The scariest part of the SA-X intro for me wasn't the close-up, it was the fact that they show her jumping the gap with the Screw Attack. I had just beaten Super Metroid a few days before playing Fusion, and realizing I was up against endgame Samus at full power made my blood run cold. No other game has ever truly sold me on the antagonist being unstoppable. Fusion really makes you understand why Samus's enemies are utterly terrified of her; you do NOT want THAT hunting you.
I love how the B.O.X drone is partly biological with a brain, makes you wonder if the federation was trying to make their own mother brain, a plot point that comes up a lot in the series
The Prime series actually touches upon just that with Prime 3 and Federation Force's Aurora Units and Father Brain respectively. With both Fusion and Other M confirming that there's some shady things going on with them, as they not only tried to clone Metroids (at least twice), but even made their own humanoid Mother Brain. Would be cool to see if Dread references any plot point from the Prime series, though I'm not holding my breathe. Then Mercurysteam are known to be big Prime fans, so maybe they could convince Sakamoto to tie the series in together a little more, not unlike how they were the ones who came up with the idea to have Meta-Ridley in Samus Returns.
@@soundsofstabbing3627 Not clones, just other Mother Brains. Mother Brain was a Chozo creation, there's nothing stopping them from *just making more of them.*
Oh man I always loved the little detail with the Blue X's, how when you first get the Varia Suit they immediately start attacking you, and then after a few are harmlessly absorbed the rest start fleeing from you on sight.
I love the atmosphere of this game so much. I also love that the X are such a threat that even the returning bosses are just the X mimicking them. Like by this point in the timeline Ridley is canonically dead, but that doesn't stop the X from taking his genes and turning into him just to try and kill Samus.
Heck when taking Other M into account (which I know not many like to do), Ridley X is technically a clone of a clone. Though I am aware that that was not even conceived when Fusion was initially made.
@@TheIvoryDingo His inclusion in Other M was most likely a response to said plot hole: how did the Federation get the remains of Ridley before Samus blew up Zebes in Super?
@@TheIvoryDingo Other M was actually considered when fusion was made. According to Sakamoto. He didn’t have the details planned but some references to the potential other M where included in the story
It’s so weird that only this year that we’re finally getting a direct sequel to Fusion. Either way, I love how Fusion has such a sinister tone with its use of body horror and slasher-esque sections with the SA-X. I’m really hoping that Dread continues to expand on Fusion’s elements.
Anytime I'm getting chased by an enemy I can't fight in a game, my butt puckers up when they're right behind me. The EMMI will most likely do the same thing for me. I'm so excited to figure out what's gone wrong on ZDR.
It always bugged me that every new Metroid game was yet another story shoved directly before or after Super. I always thought they wrote themselves into a corner with Fusion because of the suit and lack of metroids, and rather than acknowledging that they just kept making prequels.
In Zero Mission, the ledgegrab is from a powerup called the “Power Grip” which allows her to lift up her heavyass suit (which, you have to remember. She’s doing onehanded due to her armcannon). In fusion she can do it because she’s not in all of that bulk
@@TrevRockOne true, but metroid 2 waa one of those games where it felt like samus wasn't running in without her gear, I mean she starts out with missiles in it.
@@TrevRockOne I kind of just assume it becomes one of Samus's innate abilities. Like the long beam for instance. Though it was pretty cool how AM2R kept the power grip in. And you could even disable it and all the other power ups if you wanted to.
This was one of the first GBA game I got and I replayed this an overwhelming amount of times. The graphics and controls still hold up today. This game is a Nintendo essential that anyone can play.
My brother and I replayed this do much that the cartrige's save function failed, and your run would disappear if you turned the gameboy off or the batteries died. After that, we'd take turns playing, attempting to work together to finish the game before the batteries ran out of juice.
Fusion's linearity may limit the exploration, but I love the sequences it throws at you. Being a first time player really makes the SA-X something to be afraid of, because it will one or two shot you and this is weakened state is heightened by the high damage you take from everything early on. To go from the ending of Super Metroid, where you had the Hyper Beam to kill literally everything in your path, to Fusion where you're more powerless than in any other prior game is genius in my opinion.
I still prefer the non-liniearity because i think its a staple of this franchise and genre. I also prefer story being told by subtext and environments, because it adds to the feeling of exploring and discovering. The SA-X was good and scary, but i still think it would have worked better, if it was a dynamic enemy you can encounter in some rooms sometimes - and you have to escape. Scripted events just tend to wear off, especially during replays. And the thing is, in Metroid Dread they did exactly that. They made the asymetric battles with the robots, and none of it is scripted, its all dynamic. They are not as "scary" as SA-X (and they are not supposed to) but gameplay-wise its a huge improvement. Fusion just sadly has the lowest replay-value out of all classic 2D-Metroids... well ok, the original Metroid 2 is worse. But at the end its all about personal preference and i think its great that the Metroid series tried so many different things, so the probability to find a Metroid game you really like is very high. Its better than all those franchise that got stale and repetitive. We can all enjoy different Metroid games but at the end we all can enjoy Metroid as a whole. And thats the great thing about it.
When i played the game, the first thing i tried to do after meeting SA-X was to just go battle it to see how strong it was. 👌 got my ass beat 3 times before giving up.
@@brotbrotsen1100 as proof of this, look at how she's holding her armcannon. She's holding it from underneath. She's never done that in every other game while in her power suit.
@ThatRandomUser The emulator doesn't saturate the colors, that's just how the games are. They're programmed to be really bright and colorful because the GBA didn't have a backlit screen at first and they wanted players to actually be able to see the game properly.
the child and adult modes aren't difficulty options, they're for whether or not kanji is used (shit's hard to read). JP release did also add a hard mode though
44:50 So the thing is you don't technically need to use those passage ways to 100% the game. If you beat the game and then reload your save file all the locked doors will become open and you can freely explore the station to 100% the game. Just wanted to put that out there
24:59 As a newcomer to the franchise who only started playing the 2D Metroid games two months ago, I can confirm that this guy proved troublesome for me. I almost quit my Fusion run because of it. I kept with it though, don't worry.
