Metroid

Honestly, it's hardly the worst she could look. I can't tell if she still has the stupid heels, but I'm willing to forgive the artist for something that's stupid, yet mandated.

Back in the manual for Metroid 2, it says that after the events of the original Metroid, a research team was sent to SR388 to see if there were metroids. Then they sent out a distress signal and a rescue team was sent to get them out, but they were never heard from again. Then a special crops was sent there to wipe out all metroids. They were never heard from again. Then the Federation called in Samus. Now, that means there are three ships on the surface of the planet and none of the owners were ever able to use them to escape. That seemed odd to me. Like, you'd think one of these three groups might be able to get off world, especially if they were able to send out a distress signal. The manual for Super Metroid and the intro cutscene for Samus Returns both change this so now there's only one ship sent that didn't come back, and that seems to make more sense. Like, in the old continuity four ships went to SR388 and one returned. The first one, the Marina, the one that couldn't have been prepared for metroids, because they were undiscovered. There had to be a reason why the other three ships couldn't escape but the Marina did. In the new continuity, one ship managed to leave, and the other didn't, and it's much easier to come up with a reasonable explanation why just one ship couldn't leave.

Edited by WillKeaton on Oct 31st 2019 at 10:11:01 AM

They look more like platform shoes. It's the Power Suit render (scroll down) that makes me look twice. Samus's proportions in armor have always been a little strained (her shoulders have to get a lot wider to make sense), but the head-to-body ratio of Hefley's render makes her about twice as tall in armor as out. The only way it makes sense is if he considers the Power Suit to be more Mini-Mecha than Powered Armor—the clawed foot design supports this.

Of course, a four-year-old personal only tells us so much.

The fusion suit but it's also a symbiote.

I finally finished Samus Returns and now I just feel worse for the Metroids than I already did

Some of the gammas are hiding instead of lurking a boss room. And some of them run away in the middle of the fight.

They’re just minding their own business when Samus kicks down their metaphorical front door

Yup. Danger to the galaxy they may be, animals they yet remain.

Zeta Metroids are so cool in that game.

Edited by ShirowShirow on Nov 15th 2019 at 5:26:43 AM

It is likely the Metroids chased away the researchers from the mines and tunnels of SR-388 once they matured and their territorial instincts kicked in, a part of their nature that was never removed by the bio-engineers. They didn't destroy the Chozo architecture, instead exploiting it to form part of their living habitat as nice solid tunnels and resting chambers.

I'm dearly hoping Nintendo finally gives us a ritualistic duel with a Chozo Warrior, in two parts, one in armor and one in Zero Suits with CQC. The general idea is to impress the rather strict Warrior with the fruits of Samus's training and experience.

The idea of encountering a living Chozo in the series is intriguing.

In the games, Samus only encounters the Chozo through their ruins and what they left behind. It’s a melancholic thing that the closest she can get to her bird parents is amassing weapons and reading ancient Chozo social media about how cool she is and beating up their statues

In the Zero Mission manga though, some Chozo escape Zebes and could still be around. Maybe Samus stops by for dinner with the dads between missions

Maybe she stops by after Metroid II and shows off her new Ze Baby and her bird dads have a minor heart attack when she mentions what her last mission was and make her drop off Ze Baby at the pound

Slash research station

I really hope the bonus for getting 100% in Samus Returns comes to something in the next game, because that had some really interesting implications for the Chozo.

I will never not want a living Chozo who sided with the Space Pirates and gets to be a boss battle.

Where's the Zero Mission remake where you get to beat up Gray Voice?

Give us a sequel to Fusion where Samus kicks the ass of a Space Pirate Chozo to take over all the space pirates, only for Ridley and the Space Pirate Chozo to take half of her Space Pirate army and join the federation for EVEN MORE MAD SCIENCE.

And somehow Sylux is there, just being an asshole for no reason.

I’ve been replaying Fusion lately because I hungered for MORE after finishing Samus Returns

I do really appreciate it. I know it got criticism for railroading but the little missions it sets up with a boss and an upgrade at the end are great for portable gaming.

And seeing the BSL station get steadily more messed up as the game wears on and the SA-X and bigger X escalate their campaign trying to stop last Metroid ultimate warrior Samus

I’ve also been thinking of a Fusion sequel that plays into Samus being part Metroid now with swathes of upgrades based on the SR-388 Metroid life cycle

Morphball, bombs, and short air dash dealie from Alpha, spiderball and grapple from Gamma, probably armor upgrade from zeta and omega

Obviously some other abilities, some new ones that more play into how new and strange a turn this is

I’m not sure how upgrades in this manner will be spread about so it’s not just arbitrary “welp I mutated a powerup again” thing but I’m excited about the idea

And I like the idea of mixing up the assumed order that Metroid upgrades are supposed to be gotten, like getting plasma before wave beam in Fusion and ice beam last of all

The Ice Beam of all things being your overpowered final boss weapon like Super's Hyper Beam and Prime's Phazon Beam is weirdly fitting.

Imagine playing a Metroid game where movement upgrades like the space jump are frontloaded and something basic like the bombs are the mid game upgrade that really opens the world up

Hey, Dust: An Elysian Tail made the Double Jump a late game powerup.

Edited by Bisected8 on Nov 19th 2019 at 8:20:19 PM

This metroidvania called Chasm made the double jump one of the last things you got too and it’s amazing how a simple double jump can feel like the best upgrade ever if you’ve held off on it that long

I remember when I played Axiom Verge I didn't get the upgrade that let you enter into narrow passages until past the halfway point.

~Bocaj is it the Chasm we have an article on?

Yes

One of the things I liked about Samus Returns is that they buffed both her melee and her grapple (which you can use to pull Zetas off the ceiling!); anything you develop or acquire in a potential post-Fusion outing should either restore functionality that didn't exist during Fusion (Zero Mission style ball shinesparks from grabbing a new Boost Ball, for example, or restoring Super-style wall jump control with the upgraded Power Grip) or restore features seemingly exclusive to certain games (Aeion abilities, restore the Grapple Samus didn't get in Fusion, both Prime and Super-style Beam Combos from, the Tallon and Aether beam packages plus Nova sniping via X-Ray, fix her gyros for walljumps and stuff).

I seem to remember that walljumps were really hard to get the hang of in Super.

So broken though. So, so delightfully broken.

Weirdly enough I think Super's wall jumps are easier to consistently do when using only one wall than they are when using two walls close to each other. Zero Mission is the opposite though only because Samus moves really fast in that game and using a GBA's d-pad for repeated motions is a bit hectic on the thumbs.

Edited by NesClassic on Nov 19th 2019 at 4:54:18 AM

I remember they put a save station down in the etecoon pit. Saved there, not knowing better, couldn't do the wall jumping, had to restart the save file. I can wall jump well enough in Fusion and Zero mission, but absolutely cannot do it at all in Super.