METROID FUSION - The Corruption of a Masterpiece | GEEK CRITIQUE 

PLEASE READ BEFORE COMMENTING, especially if you're about to take a shot at Covarr. Covarr's section, as I originally envisioned it, was meant to be a 30-45 second gag where he, as someone who GENUINELY doesn't like Fusion, would quickly play up ALL of his grievances with it in an over-the-top manner. It was partly meant to be played for laughs, while still allowing us to address some of the criticisms that make Fusion a somewhat controversial game. His section as-written ended up being a lot longer than I'd thought, but I still thought it was really enjoyable. The problem I didn't forsee is that my audience... 1) Doesn't know Covarr, and thus wouldn't inherently appreciate his being there, and 2) Didn't have my knowledge that it was MEANT to be tongue-in-cheek. As a result, his over-the-top rant lasted WAY too long to be a joke, and aside from the relatively-small subsection of my viewers who know Covarr from my streams, almost nobody enjoyed it. Covarr also didn't want to awkwardly repeat criticisms I had already raised, so he was forced even more to exaggerate his nitpicks. Given these circumstances, we should have either cut it back down to the original 30 seconds, edited it to be more fairly critical, or just cut it entirely. I take full responsibility, and I really hate when people slag off on Covarr himself over it, because as the semi-experienced RU-vid person, I _really_ should have been better about anticipating how it would come across to you guys.

I never thought about this, but... The SA-X freezes you and then hits you with a super missile. That's how you kill a metroid. Samus has metroid DNA, so the SA-X sees her as a metroid. Mind blown.

"were they delebirately trying to keep Samus weak?" yes, they were. it was part of the plot.

Yes. The federation was trying to keep samus weak so you couldn’t kill the SA-X. It’s a plot point.

i played this as a child and the forced "stop and go here" helped me play. And as an adult i just love the horror aspect. i feel that this game doesnt get enough love and wish i could play a sequel with the new corrupted suit still intact

Metroid fusion doesn't have the X-ray scope, but power bombs uncover every hidden block.

I think the linear design is brilliant. Samus in every other game is a hired bounty hunter told to complete a mission in whatever way she needs to, while in this game she's been sent to a federation ship by the federation to complete an objective. It would make sense for the game to be linear, because the federation has made the mission quick, cheap, and streamlined, like how any government would do it.

"Is the federation trying to keep samus too weak to succeed?" Uh actually yeah they were. They said in the game they had certain power ups ready and with-held them so samus wouldn't confront the sa-x. Remember how they wanted to preserve the sa-x for their own uses?

23:39 "So-called secrets are stored away in the most obvious places." *_I know somebody who didn't find the second energy tank...in the same room._*

"Does the Federation want to keep Samus weak?" Covarr, there are approximately three trillion trees in the world. These trees work tirelessly to produce the oxygen we breathe. I want you to track down the specific tree that produced the oxygen you used to say that line, and *apologize* to it.

"In Super Metroid I had the X-Ray scope." Metroid Fusion made the power bomb serve the same purpose as the X-ray scope, only more efficient. That was the point.

Video ends at 21:36

Ironically enough "Corrupting a Masterpiece" is precisely how I would describe Covarr's rant.

"Yeah, a download that changes the physical properties of my ammunition. Cause that makes sense." Galactic bounty hunter that can jump infinitely, run through walls and summons her power armor by mere thought alone fights space dragons and giant brains in glass jars, but downloading information to change the fabrication unit in her arm mounted heavy artillery? That's just too far. wut?

Covarr: "Is the federation TRYING to keep Samus weak?!?" Yes, that is one of the plot's twists toward the end of the game, when the computer reveals that the Ice Missile upgrade had been ready for some time, and they never revealed this fact to Samus. Really great video until the rant at the end. I realize it was supposed to be a joke, but it just feels like a shame to ruin such a well written, well thought out retrospective, with a sarcastic, emotionally charged conclusion at the end... But, your video made a lot of great points that I should have made in my video on Fusion. Like the fact that since this was a handheld game, it was somewhat forced into a formula that supported short bursts of gameplay. That was something I never considered!

Personally I think it's important to have different kinds of entries in a series. The more focused gameplay of fusion suits the portable system it was made for. Plus it's more about story and atmosphere, and for me at least, it's one of the best in the series for that. And I can't forget about the bosses, very good stuff.

"Yeah, Samus, quick question, what's your email? I gotta send you some missiles real quick."

Samus' Power Suit is based off of Chozo's mixture of science and spirituality, so yes, you can download Missiles when you're downloading the ability to summon them. Also, I thought the whole point of the game was that they WERE trying to limit your options by gimping you, making it so you had to do what they say.

The first time that I played fusion and it told me that there were at least TEN SA-X wandering the B.S.L. station. I shut my game off instantly and didnt play it for a week. The SA-X is one of the only enemies in a video game that instilled true fear into me.

"Did the federation want to keep samus too weak?" Um yes! It's stated multiple times in the game

i do not think SA-X tried to save Samus. actually, I believe SA-X saw the Omega Metroid as a bigger threat than Samus, given the fact the Omega Metroid could almost killed Samus with a single slash, so it decided to kill the bigger, more menacing Metroid (remember Samus is now a Metroid since she now has Metroid DNA in her genes). so it miscalculated the outcome and was turned into a regular x parasite, which could be absorbed by Samus. but that is my opinion.

