Metroid 2 is undoubtedly a Gameboy classic. A blurry classic, but a classic nonetheless that introduces many elements integral to the entries in the series, particularly the Spider Ball and the Baby Metroid. Super Metroid often gets kudos for its environmental storytelling, but those elements, too, also got established in this apparently-lowly Gameboy game.
And there's now a fan remake that was recently finished, which you can download here, along with its "tech demo" Metroid: Confrontation. Worth checking out, especially since it's like to get hit by a Cease & Desist very soon.
All things Metroid
-
AndrewBrown
- Member
- Posts: 357
- Joined: November 21st, 2015, 8:37 am
- Location: Portland, OR
- Contact:
Re: Metroid 2: The Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
Excellent, thanks for the heads up! Metroid us a huge gap in my gaming history, and I've just started Super Metroid so this is perfect timing.
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
Wonderful timing; I wish I had a PC capable of playing this. I'm glad they've managed to release it for long enough that the Internet has it. Now it's out there, it doesn't really matter if Nintendo takes it down.
Amazing to see what fans can achieve. I hope companies will recognise all the effort and skill they've put in if they're looking for work.
Amazing to see what fans can achieve. I hope companies will recognise all the effort and skill they've put in if they're looking for work.
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
I'm about an hour into it (just got Spring Ball) and I'm loving it. I re-played through a bunch of Metroid games not so long ago but stopped at Prime 3. I might get that (morph) ball rolling on that when AM2R is done.
-
gallo_pinto
- Member
- Posts: 435
- Joined: August 28th, 2015, 4:21 am
- Location: Guatemala
- Contact:
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
Oh no! I just beat the original Metroid 2 a few months ago! I should have waited! I will say though, even the original Gameboy version is more fun than I expected. This is a legit good game.
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
Well this has been taken down now. Expected, but at least Nintendo let it get out for a few days before ceasing and desisting.
-
AndrewBrown
- Member
- Posts: 357
- Joined: November 21st, 2015, 8:37 am
- Location: Portland, OR
- Contact:
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
Actually it was up for less than a day. But that's enough; it's out there on torrent sites now. It exists forever.Craig wrote:Well this has been taken down now. Expected, but at least Nintendo let it get out for a few days before ceasing and desisting.
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
You have to wonder over Nintendo about this. They looked the other way just long enough to be released. They were no doubt aware of it and could have easily sent an (unpopular) cease and desist previously, but I guess now everyone who wants it can get it.
-
AndrewBrown
- Member
- Posts: 357
- Joined: November 21st, 2015, 8:37 am
- Location: Portland, OR
- Contact:
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
Apparently it's been in development for ten years? So yeah, it's not like this appeared out of the blue.
Re: Metroid 2: Return of Samus (and Project AM2R)
I suspect the C&D only serves as a "we have to do this" statement for some fan projects and that if one doesn't get the letter then it sets a new precedent.
I am in the belief that Nintendo let this happen just long enough to get it out there.
I am in the belief that Nintendo let this happen just long enough to get it out there.
Re: All things Metroid
Yeah, I agree. NoA will have eyes on the bigger Nintendo fansites and it's gotten coverage a few times. This seems like a case of turning a blind eye until they absolutely have to act.
Re: All things Metroid
They aren't stupid are they, they must know that the only possible outcomes of this are people either play it and go meh, or they play it, love it, and decide to explore the series further.
Re: All things Metroid
I love Metroid Prime 2 so much, its easily my favourite of the series. I'm replaying it for the 30th anniversary and stuff, still totes amazing.
-
ratsoalbion
- Admin
- Posts: 7929
- Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
- Location: Brighton, England
- Contact:
Re: All things Metroid
With Nintendo issuing the C+D, surely that means we're getting a proper Metroid soon.
Right?
Right?
-
ratsoalbion
- Admin
- Posts: 7929
- Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
- Location: Brighton, England
- Contact:
Re: All things Metroid
No, silly.
Re: All things Metroid
I'm sure Nintendo would have you believe Federation Force is a proper Metroid game but we all know it's just a co-op shooter skinned to look a bit like metroid with some "woo-ee woo-ee" music for the OSTSean wrote:With Nintendo issuing the C+D, surely that means we're getting a proper Metroid soon.
Right?
Super Metroid
So keeping in touch with my Super Nintendo classic a month regime, hot on the tails of Donkey Kong Country, I’ve just finished Super Metroid.
As usual, I played this on original Super Famicom hardware on a RGB Sony PVM.
The exception here is that I use a SD2SNES flashcart with a US ROM loaded onto it, so that I can play the NTSC version of the game.
I do however own a physical copy of the game. The big box version too
.
I'm going to talk about this game in two parts.
1
First off it's great, it looks fantastic and sounds wonderful. Each region has it’s own distinct music to accompany it’s look, feel and progress within the game. The enemies have their own little chirps and squeals that you become accustom too and the weapons have a good sound.
