METROID: ZERO MISSION - Alpha and Omega | GEEK CRITIQUE
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ธ.ค. 2016
- The definitive video game remake is finally critiqued! Seriously, it excels at so much that it makes all the other remakes feel bad.
The title is because the end of the 2D Metroid series is also the beginning, you see. Alternate title was METROID ZEO, 'cause this game is STRONGER THAN BEFORE! But nobody would get that.
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“The 2D series ended in 2004” boy if I could go back in time and show this man a trailer
Just think that less than 5 years from this review we already have a new 2D game plus a true Fusion sequel coming out in less than 2 months.
@@amso7169 and eventually, Prime 4 will release, hopefully
@@370.y Yeah, for me, the most hype is easily Botw 2 and Kirby and the forgotten land. I've been waiting for a 3d kirby forever. And botw 2.... it's botw 2, do I need to explain myself here?
@@amso7169 2D, not 2.5D
Or the game
It's so refreshing when TH-camrs actually acknowledge that Fusion's linearity and Zero Mission's hints make sense in the context of them being portable games.
I’m happy TGC does it! I remember Game Maker’s Toolkit criticizing Zero Mission for this, which bothered me; I played it on a GBA when it came out and the hint system meant I never got lost when I picked it up after a break.
Exactly. People don't talk enough about game developers considering and respecting the players time
Until Covarr came in and basically missed the whole point of Fusion and blamed the game for it
A true and often missed point!
I'm sick and tired of people complaining about Fusion all because it did something different in the series. It's linear! How many reviews have you heard literally copy and paste that. Not even coming up with their own authentic reviews.
"Am I a Metroid geek? Abso freakin lutely!"
one of us
ONE OF US
O N E O F U S
Squid Kid O N E O F U S .
*T W O OF U S*
N I N E O F U S
Gooble gobble gooble gobble..
I guess I'll continue this oddly almost-a-year-long chain.
*_４２ ＯＦ ＵＳ_*
I dare you to call out that (obvious) reference.
I'm about to blow your mind (if you enjoy small details).
8:55 - You said you climbed the ripper ladder and still couldn't break the sequence. Interestingly enough, you actually can break the sequence by bomb jumping your way to the top. It might feel like a lot of effort to obtain a power up you'll end up getting later in the game anyway, but this sequence break makes low percent runs much easier. But that's not all!
Remember the cut scene where Samus is going down the elevator and we see Mother Brain waking up, observing Samus's decent into the caverns? Yeah, the clip you played at 5:31. Samus is wearing her non-upgraded yellow suit. However, if you bomb jump your way to the Varia Suit and grab the upgrade before triggering said cut scene, they will actually show Samus wearing the orange Varia Suit during the cut scene instead of the basic yellow suit!
Sure, it's a small detail. But it's amazing that they acknowledged that the player obtained the Varia Suit early! Definitely look into the low percentage runs and I think it will grant you a new perspective on some of the odd sequences in the game.
I found a shortcut in Norfair when you get the ice beam, and I was actually able to beat the game without a bunch of items like the Varia suit, super missiles, screw attack, and wave beam. It saved me about an hour of gameplay. The room is at 19:28 and you shoot a missile at the wall to get through
I was just about to comment the same. I always bomb jump to get the Varia suit before leaving Brinstar.
That Varia suit in the cutscene is a nice touch.
Gotta love a good bomb jump.
You can also get the screw attack before ridley by smartly shinespaking through half a hallway onto the ceiling of the room where it waits you, but that requires a dumb level of luck or map knowledge OR a sheer ammount of persistence to look, check and bomb every single corner
Hey, wanna know something funny?
_YOU got me into 2D Metroid with these reviews._
*_And you have no idea how grateful I am._*
Cool
same here.
I will forever be grateful
Even as game development technology grows and matures, many of those old 8-bit and 16-bit 2D games are timeless! 😀
AniGa Same here
true
One thing of note:
Notice how the varia suit is at first just a color change, like in the original Metroid. However the upgraded suit has the iconic round shoulders that were added in Metroid 2 to make the destinction between the Power Suit and Varia Suit on the monochrome Gameboy and were used ever since.
This is a nice touch to explain the difference in apperance and also bridges the gap between the "classic" abilities from the first Metroid and the latr games, giving in one go Samus her most powerful items from Super. And its all wrapped up in a good in-lore explaination.
Also of note: The jingle that plays when you get the upgraded suit is closer to Super that the usual item jingle
Ooh, yep, I didn't even notice that (BAD AT NOTICING VISUAL THINGS, THUS BAD AT ADVENTURE GAMES), but that's really clever!
How the fuck have I not noticed this until now?
Actually same
I think I've watched this series almost as much as I've fought Ridley...
More than for me.
Same.. Zero Mission is my absolute favorite over Super for some odd reason
@@evaunit2005 maybe it's due to the movement. I haven't played Super yet, but it looks a tad (and I mean a TAD) floatier. In Zero Mission, Samus just seems more snappy to control. Plus, that amazing Power Grip, Bomb Jumps that are easier to time, and I haven't even touched the Shinesparking: not only you can do what you already could in Super (apart from the energy pulse after impact), but you can also Shinespark onto a ledge and halt the jump while holding the spark, essencially allowing you to do chains of multiple Shinesparks, and even Ballspark for narrow passages!
Or maybe it's the map, as it also shows doorways, passages, distinction between map-marked paths and hidden paths, and both collected and uncollected items.
Definetly not because of the handholding, though.
Lol same once every 6 months I watch this series again and love it because first time I did it I was eating pizza had snacks and was in my pjs at home on sofa eating it on a massive tv. God it was amazing
@@Mike14264 for me it’s definitely the movement, it’s so slow in SM that it’s painful, but not getting gravity, Varia not changing the suit until Chozo ruins, plasma beam, and power bombs in the later half of the game is a tiny and small thing but it makes it feel off for me. But moving around in ZM feels fantastic
"Its a damn shame the 2d series ended in 2004"
NOT ANYMORE BAYBEEEEE
Mecha Ridley didn't come _entirely_ out of left field. There was a cutscene just as you entered the mothership of Mecha Ridley's eye opening, giving a cryptic message that there's something in here watching for you.
