FloweryMarston
Member
was that diggernaut boss a quadraxis inspiration? holy fuck
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Metroid: Samus Returns |OT| What's past is prologue.
- Thread starter TheMoon
- Start date
This is technically true, but personally I thought all phases were so fun and clever that it was a blast nonetheless.
I just beat Diggernaut and I honestly don't know how to feel about that fight.
On one hand, the boss fight definitely pushed me to the limits and while it's patterns are difficult to grasp at first, they are never truly unfair (although, Phase 3 dragged on and on).
On the other hand, that fucking damage is obscene.
This is my issue with the fight. There's like no room for error, which is made all the worst given there's so many damn phases to the fight.
That said, once you get the patterns down and you beat him with no damage taken, it's a euphoric feeling, one I've only gotten from the Souls games.
blitzwolf215
Member
Diggernaut was definitely the most frustrating boss in the game for me. I did eventually pick up on its patterns but damn did it take long.
sixteen-bit
Member
I beat the game today. I loved it. After AM2R and this I hope there's a Metroid 2 remake every year moving forward, lol.
So, (post-credit spoiler)
So, (post-credit spoiler)
Mercury Stream working on a Fusion remake as we speak?
Yesterday I cleared out Area 7 and my Metroid hunting went like this;
First Omega Metroid, I died once and barely defeated it and ran out of Super Missiles.
Second Omega Metroid, I died once and barely defeated it and ran out Super Missiles.
Third and harder Omega Metroid...went down pretty easy and I had full health and a healthy number of Super Missiles. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯
I made my way to area 8 had a brief fight with the queen but I died but it was alright as I had to go out.
I will later go back and show the bitch who's boss.
The first two phase was easy for me but it was the third phase that I struggled on as I couldn't avoid the laser beam without touching it.
That's what I don't like about this game is that enemies hit way too hard and it gets frustrating during boss fight.
Hope not as Super Metroid is next in line for the remake treatment, something that I wanted for a while.
First Omega Metroid, I died once and barely defeated it and ran out of Super Missiles.
Second Omega Metroid, I died once and barely defeated it and ran out Super Missiles.
Third and harder Omega Metroid...went down pretty easy and I had full health and a healthy number of Super Missiles. ¯\_(ツ
_/¯ I made my way to area 8 had a brief fight with the queen but I died but it was alright as I had to go out.
I will later go back and show the bitch who's boss.
The first two phase was easy for me but it was the third phase that I struggled on as I couldn't avoid the laser beam without touching it.
That's what I don't like about this game is that enemies hit way too hard and it gets frustrating during boss fight.
Hope not as Super Metroid is next in line for the remake treatment, something that I wanted for a while.
And funny enough, that described the feeling I got when I beat the remaining bosses of the game so far.
Ridley was shoehorned in as fuck, but to be honest... I can't complain because it was a good fight at the end of the day. Plus, it showed Samus do some new stuff with her suit, like her very liberal use of her rarely seen jetpacks. I 100% bet that the fight was put in as an apology to how lame the Samus/Ridley encounter was in Other M. Plus, it gives a continuity nod to Meta Ridley, so I'll accept it.
In all, it had some very rough edges (bland areas, almost entirely atmospheric music or reusing Norfair or Red Soil), but it was a damn good attempt by Mercury Steam and I wouldn't be opposed to seeing additional 2D Metroids from them (provided they can improve upon SR's weak areas).
I never played AM2R, so I might play that next for the hell of it. But SR was a really good game and despite my frustration at some parts (holy hell that damage on some of these bosses; MercurySteam, your bosses aren't that good for them to be dishing out these kinds of haymakers like it was a Souls or Ninja Gaiden game).
Hispanic! At the Disco
Member
I believe they wanted to make a fusion remake originally, but Nintendo put them on Metroid 2 instead. Would be a cool remake, but I wonder if it would continue to stay on 3ds to reuse assets.
TheGreatLugia
Banned
The reward for 100% item completion might be teasing their next potential project.
Green Mamba
Member
Fusion mode is nuts with its damage levels. The friggen exploding green bugs deal like four energy tanks worth of damage with the Gravity Suit.
