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LTTP: Metroid Fusion & Zero Mission

Fusion was nice because you actually had to watch your health. Some of the bosses were hard too.

Both are excellent and one of the best 2D-games ever.
 
I really, really love Zero Mission, tied up there with Super Metroid as best Metroid, and in the list of best games ever.

Playing Zero Mission in difficult setting the second time was a blast for me.

Thats how a remake has to be done, one of the best reamkes out there. Even the little cutscenes backstory, tied with the metroid zero mission official comic (written by the director of the game) is incredible. Lots of Ridley love as the supreme villian of Metroid saga. And if they want to do a movie get the stroy of there.

Fusion was my first Metroid an I like it a lot. Really fucking sacary. SA-X is the most scary sprite ever created. Also the ambience sounds did a lot (the music went off, you hear the footsteps, RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIFE!). Also really liked the background of Adam Malkovich. The backstroy of Samus and him is also in the zero mission comic.
 
GrotesqueBeauty said:
The fact that there is no 2D Metroid game on the DS is one of my personal all time greatest videogame travesties. The system is the perfect vehicle for it. I would love to see a side scrolling Metroid game with touch screen functionality. It would be perfect for sub menus to switch weapons or modify suit abilities on the fly, or having occasional sections where you have to manipulate the environment with the stylus. Imagine burrowing a path through the ground for your morph ball, or physically manipulating platforms as part of a puzzle. It would be an awesome way to add another layer of depth to the gameplay while retaining all the traditional elements.

I can dream, damn it.
Click to expand...
That's nothing, imagine now that you'll have a map at every time and you can write notes on it.

Stupid Nintendo... Hunters sucked big time.
 
I played through Metroid Fusion once. Liked it, of course, but in terms of a Metroid experience I'd just put it slightly above Metroid II. I wasn't big on the structure of the game or the non-optional hint system (which tells you exactly where to go all the time). However, SA-X is definitely a great villain. It really made things more tense when you'd walk into a room and the SA-X would come in right after, prompting you to hide. Definitely the best thing that came out of Fusion.

Metroid Zero Mission, however, I played through twice, once in normal mode and once in hard. That game is fantastic. Doesn't rank as high as Super Metroid or Metroid Prime, but it's most certainly up there. It lightened up on the hint system, it had that cool feeling of isolation, and the music was freakin' awesome. As a remake/re-imagining, it ranks above the best. Kudos to Nintendo for not only paying homage to the original game, but also improving pretty much every aspect of it, and even including the original game as an unlockable!

syllogism said:
He played it as a kid, that's it. It's actually pretty terrible.
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I wouldn't say that. Metroid II introduced a lot of great things into the Metroid series, like the spring ball, the spider ball, the "shoulder pad" look for Samus' suit, among other things. It was also cool how you went deeper and deeper into SR388, which really created a cool feeling of progression.

I think Metroid II's biggest flaw was that it was on the Gameboy. Had it been a NES title like its predecessor, it would've benefited greatly.
 
Shoogoo said:
I didn't like the part in Zero Mission where you're
zero-suit samus

And I did like Fusion when it was out. But my favorite is

Metroid2_boxart.jpg


Mainly because of nostalgia. The last boss was fucking hard, too.
Click to expand...

Vastly underrated entry in a storied franchise. It was one of the very few games that I explored every inch of, thanks to the introduction of the spider ball. Those mutant metroids were fucking scary to a nine year old.
 
Fusion and Zero mission totally abandoned the gravity of the previous 2D titles (something Prime accurately recreated oddly enough). As a result they feel loose and clumsy (as you were saying) with no sense of weightiness.

The other problem is the horrible color palette. Everything looks washed out and is lacking the deep rich colors of Super. It doesn't help that the GBA's soundchip is atrocious, making the soundtrack unlistenable to fans of the music. Overall I still enjoy playing the games but they definitely lack isolation and exploration of the first three games.

I can see Nintendo totally watering down a MII remake in the same way they did ZM.
 
