Poll

How many games in the series have you beat?

Metroid
4 (6.8%)
Metroid II: Return of Samus
3 (5.1%)
Super Metroid
9 (15.3%)
Metroid Fusion
7 (11.9%)
Metroid Prime
6 (10.2%)
Metroid: Zero Mission
8 (13.6%)
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
4 (6.8%)
Metroid Prime Pinball
1 (1.7%)
Metroid Prime Hunters
0 (0%)
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
4 (6.8%)
Metroid: Other M
6 (10.2%)
Metroid Prime: Federation Force
1 (1.7%)
Metroid: Samus Returns
6 (10.2%)
I've Completed Every Game Fully (The Few and the Proud)
0 (0%)
I've Never Finished/Played a Game in the Series (The Few and the Not-So-Proud)
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 10

Voting closed: October 12, 2020, 09:30:40 PM

Author Topic: Run The Series 9: Metroid  (Read 201608 times)

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Offline Khushrenada

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Run The Series 9: Metroid
« on: March 16, 2020, 08:34:11 PM »
Hello NWR Forum users. Welcome to the 9th edition of Run the Series, a long running series of threads which has no real schedule and will randomly pop up on this forum from time to time. I can't believe October was the last entry. I still had stuff I meant to post in that one too....  :-[


Run the Series Mission Statement

From past posts, I am sometimes surprised at what games users on these forums have played or missed in a franchise and it's made me curious about the gaming habits of all our various users here. It also made curious as to what my gaming experience looks like compared to others. I thought I'd see if I could find out more information on the matter by creating a series of threads designed to look at different franchises found on Nintendo systems to see what series the users here like. What franchises do people still find important to keep up with and what series have they let lapse or play infrequently? What are the franchises people haven't even touched or have fully completed? Which games are the most common shared experience in a series and which ones are the least?

For each entry, I've created a poll and the poll lists all the games considered as franchise entries.* Users can then select which games in the series they have beat. When I mean beat, I'm just referring to completing the main quest or storyline and seeing the credits and not if you've completed every other side quest or mission similar to how Backloggery would classify those terms. This poll is a chance to let all users see how they stack up again users from this forum.

In addition, if you want to provide more information about what your level of completion is on games, feel free to post about it. For that matter, feel free to give your thoughts on the series. Why you play it, why you don't, what's your favorite entry, least favorite entry, how you'd rank the entry in the series, what you'd like to see, what you don't want to see, etc. You know the drill. Whatever comments you want to make based on the series under discussion or specific games in the poll, this thread is open for you to do so.

*Or at least my take on what the series consists of. You are welcome to tell me how wrong I am with my selections.  :'(

Past Entries in the Series

1st Edition - 2D Mario Platformers
2nd Edition - Pokémon Main Series
3rd Edition - Donkey Kong (Country Style)
4th Edition - Wario Platformers
5th Edition - Mario Kart
6th Edition - 2D Zelda Games
7th Edition - Star Fox
8th Edition - Professor Layton

If you are new to this forum series and/or you missed an entry and/or have recently played something in the series and now want to comment on it, feel free to check out the past entries and post as desired. Bumping Khushrenada threads is always a welcome practice on these forums.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2020, 09:25:13 PM »
The Series Up for Discussion

Although I've delayed the start of my Metroid mafia to try and round up a few more players, I've got Metroid on my mind because of it. I'm sure with the previous announcement a couple years ago of Metroid Prime 4 in development that everyone is probably thinking of that series also this month since there aren't any other big releases happening. This is definitely the month of Metroid....

Stretching back to the NES, Metroid is one of Nintendo's long-time IP's that, while popular amongst gamers, still seems to suggest more of a cult popularity based on game sales compared to other Nintendo franchises. Despite having entries that some people consider as the best games ever made or as a top game in the library of a Nintendo system, Metroid still struggles to get the resources behind it that the Mario, Kirby or Pokemon might get allowing for more regular entries in the franchise. Instead, the series seems to go hot and cold despite usually positive reception for its entries with it currently trying to shake off a cold streak.


