How AM2R and Samus Returns remade Metroid 2 

A major moment that AM2R totally misses is seeing the metroid counter increase when you see the egg for the first time. In AM2R, if you pause the game or look at the total, those larval metroids are actually part of your total count from the beginning. You loose the whole "they're still breeding" effect from the GB game.

You know, I've played through Metroid 2 several times (even back before Super Metroid existed, if you need to know my age), and I never really thought about the fact that the final few areas were devoid of creatures. At first, it gave a sense of foreboding, but it went on so long that I just found it uninteresting. If I thought about it at all, I probably would have assumed that it was just that the game developers ran out of time or something. It never occurred to me that they were doing some environmental storytelling.

That graphic work you did at 8:15 demonstrating the scope of the world on the GB screen was beautiful man.

I thought it was interesting though at the end where he say that "given how remakes go, one version will emerge as the defacto way to play and the original will fade into obscurity" but that honestly hasn't happened. People really can't decide which remake is better and I think as an art piece the original still stands on its own as a much more effective mode of storytelling. Honestly really glad that they all still have their place

The broken Chozo statue in SR actually appears much earlier in the game than AM2R and RoS. While not as decrepit or destroyed, the chozo statue where you'd get the spider-ball is underneath tons of rubble, and the spider-ball is hidden away under nearby debris.

I don't know how many other people would have figured out what you talk about, but I'm very grateful that you explain these narrative comparisons. I respect Metroid 2 a little more every time.

Couldn't help but notice you used the word "dread" twice, Mark. I miss new 2D Metroid games too.

Thinking about the theme of genocide, in AM2R, most of the bosses, as well as many of the tougher enemies, are machines. So a lot of the time you're not fighting the natural fauna of he planet, but the tools left behind by the Chozo. There's also the final boss fight, that becomes both visually and mechanically injured when you fight it.

AM2R is fantastic, if you get a chance, play it

In my opinion, Samus Returns is more of a reboot than it is a remake, while AM2R is more faithful to the original. There’s nothing wrong with straying from the original in a remake, especially if it’s an old game, I thought I’d just want to point that out.

I never really noticed the things Metroid 2 does to create an atmosphere and subtle storytelling like you mentioned. The descent down into the core of the planet and closer to the Queen's lair having fewer and fewer enemies suggesting that the Metroids have nearly wiped out all other creatures and asserted dominance is pretty chilling indeed. This made me appreciate the original game more.

Samus Returns, I think, takes a different tack to showing the Metorids consuming other life - One that I could see being argued as less effective emotionally, but one that I think also communicates how much they upset this ecosystem's food web - Every room where a metroid is is devoid of life... Until you defeat the metroid present, at which point when the enemies would reload into it due to going more than a couple of screens away they're now teaming with life. On the horror aspect - I agree that Samus Returns is less effective, weirdly with the exception of how it builds up the mining robot which, while not SA-X levels of tension, is quite, quite, delicious with a forboding "What the hell did I just do?" when you wake it up with the grapple beam, having to outrun its mining operation in the mid game, and then fighting it as a boss fight - one that, for me, is up there with the Nightmare bossfight in Fusion, I'd be hard pressed to pick which of those two fights I like more. (The broken Chozo statue is moved, incidentally - There's a broken chozo statue that the Mining robot has totalled, you get the item from it I think after escaping it's mining operation that completely restructures part of the map.)

7:01 except if you play on hard mode, where metroids DON'T drop health or ammo, enemy AI becomes much more aggressive, and taking 4 hits often means game over. After every metroid battle, your biggest hope is to make it back to the save station.

Seeing the baby metroid cutscene in Samus Returns, totally gave me the same feeling you described from the original though. I had never played Metroid II before this remake, and although I was aware Samus would take a baby metroid with her (from watching the Super Metroid intro), I had no idea she would find him a few minutes before the end and much less that he would follow her around after that. I was caught by surprise by that cutscene and mechanic. Meeting the baby metroid, seeing him react to Samus and becoming her companion, those things made me reflect if her mission, the genocide of the metroid race, had been justified. All the fighting after that, I just assumed it was Samus trying to keep the metroid safe, especially the final boss.

When I hear about your points about how AM2R has more Chozo established structure than Samus Returns, how it has more of a story to tell. Though I would have to say Samus Returns being more barren is pretty much well explained through the Chozo Memories. Showing that the Chozos really can’t continue development into the planet compare to what AM2R had imagined.

I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that AM2R and Samus Returns are both different from Metroid 2. I'm not entirely sure how either game could have captured the feel of the dark, claustrophobic lonliness that the original had because part of it really was because of the Game Boy's limitations. You really can't have a screen with less space anymore or a completely black background. The developers used the Game Boy's limitations to their advantage, and without those limitations, neither remake could ever capture the same tone even if they tried. I like to think of these remakes as not trying to replace the original, but moreso trying to give a different point of view. A lot of film remakes do this pretty well. Maybe there's enough room for three Metroid 2s. I'm happy that these exist, and I'm happy that there's still reason to play the original.