MadOdorMachine said:
It's threads like this that make me wish Nintendo would add a GameBoy virtual channel.
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That's the rumored announced coming to E3. And it doesn't sound like much of a stretch either considering Nintendo can make $4 or $5 per game.
 
SA-X was awesome. Easily the best villain in the entire Metroid series. I'm disappointed that Nintendo (or Rare, technically) was unable to re-create the same aura of dread in Dark Samus.

Edit: Retro, not Rare.
 
SA-X_Face.jpg

FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU

Fusion was fantastic. It's really different from the other Metroid games in both look and atmosphere so I can understand why many fans dislike it. It's also a bit more action focused which really comes to light during the boss fights. It doesn't do a whole lot of new things though. You could grab ledges and what not, which made platforming a bit more dynamic but it's not much. The game also has some of the best graphics and sound on the GBA.

Some Sa-X encounters (don't watch if you haven't played the game!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqZJ0_82Fs0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzB57r3biiE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSjJ5o4dF3g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmcUqD57aJ4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhxJqZLVVWU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJobRWWoHkQ&feature=related
 
I'd played NES Metroid and I just didn't get it or get into it. I played Super Metroid in 1994, but I never finished it. My life was completely Metroid-less until Metroid Prime. Which I beat.

Metroid Zero Mission was my next foray and it was absolutely brilliant. I love the way they reworked the NES classic to make it more playable and added Super Metroid elements, as well as more story / chozo elements -- the playable epilogue at the end was fab as well.

After that I went back and beat Super Metroid. I like them both equally... but the Staff Roll (credits music) for Zero Mission nearly brought me to tears. It just felt like I'd played something that actually changed me. The music is incredible, I had chills. Hard to explain. Sad I know.

I'm playing Fusion at the moment (like Super Metroid - I did play this when it came out but never finished it) and I'm determined to go back and play Metroid 2 at some point.
 
Add me to the 'SA-X made me stay up at night frightened the fuck out' club.

Really.

I was borrowing it off a friend, and I remember lying there in bed, swearing to myself I'd give it back to him the next day. I could hear the silence... eery noise.... tap tap tap tap tap... jump... tap tap tap... DUUUHH DUH DUH DUHHHHH DUH DUH DUHHHHH DUH DUH DUHHHHH AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Scariest game ever. I need to play Clocktower...
 
NintendosBooger said:
I'm disappointed that Nintendo (or Rare, technically) was unable to re-create the same aura of dread in Dark Samus.

Edit: Retro, not Rare.
Click to expand...

This is pretty much one of the main qualms I had with the Prime series. With Metroid Prime's secret ending, you pretty much knew some serious shit was gonna start, then in Prime 2, Dark Samus played the role of complimentary antagonist marvelously and in some senses came close to SA-X greatness in terms of creating tense anticipation for what was to come. Remember the Agon Pirate Base where she came in out of the blue with that ominous air about the area? Or seeing the Phazon light spark trail that turned out to be her following you in that one tunnel in the Submerged Temple in Torvus Bog? Then there was every moment that she was present in Sanctuary Fortress, most notably, when she destroyed the main bridge and right before the Aerie battle. Come Prime 3 however, she's main boss playing into that cliche of light vs. dark for the general fate of the universe, wat? Then there was the fact that everyone seemed to know who she was. That kinda killed any chance of having her come in as the one true WTF factor in that game. If anything, she should have been more active and played the same role she did in two except on a grander scale. I believe that the chaotic neutral route would have worked wonders for her character.

Meanwhile, Metroid Fusion was amazing to me. I remember shitting bricks when I made it up to that one mission briefing that stated that there were no fewer than 12 SA-X's on board the ship thinking "FFFFUUUU-- I have to fight all of them?!" :lol

Zero Mission was another fun game in the series as well (and at the time, it was only my third Metroid game after Prime 2 & Fusion, lol). Although at the time, I didn't have as great an appreciation for the two games, looking at them now, I must say that they are both impeccable games that take a base foundation and work something great and creative out of it.

Still though, Super is the best from a gameplay standpoint. Someone said it before, but in Super, there was a better sense of physics and fluidity with motions that I just appreciated more.
 
