METROID: SAMUS RETURNS - The Legacy's Redemption | GEEK CRITIQUE

hey everyone I've been working on this episode for a few months now and through the entire time I had always intended for it to be a patreon exclusive episode it's thanks to my backers there that I get to take my time making each episode as good as I can and this series could not be what it is and what I want it to be without them however the current state of the world is well I think we've all seen better days my fiance and I had to postpone getting married and I mean if that's the worst this thing affects us personally I'm gonna be very thankful I know it'll be worth waiting for nobody knows right now how much worse this thing might get but I do know that people need distractions and entertainment so that's why I decided to not make this an exclusive I won't get a kickback get a snack and hopefully my dumb video game opinions can help you take your mind off things and afterwards if you had a good time and only if you're in a position to do so I do hope you'll consider backing the patreon or sending a tip on PayPal either way best wishes to everyone stay safe be kind and we're gonna weather this storm together you the last metroid was hot garbage the fandom was not at peace [Music] the year 2010 of the history of the cosmos saw the coming of a game so reviled it alone brought an abrupt end to what had been an era of opulence and so began the second Dark Age in the years that followed at every direct every e3 every possible opportunity where Metroid's bruised and battered fandom might hear some good news they would instead see their hopes crushed when what seemed like Metroid's best chance at redemption and glory was ripped away by a toothy gorilla it was thought that all was lost for a generation other m's struck a lethal blow through the heart of metroid 6 years later Nintendo was mired in the tragedy of their own Dark Age however a light would shine over the horizon as a project emerged that nobody could have predicted [Music] you okay look Federation force is obviously not the worst game in the world but it suffers from the same baffling lack of awareness that doomed this project the problem wasn't that the game happened the problem was when it happened it'd be like if hunters have been the first Metroid game since super when it's been this long since the last mainline entry in a series it doesn't really matter how good or bad your spin-off is it's not what anybody wants what the people wanted was obviously another camps to step into the Power Suit of Samus Aran another deep intricate isolated action adventure across an alien world a real Metroid game but it seemed at this point like we might never get it what nobody could have known was that less than a year later the return of Samus would be made manifest in the year 2017 of the history of the cosmos on the 13th of June Nintendo revealed that metroid prime 4 was in development that fact alone would have been enough to satisfy most fans but that wasn't all we got in 2002 Metroid entered its new era with a duo of new releases and history has a way of repeating itself while Prime 4 was still further away than anyone even knew the other game a new take on the series 2d roots was only a few months away and now that we know that I have to ask heck was Nintendo thinking back in 2016 they could have so effortlessly sidestepped the score and they earned 4 Federation force and even probably drummed up enthusiasm for it if they had just let us in on the fact that a real metroid game was also in development even if it wasn't ready to show off I think even a logo would have been enough but hey hindsight's 20/20 at least we only had to wait a few months samus Returns was of course conceptualized years earlier the game was developed by Nintendo EPD no I said II PD in collaboration with Mercury steam a developer who's experience seems tailor-made to both the genre and the 3ds so mercury steam put together a pitch and presented their vision to series lead Yoshio Sakamoto a fully reimagined remake of metroid fusion Sakamoto turned him down Fusion didn't need a remake but their pitch was impressive and there was another much older Metroid game that Sakamoto felt was more deserving of a revival and he was right Metroid 2 was a critically important piece of the series lore telling the story of samus's first visit to her enemies homeworld establishing concepts that would become series mainstays and setting in motion the story events that would really drive the rest of the series it was also a 1991 released for the Game Boy every ambition it had tarnished by time way more than any other Metroid game this one needed a remake and seven long years since the last Metroid Nintendo went all out and making this comeback a momentous event a special edition collector's box with a soundtrack CD and keychain a glorious set of new amiibo and even more glorious special edition 3ds it was great to see them putting so much hype into Metroid again just a few months earlier I was a newly minted fan of the series who had no idea how long he'd have to wait for a new game and yet here it was already I kind of felt like I'd come in at the perfect time and oh did I ever play this one I finished it once and then again on hardmode and then again on fusion mode and then I went back and actually freakin completed it 100% how many times have I repeated throughout this series I'm not a completionist so that should tell you just how much of a blast I was having with Samus Returns then I put it back on the shelf and forgot about most of it yeah this is gonna be markedly different from my earlier Metroid videos I'm not going in blind here but despite how much I enjoyed it in 2017 I'm not exactly confident in how much of it has stuck with me over the past three years Samus Returns came out during my favorite year in gaming in a long time surrounded on all sides by a supernova of new releases I played it I loved it but I didn't exactly commit to it and this far removed from the hype it's gonna be interesting to see how much of that was like my fault does Samus Returns still live up to the hype and to the legacy of Metroid let's get you know what one sec I don't normally do this but because this game is so much more recent than most of what I cover I'm gonna warn you this is not a review I'm going to be diving deep on every element of the entire game so if you'd like to play it yourself first I recommend doing that alright here we go let's get critiquing [Music] in the year 20 xt5 of the cosmic calendar I'll have to update my translations anyway the story so far is conveyed through some pretty stunning artwork retelling samus's zero mission and the events that have brought her to Metroid home worlds the Galactic Federation was rightly concerned about the danger posed by the Metroid's and sent a squadron of elite soldiers to investigate yeah okay to the surprise of no one the federation forces mission went about as well as the game they starred in but having confirmed the presence of Metroid's on sr388 the federation like nintendo realized their mistake they'd sent a team of soldiers to do the job of a single bounty hunter Samus Aran is back to exterminate the Metroid's once and for all yep once and for all I can't say enough about how effective this intro is it powerfully reintroduces the tone of the Metroid universe and succinctly brings you up to speed on the events that led here the 2d illustrations may look a little low rest blown up like this but they pop on the 3ds screen literally if you've got the slider turned up and it all comes together playing over the iconic super metroid theme the gun kit makes its landing on sr3 d8 and our heroines adventure begins [Music] yeah I have missed that sound if samus makes her initial descent beneath the surface of another alien world the game is almost ethereal in its presentation the music is this David wise Ian piece made up mostly of the wind blowing through the caves but with the distant melody that never quite resolves edging up on the fringes of your subconscious bringing forth flashes of adventures from decades past it's as if the metroid series itself is slowly emerging from hibernation trying to wake up a few on screen control tutorials are shown but they only ever happen once having taught you how to aim and how to fire missiles it would have been all too easy to tell the player exactly what to do here too but as always metroid will only tell you what you can do it allows you the pleasure of figuring out how to use what you can do and this precedent carries forward for the rest of the game and yet all this has communicated so naturally I didn't notice