Still, Mecha Ridley is kind of a Giant Space Flea from Nowhere.
Yea he's still kind of out of left field
He's still out of left field, but not like... completely. His existence was lightly hinted at prior
15:30
Oh my god, I never noticed that Space Pirate was actually hiding from me! LOL
Looking back that actually made me laugh! I always thought it was because they were trying to ambush. I never saw it in that sentiment and yet I love it. All the more reason to push the fact that you are clearly overpowered, they know they lost, and there's nothing they can do but either hide or make desperate yet futile attempts!
Ridley When i noticed that, i laughed way too much at that folk :D
killing that space pirate with a single button press was awesome. it was the best reward possible after that tedious stealth section.
Than I guess it did a good job hiding.
@@jingt.415 So did I. I left him alive so he could spread the story.
I killed it before even asking myself what he was doing there.
Metroid Dread getting announced is the best thing ever
Apperantly it will be a bit more horror focused but i really hope it will make all the good things the games have done in the past and perfect them
@@jeffboy4231 I honestly dont think the creators of Metroid would drop Metroid 5 unless they thought it'd be perfect, they canceled this once before. I'm stoked
I think they actually canceled it twice before. Maybe three times, but either way it shows that this game is going to be polished.
Fuck that cash grab nostalgia grab POS baby's first Metroid trash. Looks like it was made in 2010 and just got shown today. What a crock of shit.
@@Skellotronix are you ok?
Metroid Zero Mission was a game that changed my life. My first system was the GBA, and while Zero Mission wasn't my first game (Pokemon holds that title) it was the one I was most excited for. I saw it in my local gamestop in February 2005, and I wanted it so bad, I wasn't going to wait until my birthday in April. I got it, and got home, played it for about an hour, and 6 year old me took it out and put in Pokemon Ruby. I thought it was too hard. But later that year, I lost the game, and I was really upset, because I felt something that I hadn't ever felt before. Zero Mission was the first time I can remember being extremely satisfied after a struggle. In that original hour, I only got as far as getting the bombs. I beat King Worm, and died in the lava that followed, trying to get to the save room. Before that, I died to King Worm countless times. But when I did beat him, I was overjoyed. Never did accomplishing anything feel so amazing before. I found the cartridge under my couch almost a year later. Since I lost it, my desire to play it again grew immensely. I put the game back in and was thrilled at what I experienced. I remember playing it all day, and having to go to bed right before fighting Ridley. I snuck my GBA upstairs and played it all night, beating Mecha Ridley, and finishing the game. At the end, it showed me my time and item completion. 6 hours and 27 minutes, with 51% items. I IMMEDIATELY played the game again and got 3 hours and 21 minutes with 72% items. I was hooked. At that time, it was probably my favorite game ever. Since then, I have done speedruns, 100% completions, 10% completions, and even a run where after getting my first few missile packs, I wasn't allowed to shoot my beam anymore. Currently, it sits as my 3rd favorite game of all time, and the game I will come back to more often than any other.
Oh, man, thank you for this comment! I love hearing stories like that. It reminds me of when I was six, playing Sonic 2 for the first time.
I'm glad you liked it! My favorite part about sharing these stories is seeing others' personal stories. It's really something that brings us together
Samus is definetly not a bad choice for best heroine
Omg young me trying to beat Zero Mission.. That game is challenging enough, much more as a 7-8 year old. Imagine that surprise when you destroy mother brain, and you crash land back on the planet without your suit or weapons, just a measly stun gun. Masterpiece.
While I couldn't appreciate it as much, since I hadn't played the original, it was a neat surprise to see how weak I was. That section was hard though, the stealth took 2 out of my original 6 1/2 hours to do.
the purple shadow that followed samus when she jumped was legendary. also when she takes her suit off and becomes very vulnerable until she reaches the chozo statue with the op gravity suit. this game was definitely my childhood
21:27 It brings me joy how poorly this aged.
wait... that last energy tank could be done with the speed boost??? i had to spin jump my way through the whole part. damn. that was a pixel perfect thing -_-
You mean you retained a Shine Spark after breaking the glass, recharged it using the slope near the bottom, unleashed it hitting the slope and then Speed Boosting and Screw Attacking after you jumped and kept Space Jumping? I did that but for 100% speedrunning (not pixel perfect, just keeping calm)
@@AwesomeHairo No, he's talking about the energy tank right before Mecha Ridley's room that you have to space jump between the lasers for.
That's how I did it the first time as well.
Nearly went mad. lol
Then I see this and am like "Whaaa?"
@@DropkickNation I kinda had the same reaction. Every time I picked it up before I did space jump, which is super hard. Then one time I was passing through on a casual playthough and just though "I wonder..." So much easier, and now I grab it every casual play.
I've never managed to get this tank before, now I'm going to have to get it.
I've never seen this game before, but that is some of the most gorgeous pixel art I've ever seen! The colour choices in particular are just lovely, spice for the eyes.
@OLD BIRD CHOZOExcept Zero Mission is actually a decent metroid game.
Some people complained about some of the backgrounds though, something about a more cartoony/comic book style artstyle.
The art style is indeed charming and pleasing to the eye, but unfortunately it somewhat takes away a lot of the creepy and forboding atmosphere the series is known for. Honestly, this game has great gameplay, but the actual ambience/theming is really subpar for a Metroid game.
@@BenjaminAnderson21 It feels like an adventure, the stakes are low. It being different does not make it subpar. The world feels alive and that gives it contrast between
Tourian/the Mothership and the rest of Zebes. Not every Metroid needs to be the same, and the atmosphere matches the soundtrack perfectly. Themes like Norfair and Brinstar are adventurous and fit the artstyle. Themes like Chozodia and Crateria are desolate, where as ambience like Tourian is creepy. Having a contrast improves each area.