Why Are These Games Part of the Series?

To date, 13 games have been released under the Metroid series banner. Within those games are a core 4 titles which are considered the main entries of the overall Metroid story. The other games tell stories and fit around that core 4. Two of the games released have been remakes of previous games and both these remakes have been one of the core 4. There's also been a couple spin-off type entries with a Pinball game being the most divergent in gameplay while Federation Force tackled co-op multiplayer gaming without Samus as the lead. Fed Force is the only Metroid game in which Samus Aran is not the lead. Since it stretches back to the NES, the series has had multiple 2D and 3D entries although the 2D adventures currently outnumber the 3D. So, while there might be various ways to divide up the series, in the end, dividing it all up between 2D, 3D and spinoffs like some other franchises would create some small entries so, for now, all Metroid games are considered as part of the series and stay under the one banner.


What Games Weren't Included

As mentioned above, all the Metroid games currently released are up for discussion although there is one sort of minor exception. Metroid Prime Trilogy is not included. Trilogy, of course, consists of Metroid Prime, Prime 2 and Prime 3 in one collection with Wii-mote controls having been added to 1 and 2 in place of the original GameCube controls. Since that is the only major difference between those two versions, I feel you have played the game whether you play Prime 1 or Prime 2 on GC or through the Trilogy collection and there is no need to have to play both versions because of the different controls. However, that is not the only "remake" issue to discuss when it comes to entries for this series.

When contemplating the poll for this series, I've been conflicted about how to arrange it. When making the entry for the Main Pokemon Games, I included the original entries and remakes together. For instance, Pokemon Red and Blue were grouped with Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. This was due to the fact that while there were some difference between the two entries, the games struck me as being 90% similar to each other and if you played one and beat it then you basically got the story and game progression as the other. Thus, if you played the original but didn't play the remake or vice versa, you still mostly knew what the other title would contain and what the experience would probably be like.

However, that decision proved controversial with other users disagreeing with that assessment and feeling they should all have been divided into their own entries. Here I am again faced with a series that has had a couple remakes of earlier entries. But in this case, the remakes are quite different from the original in many ways besides just graphics. Thus, if you beat the original Metroid on NES, I don't really feel like you can say it would be the same or similar to if you have played the remake Zero Mission. On the other hand, if you have played Zero Mission, is it really necessary to experience the more barebones of that adventure and play the NES version just because of its older limited style? Likewise, the conflict between Metroid 2 and the remake Samus Returns. Despite the game unfolding in a similar nature of trekking deeper and deeper into SR-388 and fighting deadlier and deadlier Metroid species on the way to the Queen, there is a lot of difference between the two. Yet is it necessary to play both or does the remake obsolete the original?

Due to the big differences between them, I've listed all games, original and remake, as separate entries. I'll leave it up to the user how they view those entries and whether they consider the remakes as obsoleting the originals meaning they've completed the series by playing those remakes and not the originals or if they feel they need to play each title the way it was originally released. I'm curious to see how others view this series and what is their view on original vs remake.


So, with that quick little rundown, let's open it up to the rest of you forum users and let's see how well NWR has Run the Series!
« Last Edit: March 16, 2020, 09:37:04 PM by Khushrenada »
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Offline M.K.Ultra

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2020, 09:50:27 PM »
I am a little late to the party with Metroid having just played Super Metroid as my first in the series about 5 years ago. I then played the original and actually enjoyed drawing a map on graph paper. I then started the Prime trilogy on Wii U. I bought it when it went on sale for $10! I got a little frustrated with Metroid Prime when I felt like I couldn't see the environment well enough to know where to go next. Then last year when I played Echoes I enjoyed it more. It is by far my favorite in the series (take that James Jones). I also played the Samus Returns game on the 3DS and really like that. Next on my list to play is Corruption which I am really looking forward to. I would like to play all of them at some point but it is just a matter of finding the time.

