Overall, I have always loved this series. Yes, it has had some SERIOUSLY major problems as of late (like Metroid Other M), but ever since I was a little kid, this was the series I wanted to play on my NES. I borrowed the original from my childhood friends so often I think they got through my entire collection and when this game came out, I seriously wanted to trade in the NES to get a gameboy… just for this game.
But since that never happened, I didn’t get to try this game till years later when with a complete boxed copy on my shelf sat along side a ROM on my PC, but I was trying to play on a Gravis Pro, and if anyone here remembers just how loose and god-awful that controller’s rocker switch was, you already know how bad I was going to find it. But recently, I decided with the official remake coming out soon, and having adored AM2R (seriously this is my current favorite 2D game in the series and second only to Prime 2 Echoes for the entire franchise), I wanted to give it a shot. So, I downloaded the game to my DS and began to play at the gym. As I finish I’m glad I took the time to play this.
Story: Samus has done the impossible. When a hoard of Space Pirates stole a sample of the newly discovered alien lifeform thought to wipe out all other life on the surface of planet SR388 and then used it as a weapon to hold the galaxy hostage from their strong-hold within the cavernous interior of the planet Zebes, it was Samus Aran who infiltrated that maze of death, and destroyed both the creatures and the base, eliminating the threat and saving the galaxy!
But this would not be end of the story, for no one was certain if there were other samples on the planet. When the research ship sent to find out was lost shortly after landing, another ship was sent, this time for search and rescue… they too disappeared. Finally calling it a lost cause, a military ship was sent to find what happened, and even they failed to make it back.
What the hell is down there? Did everyone fall to metroids still wandering around on the surface of the planet? Panic bloomed and the Galactic Federation called their trump card and sent in Samus Aran. Her mission, if possible, is to rescue those who went before her and ensure the metroids were eradicated and could never be a threat again to the galaxy.
Of course, this being a game from the very early 90s and on the Gameboy, none of this made it into the cart, but rather is there in the manual (and in digital form for the 3DS downloadable version) for you to read before pressing start to begin your game if you desire to. What you are given in the game is far more simple. You have a ship you arrived on, a health and missile counter, and a counter to tell you how many metroids you have left to slaughter. Let the hunt begin! And for how little effect it has on the game itself, this might as well be the story.
The only additional point of plot is rather infamous, however, as barebones as it is. But seeing as it is the very end of the game, I do not feel right revealing it for the few people who do not know it.
5/10
Graphics: Metroid 2: Return of Samus is a gameboy game, so I would blame no one for assuming the graphics in this title are complete ass. With the resolution of 160x144 (about a quarter of what the original NES could do) and having all of four shades of gray, you can’t expect many games to do much with this. But this just might be the one title to surprise you. Samus, while very large on the screen, looks absolutely gorgeous, sporting a level of detail that would set the standard for the rest of the sprite-based games to follow in the series. In fact, many of the traditional things like the shoulder pauldrons of the Varia suite, actually different looking summersaults when using the screw attack, or her harm cannon opening up visibly to fire missiles instead of beams owe their beginnings to the development team needing to be able to display these details despite the technical limitations of the system they were working with (specifically a lack of color or color changes to signify these things like the NES had).
While not as impressive, most of the other sprites also have enough detail to stand out and give you a good idea of what they do. But of course Samus’ co-stars in this game are the metroids, and they make a great first impression as the bug-like alphas show you that the iconic space-vampire-jellyfish are only babies and you realize you are in for real hell as you face off with more advanced and mature stages the further you go in.
Sadly, they cease being impressive after the second phase as it’s fairly obvious the creatures should be bigger then what the gameboy could do…. the exception being the queen at the end of the game.
The world itself also does not stand out all that much unfortunately. It is the standard fair of a handful of tiles to make the world with a few details in an otherwise black background. It stands out enough to let you navigate, but it can get very same-y looking more often then not.