@@gu3z185 The soundtrack isn't really adventurous, I would describe it as more arcadey and catchy than anything. The art style is gorgeous and charming, but its goofiness degrades the creepiness and tension the game's themes and story attempt to provide. The areas also don't feel unique or memorable for the most part due to lack of atmospheric music to give them identity and overly subtle environmental theming. Zero Mission had great gameplay, but it felt soulless for the most part.
Edit: no, I'm not saying Zero Mission's music doesn't have ANY mood or ambience; Norfair is an example of a good atmospheric track, but the majority of the themes like Brinstar, Ridley's lair and the likes are much more catchy than they are ambient.
When you get noticed in ZM, it actually plays a remix of the pirate infested Crateria from Super Metroid
No mention of the derelict space ship from Super Metroid being exactly where you blew up the Space Pirate ship in Metroid Zero Mission? That was clearly intentional.
Oh shit, damn they love tying ends in Metroid. So much love in that franchise
TMSNssto Yeah. Same trashcan robots too
Emmett Turner OH MY GOD I JUST GOT THAT
Joseph Marchyok Took me a while too. ;) Didn't exactly notice on my first play through. Probably happened after the next Super Metroid and subsequent Zero Mission play through.
Only problem with that is that there's already an area similar to the Wrecked Ship in the bottom left of Chozodia.
Guess what? Got a new 2d Metroid game. You gonna analyze it? Probably. You gonna love it? Definitely.
The Four Star Gamer i actually love it just as much as zero if not a little bit more. Both are really fun and addicting.
If by new your referring to samus returns it sucks
@@novustalks7525 i don't think it's bad
Still, the original has it's specific tone to it~
They're both great games, showing of how far Metroid as a whole franchise came
@OLD BIRD CHOZO Also super metroid, and metroid 2.
Explain man. Returns was my intro to Metroid and I loved it. I ain’t saying your opinions wrong, but it in my opinion is a great reimagining of return of Samus.
That failed sequence break is your fault. There is so much sequence breaking possible in MZM; watch a speedrun or something, it's fantastic what you can do in that game.
Yeah, and he said it was his fault.
It's brilliant how they made infinite bombjumping just that little bit easier just to ease you into sequence breaking.
It is pretty damn easy to sequence break the Hi-Jump, Varia Suit, Super Missile, and Screwattack.
@@jacobmonks3722 Skipping the long beam would be an option here ^^
@@justblacky4489 Indeed. But there's no reason to as it's literally the second weapon in the game and makes your life easier.
Unless I'm going for a Low Percent run, in which case I skip it. But I rarely ever make that attempt. The Ridley fight is too damn hard for me.
Just because I enjoyed your interpretation of _Fusion_'s title screen music so much:
I think it's very relevant given your examination of this game's approach to tone that the title music of _Zero Mission_, despite being an update of the _Metroid_ theme all the way back from NES _Metroid_'s title screen, mixes it up by placing the more upbeat and heroic part of the song first, and only afterwards transitioning to the better known, more ominous part of the theme. (And now I'm highly tempted to parallel the optimistic portion of the track to the upbeat mood of the bulk of the game and the dark portion to the tonal and gameplay shift that occurs after beating Mother Brain - almost certainly unintentional, given that it's merely a rearrangement of a track created almost twenty years beforehand, but way too awesome not to just count it as a point in the game's favor.)
Zero Mission is pretty easy on Easy and normal (unless you go for a low percent ending for Normal mode). As you've seen however, Hard Mode is legit hard. Not only do you take more damage, but get less from collectibles like Missile Tanks. I beat Zero Mission on the Hard Mode 15% category, and it's one of the hardest video game challenges I have ever completed, despite normal mode being such a cake walk at times. Zero Mission has practically everything anybody could want from a game like this, you just have to look for it... sort of.
If you have a Wii U, please buy the Metroid Prime Trilogy, it's $20 and is an absolute steal. All of the game have the Prime 3 aiming controls as well, which is much better than the Gamecube controls (at least I and a friend of mine think so). I played Prime 1 when it was new, so I'm not talking out of my ass here. For Speed Running though, Prime 1 on the Gamecube is the way to go, but the motion aiming is awesome.
18:52 Look at Samus' face when it transitions from full armor to Samus removing her helmet. Samus' face looks so weird, like they edited her human face on top of her helmet. There's also some weird coloring on Samus' left forearm, about where it aligns with her chest-plate. I never noticed that before, it looks so bad it's hilarious.
Already bought the Metroid Prime Trilogy! When it first came out on Wii U, it was on sale for $10, so I got it then. I also played it on the Wii back when it came out, and definitely preferred the Wiimote aiming.
Are you planning on doing a Geek Critique of the Prime Trilogy?
@@GeekCritique 16:55 as you were mentioning it is more challenging on hard mode, but even harder once you get all items. Definitely makes Fusion seem incredibly easy.
Compared to Easy, on Normal, you take more damage, recover less energy, and encounter tougher enemies. On Hard, damage taken is DOUBLED from Normal, enemies are often multiplied and upgraded from Normal, max Missles are 100 instead of 250, max Super Missles are 15 instead of 30, and max Energy Tanks are a measily 6 tanks instead of 12. Also, collecting 100% items on any mode will TRIPLE Mecha Ridley Robot's OFFENSE and DEFENSE!
(x2 x2 x3 x3 = 36 times harder Ridley...that can't be right...)
On Hard, a 100% Mecha Ridley requires 90 Missles (All 15 Supers + 15 Missles...but you're likely to miss a few Supers so add on 5 missles per miss), while one claw swipe drains 3 of Samus's total 6 Energy Tanks. His tricky eye-beam breaks through screw attack and takes 50 damage...but worse, it lets him combo you into his claw dealing, 3.5 out of 6 of your total energy tanks. Towards the end of the fight, he exploits his claw-beam combo while giving you a fraction of a window to hit him with a missle.
The duo of Super-Aggressive Silver Pirates blocking the exit deal 100 damage (1 full tank) per beam shot and an additional 50 damage by running into you, but they each require at least 10 beam hits to kill and are immune to all other attacks (in about 5 seconds flat it is easy to lose all 6 energy tanks and get a game over)
3:30 to show the claw-beam combo th-cam.com/video/tTVSxi-myvE/w-d-xo.html
@@Goblin_Hands The regular Ridley boss is still inexcusably easy, though. Not as embarrassing as in Fusion, but still the easiest boss in the game. I don't know why they didn't just give him more HP.