My big takeaway with all this: I'm glad to have three very different ways to experience this chapter, just as I like having two ways to experience the first Metroid. Now, before anyone starts in with, "But Zero Mission is objectively better from almost every standpoint!", although this may be true in most cases (I say "most" because I can't find any way to reason that blowing up Mother Brain is a worse final battle than blowing up a big robot Ridley had built to look like him), it loses something when taken in context with Super Metroid. A good example: When you encounter Kraid in the original NES game, he's about the same size as you. Tough, but still pretty tiny in the grand scheme. Years later, in Super Metroid, the game plays with your expectations from Metroid 1 by tossing a tiny Kraid at you. After not requiring all too much elbow grease to get him out of the way, you traverse on a bit, only to find that the real Kraid is a gargantuan motherfucker. This moment has impact because of what it built on. If you only play Zero Mission, however, and then move on to Super after however you've chosen to experience 2, then Kraid was just always huge and there's no reason to expect otherwise, so the itty bitty Kraidling loses something in the buildup department.

I don't think you were really giving Samus Returns' backgrounds a fair shake, Mark! Area 1 shows a Prime-like Chozo ruin, sure, but the progression of backgrounds certainly tells a story. Area 2: An older and crumbling, larger ruin, partially flooded with water, implying a settlement abandoned during retreat to the surface. Area 3: The upper sections show a depleted brown-rock mine with neglected machinery, and the lower sections are filled with tree roots, showing how nutrients get to SR388's flourishing underground ecosystem. Area 4: Quartz-crystal mine, with magnificent glowing formations. When Area 3 was mined clean, they found a deeper, fuller vein. Area 5: Completely overtaken by the native flora, which helps illustrate the resilience of nature on the planet. The Chozo ruins are almost unrecognizable under the thick coating of barnacles and moss, and the backgrounds are a lush tangle of flowering vines. Area 6: The backgrounds are barren caves, with massive rib cages visible. The first Omega room here has the telltale Aliens-like organic formations in the background, implying abandoned Metroid nests and the previous damage they wrought. Area 7: With its harsh metal walls and robotic sentries, this was clearly the Chozo lab where the Metroids were first created! The crux of the entire journey, highlighted when you eliminate the rest of the remaining Metroids save the Queen. Area 8: The Queen's nest, flush with green organic formations, full of new Metroids, the final frantic rush as Samus realizes just how deep inside the planet she is, as the threat multiplies around her.

This genuinely made me want to play the original Metroid II.

You hit the nail on the head. Metroid II is a unique game and one of my favorites. I remember playing it for the first time at my grandma's house over a weekend. I had just broke my arm so all I could do with my cast was play Gameboy. I never could express it as well as you did, but the remakes do miss the point of Metroid II. I did thoroughly enjoy AM2R and thought Samus Returns was alright. I miss the age of dark, lonely, and colorless Metroid

This was truly fantastic, both in the editing and the analysis. Great job!

Based on interviews with Yoshio Sakamoto on the original Metroid, Gunpei Yokoi thought that designers weren't allowed to know about the limitations of the hardware because they would limit themselves when designing a game. Based on that I question whether the designers of Metroid 2 actually aimed for the kind of atmosphere by using the limitations of the Gameboy like you claim.

AM2R was definitely a horror game. I hadn’t been as tense waiting for the next boss fight playing a game before or since.

When speaking of the Chozo statue, ACTUALLY in Samus Returns you get to see the moment it gets destroyed

7:38 Interesting word choice now that Metroid Dread was announced

The broken Chozo Statue is in _Samus Returns_ somewhere. I don't remember where, but it is.

Disappointed you talked about how AM2R interpreted its environments from the gb versions but just reduced Samus's Return's versions to "crumbling ruins". I was looking forward to comparisons between them and how some areas were interpreted in a similar fashion but others looked very different.

As someone who has only played Samus Returns it was pretty interesting to get more of a perspective on the original game.

I will like to add that both the remakes interpretations of the Queen Metroid were pitiful to the original vision. In the original Metroid 2, she fought more like a scared parent, backed into a corner trying to protect it's young. In fact, you could actually escape the original Queen Metroid fight. Both games removed this escape route, and in AM2R, the queen aggressively charged you with intent to kill. The queen was only fighting to defend her young from you. At that point, in Metroid II: Return of Samus, the Queen was showing way more compassion than you, the player.

So it has a similar problem covered in Extra Credits' video about being "in service to the brand". Edit: How I interpret this video: Metroid 2 is what happened from Samus' experience in the moment, claustrophobic, dark, dingy, scary, and upsetting where she does not know what to expect behind every corner, Samus Returns is the exaggerated story that the Space military tells people, because they don't want civilians thinking they are cold, heartless, genocidal maniacs who would experiment on anything and everything for the sake of making dangerous bioweapons.

