Zero Mission does have atmosphere though, and it uses it pretty effectively. While a majority of the game feels extremely triumphant, this allowed the devs to make more intimidating moments stand out. The progression is planned in a way that intentionally juxtaposes how unstoppable Samus is for a majority of the game with how outnumbered she is against the Metroids, or how defenseless she is against the space pirates toward the end. I honestly really love this approach to design, it feels like the devs broke down what made the SA-X encounters engaging in Fusion and used parts of that to compliment the otherwise adventurous feeling of the game.
Triumph and Intimidation aren't really as much atmospheric and ambient elements as they are created by specific plot points and events. When it comes to cold, hard atmosphere, Zero Mission kind of fails due to its lighthearted, comic-book-like artstyle and arcade-y music that is in stark contrast with the creepy and foreboding themes of the story. Ultimately, Zero Mission tried to tie FUN into the usually lonely and dark mood that Metroid creates, and the result was an atmosphere that felt cheap and nonsubstantial.
Yes I always loved that about Fusion it felt like the devs were psychics for placing SA-X segments right in areas where you’d just be strolling through the levels feeing like an unstoppable badass or a lone wolf adventurer and then bam, you open one door and suddenly you’re an amoeba scuttling and hiding under the floor or running like a rat away from the true predator and hunter on that space station.
Honestly, considering how zero mission is meant to be more of an introduction episode to the metroid saga, i believe that it overall being just an upbeat adventure with some moments of slight tension is quite frankly perfect.
I disagree with this. The story elements of Zero Mission TRY to convey a foreboding and dark tone, but they are at odds with the cartoonish graphics and light-hearted, non-ambient soundtrack. It just doesn't feel right.
One cool detail I noticed: the Chozo statues that hold the three Chozo armor power-ups look different than the regular ones. They look more menacing, as if they represent fearsome Chozo Warriors.
@@Mike14264 yeah maybe so. Because wasn’t Dread being planned around this time? It was supposed to follow Fusion but got put off until now. So it would make sense that such a basic concept would show up ever so slightly in Zero Mission
Great vid! Altho i have to disagree somewhat on this game having "no atmosphere". Its definitely not haunting as Super, Fusion, and Prime; but this vibrant take and distinction in and between areas allows for the more intense and weird depths of Zebes to hit harder for a true feeling of descent. Just more adventurous than scary. I do agree with the missed potential on storytelling though. This is the first time Samus' upbringing and relation to the Chozo is adressed in an actual Metroid game, and it just glosses over it. This is why im one of the few people open to that rumored Super Metroid remake. Since it would be yet another return to Zebes, they can try to truly complete the arc and flesh out the planet's history.
I never even considered that a Super Metroid remake could do that. Huh, actually sounds kind of exciting. And yeah the atmosphere comment is fair. The atmosphere just doesn't feel as present as it was in Fusion to me. Still love the game though.
Man, this game is brimming with atmosphere. I think what you're trying to saying is that it doesn't have the same atmosphere that older games have. All this stuff about the game being a "rip-roaring adventure" is absolutely atmosphere (along with fantastic gameplay), and it seems to me you actually liked it a lot. Same with the thrilling moments of the space pirates chasing you, that's another great example of really good atmosphere. The flashing red lights and the heart-pounding really sell that moment.
I love this game so much. It was my introduction to the series and I still play it very often. It's always fun to go back after a while and see if I can get 100% as easily as I used to. I'm very biased towards it, even more than Super Metroid, so I'm very glad you enjoyed it! Great review as always, all your critiques are well articulated and the whole video is very well written and paced. These videos only continue to get better and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Samus Returns. Keep doing what you're doing! Always excited when you upload :)
Glad you enjoyed the video. Zero Mission is honestly a blast to replay just as you said. It's one of the only games in the series where I actively try to get better times each time I replay it. And as far as Samus Returns goes, it's actually the game I've been most looking forward to making. I'm really excited to get to talk about it. =D
Yep, it IS better that Super Metroid. No floaty jumps, tight controls, (I really hate the controls in Super Metroid. The fact that you can change them, is their only saving grace). But honestly, this game is the best from a sequence breaking standpoint. I know you can sequence break in Super Metroid too but from a design perspective, Zero Mission just does it way better.
I wanted to make sure the wait for videos was way less long. (Also Zero Mission was rather short so it was easy to finish.) Regardless thank you! Hope you enjoy the video!
7:15 Actually, there is quite an obvious cue, but you might have missed it: Once you beat the giant bug, you see how it has stuck itself in a hole, but as you explore Ridley's lair, you see it has now turned itself into a giant cocoon, indicating that it has actually foraged its way down there and it means you simply need to backtrack and now go where the giant bug was.
Zero Mission was a freaking GODSEND for people like me who refused to use guides when trying to complete the original Metroid, especially since I came almost directly from games like Fusion and the Prime series. While I do somewhat agree with your last criticisms, I don't think they could have done much about it and still call it a remake of the original. Still though, the colours might be a bit too vibrant at parts which is why the atmosphere might seem more lacking than other titles, I feel
Dude for real trying to complete Metroid NES without a guide is a pain. And as far as my later complaints, there will be some examples of the kind of stuff I'd want them to change in a case like a remake, as Samus Returns ironically does have some examples of this.
@@DuoStuff Eu digo que, particularmente, a grande satisfação de terminar/completar Metroid-Nes é justamente o fato de não haver guias. Joguei quando tinha o Nes e a satisfação nenhum outro jogo da série jamais conseguiu reproduzir. A experiência que o jogo me proporciona é a experiência de "eu venci" ou "eu consegui fazer isso, completar o jogo". Enquanto que esse remake a sensação do começo ao fim é que a Nintendo segurava minha mão para atravessar a rua com a segurança de que eu chegaria do outro lado, de certeza absoluta. Ao terminar o game, a sensação foi: ok.
According to Wikipedia and its source (which was an interview on an old gaming website), Nintendo made Zero Mission for people who played Fusion and wanted to see "the roots of the Metroid franchise". As such, it was their intent to make the game more modern and accessible while still keeping the feeling and atmosphere the original game had. My guess is that they didn't want to go too far with the story, as the source material didn't focus on it.
I see where he's coming from though, as when I fought the boss I felt like I was just constantly getting hit by random projectiles. There's probably tactics to dodge them, but it got irritating after my second or so death from her.
I feel like getting the powerups in super metroid does matter a lot. I breezed through the whole game until I got to Ridley. I tried fighting him twice and died both times. I went on a quest around the map and had fun finding new things by looking at the map and finding blue spots Every spot in the game has these details. No square on the map is unused. I don't think the collectibles in zero mission matter, but I like that because it allows you to focus on the story.
connor shappell Oh, I didn't say it was hard because it's difficult, I just said it's hard. When I said that they're hard and easy, I meant with controls and game mechanics.
My favorite bit with the ridley fight is that he does not attack until you have gone to the end of the room, noticed the locked door and then turn back around. The small cutscene showing samus' surprise is an even nicer touch.
A point to note about the story-telling: Zero Mission is meant to be the first Metroid game you play. It's the initial game on which the rest of the story of this universe is told. I think it is good to be a little more simplistic, as for the prologue of this whole lore.
One tip about the fight with MB after finishing my first run is that the top right gun you can stand on at 13:06 of the video is a pretty good place to jump back and forth from as you wait for the weak point to be exposed, otherwise screw attack through the bullets and freeze the rings and you should be fine mostly. If you're trying to climb up from the lava on the far left, yeah you'll take quite a bit of damage but do not climb as the small bullets are close, you're pretty much guaranteed to fall back in if you do. Neat video though
As a huge Touhou fan, I'd like to give Mother Brain the benefit of the doubt. It still makes the fairly obvious improvement that the Rinkas always come from the same place every time, and the battle is made much more dynamic with how Mother Brain closes and reopens her eye. There's a safespot from the turrets on the right platform, and only two Rinkas will fire at you from there, so you can just aim up and down while crouching to freeze them. And finally, the Screw Attack will allow you to ignore both the turrets and Rinkas as long as you're in the air, which is remarkably important. So yeah, I guess by my standards the fight is way better than it was in the original. At least the game controls better to make up for it.
I loved this video, it's aways great to find a new creator trying his best. The only thing I think you should've probably mentioned is the insane sequence breaking in this game. It's so fun to get super missiles early, or have the varia suit before the high jump, etc. The snafu at the beginning of Ridley where you have to immediately leave is perfectly skippable with clever maneuverability on the right side of the map, or with early super missiles. This adds depth to the design only Dread can match, and not even as well
There's no topping the mother of all the genre, Metroid is still the best there is. i remember playing this way back when and was totally inlove with it, the added backstory on Samus was amazing as was everything else added. Damn now i feel like replaying it once more.
My biggest gripe with zero mission is if you play it first before the other metroids as newcomers do it expects you to know or figure out techniques teached in super metroid, as the new starting point of the series it should teach the techniques necesary for 100%
Honestly neither have I. I'm waiting to get to Metroid Prime 3, Hunters, and Other M until I do the 3D half of the Metroid series for a video marathon. That's why I'm sticking to the 2D games for now. =D
That is true. Other M is certainly despised by a lot of the fanbase, but that's exactly why I want to play it. It feels like an important game in the series, so I do plan to play it eventually.
