Another AM2R Retrospective
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- I'm back, and with a video too! The early 2010s were pretty dire for Metroid fans, with the previous game in the series being seen as a major letdown by the most diehard among them. With no indication if Nintendo had any interest in taking the series back to its roots in the next installment (let alone if there would even BE a next installment), the fans took it upon themselves to create the next great Metroid game! Based on one that already existed! Today we'll be discussing Another Metroid 2 Remake, or AM2R for short, a 10-year passion project created by Milton "DoctorM64" Guasti, and how the fans were able to celebrate Metroid's legacy better than its own creators.
00:00 Intro
01:15 History & Context
07:00 Another Metroid 2 Remake
40:00 Community Updates Mod
43:12 Conclusion
Special Thanks:
Straxtos • / @straxtosphere
The Geek Critique • / @geekcritique
Twitter • / basedsamtv
Second Channel • / @morebasedsam
#metroid #metroidvania #nintendo - เกม
Thanks for enjoying the community updates. If you haven’t yet, download the horde mod. It plays like a second quest for AM2R.
I'll be sure to check it out, and thank YOU for your work on the community updates mod!
@@BasedSamTV The updates were definitely a team effort. The only reason I decided to mess with the code was to fix that leg glitch that happened in version 1.1. If it wasn’t for that I would have left the game alone. And even then, I was actually quite happen just fixing that and being done. When I discovered it, I told the community about it and thought about moving on. There is a version 1.1.2 made for the speedrunning community that fixed the leg glitch and also an audio glitch. It wasn’t until Craig Kostelecky shared the code that needed changed to do a NewGame+ mode that I really started to consider actually working on the project. Interestingly before then I really had gotten into the ALTTP randomizer. That was a big reason why I decided to try and randomize AM2R.
Here’s the randomizer mode backstory. The original code had expansions and power-ups as different variables. Weapon and energy pickups were numbered. Power_ups technically were assigned numbers but were just named variables. I couldn’t just merge the two pools together. It wouldn’t work. So I started by just randomizing the power-ups. That was easy enough. Starting Paths was just a more advanced version. After that I worked on randomizing the weapon and energy tanks. That’s were Split Random came from. I just never liked how it felt. That is when I finally decided to figured out how to merge the two pools. Many hours of re-coding later, I finally had an unnamed pure randomizer mode mostly working. I can’t take the credit for the name though. My girlfriend actually came up with AM2Random, kind of as a joke. But it was perfect. I did consider removing the older random modes but I kept them there just in case somebody liked them.
Funny side story. When trying to get AM2Random working, I somehow made the items turn onto 0’s and float up off the screen. I really wish I would have saved that version. It was weird.
I really want to stress how valuable the whole team was in this. I just got my code out to the public first. Other people were working with the code as well, like Craig. My main focus with the project was the randomizer, some quality updates, and fixing small glitches. Player immersion has always been important to me. I’ve always hated glitches that makes you stop and realize that you are playing a game. For example: there was an enemy that poked out of the floor when it shouldn’t have, Samus could just walk through the power up orbs, and the reconstructed code broke quite a few things.
The team did a lot of the work for me. I’m not an artist. I’ve never figured out the enemy AI. I was handed a lot of code and just had to implement it. It really was a team effort the whole way. I was a bit nervous handing the project off to the team when I stepped down, but I’m very happy with the end result of version 1.5.5. The team did more with the project than I could have. Alex and then Lojemiru really did great work leading the project after me.
You're not supposed to look forward to the metroid fights until very late into the game. The power dynamic between you and the metroids changes in a narrative fashion throughout the game - their difficulty starts high and ramps up faster than Samus's ability, which creates tension and suspense and makes the player delay seeking out the metroids as much as possible and jump when they're present. Then, later on, as you're closing in on your goal, Samus becomes a hunter. The game pushes harder and harder against the player, depriving them of health, of munitions, of beauty, of traversable terrain with interesting things to look at, yet the player at this point pushes on anyway. They've become the danger. They are the one who knocks. That's what this game is - Samus's journey from savior of the galaxy to genocidal executioner. It's a horror game where you find out in the end that you were the monster.
