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[JeremyEtcetera]

Fusion is not a bad game at all. However, it is the worst 2d Metroid-style game. Much more gated progression than other games, constant story and dialogue breaks, level design based on such progression, and the weapons and power ups you get never quite felt good, especially compared to what was hunting you. For the people who praise Fusion and yet laugh at Other M for its story and its 'upgrade' system, I don't get it.

Also yes, as a 2d Metroid-style game, it is worse than the original Metroid and worse than the very close camera/claustrophobic Metroid 2. If you didn't compare Fusion to other Metroid games, it's an alright fun game that doesn't quite give you the feeling that you want to play it more than once because of the terrible pacing, just like games out there with sections where you're forced to walk such as Other M.

OP, If you play them all and still have a craving for this type of game, I recommend moving to the Castlevania series, starting with Symphony of the Night and moving forwards with their series, then possibly moving to Axiom Verge for a modern take on the formula. Some people swear by Shadow Complex but I found it to be an alright game, nothing too amazing.

A Metroid game without much exploration shouldn't exist.

Somehow 4 of them managed to slip through the cracks.

 

[Madao]

the OP lost me when he listed prime 2 as the weakest prime game. that title goes to 3 easily. mp2 is on par with mp1. mp3 is when things really got derailed.

as far as 2D games go, NES Metroid is the worst one easily. all the others are much better games in all areas. there's nothing about NES Metroid that it does better than any of the other games that came after it (if you like annoying and unfair difficulty, crap navigation and clunky movement, it can win that)

for me it goes like this:

1. Fusion/ZM (they do have some weaknesses but they cover each other to the point i can't pick a winner)
2. Super (music and atmosphere is on point but controls are clunky and movement is not as good as the GBA games)
3. Metroid II (when i went into this, iw as expecting NES Metroid without color but it ended up being a lot better. movement is a lot more manageable and saving is better.)
3.5. Other M (if we're counting this as 2D, i'd replay it over M2 but M2 is a better Metroid game)
4. NES Metroid (there's nothing i'd want to experience from this game again. only way i had fun was with the NARPASSWORD code)

Spoiler

also, Pinball should be ranked against other Pinball games, it's a good pinball game. it's not fair calling it bad because it's not a normal metroid game.

 

[Instro]

Fusion is not a bad game at all. However, it is the worst 2d Metroid-style game. Much more gated progression than other games, constant story and dialogue breaks, level design based on such progression, and the weapons and power ups you get never quite felt good, especially compared to what was hunting you. For the people who praise Fusion and yet laugh at Other M for its story and its 'upgrade' system, I don't get it.

Because both are monumentally better in Fusion?

 

[JeremyEtcetera]

Because both are monumentally better in Fusion?

For the reasons I've listed above that is really debatable. Fusion is just as bad as Other M in terms of its constant need for story telling breaks, with both having stories that aren't well written. The DNA for Other M is right there within Fusion but people don't want to admit it.

Edit: Actually, I believe that the vocal fanbase over Fusion is one of the big reasons why the director took the path he did with Other M. I'm sure he would have put walking sections in Fusion if he could have thought of it back then.

 

[beef3483]

Gotta be the original. Restrained by the technology of the time. Next woulf be Fusion. The most linear of them all.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Super Metroid has the wonkiest movement controls and combat mechanics
Zero Mission has the ugliest graphics
Fusion has worst writing
Metroid II has the least sequence breaking
NES Metroid has the most annoying save system

Overall NES Metroid is my favorite and Super Metroid my least favorite but they are all fantastic

What the hell is this!? Reverse World? Dafuq, GAF!?

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I ended up really liking it. Was the perfect mixture of 3D on a 2D plane, even more so than DK Returns. Controls, combat and action were perfect. And it fit's in pretty well story wise with the Metroid Manga.

Except the part where she was paralyzed with fear when she saw Ridley, an enemy she's defeated at least twice prior to Other M. And don't get me started on the humongous betrayal of Samus' character in that game.

 

[F0rneus]

Metroid 2. I actually....don't like it much.