I'd personally argue that expectations have just changed. Games definitely hold your hands more, but that was naturally going to happen as gaming went from a "new" medium to one that was better understood and, more importantly, was attempting to reach out to a wider audience. I'm rather glad they're not as cryptic or as ridiculously difficult as they were during the NES era. I really don't think I would've enjoyed it if I grew up with it. You can enjoy that eras quirks, but I don't think I ever really will.
Finally someone that praises this game, it is often left forgotten despite it being amazing and probably one of the best videogames remakes of all time. Also I would like to point out that the original NES Metroid was a free unlockable inside MZM. Another thing I'd like to say is that when you understand the gameplay you can perform some very satisfying game-breaking things, like for instance fighting Ridley before Kraid, so it has both the free roaming stuff and the more guided thing for newcomers, it really is amazing. MZM was also actually my very first videogame ever and the reason I discovered Metroid and ended up loving it, and it was an accident! You see, my sister and I asked to our mom to buy a GBA for Christmas with Pokemon Emerald and she agreed, but when she went to buy it there was a Christmas sale (probably also because we got the GBA quite late in its timeline) that if you picked up a GBA they would also give away a GBA game for free and destiny wanted that MZM was that free game we got alongside the GBA and Emerald.
I think part of why Zero Mission is so light on story compared to other Metroid games is because it released alongside the Metroid Manga in Japan, which fills in the gaps of Samus's past/backstory and how it led up to her fight against the Space Pirates in Zero Mission, and purposefully ties into the game as it was released alongside the game and marketed alongside it in Japan too. I'd highly recommend reading it sometime if you want more out of Metroid's story, it's really good! It was translated by fans ages ago
I love how you transitioned the Kraids lair theme from the original to the remake version. It was perfect. :D I never had a GBA, so I only played this game on an emulator, but I think this was the first Metroid game I completed. It's just so easy to pick up and play and actually get through. I'm not a fan of games where you can get lost easily so I'm grateful for the chozo statue system and of course the map. I tried to play the oriignal Metroif on NSO, but I got lost and died all the time. I wish Zero Mission would come to the Switch as well. It even contains the original game so you'd get both at the same time. Sadly that's a thing that probably won't happen again. They didn't include M2 with Samus Returns. Although here in Europe there was a collectors edition with a lot of awesome goodies and it included a download code for M2 on the 3DS. I was planning on geting that version, but had to cancel it and get the regular one because of money reasons :S Anyway I agree with everything you said in the video, although I'm not too bothered by the enemy behavior or I just can't think of how they could've changed them without making a completely new game. Zero Mission is already very different from the original, so changing even more would be too much imo. I don't like how they made Ridley a joke. In all the old 2D games, except for Super, he is so easy to beat. At least in the Prime games his fights get a lot cooler, especially in MP3. Too bad that the quality of GBA music is so bad. Kraids lair is an awesome song and the zero mission version is really good, how atmospheric it is and how they changed the ending part which could be a bit anoying in the original version. But the quality is so bad, at least there are the Smash versions of the song :D Though they should still recompose this remake in some way imo. They added the Mamgoor caverns theme in Samus returns although it wasn't even a thing when the original M2 was released so I'm sure they could add Kraids lair song too in a new game. I'm hoping for this happening if the Super Metroid remake really is happening. I really enjoyed this vids and I was also surprised how fast this video came out. I'm looking forward to the next one. Finally a 2D metroid game I actually own :D
First: OMG SOMEONE NOTICED THE TRANSITION THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY Second: I'm also similar in how I'm not the biggest fan of getting lost in a game. That's actually the reason why it took until Samus Returns to get into this series. I just never clicked with the series before and then Samus Returns releases and it's like BAM! I get it now. XD Third: Enemy design-wise I kind of just prefer Samus Returns's approach. It drastically improved enemy complexity, so going into this one I was expecting similar situations. That wasn't the case but eh, it's really not that big of a deal. Fourth: Yeah I really don't like how Ridley is treated. While I personally like his fight in Super Metroid at the least, I don't think he was done perfectly in 2D until Samus Returns. Which is the first time I got to fight him... XD Fifth: yeah the quality of the music is a bit iffy, but that's just kind of how the GBA was. I have a weird fondness for it though if I'm being honest. Sixth: Glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully the next video doesn't take too long. It's the one I've been most excited about covering, so hopefully it turns out well regardless. Also, thank you for the comment. I really love these kinds of comments. =D
@@DuoStuff I guess the transition was so good that most people didn't notice (or though that it was important enough to comment lol) OK, now I see what you mean. I didn't think about how they changed the enemies in Samus Returns but I guess that's exactly what you meant about the enemies in Zero Mission: Samus has more options for combat in Samus Returns than in M2, so the enemies are more agressive and not just flying around or walking in a straight line. That makes sense, they really could've made the enemies in Zero mission more active or challenging because you can really just run through them most of the time. I'm not sure how the though process in Samus Returns was: did they make the enemies more active and then give Samus the melee counter or the other way around: did they give Samus the melee counter and then changed the enemies to balance it out. I'm guessing the later one is true but that's just a guess. Was Samus Returns the first time you fought Ridley in a 2D Metroid game or was it your first time period? Do you have any expirience with the 3D games? I was actually surprised that Samus Returns is next because I thought you'll go through every Metroid game. If that's the case then the Prime games and Other M should come first. Btw I just noticed you didn't even mention Mecha Ridley. What are your thoughts on that boss? I think it's an interesting way of closing this game. Ridley never got to be a final boss until Samus Returns, so it's nice that they added a robotic version of him to the end of this game. A lot of people might say it's too much, but I like him so it's always a pleasure seeing him (or a robot looking like him in this case). It's also cool how the robot isn't finished. It feels so much more real this way, I mean you can't garantuee that a project like this will be ready once it's needed. And they always have the oportunity to bring him back in a completed form. Especially now that Ridley seems to be dead for good after Fusion (though that can change too). Maybe in a future game there could be someone who is obsessed with Ridley so he finishes the robot and that's how we can have a Ridley fight in a game set after Fusion without bringing Ridley back from the dead (again). PS: I also like when YTers actually interact with the viewers. So seeing how you answered every single comment made me want to write down my thoughts even more. I tend not to comment most of the time but when I do, I try to write a lot without overdoing it hopefully. Sometimes I get called out for my long comments, but I guess that's part of being in front of all kinds of people.
First: I'm guessing they probably made the counter first honestly, but I also think the developers were probably trying to up the complexity of combat in general. Remember: the game started out as a pitch to remake Metroid Fusion originally before moving to Metroid 2 since it was in much greater need of a remake. Considering that Fusion has the most complex enemy design in the 2D series prior to Samus Returns, I imagine they were trying to replicate that. Second: It was my first Ridley fight in the series as a whole. I didn't get around to playing Prime until I had beaten Samus Returns, Super Metroid, Fusion, and Zero Mission. Prime was wonderful but besides that I haven't played the other 3D entries yet. My plan is to get to them after another marathon or two. (Prime 1-3, Hunters, Other M, and Federation Force to be exact.) After I wrap up Samus Returns though, it'll be a bit before I return to Metroid. I have some stuff I'm really excited to cover. (Which will actually be revealed at the end of my Samus Returns video.) Third: Mecha Ridley is a pretty neat fight overall, but more from a lore perspective than a gameplay perspective to me. Like the fight is solid: better than most fights in Zero Mission, but it's the stuff you brought up about its interesting circumstances that makes it cool. Also, knowing Ridley, he'll somehow find away to revive himself again. That's just kind of what he does. XD Fourth: honestly you don't need to worry about your comments being too long here. I absolutely love in depth comments like these. I like seeing what people have to say about my videos, and I just like discussion in general about the games I'm covering. Your comment was one of my favorites for this video specifically because of your in depth thoughts. =D
13:37 is it me, or does the song that begin here sound like samus' jumping was included in it? I still hear the whirling sound of her jumping included in it.
it actually does have some melancholy to it. in the endgame, after you get the power bombs, the entire map opens up to you. and if you want that 100%, you HAVE to go back to every single area. including tourian. while most of tourian sits intact but abandoned... the area where mother brain once stood is now dillapidated and rusty. the eerie post-boss music is all you hear in this area. a strange toxic liquid that even the gravity suit cant protect against replaces the lava here. the escape shaft, too, is rusty and dillapidated. this makes for a beautiful segway into super metroid, where you revisit this area and you find bugs have moved in and the acid drained....hinting that something isn't quite right. also the secret that was in mother brains chamber is there in zero mission too. the whole area feels haunted, and you only JUST left it. also the caverns to where your ship landed/was becomes a dull red to show the explosions did damage the area. but that's the only real big change with the main map.
