• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

LTTP: Super Metroid + the rest of the 2D, putting the Metroid in MetroidVania

SCB3

Member
With the upcoming Metroid Dread in October, I though now would be a perfect time to go back and finish a series I've not really touched - Metroid

Now, back in 2003 ish I got a Gamecube with Tony hawks Underground and Metroid Prime, I missed Metroid completely before this (even though I had a SNES, FF7 was my first RPG, I missed the Zelda series aswell until a GBA release of one of them) and loved the atmosphere of Prime and decided to buy Zero Mission and Fusion at some point loving them both, but 1 game has eluded me since them for whatever reason - Super Metroid

Well today we chnage that, I going to replay the rest soon enough, digging out my Translucent Purple GBA (though half tempted to mod one with a nice backlight) but Nintendo has Super Metroid on Switch, where I'm playing this.

So far I'm loving it, it seems super short and I've just got the High Jump and its a nice fair difficulty (though the spore boss kept catching me out, I'm not yet used to Samus' crouch)

After this, I'm sure some of you remember my Thread on how to play the rest of the series and emulation is the way to go with Samus Returns and Prime Trilogy with the PrimeHack mod seems to be the way to go, I did buy both of these as well, so guilt free for me ;)
 
Last edited:

mcjmetroid

Member
Super Metroid is amazing but somewhat the controls are a little fiddly and awkward being my only complaint. It's still the best though.

I would like consider Zero Mission the best 2D Metroid had it being a lot longer.
Fusion is too linear for my tastes..it's still very good though.

Never played Samus returns, I doubt that would change my mind though
 

Paltheos

Member
Hey, I just posted about Metroid a few days ago.

My impromptu, off-the-top-of-my-head tier list is:

Zero Mission
Prime
Prime 2
AM2R
Fusion
Metroid II
Prime 3
Samus Returns
Super
Other M
Metroid

Not too much controversial here - Zero Mission and Metroid II might be a bit high for some (and tbf the top 4 can probably be shuffled around for me). The only place I split hard from the fanbase is on Super. I think that game has been annihilated by the passage of time. Its greatest contribution today is as a template for all the great games that have followed it.
 
Last edited:

SCB3

Member
Super Metroid is amazing but somewhat the controls are a little fiddly and awkward being my only complaint. It's still the best though.

I would like consider Zero Mission the best 2D Metroid had it being a lot longer.
Fusion is too linear for my tastes..it's still very good though.

Never played Samus returns, I doubt that would change my mind though
Oh I feel that, I bet back in 1994 this would have felt fantastic, I was more of a Mega Drive kid (games were cheaper and I was a bigger Sonic fan) so the closest thing I can think of back then was Vectorman maybe, I do like have the shoulder buttons being dedicated Up and Down aiming, apparently Samus Returns controls better
 

skit_data

Member
Super Metroid is the best 2D Metroid but there are things that Fusion and Zero Mission did better in terms of control scheme and movement, and sometimes the screen feels a bit cramped due to how much space Samus takes up.
 
Last edited:

SCB3

Member
Super Metroid is the best 2D Metroid but there are things that Fusion and Zero Mission did better in terms of control scheme and movement, and sometimes the screen feels a bit cramped due to how much space Samus takes up.
Al 3 are also super short, I was suprised when I looked up a walkthrough to see how much I'd done and I'm already over halfway through (just killed Kaind? A big green monster)
 

skit_data

Member
Al 3 are also super short, I was suprised when I looked up a walkthrough to see how much I'd done and I'm already over halfway through (just killed Kaind? A big green monster)
Yeah, they are all a lot shorter than Prime 1 and 2.

I love the Prime games but half of the game is finding all the chozo artifacts and sky temple keys and I think that makes the total playtime unecessarily long IMO.
 

mcjmetroid

Member
Yeah, they are all a lot shorter than Prime 1 and 2.

I love the Prime games but half of the game is finding all the chozo artifacts and sky temple keys and I think that makes the total playtime unecessarily long IMO.
This is kinda why the First person ones are longer I suppose in the end.
Slower movement and a bit more padding.

Backtracking a tad tedious in the Prime games at times as well.
Also the artefact hunt at the end of the games makes the first person ones lose points for me.

Still though if I was to rank them all I would put Super Metroid at the top and Metroid Prime second.
 
My personal Metroid ranking list:

1) Prime
2) Zero Mission
3) Super
4) Echoes
5) Fusion
6) Corruption
7) Samus Returns
8) Other M
9) Hunters
10) Metroid
11) Metroid 2

The remakes really just make the original 1 and 2 obsolete but “real” fans should still give them a go. Never played Federation Force but I really don’t care to play a chibi spin-off.
 