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2020, 10:05:53 PM »
The only games in the series I've beaten are Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid: Zero Mission, though I've beaten each of those games multiple times. I've started the original Metroid Prime several times, but never actually finished it, and at this point I'm basically waiting for Metroid Prime Trilogy to be rereleased on Switch like has been rumored for a while to do so again. I've also played some of Metroid: Samus Returns, but kind of drifted away from that when I more or less drifted away from playing the 3DS altogether since it came out pretty late in that system's life.
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Offline BeautifulShy

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2020, 10:59:53 PM »
Lets see... I have beaten Super Metroid and I did it when I was younger.  It took some time and I think my time was like 5 and a half hours just exploring the game and dying a lot and trying to learn the game. I played it again and again and got it down to 3 hours and I think my best time was a hour and 15 minutes. Somewhere around there.    Next I beat Metroid Prime around when folks were playing it and it took some time because I got stuck in the last area of the game with all those fusion metroids ( the one that need specific beams to defeat. I think I got to the second phase of Metroid Prime but never really beat that boss. Wasn't until I played it later on after beating Corruption many times and on different dificulties that I went back to Prime 1 and beat it.   I beat Metroid Prime 3: Corruption multiple times on all the difficulties even Hyper mode finally when I was away from the forums.   

Games I have played in the series I have played but haven't beat. Metroid, Metroid 2:Return of Samus, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.   The former two because of my limited time with them. Echoes more because it is hard to map out in my head and it is more difficult.   

Games I want to get in the future. Zero Mission and Samus Returns.  Because they are upgrades to the first two games in the series and they are readily accessible. 
« Last Edit: March 18, 2020, 12:47:30 AM by BeautifulShy »
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Offline Luigi Dude

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #5 on: March 17, 2020, 02:51:27 PM »
The only Metroid games I haven't played are Pinball, Hunters and Federation Force since those were spinoffs I have no interest in playing.  See, it's possible to simply ignore the spinoff's instead of threatening to kill the developer over it. :D

I've played and beaten all the main Metroid titles.  I actually had my own 2D Metroid marathon back in 2017 where I played Metroid II on the 3DS Virtual Console early in the year, which made me very amused when several months later at E3 we got the surprise it was going to be remade for the 3DS.  So yeah after playing Samus Returns, that inspired me to go back and replay Super, Fusion and Zero Mission on the Wii U Virtual Console in early 2018.  It had been over decade since I played Super and Fusion and 8 year since I played Zero Mission so it was great to revisit them.

Of course I took it to an extreme level since I'm a much better gamer now then I was when I played them a decade ago.  I not only did a 100% item run, I also did a low percentage run on each game as well, which is a requirement for Zero Mission if you want to complete the gallery.  Of course I wasn't able to do it in Super since Mother Brains laser attack that triggers the Baby to save you takes around 3 full energy tanks and I went into that fight with only 2 and I made the mistake of saving at the last save point before the fight which locks you out so yeah, I didn't feel like replaying the whole game since Ridley on a low percentage run is a total dick that took me forever to kill with only charge attacks.

This is why I love Zero Mission so much and why I think it's the pinnacle of 2D Metroid for me at least.  It was basically designed for almost every style of Metroid.  If you like exploring, it's got so many secrets and unique area's to discover, with puzzles that require mastery of every aspect of Samus ability.  If you just want to get through it as fast as possible, it's filled with so many shortcuts and area's that allow you to take advantage of the Speed Boast it's crazy.  And if you want a hard core action experience, the low percentage run on Hard Mode is insane, with Ridley, Mother Brain and Metal Ridley some of the hardest fights you'll ever experience in any Nintendo game.  The entire ending sequence on low percentage Hard Mode was one of the hardest gaming experiences I've ever done.  It's just amazing how well polished Zero Mission is.