12:00 Use screw attack at the right time to pass through the rings. The worst enemies of the player here is the lack of patience and panic. You stand on the last vertical platform where was the last zebetite, shoot 4/5 missiles to mother brain, go quickly back on the low platform before the next ring hit you there. Jump back on the vertical platform in killing with screw attack the next wave of rings than shoot 4/5 more missiles to mother brain.. repeat that until she dead (33 hits I think). This is not as choatic as it seems. This is a rhythmic pattern to get. When you get the pattern this is very satisfying. You become the invincible one rather than the one who get obliterate. So, wait for the right moment, jump in screw attack to eliminate the rings, blast mother Brain, go back before to get hit by the next rings and repeat.
I remember this game had a special "minimal completion" ending, where you collected absolutely the minimum amount of items to beat the game. Now I played this back when I was still a teenager well over a decade ago, but I remember it took me quite a few attempts to beat some of the bosses like Ridley with the minimum number of items. It certainly made many of the bosses much more challenging, since you couldn't just unload on them and figuring out their attack patterns so you could dodge them in a fairly confined space compared to say the boss arenas of Super Metroid was pretty intense. At least that's how I remember it, maybe if I played it again now I'd have an easier time, but I liked the concept of rewarding the player for doing sort of a "challenge run", especially if combined with hard mode. Doing some research, I'm pretty sure the ending I'm referring to is 15% or less completion rate with Hard Mode enabled.
Zero Mission also containing the original game is enough to make it definitive. Because if there are things you prefer in the original, you can still play it.
So the one time he mentioned it doesn't clue you in well. You pass that previous section a few times and see that it has the a bug. That's pretty big clue. But it's probably easier if you're more familiar with the first one, since this whole section is added content, so it really sticks out.
how'd i know it was gonna be zelda? you should do metroid prime. the first prime game is still one of my most memorable gaming experiences and one of my favorite games ever. i often kick myself for not holding onto my gamecube pretty much for that game alone.
The Mother Brain fight is much easier then you think. The Screw Attack destroys all of the projectiles in that fight. So just jump around and spray MB's eye with missles when it opens. Easy. I played and beat this for the first time over the last few days. I loved it.
Please remember when the original came out video games were not mainstream at all and even rentals weren’t really a thing and programs still didn’t have a firm grasp on what the nes could do. Many things you complained about the original were at the time seen as features. This was a game that was supposed to take a LONG time simply because it might be the only game some people had. Add to that the fact that there was no internet or even Nintendo power at this time you either had to spread the time to find stuff or hope someone on the playground had found it. That’s why the original has so much love and gamers who grew up with it don’t care fir the hand holding and making the remake a lot easier, cause we fell in love with a game that we made maps for and bombed everything, cause there weren’t another 50 games released the same month on multiple platforms. We had just a few and we wanted them to last forever. As odd as it may seem now a days, getting so frustrated with a game you quit playing only to come back later with a new resolve was a mainstay or NES gaming.
The original didn't have any isolated atmosphere, it just felt like it because samus was so fragile and everything was so confusing. Try playing zero mission, it's by far one of the bests if not the best metroid game
Personally; this is my favorite side scrolling Metroid game and one of the best remakes I've ever played. It took everything that what works about the original NES, improved alot of things that went wrong, mixed in with Super's & Fusion's gameplay, tweak it up an bit, added more contents, makes up the non-linear freedom approach that Fusion lacks of, has the best control out of any side scrolling Metroid games, great design layout, awesome soundtrack and most importantly, it was an blast. It maybe easy & kinda short and it may not got into depth of the stories or heavy dialogs like Fusion did. But it's not an huge big deal nor it doesn't matter. This is where it's at and I prefer having stories in silence and thinking inside the box than just having too much heavy dialog & cutscenes that Fusion has ( Though that is not to say I didn't hate Fusion for that. I can understand why it was like that. The story in Fusion is great and so is the game itself. Don't get me wrong. I just prefer on moving on than reading too much dialogs and cutscenes ). And again. This game came out in 2004 and there was Metroid Prime 2: Echoes that came out the exact same year as Zero Mission did ( Though Zero Mission came out months before Prime 2 did. But still. ). It was like 2002 all over again and the franchise continues to become awesome.
Funnily enough I just started playing through Prime 2 for the first time. So far it's been really interesting. (Kinda freaking creepy too, which is neat.) Honestly so far I might like it better than Prime 1. (That remains to be seen though.)
One thing that was better in the original to me, is the speed of the ennemies. Some flying ennemies in ZM are so slow moving than they are just target to shoot. They are not threats anymore. The NES version is still great to play if you have skill, know the map well and don't die. Samus is pretty agile and can make some great special moves. I will never get bored to replay it. Of course, ZM is excellent. I got the 8 different ends/art images. 15% hard completion is totally insane in particular the Tourian part.
I died the first couple of times fighting Mother Brain because I just tried powering through it and taking the damage. Didn't work out too well. Then I just started being more patient and once you get the pattern down, it's not too difficult. At least it has difficulty this time. The first Mother Brain fight (in the original NES) was way too easy.
If there's any perks to the game's reused level design it allowed me to beat the original because I've played through zero mission and super metroid so many times that I don't need a map for NEStroid the memory of the remake is enough to guide me. I played the original first and could never beat it but after getting into the groove of zero mission I've beaten it at least twice although i never had the patience to beat both ridley and kraid lol and just use the skip to get to Tourian. Feels good to have those moments of "oh my gosh, I actually know where I am"
you're supposed to buy yourself some breathing room by freezing the ring projectiles in the Mother Brain fight. Much like the infinitely spawning pipe enemies, they don't fire more out until the ones already out are gone.
I was howling laughing at the fraps clips. Like, seriously, I'm dead. Who has that much difficulty with Mother Brain in Zero Mission? That entire game is a cakewalk even on hard mode.
I greatly appreciated the updated mother brain fight. It was absolutely brutal, but the precise controls available for Samus gave all the tools needed to freeze the Cheerios and dodge the other projectiles while laying waste to mother brain. If you can really master her movements, that fight can be over really quickly. I never felt that way about the original, mastery of those controls always escaped me.
Zero mission was the 1st Metroid game I beat. I then decided to take on Fusion as it was collecting dust. It took me three times as long to beat Fusion. I'm not gonna lie I died a ton during Zero mission. My Gba has a delayed and sticky D pad. But I enjoyed every minute of both games.
So... I speed run this game. I run the 100% Normal category. And one of my favorite things to check out on twitch are casual players doing blind playthroughs of zero mission. I like how you mentioned the fake lava section from eastern lower norfair. I was watching someone stream this and they kept trying to figure out where to go in that area, obviously I know given I not only speed run the game but do the 100% category, but I never told them. They also never asked me. by default I assume people don't want hints given. I was really curious at that point how would someone figure out they should be jumping into the lava, cause it didn't seem really obvious. Then the things start crawling out of it to suggest you should go in there. Then there's the slug bosses. While it's possible to get to that fight without wave beam... if you're able to get there without wave beam you've probably played the game a few times before and you're just fucking around. So, casually you need wave beam. Once you enter the room is forces you to go into morph and also locks you in the room. It's easy enough to figure out the first one you use the wave beam to kill [casually anyway]. The second one isn't as straight forward. To kill it you have to lay down bombs and have it crawl forward and have the bombs explode on it [or power bombs... but that's extremely unlikely you have those at this point]. In the many casual runs I've watched pretty much everyone tries to fire missiles or their beam and eventually get's frustrated and tries to leave the fight. But you can't leave. However in order to get to the door you entered in you have to go into morph ball. Then to get back to the worm you have to go back into morph. And that's fucking genius. I've watched so many different casual players do the following. 1. Get frustrated missiles and beam only push the boss back but wont actually kill it. 2. try to leave 3. try the beams and missiles again 4. get extra fucking pissed and start spamming bombs all over the place because they're forced to go into morph and they're pretty salty at this point 5. That moment where they kinda just stop and you know the gears are turning in their head after they spammed a bunch of bombs in frustration. 6. Kill the boss And it's stuff like this that keeps me coming back to watch casual streams on twitch of this game i speed run. I learn something new about the games design every time, and also meet not friends. Once in a blue moon I might direct them towards a guide to the speed run if they ask about it [and if you're interested in speed running it, look up Dragon Fangs any% or 100% guides or go to speedrun dot com and check out the guides they have on the Metroid Zero Mission board. The best thing you'll find on my channel aren't terribly useful. also 39 people have better times than me... Best I have is a Long play I made for 100% which doesn't use speed running strategies or routing, it's a traditional long play... so, yeah, don't use that as a guide. It's also trash, I'm rambling...] But, yeah, this is by far my favorite game in the series and I love watching TAS's, RTA speed runs, and Casual runs of the game.