I will give credit to Samus Returns in that the cutscene where Samus first encounters the baby Metroid is handled perfectly. Samus' thoughts are conveyed perfectly in complete silence and it's easy to understand without any kind of complicated explanation. You could also see the combat encounters towards the end of the game as a representation towards Samus' desire to protect the Baby Metroid. Though I feel like this could've been conveyed better if the enemies weren't present but the final boss was still there giving you time to silently bond which leads into a desire to protect when faced with unforeseen adversity. Slight Edit: Upon beating the game the second time I feel that the presence of enemies in the final area actually didn't affect my ability to form an relationship with the Metroid at all. Nor did it distract.me from.thinking back on the adventure and a major part of that is that the enemies in that area are ridiculously weak early game enemies that don't take any effort at all (even on higher difficulties). Since they don't require any effort from the player to overcome, the player is able to let their mind wander while their body is occupied with slight stimuli. It's an experience similar to thinking while you're knitting or ironing your clothes or something. Since it's more of the same you are able to focus on what's difference and that would be the presence of your companion the baby Metroid. With the [Spoiler] fight sealing the deal on your relationship with the Metroid. It was very well executed

"Unecessary additional boss fight" It finally spells out for people not paying attention that prime is canon and makes supers opening make more sense. If anything its one of the best additions in returns

I think it's also notable that samus returns uses the baby Metroid for back tracking, there's a lot of pickups blocked by the crystals in the remake, on one hand it feels weird to make this important plot beat into another lock and key but on the other it lends greater connection because the baby helps the player tie up loose ends and let's them get more attached to it as they go on a final sweep of the planet.

"And Metroids drop a lot of goodies upon death." That is... Unless you play on hard. It was tough. But i did it.

There is a thing about how Samus Return handle the baby that I found quit good. During the game, you encounter various crystal that block power-up, you can't destroy them by any mean so you pass the rest of the game wondering how to break those crystals. When you finally got baby Metroid, just like the original game, the baby can eat those crystal. The game show off by putting crystal right after the baby is with you. So now, you finally know what to do and you come back where the power-up were blocked. While I won't say it's necessarily great to block items behind wall you can't break until you got near the end of the game. In story, it does build up the relation that Samus have with the baby Metroid and why she care about it (without Samus opening her mouth just to say why she like THE BABY now). Which make the final boss, and the rest of the Metroid storyline for that matter. Make much more sense as to why Samus care so much about the baby Metroid imo. Of course, this doesn't excuse Other M depiction of Samus "THE BABY" Aran much better. But points there for Super and Fusion. (Also, christ, how much I writted "baby" in this post?)

I'm gonna spoil the true final boss here, so don't click Read More if you don't want to know. I definitely agree that sticking enemies in the final area before the Metroid nest and after the Queen on the way to the surface was a bad call, for the reasons you talk about. (I kinda wonder if this was a playtesting thing, where people complained that it was boring in that last stretch of the game, so they added enemies.) But I really think it's worth mentioning the ways Metroid 2 actually improves on the ending, especially in its connection to later games. Specifically, it improves on Samus's - and by extention, the player's - relationship with the baby Metroid. This was always an element of the series that I found odd. In Metroid 2, she decides not to kill the Metroid for reasons that are entirely up to interpretation, then drops it off at Ceres, then sees Ridley take it, and that's her entire interaction with it until the end of Super, where we're suddenly supposed to have an emotional connection to it. That never really landed for me, especially when the entirety of Other M was built on it. Samus Returns does more with the baby Metroid, though. For a start, there's the cutscene where it hatches. You can see through Samus's body language what she's thinking, and the way it adorably comes to rest on her armcannon made me love the little thing. But more important is the fact that you get to spend more time with it. Metroid 2 is just a quick jaunt to the surface, then end of game. In Samus Returns, however, you get to explore the world with the baby Metroid by your side. Not only is it adorable, especially when you see it floating next to you in elevators and teleporters, but it'll eat away stuff to let you access pickups. Some are pickups that you could've gotten before if you'd backtracked after you got the right ability or just solved a puzzle, but a handful are completely inaccessible until you have the baby Metroid. And after you beat the game, it can even be seen floating around your cockpit on the file selection screen. And then you go to the surface and encounter the final boss. Spoilers: It's Ridley! Funny how they made some version of him the surprise true final boss in both remakes. Can't wait to fight Ultra Mega Ridley during the Zebes escape sequence in the Super Metroid remake in 2030! Also holy shit, we're as close to 2030 as 2004. Anyway, this could very easily have just been shoehorned in, but it's an excellent fight, and it further develops the relationship between Samus and the baby Metroid. We see how protective Samus is of the baby Metroid, practically screaming Mrs. Weasley's, "Not my daughter, you bitch!" through her body language. But we also see the baby Metroid save Samus's life by latching onto Ridley as he's about to deliver the final blow, draining some of his energy, and then transferring it into Samus to give her a second wind. Then on that third phase, it'll sometimes latch onto Ridley, forcing him into an attack that you can counter and get in a cinematic move to deal a ton of damage. The fact that the baby Metroid's life is now bookended by helping Samus fight one of her arch nemeses makes its death in Super all the more tragic. It completely recontextualizes that game, too. Now it's not just about stopping the Space Pirates. It's personal. Saving the baby Metroid is just as important. And in the end, she's only able to accomplish one of those missions.

Just finished AM2R today. Thoroughly enjoyable experience.