An easy explanation for the ice beam working now (besides oversight) is that you have all the beams stocked, including wave and plasma. You could only have one or the other in metroid 2. obviously ALL the beams stacked is going to be hella lot more powerful than the lone ice beam.
The SA-X power bomb scene is absolutely thrilling during your first run. If you have good self-preservation instincts, you’ll bolt to the left, where you’ll wind up just outside the explosion range. It makes your attempt to sneak up on the SA-X to keep an eye on it, only for the floor to collapse beneath you, even more impactful.
Hot take, but Metroid Fusion for me was infinitely better in terms of its execution of story elements like the SA-X vs Prime and its Dark Samus. In general, Metroid Fusion for me just has the best story of any of the games by leaps and bounds. So much so that Dread feels woefully half-baked storywise for me, though I admit Dread's gameplay is fucking fantastic and ensures that it is still a great game. Also, minor gripe, but what the federation makes is actually a serum that they just call a vaccine for whatever reason. Also 40:45, while the charge up only gives an AOE effect, the Diffusion missiles on their own are stronger than the ice missiles and have a 1 frame longer cooldown. Ice Missiles: 40 Base Damage, 14 frame cooldown Diffusion Missiles: 45 Base Damage, 15 cooldown
I remember sneaking a peak into my birthday gifts when I was ten and saw it was Fusion. Couldn't sleep the night before. I just released a prime video but man, you're making me think fusion was almost a better plot.
@@tonystank3091 Kinda true actually. Every now and then I'll have a creepy dream about the SA-X just being able to pop up anywhere in the game, even when I'm somewhere where you can't really hide from it.
@@giygas_9577 Same here. And what doesn't help in those dreams is how it zooms in on its face *a lot* in them. Intense, freaky music playing, the works. Sometimes the rooms are off-colored.
@@tonystank3091 Huh, don't think any of my SA-X dreams have been that vivid. Still, it's hella scary when it just pops up somewhere where you have no chance of hiding from it. I would actually love that in a Fusion remake. Make it so the SA-X, like Mr. X (funny coincidence there, huh?) from the Resident Evil 2 Remake, could just pop up anywhere at any time. Give it the X-ray visor from Super Metroid also. Now it can see you through walls if you don't avoid the field of vision! The rooms being off colored actually sounds kind of like the E.M.M.I rooms from Dread.
My favorite bit about this game is the ending itself, that being that you’re rescued by the creatures from the last game, signifying that karma pays back one way or another. Assuming that Samus is a bounty hunter that’s committed her share of war crimes, I feel like Super had her have a redemption when it came to saving those animals and in the end it pays off in Fusion, she gets to live to fight another day and those creatures helped shape her move set to become more devastatingly powerful.
Im pretty sure the blue stuff has always been under the power suit, i don’t remember the purpose exactly but its meant to have been like that. I think on Wikitroid you can find the schematics for the fusion suit where you can find out exactly everything about it
As far as I can tell it’s the biological computing layer of the suit. A sort of mix of artificial brain and muscle that would normally be under the heavy armor and shielding.
Ah Fusion. Probably my favorite Metroid game and the one that left the most lasting impression on me. I still have my cartridge and ive 100%'d it to many times to recount but it never gets old to me. Thanks for doing a video on this gem Trav. Cant wait to see you tackle the Prime series in the future!
@@ThatTravGuy No rush there! I know first hand just how much meat there is to chew in that series! The big question is will you bring the fusion suit along for the journey?
31:07 I don’t know why, but the “Hut hut hike!” line cracks me up. And because of that, I said it whenever I (successfully) used the shinespark in Dread.
My headcanon when it comes to the Etecoons and Dachoras are that they are basically proto-metroids. Chozo created creatures to fight the X. However due to their passive and intelligent manner, they didn't work out for culling the X threat.
The first scene of the SA-X in the elevator was incredible and traumatizing as a kid, I couldn’t even watch the scene after playing another play through. It’s great
Fun fact, if you get the Screw Attack before the Space Jump (normally impossible, only doable via cheating or luck in a randomizer) you can single wall jump just like in Zero Mission.
Metroid Fusion was my first game in the series when i didnt even know what metroids were as a kid.. I probably replayed the game 20x.. Im super excited for Dread now
My read on the final showdown with the SA-X being a bit underwhelming is that it's similar to a horror movie where the good guys have figured out of the monster and exploit all its flaws and weaknesses to eventually win the day. With Samus' case, she's more or less on equal footing with it now that she has all her abilities back, and it's only using the braindead, primal Shoot Ice Beam>Missile rote attack pattern to take her on, while she's much more nimble and able to fight like an actual human. It never changes its attack mindset because it can't, and if you learn how to take it on, it will never be a threat to her again.
You know, I don't think when you have the Varia, or even Gravity suit, that the SA-X ever does get to that missile shot. It just fires the ice beam, trying to freeze her, to no avail.
I've been running this game on and off since December 2018. I'm far from a top runner, but I love absorbing every bit of content about this game I can. This video is easily one of my favorites I've seen. Keep up the great work! You've earned my sub
33:23 even though I knew about this already, finding this room so suddenly with the haunting music was so fantastically chilling I wish the payoff was as good. He just kinda shows up and you have to go out of your way to fight him and then go back. It felt like they kinda tried to recreate some Super Metroid scenery, with a Super Metroid boss. I wish he was done as well as something like Nightmare, that would have been so cool to see a legacy boss get that kind of treatment. As of now the actual fight felt a bit shoehorned in I also got asked by someone, who was clearly annoyed, what that noise was when I was fighting him lmao
I was a baby when this game was originally released but I bought a used copy years ago and got around to playing it a couple months ago. It’s a solid Metroid title, and I appreciated the inclusion of an active plot.
Man, I love the GBA so freaking much! It has a lot of games I just adore, like: Metroid Fusion, Zero Mission, the Mega Man Zero series, Final Fantasy V Advance, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, Mega Man Battlenetwork (with BN6 having my favorite battle system in any RPG), Aria of Sorrow and many more that I can't think of at the moment. I have never been too much of a console person as I am more of a PC player but if I had to choose a console as my favorite, it would be the GBA.