"No atmosphere" and "mother brain being worse" are two things I can't agree with. You say you're new to the series, and maybe I'm biased for being with it for so long, but the mother brain fight is a cakewalk. Yes, her room is a pain but when you're between the two platforms it's beyond simple. She has a massive tell and windup to her one and only attack, and conveniently, the charge beam can be used as a single use screw attack meaning that while her eye is shut and you're waiting for her to expose herself you should not have a problem dealing with the donuts. Even if that's no good for you, holding L and spamming B to just shoot them into non existence works too, especially well since you can freeze the donuts, preventing further projectiles. I see you shooting missles at her when she shoots her beam, that isn't the game being bad, that's all you. As for no atmosphere, really? The game's music is probably the best it's been, even better than super in many places, and you made a big fuss about how there's even backgrounds now and all the areas are distinct. No, you're not constantly being hounded by the SA-X or surrounded by particles of floating phazon and an ominous track playing the entire time. That said, you look anyone in the eye with a serious face and say that getting the full powered suit in Chozodia and ripping every space pirate a new one isn't a hype blast. I've watched all your reviews, and I mean this with no offense, but all the thumbnails seem to hint at "this is great buuut" in a click-baity way. You bring up good points, and your metroid series isn't some low effort low quality string of videos, but at times it seems like you're looking for things to nitpick at. I still enjoyed the videos, but I think critiquing a critique is good for growth too.
Mother brain IS worse though. Even if it isn't that bad it's still worse than the original, and i even noticed how bad the fight was on my first playthrough
The remake of Metroid 1 is WAY better than the original version because there is no need for really long passwords. This game relies on saving and loading game data. The original did not rely on saving and loading game data, which sucked. Plus, this game views the world map and the original one didn't, which sucked.
Plenty of people have pointed out the atmosphere thing, but personally I disagree with the bit on storytelling the most. To me, Metroid has always been first and foremost about fun gameplay and well designed maps. The story in every 2D game really boils down to "bad thing is on planet, go kill it" and that's perfectly fine, if I want environmental storytelling I'd play Metroid Prime or Prime 2, where you're meant to constantly stop and analyze your surroundings. Fusion is an exception to that rule, and that's... probably why it's the one I replay the least, and when I do I usually pay little attention to the narrative as I know it like the back of my hand already. Granted! The 2D ones are all childhood games for me, so of course I know them so well that I wouldn't care about stopping to look at the environmental storytelling or thinking about the plot significance of the room I'm in. I play them for the sheer enjoyment of playing a video game (Zero Mission especially is good for taking weird routes through the game, the path they added to let you go straight to Ridley from Norfair after getting the ice beam is a personal favorite)
This is probably my favorite Metroid game to be honest. This game feels amazing to speed run and get 100% of the items and map. Super Metroid might be a glorious game, but I still feel like this game is better than Super Metroid.
I've honestly been debating this game as my favorite in the 2d series, it's really hard for me to say. Idk, I guess most of the 2d games are just that good.
I’m about like ya, I wish they’d use more narrative like in Fusion. Of course the gameplay is always where it’s at, but Samus, Ridley, the Chozo, the Federation, all of these are interesting characters and have interesting story, more so than Zelda for the simple fact that pretty much every Zelda game features a different “Link” but every Metroid game features Samus, the ONLY Samus. Hopefully they’ll touch up some on this in the future with some remakes and what-not, where they could at LEAST throw in some bonus content we can read. Maybe give the other hunters some back-story from MP: Hunters or the ones from MP3: Corruption If they ever decide to get around to MP4.....uugghh I really hope they put half as much love into that game as they did Zelda BotW
Even though I didn't like ZM at first back then, currently it is my most beloved game in Metroid series. Sure it have some weak bosses, but it's a good design choice for people's potentially first Metroid game and I'd say it's the best starting point for entire Metroid like genre as a whole. For me Zero Mission is like Resident Evil Remake and... yes, I'm gonna say The Twin Snakes. They take and improve what originals has while also adding some new stuff... except some cutscenes and most of the music in TTS.
Awesome video! But honestly. I wish spritebased Metroids wouldn't have died. There is something about the muddyness of the environments and enemy designs that really give me a lot of vibes, without being as abstract and limited as Metroid 1 and 2 on the original systems, besides usually being snappier to control overall. To me the real cannon will always be Zero Mission, AM2R, Super Metroid and Fusion. So now I need a Metroid 5, really... I wish they would answer a lot more questions... Think about that ending of Zero Mission. Samus escapes in a Space Pirate sperm looking ship. What goes on from there? We literally know nothing about the things in between the games. Does she try and Radio in the Federation? Are these 2 Systems even compatible? Are there Star Wars esque Hub Worlds with bars for all species that she can use to make a call to the federation to get her payment. Where does Samus even reside? (Especially now after Fusion, to not spoil anything but a couple of relations shift).
Zero mission is great and all, but its greatest weaknesses are that its on Gameboy and its easyness. I still prefer the original. I beat it once with a friend in one sitting. It took the whole night. Unlocking the zero suit on the second run is the most satisfying feeling we've ever got out of a game.
i feel like saying ZM makes the original “obsolete” is doing the original a MASSIVE disservice. the atmosphere and sense of exploration in that game is something i’ve never seen replicated, and i honestly think ZM streamlines the game too much by giving it an obvious progression system. like, sure, you CAN skip the long beam and get the varia suit early, but those are all hidden shortcuts. in metroid 1? i fought ridley first on my first playthru cuz i just kinda felt like it. i wish ZM had that level of freedom also, metroid 1 *does* have a map-if u draw it out urself ;)
The only problem with the controls is the wall jumping. It's the same as before, but it's harder to do compared to super because of you falling faster. But overall, zero missioms controls are way better. I just wished the wall jumping was more like the mega man x series
Making it like Megaman x would make the game too easy to break, wall jumping is meant to be a hidden technique in metroid, not a basic ability like in megaman x
@@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502 it still can be a hidden technique if they don't put in the slide down animation in mega man x. So like Mercury Steam's wall jump but without still being able to do it on one wall
Ya know, i actually like this one more than Fusion, even though Fusion has a LOT of stuff I like. The sound of the Plasma Beam for example. I think it's just that this one looks and feels more like the usual Metroid game. For obvious reasons. I agree 100% The Mother Brain fight. That set up only worked in the original becauae you had more room to move. Making it that cramped just made it terrible. Got some really dope art out of it in Samus Returns though.
Getting your armor back against the space pirates is one of the best moments in videogame history imo.
It definitely is a super cool moment.
Eh idk I found that whole section kinda lame
Was cool, but nothing special
Zero Mission does have atmosphere though, and it uses it pretty effectively. While a majority of the game feels extremely triumphant, this allowed the devs to make more intimidating moments stand out. The progression is planned in a way that intentionally juxtaposes how unstoppable Samus is for a majority of the game with how outnumbered she is against the Metroids, or how defenseless she is against the space pirates toward the end. I honestly really love this approach to design, it feels like the devs broke down what made the SA-X encounters engaging in Fusion and used parts of that to compliment the otherwise adventurous feeling of the game.
@Everett Joseph I watch on flixzone. You can find it by googling =)
@Everett Joseph I would suggest flixzone. Just google for it =)
Triumph and Intimidation aren't really as much atmospheric and ambient elements as they are created by specific plot points and events. When it comes to cold, hard atmosphere, Zero Mission kind of fails due to its lighthearted, comic-book-like artstyle and arcade-y music that is in stark contrast with the creepy and foreboding themes of the story. Ultimately, Zero Mission tried to tie FUN into the usually lonely and dark mood that Metroid creates, and the result was an atmosphere that felt cheap and nonsubstantial.
Yes I always loved that about Fusion it felt like the devs were psychics for placing SA-X segments right in areas where you’d just be strolling through the levels feeing like an unstoppable badass or a lone wolf adventurer and then bam, you open one door and suddenly you’re an amoeba scuttling and hiding under the floor or running like a rat away from the true predator and hunter on that space station.
@@BenjaminAnderson21 I think you just don’t like the atmosphere. The game has one and it does it well.
The game that answered the question "y cant metroid crawl?"
"why crawl when you can ball"
Honestly, considering how zero mission is meant to be more of an introduction episode to the metroid saga, i believe that it overall being just an upbeat adventure with some moments of slight tension is quite frankly perfect.
I disagree with this. The story elements of Zero Mission TRY to convey a foreboding and dark tone, but they are at odds with the cartoonish graphics and light-hearted, non-ambient soundtrack. It just doesn't feel right.
@@BenjaminAnderson21 Yes it does
One cool detail I noticed: the Chozo statues that hold the three Chozo armor power-ups look different than the regular ones. They look more menacing, as if they represent fearsome Chozo Warriors.
i noticed that on my first playthrough of the game a long time ago
Heh heh. Yeah. Just a random little detail. It's not like it hints at a brand new VILLAIN(s) or anything...
@@thesnatcher3616 hmmm... You think they meant to foreshadow these evil Chozo Generals, even back then?
@@Mike14264 Maybe not DIRECTLY, but more or less yeah.
@@Mike14264 yeah maybe so. Because wasn’t Dread being planned around this time? It was supposed to follow Fusion but got put off until now. So it would make sense that such a basic concept would show up ever so slightly in Zero Mission
Great vid! Altho i have to disagree somewhat on this game having "no atmosphere". Its definitely not haunting as Super, Fusion, and Prime; but this vibrant take and distinction in and between areas allows for the more intense and weird depths of Zebes to hit harder for a true feeling of descent. Just more adventurous than scary.