1. Super Metroid
2. Zero Mission
3. Metroid
4. Metroid Fusion

-

5. Metroid 2.

 

[mkfred]

Metroid

my least favorite of the entire series.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

Super Metroid has the wonkiest movement controls and combat mechanics
Zero Mission has the ugliest graphics
Fusion has worst writing
Metroid II has the least sequence breaking
NES Metroid has the most annoying save system

Overall NES Metroid is my favorite and Super Metroid my least favorite but they are all fantastic

You're doing it wrong, man. NES Metroid is an unfair, poorly designed game with archaic controls. Didn't you get the memo?

Spoiler

I think we could be friends, you and me.

 

[Hylian7]

Metroid 1. It was cool for what it did at the time, but it has been improved upon and made obselete. The whole game is filled with tedium and wasting the player's time to pad the game's length. The biggest offender of this is that you only start with 30 energy, no matter how many energy tanks you have. In this game, Super Metroid, and Zero Mission, there are pipes that bugs will come out of forever. You can farm these for health and missile recovery. In Zero Mission and Super, they will always drop something until you are full. In the original, you have a small chance for them to drop something. Hope you like standing there forever, because that is what you will be doing.

Super Metroid is the absolute best of the 2D games, and the whole series.

Zero Mission effectively replaces the original, and the added content is really nice.

Fusion was different, but still cool as it did a great job at instilling fear of something hunting you, that could show up at any moment. While all the SA-X appearances were scripted, it still feels like a precursor to Alien: Isolation. It's kind of funny to think about: Metroid took inspiration from Alien, did Allen: Isolation take inspiration from this game? Fusion also had the best 2D bosses in the series. The spider, Serris, B.O.X., the core X that disguised itself as a Chozo statue, and of course Nightmare.

Metroid II was neat in it's own right. It was more linear, and very prone to getting lost if you didn't play it all within a few sittings. However the idea of hunting all the Metroids, with the number remaining as the metric for your progress was pretty cool. It also introduced items that would become mainstays for the series such as the Space Jump, Spider Ball, Spring Ball, and others.

 

[F0rneus]

You're doing it wrong, man. NES Metroid is an unfair, poorly designed game with archaic controls. Didn't you get the memo?

Spoiler

I think we could be friends, you and me.

Metroid is one of the tightest, best games on the NES. Masterful experience. I think I'd put it in the Top 5 NES games. Just incredible. You know what? It's better than Fusion. Editing my list.

 

[Neff]

I'd never describe any of them as 'worst', but Zero Mission would probably be the least best for me. While an improvement on Metroid in many ways, it loses the NES game's simple but effective atmosphere, and the Chozo lore stuff ZM brought to the table is all a bit silly imo. It's still a very good game, of course.

Super > II > Metroid > Fusion > Zero Mission

 

[uncelestial]

Zero Mission. Fusion isn't any good either but at least it does it's own thing. Zero Mission is just outright terrible.

Both games are great. Way better than the Prime series.

Yeah, I said it.

In fact:

1. Super Metroid
2. Fusion
3. Zero Mission
4. Metroid
5. Metroid II
6. Metroid Prime Trilogy / Hunters
7. Other M

 

[Instro]

For the reasons I've listed above that is really debatable. Fusion is just as bad as Other M in terms of its constant need for story telling breaks, with both having stories that aren't well written. The DNA for Other M is right there within Fusion but people don't want to admit it.

Edit: Actually, I believe that the vocal fanbase over Fusion is one of the big reasons why the director took the path he did with Other M. I'm sure he would have put walking sections in Fusion if he could have thought of it back then.

Totally disagree on the quality of the writing. Fusion's writing wasn't anything special, but it was far better constructed, and more tonally consistent with the series, than what we got with Other M.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

Metroid 1. It was cool for what it did at the time, but it has been improved upon and made obselete.

Yeah, I'm just going to quote myself here:

As with movies, there's no such thing as an obsolete video game. Only games made at a different time for a different audience with different tastes, and even now some people rediscover and enjoy them. For a game to be obsolete it would have to be literally unplayable in every sense of the word.