Both of these games are astonishing. The hallmark of any great Metroid game is that they only age better with time, and these are no different.

though it's kind of the black sheep, Fushion is one of the best. The 2d scripted storytelling is almost unrivaled, and the lab was a wonderful environment to explore. Not to mention the rationalization they created for random item drops.
 
Finished up Fusion earlier today. Jeez, more Metroid games need to take advantage of the Metroid's advanced stages. Hell, the Prime series alone mostly relied on Larva stages outside of the titular Metroid Prime itself.

Also, it's a shame that Dark Samus was, at least in my eyes, a poor imitation of the SA-X from day one. SA-X is pretty much the first and last sprite to actually make my heart skip a couple of beats. For fun, try fighting it when you first meet it. You'll know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an Ice Beam + Super Missile combo.

Started off Zero Mission. Obviously more isolated than Fusion, and the controls seem... I don't know how to put it. Not quite as clumsy as in Fusion, but still ridiculously fast in comparison to Super. Regardless, I can still do precise jumps in Zero Mission. Also, I think I'll just stick to a normal game for this one, despite the absolutely crazy sequence breaking you can do (like early Varia Suit, fighting Ridley first, etc.). Plus, I can actually bomb jump here, unlike in Fusion, for some reason.

The only bad part is that the music sounds kinda bad, even through headphones.
 
as with any other metroid fusion related thread I will voice my frustration at the complete lack of information about Metroid Dread. i want to see the saga continue after Metroid IV.

give me some 2.5D metroid loving on DS Nintendo!
 
I'm very disappointed that Nintendo haven't tried to remake Metroid II yet. I like the idea of a (limited) number of roaming omega metroids in addition the ones lurking in each area that appear randomly as you play. During the early stages of the game, it'd be like meeting the SA-X unexpectedly - you turn and you run screaming like a little girl, but if you've got the guts (and skill), you can still take them down.

Zero Mission's low % runs in hard mode were a thing of beauty. So very awesome.
 
I'd love a remake of 2 so I could have a chance to play it but I'd prefer they make an original 2D metroid that takes place after fusion instead.
 
SpacePirate Ridley said:
Sounds bad, but there are really awesome compositions, the ending and the title theme are simply incredible. Fucking GBA soundchip.
Click to expand...

Indeed they are. Another reason to make a DS metroid so we can have better sound quality.
 
Oh, i almost forgot the BEST thing about Metroid Fusion:

GREATEST BOOBY-TRAPS IN THE FRANCHISE

Something that the Prime games left out entirely. If you've never given Fusion a go, you owe it to yourself as a fan to experience the frustrations :D It's one of those games I wish I could erase from my memory, because you only get one chance to be a noob at it.
 
sammy said:
Oh, i almost forgot the BEST thing about Metroid Fusion:

GREATEST BOOBY-TRAPS IN THE FRANCHISE

Something that the Prime games left out entirely. If you've never given Fusion a go, you owe it to yourself as a fan to experience the frustrations :D It's one of those games I wish I could erase from my memory, because you only get one chance to be a noob at it.
Click to expand...

I haven't played it in years so I think I'd probably be noobish at it if I were to play it now. Yeah though the traps were great and I'm now saddened that the prime games didn't have them.
 
Kard8p3 said:
I haven't played it in years so I think I'd probably be noobish at it if I were to play it now. Yeah though the traps were great and I'm now saddened that the prime games didn't have them.
Click to expand...

Nintendo R&D1 obviously didn't share too much with Retro (Fusion and Prime were released around the sametime, although Prime would probably have been in development longer).

One of my favourite things about Zero Mission is the way a lot of the music leaned towards the sound of the Metroid Prime soundtrack - particularly wherever the Chozo statues / Chozo story was concerned. That came 2 years after Prime, so at that point the 3d / 2d games were clearly influencing each other.

I'm very much with everyone else in that I'd love to see 2d games continue. I don't care if its on DS, but honestly I'd rather have a new 2d metroid on wiiware. Or having played Wario Land Shake Dimension, hell, throw it on a disc! And make me 2d mario and Zelda while you're at it!
 