I do agree with the missed potential on storytelling though. This is the first time Samus' upbringing and relation to the Chozo is adressed in an actual Metroid game, and it just glosses over it. This is why im one of the few people open to that rumored Super Metroid remake. Since it would be yet another return to Zebes, they can try to truly complete the arc and flesh out the planet's history.
I never even considered that a Super Metroid remake could do that. Huh, actually sounds kind of exciting.
And yeah the atmosphere comment is fair. The atmosphere just doesn't feel as present as it was in Fusion to me. Still love the game though.
I do agree that they could've put more story depths into it like Fusion did. But it never really bother me because we all know how it all started.
Metroid Dread time baby
Man, this game is brimming with atmosphere. I think what you're trying to saying is that it doesn't have the same atmosphere that older games have. All this stuff about the game being a "rip-roaring adventure" is absolutely atmosphere (along with fantastic gameplay), and it seems to me you actually liked it a lot. Same with the thrilling moments of the space pirates chasing you, that's another great example of really good atmosphere. The flashing red lights and the heart-pounding really sell that moment.
I love this game so much. It was my introduction to the series and I still play it very often. It's always fun to go back after a while and see if I can get 100% as easily as I used to. I'm very biased towards it, even more than Super Metroid, so I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
Great review as always, all your critiques are well articulated and the whole video is very well written and paced. These videos only continue to get better and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on Samus Returns. Keep doing what you're doing! Always excited when you upload :)
Glad you enjoyed the video. Zero Mission is honestly a blast to replay just as you said. It's one of the only games in the series where I actively try to get better times each time I replay it.
And as far as Samus Returns goes, it's actually the game I've been most looking forward to making. I'm really excited to get to talk about it. =D
Yep, it IS better that Super Metroid. No floaty jumps, tight controls, (I really hate the controls in Super Metroid. The fact that you can change them, is their only saving grace). But honestly, this game is the best from a sequence breaking standpoint. I know you can sequence break in Super Metroid too but from a design perspective, Zero Mission just does it way better.
Comment to please the algorithm god (this video needs more views👍)
I honestly really appreciate this. Thank you!
Zero Mission Review Already? That's fast, and i am really grateful.
I wanted to make sure the wait for videos was way less long. (Also Zero Mission was rather short so it was easy to finish.) Regardless thank you! Hope you enjoy the video!
7:15 Actually, there is quite an obvious cue, but you might have missed it: Once you beat the giant bug, you see how it has stuck itself in a hole, but as you explore Ridley's lair, you see it has now turned itself into a giant cocoon, indicating that it has actually foraged its way down there and it means you simply need to backtrack and now go where the giant bug was.
Huh, neat.
I know I missed it for a bit.
Zero Mission was a freaking GODSEND for people like me who refused to use guides when trying to complete the original Metroid, especially since I came almost directly from games like Fusion and the Prime series.
While I do somewhat agree with your last criticisms, I don't think they could have done much about it and still call it a remake of the original. Still though, the colours might be a bit too vibrant at parts which is why the atmosphere might seem more lacking than other titles, I feel
Dude for real trying to complete Metroid NES without a guide is a pain. And as far as my later complaints, there will be some examples of the kind of stuff I'd want them to change in a case like a remake, as Samus Returns ironically does have some examples of this.
dude screw the shinespark puzzles lol
@@DuoStuff
Eu digo que, particularmente, a grande satisfação de terminar/completar Metroid-Nes é justamente o fato de não haver guias. Joguei quando tinha o Nes e a satisfação nenhum outro jogo da série jamais conseguiu reproduzir.
A experiência que o jogo me proporciona é a experiência de "eu venci" ou "eu consegui fazer isso, completar o jogo".
Enquanto que esse remake a sensação do começo ao fim é que a Nintendo segurava minha mão para atravessar a rua com a segurança de que eu chegaria do outro lado, de certeza absoluta. Ao terminar o game, a sensação foi: ok.
According to Wikipedia and its source (which was an interview on an old gaming website), Nintendo made Zero Mission for people who played Fusion and wanted to see "the roots of the Metroid franchise". As such, it was their intent to make the game more modern and accessible while still keeping the feeling and atmosphere the original game had. My guess is that they didn't want to go too far with the story, as the source material didn't focus on it.
You can see why he struggles with mother brain in the way he plays the whole game. Literally just runs through every second of the whole game
I see where he's coming from though, as when I fought the boss I felt like I was just constantly getting hit by random projectiles. There's probably tactics to dodge them, but it got irritating after my second or so death from her.
I feel like getting the powerups in super metroid does matter a lot. I breezed through the whole game until I got to Ridley. I tried fighting him twice and died both times. I went on a quest around the map and had fun finding new things by looking at the map and finding blue spots
Every spot in the game has these details. No square on the map is unused.
I don't think the collectibles in zero mission matter, but I like that because it allows you to focus on the story.
Interesting how a remake of one of the hardest Metroid games is one of the easiest.
But metroid isn't hard because it's difficult, it's hard because it's impossible to controll
connor shappell Oh, I didn't say it was hard because it's difficult, I just said it's hard. When I said that they're hard and easy, I meant with controls and game mechanics.
@@Link-ek3iw oh, okay.
@@Link-ek3iw by the way, I'm still trying to beat metroid 1 on the nes mini, and I'm trying to get zero mission on my gba.
@@TheRegularHedgehog575 the game was isn’t too bad, but Kriad is brutal
Metroid Zero Mission is one of my favorite games and I play it usually twice a year. I recommend it to anyone trying to get into the franchise
My favorite bit with the ridley fight is that he does not attack until you have gone to the end of the room, noticed the locked door and then turn back around. The small cutscene showing samus' surprise is an even nicer touch.
A point to note about the story-telling: Zero Mission is meant to be the first Metroid game you play. It's the initial game on which the rest of the story of this universe is told. I think it is good to be a little more simplistic, as for the prologue of this whole lore.
god dang, those drums and chorus on the brainstar overworld theme this game sound and looks so good even years after in 2020 :O
One tip about the fight with MB after finishing my first run is that the top right gun you can stand on at 13:06 of the video is a pretty good place to jump back and forth from as you wait for the weak point to be exposed, otherwise screw attack through the bullets and freeze the rings and you should be fine mostly. If you're trying to climb up from the lava on the far left, yeah you'll take quite a bit of damage but do not climb as the small bullets are close, you're pretty much guaranteed to fall back in if you do. Neat video though
As a huge Touhou fan, I'd like to give Mother Brain the benefit of the doubt. It still makes the fairly obvious improvement that the Rinkas always come from the same place every time, and the battle is made much more dynamic with how Mother Brain closes and reopens her eye. There's a safespot from the turrets on the right platform, and only two Rinkas will fire at you from there, so you can just aim up and down while crouching to freeze them. And finally, the Screw Attack will allow you to ignore both the turrets and Rinkas as long as you're in the air, which is remarkably important.
So yeah, I guess by my standards the fight is way better than it was in the original. At least the game controls better to make up for it.
This was the first metroid game I played.
Not a bad one to start with, that's for sure. The game is fantastic.
I loved this video, it's aways great to find a new creator trying his best. The only thing I think you should've probably mentioned is the insane sequence breaking in this game. It's so fun to get super missiles early, or have the varia suit before the high jump, etc. The snafu at the beginning of Ridley where you have to immediately leave is perfectly skippable with clever maneuverability on the right side of the map, or with early super missiles. This adds depth to the design only Dread can match, and not even as well
There's no topping the mother of all the genre, Metroid is still the best there is. i remember playing this way back when and was totally inlove with it, the added backstory on Samus was amazing as was everything else added.
Damn now i feel like replaying it once more.
My biggest gripe with zero mission is if you play it first before the other metroids as newcomers do it expects you to know or figure out techniques teached in super metroid, as the new starting point of the series it should teach the techniques necesary for 100%
the GBA metroid games were awesome. I still haven`t finished prime three though
Honestly neither have I. I'm waiting to get to Metroid Prime 3, Hunters, and Other M until I do the 3D half of the Metroid series for a video marathon. That's why I'm sticking to the 2D games for now. =D
@@DuoStuff other M is the most hated metroid game
That is true. Other M is certainly despised by a lot of the fanbase, but that's exactly why I want to play it. It feels like an important game in the series, so I do plan to play it eventually.
@@DuoStuff at least it has got the story elements you liked in fusion. It feels so nice that someone gets me
Honestly I'm also glad someone else appreciates Fusion as well. It's not nearly as appreciated as it should be.
This video proves that today's generation needs more hand holding then the past.
I'd personally argue that expectations have just changed. Games definitely hold your hands more, but that was naturally going to happen as gaming went from a "new" medium to one that was better understood and, more importantly, was attempting to reach out to a wider audience.
I'm rather glad they're not as cryptic or as ridiculously difficult as they were during the NES era. I really don't think I would've enjoyed it if I grew up with it. You can enjoy that eras quirks, but I don't think I ever really will.
