1 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:11,280 Earlier this month, Nintendo and MercurySteam released Metroid: Samus Returns, on Nintendo 3DS. 2 00:00:11,280 --> 00:00:15,500 The game is a complete remake of the Game Boy game Metroid 2. 3 00:00:15,500 --> 00:00:21,500 Coincidentally, Samus Returns comes almost exactly one year after the release of AM2R, 4 00:00:21,510 --> 00:00:26,430 or Another Metroid 2 Remake. That one was made by fans, and was the target of a legal 5 00:00:26,430 --> 00:00:28,949 takedown request by Nintendo. 6 00:00:28,949 --> 00:00:33,570 Now it’s not surprising that Metroid 2 has seen multiple remakes. This game is an important 7 00:00:33,570 --> 00:00:37,620 part of the Metroid story, after all, because the plot - which sees Samus on a mission to 8 00:00:37,620 --> 00:00:43,050 wipe out the entire Metroid species - reverberates into Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and even 9 00:00:43,050 --> 00:00:44,500 Metroid Other M. 10 00:00:44,500 --> 00:00:49,700 But it’s also a, let’s say, challenging game to play in 2017. 11 00:00:49,700 --> 00:00:54,210 For one, it’s different to pretty much every other Metroid game. Instead of zigzagging 12 00:00:54,210 --> 00:00:59,141 back and forth across an interconnected, maze-like map, the game opens up, more linearly, in 13 00:00:59,141 --> 00:01:04,390 great big chunks. In each area, you find and kill a certain number of Metroids before the 14 00:01:04,390 --> 00:01:09,250 lava retracts and you go to the next area - with no real reason to ever return. 15 00:01:09,250 --> 00:01:13,250 This is probably due to the handheld nature of the game. There’s no real need to make 16 00:01:13,250 --> 00:01:17,880 your own map, as with Metroid 1, and you can explore a single area of the game in one sitting 17 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:22,200 and then safely turn the Game Boy off, without being hopelessly lost the next time you boot 18 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:23,290 up the game. 19 00:01:23,290 --> 00:01:27,910 But Metroid 2 generally feels subservient to the technical limitations of the Game Boy. 20 00:01:27,910 --> 00:01:32,580 The tiny screen reduces your visibility, the black and white palette is drab and confusing, 21 00:01:32,580 --> 00:01:36,530 and the game’s got limited controls - though, Samus does have more moves than she did in 22 00:01:36,530 --> 00:01:37,530 Metroid 1. 23 00:01:37,530 --> 00:01:40,750 So there’s plenty of stuff here for these remakes to tackle. And it’s interesting 24 00:01:40,750 --> 00:01:46,280 to see the different, and sometimes similar ways that Samus Returns and AM2R chose to 25 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:50,049 address Metroid 2’s shortcomings. 26 00:01:50,049 --> 00:01:55,260 Look at Samus’s movement. Both games dramatically improve her agility, they both give her the 27 00:01:55,260 --> 00:01:59,610 ledge grab move introduced in Metroid Fusion, and they both have a dedicated button for 28 00:01:59,610 --> 00:02:05,149 rolling up into a morph ball. But Samus Returns drastically increases Samus’s combat abilities, 29 00:02:05,149 --> 00:02:10,049 and adds a melee counter and drops the diagonal aiming from classic Metroid in favour of full 30 00:02:10,049 --> 00:02:12,569 360 degree aiming. 31 00:02:12,569 --> 00:02:17,040 The bosses are also an aspect that both games sought to change. In Metroid 2 you’ll fight 32 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:22,329 the same simple bosses over and over again, with the only change being the layout of the 33 00:02:22,329 --> 00:02:26,769 place where you fight them. AM2R makes the bosses a bit more interesting to fight with 34 00:02:26,769 --> 00:02:32,299 new patterns, smaller weakpoints, and by giving the Metroids additional attacks in later fights. 35 00:02:32,299 --> 00:02:36,579 Samus Returns does the same, actually, but the fights are even more elaborate and have 36 00:02:36,579 --> 00:02:39,469 more traditional boss-like patterns to learn. 