Metroid: Samus Returns

Samus Returns was an excellent game, and it holds up very well to the older 2D entries in the series. I say this as a life-long fan of the series, having played through every mainline entry Super Metroid and forward many times. Compared to the others, I would personally rank this game above Fusion, but slightly below Zero Mission and Super. My runthrough of the game with 100% items took exactly 20 hours according to the 3DS timer, and ~15 hours according to the in-game timer. That makes this the longest 2D Metroid game by quite a lot, and arguably the lengthiest game in the whole series. The gameplay is extremely smooth and natural-feeling, and once you get used to it you almost wonder how you ever got by without free aiming. All of the abilities are well implemented and the maps are very well thought out and beautiful to look at. I also loved the new Aeon abilities you get in this game, which adds a whole new dimension to the existing gameplay formula. If I have one complaint, it's that the maps don't interconnect in quite the same way as they do in Super or Zero Mission, but that's mostly to stay true to the original Metroid 2 which was laid out differently from those games as well. Also, while I personally enjoyed it, many people aren't fond of the new Melee mechanic, which is essential to progressing through the game. In terms of difficulty, this is certainly the most difficult Metroid game. I feel pretty safe in saying that. The saving grace, however, is that the game is *very* generous with checkpoints. That's right, new to the series, this game has a checkpoint system, and the game gives you these checkpoints a *lot*. As far as I could tell, checkpoints occur after every elevator and teleporter ride, before and after every boss/Metroid fight, and of course whenever you use a save station. So, while you will probably die way more in this game than past Metroid games, you will never lose more than just a minute or two of gameplay. Nonetheless, this game is *not* easy - many enemies take out an entire energy tank or more, and bosses can take out several just with one hit - and that's on Normal difficulty. I haven't started Hard or Fusion (very hard) mode yet, but I can't even imagine how difficult those must be. - And finally, as a second part to this review, I want to compare this to AM2R. For those who don't know, AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) is a fan remake of Metroid 2. It took the sole developer an entire decade to complete, and it quickly spread across the internet and got great reviews once it was finished. It is very possibly the most in-depth and intricate fan game ever created. Some would argue that it is actually just as good as a real 2D Metroid game. The game can be found freely many places in the internet for those who may want to play it. (Hint: googling "Reddit AM2R" isn't a bad start to finding it.) AM2R was finished and released about a year before Samus Returns was even announced. I myself did play AM2R, and I was very fond of it. At the time I would have called it the definitive Metroid 2 experience. So how does AM2R compare to Samus Returns? Personally, I liked Samus Returns more. AM2R was great, and I would argue that it, too, holds up well to the older Metroid games. But Samus Returns was still better, to me. The core gameplay was smoother, the boss fights were more polished, and I enjoyed the new gameplay additions in Samus Returns quite a lot. And not to spoil anything, but the climax segment of Samus Returns was also significantly better than in AM2R. The one thing that AM2R *did* do really well, though, was that it did a much better job interconnecting the different areas. AM2R made an effort to interconnect the different areas with a more advanced overworld/system than Samus Returns has. For whatever it's worth, that one aspect of AM2R is better than Samus Returns. (Also, I personally like AM2R's soundtrack better, but that's really very subjective, and the soundtrack in SR is good too.) That being said, Samus Returns is still my preference. After you play and finish Samus Returns, AM2R is a very interesting case study of a remake of Metroid 2 that comes from a completely different angle, and in my opinion it shouldn't be skipped over if you're a fan of the series. But if you are unfamiliar with Metroid 2 or what happens in the game, Samus Returns is the one to play first.

I have a pretty long history with the Metroid series, and I think this is definitely one of the best of the 2D Metroid games. I think too many people get so hung up on nostalgia for the older games that they can't accept how good Samus Returns is. I think it is easily the most playable 2D game in the series control-wise, it's more streamlined making certain movements and weapon switching easier and thus more fun. Being able to stop and aim in any direction is just awesome. People complain about the counter system, but once you get through the early areas of the game, you don't use it nearly as much- but it keeps you on your toes. Having the map on the bottom screen is immensely preferable to having to press a button to go to a second screen, back and forth, back and forth. The 3D effect is excellent in this game- it really feels like you are looking into an alien world, and it really adds to the atmosphere. The graphics are great- nicely detailed polygons, however the frame rate isn't what I would have liked- it's all a bit juddery, and 60fps would have made the game feel and play much better (the Kirby games were able to pull off 60fps- I'd prefer they dial the graphics down if necessary so they can target 60fps). There really should have been a Switch version as well, that does run at 60fps. I do wish there were more boss fights/variety, but that's a weakness of the game that SR is based on- fighting the same Metroids over and over gets a little repetitive. There are only 3 major boss fights. and they are NOT easy fights...they will require multiple tries- I think they could have reduced they difficulty of these fights just a little. But as a total package, I really can't complain. I had an overall great time with it, and recommend it to anyone with a 3DS especially (the 3D effect is worth it- if you only have a 2DS it's still great, but you'll be missing out). I really don't know why Nintendo seems to hate the Metroid series so much that we get games in the series so rarely, but I really would like to get more Metroid games more frequently.

This Samus Returns along with Super Metroid are hands down the best Metroid games to this day! Music in this game can be listened to over and over even outside of playing the game without being bored. The visuals of this game are so incredibly beautiful without me even using the 3D feature, the backgrounds really pop out and make me feel like I'm really playing a 3D game. Just so awesome! This game can be really challenging sometimes and I love how creative some of the boss battles are. There is a counter attack move in this but I never really used it and it's not required to actually enjoy or play the game. I also love how exploratory this Metroid is and how you can get completely lost. There is a map of course but the way the layout is, it's so perfect and so many secret areas to find and explore. There's also some really creative ways to attain some of the items like energy tanks and missile pickups, stuff like that. I also got Metroid Dread but this to me is true Metroid and I want so much this game ported to current systems and want more Metroid's like this one. Definitely get this Metroid game if you want a true Metroid experience, a must buy!

Great game. It’s so much more than a graphics upgrade of the original Metroid 2 on the OG Gameboy. If you enjoy Metroidvania type games you’ll love it. Bonus that it’s somehow still available at the original price unlike many 3DS rpgs that have skyrocketed in price. Came quick and I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth.

Hace cuatro años me hice de la new 3DS solo por este juego. Es muy bueno, el efecto de 3D se logra muy bien; hay buena música, buen control, guardado fácil. La historia es sencilla y al punto, además de que al avanzar en el juego vas desbloqueando una galería que te da una idea más profunda de los eventos que pasaron en el planeta mucho tiempo antes de tu llegada. Varios comentarios lo manejan como un juego repetitivo y pues en ese caso lo es porque así es la historia: la misión es destruir a todos los metroids que estaban sellados en las diferentes áreas del planeta; en ese sentido, los escenarios donde los enfrentas cambian, así como el tipo de ataque (electricidad o fuego), además de que no todos los metroids que enfrentas están en la misma etapa de crecimiento y conforme avanzas es más difícil derrotarlos. Hay disponibles dos dificultades: la difícil la verdad es muy difícil y es hasta la mitad del juego cuando se pone un poco menos terrible si obtienes las mejoras del equipo de Samus; como no tengo los amiibo, no sé qué diferencias haya al usarlos o si son substanciales. Yo lo recomiendo ampliamente. Como nota aparte, son notables las similitudes en el modo de juego en los promocionales que han salido de Metroid 5-Dread, por lo que parece que ese nuevo título será bastante similar a este.

Excelente.

Another great game for the series. Now a must for collectors

Bonne qualité!

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