I'm a big Metroid guy (meaning I really like the series, not that I'm a large male space jellyfish). Pretty much every game is oozing with atmosphere and the feeling of isolation, without being survival horror, and has a great game world to explore. Growing stronger as you go, and having the option to backtrack to old areas to get previously unreachable health and ammo expansions, is a key part of the series.
My favorite games would have to be a tie between Super, Zero Mission, and the first Prime. I especially love my original NA copy of Prime 1, since there were various sequence breaking exploits reminiscent of Super's non-linearity that were sadly removed from later versions. Those titles I feel had the most openness, not counting OG Metroid, of the series. Some people don't like the open nature of those games, but I eat it up.
The Prime series also poured a lot of lore into the series, without forcing it on the player. Prime did have that Artifact hunt at the end, but on replays you can grab almost all of them far earlier than a newbie. Prime 1 also has the edge over the other 2 in that it doesn't have a pattern to how the different areas are explored[footnote]explore new area until you are blocked, return to old area, get new ability, return to new area and get past obstacle with new ability, find way into Dark Temple/Leviathan, fight main boss, got to new area, repeat[/footnote]. The latter 2 start blurring the line between Metroid and Zelda. I still play all three together in order whenever I do go feel like playing.
I feel ZM's level design worked the best for both newbies and vets, with optional handholding statues marking map locations of items and abundant hidden pathways for speedrunners and sequence breakers. ZM's wordless cutscenes also worked well for its light story.
Fusion is a great game, but it's unskippable dialog (with it has plenty of) and it being the most linear game until Other M knocks it down a few pegs. It still has great sound design (dem missile explosions!) and is a good start for someone new to the series.
Super and Fusion in first person 3D? Well, they would be a lot like Prime 1, just in different looking areas and without Phazon in every other corner. The wave beam would probably also act like the Nova beam from Prime 3, with X-ray visor supplementing it, instead of the fire, ice and lightning beams of Prime 1. Fusion would probably have a lot more dark rooms, too. (Also, they already did something like Fusion in third person 3D. They called it Other M (research space station/government conspiracy/linearity/CO named "Adam") and it wasn't well received. Maybe a remake with less story is what it needs. Perhaps with scans filling in the backstory, instead of/ in addition to an AI commander.)
I'd say the end of Fusion was where Samus was the strongest, too. Though, I think the extra E-tanks compensate for the weaker armor of the fusion suit. Some enemies hit really hard it Fusion. Also, Hypermode Samus was pretty powerful, and the powerbombs in Prime 1 and 2 killed every non-boss enemy in one hit.
My favorite games would have to be a tie between Super, Zero Mission, and the first Prime. I especially love my original NA copy of Prime 1, since there were various sequence breaking exploits reminiscent of Super's non-linearity that were sadly removed from later versions. Those titles I feel had the most openness, not counting OG Metroid, of the series. Some people don't like the open nature of those games, but I eat it up.
The Prime series also poured a lot of lore into the series, without forcing it on the player. Prime did have that Artifact hunt at the end, but on replays you can grab almost all of them far earlier than a newbie. Prime 1 also has the edge over the other 2 in that it doesn't have a pattern to how the different areas are explored[footnote]explore new area until you are blocked, return to old area, get new ability, return to new area and get past obstacle with new ability, find way into Dark Temple/Leviathan, fight main boss, got to new area, repeat[/footnote]. The latter 2 start blurring the line between Metroid and Zelda. I still play all three together in order whenever I do go feel like playing.
I feel ZM's level design worked the best for both newbies and vets, with optional handholding statues marking map locations of items and abundant hidden pathways for speedrunners and sequence breakers. ZM's wordless cutscenes also worked well for its light story.
Fusion is a great game, but it's unskippable dialog (with it has plenty of) and it being the most linear game until Other M knocks it down a few pegs. It still has great sound design (dem missile explosions!) and is a good start for someone new to the series.
OG Metroid and Return of Samus are fine, but they have aged a lot. They are still what to play when you want to see the series' roots and taste some 80s nostalgia.
Hunters' single player is dull and boring (and cramps your hand in about 3 femtoseconds with the accurate control scheme).
Other M has a good game buried somewhere within it. Unfortunately, that good game was chained down by a horrible story, with voice acting at times worse than Mega Man 8, railroading that makes Fusion blush, a control method that was purposefully nerfed to "challenge the developers" (and has Samus standing still to aim missiles, not fun), and mandatory "pixel hunt" sections that take Prime's scanning mechanic and throws out the benefits of such system.
Prime Pinball is an okay pinball game. (What? I got the cart for about 8 bucks. It was worth it.)
Hunters' single player is dull and boring (and cramps your hand in about 3 femtoseconds with the accurate control scheme).
Other M has a good game buried somewhere within it. Unfortunately, that good game was chained down by a horrible story, with voice acting at times worse than Mega Man 8, railroading that makes Fusion blush, a control method that was purposefully nerfed to "challenge the developers" (and has Samus standing still to aim missiles, not fun), and mandatory "pixel hunt" sections that take Prime's scanning mechanic and throws out the benefits of such system.
Prime Pinball is an okay pinball game. (What? I got the cart for about 8 bucks. It was worth it.)
Super and Fusion in first person 3D? Well, they would be a lot like Prime 1, just in different looking areas and without Phazon in every other corner. The wave beam would probably also act like the Nova beam from Prime 3, with X-ray visor supplementing it, instead of the fire, ice and lightning beams of Prime 1. Fusion would probably have a lot more dark rooms, too. (Also, they already did something like Fusion in third person 3D. They called it Other M (research space station/government conspiracy/linearity/CO named "Adam") and it wasn't well received. Maybe a remake with less story is what it needs. Perhaps with scans filling in the backstory, instead of/ in addition to an AI commander.)
I'd say the end of Fusion was where Samus was the strongest, too. Though, I think the extra E-tanks compensate for the weaker armor of the fusion suit. Some enemies hit really hard it Fusion. Also, Hypermode Samus was pretty powerful, and the powerbombs in Prime 1 and 2 killed every non-boss enemy in one hit.
I'd say you should forget about Other M for now and try Fusion, if you have tried it yet. Fusion is the linear, story-based action game Other M was trying to be. The only three reasons why you should choose Other M over Fusion are if you prefer 3D games over 2D, you don't have a way to play Fusion (GBA/Wii U and eShop funds) and you do find a copy of M:OM for less than 5 pounds. I'm not saying you would hate Other M, but I'd recommend Fusion over it any day.Maximum Bert said:
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