I stumbled across this Metroid II (I really meant AM2R) video in my suggestions. It makes sense that this would be put in front of me since just two days ago I just finished the 6 hour retrospective by "I Finished a Video Game"...which took me 7 nights to finally finish. Of course it was fantastic but 7 nights to finish a video is a lot to ask busy adults. When I saw this was only 30 ish minutes, I decided to give it a go since I could finish it fairly quickly. This is definitely "the short version", but was so well done I decided to check out what else you've got going on with the Best/Worst NES game. After that one I decided to be your Newest subscriber. Videos with this kind of effort and quality, whether I agree or not with the assessment, get an automatic A+ for the work and presentation. I wish more people understood how much that really does help the algorithm for someone's channel and even if they choose not to subscribe for some reason, it literally costs them nothing. Looking forward to checking out more as time permits!
Great video, I absolutely love AM2R. For me it's always a tie for my favorite Metroid game between Super, Fusion, AM2R and Dread. All of these titles do something different the best and I always find it difficult to decide what I care about the most. If you're curious: Super - Freedom, exploration and discovery. Fusion - Story, music and atmosphere. AM2R - 100% completion, secrets/puzzles and variety. Dread - Character movement, combat and boss fights.
So far none of the reviews of the gameboy iteration have mentioned that the metroid queen comes out of nowhere. The manual shows you each of the evolutionary stages of the metroids making you think the omegas are the pinnacle of metroid development. She was a shocking boss that threw me off playing this as a kid.
In a website saturated with gaming content, I feel like this channel has the capacity and potential to stand out. The way you talk about/review games has a story telling vibe where the experience you relay feels more in depth how the game feels rather than how it plays. I like that a lot. Please keep making more videos ❤
I loved AM2R and still remember first downloading it. I remember first seeing its development, I remember demos that go up to when you get super missiles. It was everything I wanted in a Metroid 2 remake. I wish I had that sort of enthusiasm for the official remake. At some point, I just came to the conclusion that I wasn't having fun and just put it down, never to pick it back up again. I was cautiously optimistic for Dread when it was first announced. On a first playthrough, I thought it was alright and at least fixed some issues from MercurySteam's first outing. And then I watched speedruns and realized that Dread was more open than I thought and the skill ceiling was higher than I thought. I came back for a second playthrough, armed with the skills from my first playthrough and the extra knowledge from those early speedruns. It was such a different experience, to the point that I felt things truly click as Dread became my new favorite Metroid game. I might not like Samus Returns, but I respect it as the stepping stone that let Dread be as great as it is.
I played the mobile version of AM2R and it was a masterpiece then proceed to emulate super metroid, zero mission, and fusion on my phone. Now I'm still playing prime 1 on my phone while finishing prime 3 on a pc.
Funny thing is, it wasn't until I was like in my 20s that I even heard of using the ball to get in the queens mouth and bombing. My whole childhood I beat it the old fashioned way. Hope for mouth opens so I could stun it and spam as fast as my little fingers could go. Would still screw attack the projectiles. Didn't have Nintendo Power, can't even imagine calling a 900 help line and barely anyone I knew had a Gameboy, never mind Metroid 2. Was still fun as hell and I feel like my way has to have been more satisfying given how many tries it took to get it killed the first time. Also, imagine my surprise when I starting getting better times on subsequent play-throughs and the ending changed!
It's important to mention that Nintendo didn't push their cease & desist until the day after AM2R released, letting it be on the internet long enough to make it impossible to take off.
I like to imagine that that was Nintendo's compromise. That they on some level knew that once it was out there, it couldn't be entirely killed, so they let it be until then. I know that that probably wasn't the case, but there's still the part of me that has some kind of hope there.
@@alexbubble6952 Technically speaking, I'm pretty sure they HAVE to take some form of legal action in order to keep control of their IP rights, so it was inevitable that they would C&D it. So the fact that they waited until after definitely seems more intentional to me, as it was very well known even before release so it would have been on their radar well before release. I think that had the game come out earlier before SR got into development then they likely would have taken longer, but the unfortunate issue of the fan game coming out the same time likely made it harder to turn a blind eye. This, and the fact that the developer himself isn't upset, makes me believe that Nintendo was being as kind as they could be, so I'll never be upset by their decision because we still got the game anyways.
Never Player am2r, My First Metroid Ever was The 3DS Remake and as a beginner it was Great pleasure to Play it and so comfy. I‘m a Fan of Easy Game experience, I really Understand your Points, but i think the Remake managed to give new players a good, challenging and interesting start into the franchise of Even Metroidvanias. And the End of the Game: oof, so Perfect. Keep up the good Work 👌🏽
If you didn't know when the queen metroid bites you down you can go into your morph ball and use a power bomb just like the originalbut when it's dead it's corpse is spread everywhere it was literally the coolest moment in the entire game and probably the entire series
I don't really understand som of your issues with Samus Returns (3DS), a lot of the complaints you bring up are problems that the original, heck almost every, Metroid game has had. (I don't consider them issues; it mainly comes down to meticulous exploration.) You just seem to be more used to Metroid II (GB), and therefore don't find it particularly obtuse.
You do know you there is 360 degree aim right? It is one thing to critizise a game for being clunky, but another thing to not use a basic funktion and then complain that it feels clunky.
I don't think he was using Ice Beam either as he said it was only used for freezing enemies in place to get to other places. I'll give him some slack here though because if you don't know some of the Metroid lore, you probably wouldn't think of doing this. I think combat gets a lot more fun later on too with Zeta and Omega Metroids along with Diggernaut the Queen and final boss which force you to think outside the box to beat them.
my take away here is that dark skin white hair samus takes a strong number 2 spot for me, under the perfect green hair strawberry leotard samus, but significantly above the traditional blonde look
I didn't expect much from a video essay on Metroid II (2) made by a youtuber I'd never heard of before...turns out I was completely wrong. This is the best thing I've watched about Metroid II and its remakes, and one of the best takes I think I've seen on "Metroid" anything. Cynical, critical, personal, effusive...words. I didn't think I was keen to revisit AM2R for a third time, but now I'm seriously considering it, and I'm even kind of interested in the original now too. I'm not quite as negative on the design of Samus Returns as you, but yeah that felt like a misfire on most levels. It's probably a good thing you dropped the game because you would have had to reckon with some things you would have likely hated. (Do or don't look up the later parts of the game, that's up to you) So yeah, fantastic video!
Man, so above all, great video, well edited. Entitled to your opinion. Really wish there were more reviews that mentioned the Ice Beam is actually kino in SR. or in most games tbh. This happens in Prime as well and it annoys me. The Beam missile Combo works on pretty much everything not just Metroids. AND also you can use the counter button to smash frozen enemies. It feels way better to do in Dread but it's in both games. Sorry that just triggers me every time, and I prefer it to the beam being stacked because it feels boring in terms of combat options imo. Samus Returns' combat is actually super deep and there's things about it I am kinda sad Dread simplified in terms of the weapon switching. Anyway rant over sorry you had to be on the receiving end of that lmao.
I played Metroid 2 on the virtal console, really wished i played with better colors but it was a nice ride trying to get through it all. Am2r is definitely my most replayed because its so fun woth the randomizer, samus returns (despite its flaws and bad changes at the end cause why cant it be a night sky until ridley shows up) is a nice playthrough that i can go back to every so often. Chozo ruins best theme, idc if it hurts my ears it goes so well in memes
I must admit I had a completely different experience with Samus Returns. Not that your points aren't valid, they were just issues that I never ran into for the most part.