There’s no real feel to combat though or impact from the weapons to say but that OK and is something that wasn’t so common back then in 1994.
Pacing is good initially and each new area is a joy to explore. At first, it felt a bit old fashioned having to kill the enemies that respawn each time you revisit an area but it soon became a rather pleasant experience - compare it to not having to kill everything again and it would perhaps make it very dull.
The rate at which you unlock new upgrades for Samus and find incremental top up to your equipment works well and genuinely gives the feeling of accomplishment when you find them. In the firsts half of the game the increase of these figures seems frivolous but later in the game it really did make the difference in boss battles, so having a healthy number of those is as key as any other upgrade. A good balance there I feel.
The more tricky parts of the game design are a bit hit and miss. There were times I felt that I totally lucked out in discovering the way forward then there were times I was totally stumped. One time so bad, I spent a whole two nights totally flummoxed and had to resort to my Metroid guide that came in my Big Box Edition of the game. Back in the day, without the luxury of the internet and freely available guides, I can totally see how people would be stuck for months, or even never get the chance to progress.
It reminded me of the days of old when you'd go over a mates, or they'd come to you and they'd say; “Oh, Metroid, let's play that !?!” You're like; “Na I'm proper stuck !” They'd insist so you'd put it in and somehow manage to get past it.
Situations like this nowadays seem an impossibility, with the distraction of a million other games to play and time being a luxury. Seriously, who wants to spend their hard earned gaming time going over old ground and banging your head against a brick wall ? It’s a shame but a reality I except.
I was thoroughly enjoy Metroid, even with the tricky parts that ignited nostalgia in me that you only get from older game creation but then I come towards my second part, or experience with Metroid.
2
The controls, welcome to Hell.
Jesus Christ the controls of some of the later game suit upgrades are damn near infuriating. I wanted to stop playing this game so many times because of what felt like a total random control scheme when it comes to jumping and grappling. Both of which are a mainstay of the later game and reaching the areas that are needed to progress.
First off, the wall jump. Ok, tricky but it has a clear instruction on how to do it. Jump, spin, hit the wall, press away, then jump. There’s small animation that shows Samus lean from the wall, then pause and jump off. Once you get it, you can do almost every time. This is tricky but I was cool with it.
Grappling. Not too bad but the momentum you'd carry wasn't always the same as what you’d expect. You could do the same sequence 5 times and each time get a totally different outcome. In some areas, there's whole sections that are reliant on stringing say 3 jumps back to back but never once did I feel like the outcomes to the button presses were consistent.
Spin jump. Fuck this thing. This is what wrecked the whole thing for me. It's an upgrade you get late on that effectively allows infinite jumps after each other, think double jump but with multiple possible jumps. It's down to timing. What the timing is, I don't know. I even looked it up online. People were using frame counts to explain how to do it. Frame counts. Couple that with the fact that if you're under water, or on a non-solid surface (sand) it's uses a different calculation, makes it almost impossible to rely on. There an area late on where you squire the most powerful weapon, the Plasma Cannon. It's gated by the fact that you require the Spin jump, as well as be able to carry out the wall jump on command. A tricky combo to do but gives you the Plasma Cannon after it. Once you have the cannon you must then perform three, back to back spin jumps to get out of the room.
Over an hour it took me to get out of that area. An hour. Not fun. Not fun at all.
I understand that it's possibly my skills that have let me down here and not the game, but it took me an hour to get in and out of that room. That was my experience.
It's like having a really nice piece of steak and half way through chopping into a really nasty piece of gristle. After that I was worried there was more hiding in there somewhere and it took a good deal of enjoyment out of it for me.
I really must stress, this isn't too much of an issue when progressing with the story (although there are certain parts of the world that require these skills to get past) it’s more of an issue when exploring the finer parts of the map, or backtracking but it still had me in bits a number of times.
That aside, lol, I really enjoyed this game and missing out on it when I was young was something that really bugged me. Stylistically it’s brilliant I think, really well done and so much feeling and sole is there from the artwork and world it creates. It’s really hard to not recommend this game but I pray that no one else suffers from the frustration I had with this game towards the end of my time with it.
My completion time was 11 hours 24 minutes but it was much more than that, that’s just progression time. I’d say it’s probably close to double that, given that I had to use the guide for the bloody sand digger creature – I’d still be wondering around there now.
As usual, I played this on original Super Famicom hardware on a RGB Sony PVM.
The exception here is that I use a SD2SNES flashcart with a US ROM loaded onto it, so that I can play the NTSC version of the game.
I do however own a physical copy of the game. The big box version too
. I'm going to talk about this game in two parts.