at first that I was in a tutorial respecting the players agency and intelligence but guiding with an invisible hand so gentle and so subtle you don't even notice it's there that is core to the appeal of metroid it reeks of old school tradition and I'm glad that Samus returns gets that and then as if in response to all that something happens that would have been impossible back in the old school the camera hands away from Samus tips into a cinematic action shot and this right here was when I realized and appreciated exactly what the game was doing everything old is new again metroid is awake boom Apple iggle 3d Metroid game offering up some of the best 3d depth the 3d s would ever see bang Metroid 2 lettuce aim shots in different directions for the first time and it's remake has given us full 360-degree aiming via the circle pad just as WarioWare foretold flip duck Samus has a new melee counter and the impact and satisfaction of nailing it has been meticulously iteratively fine-tuned to crunchy perfection and it better be cuz you're probably gonna be doing it a lot most not all but most enemies will charge Samus on sight if you successfully counter the enemy will be stunned and put back Samus will automatically target it and when you fire the power of that shot is maximum this move is now the centerpiece of samus's arsenal and to justify that enemies in this game have to be more aggressive I'm kind of two minds about this on the one hand it probably diminishes the immersive believability of exploring an alien ecosystem most of the wildlife here even though is much smaller than you will victus Lee attempt to kill you on sight and that doesn't make a lot of sense it means that Samus returns comes across there's a whole lot more gamey but on the other hand I like my games to be gamey combat at least outside of boss battles was never really the focus of 2d metroids but I find out more engaged with what I'm doing here I'm falling into this simple rhythm that's satisfying to pull off but easy enough that it doesn't wear on me most of these homed in on you but that also means you know where they're about to be but much as I'm liking the melee now I think I'll revisit it later to see if it gets repetitive if that paradigm shift didn't drive home the fact that Samus Returns ain't your father's Metroid a little further down you'll find a brand new kozo artifact and so the first of several brand new abilities when you roll into it well tasty let's see I already said bang katuk so this is an a on ability a suite of brand new upgrades for Samus the scan pulse causes breakable parts of the environment to flash helping you find secret rooms and tunnels if you want to know what I think of this well coincidentally it was in my critique of the original Metroid 2 where I came to an important realization I had always been put off by this series because I was playing it in a way that wasn't conducive to what I tend to like about video games I'd always gone out of my way to bomb every wall seek out every upgrade and try to find everything because I thought that's what I was supposed to do but by doing that I was choosing to interrupt the momentum of combat exploration and discovery the flow of the game design and therefore preventing myself from actually enjoying it I can see why to some players the scan poles might things too easy I mean that moisture is ear grating yes this wannabe Metroid too if there wasn't something giving you a headache but I'd still rather the scan poles be there especially because it is after all totally optional you could play the whole game without firing it off once if that's more fun for you just like I could comb over every surface area to find secrets but wouldn't because I know it'd ruin the fun for me what I'm saying is that thinks of a scan pulse even an impatient jackass like me can finally enjoy completing a Metroid game of course it keeps progression from being at or - well I'd certainly prefer a game that used more natural environmental hues to guide the player forward I also know that's a lot easier said than done especially since Samus Returns is required after all to reiterate Metroid tooth structure the central goal of that game was to hunt down every individual Metroid the map was separated into areas kill every Metroid in the area you're in and acid would lower letting you access the next one thus gave the game a great sense of momentum especially early on but it also carried some consequences Metroid 2 was even more linear than Fusion was gonna be but unlike Fusion it didn't particularly capitalize on the strengths of that design it eventually became repetitive and even tepid is you fight the same boss battles over and over they make it bigger but you're always just spamming missiles but hunting down Metroid's area by area is so fundamental to the structure of Metroid 2 there's no way you could remake the game without it so how do you turn that negative into a positive well when I finally decided to stop rambling about everything else and get the heck down here the first alpha Metroid fight made it obvious [Music] instead of mindlessly homing in on you while you spam missiles this alpha is more dynamic it hovers above Samus exposing its weak point and dropping slow-moving projectiles forcing you to swap between dodging and aiming with the circle pad and when it gives you that cue Wham the camera pans in to emphasize the impact it's certainly not difficult but it puts this new paradigm to the test for overcoming that I got my first energy tank and the charge beam the great first impression of Metroid 2 that awesome sense of growth and momentum right from the word go is back and better than ever alongside significant improvements to the game structure if the original is a more linear Metroid with a focus on boss fights then to capitalize on those aspects Sam sir turns needs to be a more challenging bombastic innovative and action-packed take on the formula but it needs to balance all that without losing the thread of what a Metroid game is back in Metroid 2 it took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out that eliminating every Metroid in an area was actually what was causing the acid to lower but to be fair why would that happen the remake has an answer in an attempt to contain the Metroid's and prevent them from falling into the wrong hands the chozo were the ones who flooded the planet they set up a system of locks that can only be broken by someone powerful enough to defeat the Metroid's by doing that and uploading their DNA into these seals the locks are broken and Samus can venture deeper and if you get stuck you can also upload incomplete Metroid data and the seals will point you in the direction of another husk it's an impressive bit of work mercury steam took something odd and obtuse about the original and turned it into a detail that feels perfectly in line with establish lore carries interesting implications and serves the game design perfectly while the rest of the beam upgrades stack the ice beam is now a separate mode its utility blends nicely with the game's combat focus and of course Metroid's themselves are vulnerable to it a well-placed charge shot will cause the Metroid to freeze over slowing it down and limiting it to less powerful attacks but once again this is still Metroid you can do new things with it but the ice beams usual functions still apply so you're proudly quote-unquote s'posed to get this upgrade with the spider ball later but with a little ingenuity and skill you can hang on I can do this you can take it come on there we go ah easy you can add this upgrade early the gameboy version was slim on backtracking the linear map meant it was incredibly cumbersome to go back and there was no real incentive to do so but Samus Returns is already showing me a lot of obstacles that I'll have to come back to later and it'll be a whole lot easier when I do thanks to these new fast travel transports that let you work back to any other transport you found taking this first set will even bring you back to a room where you can already grab a few upgrades something so direct would be a little out of place in most other Metroid games but since on sr388 different areas never connect or cross over each other if you want to give this game more longevity this sort of thing is kind of a necessity at last let's tumble down into the broken shrine and pick up Metroid tooth and from a spider ball it actually controls really well now and the map design still gives it a lot of outside-the-box utility although crawling around with this thing is still a tad too slow for my liking sorry ol minor criticism samus Returns has adapted the