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ImpAtom posted:There is only one non-Smash Nintendo series that should cross over with Doom and it isn't Metroid Luigi's mansion
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Feb 20, 2023 23:23
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I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, but I’ve decided to do a timeline-order playthrough of the entire Metroid franchise. Some of it is a replay, some of it is new to me. Right now I’m a few hours into Zero Mission (in lieu of the original Metroid), that’s a replay but it’s been like 10 years since I played it. I currently just got to the Ridley area. I’ve got Metroid Prime Remastered on deck (first time playing) followed by Metroid Prime Hunters. I’m going to skip Prime 2 and 3 for now under the assumption that they’re going to get remasters, too. I’m also going to play Metroid: Samus Returns in lieu of OG Metroid 2. I’ve actually never played Super Metroid, Other M, or Dread, but I have played Fusion (back when I played Zero Mission a decade ago).
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Feb 20, 2023 23:29
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Y'know, I've been worn down by it for over twenty years and had forgotten how absolutely terrible having Space Pirate be the name for their loving race is.
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Feb 20, 2023 23:34
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Sure, if by terrible you mean kinda funny and charming Also it's sorta implied that it's not actually a species.
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Feb 20, 2023 23:37
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LividLiquid posted:Y'know, I've been worn down by it for over twenty years and had forgotten how absolutely terrible having Space Pirate be the name for their loving race is. I think the original-flavor crabman pirates do have an actual name, they're just Zebesians. The pirates as a whole however have seemingly gone so ham on genetic modification that it's easier to just refer to them as such rather than trying to discern what they originally were. Hell, they change their appearance entirely across every single Prime game. They start out as reptilian with some fishlike characteristics, then Prime 2 has them be a mix of reptile and crustacean, and by Prime 3 they're more insect-like than anything.
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Feb 20, 2023 23:38
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I always thought they were some weird mantis-thing, at least before they started tampering with genetics. I think one of the Prime logs actually references gestation tubes/vats, or something like that.
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Feb 20, 2023 23:47
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ExcessBLarg! posted:The Federation is just as bad as the Space Pirates. They have clandestine metroid breeding and phazon weponification programs. All their stations are run by sentient brains in glass jars. They regularly do experimental testing on their own personnel often to ill effects. You're assuming that Samus doesn't have paperwork filled out in advance for "in the event of being injected with some alien bullshit or something". (And/or that she didn't just fill in "Yes" for something like that to avoid paying parking tickets). Also, their experimental testing record is pretty good, on the whole. Sure, sometimes people die horribly in extreme circumstances, but 70, 80 percent of the time, everything works out better than if they hadn't meddled in God's domain. That's not bad!
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Feb 20, 2023 23:51
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The Space Pirates I'm pretty sure are a reference to the Boskone, the bad guys in the Lensmen book series that are, for the most part, a collection of various species united in piratical conquest of civilized space. The series was weirdly popular in Japan in the mid-80s (there was an anime film adaptation and short-lived tv show trying to cash in on the popularity of Star Wars) and a fair bit of it rubbed off on Metroid. e: in the movie they even fly around in ship that look like Mother Brain!
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Feb 20, 2023 23:59
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Xenomrph posted:I’ve actually never played Super Metroid, Other M, or Dread, but I have played Fusion (back when I played Zero Mission a decade ago). Dread and Super are very high on my list of games I wish I could play for the first time again so I'm pretty jealous of you right now.
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Feb 21, 2023 00:21
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Great Beer posted:Dread and Super are very high on my list of games I wish I could play for the first time again so I'm pretty jealous of you right now. Right before Dread came out, I played through Super Metroid while my nephew watched and he absolutely loved it. It was fun to be able to share it with him for the first time.
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Feb 21, 2023 00:41
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I would love a high-effort remake of Super if only because I just can't hack the original's floaty physics. Zero Mission was my introduction to 2D Metroid and the tight controls really worked for me.
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Feb 21, 2023 00:54
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I’ve been using Zero Mission’s map as a huge crutch as I try to get around (and I did the same in Fusion and the parts of Samus Returns I played), does Super have a similar map or not so much?
