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Metroid: Samus Returns |OT| What's past is prologue.

I'm about 5 hours in now and I have to say, I fucking love this game so far. I was a bit worried about the controls at first but moving around works really well IMO (Morph Ball with touch screen is the superior way after you get used to it).
The music is really good, I love how they incorporated the original tracks and ambient sounds into the new themes in a very subtle way.
Also I don't see how this is the hardest 2D Metroid game, at least not yet. Right now I would say the original on NES is harder, but the difficutly could ramp up in the later areas.

Man, I'm so fucking happy to play a new Metroid game :')
 

KingBroly

Banned
Man, this game is big. It gets its' hooks into you, though. So you end up kinda hammering through it pretty quick. I doubt I'll play Hard or Fusion Mode, unless there's something extra attached to it.
 

Red

Member
It's great, but it hurts my eyes to look at any longer than 10 minutes. :(
It doesn’t hurt my eyes, but I definitely notice a difference in my vision after playing for 30+ minutes. It becomes difficult to focus on objects further than about 15 feet away. Feels as if my eyes are crossed. Never noticed this with past 3DS games, but I’ve never used the 3D effect for long before, and never with the slider tuned all th way up. Samus Returns is the first time it feels best to play with max 3D.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I think this would be a much better game if the special abilities were mapped to the circle pad and you could control with the dpad. I hate having to jump and turn into a morph ball and then spiderball.

I like the game though!
 
I think this would be a much better game if the special abilities were mapped to the circle pad and you could control with the dpad. I hate having to jump and turn into a morph ball and then spiderball.

I like the game though!

Tap the map for instant morph ball, way better then hitting down especially if you want to jump then morph ball
 

KingBroly

Banned
I think this would be a much better game if the special abilities were mapped to the circle pad and you could control with the dpad. I hate having to jump and turn into a morph ball and then spiderball.

I like the game though!

You'd still need the Circle Pad for free aim
 
This is honestly one of the only games to get Quick Time Events right you are still in control and the camera just zooms in you can shoot if you want or not and even choose your weaponary while doing em. The parry's in this game are badass as fuck.

i would not mind having a melee counter in Prime 4 if it kinda works like Samus Returns because damn it's badass AF!

Also love how the camera zooms in after doing the melee counter at all really adds to the badassery.

Yeah I was really surprised those cinematic counters from the trailers turned out to be interactive. They get quite elaborate later on.
 
Tap the map for instant morph ball, way better then hitting down especially if you want to jump then morph ball

Problem is here that don't want to put my left thumb away from the stick, I want to activate it with the right thumb cause that feels more natural but that doesn't work cause the abilities are on the right side of the touch screen and I need to tap a bit more to the middle of the screen and that feels really uncomfortable.
 
Problem is here that don't want to put my left hand away from the stick, I want to activate it with the right hand cause that feels more natural but that doesn't work cause the abilities are on the right side of the touch screen and I need to tap more to the middle of the screen...

Monster hunter claw that shit
 
Alright, I am getting kind of sick of the bosses now, particularly at the
Metroid Queen
. They just seem to be relentless bullet sponges that cut through Samus like she's butter.
 

KingBroly

Banned
Alright, I am getting kind of sick of the bosses now, particularly at the
Metroid Queen
. They just seem to be relentless bullet sponges that cut through Samus like she's butter.

I really liked that boss, even though I died to it like half a dozen times. When you figure out some things about it, you'll kick yourself for not thinking about it sooner
 
I gotta say, this game is so good it's rekindling my love of gaming. I'd kinda been falling out of the hobby for a while, but I love this game and it's so fun. It has reminded how simple and engaging gaming can be removed from everything.
 

gardfish

Member
So I have a question about a late-game skill: does anything in the game ever specifically teach you about
the Spider Ball/Power Bomb shinespark?
I had to look up how to reach a missile tank and was surprised to even learn that this was something you could do.
 
Alright, I'm back for more help. Apparently I suck at this game! (Loving it so far, though).
Area 3:
I'm fighting my first Metroid of the area and it disappeared halfway through the battle. I've gone looking for it (even found another empty room nearby with similar looking escape passages) but can't get it to reappear. Am I missing something?
 