@@EebstertheGreat On Hard he can kill you in like 20 seconds...but you can kill him in like 30, so yeah I agree. More HP definitely.
Metroid Zero Mission is the epitome of perfection. Is the old Metroid with Fusion-esque gameplay, and Super Metroid epicness in a single package. I share the exact same sentiments as TGC about this game. I sometimes debated b/w SM and MZM as which is the definite, ultimate Metroid, and MZM won over a marginal advantage. The game is "short", but it really has lots and lots of replay value. I even beat the game in hard with 7℅ completion, which is actually a requirement to unlock other screens, and if you link it to Fusion, you will also unlock Fusion's ending screens. There's even a time attack mode, inputting a small code at the file select screen, which is perfect for speedrunners like me, this game is so wonderful it even takes speedrunners into account. The classic Tanaka's melodies were remastered by Yamamoto, the level design is tantamount of careful design choices, the sprites, animations, effects are top quality, and the game is nowhere near intrusive and insulting of your intelligence as Fusion was. MZM is simply the ultimate 2D Metroid game.
Antonio Briceño so glad you made this comment. It's Christmas in a day and I remember getting zero mission as a kid on Christmas Day. A game I cherish to this day and I think after 10 years it's time for me to play it again!
yup. zero mission is pretty much the quintessential 2d metroid. only thing that irks me is how hard mode is locked by default. i understand why it is, but i still wonder what could have been
Baiken Brando Giving you a suggestion about where to go isn't holding your hand, zero mission doesn't hold your hand at all, holding your hand is giving you the exact specifics of what to do, how to do it, and forcing you to do it.
I know this is a pretty old comment, but how did you beat it on hard with 7% completion? Last i checked the lowest you can get is 9% on easy and normal, and 10% on hard.
Simply put, it is more than the sum of its parts, and considering its parts are refined from the previous games before it, that makes it THE masterpiece in the series (so far).
The reason I find Zero mission the best is because it perfectly combines the control and handling of fusion and the exploration and freedom of super. The first playthrough is what you critique mostly but it really shines in the subsequent playthroughs. The first time you play is to show you where everything is and then it gives you the freedom to do everything how you want to do it and make it as easy or as difficult you want it to be. If you want it to test your skill then go with the 9% challenge where you get only the mandatory upgrades or mix and match different upgrade choices like you could in super to get different feels of gameplay. I personally almost never get the long beam anymore because to me it feels out of the way but sometimes I feel like getting it for a change of pace and it drastically changes the entire feel of the game. same can be with the wave beam and a majority of the upgrades. This game does a great job of giving you the feel like youre actually exploring a world and where everything has different paths because a world itself isnt linear. In fusion you're on a man made structure - its meant to feel that way but a world is so vast its not meant to contain
I've only played Metroid and Super Metroid. I should try the other ones.
This has to be one of my favorite series of reviews on youtube. You just dive headfirst into every game in the series. Keep up the great work!
Idk what it is but your voice is so calming. Don't take this the wrong way but I can fall asleep listening (and then re-watch when I'm awake!!).
And we have our AM2R episode patreon met, woo!
no, its $14 short
Then people must've somehow refunded their patreon because it was met when i checked 3 weeks ago.
One thing, you don't actually need the Long Beam to move to the other side of the map. Above the door, there are some blocks that you can shoot out to get to the door, and it's a fun little sequence break that I always found cool.
The sequence breaking in this game is quite interesting. On my first playthrough, I had two chozo markers at once, and never fought that bug boss for the super missles because I got them early
lol i just commented and saw your comment afterwards. I guess we broke sequence the same way
Since Dread has been announced, I started replaying the 2D games, finishing Zero Mission a few days ago. Now, after watching your video, I realised I broke sequence too. I completely missed that Larvae/Moth boss and got super missiles early by shine sparking with the ball (5:00). I love how Zero lets you do this without ever breaking the game. Such a great game.
2D Metroid aren't dead anymore! Metroid Samus Returns!
2D METROID SERIES IS DEAD MY ASS !
yeah about that...
@Mythrok Return of Samus for 3ds is a great game!
OLD BIRD CHOZO yes it is. Original Metroid 2 is unplayable. AM2R isn’t bad, but Samus Returns is better.
Edit: and it officially makes the Prime games canon. The final boss is Meta Ridley, who previously only appears in the Prime games. During the fight, Samus blows off his armor so he appears all natural like in Super Metroid.
@Mythrok well~
The original and the remake are both Special on their own~
They're neither good or bad
They're what the are
A representation of how far this entire franchise came
I would recommend you to play them both
They're wonderful ^^
I LOVE Zero Mission!
It's my favorite Metroid BY FAR.
HECK, YES!!!!
Have you played Super Metroid ???????
CR2504life Yes, but I like Zero Mission more.
Both are fantastic
SAME
Zero Mission is definitely a Metroid game for gamers who enjoy faster pace, more stremlined adventures. Super Metroid is for the hardcore nonlinear adventure enthusiasts, but it is still accessible enough that a noobie can still play it comfortably. That's telling of great game design.
Please, everyone who can, support Josh on Patreon so we can get an AM2R review
How??
He has a Patreon page where you can pledge some money and get various rewards, such as seeing the vids early or in this case funding towards a new episode
TheJamaicanGamer we got it boys
ThatMattPerson Yay. Now we can continue this support and keep on helping Josh
hey do you know how to give TGC lump sums(not monthly contributions) on patreon? I'd really like to give the $14 needed for the AM2R vid, but Im not interested in monthly donations
Tgc: this is the final 2d escape sequence
Metroid dread: bonjour
Just found you today and watched your (current) Metroid series. Happy to subscribe and look forward to your other videos. I've always been a Metroid fan, but this past year I basically did exactly what you did, started at the beginning and replayed them all. I'm happy to see a relatively new and critical player enjoy them as much as I did. The feels indeed...