SCB3

Member
So Ridley huh? What a bitch to kill, took me a good 10 or so tries, I found that the Charge Beam with Ice Beam worked well, it's so hard not to get hit by her, but she went down eventually

Looking at where I am, maybe an hour to go, been a lot of fun so far, I can see why its held up as a classic, though I gotta say, the Switch's Pro controller is not made for this, I kinda wanna buy the SNES controller and see if that helps with some of these games
 

kunonabi

Member
For me it goes:


1. Super Metroid
2. Other M
3. Prime
4. Metroid
5. Return of Samus

Huge drop

6. Pinball
7. Echoes
8. Fusion
9. Zero Mission
10. Corruption
11. Samus Returns
12. Hunters
13. Federation Force
 

SpiceRacz

Member
Hey, I just posted about Metroid a few days ago.

My impromptu, off-the-top-of-my-head tier list is:

Zero Mission
Prime
Prime 2
AM2R
Fusion
Metroid II
Prime 3
Samus Returns
Super
Other M
Metroid

Not too much controversial here - Zero Mission and Metroid II might be a bit high for some (and tbf the top 4 can probably be shuffled around for me). The only place I split hard from the fanbase is on Super. I think that game has been annihilated by the passage of time. Its greatest contribution today is as a template for all the great games that have followed it.

In what way has it been annihilated by time? As someone that's played a lot of metroidvanias, I think it's aged remarkably well.
 

kunonabi

Member
In what way has it been annihilated by time? As someone that's played a lot of metroidvanias, I think it's aged remarkably well.
If anything playing modern takes on the genre just highlights how amazing Super is compared to all the junk that's come out since.
 

SCB3

Member
Started Zero Mission, and I have to say, its fantastic! the QoL stuff over Super Metroid alone is great and I do remember some of it from when I first played it back in 2002? Seems very short and suprisingly harder than I thought it'd be in terms of HP, then again compared to the issues I've been having in Demons Souls, its a dream.

As for how I'm playing, well I still own my release GBA from when I was a kid, a translucent Purple one and Zero Mission (and Fusion) but the screen just is not good enough without a backlight, so I decided to emulate and upscale it via mGBA and yes, its plays and looks amazing for its age.
 

Faithless83

Banned
HNonGBO.png


Super Metroid is one of my favorite games of all time though. Still have both my US and JAP copies of it.
 

SCB3

Member
A few hours into Zero Mission and I’m alway impressed on how this plays, nice tight controls and some great graphics for the time on handheld, surprisingly long as well, took me a couple hours to the first major boss

still feels very similar to Super though in its structure so far though, not a bad thing but very samey, if Sami’s Returns/Dread feel like this, that’s an issue
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I play a lot of Super Metroid on Switch thanks to the SNES benefit of the online membership. It's worth the online cost to not have to hook up the SNES.
 

SCB3

Member
I play a lot of Super Metroid on Switch thanks to the SNES benefit of the online membership. It's worth the online cost to not have to hook up the SNES.
Thats how I played it, I have a SNES Mini as well, but the original cart is expensive, I may get it as a Promotion treat or something, I really really enjoyed Super more than I ever thought
 
A few hours into Zero Mission and I’m alway impressed on how this plays, nice tight controls and some great graphics for the time on handheld, surprisingly long as well, took me a couple hours to the first major boss

still feels very similar to Super though in its structure so far though, not a bad thing but very samey, if Sami’s Returns/Dread feel like this, that’s an issue
Ya they completely nailed it with the art style for zero mission. Pretty much a perfect update of the original visuals. Zero mission is great but I do slightly prefer Fusion mostly because it's very weird but still very much metroid. Glad you're enjoying the series, probably my favorite franchise in gaming.
 

SCB3

Member
Ya they completely nailed it with the art style for zero mission. Pretty much a perfect update of the original visuals. Zero mission is great but I do slightly prefer Fusion mostly because it's very weird but still very much metroid. Glad you're enjoying the series, probably my favorite franchise in gaming.
Thanks, yea Zero Mission and Fusion I’ve played through and owned since release I believe (I got one of them with my GBA with Mario Kart) and I cannot believe how well Zero Mission has held up, I’d love a switch remake of this in this style

I’m nervous about how well Samus Returns remake is gonna play, the first 15-20 mins I played on a emulator makes me worry that it’s gonna depend too much on that parry mechanic
 

MacReady13

Member
Super Metroid is brilliant. The GBA games are fantastic as well and the 3DS remake is great too. It's just an amazingly high quality series. Anyway, I would still put Super Metroid at the top of the 2D Metroid list, with Prime being right next to it in terms of quality gameplay.
 

Cutty Flam

Banned
So far I agree, I do have a soft spot for Prime though
Was thinking along similar lines. I'm close to finishing Super Metroid as I've been chipping away at it here and there for a few months and it is one hell of a video game. Very surprising how outstanding it is, and it's always been ranked very high in magazines I used to read back in the day like Nintendo Power and Electric Gaming Monthly, couple others but now it's clear why. The level design is unbelievable for a game released in 1994. Metroid Prime feels like it's still years ahead of any game in its class despite being released in 2001
 
Top Bottom