I’ve actually recently heard what I honestly think is a very good point in defense of Samus Return’s ending. The point is simply that they retconned it. Think about it. In the original Metroid 2, the reason so few enemies existed in the endgame area is because the game wanted to sell the idea that the Metroid were this dangerous alien species that completely killed off any other species it encountered. But years and years later we got a game explaining the Metroid were actually created to combat the X parasites. Now let’s be honest, what are the chances that in Metroid 2 the writers all ready had this idea in mind for a game that wouldn’t come until years and years later? So when Samus Returns was made, they wrote the story with that in mind. Because in the lore, the Chozo intentionally made the Metroid with the careful intent that they WOULDNT destroy the ecosystem of other species because they were eating the X parasites therefore it made sense more monsters would be down there because the Metroid would be leaving them alone

Having never played Metroid 2, I really enjoyed Samus Returns. I had the benefit of letting it be its own beast and not holding it to any standard. But I think the video nails it at the end, that the remakes are about form, not experience. Mercury Steam wasnt intent on recreating Metroid 2's experience, but rather updating the mechanics and creating a new experience.

Talking about the feeling of horror, I think, for me, the one that did it the best was Fusion. Freaking SA-X is really well done, as so the moments were she appears.

That final final boss was nice. *spoilers* Every boss required ice beams and missiles but that last one made use of your standard beam and missiles (were you able to use missiles?), it strengthened the bond with the metroid a bit, it was more fun imo than other bosses because it forced constant movement and you had to master aiming and moving simultaneously. The final Metroid-formed boss forced you into a cramped room with annoying patterns, but the only cramped thing with Ridley was Ridley himself getting too close (but after you realize that you have control of his movement you can use that to your advantage). It also showed how Ridley wanted to take it (and then again in supermetroid), but this wasn't that important since super metroid demonstrated that. It may have been pointless to the story, but I thought it was important for gameplay. That's my two cents.

In regards to your comment about the presence of enemies near the queen's lair in the three games: It is possible that Samus Returns was going for a "the ecosystem is in balance" type thing. Since SR is made with the benefit of knowing ahead of time what wiping out the Metroid will do, it might make more sense to frame them as part of SR388's complicated and slightly artificial ecosystem rather than frame them as purely parasitic predators.

Finally, someone gets just what was good about Metorid II. Still one of my favorites.

To be fair: 7:20 You can still get almost killed by each metroid fight in Samus Returns, and the health you get back from them is not enough to survive many hits if you didn't manage your health well, which makes the return to/search of the save station more tense since you can die in a few hits. 8:44 While it's true the screen doesn't feel crunched anymore, enemies in Samus Returns attack on sight when they appear on screen, which makes it a little aprehensive, since any enemy can attack you at any moment. This is somewhat canceled by the counter move you've got, but at the same time you have to master it since it's not a "press to win" kind of action. 12:46 Definitely not at the end, but there are some that have been destroyed, although not by metroids but by the Diggernaut. It's an odd change, really. I've seen some games that try to give you a mysterious boss character ever since... Nightmare from Fusion? Maybe they wanted something similar. 14:47 Because Samus Returns was not only intended as a Metroid II remake, but as the triumphal return of a beloved Nintendo character well known for her badassery and bravado. After the Japanese developers tried to make her more appealing to their own demographic by turning Samus into fap material in Other M, and destroying what image we all had of her as a powerful hunter, this game needed to rebuild that status by going to the other (maybe extreme) opposite side of that spectrum. While, indeed, the first few hours feel disempowering, just like most other Metroid games, by the end of your journey you feel incredibly overpowered, which is good, because you're motherfuckin' Samus Aran, and that's what these eastern developers probably wanted you to feel. 15:12 Not entirely unnecesary. Again, by the end of your journey you feel overpowered, and the Queen metroid is not that much of a challenge. That final boss fight is memorable in a way that it's surprising, unexpected, and much more difficult, at least in my opinion. It gives you a true challenge and now you can try all the flashy moves you got. When you end you feel much more accomplished and you see why Samus is seen as such a badass by fans. Overall, while Metroid II is, to an extent, a horror game, Samus Returns feels different because it needed to feel different. Not only does it provides a much more "metroidy" experience, it also serves as an apology letter for what shortcomings happened with the franchise a few years back, which is honestly very welcomed. At this moment it's kind of difficult to make a scary Metroid anymore, since if we take power out of the main character we also diminish the reason why it's beloved in the first place. Still, I kind of wish they coul have come with something to, indeed, increase the dread, ala Alien Isolation maybe.

I think you're selling Samus Returns a bit short. Contrary to what you're claiming in the video Samus Returns is very interested in telling the story of the Chozo - it's just hidden behind the Chozo memories that open up the more you collect items instead of being something you can figure out from the environments (or by reading the scan visor lore dump). I'm not arguing it's a better way to tell background story, I'm just saying there is just as much or even more Chozo lore in Samus Returns than there was in AM2R. The memories even make sense of the poison gates! Once I figured out what was going on in the last memories I got incredibly excited about the story potential it has for future Metroid games, which is a feeling I haven't felt in a long, long time. That, and the fact that Samus Returns is the first main line Metroid game to acknowledge the Prime series even exists makes it worth straying from Metroid II's ending in my books. Yes, I would''ve liked the solemn climb through the Metroid nest instead of a laboratory full of killer robots, but I'm really happy with what we got.