37 00:02:39,469 --> 00:02:44,769 And if the repetition gets to you, both games also have extra bosses - like a Torizo from 38 00:02:44,769 --> 00:02:49,180 Super Metroid, a door guardian, and a bullet hell weapons trainer in AM2R, and a very difficult 39 00:02:49,180 --> 00:02:51,900 mining robot in Samus Returns. 40 00:02:51,900 --> 00:02:56,499 Other new additions include new power-ups. Samus had quite a formidable set of tools 41 00:02:56,499 --> 00:03:01,599 in Metroid 2 but both games add the Charge Shot, Super Bomb, Super Missile, and Gravity 42 00:03:01,599 --> 00:03:06,129 Suit, and AM2R adds the speedboost, with all the shinesparking goodness that comes with 43 00:03:06,129 --> 00:03:09,260 it, while Samus Returns instead goes for the grapple beam. 44 00:03:09,260 --> 00:03:14,310 Oh, and that game also has four entirely new Aeion powers, which come with their own energy 45 00:03:14,310 --> 00:03:18,449 meter. These are powers that increase your attack and defence, one that slows down time, 46 00:03:18,449 --> 00:03:22,909 and another that reveals the map around your current location. Which makes secrets and 47 00:03:22,909 --> 00:03:25,109 hidden rooms pretty easy to find. 48 00:03:25,109 --> 00:03:30,549 In general, Samus Returns is just less interested in letting you get lost. The Metroid indicator 49 00:03:30,549 --> 00:03:34,739 flashes red as you get closer to the bosses, the map screen is very detailed, and these 50 00:03:34,739 --> 00:03:38,479 teleporters let you zip around within individual areas. 51 00:03:38,479 --> 00:03:43,669 In terms of level design, both games capture the map of Metroid 2 in the broad strokes. 52 00:03:43,669 --> 00:03:48,600 One area from Metroid 2 will look largely the same in both remakes. But they have 53 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,859 different ways of filling in the details. 54 00:03:50,859 --> 00:03:55,540 AM2R’s philosophy is to generally keep what’s already there, right down to placement of 55 00:03:55,540 --> 00:03:59,879 the item pick-ups and the layout of most of the rooms. But, the fans added new stuff on 56 00:03:59,879 --> 00:04:04,400 top - like an all new section where you control a robot, and a tense escape sequence from 57 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:05,919 a weapons labs. 58 00:04:05,919 --> 00:04:10,359 Samus Returns doesn’t add much new, but makes huge changes to the current layouts 59 00:04:10,359 --> 00:04:13,297 - with so much added density of pathways and obstacles, that many 60 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:17,660 locations are practically unrecognisable. 61 00:04:17,680 --> 00:04:22,260 Both games choose to add more obstacles and locks that can’t be opened until you 62 00:04:22,270 --> 00:04:27,229 find a new ability somewhere else in the current area - making the games feel more like the 63 00:04:27,229 --> 00:04:31,560 other Metroid titles. Though, it’s much more pronounced in Samus Returns, which has 64 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:35,960 all sorts of weird obstacles that force you to get specific items and even beams. 65 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:39,960 AM2R, on the other hand, is fine with you missing a fair few items, and is more open 66 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:40,960 to sequence breaking. 67 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:45,150 Oh, and while neither game messes with the overarching structure of the game - you’re 68 00:04:45,150 --> 00:04:49,669 still killing a number of Metroids to open up new areas after all. Unlike the original, both remakes 69 00:04:49,669 --> 00:04:53,560 provide a method and a reason to return to previous areas. 70 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:58,210 Samus Returns is dotted with teleport stations that can ping you around the entire planet, 71 00:04:58,210 --> 00:05:02,560 while AM2R reveals a distribution centre, later into the game, with pipes that send 72 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:07,240 you back to previous places. Once there, you can use your new powers and abilities to get 73 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:09,729 goodies you couldn’t access earlier. 