Finally someone that praises this game, it is often left forgotten despite it being amazing and probably one of the best videogames remakes of all time.
Also I would like to point out that the original NES Metroid was a free unlockable inside MZM. Another thing I'd like to say is that when you understand the gameplay you can perform some very satisfying game-breaking things, like for instance fighting Ridley before Kraid, so it has both the free roaming stuff and the more guided thing for newcomers, it really is amazing.
MZM was also actually my very first videogame ever and the reason I discovered Metroid and ended up loving it, and it was an accident! You see, my sister and I asked to our mom to buy a GBA for Christmas with Pokemon Emerald and she agreed, but when she went to buy it there was a Christmas sale (probably also because we got the GBA quite late in its timeline) that if you picked up a GBA they would also give away a GBA game for free and destiny wanted that MZM was that free game we got alongside the GBA and Emerald.
I think part of why Zero Mission is so light on story compared to other Metroid games is because it released alongside the Metroid Manga in Japan, which fills in the gaps of Samus's past/backstory and how it led up to her fight against the Space Pirates in Zero Mission, and purposefully ties into the game as it was released alongside the game and marketed alongside it in Japan too. I'd highly recommend reading it sometime if you want more out of Metroid's story, it's really good! It was translated by fans ages ago
I'll definitely play Zero Mission rather than the original. Thanks!
Zero Mission is my favourite Metroid game, I just love the way that Samus controls
When I first played zero mission, I was immediately hooked on the series
I can understand why. It's gameplay flow is immaculate, even if I personally prefer Fusion.
I can't agree. Both are good the nes one and gba version had their likability for me
I love how you transitioned the Kraids lair theme from the original to the remake version. It was perfect. :D
I never had a GBA, so I only played this game on an emulator, but I think this was the first Metroid game I completed. It's just so easy to pick up and play and actually get through. I'm not a fan of games where you can get lost easily so I'm grateful for the chozo statue system and of course the map. I tried to play the oriignal Metroif on NSO, but I got lost and died all the time. I wish Zero Mission would come to the Switch as well. It even contains the original game so you'd get both at the same time. Sadly that's a thing that probably won't happen again. They didn't include M2 with Samus Returns. Although here in Europe there was a collectors edition with a lot of awesome goodies and it included a download code for M2 on the 3DS. I was planning on geting that version, but had to cancel it and get the regular one because of money reasons :S
Anyway I agree with everything you said in the video, although I'm not too bothered by the enemy behavior or I just can't think of how they could've changed them without making a completely new game. Zero Mission is already very different from the original, so changing even more would be too much imo.
I don't like how they made Ridley a joke. In all the old 2D games, except for Super, he is so easy to beat. At least in the Prime games his fights get a lot cooler, especially in MP3.
Too bad that the quality of GBA music is so bad. Kraids lair is an awesome song and the zero mission version is really good, how atmospheric it is and how they changed the ending part which could be a bit anoying in the original version. But the quality is so bad, at least there are the Smash versions of the song :D Though they should still recompose this remake in some way imo. They added the Mamgoor caverns theme in Samus returns although it wasn't even a thing when the original M2 was released so I'm sure they could add Kraids lair song too in a new game. I'm hoping for this happening if the Super Metroid remake really is happening.
I really enjoyed this vids and I was also surprised how fast this video came out. I'm looking forward to the next one. Finally a 2D metroid game I actually own :D
First: OMG SOMEONE NOTICED THE TRANSITION THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY
Second: I'm also similar in how I'm not the biggest fan of getting lost in a game. That's actually the reason why it took until Samus Returns to get into this series. I just never clicked with the series before and then Samus Returns releases and it's like BAM! I get it now. XD
Third: Enemy design-wise I kind of just prefer Samus Returns's approach. It drastically improved enemy complexity, so going into this one I was expecting similar situations. That wasn't the case but eh, it's really not that big of a deal.
Fourth: Yeah I really don't like how Ridley is treated. While I personally like his fight in Super Metroid at the least, I don't think he was done perfectly in 2D until Samus Returns. Which is the first time I got to fight him... XD
Fifth: yeah the quality of the music is a bit iffy, but that's just kind of how the GBA was. I have a weird fondness for it though if I'm being honest.
Sixth: Glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully the next video doesn't take too long. It's the one I've been most excited about covering, so hopefully it turns out well regardless. Also, thank you for the comment. I really love these kinds of comments. =D
@@DuoStuff I guess the transition was so good that most people didn't notice (or though that it was important enough to comment lol)
OK, now I see what you mean. I didn't think about how they changed the enemies in Samus Returns but I guess that's exactly what you meant about the enemies in Zero Mission: Samus has more options for combat in Samus Returns than in M2, so the enemies are more agressive and not just flying around or walking in a straight line. That makes sense, they really could've made the enemies in Zero mission more active or challenging because you can really just run through them most of the time. I'm not sure how the though process in Samus Returns was: did they make the enemies more active and then give Samus the melee counter or the other way around: did they give Samus the melee counter and then changed the enemies to balance it out. I'm guessing the later one is true but that's just a guess.
Was Samus Returns the first time you fought Ridley in a 2D Metroid game or was it your first time period? Do you have any expirience with the 3D games? I was actually surprised that Samus Returns is next because I thought you'll go through every Metroid game. If that's the case then the Prime games and Other M should come first.
Btw I just noticed you didn't even mention Mecha Ridley. What are your thoughts on that boss? I think it's an interesting way of closing this game. Ridley never got to be a final boss until Samus Returns, so it's nice that they added a robotic version of him to the end of this game. A lot of people might say it's too much, but I like him so it's always a pleasure seeing him (or a robot looking like him in this case). It's also cool how the robot isn't finished. It feels so much more real this way, I mean you can't garantuee that a project like this will be ready once it's needed. And they always have the oportunity to bring him back in a completed form. Especially now that Ridley seems to be dead for good after Fusion (though that can change too). Maybe in a future game there could be someone who is obsessed with Ridley so he finishes the robot and that's how we can have a Ridley fight in a game set after Fusion without bringing Ridley back from the dead (again).
PS: I also like when YTers actually interact with the viewers. So seeing how you answered every single comment made me want to write down my thoughts even more. I tend not to comment most of the time but when I do, I try to write a lot without overdoing it hopefully. Sometimes I get called out for my long comments, but I guess that's part of being in front of all kinds of people.
First: I'm guessing they probably made the counter first honestly, but I also think the developers were probably trying to up the complexity of combat in general. Remember: the game started out as a pitch to remake Metroid Fusion originally before moving to Metroid 2 since it was in much greater need of a remake. Considering that Fusion has the most complex enemy design in the 2D series prior to Samus Returns, I imagine they were trying to replicate that.
Second: It was my first Ridley fight in the series as a whole. I didn't get around to playing Prime until I had beaten Samus Returns, Super Metroid, Fusion, and Zero Mission. Prime was wonderful but besides that I haven't played the other 3D entries yet. My plan is to get to them after another marathon or two. (Prime 1-3, Hunters, Other M, and Federation Force to be exact.) After I wrap up Samus Returns though, it'll be a bit before I return to Metroid. I have some stuff I'm really excited to cover. (Which will actually be revealed at the end of my Samus Returns video.)
Third: Mecha Ridley is a pretty neat fight overall, but more from a lore perspective than a gameplay perspective to me. Like the fight is solid: better than most fights in Zero Mission, but it's the stuff you brought up about its interesting circumstances that makes it cool. Also, knowing Ridley, he'll somehow find away to revive himself again. That's just kind of what he does. XD
Fourth: honestly you don't need to worry about your comments being too long here. I absolutely love in depth comments like these. I like seeing what people have to say about my videos, and I just like discussion in general about the games I'm covering. Your comment was one of my favorites for this video specifically because of your in depth thoughts. =D
13:37 is it me, or does the song that begin here sound like samus' jumping was included in it? I still hear the whirling sound of her jumping included in it.
wait, did you sequenzbreak the game? you had the Super missle befor the mini Boss in ridley.
Sequence breaking in Zero Mission is shockingly easy in Zero Mission. I've even managed to accidentally use it at times.
Zero mission was my first metroid game
it actually does have some melancholy to it. in the endgame, after you get the power bombs, the entire map opens up to you. and if you want that 100%, you HAVE to go back to every single area. including tourian. while most of tourian sits intact but abandoned... the area where mother brain once stood is now dillapidated and rusty. the eerie post-boss music is all you hear in this area. a strange toxic liquid that even the gravity suit cant protect against replaces the lava here. the escape shaft, too, is rusty and dillapidated. this makes for a beautiful segway into super metroid, where you revisit this area and you find bugs have moved in and the acid drained....hinting that something isn't quite right. also the secret that was in mother brains chamber is there in zero mission too.
the whole area feels haunted, and you only JUST left it. also the caverns to where your ship landed/was becomes a dull red to show the explosions did damage the area. but that's the only real big change with the main map.
funnily enough, I am the most lost I have ever been in a Metroid game currently on this game
Don't mind me just commenting to help your video in the algorithm :)
12:00 Use screw attack at the right time to pass through the rings. The worst enemies of the player here is the lack of patience and panic. You stand on the last vertical platform where was the last zebetite, shoot 4/5 missiles to mother brain, go quickly back on the low platform before the next ring hit you there. Jump back on the vertical platform in killing with screw attack the next wave of rings than shoot 4/5 more missiles to mother brain.. repeat that until she dead (33 hits I think). This is not as choatic as it seems. This is a rhythmic pattern to get. When you get the pattern this is very satisfying. You become the invincible one rather than the one who get obliterate. So, wait for the right moment, jump in screw attack to eliminate the rings, blast mother Brain, go back before to get hit by the next rings and repeat.
