nice. I really like the areas at times especially when they go for more then just the typical tech building style. A lot of the sprites look pretty good and sometimes have cool effects on them like when an enemy dies. The bosses are also huge which is also neat. I will say that I was never a fan of Samus' suit design in this game, I'm sorry. The music is actually nice for the atmosphere. It does have some very GBA sounding music at times but I think it fits pretty well with the game. The game for the most part sounds good for voices and sound effects but when I got to Ridley I got freaking jumpscared by how loud his screams were like good lord why were they so loud. I seriously wonder if it would hurt to hear those screams while wearing headphones.

Metroid Fusion was a surprise and a welcome one at that. For a game that I wasn't really looking forward to, it was fun. I'm not the biggest fan or anything but it was nice to play through that whole thing and oh man I must have gotten a good score for items collected...oh I got 48%. Damn I must really be bad, IDK how I missed that many...but anyway it's a fun title and is one of the better GBA games out there. Maybe one day I'll try again and get a better time and %. Though I think for now I'm done with the franchise, at least it ended on a good note for me.