7/10
Sound: Much like the graphics, the sound in this game is definitely a bag of highs and lows. Unfortunately, there is much more lows then highs here. Again, like the metroids themselves, the music makes a great first impression with arguably one of the best (if not the absolute best) track in the entire franchise. Unfortunately, that impression goes away the MOMENT you switch music tracks, as just about everything else in the background basically sucks and sucks hard. Most of it sounds garbled and confused, and frankly kinda annoying.
And the sound effects to go with it will also be fairly limited and inconsequential, which does not help the audio case of this game.
5/10
Gameplay: In most cases, a gameboy game can be expected to be a lesser version of whatever game was on the NES at the time, with sacrifices made to make a version of it work in portable form (or a spin-off to feel like the main series). Once again, however, this game here is the exception, not the rule, as the development team was making a direct main series sequel and went above and beyond to get past the limits of the system… at least for the most part.
Like the original NES title, you will be taking Samus through a maze-like interior cavern structure of the planet as you search for items and the ability to explore more of the world around you. However this is where the game is like most Gameboy equivalents It does not do much to give it’s maze many twists and turns. If anything, the maze is much more striaght forward with one central section acting as a hub connecting to the various areas, each of which are made of a handful of rooms.
You also now are restricted in where you can go by both your items and the number of metroids you have killed. Each section has a certain number, and once you kill them all, an earthquake will drain acid pits and uncover new sections of the world for you to explore. In essence, you are exploring to find the metroids you need to kill and picking up items more as a side-effect of your journey, making for a fairly linear experience.
However, where the game doesn’t stand out with the best of level design, Samus’ controls and the standard by which all future sprite-based metroid titles will be judged for them start pretty much here. It is this game that gives Samus the ability to crouch and shoot instead of literally being unable to shoot anything shorter then she is. She also gains the ability to aim and shoot down while in the air in this title, giving a much higher degree of maneuverability then she previously had. This game also introduces several new beam weapons which will not only stick around for the rest of the franchise, but once you get far enough in the game, let you choose the one you want via a set of rooms containing them all. And with the control quality of the DS family of systems, using all of this feels and plays great, making for a surprisingly solid feel taking on anything you have to fight in the game.
The only exception to that is the later metroids. Basically the last two phases look like they should now be limited to being on the ground due to their size and perhaps change behavior, but instead they fly around exactly like the first two, just with more armor (and a loopy-manuever which Im not sure controls of modern Metroid titles could keep up with). These fights come off as more about how many missles can you pummel them with before they do the same to you in a rather boring war of contrition.
7/10
Bugs: The entire time playing this game, it ran just about flawless, but one bug at the very end of the game will stop a lot of people from finishing the game cold.
- Just press down: In order to explain the one bug I found in this game, I have to give spoilers about the not-so-secret last boss of the metroid queen and how to fight her. You have been warned.
When you face the metroid queen, you will notice just how many missles she will take to go down… I am not convinced in fact there are enough to kill her this way. Rather, you are expected to use them to stun her with her mouth open so you can turn Samus into a ball and roll down her thought to drop bombs in her stomach… and this is where the issue is. You see, if you just roll down her throat as you expect to, you will not get past her mouth… ever. For reason I can not see or do not understand, you need to hit down (which activates the spider ball) to get there.
Overall: When I started this game, I did not expect much out of it. It is often regaurded as the black sheep of the 2D Metroid titles (and until Other M dropped, of the entire series). However, as I put it down, I found myself pleasantly surprised. I would not call it the best game of the series by any means, but it actually was a vast improvement over the original NES title when all is said and done, most of the updates making it through the entire following 2D titles. True, we now have an official remake from Nintendo (which I am now playing) in the form of Metroid: Samus Returns and got a vastly superior remake in the form of AM2R last year, but at the same time, having only started Samus Returns, I am not ready to give a judgement on it yet, and the DMCA dropped on AM2R means you have to go to shady places on the web to get it now. As such, I am not yet convinced this game should be left in the history to be played with for curiosity about how the series evolved just yet. And with a price of $4, I cant see a reason to deny that curiosity anyway.
Score:
7/10
Source: Nintendo 3DS Shop
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