Topic: Metroid Dread

I didn't care much for that AM2R remake. It was too safe and felt like a rehash of zero mission and Fusion. Same graphics and everything. It's like what Metroid 2 would have been if it were remade on GBA. I much prefer the official Samus returns. The combat is more fun with the counter system and it's got way more interesting bosses.

I do still have nostalgia for the original Gameboy game though. It's the first Metroid I could play without getting really frustrated unlike the Nes game and it's got this charm about it. You might say it hooked me to the series.

I can see where you're coming from, I just disagree as much as humanly possible that this is a bad thing. (also its not a rehash of Zero Mission, this game had actual challenge :V)

So, I just downloaded AM2R and I copped a color-modded “Metroid II: Return of Samus DX” VC game for 3DS, since I just can’t stomach playing without color (already have the B&W version).

I spent a bit of time playing both. Here’s what I’ll say in terms of my first impressions.

I like AM2R. It’s one of the best fan remakes I’ve ever seen and it really does feel like what Metroid 2 would have been on GBA, with a few QoL features tossed in. But the music really wasn’t hitting for me (not that it’s bad but it just didn’t seem to fit the environments). It’s great, but in the context of being compared to what I’m about to speak on, nothing stood out.

As for Metroid 2, I know I said I would never want to go back and replay it, but I got really curious and I wanted to go back and replay it. I actually really like this freaking game. It’s easily the best GameBoy game I’ve ever played, up there with Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (which I also got a color version of). I actually found myself unable to put the game down, and even after playing AM2R, I picked up my 3DS again to play some more. This surprises no one more than myself, because this was not what I was expecting to happen. The game is actually really freaking good even without being remade.

I still have to give it to Samus Returns, Which doesn’t even feel fair because the game is just so much more modernized, it has melee counters which I think are the single best addition in the game, it’s got redesigned areas to feel more like newer Metroid games, and it just looks really awesome. It’s by far my favorite of the three, though I must say, the original (in color, can’t speak to B&W) is surprisingly addictive and fun. I’d probably rank it second, with AM2R being my least favorite of the 3. But that’s not an insult at all, because I still find it really freaking good. It’s a relative comparison being made here.

But ya, original Metroid 2. What a game.

I hope Metroid dread has a good soundtrack and doesn't just repeat the usual themes they've used so many times before. The last console Metroid you know the most hated game in the franchise other m had a rather boring soundtrack aside from the Ridley theme. I'm one of those weirdo fans who actually liked that game. Well most of it.

So apparently Metroid Dread is topping the post E3 preorders chart, over even Pokemon and GotG... I'm admittedly surprised.

@Zeldafan79
I don’t think that makes you weird.

Ya, there’s a lot of outspoken fans who trash it as some kind of abomination (our generation has a tendency to use extremes) but I enjoyed it (played about half ways through), and am of the belief most people liked it overall, but just rate it lower than the Prime games and 2D entries.

Obviously I have my issues with it. D-pad does not control well in 3D space, for one. And switching the controller from sideways to pointed at the screen was annoying. And the combat wasn’t as satisfying as in the Prime series. And the exploration wasn’t as expansive. And the characterization of Samus felt a bit out of place (though I will say, I did not take issue with the story as many others did). But still. At the end of the day, it was a Metroid game, and even bad Metroid games are still great games.

I do plan to revisit it at some point and finish it.

@kkslider5552000 samus returns is way harder than am2r. Also the game is very short even for Metroid standards

I still need to go back and do a 100% run of Samus returns. My first playthrough i sorta rushed it just to get to the end. I almost never bother with speed running metroid games. I prefer going at my own pace and exploring. I always take too long for the best ending. Maybe i could do it with a video guide so i know the shortest route through the games. If you really wanted to lose your mind how bout a 100% speedrun? With all those insanely hard collectables in Super metroid, Fusion and zero mission that would be a time consuming, game resetting trial and error pain in the rear!

Thank goodness in the Prime games all that's required for the best ending is 100% and there's no reward for clear time.

So hyped for this.

And....I wish I had a Game Boy Advance like bad. Want to play Fusion.

I found both Metroid 2 remakes to be among the hardest Metroid games, but while AM2R is shorter than Samus Returns I think. I remember it being at least notably longer than Zero Mission.

I agree the moment to moment gameplay and combat in particular are better in Samus Returns, but I preferred AM2R in most other ways. Partially because of it just appealing to me more, but I think it had a better handle on what makes Metroid compelling, whereas Samus Returns feels more like a somewhat more action-y take on itself (a very good one, mind you).

AM2R wasn't that hard, I didn't have trouble with anything in that game as much as I did Diggernaut. What AM2R does better than Samus Returns IMO is that they give the areas more character and they have more than 3 non-Metroid bosses, every major area has at least one. Areas such as the pumping station and robot factory are much more interesting than the generic caves of the original and Samus Returns. And the additional bosses are quite unique and well designed. I especially loved using bomb jumps against Arachnus to damage it or Torizo growing wings and the second phase turning into an aerial battle that encourages you to fight it while Space Jumping. The game just feels so Nintendo even though they didn't make it at all, I wish Nintendo would hire the developer to work on official games.