GBA continued the snes style games and innovated them in may ways, it's definitely the best of their handheld systems, just barely. The reason I'm responding to you is actually to convey some good news you may have missed! Aria of Sorrow is on steam now. Castevania Advance collection.
Exactly, GBA is so good and diverse but poor luck cuz it get treated as a 'handheld SNES' and eventually died because of NDS release. However, GBA's library will forever be my favorite because it's so diverse and *there's so many fcking good RPGs on it.* God, i'm a sucker for JRPG, and they have five total games in Final Fantasy Advance. And that's actually how i get to know the series. Damn, GBA is such a great console
Metroid Fusion, Golden Sun, Mega Man Zero, Street fighter turbo and Alpha 3, F Zero, Pokémon, Sonic Advance, Zelda The Minish Cap, Kingdom Hearts, There were even a lot of hidden gems in the library.
Zero Mission's Power Grip makes perfect sense, the suit is heavy as shit so the item gives a boost to her suit's joints to allow her to lift herself up by one hand.
Dude every cheese strat you used, every little jokes you made was EXACTLY me when I played this game for the first time. This video was like watching my younger self play this game again. Also this game got me into speedrunning before "speedrunning" was even a popular thing. I'm really proud of my 1:13 ingame 100% time. Man I love this game.
God man, just watched this and your super Metroid videos back to back and let me just say… The structure of your videos is so good. Makes them such cozy binge material. Keep up the great work.
I had no idea this game existed until a number of years after it came out. My dog died in April 2004 and I bought a GBA SP at Best Buy as an impulse comfort buy along with Zero Mission, which I'd also never heard of. Some time later I was in a small used VHS/DVD/Game store and noticed they had some GBA games, I picked up Fusion for like 15 bucks. Was such a treat to find another amazing Metroid game I never knew existed. I probably prefer Zero Mission, but every time I replay it I stop at the part where Samus loses the suit and you have to do that tedious stealth part with just a pea shooter. Fusion is one I can still replay start to finish.
8:20 I never took this as something that needed to be or not be canon, I just took it as a gameplay thing they added and continued to add in later games since it helped the games play smoother, I highly doubt canon/lore was factoring into samus grabbing a ledge
Got this game back to back with Wario Land 4 and I had a blast back then. I enjoyed the horror elements that his game brought to the table and at its time I was disappointed with the linearity but eventually came to accept and enjoy it. Excellent review once again!
i have an excessive amount of nostalgia for this game. i remember cowering under my quilt at the late, late hour of 9pm, gameboy glowing, ever vigilant for my parents to catch me, starting a new game every time i booted the system up. that SA-X "jumpscare" always terrified me and made me stow away the gameboy. thanks for covering this, it really brought back a lot of memories
Fun Fact Samus and Joey was actually drawn by Koji Izuki the man who made Damned Rockman and the manga adaptations of Rockman 8 metal heroes and Rockman Forte.
The "blue stuff" left behind after her armor is removed is remnants of the zero suit she wears underneath her armor, which is why they're the same light blue color.
That's not the case actually. This is before the Zero Suit was a thing after all. The blue us just implied to be the inner organic layer of her Power Suit, meanwhile the Zero suit is something she wears under all her armor.
When I first played this game it was a few years after I beat Zero Misson so I was pretty excited. I had no idea what was in store. As soon as I saw SA-X my blood froze.
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the blue on her suit is her power armor mixed with the zero suit after having parts of her suit surgically removed.
I just worked all week on a Metroid Fusion piece and within moments this one blows it out of the water. Great research on this piece, it's really some excellent work! I'm glad to see all the love for this game leading up to Dreads release :)
Fusion is really remarkable. What it lacks in exploration and open progression it makes up for in spades with atmosphere, storytelling, and difficulty. It's one of my favorite Metroid games.
You’re the reason I started playing the Metroid series. I’m 3 games down and just finished Fusion. I’m about to start prime so I’ll be looking forward for when you cover the Prime Trilogy.
One of my favorite games of all time I remember pre ordering my gba sp and fusion They came out the same day I got home cut the lights and enjoyed one of my favorite gaming moments i cant remember It Was the first time a gameboy was backlit Anyone who played the original gameboy and gba knew the struggle of sitting under a light to play Now im here today waiting on dread A sequel to fusion Just two more days dam
To my knowledge and from what we've seen in the games, Samus's Power Suit changes appearance based on alterations to her physical body. This is why in Fusion, her suit's appearance is changed dramatically.
Watching this a couple days after beating Dread and, it's actually helping me remember lore about the X that I forgot about, which is making the ending make a lot more sense imo
Not sure why all these Metroid games have Chorizo in them, but it’s making me think the series is one big guerrilla marketing tactic for Big Chorizo Does Dread take place in a Qdoba?
The story at the beginning reminded me of when I also got an out of place video game gift. My Stepdad's Aunt and his wife were visiting from New York for a week. They were staying at Stepdad's parent's place. We were over there for a little party and I saw a commercial for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and mentioned how I really wanted it. Well a few days later we went back to see them off and the wife randomly handed me a bag. Inside was the game! She had seen it at the store, remembered me mentioning it, and picked it up for me. Thus started a lifelong love. Never met them again but I still thank them to this day. Also yes I started KH with Chain of Memories. It was a confusing and wild ride lol
I onced had to explain to someone that the SA-X wasn't trying to kill Samus when they shoot the Metroid tank since the person thought that the SA-X saw Samus as the bigger problem to them than the one race that almost lead to their extinction
a very neat and overlooked detail is unlike other navigation rooms thst just display the map over the gameplay the background is the control deck of samus's when using it as a navigation/save room
My brain kind of blurs together with all the Metroid videos I watch, I think I have watched your stuff before! I hadn't seen this one though, and as a kiddo who started with Metroid Fusion myself back in the day, this was great. I look forward to watching another!
