A round-faced golden-armored red-eyed laser-firing Chozo robot boss? In my Metroid II remake? It's more likely than you think.
They say that "great minds think alike." Perhaps then, it should not be a surprise that many additions and changes that Milton Guasti and his team made to Metroid II: Return of Samus also independently worked their way into the official remake by MercurySteam, Metroid: Samus Returns.
- The primary purpose of this game's existence, like many of the other remakes, is that no one ever expected Nintendo to ever revisit the Oddball in the Series. The DMCA takedown just a day after AM2R's release was initially believed to be Nintendo being traditionally overzealous in protecting their IP — but in truth Nintendo actually was revisiting the oddball with Samus Returns, and not only that, it was near completion and thus had very vindicated profit concerns when faced with AM2R. It was a double whammy of both shock and amusement for the fanbase.
- The title Another Metroid 2 Remake is a Permanent Placeholder stemming from the time when it was just one of many fan projects to remake Metroid 2. This became an Artifact Title when all those other fan projects died out, leaving this as the only Metroid 2 remake. One year later, when Nintendo officially remade Metroid 2 as Samus Returns, AM2R's title once again becomes relevant: distinguishing itself from Samus Returns as literally another Metroid 2 remake.Milton Guasti: Looks like the ANOTHER part of #am2r still makes sense now.
- All Early-Installment Weirdness in Return of Samus has been corrected, including:
- Samus now controls as she does in the Game Boy Advance games, including the ability to aim diagonally and Wall Jump (although Samus Returns uses the Fusion-style wall jump).
- Entering Samus's ship automatically saves the game and replenishes both missiles and energy.
- Beam weapons (excluding the Ice Beam in Samus Returns) now stack.
- An in-game map is provided, which marks the locations of items, save stations (including Samus's gunship), warp points, and Metroids.
- Hornoads, Arachnus, Halzyns, Omega Metroids, and the Queen Metroid look and behave more similarly to their Fusion and Other M appearances.
- In Return of Samus, most areas had identical aesthetics that made it difficult to visually distinguish each one. Both remakes give each area a distinctive theme, including a few similar ideas:
- The Golden Temple and Area 1 both depict Phase 2 as a Chozo temple with a lot of golden architecture.
- The Hydro Station and Area 2 both depict Phase 3 as an artificial water reservoir.
- The Industrial Complex and Area 3 both depict Phase 4 as a robot factory.
- The Mining Facility and Area 4 both depict Phase 6 as a series of tunnels filled with large crystals.
- In AM2R, the Nest depicts Phase 8 as an organic Metroid hive and the Genetics Laboratory depicts Phase 9 as an abandoned Chozo laboratory. These themes are reversed in Samus Returns, where Area 7 depicts Phase 8 as an abandoned Chozo laboratory and Area 8 depicts Phase 9 as an organic Metroid hive.
- Musically, there are similar creative choices made in each remake's soundtrack:
- In both remakes, the Title theme opens with the Metroid series's main theme (which was absent in the original Return of Samus) before transitioning into the "B section" of the Return of Samus Title theme. Both remixes also cut something from the original track, with the entire "A section" cut from AM2R and the "B section" being abridged in Samus Returns.
- Both remakes feature two major remixes of the Surface theme, with one permanently replacing the other once the player has progressed to a certain point in the game.
- Both remakes feature remixes of Samus Aran's theme, Arachnus battle theme, and Lower Norfair theme, which were all introduced to the series after Return of Samus. The main theme (as previously noted) and Item Room theme are also remixed in both remakes despite being absent from Return of Samus.
- Both remakes change the title screen to a shot of SR388 from space.
- In the official artwork for the AM2R soundtrack, SR388 has three large red clusters that cause the planet to resemble a Metroid's nucleus. In Samus Returns, SR388 has three large hurricanes that cause the green planet to resemble a Metroid's nucleus (especially visible during the ending cutscene when Samus departs from SR388).
- Both remakes open with a Super Metroid-style prologue, where a series of images and text summarizing the events leading into the game is accompanied by a remix of Samus Aran's theme, followed by a cutscene of Samus's gunship landing on SR388.
- Both remakes add the Power Grip (as an intrinsic ability), Charge Beam, Super Missile, Power Bomb, and Gravity Suit to Samus's arsenal. While the Speed Booster is not present in Samus Returns, it does add the functionally-similar Phase Drift and Spider Boost.
- Both remakes give Samus the ability from the Metroid Prime Trilogy to draw in nearby energy and ammo drops from killed enemies.
- Both remakes add optional in-game supplementary materials that provide lore and background to the Chozo civilization of SR388, through the Logbook in AM2R and the Chozo Memories in Samus Returns.
- Both remakes add elevators, while Return of Samus is the only 2D Metroid game not to include any.
- Both games add optional tank expansions to areas that cannot be obtained until a suit upgrade is obtained in a later area, in an effort to make the rather linear original game feel more like a traditional Metroidvania.
- Both remakes show that Moheeks can survive underwater.
- In both remakes, Meboids live exclusively underwater and group together in swarms.