original versions excellent early game momentum and improved on it with a litany of new abilities and upgrades still managed to perfectly compliment how Metroid 2 was structured but of course in more ways than one I've barely scratched the surface the move to 3d visuals has been a point of contention for some people I've even seen an argue that it makes this game and others that look like it seemed a little cheaper lifeless well I can't say I agree in all cases I get it 16-bit is the colour of my soul pixel art has this timeless quality to me and given how prevalent it is in indie titles I don't think many people would even consider it retro and heck it's not like 2d art even has to be retro it would have been possible and maybe even preferable to carry the intros 2d artwork to the rest of the game but on the other hand polygons are a very natural fit for the very thing the system was named for many titles laid in the 3d assets life abandoned the gimmick entirely but samus Returns didn't and as someone who loves that gimmick that's to its credit the game makes extents of an impressive use of background detail impossibly huge chasm to Waterfalls hanging overhead flora and fauna reacting to the environment ancient structures that crumble apart on your second or third run through a room this is bar none some of the best use of 3d depth the 3d s would ever see and I wish I could capture it here because it acts as a multiplicative effect on the scale of these caverns selling it as a world with scope and depth that almost believably exists behind that tiny plastic screen true it all looks a bit low rest of you scrutinize it I think that style has its own charm too I just hate this note and the graphics like this are soulless by nature I always loved to do art but the rough edges I see here come down to the 3d ssun respect hardware and not the artistic direction one thing I do find a little bit deep however is something I only noticed once I got the Varia suit check it every single time you step into a hot area without exception you always hear the same track a barely remixed version of the magma caverns theme from Metroid Prime now the first time this happens it's honestly perfect you're just wandering around exploring the area and this room looks different look oh god the soundtrack the environment the graphical effect everything just blasts you like you're suddenly burning up and gasping for air but now that I've got the Varia suit and I can't stand the heat the repetition ends up having the opposite effect this just ends up being the theme of a hot place and hearing these hearts chords kick up over and over deserts wearing on you even if you get into a Metroid fight the boss music never kicks in it's still wore back more but at least those bosses are staying interesting one thing I didn't give the original game enough credit for was that even if the fights were kind of saying at least the rooms you fought the men were different Samus returns takes that variety and runs with it not only are the settings changing the Metroid's themselves are showing a lot of variation they employ different attacks patterns and strategies some of them are even textured to match the environments it would have been easy to lean on the male a counter to turn this game's boss fights into your run-of-the-mill modern boss designs you know the ones you dodge their rote cinematic pre-baked patterns until they give you an opening hammer the attack button while they're stunned rinse and repeat until you win and it's done well a boss like this can be really thrilling and cinematic but the repetition of it would really drag down a game like this so instead Samus returns fights are dynamic if you dodge a targeting Metroid and let it run into a wall it'll stun itself you don't just wait for an opening you can always hurt them but you've got to balance that with defense and as you get later into the game they go for mainly attacks less and less frequently making those times you do catch him with the counter all the more impactful 10 speaking of impact area 2 also contains a single one of these the gamma Metroid takes all those attributes I just mentioned and cranks the volume it's challenging enough in fact that it was the first time this happened in previous titles a game over would send you back to your previous save points from however far back that happened to be this game instead returns you to an invisible checkpoint situated fast before the room that you died in it's a contemporary and welcome quality of life improvement little become a bit of a necessity later on while area 2 is packed with upgrades only one of them is new to the remake the second a on Power Lightning armor causes samus's Power Suit two emitted fields which will absorb all incoming damage at the cost of a on energy that lets you get through poison plants unscathed and offers more leeway in these segments where Samus is infected by acidic mist draining your energy until you can get to water that's an interesting mechanic and it goes kind of under explored having the armor on powers up samus's melee into a lightning counter this hits a wider area and makes countering much easier but it comes with a downside a normal counter will generate a odd energy but a lightning counter drains it it's a smartly designed upgrade the armor is always useful both offensively and defensively but using it is always a trade-off the wave beam as always lets a misses shots travel through walls and obstacles but here I found myself appreciating it more than I ever had metroid games have always liked to keep Samus just off center of the camera most of the time but the 3ds has the screen real estate to be way more dynamic that plus the analog aiming means that the wave beam has a greatly expanded utility and it's even more useful if you're fighting something with a weak point area - is where Samus returns stops feeling so breezy and starts putting the screws to you this place initially seems pretty claustrophobic everything looks like a dead end but through your own ingenuity you'll start putting through two new paths leading to new abilities waiting two more paths leading to more upgrades and bosses and discoveries and all this feels like a Metroid game and I am loving it and it was all going so well the first thing I saw in area 3 was a portent of things to come this little auto targeting robot that soaked up like a hundred missiles and knocked off a ton of health every time it sniped me and after that I just had to jump into this pool of acid to get to the other side because I'm dumb and I forgot I had the spider ball and then I started dying too literally every single Metroid I ran into the counter timing on canvas is a lot tighter and missing one knocks off a ton of health yeah I might have get points now but that does nothing to refill your energy so I guess there's only one thing to do this is nostalgic all of this effectively gave me the feeling like I was putting into a place that I wasn't supposed to be yet even the standard enemies are getting more dangerous into verse there is vicious as ever and now they're coming at me for all sides those difficulty spikes keep getting sharper I hope they'd lay off a little when I got my third a on power up the beam bursts it soaks up energy like crazy but it turns samus's arm cannon into an overwhelming rapid-fire blaster for a while here I honestly felt a little outmatched I worried that maybe I'd been rushing too fast and I was even thinking about backtracking after this to find some more energy tanks but then it was like something clicked and those tough gamma Metroid's that had been kicking me in the teeth were suddenly going down quick going down hard and it felt incredible this is something Metroid's always done well it up ends your confidence for a while just to make that moment that you do overcome that obstacle even more satisfying but the upgrade wasn't what turned things around the only thing that changed was me they clicked for me and that's what I've always loved about this series the upgrades are just tools your skill is what makes or breaks you fear me you scourge of the galaxy oh you better run oh here's another one don't get back here oh I'll cut him off again you can run but you can't hide and okay stop running away every time they do that you have to pursue them to another nearby room it's a cool novelty once or twice but it's happened so many times it's just getting tedious but at least I'm actually accomplishing something they're the most annoying clunky thing I've encountered in this game was right here I am trying for several minutes to simply swing up to this leg eventually I gave up