I remember this game had a special "minimal completion" ending, where you collected absolutely the minimum amount of items to beat the game. Now I played this back when I was still a teenager well over a decade ago, but I remember it took me quite a few attempts to beat some of the bosses like Ridley with the minimum number of items. It certainly made many of the bosses much more challenging, since you couldn't just unload on them and figuring out their attack patterns so you could dodge them in a fairly confined space compared to say the boss arenas of Super Metroid was pretty intense. At least that's how I remember it, maybe if I played it again now I'd have an easier time, but I liked the concept of rewarding the player for doing sort of a "challenge run", especially if combined with hard mode.
Doing some research, I'm pretty sure the ending I'm referring to is 15% or less completion rate with Hard Mode enabled.
Thoroughly enjoyed your gameplay discoveries you described. Great video, congrats and thank you. Subscribed. 👏👍
Yeah, it’s a pretty cool game, but the way Samus just sticks her foot out when doing the flip animation never fails to anger me
I love the look of the gba metroid games this clean comic ask style is so good
Dude, your voice sounds exactly like Sonic. The cadence, the tone, everything. You sure you aren't his voice actor? Lmao
13:44 pop quiz: what color was the space pirate ship
15:31 - 15:48 , you preached a whole word and didn’t even know it! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
Zero Mission also containing the original game is enough to make it definitive.
Because if there are things you prefer in the original, you can still play it.
So the one time he mentioned it doesn't clue you in well. You pass that previous section a few times and see that it has the a bug. That's pretty big clue. But it's probably easier if you're more familiar with the first one, since this whole section is added content, so it really sticks out.
I love these Metroid videos! You should do something like this with other videogame series.
Actually at the end of my Metroid Samus Returns video I'll be revealing the next series I'm covering, so you're in luck! =D
@@DuoStuff Yay!
how'd i know it was gonna be zelda? you should do metroid prime. the first prime game is still one of my most memorable gaming experiences and one of my favorite games ever. i often kick myself for not holding onto my gamecube pretty much for that game alone.
great review - i should play this again some time.
also, why did you completely ignore robot ridley?
The Mother Brain fight is much easier then you think. The Screw Attack destroys all of the projectiles in that fight. So just jump around and spray MB's eye with missles when it opens. Easy. I played and beat this for the first time over the last few days. I loved it.
Please remember when the original came out video games were not mainstream at all and even rentals weren’t really a thing and programs still didn’t have a firm grasp on what the nes could do. Many things you complained about the original were at the time seen as features. This was a game that was supposed to take a LONG time simply because it might be the only game some people had. Add to that the fact that there was no internet or even Nintendo power at this time you either had to spread the time to find stuff or hope someone on the playground had found it. That’s why the original has so much love and gamers who grew up with it don’t care fir the hand holding and making the remake a lot easier, cause we fell in love with a game that we made maps for and bombed everything, cause there weren’t another 50 games released the same month on multiple platforms. We had just a few and we wanted them to last forever. As odd as it may seem now a days, getting so frustrated with a game you quit playing only to come back later with a new resolve was a mainstay or NES gaming.
Excelente ponto. Falei algo assim em uma das respostas que dei, sei lá em qual comentário agora. A sensação de vencer Metroid-Nes é incomparável.
Most important thing of this game was the introduction of zero suit Samus 👌
looks like a cool game, but like it lacks the isolated atmosphere of the original, which was part of what made the original great.
The original didn't have any isolated atmosphere, it just felt like it because samus was so fragile and everything was so confusing. Try playing zero mission, it's by far one of the bests if not the best metroid game
And now we got Dread!
0:09 what a way to open up… that’s a sub😂
Personally; this is my favorite side scrolling Metroid game and one of the best remakes I've ever played. It took everything that what works about the original NES, improved alot of things that went wrong, mixed in with Super's & Fusion's gameplay, tweak it up an bit, added more contents, makes up the non-linear freedom approach that Fusion lacks of, has the best control out of any side scrolling Metroid games, great design layout, awesome soundtrack and most importantly, it was an blast. It maybe easy & kinda short and it may not got into depth of the stories or heavy dialogs like Fusion did. But it's not an huge big deal nor it doesn't matter. This is where it's at and I prefer having stories in silence and thinking inside the box than just having too much heavy dialog & cutscenes that Fusion has ( Though that is not to say I didn't hate Fusion for that. I can understand why it was like that. The story in Fusion is great and so is the game itself. Don't get me wrong. I just prefer on moving on than reading too much dialogs and cutscenes ). And again. This game came out in 2004 and there was Metroid Prime 2: Echoes that came out the exact same year as Zero Mission did ( Though Zero Mission came out months before Prime 2 did. But still. ). It was like 2002 all over again and the franchise continues to become awesome.
Funnily enough I just started playing through Prime 2 for the first time. So far it's been really interesting. (Kinda freaking creepy too, which is neat.) Honestly so far I might like it better than Prime 1. (That remains to be seen though.)
One thing that was better in the original to me, is the speed of the ennemies. Some flying ennemies in ZM are so slow moving than they are just target to shoot. They are not threats anymore. The NES version is still great to play if you have skill, know the map well and don't die. Samus is pretty agile and can make some great special moves. I will never get bored to replay it. Of course, ZM is excellent. I got the 8 different ends/art images. 15% hard completion is totally insane in particular the Tourian part.
Zero misson was my frist and favorite metroid game
I love Zero Mission.
I died the first couple of times fighting Mother Brain because I just tried powering through it and taking the damage. Didn't work out too well. Then I just started being more patient and once you get the pattern down, it's not too difficult. At least it has difficulty this time. The first Mother Brain fight (in the original NES) was way too easy.
Playrd the original and beat it for the first time in January.
I beat the original 2 months ago, but I'd like to play the remake in the future.
I honestly would not call this a remake it’s so different like it’s level design and everything but still doesn’t make this game any worse
This was really good! But for everyone else, let's take a shot everytime he says satisfying.
I think you might be right about the frustrating part but still fun in my personal opinion but zero mission is also fun and in its own way
Would Gladly buy and play zero mission and fusion on the switch to play before dread
If there's any perks to the game's reused level design it allowed me to beat the original because I've played through zero mission and super metroid so many times that I don't need a map for NEStroid the memory of the remake is enough to guide me.
I played the original first and could never beat it but after getting into the groove of zero mission I've beaten it at least twice although i never had the patience to beat both ridley and kraid lol and just use the skip to get to Tourian.
Feels good to have those moments of "oh my gosh, I actually know where I am"
you're supposed to buy yourself some breathing room by freezing the ring projectiles in the Mother Brain fight. Much like the infinitely spawning pipe enemies, they don't fire more out until the ones already out are gone.
I was howling laughing at the fraps clips. Like, seriously, I'm dead. Who has that much difficulty with Mother Brain in Zero Mission? That entire game is a cakewalk even on hard mode.
There really is no forgiving the boss design of Mother Brain.
it's bern a week but it feels like months
Well that's unfortunate honestly, but regardless I hope you enjoyed the video dude! =D
I greatly appreciated the updated mother brain fight. It was absolutely brutal, but the precise controls available for Samus gave all the tools needed to freeze the Cheerios and dodge the other projectiles while laying waste to mother brain. If you can really master her movements, that fight can be over really quickly.
I never felt that way about the original, mastery of those controls always escaped me.
I played this when it first came out and even then I thought it sucked lol but still worth playing for the history
cool I will play the Gameboy of it and the review of it is pretty cool
You definitely should check it out. It's absolutely brilliant. =D
DuoStuff okay sure I was putting it off for 2 years on the Gameboy but now I have spare time to play it now
Well it won't take long to beat. It only took me about 4-5 hours on my first playthrough. Hope you enjoy it!
thanks for the video
Zero mission was the 1st Metroid game I beat. I then decided to take on Fusion as it was collecting dust. It took me three times as long to beat Fusion. I'm not gonna lie I died a ton during Zero mission. My Gba has a delayed and sticky D pad. But I enjoyed every minute of both games.
So... I speed run this game. I run the 100% Normal category. And one of my favorite things to check out on twitch are casual players doing blind playthroughs of zero mission. I like how you mentioned the fake lava section from eastern lower norfair.
I was watching someone stream this and they kept trying to figure out where to go in that area, obviously I know given I not only speed run the game but do the 100% category, but I never told them. They also never asked me. by default I assume people don't want hints given. I was really curious at that point how would someone figure out they should be jumping into the lava, cause it didn't seem really obvious. Then the things start crawling out of it to suggest you should go in there.