"Is the federation TRYING to keep Samus weak?" Yeah? 9 year old me thought that was pretty damn obvious.

"Is the Federation TRYING to keep Samus weak?" Uh....Adam admits this when she's locked in that one navigation room.

You need a better proofreader. "Why does she have to go to different rooms for different upgrades?" Because the SA-X destroys them. Explicitly stated in the story. The fact that she can restore powers from bosses is a surprise to both of them. Making save rooms not restore health/ammo increases its difficulty and stops you from running back to the save room constantly. Forcing some trial and error in pathfinding helps make the game feel less linear than it is, and it's not like super metroid didn't have an abundance of shitty "secret paths". I've never empathized with the "it's so linear" complaint. Super Metroid isn't an open world. It absolutely has direction. It absolutely expects you to go certain places in certain orders. Maybe not one single linear line, but Reverse Boss Order was NEVER intended and is NOT representative of its GAME DESIGN. Hate the story interrupting your gameplay? Hate the story in and of itself? Fine, that's your taste. Personally, I think Fusion is a masterpiece BECAUSE it has such a compelling and thematically fitting story. Metroid was inspired by the Alien movie. Metroid Fusion is the most Alien game in the franchise by a country mile. Every core mechanic echoes the themes of that movie.

“After all the other near death experiences you’d think she’d be used to it by now” Except that isn’t how trauma works, and this is something that she had zero agency over, was left significantly weakened by, and was an indirect result of her own actions in previous installments. Literally the entire point if this game’s conflict is that Samus (who owes the Baby her life twice now) now has to interact with herself from the perspective of a Metroid. Fusion is the direct sequel to Super Metroid and thematically expands on the role the Baby played during its final moments. Samus is humbled by the experience of having been being brought back from near death by her choice to spare the last member of a species she had otherwise personally hunted to extinction. The subtext of the SA-X being an unrestrained version of Samus that she's totally defenseless again after receiving the Metroid Vaccine is that she's forced to view herself from the perspective of the Metroids she unapologetically killed during Samus Returns, which she eventually reconciles by completing the task that the Metroids were designed for. It's actually a really interesting concept that fits really nicely into the way Fusion deconstructs the events of previous games. God this fucker’s rant sounds like a child who was given a gift he didn’t want for a holiday. Its a shame, this was otherwise such a great retrospective.

Love fusion more than Zero Mission. but thats just me.

I think Fusions linearity is overstated. I mean, it is more linear, but I think it offers more freedom than most people seem to think it does.

If you think about it.... the reason of the jumps being more floaty is the gravity difference in the station

Metroid Fusion was always my favorite Metroid game, but thats because it was the first one I played. I went back and played all the other ones, but Fusion was still my favorite. I dont think I've ever played through a game more times than I have Fusion. That being said, I understand its flaws as a metroidvania game and it is the most Linear of all the metroids. Also some of the complaint put up towards the end of the video are answered in game, and seem to be made by someone who didnt really pay attention to the story, or were just exaggerated for comedy.

How is downloading missiles any different from getting the Morph ball and other power ups from them laying on the ground in Brinstar?

>"It's like fusion is talking down to me! It thinks i'm dumb!" >Misunderstands the plot-point that, in his own words, was spoon-fed to him. I know the whole bit is a joke, but come on man.

I know this will probably get tossed into the sea of youtube comments like a message in a bottle but I have a take on the whole "Samus gets upgrades both by enemy and by data room? WTF is with that" argument. Back when I first played it, to me it felt like samus' suit and mobility upgrades were gotten by fighting enemies. Her suits, abilities, and even some weapon modifications are gotten this way. But the data rooms were always where she got the hard weapon upgrades. Missiles, super missiles, morph ball bomb, super bombs, ice missiles, and the like were all from the data rooms. Why? Prepare a dramatic beat because......The federation cared only about her abilities as a weapon!!! Why does she need all that crazy mobility stuff when the soldiers get along just fine with just better guns? So they, as was pointed out in the story, only let her get as powerful as they wanted her to be at a given time. The federation essentially admitted they prioritized getting her gun up and functional over everything else. Notice how in the game, they get the missile and bomb data ready quite quickly, but you have to absorb the morph ball ability from an enemy. This means the federation made an upgrade for a form they didn't even plan for you to have! But alas, this might end up lost in the comments forever....Just hope it gives you something to think about in the future. Fusion is a really, really, really damn well packed game. I think they did things like the horror elements and the distinct style as a part of the transition to a mobile platform. This way, even if you only play a short while, not only will you have gotten something done but there's a good chance you'll have something to talk about with your friends the next day like "OMG! I went to go get an upgrade and I had to fight a boss for it instead cause it downloaded the upgrade before I could!" or "Holy crap man! I had a run in with the SA-X and I wasn't prepared for it at all! That thing is spooky!". I like the original metroid prime better (it was my first metroid game I got new) and super metroid has some benefits, but fusion is definitely a welcome addition to the family.