After my Zero Mission love fest, it inspired me to finally beat the original NES Metroid.  I had played it before but always stopped because I would get stuck.  Well the reason I would always get stuck is because all the previous times I would play it I'd end up in Kraids area without the Ice Beam or Varia Suit, which made things literally impossible.  This time I actually got the Ice Beam and Varia Suit before going there and low and behold, things became a lot more manageable.  I not only beat the game this time, but liked it so much I replayed it and did a speed run to get the best ending as well.  The original NES game is actually a pretty decent game if you know where to go and get the right equipment when you need to.  Playing it right after Zero Mission really helped since most of the items in the original are located in a similar spot.  Of course I still had to use a guide to find a bomb-able floor that I missed to proceed, which kind of annoyed me when I discovered the part I needed to go I actually had tried bombing the floor there but my bomb must have been one pixel off so I figured there was nothing there and moved on.  Nope, unlike the later Metroid's, in the originally your bomb needs to literally be right on top of the exact square to break it, so it's really easy to miss things.

So yeah I really love the 2D Metroids.  I loved all 3 Prime games as well but it's been well over a decade since I played any of them.  I was going to do a replay of the Prime Trilogy since I bought Prime Trilogy on the Wii U years ago, but since an HD version will be hitting the Switch in the next several year, I'll probably wait for that.  The main reason is because I'd like to finally unlock everything in Prime 3, which is impossible because of those stupid online vouchers Nintendo put in the original version and Prime Trilogy, but I hope a Prime Trilogy HD will finally get rid of that.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2020, 03:29:09 PM »
Slightly ashamed; haven't finished any of the Prime series... Other than that, I've done pretty well though. Skipped Federation Force and Hunters, and don't feel bad about either.

Glad to see that Zero Mission is getting some love. I really enjoyed that remake.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2020, 03:39:59 PM »
The only non-spinoff Metroid I haven't played is Samus Returns and that's really just a matter of not having gotten around to it yet.  However the only game I've actually beaten is Zero Mission.  I really enjoy the Metroid series but they combine gameplay I'm very good at with gameplay I really suck at.  The exploration element of Metroid, of correctly guessing places to bomb, remembering where to backtrack once you have a new ability - I'm very good at that.  Another part of Metroid though, is boss battles and I SUCK at that type of gameplay.  So my Metroid playthroughs tend to inevitably end at a boss fight that I can't get past and lack the patience to "git gud" at.

Zero Mission is an exception because if you play at the lower difficulty it is actually a pretty damn easy game.  You still have to figure out where to go and what to do but the boss fights become pretty trivial.  But I'm cool with that because it removes my weakness and thus the game ends up focused entirely on what I'm good at.  But it doesn't make the part I'm good at trivial.  It still has some challenge to it but it's a challenge I know I have the skills to overcome vs. one that I know I don't.

I have sort of beaten the original Metroid as well.  I used a password generator to come up with one that had unlimited health but you have to find everything else.  So the game was restricted to the gameplay I wanted to focus on and was still very fun.  But obviously that shouldn't count as beating the game legitimately.

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #8 on: March 17, 2020, 03:52:59 PM »
Prime came out right around the time I started wearing glasses.  I don't know if science backs up any correlation, but this was also the time I started getting motion sick.  I literally could not play Prime without feeling nauseated or getting a headache.  I got Prime 2 without beating Prime, thinking that since time had passed, maybe I had gotten better.  Nope.  Same deal.

I played through Other M and skipped MP3 when it came out.  I'm more of a fan of the 2D stuff, probably because of the motion sickness thing.
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2020, 12:45:40 AM »
Oh my god. I'm pretty sure that Federation Force is the only one I actually finished.

Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #10 on: March 18, 2020, 01:36:09 AM »
You're welcome!  8)

(Although I do wish we had suffered through Blast Ball a bit more to unlock the skins in that mode and perfectly polish off Fed Force. Maybe we still can....?)
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #11 on: March 18, 2020, 01:55:02 AM »
My personal view is that Zero Mission and Samus Returns have obsoleted Metroid and Metroid II. If you've played the remakes, I really see little reason to play the original. I congratulate those who have been able to later go to those games and enjoy them. I wish that could have been my experience when trying them but I just can not find the experience engaging enough when playing them to stick with it.