So I have a question about a late-game skill: does anything in the game ever specifically teach you about
the Spider Ball/Power Bomb shinespark?
I had to look up how to reach a missile tank and was surprised to even learn that this was something you could do.

Nothing teaches you per say, though there is a hint in the first room after you get
power bombs
. It doesn't tell you that you need to use
Spider ball + power bomb
but it does alert you that you can clear this challenge now.
 

Demoli

Member
I have no words for how much i enjoyed this game. Had Zelda not been mindblowing this would have easily been my GotY. 8h, 100%, gonna start speedrunning this week.

Final Boss spoiler
Ridley fight should have been aboard ceres station, where you bothkinda go even where samus destroy's ridley's mech parts but he takes the metroid and samus's power ups

Yo and that 100% completion
2d in red? Two D Red, To Dread? Lets fucking gooooooooooooooooo
 
Man, this game is big. It gets its' hooks into you, though. So you end up kinda hammering through it pretty quick. I doubt I'll play Hard or Fusion Mode, unless there's something extra attached to it.

The only rewards are
Samus wearing different outfits on each difficulty when you beat the game in less than 4 hours (Hard = Justin Bailey, and Fusion = Her tank top from Fusion's endings), with poses referencing their original game

Not worth it
 

entremet

Member
Put me as well on the group who thinks AM2R is better than this game. I can't stand the enemy variety in samus returns which is abysmal. You fight around 5 enemies with different colour variations to make them harder, that is just lazy. You also have to rely on the parry way too much until halfway through the game because the enemies just don't die with the starting weapons. The item acquisition pacing is all over the place as well. There are entire areas which have 1 or 2 items and then there is a late area in which you get the space jump and in not even 5 minutes later you get the gravity suit as well, why couldn't they space the items a bit better and give them sometime to breath? I think I prefer AM2R over this.

I didn't mind this. It breaks the formulaic progression of the last 3 2D Metroid Games. And since areas are gated by Metroid kills, I didn't mind.

The tradition sequence breaking stuff isn't going to work here much due to the Metroid gating.
 

Wanderer5

Member
Don't forget the Super Missiles. You get Space Jump -> Super Missiles -> Gravity Suit within a few minutes of each other.

Yeah, I'd also have liked a more evenly spread item progression. I just got the gravity suit and so far I agree - AM2R is better (Samus Returns still good tho).

You don't get Gravity Suit till a bit more than that.:p
 

LeonSPBR

Member
Alright, I'm back for more help. Apparently I suck at this game! (Loving it so far, though).
Area 3:
I'm fighting my first Metroid of the area and it disappeared halfway through the battle. I've gone looking for it (even found another empty room nearby with similar looking escape passages) but can't get it to reappear. Am I missing something?

There are 3 rooms that it can hide. Search for another room, use the scan pulse to find this room.
 
I'm having some troubles with using this 3DS stick. I don't really like it. Sometimes I feel like I move one way and Samus kneels down instead and it sucks because this game isn't easy lol. It's not the game it's just I've never been fond of the 3DS stick. Other than that I'm loving the game.
 

vall03

Member
Holy shit, I can't believe I didn't die against the last three Omega Metroids and I was watching a football match at the same time. The first one took me several restarts to beat lol.
 

eXistor

Member
Couple of hours in: yup this is Metroid. Bog-standard, but solid Metroid. I'm not saying that as a bad thing, but so far it's a good mid-tier game for the series I'd place (so far) amongst games as Corruption and Fusion.

I disagree with some things the game does: I think the art-style isn't great, I wanted to see it in person before commenting on it, but nah, I don't really like the look of it, it has too much of a cartoony feel to it and it's lacking in atmosphere. Iverall a minor issue, but a real one.

I don't like the scanner. I suppose you don't have to use it (though I found myself accidentally using it sue to awkward 3DS button placement), but I would have preferred it to be optional and aqcuired later in the game like in SM. Also, it's overpowered. I don't want it to scan a room-and-a-half, revealing all of its secrets. Again, SM did it best.