I wish more people cared about pacing these days. Its so hard for me to get into a lot of modern games because players have conditioned themselves to think that if a game doesnt meet some arbitrary length then they "didnt get their money's worth", so devs just start stuffing the game with unnecessary padding. Ironically Ive spent so many more hours in AM2R than Samus Returns despite being a shorter game.
Nintendo took a heavy bullet If they hired m64 and his team they could have had an absolute banger on the 3ds and switch but once something gets online It's virtually impossible to scrub
It’s really a shame that Metroid 2 is the weak link in the mainline series, because in terms of the overarching plot of the series, it’s one of the more interesting, and actually the most important game in the series. Samus sparing the baby at the end launches Super’s plot, and her annihilation of the Metroids release the X to terrorize her in Fusion and Dread. It’s really cool stuff, but I’m way less inclined to play either official iteration of 2 than any other game in the series (besides the NES original I guess). It’s kind of fascinating how close to great it is, and how it just misses the mark both times. As for AM2R, I only played it once, I really need to revisit it. For some reason it didn’t really stick with me but I know it was really polished.
Same for me. AM2R had some neat stuff in it, but otherwise didn't feel too special outside of the fact that it was well-made for a fan game. I also think that the reused assets make the game not feel like SR388, but just Zebes again. Granted I played it all the way back at it's release and don't remember it too well, but I beat the GB game last year and finally beat SR this week so those are more fresh in my mind. SR is neat but I'm so glad I played Dread first because if I played SR first I may have been more hesitant to even try Dread, its such a big improvement over SR. The GB game was surprisingly memorable and fun. It has a lot more charm than you'd expect given its limitations (and how the first 2 areas kinda blend together and are the hardest to navigate because of repetitive room designs). It has a lot of memorable gimmick sections too, like when you go into a pipe and it leads through the foreground of other areas (which really impressed on a graphical level for the time). Or the fight agains a beta in a room full of respawning blocks (I'd assume they are sand or vines?). Or how the later areas have mostly mechanical enemies and the final area has NO enemies outside of the Metroids. Showing how this is their lair and they have eaten all life in it. SR occasionally has room layouts that call back to ones in the GB game, but I noticed that the Pipe that was so memorable is now just a normal tunnel that isn't in the foreground but actually splits the room in half, making it hard to tell it was even meant to be referencing it at first, and making it no different than any other tunnel. The sand or vines that filled rooms and constantly refilled are missing entirely, even if they were annoying in the original I still would have liked to see something similar. Other references aren't as good either, like the Chozo Statue being destroyed is now pure happenstance because of a mining robot sucking it up, in the original it wasn't clear if it was just so old, or a Metroid try to hide the item because it saw it as a threat, but it was subtle and interesting. But maybe its because I don't like the Mining robot boss. Overall, SR is fine, but I think it lacks the charm of the original, and often ruins what the original did, like having enemies EVERYWHERE which makes the game a bit of a slog and actively ruins the final area, especially the moment where you take the Metroid back to the surface where you get to hang out with the baby with the cute music for a bit. Its filled with the same enemies that are throughout the whole game (whereas the GB one has much more variety and less repetitive encounters) that detract from the moment (especially as you are likely at 0 HP because of the fight, in the original it felt like you were limping back to the ship after the hard boss fight as the Metroid helps you get there). Personally I hate almost all the boss fights as they are as repetitive as the original, yet they also take even longer because they are constantly in invulnerable states that you have to wait around until they become vulnerable again. While the OG made it possible to just spam missiles until they are dead, making it easier overtime as you get used to their patterns. Even the new bosses suck, the mining Robot goes on way to long and has too much waiting around. there is also fewer moments to speed up the boss fights. The mining robot can suck up bombs, but that is required later so I don't even know if it does much for that specific phase where its optional. The Queen Metroid fight has no way to deal with the attacks to make it easier, the floating orbs can't be screw attacked or Power Bombed, the wind blowing can't be counteracted with the time slowing or neutralized with the shielding (the fire wall's damage goes through the Aether gauge too quickly) and even rolling under the Queen doesn't remove the blowback effect despite the fact that it come from her mouth which you are now behind. I also couldn't figure out how to do the swallowing and bombing her from the inside trick from the original, so if that isn't in the game then that really sucks. Also I know they had to add Meta-Ridley at the end of the game to assure people because the lie that Sakamoto hated the Prime games and made them non-canon was being spread around at the time, but I really don't find it fitting at all, especially when he is in top form mere hours from now to steal the baby again in Super. It might have worked better at the beginning of the game instead of the ending, so there is time between him being defeated and then him defeating you on Ceres Station. I have a few other issues with it here and there, but the thing is that I remember a lot of that being issues I had in AM2R as well, though probably not to the same extent. Its unfortunate that there isn't a version of Metroid 2 that feels perfect. The OG GB game is the definitive experience to me for some reason, like I can't beat Metroid NES because of its age holding it back, but GB somehow hits the mark. I think its limitations are what make it's atmosphere work so well, and that helps its story. I think the remakes try too hard to remove what made it unique in order to try to make it better for modern players, but they don't radically change the level design to not make it less linear and repetitve as well. Sadly I just don't see myself ever willingly replaying any version of the game, but I am glad I got to beat the GB game.
Here's my (long) overview of the 3 games, though I can't remember much of AM2R since I played near release all those years ago. However I finally played and beat the GB original when it was released on Switch (I tried to play it in about 2010-ish but didn't get too far), and finally beat SR literally last night (perfect timing for this video apparently). GB Original: I definitely always had an interest in this game, much like the original NES game, its been something you see around here and there due to its legacy to the franchise, and has an unique style that is captivating, even though its age makes it hard to play. However, unlike Metroid 1, Metroid II was much harder for me to get to play much of it, I never got to play it myself until recently and really only saw mentions of it here and there, so it was much more mysterious despite it's importance to the overall story. I always hoped for a Zero Mission quality remake so that I'd get to experience it, but always thought that maybe the charm of it was because of limitations that wouldn't be acceptable nowadays. One day I eventually tried it out on my PC, and had fun for awhile before I ended up getting lost with only 1 HP for a while before running into a new Metroid form that killed me instantly. that was a fun experience, but I didn't think I could actually beat the game so I never went back for years. When it came out on Switch I decided to really put the effort in, and had much better luck. I really enjoyed it despite its issues. It has a surprising amount of memorable moments, and it was cool to see how well it does for controls and items that it did before Super made them popular. I was really happy when I beat it and thought that it was a great experience, though I don't think I'd be willing to play again unless I could skip through some sections. Samus Returns: This is a mixed bag, I only just now played it, but I played Dread on release. You can see how it is the start of where Dread ends up, but obviously Dread plays better. As a remake I don't really like it though, and as a standalone game its fine but I don't think I want to ever play it again (whereas I played through Dread a couple times), its too long and has a lot of annoying things to it. Too much to really write here. But something happened while I was playing it that really soured me on it. In the original there was, either in area 3 or 4, a pipe that you can go through that goes through the foreground of the entrance of the area, its a really neat effect for a GB game, so I thought it was really cool and it stuck with me since then. While playing through SR I'm rolling around in some tunnels and that leads to a vertical tunnel that is pretty tall. As I'm rolling up it I see some rooms to sides of the tunnel, and I realize that this is their version of the pipe from the original, except its literally just a tunnel that is the same as any other, and its not in the foreground so it separates the original room into 2 new ones that don't connect anymore. Essentially its completely different with the loosest connection, its nice that the game tries to allude to level designs from the original here and there, but this one was really dissapointing for me. From there I started to realize how many memorable things