1
First off it's great, it looks fantastic and sounds wonderful. Each region has it’s own distinct music to accompany it’s look, feel and progress within the game. The enemies have their own little chirps and squeals that you become accustom too and the weapons have a good sound.
There’s no real feel to combat though or impact from the weapons to say but that OK and is something that wasn’t so common back then in 1994.
Pacing is good initially and each new area is a joy to explore. At first, it felt a bit old fashioned having to kill the enemies that respawn each time you revisit an area but it soon became a rather pleasant experience - compare it to not having to kill everything again and it would perhaps make it very dull.
The rate at which you unlock new upgrades for Samus and find incremental top up to your equipment works well and genuinely gives the feeling of accomplishment when you find them. In the firsts half of the game the increase of these figures seems frivolous but later in the game it really did make the difference in boss battles, so having a healthy number of those is as key as any other upgrade. A good balance there I feel.
The more tricky parts of the game design are a bit hit and miss. There were times I felt that I totally lucked out in discovering the way forward then there were times I was totally stumped. One time so bad, I spent a whole two nights totally flummoxed and had to resort to my Metroid guide that came in my Big Box Edition of the game. Back in the day, without the luxury of the internet and freely available guides, I can totally see how people would be stuck for months, or even never get the chance to progress.
It reminded me of the days of old when you'd go over a mates, or they'd come to you and they'd say; “Oh, Metroid, let's play that !?!” You're like; “Na I'm proper stuck !” They'd insist so you'd put it in and somehow manage to get past it.
Situations like this nowadays seem an impossibility, with the distraction of a million other games to play and time being a luxury. Seriously, who wants to spend their hard earned gaming time going over old ground and banging your head against a brick wall ? It’s a shame but a reality I except.
I was thoroughly enjoy Metroid, even with the tricky parts that ignited nostalgia in me that you only get from older game creation but then I come towards my second part, or experience with Metroid.
2
The controls, welcome to Hell.
Jesus Christ the controls of some of the later game suit upgrades are damn near infuriating. I wanted to stop playing this game so many times because of what felt like a total random control scheme when it comes to jumping and grappling. Both of which are a mainstay of the later game and reaching the areas that are needed to progress.
First off, the wall jump. Ok, tricky but it has a clear instruction on how to do it. Jump, spin, hit the wall, press away, then jump. There’s small animation that shows Samus lean from the wall, then pause and jump off. Once you get it, you can do almost every time. This is tricky but I was cool with it.
Grappling. Not too bad but the momentum you'd carry wasn't always the same as what you’d expect. You could do the same sequence 5 times and each time get a totally different outcome. In some areas, there's whole sections that are reliant on stringing say 3 jumps back to back but never once did I feel like the outcomes to the button presses were consistent.
Spin jump. Fuck this thing. This is what wrecked the whole thing for me. It's an upgrade you get late on that effectively allows infinite jumps after each other, think double jump but with multiple possible jumps. It's down to timing. What the timing is, I don't know. I even looked it up online. People were using frame counts to explain how to do it. Frame counts. Couple that with the fact that if you're under water, or on a non-solid surface (sand) it's uses a different calculation, makes it almost impossible to rely on. There an area late on where you squire the most powerful weapon, the Plasma Cannon. It's gated by the fact that you require the Spin jump, as well as be able to carry out the wall jump on command. A tricky combo to do but gives you the Plasma Cannon after it. Once you have the cannon you must then perform three, back to back spin jumps to get out of the room.
Over an hour it took me to get out of that area. An hour. Not fun. Not fun at all.
I understand that it's possibly my skills that have let me down here and not the game, but it took me an hour to get in and out of that room. That was my experience.
It's like having a really nice piece of steak and half way through chopping into a really nasty piece of gristle. After that I was worried there was more hiding in there somewhere and it took a good deal of enjoyment out of it for me.
I really must stress, this isn't too much of an issue when progressing with the story (although there are certain parts of the world that require these skills to get past) it’s more of an issue when exploring the finer parts of the map, or backtracking but it still had me in bits a number of times.
That aside, lol, I really enjoyed this game and missing out on it when I was young was something that really bugged me. Stylistically it’s brilliant I think, really well done and so much feeling and sole is there from the artwork and world it creates. It’s really hard to not recommend this game but I pray that no one else suffers from the frustration I had with this game towards the end of my time with it.
My completion time was 11 hours 24 minutes but it was much more than that, that’s just progression time. I’d say it’s probably close to double that, given that I had to use the guide for the bloody sand digger creature – I’d still be wondering around there now.
-
ratsoalbion
- Admin
- Posts: 7929
- Joined: August 28th, 2012, 9:41 am
- Location: Brighton, England
- Contact:
Re: Super Metroid
For those interested, the two official versions of Super Metroid available on EU Virtual Console are different; the Wii U version is 50Hz PAL EU while the N3DS version is 60Hz US NTSC.