I've replayed very few games as much as Zero Mission in my life. This review makes me want to pick it up again.
This is not only my favorite Metroid game of the entire franchise, but also one of my absolute favorite games of all time. Period. Definitely in my top 3. It did so many things right to me for an 2D fomula of a Metroid game with better controls, physics, atmosphere, soundtracks, the designs of the area, unique bosses ( even if they're easy or not to beat, but honestly I find it fairly easy or hard & not pathetically easy or brutally hard ), repeatability. I can go on about how much I absolutely love the game & makes me much more of a Metroid fan. They're are alot of good Metroid games. I know. But this is my absolute favorite & I go back & play it over & over again. It may or may not be perfect. But this is still a fantastic game. Everyone should give it a shot.
8:56 - Rewatching this moment, I suddenly realized that I never really saw you make use of chained bomb jumps to sequence break in any of the videos. There was one moment where you used it to reach a switch somewhere in the Prime series, but the water flow assisted you with the timing by slowing your descent after reaching the peak altitude from the previous bomb, and it was really one of the few instances in the entire series where chaining bomb jumps was a necessity for making it through the game.
That particular ripper room is actually one of my favorite sequence break opportunities in the series. It's pretty easy after getting the ice beam as someone else pointed out earlier, but I've been able to sequence break that room basically as soon as I got the bombs as you can bomb jump all the way up (carefully adjusting your timing to dodge the rippers without breaking your bomb jump chain) and then switching into a diagonal bomb jump as you near the top. End result is that you can end up with the Varia suit as one of your first upgrades in your first run through Brinstar. Some of the later portions of this sequence break get damned hard to boot.
The inclusion of overhangs at the tops of walls that sit just beneath a door is something they do quite frequently in Zero Mission, and I can't help but think that it was meant to keep the bomb jump relevant in the face of the wall jump (And the single-wall variety no less) being available in this game.
The shine spark and it’s application towards getting hidden items is done best in this game.
I'm curious, are you going to review the 3D Metroid games as well? I just watched all of these videos back to back to back, and I'm very interested in how you'll feel about the 3D Metroid games now that you've experienced the 2D ones. In any case, I'm going to subscribe, and hope for more good content.
I'm doing AM2R next, but I definitely plan to hit the Prime Trilogy this year, yes!
Sweet! Well, I'll look forward to all of those.
The Geek Critique but what about Other M?
Curious, would that lead to a Other M review in the future as well? I have mixed opinions to say the least, and am interested in what you think.
Phylaks Pyros Shh. We don't talk about that abomination; it never existed.
This review has put Zero Mission pretty high on my must play list, and my 'must play' list isn't too long tbh.... *THANKS* :)
I've been subscribed to you for a long time now and just thought that you might like to hear that I love going back and rewatching your Metroid series over and over again every so often. Thank you for all your hard work!
I just found your channel, but I have to say you have tapped into my nostalgia in a way that no other youtuber has. In the few videos I've watched, I've wanted to go back and play the entire Metroid Series in its entirety, DKC2, and Super Smash Bros. Keep it up!
18:00 samus narrowly escapes! luckily she knows how to handle space sperm.
My first Metroid game. The one that got me into the series. And my absolute favorite in the series.
I love how you can actually see the little engraving of Samus and the Chozo on that test Samus is fighting it in her Zero Suit. If you look closely, you can see it. I just love how Metroid always has little details like that.
WHAT. I never noticed that!
@@GeekCritique Yup! You gotta look very closely to see it when you're in that room, but it is most definitely there. Also, thank you for replying to my comment, I never thought that'd happen lol. Your awesome channel is honestly one of my absolute favorites.
The level designs in the game were great, iconic. The speed running was good. You could get super missile early in Brinstar after you get the speed boost upgrade.
And lower norfsir was designed to be gone through without it as well. Think the whole game is like that.
Zero Mission is the best Metroid game. I've beaten that game so many times! It's like a good action movie. I always look forward to everything. There's rarely a game like that. I like the other Metroid games but they take too long to beat and there's always a part that you dread.
Arguably, I find fusion way better.
This is a very insignificant thing that I noticed, but I felt like bringing it up anyway:
Why is Samus wearing lipstick? Why would a bounty hunter who wears a helmet 90% of the time be wearing any makeup, like, ever? I'm probably just reading too deep into that, just something that bugs me a bit.
Hmmm... good point.
It's actually her Chozo heritage to wear lipstick at all times.
HQDefault I always wondered this...
Well it would look pretty silly if she were to apply it to the outside of her helmet.
HQDefault Automatic application is present in the helmet
My favorite remake of all time, and the Gold Standard for how to do it right.
Picked this up on a family vacation at 12, loved it from my first glimpse of the boxart. I only knew Samus from Smash Bros, but that taught me enough- she was tough as nails, had an arsenal to match a spaceship, and moved like a jet/tank hybrid. I was amazed at how smooth she felt, the sheer fun it was to blast aliens to atoms, and the discovery elements were perfect for a kid. I didn't get everything, not by a long shot- but I treasured every upgrade and secret.
The Zero Suit sequence was mindblowing, as were the powerbomb shortcuts!
All on a plain GBA with no backlight :D
hey TGC. As a long time Metroid fan I REALLY enjoyed this series. It was so fun to see your perspective on each of these Metroid games and I thought you did all of them justice. Keep creating quality content. I binge watched this entire series after I saw the fusion critique in my suggestions. Fantastic stuff, man. You've got my sub. Stay cool.
You should do Samus Returns
Seeing this video in 2021 after the reveal of Metroid Dread makes me really excited for the eventual Metroid Dread video
I don't quite remember how I found your channel, but when I did, I found something wonderful that was informative and coherent. Most of all, I found it interesting, something I'd been looking for for a while now. And with Metroid being my favorite series, I guess I found your channel at a good time. Thank you for what you do here.
These videos started popping up in my suggestions and now I'm on a marathon of your critiques. Good stuff, you've got a new sub.
