Metroid retrospective: Part 2 - Super Metroid and Fusion

19 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Aug 1st 2007 7:57PM
Filed under: Culture, Action, Adventure

The second part of GameTrailers' Metroid retrospective covers the long gap between Metroid II and, arguably the best game in the series, Super Metroid. The game of speed-run junkies everywhere, Super Metroid was the power bomb back in the day. Adding almost every element we've come to expect from a Metroid game today exists in Super Metroid -- except for that whole pesky 3D thing.

This episode also covers Samus' "final mission" in Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance. The title is chronologically the last mission we experience with the intergalactic bounty hunter. What happens to Samus Aran after Metroid Fusion? Guess we'll have to wait until something not Metroid Prime to find out.

See also: Part I

Tags: finalfantasy, metroid, metroidretrospective, retrospective

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

Kankles: Aug 1st 2007; 8:25PM

Great video!

I was really disapointed with fusion untill I started doing wierd runs of it (speed and low%).

Super on the other hand kicks ass.

nodnetni: Aug 1st 2007; 8:51PM

Dang it now im going to go play them all over again.

Blanko4: Aug 1st 2007; 8:55PM

Good stuff. I hope Super Metroid comes to the VC soon.

Metroid Fusion was my first game in the series and I found it to be a fun, fluid game.

Mad: Aug 1st 2007; 8:56PM

Hmm I really wish there was a Metroid game for the DS..

Mad: Aug 1st 2007; 9:00PM

I meant a side scrolling Metroid game, sorry.

Mr Khan: Aug 1st 2007; 9:36PM

A title called Metroid Dread (supposedly set after Fusion) has been rumored for some time (since the DS came out), and while "industry sources" claim it exists, Nintendo hasn't said anything about it either way

I enjoyed Metroid Fusion (which i bought originally only so i could beat it to get the unlockables in Metroid Prime), despite its contrasts from Prime, it really harkened back to Metroid II, my first. Its twitch-platform-gun-fight-explore-glory, all wrapped in a well-crafted story

Enjoying Fusion, i eagerly anticipate Super Metroid on VC, hopefully they synergize it by releasing it a month or so after Metroid Prime 3, just like they synched Paper Mario and Super Paper Mario

SAKY: Aug 1st 2007; 9:57PM

And next time the worst Metroid games yet!

Super Metroid = BEST VIDEOGAME EVA! >Zero Mission>(Metroid 2=Metroid)>Fusion>Prime 1&2

Fusion was kinda lame with the objective crap but at least it had an Omega Metroid from #2, looking all good and stuff. That game needed the standard freedom of map exploration which wasn't allowed until just before the end.

Radicoon: Aug 1st 2007; 10:00PM

What did you dislike about the 3D entries?

SAKY: Aug 1st 2007; 10:17PM

The pace was way too slow and the controls are far from precise. Good as they are you can never make a masterpiece like SUPER Metroid in 3D. The interface is just too cumbersome. As if the lack of precision controls wern't bad enough the story was driven almost solely by scanning one computer panel after another and reading tons and tons of text. I don't mind reading but again not very fluid. The game was stop and go the whole way through. Teh 2D games just have a better flow, you follow? Really, I'd have write long and hard to explain exactly why MP fails to live up to even the Gameboy version. I Hope this is satisfactory.

shivr: Aug 2nd 2007; 10:45AM

hehe, I have about the exact opposite opinion as you. The primes are my favorites, maybe because they were my first metroid games, then fusion, then super metroid. I pretty much played them in that order too, so maybe thats it >_> I've really only had a short time with super metroid though, maybe I'll give it another shot when it comes out on the VC

A Pissed-off English Gamer: Aug 10th 2007; 7:55AM

Your comments about Metroid Prime having too much writing, though, seem on par with saying that you might prefer a picture book rather than a novel, as they're very difficult to get through with all that text.

Be realistic, though; it's a lot easier to convey a story with just introductory text in a 2d side-scroller. I think the trawling through vast written records is quite a good feature for a game. Although admittedly, I've never watched anyone start playing the game who thought it was cool who wasn't hell bent on loving the Prime games whether it killed them or not.

Radicoon: Aug 1st 2007; 9:59PM

I love all the random secrets they show in the video... shocking the Maridia boss with the grappling hook... the Power Bomb thing that refills all your life and missiles... good stuff =)

Kael: Aug 1st 2007; 10:06PM

Since Metroid is near and dear to my heart, I have to say a few things. I'll try to be brief.

I know there are more parts to the documentary I haven't seen, but it would be a glaring error to omit Metroid Zero Mission the way I think they're going to.

I don't like what they said about Prime being "the subtitle that sticks." It was clear at the time and especially clear by Prime's sequel that the "Prime" in Metroid Prime was never a subtitle, but another moniker for another series concurrently ongoing. At least until Metroid Zero Mission, when that line (the first, original, and favored, of course) unceremoniously ended.

You hear it from time to time on message boards, so hear it again from me: Nintendo, where's Metroid 5? And please, don't make it for a portable.

hvnlysoldr: Aug 1st 2007; 10:22PM

Hmm.. In their FF and Zelda retrospectives they talk about remakes and ports but haven't mentioned Zero Mission... Yeah I don't know if they will but it's definitely better than the original since I can actually beat it. Anyway the order they came out I guess Prime and Zero are next then Hunters and Prime 2.

waynski1457: Aug 1st 2007; 10:24PM

oh god do i love super metroid! i was 8 when i first beat it (yea im hardcore!) and its to this day the only game to make me cry (the ending).

Matthew: Aug 1st 2007; 11:27PM

Anyone else completely unintentionally ignore the story in Metroid games? All I know is that Samus is a bounty hunter and there are nice aliens, space pirates, and metroids and that weird bird like thing that can wall jump. I have no idea what is going on though.

captainawesome: Aug 2nd 2007; 12:35AM

Zero Mission was way more than a remake, they can't just leave it out. Not only did it update the graphics and gameplay, it extended the story and added a lot to Samus' past.

Bateman: Aug 2nd 2007; 1:55AM

Zero Mission was my first foray into the series and I fell in love with it immediately. I played Fusion and Prime 1, but I feel like I really missed out with Super Metroid - hope it comes to the VC.

I think Prime 3 will be the closest to bridging the gap between the perfectly fluid 2D adventures and the at times cumbersome 3D titles. Can't wait to play it!

Backslash: Aug 2nd 2007; 5:28AM

I love how these retrospectives make me wanna play these games all over again. My cousin gifted me with Super Metroid -- for the Super FAMICOM, which I had to mod my Super Nintendo for -- when I was only seven or eight, and I only beat it a few years back. I'd been ignoring it, because I bought Metroid II not long after, and after playing it through I decided the Metroid series wasn't for me.

And after playing Super Metroid . . . I guess I was wrong. :)

I really wish they'd lay off the Prime thing, though. Call me old-fashioned, but I like Metroid as a side-scrolling action game, not as a first-person adventure shooter, or whatever it was Nintendo calls it.

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