My favourite Metroid game has got to be Zero Mission on the GBA.
A weird choice maybe but it was my first metroid when I played the GBA, I thought the music and atmosphere was kick ass and enjoyed the simple enough controls.
For a 3D Metroid it would be the trilogy on Wii at the time.
What about you?
If we’re allowing Trilogy as one game then I’m going to step out a bit and go with AM2R. It’s extremely good and not “for a fan remake”, just straight up good.
If we’re talking single games made/published by Nintendo I’d go with Dread for 2D. I played through that 3-4 times back to back when it came out which was a totally new behavior for me. For 3D it’s Prime 1, still the best 3D example of the genre.
Dread. The movement feels incredible and I feel like its map naturally leads players to the next relevant area the best without as much backtracking and getting lost. Brilliant game.
The EMI segments with unfair BS kinda take it down for me a slight notch
Super Metroid is my favorite game period, so definitely that one. Dread was really good too though, I played through that one a bunch.
Going to use this thread to recommend AM2R which is so high quality Nintendo could have made it themselves. It also has a great Prime-style OST in a 2d game which none of the other games have done
It’s really hard for me to name a single favorite Metroid; I love most of them. In terms of non-linear open exploration, Super Metroid is probably my favorite, followed by AM2R. But I also really enjoyed the boss fights in Metroid Dread; they were really challenging…for me at least.
I’ve seen some mentions of AM2R, which I love, but also wanna shout out the romhack Super Metroid Redesign.
Its hard for me to pick an absolute favorite, but Fusion probably gets it today from me.
I wish I could love super metroid. I really do. The game holds up. The graphics are great, the sound design is bafflingly superb for a 16 bit game. Controls are tight. Map size is big but not daunting.
And then you get to the part where you fall down a pitt. And the game teaches you to wall jump.
…everytime I play the game, thats where the game ends. It’s been 30+ years, and I still can’t wall jump in that game.
Mine is probably the oddball pick with Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. I know it’s hardly the first game with a light and dark world mechanic, but I really appreciated the way you traversed in and out of them, and how each world replenished the opposite ammo type. The multiplayer in that game is also underrated, but probably not as good as in the DS game.
When ya said oddball pick I was half expecting metroid prime pinball to be it haha
Super
Super Metroid for 2D, Metroid Prime 1 for 3D.
Both games absolutely blasted it out of the water. Perfect masterpieces that no other game managed to live up to.
Metroid Prime Pinball is an untouchable god-tier masterpiece of a spin-off.
I think Zero Mission was a pretty good remake of NEStroid, and Samus Returns was an okay remake of Return of Samus. Prime Hunters, Prime 2, and Prime 3 were just okay, nothing bad but nothing special either. Hunters online was fun until the Action Replay users took over. IMO Fusion, Dread, and Other M were too linear. Federation Force was not great either, probably the weakest game to have Metroid in the title.
I appreciated Fusion’s story, it was interesting. I also appreciate the vision of Other M, it was certainly a game that, when it worked, the gameplay was pretty fun to look at. Finisher moves and quick dodging was cool to see, even if it made the game pretty easy. The first person switching was a really cool idea that I think should have borrowed a little from Metroid Prime’s Scan Visor, where the suit automatically highlights objects of importance, to lower frustration of “pixel hunts.” Its certainly got very good graphics for a Wii game, even if the environments are bland. But IMO Dread had some equally bland level design, and was too linear for my liking. I also did not really like the ending that much. Dread’s soundtrack is equally as forgettable as Other M’s soundtrack, except there are some songs I actually remember from Other M that were unique to the game and not a remix from an older Metroid title (for example, the piano theme from Other M, great song). I completed Metroid Dread in about 9 hours the week it launched and I haven’t played it since.
Super is so good. The sound design makes everything gel together into a smooth slurry.
But, like good.
Metroid Prime is a masterpiece. The artifact hunt is a bit padding-y, but you’ll be backtracking to get the power-ups anyway.
It’s also Zero mission for me. The atmosphere and story are amazing.
Super and/or Fusion. Fusion was the first one I played, and Super is just perfect.