This was my first Metroid game, and even today, after having played through every 2D Metroid, this one still remains my favorite. Even in comparison to Super Metroid, I prefer this game. I believe it took the formula of Super Metroid and improved on it. Tighter physics, a simpler control scheme, and map markings that actually show whether you've picked up an item. Granted, these changes were all made in Fusion, but my point still stands. Overall, Zero Mission just feels better for me than any other Metroid game, and so much of what was said in this review really resonated with me.
17:27
I definitely argue that Zero Mission trumps Super.
In that it perfects what Super brought to the table.
Yeah,but I still prefer supers graphical style,with it's dark gloomy atmosphere
19:30 if you still haven't figured it out, there's a missle block at the top of the wall that lets you drop down with some skilled jumps and bomb all the way to the bottom of Norfair to where you enter Ridley. This actually lets you sequence break and fight Ridley before Kraid. And yes, the developers gave you a way to get out of Ridley without the Speed Boost you normally get after Kraid
I've never clicked on a notification so fast in my life. This series is amazing, man. Can't wait to finish typing this comment and hit that play button. Keep up the good work. You've come so far. :)
2D Metroid is coming back!
My first play through I recall accidentally not picking screw attack, because it wasn't a progression blocker to kill mother brain. Then, after getting the gravity suit, I was unable to break screw attack blocks, forcing a restart as I was locked into the Ruins for simply missing that power-up.
This series earned a subscription.
Well written and actually I agree with most that's been said.
Also, thanks for adding the Samus child carving part. Either or, keep up the good work
One of my first Metroid games :)
you also forgot going back to tourian after getting the power bombs shows us (at least in the escape hatch and mother brain chambers) a tourian in ruins...filled with harsh green liquid that even hurts the gravity suit....
pretty sure in the time between zero mission and super metroid they had to drain said liquid... but otherwise it looks 1:1 like super metroids version of the area.
supersmashbro596 Super Metroid's version still has the remains of floating platforms and tubes. The only reason Zero Mission left those out is for the sake of conveniently Shinesparking through the room to get a Missile Tank. Not that big a detail though, it's pretty nitpicky.
So I went ahead and watched your Metroid series out of order and ended here. It's pretty touching how we've gone from this proclaimed renaissance to a fan made underground game out of sheer love for the series. Fusion was one of the first games I've ever completed as a kid back when it first came out so I was missing out on the raving fanbase lingering from Super Metroid. By the time I got to Zero Mission, I got the chance to appreciate the Prime Trilogy end to end. This series breaks all kinds of boundaries like action, adventure, platformer, scifi, FPS, and even a touch of horror and Serlock-esque investigation. You said Zero mission might be the definitive game of the series and I'm glad I got to play it last actually. It really was the cherry on top while we wait for the revival of Samus for the game's 35th year milestone. You've done a huge service to the community by highlighting why there's so much love for this game decades after conception and why it's important to sometimes step back and get back to your roots but with all the knowledge that's manifested after so many years of experimentation and tweaking.
Slow clap, my friend. You've really earned my +1 sub for this.
Great series! I am a huge fan of Metroid and met this channel back when the first video on the series was released.... in the meantime I watched your videos on other stuff I love like Super Smash Bros. series and Nintendo 64 (my first console!) and all of those were great too!
I was just waiting this series to end to give you the sub you earned :P
The music still sounds better than the NES
13:15 dat ass....just sayin' ;D Great critique, GC! Really need to get into the Metroid series.
What? There's a reason why we all love the Zero suit and it ain't because of the metallic blue design lol..
He didn't show it in his footage,but when Samus's exposition appears on that screen the word "infiltrating" is right on her ass.Those CHEEKY developers! ;3
Her butt looks slightly flabby, you can tell it's hanging a little
mrm64 - Metroid attracted considerably more pervs after this game, yes -_-
Sara Hansson What? Where in gods name were you looking? U jealous?
Your entire Metroid series has been amazing. Keep up the awesome work!
The last ridley boss, is substantially harder given that you either complete the game with 100%, or decide to go with the more hardcore route of almost no items (15%, which means only 15 pick ups in total counting the 3 unknown). This game got me into speedrunning and I will forever love the different routes you can discover to be effective, quicker, and more skilled.
Picking up items early was always fun.
Let’s be honest. We’ve all watched this series 1000 times
Nintendo should be grounded for not making any new 2D metroid games.
Boris, ah it’s you
Boy, do I have news for you
I really enjoyed these videos, it was cool to see someone impartial to the series come around and discuss in a respectful way. I would like to see your guys take on metroid prime trilogy.
8:58 So there is IBJ (infinite ball jump). Use bombs in a specific sequence over and over to sequence break. This was even in Super Metroid. Fusion also took this away.
Also, there are plenty of metroid hacks on metroid construction, allowing the community to create their own, and they have great stuff there.
I.... actually had a really tough time with Mecha Ridley.
If you get all the upgrades, then it's a really tough fight, especially if you do that while playing hard mode
TheJamaicanGamer nope! It was on easy and I only had 61% of the upgrades
Probably just had a hard time lining up the missiles and avoiding the attacks, especially that claw attack like I did on my first run through.
TheJamaicanGamer yup! I had a really tough time lining up the missles
I want to laugh at your petty gaming skills, but I cant help thinking about the first time I played zero mission.
Hard to slog through Fusion again...
And here's me having played Fusion 40+ times...
Fusion is a lot more tolerable on an emulator. The ability to fast forward through the cut scenes is invaluable.
10:17 that happened to me exactly. I was so happy when I found the distructable tile in that room.😅
on that last note, I'd like to thank you as well for reigniting my love for Metroid. I've always loved it too pieces but after watching this series I've been replaying them, and it feels like reconnecting to a piece of myself growing up. I hope you keep on going with this series, at least until Metroid prime 3 and consequently AM2R if possible, only because I don't want you getting burned out on Metroid's later outings. Excellent work so far, I'm more or less your age and I concur with many personal tidbits you mention in all these videos.
3:47 Why does everyone make fun of skyward sword. I for one think it’s better than ocarina of time!