74 00:05:09,729 --> 00:05:14,271 We can also look at the two games’s interpretation of what Metroid 2 was originally going for. 75 00:05:14,271 --> 00:05:19,169 For a clear example, the unnamed and uncoloured liquid that fills the chambers in Metroid 76 00:05:19,169 --> 00:05:26,090 2, was seen as lava by the creators of AM2R, and as purple acid by those behind Samus Returns. 77 00:05:26,090 --> 00:05:30,479 And we can look at the backgrounds, too. AM2R looked for interesting tiles in the original 78 00:05:30,479 --> 00:05:35,230 game, and went from there. In the second area, these pipes inspired the developers to turn 79 00:05:35,230 --> 00:05:39,901 the zone into a water treatment plant. And in an area with loads of beam pick ups, they 80 00:05:39,901 --> 00:05:44,340 dressed it up as a weapons testing facility. Samus Returns is a lot less interesting in 81 00:05:44,340 --> 00:05:49,901 this regard. Everything’s just various types and colours of crumbling ruins. AM2R is 82 00:05:49,901 --> 00:05:54,550 more interested in telling a coherent background story about the Chozo - which is the ancient 83 00:05:54,550 --> 00:05:57,629 race that built everything on SR388. 84 00:05:57,629 --> 00:06:02,300 And finally, another big change is to how health, ammo, and saving works. 85 00:06:02,300 --> 00:06:06,729 In Metroid 2, you recharge your health and ammo at different stations, and save points 86 00:06:06,729 --> 00:06:08,650 are just save points. 87 00:06:08,650 --> 00:06:14,330 In AM2R recharge stations are gone, because save stations now replenish ammo and health. 88 00:06:14,330 --> 00:06:17,340 Plus, Metroids drop lots of goodies upon death. 89 00:06:17,340 --> 00:06:21,440 And in Samus Returns, we’re back to recharge stations and save points, but Metroids now 90 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:28,380 drop pick-ups and there are also invisible checkpoints before and after every boss battle. 91 00:06:28,380 --> 00:06:33,160 Now, it’s easy enough to talk about how these decisions have changed how Metroid 2 92 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:38,009 works. Both remakes sought to make Metroid 2 work more like the other Metroid games, 93 00:06:38,009 --> 00:06:41,910 they both made the boss fights more involving, and they both filled in the blanks left by 94 00:06:41,910 --> 00:06:44,330 the original game’s monochrome palette. 95 00:06:44,330 --> 00:06:49,319 But it’s just as important to talk about how they change how Metroid 2 feels. 96 00:06:49,319 --> 00:06:53,350 Take that last thing about health, ammo, and saving. In Metroid 2, you can find yourself 97 00:06:53,350 --> 00:06:57,830 battered and bruised by a Metroid fight, and then staggering back to a save station with 98 00:06:57,830 --> 00:07:01,729 a small amount of health. It feels tense, and distressing. 99 00:07:01,729 --> 00:07:06,409 AM2R makes life a bit easier with the post-fight pick-ups, and it neatly streamlines things 100 00:07:06,409 --> 00:07:11,240 by rolling recharge stations and save points into one - but the same anxious sensation 101 00:07:11,240 --> 00:07:12,940 is just about there. 102 00:07:12,940 --> 00:07:17,509 But in providing checkpoints immediately after every Metroid fight, Samus Returns completely 103 00:07:17,509 --> 00:07:22,150 removes that feeling. That stressful journey back up through the level and to a save point 104 00:07:22,150 --> 00:07:23,749 is just gone. 105 00:07:23,749 --> 00:07:28,259 So when judging these remakes, it’s important to consider the actual experience of playing 106 00:07:28,260 --> 00:07:33,320 Metroid 2. Not just what the different mechanics and design decisions were in that game, but 107 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,580 how they contributed to a specific feeling within the player. 