If there's one thing that definitely coulda been fun to add onto the mods part of the vid, it's how there's an actual "SA-X hunt" type multiplayer gamemode that's wound up real popular. Basically, several Fusion difficulty players start at the beginning with no items (but the map is opened up), while a couple normal players start above ground, with the same level of weaponry that the SA-X is seen using in Fusion (Varia suit, ice+wave beam, screw attack, and plenty of bonus health) that aim to kill them before they can beat the game. It gets incredibly tense because the SA-X players get an indicator of how many Fusion players are in a given area, but the Fusion players have a little heartbeat monitor that tells them if a hunter is getting close. It's certainly possible for the Fusion players to fight back, but as you can imagine, they're at a heavy disadvantage and need to collect gear (doesn't help that the SA-X hunters can go far out of their way to obtain items they don't yet have), so it becomes quite a mad dash to the end. The chases are especially crazy when veterans are involved, cause there's a ton of speedbooster tech that can be done.
Bleh, I'm rambling a whole ton, but it's a very fun mode that I highly recommend for y'all to try out. Also this vid was very enjoyable to watch as a whole, even had a great sense of humor overall. For a random underrated gem, I'm quite glad to have stumbled across this (alongside the channel of course, but yea)
Any links to any videos of people playing that???
@@Scape_The_Goat TH-cam would just auto-moderate if I stuck in any links, but the first person to come to mind is a fellow called "DruidVorse". Dude's so scary good that one video is just straight up titled "4 SA-X players vs 1 omega speedrunner" and other stuff like that.
Of course, those vids aren't necessarily the most entertaining to see cause it's all his perspective and it takes practically a half hour for them to actually reach him (it's all one long vid, not edited down), but the parts where he's actually juking the others is genuinely intense.
@@norrecvizharan1177 Thanks for the recommendation sounds like the perfect thing to watch on a lazy weekend day
The Distribution Center has the best music in the game. Damn, I love it.
11:25
Actually, from a gameplay standpoint, the tremors were just a way to limit the player's progress so they wouldn't spend ungodly amounts of time backtracking in the original.
From a lore standpoint, it's pretty clear that the tremors are being caused by the queen metroid digging tunnels, which in AM2R, towards the later areas, you can actually hear the queen's cry during the tremors.
Yeah I just meant to say that in Metroid 2 it wasn't as obvious that the tremors were linked to the magma lowering, or that the tremors were specifically caused by killing all the Metroids in the area. AM2R did a good job in showing that it's all directly connected, and conveys to the player that they should go back to where they saw magma so they can continue further down. I like that lore explanation, never thought of that!
In my opinion the best Metroid game since Prime 2 loved every second of AM2R
i believe when the game first came out, Omegas were much harder. pretty much missile sponges with how long they took and how much damage they dealt. so AM2R did receive a single official update to nerf Omegas, and the DMCA happened afterward
Edit: also, one thing i liked to do was since the in-game soundtrack is all a bunch of .ogg files, i found a metal version of the Queen Metroid theme, and put that in for the fight. just to boost up the epic factor
Didn’t even know your channel existed 5 hours ago. Definitely interested in it now!
Cheers to you being back man!
7:36 The Metroids may not have been the biggest threats in those games, but after the Phazon Crisis was over and the Pirate's Homeworld conquered, the Federation could focus on the next biggest threat: the Metroids. The Prime series established their capacity to adapt and evolve according to their environments (like Talon IV Metroids being able to evolve in Hunter and Fission Metroids, then Prime 3 made them evolve into Phaozn Metroids that could phase through reality to avoid their vulnerability to cold and escape confinement), which means they are indeed the biggest threat now.
You will never convince me that Nintendo didn't let AM2R get out on purpose and that their own Metroid 2 remake doesn't owe its existence to the little fan remake that could.
Comparing Samus Returns to AM2R is like comparing a McDonald's cheeseburger to prime rib.
What's weird is that they then put out something that, it seems like, is inferior. Like, they removed prime rib from the menu, and said "hold up,... you're going to love we have in store for you in the next year" and it's the McRib.
I happen to like Samus Returns.
@brandond1793 AM2R was in development for a long time and garnered a lot of attention in that time. I'm suggesting Nintendo became aware of it in that time and used it to measure fan demand for a Metroid 2 remake. I have no evidence for this or any way to test my suspicions. I just think it's a little too coincidental that they announced their remake so close to the completion and release of AM2R when they'd done nothing in the way of a core Metroid game in so many years and had never expressed interest in am updated version of Metroid 2.
@@Clyde-S-Wilcox I do know that MercurySteam pitched a remake of Metroid Fusion initially, that obviously got rejected for them to work on Samus Returns instead. It is not mentioned when that pitch occured, but going by that, a new 2D Metroid would have probably not happened for another while if it wasn't for them showing up with a proposal.