from the original that were missing or done way worse here. there wasn't a sandy area where the sand had filled up a room and you had to clear out the sand as it was refilling to get through the area. You don't have to release a Beta Metroid from being tangled in vines in order to fight it, while the vines were getting in the way of hitting the metroid. These are just minor things, but the remake doesn't do anything similar and that's sad, but it doesn't really replace it with anything unique on its own either. There is the fight against a giant mining robot, but I honestly hate that fight. Which is another thing, you have to do a lot of repeat fights, the original knew the best way to make that bearable is to have the fights be quick, as long as you aim properly you can just missile them repeatedly and win in seconds. In SR the Alphas are much more protected by their shell, making it harder to hit them, and they have attacks in which they can't take damage for some reason, making them take WAY longer, with no way to make them faster. ALL the bosses have massive waiting periods where you can't do anything but stand around waiting. It makes all of them worse than the original in a lot of ways. I also couldn't find out how to do the Morph ball bombing down the Queen Metroid's throat trick like in the original, so I really hope they didn't get rid of it. Speaking of which, the final Queen Metroid fight kinda sucks. I prefer the layout of the original as it gave off the idea that the QM couldn't squeeze through this hole enough to just wreck you so she has to stretch her neck to attack, but in SR she should just crush you instantly as nothing is stopping her. Its a minor thing though, but the attacks are the real problem. The Wind attack is WAY too difficult to avoid for how much damage it does. You can't even use abilities to help, as rolling behind the head doesn't protect from the wind coming from its mouth for some reason, slowing down time doesn't do anything, and the flames eat through the Aether shield (I forget all the names of the Aether abilities) too quickly to really protect you, you just have to time it PERFECTLY to avoid damage and the effort to do that will likely get you to bump into the Queen's head, which knocks you back so you aren't able to avoid the fire. Its FAR too strict. The attack where there are the floating fireballs sucks because you can't shoot them, screw attack through them, or Power Bomb them (and the shield won't last long enough either). The screen is too cramped to reliably space jump around them, especially when the QM starts shooting the fire laser that cuts off half the screen. The only way is to roll under the QM to avoid the attack entirely, but you can't damage the QM while you wait, AND this stops working halfway through the fight as the pattern changes so that her neck covers the ground forcing you to just take the entire attack. There is basically no avoiding damage here, it feels entirely unfair and I only won the fight because she never did the pattern change so I could avoid it until winning. That's just pure luck and not skill. The game itself, besides having less enemy variety like you mentioned, also sticks way too many in every room, and they respawn way too quick. Its a chore to go anywhere because the enemies slow you down constantly (and the screw attack barely helps as it can't 1-shot most enemies). Its not the biggest problem in the world, but it does make it annoying over time, especially when Metroid games are all about giving you upgrades until you are so powerful that the enemies are no longer an issue. But this game just has the same enemies in the same patterns throughout every room in the game. Its too much and too repetitive. And its SO bad that after the QM fight you don't get a break despite likely being at 0HP, in the OG you get a victory lap where you get to take the Metroid back to your ship without issue, its like you are limping back home after a hard fight and the Metroid is clearing the way for you because you are so exhausted. In SR you instantly get attacked after getting the Baby, so you better act fast before dying and having the moment ruined. I thought the enemies were there to show off the Baby protecting you by eating them, but it doesn't react at all either. So its completely pointless having the enemies there, they only serve to ruin the moment. And another thing about that is that the constant enemies contradict the point of the original game, where you have enemy wildlife in the beginning areas, then in the Chozo labs/factories you get robotic defense mechanisms mixed in, then only the robots, then you get a completely barren wasteland with no enemies because the Metroids have eaten everything and you are in their lair. Its a great moment where its eerily silent and you just got 2-3 Metroids left. then the area itself is more inhospitable with spikes everywhere. And after you kill the QM and take the Baby, you get peace and quiet, because there is no life left in that area, either the metroids or you exterminated them all. But you hear the baby chirping, and there is this cute peaceful music playing, it a great moment, and SR doesn't capture that at all. Anyways, SR is ok on its own, but its a miss as a remake and has a lot of annoyances on its own, with a lot of bloat as well. I don't remember AM2R too well, but I do remember it having a lot of the same issues to me, just maybe not as bad. I also think that both remakes tend to make SR388 look less like itself and more like Zebes 2.0, AM2R especially whereas SR isn't too bad (i'd even say it gets a pass because some areas do capture the feel of the original, or stand on its own either way). I also don't like the enemy and suit designs in SR for being too tryhard or edgy, but like how the QM looks, while in AM2R I think the everything looks fine, but the QM looks too tryhard and edgy, so I guess I just can't win. Maybe I'm just picky, but there isn't a definitive version of 2 for me, and that's dissapointing. And none of the versions feel like games I'd want to replay. Perhaps if a remake decided to just start from the ground up rather than adhere to the structure of the original, then it might be better, capturing the idea of M2 rather than remaking it. But I don't know. Its just sad that such an important part of the series doesn't have a definitive version. But again, maybe I'm just picky about this game for some reason.
you really under used the ice beam. not only are frozen enemies 1 shotted by missles but it really makes the metroid fights easier especially if u land a charged shot, it weakens them
On the subject of AM2R: I thought I was done thinking or caring about it by now. I've played it twice, and it wasn't as good for me on the second run...but I think I might be realizing that it's the closest thing to what I want Metroid to be. AM2R (IIRC) feels like one of the most "Metroid" games, but also one of the least. It has all the franchise staples, and even refines many of them, but it doesn't just rely on getting the expected stuff good. It does it's own thing, even though it never had to. Beyond just unifying aesthetic themes and hazards, the areas have distinct identities and designs, even in terms of their structure and mechanics. That's...not really something Metroid proper has been terribly good at. (can't recall the name exactly, but the Distribution Center might just be the best 2D Metroid environment) Not everything lands 100% of the time, but it takes RISKS, and with such a precious fanbase, that's really BOLD. It's not the most unique of titles, even in the Metroid franchise, but I've played full independent retail metroidvanias that are less original than AM2R. I thought 2D Metroid was basically over before watching this, but it may not be. I did play Metroid Dread, and while it was good, and certainly better than Samus Returns, it fell flat for me in a lot of ways. It's probably the most original game in the actual franchise since Metroid Prime, but it felt decidedly...not Metroid. For all its iteration and misdirection, it never hit the highs of Super, Fusion, or all the Primes (I'm the weird person who played Zero Mission once and didn't get the hype). I walked away from it feeling a bit empty, like the series I stumbled into and came to love didn't have anything else for me. Metroid, as a franchise, doesn't feel like the standard bearer for the genre anymore, though it did for years. But that's actually okay, I think. In 2024, there are so many options for playing games that are kind of like "Metroid". Some of them are really good, or even transcendent, in several ways, familiar or alien. I think the best stuff in this space is still yet to come, even if I have almost no faith that Nintendo will be willing to try, and even if it could take a good while for us to move past the ideals of "Super Metroid" or..."Hollow Knight". Also, you're evil for playing the Yoshis' Island theme over the wrap up.
Btw regardless of whether you liked SR, you REALLY should have given the game its fair shake when it comes to the final boss. I do think that is something of a blemish on this video considering how that would have added extra flavor to what each game does right and wrong. Not to mention the game's lore connection to Dread that was totally up in the air at the time. Maybe you didn't care for either of these but they're two of the most important aspects of the game even today and are what people typically refer to when arguing why they enjoyed the game. With how quick you were to write off the game as a whole it seems like a lot of its strengths just got ignored. The drill boss that i personally loved was also a standout.
Today, everyone and their moms are gamers. Back then, few people played Nintendo. Few considering todays number of gamers. 90+ % of people that played Nintendo played SMB1, maybe 2 and probably 3. Metroid NES was so niche that no one every heard of it in those days. Metroid II was so rare that you'd be lucky to find 10 kids in a 50k people city that had it.
