Kyle Reviews Metroid II: Return of Samus

With the arrival of Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS handheld console, there has been a debate had on whether it achieves what it needs to be to excellently be a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus for the original Game Boy. Of course, to do this without quite understanding the roots of where this game comes from would be relatively simple, but I feel that it would be best to compare this to the source material to understand what was done and whether it translated well or not in coming out to become a remake of this classic Game Boy game.

It is worth noting that outside of this game, the only major Metroid title released for quite some time with Nintendo would be Super Metroid, which demonstrated the possibility of a masterpiece for the series and embedded it as one of the flagships for Nintendo, especially among western audiences. It has also been said literally everywhere that this game is considered the "black sheep" of the Metroid series. I find this rather baffling particularly because this entry is so darned early in the series, but then Zelda II: The Adventure of Link has been considered the same thing for the Zelda series. So, is Mario Bros. 2 for the U.S. audience that way as well, then? Or do we even consider that a Mario game by all accounts anymore? Maybe I should stick with keeping up with the times some more...

With all of that said and done, let us take a look at first what Metroid II is. Released for the original Game Boy, it was going to be a rather limited game because of the smaller system capacity, smaller screen, and monochrome graphics where the NES still had color, albeit limited. It sticks with the original concept that Metroid started, being a side-scrolling adventure/platformer where the goal is to explore the world given and complete a specific objective. In this case, Samus has been called upon to find some missing Galactic Federation troops lost on planet SR388...and to eradicate the known presence of the most feared beings in the galaxy: Metroids. The Mother Brain had gotten them from somewhere, after all. However, the GF troops never show up in this game or are even hinted at. Instead, Samus is literally just here to hunt the 40 Metroids in this planet and move on with her life.

Jokes aside about how that's a tiny number for an entire planet, the basic premise that this establishes sounds daunting, but it isn't. The Metroids start by evolving from their original, life-sucking state. No ice beam required for these guys either. Samus merely has to pump missiles, which she starts with 30 of, into them to kill them. That's...not much of an evolution, guys. You're supposed to become MORE dangerous, not less dangerous! That's not the point of evolution! But, I guess this is the game's way of balancing the Metroids so that players don't feel daunted by the latching face-hugger type of being they were in the original. It's an odd design concept, but for the most part, it works alright.

After enough Metroids in an area are cleared, the lava that Samus encounters in her journeys begins to drain, letting Samus explore more of the internal workings of this crazy, subterranean maze. This is rather convoluted, and it doesn't explain how the other areas managed to survive being boiled in lava, but we'll consider it as mandatory padding for this era with strange devices to do so. The problems begin here, however. This is the only thing that Samus gets to do with this game is find Metroids (and powerups), kill the Metroids, and move on to the next area. This game is incredibly liniar, with only a tiny amount of backtracking across the same area about three times required to progress with the game simulating backtracking. It would be better, if it weren't the same area to attempt to be confusing...and this linear game structure isn't as fun as later Metroid games could make it because...the Metroids are rather dull.

The hardest part of the game, honestly, is finding the Metroids. There is no map feature, something that was very quickly rectified in the Super Nintendo era of gaming for these sorts of games. The only way you can know how many Metroids are left is by pausing the game and looking in the lower right corner, and most players don't even know that that's a function without being told. And the screen is so small with Samus taking up so much space that being able to see the area around Samus to gather information is limited. It can be very easy to get lost...not because the game is confusing at all, but because the player cannot see enough to determine where all of the passageways are or where everything is. In fact, if one were to look at the maps, the maps are surprisingly simple and don't have a lot of strange twists and turns to prevent the player from accessing most of the game...save for the few moments where passageways are cryptically hidden in plain walls, like in the original Metroid. 

Once the player has found the Metroids, however, it is simply a matter of shooting them to death with missiles. Most all of the evolutions are pathetically easy, especially if the player has managed to find enough missiles and E-tanks. The other problem that makes this game hard is the severe lack of energy and missile drops given. There are ever helpful recharge stations for both, but they are separate and are few and far between. Running out of missiles adds additional padding as the player must farm enemies for missiles or find a missile recharge station, provided that one is in the area the player is currently exploring at all. This comes down to the fact that the game plays on too long for its own good if a player doesn't know where to go, simply because it works to be confusing and deliberately slow down the player.