The music is of the atmospheric kind which almost never does anything for me. I much prefer melodic music to add a vibe to a game.

A little too much handholding. Yes, I know I have to have 4 DNA strands to progress and no you don't have to show exactly where I need to get them or where I need to go after I get them. I was just at the thing that you established its function for minutes ago!

Those goddamn bats are also a pain, they're used way too often and I don't really care for the stop-and-go counter-move; it really breaks the flow too much and too often.

Still though, it's good. Most of the modern additions and changes (outside of level design, which is well done) don't sit all too well with me, but the core of Metroid is intact and that's the most important thing. We got a real Metroid for the first time in many years, even if it is a remake. It at least shows they still realise what makes Metroid Metroid.
 

Anteo

Member
Put me as well on the group who thinks AM2R is better than this game. I can't stand the enemy variety in samus returns which is abysmal. You fight around 5 enemies with different colour variations to make them harder, that is just lazy. You also have to rely on the parry way too much until halfway through the game because the enemies just don't die with the starting weapons. The item acquisition pacing is all over the place as well. There are entire areas which have 1 or 2 items and then there is a late area in which you get the space jump and in not even 5 minutes later you get the gravity suit as well, why couldn't they space the items a bit better and give them sometime to breath? I think I prefer AM2R over this.

Im still early and havent had this problem. You are given a lots of missiles from the start and enemies in the early game die super fast to missiles plus there is always a infinite spawn of a small to get some life/missiles back.
 
Finished! Just under 12 hours to 100% the game.

Not perfect by any means, it's a hand cramper of a game, bad enough to make me finally buy a grip for my N3DS XL, but overall I enjoyed it. Won't break the top 5 games in the series by a long shot (not played Corruption in a long while, so I won't say top 6), but it's still a fun game.

It's good to have Metroid back.
 

Red

Member
I would love a grip for my 3DS. It really is horrible to play for more than a few minutes at a time. My right hand cramps up and falls asleep even during short sessions.
 
Now that I have my amiibo I'm wondering if I should actually use them or not for the in game unlocks. An aeon and energy trank reserve would be awesome, but I feel it would break the game challenge a bit especially the aeon tank.
 

entremet

Member
Couple of hours in: yup this is Metroid. Bog-standard, but solid Metroid. I'm not saying that as a bad thing, but so far it's a good mid-tier game for the series I'd place (so far) amongst games as Corruption and Fusion.

I disagree with some things the game does: I think the art-style isn't great, I wanted to see it in person before commenting on it, but nah, I don't really like the look of it, it has too much of a cartoony feel to it and it's lacking in atmosphere. Iverall a minor issue, but a real one.

I don't like the scanner. I suppose you don't have to use it (though I found myself accidentally using it sue to awkward 3DS button placement), but I would have preferred it to be optional and aqcuired later in the game like in SM. Also, it's overpowered. I don't want it to scan a room-and-a-half, revealing all of its secrets. Again, SM did it best.

The music is of the atmospheric kind which almost never does anything for me. I much prefer melodic music to add a vibe to a game.

A little too much handholding. Yes, I know I have to have 4 DNA strands to progress and no you don't have to show exactly where I need to get them or where I need to go after I get them. I was just at the thing that you established its function for minutes ago!

Those goddamn bats are also a pain, they're used way too often and I don't really care for the stop-and-go counter-move; it really breaks the flow too much and too often.

Still though, it's good. Most of the modern additions and changes (outside of level design, which is well done) don't sit all too well with me, but the core of Metroid is intact and that's the most important thing. We got a real Metroid for the first time in many years, even if it is a remake. It at least shows they still realise what makes Metroid Metroid.
You can cancel the scanner by pressing A again. Rather nifty.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I'm about 5 hours in now and I have to say, I fucking love this game so far. I was a bit worried about the controls at first but moving around works really well IMO (Morph Ball with touch screen is the superior way after you get used to it).
The music is really good, I love how they incorporated the original tracks and ambient sounds into the new themes in a very subtle way.
Also I don't see how this is the hardest 2D Metroid game, at least not yet. Right now I would say the original on NES is harder, but the difficutly could ramp up in the later areas.