Of all the words I see people use to describe classic video games they can't get into because of all the so-called "improvements" introduced in later editions, 'obsolete' is by far the dumbest.

 

[Lothar]

Metroid 1. It was cool for what it did at the time, but it has been improved upon and made obselete. The whole game is filled with tedium and wasting the player's time to pad the game's length. The biggest offender of this is that you only start with 30 energy, no matter how many energy tanks you have. In this game, Super Metroid, and Zero Mission, there are pipes that bugs will come out of forever. You can farm these for health and missile recovery. In Zero Mission and Super, they will always drop something until you are full. In the original, you have a small chance for them to drop something. Hope you like standing there forever, because that is what you will be doing.

Starting with 30 energy is a weak complaint. You can replenish all your health in a minute or two if you know which enemies to kill. (Hint: The ones that drop big energy and always drop something) Anyone who would stand there and farm with the small bugs that pop out of the ground that don't give you much energy isn't too smart. They deserve to stand there forever.

ZM doesn't replace the original because the original has less hand holding, more exploration, and better challenge. ZM always felt like a dumbed down version of the original to me.

 

[Zalman]

The thing about the original NES Metroid is that I will probably never play it again. I just like Zero Mission better in every way. It's still a far better game than Metroid II though.

 

[eXistor]

Probably 2, but I still have to replay that someday to have a fresh perspective on that. Other than that it's Fusion. It's the point where Metroid went wrong imo. Too linear, too much focus on a bullshit story and worst of all, boring environments. It really paved the way for Other M. I don't hate the game btw, it's a decenlty designed game, but it just represents the beginning of the end for me.

 

[KingBroly]

Totally disagree on the quality of the writing. Fusion's writing wasn't anything special, but it was far better constructed, and more tonally consistent with the series, than what we got with Other M.

Well...Sakamoto basically wrote Other M going backwards from Fusion.

 

[Toxi]

It's hard for me to say, because none of them are bad or even average.

Super Metroid and Zero Mission obviously aren't the worst, but it becomes a lot harder to narrow things down with Metroid NES, Metroid 2, and Metroid Fusion. I'd probably pick Metroid Fusion, since its flaws aren't due to age or hardware constraints, just some bad ideas that constrain the signature Metroid elements.

I'm playing through all of the Metroid games (some for the first time) and so far, I've enjoyed all of them. I haven't started up Super or Metroid 2 yet. I think it's safe to say that, while great, Metroid Prime 2 is the weakest of the mainline Prime games, and we all know about Other M. So this got me thinking. What's the worst of the 2D games? I'm curious to hear some opinions.

That's not safe to say. While Prime 2 has some serious flaws, it also has the single coolest moments in the trilogy. It's a game of highs and lows, and those highs are really damn high.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

Well...Sakamoto basically wrote Other M going backwards from Fusion.

Yep. As a Fusion fan, you can imagine how ecstatic I was watching the E3 reveal trailer, with Adam calling Samus "lady" at the end. I didn't hate Other M, but I really wish the writing were more like Fusion's. Adam and Samus almost felt like completely different characters.

 

[Toxi]

Metroid 2 needs a remake really bad. i always heard that Nintendo had planned to make a DX version for game boy color but it never happened.

Metroid 2 honestly doesn't need a remake. It's a lot easier for modern gamers than the first game.

Plus, fans are already doing a better job than Nintendo would ever do on that front. Check out AM2R.

 

[Amalthea]

The first one. As if having to refill your health and start from the beginning of a zone after continuing from a password wasn't bad enough you could also get stuck in doorways with enemies draining your health.

Metroid 2 is better by default for having proper save spots.

 

[Het_Nkik]

Fusion easily because it's the most linear. A Metroid game without much exploration shouldn't exist.

Fusion was infuriating for me coming off Super and Prime. I just wanted to explore! So yeah, probably Fusion for me just for how frustrating an experience it was.

 

[Menitta]

It's hard for me to say, because none of them are bad or even average.

