Metroid: Samus Returns

[Not Thread Owner]

Why? Are you going to ceremonially incinerate it afterwards?

[gizmo1990]

Never change dekay.

 

But yeah, there are other 3ds games coming out aren’t there? That Wario ware collection and Luigi? Were they shown at e3?

[Jamie John]

37 minutes ago, deKay said:

Why? Are you going to ceremonially incinerate it afterwards?

 

Yes 

 

I meant I'll probably never buy a new game for it again. Playing this on it now is the first I've touched it in about six months. I think the Switch has just superseded it entirely. There's not really anything else on it I want that I either haven't played already or which isn't available on the Switch. Pokémon, maybe, but that (eventually) will get a Switch iteration too.

[Not Thread Owner]

10 minutes ago, gizmo1990 said:

Never change dekay.

 

But yeah, there are other 3ds games coming out aren’t there? That Wario ware collection and Luigi? Were they shown at e3?

 

They're on Nintendo's "Games at E3" list, so yeah.

 

Detective Pikachu 2 at some point as well. Also Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey and Dragon Quest XI. Plus whatever appears on the eShop, I suppose.

 

Surely you've not picked up all the good 3DS games though?

 

 

 

[gizmo1990]

2 hours ago, deKay said:

 

 

Surely you've not picked up all the good 3DS games though?

 

 

 

 

Hey, don’t drag me into this!

 

Back on topic, I’ve still yet to complete this. I’m finding it hard to go back to the machine after the Switch.

[Let us measure]

I really enjoyed Samus Returns, a great effort from Mercury Steam. I felt it was just a competent Metroid though; it didn't try anything new, but was content to serve up a solid, comforting, old-school slice of Samus tart.

 

On-topic, the 3DS is alive and well for me. Playing through SMT Strange Journey (the best dungeon crawler no-one ever played) and looking forward to WW Gold and Luigi's Mansion.

[Smitty]

 

[Jamie John]

I'm enjoying this a lot. There are a few difficulty spikes here and there, but the checkpointing is generous and stops things from getting to frustrating. I'm also liking the parrying mechanic.

 

The best thing about the game, though, is simply the fact that it is a metroidvania; the genre's focus on exploration, secrets and gradual but steady player empowerment is just endlessly satisfying. It's a testament to their effectiveness that these gameplay elements have hardly changed from the first Metroid game, 32 (!) years ago.I don't think I've ever played a metroidvania game that I haven't  enjoyed.

[Strafe]

Killing the Metroids themselves is quite tricky, isn’t it? Doesn’t seem to be great at telling you when you actually hit them. I’ve got to the third one, I think, where you have to jump over platforms and there’s a bit between each one filled with some sort of electric plant stuff. Any tips?

[scottcr]

Gave up waiting on a switch remake. Really enjoying this. Got to area 3 so far. Reminded me how good the 3D could look when we’ll used. Real sense of depth and scale to some areas. I don’t think I’ve died this much during a Metroid game ever!

[scottcr]

This is tough but very good. Excellent sense of depth to the areas. Everything in the world absolutely hates me though...

[Cyhwuhx]

I don’t think it’s tough, it just takes ages. Especially bosses have a tendency to extend their battles by either running away or having tiny windows of opportunity. 
 

It’s a nice straightforward little Metroid, but AM2R wipes the floor with it and then some. 

 

[scottcr]

AM2R?

[scottcr]

By hard I suppose I mean I’ve died many many times. The general alien creatures do a lot of damage and without parry need quite a lot of pew pew to kill. But nice checkpoints avoid any horrible long runs from save points to bosses - which might be anathema to some, but I’m too old for that shite nowadays

[Cyhwuhx]

AM2R is Another Metroid 2 Remake. Basically a fan-game that Zero Mission-ifies Metroid II, instead of making it 2.5D like this. It was taken down by Nintendo as soon as it was released, but it floats around the Internet in an undead state. If you've got a PC and controller it's definitely worth it to hunt down. Its creator went on to work on Ori 2 at Moon Studios.

 

Dying can happen often and fast in this game, basically because of the parry stuff. It takes the speed out of it and makes combat far more involved than just blasting around. Such a weird holdover from Other M and I really hope they forget all about it for MP4. Without the checkpoints I probably would've binned this halfway through. Some boss encounters are really tedious despite looking awesome when you first see them.

[DeDeDe]

Earlier this month I decided to revisit Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy) in celebration of the series's 35th anniversary and in anticipation of the release of Metroid Dread. And after finishing that game I was curious to see how Nintendo and Mercury Steam had remade the game.

 

I recall a lot of Metroid fans and writers having mixed feelings about Samus Returns when it was released, and after finishing the game and reading people's thoughts in this thread I can see why. Samus Returns was sort of billed as a remake of Metroid II, but it feels more like Mercury Steam took the overall structure and ideas of the original Game Boy game and decided to make an original Metroid game with their own ideas.

 

I like the game a lot: Samus Returns sacrifices a bit of the amazing atmosphere of Metroid II for a plethora of new tools and items and a mountain of new content. And it works, overall--Samus Returns is a really beefy adventure with a lot to do, but it feels overwhelming at times. The answer to new content is a lot of the time just new items, without thinking about the overall game balance.

