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Metroid Prime 4: Beyond (Switch 2): COMPLETED!

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While I’m a big fan of 2D Metroid games, and I did enjoy the first Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2 just left me cold and so I never played the third game. Oh, and Hunters was terrible. As a result, I did not rush out and buy Metroid Prime 4 at launch like I did with Metroid Dread. I did, however, get bought it as a present recently.

I was worried it would be incredibly hard (like Prime 1), and concerned the Samus Onna Bike bits would be terrible because those bits certainly looked terrible, but, actually, I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from a few times on some of the bosses, I didn’t die. I remember one of the later bosses on Prime 1 in particular taking about a billion attempts and when I did finally beat it I was down to almost no health, so I’m glad it wasn’t like that at all. No, the real “difficulty” was more in finding where to go than most of the battles, and one of the soldiers you rescue early on (annoyingly, it has to be said) helps with not getting lost most of the time. As for the bike, it’s OK. Completely unnecessary, adds nothing to the game bar making the game a bit longer as there’s a sizable desert to criss-cross hundreds of times which only seems to exist to have somewhere to use the bike. ANYWAY.

The gameplay, the graphics, the performance, the power-ups, the exploration, however, are all excellent. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable adventure from start to finish. It’s just missing a little something. Maybe it’s the rubbish Big Bad, and lack of other Metroid baddies like Ridley or Kraid or Mother Brain. Maybe it’s the slightly soulless desert. Maybe, just maybe, it’s that Metroid is intrinsically better in 2D than in 3D? It’s by no means a bad game at all, it’s just not quite the game Dread is.

Metroid Zero Mission (Switch): COMPLETED!

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An actual Metroid Metroidvania game! Released on the Switch Game Boy Advance Online Service Thing presumably to tie in with the re-announcement (and gameplay footage) of the upcoming Metroid Prime 4, I thought, why the hell not eh?

It’s good. Oh so good. Yes, I’ve played it before, but almost 20 years ago so I remembered very little of it. In fact, I’d even forgotten about the whole “zero suit” bit where Samus loses her armour and you have to sneak around a Space Pirate ship with a weedy little gun. A bit which inspired the whole premise of Metroid Dread, I’m sure, but still – totally forgot it. And didn’t really enjoy that section too much either, truth be told, but it’s fine as it’s only about 15 minutes of the whole game.

The rest of Zero Mission is glorious ‘vania exploration and traversal and it hasn’t really aged either. Being a GBA game, it’s a shame nothing was done to make use of the Switch’s extra buttons as some of the moves are a little tricky using just ABLR. Specifically, swapping between missiles and super missiles has to be done with the Select button, which on the Switch is next to your left hand, not your right like on a GBA, so that’s a minor pain. You only really need them for Mother Brain though.

What I also hadn’t remembered, is how bloody easy the game is. I’m used to Metroid games, and the genre generally, being pretty difficult. At least, more difficult than this. I died once. On Mother Brain if you’re interested. Perhaps it’s just because I’ve played a lot of these games recently, or I was especially careful here, but I was very surprised at how easy I found it.

Metroid Zero Mission (Switch): COMPLETED!

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An actual Metroid Metroidvania game! Released on the Switch Game Boy Advance Online Service Thing presumably to tie in with the re-announcement (and gameplay footage) of the upcoming Metroid Prime 4, I thought, why the hell not eh?

It’s good. Oh so good. Yes, I’ve played it before, but almost 20 years ago so I remembered very little of it. In fact, I’d even forgotten about the whole “zero suit” bit where Samus loses her armour and you have to sneak around a Space Pirate ship with a weedy little gun. A bit which inspired the whole premise of Metroid Dread, I’m sure, but still – totally forgot it. And didn’t really enjoy that section too much either, truth be told, but it’s fine as it’s only about 15 minutes of the whole game.