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Feb 21, 2023 01:10
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Xenomrph posted:I’m also going to play Metroid: Samus Returns in lieu of OG Metroid 2. Xenomrph posted:I’ve been using Zero Mission’s map as a huge crutch as I try to get around (and I did the same in Fusion and the parts of Samus Returns I played), does Super have a similar map or not so much?
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Feb 21, 2023 01:28
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Assepoester posted:Super was the debut of the metroid map as we know it Fantastic. I did briefly try out OG Metroid before deciding to go with Zero Mission, and the lack of a map just totally tanked my enjoyment. I just don’t have the patience to straight up memorize or engage in literal real world cartography to navigate a game like that. Like, I mean, I know it’s a certified stone-cold classic that defined a genre and all, but I’m just spoiled by my exposure to later games and found it hard to take that crutch away.
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Feb 21, 2023 01:31
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Xenomrph posted:I don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into, but I’ve decided to do a timeline-order playthrough of the entire Metroid franchise. Some of it is a replay, some of it is new to me. Zero Mission is an acceptable (if not preferable) substitute for OG Metroid but I'd at least turn on the latter to literally just see what it was like. Conversely I'd argue that Samus Returns is not a substitute for Metroid II and I'd play the latter instead. Samus Returns is, fine, but a slog of a game while Metroid II is a breezy 4-5 hour adventure that's thematically very strong and, even though it wasn't directed by Sakamoto, it shows a lot of where Super Metroid's origins lie. If you're playing on an emulator there's a colorized version mentioned in the ROM Hacks thead (or a few pages ago) that I really recommend. Also I'd give Primes 2&3 on PrimeHack a go. Who knows if/when remastered versions of those will come along--certainly not anytime soon, or if they did they certainly won't be the quality of the Prime remaster. Either way, the Prime trilogy is pretty thematically cohesive so I think it's worth playing them now.
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Feb 21, 2023 01:56
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Xenomrph posted:Fantastic. With a few QoL improvements like that Metroid is certainly completable, and the map is much smaller than it seems when you don't have a map and you're constantly getting lost in all of the identical vertical shafts. But playing Zero Mission instead is perfectly fine and even preferrable, I'd say that as long as you played some of the original Metroid to soak in the vibes and get a feel for it, you're fine, there's no reason to force yourself to complete it. I certainly never beat it back in the day, even with JUSTIN BAILEY.
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Feb 21, 2023 02:11
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Xenomrph posted:Fantastic. Play the OG Metroid to experience some OG bullcrap. Like not starting at full health and spawning enemies that will vaporize you through a doorway transition 
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Feb 21, 2023 02:12
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OG Metroid is just such a rough game that's hard to play in the modern day. The corridors take so long to go through and a lot of key progression elements are hidden in ways that are nearly impossible to guess. Zero Mission may be more linear, but it is such an easier thing to play. I guess technically there's a third option: Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order, the Japanese choose-your-own-adventure book version of the original Metroid. Some internet people have gone through the trouble of translating the book and implementing them into a Twine game, if you've ever wanted to play a text-based version of Metroid. https://metroiddatabase.com/wp-content/uploads/Metroid/Twinetroid/Twinetroid.html
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Feb 21, 2023 02:23
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SlothfulCobra posted:I guess technically there's a third option: Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order, the Japanese choose-your-own-adventure book version of the original Metroid. Some internet people have gone through the trouble of translating the book and implementing them into a Twine game, if you've ever wanted to play a text-based version of Metroid. https://metroiddatabase.com/wp-content/uploads/Metroid/Twinetroid/Twinetroid.html
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Feb 21, 2023 02:29
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OK, so for the benefit of anyone else interested in Metroid II: no it doesn't have an in-game map, but it doesn't really need one either. (Minor spoilers about the overall layout of the game ahead.) I get the problem with OG Metroid. You go into a shaft that has like three other doors. You pick one, and eventually find you can't progress, so you go back to the shaft and now you have to remember which of the other three doors you originally came from and which ones you haven't tried yet. Eventually you get a new item and you have to backtrack across the entire world and remember exactly where to make use of it. That's pretty hard to do even with a map, and harder without one. Metroid II is a much more linear game. The overall world is divided into, roughly, eight areas (depending on how you count them). There's lava/acid/purple poison water that blocks access to new areas until you kill all the metroids in the current area, after which a very-noticeable earthquake happens to indicate you can proceed. Each individual area is generally divided into two sections: a set of Chozo ruins that house most of the game's item upgrades, and a set of caverns where the metroids (usually) live. Both types of sections aren't really that large and it's not too hard to figure out where you need to go. And while you can backtrack to earlier areas at any time, there's only really one time in the game where you actually have to backtrack to continue (and it's very well signposted). In other words, it's a game designed around the idea that you're probably not working with a map while playing it and it keeps you from getting seriously lost, while still feeling like you're exploring this vast cavernous world.