100%'d it late last week... it's a wonderful game in terms of gameplay, traversal, and how smooth all of Samus' actions are. I do agree that it loses something going to 3D (especially since I'm 3 hours into Super Metroid right now), and it's almost impossible to feel lost. So in that sense, it feels more like a game that is going for a more action-focused Metroidvania feel vs. just straight Metroid, and I could see how that would annoy fans. I enjoyed it a lot though. It's not going to be remembered as an all-time classic, but it surely won't be called the worst Metroid entry either. I loved the major boss fights too. Wish the game had more of those and less of the repetitive ones. They felt Souls-like, and I really appreciated their challenge.
TheMoon
Member
they're not gonna start a new 3DS game now they can just use the HD asset they for sure have in the drawer if they want to reuse stuff. we know the engine is scalable already.
Mama Robotnik
Member
Finished it just about an hour ago, 100%.
It was great to play a Metroid game again, and it was a challenging experience at that!
Something I really liked was the focus on the Metroid organisms again, after them being sidelined in most games in the series. Here, their threat is apparent - they can evolve beyond reason, transforming into gargantuan killing machines of offensive potential. The Omega Metroids in particular were monstrous and fearsome.
(The Metroid scholar in me constrasts their evolution to the transformation exhibited in the Metroid Prime organism. While the Metroids of SR388 evolved in bulk and brawn, the lone Metroid in the Chozo crater evolved into intelligent, exotic matter. Despite their differences, both evolutionary paths produced creatures with a tremendous capacity to kill).
What keeps hovering at the forefront of my mind is this: On the Game Boy original, our imagination fills in the gaps between the pixels. In my mind, it was Samus' darkest journey, into the depths where barely any light reached. There was no map, no guidance - just the lone bounty hunter in a maze of indistinct caves and ruins. The deeper she went into that ancient pit of evil, I felt, the less likely she was to ever return. Finally getting to the glass laboratory of the Chozo, suspended above a tremendous chasm, felt like the discovery of a unspoken secret.
Samus Returns loses a lot of that imagined atmosphere for me. It is bright and colourful. It is alive and loud. It has puzzles and structure and light and excitement. And while it has a great many things to be proud of - the oppressive, choking, bewildering, grim and lonely atmosphere I felt while playing the original Game Boy release, is completely absent.
There's a piece of fan-art by Stevietat which is close to my imagined atmosphere of Metroid 2 for the Game Boy. Maybe this will help illustrate how I feel:
which is a bit of a contrast to Nintendo's vision of the remake:
In conclusion, it's a very fun game, and the best official Metroid experience in far too long. But it's not how I will remember the story of Samus exploring SR388. That will always be the original release and the atmosphere I imagined as I played it, the hopeless, tortured journey through the depths of the darkest planet in the universe.
It was great to play a Metroid game again, and it was a challenging experience at that!
Something I really liked was the focus on the Metroid organisms again, after them being sidelined in most games in the series. Here, their threat is apparent - they can evolve beyond reason, transforming into gargantuan killing machines of offensive potential. The Omega Metroids in particular were monstrous and fearsome.
(The Metroid scholar in me constrasts their evolution to the transformation exhibited in the Metroid Prime organism. While the Metroids of SR388 evolved in bulk and brawn, the lone Metroid in the Chozo crater evolved into intelligent, exotic matter. Despite their differences, both evolutionary paths produced creatures with a tremendous capacity to kill).
What keeps hovering at the forefront of my mind is this: On the Game Boy original, our imagination fills in the gaps between the pixels. In my mind, it was Samus' darkest journey, into the depths where barely any light reached. There was no map, no guidance - just the lone bounty hunter in a maze of indistinct caves and ruins. The deeper she went into that ancient pit of evil, I felt, the less likely she was to ever return. Finally getting to the glass laboratory of the Chozo, suspended above a tremendous chasm, felt like the discovery of a unspoken secret.
Samus Returns loses a lot of that imagined atmosphere for me. It is bright and colourful. It is alive and loud. It has puzzles and structure and light and excitement. And while it has a great many things to be proud of - the oppressive, choking, bewildering, grim and lonely atmosphere I felt while playing the original Game Boy release, is completely absent.
There's a piece of fan-art by Stevietat which is close to my imagined atmosphere of Metroid 2 for the Game Boy. Maybe this will help illustrate how I feel:
which is a bit of a contrast to Nintendo's vision of the remake:
In conclusion, it's a very fun game, and the best official Metroid experience in far too long. But it's not how I will remember the story of Samus exploring SR388. That will always be the original release and the atmosphere I imagined as I played it, the hopeless, tortured journey through the depths of the darkest planet in the universe.
