Metroid: Zero Mission

Echoing the sentiments of many, Zero Mission feels like an honest attempt at patching up the short comings of the Original Metroid with huge quality of life improvements and for that I must commend Nintendo for it. The original Metroid is a solid, bonefid classic weighed down by confusing and baffling level design meant to force you to shell out the dough for a Nintendo Power to navigate the game. A simple damn map and a weapons load out screen makes such a huge difference and this gets a solid 4 just for that.

É fluído como nenhum Metroid foi até esse ponto e em geral tem um gameplay excelente. Mas sinto que a essa altura, a série podia fazer mais, especialmente depois do Fusion e do Prime.

A surpresa no fim é muito bem-vinda mas não muda minha sensação de que essa foi uma oportunidade perdida de criar um jogo mais denso e inovador pra franquia, com uma cara mais própria e que se permitisse ir mais além do original.

Migrating to the brief, portable format this time, Zero Mission is a dual remake + expansion of Metroid streamlined with the lingo of Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. Of note are some varied scenarios here: namely using bugs to remove obstacles, ziplines, unexpected boss fights, and even a tense stealth-oriented second half deviating from Metroid's norm. The good news is that this is their most accessible entry yet, as evident in the inclusion of map rooms, objective markers, item descriptions, recharging stations aplenty, much friendlier areas, etc. The bad news is that the imagination of past powerups went missing, leaving it up to their unique gameplay passages and the novelty of Zero Suit Samus to carve an identity of its own. Besides that, it's simply another well-produced and well-executed batch of items and secrets to uncover.

A slightly awkward mishmash of old ideas, fresh paint, and new experiments that doesn't quite feel like a complete game, but I can't imagine a version of the clunky and confusing original Metroid that does feel complete; and so I thank this game for its valuable service. Few games as important as the first Metroidvania have also held up as poorly, so much so that I'd argue Zero Mission feels more like a Metroid game than the original does. Updating the visuals and the controls makes this feel like an extension of Super Metroid. and quite frankly those aspects on their own make the game well worth playing even if the upgrades don't quite feel complete.

Nevertheless, I feel like I have to at least mention those shortcomings. The bosses are fairly uninteresting. (Kraid and Ridley feel like lesser versions of their SNES counterparts; the Mother Brain fight is a little too faithful to the claustrophobic original, choosing not to make use of Samus's updated movement; the new bosses are all generic.) Upgrades and even important paths forward are usually locked behind arbitrary parts of the walls you have to shoot, which are telegraphed a little better than the nothing from the original game but still not quite enough for it to feel rewarding to find them. (Though I am amused by the shortcuts they snuck into the walls, specifically meant for speedrunners and completionists. There's a lot of explicit rewards for being those kinds of players, too, as should be the case for a Metroidvania.) The new areas aren't integrated smoothly, often being locked behind basic switches instead of requiring you to use the game's new upgrades in creative ways. Even the new Chozodia section, as fun as it is, feels way too short; you get three new upgrades and only a couple minutes later you run into the game's most fragile boss and the game is more or less done.

But because the game feels so good to play, and because it zips along pretty quickly even if you're not a Metroid pro, it's easy to forget its shortcomings. The only thing that wouldn't be so easy to forget is the new stealth section where Samus loses her Power Suit, which I know some people aren't fans of but I actually quite like, even if it's a little underdeveloped. (I'm interested to see if any of those ideas get fleshed out in Dread.) Samus's paralyzer is appropriately dinky, functional but bad enough that you really do want to avoid Space Pirates when you can. Unfortunately, a lot of that avoiding becomes a matter of whether you can hold the jump button for the appropriate amount of time, but even if you do get spotted it's a lot of fun. Chozodia is actually really big, with a lot of places to run and hide, so trying to figure your way through in a mad rush as Space Pirates swarm you is fun. The game also subtly guides you to your goal the whole time; there's a few potential routes, so it doesn't feel like it's holding your hand, but you also feel like you're making constant progress.

But hell, even if you don't like the stealth, there's still enough classic Metroid to make this well worth the play. Just turn it off after you beat Mother Brain if you want. A very respectable entry.

I tried playing Metroid on the NES at least 55 times growing up, I bought it digitally at least 4 times and never got too far. So I never touched another Metroid game, I missed out. I understand people think that this is an incredibly casualized remake of the original but it's 2020 I'm not busting out graph paper to beat a video game. I feel that all the changes make this a much more enjoyable game overall.

As someone who never actually beat Metroid, the most underwhelming part is the boss fights but exploring the world and unlocking new abilities made the experience. The biggest problem is the pixel hunting when it comes to certain areas where there are no broken bricks so having to spend a few minutes laying bombs hoping to find where to go breaks the flow of gameplay.

But HOLY SHIT that Zero suit mission is incredible. Never did I think that a GBA game would make me that anxious, it really made this game something special. A stealth mission out of nowhere, where there is a really tense situation made it a really amazing 30 minutes In an overall great experience. But in terms of a prequel, this made me so excited to play one of the many versions of Metroid 2 and hopefully Super Metroid. This remake made me a fan of the series already.

A really fun GBA title that sees a full Metroid Fusion-style remake of the original Metroid [メトロイド] for NES. That means 8-direction shooting and ledge-grabbing are back, and they fleshed out the experience with some interesting mini-bosses and new areas. The classic title is hard to back to for many who did not grow up with it, so this remake is well worth a shot to figure out what the hub-bub was about. If you have played a 2D Metroid game, the setup is extremely similar in gameplay to Fusion, with an environment more similar to Super Metroid.

The biggest hang-up here in comparison to the other "modern" 2D entries in the series is that the story-telling is a bit cheaper. Super Metroid had a similar lack of complex characterization for Samus, but it had moments of environmental storytelling that were very well-executed. Fusion had a much more linear, traditional action-horror setup, with setpieces out the wazoo, a computer system to speak to, and interesting cutscenes. Zero Mission, comparatively, feels like a Metroid game without story at all. The NES was not exactly a narrative powerhouse system, but it makes the overall package less engaging than the others.

Still recommended for those with an itch to map out areas and problem-solve on the fly in their alien spelunking, and absolutely a must play for fans of the series and the genre who are looking for GBA games to play. It's just slightly held back by the simplicity of the game it's trying to recreate and the tedium of revisiting Zebes yet again.