Enemies don't even pose much of a challenge for Samus, unless health is low. Most of the time, they serve as annoyances rather than true obstacles, a far cry from the criminally difficult time that enemies in the original were capable of delivering. The times that Samus can find difficulty with enemies comes from the Metroids themselves in later stages, or because of the poor visibility upward or downward. The power-up's tend to alleviate the difficulty as well.

The best part about Metroid II is when Samus does discover hidden goodies, like her different beam powerups or Varia Suit. This game is actually where much of Samus' current arsenal comes from. The Spazer, Plasma, Ice and Wave beams are all present, though they do not stack and instead all perform separate functions. The space jump makes its appearance right alongside its earlier counterpart, the Screw Attack, making short work of enemies and exploration. The spider ball makes its appearance here, though it doesn't gain as much love after the space jump is found. As stated before, the Varia suit makes its return too...the things really missing are the gravity suit, the grapple beam, super missiles and power bombs...though those would find their place into the reimagining of this game.

Finding the power-ups is a joy in of itself, thanks to the lack of a map feature and, in some ways, simply not being aware of when they're going to show up. Once they do, life becomes far easier to manage, especially with the Varia suit reducing damage and increasing walking speed for Samus. Every bit of speed in exploration helps reduce the tedium of this otherwise very tedious little game, and I feel that that is what keeps this game from being a terrible slog.

Perhaps the most criminal sin that this game commits is that it is simply uninteresting. The monocrhome graphics leave much to be desired and, even if there is a good amount of detail for a Game Boy game, there is not much else. The background is always black, there is very little time or capacity to admire the sprite work when Samus takes up most of the screen...and there's very little music. What music that is present is often simplistic, spastic, or simply non-existent except in a few bleeps and boops coming from the speaker, as I have heard it described as. I prefer what music there is, but I do honestly wish there was more to it. I do enjoy the main theme of SR388, though, finding that tune to be rather invigorating when I move to another area. Other than that...there isn't much to see, or experience, or do. It is a matter of finding Metroids and murdering them, nothing more or less, really. There are no extra boss encounters, there is no other defining objectives, and the game is incredibly linear to the point of boredom. Exploration is only to find the power-ups, or the next path down, or the next Metroid to kill.

The finale isn't much more interesting, unfortunately. It brings back original Metroids and introduces their queen. The original Metroids are annoying because they are resistant to anything but the ice beam + 5 missile combo. Guess they were the ones that hid until they saw the problems of evolution and decided to stay back and watch. The Metroid Queen is finally a real boss fight...and it's super easy. It might take a few tries to understand how the fight works, but once the solution is discovered, the fight becomes painfully easy. Screw attack to avoid the projectiles, and unload missiles into the Queen when she lashes her head at you? Done and done and DONE. The fact that missiles stunlock her when her mouth is open makes the whole fight painfully easy.

The ending does have nice music, though, and also shows that Samus does have a bit of a heart, or at least an interest in the baby Metroid that hatches and follows her. Afterward, the completion time is given, and players get to see if they beat the game fast enough to see Samus half-naked. Fun times! Overall, though, perhaps I'm making Metroid II sound...worse than it is. The game plays well enough, the game does shine as a Metroid and exploration game, and it does stand out as one of the better Game Boy games. However, it simply isn't good except for a curious playthrough anymore. There are so many better choices and were even for the game boy that it simply got overshadowed and even looked down upon. The faults are simply too numerous and the task is too tedious to keep player interest except for when a player is simply that curious about how the ending plays out and what it's like to finish the game, like myself.

I give this game a 3/5. I switched to the 5 because it makes things...perhaps a bit simpler. This game is average in its quality, not having the steps taken to truly create a wonderful game. Does the remake answer these faults? Or does it simply try to recreate without adding enough to it to make a true return to form? Well, let's step up to the plate later and find out! Stay tuned for a Metroid: Samus Returns review!