Don't Forget Metroid Fusion - A Retrospective

if you happen to catch my report on the Metroid franchise a few months ago then you may have noticed that I made a glaring omission when iterating through the history of the series I left out Metroid Fusion and the comments were relentless for it at the time I decided it was best to leave my segment for Metroid Fusion on the cutting room floor unfortunately making me part of a problem that plagued the game since the day released on November 17th 2002 launching on the same day as Metroid Prime Fusion has to an extent lived in the shadow of its 3d counterpart ever since and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost but seriously it has been my personal experience that although fusion is a series favorite for many Metroid fans it often gets ignored or left out of gaming discussions for one reason or another it wasn't the first Metroid nor was it the first on a handheld device Fusion does not share in the fervor of excitement for its 3d counterparts and it definitely does not feel the wrath of hatred that continues to bombard other M and Federation force it's the middle child and a franchise that is in and of itself somewhat of a middle child for Nintendo as a whole and yet there is something about the game that makes it irresistible Metroid Fusion is the direct sequel to Super Metroid one of the best gaming experiences of all time Fusion was tasked with the somewhat insurmountable goal of besting its 16-bit predecessor Super Metroid beyond just being a great game took the best from both of its prequels and showed us for the Metroid title should be helping to define the entire Metroidvania genre in the process no iteration in the franchise can escape being directly compared to super heck even the best games in the entire genre are only deemed so by claiming that they are either as good if not better than Super Metroid knowing all of this how could you show Sakamoto's next project have even the tiniest chances in achieving a similar level of success if lightning never strikes the same place twice with screwattack's be any different Metroid Fusion may not have surpassed its venerated predecessor in terms of sheer ingenuity and level design but it's triumphs far outweigh its setbacks where most games would crumble under the intense pressure of sequel itis Metroid Fusion surprises in ways that easily make it a worthy successor to Super Metroid even if it's not the better game [Music] metroid games have never been known for their complex narratives and story driven game play it's not to say that these games carry no purpose but rather that metroid titles have traditionally relied on indirect means of conveying emotion to the player it's often why you'll hear people say that these games have a great sense of atmosphere they prefer to show rather than tell but things change and even though Metroid Fusion borrows a lot from what Super Metroid did well it also brought with it a wave of new ideas fusion wants to tell you more in its story it wants to expand the lore within the Metroid universe and give a deeper backstory to a protagonist who especially at the time fans knew almost nothing about it wants to answer why and even if many players don't necessarily care about why things are the way they are in a video game I have to get fusion credit for attempting to add clarity and focus to the experience for instance there is now a reason why Samus has to rediscover her power suits abilities for the fourth time in a row and that at the very least is not a bad thing however while previous titles kept things fairly simple Fusion goes for a more in-your-face blockbuster story the amount of twists in holycrap moments the game throws your way in the third act alone is enough to make Hollywood blush Fusion simply does not spend an appropriate amount of time on each of its plot threads to sensibly prepare them for their big payoff moment what purpose did the AI companion truly serve other than to provide an emotional shock when Samus discovered that it was actually Adams consciousness in computer form if the computer atom could disobey direct orders from the Galactic Federation this whole time then why not use the actual adam malkovich in the first place during the final battle Fusion rips a page directly out of the Super Metroid playbook by having the SI X parasite swoop in at the last minute to save Samus was it flashy and unexpected definitely did it have the same level of contextual build-up or logical reasoning as it did in Super not even a little even something as innocuous as Santa's ship maneuvering without a pilot an event so plausible but I barely would have batted an eye if fusion had not mentioned it as a plot hole to pull one last surprise before the credits roll instead of the mystery pilot being the self-aware computer Adam who is stationed on that very ship by the way it ends up being the small animal creatures who Sam is saved earlier in the game I just feel like fusion tried to do a little too much with the small amount of time that it had ignoring metroid other m for a minute imagine a situation where instead of the computer Samus was directly reporting to adam malkovich himself throughout her mission each time he stopped at a navigation room to get briefed on your next objective there would be another opportunity to explore Adams relationship with Samus her distrust would continue to build as the federation commander told her what she could and could not do ultimately reaching a point of contention when Samus discovers the truth about the Galactic Federation wanting to militarize the X parasite in disgust she directly disobeys Adam an act that eventually challenges the commander's heart in the final hour Adam helps Samus change the course of the space station sacrificing his life in the process no friendly animals who can fly spaceships no self-aware AI is going rogue and no perfectly-timed parasites arriving at the last second my point being that there is definitely a good story infusion maybe even a great one but it wasn't given enough time to bake scaling back on even just one or two other plot threads would have made a world of difference in spite of my concerns with the story Fusion is at its best when the game is trying to show rather than tell taking place on the biological space laboratory or BSL for short fusion setting is easily one of the most memorable game worlds in the metroid franchise it's just so different than the usual underground cavernous vibe the series is known for corridors are brimming with cold tile lab equipment computer stations and even windows to outerspace all being displayed and gorgeous pixel art just like its predecessor the result is an aesthetic that looks somewhat like a modern office space but still feels remarkably familiar what I wasn't getting creeped out by the deteriorating halls of the VSL I was spending my time in one of six sectors that represent the main areas Samus let's explore in order to complete her mission each sector has been manufactured to house a specific type of life-form that requires some sort of extreme living environment sector one pays homage to return of Samus by building a habitat based off of sr388 while Sector four is almost completely submerged in water however Super Metroid made a name for itself by offering more than just the occasional interesting backdrop utilizing various visual effects in audio cues the game was able to come alive unlike any Metroidvania before it thankfully Metroid Fusion more than meets these expectations a dim globe will quietly pulse in the background while Samus is isolated by a spotlight to signify darkness snowflakes will gently fall across the screen while stagnant chimes reverberate off the walls of the Arctic sector five earthquakes shake to display in heat waves ignite motion blur backgrounds that dance like fire for most Metroidvania titles what I said already about the BSL would be more than enough to generate an attractive and engaging game world which is why it's a real testament to Metroid Fusion that all of this is just icing on the cake for what makes this tiny