I am confident in saying this is the best black sheep in Nintendo's history My only problem with this is that when Adam says there's ten SA-X on board, you only see one at the end. It would've been extremely horrifying, frightening, and amazing if this was true. My first time through, when I backtracked for 100%, I expected another SA-X in every room. It could've been awesome, running away from one SA-X, only to run right into another, or if you find one and it alerts the others. That alone might've put it as my top metroid game, but for now, it sits at #3

I personally love the inspirations Fusion took from action-platformers. The bosses are a prime example. If you ignore your nostalgia for a second, all bosses in Super were pretty meh. Crocomire stood out for the acid thing, not for an interesting fight. Ridley was just a damage sponge. Mother Brain was primarily story. The others weren't particularly interesting either. Also, the generally floaty controls made dodging a bad option so you often just tanked the damage, something you could do if you collected enough stuff. Fusion has quick bosses with varied movement and boss music making your hearth pump faster.

Does anyone else like it when Samus monologues in an elevator. I looked forward to finishing every level in hopes that I might get to hear more from this typically silent protagonist.

Yes I’ve read the pinned comment, and I know the video is old, but I feel I can contribute something to address Covarr’s criticism that weren’t mentioned in other comments. First, missiles could be downloaded and super missiles could be an upgrade of regular missiles in a way we see today. Think of nuclear bombs. The first ones created for WWII used far more radioactive material, but were something like 50 times less destructive. The reason modern bombs are stronger when using the same material in the same quantity is because we have figured out how to better create the desired reaction on a larger scale. Second, he mentioned that it was fine to use the X for health and weapon pick up, but didn’t change anything when it came to grinding for health. My question is why are you ever grinding for health? Recharge rooms are never far away, and if you’re cut off from them to fight a boss, there’s always an easily defeated enemy to become a red X first. This is a game where trying to grind for health is just as likely to get you killed as making progress. This rolls into the final point I wanted to address, which is why didn’t they combine navigation save and recharge rooms into one. The first thought is that this would ruin the tension and pace of certain sections. Now he might respond that only those at the beginning need be that way. My counter thought would be first that it establishes in the players mind that they will always be able to do all these things at once and they’ll be annoyed by the inconsistency later on more than having them separate to begin with. Why would the station choose to make only some of the computers the same. If you don’t accept this thought, fair enough, but then I ask you to consider the menu slog that would be necessary every time you go to the navigation room. Do you want to hear your objective again? To do you want to recharge? Do you want to save? Answering these every questions every time would be annoying. Making them a single menu, asking what would you like to do, while better, is also obnoxiously cluttered (imo), especially if you accidentally hit the wrong one and need to wait. I really think it’s the possibility of an accidental click that worried the devs. I accidentally clicked hear objective again, and I couldn’t try and mash to get out fast enough. I have a few other thoughts, but I doubt anyone actually cares about them or this comment.

I know i'm late on this... but after playing this game countless times over the years i really still feel like this game is severely underrated still. The liniarity and the unskipable story aspects are massively overstated imo. The rest of the game is so masterfully crafted and especially if you go for 100% it is pure bliss to me.

"How did the SA-X escape containment?" It activated a powerbomb within the crate.

sorry to say it... but this review started to fall apart once the other guy came in

This game is getting a sequel after 19 years and I cannot wait for The Geek Critique to get started on it as soon as Metroid Dread releases.

Covarr is basically being SA-X. I'm not even joking. You touched on the whole subtext/thematic thing in the video, but I would take it a step further than you did and basically see Samus' plight - at least to some degree - as the metaphor for the game itself, its development and the struggles of the development team. Maybe the game is in fact about how THEY, the devs, felt "trapped" or even "stalked" by Super Metroid. Maybe the theme of the game came about as a consequence of their early discussions around "how do we take this franchise forward". Maybe they found in those discussions that Super Metroid and fans' expectations showed up like some avenging ghost, making it impossible for them to evolve the franchise for fear of reactions like Covarr's (and far less articulate ones too). Just a thought. Might be worth considering. :)

I don't know what his problem is, I never had to grind X. Seems to me that the editor couldn't play the game right. Finding the path wasn't hard too

I think it's reasonable and makes sense that some upgrades are obtained from X bosses while others are downloaded. The X upgrades give you direct upgrades to the suit that the Chozo designed (Beam upgrades, suit upgrades, the morph ball, etc), While everything you download from the federation are things that can be made for any machine (missiles and bombs). In fact, the downloaded upgrades include things never seen before, like the ice missiles. This is because the federation can just make shit up for Samus to use, while the X is copying what we've seen before.

I know the Covarr bit was supposed to be over-the-top, but some of those reasons don't even work. If you want to hate ADAM, fine, it's the worst part of the plot and sometimes gets annoying when it won't shut up, but complaining about how you get upgrades? You're right, how dare they download missiles, it makes way more sense to find glass capsules containing augmentations in the middle of nowhere that happen to fit to her specific suit and automatically attach. And of course the SA-X would cause more destruction, it has no reason for discretion and just like all the bosses, it's a bastardization of the suit. I dunno, this is one of my favorite games so I'm obviously biased in it's favor and I didn't want to harp on what everyone else was commenting but it bothered me.

