Agree for the most part, about the areas containing the original material being disappointing and the final area being clever.
I did like the "imago" section though. If not for that I'd say they should have left the original layout alone and just added bonus content afterwards.
...See, here's the problem. My first Metroid title was Fusion, then Prime. I'm not an "old school" fan of the franchise. I tried the "8-bit classics" port of the original title for the GBA, and never finished it.
I guess I just prefer a more-structured experience overall. The thrill of sequence breaking and whatever actually terrifies me, because it makes me worry that I might've missed some piece of content I would've enjoyed.
And, honestly, the ending was the weakest part for me. I liked it, but there wasn't nearly enough of it, and as soon as you get the suit back it's time for a bewilderingly piss-easy boss fight with Robo-Ridley followed by a quick cut-off. I liked the children's drawing, but I would've preferred more of that sort of thing scattered across the game. Part of the problem is probably that I did Fusion first, and after the tense, dramatic cat-and-mouse of that game's amazing SA-X sequences, the stealth, while good, just didn't feel up to par.
So... well, I don't contest your opinion. I guess we're just very different kinds of gamer, and that's just fine.
- "It does a terrible job of making it clear what you need to do."
That was the entire point, because it was a deliberate design choice. Nintendo wanted gamers to experience what it'd be like to find themselves alone on an alien planet, without any clear mission objectives.
That said, Super Metroid and Metroid Prime were much better in that regard, due to the Power Suit's improved functionality (i.e. the additions of the Booster, Scan Visor, etc.).
I think it's unfair to insist the game let you sequence break on the very first playthrough.
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Not the Metroid 1 remake I would have wanted
The original Metroid had many flaws, certainly. It does a terrible job of making it clear what you need to do. Seek out and kill Ridley and Kraid to open the path to Mother Brain, but you don't even know that ahead of time. Get the freeze beam so you can kill metroids, or else you're as good as dead when you encounter them. Not obvious, not explained.
Zero Mission is considered to be a remake of the original game, but while it does streamline things to make more sense, it takes away a lot of what made the original game work: specifically, its non-linearity. While you could get hopelessly lost in the original, the remake heavily limits where you can go until you get specific abilities. Chozo statues mark spots on your map, letting you know exactly where to go. Sure, knowing how to get there isn't obvious, but somehow it feels more limiting than even Metroid Fusion.
One time I headed to the next area, but went left instead of right as the map suggested. I found some hidden paths, and discovered a new upgrade. I was feeling like the game had finally allowed some freedom and I'd engaged in Sequence Breaking, only to progress to the right and find out that I needed my new ability to move to my next marked destination. In other words, I would have ended up taking this path no matter what. That's not exploration. That's not freedom. Genuine examples of Sequence Breaking do exist, but the game overall is very guided and linear.
The sound is awful. After Super Metroid on the SNES, Metroid Fusion felt like a downgrade, but it still had at the very least excellent sound effects, and passable music. Here, the music sounds like it's playing at 22 KHz or something like that. The samples are just bad quality, with some weird "tinny, echoing" feel to them. Was this an attempt to make the sound "retro"? Or make it sound foreboding? Either way, I'm not big on it. The compositions themselves are fine.
The game's finale is clever, I'll give it credit for that. Samus losing her power armor and having to navigate a stealth sequence is a nice original take on the gameplay. A great surprise and way to end the game, but it doesn't compensate for what came before.