little handheld cartridge is so special the VSL is more than just a setting where the game takes place it's a character in its own right which evolves as the game progresses this is thanks to a staggeringly large amount of real time set pieces designed to not only push the story but to ensure that the player never gets too comfortable with their surroundings the s ax is the best and most obvious example of this its introduction as it smashes through a wall in the laboratory wielding all of Samus is lost power suit was completely unexpected and frankly badass as hell it's more than just a one-time gag though fusion makes sure that you can never completely forget about the s ax is present as it was said in Watchmen it's not trapped in there with you but rather you are most certainly locked in with it my interactions with the SI X or tense and for the first time in a Metroid game I felt helpless making too much noise or taking a wrong turn during an interaction with the Samus look-alike spelled immediate death when you are not having a direct encounter with the thing the s ax will tear through doorways and obliterate in its path you'll often find yourself backtracking through parts of sectors only to find that death and destruction has laid waste to the area and that is only one of the many surprises Samus will face throughout her mission rocks will fall from the ceiling of the massive security robots scales the walls above emergency sirens will sound out of nowhere forcing Samms to sprint from one sector to the next as a countdown threatens the destruction of the entire lab elevators will unexpectedly stop in the middle of a trip and old rivals can be found wasting away in isolation before crumbling to bits I never once felt bored or too comfortable while playing through fusion and even though I've completed the game four times now there are always at least one or two things that catch me off-guard [Music] whether you love or hate Metroid Fusion will likely boil down to how you feel about the level design in this game to put it bluntly it's linear and unabashedly so Sakamoto has stated that fusions campaign was purposely designed to be more straightforward than previous titles likely due to the fact that this isn't simply the sequel of Super Metroid but the portable sequel to Super Metroid Fusion is a handheld experience and like return of Samus before it design changes were made to account for this that does not necessarily excuse the game for playing differently having an open-world esque style of exploration is at the heart of the entire franchise just take a look at the original Metroid if you give five different people one hour to play that game what you'll find is that each person will likely wind up in different places with different abilities and different suit upgrades whenever i replay Metroid i purposely skip over the wave beam just so i don't have to worry about not having the ice beam for the final battle with Mother Brain you have a choice and you can genuinely devise various strategies for what you believe would be the best way to beat the game try the same experiment with Fusion and everyone will wind up in the same spot this is because the game's mission structure allows little room for wandering you go to a navigation room the computer tells you which sector to go to and you go to that sector taking detours especially in the first half of the game is highly discouraged the majority of pathways are completely blocked off from exploring and even when you can prematurely sneak into another sector there's nothing to see don't get me wrong though this is still the offspring of Super Metroid the experience is just chopped up into smaller bite-sized chunks each individual sector feels like their own little Metroid world with secret passages hidden energy tanks and suit upgrades because of this Fusion is one of the most accessible Metroid video titles to pick up and play over an extended period of time however regardless of how linear the level design is I couldn't help but feel that Fusion plated a little too safe this time around it's odd that a game which is more than willing to challenge the traditional conventions of a franchise still chooses to reiterate through mostly the same Arsenal suit upgrades as its predecessors we once again see the morph ball super missiles speed booster Varia suit power bomb and of course the screw attack in fact the only two upgrades which are unique to fusion are the ice missiles and the diffusion missiles and since the ice missiles are essentially a temporary replacement for the ice beam it barely counts as a new item I don't say this simply because I believe every Metroid game needs to have new upgrades in order to be fun I say it because the unlockables you get throughout a Metroidvania title are vital to how the entire game world will be laid out by choosing to have a nearly identical list of power-ups as Super Metroid it puts fusion at a major disadvantage since the gameplay then has to be compared directly to Super Metroid I've already had my jaw drop moments when I realized I needed to use a powerbomb to break through the glass tube and meridia I know that I need to freeze a ripper with the ice beam in order to turn them into platforms these experiences have not only been handled multiple times by fusions predecessors but also have the advantage of not trying to fit into small bite-sized sectors the result is gameplay which will always place you relatively close to your objective with sometimes two glaringly obvious solutions to environmental puzzles thanks to an extremely familiar suite of power-ups fusion does not have the best use of the ScrewAttack powerbomb or even the speed booster and I don't think it ever really had a chance to in my mind Super Metroid is the answer to the question of what the perfectly designed world would look like with that particular set of upgrades instead of hoping to recapture the past I wish fusion would have introduced more unique upgrades of its own it would have helped to create more of those aha moments that Metroidvania czar known for all while being attuned to the game's objective based mission structure [Music] and yet for everyone stumble Metroid Fusion takes two steps forward sure the story is undercooked and the linear level design might be a shock at first but one thing you can't fault the game for is truly trying to push the franchise forward it would have been all too easy to make a Super Metroid 1.5 for the Game Boy Advance and at a first clam that's exactly what Fusion is the controls and second a second gameplay are nearly identical to Super with a host of convenience improvement the power suit upgrades identically match barring a few tweaks here and there even the script for the final battle had been utterly ripped out from the Super Metroid playbook however fusion does all of these things in spite of all of its innovations not in place of them the game stands on its own and in the process has introduced a whole host of new storytelling techniques that I personally hope will remain as franchise staples for years to come I want my Metroid World to dynamically change as the story progresses just as it did in fusion I want the roller-coaster pacing of a tense moment while being chased by the SI X followed by the calm of hunting down an energy tank I want the opportunity to know more about Samus and for the lore of the series to expand even if it's just by a little bit you see fusion does not necessarily surpass Super Metroid in terms of being the overall better game but it didn't have to Metroid Fusion is a worthy successor because it can't be ignored regardless of how often it is foregone someone who makes the future Metroid title solely based off of what Super Metroid did well is unfortunately missing out on everything fusion brings to the table it's a sequel that pushes the boundaries for what it means to be an iteration in the Metroid Saga while remaining faithful to the heart of the series the game may never have the fanfare of prime or the ire of other n but it's a very least it does what a sequel is meant to do [Music] you