No one can say with certainty if Nintendo was even aware of AM2R's existence before 2016, but what I can say is that typically projects like this only get more attention when they are released, at least that's how I found out about it.
Yeah man they just filed a cease and desist against it because they thought it had so much potential
Great video, great editing, absolutely love your sense of humor.
Also, I'm glad you didn't spend a ton of time harping on Fed Force. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is a good time.
in the last two days or so, youtube has recommended a few of your metroid videos and i've been watching them. it's crazy, it's almost like youtube was telling me that you were about to make a return with this review. nice.
knew i picked a good time to finally get this video done! ;)
I totally forgot that I subbed to this channel. It was a nice surprise to see this upload.
Woah!!! A hidden gem!!! I found you while going through a metroid hyperfixation!
Welcome back. Great video!!! Please keep them coming!!
I love the dodge mechanic mainly because you can telegraph it. It makes the rather easy enemies become a bit harder to chew through, which was always a plus for me.
well, this was a surprise, watched your vids 2 weeks ago and then saw your upload schedule and thought there was no reason but here we are
great video!
Subbed just in time to see you upload!
I always wanted to get into Metroid, but I think I actually hate "getting lost in a world." Reeeeally loved Dread since the boss fights were such a big upgrade from Super. Do any do the fights as well as Corpius or Experiment?
Might try Zero next!
Dread definitely has the most engaging bosses in the series, sorry you got to see the peak so early haha. I'd say Fusion is probably the runner-up for interesting boss fights. Even though Zero Mission is one of my favorite Metroid games, I'll admit the bosses are pretty weak :p
@@BasedSamTV Thanks for the tips, I might check out Fusion after all then!
Fusion is the most linear 2d Metroid so I suggest it for newcomers. Really cool boss fights too.
Would like to comment how, with AM2R's control remapping, I essentially opted for a compromise between Super and Fusion style controls, having R toggle between missile mode instead of having to hold it, and switching to supers and power bombs with select.
Putting strafe on one of the triggers was also really useful for metroids, mastering firing rhythms for quick kills is really rewarding with your aim locked in a direction, jumping at specific points to get the flaoting ones to move up slightly.
When i think of my favourite games as a kid i think of big AAA games like MGS, Half Life, Max Payne, Devil May Cry, but in recent years i'd be more inclined to point out incredible fan projects like this, the people behind these games have so much passion and you can feel it throughout, it just puts a smile on my face.
I've watched honestly hundreds of hours of Metroid....Probably not quite 1000. But a whole lot. And you are highly talented and put in great work. You make it sound very natural and organic, the videos I have seen of yours have really scratched my Metroid itch when I get it. I majorly look forward to your future stuff, and thank you for your time spent adding to the Metroid legacy :)
Alsoooo, I rarely am like this....but you should try Helldivers 2 if you haven't already. I'm not sure if you are into games like that, but we need all the help we can get planetside, and it's always worth checking out. The bots have been putting to the screws to us, we need reinforcements. It is some of the best co op I have ever played. Thanks again for the great video though 👍
I love the title. Very straightforward
I cant believe i played through AM2R without ever knowing I could wall jump.
I think my poisoned sarcasm bone is broken, cause I can only think of nice encouraging things to say. This was really well done, especially for someone who's never played am2r.
Hollow Knight video next, in case you're taking requests.
interesting request... you know too much. ;)
@@BasedSamTV hell yeah, I'm hyped.
You know, the big two things I didn't like about the official Metroid 2 remake, and Dread as well, is the melee counterattack and the analog aiming mode. Hear me out on this one. I feel like Metroid has always been a game centered around movement: Samus moves quick but has low defense, and outmaneuvers enemies to compensate: she has quick, elegant, advanced movement techniques, the ability to shrink into a ball and slip into gaps to escape from or ambush enemies, gains the ability to jump infinitely, and her single most powerful attack is one that weaponizes her jumps. She typically only becomes powerful enough to tank during the endgame when you have all her powers and most upgrades. I feel the melee counterattack and the aimed moves go against this: they force you to plant your feet and stand your ground against foes. Even though they work well and are easy to do, I never found myself wanting to use them: I always wanted to jump over a melee chance and pepper them with gunfire in the back while they did their attack and turned around, and I always wanted to run around to line up shots instead of just using the aimed shots, and I ONLY used these techniques when the game forces you to. I think it goes a long way to why I really preferred AM2R to the official remake, and why I really didn't get into Dread until I stopped playing it on Switch and tried it on emulator where I could remap controls to use D-Pad and have quick, snappy movement.
