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

Neiteio

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.
This game just puts into perspective how much I don't like Super Metroid. Super Metroid has the worst-feeling jump ever, killing all your forward momentum, but in Samus Returns the jump (and everything else) feels so good. By default that makes this the most enjoyable Metroid.
 
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.

I'm wondering if it's actually an intentional cinematic effect? One that is not particularly well made, but intentional nonetheless.
 

Toxi

Banned
The Omega Metroids are damn fun to fight. These guys really show how lackluster Fusion's final boss was, both in presentation and gameplay.
 

Stopdoor

Member
This game just puts into perspective how much I don't like Super Metroid. Super Metroid has the worst-feeling jump ever, killing all your forward momentum, but in Samus Returns the jump (and everything else) feels so good. By default that makes this the most enjoyable Metroid.

But like, the controls/movement are its only bad quality. Everything else about Super Metroid is so sublime. You've played the GBA games right? They really nail the movement in a similar way to this game, the addition of grabbing ledges in those helps a lot.
 

Neiteio

Member
But like, the controls/movement are its only bad quality. Everything else about Super Metroid is so sublime. You've played the GBA games right? They really nail the movement in a similar way to this game, the addition of grabbing ledges in those helps a lot.
Yeah, I played Fusion and Zero Mission at launch (still have the GBA carts) and I also have Fusion on 3DS via the GBA Ambassadors. I definitely like them better than Super Metroid. They don't look or play as well as Samus Returns, though.

As for Super Metroid, I own it on the Wii VC and the N3DS VC. I've tried to get into it three times now. I find it difficult to have fun with it because of the controls. The whole game falls apart because of that... but I'm happy for those who like it. Wish I could.

Samus Returns is shaping up to beat Zero Mission and become my favorite 2D Metroid.
 

Effect

Member
So picked up my package today after having it delayed only to find Amazon either shipped me a empty box or while it was delayed someone stole my copy. Thankfully Amazon didn't give me any hassle and are shipping out a replacement but this sucks. I wanted to play this, this weekend. Would have been nice since I was feeling like crap and this made me feel worse. Oh well. Maybe next weekend will be different as that might be the next time I get to play it since this coming week will be so busy.
 
Super bummed I can't play this right now. Left for vacation in Italy and the cheap ass 3DS charger doesn't work with voltage converters, so I can't charge it :(. It sucks not being able to come back to our hotel at night and wind down with a game I've been waiting to come out for 10 years :(.
 

poussi

Member
Being able to ask for 'the new Metroid' at the game store was a good feeling.

Also realized my 3DS circle pad is in a pretty bad shape, but this is going to be the last game I play on it anyway.
 

TheMoon

Member
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.

I'm blasting more the people basing their purchase decision on that number alone in that thread.
 

Stopdoor

Member
Yeah, I played Fusion and Zero Mission at launch (still have the GBA carts) and I also have Fusion on 3DS via the GBA Ambassadors. I definitely like them better than Super Metroid. They don't look or play as well as Samus Returns, though.

As for Super Metroid, I own it on the Wii VC and the N3DS VC. I've tried to get into it three times now. I find it difficult to have fun with it because of the controls. The whole game falls apart because of that... but I'm happy for those who like it. Wish I could.

Samus Returns is shaping up to beat Zero Mission and become my favorite 2D Metroid.

Samus Returns looks pretty good, but pixel art for life! This also made me look up an old video I stumbled upon ages ago about the "flow" in Metroid Fusion (the video is a lot weirder than I remember):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGIWGjyfXF4

It makes some relevant points about how items stack and are contextual, which Samus Returns has trouble dealing with with all the Aeion abilities and beams to swap between. Samus Returns definitely has some quality of life improvements, but has lost some things as well.
 

JoeFu

Banned
I am loving this game... but why does every Metroid need to have the lower norfair theme when there is lava around? As much as I love the SM soundtrack... why not recycle the best song?
lower brinstar is the best song... fight me
 

Toxi

Banned
I am loving this game... but why does every Metroid need to have the lower norfair theme when there is lava around? As much as I love the SM soundtrack... why not recycle the best song?
lower brinstar is the best song... fight me
Heheheheheheh
 

Griss

Member
Where Samus returns shines:

-Controls have never felt so good
-Beam and missile combat feels great and is well balanced
-Aion abilities are a great addition, especially the beam burst
-The 3d backgrounds make the environment feel much more real and later backgrounds look great a help tell the story of the planet