Second comment time! I honestly loved your sections on the first and last game, but with Samus Returns… I feel like you kinda dogged on things like the Metroids, which yeah I will admit are flawed, and the ways you fight them. This also includes the Ice Beam, I don’t even think you mentioned that the Ice Beam does a lot of damage to them and also that you can freeze them and slow them down. Which makes the Ice Beam your sort of, Metroid attack specialist and puzzle beam, which imo made it far more interesting to use. As for the grapple beam, yeah, aiming at a spot is perfectly fine most of the time, and I don’t really see the issue with swapping beams via a quick tap of the thumb on the touchscreen if you for some reason swapped to it. But that’s just me I guess. Also side note, that surprise Alpha Metroid outside the hydro station in am2r was also there in the original M2, the game usually shows you a Metroid shell before a fight, but that one simply just shows up and the shell is revealed after.
Honestly don’t think you have samus returns a fair shot tbh… once you get the gravity suit the game becomes a lot easier and more fun I will say I agree with most of the things said but I donno samus returns is still hood imo
Samus Returns is a 14 hour slog? tool swapping is hard? Running out of aeon sucks? Sounds like skill issues to me. Fr though, I agree that SR has a million tiny little problems that build up, and compared to Dread that is what separates the quality of the two games. Area 3 in particular sucks, and is funnily enough the worst part in all 3 games (in AM2R's case I felt that after several playthroughs), but picks up later in the Tower which is always one of the best. Besides gimmicky gammas in SR, I prefer SR's metroids over the other two. AM2R's make things hard in ways that don't feel rewarding to beat and doesn't feel like my fault when something goes wrong. Their dodges and weird floating just sucks. SR's metroids are real boss battles that reward skill (and you can kill them faster, git gud). One could argue "the faster you get metroid fights over with the better", but then the original has both beat anyways. I also much prefer SR's ice beam because Metroid always had a problem with ice forcing you to shoot enemies more because it froze them. Being separate it's both a beam to fight Metroids specifically and I only freeze when I want to freeze. Also, the other beams do stack in SR. Only ice is separate. Personally I prefer the original 1.0 release of AM2R the most, but it has a potential game breaking bug so 1.1 is a must. 1.5+ are cool but I feel a slight "feature creep" from them. Sometimes it looks or feels better, other times it feels like I'm playing a mod artificially changing things. Like there's the improved Serris on one end, but a bunch of new creatures slapped into every zone everywhere on the other. AM2R is overall my favorite but I don't think either remake truly captures the original's "vibe", and like the micro-problems SR has, it also has little things that are better than AM2R. I mean, SR definitely has the best Metroid Queen fight. Probably the best boss in the franchise.
I want to play AM2R, so I'm skipping the last part. But something I'm super curious to see is what the difference between the added content is. Cause one of the big complaints I hear about SR is that they added too much and it feel bloated. But then with AM2R I hear people generally praising how much they added.
Nintendo's treatment of AM2R is the reason I haven't bought a Nintendo product in nearly ten years. Probably about fifteen thousand dollars in lost sales. It's a tiny middle finger, to be sure, but it's held high.
Why? They have to taken action in order to keep control of their IP rights, and yet despite this they waited until it was released and everybody got their copy of it before bothering to take action. They basically made sure everyone got it and there was nothing they could do to stop it, before trying to "stop" it. Had the game not been unfortunately released around the time they were doing their own remake, they likely would have taken longer. They didn't do anything wrong and everybody won in the end, its literally the best outcome possible. Them C&Ding the game basically changed nothing. Seems like a worthless thing to get upset about at this point. Even the developer was happy with how they handled it. Not only that, but literally EVERY company does this, why single out Nintendo for 1 singular instance of it, and not when every other company does FAR worse. Besides C&Ds, Sony literally terminated several youtube channels during Last Of Us' release because they showed footage of the game, that was already in the trailers on youtube, before release. Capcom has added DRM to its games post-release that has built in malware that harms your PC. This is nothing compared to what other companies have done.
@@GBDupree I have an entire list of corporations I don't make purchases from-- including Sony and Capcom for the reasons you mentioned. I block other corporations for political or social justice reasons. Nintendo wasn't the first or the most egregious, but they were the subject of this video. And I agree-- it isn't at all practical, but a man has to stand for something. I believe that corporations exploit creative IPs like they do with any other resource-- with a short-term shareholder mentality and little regard to the continued health or quality of that IP. They use things up... it's in their nature... and that doesn't interact well with communities that make things out of tribute or love.
@@misterschifano Well that's fair, often I just see people single out Nintendo and then go on to play things by way worse developers, as though Nintendo is the only one that does wrong. So at least you have principles behind your decisions. I think there are problems within Nintendo, but not enough for me to hate them yet (unlike Sony for example). But its good to stand your ground, I do too for other things, just not in this particular case as I personally don't see it as so egregious. I'm hoping things improve for the gaming industry, but it sure looks like its only getting worse. But plenty of older games to check out still.
@QP9237 No you just can't stand the fact that Samus Returns is a offical Metroid game instead of AM2R. Seriously the original Return of Samus is unplayable by today's standards.
@@robertkenny1201 no one said SR wasn't official 😒 Your inability/unwilllingness to play the game is on you. Standards are irrelevant if you are capable and willing to play the game, again you are not.
@@QP9237I found Return of Samus to be practically unplayable by today's standards, and I enjoyed Metroid Samus Returns just as much as any other game I played on the 3DS.
Then why did well over the vast majority of Metroid fans and casual gamers alike enjoy Samus Returns? I swear you trolls will say anything to pi&&off fans.
@@robertkenny1201 Because you don't know what a good game looks like. Granted, Samus Returns is not total dogshit, but after what we got for AM2R, SR is subpar.
@Myuutsuu85 We'll I enjoyed Samus Returns just as much as any other game I played on the 3DS, I never played AM2R so I can't judge, but I played every official game in the Metroid franchise and I fail to see how Samus Returns is anywere near dog&@it.
So how long after this did Nintendo hire the Pinkertons to take your dad out to a blacksite?
B R U H
Missed oppornot to title this video, Metroid II, 2 and Too
Lmao
This title is better
Bro couldn’t put 2 and 2 together 🤔
Two
3
I would love to see you do more long-form content like this!
In that case, you're gonna love a few videos coming out this year!
@@ITOI sick!
Looks like he doesn't know about the power bomb ending 👀
I stumbled across this Metroid II (I really meant AM2R) video in my suggestions. It makes sense that this would be put in front of me since just two days ago I just finished the 6 hour retrospective by "I Finished a Video Game"...which took me 7 nights to finally finish. Of course it was fantastic but 7 nights to finish a video is a lot to ask busy adults. When I saw this was only 30 ish minutes, I decided to give it a go since I could finish it fairly quickly. This is definitely "the short version", but was so well done I decided to check out what else you've got going on with the Best/Worst NES game. After that one I decided to be your Newest subscriber. Videos with this kind of effort and quality, whether I agree or not with the assessment, get an automatic A+ for the work and presentation. I wish more people understood how much that really does help the algorithm for someone's channel and even if they choose not to subscribe for some reason, it literally costs them nothing. Looking forward to checking out more as time permits!
Great video, I absolutely love AM2R. For me it's always a tie for my favorite Metroid game between Super, Fusion, AM2R and Dread. All of these titles do something different the best and I always find it difficult to decide what I care about the most.
If you're curious:
Super - Freedom, exploration and discovery.
Fusion - Story, music and atmosphere.
AM2R - 100% completion, secrets/puzzles and variety.