The reason the SA-X protects Samus at the end and attacks the Omega Metroid isn't because of any higher intelligence or emotion, it's because of instinct. Metroids themselves were genetically engineered by the Chozo to destroy the X-Parasite, and so they became mortal enemies, immediately attacking one another when they come face to face with each other. It's the same reason the SA-X attacks Samus on sight, because her DNA is now combined with Metroid DNA. The SA-X detects that DNA and seeks to destroy it. It's *also* the reason toward the end that we walk in on the SA-X trying to destroy the room full of Metroids and being overwhelmed. The SA-X wasn't defending itself from the Metroids attacking, the Metroids were defending themselves from the SA-X attacking. And the SA-X lost. So in the last room where Samus is being attacked by the Omega Metroid, the SA-X only sees two things, and it wants to destroy both: A powerful Metroid (Samus) and a vastly more powerful Metroid (the Omega), who is clearly capable of dispatching Samus. By attacking the Omega, the SA-X is doing only what it does by nature, not out of emotion or intelligence. It targets the bigger threat, and in doing so, is weakened to the point of not being able to retain its form. Samus sees it as an opportunity and seizes it, and with her powers and the SA-X's combined, she kills the Omega Metroid and escapes to safety.

"Is the Federation trying to keep Samus to weak to succeed?" Why, yes. Yes they are.

Yeah, Covarr had some really awful arguments. 1. He never explained why absorbing X parasites was less fun than picking up power-ups just because they explained it in the narrative. 2. He never explained why the story-first approach doesn't work with, or in his own words, "an insult to," game design (because, surprise, it has worked in countless games including fusion.) 3. He didn't pay attention to the narrative of the game that the Federation was, in fact, trying to keep Samus weak in order to hide the secrets the satellite harbored. If the core theme is removing agency, then this fact is a given. I mean, I could list every single mistake he made in his arguments, mostly because he never justified any of them. If Fusion isn't his cup of tea, I get that. There's a big debate whether Metroid Fusion or Super Metroid is the strongest game in the series, but don't make your judgement on the quality of the game because you happen to favor Super Metroid. They're both amazing for very different reasons. To me, they stand as equals of two separate peaks because they emphasize different things in their core gameplay. It's absolutely amazing that Metroid is such a versatile franchise that it can make amazing Action/Exploration, Action/Adventure, and FPS games. How many other franchises have tried doing all these things, and how many of them have actually succeeded to the critical acclaim that Metroid has? As for Other M and Federation Force, well, everyone should complain about those.

I'll never understand how people can't enjoy taking their time in a game to enjoy story telling, regardless of what platform. Stories are a great method for driving the player even more to accomplish their goals, and makes the metroid series even more intriguing as apposed to just "reading it in an instruction manual".

This is my favorite Metroid, sounds like your editor just wanted a super Metroid 2.

Metroid Fusion is the first Metroid game I finished

I was pretty much okay with everything you've said, but Covarrubias' rant was a bit too nit picky to me. The comment that threw me over the edge about how the E-Tank was just lying there out in the open when A: It was the first one in the game, B: It was like that in Super Metroid too, C: Metroid Fusion's very linear design makes it so that you where to go, but not how to get there. Come across something like the clip he showed then you know theres probably some sort of wall or floor I need to break. The fact that there is so much uncharted space is good because In my opinion Super Metroid is VERY linear (though really that could be the fact that I know the game like the back of my hand). I love Metroid Fusion because more so than Super Metroid. I feel that it gave me this sense of dread and I was actually worried about dying a lot more in Fusion than in Super. In Super Metroid you're on top of the world. Tanking hits and destroying everything. You can't do that in Fusion. Enemies keep dealing more and more damage and when you think you might have the edge NOPE they quickly adapt to your new strengths. The perfect example is when the Arctic X appear. They actively chase after you as opposed to the X that just fly away. moment you get the Varia they go after you, realize its pointless and not only stop chasing after you, but no longer appear after that. That is a great way of mixing story, game mechanics, and to show the intelligence of the villain.

"Downloads data that changes the physical nature of the missiles" Yes, that's literally how the X works and why Samus' Fusion suit is so powerful. It can recreate weapons from data, hence why it made 10 SA-Xs from one suit

Covarr "Whine whine whine, I don't like new things, blah blah blah I like to do the same shit over and over."

Another example of action versus exploration can be seen in the advertisements. Metroid Fusion's US commercial is filmed like an action movie with Samus blasting all the X duplicates and ending with a face off against the SAX while Prime's commercial is much more slow paced and methodical. It's kind of like comparing Aliens and Alien, one is more action while the other is more atmosphere.

i think its neat that the sa-x most cares about hunting metroids, which is why later on it ignores you to fight all those larval metroids, because they're more metroid than you are, and on another thing, the way the sa-x hunts you for being part metroid makes this like a reflection of metroid 2, now you get to see things from the other side, you're being hunted, and you do not stand a chance

This kind of rant and hate is what kills franchises. The game tries to be different from previous Metroids. The linearity actually works in a plot and mechanics never seen in Metroid. I love this game, i love almost all Metroid games, and I hate that people who cannot adapt to new changes only whines. See the best of the product, don't miss everything that was in precious efforts.