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Feb 21, 2023 02:31
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That's what the blank page for making maps in the back of the manual is for, duh.
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Feb 21, 2023 02:40
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I've never played the original Metroid II or the 3DS remake, but I have played AM2R and would highly recommend - especially if you are playing the games in chronological order. It really feels like a lost GBA game. Combine it with a romhack for Super that adds Fusion's controls, and you'll get a very consistent experience all the way up to Dread... ...or Other M, which I just realized also existed. Bit of warning if you are playing them in story order because of the story: Other M adds literally nothing that is referenced by other games, and actively contradicts them at other points. It also kind of fucks with your experience of Fusion in a bad way. That game introduces Adam as an old CO of Samus that earned her respect, but the how and why are left to your imagination. Other M tries to fill in that hole, but just makes Adam come across as an rear end in a top hat. And, again: never referenced in any of the other games, so completely unnecessary.
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Feb 21, 2023 13:03
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ChaseSP posted:The only remotely shady poo poo is other m related due to there seemingly being a group away wanting to use a bioweapons program to take over, and the english translation of fusion where it makes things much more sinister than the original translation. BSF was completely above board. I'd love to hear more about the translation differences in Fusion
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Feb 21, 2023 14:02
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SlothfulCobra posted:I guess technically there's a third option: Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order, the Japanese choose-your-own-adventure book version of the original Metroid. Some internet people have gone through the trouble of translating the book and implementing them into a Twine game, if you've ever wanted to play a text-based version of Metroid. https://metroiddatabase.com/wp-content/uploads/Metroid/Twinetroid/Twinetroid.html This is amazing if only for the ending, where Samus gets in a lightsaber fight against the leader of the Space Pirates: Legally Distinct Captain Harlock. The lore wasn't quite figured out yet.
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Feb 21, 2023 14:04
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Sobatchja Morda posted:I've never played the original Metroid II or the 3DS remake, but I have played AM2R and would highly recommend - especially if you are playing the games in chronological order. It really feels like a lost GBA game. Combine it with a romhack for Super that adds Fusion's controls, and you'll get a very consistent experience all the way up to Dread... Seconding AM2R, if you can find it. Also, Super has a hilarious number of ROM hacks available, some of which could’ve been SNES games in their own right. Last one I played is Hyper Metroid, but there are a bunch of options.
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Feb 21, 2023 14:27
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Asterite34 posted:This is amazing if only for the ending, where Samus gets in a lightsaber fight against the leader of the Space Pirates: Legally Distinct Captain Harlock. The lore wasn't quite figured out yet. That's up there with the official Metroid manga that has Samus surrounded by cute girls fawning over her, inadvertently making her a sapphic icon in like 1987.
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Feb 21, 2023 15:03
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Sobatchja Morda posted:I've never played the original Metroid II or the 3DS remake, but I have played AM2R and would highly recommend - especially if you are playing the games in chronological order. It really feels like a lost GBA game. Combine it with a romhack for Super that adds Fusion's controls, and you'll get a very consistent experience all the way up to Dread... I have Super both on my 3DS and part of Switch Online (I think), am I truly better off going with a romhack or should I play it vanilla for an “authentic” experience?
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Feb 21, 2023 16:38
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Xenomrph posted:I have Super both on my 3DS and part of Switch Online (I think), am I truly better off going with a romhack or should I play it vanilla for an “authentic” experience? Play the original Super Metroid before you play a rom hack. It’s on the NSO snes app.
