One can’t help but draw comparisons to Shadow Of The Colossus, as Metroid II: Return of Samus gives you a kill count with questionable morality. But while Colossus gets complaints about the controls, it is the far more accessible of the two. You have to look past the slow, methodical pacing and limited hardware in order to find what people like about Metroid 2.

Samus’ movement seems clunky and sluggish, but she is far more responsive than her NES counterpart, capable of crouch aiming and using more dynamic power-ups. Despite the tight camera, enemies are way better designed and you never feel blindsided. Plus they despawn off screen so you can’t get sniped, and it helps that health and damage is more fair. Refills are introduced so a bit of backtracking is a second option instead of enemy farming.

While it’s impressive how ambitious the game is for its simple hardware, there are a few limitations that I’m not a fan of. Most songs are simple beeps, and many areas don’t even have music. Plus, being low on health overrides music with a grating siren. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the songs themselves compared to the first games’ soundtrack. It can be quite repetitive (due in part to monochrome environments) although maybe this is partially to reinforce the systematic nature of your grim task.

World design is more segmented, as you unlock one area at a time (each one is found on a fairly linear path). There’s about one save per area, which is pretty few and far between, so I continued using suspension points, although they didn’t feel nearly as necessary for my enjoyment as with the first Metroid. For optional and integral objectives, you will frequently use Spider Ball and the Gravity Suit since most areas require scaling massive heights. Again, shout out to people 20 years ago who made detailed maps, especially because this game has impossible dimensions for a 2D plane, so I definitely would’ve gotten confused with a hand-made map. Not that it’s impossible without help, just not my preference. However it felt like there was a guide missing that explained power-ups.

It’s kind of wild how a barebones story is made memorable through two features:
Firstly, the kill count as your only guide and means of progression. With each Metroid you kill, they get easier and easier to deal with, and the map becomes more and more barren, which is a decent way to communicate the extermination of life. But this has the drawback of a long walk to refills in the endgame.
Secondly, and most interestingly, is what happens after you defeat the final boss. A newly hatched baby survives, but instead of hurting you, it helps you reach your ship (not even under a timer, as is usual for the series), all while the most cheerful song in the whole game plays. The final 2 minutes carry the weight of a hundred questions, and demand you to think back on what you’ve been doing for the whole game.

If you’ve ever seen an actual Gameboy machine before, it’s easier to recognise the achievements of this game for how limited its hardware was. It’s not the easiest game to get into, but it shouldn’t be forgotten either.

Got this game on Wii U 3 years ago. Hardly played it then, but I’m still glad I got it before the virtual shop closed down. Since I recently beat the original Metroid, it was super interesting to see how this remake compared.

In some ways, it’s similar, in most ways unrecognisable. There are a couple of rooms that are pretty 1:1. The general shape of the map is the same, but there are new mechanics, entirely different rooms, more items, and a lot of the padding was cut. All bosses were heavily reworked and there are even new ones. Plus, an entirely additional final hour to the game. There are some good small tweaks like enemies not sniping you with their spawns or going through loading doors.

Most significantly I noticed how incredibly fluid movement and aiming is in this game. You can aim in so many more directions, and it no longer feels like your jumps are at the behest of moon gravity. Definitely one of my favourite ‘game-feels’ for a Metroidvania I’ve played. It makes the enemies actually fun to fight.

And thank god, they’ve added a map (and map rooms that fill out unexplored chunks). However, coupled with the objective markers, sometimes it felt less like exploring and more like going in the direction the game told me too. But there are plenty of (much better telegraphed) secret rooms you can find, and a slight amount of choosing your own route.

When you consider how much was changed or added, I find it kind of ridiculous that Tourian was made harder (even if you get a new save point). The Metroids and the platforming escape are made harder to deal with. And seriously, whose idea was it to make the fuckass Mother Brain bullet hell worse? Hands down the worst part of the game for me. Without suspension points I wouldn’t have the patience to beat it.

The added finale works pretty well, the stealth part almost feels scripted because of how well communicated the level design is. Although it did feel a bit dragged out and could benefit from being a bit shorter. Getting a powered up suit afterwards feels great though. And the actual final boss is pretty good.

Soundtrack is a nice recomposition, and the added story elements/cutscenes give interesting depth they couldn’t fit into the original.

Overall, it’s a good starter Metroid game because it’s a more linear stroll in the park with some pretty fun gameplay.

Got this game on Wii U 3 years ago. Hardly played it then, but I’m still glad I got it before the virtual shop closed down. Since I recently beat the original Metroid, it was super interesting to see how this remake compared.

In some ways, it’s similar, in most ways unrecognisable. There are a couple of rooms that are pretty 1:1. The general shape of the map is the same, but there are new mechanics, entirely different rooms, more items, and a lot of the padding was cut. All bosses were heavily reworked and there are even new ones. Plus, an entirely additional final hour to the game. There are some good small tweaks like enemies not sniping you with their spawns or going through loading doors.

Most significantly I noticed how incredibly fluid movement and aiming is in this game. You can aim in so many more directions, and it no longer feels like your jumps are at the behest of moon gravity. Definitely one of my favourite ‘game-feels’ for a Metroidvania I’ve played. It makes the enemies actually fun to fight.

And thank god, they’ve added a map (and map rooms that fill out unexplored chunks). However, coupled with the objective markers, sometimes it felt less like exploring and more like going in the direction the game told me too. But there are plenty of (much better telegraphed) secret rooms you can find, and a slight amount of choosing your own route.

When you consider how much was changed or added, I find it kind of ridiculous that Tourian was made harder (even if you get a new save point). The Metroids and the platforming escape are made harder to deal with. And seriously, whose idea was it to make the fuckass Mother Brain bullet hell worse? Hands down the worst part of the game for me. Without suspension points I wouldn’t have the patience to beat it.

The added finale works pretty well, the stealth part almost feels scripted because of how well communicated the level design is. Although it did feel a bit dragged out and could benefit from being a bit shorter. Getting a powered up suit afterwards feels great though. And the actual final boss is pretty good.

Soundtrack is a nice recomposition, and the added story elements/cutscenes give interesting depth they couldn’t fit into the original.

Overall, it’s a good starter Metroid game because it’s a more linear stroll in the park with some pretty fun gameplay.