When you said you liked robots in cloaks, my mind went immediately to Megatron's Dark of the Moon design. God I love that look for him. He's just on his last legs he HAD to scan an old tanker truck and wear a cloak for no real reason. Lol
This is one of my most cherished childhood memories. This game was the best. #1 played game on my SP for sure followed closely by Pokémon Crystal and Emerald.
35:33 that's because the suit upgrades reduce damage but not as much possibly having a set number of damage it can tank instead of a percentage which is probably why there are 20 E-Tanks in this game
This was my first Metroid game and good lord, am I still so glad this was my starting point. Adult me is always down with a large open world, but kid me was too stupid to understand large spaces, so the linier structure did a lot to help me actually understand the point of the game and what I needed to do. Since thing I've played..... literally every other game in the series and about a dozen rom-hacks/fan games, but I always take some time to play this game again here and there.
A couple of points, Chozo likely is translated Chouzou 鳥像 lit. bird statue as an extremely straightforward name, funny enough Torizou is just reading that slightly differently. The "for kids" and "for adults" aren't difficulties, they are between all kana and kanji included respectfully . There are three difficulties, one is unlocked when you beat the game, that's exactly like zero mission's hard mode . Also I couldn't help myself on this one "Samus: What is it with you monsters anyway? I blew up MY home planet and I'm not crying about it".
I just watched the metroid series you did and it brought me such feelings of nostalgia. I am probably gonna find these games and play them all over again and relive my childhood
I say this a lot about Metroid Fusion, but out of all the Metroid games this is the one that makes me feel like a genuine detective. I know Samus isn’t a detective but fusion just has the vibe of an intergalactic detective thriller. Searching for clues and answers throughout this space station. Finding out what the X parasites are, what they want, and why they’re here. All the while figuring out what the galactic federation is really up to, learning their secrets, and uncovering the dark truth behind them.
This was my favorite 2D Metroid until AM2R. I got it close to release around the same time I got Prime 1 in the fall of 2002. My dad was hospitalized for several weeks, so I mainly remember playing this in the hospital, switching between it and algebra homework. I was stuck for quite a while at the first rising pillar that Samus has to bomb. I had no idea it was there and just got lucky after trying everything else. Despite being one of my favorites, I think I've only played through it twice, both times almost 19 years ago. I can't believe it's that old.
Crazy you came with this out so quickly... You are so far my favorite guy to watch this year from improving quick with plenty of wit. I think I'll start taking notes to improve on myself in a similar manner.
I played Metroid fusion during highschool. It was interesting to play as one of my first GBA Wii U virtual console titles. It was really challenging and hard at times but that didn't stop me from seeing the potential it has because of the controls. Now that it's on the switch, it's easy to play thanks to the rewind ability. Now I absolutely love fusion
This was the first Metroid game I ever played and it’s still super fun to this day. I played dread and it reminded me so much of fusion that I had to go back and replay it
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“It feels weird getting missiles before the morph ball”
*wheezes with dread*
An hour in
It feels so weird taking so long to get the morph ball
First playthrough it was like an hour or so, second and third? About 30 minutes
That's what I love about Dread.
@@ChaoticFrenziedStar yah also good to know they made kraid a threat this time
@@myheroandmadaralover2372 Only if you don't sequence break for the bombs first.
"excuse me sir can I have my drip back" is easily my favourite line in a video I've watched
The scariest part of the SA-X intro for me wasn't the close-up, it was the fact that they show her jumping the gap with the Screw Attack. I had just beaten Super Metroid a few days before playing Fusion, and realizing I was up against endgame Samus at full power made my blood run cold. No other game has ever truly sold me on the antagonist being unstoppable. Fusion really makes you understand why Samus's enemies are utterly terrified of her; you do NOT want THAT hunting you.
@genuinesaucy its basically a simulator for what its like for a 70 year old grandma to be running and hiding from the terminator.
I like how they even used the old sound effects
I love how the B.O.X drone is partly biological with a brain, makes you wonder if the federation was trying to make their own mother brain, a plot point that comes up a lot in the series
The Prime series actually touches upon just that with Prime 3 and Federation Force's Aurora Units and Father Brain respectively. With both Fusion and Other M confirming that there's some shady things going on with them, as they not only tried to clone Metroids (at least twice), but even made their own humanoid Mother Brain.
Would be cool to see if Dread references any plot point from the Prime series, though I'm not holding my breathe. Then Mercurysteam are known to be big Prime fans, so maybe they could convince Sakamoto to tie the series in together a little more, not unlike how they were the ones who came up with the idea to have Meta-Ridley in Samus Returns.
@@N.i.E.M.O I have been seeing a weird brain thing in a bunch of the trailers, who knows, maybe we'll get more mother brain clones
@@soundsofstabbing3627 Not clones, just other Mother Brains.
Mother Brain was a Chozo creation, there's nothing stopping them from *just making more of them.*
@@Cri_Jackal dude, you knew what I ment
@@soundsofstabbing3627 ?
No? You don't seem to be communicating what you think you're communicating.
"we got missiles before morph ball? That's weird"
Dread: "that's not normal?"
Oh man I always loved the little detail with the Blue X's, how when you first get the Varia Suit they immediately start attacking you, and then after a few are harmlessly absorbed the rest start fleeing from you on sight.
Never noticed that
I love the atmosphere of this game so much. I also love that the X are such a threat that even the returning bosses are just the X mimicking them. Like by this point in the timeline Ridley is canonically dead, but that doesn't stop the X from taking his genes and turning into him just to try and kill Samus.
Heck when taking Other M into account (which I know not many like to do), Ridley X is technically a clone of a clone. Though I am aware that that was not even conceived when Fusion was initially made.
@@TheIvoryDingo His inclusion in Other M was most likely a response to said plot hole: how did the Federation get the remains of Ridley before Samus blew up Zebes in Super?
@@ctrlaltdestroy91 yeah there's zero logical explanation of that outside of other M
@@TheIvoryDingo Other M was actually considered when fusion was made. According to Sakamoto. He didn’t have the details planned but some references to the potential other M where included in the story
It’s so weird that only this year that we’re finally getting a direct sequel to Fusion. Either way, I love how Fusion has such a sinister tone with its use of body horror and slasher-esque sections with the SA-X. I’m really hoping that Dread continues to expand on Fusion’s elements.
