Metroid: Samus Returns

[the_debaser]

Although, yes it would’ve been easier to tap up for the scan and again for off. Or right for the power beam and again for off. 

[Alex W.]

So all together this really was quite a good little diversion. There should’ve been fewer Metroid or simpler Metroids but the unique bosses were all pretty good and it had some neat ideas. 

[Cyhwuhx]

Heh, finally had some time left to complete it tonight. 100%, final bit and ehr...

 

Spoiler

Insta-Ridley...

 

Save for the sudden weird-ass immunity to missiles in his last phase (which meant saving the last Aeion refill you get till the very last moment) that was a piece of piss. But they really don't like you using skills. They flat out disabled the Power Bomb Boost move that worked a treat on the Queen...

 

Good fun, intense combat, but not exactly the series' finest.

 

Some lore stuff about the completely unlocked gallery:

 

Spoiler

Number 11 either implies a schism within Chozo society or someone finally made it clear where the Space Pirates come from.

 

[Alex W.]

This feels like it's going to be the easiest Metroid to get 100% on, I've already done about half of the areas completely.

[Cyhwuhx]

1 hour ago, Alex W. said:

This feels like it's going to be the easiest Metroid to get 100% on, I've already done about half of the areas completely.

 

It is.

Spoiler

The larva can be used to circumvent most of the new skill stuff if you don't know how to perform it. 

 

[Alex W.]

Yeah, that felt like a cheat really. 

[Cyhwuhx]

25 minutes ago, Alex W. said:

Yeah, that felt like a cheat really. 

 

Still, look at its luvverly littul mandubles..... dahwwww.

[Cyhwuhx]

And for those who want to read more of my ramblings about this game, there is now a webpage containing words.

[Nick R]

New Game Maker's Toolkit video comparing Metroid 2, AM2R and Samus Returns.

 

Essentially he argues that Samus Returns loses a lot of the atmosphere that made Metroid 2 appealing to him:

 

 

[Alex W.]

Metroid II does have a certain unique flavour I'd like to see more of in a game, but I realised recently that the game in question is probably Alien Isolation.

[Cyhwuhx]

Completely agree with the vid. In hindsight it also highlights how much Fusion tried to remain true to Metroid II in trying to stick to its atmosphere. Even though most of it was SA-X being present.

 

 

[gizmo1990]

I'm a huge fan of the 3D in this and I don't give two figs about resolution, but even I gotta admit this looks good. Great art direction pulls it off, I can definitely see it getting a Switch release at some point.

 

 

[Alex W.]

The textures are a bit too low-res for the close-ups, even on a regular 3DS. They look muddy, like they've been sampled down from a higher-resolution source. (Which I'd like to think is the case, and they want to do an HD release later.) But on the whole, yeah, it's a pretty great looking game, and I had 3D on it almost all of the way through. It's nice that the art of the elaborate platform game backdrop is alive and well somewhere.

[Alex W.]

So, is there a good making-of article for Metroid II out there? Reading all these analyses has me curious for what the designers' intentions were and how they did certain things.

[gizmo1990]

17 hours ago, Alex W. said:

The textures are a bit too low-res for the close-ups, even on a regular 3DS. They look muddy, like they've been sampled down from a higher-resolution source. (Which I'd like to think is the case, and they want to do an HD release later.) But on the whole, yeah, it's a pretty great looking game, and I had 3D on it almost all of the way through. It's nice that the art of the elaborate platform game backdrop is alive and well somewhere.

 

Well, the textures were always going to look fuzzy scaled up.. I guarantee you that the originals are in a far higher res and stored in backups in Spain and Japan. Gone are the days of creating textures 1:1, if they even existed much anyway. Even back in the PS days, many texture artists would create high then scale down and touch up.

[parkinho]

Finished this just now - took me just over 10 hours and ended up with about 56% completion. A great return for the series after years in the wilderness.

 

I replayed Zero Mission immediately before Samus Returns, and in all honesty preferred this; I enjoyed the extra combat options that the free-aim and parry brought, and the game actually provided a challenge unlike ZM. I gonna move onto replaying Super, Other M and Fusion before deciding where I'd rank it amongst the 2d entries, before 2018 (hopefully!) marks the glorious return of the Prime series

[shirubagan]

This is really good fun. 15 Metroids to go...

[Alex W.]

Metroid is like pizza, even when it's not the best Metroid you've ever played it's still Metroid and you're still playing it.

[shirubagan]

Holy crap, the Level 6 Boss was an arsehole. Really unclear what to do at certain points and the first time I had to look at a guide. 

[Calashnikov]

That boss was amazing. Took more than a good few goes, but eventually I figured out each pattern for myself through trial and error, and I'm far from a l33t gamer, on Metroid or otherwise. 