I think the inclusion of the NEW final boss fight in SR may make you feel it was tacked on, but stranely enough I think it fit really well all things considered. It solidified metroid prime games as canon, and helped bridge the gap between metroid 2 and super metroid. Also: I like how the music changes from hopeful to foreboding as you make your way back to the ship. That darkness that SR lacked comes back into fruition upon returning to the surface.

I actually really like Samus Return's ending. It gives you that late-game power trip as you tear through enemies that used to be a problem for you. Plus the fight with Ridley is fun and a nice callback to Prime with him still having his wounds.

Having just finished playing Samus Returns, I've been looking for videos like this. This was a thoughtful analysis of all three games. I played the original when it first came out and was always disappointed that it wasn't more like the original game. However, I did beat it and it was a proud moment. I played AM2R the day it came out (thankfully got my copy before they pulled it). I didn't even hear about it until like, a week before its release. Wow. What a fantastic, loving project. I was enamoured by how much love went into it. It was a lot of fun, and familiar as both Metroid 2 and as an update with modern Metroid elements. I appreciated the extra areas and items they put into the game. The Omega fights were terrifying. I had to take a break after all of them. Samus Returns was a delight. It was officially a Nintendo product, so I was hoping it would be good. Many aspects of the game were fantastic. I could have done without the melee counter, though. Giving me the 360 aiming was amazing. The aeion powers were...interesting. Three of them were needed at various points in the game, but the one I used the most was the radar. It completely removed the exploration aspect of the game, but made getting 100% a lot easier. If I had to choose one of the two to show to someone as the "definitive" version of the game, it would be AM2R. While the original is dark and isolating, and all of the other good points you brought up, I think AM2R flows better not only as a game, but with the franchise. I'll always have fondness for the original, but if I were introducing someone to the series for the first time, I'd have them play AM2R instead.

You say the remakes lack the horror or dread of the original. But AM2R has those sections where you go deeper and deeper into dark caves filled with Metroids, complete with the appropriate spooky music, lack of save points, etc. No mention of that?

I think the new final boss fight had a couple of story purposes. For one thing, the devs might have wanted to show Samus grow a bit attached to the baby Metroid, with them bonding a bit during the fight. I don't remember any time Samus showed an attachment to the baby Metroid in earlier 2D games. The second aspect is showing Ridley's transition from a cyborg body in the Prime series to his fully organic body at the start of Super Metroid. I also think it's nice to see a story nod to Prime in a 2D entry. The third aspect is reinforcing Samus' characterization prior to Other M with the way she goes after Ridley without any hesitation

People that has played the original Metroid II (and loved it, we're a strange bunch) certainly gave AM2R a chance. I'd urge the other gamers to do the same after finishing Samus Returns (if they haven't already): Pure Metroid love, in one hell of an accomplished form way beyond the regular Metroid hack. For this, Milton Guasti and the team he assembled deserve a huge "thank you". Loads of respect Mark; great video.

That video was one of your best ones, Mark. Really got me thinking. Sometimes, when I'm designing a game, I put in front of my brain that the only thing the game need is to be fun and I shouldn't worry about the rest because I'm a one-man-team. But this kind of perception and analysis on a game make me look deeper in the stuff I'm trying to create. I'm really thankful for that. It's important to never lose track of what's important.

On thing I really liked about AM2R was the extra attention to the game's background including actually finding the research team and Federation squad in the game instead of them only being info in the manual. I also always liked a good shinespark puzzle or two. But what really sells it to me was how plain FUN it was. The extra area with an optional boss was a blast to find and fight. The lore tie-in with Fusion was amazing. Everything on the station was wildlife from SR388 and in AM2R you actually fight a lot of said wildlife (even two of them as bosses) but with slightly different mechanics so as to not be copy past.

There's something sort of like the broken Chozo statue near the beginning of Samus Returns, where you find the Spider Ball. The player will probably come across a secret bombable block and instinctively go through it, only to be presented with a dead end. However, around the dead end, there is a broken Chozo statue and a strange object next to it. After realizing that they can't get to it yet, they go back through the bombable block and eventually find themselves in that same room, finding out that the item was the Spider Ball.

Paraphrasing but: "one version will become the definitive version" *shows footage of AM2R. You ain't clever Mark. I see what you're doing.

While I agree with a lot of the points in the video I felt you didn't really give a fair assessment to Samus Return's world design. There's a lot more to it than you're giving it credit for. There's such an attention to detail in the way the world is crafted. Areas bleed together in ways that make them feel less like videogame levels and more like a cohesive environment, like how the water reservoir of Area 2 is located directly above the underground ocean of Area 5, or how you can see the after-effects of the mining robots from Area 3 in the crystalline caverns of Area 4 and the crumbling ceilings of Area 6. Every now and then you see peaceful aliens in the background that make the planet feel lived in. The enemies in the later sections of the game transition from natural fauna to being almost entirely robotic once you reach the lab and Metroid nests. The convenient earthquakes from the original game that let you proceed to the next level of SR388 are reimagined into Chozo locks that give you the impression you're treading into forbidden grounds. SR388 in Samus Returns isn't just a cavern with ruins, it's this sprawling Chozo colony that's been completely overrun by nature, their mad science experiments, and the autonomous robots they left behind. And while it doesn't match up with how Metroid 2 portrayed SR388 the game deserves praise for how well it portrays its own take on it.

