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[Odoul]

I played Metroid Fusion a year ago and remember enjoying it.
But after my second run through I think I enjoy it more than Super Metroid. SM was my favorite game of all time and I've played it through at least 15 times. Fusion feels almost like a remixed Super. While it wasn't as big or open the little touches and more stylish atmosphere make up for it. I also like it alot more than Zero Mission.

For me it's SM and Prime side by side with Fusion a half inch above. The other 3 are cool but not in those 3's weight class.

PS. If Echoes has anything like the artifacts I'm going to be extremely pissed.

PS2. It's cool that all of the Metroid games have a connecting continuous story going all the way back to the NES. Storylines like the scheming and the fall of the pirates. Plus how the games have been building up the federation and then Fusion lets the cat out of the bag. I honestly wasn't expecting it. One more reason for me this series is a cut above Mario/Zelda. Interesting universe it's set in. If there ever is a movie it should at least have an interesting mythology/backdrop.

 

[mosaic]

Perfect topic for me to chime in and say that I felt Zero Mission was boring as hell. Fusion took the "newness" out of the weapons, and I was once again annoyed by having to figure out how to contort my fingers to perform shine spark dash recharge jump just to collect 100% of items. I think what bugged me most, though, was that they made Kraid and Ridley look meaner, but didn't make them any tougher to beat. I was also caught off guard when I beat the game in under 3 hours the first time through... and later to find out that people have figured out how to do it in as little as 30 minutes (with video proof!).

(But I have to be honest here... if Zero Mission had a Boss Rush mode like Castlevania, I'd probably gripe less. It'd be need to just face off against Kraid, Ridley, Mother Brain, Mecha-Ridley, and the mini-bosses over and over again.)

I wish they'd make a GBA Metroid game without the damn shine spark madness... one that's lengthy.... perhaps set it after Fusion or tell a story of one of Samus' other non-Metroid related missions. I mean, she is a bounty hunter right?

Yah -- Super Metroid has the best overall setup. Although I personally enjoyed Metroid II (Remake that!)

 

[shibbs]

I just started ZM again but now i want to play fusion. Damn you

 

[AniHawk]

Plus how the games have been building up the federation and then Fusion lets the cat out of the bag.

It's been about 2 years since I've played it. What happens again?

 

[Oh! My Car!]

Eh?

 

[Broshnat]

Eh?

 

[dark10x]

Hmm, Fusion is probably my least favorite Metroid game (though I still have yet to try the original, so my first Metroid game was Metroid II). I didn't finish it, however, but I simply didn't care too much for the design of the game. For one, it was far too linear and objective based. A friend of mine played much further (perhaps even finished it) and was constantly bitching about a variety of problems.

I'd have to rank the entire series like this...

Metroid Prime > Super Metroid > Metroid II > Zero Mission >> Fusion

 

[Baron Aloha]

I think Fusion is the worst game in the series. I felt no sense of exploration or anything like that when I played it. The computer told you exactly what you needed to do and they even blocked stuff off so that you had no choice but to do just that specific task. It was like "Metroid By Numbers". The setting was also really poor. That space station cannot hold a candle to any of the planets in the other games.

If I had to rank em:

1. Super Metroid
2. Metroid Prime
3. Zero Mission
4. Metroid II: The Return of Samus (I want a Zero Mission style remake of this one)
5. Metroid
6. Metroid Fusion

 

[maharg]

People with real explorer instincts bypassed the locks where possible (a surprising number of places)

 

[Odoul]

What I meant about the federation

Spoiler

They had been set as this benevolent force protecting civilization from the space pirates and using the metroids for good. In Prime the pirates are shown as not necessarily evil just ambitious and amoral. In Fusion the Federation is shown to be the exact same. They were secretly breeding/cloning Metroids for military use. They even set Samus up for failure, so she could be killed and they could capture the SA-X/Metroids.

What exactly was the shine spark?

 

[mosaic]

Eh?

The shine spark is when you build up the speed to dash, and then do jump+left or jump+right.... then use slopes to re-run, tap down to store charge, and repeat the process (throw in some space jumps possibly) to reach items hidden behind the arrow blocks.

Case in point for Zero Mission -- the energy tank located near the Samus Suit Room. You have to dash, tap down, space jump left, jump and shine spark left, tap down to store, space jump right, jump to shine spark right, tap down to store, space jump left, jump to shine spark left, tap down to store, space jump right, shoot open door, jump to shine spark right, go through door, tap down to store, space jump down onto ramp on left, jump to shine spark left and quickly tap down to store, then space jump over to ramp on right, and FINALLY shine spark right through the arrow blocks.

Ugh.

 

[snapty00]

I suck at breaking those arrow blocks in Zero Mission. I can do the ones where it merely requires that I run into the blocks or run-and-jump into the blocks, but if it gets more complicated than that, I don't know how to do it.

How do you get Samus to do it in ball form?

 

[mosaic]

snapty -- oddly enough, it's pretty easy, but you need to have the morph ball jump ability.

Just build up the charge and tap down to store it, then tap down again to go into a ball. Tap jump and the ball will do a shine spark dash like Samus would do standing up... you can aim it diagonally too (handy for getting some missile items in Crateria).