Overall, I think it's a really good game. Somewhere around 8-9 out of 10. It's not perfect, it doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it's exactly the game we needed after such a long break from the formula (nearly 14 years since the last sidescroller Metroid game!). I feel about it kinda like I do about Star Wars - Force Awakens retreaded a lot of the same ground as the previous movies, but that's acceptable after the series sunk so low. It would be worse if we've gotten the next 2D Metroid soon and it followed the exact same formula with many of the usual upgrades (Gravity Suit/Screw Attack/Plasma Beam are cool, but they don't have to always be the ultimate upgrades). Or a more Nintendo-esque comparison, how NSMB was a very average 2D Mario game, but everyone was ecstatic at new 2D Mario after 15 years and with the genre being dead (that not being the case for Metroid).
It's very fun. It's quite meaty, has to be the longest Metroid game.
It tries to do some new things with the series like Aeion abilities. I actually liked Pulse Scan, though I can see how it may bug some.
All enemies dropping restoration items are a nice QoL change. Teleports make moving around SR-388 easier.
Some of the latter areas are quite labyrinthine and the game neither points you into next direction, nor do you feel like you are completely lost all the time.
The game is obviously gorgeous and looks fantastic in 3D. It also plays fairly smooth, despite being 30 fps. Mercury Steam did great job there.
Now, despite it being good, there is a lot of things that aren't that hot. Obviously, some of it is tied to structure of the game - the main premise of tracking down all Metroids on SR388 and killing them all is fine in concept but gets dull pretty fast. SR-388 is also very linear, but they improved on the original game tremendously.
My problem with the design of the areas is that they did not think hiding collectibles through too well. Too many times you solve the puzzle and find that you need a future upgrade to get it. Or too many times collectible lies out in the open behind a block to be destroyed by a future weapon. Feels like an artifical way to extend the length of the game. I really didn't like it.
The controls are... eh. Clunky. More of a problem with the 3DS console itself which is somewhat of an ergonomic nightmare, but a problem nonetheless.
I'm also not too hot on counter mechanic. It really kills the pace in earlier stages. It gets better. Generally, enemies deal way too much damage and take too much time to kill, feels like a cheap way to make it more difficult. Some of the attacks of enemies/bosses in latter stages are truly ridiculous.
The game could also feature some better music. Some tunes work well, but overall, there's not much memorable. And it's another game that reuses Lower Brinstar and Lower Norfair themes. That was unnecessary. There is a good remix or two there, but most of tunes are fairly forgettable.
So yeah, that kinda sounds like I have a lot of problems with the game, which I do, but I still liked it very much. Though I would rank it below any of post-SM 2D Metroids. It plays well, it plays like a legitimate good Metroid game. But I just hope the next time we get a 2D Metroid it takes more risks. Some changes to the formula. New upgrades. Maybe forgo some of the classic items, like Breath of the Wild did. Samus Returns is a great remake that improves a lot on the original, but I hope the next game takes a stab at reinventing a wheel and isn't so slavish to Metroid formula. If it, well, exists at one point. Hopefully.
It's very fun. It's quite meaty, has to be the longest Metroid game.
It tries to do some new things with the series like Aeion abilities. I actually liked Pulse Scan, though I can see how it may bug some.
All enemies dropping restoration items are a nice QoL change. Teleports make moving around SR-388 easier.
Some of the latter areas are quite labyrinthine and the game neither points you into next direction, nor do you feel like you are completely lost all the time.
The game is obviously gorgeous and looks fantastic in 3D. It also plays fairly smooth, despite being 30 fps. Mercury Steam did great job there.
Now, despite it being good, there is a lot of things that aren't that hot. Obviously, some of it is tied to structure of the game - the main premise of tracking down all Metroids on SR388 and killing them all is fine in concept but gets dull pretty fast. SR-388 is also very linear, but they improved on the original game tremendously.
My problem with the design of the areas is that they did not think hiding collectibles through too well. Too many times you solve the puzzle and find that you need a future upgrade to get it. Or too many times collectible lies out in the open behind a block to be destroyed by a future weapon. Feels like an artifical way to extend the length of the game. I really didn't like it.
The controls are... eh. Clunky. More of a problem with the 3DS console itself which is somewhat of an ergonomic nightmare, but a problem nonetheless.