The rest of Zero Mission is glorious ‘vania exploration and traversal and it hasn’t really aged either. Being a GBA game, it’s a shame nothing was done to make use of the Switch’s extra buttons as some of the moves are a little tricky using just ABLR. Specifically, swapping between missiles and super missiles has to be done with the Select button, which on the Switch is next to your left hand, not your right like on a GBA, so that’s a minor pain. You only really need them for Mother Brain though.

What I also hadn’t remembered, is how bloody easy the game is. I’m used to Metroid games, and the genre generally, being pretty difficult. At least, more difficult than this. I died once. On Mother Brain if you’re interested. Perhaps it’s just because I’ve played a lot of these games recently, or I was especially careful here, but I was very surprised at how easy I found it.

Metroid Fusion (Switch): COMPLETED!

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Like Minish Cap, Metroid Fusion is a GBA game I haven’t played for a very, very long time. Also like Minish Cap, I have it on my 3DS, also unplayed. But let me not talk of what I haven’t played, for this appeared on Switch Online and I did play it.

Metroid Fusion is a more linear than usual Metroid title. That’s not to say there isn’t any backtracking or hidden things, more that it’s very hand-holdy and you’re told where to go (usually exactly) frequently, and sometimes even how to get there, so random exploration isn’t really a part of it. What is a part of it, however, is often getting stuck somewhere with seemingly no way of getting out, and it is only by bombing and shooting everything in sight and trying to climb into walls which don’t obviously show they’re hollow, that you escape. Or at least, that’s what happened to me. A lot.

Wonder what ate that?

It’s also quite a lot easier than most Metroid games, and certainly easier than I remember it being. Apart from Nightmare, who was a right old pain and I’m pretty sure I fluked it past him. Oh yes, I knew how to hit him, but avoiding him seemed completely impossible to plan for and somersaulting around him (shades of one of the Dread bosses there) was tricky because of his erratic movement and the lack of space. Those Core-X things that come out after bosses that also need defeating caught me out a few times too.

Nightmare. And he was.

I can never remember if it’s Fusion or Zero that is supposed to be the “good” one. I thought they both were, but one was more loved than the other? Well, this is certainly excellent so if Zero is better, I can’t wait for that to appear on the Switch Online service at some point.

Metroid Dread (Switch): COMPLETED!

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It’s been a long time coming, but I have filled this last year or two with many, many Metroidvania games in preparation. Even though I didn’t know it was coming. Of course I ordered it instantly.

And, it was really good. I didn’t expect otherwise, but people were very down on Metroid: Other M and I never really got into that myself either. It was lacking the Metroid lonely atmosphere, I think. Too many other people. Lots of chat. Not quite 2D. It was just a bit off in so many ways. But not here.

There’s a story which attempts to tie into the lore of previous games and references events in them, but ultimately it doesn’t matter as the outcome is the same as it ever was – Samus lands on a planet, some reason for her losing all her powers is concocted, and you then spend the rest of the game reacquiring them, which each opening up new areas of the map. It’s a good job they were all hidden in the exact order and locations they were otherwise you’d have no chance!

Samus is very quick, and has many different moves. These combine to form a slight issue in that the controls are a bit complicated, with often having to use the triggers as kind of shift modifiers, and this results in some moves and combos requiring use of the stick and three or even four buttons at the same time. My old brain can’t cope with that so often I’d be pressing the wrong things, thankfully rarely causing major problems or death. Still frustrating, though!

While I’m mentioning problems with the game, I should mention how easy it was. Previous Metroid games have been (for me) really difficult, especially the bosses, but Dread was was very, very easy. Only the end boss caused me headaches and even then, after a few attempts, I’d managed to see the attacks coming and knew how to best deal with them, so beat him virtually unscathed – eventually.

The EMMI sections, where you had to run and hide from evil robots, were also a problem. They were not fun, and often it would be random if you managed to make it through their designated area as they seemed to spawn in different places. They were like an unwanted gear-change, and didn’t really fit into the game.

Thankfully, none of these negatives really stopped me really enjoying Metroid Dread. Samus slowly becoming an unstoppable beast is, like most games in the genre, the big draw, and the exploration and puzzles are both great. It’s not a perfect game, but it is a fantastic one.