108 00:07:36,590 --> 00:07:42,419 And for me, playing Metroid 2 invoked feelings of dread and unease. It was darker and scarier 109 00:07:42,419 --> 00:07:47,440 than most other Metroid games. It gave me the feeling of invading someone else’s space. 110 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,449 Where the other Metroid games almost feel like a big puzzle for the player to solve, 111 00:07:51,449 --> 00:07:53,639 Metroid 2 felt invasive and alien. 112 00:07:53,639 --> 00:07:57,159 And you can point to a lot of reasons for this. The lack of backtracking made you feel 113 00:07:57,159 --> 00:08:01,340 like you were always descending deeper and deeper into the Metroid’s lair. And unlike 114 00:08:01,340 --> 00:08:06,000 Super Metroid, you won’t return to the safety of your ship until the very end of the adventure. 115 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:09,659 And then there’s the tiny screen space which means you can only see a few metres in front 116 00:08:09,659 --> 00:08:14,219 of you, like you’re pointing a torch into a pitch black room. And where the giant caverns 117 00:08:14,219 --> 00:08:18,180 are difficult to grasp through the microscopic viewpoint of the Game Boy screen, making you 118 00:08:18,180 --> 00:08:23,129 feel small and insignificant, the narrow, winding paths make other parts of the game 119 00:08:23,129 --> 00:08:25,580 feel cramped and claustrophobic. 120 00:08:25,600 --> 00:08:29,620 But ultimately Metroid 2 was something of a horror game. A frightening journey into 121 00:08:29,620 --> 00:08:34,840 an uncharted planet. A tense dive into an alien’s nest. And, if you ask me, neither 122 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:39,000 remake really captures that because so many of the factors that contributed to Metroid 123 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:41,950 2’s feeling were seen as issues to fix. 124 00:08:41,950 --> 00:08:46,380 So claustrophobic screens get zoomed out and feel less constricting. Colourful backgrounds 125 00:08:46,380 --> 00:08:50,300 and whirring machines make the planet feel more welcoming and alive. Classic Metroid 126 00:08:50,300 --> 00:08:54,300 backtracking sends the player up and down the planet’s spine. And the more traditional 127 00:08:54,300 --> 00:08:59,240 level design can come across as artificial, instead of alien. Which is never more apparent 128 00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:04,040 than in Samus Returns where you make the acidic liquid go down by plugging Metroid DNA into 129 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,300 a giant lock mechanism. 130 00:09:07,300 --> 00:09:11,430 Now, you might say that I’m reading too much into Metroid 2, and that most of these 131 00:09:11,430 --> 00:09:15,810 things were just due to the unavoidable limitations of the Game Boy. But I want to argue that 132 00:09:15,810 --> 00:09:18,010 most of this stuff was probably intentional. 133 00:09:18,010 --> 00:09:23,510 I mean, the game was made by Nintendo R&D1 - the same studio and much of the same team 134 00:09:23,510 --> 00:09:28,760 behind Metroid 1, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion. So it wasn’t some weird spin-off. 135 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:32,910 And the game’s producer, the late Gunpei Yokoi, was the inventor of the Game Boy and 136 00:09:32,910 --> 00:09:35,800 so was very aware of the console’s limits. 137 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:40,380 I think the team took those limits and made a game that would suit them - something more 138 00:09:40,380 --> 00:09:43,060 intimate, claustrophobic, and foreboding. 139 00:09:43,060 --> 00:09:47,930 And I think you can tell that the designers were trying to freak you out. Look at the 140 00:09:47,930 --> 00:09:51,940 Metroid husks. They don’t just work as a good navigational tool to let you know that 141 00:09:51,940 --> 00:09:56,300 a boss is near, but they also act like a warning. They can leave you with a pit in your stomach, 142 00:09:56,300 --> 00:09:58,480 because you know that you’re about to face a Metroid. 