Haha! thanks.. I figured it out shortly after posting this. Don't know why it had me so puzzled. lol.. Now I'm trying to find all the missing Metroid and so far I've only found 2, but I am loving this game immensely. Great piece of retro fun!

That's not saying much seeing as there are only 11 Metroid games, one of which is a remake, and two others being spin-offs.

Zero Mission is still a great game in its own right though, remake or not.

Zero Mission is more of a reboot. It has very, very little in common with the original game. Super Metroid was closer to a remake if you ignore the story.

Edity Edit: And now I've beaten Metroid 2 for the first time. It may be my favorite of the series. Metroid 1 is still a lot of fun, but I feel this game gets the difficulty just right between 1 and Super. Of course, I don't think I would ever want to play this without restore points. I didn't actually use them except for before the last boss, which just destroys you in seconds if you are unprepared. I would have given up if I got that far on Gameboy.

I recently just downloaded it, and to me is a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge improvement over the first one. Mainly because the first one had more, not necessarily unfair, but tedious challenge to it. This one eases you into it.

I just got the spider ball and am currently zipping around on the roofs of the caverns

Sigh I used to really love this game back in the day. I had a GBA again a few years ago and stupidly never bought it as local it was all ripoff pricing. Right now I'm in the market for a Pearl Blue or Graphite SP, so now I have to think — real or digital copy?

I'd like to take another shot at it, this time with a map, did it the first go around 20 years ago without and I remember it being a pain.

At the beginning of the game I went right. Are you supposed to go right or left from Samus's ship?

No

Wow, this game is really good, quite a bit better than the original game. I just don't like that I got stuck and had to check a FAQ after just one Metroid. It's not good game design to make a required passage a hidden path completely indistinguishable from the surrounding terrain, especially that early in the game.

I was never stumped that early. I wouldn't blame the game design. It teaches you how to play Metroid: bomb everything.

...which could take hours, if not days, to find the right spot when no real clues are given.

I don't know about that, personally. The first Metroid screen teaches you that there are walls you can move through by showing you otherwise unattainable restore items. Then your first power-up, the bomb, shows you an item you can't reach without using the bomb. In both cases, you have a small room with limited options, so experimenting with the tools you have so far will quickly show you how the game works. From there, you're expected to explore every room for the most subtle of clues.

For instance (and this might be what you're talking about), to the right of the room where you get the bomb is a completely pointless room with one enemy statue thing. There would be no point to the room if it was just a dead end with an extremely easy enemy, so your explorer sense should go off that there is more. You just got the bomb, so you should think to use that. Then there is the lone enemy, who you can expect to be guarding something. You're expected to poke around that area, and if you do, you'll quickly find a secret passage that you can bomb through.

It's subtle, but it's not random or entirely without clues, and it's the kind of logic you're expected to use throughout the game. Sometimes there are fewer clues in a room than that, but your explorer's spidey ball sense goes off and then all you have to do is... well, bomb everything.

I'm with Adam on this one. The game's not devoid of clues at all, and I honestly can't imagine rolling around for "days" before you realize you can bomb floors and walls to open passages. It's a confusing game, but that's mainly due to how similar everything looks in black and white (you almost need to navigate by enemy type, rather than by physical layout of the rooms), and once it "clicks" with you, progression will be much easier.

I had a hard time getting through it at first but I found the original Nintendo Power map online so I've been following that roughly and the game's been great since. Pretty much if Metroid II had had an in-game map, it would go from a 7 or 8 in my opinion to like a 9 at least. That's pretty much all that's wrong with it. The controls are great, the music (and sometimes lack of) are suitable, the graphics are crisp and quite discernible for a Gameboy title. It's a good game with one (very big) flaw.

Navigating by enemies works. I mostly go where the music takes me.

Well, of course you know you can bomb walls and floors. The problem is that you don't know where to bomb to continue the game at that point. With the way Metroid games work, that room could've very easily been a dead end or unpassable until I aquired the Spider Ball or some other powerup later in the game. There was no way to know that that was the correct room, and while you could deduce that it was the most likely candidate, the logic is very thin, while there are plenty of other reasonable rooms where the next passage in the game could be, with lots of possible bombing spots in each room to check. Also, those previous secret passages were easily findable with visible items, while there were no visual clues for the next passage at all, plus I was expecting a required passage to have some sort of visual clue due to what I've already said and how it always worked that way in the first Metroid game. On top of that, I didn't have any way of knowing that I could even stand on that one destroyed enemy.

Completely indistinguishable hidden areas are fine for bonus content (like in the original "Legend of Zelda," "Wolfenstein 3D," or even the original "Metroid"), but required areas need some sort of visual clue as to where they are located. That's just basic level design.

I went into the game assuming good design, and good design would not allow a room empty of anything but one immobile enemy who dies in one hit. Because of that, I knew I had to do something in that room, and so I did the only thing I could do at that point: roll around and bomb stuff, which took about five seconds because the room is tiny. The logic may seem thin to someone unfamiliar, but it is Metroid logic, and to play the game by anything but its own internal logic will inevitably lead to frustration.

Even in the original there are no truly pointless rooms, either. Some may be a dead end, but that in itself is a clue to another similar room where you will see a small difference in layout and know to bomb around there. And Zelda actually is similar in that you have to push every block you see, burn every tree you see, and bomb every wall if you want to progress. The second quest is actually much more demanding in this regard.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of the game now that you know what to expect after that hurdle. Good hunting.

It's fine that you thought you might need an upgrade to get past, but once you explore the (very small) area and don't find any upgrades, I think it's fair to assume that you should try using the abilities you already have. IMHO of course.

And as Adam pointed out, two of the three games you mention actually DO hide required paths and items in places without clear indications that they're there. (And I don't remember for sure, but the third game you mention might do this as well.) The difference is that in Metroid 2 it happens almost immediately, and so the area you have to scour is much, much smaller than it is in Zelda or the original Metroid.

okok i havent beaten it.
But will soon !
I was near the end i guess and have to say it impressed me. I played it in color on an old GBA sp and have to say wouldnt have imagined it beeing so vivid and beatiful. The color and special palette really adds much to the game !
Seriously on this day and age i couldnt play it in NEITHER black NOR green !
But funny thing is i killed already like 28 metroids and saved. Other day i started it up my save file was gone and it was reset to gamestart at the gameship.
My question is the gb cards, do they use a internal battery ? And if yes, can it be deplete ? And if again yes could it be changed ? oO
I complete clueless what happened to the save file ^^
Oh i might add i bought Metroid II used couple of weeks ago. So cant tell how its in general with gb cards ....

greets

@Bulbasaur

metroid 2 is one of the most linear games ever.
Pretty easy and forgivable , level design just one corridor straight ahead. I have no clue how you could get lost ....
Compared to all other metroids games this is the easiest. But its still enjoyable especially on the go !