Super Metroid and Zero Mission obviously aren't the worst, but it becomes a lot harder to narrow things down with Metroid NES, Metroid 2, and Metroid Fusion. I'd probably pick Metroid Fusion, since its flaws aren't due to age or hardware constraints, just some bad ideas that constrain the signature Metroid elements.

That's not safe to say. While Prime 2 has some serious flaws, it also has the single coolest moments in the trilogy. It's a game of highs and lows, and those highs are really damn high.

In comparison to Prime 1 and Corruption, I thought it was the weakest. When I say "weakest" I don't mean bad. It's awesome. I probably should've said "I think Echoes is the weakest."

 

[balohna]

Once Metroid 1 clicked with me I actually really enjoyed it. You have to unlearn reliance on later Metroid mechanics and it's pretty damn unforgiving, but I liked it enough to finish it.

Metroid 2 is the worst IMO, it's pretty fun but the world is repetitive and the spiderball mechanic is sort of annoying because now you better check up and down and across every single wall. Lack of boss variety.

Super > Fusion > ZM > 1 > 2

I almost want to put 1 ahead of ZM because it didn't hold my hand or have a stealth sequence. But dat buttery smooth gameplay.

 

[Mexen]

LMAO, Zero Mission is GOAT.

 

[balohna]

LMAO, Zero Mission is GOAT.

I hated being told where to go on the map and overall felt it lacked a lot of the atmosphere of Super and Fusion. It's a good game, but not the best in the series.

Honestly feels like Metroid-lite to me. More action focused and streamlined to the point where you lose a lot of mystery and discovery.

Fusion had some of the same issues, to be fair.

 

[Madao]

i feel that a lot of these ratings are coming from 1st playthroughs.

some of the strengths and weaknesses of these games change when replayed quite a bit.

it's notable that mp2 is a game that gets better with replays while mp3 becomes worse. mp2 becomes better because you already know the beam mechanics well and what the enemies do and locations so the trip is more exciting because you focus on going faster and surviving. mp3 becomes worse because the slow sections feel more tedious and boring and the novelty of the controls is gone.

there's also the glitches enhancing gameplay angle and this is only possible in replays since no one uses them in 1st plays. one thing about some sequence breaks caused by glitches is that they enhance the exploration of some of the games by unexpected amounts. mp1 and mp2 for instance feel like open sandbox games once you learn some speed run tricks since they practically let you go anywhere very early into the game. they end up more flexible than even SM in some regards. that's also one thingw here mp3 fails because the super linear design makes it very hard to sequence break (not to mention Other M which was made anti sequence break from the start)

it's pretty sad that the devs tried to take away some of the exploration by removing several of those tricks in the trilogy. it shows that the devs themselves don't know anymore what makes a Metroid game good and that lead to the fall in Other M.

 

[AntMurda]

Metroid 2. Just because it's archaic. But they are all good.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Hard to say. Metroid 1/2 have pretty bad hardware limitations, while fusion/other m have poor decisions making.

Not zero mission or super though, the best

 

[Toxi]

I hated being told where to go on the map and overall felt it lacked a lot of the atmosphere of Super and Fusion. It's a good game, but not the best in the series.

IIRC, the Zero Mission hints are completely optional.

Unlike Fusion where Adam locks Samus in a room every ten minutes so he can tell her exactly what to do and where to go.

 

[Lothar]

I felt like the world in Zero Mission pampered and coddled the player. It made it feel really artificial. The original Metroid's world was harsh and that's the way it should be. A strange alien world should be harsh.

I don't have any problem with rooms and areas looking the same. In fact, I kind of like that. It added to the sense of claustrophobia. Being stuck in similar looking corridors feels much creepier. I like mazes. I like having to try to figure out where to go. I don't like when there's just one obvious way.

 

[flatearthpandas]

I've only finished the original and 2, and I think 2 aged a lot better. From what I've played of Fusion and Super, 1 is definitely the worst. Still enjoyed it though.

 

[Defect]

I don't get the "clunky controls" complaint for Super Metroid.

 

[natsuyasumi]

Metroid touched me on some deep level as a kid. I was completely absorbed. I can still go back to Metroid and have a lot of fun. Seems odd that people think it's hard.