Lost it at the iconic cease Hooray
One tiny thing that i LOVE and wish more games would do, the Alpha Metroids FALLING TO THE GROUND when you freeze them. Never liked in games when you froze an enemy and they would just continue to stay in the air.
Fun fact: plasma beam actually interacts with spazer and doesnt cancel it out unlike super metroid however youre able to turn on/off all upgrades like in super metroid
There's something sad about this due to the fact that Nintendo will never make another 2D Metroid game, because the 2D art is part of the charm of the franchise. I'm not sure to say if i miss it, but it's like saying goodbye to an old friend. Games evolve and we have to move on with them.
I remember learning that the Genesis monster was supposed to be like the monster you see in fusion, hiding in the vents and spitting acid. Which I've heard those were Nintendo paying homage to the Xenomorph from Alien since they got a lot of their ideas for the game from Alien. Neat little trivia, though I will have to double check that myself as it's been awhile since I heard that. It is fitting that the log states that it has acid for blood too.
Over all, the Genesis monster is kind of a fan fic homage to the Xenomorph as well. For what it's worth.
I hadn't considered that! If that's true then it's a cool homage
badass female protagonist, larval enemies, "Ridley"
Bro, thanks for the awesome video. I was around when the cease and desist happened. To this day, only ever played the demo. Time to get my hands in this masterpiece finally after all these years. Keep your eye on Megaman x corruoted
"it sounds all well and good, but there's just one issue: it's too easy."
me who died like 10 times minimum every omega encounter because they feel impossible to hit:
Lmao. This shit was hilarious. Great video!
It was truly A Metroid To Remember.
That "be careful who you made fun of in middle school" is absolutely hilarious man 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
37:52
nah i just got undertale jumpscared
So many Nintendo apologists came up with so much mental gymnastics to avoid facing the fact that the company they love DOESN'T love you back and only sees you as a source of money to mined.
They have no loyalty to you, and you're a fool to be loyal to them.
They make good games, but that doesn't excuse the fact that they take their fan base for granted and treat them like trash and criminals.
Very fun video love your editing, jokes and how you explain the game and its differences from its original. Even Megaman fans have kept Megaman alive since Calvin doesn’t give a damn about Megaman since it ain’t no Street Fighter, Resident Evil or Monster Hunter. I’d love to see you talk about the Megaman series it even has Metroidvanias too with ZX and ZX Advent and the long awaited X Corrupted that has been in development for over a decade and still is as of me writing this comment.
Love this game, for some reason this morning I sat down at more computer and just noticed it there and played thru it again on hard mode in 1 sitting.
I know you mentioned liking how some of the bosses used abilities based on the power up they drop, and that the official games didn’t really do that. Fusion did that for just about every boss.
That is a neat detail about Fusion, but that's not really what I was talking about. In this game you get the Space Jump before the fight begins, and it was cool to see it integrated as part of the fight on the player's end due to the floating platforms and spiked floor. I can't really recall any other bosses in the series that require the Space Jump to that degree. Maybe a couple in Dread? But even then this game predates that, which is kinda cool to see.
The first time i got power bombs and eacape i thought i failed lol til some energy was left lol
I remember streaming this and having a little cry after. It’s so good, it understands the essence of Metroid inherently. For me the only 2D Metroid that is better than it is Super. Phenomenal game. Nintendo shoulda hired DM64. Huge mistake not doing so.
Fyn fact that had obviously been pointed out.
The omega metroids used to be missle sponges and were veeeeery hard.
Beating the old ones was fun but was it worth it?
Nah
I was just rewatching through the playlist, and I for some reason didn't notice that this one just appeared three days ago! (I started rewatching them more than a week ago.) Anyways, I haven't actually beaten this game, because a while back, shortly after getting the Super Missiles, my save file corrupted. I accidentally opened the game twice at once, and apparently that corrupts the save data due to the way it's programmed. I was having fun with it, but having to start over like that was kind of demoralizing. It's been a while now, I should probably try playing the game again.
I think trying to make killing the metroids feel fun is antithetical to the original metroid 2. I think the game was trying to make killing them feel uncomfortable, how wiping out an entire race should make someone feel. I think there might be a better way to do that, but I still feel that the original gets that feeling across the best
I don't know about "fun," more like "a worthwhile gaming experience."
This may be the second best Metroid game. It may be my favorite one.
Metroid Pinball is hardcore
Awesome content! Is there any place I can download am2r?