Dread - Character movement, combat and boss fights.
first of all: awesome video. second: nah, Other M is the weirdest.
So far none of the reviews of the gameboy iteration have mentioned that the metroid queen comes out of nowhere. The manual shows you each of the evolutionary stages of the metroids making you think the omegas are the pinnacle of metroid development. She was a shocking boss that threw me off playing this as a kid.
AM2R is a more solid experience overhaul, but I greatly enjoy SR.
I'm just glad we have multiple versions of a greatly under appreciated Metroid game.
Still don't understand why you aren't more popular
In a website saturated with gaming content, I feel like this channel has the capacity and potential to stand out. The way you talk about/review games has a story telling vibe where the experience you relay feels more in depth how the game feels rather than how it plays. I like that a lot. Please keep making more videos ❤
I loved AM2R and still remember first downloading it. I remember first seeing its development, I remember demos that go up to when you get super missiles. It was everything I wanted in a Metroid 2 remake. I wish I had that sort of enthusiasm for the official remake. At some point, I just came to the conclusion that I wasn't having fun and just put it down, never to pick it back up again. I was cautiously optimistic for Dread when it was first announced. On a first playthrough, I thought it was alright and at least fixed some issues from MercurySteam's first outing. And then I watched speedruns and realized that Dread was more open than I thought and the skill ceiling was higher than I thought. I came back for a second playthrough, armed with the skills from my first playthrough and the extra knowledge from those early speedruns. It was such a different experience, to the point that I felt things truly click as Dread became my new favorite Metroid game. I might not like Samus Returns, but I respect it as the stepping stone that let Dread be as great as it is.
Unpopular opinion I think Samus Returns is the best game on the 3DS.
I love it when I hear Luminist's analog synth covers in metroid vids, they're so good and need more eyes on them 😊
Damn another hidden gem channel
THIS IS FAR TOO UNDERRATED OMG ❤
Alright, I trust ya. I'll go find it and probably forget about this video, but when it pops back in my feed I'll have something to remember :)
Quality of your videos is wild. The algorithm will treat you well someday sir! Only a matter of time :)
Now we wait for another one and it's gonna be II, 2, Two and Second.
I played the mobile version of AM2R and it was a masterpiece then proceed to emulate super metroid, zero mission, and fusion on my phone. Now I'm still playing prime 1 on my phone while finishing prime 3 on a pc.
Funny thing is, it wasn't until I was like in my 20s that I even heard of using the ball to get in the queens mouth and bombing. My whole childhood I beat it the old fashioned way. Hope for mouth opens so I could stun it and spam as fast as my little fingers could go. Would still screw attack the projectiles. Didn't have Nintendo Power, can't even imagine calling a 900 help line and barely anyone I knew had a Gameboy, never mind Metroid 2. Was still fun as hell and I feel like my way has to have been more satisfying given how many tries it took to get it killed the first time. Also, imagine my surprise when I starting getting better times on subsequent play-throughs and the ending changed!
It's important to mention that Nintendo didn't push their cease & desist until the day after AM2R released, letting it be on the internet long enough to make it impossible to take off.
I like to imagine that that was Nintendo's compromise. That they on some level knew that once it was out there, it couldn't be entirely killed, so they let it be until then. I know that that probably wasn't the case, but there's still the part of me that has some kind of hope there.
@@alexbubble6952 Technically speaking, I'm pretty sure they HAVE to take some form of legal action in order to keep control of their IP rights, so it was inevitable that they would C&D it. So the fact that they waited until after definitely seems more intentional to me, as it was very well known even before release so it would have been on their radar well before release. I think that had the game come out earlier before SR got into development then they likely would have taken longer, but the unfortunate issue of the fan game coming out the same time likely made it harder to turn a blind eye. This, and the fact that the developer himself isn't upset, makes me believe that Nintendo was being as kind as they could be, so I'll never be upset by their decision because we still got the game anyways.
Never Player am2r, My First Metroid Ever was The 3DS Remake and as a beginner it was Great pleasure to Play it and so comfy. I‘m a Fan of Easy Game experience, I really Understand your Points, but i think the Remake managed to give new players a good, challenging and interesting start into the franchise of Even Metroidvanias. And the End of the Game: oof, so Perfect.
Keep up the good Work 👌🏽
If you didn't know when the queen metroid bites you down you can go into your morph ball and use a power bomb just like the originalbut when it's dead it's corpse is spread everywhere it was literally the coolest moment in the entire game and probably the entire series
I don't really understand som of your issues with Samus Returns (3DS), a lot of the complaints you bring up are problems that the original, heck almost every, Metroid game has had. (I don't consider them issues; it mainly comes down to meticulous exploration.)
You just seem to be more used to Metroid II (GB), and therefore don't find it particularly obtuse.
Let Metroid II's title music play for a while. It gets quite impressive a few more seconds in.
You do know you there is 360 degree aim right? It is one thing to critizise a game for being clunky, but another thing to not use a basic funktion and then complain that it feels clunky.
14:56 You weren't using free aim on the Metroids. That definitely takes some of the fun away
I don't think he was using Ice Beam either as he said it was only used for freezing enemies in place to get to other places. I'll give him some slack here though because if you don't know some of the Metroid lore, you probably wouldn't think of doing this.
I think combat gets a lot more fun later on too with Zeta and Omega Metroids along with Diggernaut the Queen and final boss which force you to think outside the box to beat them.
my take away here is that dark skin white hair samus takes a strong number 2 spot for me, under the perfect green hair strawberry leotard samus, but significantly above the traditional blonde look
I didn't expect much from a video essay on Metroid II (2) made by a youtuber I'd never heard of before...turns out I was completely wrong.
This is the best thing I've watched about Metroid II and its remakes, and one of the best takes I think I've seen on "Metroid" anything. Cynical, critical, personal, effusive...words. I didn't think I was keen to revisit AM2R for a third time, but now I'm seriously considering it, and I'm even kind of interested in the original now too.
I'm not quite as negative on the design of Samus Returns as you, but yeah that felt like a misfire on most levels. It's probably a good thing you dropped the game because you would have had to reckon with some things you would have likely hated. (Do or don't look up the later parts of the game, that's up to you)
So yeah, fantastic video!
Man, so above all, great video, well edited. Entitled to your opinion. Really wish there were more reviews that mentioned the Ice Beam is actually kino in SR. or in most games tbh. This happens in Prime as well and it annoys me. The Beam missile Combo works on pretty much everything not just Metroids. AND also you can use the counter button to smash frozen enemies. It feels way better to do in Dread but it's in both games. Sorry that just triggers me every time, and I prefer it to the beam being stacked because it feels boring in terms of combat options imo. Samus Returns' combat is actually super deep and there's things about it I am kinda sad Dread simplified in terms of the weapon switching.
Anyway rant over sorry you had to be on the receiving end of that lmao.
I played Metroid 2 on the virtal console, really wished i played with better colors but it was a nice ride trying to get through it all. Am2r is definitely my most replayed because its so fun woth the randomizer, samus returns (despite its flaws and bad changes at the end cause why cant it be a night sky until ridley shows up) is a nice playthrough that i can go back to every so often. Chozo ruins best theme, idc if it hurts my ears it goes so well in memes
I must admit I had a completely different experience with Samus Returns. Not that your points aren't valid, they were just issues that I never ran into for the most part.
You should wait a bit longer on the Metroid 2 title screen :]
I wish more people cared about pacing these days. Its so hard for me to get into a lot of modern games because players have conditioned themselves to think that if a game doesnt meet some arbitrary length then they "didnt get their money's worth", so devs just start stuffing the game with unnecessary padding. Ironically Ive spent so many more hours in AM2R than Samus Returns despite being a shorter game.