Metroid 1 on a CRT is still strangely beautiful. The starkness of it, all the black. And the music and sfx are perfect.

Zero Mission did not move me.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

The original but only because it's aged poorly. It's still an incredibly important game and I'm glad to have played it when it was new.

 

[Dark Ninja]

The Original, I don't know how anyone can play that without a Nintendo Power map.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

 

[teacupcopter]

I don't usually get nostalgic but this thread makes me want another Metroid Game.

Metroid 2 was probably my first real gaming experience start to finish. I got a NES for Christmas one year with Super Mario Bros. but we moved to America 6 months later and it didn't work (PAL). So I never got further than like the first couple of worlds in Mario 1.

But the Christmas after (I think my folks sold the NES before we left due to them knowing it wouldn't work) me and my brother got Game Boys each! We got three games- Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins, Yoshi's Cookie and Metroid 2. I knew about Mario but for some reason I figured "Oh I played that on NES", Yoshi's Cookie became a favourite puzzle game of mine later on but Metroid 2 was just so awesome. I had no idea of what Metroid 1 was, or who Samus was, but read that game manual back to front and played the shit out of it. No guides or anything and no internet back then. Just finding items and having no clue what to do with everything.

If I couldn't get up to a ledge? I had no idea if it was because I hadn't gotten some item (or even what the items did- the manual listed them but as a kid you're not really super clear on any of it) or just that I wasn't doing the right thing. So I'd jump into the ball mode and like use bomb jumping to plant other bombs then quickly try and leap on them to do another jump over. Or just thinking maybe if I fire like 30 missiles into that wall it'll destroy! God it was crazy.

The thing I still remember was how scared me and my brother got of the metroids evolving. The first few we got stuck on progressing so we didn't realise they would get stronger than the first mutation you fight. Then the first gamma metroid you see is like stuck in some wall... we screamed at it, we were so scared of fighting it. That music that plays as soon as you see it like an alarm. Man...

Then you finally get all through it. Near the end you felt like a god, so many missiles, so much health, a big strong suit, space jump/screw attacking around the place, the same metroids that almost gave me nightmares before were no problem now!

It took me 6 months to beat it because it was on a summer holiday where we spent like 2 weeks trying to beat the last boss. When we beat it we were both shaking with excitement at the end.

And oddly enough, we never got a SNES so I never played Super Metroid. To this day I have never played it. I get that it's probably better than Metroid 2 but you can never recapture it in my mind from what I remember. I played through Prime 1 and it was nice but I guess I just didn't have the same amount of time in my life for it as an adult as I did as a kid.

What a game.

TLDR: Fuck anyone who says Metroid 2 is the worst, I'll fight you!

 

[Defect]

What are you doing, play Super Metroid! ^

 

[VARIA]

"Worst" is such a harsh term especially when describing such a ground breaking series like Metroid.

Metroid 1 is devoid of criticism for establishing the series and formula.

Metroid 2 tried something different and gave us a linear Metroid with a dash of horror exploration, (impressively) all in a technologically inferior portable system.

Metroid 3 built upon both games and perfected the formula with a cinematic feel and an emphasis on visual narrative.

Metroid 4 went back to the linear nature of part 2, but instead of playing it safe brought in an element of challenge. Metroid 4 is an alien feeling Metroid game, visually, narratively, and gameplay-wise.

Metroid Zero Mission, personally, is the weakest 2D Metroid game in the series for its lack of innovation. It just took established gameplay elements that had evolved within the series and slapped them together to build upon an established, classic game. Also, the cartoony look that they tried to push looked terrible and very un-Metroid like (it detracted from the atmosphere).

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

Metroid touched me on some deep level as a kid. I was completely absorbed. I can still go back to Metroid and have a lot of fun. Seems odd that people think it's hard.

Metroid 1 on a CRT is still strangely beautiful. The starkness of it, all the black. And the music and sfx are perfect.

Zero Mission did not move me.

...Are you me?