@@PretzelLunar Well, it can in a few places. Ocarina is a super generic Zelda game though, it's obsolete by the standards of its sequels. Games like Majora's Mask that try something new age well because their sequels followed the formula.
GO, ZEO!
POWERED UP FOR MORE! RANGERS AT THE CORE!
@@GeekCritique STRONGER THAN BEFORE
I was 6 in 1986 when my Brother got his NES with Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt and Metroid. Metroid was my favorite. I still remember seeing the Justin Bailey code done for the first time. That game will always get a playthrough from me once a year.
Man, i grew up on these games and its wonderful to see someone finally talkin about em.
I'm a little surprised/disappointed that this video didn't really discuss/compare the approach to open-endedness/sequence breaking in this game compared to that of Fusion; the two of them make for an excellent case study on the subject, with each representing one extreme opposite end of the spectrum. While Fusion railroaded you so damn hard that you had to pay 200 dollars every time you landed on it, Zero Mission made the questionable decision of building sequence breaking into the game as a requirement to earn the best ending. This raises a question regarding what exactly entails sequence breaking, since the game clearly intends for you to do it. Whereas Super Metroid did an excellent job of keeping the hand of the developer steady to allow the player to feel that they were forging their own way through the game, Fusion and Zero Mission both suffer from the feeling like you're being led around with a carrot on a stick.
For what it is, though, Zero Mission is a wonderful game. For the fault I mention above about it, it does take Super Metroid's replayability one step further by openly encouraging challenge runs as an open requirement to get the best endings, though whether that decision is for the better or worse is up for debate.
Actually the necessary to sequence break to get the best ending is a carry over form the game its remaking if you want to See Samus outside her suit in the original do you also have to skip quite a bit.
I thing the feeling of breaking the games despite the best ending requiring it is perfectly excusable because to get said skips do you have to ignore the point markers which give the feel of breaking the games design intention while still leaving the clear path for first time players to prevent the frustration of the Original game.
Well, skipping and sequence breaking are two distinct things. If you're referring to the NES version, then clocking in at under an hour CAN be tricky, but all you'd really need to flat-out bypass in order to make it easy would be the Wave Beam (which is tucked deep away in Norfair and you can't use it against Metroids anyway). Super Metroid's best ending, on the other hand, has an INCREDIBLY generous window of three hours, which is well within reach of even 100% completion.
@@BillyTBum Well what exactly than is the difference between Skipping and Sequence breaking.
Not to mention that Zero missions actually is intended to be so breakable the best example is if you morph ball bomb jump to get the Varia suit early will the Cut-scene in which mother Brain watches Samus in the Elevator actually have Samus in her Varia suit.
So one could say it isn't as much sequence breaking as that the game simply allow for multiple ways to overcome its challenges.
And keep in mind Zero Mission is a much shorter game than Super Metroid and so designed around replaying it multible times especially because its a handheld game.
And Yes I know Super is also rather re-playable but its as a home console game and which is much longer running time not as easy to just replay as the shorter Handheld game that is Zero Mission.
I know it's unrelated, but have you played An Untitled Story by chance?
I reckon it's semi-related, cuz AUS is a metroidvania too. Also one of my favourite games. I'd love to see him review it.
I've never even heard of it, actually!
The Geek Critique It's a fantastic game! It's a freeware game by a guy with the handle YoMama'sMama. It sees you beginning as an egg that leaves the nest, with no direction or goals, and eventually wind up saving the world. I'd totally recommend it.
Ooh, man, that does sound interesting. I also just picked up Axiom Verge on the Steam sale. Might be a while before I can get around to playing it (next season production is about to ramp up, haha), but I'm glad that even if there aren't many METROID games, there are still plenty of games inspired by it.
Oh there's tonnes. The metroid romhacking community is alive and well too, but those games can be a little hehe "difficult".
Can we just appreciate the amount of detail in this game. You can see the little drawing young samus made at the bottom left during the fight.
I know this is several years old now but I thought I’d just chime in with something, if you’re clever enough and have found the secret paths you can actually get the super missiles somewhat, early fight Ridley and kraid in reverse, and skip past the long beam (which is rough)
Nice. I need to give that a try soon
The best Metroid in my opinion
I agree. Though there are alot of great Metroid games more than the bad ones. But I agree that Zero Mission is my favorite.
You should play AM2R and I am curious to see your review then😃
I've been playing through all of the 2D Metroid game for the first time basically all at once and it's been a lot of fun. I first played Zero Mission and began Fusion as soon as I beat Zero I really didn't care for Fusion so I started playing the copy of AM2R that I was able to get before it was DMCA'd once I beat that I began Super Metroid and I've continued playing Fusion
what was your favourite?
Hey man I remember watching this 2 years ago finally got around to playing this enjoying every second
The big thing I dislike about zero mission is the Anime Samus look with lipstick. I know it sounds weird, however this serie was always something more mature dark and realist in that way.
They gotta sexualize her. She's probably the crush of many players
9:02 you could bomb jump there. Don't blame the game if you don't know how to play it.
Aw man, you freakin' destroyed me. Got 'em, dude.
What? I have no intention of destroying people lol. Just telling your review is inacurate and you should revise. In your super metroid you also don't consider bomb jumping a thing. Consider this a contructive criticism.
Nope, but I dind't made a review out of it claiming the "produces won't let me sequence break the game" without knowing all the sequence breaking tools.
Don't cut me slack, but do understand the format. These aren't really "reviews," in the usual sense. These aren't meant to tell you whether or not to buy a game. They're more long-form analysis of the games through the lens of my experiences with them.
I wasn't saying that Zero Mission should be derided for not letting you sequence break in the exact same way Metroid I did it. I was saying that in that instance, my earlier experience with Metroid I was causing me to feel frustrated with Zero Mission BECAUSE I was trying to do things the same way.
And the quote was not, "The producers won't let me sequence break the game." I detailed the steps I took trying to break the sequence and was annoyed that I wasted so much time, but at the end I even said, "There has got to be a faster way to do this," because I knew there was something I was missing, and there WAS probably a way to do it.