I really loved fusion, it was my first metroid actually and everything else really felt like a step down. It has an OK story, the x parasites made health/weapon drops believable and the weapon progression just felt right. I really liked the sense of urgency the sa-x provided.

Then I played the other ones, ZM first, and I found it very strange that those stupid purple dots would appear for no reason and gave you health. You would get upgrades that just gave you the ability to shoot blocks and then got all of the proper upgrades all of a sudden. The game just had 3 bosses and was really short, plus I didn't care for the epilogue.

Super metroid just looks and feels really dated.

I really enjoyed all of them and would kill for a new 2d Metroid.
 
YourMaster said:
I really loved fusion, it was my first metroid actually and everything else really felt like a step down. It has an OK story, the x parasites made health/weapon drops believable and the weapon progression just felt right. I really liked the sense of urgency the sa-x provided.

Then I played the other ones, ZM first, and I found it very strange that those stupid purple dots would appear for no reason and gave you health. You would get upgrades that just gave you the ability to shoot blocks and then got all of the proper upgrades all of a sudden. The game just had 3 bosses and was really short, plus I didn't care for the epilogue.

Super metroid just looks and feels really dated.

I really enjoyed all of them and would kill for a new 2d Metroid.
Click to expand...

So do you feel that the next 2D metroid (if there is one) should be more like fusion in the way of weapon progression, story, and item drops? To be honest I think I'd prefer it that way too. I'd want them to make it a little more open ended than fusion but I'd like them to keep that style of story telling. Plus now that samus has metroid DNA and after all the stuff in fusion they could take the story in an interesting direction.

Edit: I've also been listening to some fusion music recently and though I don't remember alot about the game the music tells makes me feel like they moved the series in a more eerie direction. Especially this theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyUwdSopy6Q
 
I just played Zero Mission a few months back, and I just love it to death. I have Fusion but haven't played it yet. I can't imagine it will be anywhere near as good as Zero Mission.
 
SMet, Metroid Fusion, and Zero Mission are probably still my three favorite Metroids, though the first two Primes aren't too far behind.

I would kill for another 2D incarnation.
 
I preferred Zero Mission's style of "silent storytelling." I also appreciated the less-direct hint system.

Although, for the next 2D iteration (if there is one), I would appreciate a completely optional hint system like in the original Metroid Prime. Even Metroid Prime 3, with the hint system turned off, still pretty much told you where to go and where to find things. And it was even worse in Fusion. I just really want my feeling of isolation back. I want nearly zero contact with anyone else other than the enemy, and I want to be fully responsible for finding secrets on my own.
 
I think the Metroid Fusion Samus is the hottest. I really hate the weird hair from the Zero Mission and onward Samus. That and I like the bosses in Fusion better. Nightmare was a pain in the ass.

mfu37.png
 
Cow Mengde said:
I think the Metroid Fusion Samus is the hottest. I really hate the weird hair from the Zero Mission and onward Samus. That and I like the bosses in Fusion better. Nightmare was a pain in the ass.

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/4312/mfu37.png[IMG][/QUOTE]

Was nightmare the boss that could screw with gravity? I had such a hard time with that boss. One of the few 2D metroid bosses I remember dying quite a few times on.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, I loved that boss. Not only did it kick ass, but the build-up to it was pretty tense and cool.
 
I really like Fusion, but it's just because it has some devious secrets and it's relatively challenging. Wish it had the hard mode and other modes of Zero Mission, because I like that one, too. This is like choosing between my favorite Chinese food or my favorite Italian food - I might somehow be able to have a definite preference for one over the other, but who cares, they're both complete and total treats.
 
firex said:
I really like Fusion, but it's just because it has some devious secrets and it's relatively challenging. Wish it had the hard mode and other modes of Zero Mission, because I like that one, too. This is like choosing between my favorite Chinese food or my favorite Italian food - I might somehow be able to have a definite preference for one over the other, but who cares, they're both complete and total treats.
Click to expand...