Aside from Covarr's rant at the end, this was a really great review. Although I will agree that having the save, healing, and missile recharge functions all being in separate rooms is a bit silly, especially when they're usually lumped together in a row like that.

Fusion is one of the few games where I actually enjoyed the narration. It does wonders to build up tension and hint at what horrors lurk in the next section. Also the pixel art is the absolute best I ever seen.

I Think at the final boss, SA-X attacked the Omega Metroid because That's how much it hated Metroids: it prioritizes them

Hey, Covarr. Next time you feel like saying something, please don't hesitate to keep it to yourself.

I love how Mwtroid Fusion comes full circle with the original Metroids english manual, describing her as being able to absorb the abilities of her foes.

Interesting fact, the abomination the SA-X becomes during the penultimate fight appears to be a fusion (pun intended) of Samus's power suit and the hopper enemy in sector one ( the enemy the X in the intro was impersonating)

who else turned off the video when the editor started whining?

... did neither you _nor_ Covarr do a doubletake at his section? Seriously, it's _incredible_ how whiny and butthurt he sounds, just to downright cringeworthy degrees. You should've toned that down _a lot._

man i loved it when the editor came in and cried about how bad the game is that was really cool i think every review video should have a cry baby come in at the end and completely undermine everything in the video

You have a very good video here, with a viewpoint that most in the metroid community don't really take. The one glaring problem is the 10 minute rant by Covarr. It seemed as if Covarr didn't even play Fusion at all, and was just crying into a microphone because Nintendo didn't give him Super Metroid 2.

"Did the federation want to keep Samus weak?" I... Uh... Yes...

I actually liked Metroid Fusion. It was different than Super Metroid. In my opinion AM2R and Metroid Zero Mission were each different. All the games were different in their own special and unique way.

21:58 @itscovarr *Every party needs a pooper That’s why they invited youuuu Party pooper party pooperrrr*

A big part of horror is empathy. I can't help but wonder if part of the idea here is to empathize with the Metroid, completely flipping the script. The way Samus sees her SA-X clone is how the Metroid saw her. The game is her facing her demons and adding further nuance. The enemy of my enemy, is my friend.

I absolutely love Fusion. I get that some people prefer Super Metroid, but for me, the story and learning more about Samus was great. Comparing the Samus from Fusion and the Samus from Other M are apples to oranges.

Did you ever notice that when the SA-X notices you, did you ever notice the method it chose to kill you? First, it freezes you with the ice beam, then it blasts you with missiles. Just like how you deal with larval metroids. It's a brilliant piece of programming in an otherwise very exploitable, and kinda dumb, AI. The SA-X is incredibly frightening on your first playthrough, but speed runners have leanred how to make it laughable. I think this is a testamont to Fusion's narrative - that the SA-X can have some really dumb, simplistic AI, but so few players are willing to learn of its shortcomings.

"It ramps the difficulty up more than any other game in this franchise." *laughs in Dread*

the worst part is when covarr started speaking

The fact that the title of the video itself gets a plot twist is amazing

Fusion didnt have cracks, it had strange design choices, I agree that the save reload and nav room should have been the combined into one and yes I ended up carpet bombing everything because I coudnt tell which tiles were breakable. Still I love this game for the story and scripted secuences the SA-X encounters are COOL, Samus is still in character but more fleshed out not like in other m

Wow. This is my favorite vid from you in a long time. You've actually deconstructed this game and made it feel so much like an artpiece when I had been leaning more towards Covarr's opinion until now. It really changed my perspective. You probably hate being compared to other RU-vidrs, but it reminds me of how Super Bunnyhop deconstructed Metal Gear Solid 2, how it being such a stark contrast to the last game that it must've been a deliberate design choice, and it all still works from a narrative perspective. But I must say, Covarr's opinions seemed...nitpicky, at best. It all boiled down to inconsistency, and there have to be better reasons than that to consider it an insult to the franchise. (Copypasted from the Patreon version as per your request)

idk i think fusion is brilliant precisely bc it explores the GF-Samus relation more than any previous game, and does a great job of establishing mounting tension between them and Samus, and the clear way that they view Samus only as useful insofar as she's useful *to them*. I absolutely think GF wanted to create SA-X so that they could manufacture a version of her they could control. They've certainly proven that like the Space Pirates they want to harness these weapons for themselves (them trying to resurrect Ridley for their own use IMO makes this pretty on the nose). This game marked the transition from Samus just figuratively being a metroid (Chozo for greatest hunter or something like that iirc) to literally being one, and GF is not blind to this fact. If Metroids are supposed to be the nukes of this universe, what do you do when you have someone more powerful than a nuke? I also think this is why they kept Samus on such a tight leash for this game, in previous Metroid games GF unleashed her onto planets with the intention to just let her wipe everything out. In Fusion, they're essentially having Samus cover up a black-op that they don't even want Samus knowing anything about (for obvious reasons). Her having to follow the AI and download even basic suit powerups was brilliant to me for this reason, I think they wanted to see how much they could control her on their own, and reprimanded her explicitly whenever she powered herself up. While she's performing the coverup, she's at the same time (and this is just my personal theory) being sent on a test run after having her DNA mutated. GF has no idea how she'll perform or behave (though at the same time they have no one else who can handle a task of this caliber). Mechanically it's a departure from the previous games sure, but I think the gameplay is fun in its own right to make the limited exploration and missions fun on their own, but I can understand why that would frustrate others. The game opening up over time as Samus slowly reclaims her agency and is able to find areas outside of the downloaded maps kinda lets the game dip its toes into more classical exploration. The comparison of Fusion to Other M is extremely cheap to me, they're both just narratively driven. The main difference is one game is bad & poorly written (though for the record I personally wouldnt've minded even Other M being basically an interactive movie if it was yknow, good. There's room for more narrative in Metroid games).

