![]() Now that that’s out of the way, let’s dig into Metroid: Samus Returns. For now, I want to judge Samus Returns on its own merits and how it stacks up against the original Metroid II. I might revisit the topic later for an in-depth comparison, but that’s an editorial for another day. As much as I love and respect AM2R, it wouldn’t be professional to put it up against the “official” remake in a review context. As developers of the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series, MercurySteam already had ample experience with the aptly-named “Metroidvania” formula, but how did they do trying their hand at the originator of the action-exploration genre? Pretty damn fantastic, as it turns out.Ī quick disclaimer first: I won’t be comparing Samus Returns to AM2R in this review. Developed by Spanish studio MercurySteam and directed by Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto, Metroid: Samus Returns aims to give Metroid II the Zero Mission treatment, remaking and reimagining the game top to bottom. Not only was Nintendo working on Metroid Prime 4 for the Switch, they were also developing their own official Metroid II remake for the 3DS. Naturally Nintendo shut AM2R down rather quickly, and at this year’s E3 we found out why. Smarmily titled Another Metroid 2 Remake (or AM2R for short), this decade-long labor of love was a breathtaking experience, reimagining the 1991 Game Boy title much as Nintendo’s Metroid: Zero Mission had revamped the 1987 NES original back in 2004. For the series’ 30th anniversary last year, the closest thing we got to a real Metroid game was a fan remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus. ![]() After the tone-deaf disaster of Metroid Other M in 2010 and the flop of Metroid Prime Federation Force last year-a confusing spinoff nobody really wanted-it looked like Nintendo was going to dump Samus out behind the barn, next to the moldering corpse of F-Zero’s Captain Falcon. It’s been rough for Metroid fans over the past few years. ![]()
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