Nintendo took a heavy bullet
If they hired m64 and his team they could have had an absolute banger on the 3ds and switch but once something gets online
It's virtually impossible to scrub
It’s really a shame that Metroid 2 is the weak link in the mainline series, because in terms of the overarching plot of the series, it’s one of the more interesting, and actually the most important game in the series. Samus sparing the baby at the end launches Super’s plot, and her annihilation of the Metroids release the X to terrorize her in Fusion and Dread. It’s really cool stuff, but I’m way less inclined to play either official iteration of 2 than any other game in the series (besides the NES original I guess). It’s kind of fascinating how close to great it is, and how it just misses the mark both times.
As for AM2R, I only played it once, I really need to revisit it. For some reason it didn’t really stick with me but I know it was really polished.
Same for me. AM2R had some neat stuff in it, but otherwise didn't feel too special outside of the fact that it was well-made for a fan game. I also think that the reused assets make the game not feel like SR388, but just Zebes again. Granted I played it all the way back at it's release and don't remember it too well, but I beat the GB game last year and finally beat SR this week so those are more fresh in my mind. SR is neat but I'm so glad I played Dread first because if I played SR first I may have been more hesitant to even try Dread, its such a big improvement over SR.
The GB game was surprisingly memorable and fun. It has a lot more charm than you'd expect given its limitations (and how the first 2 areas kinda blend together and are the hardest to navigate because of repetitive room designs). It has a lot of memorable gimmick sections too, like when you go into a pipe and it leads through the foreground of other areas (which really impressed on a graphical level for the time). Or the fight agains a beta in a room full of respawning blocks (I'd assume they are sand or vines?). Or how the later areas have mostly mechanical enemies and the final area has NO enemies outside of the Metroids. Showing how this is their lair and they have eaten all life in it.
SR occasionally has room layouts that call back to ones in the GB game, but I noticed that the Pipe that was so memorable is now just a normal tunnel that isn't in the foreground but actually splits the room in half, making it hard to tell it was even meant to be referencing it at first, and making it no different than any other tunnel. The sand or vines that filled rooms and constantly refilled are missing entirely, even if they were annoying in the original I still would have liked to see something similar. Other references aren't as good either, like the Chozo Statue being destroyed is now pure happenstance because of a mining robot sucking it up, in the original it wasn't clear if it was just so old, or a Metroid try to hide the item because it saw it as a threat, but it was subtle and interesting. But maybe its because I don't like the Mining robot boss.
Overall, SR is fine, but I think it lacks the charm of the original, and often ruins what the original did, like having enemies EVERYWHERE which makes the game a bit of a slog and actively ruins the final area, especially the moment where you take the Metroid back to the surface where you get to hang out with the baby with the cute music for a bit. Its filled with the same enemies that are throughout the whole game (whereas the GB one has much more variety and less repetitive encounters) that detract from the moment (especially as you are likely at 0 HP because of the fight, in the original it felt like you were limping back to the ship after the hard boss fight as the Metroid helps you get there). Personally I hate almost all the boss fights as they are as repetitive as the original, yet they also take even longer because they are constantly in invulnerable states that you have to wait around until they become vulnerable again. While the OG made it possible to just spam missiles until they are dead, making it easier overtime as you get used to their patterns. Even the new bosses suck, the mining Robot goes on way to long and has too much waiting around. there is also fewer moments to speed up the boss fights. The mining robot can suck up bombs, but that is required later so I don't even know if it does much for that specific phase where its optional. The Queen Metroid fight has no way to deal with the attacks to make it easier, the floating orbs can't be screw attacked or Power Bombed, the wind blowing can't be counteracted with the time slowing or neutralized with the shielding (the fire wall's damage goes through the Aether gauge too quickly) and even rolling under the Queen doesn't remove the blowback effect despite the fact that it come from her mouth which you are now behind. I also couldn't figure out how to do the swallowing and bombing her from the inside trick from the original, so if that isn't in the game then that really sucks. Also I know they had to add Meta-Ridley at the end of the game to assure people because the lie that Sakamoto hated the Prime games and made them non-canon was being spread around at the time, but I really don't find it fitting at all, especially when he is in top form mere hours from now to steal the baby again in Super. It might have worked better at the beginning of the game instead of the ending, so there is time between him being defeated and then him defeating you on Ceres Station.
I have a few other issues with it here and there, but the thing is that I remember a lot of that being issues I had in AM2R as well, though probably not to the same extent. Its unfortunate that there isn't a version of Metroid 2 that feels perfect. The OG GB game is the definitive experience to me for some reason, like I can't beat Metroid NES because of its age holding it back, but GB somehow hits the mark. I think its limitations are what make it's atmosphere work so well, and that helps its story. I think the remakes try too hard to remove what made it unique in order to try to make it better for modern players, but they don't radically change the level design to not make it less linear and repetitve as well. Sadly I just don't see myself ever willingly replaying any version of the game, but I am glad I got to beat the GB game.
Here's my (long) overview of the 3 games, though I can't remember much of AM2R since I played near release all those years ago. However I finally played and beat the GB original when it was released on Switch (I tried to play it in about 2010-ish but didn't get too far), and finally beat SR literally last night (perfect timing for this video apparently).
GB Original: I definitely always had an interest in this game, much like the original NES game, its been something you see around here and there due to its legacy to the franchise, and has an unique style that is captivating, even though its age makes it hard to play. However, unlike Metroid 1, Metroid II was much harder for me to get to play much of it, I never got to play it myself until recently and really only saw mentions of it here and there, so it was much more mysterious despite it's importance to the overall story. I always hoped for a Zero Mission quality remake so that I'd get to experience it, but always thought that maybe the charm of it was because of limitations that wouldn't be acceptable nowadays. One day I eventually tried it out on my PC, and had fun for awhile before I ended up getting lost with only 1 HP for a while before running into a new Metroid form that killed me instantly. that was a fun experience, but I didn't think I could actually beat the game so I never went back for years. When it came out on Switch I decided to really put the effort in, and had much better luck. I really enjoyed it despite its issues. It has a surprising amount of memorable moments, and it was cool to see how well it does for controls and items that it did before Super made them popular. I was really happy when I beat it and thought that it was a great experience, though I don't think I'd be willing to play again unless I could skip through some sections.
Samus Returns: This is a mixed bag, I only just now played it, but I played Dread on release. You can see how it is the start of where Dread ends up, but obviously Dread plays better. As a remake I don't really like it though, and as a standalone game its fine but I don't think I want to ever play it again (whereas I played through Dread a couple times), its too long and has a lot of annoying things to it. Too much to really write here.
But something happened while I was playing it that really soured me on it. In the original there was, either in area 3 or 4, a pipe that you can go through that goes through the foreground of the entrance of the area, its a really neat effect for a GB game, so I thought it was really cool and it stuck with me since then. While playing through SR I'm rolling around in some tunnels and that leads to a vertical tunnel that is pretty tall. As I'm rolling up it I see some rooms to sides of the tunnel, and I realize that this is their version of the pipe from the original, except its literally just a tunnel that is the same as any other, and its not in the foreground so it separates the original room into 2 new ones that don't connect anymore. Essentially its completely different with the loosest connection, its nice that the game tries to allude to level designs from the original here and there, but this one was really dissapointing for me.
From there I started to realize how many memorable things from the original that were missing or done way worse here. there wasn't a sandy area where the sand had filled up a room and you had to clear out the sand as it was refilling to get through the area. You don't have to release a Beta Metroid from being tangled in vines in order to fight it, while the vines were getting in the way of hitting the metroid. These are just minor things, but the remake doesn't do anything similar and that's sad, but it doesn't really replace it with anything unique on its own either. There is the fight against a giant mining robot, but I honestly hate that fight.
