Metroid’s debut on the NES possessed plenty of unique and admirable elements, hence why it has influenced countless subsequent video games since its release. However, I grant the first Metroid game much less clemency than its fellow Nintendo icons during their freshmen years because navigating through the hostile hedge maze of an alien planet was too absurdly rigorous a task while being rendered in 8-bit graphics. It’s a brilliant idea whose execution in this vestigial era of gaming couldn’t possibly have been feasible, which is probably what inspired so many imitators to replicate its design philosophy when the gaming hardware could emulate it effectively. Because I’m already adamantly critical of a Metroid game on the NES, you can imagine why I’ve avoided its sequel on the original Gameboy like the plague.
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Well, what a fool I was for being afraid to play this game after experiencing how much of a miss the original Metroid[メトロイド] was. This in comparison is a dramatically better game, but also still far from perfect.
Let's start with the positives. It improves upon the original in a lot of places and I think that's particularly clear in the overall map and enemy design. It's far more linear and while it makes it far less of a metroidvania than the original, it's at least actually more fun and sensible to traverse now. No more vastly repeating rooms with confusing direction and no more annoying enemy placements to be found here. It also helps that this game has actual save points now! Now I don't have to spawn with 30 health anymore and start from a more fair location when I die. Another thing it does well is the power-ups. Pretty much everything from the original returns here but is done a bit better but there are three new additions I really appreciate. First is the plasma beam, a very fun weapon that is pretty much a precise sniping tool since it kills most enemies instantly. Next is the spider ball, a very surprisingly fun power-up in how much it allows you to explore some hidden or otherwise hard-to-reach areas Finally, the superjump, another fun mobility tool that gives you a lot of control of where you head and probably would be gamebreaking if the game's map was far more open in design. One more thing I want to praise is that, while the aesthetic is arguably worse due to it being on the hardware it's on, it does still maintain a sort of spooky aesthetic with some fun ambient cavern music.
Unfortunately with all these positives, there are a lot of negatives to the point where I don't think I can even comfortably call this a good game just yet. In terms of boss design, this isn't much better than the original with the main strategy being "spam missile until it dies" for pretty much all of them as you inevitably take a lot of damage.. It's not very fun to deal with even at the final boss which at least somewhat requires you to think. Also while the level design does benefit from the linearity a lot now, I still wouldn't call it very good. There are still a lot of secrets that you could easily miss such as an area that happens to have a lot of missile upgrades and an E-tank, some still confusing areas or areas with cheap design like the one long pathway you go to after you've killed all but one Metroid, and some really odd decisions like putting two save points almost next to each other with exactly one enemy in between them.
Overall, definitely more fun than the original but Metroid[メトロイド] still had a long way to go to be considered truly great. I don't really recommend it but considering this is an early GameBoy title that is actually not super short... yeah I think I can get away with saying that it's a solid experience.
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The upgrade in controls, enemy design and power ups are enough for any fan of Metroid 1 to play this game. It gets a lot of trash, but for someone that loves the original game, this was a joy to play through. I still appreciate the games where you had to make a map and the atmosphere in this is off the charts. The black and white does get samey, but it’s like you’re playing a lost classic and you just have to give yourself to it. The big downgrade for me is the limitations of the system that make the variety a downgrade from the first game. Otherwise this was a good time.
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Released 5 years after the fact, Metroid II: Return of Samus is a slower and floatier Game Boy sequel that's nevertheless a two-pronged update: One for structure, by replacing the debut's roundabout mystery with more complex areas and a well-defined objective - and the other for gameplay, by adding new combat options and upgrades useful for secret-hunting and platforming alike (e.g. Spider Ball, Space Jump). The result improves upon their model of hostile sci-fi expedition, a slightly more feasible but no less intense effort when compared to the original, only the personality is missing.
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Metroid originally wasn't a huge hit for Nintendo, it had moderately decent sales, but was nowhere near the cashcow the Mario and Zelda franchises were. So when the sequel came out they released it on their handheld hoping maybe that would help it take off since Gameboy was extremely popular and sold tons of games. Well unfortunately Metroid II sort of bombed, even if the game wasn't horrible. Its more or less limited due to the limitations of Gameboy. Its not a horrible game, but its inferior to the original game and doesn't have enough to stand its own. The design is okay but the graphics and design sort of hold this back, plus there really are no bosses in this until the end. The remake of this from a few years back AM2R is way better.
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Played for an hour or so and I think it's got the same issue as the original: a lack of automap, and the fact that several areas are same-y and it's easy to get lost or miss something. Mind you, the only way I could finish the first one was to draw the map myself on graph paper, but I'm not currently in the mood for counting screens and making notes. Perhaps I'll finish it later. I also don't want to consult a guide or walkthrough because I guess it would beat the point of games like these.
The truth is it feels much better than the original in other aspects, mainly the movement and combat. Seems like I'd actually enjoy this when I have the time for mapping.
one of the most underrated metroids. the claustrophobia, the minimalistic ambient soundtrack; i believe this game is great because of its limitations, not in spite of it
a game about going down further and further and further into an obscure orifice of reality that no intelligent species was ever supposed to see. the soundtrack here did a lot of shit vastly ahead of its time too, the caverns tracks feel like digitized field recordings of the malevolent space the game occupies
The truth is it feels much better than the original in other aspects, mainly the movement and combat. Seems like I'd actually enjoy this when I have the time for mapping.