I'm pretty sure you knew the "faster ways to do this", especially after putting footage of speedrunners in your vid. And (correct me if I'm wrong) a video of "should you buy this game?" is pretty much a review for me. That is what reviews are for.
What a good series of videos! You've really taught me a lot about the 2D Metroid games. I'm gonna have to get around to playing Super and Zero Mission at the very least!
That's good to hear! Since I knew that Metroid didn't necessarily have a lot of cross-over appeal with series I've covered before, and since I was ALSO coming to it as a relative newcomer, I tried to make these videos accessible to people who haven't played Metroid.
I am soo happy that Josh's subscriber count has doubled after working so hard and betting so much that quality videos all released close together. I see his idea was a full success and may be the only way for small quality youtubers who take time on each video to compete on this website.
On to 50,000 and greater things!
What is everyone's obsession with super metroid?
Jason Newsham It's an extremely accessible nonlinear adventure game. It is designed in a way where you are essentially free to go anywhere, making every replay potentially faster or more difficult. It is optimized for speedrunners to a ridiculous degree, but is still simple enough that a Metroid noobie can comfortably play it. The music is memorable, the sprite work is top notch, and the world design is extremely well thought out. It encourages replays and exploration, which is why people still play it to this day, it is a timeless classic.
Nerdy George Washington
I disagree. My first time through, I spent nearly 30 hours on it, because there is next to no direction on where to go, unless you bomb every sing surface. I had to use several maps and videos to get through. In my opinion, it is only the second best, and that is only because the original is outdated as shit, navigation in Metroid 2 is near-impossible, and Fusions text-box conversations are super boring. Super Metroid is not accessible to new players.
@@ryanluther5785 30 hours!?? And I thought I was an idiot for taking about 8 hours to do it 100%.
Well, ok, I did help myself finding the last 10 objects or so, but still.
I think the physics and controls of the game are very hard to get used to. I stop several times for a few weeks and played the prime trilogy or Fusion because I was so annoyed. I don't like to press select to access to my different weapon, the jump is to slow, and that WALL JUMP IS THE WORST. But toward the end of the game, I had somehow had learn the wall jump, and suddendly it became super easy and natural. Weird.
Francis Thompson
The worst thing is that I didn't even 100% it. I'm just really bad at nonlinear stuff.
Also, I completely forgot that I replied to this comment.
"Unless you bomb every sing surface"
What is proofreading, really?
@@ryanluther5785 1.I hate saying this but Git Gud,my first playthrough was 7 hours
2.Why are you bombing everything?You get the x-ray visor about 1/3 of the way through the game
3.The only reason it took 7 hours was that I was stupid and didn't realize I had to enter the space pirate lab in Maridia by grappling into it(Something that someone could easily realize),I replayed it afterwards and by knowing that,I shaved off 3 hours
I find it a little amusing that you prefer Fusion's soundtrack (or, at least, its soundfont) over Zero Mission because you find the latter "too tinny" while Fusion makes better use of the GBA sound. For me, it's the exact opposite: I feel like Fusion is the "tinny" one while Zero Mission pushes GBA sound to its limits.
I find the instrumentation of Fusion's soundtrack to be very artificial and MIDI-sounding, to the point where I consider it one of the weaker Metroid soundtracks in the series. Zero Mission's instrumentation, while unfortunately compressed to handle GBA hardware, sounds much fuller and more organic to me; the heavy drums and deep choirs of Brinstar Depths, Norfair, and other music tracks really struck a chord with me.
I suppose one could make the argument that this was intentional, since Fusion takes place aboard an artificial space station while Zero Mission takes place on a natural alien environment. If this is what the composer intended, then it was certainly accomplished.
It's just a matter of personal preference which sound you prefer, so of course I'm not saying your opinion is invalid. If you enjoy Fusion's soundtrack, all the more power to you! Like I said, I just found it amusing that we both had the same reason for preferring one soundtrack over the other, but we disagreed on which soundtrack that particular reason applied to.
I have to agree with him to an extent, I just did my own test and Metroid Zero Mission has very low music quality for a GBA
game. I did a side by side comparison listening of Zero Mission with Fusion and I found that Fusion has more crisp sounding
music compared to Zero Mission. Zero Missions sound is just so muffled and less defined. I even took an extra step and
compared Zero Mission to a few Pokemon games, Kirby and Fire Emblem and Zero Mission losses every single time with
Music quality. All those games sport more crisp and more defined music wheres Zero Missions music sounds very muddied.
HOWEVER I do agree that Zero Mission has a REALLY good soundtrack and that it has better music than Fusion.
But Its excellent soundtrack is unfortunately let down by low sound quality.
If you do your own comparison please don't use TH-cam videos, the videos are compressed so its poor reference material.
Use original hardware plugged into good speakers OR an accuracy focused GBA emulator. And if you can use studio monitors for neutral unfiltered sound.
Given fusions artificial nature,wouldn't that music make sense
@@yoshithinksyourwrong6367 That's reaching a bit, sure it fit, but at the end of the day ambient pieces aren't supposed to hurt your ears
I love that ending picture Samus drew. Gets me thinking how innocent she was then, being brought up by the Chozo...an innocence lost. The Space Pirates, and especially Ridley changed her forever when they killed her parents at the Space Colony.
Wow, I haven’t played this game since I was 12 or so. I forgot how amazing it was! The drawing with the Chozos at the end… 😭
8:33 "Come a little less player agency." Then watch th-cam.com/video/dlXVKQcbpDA/w-d-xo.html
I would argue that you only experienced less player agency because of your lack of skill and knowledge about the game, not that the game forced you to grab upgrades that were far away from the places you were going to use it. The only upgrades you have to get are morphball, bombs, 1 missile tank, power grip, space jump, gravity suit, ice beam, and plasma beam. You only grabbed the other upgrades because you didn't have the skill or didn't know you didn't need it.
You can beat the game skipping the varia suit entirely. You don't need high jump. You don't need super missiles. No energy tanks.
If you're wanting to grab upgrades, sometimes falling into acid to retrieve a power up is the way to go if you want to sequence break.