 

[clipunderground]

Super Metroid>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Metroid Fusion

 

[evilromero]

Fusion > Zero Mission. But whether Fusion is better than Super is hard to say. They have very different awesthetics. One thing I enjoyed about Fusion was the very distinc sci-fi flavor that wasn't present so much in Super Metroid. It really reminded me of a solid 70's or early 80's flick using all the best sets and props. It had very cool and interesting settings and seemed hollow but in a good way. Like empty, but full. You truly felt alone despite having a computer friend. And you could say the same thing about Super Metroid, except that game was much more subtle on its presentation and tended to unfold things slowly and tactfully.

 

[clipunderground]

Fusion > Zero Mission. But whether Fusion is better than Super is hard to say. They have very different awesthetics. One thing I enjoyed about Fusion was the very distinc sci-fi flavor that wasn't present so much in Super Metroid. It really reminded me of a solid 70's or early 80's flick using all the best sets and props. It had very cool and interesting settings and seemed hollow but in a good way. Like empty, but full. You truly felt alone despite having a computer friend. And you could say the same thing about Super Metroid, except that game was much more subtle on its presentation and tended to unfold things slowly and tactfully.

LOL! Did you even play any other Metroid game?!! I'm sorry, this just makes no sense to me.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

i didn't think fusion was really that enjoyable - it was too easy, too predicable. i haven't touched zero mission yet, however.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Well Zero Mission's a lot easier than Fusion, until you unlock difficulty levels anyway (why they weren't unlocked straight away...*shakes head*). I preferred it though.

Super Metroid still reigns supreme though.

 

[snapty00]

i didn't think fusion was really that enjoyable - it was too easy, too predicable. i haven't touched zero mission yet, however.

I think you should try it out. I hated Metroid Fusion, but Zero Mission is not only my favorite Metroid game, but it's definitely one of the most fun games I've ever played. I know that for someone who has played Fusion and not Zero Mission, it must seem like it's not possible for them to recover. But the games really are totally different...they don't feel the same, and I swear that I wouldn't even know they were based on the same engine had I not been told.

 

[Kiriku]

Metroid Fusion >> Metroid Zero Mission

Fusion was a damn tight experience, with some fresh ideas and a good story (for a Metroid game).

 

[Johnny Konami]

The best thing about fusion was the difficulty level (mainly with bosses) I felt sorta dissapointed playing through it, though, because you always knew where to go - the doors were locked until you did a certain thing. No "Oh yeah, I remember I saw a red door
in that icy area" or anything like that.

Other than that, I enjoyed Zero Mission the most - a perfect arrangement of the original experience. Sadly it was way too easy.

Metroid 3 deserves its place as the inspiration for all of the recent 2D metroid games. All of the great mechanics and ideas were born there.

Edit: Samus looks coolest in Zero Mission.

 

[MrCheez]

Every game in the entire god-damn series is amazing.

I win!

 

[Tsubaki]

The best thing about fusion was the difficulty level (mainly with bosses) I felt sorta dissapointed playing through it, though, because you always knew where to go - the doors were locked until you did a certain thing. No "Oh yeah, I remember I saw a red door in that icy area" or anything like that.

I never understood why people believed that backtracking makes a game good or fun.

I'm not a Metroid fan, really, and I wonder if that's really the reason why. My favorite Metroid of the ones I've played is Metroid II, which is generally not liked as much (like Fusion) because of its linearity.

I also have found that I have disliked all Metroidvanias as well.

What is it about wandering from one end of the world to the other end, and back again that supposedly makes the game "fun"? It's just tedious and hence annoying to me.

 

[Johnny Konami]

It's not really the backtracking so much as putting 2 and 2 together - solving your own puzzles (granted rarely difficult in video games) instead of being lead around by a leash.

 

[etiolate]

Super Metroid > Zero Mission > Fusion

Fusion was the most linear, had smaller and less interesting bosses, plus the least interesting enviroment of all the games. The story in Fusion was kind of interesting though.

 

[Alex]

Super Metroid is by far the most deserving of the nostalgia laden games. It holds up perfectly, and is still the best in the series by a fair margain, IMO.

Fusion was still good stuff though, I never got around to Zero Mission. Someday...

 

[JJConrad]

Prime > Zero Mission >>> Super >>>> Fusion >>>>>> Metroid (I haven't play enough Metroid 2 to rank it, though I didn't care much for the little I did play.)

I liked the gameplay of Fusion, but I didn't like much else. It lack the atmosphere and sense of exploration, plus I thought the concept and story was stupid.

Super Metroid was a great game for its time, but compared to the newer games, it's slow and clunky. It has far better atmosphere than Fusion.

Zero Mission combined my favorite parts of Fusion and Super. It weakest point is its length, but it not that much shorter than any of the other 2d Metroids. Infact, Super Metroid would probably be shorter if it had the new mechanics of Fusion and Zero Mission.

 

[Socreges]

For me:

Super Metroid > Zero Mission > Fusion > Prime > Metroid

 

[snapty00]

While the length is a bit low in Zero Mission, it really doesn't matter, I think.

Usually, regardless of game length, I'll only play a game once to the end. I've been through Zero Mission 2 and a half times now. It's short enough that you don't mind going through it again but long enough that you felt you got your money's worth.

 

[Mejilan]

Shinesparking is probably one of the greatest conventions in Metroid games.

Edit- I mean, it's effectively rapid speed platforming (and some puzzle solving) with honest difficulty built right in! Not many platform games (or shooter / adventure games with platform elements) are challenging these days, or have challenging platforming sections.