and figured I must be missing something but I hit dead ends in every other direction so I came back and after several more attempts I figured it out you can hit the jump button at the end of your swing and you would think that'd be the right thing to do but it's not you need to just let go of the grapple beam not hit the cut button and this will counter-intuitively get you more distance I don't know maybe this is just a me problem but I think it tripped me up back in my first playthrough too on the bright side Matt the grapple beam is better than it's ever been a big part of this is just the way it controls it'll be enabled automatically if you aim samus's arm cannon at a grapple point you can't also fully switch to it on the touchscreen but I never found a reason to do that swinging is a lot more fluid than it was in 16-bit and you can use it to zip to grapple points pull some obstacles and break others so that's yet another returning power with expanded function and utility but with the grapple beam got it is palpable that this game is pushing the 3ds to its limits multiple touch screen buttons touch scrolling the map every physical button and both the d-pad and circle pads are put to use with the fortunate exception of gyro that's every single feature the 3ds offers it works but it requires an unusual amount of attention and never quite becomes second nature I think the biggest issue is the use selecting a on powder with the d-pad but then you switch it on and off with the a button I think this was done so you can move and use a ax at the same time but it would have been nice if they made concessions for the new 3ds maybe use the nub as an auto switch for a on and use the extra shoulder buttons for swapping beams I don't know controllers are second nature to me I'm one of those lucky for you who never even get confused as to where the X button is but even I get a little turned around and hand crampy here or at least I do when I play the game on a 3ds my footage here and I think it's obvious was not captured on original hardware I'm using an ingenious control scheme that lets you map touch controls to the right analog stick and even pops up a context menu to show your selections thanks to redditor beast spits for that and I'll leave a link in the description area two and three have each taken me about two hours apiece to get through that means that here are my fourth playthrough of Samus Returns I've spent almost as long on these last two sections as I did in my entire first playthrough of the game boy version and it's easy to see why just look at these maps compared to the old ones while the games overall progression may still be a straight shot down the individual areas are now like miniature metroid maps unto themselves there's been an excellent sense of challenge progression and discovery and let flow as I'm breaking open these paths and figuring out how they're connected the enemy variety has been really impressive to this point there are crustaceans that turn away and defend when they're attacked at City Kabaddi is that pop out of the ground and dive bomb you with no dance for male a little scuttling robots that disable your a on abilities I've seen a handful of takes over the past few years that claim that this combat is boring or uninspired because the counter makes every encounter the same I can see that holding some water early in the game when it's all you've got but it's hardly samus's only option at this point not to say the melee counter isn't still useful it definitely is but it's just one weapon in an expanding toolbox I don't need to lean on it as much especially now the spacer beam is powerful enough that I don't even need to counter weaker enemies anymore and speaking of which can I just say how hilarious this 3i door blocker is that's something I've never really thought about what kind of ridiculous life-forms are these things how do they poop it's a nice hook how the caverns between areas are still tinged purple even once the acids drained and after a few sections where the challenge and complexity has just gotten steeper and steeper this area is a welcome reprieve from all the tension it's nice to breathe for a while explore around do a little like puzzle solving and then just when I was getting a little too comfortable whoof hominis what in the world could have done this make it stop make it stop Oh whoo I think we lost him nope nope we did dollars in oh I freaking ate it what I'm alive oh oh I mean yep yes you definitely killed me explosive escape sequences or Metroid stable but this is something else entirely where those applied pressure via a fairly generous timer this applies pressure by requiring breakneck reflexes and near-perfect execution because if any part of that drill pokes your oh so flimsy kozo armor that is a one-hit kill this is one of those parts I remembered most about Samus Returns it's a punishing spectacular set piece that practically requires trial and error and as much as I personally enjoy this sort of thing well let's just say it never would have worked in a game without checkpoints that sequence is so intense that when the game abruptly jerks you back to quiet exploration what was a calming reprieve is now too quiet working my way up this chasm I was on edge waiting for something - oh god what's that what is that there is a literally no answer on the bright side at least I got super missiles on the not bright side if it wasn't there before this is probably the point where the control interface officially spills over into being too complicated swapping missiles works like swapping beams you do it on the touchscreen except now you've got to hold the R button while you poke the touchscreen and you're equipping what is a very limited resource it's easy to forget you have supers equipped and end up wasting them it's equally easy to forget you don't have them equipped and have to scramble with the controls in situations where you really need them I think swapping should have either been a button toggle or better yet take the fusion approach and just make super stack over regular missiles but at least super missiles will make the fight against another one of these Gamelin Metroid pushovers a little faster are you serious we got another runner I guess maybe this is supposed to show how the metro are scared of Samus now but the thematic benefits are massively outweighed by how annoyed I am running is just delaying the inevitable my skills and abilities have more that equips the meagre talent on offer here well I asked for it the Metroid's have upgraded the Zeo zeta and who they're rowdy I really like how each new stage of the lifecycle is mechanically speaking an evolutionary leap forward alphas had me dodging simple projectiles gammas had beams of waves and more strategy and those data's have all that + bullet hell projectiles and flamethrowers and get over here right when you get too complacent the game runs a dozen steps ahead of you and after all that the final Metroid of the area is an alpha OH what are you doing all the way down here buddy wasting this thing with samus's upgraded armament is a testament to how far you've come and smart design choices like this keep the game from becoming too repetitive or exhausting I mean the previous section had 10 Metroid's this one only had 4 filling it's time with more low-key obstacles and high tension set pieces but that tin can always absent flows an area 4 is a showcase for it having said that now that I passed the midpoint of the game I still see no reason to backtrack in fact I've never backtracked to earlier areas during any playthrough and this is why right from the start you'll see sections of the map blocked off by crystals there's no way to break them until the end so you might as well make backtracking the very last thing you do because if you remember Metroid 2 you know what can break those crystals once you get to the end of the game and rescue the baby Metroid you'll now have the option to adventure back through the entire map and we'll come with you I go back and forth on this a little the upside is of course that it gives the game more longevity and strengthens the connection that samus and the player experience with the last metroid by giving her more to do with it I always love when narrative relationships are realized through game play the downside is that while there's a steady stream of artillery expansions throughout the game there are very very few occasions where you can nab a nub grade before your quote-unquote supposed to in fact remember this that was the last one I saw and given the linear nature of Metroid 2 there's no room for sequence breaking that was