This game is pretty important to me, for all of the wrong reasons. I remember finding out about this game the day it came out, and rushing to the store to buy it immediately. I was a huge Metroid fan, and was excited for a new 2D game. I got the game home, played it for about 40 minutes, and then never touched the game again.
Samus Returns was the first time I'd ever bought a game on launch, and it's probably the reason I can count on my fingers how many games I've bought at release. It was a huge moment for me in understanding that not every cool looking new release in a series I like will actually be good.
So what's wrong here? Well, a lot. Samus Returns is marred by a lot of mostly smaller issues that add up to ruin the experience. The biggest issue here comes down to the design philosophy. Almost all of Samus Returns' problems come down to it trying to reinvent the wheel; both for 2D Metroid, and for Metroid II itself.
Metroid II is in sort of an awkward place. It's a lot more refined than Metroid 1, and as a result in much less of a need of its own "Zero Mission", while at the same time, the game is still a bit too far from Super to stand up with the later 2D games.
M2's biggest issues are in its structure. The game functions by having the player travel to one area, kill all the Metroids there, and the travel to the next area and so on. This isn't a terrible issue, and M2 is still a good game, but it can definitely make the game feel somewhat stale at times.
The problem here is that solving this issue would require one to basically make an entirely new game, negating the point of remaking M2 in the first place. This is very prevalent in AM2R, the unofficial remake of M2. For as good as AM2R is, it never quite breaks free of M2's structural issues. Samus Returns on the other hand takes M2's issues... and makes them way worse.
One of M2's biggest strengths is in its gameplay's atmosphere. As the player proceeds in their mission of killing Metroids, the environment naturally opens itself up, as the lava recedes through a series of earthquakes (possibly the result of the Metroid Queen mourning her offspring). While the earthquakes occur conveniently after all the Metroids in an area have been killed, the lack of an indicator of how many Metroids are exactly needed for each earthquake helps create a sense of the player really feel like the planet is naturally opening up to them, allowing them to explore deeper and deeper.
Samus Returns takes this advantage of the structure and throws it out the window. Areas are no longer connected through sprawling caves, but rather the chozo elevators like every other game. Earthquakes no longer occur naturally, but the now purple liquid is drained through a contraption that requires Metroid DNA to activate. This last change really destroys a lot of Metroid II's soul. Metroid II is a game about killing Metroids, and making their DNA an overt requirement for progression makes them almost feel like keys the player needs to continue instead of the main mission they're supposed to be.
Samus Returns biggest mistake though is in the parry mechanic. This is one of those mechanics that just makes you ask "why?" 2D Metroid never needed a parry mechanic, and further more there is no way to sensibly use such a mechanic in a 2D Metroid game. So how does Samus Returns do it? Well that's simple! By giving almost every enemy in the game a parryable attack, ehich allows the player to make a counterattack that one-shots the enemy, and then making every other method of killing them unviable. Despite likely being added to diversify Samus' combat capabilities, but ironically ends up making every fight feel repetitive and stale.
One of the big things that makes Metroid upgrades feel rewarding and fun is that they give you a new way of dealing with ememies. As you go through the game, you go from having to stop and deal with enemies to being able to blast your way through them with ease. In Samus Returns, every time an upgrade would give you this feel, the next area replaces all the enemies with tankier identical copies of themselves, redesigned solely to prevent you from ussingthis new method of defeat. It's not until the Screw Attack is gotten in the endgame the player is truly given the option of tearing through enemies, and even this is undercut by the choice to make some enemies take two hits to kill with it (literally why??? That feels counter intuitive to both the mechanics and entire point of the screw attack). As a result, almost every enemy encounter for the first 80% of the game goes the same way: Stop, wait for the enemy to use their parryable attack, parry, and shoot. It really brings the gameplay to a halt, and feels super unsatisfying to pull off.
Another major issue with Samus Returns is the controls. Rather than be controlled on a dpad like any 2D platforming game should be, Samus Returns plays exclusively on the circle pad. This feels.... awful, and it's certainly not worth the reason it's done. Thanks to joystick, Samus can now aim in any direction! This of course, requires the player to press a button that brings movement to a complete stand still, and of course also means that enemies are thrown at awkward angles, require Samus to use said mechanic that screeches gameplay to a halt. It all just feels so counter intuitive to the entire series.
There is SOME good here, of course. The Aeon mecganic that lets you see the map and breakable blocks around you is a really strong mechanic, but gets muddled alongside mechanics that feel like unnecessary gimmicks for getting items. The boss fights are also really good, and are certainly the only place where the parry mechanic feels good, but even these have their issues. The Gamma Metroid fights get really stupid one they start running, requiring you to run between 2 or 3 obvious boss fight rooms for literally no reason ither than to pad out the fight. And don't even get me started on how stupid the choice to add a certain someone as the new final boss is.
This game could have easy been something good with just some minor fixes, but as it is, all the issues add up to make the game thoroughly unenjoyable for me. I was skeptical oof Metroid Dread when it was announced because of this game, and actually playing it through to the end certainly hasn't helped that, but hopefully MercurySteam will end up proving me wrong with that one.