I don't remember if it was the Japanese version, or the PAL version, or both (I think Japanese definitely and maybe PAL too), but one or both of them had a hard mode for Fusion.

edit: It's the Japanese version that has easy/normal/hard mode.
 
Mejilan said:
Yeah, I loved that boss. Not only did it kick ass, but the build-up to it was pretty tense and cool.
Click to expand...

I wish I could play it again because I don't really remember how they built it up. I just remember you could see it's shadow flying around in the background at certain points.
 
i started playing zero mission again yesterday. i fucking love it, even though it's more hand-holding than i remember it being. i think i'm going to go back to fusion after that, although i hate the narrative in the game.
 
I remember enjoying Fusion when I first played through it. The cut-scenes, however, just didn't seem to fit a Metroid game, and it was far to liner. I don't mind laid out objectives, but if they had given us a larger playfield and a less direct path, I would have loved it more.

Metroid II, hmm... didn't care for it so much. Every other screen you kill a metroid or two. It felt much too limited.

Super Metroid, still my fav. I remember coming home from high school, getting to Mother Brain-Rex and seeing the baby save Samus... that moment will live on as one of the greatest moments in SNES gaming for me, right next to Ness
loosing his body
near the final boss of Earthbound, the first time I heard ActRaisers music and the skydive to the first level, the rotating room in Super Castlevania VI, hopping rockets in Contra III, and Chrono fighting Lavos in Chrono Trigger.

Metroid Prime, this game blew my mind. Super Metroid is still my fav, though only for nostalgia. This is a true classic and the attention to detail, the bosses, level design, and presentation make it top tits in my book.

Never played Zero Mission, never finished the original... kept getting lost
 
And this thread is a perfect example why I have no interest in the DSi. There's tons of GBA games worth playing/replaying.
 
Kard8p3 said:
I wish I could play it again because I don't really remember how they built it up. I just remember you could see it's shadow flying around in the background at certain points.
Click to expand...
I'll mark it just in case either you don't want to be reminded, or someone else is reading this having not played Fusion for the first time:
First time through that part of the station, you see the guy flying around in the background, more or less walled off and contained. Then after the power goes out and you have to restore it, he breaks out in the meantime. On your return to the zone, he's gone berserk and you can see his trail of destruction as you get closer to his hiding place. It's a really cool, subtle way of altering the level layout without telling you it'll be altered that 2d Metroids always do a good job of.
 
evilromero said:
That's the rumored announced coming to E3. And it doesn't sound like much of a stretch either considering Nintendo can make $4 or $5 per game.
Click to expand...
I have a feeling they'll screw it up and make it only playable on DS. Maybe I'm wrong on this, but can you play NES/SNES/Genesis games on the new DS? It's kind of silly that they can't make games playable on both.
 
I found my copy of fusion so I can finally play it again. I've been playing for the last hour or so and I've made my way to sector 4 before quitting for a little while. I'm really enjoying playing it again.
 
firex said:
I'll mark it just in case either you don't want to be reminded, or someone else is reading this having not played Fusion for the first time:
First time through that part of the station, you see the guy flying around in the background, more or less walled off and contained. Then after the power goes out and you have to restore it, he breaks out in the meantime. On your return to the zone, he's gone berserk and you can see his trail of destruction as you get closer to his hiding place. It's a really cool, subtle way of altering the level layout without telling you it'll be altered that 2d Metroids always do a good job of.
Click to expand...
I liked the build-up to Serris.

"Samus, this giant monster called Serris has broken out and destroyed everything. This is where it likes to hang out. Go there."

And then you get there, and you're all like, "Oh shits, it's on the other side of the door!" And you go in and find... its skeleton.

Then it randomly pops out and attacks you like two rooms later.
 
KevinCow said:
I liked the build-up to Serris.

"Samus, this giant monster called Serris has broken out and destroyed everything. This is where it likes to hang out. Go there."

And then you get there, and you're all like, "Oh shits, it's on the other side of the door!" And you go in and find... its skeleton.

Then it randomly pops out and attacks you like two rooms later.
Click to expand...

Yeah that was cool. I finished that part up last night and now I'm off to get ice missiles.
 
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