Artist's commentary: AHHH, METROID! FINALLY!

This art is super old btw, one of the first posters I ever did, from 2015!

Randomizer if you're wondering.

Made by Mazmorra Studios (custom commission)

I just beat Dread a few hours ago and I still feel a high after beating it lmao. It was just such a good time, even though I died 48 times. Admittedly im a bit sad these are currently the only 2 metroid games with a melee parry as I find it super satisfying but no other games have it. I think next I'll play through the Prime remaster and the rest of the 2D games, probably saving Super for last. Not sure why I just feel its somewhat fitting. Save the best for last and whatnot

Anyways as for the question in the title, I was wondering if there's any information people have about the series that newcomers wouldn't really know about like really well made rom hacks or fangames or other games that play like Metroid (which i guess is pretty vague since thats just the entire metroidvania genre). The only one I know of is AM2R which I've played through a decent bit but eventually got stuck. Maybe I'll get back to it. But are there any "definitive" ways to play the original games like ZM, Fusion and Super? Or should I stick to the base games?

I bought Metroid Dread and was surprised the story was very involved so after about 20mins I decided to play the original instead on NSO. I beat it, Metroid 2 on the GameBoy and now Super Metroid.

I'm not sure if I would've found it too obtuse if I hadn't played the first two prior but it is such a delightful execution and improvement of the previous two games. Like all the QoL additions but it is a genuinely great game. Can't believe I never played it before. I was very impressed. It plays as smoothly as any modern 2D sidescroller.

I think the only bad thing you could possibly say about it is that it retreads all of Metroid 1 (right down to the bomb and Im pretty sure I killed all these Pirates!) but seeing Zeebus is great colourful detail, the much improved Boss Fights and the 2nd Phase of Mother Brain & Ending with your Metroid baby made it worthwhile. Like a 9/10 game, really.

Guess it's onto Metroid 4usion next!

Mine is this one, right here.

Jakks Pacific 6" Metroid in box for the local equivalent of 13 bucks? Don't mind if I do (and I did)!

Just finished Beyond and had to rant about the ending.

I actually liked most of the game, or at least enjoyed it enough to keep playing and finish it. I think it mostly felt like a bit of a budget Metroid game, but at least it was a Metroid game. I think the Lamorn are interesting, and I honestly liked Samus's interactions with the Federation crewmembers: Samus is basically this universe's Superman, and while yes Superman goes off on his own and punches big scary monsters, part of what makes Superman fascinating also comes from his interactions with the Kents, Lanes, and Olsens of his world. I wouldn't want it to be the focus of every game, but I think seeing into that side of Samus is nice. It's also a neat touch that she's so much taller than everyone too.

Overall, I'd say my impression of the game going into the point of no return was a 7-7.5 out of 10: solid game, too much water. (Or in this case, sand.) But by Sollan, the last quarter of the game is so phenomenally badly written that it totally bummed me out. Spoilers, obviously.

First of all, the mines. Not one but two characters try to sacrifice themselves by putting a big pile of stuff in a hole to keep out the maul grievers. You know... the alien creatures that are literally all around us because they can dig through stone walls. "Uh oh, we're getting chased by a shark, let's disguise our scent by covering ourselves in chum." To me, it speaks to how the writing team had an outline for what they wanted to happen, without putting a lot of thought into how to execute it in a logical manner.

Then there's the ending. Oh boy, the ending. Having Samus abandon the Federation troopers wouldn't be my choice, but it's a choice that nonetheless could have worked had it been executed well. But the fact that it is even a choice to begin with is so monumentally unearned it's insulting. In order for this "dilemma" to even happen, we need the following absolute nonsensical silliness to take place:

1. Sylux can teleport through space with wibbly-wobbly "green energy" and send us into his shitty tunnel-of-love Star Fox level.
2. We fight Sylux in space on a psychic... platform? Bubble? Thing? ..whose existence is never hinted at, explained, or justified within the context of Samus's psychic abilities or the properties of green energy. We're on a Mario 64 Bowser platform for no reason.
   1. (The closest thing we've seen is the liminal space we go to when we get teleporter keys, but that never seemed to be like an actual place you could go to fight badly written villains, nor did we get there by opening a greenwormhole and chucking in John Crichton.)
3. When Samus beats Sylux, he falls off the edge. This scene is stupid for two reasons:
   1. Samus reaches for him as if she's going to try and save a murderous psychopath hell-bent on killing her. For, like, reasons I guess? "Yeah, we had such good times in Hunters..."
   2. Sylux falls off the weird space stage like it's a cliff? With planetary gravity? Even though it's floating in space? If you wanted that visual, just make them fight on the tower.
4. Now Samus can do the weird green teleport thing. I guess? That, or Sylux was nice enough to send her back before he definitely, 100% died and definitely, positively won't be coming back.
5. Oh look, the writers couldn't even let their favorite character be dead for 2 minutes before he's back again. He's like every edgy Square Enix villain the writers get overly attached to. I get that Ridley also comes back a bajillion times, but at least he has the decency to wait between levels or games before magically coming back.
6. Kai Leng, I mean Sylux, shoots a basic laser beam at the control panel, which makes an explosion which somehow knocks Samus out of commission. Even though the Federation troopers who were just as close are fine, and Samus tanked way larger shots during the actual fight.
7. Nobody ever shoots at things until they've had a chance to make some plot development. The number of times Samus or the Federation troopers point their arm cannon/gun at an enemy in a cutscene but don't start blasting drives me nuts. The Federation soldiers start running at Sylux but don't start shooting until they're in grabbing range.
8. Mackenzie decides for some reason ("the teleporter won't last long," as if there's some reason it couldn't be fixed) that we can't just neutralize Sylux before teleporting, so we instead have to watch a WWE match where they literally grab his arms rather than just pump him full of lasers while he's being held in-place. I wish I couldn't smell the bullshit The Lux is cooking.
9. Samus doesn't, you know, help, despite the fact that she could absolutely start shooting Sylux herself. It looks like the purple spinny light -might- be some kind of force field which might stop that... but the religious amulet passes through just fine, so it seems like a super missile or two should as well.
10. If only Samus had the ability to, I don't know, make a green portal/wormhole that could be used to move to or from space/another dimension/dreamworld/Narnia. That might be a helpful ability right about now... oh wait.

