in now-sterilized, man-made familiar locales, we find our hero stripped of her defining characteristics and sense of self.

opposes super metroid’s encouraging game feel with something almost akin to a horror game. you don’t want to continue searching this facility. you want out. to go back to your super days and forget this fusion. danger is always lurking right around the corner. its linearity does away with the extrinsic exploration of yesteryear and forces the player to frantically discover unorthodox pathways and tunnels as samus’ last resort to escape the stale and artificial landscapes that crumble at “her” feet. now you see how it feels to be those Geemers and Kihunters once taken out by the masses within planet zebes. you are the helpless one. powerless in the shadow of your former glory. samus now uses more organic controls to complement her newfound body, creating further distinction between her and her “imposter.”

i find it to be pretty interesting how every game in this series tends to be its own piece yet always feel connected to its companions. they all tie back to their similar atmospheres, exploration and fear obviously but its their executions that each carry their own unprecedented singularities and efficacies. metroid 2: the black sheep that strikes terror via one’s commonly identifiable monotony. super metroid: the crowd-pleaser that invokes its trepidation based off of the unknown. and finally fusion: creating fear centered on what is known. we know our over-powered cold-blooded doppelganger is following us and awaiting our next move. we know monsters like the Nightmare and Ridley are out there. inevitability sweeps up emotion and carries it for as long as it sees fit.

there’s overall a broader focus on creating anxiety and suspicion here, compared to super where those things were more intentional byproducts of how the different areas were designed. fusion senses the player’s discomposure and plays around with it to a shockingly powerful degree. all the more satisfying in its climax where we finally get to strike some mania into our foes. features a story that somewhat subtlety places a critique on the nature of science. our once free alien friends now imprisoned for research along with other past monstrosities. the narrative unfolds cleanly and in just the right amount of doses to not feel too intrusive. the enemy is closer than it seems, but so are our friends.

not sure how i’d rank this one against its siblings but i could say that for all of them, due to their differences as previously mentioned. they work expertly in tandem with one another. this was one of the only nintendo franchises i actually fully enjoyed, hats off to nintendo r&d1. also happy 20th to this game, coincidentally started my playthrough on its release day lol. dread is coming soon….