Anytime I'm getting chased by an enemy I can't fight in a game, my butt puckers up when they're right behind me. The EMMI will most likely do the same thing for me. I'm so excited to figure out what's gone wrong on ZDR.
Even weirder that the game we are getting is the planned Fusion sequel we were meant to get years ago. How often does that happen?
It always bugged me that every new Metroid game was yet another story shoved directly before or after Super. I always thought they wrote themselves into a corner with Fusion because of the suit and lack of metroids, and rather than acknowledging that they just kept making prequels.
It is great too!
Oh if only you knew about the emmi
In Zero Mission, the ledgegrab is from a powerup called the “Power Grip” which allows her to lift up her heavyass suit (which, you have to remember. She’s doing onehanded due to her armcannon). In fusion she can do it because she’s not in all of that bulk
It's disappointing that they didn't keep power grip as a power-up in Samus Returns.
@@TrevRockOne AM2R: Ey
@@TrevRockOne true, but metroid 2 waa one of those games where it felt like samus wasn't running in without her gear, I mean she starts out with missiles in it.
@@bronyferienminuet2125 true
@@TrevRockOne I kind of just assume it becomes one of Samus's innate abilities. Like the long beam for instance.
Though it was pretty cool how AM2R kept the power grip in. And you could even disable it and all the other power ups if you wanted to.
This was one of the first GBA game I got and I replayed this an overwhelming amount of times. The graphics and controls still hold up today. This game is a Nintendo essential that anyone can play.
The control would hold up well today if it were not for the GBA button layout.
@@AlexaRobin21 Idk what is the problem with the GBA button layout, but on the 3DS it controlled better than any other metroid game
My brother and I replayed this do much that the cartrige's save function failed, and your run would disappear if you turned the gameboy off or the batteries died. After that, we'd take turns playing, attempting to work together to finish the game before the batteries ran out of juice.
4:20 “I’m a sucker for robots or exo-suits with a cloak draped over it.”
*Might I interest you in Mega Man Zero 2? :)*
*Departure starts playing*
Still can't believe zero was out there in the desert for like a year
*Cue Zero walking through a sandstorm like a badass*
@@Mikhaii_64 For Everlasting Fight II and Departure is an intro I'll probably remember for the rest of my life
Anyone would be a sucker for that one though.
Fusion's linearity may limit the exploration, but I love the sequences it throws at you. Being a first time player really makes the SA-X something to be afraid of, because it will one or two shot you and this is weakened state is heightened by the high damage you take from everything early on. To go from the ending of Super Metroid, where you had the Hyper Beam to kill literally everything in your path, to Fusion where you're more powerless than in any other prior game is genius in my opinion.
You are more powerless at the start of the first game, you can't even properly shoot into the distance.
Even after multiple play throughs, the SA-X still terrifies me whenever it’s theme starts playing.
I still prefer the non-liniearity because i think its a staple of this franchise and genre. I also prefer story being told by subtext and environments, because it adds to the feeling of exploring and discovering. The SA-X was good and scary, but i still think it would have worked better, if it was a dynamic enemy you can encounter in some rooms sometimes - and you have to escape. Scripted events just tend to wear off, especially during replays.
And the thing is, in Metroid Dread they did exactly that. They made the asymetric battles with the robots, and none of it is scripted, its all dynamic. They are not as "scary" as SA-X (and they are not supposed to) but gameplay-wise its a huge improvement. Fusion just sadly has the lowest replay-value out of all classic 2D-Metroids... well ok, the original Metroid 2 is worse.
But at the end its all about personal preference and i think its great that the Metroid series tried so many different things, so the probability to find a Metroid game you really like is very high. Its better than all those franchise that got stale and repetitive. We can all enjoy different Metroid games but at the end we all can enjoy Metroid as a whole. And thats the great thing about it.
When i played the game, the first thing i tried to do after meeting SA-X was to just go battle it to see how strong it was. 👌 got my ass beat 3 times before giving up.
@@brotbrotsen1100 as proof of this, look at how she's holding her armcannon. She's holding it from underneath. She's never done that in every other game while in her power suit.
This game feels insane for a GBA game, so colourful and vibrant, I loved it.
@ThatRandomUser The emulator doesn't saturate the colors, that's just how the games are. They're programmed to be really bright and colorful because the GBA didn't have a backlit screen at first and they wanted players to actually be able to see the game properly.
the child and adult modes aren't difficulty options, they're for whether or not kanji is used (shit's hard to read). JP release did also add a hard mode though
Insane to think we’re finally getting a sequel to this game nearly 2 decades later .
Kid Icarus: Am I a joke to you?
Me: Yes Icarus, you are a joke
Even more insane how damned great it was.
@@SeekerLancer Still nothing compared to Hollow Knight
@charmander man Mad cause good game is good
In response to the omega, I feel like the accelerated evolution caused it to retain its ice weakness.
makes sense
It may have been intentional. To make it easier to control.
44:50 So the thing is you don't technically need to use those passage ways to 100% the game. If you beat the game and then reload your save file all the locked doors will become open and you can freely explore the station to 100% the game. Just wanted to put that out there
That's interesting. I always thought this game would be hard to 100% since some areas are apparently closed off permanently at a certain point.
@@riflemanm16a2 Nah, there aren't any permanently missable areas, they're all screw attack blocks
@@riflemanm16a2 you could always re enter the sectors through the passage way between the central Reactor and sector 2
24:59 As a newcomer to the franchise who only started playing the 2D Metroid games two months ago, I can confirm that this guy proved troublesome for me. I almost quit my Fusion run because of it. I kept with it though, don't worry.
I kept dying the second fight because I didn’t know you could hang on the ceiling, I kept trying to jump and shoot down 😂
@@reality3304 lmao same 😂
An easy explanation for the ice beam working now (besides oversight) is that you have all the beams stocked, including wave and plasma. You could only have one or the other in metroid 2. obviously ALL the beams stacked is going to be hella lot more powerful than the lone ice beam.