7:50 In regards to sequence breaking, the internals of Fusion actually entirely fail and glitch out if you sequence break. Of course, doing this requires editing ROM data via hacks or codes. Fusion's very progression system relies on the stuff you have acquired. One prime example of this is giving yourself charge beam before you enter the boss room. The mission condition that says you need to fight a boss in that room relies on your current objective, but the actual boss's presence relies on you having the beam already. Simply put, you'll be locked in a room with boss music but no boss.

"Was the federation trying to keep her too weak to succeed?" .....yes actually,that's the whole idea "DID I JUST DOWNLOAD MISSILES" AM I HOLDING 200 MISSILES!!!!

I guess, given the situation, this game was made perfectly. If you wanted a full world to explore, get Prime, if you wanted a bit of story, get this, I like both (Prime a lot more) but Fusion is still great, but Covarr actually brought up good points. Granted a bit exaggerated, with the downloading, since the Federation must have put their own technology into Samus' suit during the Fusion Suit's construction, it makes a little sense that mixing that with Samus' Chozo spirituality stuff works with downloading the data and materialising it, it's just as odd how the X can do it, so why not Samus. This game was bold, and I love it still, the SA-X is my second favourite enemy, behind Ridley (only because of his and Samus' history), the SA-X is horrifying and I love it. Sequel idea, since the Federation operated on Samus to save her, they may have extracted some X, which may replicate into her again. So, possible SA-X in the future? Or that Samus is being hunted by several bounty hunters, and Sylux is the one that is actually a challenge? Both could happen at once, who knows. Either way, great video, just subscribed and was pleasantly surprised to see a new upload soon after, keep up the great work!

You know, Covarr's rant got me thinking about stuff. He brought up an interesting detail that got me geeking. Q: If the SA-X represents Samus at the height of her power, why can it destroy the space station with super missiles when you've never had that kind of power? My thoughts: Well, you're on a completely different kind of space base. Super Metroid took place on Zebes, where space pirates locked higher security doors with blast doors that required different levels of firepower to break open. This fits pretty well with how the stronger space pirates are found where the security is higher. In Fusion, you're on the Federation's station. Their *Biologic Space Laboratory* station. They have actual security locks on their doors with different levels of clearance, *and* the place is on lockdown. You never actually need to use the missiles or power bombs to open the doors (except for the ones with door monsters before the charge beam), you find the machine that undoes that tier of lockdown on the doors. They weren't designed to be blasted open with missiles that can cause *caverns to shake like an earthquake.* And of course, the federation is what's giving you your explosive ordinance, rather than random data capsules in the palms of Chozo statues. They would avoid giving Samus missiles that could wreak structural havoc on the station, considering that they wanted her to survive while gathering data but not capable of destroying the SA-X that they wanted to capture. Unlike the Chozo, who wanted their warrior prodigy child to be as powerful as possible, the federation wanted her just on that line where they could make her follow orders without losing their most powerful asset.

I always felt that the X-Parasites were some of the most tragic characters in the Metroid series. They were just minding their own business when invaders created monsters to hunt them. An entire species now traumatized and living in fear until a savior in shining armor came to their rescue and slew the demons. I feel like the SA-X in particular had quite the personality and character arc that we don't really notic given her lack of expressiveness considering the X didn't really mimic species thay had facial expressions before humans. SA-X admired and looked up to Samus, she wanted to to BE the hero that would protect her brothers and sisters. But whe she senses the Metroid DNA after Samus was given the vaccine, she saw a righteous warrior corrupted and warped into the very monsters she destroyed. The enraging memories of her people being cossumed were conficting with her gratefullness to Samus for saving them, but as Samus absorbed more and more X-Parasites, SA-X saw more as a Metroid than she saw her as a human. The horrific memories of her ancestors fuled her rage. Eventually, this rage overwhelmed SA-X as the fight between her and Samus progressed, to the point where all human intelect was pushed to the side as her fury mutated her into a fusion of Samus herself and her favorite form to take on, a hornoad. Once her sheilding wa destroyed, SA-X's anger was replaced with fear, she was vulnerable and overwhelmed by the memories of her kind screaming as they were consumed by the monster like the one before her, so she ran in terror. But things changed when SA-X wittnessed Samus being attacked by the Omega Metroid. Rather than a merciless animal bent on consuming, SA-X saw Samus as a victum of the Metroids just like her kind. In that moment, SA-X veiwed Samus as one of her own kind, so she protected her. If Nintendo ever decides to give Metroid Fusion a remake, I hope that they take the time to add stuff like new cutscenes that showcase the X-Parasites as victums without minimizing them as a threat. I could see a cutscene where SA-X discovers files regarding the Metroid breeding program, causing her to go enraged, smash the control pad, and start basting the screen while furiously screaming.