Channel: Freelance Nintendo

Views: 256,122

Keywords: Metroid Fusion, Metroid, Fusion, Retrospective, Metroid Fusion Retrospective, Review, Metroid Fusion Review, Analysis, Metroid Fusion Analysis, Super Metroid, Super Metroid vs Metroid Fusion

Id: vNh4SNBnXks

Length: 16min 35sec (995 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 08 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/16bitsamus]

My favorite element of this game was entering a room and seeing SA-X, and knowing you're completely screwed if it sees you. Having that as a core element to the gameplay and exploration as opposed to showing that through cutscenes added a layer of intensity and fear whenever you entered a new area.

[u/dat_bass2]

My first Metroid, and perhaps my favorite. I still think that, despite being the last game chronologically, it's one of the best intros to the series, since it gives a nice look at Samus's character and eases you into the exploration-based gameplay.

[u/[deleted]]

Metroid Fusion is my favourite in the franchise and one of my all time favourite games, yet many people disparage it mostly for diverging in some key areas from the structure of Super Metroid. I think that through its restrictions it creates a better atmosphere of isolation, familiarity and dread than Super Metroid – which are all elements many people point to when they try to define the allure of that undeniable classic.

Sorry for the long text that follows, but I feel the need to write down my thoughts on the game:

Is Metroid Fusion more restrictive mechanically than Super Metroid and most classic(al) Metroidvanias? Yes, no doubt about it. If you play it to speedrun, sequence break or do all other kind of whacky stuff with it, its an objectively worse game. But through its restrictions in gameplay the game gains a lot of thematic freedom to explore and improve upon what I personally find the most interesting aspects of the franchise and the genre: A sense of progression, a sense of isolation, a sense of alienation turning into familiarity, and a sense of overcoming challenges.