The SA-X power bomb scene is absolutely thrilling during your first run. If you have good self-preservation instincts, you’ll bolt to the left, where you’ll wind up just outside the explosion range. It makes your attempt to sneak up on the SA-X to keep an eye on it, only for the floor to collapse beneath you, even more impactful.
Lovely stuff, my guy!
Exactly. It's actually a pretty good analysis, adding more attention to Fusion now.
Also everywhere i go, i see you 😂
oh my god
Lovely comment, my guy!
Hot take, but Metroid Fusion for me was infinitely better in terms of its execution of story elements like the SA-X vs Prime and its Dark Samus. In general, Metroid Fusion for me just has the best story of any of the games by leaps and bounds. So much so that Dread feels woefully half-baked storywise for me, though I admit Dread's gameplay is fucking fantastic and ensures that it is still a great game.
Also, minor gripe, but what the federation makes is actually a serum that they just call a vaccine for whatever reason.
Also 40:45, while the charge up only gives an AOE effect, the Diffusion missiles on their own are stronger than the ice missiles and have a 1 frame longer cooldown.
Ice Missiles: 40 Base Damage, 14 frame cooldown
Diffusion Missiles: 45 Base Damage, 15 cooldown
Having this review so soon after the Super Metroid one is like having a Christmas Present weeks after your birthday.
Thank you, Trav.
I remember sneaking a peak into my birthday gifts when I was ten and saw it was Fusion.
Couldn't sleep the night before. I just released a prime video but man, you're making me think fusion was almost a better plot.
0:16 Now that's just wholesome. Please, tell us more stories like this.
Ah yes, Metroid Fusion, also known as “The game that gave young me nightmares for 2 weeks”.
I can say the same thing about Metroid 1 on the NES. I was a teen by the time Fusion came out, though.
That's plebian. How about "The game young me recurring nightmares over the course of 20 years."
@@tonystank3091 Kinda true actually. Every now and then I'll have a creepy dream about the SA-X just being able to pop up anywhere in the game, even when I'm somewhere where you can't really hide from it.
@@giygas_9577 Same here. And what doesn't help in those dreams is how it zooms in on its face *a lot* in them. Intense, freaky music playing, the works. Sometimes the rooms are off-colored.
@@tonystank3091 Huh, don't think any of my SA-X dreams have been that vivid. Still, it's hella scary when it just pops up somewhere where you have no chance of hiding from it. I would actually love that in a Fusion remake. Make it so the SA-X, like Mr. X (funny coincidence there, huh?) from the Resident Evil 2 Remake, could just pop up anywhere at any time. Give it the X-ray visor from Super Metroid also. Now it can see you through walls if you don't avoid the field of vision!
The rooms being off colored actually sounds kind of like the E.M.M.I rooms from Dread.
My favorite bit about this game is the ending itself, that being that you’re rescued by the creatures from the last game, signifying that karma pays back one way or another. Assuming that Samus is a bounty hunter that’s committed her share of war crimes, I feel like Super had her have a redemption when it came to saving those animals and in the end it pays off in Fusion, she gets to live to fight another day and those creatures helped shape her move set to become more devastatingly powerful.
Im pretty sure the blue stuff has always been under the power suit, i don’t remember the purpose exactly but its meant to have been like that. I think on Wikitroid you can find the schematics for the fusion suit where you can find out exactly everything about it
As far as I can tell it’s the biological computing layer of the suit. A sort of mix of artificial brain and muscle that would normally be under the heavy armor and shielding.
Fusion was so incredible. Its the perfect example on how to do sequels
Ah Fusion. Probably my favorite Metroid game and the one that left the most lasting impression on me. I still have my cartridge and ive 100%'d it to many times to recount but it never gets old to me. Thanks for doing a video on this gem Trav. Cant wait to see you tackle the Prime series in the future!
Thanks! Next time I visit the Metroid series will be with Prime 1, though it'll be a bit before then :)
@@ThatTravGuy No rush there! I know first hand just how much meat there is to chew in that series! The big question is will you bring the fusion suit along for the journey?
@@MrDark086 I'll definitely show off the Fusion suit, but I won't use it for the full run 😅
@@ThatTravGuy Hell yeah! Im lookin forward to it!
31:07 I don’t know why, but the “Hut hut hike!” line cracks me up. And because of that, I said it whenever I (successfully) used the shinespark in Dread.
Huh, didn’t think you’d get to this, this soon. Either way I’m hyped
My headcanon when it comes to the Etecoons and Dachoras are that they are basically proto-metroids. Chozo created creatures to fight the X. However due to their passive and intelligent manner, they didn't work out for culling the X threat.
21:34 i just realized serris theme sounds a lot like lugias theme from the Pokémon 2000’s movie at least the part he played in the video.
The first scene of the SA-X in the elevator was incredible and traumatizing as a kid, I couldn’t even watch the scene after playing another play through. It’s great
Fun fact, if you get the Screw Attack before the Space Jump (normally impossible, only doable via cheating or luck in a randomizer) you can single wall jump just like in Zero Mission.
14:52 This a good point. Chozo statues actually being mummified Chozo warriors is now my head canon cause it sounds cool as hell!
Metroid Fusion was my first game in the series when i didnt even know what metroids were as a kid.. I probably replayed the game 20x.. Im super excited for Dread now
My read on the final showdown with the SA-X being a bit underwhelming is that it's similar to a horror movie where the good guys have figured out of the monster and exploit all its flaws and weaknesses to eventually win the day. With Samus' case, she's more or less on equal footing with it now that she has all her abilities back, and it's only using the braindead, primal Shoot Ice Beam>Missile rote attack pattern to take her on, while she's much more nimble and able to fight like an actual human. It never changes its attack mindset because it can't, and if you learn how to take it on, it will never be a threat to her again.
You know, I don't think when you have the Varia, or even Gravity suit, that the SA-X ever does get to that missile shot. It just fires the ice beam, trying to freeze her, to no avail.
"How did BOX have the wave beam?"