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Feb 21, 2023 16:45
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Xenomrph posted:I have Super both on my 3DS and part of Switch Online (I think), am I truly better off going with a romhack or should I play it vanilla for an “authentic” experience? Super Metroid's physics are pretty different from Zero Mission (which has physics based on Fusion, and any 2D stuff since is built to feel similar to it), it's much floatier than what you'll probably be used to after playing Zero Mission and either of the Metroid 2 remakes (can't speak for the physics of OG Metroid 2, haven't played much of it myself). Super Metroid is a fantastic game, just feels different to the other games in the series that were released after it. Up to you if you want to go with the original or a rom hack with physics closer to the later games.
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Feb 21, 2023 16:47
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Veotax posted:Super Metroid's physics are pretty different from Zero Mission (which has physics based on Fusion, and any 2D stuff since is built to feel similar to it), it's much floatier than what you'll probably be used to after playing Zero Mission and either of the Metroid 2 remakes (can't speak for the physics of OG Metroid 2, haven't played much of it myself). Metroid 2 also has very floaty physics. It doesn’t have the wall jump, instead you get the spider ball to climb on walls. It definitely feels kind of weird and slow compared to later titles. Now that I think about it, the only other games in the series with spider ball besides Metrod II/Samus Returns are the Prime games, right?
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Feb 21, 2023 16:51
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The GBA control scheme feels a little smoother IMO but Super holds up extremely well and doesn't really need any facelifts unless you're super into the GBA games.
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Feb 21, 2023 16:54
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Super's main problems are that the grappling hook kinda sucks to use and weapon select is finicky because it uses the Select button but other than that it's perfectly good to play
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Feb 21, 2023 16:55
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ExcessBLarg! posted:Conversely I'd argue that Samus Returns is not a substitute for Metroid II and I'd play the latter instead. Samus Returns is, fine, but a slog of a game while Metroid II is a breezy 4-5 hour adventure that's thematically very strong and, even though it wasn't directed by Sakamoto, it shows a lot of where Super Metroid's origins lie. If you're playing on an emulator there's a colorized version mentioned in the ROM Hacks thead (or a few pages ago) that I really recommend. Alternatively, download AM2R.
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Feb 21, 2023 17:14
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AM2R ruled, I played it to get prepped for Dread and did not regret it.
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Feb 21, 2023 17:16
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I don't think I'll ever get over just how much I hate the 2D space jump. I've enjoyed every 2D Metroid I've played but I just felt so loving deflated when I got the double jump in Dread.
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Feb 21, 2023 17:21
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Natural 20 posted:I've enjoyed every 2D Metroid I've played but I just felt so loving deflated when I got the double jump in Dread. The Spin Boost is such a wet fart of an upgrade. It really should have just been the High-jump Boots. Yeah it would have been nearly the same thing mechanically but it still would have been better than "Nerfed Space Jump".
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Feb 21, 2023 17:35
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It is a weird in-between upgrade, I appreciate Dread trying to do different things with the power-ups and their distribution (like taking way longer than usual to get the Morph Ball), but I remember you getting the proper Space Jump so soon after the double jump that I end up wondering what the point was.
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Feb 21, 2023 17:42
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Procrastine posted:I'd love to hear more about the translation differences in Fusion JP Fusion makes mention of an defunct Federation Army faction that is never brought up in the englsh version at all that was responsible for Nightmare and instead now it's just a military bioweapon seemingly approved by the Federation itself. It was mentioned again in Other M and seemingly explains why they're defunct after the bottleship was entirely exposed.
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Feb 21, 2023 17:49
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What's the innocent explanation for the Metroid breeding program?
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Feb 21, 2023 17:54
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| # ? May 31, 2024 15:35 |
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No Dignity posted:What's the innocent explanation for the Metroid breeding program? It was never a secret the Federation was interested in metroids, Samus brings it to Ceres Station where it will be studied explicitly for it's energy draining/transfer properties. It's not a shock they tried cloning them and research them after that at all at the BSA. Still probably better to wipe them out though.
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Feb 21, 2023 17:58
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