Where it falters:
-Not enough enemy types given the massive scale of the map
-The map doesn't connect in clever ways which is really a staple of most 2D Metroids like Super, Zero and Fusion - this is disappointing. Every area is self-contaned (unless things really change post-game)
-Music goes for atmosphere and lacks the strong melodies of other metroids
-Despite this the 3d visuals are weak (thanks 3ds), and therefore...
-...this really hurts the atmosphere of the game, which is where it falls way short of the original

Ultimately it's a great game but I'd love to see what they can do on the Switch with the exact same control scheme (free-aim on the beam in particular) with proper modern visuals, a melodic soundtrack and a brand new, properly interlocking map design
 
just beat the game 100%, 11 hours 39 minutes on the in game clock (which I imagine ignores the countless deaths I went through. Great time. My 3DS seems to have frozen though on the screen after the final time card though D:
 
I used JK's save manager and a save I found online to start this game on Fusion mode.

Boy is this game something on Fusion Mode. It feels like I'm playing AM2R in terms of difficulty. Which is great, fucking awesome actually.

I'm loving this game. A lot. I have a couple of little issues with it - I don't like the art style TOO MUCH, although there's a lot of smart visual and audio flourishes that keep me engaged and evoke a profound Prime feel. The 3D fucking sucks, I appreciate the depth but it doesn't work on the 3DS's tiny shitty ghosty screen. And sometimes the game's GB roots do shine through in terms of world/puzzle design. It's still awesome though. I don't hate the counter move (and I really, really expected to) and on Fusion mode it doesn't feel OP because two fuckups are enough to kill me, period.
 
I'm liking this game more and more, right now at area 3. Gameplay wise this is as good as it gets for a Metroid game. Good job Mercury Steam!
 
I used JK's save manager and a save I found online to start this game on Fusion mode.

Boy is this game something on Fusion Mode. It feels like I'm playing AM2R in terms of difficulty. Which is great, fucking awesome actually.

I'm loving this game. A lot. I have a couple of little issues with it - I don't like the art style TOO MUCH, although there's a lot of smart visual and audio flourishes that keep me engaged and evoke a profound Prime feel. The 3D fucking sucks, I appreciate the depth but it doesn't work on the 3DS's tiny shitty ghosty screen. And sometimes the game's GB roots do shine through in terms of world/puzzle design. It's still awesome though. I don't hate the counter move (and I really, really expected to) and on Fusion mode it doesn't feel OP because two fuckups are enough to kill me, period.
I don't want to know how hard it is on fusion mode given how much normal mode completely kicked my ass. I can't imagine how nightmarish a low% speedrun of this game would be
 

13ruce

Banned
I used JK's save manager and a save I found online to start this game on Fusion mode.

Boy is this game something on Fusion Mode. It feels like I'm playing AM2R in terms of difficulty. Which is great, fucking awesome actually.

I'm loving this game. A lot. I have a couple of little issues with it - I don't like the art style TOO MUCH, although there's a lot of smart visual and audio flourishes that keep me engaged and evoke a profound Prime feel. The 3D fucking sucks, I appreciate the depth but it doesn't work on the 3DS's tiny shitty ghosty screen. And sometimes the game's GB roots do shine through in terms of world/puzzle design. It's still awesome though. I don't hate the counter move (and I really, really expected to) and on Fusion mode it doesn't feel OP because two fuckups are enough to kill me, period.

What AM2R o_O hard mode is easier then the normal and hard mode of this game.... Unless someone made a super hard mode in a unofficial patch i missed. I died more times in SR then i ever did in AM2R. But i did play Zero Mission alot so i guess i am just used to that and Fusion's gameplay alot.
 
What AM2R o_O hard mode is easier then the normal and hard mode of this game.... Unless someone made a super hard mode in a unofficial patch i missed. I died more times in SR then i ever did in AM2R. But i did play Zero Mission alot so i guess i am just used to that and Fusion's gameplay alot.

AM2R and Super Metroid don't have check points, so they're obviously harder then MSR since you lose progress when you die in am2r and super metroid :V
 
Loving this so far (especially the free aim which I thought I'd hate!), but is there any reason the elevator/warping scenes run at like 10 fps? What's up with that?
 