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two titles in this series which have prevented me from running the whole she-bang and those games are Prime Pinball and Prime Hunters - the DS titles! I did play Pinball a bit when it came out but never got that far in it. Ironically, the DS Rumble Pak that came with it has gotten way more play than the game since I left it in my DS Phat GBA slot and never took it out. Always surprises me sometimes when I'm playing a DS title and suddenly that thing is struggling to make a rumble.  ;D

Thanks to pokepal148 suddenly making Other M a retroactive type event here, I finally crossed that game off my list of titles yet to conquer and what I've felt was the last major Metroid title I still needed to play. Overall, I've pretty much enjoyed most of what I've played from all the Metroid titles. I seem to be one of the few who had fun and was still on the positive side of Other M after it was all over. It is only the first two games that have failed me. Yes, some titles are way better than others but overall there are not many games I'd consider telling someone to skip playing or that I think are more work than fun. I'll try and relate my history with the series a bit more tomorrow. I feel I've probably done it a couple times already on the forums but at least now it will be in a spot I can more easily find and point to if I need to pull up my opinions again.  ;)


(Also, with Pokemon Sword and Shield last year, would anyone like me to revamp the Pokemon Series Poll for the 2nd article so that they can bump that thread to add their opinions in how the new game lines up with others in the series? This time, I'll separate the remakes from the originals in the poll.)
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Offline UncleBob

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #12 on: March 18, 2020, 02:22:36 AM »
No Galactic Pinball?
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Offline pokepal148

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #13 on: March 18, 2020, 02:49:47 AM »
(Also, with Pokemon Sword and Shield last year, would anyone like me to revamp the Pokemon Series Poll for the 2nd article so that they can bump that thread to add their opinions in how the new game lines up with others in the series? This time, I'll separate the remakes from the originals in the poll.)
It would make more sense to just do a fresh poll. It might not be a perfect transition if you also separate the remakes from the originals but it would also make sense to show whether people have gone back to games they missed or something like that.

Offline ejamer

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2020, 08:24:29 AM »
My personal view is that Zero Mission and Samus Returns have obsoleted Metroid and Metroid II. If you've played the remakes, I really see little reason to play the original. I congratulate those who have been able to later go to those games and enjoy them. I wish that could have been my experience when trying them but I just can not find the experience engaging enough when playing them to stick with it.

... I seem to be one of the few who had fun and was still on the positive side of Other M after it was all over. ...

It's hard to recommend Metroid 2 these days; it was very much a product of the time, when getting a big adventure on a tiny screen was new and kind of exciting. Even on release some of the problems that put people off today were obvious though. I'm really glad this got remade - even though I haven't played through the 3DS remake yet.

However, the original Metroid is a really interesting game in a whole bunch of ways:
* one of the first games to actively encourage/reward speed runs
* one of the earliest examples of having a (mostly) open world to explore
* tons of weird bugs and exploits available - once you start going down the rabbit hole of Metroid secrets, you'll run into all kinds of oddities

That might not be enough to convince new gamers to play the game these days, and some of the design is admittedly archaic... but unlike Metroid 2, I think this one is at least worth checking out.


Also, despite a few significant flaws I thought most of for Other M was great. Had a lot of fun playing that game - maybe even enjoyed it more than Metroid Fusion (which shares some of the same flaws and was clearly the moment when Metroid stories changed for the worse).
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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #15 on: March 18, 2020, 09:58:17 AM »
On the topic of Metroid 2 and its remakes it is interesting how the sentiment of the original game changed or rather how the newer games are seen as better because of all the mechanical and graphical updates to the original game.    There is a series of videos on the Metroid series by someone by the name of Game Maker's Toolkit.   They talk about the Metroid 2 and the additions/changes make in the remakes.  Give it a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WkEoYvlUF0
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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #16 on: March 18, 2020, 10:21:33 AM »
I’ve played the entire main series though I haven’t completed the original or Metroid II: The Return of Samus. They didn’t really age well so it’s hard to recommend. I may try to get through the original just to say I did so similar to Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.

Super Metroid still holds the title of my favorite game. I haven’t done a full playthrough in several years. It’s a game I can always go back to, and I never feel like it’s dragged down by its age. Metroid Fusion gets a lot of flack for handholding. I have a soft spot for ol’ Metroid IV though I was just so elated to get a new 2D Metroid ON THE SAME DAY AS METROID PRIME. I liked Metroid: Zero Mission. The epilogue doesn’t detract from the game; I just didn’t love or anything.