Man, I'm so fucking happy to play a new Metroid game :')
Well the original game is harder because it was on the NES, most games from that era were hard as hell.
Nintendo Hard
 

Red

Member
All the hand crampin going on makes me realize how bad the 3DS is ergonomically.
New 3DS looks great, but it is awful to actually use.

I go through so many claw-grip contortions cycling through fingers as each one falls asleep.
 
Almost 9 hours on the dot to 100% it. Really, really enjoyed it!

I've played a lot of Metroidvania games in the past few years (Ori and the Blind Forest, Hollow Knight, Guacamelee, to name a few), and playing this and Zero Mission a month or two ago affirms to me that there is something about Metroid games that those other titles still struggle to capture.

Metroid has this ease of movement and smoothness, both in controls but also in the level design that allows you to find optimal paths and blaze through places you once took your time with once you know the layout. There's hardly ever frustrating or slow sections put into the main path through an area, and new abilities cut down time massively as well, so there's this constant sense of progression and gaining mastery over the area.

For this game specifically:
  • The melee counter is great. I've always considered the normal combat in Metroid to be the weakest part of the 2D games. I mean, they weren't really going for combat too much, as enemies typically worked more as obstacles while platforming, and many still do just that, making interesting traversal and puzzles. However, the melee counter makes normal enemy encounters more fun and interesting; encounters are rarely one enemy anymore, but rather clusters of enemies where you have to crowd control and keep track of the different attacks and timings. It's great, and it's not overwhelming; they push it a lot in the starting areas to get you accustomed, but there are a lot of enemies who can't be countered and have to be handled differently. Plus the boss counters look cool.
  • I found the bosses great. While the Alpha and Gamma Metroids grow a little stale due to the volume, the Zeta and Omega fights have enough variety of moves and are of a low enough number to stay interesting, and the unique fights are genuinely great. Lots of different attacks that keep you on your toes and require skill to dodge, but are still telegraphed and readable. You're never like "I can't tell what they're doing" or "I don't know how to dodge that," it's just a matter of skill. Plus, the later fights (particularly the unique ones) require some careful resource management as they are long fights, and using all your Super Missiles and Beam Burst at the start will make the later portions really difficult. All the unique fights are amazing, and I loved them. The first unique fight in particular felt like something out of Prime with its
    integration of the Morph Ball
    .
  • The structure of the game is more linear than other games in the series; you're never once required to backtrack to a different zone, just back and forth within one area. It is more linear in that respect, but it keeps up a pretty breakneck pace as a result.
  • This is probably the most accessible Metroid yet, and I think that's a really great thing. I feel like Metroid is one of the harder series to get into, and this game is good about giving you a lot of options to guide you if needed, and also clear objectives and progression ("kill 40 Metroids" for the macro level, but also "kill x Metroids in this area" for each area) and mini-objectives (using the scanner to see places or power-ups nearby and trying to get to them) to keep you going. That plus the more linear structure of the game should hopefully make it easier for new players to get into. I think it's good design for that.
  • The smaller additions they made are fun as well. The 360 aiming is fun and useful, and makes you feel awesome when you are shooting in all different directions in a fight. The "press jump while running against a tunnel to morph ball straight into it" is a really small but great addition that makes travel just that much smoother, as well as auto-selecting the grapple beam when highlighting grapple points in free-aim. Finally, I got the biggest smile on my face when I realized a secret late-game mechanic that's only used for final item collection to get past those red spike tunnels (if you haven't already found it out, don't read this as it's great to realize on your own):
    Power Bomb jumping! It's so obvious I don't know why it hasn't been done before. They do a great job of subtly making you think about it in the first, long vertical room after you pick it up with the power-up through a narrow spike corridor up top. I realized it pretty immediately, and it was a great moment; reminds me of Boost jumping off Spider tracks in the Prime games.