Samus Returns was the first time I'd ever bought a game on launch, and it's probably the reason I can count on my fingers how many games I've bought at release. It was a huge moment for me in understanding that not every cool looking new release in a series I like will actually be good.
So what's wrong here? Well, a lot. Samus Returns is marred by a lot of mostly smaller issues that add up to ruin the experience. The biggest issue here comes down to the design philosophy. Almost all of Samus Returns' problems come down to it trying to reinvent the wheel; both for 2D Metroid, and for Metroid II itself.
Metroid II is in sort of an awkward place. It's a lot more refined than Metroid 1, and as a result in much less of a need of its own "Zero Mission", while at the same time, the game is still a bit too far from Super to stand up with the later 2D games.
M2's biggest issues are in its structure. The game functions by having the player travel to one area, kill all the Metroids there, and the travel to the next area and so on. This isn't a terrible issue, and M2 is still a good game, but it can definitely make the game feel somewhat stale at times.
The problem here is that solving this issue would require one to basically make an entirely new game, negating the point of remaking M2 in the first place. This is very prevalent in AM2R, the unofficial remake of M2. For as good as AM2R is, it never quite breaks free of M2's structural issues. Samus Returns on the other hand takes M2's issues... and makes them way worse.
One of M2's biggest strengths is in its gameplay's atmosphere. As the player proceeds in their mission of killing Metroids, the environment naturally opens itself up, as the lava recedes through a series of earthquakes (possibly the result of the Metroid Queen mourning her offspring). While the earthquakes occur conveniently after all the Metroids in an area have been killed, the lack of an indicator of how many Metroids are exactly needed for each earthquake helps create a sense of the player really feel like the planet is naturally opening up to them, allowing them to explore deeper and deeper.
Samus Returns takes this advantage of the structure and throws it out the window. Areas are no longer connected through sprawling caves, but rather the chozo elevators like every other game. Earthquakes no longer occur naturally, but the now purple liquid is drained through a contraption that requires Metroid DNA to activate. This last change really destroys a lot of Metroid II's soul. Metroid II is a game about killing Metroids, and making their DNA an overt requirement for progression makes them almost feel like keys the player needs to continue instead of the main mission they're supposed to be.
Samus Returns biggest mistake though is in the parry mechanic. This is one of those mechanics that just makes you ask "why?" 2D Metroid never needed a parry mechanic, and further more there is no way to sensibly use such a mechanic in a 2D Metroid game. So how does Samus Returns do it? Well that's simple! By giving almost every enemy in the game a parryable attack, ehich allows the player to make a counterattack that one-shots the enemy, and then making every other method of killing them unviable. Despite likely being added to diversify Samus' combat capabilities, but ironically ends up making every fight feel repetitive and stale.
One of the big things that makes Metroid upgrades feel rewarding and fun is that they give you a new way of dealing with ememies. As you go through the game, you go from having to stop and deal with enemies to being able to blast your way through them with ease. In Samus Returns, every time an upgrade would give you this feel, the next area replaces all the enemies with tankier identical copies of themselves, redesigned solely to prevent you from ussingthis new method of defeat. It's not until the Screw Attack is gotten in the endgame the player is truly given the option of tearing through enemies, and even this is undercut by the choice to make some enemies take two hits to kill with it (literally why??? That feels counter intuitive to both the mechanics and entire point of the screw attack). As a result, almost every enemy encounter for the first 80% of the game goes the same way: Stop, wait for the enemy to use their parryable attack, parry, and shoot. It really brings the gameplay to a halt, and feels super unsatisfying to pull off.
Another major issue with Samus Returns is the controls. Rather than be controlled on a dpad like any 2D platforming game should be, Samus Returns plays exclusively on the circle pad. This feels.... awful, and it's certainly not worth the reason it's done. Thanks to joystick, Samus can now aim in any direction! This of course, requires the player to press a button that brings movement to a complete stand still, and of course also means that enemies are thrown at awkward angles, require Samus to use said mechanic that screeches gameplay to a halt. It all just feels so counter intuitive to the entire series.
There is SOME good here, of course. The Aeon mecganic that lets you see the map and breakable blocks around you is a really strong mechanic, but gets muddled alongside mechanics that feel like unnecessary gimmicks for getting items. The boss fights are also really good, and are certainly the only place where the parry mechanic feels good, but even these have their issues. The Gamma Metroid fights get really stupid one they start running, requiring you to run between 2 or 3 obvious boss fight rooms for literally no reason ither than to pad out the fight. And don't even get me started on how stupid the choice to add a certain someone as the new final boss is.
This game could have easy been something good with just some minor fixes, but as it is, all the issues add up to make the game thoroughly unenjoyable for me. I was skeptical oof Metroid Dread when it was announced because of this game, and actually playing it through to the end certainly hasn't helped that, but hopefully MercurySteam will end up proving me wrong with that one.