Covarr will now be known as Saltarr. I'll see myself out

See , I always interpreted the SA-X as not "coming to the rescue" but rather drawing on samus' s own memories of her many battles with metroids and The fact that The metroids are The natural enemy to The X parasite. The SA-X saw an omega metroid and had a reflexive response to fight it. At least that's how I always saw it.

Personally, I love Metroid Fusion to death. Maybe part of that's because I only played Metroid Prime before Fusion, so that's more what my expectations were. But I think it has some of the tightest gameplay ever, I really appreciate the story, and it seriously is one of the games that most immersed me because it never really asked me to simply accept anything that didn't make sense outside the context of real life or the universe, with the exception of a few "sci-fi, so we can" moments. Oh, and that tinge of horror. And truthfully, I never felt the game was trying to pretend it wasn't linear. A game that tries to pretend it's linear but isn't is one that says "go anywhere, except you really only have one place you can go to". Fusion is almost always direction you, with slight moments of exploration that basically make it like your average LOZ dungeon. It's not Super Metroid, and I get that Super Metroid is a beloved classic that really hasn't been replicated to this day, but Metroid Fusion is one of my all-time favorites, and handily my favorite Metroid

So, yeah, gonna weigh in on Covarr's segment. Just bear with me here. I get that you're trying to arrive at a more complete understanding of what exactly the game is by including his counter-perspective, and to avoid silencing potentially valuable criticism of a game that might well require it (from a friend, no less). I even appreciate having heard out a few of his points, namely the big one of how _Fusion_ tries to obfuscate its commitment to its linear design (and in doing so, ironically, undermines some of that very commitment). But when something like 80% of his criticisms aren't just unflattering to a game a lot of people like, but literally, demonstrably _incorrect_ (the mandatory routes being more hidden than optional routes, narrative-driven games being inherently lesser than mechanic-driven ones, the very definition of the word "stoicism" as applied to Samus at 24:04 and his understanding of what it was that fans and critics alike objected to about _Other M_'s characterization - I could go on and on), that's when humoring a dissenting voice loses its worth. Perhaps the bigger issue, though, is to do not so much with the counterpoint as how it was implemented. To demonstrate my point, I just so happened to see an old episode of _Kitchen Nightmares_ yesterday in which a failing restaurant was put back on the right track and proved a huge success among the locals, concluding on a note of triumph and hope.... Except that then, the show proceeded to cut to a piece of narration bluntly revealing that the restaurant's pre-standing debts forced it to go out of business a few months later within the span of a sentence or two, after which it went straight to credits. When this video ended, the way I was left feeling reminded me an awful lot of how I did upon watching those credits play. After twenty minutes of your laying out a singular and comprehensive interpretation of this game, abruptly ramming in a wholly different type of viewpoint right as your analysis is reaching its point of convergence - even when you disregard said viewpoint holding the game in lower esteem and, let's face it, being much less nuanced - just doesn't mesh right. Suppose your _Super Metroid_ analysis had been a collaboration with someone who loved the game just as much as you did but lacked your insight, and after you gave your final stirring words about the game's achievements in design that resonate to this day, your viewers were then treated to another five minutes of the other person informing us that the graphics are better than in previous games, being able to aim diagonally is nice, and Samus looks hawt if you beat the game in under three hours. Yeah, Covarr's assessment of _Fusion_ was a lot more perceptive than that even with all the objectively wrong stuff, but the point is that cutting to a completely different type of video, regardless of the specific ways in which it's different, will inevitably leave a bad taste in everyone's mouths. And unfortunately, due both to just how much it stands out from your portion of the video and its placement at the very end (with little in the way of a return to your perspective to smooth the video-watching experience back over, no less), the resulting psychological effect is that Covarr's segment is what your mind winds up going to first when you think about the video, whereas it takes a bit of concentrating to think back all that effort and critical appraisal you put into the overwhelming bulk of the video's runtime. I guarantee that your number of dislikes and especially comments voicing their dissatisfaction with the segment would have been a fraction of what they are if Covarr's points had been spread out throughout the analysis at relevant points and addressed (or, if nothing else, merely explored a little) in turn. Whether you merely insert Covarr/other people's differing perspectives (and your responses) into your scripts or actually let them directly speak in the video is obviously your call, but I think it would prove very helpful in letting you work on projects collaboratively without the participants' input outright counteracting one another. I know I enjoyed the ever-loving hell out of your videos that didn't have that problem (not to mention the first twenty minutes of this one - it may well have even surpassed your _Super Metroid_ examination as my favorite in the series), and with a content output as good as yours, I'd really regret seeing any future ones be tainted by it.