Kadin

Member
I'm really loving the game but man oh man am I getting lost left and right. So many spots in just the first few areas that aren't filled in. I know this is typical but I keep running to various spots hoping to find ways in and sometimes I can, most of the times I can't. And I feel like I'm doing shit out of order but I guess as long as I'm progressing in some fashion... I'm not doing it wrong.
 

gardfish

Member
Man, the art galleries (both the in-game Chozo Memories and the ones unlocked by the Smash Samus amiibo) are fantastic, but it really sucks that they're locked to this 240p screen. I saved them to my computer through Miiverse but they're still so tiny.
 
I'm really loving the game but man oh man am I getting lost left and right. So many spots in just the first few areas that aren't filled in. I know this is typical but I keep running to various spots hoping to find ways in and sometimes I can, most of the times I can't. And I feel like I'm doing shit out of order but I guess as long as I'm progressing in some fashion... I'm not doing it wrong.

Scan pulse is your friend use it liberally
 

KingBroly

Banned
AM2R and Super Metroid don't have check points, so they're obviously harder then MSR since you lose progress when you die in am2r and super metroid :V

They used checkpoints to make the game harder, IMO. In some cases, it wasn't really needed, but they did it anyway. IMO, including checkpoints makes the series lose that little extra something. The traversal aspect to a boss is supposed to be part of the difficulty.
 
Man, the art galleries (both the in-game Chozo Memories and the ones unlocked by the Smash Samus amiibo) are fantastic, but it really sucks that they're locked to this 240p screen. I saved them to my computer through Miiverse but they're still so tiny.

Those are in the artbook as well, I'm sure someone will at least do some high quality scans in the future.
 

KingBroly

Banned
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

I want to try for all of them, tbh. The Justin Bailey one sounds like the one to do,
though. That's the first time that's been referenced in forever.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Yeah, the more I play the less enamored I am. No enemy variety, combat too reliant on the melee counter, the battles with the metroids are so repetitive and boring...

Walking around the world is fun (but the Metroid 2 pattern of climbing all over everything and bombing everywhere is zzz) but I don't think this is a top Metroid for me.
 
Yeah, the more I play the less enamored I am. No enemy variety, combat too reliant on the melee counter, the battles with the metroids are so repetitive and boring...

Walking around the world is fun (but the Metroid 2 pattern of climbing all over everything and bombing everywhere is zzz) but I don't think this is a top Metroid for me.

Fwiw the melee counter becomes less and less useful as the game goes on
 

RRockman

Banned
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

are you serious? I have to do it to see how they redesigned
bailey
at least. the
original was pixels after all.
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
This damn game was amazing from start to finish, highly recommend it. Music sounds kind of lame, until you plug headphones in, then it's amazingly atmospheric and nuanced.

Gameplay was smooth as heck, some slowdown, but not too bad.

Even more slowdown on a stock 3DS I imagine, since disabling the L2 Cache on standard CPU clock resulted in quite a lot of slowdown in some instances. Using both L2 and New 3DS CPU clock resulted in a completely locked 30, but some very minor graphical artifacts, like lines across the screen at random, so I imagine that's why it uses standard clocks with L2 Cache enabled on New 3DS units.

Edit: Basically, playing on a New 3DS helps, even if you run standard firmware.
 

13ruce

Banned
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

Different
outfits .....
not worth it? That's awesome imo if true. What does normal mode give?
zero suit.....?
 
I am a very stupid man and didn't preorder the amiibo because I was going to be out of town... Am I shit out of luck? Anyone know anywhere that's still selling them, or if a restock is coming?
 
Just beat it, 8 hours, 22 minutes, 72 percent.

Meta Ridley caught me by surprise, I was expecting a twist at the end but Ridley himself being the final boss wasn't something I anticipated. First time he's been the final boss proper of a Metroid game. I did like that it was basically a no holds barred beatdown fight compared to the trickier weakspot manipulation of the Queen Metroid. They come in such quick succession that the differences are appreciated.

I haven't gone back to search for stuff with the Metroid, but I wasn't really fond of them using the Metroid as an item gate for so many expansions, I've never really cared for 100% completion being locked to end game area sweeping like it had been in Fusion, Zero Mission, and Other M, but I guess I expected it here.

Overall it's a very good solid Metroid title. I will repeat some of the criticism for the music and enemy variety, but a very strong showing from MercurySteam and a good return to form for the series as a whole, a shot in the arm for a franchise that needed it badly.
 

Toxi

Banned
The
Metroid Queen
is another really good boss fight. Hard, but very rewarding.

And the "upgrade" you get afterwards is one of my favorites in the game. :p
 

KingBroly

Banned
Having beat the game 100% in
11:05:00
I can say that the game was definitely made on a tight budget. There's just a lot of things that point to that, including the low number of enemy encounters, the sound effects (A LOT) being ripped from other Metroid games. They definitely put a lot of care into the visual design and gameplay, but other areas not so much.

