Topic: Metroid Dread

@Slowdive Alright, thank you. I might only play Super Metroid since that's already on my Switch, and maybe Metroid One, just because of how beginner friendly Dread seems.

Although I might try Zero Mission and Fusion eventually. I plan on trying out the Prime Trilogy on Wii U if it doesn't release on the Switch before Prime 4 gets a release date or released. Only digitally though, I'm not paying $100 for a Wii game.

Been jumping back and forth between Super Metroid and Fusion and Samus Returns. Even started playing some Zero Mission but realized I have to narrow it down. I can’t do four games at once.

Kinda slowly started to settle on Super Metroid. It’s such a great game.

@Tyranexx
Ya, Samus Returns is excellent. It’s got a lot of exploration, more than I was expecting for being a GB remake. It just feels right.

@Bolt_Strike
True. Playing some of the older games and just laying bombs on random blocks and finding a missile upgrade feels so good, but it’s super easy to miss unless you’re bombing everything. In the prime series you at least had the scan visor to identify potential breakable walls and tunnels. But in the 2-D games you have nothing of the sort to rely on. The aeon pulse remedied that. Though I do feel like they should limit its use a bit more. Make it take half the gage to use or something.

@Slowdive
Wow. That’s a massive difference. Here’s the actual picture because that tweet doesn’t show the comparison

@JaxonH I got 1 metroid left in returns. Then I think I'll hop over to super since I only got a few hours in. I liked what I played but I really love zero and fusion. And samus returns might even be better than those two. Well see who gets the crown after all is said and done.

@NintendoByNature
Right.

I hear a lot of people rank Samus Returns under Super and quite often under Fusion and Zero Mission. And, perhaps I’ll agree when everything is said and done. But if I’m being brutally honest, so far I like Samus Returns the most. But that’s not to disparage the other games because they’re all really freaking amazing. Every single one of them.

You playing on 3DS? You don’t necessarily need a modded system, since the Ambassador program gave GBA titles. But you had to buy the system near launch. I really like how these games look on the smaller screen of 3DS.

@JaxonH yea im playing returns on my 2ds, played ZM and Fusion on wii u, and I'll probably play super on switch. Theyre pretty much all equally as good as the others imo. I just like the visuals of returns and the melee combat. Plus, I might add I don't mind the power up that allows you to scan for breakable blocks. As much as I love metroid games, I struggle finding all the hidden areas and collectibles. Thankfully, I haven't needed to look much of anything up for this playthrough due to that power up giving me some nudges.

The only thing I needed to look up thus far was the diggernaut fight. And wow, that was tough. Good luck when you get to it 😉

@NintendoByNature Ah, the Diggernaut fight. That one took a lot of trial and error for me, plus I had to look up how to proceed in one of the phases. The fight is brilliant once you understand the cohesive whole, but man was it frustrating at first lol. It's essentially one big puzzle.

@Tyranexx exactly!!! I had no idea if I was damaging it or not. It was truly tough but after 20 or so tries, I mastered his move set and prevailed lol

@NintendoByNature
I’ve encountered some tough bosses in the Metroid series. Not sure if you’ve played Prime 2: Echoes but it’s my favorite Metroid game in the series (an unpopular opinion, I know) partly due to the incredible boss designs. Quadraxis, to this day, is my favorite video game boss ever. You had to morph ball roll up magnetic rails along his mechanical spider legs, lay bombs on the spherical main body. There was a second phase where it broke off into a flying satellite thing that can turn invisible and you had to use your x-ray visor to see it. It was brutally difficult, as was the final boss in the game.

Even just playing Super Metroid right now, some of these bosses are hard! Thank goodness for virtual saves. It really takes the frustration out of the fights. I would hate having to replay these bosses over and over from a save point that’s far enough away it’s a gamble you’ll even get to the boss without losing some life first. This way I can save right outside of the boss room and try it again if I lose.

I’ve gotten soft over the years. I’m either not as good as I used to be, or just not as persistent before losing my patience. I think as you get older you lose your patience for difficulty. But Metroid is one series that I will always persevere through because it’s just so good.