Then there's the slug bosses. While it's possible to get to that fight without wave beam... if you're able to get there without wave beam you've probably played the game a few times before and you're just fucking around. So, casually you need wave beam. Once you enter the room is forces you to go into morph and also locks you in the room. It's easy enough to figure out the first one you use the wave beam to kill [casually anyway].
The second one isn't as straight forward. To kill it you have to lay down bombs and have it crawl forward and have the bombs explode on it [or power bombs... but that's extremely unlikely you have those at this point]. In the many casual runs I've watched pretty much everyone tries to fire missiles or their beam and eventually get's frustrated and tries to leave the fight.
But you can't leave. However in order to get to the door you entered in you have to go into morph ball. Then to get back to the worm you have to go back into morph. And that's fucking genius.
I've watched so many different casual players do the following.
1. Get frustrated missiles and beam only push the boss back but wont actually kill it.
2. try to leave
3. try the beams and missiles again
4. get extra fucking pissed and start spamming bombs all over the place because they're forced to go into morph and they're pretty salty at this point
5. That moment where they kinda just stop and you know the gears are turning in their head after they spammed a bunch of bombs in frustration.
6. Kill the boss
And it's stuff like this that keeps me coming back to watch casual streams on twitch of this game i speed run. I learn something new about the games design every time, and also meet not friends. Once in a blue moon I might direct them towards a guide to the speed run if they ask about it [and if you're interested in speed running it, look up Dragon Fangs any% or 100% guides or go to speedrun dot com and check out the guides they have on the Metroid Zero Mission board. The best thing you'll find on my channel aren't terribly useful. also 39 people have better times than me... Best I have is a Long play I made for 100% which doesn't use speed running strategies or routing, it's a traditional long play... so, yeah, don't use that as a guide. It's also trash, I'm rambling...]
But, yeah, this is by far my favorite game in the series and I love watching TAS's, RTA speed runs, and Casual runs of the game.
"No atmosphere" and "mother brain being worse" are two things I can't agree with. You say you're new to the series, and maybe I'm biased for being with it for so long, but the mother brain fight is a cakewalk. Yes, her room is a pain but when you're between the two platforms it's beyond simple. She has a massive tell and windup to her one and only attack, and conveniently, the charge beam can be used as a single use screw attack meaning that while her eye is shut and you're waiting for her to expose herself you should not have a problem dealing with the donuts. Even if that's no good for you, holding L and spamming B to just shoot them into non existence works too, especially well since you can freeze the donuts, preventing further projectiles. I see you shooting missles at her when she shoots her beam, that isn't the game being bad, that's all you.
As for no atmosphere, really? The game's music is probably the best it's been, even better than super in many places, and you made a big fuss about how there's even backgrounds now and all the areas are distinct. No, you're not constantly being hounded by the SA-X or surrounded by particles of floating phazon and an ominous track playing the entire time. That said, you look anyone in the eye with a serious face and say that getting the full powered suit in Chozodia and ripping every space pirate a new one isn't a hype blast.
I've watched all your reviews, and I mean this with no offense, but all the thumbnails seem to hint at "this is great buuut" in a click-baity way. You bring up good points, and your metroid series isn't some low effort low quality string of videos, but at times it seems like you're looking for things to nitpick at.
I still enjoyed the videos, but I think critiquing a critique is good for growth too.
Mother brain IS worse though. Even if it isn't that bad it's still worse than the original, and i even noticed how bad the fight was on my first playthrough
The remake of Metroid 1 is WAY better than the original version because there is no need for really long passwords. This game relies on saving and loading game data. The original did not rely on saving and loading game data, which sucked. Plus, this game views the world map and the original one didn't, which sucked.
Mecha Ridley was neglected in this video
13:47 Metroid can finally crawl
Plenty of people have pointed out the atmosphere thing, but personally I disagree with the bit on storytelling the most. To me, Metroid has always been first and foremost about fun gameplay and well designed maps. The story in every 2D game really boils down to "bad thing is on planet, go kill it" and that's perfectly fine, if I want environmental storytelling I'd play Metroid Prime or Prime 2, where you're meant to constantly stop and analyze your surroundings. Fusion is an exception to that rule, and that's... probably why it's the one I replay the least, and when I do I usually pay little attention to the narrative as I know it like the back of my hand already.
Granted! The 2D ones are all childhood games for me, so of course I know them so well that I wouldn't care about stopping to look at the environmental storytelling or thinking about the plot significance of the room I'm in. I play them for the sheer enjoyment of playing a video game (Zero Mission especially is good for taking weird routes through the game, the path they added to let you go straight to Ridley from Norfair after getting the ice beam is a personal favorite)
Hahaha “Samus...eh-ran” 😂😂😂
This is probably my favorite Metroid game to be honest. This game feels amazing to speed run and get 100% of the items and map. Super Metroid might be a glorious game, but I still feel like this game is better than Super Metroid.
I thought it was a great game but I didn't like how you needed to do all that shinesparking with the speed booster to get some of the items
I've honestly been debating this game as my favorite in the 2d series, it's really hard for me to say. Idk, I guess most of the 2d games are just that good.
I just pumped through this game in 2 days last week. It was so engaging and satisfying, and I prefer it to Fusion.
I’m about like ya, I wish they’d use more narrative like in Fusion. Of course the gameplay is always where it’s at, but Samus, Ridley, the Chozo, the Federation, all of these are interesting characters and have interesting story, more so than Zelda for the simple fact that pretty much every Zelda game features a different “Link” but every Metroid game features Samus, the ONLY Samus.
Hopefully they’ll touch up some on this in the future with some remakes and what-not, where they could at LEAST throw in some bonus content we can read. Maybe give the other hunters some back-story from MP: Hunters or the ones from MP3: Corruption
If they ever decide to get around to MP4.....uugghh I really hope they put half as much love into that game as they did Zelda BotW
Probably the best Metroid game imo. If only they remastered it for Switch or something... hmmm....
Honestly I'd even be happy if they just straight re-released it and Fusion on Switch, but I doubt it.
Even though I didn't like ZM at first back then, currently it is my most beloved game in Metroid series. Sure it have some weak bosses, but it's a good design choice for people's potentially first Metroid game and I'd say it's the best starting point for entire Metroid like genre as a whole. For me Zero Mission is like Resident Evil Remake and... yes, I'm gonna say The Twin Snakes. They take and improve what originals has while also adding some new stuff... except some cutscenes and most of the music in TTS.
Great vid. :)
Awesome video!
But honestly. I wish spritebased Metroids wouldn't have died.
There is something about the muddyness of the environments and enemy designs that really give me a lot of vibes, without being as abstract and limited as Metroid 1 and 2 on the original systems, besides usually being snappier to control overall.
To me the real cannon will always be Zero Mission, AM2R, Super Metroid and Fusion.
So now I need a Metroid 5, really... I wish they would answer a lot more questions...
Think about that ending of Zero Mission. Samus escapes in a Space Pirate sperm looking ship. What goes on from there? We literally know nothing about the things in between the games.
Does she try and Radio in the Federation? Are these 2 Systems even compatible? Are there Star Wars esque Hub Worlds with bars for all species that she can use to make a call to the federation to get her payment.
Where does Samus even reside? (Especially now after Fusion, to not spoil anything but a couple of relations shift).
Zero mission is great and all, but its greatest weaknesses are that its on Gameboy and its easyness. I still prefer the original. I beat it once with a friend in one sitting. It took the whole night. Unlocking the zero suit on the second run is the most satisfying feeling we've ever got out of a game.
i feel like saying ZM makes the original “obsolete” is doing the original a MASSIVE disservice. the atmosphere and sense of exploration in that game is something i’ve never seen replicated, and i honestly think ZM streamlines the game too much by giving it an obvious progression system. like, sure, you CAN skip the long beam and get the varia suit early, but those are all hidden shortcuts. in metroid 1? i fought ridley first on my first playthru cuz i just kinda felt like it. i wish ZM had that level of freedom
also, metroid 1 *does* have a map-if u draw it out urself ;)
The only problem with the controls is the wall jumping. It's the same as before, but it's harder to do compared to super because of you falling faster. But overall, zero missioms controls are way better. I just wished the wall jumping was more like the mega man x series
Making it like Megaman x would make the game too easy to break, wall jumping is meant to be a hidden technique in metroid, not a basic ability like in megaman x
@@ahumanbeingfromtheearth1502 it still can be a hidden technique if they don't put in the slide down animation in mega man x. So like Mercury Steam's wall jump but without still being able to do it on one wall
Ya know, i actually like this one more than Fusion, even though Fusion has a LOT of stuff I like. The sound of the Plasma Beam for example.
I think it's just that this one looks and feels more like the usual Metroid game. For obvious reasons.
I agree 100% The Mother Brain fight. That set up only worked in the original becauae you had more room to move. Making it that cramped just made it terrible.
Got some really dope art out of it in Samus Returns though.
Yo-you forgot to mention Mecha Ridley...