Sequel Showdown #3: Metroid

[AstralSoul | 502]

Which is your favorite Metroid game?

[JamesRobot | 5,800]

26 minutes ago, AstralSoul said:

Which is your favorite Metroid game?

That's a tough one for me.  I'm a big fan of OG Metroid, Super, Fusion, and Zero Mission.  Can't get down with the fps style ones for some reason.  I can see the acclaim though.  Gotta think about it...

[Reed Rothchild | 9,521]

SM, Prime, Fusion, and Zero Mission are all up there for best.

Samus Returns was great.

Hunters and II are both good.

The OG game is... alright, I guess.

Never played Prime 2 and 3, Other M, Federation Force, or Pinball.

 

But I don't think I'll vote.  I haven't played through Prime or Zero Mission since they came out, and I need to play through Prime 2 and 3.

[Webhead123 | 675]

Super Metroid by a country mile.

I haven't played Hunters, Other M or Federation Force but I can't really see those offering any serious competition anyway. I mean c'mon! We're talking about Super Metroid and Metroid Prime! Two of the greatest games ever made! And while I do love Prime quite a bit, there are a few minor gripes that bring it down a couple of notches.

Super Metroid, on the other hand, is a game I replay about once a year. It is simply 16-bit perfection.

After those, I'd say Zero Mission, Fusion and Metroid II, in that order.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Webhead123

[AstralSoul | 502]

It's a toss up between Prime and Super for me, as it probably is for a lot of people. I went with Prime because it was ultimately what got me into the series in the first place.

[Gloves | 11,776]

I don't like Metroid, but I do have some good memories of the Game Boy game.

[TDIRunner | 2,734]

Super Metroid.  Easy pick.

[Tulpa | 3,492]

I love the original for its 8-bit graphics. Yes, it needs an ingame map, yes, Super Metroid is superior in virtually every way, I still love the OG Metroid.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

1 hour ago, Tulpa said:

I love the original for its 8-bit graphics. Yes, it needs an ingame map, yes, Super Metroid is superior in virtually every way, I still love the OG Metroid.

Same here for me.  I acknowledge that SM trumps OG in every way... except one: atmosphere;  OG Metroid was the first game I ever played were I actually felt the way the developers intended you to feel, namely, lost and alone on a mysterious alien planet.  I got lost in that game, literally and figurately, for the better part of 1988 and have super fond memories of getting through the whole game as a child with no guide.  I play Super Metroid way more nowadays, but man, that original experience was so powerful that I had to give my vote to the original game...

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

MP for me, although Super not far behind of course. It made a dumb idea like first person shooter Metroid feel like a Metroid game in 3D and its own thing and not just like... Unreal. It’s the same exploring, backtracking, atmospheric Metroid and I love it. Best music of the series too IMO.

[MiamiSlice | 3,089]

Feeling incredibly disenfranchised and unheard because Metroid Prime Pinball isn't on the list

[Reed Rothchild | 9,521]

7 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

Feeling incredibly disenfranchised and unheard because Metroid Prime Pinball isn't on the list

That's what happens when an idea for debate is STOLEN FROM ME.  Sad!  #NASTYPOSTER 

jk

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

16 minutes ago, MiamiSlice said:

Feeling incredibly disenfranchised and unheard because Metroid Prime Pinball isn't on the list

Oh sorry, I misread the poll and just assumed Metroid Prime meant Metroid Prime Pinball. Please change my vote to MPP when it's added in.

[Sumez | 2,949]

Is this a trick question? 

Super Metroid is a masterpiece, and the culmination of what the team had been doing up till then. It was also a lightning in a bottle, and an incredible feat that's never been perfectly recreated!

[OptOut | 8,883]

My pick is Metroid Prime. It's basically gonna come down to whether you prefer 2D or 3D basically whether people are gonna say Prime or Super, by and large, they're both complete masterpieces.

I will say, I actually REALLY got into Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, in certain ways it is actually better than the first one, I really like the added challenge of the game and some of the concepts and designs.

I definitely prefer Echoes to Corruption, at least, which feels much more like a re-read of the first game, whereas Echoes does A LOT very differently to Prime 1. I would compare the difference between Prime 1 and 2 to that between OoT and MM, I feel there is that much of a change to the structure of the game that makes it feel a lot different, whilst using the same core mechanics.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Super Metroid is not only the best Metroid game but possibly one of the best games of all time.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

On a side note, it'd be cool to do this with movies too (even though I know we have a single movie debate thread). I just watched through the first 3 Mad Max movies and thought it would be interesting to pit them against each other as well as other movie series/trilogies etc. 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I went with Metroid. Super Metroid is the better game, but I have a lot more fond memories of the original since I never owned Super Metroid as a kid.