143 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:04,320 And then Nintendo used these husks to surprise you. After always finding husks before fighting 144 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,320 Metroids, the game suddenly surprises you with a Metroid midway through a corridor… 145 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:10,970 and then reveals the husk in the next room. 146 00:10:10,970 --> 00:10:15,990 The game’s not afraid to break its own patterns, after all. The repetitive act of killing Metroids 147 00:10:15,990 --> 00:10:20,380 to drop the lava level is shattered towards the end of the game, where the lava actually 148 00:10:20,380 --> 00:10:25,400 goes up, forcing Samus to go back and find a new type of Metroid. 149 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:30,110 The music is very telling, also. Of course, there’s this hopeful, exciting tune that 150 00:10:30,110 --> 00:10:32,960 plays through the main column of caves that links back to your ship. 151 00:10:38,660 --> 00:10:44,040 But it gives way to quiet, spooky, and discordant tunes when you descend into the different 152 00:10:44,050 --> 00:10:48,860 lairs. Where most retro games are filled with catchy, hummable tunes, including a lot of 153 00:10:48,860 --> 00:10:54,529 great Game Boy games made by R&D1, Metroid 2 sometimes just uses silence, some weird 154 00:10:54,529 --> 00:10:58,600 electronic sound effects, and Samus’s footsteps, to throw you off. 155 00:11:01,580 --> 00:11:05,940 I should point out that Samus Returns mostly does a good job of this, with surprisingly 156 00:11:05,940 --> 00:11:08,600 faithful remixes of the original music. 157 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:18,540 When it’s not just re-using music from other Metroid games, that is. 158 00:11:18,580 --> 00:11:23,560 AM2R is also a mixed bag when it comes to music, and a lot of the tracks have been replaced 159 00:11:23,560 --> 00:11:27,040 with jazzy, upbeat, Prime-style music. 160 00:11:32,300 --> 00:11:38,300 Metroid 2 also had some quiet, evocative storytelling, used to construct a certain, foreboding mood. 161 00:11:38,310 --> 00:11:42,139 Like, towards the end of the game, you start to notice that the number of normal enemies 162 00:11:42,139 --> 00:11:46,730 is going down. Where the early parts of the cave, near the surface, are bristling with 163 00:11:46,730 --> 00:11:50,970 alien life, the lower bowels of the planet are practically empty. And when you get to 164 00:11:50,970 --> 00:11:55,839 the area just before the Queen Metroid, there are no normal enemies at all. Just a quiet, 165 00:11:55,839 --> 00:11:58,259 eery climb up to the final area. 166 00:11:58,259 --> 00:12:03,070 You’ve either gone deeper than any non-Metroid life form has gone in a very long time, or 167 00:12:03,070 --> 00:12:07,470 the Metroids have systematically wiped out every other animal, powerfully asserting their 168 00:12:07,470 --> 00:12:09,709 spot at the top of the food chain. 169 00:12:09,709 --> 00:12:14,230 And then you get to this room. Where all the other Chozo statues in the game have been 170 00:12:14,230 --> 00:12:18,940 kept preserved, and sealed away from pesky Metroids behind impenetrable blast doors, this 171 00:12:18,940 --> 00:12:24,230 one - deep inside the Metroid lair has been smashed to pieces. It’s head is down here, 172 00:12:24,230 --> 00:12:29,089 it’s body is up there, and its item - the ice beam, the only weapon capable of stopping 173 00:12:29,089 --> 00:12:33,209 the normal Metroid, has been pushed aside. Yikes. 174 00:12:33,209 --> 00:12:37,959 AM2R captures this part quite well. There’s sadly no ice beam because you get it much 175 00:12:37,959 --> 00:12:42,260 earlier, but the statue is still there. And the lower areas are devoid of enemies. 176 00:12:42,260 --> 00:12:46,740 But it’s Samus Returns that really didn’t get it. I don’t think the final Chozo statue 177 00:12:46,740 --> 00:12:51,860 is even in the game, I couldn’t find it, and the enemies never let up. Right there, 178 00:12:51,860 --> 00:12:55,819 in the path leading to the Metroids lair, you’ll be fighting dozens of standard enemies 179 00:12:55,819 --> 00:12:59,760 In a noisy, messy gauntlet. 