Let's start at the very beginning with my "analysis", meaning an attempt to give scrambled thoughts some structure and make them sound nice. A staple of the franchise is to strip you of your powers at the beginning of your game, and the main drive from a gameplay perspective is then to regain them. Often, that is accentuated by you starting out with some of your powers before losing them: This is Samus, a strong , dangerous character; this is who you will become (and more!) if you continue playing. But no game makes that loss so relevant and poignant. You don't get to play as a strong Samus when the game begins; in fact, you get the sense that she is alien from her in the beginning, both literally and figuratively. She looks nothing like the Samus you know, she does not play like the Samus you expect, she herself even has been infused with Alien DNA. She was at the brink of death, and now she's weaker than she's ever been, not even resembling her past self. That's the Samus you play, that's how your journey with her starts – regardless of whether that is your first Metroid game or not. And the strong version of Samus is not something you play, it is your main enemy – SA-X. She is the dark reflection of Samus, despite looking more like her than Samus herself. SA-X is overpowering, a true menace, nothing you can face in your current state; but she represents where you want to end this journey, both as a player and as Samus.

This makes the sense of progression through item acquisition even more meaningful than before. You're not simply adding fire power to your arsenal, you're slowly regaining Samus' identity. This is a near-perfect blend of gameplay mechanics and narrative themes, and a big reason why I love Fusion so much.

The other is the Space Station itself, and Adam. Yes, I know Adam is not popular, especially after Other M, but his presence in the game is so potent in regards to themes and atmosphere. People say they feel a sense of isolation when they land on Zebes in Metroid 1 or Super Metroid – but that sense comes only from a lack of other meaningful life on the planet. Adam is a reminder of two things: a) that this space station was once bristling with life both human and alien, and is not anymore; and b) that this AI, this digital simulacrum of a man Samus once knew, is her only companion. She relates to him – despite Adam being for all intents and purposes an It.

That is the same reason the worlds in the Prime games feel so desolate and barren. By scanning the world, you get this sense of detachment, of walking amongst figurative ghosts of a great civilisation that once was (which is why I was sorta disappointed that they made those ghosts literal later on in Prime 1, but I digress). Adam is the reason this sense of isolation is so potent in Fusion: Because in all those moments he isn't there, you're alone. When you're being guided by him, the ship feels desolate and claustrophobic, and when the elevator malfunctions and the power cuts out, you're completely on your own; and finally free to explore the ship with all of your new powers.

In those moments, those absolutely fantastic moments, Fusion becomes everything it wants to be, it should be, and I want it to be. This sense of isolation is at its most potent, as everything reliable has vanished – Adam, the elevators, the paths you're used to taking. Because of this, you get this increased sense of disorientation and drive for exploration, as you're now forced to carve your own path. From this, you also experience a strong sense of empowerment and progression – you're getting stronger, you're exploring this world like Samus would and should; you can actively feel Samus regaining the identity she lost, without quite ditching this pervasive sense of dread and incompleteness. And finally, you begin to reflect on the world, Samus and Adam, and in those moments of reflection you as a player get the chance to think on the game's major narrative themes and moments: What's happening here? Who is Adam? Can I trust him? Do I need him?

And I haven't even mentioned yet how Fusion is the first game in the franchise to realise that it has a story to tell, and that for a game about exploration, it should finally go and explore the narrative world that's been there all along.

I'm sure I've forgotten some things I wanted to say, but I think this should suffice for now. I think I don't need to explicitly stress how much I love Fusion. Does it feel more restrictive than Super? Absolutely. But it uses those restrictions smartly, and in such a way to improve the overall experience. Fusion emphasises everything I love about the genre. It knows exactly what it wants to be and confidently goes through with realising that idea. It's a damn shame in my eyes that many disparage it for not ticking all the boxes they expect to see ticked, and in the process overlook how greatly it shows the player why we enjoy Samus' adventures in the first place by playing with expectations and conventions.

[u/[deleted]]

It's my favorite 2D metroid game

[u/iOnlySawTokyoDrift]

The only people who forgot about Fusion seem to be the folks at Nintendo who could do anything about it. Metroid 4 ended on a gigantic cliffhanger and Metroid 5 is still nowhere in sight 15 years later. We've had five new entries to the canon since then, and every one of them has been a prequel.

[u/lorddragonmaster]

Release this for the switch!

[u/Superfrick]

If I had the ability to patch the computer completely out of the game than I would have liked Fusion a lot more than I did. There were some super-solid gameplay elements.

[u/CyanKing64]

The only 2D Metra games I have played our Metroid 2 and Metroid Fusion. Out of the two, Metroid Fusion is so much better. Fusion just has a great story, atmosphere, controls and visuals. I've still yet to play super metroid, but I'm waiting until the Switch VC to get it

[u/anotherent]

i have not forgotten about Fusion and apparently neither have the people on eBay who keep outbidding me for a cart. Feel pretty dumb for selling my copy to GS years ago.