Which is another thing, you have to do a lot of repeat fights, the original knew the best way to make that bearable is to have the fights be quick, as long as you aim properly you can just missile them repeatedly and win in seconds. In SR the Alphas are much more protected by their shell, making it harder to hit them, and they have attacks in which they can't take damage for some reason, making them take WAY longer, with no way to make them faster. ALL the bosses have massive waiting periods where you can't do anything but stand around waiting. It makes all of them worse than the original in a lot of ways. I also couldn't find out how to do the Morph ball bombing down the Queen Metroid's throat trick like in the original, so I really hope they didn't get rid of it.
Speaking of which, the final Queen Metroid fight kinda sucks. I prefer the layout of the original as it gave off the idea that the QM couldn't squeeze through this hole enough to just wreck you so she has to stretch her neck to attack, but in SR she should just crush you instantly as nothing is stopping her. Its a minor thing though, but the attacks are the real problem. The Wind attack is WAY too difficult to avoid for how much damage it does. You can't even use abilities to help, as rolling behind the head doesn't protect from the wind coming from its mouth for some reason, slowing down time doesn't do anything, and the flames eat through the Aether shield (I forget all the names of the Aether abilities) too quickly to really protect you, you just have to time it PERFECTLY to avoid damage and the effort to do that will likely get you to bump into the Queen's head, which knocks you back so you aren't able to avoid the fire. Its FAR too strict. The attack where there are the floating fireballs sucks because you can't shoot them, screw attack through them, or Power Bomb them (and the shield won't last long enough either). The screen is too cramped to reliably space jump around them, especially when the QM starts shooting the fire laser that cuts off half the screen. The only way is to roll under the QM to avoid the attack entirely, but you can't damage the QM while you wait, AND this stops working halfway through the fight as the pattern changes so that her neck covers the ground forcing you to just take the entire attack. There is basically no avoiding damage here, it feels entirely unfair and I only won the fight because she never did the pattern change so I could avoid it until winning. That's just pure luck and not skill.
The game itself, besides having less enemy variety like you mentioned, also sticks way too many in every room, and they respawn way too quick. Its a chore to go anywhere because the enemies slow you down constantly (and the screw attack barely helps as it can't 1-shot most enemies). Its not the biggest problem in the world, but it does make it annoying over time, especially when Metroid games are all about giving you upgrades until you are so powerful that the enemies are no longer an issue. But this game just has the same enemies in the same patterns throughout every room in the game. Its too much and too repetitive.
And its SO bad that after the QM fight you don't get a break despite likely being at 0HP, in the OG you get a victory lap where you get to take the Metroid back to your ship without issue, its like you are limping back home after a hard fight and the Metroid is clearing the way for you because you are so exhausted. In SR you instantly get attacked after getting the Baby, so you better act fast before dying and having the moment ruined. I thought the enemies were there to show off the Baby protecting you by eating them, but it doesn't react at all either. So its completely pointless having the enemies there, they only serve to ruin the moment.
And another thing about that is that the constant enemies contradict the point of the original game, where you have enemy wildlife in the beginning areas, then in the Chozo labs/factories you get robotic defense mechanisms mixed in, then only the robots, then you get a completely barren wasteland with no enemies because the Metroids have eaten everything and you are in their lair. Its a great moment where its eerily silent and you just got 2-3 Metroids left. then the area itself is more inhospitable with spikes everywhere. And after you kill the QM and take the Baby, you get peace and quiet, because there is no life left in that area, either the metroids or you exterminated them all. But you hear the baby chirping, and there is this cute peaceful music playing, it a great moment, and SR doesn't capture that at all.
Anyways, SR is ok on its own, but its a miss as a remake and has a lot of annoyances on its own, with a lot of bloat as well. I don't remember AM2R too well, but I do remember it having a lot of the same issues to me, just maybe not as bad. I also think that both remakes tend to make SR388 look less like itself and more like Zebes 2.0, AM2R especially whereas SR isn't too bad (i'd even say it gets a pass because some areas do capture the feel of the original, or stand on its own either way). I also don't like the enemy and suit designs in SR for being too tryhard or edgy, but like how the QM looks, while in AM2R I think the everything looks fine, but the QM looks too tryhard and edgy, so I guess I just can't win. Maybe I'm just picky, but there isn't a definitive version of 2 for me, and that's dissapointing. And none of the versions feel like games I'd want to replay. Perhaps if a remake decided to just start from the ground up rather than adhere to the structure of the original, then it might be better, capturing the idea of M2 rather than remaking it. But I don't know. Its just sad that such an important part of the series doesn't have a definitive version. But again, maybe I'm just picky about this game for some reason.
I wish the AM2R dev would go in and change a few things so they could legally release and sell it.
AM2R is still the only metroid game ive ever completed lol
I gotta figure out how to play AM2R. But my technical knowledge is pretty much limited to “blow in cartridge to make game work”.
you really under used the ice beam. not only are frozen enemies 1 shotted by missles but it really makes the metroid fights easier especially if u land a charged shot, it weakens them
i discovered the fastest way to deal with enemies was to freeze them and one shot them with a missile. until i got the plasma beam
Great video, though I do wish you finished samus returns, it has a great ending that I think makes up for its flaws.
On the subject of AM2R: I thought I was done thinking or caring about it by now. I've played it twice, and it wasn't as good for me on the second run...but I think I might be realizing that it's the closest thing to what I want Metroid to be. AM2R (IIRC) feels like one of the most "Metroid" games, but also one of the least. It has all the franchise staples, and even refines many of them, but it doesn't just rely on getting the expected stuff good. It does it's own thing, even though it never had to. Beyond just unifying aesthetic themes and hazards, the areas have distinct identities and designs, even in terms of their structure and mechanics. That's...not really something Metroid proper has been terribly good at. (can't recall the name exactly, but the Distribution Center might just be the best 2D Metroid environment) Not everything lands 100% of the time, but it takes RISKS, and with such a precious fanbase, that's really BOLD. It's not the most unique of titles, even in the Metroid franchise, but I've played full independent retail metroidvanias that are less original than AM2R. I thought 2D Metroid was basically over before watching this, but it may not be.
I did play Metroid Dread, and while it was good, and certainly better than Samus Returns, it fell flat for me in a lot of ways. It's probably the most original game in the actual franchise since Metroid Prime, but it felt decidedly...not Metroid. For all its iteration and misdirection, it never hit the highs of Super, Fusion, or all the Primes (I'm the weird person who played Zero Mission once and didn't get the hype). I walked away from it feeling a bit empty, like the series I stumbled into and came to love didn't have anything else for me. Metroid, as a franchise, doesn't feel like the standard bearer for the genre anymore, though it did for years.
But that's actually okay, I think. In 2024, there are so many options for playing games that are kind of like "Metroid". Some of them are really good, or even transcendent, in several ways, familiar or alien. I think the best stuff in this space is still yet to come, even if I have almost no faith that Nintendo will be willing to try, and even if it could take a good while for us to move past the ideals of "Super Metroid" or..."Hollow Knight".
Also, you're evil for playing the Yoshis' Island theme over the wrap up.
Btw regardless of whether you liked SR, you REALLY should have given the game its fair shake when it comes to the final boss. I do think that is something of a blemish on this video considering how that would have added extra flavor to what each game does right and wrong. Not to mention the game's lore connection to Dread that was totally up in the air at the time.