180 00:12:59,760 --> 00:13:03,550 Back to the Game Boy game. After this area and a final boss fight - did you know, by 181 00:13:03,550 --> 00:13:07,460 the way, that Nintendo suddenly removed the ability to pause during Metroid 2’s final 182 00:13:07,460 --> 00:13:11,699 boss fight? Friggin’ Dark Souls up in here. Uh, after that fight, Metroid 2 has one of 183 00:13:11,699 --> 00:13:16,860 the most surprising and low key endings of just about any game from this era. 184 00:13:16,860 --> 00:13:20,839 After finishing off the boss, Samus comes across this baby Metroid who assumes Samus 185 00:13:20,839 --> 00:13:25,620 is its mother. Instead of killing this final creature and finishing the mission, Samus 186 00:13:25,620 --> 00:13:29,529 decides to spare its life and the two leave the planet together. 187 00:13:29,529 --> 00:13:34,240 One of the most isolating games you can play suddenly gives you a companion. And as you 188 00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:39,331 leave, the Metroid gobbling up walls that block your path, this strange, calming, and 189 00:13:39,340 --> 00:13:41,460 evocative music starts to plays. 190 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:51,520 Over those last few minutes in the game - there are no enemies or puzzles to deal with - you’re 191 00:13:51,529 --> 00:13:55,819 given time to reflect on everything that has happened. Maybe consider Samus’s final act 192 00:13:55,819 --> 00:13:59,779 of mercy and compassion, which will be revisited in Super Metroid. 193 00:13:59,779 --> 00:14:04,360 Or maybe you’ll reconsider the ethical ramifications of your, frankly, genocidal mission to kill 194 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:09,509 a non-space-fairing species that was only used as a biological weapon by the space pirates. 195 00:14:09,509 --> 00:14:13,530 A genocidal mission which would be brought back up in Metroid Fusion, where it’s revealed 196 00:14:13,530 --> 00:14:18,370 that by wiping out almost all of the Metroids, Samus wrecked the ecosystem and let an even 197 00:14:18,370 --> 00:14:21,040 more dangerous species come to bear. 198 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:25,120 And maybe this gives a new meaning to the discomforting feeling of the rest of the game? 199 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:30,600 It’s a dark and disturbing game for a dark and disturbing chapter in Samus’s life. 200 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:36,339 As S.R. Holiwell wrote in the terrific Metroid 2 defence piece A Maze of Murderscapes, “Games 201 00:14:36,339 --> 00:14:40,850 about killing should probably make you uncomfortable. They shouldn’t be carefully crafted to be 202 00:14:40,850 --> 00:14:47,980 pleasant. Metroid II is openly about killing. It makes me uncomfortable with wordless specificity”. 203 00:14:47,980 --> 00:14:52,410 Samus Returns on the other hand is very comfortable about killing. The game puts a tremendous 204 00:14:52,410 --> 00:14:58,120 focus on combat with that 360 aiming, multi-phase boss fights, ridiculous Aeion powers, and 205 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:02,970 these goofy cutscenes where Samus does ninja moves on Metroid bosses. Why Nintendo is so 206 00:15:02,970 --> 00:15:07,420 obsessed with turning Samus into Bayonetta is beyond me, but there we go. 207 00:15:07,420 --> 00:15:12,230 And, so, that final escape sequence with the baby Metroid contains yet more combat, not to mention 208 00:15:12,230 --> 00:15:16,759 an unnecessary additional boss fight. So much extra combat, actually, that you can hardly 209 00:15:16,759 --> 00:15:21,870 hear that the Game Boy game’s final music, which was given a subtle update in AM2R’s 210 00:15:21,870 --> 00:15:27,040 completely faithful recreation of the ending... has now been given a strange high tempo electronic 211 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:28,420 remix in Samus Returns. 