At times AM2R almost feels like a Star Fox 2. A cancelled game that was only cancelled because the next system was the priority but you could find it online anyway. Though I doubt Nintendo would have cancelled a GBA Metroid if it was already complete (at worst they would've ported it to DS, added basic dual screen functionality and called it a day).

Lots of questions:

Is that still the Fusion suit Samus wears, and if so what happened to it (I guess enemies ripped out some of her moves)?

Has she still her blue space-ship from Fusion?

Why are the E.M.M.I robots hostile? They are made by the federation...

Will we see evil Chozo? We saw a living Chozo in the trailer briefly.

Will those robots become our allies at some point? Its suggested in the trailer.

But what's most curious: Why is Samus still communicating with ADAM? In Fusion its suggested that the ADAM computer is evil, it communicates with shadow figures (probably federation guys). The computer also wants to send federation guys to the space-station, so that the x-parasite can spread. However Samus gets the computer to plot a collision course instead, destroying the station.

My guess is that Samus somehow doesn't notice the ADAM computer is evil, and that probably the whole federation (and those evil Chozo) want to kill her. She will feel very lonely in this game...

@Henmii It's very exciting to speculate right now, isn't it?

Just to answer a few of your points I believe:
1) Samus is aware of the collusion between ADAM and the GF and that ADAM owns up to it in the penultimate scene of Fusion (before you are given the choice between free-roaming for power-ups and going straight to confronting SA-X). It's quite possible ADAM has betrayed her but unlikely, I think, ADAM appeared very much swayed and somehow returned to his old self by Samu's actions during Fusion.

2) About the ship, during the treehouse segment where they showed the map you could see Samus' gunship at the top and it very much appeared to be the same from Fusion.

I have a few conflicting opinions of what is going on, here's what I have got:

A: The Chozo and GF are co-operating. The X-Parasite sighting was faked as a trap and they want Samus' Metroid DNA. Both the Chozo and GF want their Metroid bio-weapons back for some ultimate nefarious purposes. Complete subjugation of the rather lawless cosmos I would imagine.

B: The X-Parasite sighting may be real or not but I suspect it is possible one of the stray SA-X duplicates actually managed to escape the BSL. If we recall toward the end of Fusion the SA-X behaved in a way I won't spoil and if there are actual Metroid present on this planet it would make sense if the SA-X were somehow present. If you've seen the treehouse segment think about this: Why was that one Emmi so damaged, who or what could have done that? Something possibly with equivalent firepower to Samus...

C: It's also possible the research facility was infiltrated and is being taken over by the Chozo to reclaim data for whatever it is they feel rightly belongs to them. This planet may have some connection to the Chozo who eventually emigrated to SR-388.

Those are some of my pet theories at the moment.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the X-Parasites infected the E.M.M.I.s... somehow. The X-Parasites were only stated to be able to infect organic life in Fusion (the robotic enemies they infected had biological components of some kind, the B.O.X. Security Robot had organic components in its neural network, and Samus and Nightmare were biological lifeforms with robotic armor). The E.M.M.I.s probably don't have any kind of biological component, the GF wouldn't be that stupid to send them to investigate if they though the X-Parasites could just infect them, but maybe the X-Parasites have adapted in some way, or there were stronger variants that the GF didn't know about? Whatever the case, if the E.M.M.I.s were sent to confirm the existence of X-Parasites and are now rogue, it's likely that they're now X-Parasite hosts.

Perhaps the Chozo reprogrammed them. They seem very technologically advanced. Though I was under the impression they were extinct. Apparently not.

@JaxonH The X-Parasites or the Chozo? Because neither of them actually seem to be extinct.

The official website for Dread implies that the X-Parasites might actually have survived the events of Fusion and the Federation sent the E.M.M.I.s to confirm. The possible resurfacing of the X-Parasites is a core part of this game's storyline it seems (whether or not it's actually true we'll have to find out in the actual game, but the E.M.M.I.s and Samus are on planet ZDR because of rumors about the X-Parasites appearing there).

The Chozo's fate is unknown, they just disappeared. However, at the end of Samus Returns you see a Chozo memory (a series of scenes adding extra lore and backstory to the game) that a rogue Chozo murdered the remaining Chozo on SR388 and that Chozo appears to still be alive, and this same Chozo seems to appear in Dread.

It is strange how the chozo have been a total mystery throughout the entire series. Samus uses their technology but as far as we know they are extinct. I certainly don't recall seeing any living chozo in any of the games. We don't know the how or why of it. I'd kinda like that mystery solved once and for all.

@Henmii During the treehouse, they confirm that something did happen to Samus' suit, but it's a spoiler. It's explicitly the fusion suit's successor.

@Bolt_Strike I hadn't even thought of the possibility that the robots were already infected. There's got to be a reason why they are particularly in pursuit of Samus. I am assuming it has something to do with their research but it could just as likely be the fact that Samus is wanted by the GF. If they are infected however I am curious why the other creatures on the planet are not.