I'm also not too hot on counter mechanic. It really kills the pace in earlier stages. It gets better. Generally, enemies deal way too much damage and take too much time to kill, feels like a cheap way to make it more difficult. Some of the attacks of enemies/bosses in latter stages are truly ridiculous.
The game could also feature some better music. Some tunes work well, but overall, there's not much memorable. And it's another game that reuses Lower Brinstar and Lower Norfair themes. That was unnecessary. There is a good remix or two there, but most of tunes are fairly forgettable.
So yeah, that kinda sounds like I have a lot of problems with the game, which I do, but I still liked it very much. Though I would rank it below any of post-SM 2D Metroids. It plays well, it plays like a legitimate good Metroid game. But I just hope the next time we get a 2D Metroid it takes more risks. Some changes to the formula. New upgrades. Maybe forgo some of the classic items, like Breath of the Wild did. Samus Returns is a great remake that improves a lot on the original, but I hope the next game takes a stab at reinventing a wheel and isn't so slavish to Metroid formula. If it, well, exists at one point. Hopefully.
Mama Robotnik
Member
NVM
Mama Robotnik
Member
Nothing
TheMoon
Member
who are you? who am I? where are we?
TheSpaceBetween
Member
Finished it just about an hour ago, 100%.
It was great to play a Metroid game again, and it was a challenging experience at that!
Something I really liked was the focus on the Metroid organisms again, after them being sidelined in most games in the series. Here, their threat is apparent - they can evolve beyond reason, transforming into gargantuan killing machines of offensive potential. The Omega Metroids in particular were monstrous and fearsome.
(The Metroid scholar in me constrasts their evolution to the transformation exhibited in the Metroid Prime organism. While the Metroids of SR388 evolved in bulk and brawn, the lone Metroid in the Chozo crater evolved into intelligent, exotic matter. Despite their differences, both evolutionary paths produced creatures with a tremendous capacity to kill).
What keeps hovering at the forefront of my mind is this: On the Game Boy original, our imagination fills in the gaps between the pixels. In my mind, it was Samus' darkest journey, into the depths where barely any light reached. There was no map, no guidance - just the lone bounty hunter in a maze of indistinct caves and ruins. The deeper she went into that ancient pit of evil, I felt, the less likely she was to ever return. Finally getting to the glass laboratory of the Chozo, suspended above a tremendous chasm, felt like the discovery of a unspoken secret.
Samus Returns loses a lot of that imagined atmosphere for me. It is bright and colourful. It is alive and loud. It has puzzles and structure and light and excitement. And while it has a great many things to be proud of - the oppressive, choking, bewildering, grim and lonely atmosphere I felt while playing the original Game Boy release, is completely absent.
There's a piece of fan-art by Stevietat which is close to my imagined atmosphere of Metroid 2 for the Game Boy. Maybe this will help illustrate how I feel:
which is a bit of a contrast to Nintendo's vision of the remake:
In conclusion, it's a very fun game, and the best official Metroid experience in far too long. But it's not how I will remember the story of Samus exploring SR388. That will always be the original release and the atmosphere I imagined as I played it, the hopeless, tortured journey through the depths of the darkest planet in the universe.
Great post as usual Mama. I agree about the feel being way off (while at the same time recognizing that this was still a great Metroid experience, easily the best since Corruption). It was the same as with Zero Mission- A great game for sure, but something was lost. Those original games... They CHOKED you. They made you feel TENSE. Alone and afraid. I really hope they leave Super alone, partly for that reason. It doesn't need to be remade anyway.
That concept art is awesome by the way!
IbukiLordSA
Member
Just finished the game, 12 hours 12 minutes at 60%, I did not expect that final boss though, damn it was awesome, the music and atmosphere was on point and being able to nove around so high was just awesome.
Excellenct game, now to play fusion mode.
Excellenct game, now to play fusion mode.
TheMoon
Member
problem is, all but one of those games since Super were made for handhelds where you have to design the color-palette for clear readability which then ends up with bright colors and high contrasts. if this game had been made for Wii U or Switch, it would not have been as "bright," I bet ya. but of course, the spectacle would've still been there.
TheSpaceBetween
Member
Metroid II was for Game Boy.
Pokemaniac
Member
Save files are stored adjacent to the game data on the SD card. Generally, if you're backing things up, I'd recommend that you just do the whole card for simplicity.