The original Metroid Prime is one of those games I feel weird saying is like my fourth or fifth favorite. That almost sounds disparaging because the game is so good. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the worst of the trilogy though it has the best final boss. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is better but ultimately not especially memorable. I only beat it once when it first game out, and I barely remember it at all. Ultimately, all three are good; the original Metroid Prime is simply transcendental.

I barely played Metroid Prime Hunters. Looked awesome for a first generation DS game.

Metroid: Other M is simply bad for a Metroid game, but an okay game otherwise. A lot of weird missteps prevented it from becoming good. If you want more in depth analysis, see the other thread for my wall of text thoughts on the game.

Metroid: Samus Returns is good. I wish Nintendo strayed a little more from the original in terms of level design. I didn’t like the new final boss.

I didn’t play Metroid Prime Pinball or Metroid Prime: Federation Force. I wasn’t interested in doing so either.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2020, 10:24:13 AM by Adrock »

Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #17 on: March 18, 2020, 10:55:43 AM »
Regarding Metroid II, I really wish that game had received a GBC version like Link's Awakening did.  One major issue I have with it is that without colour the areas don't look distinct enough from each other which makes it too easy to get lost.  Though another flaw with it is the spiderball which sounds like a cool idea in theory but opens things up so much that it's overwhelming.  But that concept would also probably work better in colour.

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #18 on: March 18, 2020, 11:03:13 AM »
Nostalgia really clouds my judgement on 2.  I remember playing it on long car trips, exploring every nook and cranny and loving it.  I still remember the thrill of finding a new Metroid and scaring the crap out of me when they'd evolve.  That was an amazing mechanic.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #19 on: March 18, 2020, 01:47:49 PM »
Nostalgia really clouds my judgement on 2.  I remember playing it on long car trips, exploring every nook and cranny and loving it.  I still remember the thrill of finding a new Metroid and scaring the crap out of me when they'd evolve.  That was an amazing mechanic.

The game did do a lot of things right.. I think that the hardware (resolution and blurring in particular) and level design really held it back though.

I love the creepy, isolated vibe you got while playing. Some of the sound effects were great. Bosses (ie: Metroids) were generally a lot of fun to discover and eradicate, and the final boss was massive and awesome.

Although it's hard to recommend to people who aren't used to the limitations of a Game Boy, I wouldn't begrudge anyone who does love the game for what it accomplished.
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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #20 on: March 18, 2020, 03:15:03 PM »
Who played a lot of Metroid Pinball? I wanna hear those thoughts! The game's pretty good, supposedly, no?

Anyway, the ones I've finished are: Prime 1, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, Fusion, Other M, and the 3DS remake of Metroid II.
Of these, Metroid Prime was my first and it's still one of my favourite video games. The world felt really vast, the music was incredible (Phendrana Drifts y'all), and it was a style of gameplay I was not familiar with. It definitely helped me gain an appreciation for environmental storytelling through architecture, artifacts, and scanning. Previously I thought all video game stories were just basic/bad, or very overwrought (Final Fantasy on PS1). Metroid Prime felt different: isolating and very tense due to the ever-increasing difficulty (damn those Chozo Ghosts!).

How BeautifulShy managed Super Metroid in three hours is just bananas to me. It took me like 17 hours, and while I cleared it with a lot of items (90+%), I still died loads of times. The bosses were really difficult, I felt I had to be careful everywhere, and I hate that part with the quicksand.
Very fond of Super Metroid, again incredible music, and it does such a great job of guiding you. Figuring things like the Shinespark out felt amazing, or when you get somewhere using bomb climbing and feel like you cheated. If the Wall Jump wasn't such a pain, this would be perfect. I really hate that wall jump though, luckily it was fixed for the GBA games.

