Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB)

For some reason I always assumed Metroid 2 was a NES game like Zelda 2 or Castlevania 2. But no, the franchise jumped to the Game Boy for one game, so I'm stuck showing black and white screenshots again. Sorry.

Hey, she's got her ship in this one. I don't remember it ever showing up in Metroid 1.

Evolution of the Metroid platformers: Metroid 1 (NES) to Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA).

Samus is looking more like her normal self too. Well, she has a bit of definition to her suit and a smaller helmet at least. The animation is pretty nice too.


LATER.

These enemies don't generally seem to be putting up as much of a fight as the ones in Metroid. It helps that I can fire while ducked now. Plus it seems that I've started out with full health, morph ball and missiles. And a... metroid counter?


LATER.

Okay, what happened to all the doors? In Metroid 1 I was always running across doors forcing me to choose which way I wanted to go and luring me off the path, but I haven't found a single one in this so far. Perhaps it's for the best seeing as they still haven't given me a map.

Also I miss Metroid's music. This tune is way too upbeat for a Metroid game.

Oh shit, it's a metroid!

Uh, it just... hatched? Is this the metroid version of a butterfly? Whatever, I've got 30 missiles. This guy doesn't stand a chance.

Wow, he really didn't stand a chance, I was expecting a full boss fight. And now the metroid counter reads 38.

Now I just need to figure out how to get into here and grab some pick ups. Or not. This room seems to be a total dead end, so I guess I have to go back the way I came now. There seemed to be a bit of an earthquake when I took down the metroid, maybe it opened up a new path for me somewhere.


MUCH LATER.

The game has saves! That's awesome.

Metroid 1 had a password system, and put me all the way back at the area entrance every time I was killed. Which was a bit of a pain in the ass really.


LATER.

It's a door! It's looking a bit battered, but I bet it still works. I remember from Metroid that all the doors in this facility are activated with guns. I just need to find the right combination of weaponry needed to open it.

One missile made it flash, four more got the thing open. I guess people with higher security clearance got to carry the bigger guns... perhaps we'll never solve the mystery of how these folks wiped themselves out.

A bomb!

Also a giant statue, I don't remember seeing any of these in the first game. To be fair though I didn't exactly get very far in it.

Now I can drop bombs in my morph ball form to blast holes through destructible scenery, and grab bonuses like this missile pick up. Shame there's apparently no way to tell what can and can't be destroyed with the bombs.


LATER.

OH, this thing is a wall turret! Well that's one mystery solved, I thought it might be a switch or something because I'm totally stuck now.

Though I wonder...

Is it really bad game design to hide the way out in a secret passage halfway up a wall if I was able to find it within seconds? I'm leaning towards... yes.

Hey, I can use the bombs to bounce myself up and over the wall. It's possible I'm not be supposed to go this direction yet, but I'm not putting anything past this game now.

More missile pick ups, excellent. It was well worth coming this way.


LATER.

Uh... didn't I collect these things a couple of minutes ago? It's bad enough that they don't give me a ingame map, but now they're using identical scenery to completely throw off my mental map of this place. I don't know where the hell I am any more.

Awesome, let's go through another secret passage then.

Hah, this one leads to a dead end. No mysterious ball pick up for me this time.


LATER.

I went the other way and found an ice beam. There doesn't seem to be any way to access a menu or turn it off so I guess I'm stuck with it now.

Okay, I like the ice beam. It seems about as deadly as the regular gun, except it freezes enemies in place too. Now I can use this guy as a platform! There's no reason to do that, I just... could, if I wanted to.


LATER.

And at last I find the mysterious spider ball. Whatever that does.

I actually feel like I'm making some progress now, which is more than I ever managed in Metroid 1. Though it doesn't really have the same charm to it. The monochrome graphics and lame music really hurt the atmosphere.

Whoa, the spider ball lets me roll up walls and ceilings! That's pretty damn useful. I guess this is how I was supposed to get into that missile room earlier.

Well... fuck. It's another metroidthing and I can't fire my missiles when I'm stuck in here. They must have designed this room deliberately to tempt players into taking cover in here, knowing that it'd only screw them over.

Wow, to be honest I can't believe it took me this long to lose my first life. So far the game has been much easier than Metroid.

Oh crap... my last save was before I got the ice beam and the spider ball. So now I've got to replay that entire section of game all over again. It'd be nice if these save rooms were more common, so I didn't have to backtrack every time I've grabbed a couple of power ups.


MUCH MUCH LATER.

Okay, I've got the ice beam and I've got the spider ball. Again. Before fighting the metroid I have to get my health back up. So I'm systematically sweeping the whole area for enemies and pick ups trying to grab as much energy as I can. Fortunately enemies still drop health and missiles in this when they die.


LATER.

The metroid is pretty simple to take down when I'm not stuck in a wall, but his lair is another dead end just like the last one. I guess I'm just going around crossing them off my list one by one. 2 down, 37 to go.


MUCH LATER.

Crap, I hate slipping into the spiky pit. This stuff drains my health until I manage to jump out of it. Then I have to go jumping around killing more enemies for health. Then while I'm doing that I slip and fall back into the spiky pit again...


LATER.

Okay, I think I'm done with this now. The cycle of killing a metroid, killing rooms of enemies for health, killing a metroid, killing rooms of enemies for health etc. is just so boring.


I found it far easier than Metroid for whatever reason, but it wasn't really any more fun to play because of it. Saves are always welcome but the save points are so far apart that I'd still had to replay a chunk of the game when I was killed. Plus no map! But hey, maybe the next one will be better. Next game.

Metroid series:
Metroid (NES)
Super Metroid (SNES)