inevitable but combined with the upgrade path being so inflexible Samus returns feels uncharacteristically irritated there aren't enough for those logic bending moments where you feel like you can outsmart the game and do something you're not supposed to [Music] [Music] the metroid counter on the lower screen is dwindling counting down metroid 2 has always been a title where you get to be acutely aware of exactly how close you are to the end and as that finale starts to crest there's an uneasy dread in what horror samus might face yet her determination hold steady the song is tragic and heroic triumphant and somber it's unquestionably Metroid maybe that's why I have flash of familiarity said in it's been so long since I was last year that the details have faded to me but the layout of this section an inconceivably enormous vertical space wrapped around Criss crossing tunnels with hallways branching off to super-powered Metroid's even years later this place is still burned in my memory and the space code actually works in the remake area v was enormous even on the Game Boy and Samus returns again expands on that layout unfortunately this is where the seams started to show a little early on it seemed like pushing forward in any direction was a guaranteed dead end now once I found the right upgrade and started putting those pieces together it was fine but it still led to a lot of Criss crossing back and forth across the map and between elevators warps and loading screens it all got a bit tedious but to be fair area 5 does pack a lot into a short period of time and one of the upgrades you find allows you to do exactly that this was a few areas ago but I remember the first time I saw this place I was hyped I thought mercury steen was gonna bring back my beloved speed booster not this time no instead samus's fourth and final aeon ability is revealed to be well time break samus can slow down time for everything but herself so I guess from the perspective of her enemies this might as well be the speed booster and I don't really care for this one the other Aeon powers have obstacles built for them but they also offer utility outside of those circumstances the phased rift on the other hand is really only useful in these strictly built pass/fail obstacles and the game often does a poor job signaling that you're gonna need it before you fall through the floor meaning that's something that should save time really just wastes it I guess it makes aiming encountering a little easier but this late in the game it's not like you the crutch it might have been nice of it let you get a few more shots in but if you counter a boss the phase drift just shuts itself off honestly this was the one Aion ability that i didn't remember it all until i got it it's used so sparingly that it doesn't attract anything but it's not interesting enough to be memorable what makes the contrast even clearer is that the optional upgrade puzzles that I'm coming across at this point in the game really are putting the range of the rest of samus's arsenal to great use in other words the phase drift might be a wet down but at least everything else makes up for it given how offensive enemies are in Samus Returns and how much damage they can sponge to this point the plasma beam has never felt so dominant and before the awesomeness of that could even settle in I found the screw attack end well the visual effect leaves a lot to be desired this time but still with these two upgrades combined the idea that I'd even need to melee anything has become more of a suggestion at one time I could barely put up a fight against these guys then I could take him down but only with careful positioning and Aon powers and now late in the game my normal attack just rips and tears right through them god I've missed Metroid in fact I might be a little bit too overpowered during the production of this episode I got tremendously sick for over a week between the last area and this one so you'd think coming back to the game I might be a little rusty instead this is the first section in a long time where I didn't die once the Metroid's are a cakewalk it's not a bad thing it's exhilarating to plow through fights that used to stop me dead in my tracks but I know it can't last I learned my lesson earlier Samus Returns is lifting me up booing my spirits just so we can pull the rug out from under me and I can't wait to see what it's got in store it's finally here the final state of metroid evolution this is the omega of metroid look at the rage look at the threat the variability of attacks no I've gotta fight on my hand it's over huh well I love the design of the Omega it's an imposing presence that Samus is just too capable at this point for it to really matter it Telegraph's every attack it does at a snail's pace and without much mobility the space camp gives you dodging has no problem I walk into this room with barely a tank of energy left but somehow even that didn't do me the Omega has one of those quote unquote attacks where it's really just saying your comfort is very important to us why not recover some help with our sweet of refreshing power-ups I'm gonna say though this is still an enjoyable fight it's fun to play and it's well-designed it's just not as difficult as I would expect it to be at this point in the game or even as difficult as what's come before I guess it helps that I vaguely remember how to do this but now that really wasn't helping me earlier in the game but still I guess I am coming at this from the perspective of someone who's beaten the game at the highest difficulty and that raises one of my biggest criticisms of Samus Returns and it's not even something within the game which is exactly the problem let me explain Nintendo is still deep in the throes of the amiibo craze in 2017 but regardless of how cool this set is to look at well in most games amiibo can unlock skins our bonuses are like early access to something you can get anyway Samus returns on the other hand features the most useful robust awesome suite of amiibo functionality in any game that's not entirely based around them and that's not really a good thing scanning the three Samus figures unlocks a reserve tank upgrade and access to either an art gallery or a sound test none of that is unlockable any other way also they're tied individually to these features but you know you could make the argument that those are really just bonuses they're nice to have but they're not something intrinsic to the total package maybe this little guy right here is the real problem the metroid can be scanned at any time during the game to mark one of his brethren on your map but that ain't even the half of it the Metroid amiibo is also ridiculously the only way to unlock fusion mode and you know what it was worth it to me I love these figures I love playing a Samus and the fusion suit and I love fusion mode but the fact remains that something this substantial this necessary is locked behind a separate physical figure I mean literally the menu gives you normal hard and amiibo then permanently Cain does that to Fusion once you scan this thing and I wouldn't mind so much if the Metroid just let you unlock the mode early or if the fusion mode was just cosmetic but it's not this really is the toughest challenge the game offers and you can't earn it you can't even see it unless you track down one of these this is inexcusable it was inexcusable when the game came out - but at least you could actually find the figures of retail back then now if you want to play fusion mode let's just see yep like an emo or great and all but I'm real glad this game didn't set a precedent but let's move from one controversy to another it's time for all of Samus Returns foreshadowing to pay off this is the digger not an ancient mining robot slash metal gear that was left behind by the chozo oh so that's why I could pierce her armor it's also kozo tech Samus accidentally woke it up much earlier in the game and it's been crossing her ever since Metroid is no stranger to heavy foreshadowing but it's never been taken quite so far but then Metroid has never had a boss fight like this either bosses in 2d Metroid including Samus Returns tend to be damaged sponges with specific weak points that you can hypothetically hit at any time it's old-school game design move correctly and well do not die but the juggernaut is a more modern boss design that progresses through a bevy of different phases as the fight goes on you've got to figure out how to create an opening that'll allow you to hit him where it hurts the trickiest part of this comes right here it seems like it's just repeating an attack pattern and offering you