Samus Returns on 3DS is very competent, but it's kinda too long and I don't think they really manage to guilt-trip you as much as they should. For a 2017 game I would've liked a bit more nuance there; Samus is functionally a genocidal agent of destruction, but the Metroids are so aggressive and violent you can still half-justify her acts.
I think they should've made some of the bosses cower and run from you once your objective is clear to them, maybe have them let out piercing wails when you slaughter them, or show abandoned nests whose parents you've killed. Overall I liked the game, and the free aiming was great, but I didn't love it like most of the other ones I played (Prime, Super, Fusion, Zero Mission). If MercurySteam make another one, I hope it'll be Metroid 5 and not another remake.

I did technically start Prime 2 and Prime 3, but never got very far. One downside about the Prime games is how they're very complex, rather long, and quite demanding games in terms of spatial reasoning. I find restarting them quite a daunting prospect due to how stressful they can be.
Maybe I'll play Corruption first since it seems easier and won't require me to dig out a GameCube, but it feels a bit wrong to own both but still play them out of order.

Prime came out right around the time I started wearing glasses.  I don't know if science backs up any correlation, but this was also the time I started getting motion sick.  I literally could not play Prime without feeling nauseated or getting a headache.  I got Prime 2 without beating Prime, thinking that since time had passed, maybe I had gotten better.  Nope.  Same deal.

Out of curiosity, does the motion sickness persist with other first-person perspective games too? I'm not thinking just shooters, but maybe also Minecraft and such if you've ever tried them?

Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #21 on: March 18, 2020, 06:28:19 PM »
Metroid Prime Pinball is a bunch of tables based around the first Metroid Prime game. It is designed to progress the same as the Metroid Prime experience with boards unfolding in the same manner as the game. So, Tallon Overworld leads to Phendrana Drifts to..... I'm not sure. Frigate Orpheon or Phazon Mines maybe. Whatever the case, the Metroid Prime cave is the final board. Each board has a boss from that area you have to battle, IIRC. I remember only getting to Phendrana and having to face the Rock Boss that I want to call Gundas but I'm not sure if that is correct or it is the name of another bounty hunter in Prime 3. For me, the problem with pinball is that you can struggle sometimes to get the last trigger on a board or be doing great only to have the ball roll down the middle where you can not stop or save it. It just seems to come down to luck and that makes it hard to keep playing. When the result is going to be random as to whether you succeed or not then give me a VC Save State or Rewind feature feature where I can save along the way and maybe mitigate the number of times I'll have to keep playing until I get a lucky bounce. I'm pretty sure a game over results in having to start from the beginning. My last memory of the game is coming close to passing Phendrana but losing on it again and just not wanting to go through the Tallon board again since the odds of getting through them all seemed too impossible. Did I really want to keep playing over and over on this game when I could move on to something else? So, I took a break and never got back to it.
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Offline ejamer

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #22 on: March 18, 2020, 06:43:18 PM »
I like pinball quite a bit - real pinball more than digital, although I'm not particularly good at either.

Metroid Pinball had good overall level design, and some nice thematic touches for sure. Unfortunately the ball physics never felt quite right to me, which always leaves me with conflicted opinions when playing. The final boss stage is definitely interesting, although almost a bit too wild... all I remember clearly now is that there is a massive multi-ball style battle where you have to hit certain triggers, and that keeping everything going took a lot of focus (and a bit of luck).

If not for the theme, I'd probably skip the game and recommend some newer titles instead. But if you like pinball and are also a Metroid fan, then it's totally worth trying.
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Offline Khushrenada

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #23 on: March 18, 2020, 06:57:40 PM »
Basing it only on Metroid Prime also feels like a flaw to me. From the poll, (which has stayed in chronological order so far) there were 7 Metroid games released with a couple more in the works. It could have been its own story/adventure going through all sorts of different parts of the Metroid lore at the point but instead it was focused only on the 1st Prime game.
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Offline Ian Sane

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Re: Run The Series 9: Metroid
« Reply #24 on: March 18, 2020, 07:16:56 PM »
At the time Metroid Prime Pinball came out I was really turned off.  The feeling was that we didn't have a proper DS Metroid game so why were they wasting time with a pinball game.  But today, without that context, if I could find it cheap I would probably check it out.