Well it did penetrate a solid surface
I've been running this game on and off since December 2018. I'm far from a top runner, but I love absorbing every bit of content about this game I can. This video is easily one of my favorites I've seen. Keep up the great work! You've earned my sub
33:23 even though I knew about this already, finding this room so suddenly with the haunting music was so fantastically chilling
I wish the payoff was as good. He just kinda shows up and you have to go out of your way to fight him and then go back. It felt like they kinda tried to recreate some Super Metroid scenery, with a Super Metroid boss. I wish he was done as well as something like Nightmare, that would have been so cool to see a legacy boss get that kind of treatment. As of now the actual fight felt a bit shoehorned in
I also got asked by someone, who was clearly annoyed, what that noise was when I was fighting him lmao
I'm surprised you don't have at least 200k subs, this piece was so engaging I didn't even notice I had watched nearly and hour of you speak!
I was a baby when this game was originally released but I bought a used copy years ago and got around to playing it a couple months ago. It’s a solid Metroid title, and I appreciated the inclusion of an active plot.
Man, I love the GBA so freaking much! It has a lot of games I just adore, like: Metroid Fusion, Zero Mission, the Mega Man Zero series, Final Fantasy V Advance, Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland, Mega Man Battlenetwork (with BN6 having my favorite battle system in any RPG), Aria of Sorrow and many more that I can't think of at the moment. I have never been too much of a console person as I am more of a PC player but if I had to choose a console as my favorite, it would be the GBA.
GBA continued the snes style games and innovated them in may ways, it's definitely the best of their handheld systems, just barely.
The reason I'm responding to you is actually to convey some good news you may have missed! Aria of Sorrow is on steam now. Castevania Advance collection.
Exactly, GBA is so good and diverse but poor luck cuz it get treated as a 'handheld SNES' and eventually died because of NDS release. However, GBA's library will forever be my favorite because it's so diverse and *there's so many fcking good RPGs on it.* God, i'm a sucker for JRPG, and they have five total games in Final Fantasy Advance. And that's actually how i get to know the series.
Damn, GBA is such a great console
Metroid Fusion, Golden Sun, Mega Man Zero, Street fighter turbo and Alpha 3, F Zero, Pokémon, Sonic Advance, Zelda The Minish Cap, Kingdom Hearts, There were even a lot of hidden gems in the library.
Man I can't get enough of Trav!
@@aweigh1010 The what
Zero Mission's Power Grip makes perfect sense, the suit is heavy as shit so the item gives a boost to her suit's joints to allow her to lift herself up by one hand.
Dude every cheese strat you used, every little jokes you made was EXACTLY me when I played this game for the first time. This video was like watching my younger self play this game again. Also this game got me into speedrunning before "speedrunning" was even a popular thing.
I'm really proud of my 1:13 ingame 100% time.
Man I love this game.
God man, just watched this and your super Metroid videos back to back and let me just say… The structure of your videos is so good. Makes them such cozy binge material. Keep up the great work.
I had no idea this game existed until a number of years after it came out. My dog died in April 2004 and I bought a GBA SP at Best Buy as an impulse comfort buy along with Zero Mission, which I'd also never heard of. Some time later I was in a small used VHS/DVD/Game store and noticed they had some GBA games, I picked up Fusion for like 15 bucks. Was such a treat to find another amazing Metroid game I never knew existed. I probably prefer Zero Mission, but every time I replay it I stop at the part where Samus loses the suit and you have to do that tedious stealth part with just a pea shooter. Fusion is one I can still replay start to finish.
Metroid fusion is the first Metroid game I’ve ever played so I never really minded the text dump I just thought that was normal and I enjoyed it
8:20 I never took this as something that needed to be or not be canon, I just took it as a gameplay thing they added and continued to add in later games since it helped the games play smoother, I highly doubt canon/lore was factoring into samus grabbing a ledge
One of my favorite gaming memory was starting then finishing a whole run on Fusion while in the car with my family to go fresh produce from a farm.
"And I'm still part Metroid!"
Uhhh, come Metroid Dread, you're... gonna be in for a surprise.
Got this game back to back with Wario Land 4 and I had a blast back then. I enjoyed the horror elements that his game brought to the table and at its time I was disappointed with the linearity but eventually came to accept and enjoy it.
Excellent review once again!
i have an excessive amount of nostalgia for this game. i remember cowering under my quilt at the late, late hour of 9pm, gameboy glowing, ever vigilant for my parents to catch me, starting a new game every time i booted the system up. that SA-X "jumpscare" always terrified me and made me stow away the gameboy.
thanks for covering this, it really brought back a lot of memories
Fun Fact Samus and Joey was actually drawn by Koji Izuki the man who made Damned Rockman and the manga adaptations of Rockman 8 metal heroes and Rockman Forte.
The "blue stuff" left behind after her armor is removed is remnants of the zero suit she wears underneath her armor, which is why they're the same light blue color.
That's not the case actually. This is before the Zero Suit was a thing after all. The blue us just implied to be the inner organic layer of her Power Suit, meanwhile the Zero suit is something she wears under all her armor.
Hello That Trav Guy, I am a new metroid fan and you are the main cause for it, thanks for showing me this classic series
When I first played this game it was a few years after I beat Zero Misson so I was pretty excited. I had no idea what was in store. As soon as I saw SA-X my blood froze.
Rare instance of seeing an ad for a channel I already subscribed to
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the blue on her suit is her power armor mixed with the zero suit after having parts of her suit surgically removed.
I just worked all week on a Metroid Fusion piece and within moments this one blows it out of the water. Great research on this piece, it's really some excellent work! I'm glad to see all the love for this game leading up to Dreads release :)
Wishing you luck with yours!
Neat to learn about the game engine. Wario Land 4 is one of favorites alongside Fusion, Zero Mission, and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror
Me: man this day sucks
Trav guy with a new video: "take it , it will give you strengh , help you on your journey"
I actually learned the word Diffusion back then when I was a kid. I googled it because I was curious. It was also when I learned what Fusion means.
Well, we kinda have an answer now for why the Omega Metroid attacked us
Fusion is really remarkable. What it lacks in exploration and open progression it makes up for in spades with atmosphere, storytelling, and difficulty. It's one of my favorite Metroid games.