212 00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:36,430 And if there was any doubt that Samus Returns just didn’t get Metroid 2’s themes, well, 213 00:15:36,430 --> 00:15:40,610 this is a game about travelling to an alien’s home planet to viciously wipe out the entire 214 00:15:40,610 --> 00:15:45,319 race, with a primary mechanic, the melee counter, which is about acting in self defence and 215 00:15:45,319 --> 00:15:47,000 only killing when first provoked. 216 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:48,660 I’m half joking with that one. 217 00:15:48,660 --> 00:15:53,089 But this ending stuff absolutely boggles my mind. Samus Returns doesn’t just accidentally 218 00:15:53,089 --> 00:15:57,600 fail to capture the feeling of Metroid 2 by updating things, but it specifically undermines 219 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:02,460 the original game in boorish, bone headed ways. 220 00:16:02,460 --> 00:16:07,899 Now. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to hold up Metroid 2 as some perfect game. 221 00:16:07,899 --> 00:16:11,910 There’s much more to it than most critics seem to realise, but it does have shortcomings 222 00:16:11,910 --> 00:16:14,050 that any remake should seek to update. 223 00:16:14,050 --> 00:16:18,579 So I’m disappointed that these remakes had the opportunity to use modern game design 224 00:16:18,579 --> 00:16:22,779 to deliver the same experience as Metroid 2, but in a different form - not the same 225 00:16:22,779 --> 00:16:24,970 form but with a different experience. 226 00:16:24,970 --> 00:16:28,500 Because what does it matter if these games have largely the same level design if not 227 00:16:28,500 --> 00:16:33,189 the same disorienting feeling of exploring those levels? The same Metroids, if not the 228 00:16:33,189 --> 00:16:37,550 same dread of facing another one in a dark corridor? And so on. 229 00:16:37,550 --> 00:16:43,480 Both remakes attempt to retcon Metroid 2 into more familiar Metroid design, so AM2R brings 230 00:16:43,480 --> 00:16:47,819 the game up to the same standards as Zero Mission and Super Metroid, while Samus Returns 231 00:16:47,819 --> 00:16:51,110 feels like a mix of classic Metroid games and Other M. 232 00:16:51,110 --> 00:16:55,680 But maybe those other types of design didn’t fit Metroid 2? Maybe the game’s themes and 233 00:16:55,680 --> 00:17:00,449 intended experience required a different set of mechanics? The closest analogy I can think 234 00:17:00,449 --> 00:17:05,470 of is remaking the oppressive Far Cry 2 to be more like the action movie playgrounds 235 00:17:05,470 --> 00:17:08,060 of Far Cry 3 and 4. 236 00:17:08,060 --> 00:17:12,560 So, yeah. This doesn’t make these remakes into bad games and I really enjoy both of 237 00:17:12,560 --> 00:17:17,970 these titles on their own terms. AM2R is a terrific accomplishment for a fan project 238 00:17:17,970 --> 00:17:21,800 and lots of fun to play, and Samus Returns has plenty to enjoy also. 239 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:25,920 But, you know what happens to remakes. One of these games will be become the defacto 240 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:31,390 way of playing Metroid 2, and the original - already maligned and misunderstood - will 241 00:17:31,390 --> 00:17:35,200 become even less popular. 242 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:39,340 Well, that was a bit of a bummer to end on. But, hey, there we go. Thanks for watching and 243 00:17:39,340 --> 00:17:44,340 thank you for your patience in September - I’ve been unable to make stuff for half the month 244 00:17:44,340 --> 00:17:48,630 due to a nasty cold, which hopefully explains my slightly weird voice in this one. 245 00:17:48,630 --> 00:17:55,170 But I’m back now! And a special thank you to all my Patrons who keep the lights on at 246 00:17:55,170 --> 00:18:01,190 GMTK. 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