Maybe you didn't care for either of these but they're two of the most important aspects of the game even today and are what people typically refer to when arguing why they enjoyed the game. With how quick you were to write off the game as a whole it seems like a lot of its strengths just got ignored. The drill boss that i personally loved was also a standout.
I wasn't bothered by the final boss at all.
Today, everyone and their moms are gamers. Back then, few people played Nintendo. Few considering todays number of gamers. 90+ % of people that played Nintendo played SMB1, maybe 2 and probably 3. Metroid NES was so niche that no one every heard of it in those days. Metroid II was so rare that you'd be lucky to find 10 kids in a 50k people city that had it.
More Marco Pierre White, the people want Marco Pierre White
Hell yeah👍
How can I download AM2R?
The mobile version is basically easy to find but the pc version is tricky
I'm playing the AM2R on the modded ps4 and yeah its good.😅😅😅😅
HE DIDN'T POWERBOMB THE AM2R QUEEN D:
AM2R = GOD TEIR~~~
Second comment time!
I honestly loved your sections on the first and last game, but with Samus Returns… I feel like you kinda dogged on things like the Metroids, which yeah I will admit are flawed, and the ways you fight them. This also includes the Ice Beam, I don’t even think you mentioned that the Ice Beam does a lot of damage to them and also that you can freeze them and slow them down. Which makes the Ice Beam your sort of, Metroid attack specialist and puzzle beam, which imo made it far more interesting to use. As for the grapple beam, yeah, aiming at a spot is perfectly fine most of the time, and I don’t really see the issue with swapping beams via a quick tap of the thumb on the touchscreen if you for some reason swapped to it. But that’s just me I guess.
Also side note, that surprise Alpha Metroid outside the hydro station in am2r was also there in the original M2, the game usually shows you a Metroid shell before a fight, but that one simply just shows up and the shell is revealed after.
I liked Samus Returns
7:14 He? 😂
gif of me kissing am2r on the lips
Honestly don’t think you have samus returns a fair shot tbh… once you get the gravity suit the game becomes a lot easier and more fun I will say I agree with most of the things said but I donno samus returns is still hood imo
passion is fantastic, just don't be gay is all
Samus Returns is a 14 hour slog? tool swapping is hard? Running out of aeon sucks? Sounds like skill issues to me.
Fr though, I agree that SR has a million tiny little problems that build up, and compared to Dread that is what separates the quality of the two games. Area 3 in particular sucks, and is funnily enough the worst part in all 3 games (in AM2R's case I felt that after several playthroughs), but picks up later in the Tower which is always one of the best. Besides gimmicky gammas in SR, I prefer SR's metroids over the other two. AM2R's make things hard in ways that don't feel rewarding to beat and doesn't feel like my fault when something goes wrong. Their dodges and weird floating just sucks. SR's metroids are real boss battles that reward skill (and you can kill them faster, git gud). One could argue "the faster you get metroid fights over with the better", but then the original has both beat anyways. I also much prefer SR's ice beam because Metroid always had a problem with ice forcing you to shoot enemies more because it froze them. Being separate it's both a beam to fight Metroids specifically and I only freeze when I want to freeze. Also, the other beams do stack in SR. Only ice is separate.
Personally I prefer the original 1.0 release of AM2R the most, but it has a potential game breaking bug so 1.1 is a must. 1.5+ are cool but I feel a slight "feature creep" from them. Sometimes it looks or feels better, other times it feels like I'm playing a mod artificially changing things. Like there's the improved Serris on one end, but a bunch of new creatures slapped into every zone everywhere on the other. AM2R is overall my favorite but I don't think either remake truly captures the original's "vibe", and like the micro-problems SR has, it also has little things that are better than AM2R. I mean, SR definitely has the best Metroid Queen fight. Probably the best boss in the franchise.
I didn't notice many problems about Samus Returns at all.
I want to play AM2R, so I'm skipping the last part. But something I'm super curious to see is what the difference between the added content is. Cause one of the big complaints I hear about SR is that they added too much and it feel bloated. But then with AM2R I hear people generally praising how much they added.
Your problems with Samus Returns all sound like skill issues tbh.
Nintendo's treatment of AM2R is the reason I haven't bought a Nintendo product in nearly ten years. Probably about fifteen thousand dollars in lost sales. It's a tiny middle finger, to be sure, but it's held high.
Why? They have to taken action in order to keep control of their IP rights, and yet despite this they waited until it was released and everybody got their copy of it before bothering to take action. They basically made sure everyone got it and there was nothing they could do to stop it, before trying to "stop" it. Had the game not been unfortunately released around the time they were doing their own remake, they likely would have taken longer. They didn't do anything wrong and everybody won in the end, its literally the best outcome possible. Them C&Ding the game basically changed nothing. Seems like a worthless thing to get upset about at this point. Even the developer was happy with how they handled it.
Not only that, but literally EVERY company does this, why single out Nintendo for 1 singular instance of it, and not when every other company does FAR worse. Besides C&Ds, Sony literally terminated several youtube channels during Last Of Us' release because they showed footage of the game, that was already in the trailers on youtube, before release. Capcom has added DRM to its games post-release that has built in malware that harms your PC. This is nothing compared to what other companies have done.
@@GBDupree I have an entire list of corporations I don't make purchases from-- including Sony and Capcom for the reasons you mentioned. I block other corporations for political or social justice reasons.
Nintendo wasn't the first or the most egregious, but they were the subject of this video.
And I agree-- it isn't at all practical, but a man has to stand for something. I believe that corporations exploit creative IPs like they do with any other resource-- with a short-term shareholder mentality and little regard to the continued health or quality of that IP.
They use things up... it's in their nature... and that doesn't interact well with communities that make things out of tribute or love.
@@misterschifano Well that's fair, often I just see people single out Nintendo and then go on to play things by way worse developers, as though Nintendo is the only one that does wrong. So at least you have principles behind your decisions. I think there are problems within Nintendo, but not enough for me to hate them yet (unlike Sony for example). But its good to stand your ground, I do too for other things, just not in this particular case as I personally don't see it as so egregious. I'm hoping things improve for the gaming industry, but it sure looks like its only getting worse. But plenty of older games to check out still.
AM2R>=MII>SR
the original Return of Samus is not better than Samus Returns.
@@robertkenny1201 you clearly can't handle an opinion, your a child
@QP9237 No you just can't stand the fact that Samus Returns is a offical Metroid game instead of AM2R. Seriously the original Return of Samus is unplayable by today's standards.
@@robertkenny1201 no one said SR wasn't official 😒
Your inability/unwilllingness to play the game is on you. Standards are irrelevant if you are capable and willing to play the game, again you are not.
@@QP9237I found Return of Samus to be practically unplayable by today's standards, and I enjoyed Metroid Samus Returns just as much as any other game I played on the 3DS.
1) AM2R
2) Return of Samus
3) Stinky, smelly poop
4)
5) Samus Returns
Then why did well over the vast majority of Metroid fans and casual gamers alike enjoy Samus Returns? I swear you trolls will say anything to pi&&off fans.
@@robertkenny1201 Because you don't know what a good game looks like.
Granted, Samus Returns is not total dogshit, but after what we got for AM2R, SR is subpar.
@Myuutsuu85 We'll I enjoyed Samus Returns just as much as any other game I played on the 3DS, I never played AM2R so I can't judge, but I played every official game in the Metroid franchise and I fail to see how Samus Returns is anywere near dog&@it.
@@robertkenny1201That's called bad taste bud.
@tetermc Oh please your just a whiny little hater.
2
Its so funny, if you had finished Mercury Steam's Metroid 2, you'd probably hate it even more.
GOD i hate that game. it botches so so much.
Funny I enjoyed Samus Returns just as much as any other game I played on the 3DS.
First and second