- Both remakes depict the unfortunate fate of the doomed Galactic Federation soldiers who were merely mentioned in the original game's manual.
- Both remakes show Arachnus destroying its Chozo Statue at the start of its boss fight.
- Neither remake initially included the Septogg, though unofficial updates to AM2R later added it.
- Both remakes handled Metroid encounters in similar ways:
- In Return of Samus, many of the Metroid encounters begin with a short cutscene of the previous stage metamorphosing into the current stage (e.g. encountering any Zeta Metroid would first show a cutscene of a Gamma Metroid shedding its husk). Both remakes only give unique cutscenes to the first encounter of each Metroid stage, with each subsequent encounter not playing any such cutscenes (e.g. only the first Zeta Metroid would show a cutscene of the Gamma Metroid's husk).
- Both remakes introduce multiple variants of Alpha Metroids and Gamma Metroids that have different attack patterns. In the case of Alpha Metroids, the variants are visually distinctive in both games.
- While Fusion retconned the Omega Metroid's ability to fly, it was left unconfirmed whether or not the Zeta Metroid could still canonically fly. Both remakes decided that it could not fly.
- In Return of Samus, Zeta Metroids and Omega Metroids are always vulnerable to attacks from behind, which was removed in the remakes. In AM2R, a small vulnerable area briefly opens up in the Omega Metroid's back armor whenever it performs certain attacks, and shooting this vulnerable spot will deal extra damage. Similarly, in Samus Returns, a grapple point briefly appears in the Zeta Metroid's back armor whenever it performs certain attacks, and using the Grapple Beam on this spot will leave the Zeta Metroid stunned and vulnerable to attacks.
- While Metroid Fusion had the Omega Metroid vocalize in high-pitched screeches, both AM2R and Samus Returns instead gave the Omega Metroid some appropriately deep roars.
- In Return of Samus, Samus can enter the Queen Metroid's room before exterminating all of the Metroid larvae, simply by avoiding the latter and progressing into the next room without killing them. In both remakes, automatically-locked doors prevent Samus from leaving a room until all Metroid larvae have been killed, therefore requiring all other Metroids to be dead before Samus can enter the Queen's nest. On a related note, both remakes removed the original game's option to escape the Queen Metroid's room through a hole in the floor.
- Both remakes allow you to finish off the Queen Metroid by placing Power Bombs in her stomach as a recreation of the fight in Metroid: Other M.
- Diggernaut, a new enemy added in Samus Returns, is reminiscent of several additions in AM2R:
- In AM2R, Samus fights one Chozo robot (Torizo) after acquiring the Space Jump, and encounters another Chozo robot (the Tank Prototype) in an escape sequence after she acquires the Power Bomb. In Samus Returns, the situations are inverted: Samus encounters a Chozo robot (Diggernaut) in an escape sequence before acquiring the Space Jump, and she fights a Chozo robot (Diggernaut again) before acquiring the Power Bomb.
- Both remakes feature a similar gameplay sequence in their respective versions of Phase 6. In the Mining Facility in AM2R, Samus controls an old Chozo digging machine to drill her way through a long narrow tunnel. In Area 4 in Samus Returns, Samus escapes an old Chozo digging machine (Diggernaut) using its drills to chase her through a series of long narrow tunnels.
- Diggernaut also bears some semblance to another Chozo robot boss from AM2R. Its round head is able to simultaneously fire laser beams in different directions while spinning, and is covered with golden armor that must be blown off before its vulnerable red center can be damaged. Sounds just like the Tester, doesn't it?
- Both remakes feature a Warp Whistle system to allow players to immediately return to previously-visited areas: the Distribution Center in AM2R, and Teleport Stations in Samus Returns.
- Both remakes feature a sequence where Samus returns to the surface of SR388 while solemn and ominous music plays. At a spaceship's landing site, a new boss fight takes place against a returning enemy who was not featured in the original Return of Samus but did appear as an X-parasite clone in Metroid Fusion (Genesis inside the G.F.S. Thoth in AM2R, Ridley at Samus's landing site in Samus Returns).
- The endings of both remakes foreshadow the events of Super Metroid. AM2R ends with the opening quote of Super Metroid and (in the best ending) shows Samus Aran contacting Ceres Station. Samus Returns establishes that Ridley and the Space Pirates are seeking the baby Metroid, and the battle against Proteus Ridley foreshadows the baby Metroid's role in the final battle against Mother Brain.
- Even unused content from AM2R was realized in Samus Returns:
- During development of AM2R, it was an occasional fan request to add Ridley into the game as an additional boss. Milton Guasti refused to do this, as he felt that adding Ridley would be too unfaithful to the original Return of Samus. As for Samus Returns, it canonically adds a fight against Ridley to the game, retroactively assuaging those doubts.
- One of the concepts that didn't make it into the final game (until a fan patch) was a stinger featuring the X-parasites suddenly emerging now that the Metroids (their natural predator) are absent from the SR388 ecosystem. Said concept is realized in a post-credits stinger in Samus Returns.