 

My biggest misgiving about the game, however, is that I felt that a lot of the most memorable moments in Metroid II were mishandled in Samus Returns (especially the last hour of the game)--but on reflection now I see that perhaps it is more like Samus Returns was made for a new generation of Metroid fans, who have grown up with a different set of influences, exemplified by the new melee system. Samus Returns was made as a "complete" 2D Metroid experience 30-odd years after the first game. It's not a perfect game, but it seems to have been a success in this regard. Anecdotally. a lot of younger people list Samus Returns as the best 2D Metroid game.

 

Now I’m interested in playing AM2R to see how Metroid II was remade there, but is there any way to play the game if you don't own a PC or an Android phone?

 

Anyway, Samus Returns is not Super Metroid, but it was a great experience, and I'm amazed at how well they balanced the game to allow for speedrunning, actually--especially glitched ones. I wish it had a better soundtrack, though.

 

BTW, I'd be really interested in reading more of your thoughts about the game, @Cyhwuhx, but it looks like your website is down.

[kensei]

@DeDeDe

There's both a PS Vita and Xbox port of AM2R. The former needs a jailbroken vita, the latter either dev mode or the thing where you are added to the test list for the app to run on retail  - https://gamr13.github.io/

 

 

[dumpster]

Just a heads up that, as brilliant as AM2R is (I can't recommend it enough) the Vita port is broken.  It crashes regularly and one of the bosses doesn't behave properly leaving you in a dead end room. Stick to the PC/Android/Xbox if you can.

 

 

 

[DeDeDe]

@kensei @dumpster Thanks for the info. I’d forgotten about the Vita port. Reading more about it, it looks like there is also another version that was ported through dodgy means. I feel like Metroid games are best played on a handheld, so it’s a shame that it’s not an option for me. 

[scottcr]

I've hit a wall with the very last boss - can get it to the final form, but just can't quite do it.  My old thumbs and fingers and the 3DS button/stick layout are absolutely not helping.

 

[DeDeDe]

@scottcr

 

I think I needed four or five attempts myself. One thing that I forgot to mention above is that one way in which Samus Returns differs from previous Metroid games is that the game works at extremes. Enemies hit hard, and if you make a mistake, you lose a big chunk of energy. On the other hand, enemies can also go down easily if you find an effective strategy.

 

As you also mention, this was the moment in the game that tested the controls to breaking point. Missile management and Aeion powers really should have been streamlined more.

 

I'm not sure where you're struggling, but, if you're like me, what advice I can give is:

 

- Reserve your Super Missiles for the final form. Just stick to Plasma Beam blasts throughout.

 

- Use the Lightning Armor at all times. Remember to re-equip it between the boss's forms, too. (I don't know why the game resets the Aeion powers in this way.)

 

- Roll into your morph ball form for the boss's most powerful attack.

 

- As with all bosses, if you manage to counter with your melee attack, it makes the battle easier. Look for the yellow spark before one of his ground attacks.

 

- Finally, if the above doesn't work, you can always do like speedrunners and use Phase Drift and Beam Burst at the same time to slow down the boss and fire directly at his weak points. (For massive damage, obviously.) The timing is a little tricky using this method, however.

[bear]

The hype around Dread finally got me to start this years after I bought it in an eShop sale.

 

Its alright so far but nothing special. Maybe I've been spoiled by all the great Metroidvanias we've gotten over the last few years or maybe its going back to using the 3DS slider to control games which is clearly worse than an analogue stick. I've only beaten six Metroids yet and am in the second area so I'm not very far in to the game so theres still plenty of room for improvement. Fingers crossed. 

[Droo]

I cannot find Samus returns for anything less than £60!

[Keyboard Koala]

Yeah the price rocketed after it became clear Dread might actually be good, and therefore Mercury Steam not the worst developer to handle the series. 

[Super Craig]

£40 on the eShop.

[MikeBeaver]

On 25/10/2021 at 13:45, Droo said:

I cannot find Samus returns for anything less than £60!

Argos binned what they had for £13 last year, surprised it's gone up so much already!!

[Droo]

Just now, MikeBeaver said:

Argos binned what they had for £13 last year, surprised it's gone up so much already!!

here’s me thinking you were coming to rescue me with a reasonable price!

[sid]

This is one of the best designed games I’ve ever played, especially from all the non gameplay bits. Map is excellent. Check pointing is excellent. General map design is very well judged. Visual clues as to what to look at on screen, excellent. For what is a very complicated set of capabilities, control system is superb.

 

I bounce off games easily but this is sucking me in. It is completely immersive.

 

I wish more games had this level of non ‘core’ game design attached to them.

 

then the production values on graphics, sound, enemy types etc……just absolutely superb.

 

if this isn’t game of the year then we are in For a great year 👍

[Droo]

55 minutes ago, sid said:

This is one of the best designed games I’ve ever played, especially from all the non gameplay bits. Map is excellent. Check pointing is excellent. General map design is very well judged. Visual clues as to what to look at on screen, excellent. For what is a very complicated set of capabilities, control system is superb.

 

I bounce off games easily but this is sucking me in. It is completely immersive.

 

I wish more games had this level of non ‘core’ game design attached to them.

 

then the production values on graphics, sound, enemy types etc……just absolutely superb.

 

if this isn’t game of the year then we are in For a great year 👍

Game of the year 2017?

[sid]

Lmfao 🤣 you wait 4 years and there are fucking Metroid threads everywhere 

 

im sure returns was good as well though