I think if they had another 6-8 months, you could throw in a few more enemies and change up some sound effects to make it more original. I'd say it's an 8.5/10, but there are clear moments of disappointment.
 

Toxi

Banned
OH HAI
RIDLEY

Is it worth going for 100% completion on my first playthrough? I get the feeling I won't be able to after beating this boss.
 
Different
outfits .....
not worth it? That's awesome imo if true. What does normal mode give?
zero suit.....?

Yes, Normal is the normal Zero Suit

I'm not crazy enough to beat Fusion mode in less than 4 hours, let alone hard mode
 

Easy_D

never left the stone age
Just beat it, 8 hours, 22 minutes, 72 percent.

Meta Ridley caught me by surprise, I was expecting a twist at the end but Ridley himself being the final boss wasn't something I anticipated. First time he's been the final boss proper of a Metroid game. I did like that it was basically a no holds barred beatdown fight compared to the trickier weakspot manipulation of the Queen Metroid. They come in such quick succession that the differences are appreciated.

I haven't gone back to search for stuff with the Metroid, but I wasn't really fond of them using the Metroid as an item gate for so many expansions, I've never really cared for 100% completion being locked to end game area sweeping like it had been in Fusion, Zero Mission, and Other M, but I guess I expected it here.

Overall it's a very good solid Metroid title. I will repeat some of the criticism for the music and enemy variety, but a very strong showing from MercurySteam and a good return to form for the series as a whole, a shot in the arm for a franchise that needed it badly.

Regarding spoiler
Does Meta Ridley straight up being in the game (albeit less fucked up than he appears in Prime) mean Sakamoto considers Prime canon now??
 
Regarding spoiler
Does Meta Ridley straight up being in the game (albeit less fucked up than he appears in Prime) mean Sakamoto considers Prime canon now??
According to Wikitroid the final boss is specifically called "Proteus Ridley" though I'm not sure where the comes from so... I dunno.
 
Question for anyone that's beaten the game 100%. I just got the
Power Bombs
and I think I'm in Area 7 now. Along the way I've been seeing a bunch of crystal like formations that are blocking access to several items, and they look an awful lot like the
invincible crystals from the original Metroid 2 that the hatchling eats to clear your path back to your gunship.
Samus seems pretty fully decked out at this point, I think I have every power-up and Aeon ability now, yet I still haven't figured out how to get rid of them. In a simple yes or no, can someone tell me if I'm currently able to do so with my current equipment and abilities?
 

Kadin

Member
Scan pulse is your friend use it liberally
Yeah I am. I think I finally hit a spot I can't figure out which is late into Area 2.

I think I need the
spring ball because I have to get up through two vents that are keeping me from bombing the wall above them and I can't use the spider ball either. It's the last Metroid that I need in this area, at least I think it is. There's a big area I can't get into that's blocked by a yellow door as well, not sure if it's related.
 

Toxi

Banned
Question for anyone that's beaten the game 100%. I just got the
Power Bombs
and I think I'm in Area 7 now. Along the way I've been seeing a bunch of crystal like formations that are blocking access to several items, and they look an awful lot like the
invincible crystals from the original Metroid 2 that the hatchling eats to clear your path back to your gunship.
Samus seems pretty fully decked out at this point, I think I have every power-up and Aeon ability now, yet I still haven't figured out how to get rid of them. In a simple yes or no, can someone tell me if I'm currently able to do so with my current equipment and abilities?
Haven't beat the game 100%, but
yeah, you can'd get rid of them with your current equipment and abilities.
 

13ruce

Banned
This game just puts into perspective how much I don't like Super Metroid. Super Metroid has the worst-feeling jump ever, killing all your forward momentum, but in Samus Returns the jump (and everything else) feels so good. By default that makes this the most enjoyable Metroid.

Next time they put Super Metroid in VC on Switch they should just patch in Fusion and Zero Mission controls and movement in. It's superior.
 

Toxi

Banned
Yeah I am. I think I finally hit a spot I can't figure out which is late into Area 2.

I think I need the
spring ball because I have to get up through two vents that are keeping me from bombing the wall above them and I can't use the spider ball either. It's the last Metroid that I need in this area, at least I think it is. There's a big area I can't get into that's blocked by a yellow door as well, not sure if it's related.
You need the Spring Ball.
 
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