 

Yeah, I really thought that boss was fantastic. I liked how each phase went from the seemingly impossible to becoming an absolute breeze once you'd sussed the cunt out.

 

If nothing else, he strongly reminded me of that big glorious bastard Quadraxis from Prime 2. It was like fighting his little brother or his cat or something.

[shirubagan]

 

 

In hindsight it was better than I gave it credit for, but when I finally defeated him it was more a ‘Thank fuck that’s over’ rather than a triumphant feeling. 

 

Rest of the game has been great so far though. 

[Corranga]

On 10/8/2017 at 13:52, shirubagan said:

 

 

In hindsight it was better than I gave it credit for, but when I finally defeated him it was more a ‘Thank fuck that’s over’ rather than a triumphant feeling. 

 

Rest of the game has been great so far though. 

 

Hmm.  I'm really struggling with the final boss, to the point that I'm contemplating giving up.  I've had a bit of a love / hate thing with this game.  Exploring and Metroid feel has been great.  I love the backdrops, and most of the visuals, and the music / sound.  The puzzle elements feel a bit diluted, and the bosses are just to difficult, or require too much grinding / retrying to figure out the patterns etc.

 

I get the patterns, and attempt to dodge them (though there is one I can't figure out how to dodge which keeps killing me) but always end up taking enough hits to kill me.

I've retried a lot, but the shape of the DS leads to hand cramp, especially when using the shoulder buttons a lot, which obviously doesn't help my cause either.

 

Ironically, I have 100% on my save game so despite not actually having defeated the game!

[gizmo1990]

Keep going! You can't let it beat you!  

[Cyhwuhx]

13 minutes ago, Freeman said:

 

Hmm.  I'm really struggling with the final boss, to the point that I'm contemplating giving up.  I've had a bit of a love / hate thing with this game.  Exploring and Metroid feel has been great.  I love the backdrops, and most of the visuals, and the music / sound.  The puzzle elements feel a bit diluted, and the bosses are just to difficult, or require too much grinding / retrying to figure out the patterns etc.

 

I get the patterns, and attempt to dodge them (though there is one I can't figure out how to dodge which keeps killing me) but always end up taking enough hits to kill me.

I've retried a lot, but the shape of the DS leads to hand cramp, especially when using the shoulder buttons a lot, which obviously doesn't help my cause either.

 

Ironically, I have 100% on my save game so despite not actually having defeated the game!

 

Spoiler

Save your Aeion beam in the last phase. Just pelt him with rockets until he becomes 'invincible' after the final larva recharge and then release the beam on him.

 

If you need to dodge his 'cinematic' grab: he telegraphs this move by hovering still and raising his hand. Simply space jump to the top of the screen to dodge.

 

[shirubagan]

Ah, cool. I was finding him irritatingly difficult after the previous boss which I thought was fantastic. 

[Alex W.]

19 hours ago, Cyhwuhx said:

 

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Save your Aeion beam in the last phase. Just pelt him with rockets until he becomes 'invincible' after the final larva recharge and then release the beam on him.

 

If you need to dodge his 'cinematic' grab: he telegraphs this move by hovering still and raising his hand. Simply space jump to the top of the screen to dodge.

 

 

Spoiler

You don't necessarily need to save the Aeion, even; you get a full refill at the end of each phase of the battle.

 

[Cyhwuhx]

2 hours ago, Alex W. said:

 

  Hide contents

You don't necessarily need to save the Aeion, even; you get a full refill at the end of each phase of the battle.

 

 

Spoiler

That's what I meant, you need to keep the last Aeion recharge ready until he enters his last phase and becomes very picky about where missiles will hit him. If you use the Aeion first it becomes a bit of a slog to take him down quickly. (As in, the second half of his third phase IIRC.)

 

[shirubagan]

Finished it. Ridley was a bit of a twat, but it was just about learning his patterns and it was pretty easy in the end. Again, I was more succesful playing aggressively rather than defensively. 

 

Took me 14:50:15 (bloody hell!), 88% completion. I started backtracking to collect everyhing, then just got bored. 

[Cyhwuhx]

53 minutes ago, shirubagan said:

Finished it. Ridley was a bit of a twat, but it was just about learning his patterns and it was pretty easy in the end. Again, I was more succesful playing aggressively rather than defensively. 

 

Took me 14:50:15 (bloody hell!), 88% completion. I started backtracking to collect everyhing, then just got bored. 

 

Spoiler

Did you pick up on the new skill? Stick to a surface with the Spider Ball and detonate a Power Bomb on the exact same spot, to boost away. Though if you have the larva, you don't need to be able to do that I think.

 

[shirubagan]

@Cyhwuhx Nope! Can't see how that would have come in handy, but then again, I'm no Metroid expert.