no obvious chance to hit back but all throughout the game I've been dealing with these vacuum that suck-up morph bombs in fact I had just seen one in the previous room so after a few cycles I noticed huh this vacuum sucks things up the same way the problem is a lack of conveyance digger not used the vacuum earlier in the fight too and all I had to do then was dodge it but now it uses the exact same attack and since you've seen it before it's a much greater leap to realize that you need to do something other than dodge uh so I did not remember until I was writing this that I could have just used the spider ball to keep santa's planted and made things way easier on myself but that's sort of the point I'm getting at through this entire fight hitting Tigger or not is tricky it demands a degree of finesse and awareness of your abilities that Metroid usually saves for its puzzle rooms but if Tigger not should hit you while you're trying to process all that it hits so hard and wreaks so much damage then it can fall into the trial and error style of something like cuphead this is not a place that Metroid usually goes and I get why pardon the pun it's not everyone's cup of tea but what can I say jerking full-speed into a brick wall over and over and over until I finally inevitably triumphantly break through is distinctly my cup of tea even though I've beaten it before it still took me half a dozen tries to break through but then I'm the kind of idiot who completely misses the point of getting over it and has a genuinely good time with that game so of course I think Digger not lived up to the hype the game did a phenomenal job building the danger this boss posed up to insurmountable levels and then giving you the opportunity to claw and scrape and fight to overcome it the game earns this Samus earns this and most importantly you earn this it's so freakin cool with that piece of business out of the way Sammis finally takes back our Powerball but big Ranaut's corpse is still trapping her in here well when on sr388 do as the Metroid's do the power bomb has always been the most volatile move in the OL arsenal but in this game you can combine it with the spider ball to do something unexpected we might not have gotten the shinespark but that just makes me appreciate this even more it's called the Mac & Co the macaca Koch ah the screw it power bobcat on but as cool as it might be there may be an it to pick here the fact that you can do this is not revealed when you get the power bombs and it's not listed as an ability in the status screen in every other instance the game gives you the tools and leaves you to discover their function but here's Samus returns for an eggs on that promise it's great to combine samus's abilities in such a novel way but a power bomb has never affected samus's movement any more than a regular bomb even in this game so it is quite a leap of logic to expect that it might cause her to fly off like a rocket but only if he's stuck to something I don't think I'd have ever figured it out on my own I mean I had to look it up what saves it from being more than a nitpick is that at least it's not needed for progression you only have to use it to reach six optional upgrades so while I can see that being a speed bump for completionists I don't know I think it's neat it reminds me of making Bob arrows and Link's Awakening getting the Hadouken in Mega Man X or I guess more applicable the crystal flash and Super Metroid you're unlikely to find out about it on your own it spreads via word of mouth and there's something kind of romantic and nostalgic about that games don't can really do this anymore aside from spider stalking around the map well area 7 has another phenomenal music track but unfortunately all it really features beyond that is more of the same enemy variety was never Metroid to strong suit and while Samus Returns was doing pretty well earlier kinda takes a dive forward the end the same couple of enemy types introduced hours ago are still all I'm running into though except now some of them have shiny variants meaning you can't melee them thrilling and most unfortunately the Metroid's have run into the same issue is the rest of the enemies which sucks because for almost the entire game they were these tough interesting worthy challenges fought in unique locations their power scaling with your own until your skill and samus's abilities can outpace and overwhelm them they go from being obstacles to overcome to meaningful indications of how far you've come then they would evolve and the process would start again and it all culminates in three more omegas all thought in the exact same sort of arena is the first all with the exact same abilities all soaking up just as much damage without the novelty of a new fight to fall back on in other words it's freaking tedious to fight the same easy prolonged boss three times in a row the only solace is that at least it's just three fights and that omegas are done but come on the whole games been building to this point and I just think something could have been done to make them more killer or less filler maybe you fight him in different conditions or case them down through the central section of the area instead of just keeping them confined to a room or you can even fight the last two is a pair between the repetitive enemies and repetitive bosses area 7 feels a little bit ramshackle but hey I guess a little downtime isn't the worst thing in the world with the Omegas finished off samus's job is almost done the last metroid is all that's left we all know that statement is not true all through the game samus's actions have been forcing that counter lower and lower and it's finally down to one and he thinks it's over the rug is pulled out from under her what in the world could make that number go up what could make more Metroid's the metroid queen and she will put nearly every ability Samus has and every skill you've built to the test keep grounded with a spider ball stay airborne with a space stone knock her back with the power bomb cannon then grapple beam her face into the dirt switch on the Lightning armor and that's just the first round it only gets harder from there the Queen is a long arduous fight but it's exhausting and nerve-wracking in the best way because when it pays off that never gets old this is the climax and Samus returns doesn't just remake it it actualizes and enhances the feeling of it where a boss of this scale was a technical showcase for the Game Boy Samus Returns amplifies that through 26 years of gaming evolution from the moment more Metroid's are revealed the fight through the swarm and the battle with the Queen everything has been pitch perfect and when the last metroid is finally born the moment is subtle and understated it doesn't oversell how important this is because the moment speaks for itself this is the reason Metroid 2 needed to be remade the game is too critical and too special and too important to let it remain tarnished by time but when I look back on Metroid 2 after all this time what I remember is not a grand struggle against the Metroid queen or bombastic showdowns against tough bosses know what I remember is what happens right before all that a long winding tunnel completely devoid of anything no enemies to fight no upgrades to find just you just Samus pressing forward alone in its penultimate moment the game pauses and gives the player time to reflect and by doing that with so little effort the excitement of that climax is built even higher and the payoff becomes even sweeter because when Samus finally finds the last Metroid her act of mercy is immediately followed by another winding empty tunnel the two of them make their way back up to the surface beneath the starry sky together for a game from 1991 to even recognize that it could just to pose a lonely reflective moment with one of quiet compassion to recognize the value in that was a testament to how far ahead of its time metroid 2 really was unconventional forward-thinking avantgarde all of this would come to define the metroid series in Sammis returns the title before the queen is lousy with dozens of enemies all of which you've already fought dozens of times so numerous that the thought of taking a breath would never even occur to you know there are upgrades to find a on powers to use obstacles to overcome it's indistinguishable from the rest of the game heck it's even reusing graphics how about that last tunnel but the baby metroid the environment looks perfect the music is perfect but for some reason the game still can't help but dump enemies all over the map in a moment that should be so serene and reflective you're still fighting