AM2R still does a good job with the music when you enter the Metroid nests at the end of an area. Especially the early nests where you keep going deeper and have less and less health and ammo, the fights keep getting harder, and the rooms keep getting more dangerous, the music takes on a more foreboding tone. I will say that I find AM2R to be the overall better game and remake in the comparison between it and SR so I'm somewhat biased.

Great Job! As someone who's been playing Metroid II since it's release, I'm happy to hear this analysis from someone who actually appreciates the game for what it is, instead of throwing it under the bus like most critics.

I do not agree with a number of things here, mostly regarding the analysis of the original game, but the big one is with the way you interpret the games: You say that an important theme of Metroid II is how comiting genocide against the metroids may be bad, and at the end the players and Samus reflect on just that after they get to the baby metroid, but you spent the review talking about how scary the planet and the metroids felt in the original and how great it was to see how the deeper you get, the less creatures there are left because of the Metroids. The argument here seems to be that its great how the game shows that they are horrific bioweapons that are utterly devastating the ecosystem of the planet and if used by the wrong people (like the Space Pirates) they can be unstoppable nightmares, and at the same time that maybe we should feel bad for killing them all for the sake of everything else that is not a metroid. These to me seem like incompatible themes for a game to have. Also, after the reflexive moment everytime Samus discovers that there are still hopes for the metroids as a species (because of the events of Super Metroid, Other M and Fusion) the first thing she tries to do is trying to make them extinct again, she comits genocide again in Metroid Fusion after that too. The "baby metroid moment" seems clear to me that is trying to develop some character for Samus by making her show compassion and bond with that baby metroid in particular (and not kill the chances for a sequel probably), not trying to change anyone´s mind on if destroying one of the most dangerous and disruptive life forms in videogames might have been a bad idea, that is part of what Metroid Fusion was trying to do and was treated as a twist, the twist being that after all these games turns out it was not a good decision to just end the metroids actually. Samus Returns´s version of Metroid II events having the metroids as fearsome powerhouses (specially Omegas and the Queen) that could be devastating if used as bioweapons but that are not destroying the planet´s ecosystem by themselves (not only are they very well integrated in it, they are even preserving it by eating the X parasite) is more consistent with Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion Themes too (she went in, killed an entire species that while very dangerous in the wrong hands, its well integrated as a part of the ecosystem of SR388, and then in Fusion that comes to bite her in the ass). Love most of your videos, just this is the one i found myself disagreeing for the most part.

AMR2 is pure pixel art

I can defend the acid thing. The chozo made the metroids, so they could use them to gate stuff off. However, I don't think you will learn that in the game itself.

I would say samus returns is more of a reimagination than a remake.

IMO both AM2R and M:SR are worth playing as Metroid titles. Whether they are good adaptations in different ways can be important, but they are some of the best Metroid games to be released in a while, and I look forward to MP4.

I have always liked Metroid 2 a lot more than most people and this is not out of nostalgia - I first played the game when it was released on the Virtual Console of the 3DS. One thing that I wished you had touched upon was how towards the end the game utilized the Metroid Counter at the corner of the screen to tell the player what the final boss is. I always found this to be a clever way, after all the "Queen Metroid" is never mentioned in the game's manual. It is the only enemy in the entire game that comes out of nowhere and by using the Metroid Counter in a unique way, Nintendo told the player what this final enemy is without using any text at all. Also it contributes to the horror-element because you might be afraid that these 8 new metroids are in fact all Omega Metroids because these were the only bosses you fought in that area up to this point.

Looking back, videos like this are the reason Samus Returns didn't sell amazingly well. Praising AM2R to high hell and not appreciating Returns (specifically at 5:41) despite it having amazing art direction and some of the finest animation of Samus in the entire franchise. Each zone DOES tell a story, just like AM2R, but you chose to ignore it for some reason. On the surface, there are gross, slobbering creatures that attack you on site. The Chozo drones fittingly act more in a cycle. Area 1 is more of a domestic sanctuary, the buildings architecture is subdued and there are more Chozo statues here than any other area. Area 2 is a dam next to an underground lake (coincidentally, like AM2R except more traditionally Chozo and less mechanical). This is also where the lava rooms are frequent further proving that this facility was used for energy purposes. Area 3 is a MINE for unknown crystals. They are obviously valuable, because this is when the drones are much more aggressive and have harder defenses. whereas Area 4 is deeper in the mine, ergo less explored and most of the crystals are still in tact. The Diggernaut is found here, so that further proves that progression of this excavation stopped here. Area 5 is mostly untouched, almost like a nature preserve. 90% of the enemies in this area are NOT drones, because the Diggernaut didn't reach this far. Area 6 is a small area, but the background shows skeleton remains of a large beast, likely to anticipate the first Omega Metroid. This is also where the Diggernaut steals the Power Bomb so being this deep in the planet is not something an average lifeform could accomplish. And now Area 7, literally the most important area in the FRANCHISE. This is the BIRTHPLACE of the Metroid species. The music is a remix of Super Metroid's cutscene melody. You can see that the fans are set to HIGH and there's icicles hanging from all the metal. Notably in the very last room, with the "Hyper" Omega Metroid, you can see a hologram of a planet. This could very well be the planet the one Rogue Chozo (secret ending) escaped to, possibly hinting Metroid DREAD 4 years early! I will admit, both the original and AM2R handled Area 8 and the ending much better, but this constant shitting on Samus Returns (not really from this video but multiple videos like it, ESPECIALLY in the comments) was so ass-backwards, considering the whole reason AM2R exists is because Nintendo didn't make 2D Metroid. But now that they finally do... the fans don't buy it!?!