[Sumer | 221]

I went with Metroid: Zero Mission.  Basically, the Super Metroid-ized version of the very first game.  As Doug mentioned, just more fond memories of the first game than with Super Metroid.  I think I only ever rented Super Metroid a few times and never actually owned it back then, so that is probably why I didn't get as attached to it.  

Zero Mission on the big screen via the GameBoy Player (on GameCube) is VERY fun.  That is the way I played it.

[RH | 4,903]

Metroid II for me. I loved the OG as a kid but I felt like Metroid II, for it's era and the device it was released on, was perfect.

I get that Super Metroid is a really, really amazing game.  It is. But Metroid II is, in my opinion, about as perfect of a game one can make for the device and the bonus to it all is the game tells a story... without words to tell it.  The whole tale is masterfully crafted and told through the experience of the change environment and the nasties you encounter.  And all that done on a pee-green screen.

I've always felt that this game was one of few 10/10 games and, yes, it probably is in my top 5-10.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

31 minutes ago, RH said:

Metroid II for me. I loved the OG as a kid but I felt like Metroid II, for it's era and the device it was released on, was perfect.

I get that Super Metroid is a really, really amazing game.  It is. But Metroid II is, in my opinion, about as perfect of a game one can make for the device and the bonus to it all is the game tells a story... without words to tell it.  The whole tale is masterfully crafted and told through the experience of the change environment and the nasties you encounter.  And all that done on a pee-green screen.

I've always felt that this game was one of few 10/10 games and, yes, it probably is in my top 5-10.

Yeah, as a kid in that era, playing Metroid 2 on car trips or bus rides was incredible.

And while I love Super Metroid, the play control improvements of Zero Mission make it feel a bit "clunky".

AM2R, which recaptured the nostalgia I had for Metroid 2 with the massive improvement of Zero-Mission-era-play-control, is hands down the "best" Metroid game, IMO. (despite being a fan project)

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Super Metroid > Metroid Prime > Metroid Prime 2 > Metroid Fusion = > Metroid Zero Mission > Metroid Prime 3

Prime 2 is really good and some of the bosses get pretty crazy - it arguably has higher highs than the first Prime. The artifact hunt at the end is more annoying though and there end up being just too many "kill all the enemies to unlock the door" rooms.

After Prime 3 there's a big gap. Less sure about how Metroid/Metroid II/Other M stack up. Other M had a lot of very egregious problems so it's tempting to just mark it as the worst but original Metroid is pretty clunky and slowly grinding up your health isn't any fun. I guess Metroid II maybe wins for being less flawed?

Hunters is definitely the worst I've played, though. The single player campaign felt more like something they made to prove they could ("handheld FPS from 2006" being rather ambitious, especially with Metroid Prime's pedigree) rather than a game they genuinely tried to make good. Even looking beyond control issues, the game's actual content isn't very appealing. Some people apparently liked the multiplayer but that's not my thing.

Never got around to Pinball or anything from the last decade.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

Just now, MagusSmurf said:

Super Metroid > Metroid Prime > Metroid Prime 2 > Metroid Fusion = > Metroid Zero Mission > Metroid Prime 3

Prime 2 is really good and some of the bosses get pretty crazy - it arguably has higher highs than the first Prime. The artifact hunt at the end is more annoying though and there end up being just too many "kill all the enemies to unlock the door" rooms.

After Prime 3 there's a big gap. Less sure about how Metroid/Metroid II/Other M stack up. Other M had a lot of very egregious problems so it's tempting to just mark it as the worst but original Metroid is pretty clunky and slowly grinding up your health isn't any fun. I guess Metroid II maybe wins for being less flawed?

Hunters is definitely the worst I've played, though. The single player campaign felt more like something they made to prove they could ("handheld FPS from 2006" being rather ambitious, especially with Metroid Prime's pedigree) rather than a game they genuinely tried to make good. Even looking beyond control issues, the game's actual content isn't very appealing. Some people apparently liked the multiplayer but that's not my thing.

Never got around to Pinball or anything from the last decade.

Curious why you rank Prime 1 and 2 higher than 3?

The play control (point-and-shoot) of 3 on the Wii was awesome and made for a much more enjoyable and immersive game than the GC entries.

[MegaMan52 | 2,443]

Metroid Prime, specifically the GameCube version because I prefer the Wavebird Controller over other Controllers. I also actually play it using a GameCube and not a Wii.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

I never had much problem with the controls of the first two Primes and while I recall the shooting controls of Prime 3 being good, probably an improvement even, they also forced in some nunchuck motion usage (IIRC to trigger the grappling beam) for no good reason. And at this point if I really wanted motion controls for the first two I could pick up Metroid Prime Trilogy on Wii. So 3's controls don't really offer any advantage for me and I found the game's actual content less memorable.

Edited January 6, 2021 by MagusSmurf