AM2R: Return of Samus (PC) Review

In 2002, Nintendo was riding the successful tide of two major releases in their often ignored Metroid franchise: Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. Both games came out to high acclaim and popularity. In fact, this may have been the best time for the franchise in it’s entire life. Knowing they had struck gold and wanting more, they began working on other games… the result in the 3D Metroid series was Metroid Prime 2, but a “new” 2D game was missing. Instead, Nintendo chose to remake the original title for their then current portable console as Metroid: Zero Mission.

Anyone who played this game (myself included) adored it, recognizing it as a proper game fore the series and the upgrade to the NES classic that it was. But that very idea got ideas buzzing. After all, if Nintendo was willing to do this for the original game, what about it’s sequel? After all, the NES version of Metroid was (and is) still very enjoyable as it has aged rather well. Sadly we can not say the same for the sequel which was limited right away by what the Gameboy could do, but Nintendo to date has not moved on this opening.

Then a few months ago, something wonderful happened and a project to do what Nintendo has yet to released in time for the 30th anniversary of the franchise. After a decade of work by one dedicated fan, AM2R was in the wild! And then Nintendo wasted no time pooping on the party by giving the project a DMCA.

Now I’m not blaming them for that action. After all, Metroid 2 is their game and this is a remake of the original, not a “spin-off” fan game. However, that does not mean I had any intention of missing this amazing title. And now as we come to the end of the 100 Days of Gaming for Extra Life, I put down my controller, happy to have the chance to complete what is arguably the best Metroid game we have seen since Metroid Prime 3 rolled around.

A Few Weeks of Turmoil for Gaming… And Standards of Behavior Drop

Well the past few weeks has seen no shortage of controversies in the gamer-verse, though I'm not sure how much I can say about most of them… they are too self-evident, exactly what we all expected, and just more of the same bullshit from the same actors…. except maybe one.

AM2R Launched! (Updated)

If you know me or my gaming history, you know I have been a fan of Metroid for about as long as the series existed. While I didn’t own the NES cart till much later, I was as often as not borrowing it from a close friend of mine, and when Metroid 2 launched for Gameboy, there was suddenly no gaming system I wanted more.

Even after abandoning console for the PC when DOS games reached their final peak, it was Metroid Prime that brought me back with a copy that included a demo of the then upcoming Metroid Prime 2 in a GameCube bundle. Yes this franchise and I go a long ways back.

But despite this, I never actually played a cart version of the second game. You see until the DS, I never got any of the Nintendo portable machines, so when I finally did play it, it was by PC emulation years later with the European regioned cart on my shelf (which I still have) that was the best I could get my hands on via Ebay. I had a controller, but it was an old Gravis Gamepad Pro which was very loose on the rocker-switch, and the whole situation just felt clunky and old. I bought the game again when it became available on the 3DS, but even as I did, I knew I was just trying to catch up with something that clearly didn’t age well… and then this happened.