You’re the reason I started playing the Metroid series. I’m 3 games down and just finished Fusion. I’m about to start prime so I’ll be looking forward for when you cover the Prime Trilogy.
One of my favorite games of all time
I remember pre ordering my gba sp and fusion
They came out the same day
I got home cut the lights
and enjoyed one of my favorite gaming moments i cant remember
It Was the first time a gameboy was backlit
Anyone who played the original gameboy and gba knew the struggle of sitting under a light to play
Now im here today waiting on dread
A sequel to fusion
Just two more days dam
It's been a long journey
To my knowledge and from what we've seen in the games, Samus's Power Suit changes appearance based on alterations to her physical body. This is why in Fusion, her suit's appearance is changed dramatically.
Can't wait for am2r and Zero mission and the prime series
Oddly, even though it's not an official Nintendo game, AM2R is probably my favorite 2D metroid.
34:17 "holy fuck they're loud"
me thinking back to Neo-Ridley's screams
Hell yeah, this game is usually so underrated. I almost bought a GBA just for this back in the day.
Diffusion Missiles actually do add a damage buff to your ice missiles.
Love your humour. Stopped 1/3 way through because I haven’t finished the game yet. Gonna come back afterwards.
Sa-x's appearance and the nightmare fight used to make me shit my pants
I have rewatched this video so many times... And I've loved it every single time.
The best game in the series for me
Watching this a couple days after beating Dread and, it's actually helping me remember lore about the X that I forgot about, which is making the ending make a lot more sense imo
Man, imagine playing a romhack that was like the beta build from Metroid IV
The animals left shortly after Samus. A little purple light in your videos before the explosion.
Not sure why all these Metroid games have Chorizo in them, but it’s making me think the series is one big guerrilla marketing tactic for Big Chorizo
Does Dread take place in a Qdoba?
The story at the beginning reminded me of when I also got an out of place video game gift. My Stepdad's Aunt and his wife were visiting from New York for a week. They were staying at Stepdad's parent's place. We were over there for a little party and I saw a commercial for Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and mentioned how I really wanted it.
Well a few days later we went back to see them off and the wife randomly handed me a bag. Inside was the game! She had seen it at the store, remembered me mentioning it, and picked it up for me. Thus started a lifelong love. Never met them again but I still thank them to this day.
Also yes I started KH with Chain of Memories. It was a confusing and wild ride lol
I onced had to explain to someone that the SA-X wasn't trying to kill Samus when they shoot the Metroid tank since the person thought that the SA-X saw Samus as the bigger problem to them than the one race that almost lead to their extinction
a very neat and overlooked detail is unlike other navigation rooms thst just display the map over the gameplay the background is the control deck of samus's when using it as a navigation/save room
I have played Metroid fusion soooo many times. Lord I love this game
My brain kind of blurs together with all the Metroid videos I watch, I think I have watched your stuff before! I hadn't seen this one though, and as a kiddo who started with Metroid Fusion myself back in the day, this was great. I look forward to watching another!
When you said you liked robots in cloaks, my mind went immediately to Megatron's Dark of the Moon design. God I love that look for him. He's just on his last legs he HAD to scan an old tanker truck and wear a cloak for no real reason. Lol
Prime Megatron post Predacons Rising is often depicted in famart with a cloak too and I love it.
This is one of my most cherished childhood memories. This game was the best. #1 played game on my SP for sure followed closely by Pokémon Crystal and Emerald.
35:33 that's because the suit upgrades reduce damage but not as much possibly having a set number of damage it can tank instead of a percentage which is probably why there are 20 E-Tanks in this game
This was my first Metroid game and good lord, am I still so glad this was my starting point. Adult me is always down with a large open world, but kid me was too stupid to understand large spaces, so the linier structure did a lot to help me actually understand the point of the game and what I needed to do. Since thing I've played..... literally every other game in the series and about a dozen rom-hacks/fan games, but I always take some time to play this game again here and there.
A couple of points, Chozo likely is translated Chouzou 鳥像 lit. bird statue as an extremely straightforward name,
funny enough Torizou is just reading that slightly differently.
The "for kids" and "for adults" aren't difficulties, they are between all kana and kanji included respectfully .
There are three difficulties, one is unlocked when you beat the game, that's exactly like zero mission's hard mode .
Also I couldn't help myself on this one "Samus: What is it with you monsters anyway? I blew up MY home planet and I'm not crying about it".
I just watched the metroid series you did and it brought me such feelings of nostalgia. I am probably gonna find these games and play them all over again and relive my childhood
I say this a lot about Metroid Fusion, but out of all the Metroid games this is the one that makes me feel like a genuine detective. I know Samus isn’t a detective but fusion just has the vibe of an intergalactic detective thriller. Searching for clues and answers throughout this space station. Finding out what the X parasites are, what they want, and why they’re here. All the while figuring out what the galactic federation is really up to, learning their secrets, and uncovering the dark truth behind them.
Fusion gives me only positive memories. Love it a lot.
This was my favorite 2D Metroid until AM2R. I got it close to release around the same time I got Prime 1 in the fall of 2002. My dad was hospitalized for several weeks, so I mainly remember playing this in the hospital, switching between it and algebra homework. I was stuck for quite a while at the first rising pillar that Samus has to bomb. I had no idea it was there and just got lucky after trying everything else. Despite being one of my favorites, I think I've only played through it twice, both times almost 19 years ago. I can't believe it's that old.
Crazy you came with this out so quickly... You are so far my favorite guy to watch this year from improving quick with plenty of wit. I think I'll start taking notes to improve on myself in a similar manner.
I played Metroid fusion during highschool. It was interesting to play as one of my first GBA Wii U virtual console titles. It was really challenging and hard at times but that didn't stop me from seeing the potential it has because of the controls.
Now that it's on the switch, it's easy to play thanks to the rewind ability. Now I absolutely love fusion
This was the first Metroid game I ever played and it’s still super fun to this day. I played dread and it reminded me so much of fusion that I had to go back and replay it