the same old fight this memorable moment that carried so much significance has been turned into a section of the map so ordinary that if I'd never played Metroid 2 I wouldn't have even thought to mention it and given what samus returns is about to do that is a damn shame this should be the most tremendous raucous shocking moment in Sammis returns and if the game had let you breathe made you put your guard down led you to believe that the fight was over then it would have been but instead the actual build-up is you fight through yet another horde of enemies while ill-fitting victory music plays then walk by a set of totally inauspicious recharge points then you step out into a world not under a starry night sky but one blanketed by gloomy emerald thunder clouds as the music turns dark and sinister so really going up doesn't land as any kind of surprise it's more like oh my could it be it is Vince Russo had struck again what a swerve this exemplifies the difference between return of Samus and Samus Returns the remake introduces all kinds of new gameplay mechanics and modern flourishes and for the most part it pulls that stuff off with aplomb but tonally atmospherically fundamentally samus Returns does not feel like Metroid 2 I go so far as to say that in moments like this it has completely missed the point is if the remake lacks understanding our reverence for what it's even a remake of to put that another way Samus Returns is not another Metroid 2 remake I wanted to put as much distance as I could between myself and a m2r before I made this episode I haven't touched it I haven't watched my own episode about it I've tried not to think about it because I knew that if I was too hasty I wouldn't be able to help but compare this officially-licensed remake to that decade plus labor of love and it'd be hard to judge Nintendo's effort on its own merits but when it comes to this tongue this moment this poignant epilogue I have no choice but to compare am ii are a remake that nailed it - samus returns a remake that did not the dichotomy of these two completely different approaches to modernizing metroid 2 is fascinating my initial read on metroid 2 was that of a swashbuckling action-adventure to take down the Metroid's my perspective was Daved by a lifelong love of game like that it's what appealed to me about Metroid 2 so that's what I saw in it I would be enlightened by some wonderful commenters this one in particular who pointed out that in all my excitement Ferb happy fun times with video games I had missed the tone the game was going for through that prism return of Samus was not a bombastic romp it was a tempting filled adventure that wordlessly yet effectively communicated why executing this scourge seemed like such a necessity all of which makes samus's actions in the end all the more merciful of course this is still a 1991 gameboy game it's open to interpretation and I don't see anything wrong with appreciating it as both a challenging exciting action game and a progressive example of subtextual storytelling but am to ours seem to strive for balance in those perspectives it was reverential to its source material in a way that rarely rings true without the passion and devotion of fandom while Samus returns falls back on the same couple of repetitive enemies I am to are incorporates so much more of the series lore especially elements from fusion for incredible fan service that fits a.m. to are evolved Metroid 2 without losing sight of what made it special Samus returns on the other hand seems more in line with my initial read of the game it is a far more action-packed and challenge focused take on the 2d Metroid formula while a m2r strives to represent all the best elements of what came before Samus Returns strives for something new and it should try something new you remember I said earlier unconventional forward-thinking avant-garde Metroid games have always endeavored to be contemporary in terms of its in universe world building and storytelling in terms of mechanics and gameplay nothing is nostalgic for its own sake isn't that why Metroid Prime was so revered retro studios ignored conventional wisdom and mixed a perspective associated with high-octane shooters with complexity and world building of an adventure game the result was a revolutionary title that seemed at least a generation ahead of its time Super Metroid took the established framework of its predecessors and evolved those concepts further than perhaps any other game of its era fusion was willing to corrupt that formula and stand on its own zero mission wasn't afraid to wonder what if what if the original Metroid had come out 18 years later than it actually did the result didn't look the same didn't feel the same didn't play the same was not totally the same but it was a worthy successor all the same Samus Returns may be a remake but it is not a throwback just like another game with Returns in the title it is bold enough to try to make Metroid magic again that'd be commendable in any age even more so when the series has been gone this long even more so at a time when pop culture is practically defined by nostalgia because here's the thing for all I've said about how poorly Sammis returns represents the tone of the game that it's remaking and what a disservice that does to his climactic moments and its final surprise the actual gameplay of that fight is exceptional if digger not was a great example of a non-traditional Metroid boss fight then Ridley quite appropriately is a modern take on the old school I don't think he's ever felt so dangerous so enraged so unhinged you have to be just as tenacious dodging his attacks and returning fire because a single misstep can wreck you the arena itself is enormous and given samus's vertical maneuverability you're both free to take to the skies to evade and fight the battle progresses through three distinct phases and as it goes on Ridley Steen and his onslaught become more and more frenzied the phases are split up with brutal flashy cutscenes depicting Samus getting waylaid by Ridley only to be saved by the Metroid itself from that point on it starts actually helping her out in the fight and that is such a perfect heartwarming detail I love this little guy more than ever and I don't know how I'm ever gonna play through super again read Lee's appearance even serve something of a narrative purpose breaking the gap between his metaphase and the prime trilogy and his return to pure organics and super which paid finally Canon eise's the prime trilogy although wait crap the Power Grip isn't listening the upgrade menu so Bowie looks like this one song cannon - for real though this is my favorite ridley fight and maybe even my favorite overall boss fight in the entire Metroid series Samus returns definitely doesn't capture the same atmosphere of the game it's remaking and even misses the point of some of its most special moments but there is more to Metroid than ambience challenge combat tension release gameplay this is where Samus returns focuses and this is where it excels I'm sure it helps of course that all of these things have a ton of overlap with what I personally like about video games I can appreciate the atmosphere and the storytelling and all that but I'm always here for the gameplay now status Returns does stumble in places even on that front repetitive enemies and uneven difficulty curve complex controls and a melee counter that yes could stand to be a little more interesting just like the original Metroid - it does a lot of new things but comes out with a few rough edges and just like Metroid 2 a sequel in this style could soar up every last one of them and then some and man I hope we get a sequel man I hope it's not a remake come on it's been 18 years since Metroid 4 it's way past time for Metroid 5 whether am 2r or Samus returns as the better game is of course a matter of opinion and while I know which way I'm leaning it's something I'll figure out when I finally play am - Oregon but squabbling over which remake is better is quite frankly uninteresting to me what I'm sure of is something more valuable the worst thing Samus returns could have been is a lesser version of the same thing but Samus Returns is not another Metroid 2 remake and it is not just another Metroid game but that's exactly what has made this series what it is it doesn't get any more Metroid thank you all so much for watching and I hope you enjoyed the episode please consider backing the patreon or tipping me on PayPal if you're in a position to do so stay safe and best wishes to everyone and until next season you keep geeking I'll keep critiquing [Music] the worst things amis returns could