I
TLDR: Fuck anyone who says Metroid 2 is the worst, I'll fight you!

That makes two of us!

 

[Boney]

There is no bad 2D Metroid for me at least. 2 is maybe the less interesting for me, but fuck off 1 haters, for someone who loves old dungeon crawlers take a notebook and draw Metroid maps are still awesome for me.

Yep. 1 is awesome and people saying it's obsolete are just out of their minds. The world feels massive, full of secrets and full of red herrings and dead ends without even any upgrades. I does have a few nitpicks like being able to get stuck in lava but other than that, game is top tier.

Metroid 2 on the other hand feels incredibly cramped, and not just because of the sprite to resolution ratio which is all whack. I'm fine with the game being segmented and hunting metroids is a very novel idea that works great, however it doesn't control very well, and the segments are too short and straightforward. Metroid encounters are pretty anti climatic with mayybe the exception of Omegas and the Queen. It's too easy to feel the pressure of digging deeper and both new upgrades like Spider Ball and Space Jump make exploring a more tedious thing. I do enjoy the verticality of the huge rooms and it's less corridor like approach, and I think the game is pretty good, but there's a clear divide between this and the rest of the series (other than Hunters)

IIRC, the Zero Mission hints are completely optional.

Unlike Fusion where Adam locks Samus in a room every ten minutes so he can tell her exactly what to do and where to go.

They're only optional to high level players that are aware of how to sequence break the game to it's entirety.

And I hate that people can diss on Fusion by how it deviates from other games to make it's focus on action rather than exploration. Segmenting by missions and giving you a clear short term goal benefits handheld play inmensely, in which every short burst of play is gonna be filled with interesting scenarios and challenges. I say this all the time, but I think Fusion is the greatest 2d cinematic action game there is, the way it plays itself with objective based segments, that are incredibly diverse, along with amazing set pieces (getting ambushed by the SA-X is probably one of my favourite gameplay memories ever) and the amazing brooding soundtrack. The short term objective based structure does make it a lot more gated, but unlike Metroid 2 every room is filled with interesting challenges ,puzzles or hidden routes, andwhat's even better is that as the game goes along, it starts to throw a number of curve balls regarding how you end up getting to your objective.

It's a different beast than it's predecessors but there's nothing about it that intrinsically makes it inferior. Linearity, cinematic, dialogue and others are not inherently bad characteristics for any game to
have, and in the Metroid context it holds true as well. Just because it goes against your expectations or series tropes, there's nothing about Fusion itself that's not well realized by itself and that it doesn't play it for it's advantage. And condemning it or critizicing it for what it isn't is -in my opinion- completely ignorant and backwards.

The western versions not having a Hard mode is bs, and the game having something similar to Julius Mode from Castlevania with an "Adam-less" mode that has a a more free progression system with would be the icing on the cake (I wouldn't know how to deal with Sector 2 having massive changes though).

A remake that included this and a few role reversal time trial missions in which you have to hunt Samus as the SA-X would be my dream remake.

 

[Lothar]

IIRC, the Zero Mission hints are completely optional.

It's not. Those Chozo statues are right in the middle of your path. You have to get on them to make them sit down and not block your way. You'd actually have to put your hands in front of your eyes or look away from the screen to not know exactly where to go. I still can't believe they thought they had to tell us where to go with those simplified maps. Nintendo must really think we're stupid.

 

[Menitta]

Nintendo must really think we're stupid.

Yeah. But not because of Metroid.

 

[ReyVGM]

You are an anus

LMAO!!!

 

[Boney]

It's not. Those Chozo statues are right in the middle of your path. You have to get on them to make them sit down and not block your way. You'd actually have to put your hands in front of your eyes or look away from the screen to not know exactly where to go. I still can't believe they thought they had to tell us where to go with those simplified maps. Nintendo must really think we're stupid.

Not stupid people are able to avoid them and progress through the game in completely different paths.

But I'm sure you know that.

 

[lame gag]

Gotta be 2. I can't believe they've never remade it.

 

[Wesker28]

The original one and Metroid II: Return of Samus.. I don't know which one is worse