Hmm... While I respect what Covarr says, and I realize that it was said to be an tongue-in-cheek satirical joke slapped into an otherwise good video... Yeah, maybe not executed the greatest. Though, as a voice actor and creator, I would like to state the following: 1) This is my first time viewing any of your videos. 2) I deeply appreciate your voice work, and the voice of Covarr. You both sound lovely, charming, and well balanced. HUGE UPS FOR THAT! 3) The pacing, which is so lacking in most of the stuff I watch, is positively sublime (except for the ...exception above.) Overall, I had a blast during this video, and while the section with Covarr does come off as whiney and a bit pedestrian (weh weh, I want me metroid back and all that) it was not without merit! well carried lads, carry on!

I've always read the subtext of the final battle as the SA-X seeking out its natural enemy, and failing to destroy it. And of course, Samus, being the resourceful warrior she is, merely takes advantage of the defeated SA-X to overcome the final hurdle. Nothing to do with the SA-X's selflessness - It is, after all, a heartless monster. But that's just me.

Man, uh... Covarr there being _really_ contrarian, huh? Like... You're allowed to say you didn't like it, I know people who didn't care for Fusion and that's fine even if I grew up loving the game and all, but to literally go off for minutes at a time about so many points the greater purpose of which were being explained for the past twenty entire minutes or so, and then escalate it to a point where you consider it a literally phrased 'personal attack' as if this was Nintendo calling you out by first name and threatening your family, being so unnecessarily scathing and at the same time completely detracting from the rest of a video that had so largely a different tone, is... yeah, no more flowery talk, I'll be blunt, that's being a literal baby. That's being an actual child throwing a tantrum about how your life was so totally made actively worse by people who made decisions regarding a video game. Like, dude.

In defense of the omega metroid boss, when youre backtracking through sector 1 at the end, you can see the metroid shells that you also see in the room where you fight the omega. So some metroids (at the very least the omega) did escape the destruction of the breeding program area.

This was a good video until Covarr came in and ruined it all in one go with very subjective whining for no real purpose. There's pointing out flaws (yes we know Fusion has them) and then there's just crying about how you like something else and this isn't what YOU thought it should be.

Okay, I am serious here. I have been subscribed for quite some time now and yours is the only channel that consistently makes me smile and get genuinely excited when I see a new video come out. Other than backing you on Patreon, is there any other way for me to ensure that you make more episodes, and more often? You truly are fantastic, and very gifted. I hope to hear from you soon, and to see many more videos in the futute.

I’m glad somebody likes this game, I felt it was severely underrated

I love how Covarr's voice sounds like he was being assaulted during his rantview.

I can't stand people who are opposed to story in games. I'm studying to be a game developer right now in college, and I know what I'm going to do for my first game. I'm going to make a game that is similar to retro city rampage. Instead of poking fun at the industry though, I'm going to poke fun at you, the players, and you better believe I'm going to enjoy the heck out of it. I can't wait for 4th wall breaking moments where the player tries to skip a cutscene. The game will pause, and the player character will just turn to the camera with a annoyed glare, and will hold there and punish the player for trying to skip the story I worked to create. One may call this horrible, abusive game design - and yes, yes it is.

To this day, Fusion is my favourite of the 2D Metroid games, even after Metroid Dread release. I really liked the atmosphere and the music (Sector 1 SRX, anyone?) and the constant feeling of being in danger. I loved the new bosses, especially since it was something new rather than Kraid and Ridley again... oh wait, it still has Ridley. But jokes aside, the boss battles are amazing and feel so good, even though I died about 20 times. Warning: the rest of this comment is comparing Metroid Fusion to Metroid Dread, so you might wanna stop reading now if you haven't played Dread yet. And the SA-X moments are way more tense and scarier compared to the E.M.M.I. in Dread, which are mostly an inconvenience, not to mention that you are able to defeat the supposedly indestructible, scary E.M.M.I. almost immediately after encountering it for the first time. You know, that very same E.M.M.I. that was shown as and indestructible, unstoppable death machine in the pre-release trailers. Sure, you have to get the Omega beam before each one in order to actually kill it, but from the very beginning of the game when you run into an E.M.M.I. you just think "OK, I'll just wait till I get the omega beam again, and then the E.M.M.I is toast", as opposed to "OMG the SA-X is onto me, I gotta run for my life" and "How am I ever gonna fight it" that you feel while playing Fusion for the first time. Now that I think of it, there's no indication at all in Fusion that you will even be able to defeat SA-X in a direct fight at all -- until the very moment you actually fight it, it seems undefeatable, and for all you know you're just going to have to crash the space station into the planet to finally defeat it.

Is this guy at the end trying to be as wrong as possible smh

My favorite moment in Fusion has to be the nightmare fight. I lost so many times against that thing because after a while into this already hard fight, it just starts rejecting my missiles??? What??? By trial and error, I found that my plasma beam worked amazingly well and a few years ago, it just hit me that gravity was it's entire gimmick and it was making the missiles too heavy. I never felt so good by being stupid

"Did I just download missiles??" No. No you didn't. You downloaded instructions for the nano-assemblers inside Samus's arm cannon so they can manufacture the missiles. Super Missiles, Ice Missiles and Diffusion missiles can also be explained this way. NANOMACHINES, SON!!!