Keep in mind though that certain 3DS games have a mechanism to prevent them from loading a save file that is not the most recent one. This most likely doesn't apply to Metroid (it's mostly for Pokemon and Animal Crossing) but it is something to keep in mind.
A system which notably lacked colors.
FloweryMarston
Member
Just finished it, really great game. Controls are phenomenal and really loved all the areas and puzzles. I think it surpasses fusion and ZM, but still loses to prime and super (don't know where to put prime 2 and 3 agains SR).
Great job Mercury Steam, always knew that you guys had it in you! (Loved Lord of Shadow btw).
Great job Mercury Steam, always knew that you guys had it in you! (Loved Lord of Shadow btw).
AdmiralSnackbar
Member
As is typical for Metroid anything interesting about the story was subtly hinted at in concept art. Is this the first point in any of the games where it's been revealed that the chozo
I feel like I knew that before somehow but can't remember which game it would have been in.
created the Metroids, specifically that they did it as a counter to the X-parasite?
Green Mamba
Member
The Fusion manual detailed that first.
User 73706
Banned
As someone who's only played AM2R, I keep getting amazed at how much of the content in the game is actually from the original - for a while I had no idea Arachnus actually came from it.
I think Fusion's opening monologue touches on it as well.
I bomb jump a lot in this game. There are some sections Im not sure how else to bypass.
6 Metroids down in area 3 so far. Navigation is not as enjoyable as in some past games, but the combat is improved. I wish parries worked against more than one enemy at a time. Ive taken damage when attacked by two creatures at once, because only one is deflected by the swing. Save stations are also a little sparse. I think the area layouts are not as good as earlier 2D games, but I am still enjoying this more than Fusion or Zero Mission because it gives me more respect. Its been good searching for the path forward without an obvious waypoint.
6 Metroids down in area 3 so far. Navigation is not as enjoyable as in some past games, but the combat is improved. I wish parries worked against more than one enemy at a time. Ive taken damage when attacked by two creatures at once, because only one is deflected by the swing. Save stations are also a little sparse. I think the area layouts are not as good as earlier 2D games, but I am still enjoying this more than Fusion or Zero Mission because it gives me more respect. Its been good searching for the path forward without an obvious waypoint.
Does any of that detail make it back if you use the screen in 2d?
I see no reason why this game can't be ported to the Switch later on.
The game plays amazingly on my 360 controller, can only imagine the Pro Controller or split joycon mode. The only real thing that needs some tuning is the textures, that's pretty much it (well and the cost of porting over to a whole new system)
TheSpaceBetween
Member
It also lacked more complex graphics and sound chips of course that we have now some 25 years later. Yet they still managed to convey a palpable sense of tension and dread completely absent from this game.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
personally never felt that in gb, only irritation and annoyance
I assume the boss I last fought was Diggernaut (I lost quickly and turned it off... not in disgust, I just didn't know what I was doing and Cuphead and the SNES Classic arrived shortly after). I do think the game has picked up quite a bit in the two areas leading up to this boss fight, but without question this game totally fucks up with the damage enemies do. Everything, even common enemies, hit you like freight trains and to compensate for that the game has you just restart boss fights immediately after losing. There is an alarm when your health is low, but it's meaningless because I never hear it. I don't keep my eye on my health much because it's Metroid and I've come to rely on that alarm, but everything in this game takes off gigantic chunks of health so you're rarely low on life, you generally have a lot left and you get one-shotted. It's such a flaw in the game and rather than fix it, they just build the rest of the game off of it to compensate -- you get tons of health from enemies and can even pick up a lot against many bosses, and you have to use the melee counter constantly because actually engaging with enemies is just too dangerous given their damage output.
I'm sort of shocked that Mercury Steam and Nintendo doubled down on this flaw. It's such a fundamental issue with the game. I don't hate Samus Returns and I do recommend it for fans of the series but the idea this is the best Metroid ever -- are you guys playing the same game I am?
This is the big issue, there's no tension or dread because you just die immediately, like it's a Mario game or something. Death is more of a shock than an annoyance because it just shoves you back to where you were before you died. No consequence, no warning -- it totally misses what death is supposed to mean in a Metroid game.
