I forgor how punishing the resource management is 
@Tradegood as a person who loves Fusion and doesn’t like Metroid 1 or Zero Mission, I gotta admit that Return of Samus was absolutely as close to being a holistically perfect videogame as I have ever played.
Like I’d say my top 5 are:
- Metroid Fusion
- Super Metroid
- Return of Samus
- Metroid Prime 2
- Prime 3 isn’t that bad ok but I’m also a sucker for motion controls. You get harassed by cops but they all end up being chumps anyway.
I did get the secret message in Fusion on a real DS of all things but I also get lost in that game every single time if I don’t go in with notes already taken. I also got really mad at it for taking my walljump and changing it when it came out but today I just love the puzzles and the aesthetics too much to care.
@tokucowboy how have I not impulse-purchased this yet
This is a good list! I think Return of Samus definitely has its share of very obvious issues but Samus just feels so good to control. Since they were forced to have limitations like just 3 buttons and no menus, I think it forced them to really make it feel seamless. It also takes the sting out of getting lost (plus the generous damage boosting and easy to find skips). I do love that Super Metroid wall jump tho.
wish they’d put scandashing back in the prime remaster. for the sequence break freaks!
Metroid II, the original, was released early as heck on the 3DS virtual console, was one of the first games I purchased while waiting for animal crossing (I think, or while waiting for Bravely Default. In the early days before 3DS was ruined for me and I had a very bad life lol), was a joy to replay on 3DS, after beating it I did the glitches. It was 2012, I remember sitting on my grammy’s sofa in their tiny frugal house in Maine that they’ve had since the 60’s. It was winter, I was cozy.
you can almost play Prime Remaster with a GCN pad 1:1 except that there’s no way in-game to map the GC start button with the pause menu. closest i’ve gotten is the have start & little purple Z both open the map. obviously you could rectify this in the system settings but that’s too much faff imo, this is fine.
Digital Foundry analyzes Metroid Prime Remastered:
I am starting to think I should play the remaster.
Just finished playing through the Metroid Prime Remaster. First go since I played through on Gamecube back in the day.
I turned off the soundtrack completely for the whole playthrough (except for boss battles) — definitely recommend if you want to up the atmosphere. Played mostly with headphones, and all of the little sci-fi blips and environmental sounds are so satisfying.
@connrrr might as well since its done in a sunday afternoon as the shortest and simplest of the trilogy.
I’m just feeling real lucky to be playing this Metroid Prime Remaster right now, appreciating it up and down – I’ve played the first hour via emulation over the years, and a good chunk on Wii/U, but this is my first complete playthrough since 2002. Even though it was an open secret that Metroid Prime was coming to Switch, I just did not expect such a meticulous and wonderful visual overhaul; it really can’t be overstated how beautifully Retro has reworked every single model and texture in this game, and the lighting elevates it immensely all while retaining the source code bones of the original. What a lovely thing to play in February
In total contrast to @safety_lite, Yamamoto & Kyuma’s score has been on my mind a whole lot. I keep thinking that something here is almost a last bastion of video game-assed video game soundtracks – full access to the palette of instrumentation, before the embrace of “cinematic” orchestral soundbeds, and too soon and sincere to evoke any sorta self-aware chiptune throwback. This track came on today and I couldn’t help but make the STANKY face, like some boomer buttrock guitarist doing a stadium solo. From front to back, though, it’s an unashamed, ridiculously assured, genre-tourist video game score all-timer
not the way I play lol, which means scanning to 100% completion to unlock all the art galleries.
does the remaster keep the same extras menu unlocks as the original?
Also I always loved the digital whistling in the second Tallon overworld and Chozo Ruins tracks and yes I would try to whistle them to myself, even if it sounds ultra weird when done by human mouth.
I’ve played Metroid Prime so many times, but when I get to the Phazon den or whatever, when the elemental Metroid appear, I’ve lost all steam and dropped the game haha. First of all, elemental metroids just doens’t make sense to me, I wish they were regular metroids instead of rock paper scissors Metroids. But that was a while back. I will play it again.
same with the whistlin @connrrr
I would like them to remaster Echoes too. Even if it isn’t everyone else’s favourite prime, it deserves a critical reassessment. I remember the most people had to say about it at the time was that they didn’t like beams using ammo, and that it was kinda like ALttP.
@connrrr I don’t recall if it’s exactly the same menu as the original or Trilogy, but there are 180-something pieces of art, 3D models and music tracks to unlock – some are new, as you can unlock art and models labeled “Remastered.” Looks like the Fusion Suit is gone, though
So far I’m steamrolling the game, in the crashed/underwater frigate now. Would love to revisit Echoes – I don’t think I’ve touched it since beating it on release. I was expecting the trilogy when we were thinking this might be more of an emulation/up-res situation, but it would be a pretty big undertaking to do two more this way, so we’ll see
@treefroggy I feel like the Metroids were a perfect design in Metroid II, but every time they retcon something about them or make new variants or lore about them it bugs me. I like fusion because it doesn’t change anything about the Metroids themselves other than that the Chozo made them on purpose and that’s why Samus can be friends with them, but Prime and Dread both taste kinda sour, they read like fanfiction. Echoes being the least derivative of original material is probably why it’s so palatable.
If the next game is gonna tell me “uh actually it was a third chozo faction that made mother brain and the space pirates for their grand experiment” I’m just gonna start screaming
I feel like if the Metroid series doesn’t go in wacky directions with its type of guy like the Alien series did with the xenomorphs then it’s not being true to its inspiration.
@connrrr I guess I’ll play it no matter what and be happy as long it’s a sequel and not another prequel