I Love and Hate Metroid

A Tale of Two Samus

I've never found combat to be compelling in Prime

Metroid holds an odd place in my heart. I own nearly every game, but haven’t finished a single one, though I’m getting very close to the end of Zero Mission right now. I just really like how much of a departure this game is from Nintendo’s other IP. It is much more atmospheric than Nintendo’s other franchises, and it operates in the same niche that Zelda does. Both of these series have that Nintendo charm, but a more mature slant. On top of that, I really like the character of Samus. She is one of Nintendo’s best designed mascots in my opinion. Within the franchise, they’re really two types of games. The Prime titles, and the 2D exploration based ones. For me, the Prime titles just don’t work out. The combat feels uninspired, and the platforming isn’t particularly tight. However, I cannot deny how epic the music is nor, how masterfully the levels are designed. Having tried both Prime 1 and Prime 3, my issues with these games spread across the series but hopefully Prime 4 can change my mind. it's really the other kind of Metroid that resonates with me.

The fight was a pain, but very
satisfying to beat

There are few things more satisfying in video games than the exploration in 2D Metroid titles. Finding myself hopelessly stuck only to morph bomb my way into a secret passage that leads to a new item is a ton of fun. It’s a bit hard to describe actually, the cycle of hitting a wall, then overcoming that wall through careful exploration makes me want to keep coming back. On top of that gameplay loop are the fantastically designed and tough boss fights that pop up when you least expect them. Sometimes they border on frustration, but there is no denying how awesome it is to take one down. At the same time though, my enjoyment of 2D Metroid games is spotty. It seems like a coin-flip as to whether the game sticks with me or not.

John Wick 2 is a great action
movie if you haven't seen it
already (though it is a hard R)

I can’t help but lose interest in the longer titles, such as Super Metroid. In a tight, 4-5 hour package like in Metroid Zero Mission, the gameplay never feels grinding. But when I am consulting wikis and drawing a real life map to trudge through the latter hours in Super Metroid, my interest starts to wane. That’s not to say Super Metroid is a bad game, far from it actually. It’s just that after you hit wall after wall for six hours, the allure begins to fade. I still contest the gameplay loop is excellent, but just like Zelda, no matter how good the dungeons are, after a while, they border on tedium. What Zelda gets so right though, is that for every dungeon there is hours of overworld exploration so you never feel burnt out. That’s really the heart of my issue with Metroid games, in the later hours they feel repetitious. John Wick 2 is one of my favorite movies this year, but there’s a reason its run time is only two hours. The action is visceral and incredibly choreographed, but the director knows that if the movie runs too long, it will become grating and hard to get through. Super Metroid, oddly enough, feels like a three hour John Wick movie. The first few hours of Super Metroid are stylish fun, but the tail feels like a slog.

Metroid: Samus Returns looks to be more action focused

And here we are. Mercury Steam’s Metroid: Return of Samus is only a few months away. I already have the special edition pre-ordered at GameStop and I cannot wait to play. No moment during E3 caught me off guard and got me quite as excited as the reveal for this game. I merely had the Treehouse stream on in the background to see gameplay and new amiibo. I was wholly unprepared for a reveal as big as Metroid a hour after Nintendo’s Spotlight presentation. While I’m a bit concerned that this title will suffer from the same problems as Super Metroid, I feel pretty good about this one. Metroid Zero Mission was able to cut out the fat from the NES title it’s based off of, and deliver my favorite experience in the series. Should Metroid: Return of Samus tighten up the original Metroid II, and then weave in some of its own ideas, I think we’ll be in for a treat. But, if the game instead remakes Metroid II in its entirety and adds content on top, well, then we’re probably looking at the type of longer experience hardcore fans have been clamoring for. In that case, the game probably wouldn’t be for me anymore, but I’d still give it a good five hours before the monotony set in. But who knows, perhaps the portability of the 3DS will allow me to push all the way to the end with this one. In the meantime, I’ll be catching up with Metroid Fusion on the Wii U Virtual Console, and seeing if this one can hold my interest all the way until the end.