I'm so glad you understand Metroid 2. It's mine and my brother-in-law's favorite gameboy game. We grew up with it.

I know I'm, years past when this came out but this just made me realizes, in Metroid dread, the emi area music and emi noises are reused and eddited versions of the quiet and dark areas of metroid 2

I saw a review that brought up a good point about Samus returns, the reason Samus returns feel so different from Metroid 2 is because that's not what it was going for in the first place. It's not supposed to be a cold, lonely trek to eliminate an entire species, it's supposed to be a fun action packed adventure to destroy a threat to the galaxy.

It should be noted that AM2R actually calls the "lava" burning acid, so it's acid in both games

Very interesting retrospective. It inspired me to go back and play through the original GB version and I was not disappointed. Thank You Mark!

Must say I never agree with the needless fear of the original game somehow 'disappearing' because there are remakes. People are always seeking new experiences anyways, so no matter how hard we try to keep old games that did interesting things in the popular consciousness, there will always be new games which will overshadow them. It's also not as if Metroid 2 has elements which are so unique that one couldn't come to the same conclusions with a Metroid game without having played it. There are pieces of the game built into the current DNA, even with the more agile and less foreboding focus that Super Metroid brought. I don't believe that we'll somehow forget about the game's emotions simply because these remakes exist.

as a huge metroidvania genre fan, I really give credit to AM2R's learning curve and reward system and I see as a good example of introducing new skills in metroidvania games. They do a nice set up how the frustration you been penting up trying to reach to the new power upis nicely rewarded by easing your previous situations which also teaches its utility. As for veteran metroid fans, it was fun as we start to sense which power up is coming up next as we overcame the obstacles.

It wasn't the focus of this video, but one thing I have to say that SR absolutely nails is the combat. The boss fights in it were some of the most fun I've had with the combat in the series. Now if only they could just make a new game that gets the atmosphere and world design better and combines it with that fantastic combat, they'd have something special on their hands.

Your dissection of Metroid 2's themes and mechanics reminded me why I feel in love with this series in the first place, which is something that many other Metroid games failed to achieve. Thank you, I really needed that.

great video but I'm kinda disappointed you didn't talk more about the backgrounds as I think it's actually one of the things that SR does extremely well. Samus follows the journey the Chozo took when they arrived on the planet: there's the main tunnel they dug, the several buildings they constructed for using the planet's resources, the crystaline wall they dug through under which there's this whole underground nature world. Then towards the end of the game, Samus explores the wrecked research lab followed by the Metroid Hive with the queen before returning to the surface I agree that they didn't nail the horror elements of the game but it's a different take on the story overall. You can basically look at Samus as a the chosen one to fix the Chozo's mistakes what with the DNA gates and the Aieon abilities seemingly having been designed for her mission. This is Nintendo playing it safe with the story, which is understandable considering where Metroid currently is as a franchise, but I'd still say they put genuine effort into making the game interesting and coherent.

AM2R's takedown is something that will always break my heart a little bit everytime I hear/talk about. Thank you for bringing up this that would be a wonderful game!

7:36 "Playing Metroid 2 invoked feelings of DREAD and unease." Interesting to look at how different developers will remake the same game with their own design choices.

Personally, I think that AM2R nailed most of what you are talking about here. Having never played Metroid II prior, I felt all of the same things while playing AM2R.

metroid 2 for GB is one of my favorite games. forget everyone who hates it

0:42 What did he say after Metroid Fusion?? All I could hear was a high pitched sound that hurt my ears.

16:33 I like how you worked the word "dread" into your script, since that's been the long-rumored name for the next 2D entry in the series.

9:17 I grew up as the ideal demographic for Metroid 2 (6 years old in 1991) and it was absolutely awesome. Best game on the Gameboy and still my favorite Metroid game of the franchise. It worked within the limits of the handheld for some of the greatest isolation vibe of the any game. Play it on an original gameboy, with the smeared LCD effects of the screen that makes running blindly into a room next to a metroid shell dangerous. Then the effect of needing a light shined at just the right angle on the screen means if you play at night by flashlight under the covers of your bed when you're supposed to be asleep... The more dark and spooky the real world around you, the more dark and spooky the game got. And the safety of your ship is light years away on the surface of the planet while you delve into more dangerous territory in the heart of the planet.