Green Mamba
Member
Death only sends you back to a checkpoint, which are triggered by using an elevator/teleport station, getting a major upgrade, lowering the purple liquid level, as well as before and after a boss (and saving, I guess). It's rare that a death in normal exploration is meaningless, and checkpoints at bosses aren't actually new to Samus Returns.
Are you playing on hard?
Anyway I've been playing Super Metroid and there is most definitely a better sense of isolation and atmosphere in super. I think it's because it's paced out better the game starts with an action set piece then ramps back to quiet exploration with NO enemies for a bit. Just you and the environment. It's done masterfully.
Combat in Samus Returns heavily relies on not taking damage. More than usual in my opinion. Boss patterns are pretty easy to memorize, Samus controls super well so there's rarely a need to tank hits, the Lightning Armor provides a pretty big cushion, and the melee counter is there as an emergency button against normal enemies you aren't comfortable dodging. It's a bit of an adjustment from Super/Fusion/Zero Mission, but I think it ultimately works out pretty well.
Today in glitch city, Phase Drift may have some additional applications.
Today in glitch city, Phase Drift may have some additional applications.
Comparing the approach taken by a concurrent Nintendo remake, I'd have liked to see them approach the Metroid / Queen Metroid battle themes similarly to how FE Echoes updated Duma's battle theme - it'd have been a piece that they could have easily discarded, but they made it work with the series' current presentation.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1eHC0frqHY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A-KL7WDpPAg
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1eHC0frqHY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=A-KL7WDpPAg
Finally beat the game with 9:41:54 as my first time (around 64% completion) and then got 100% with 11:16:05 as the final time. The bosses got really easy when you figure out the patterns including the last boss. It was so easy to cheese and the fight got way easier after getting more upgrades.
I still think Fusion and Super were much better games but this was alright.
I still think Fusion and Super were much better games but this was alright.
Cymbal Head
Banned
100% in 15 hours plus change. I have conflicting feelings about this game. Samus controls like a dream, and the structure and map design are quite good, if not the top of the genre, but moment to moment pacing and the balance of combat and exploration don't often align with what I expect out of a Metroid game.
Add in the weakness of atmosphere many posters are citing, and Samus Returns just doesn't compare to Fusion, Super, or Prime. I think I need to put Zero Mission on my list of what to play next to get a feel for how remakes in the series were previously approached.
Add in the weakness of atmosphere many posters are citing, and Samus Returns just doesn't compare to Fusion, Super, or Prime. I think I need to put Zero Mission on my list of what to play next to get a feel for how remakes in the series were previously approached.
Eh... I started Super Metroid immediately after Samus Returns. Doesn't take long to get used to the older games.
SciencePilot
Member
What keeps hovering at the forefront of my mind is this: On the Game Boy original, our imagination fills in the gaps between the pixels. In my mind, it was Samus' darkest journey, into the depths where barely any light reached. There was no map, no guidance - just the lone bounty hunter in a maze of indistinct caves and ruins. The deeper she went into that ancient pit of evil, I felt, the less likely she was to ever return. Finally getting to the glass laboratory of the Chozo, suspended above a tremendous chasm, felt like the discovery of a unspoken secret.
Samus Returns loses a lot of that imagined atmosphere for me. It is bright and colourful. It is alive and loud. It has puzzles and structure and light and excitement. And while it has a great many things to be proud of - the oppressive, choking, bewildering, grim and lonely atmosphere I felt while playing the original Game Boy release, is completely absent.
There's a piece of fan-art by Stevietat which is close to my imagined atmosphere of Metroid 2 for the Game Boy. Maybe this will help illustrate how I feel:
which is a bit of a contrast to Nintendo's vision of the remake:
In conclusion, it's a very fun game, and the best official Metroid experience in far too long. But it's not how I will remember the story of Samus exploring SR388. That will always be the original release and the atmosphere I imagined as I played it, the hopeless, tortured journey through the depths of the darkest planet in the universe.
While I think a darker world would be cool ideally, it's also important to remember that this game is on the 3DS, and that necessitates it being brighter. 3DS has a pretty dim screen, and dark games are extremely difficult to see while playing outside. A lot of 3DS games err on the brighter side in the interest of portability.
I played Samus Returns outside all the time, and my impression of it that it was pretty borderline when it comes to brightness. Any darker and I think the game would be kinda unplayable, to be honest.
Our hope for a darker Metroid definitely lies in the Switch, which has a far better screen than the 3DS.