Channel: The Geek Critique

Views: 362,433

Keywords: The Geek Critique, TGC, Geek Critique, Josh Wallen, metroid, super metroid, samus, samus aran, fusion suit samus, fusion suit, review, critique, analysis, game analysis, samus returns, nintendo 3ds, new 3ds, metroid samus returns, metroid 2, metroid ii, return of samus, yoshio sakamoto, nintendo, 2017, metroid samus

Id: RdGo321MBD0

Length: 62min 58sec (3778 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Ehresman22]

I just finished watching it. I'm a big fan of his Metroid series, and I was so excited to see it in my YouTube notifications. I'm glad to see it on this subreddit. Content like this is a light in the dark tunnel of Prime 4 delays.

[u/mtzehvor]

Talking about coming out of a Metroid dark age kinda hurts given how long it's been since Prime 4 news...

Really good video overall, though. Nice to see some positivity surrounding SR.

[u/LordJagoti]

Came here to post this, glad it already was! The Geek Critique's Metroid series is a personable, well-written, and insightful retrospective. Don't sleep on it!

[u/Sphere_Kuribon]

This video was cool. I started playing the game on Citra with the hack he talked about, and it's been pretty fun. Being able to just bind touch inputs to a single button press is great.

[u/SheevSyndicate]

Huh, I never thought he’d really do that.

I look forward to watching.

A surprise to be sure but a welcome one.

[u/Fire-LEO-4_Rynex]

TGC is one of my favorite youtubers

[u/tidusleon_7]

there is a pinned comment that helped me have a better understanding for this game, a game I already loved just got better now that I understand the metroids and chozo better. I never see anyone talking about how the chozo MADE the metroids to fight off the x-perasits (mostly because they are in 1 game). having the foresight to add the detail (IE the end cavern having enemies) was so subtle I didn't notice it until I saw that comment.