@JaxonH Quadraxis isn't even the best example of brutally difficult bosses from that game, Boost Guardian and Spider Guardian are way worse. I had trouble with Quadraxis my first time beating it (mainly in terms of getting onto his head during the final phase), but it's no real issue for me now. I can appreciate the Quadraxis fight now, but not for its difficulty, it's a great fight because of the variety of combat strategies and abilities used to defeat it.

@Bolt_Strike
There were probably harder battles but it's been 15 years since I played. I can't remember any of the other ones, so it's hard to reference a battle I can't recall.

Quadraxis has always stuck in my mind though because of how amazing the fight was.

And the end boss. Only because I remember running out of annihilator beam ammo, taking 20 tries to win, and being so ecstatic when I finally won that I jumped up in excitement, and when I landed the vibration shook the disc and caused it to skip, losing my progress, and I had to redo the entire battle again which took Idk how many more tries.

Good times 😉

@JaxonH that actually sounds alot like the diggernaut fight believe it or not. Maybe you'll get the hang of it early on. That's a good thing about returns. It autosaves by the boss door so you can either head right back in or get some more health or missles..

I dont abuse save States but I definitely use them just as you described..I too am getting too old to continually play the same parts over and over. Which reminds Me, love hollow knight but it's one that after 10+hours i couldn't muster up the strength to continue. However I'll still grab silksong day 1 bc I do love the world that's been created.

@JaxonH I can't believe you don't remember the Boost Guardian. That is easily the most memorable in terms of difficulty. In fact, even one of the developers of the game can't beat it without going into Debug mode. Here's a refresher in case you don't remember:

Spider Guardian isn't that much better either, although only in the older versions where you don't have the Spring Ball.

@Bolt_Strike
Had to watch a video to remember the bosses, and ya I remember those now. I can’t recall having any more difficulty with them than any other boss in the game, but probably cause I remember all the bosses being ballz to the wall hard. I played the GameCube version though, not the Wii version.

The Spider Guardian though, I remember loving that boss. Just because of how unique and cool it is. I adore the morph ball in the prime games, and I was very skilled at using the bomb jumps and double bomb jumps.

@JaxonH Eh, I didn't feel like most of the bosses were that much harder than any of the other Metroid bosses, just a couple of standouts. Boost Guardian, Spider Guardian, and to a lesser degree Alpha Blogg were the hardest ones for me.

@NintendoByNature Believe it or not, I wasn't doing something right during the first phase of all things, so I knew enough that I recognized I was stuck in a continuous loop. I was trying everything I could think of lol. Ironically the part many seem to have trouble with didn't take too long to click with me since I was used to the Spider Ball mechanic from previous games. I actually prefer Diggernaut to the Ridley fight as it was more strategic vs. missile spam. Most of the fights in the game are enjoyable though.

@JaxonH Ah, Quadraxis. I had a heck of a time with it. I disliked the normal-sized variants enough as it was, and then to find there was a giant version...Oof. XD Looking back, the fight is brilliant, but insanely frustrating the first time or two. Though I'd argue some of the other bosses in Echoes are more difficult...and I've only played the Wii version via Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Still, the Quadraxis fight has an oddly cool soundtrack that somehow resonates with me, so it ends up on my YouTube listening cycle at work sometimes:

@Tyranexx yea I hear ya. Looking forward to closing this game out and seeing the ending.

@NintendoByNature Looks like you're very close, from what I read earlier. Still have one Metroid to track down?

@Tyranexx actually just finished! Solid game overall. I struggled with the previous bosses more than I did the last. Tbh I was kind of pooped as the game got progressively harder in the last quarter of it. Loved it.

@NintendoByNature Awesome! It's one of the more solid 2D Metroid titles I've played. I'm glad I was playing on a N3DS XL by the time I got around to the game; while I prefer the smaller 3DS screens from a graphics perspective, my hands thanked me for the slightly less cramped control scheme. I wasn't sure how I'd find the Aeion abilities, but for the most part those felt both natural and logical.

No spoilers if you haven't played the original Metroid II, but the changed some of the game to its benefit.

@Tyranexx yea if was a solid outing throughout. Metroid II was actually my first metroid not all that long ago. It was good enough to get me to try others in the series.