I wish we got a switch release for this.
Charge dragging item towards Samus is technically something it should be able to do in Super but it never worked there.
I think it's interesting the difference between Nintendo and Capcom in regards to fan games.
Good video
Fun fact.
Tori = Bird in Japanese
The intro really sounds like KingK's AM2R video lol
Speaking of KingK, he had a great Twitter thread on why he considered AM2R to be an "official" Metroid game and that's what inspired me to include the section about fan games at the end. I wanted to include the thread in the video but I couldn't find it!
I feel so fucking stupid... I didn't know you could hurt the Queen Metroid with missiles, I've ran at least 12 randomizers of AM2R this month and every time I get to the final boss I just spam the charged beam into morph combo and time the bombs to all come out right when she goes to bite me, since I thought she was only hurt by regular bombs lmao. Well this will make my next run much simpler lmao, good video love me Metroid games
edit: I've been playing the community mod version so maybe that had something to do with it
While I'm not saying I'm glad AM2R got shut down by Nintendo i will say I screamed for joy when it happened because I knew that was the confirmation of Nintendo making one. Which yeah sucks AM2R had to pay the price but at least we got some great games out of it Samus returns and Metroid dread are awesome
i always call it chorizo. i know it's wrong but i think its funny
Crud now I wanna play it again lol
Where can I download it...?
torizo (鳥像) in japanese literally means statue of a bird
yeah
👀
Is this a rerun?
Ere... the dodge mechnic you can say is cheap but works to the fact that these creatures are living beings... And lest not forget that the SR remake does the same thing. Also makes you chase a few metroids since they run away. So it does simulate that a living creature isn't going to let you just shoot it to death.
It is more or less adding features to what was a dry gameplay thing they did for the OG metroid 2 where it was just shoot the metroid till it died... only the queen having invunerable parts. So yes the fan remake AM2R did well with the metroids. Giving them weak points and varied AI to work against. And that goes all the way up the chain of metroid forms.
So sure one can complain about lined up shots that should hit (not sure if the updates have changed anythign more than nerfing the omegas)
Just to clarify, I have no issue with the Metroid battles being more difficult! I just wish the player had more agency in how the fight goes -- the dodge tends to feel random and somewhat out of the player's control. It makes sense that a living creature would react that way, but it makes for a frustrating and inconsistent gameplay experience.
I thought SR had a pretty good solution to this with the melee counter. It rewarded players for having good reflexes against the risk of powerful attacks that are predictable and well telegraphed. Flawed in execution, of course, but I liked the idea.
@@BasedSamTV the dodge used to be frustrating for me as well. But it doesn't bother me much either shoot the beam before shooting a missile so that the Metroid dodges and you can afterwards shoot it with the missile. or just spam missiles.
But that is just strat using. since I played it a few times. and seen others play it.
what if the metroids where not killed off and become a biopunk empire
I love that widescreen introduction edit so much
am2r did everything better yes , except for metroid 2's greatest strength , it's oppressive horror level immersion
I think you're mispronouncing the chorizo statues it's spelled like the meat. (Jk)
...why i oughta...
I will genuinely never understand why people insist on stretching 4:3 into 16:9.
For movies and TV I agree 100%, but in games it's sometimes nice to be able to see more around you so you're less likely to get hit by something offscreen, although this is definitely a case-by-case basis.
You asked for people to continue to correct you for the algorithm so... You're pronouncing "Torizo" wrong. It's not "Tor-eez-o. The name came from a Japanese writer, to it's broken down into the syllables "TO-RI-ZO" which is pronounce "Tow-Ree-Zo".
Though bear in mind that it's a Japanese R in there. So it's kinda half way between an R and a D.
why hasn't he done a retrospective of other m, is he stupid?
AAM2RR
Better remake than the one on 3ds imo. It's kinda comparing apples to oranges though since they're so different..
Gotta say that...this game is amazing, yes...is an awesome work of love from fans...but is not better than the oficial remake by far. I know old fans and poser like will claim that "old metroid is best metroid" Or that "this is how a metroid game should looks like"....but hear me now....no...no...get the stick out your buttholes and enjoy the different ways you all are able to do your favorite franchise.
As much of an improvement as Metroid Dread was over Samus Returns (annoying E.M.M.I.s aside), I'll take AM2R over either of them any day of the week.
And, yes, I *should* replay it with all of these post-release updates.
I enjoyed Dread just as much as I enjoyed Samus Returns.
@@robertkenny1201 Congratulations?
I think am2r is better than the remake.