Overall, it is so great to have Metroid back. I love it so much. Not sure where it would go on my list of Metroid games, but it's just been great to play a "new" Metroid. I hope MercurySteam gets a chance to go at an original one now that they've built experience here, as I want to see what they would do outside of the Metroid 2 structure.
 

gogojira

Member
Absolutely loving it so far. The melee counter had me worried in the beginning, but I feel like an hour or so in it found it's place in the way I was playing and I find out enjoyable. It's so nice to have a traditional Metroid and Samus Returns just mops the floor with Other M.

It'd be nice to have a 60fps experience and at least on the OG 3DS, elevator rides and teleports have an absurdly low fps. My New 3DS still hasn't arrived due to hurricane harvey delaying all deliveries, but it should arrive Monday based on tracking. I'm anxious to see if anything (other than 3D and apparently faster saves) improves.
 

Hylian7

Member
Absolutely loving it so far. The melee counter had me worried in the beginning, but I feel like an hour or so in it found it's place in the way I was playing and I find out enjoyable. It's so nice to have a traditional Metroid and Samus Returns just mops the floor with Other M.

It'd be nice to have a 60fps experience and at least on the OG 3DS, elevator rides and teleports have an absurdly low fps. My New 3DS still hasn't arrived due to hurricane harvey delaying all deliveries, but it should arrive Monday based on tracking. I'm anxious to see if anything (other than 3D and apparently faster saves) improves.
It's exactly the same on n3DS.
 
Power Bomb jumping! It's so obvious I don't know why it hasn't been done before. They do a great job of subtly making you think about it in the first, long vertical room after you pick it up with the power-up through a narrow spike corridor up top. I realized it pretty immediately, and it was a great moment; reminds me of Boost jumping off Spider tracks in the Prime games.

I absolutely did not pick up on this at all. Weird how it wasn't done before, but I was stuck in the mindset that if it didn't exist then, why would it now?
 

Neiteio

Member
Three areas in, and this is already my favorite 2D Metroid. Everything feels so good to control, and the level design flows so well. Using headphones and setting 3D to full blast makes for wonderful atmosphere, too.
 

TheMoon

Member
Impressions keep confirming:

people who actually played it: "whoa Samus is so responsive, feels great to control!"
people who haven't and only care about numbers: "ewwwww 30fps the horror I might die if I touch it, kill it with fire!"
 

entremet

Member
Impressions keep confirming:

people who actually played it: "whoa Samus is so responsive, feels great to control!"
people who haven't and only care about numbers: "ewwwww 30fps the horror I might die if I touch it, kill it with fire!"

Full control aiming helps a lot.
 

VDenter

Banned
Impressions keep confirming:

people who actually played it: "whoa Samus is so responsive, feels great to control!"
people who haven't and only care about numbers: "ewwwww 30fps the horror I might die if I touch it, kill it with fire!"

Not trying to start this here but the OP who made that thread did play it and the point was while the game does feel responsive it would be even better if it was 60fp.
 

Opa-Pa

Member
I think playing so much on handhelds has made me immune to hand cramping because I don't experience any at all unless I play for like 4 hours straight. Regular n3DS user here.

Ah, so it still chugs like crazy then on this segments. That's fine, I'll take the 3D viewing angle improvements and amiibo scanner. It's the Metroid 3DS xl so it's more for a collectors thing anyways!

Elevators and teleporting both are like 20fps on both systems for some reasons, but a couple of users have said they've had drops in performance during gameplay, but me and other n3DS users haven't had issues at all so I think the game has native n3DS support and makes use of the extra CPU to maintain stable 30FPS at all times.
 
Ah, so it still chugs like crazy then on this segments. That's fine, I'll take the 3D viewing angle improvements and amiibo scanner. It's the Metroid 3DS xl so it's more for a collectors thing anyways!

I have no idea why it lags so badly in these scenes, other than I guess it's loading the area in the background

But it doesn't even need to be an in-engine animation, they could have easily just made it FMV and it would have basically looked the same and ran smoother.
 

AwRy108

Member
Miss the precision of d-pad control; graphics are a bit too cartoon-like (probably a result of hardware limitations); and the music does almost nothing to enhance the atmosphere.

BUT, the final product is fun to play nearly 100% of the time, so I'm pleased with the purchase. Will play through Super Metroid whenever I want pure, unadulterated Metroid joy.
 
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