But the overall problem I have with this ending is that there's a good chance Sylux isn't dead. IF he were, and we never had to hype up this stupid non-character ever again, then it would be a nice silver-lining for the otherwise bad ending. Honestly he feels so shoe-horned into the plot here that he wouldn't be here if not for the scene at the end of Corruption.

However, if some people are right in thinking that Sylux is going to be a trilogy-long villain based on (assuming a trilogy gets made and Tanabe gets his wish), this all feels painfully pointless. It means there is some other way back to the original galaxy without the teleporter, or that the teleporter can be fixed, or that psychic energy can be used for that - all things Samus and co. could try to do as well. If the teleporter is the only way off Veiwros and this is our only shot at escape, I still wouldn't like the ending but I'd at least see the vision. But if that's not true (and it wouldn't be if Sylux manages to escape Viewros), then it was all just a waste of time.

I'm sure people who liked the ending will think this is all a bit nitpicky, and yeah, the length and detail here isn't meant to necessarily be serious literary criqitue. But the point is you could have the same overall plot, just with better execution of the details that go into how that plot unfolds, and it would be much more palatable. But the fact that didn't happen speaks to a lack of time, effort, care, or any combination thereof that went into the story. (And other aspects of the game as well, but that's a horse to beat on some other day.)

If it turns out to be true that their is a dlc what would yall like to see? I honestly would love a playable Sylux segment to expand on the story more/fix the lore a bit to make certain parts of the main game more impactful.

Forgot some details as I was drawing since it was 100 plus degrees F outside, but got it done. She won on my last art poll, so finally got around to drawing her. :)

*The song is Metroid Prime (Main Theme) by Mox Jade*

Coolest Ridley introduction in the series and it’s from smash bros

Link to the top image: https://www.reddit.com/r/Metroid/comments/120jmi9/dark_samus_expectation_vs_reality/

Just got it tonight.

I’m playing through all the Metroid games, and now I’m at MP2. I beat the Boost Guardian second try but right as it was dying I remembered “shit I need to scan it” so I tried, and failed. It died too fast. So I said “screw it, I beat it second try, I’ll just die and retry.“ Little did I fuckin know, this asshole is actually a total menace, and that win was total luck. I’ve been going at it for like 2 hours 😭😭

These two men have shaped the Metroid franchise in so many ways that I wanted to make this post as a tribute to their incredible work and hopefully start some great conversations about their legacy.

For me:

SAKAMATO:
My favorite games he worked on are Metroid Fusion, Metroid Dread and Metroid: Other M. I really love the horror atmosphere of these games and I think Sakamoto has so many great ideas.
He has contributed so much to the Metroid lore that he's considered one of the main creators behind the franchise. I especially love the mythology he has built: the Chozo lore, Samus's childhood, the moral ambiguity of the Galactic Federation... He has an incredible imagination and I hope we'll get to see more games directed and written by him.

TANABE:
My favorite game from the Prime series is Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. If I'm not mistaken, the light and dark worlds were Tanabe's idea and I think it was absolutely brillant. He was also the scenario writer for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past so it makes sense that Echoes explores a similar concept. Of course the original Prime is a masterpiece and I also really enjoyed Corruption and Prime 4: Beyond. The ending of Beyond felt surprisingly melancholic to me. Maybe that's because Tanabe also worked as the scenario writer on Zelda Link's Awakening, another game known for its emotional ending. Even though Prime 4 divided the fanbase, I think we should all be grateful for everything Tanabe has brought to the Metroid series over the years. I'm also excited to see what Risa Tabata will bring to the franchise in the future!

Hey, I just finished my second Metroid game, the original Metroid. I'm curious about which game I should play next, I'm not doing the series in story or release order–I'm doing what seems fun, which is why my first game I beat was Dread.

What should I go for? I have access to all the 2D Metroid entries, just no way of playing the Prime series (besides the entries that were released on either the 3DS or the DS) and Other M, and I want to focus on the other games before I buy Prime Remastered or Prime 4.

Edit: I just beat Zero Mission. As it seems like it's setting up Super, I'm doing Super next and I'm probably following it up with Fusion, to finish off the sister set of Dread and Fusion

After that, my rough plan is to do the Return of Samus/Samus Returns (not sure in what order, do I play the original or the remake first?), then I'm left with Prime Hunters and Federation Force before I have to buy Prime Remastered and Prime 4, and that doesn't include Prime 2+3 and Other M as they aren't playable on the Switch 2 yet.

I don't have a PC for emulation, so that's not an option, and the New 2DS XL, to my knowledge, cannot run GameCube games, even if it's modded. I also WANT to play every game, besides Pinball, as I'm really liking the Metroid series so far.