Great in depth review of the 3 versions, but you totally missed a spot in Samus returns, when the giant guardian robot stalks you until he finally breaks the chozo statue and protects the hability to later on try to destroy on a mind boggling battle, this a big highlight for me, cheers

Samus Returns also has interesting back grounds. Also the Chozo Memories add lore to Metroid 2

I think that "unnessecary boss fight" you mention might not be as bad as you think. After all, while Metroid: Samus Returns does feel a lot less like a horror game, but it does improve the way the player bonds with the Baby Metroid. Not only does it help you to find the last secrets you missed (so you spend a lot more time with it if you go for a 100% run), it also does help out in that final boss encounters in a good way. I think that really adds to the story.

I think Samus Returns' ending could have actually been better even if they kept the boss fight. If they had kept the quite, the total lack of enemies, and the reflective state the game puts you in, for both new players and fans of the original/AM2R, Ridley's appearance would have been a complete shock. As it stands the last moments just make you feel like you're fighting your way to the end so therefore a final boss is expected.

AM2R I think still nails the dark foreboding atmosphere. I notice the Genetics Lab is in black and white at some areas and has perhaps the most chilling music. There's also the area with the 3 Omega Metroids and the dark area with all of those Gamma Metroids. AM2R knew how to include claustrophobic graphics.

Your production value just keeps getting better and better, Mark. Excellent work as always!

I also love how AM2R addresses what has happened to the team that went in before Samus was sent to investigate (on top of killing the Metroids). Did "Samus Returns" bother much?

You sold Metroid II to me well here. I bought it on the 3DS virtual console and played it for the second time since childhood (when I couldn't even get to the second Metroid). Just completed it today and agree with everything you said about the atmosphere. Very creepy game and one of my new favourites!

Just rewatched this after Nintendo recently announced GameBoy games coming to Switch Online, which ironically means that the original is the only available version on their current system, a reversal of Mark’s worries.

One thing that I'd like to point out, AM2R has had a bunch of updates, which include some logs from the marines showing either their final moments and thoughts (some are quite saddening, and at least one of them has got to be pretty disturbing), a message left from the Chozo that shows that they, indeed, created the Metroids, but that also has some interesting implications, and they can mean different things depending on the point of view you examine it from, and a final cutscene that goes into the 'why' were the Metroids created.

It’s weirdly cool that we got two great remakes, AM2R and Samus Returns. More importantly, they really feel like different Metroid games and that makes it so satisfying to have both.

I think that interpreting remakes only in terms of how they recreate the feeling and message of the original game is a simplistic and narrow-minded thing to do. Remakes don't always have to go strictly for the same tone as the original, and sometimes doing that can be harmful to remake. While the original Metroid II has its merits, AM2R and SR shouldn't feel restricted to those things. While Metroid II was cramped and isolated, it didn't give the sense that Samus was going through a lived-in and fleshed-out Chozo culture, which both remakes managed to do by making the areas larger and creating more vibrant backgrounds. Also, the remakes have to consider continuity with the rest of the series. In the original, the metroids were a local species destroying the planet's ecosystem, while by the time the remakes were being make, Metroid Fusion had come out, which explains that the metroids were created to preserve the ecosystem from the x parasites. Because of this, it makes sense that the fauna of SR is more lush than the original. I'm disappointed that the video assumes the way Metroid II handles tone and atmosphere is the definitive way and any deviations from the remakes are shortcomings. I'd prefer an analysis of something like this to be more open-minded.

I enjoyed the video as always but I FIRMLY disagree with a few parts, such as the dismissal of the backgrounds in Samus Returns, the tone of the game, and what Metroid 2 was about. Metroid 2 did not give me a feeling of despair, of dead space and fear as it did you, but that of "I don't belong here". The music always resonated with me as the whirring of broken machines or the beeping of some long forgotten computer. The place was in ruins, some things still working, faintly beeping and pulsing with some long forgotten purpose, with the Metroids the last living will and testament of whatever had built this place. The broken pipes, the electronic music of the gameboy, even the Arachnus posing as an item, it gave me a sense that the owner was gone, and while the Chozo were away the Metroids would play. In this regard, I felt Samus Returns is the better remake, with the beautiful backgrounds featuring the mining bots, the monolith creatures sluggishly shying away from this new intruder, all the machines barely beeping, whirring, moving, and the Metroid DNA statues to keep the monsters in check while the Chozo were gone. AM2R felt like a playground (Not saying that's a bad thing but definitely a different one), with the active machines, the weapon testing droid and the save points giving you health and ammo back.I would make it more akin to the Super Metroid-esque Space Pirate Hideout than a once-mighty Chozo Base. Eh, or it could just be me. Either or, great games all three of them!

I never played Metroid 2 because I was afraid of getting lost with no map but now you gave me a reason to try it. I already played AM2R, Fusion and Zero Mission so this bring me a new way of thinking about their design. Thanks a lot!

Love this review. There's something about the charm the older games have, that aren't present in the newer remakes. I remember a quote something along the lines of "limitations foster creativity."

Samus is a GIRL SPOILER ALERT MUCH.

Remember that the baby Metroid goes through what Samus went through, but now she was the monster

I'm coming away from this video with more of an appreciation for metroid 2, even if the main thrust of this video essay is something I can't agree with honestly.