January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January.
Released: February 2023
Originally Released: November 1991
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems
Also Available For: Game Boy, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U
The Background:
Brain-blasting bounty hunter Samus Aran shocked the gaming world when she was revealed to be a woman in the challenging Nintendo classic, Metroid (Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems, 1986). Although highly praised and crucial to the popularisation of the “Metroidvania” sub-genre, Metroid’s sequel came not on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) like Nintendo’s other franchise characters, but on their revolutionary (and incredibly popular) handheld system, the Game Boy. Many of Metroid’s developers returned for the sequel, which separated itself from other Game Boy titles with graphics comparable to its 8-bit counterparts and expanding upon Samus’s abilities and narrative in ways that would influence future games. Not only was Metroid II my first experience of the franchise, but it also included a unique palette for when played on the Game Boy Color, though it largely divided critics upon release. Reviews praised the quality of life improvements and expansion upon the gameplay of its predecessor, while also criticising the music and limitations of the Game Boy hardware. Yet, Metroid II endured; a fangame remake was scuppered by Nintendo prior to them remaking the game for the Nintendo 3DS in 2017, with Metroid: Samus Returns (MercurySteam, Nintendo EPD) being largely well received. The original version of the game also found a home on Nintendo’s online services, including this Nintendo Switch Online version, to help keep this cult classic alive for new gamers.
The Plot:
Following her encounter with the Metroids, bounty hunter Samus Aran is sent to the Metroid home world, SR388, to destroy the entire species.
Gameplay:
Metroid II: Return of Samus is a run-and-gun adventure game with an emphasis on exploring the various alien landscapes of SR388, upgrading Samus’s suit and abilities, and hunting down forty Metroid variants to curb the malicious species. Players once again assume the role of the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, who sports the same abilities from the first game and more, most notably the ability to shoot upwards and while crouching, simple additions that make blasting aliens and destructible blocks so much easier. You’re given three save files to play with, which can be switched to or deleted from the main menu, though there are no options to reconfigure any game settings, like the controls or difficulty. However, since it was originally a Game Boy title, you’ll only make use of two buttons during gameplay: A lets you jump (and you can hold it to jump a little higher) and B lets you shoot (and you can hold it to continually fire at foes). Samus will compress into a spherical Morph Ball if you press down on the directional pad twice, and you can switch from her infinite gun arm to her finite supply of missiles by pressing the – button. The + button pauses the game, but you again won’t find a map screen, here, meaning exploration is still a chore, despite Metroid II being a slightly more forgiving and straightforward title.
Unlike in the last game, players can make use of save stations to save their progress and sporadic refill pods for their health and ammunition, reducing how often you’ll blast away at enemies to farm for resources. As before, enemies will respawn whenever you enter an area, though this time around to you must alter the environment, clearing lava and other hazards so you can progress further. Puzzle solving isn’t really a thing in Metroid II; the closest you get are blasting certain doors with your missiles to open them and navigating deep chasms, some of which are somewhat maze-like and have hidden holes that drop you to lower levels, though you’ll sometimes have to use Samus’s Bomb power-up to blast away boulders. This game debuts the Spider Ball, which allows Samus to slowly crawl up walls and ceilings, and you’ll be using this a lot to scale cliffs and ruins, especially as the game progresses. However, your primary objective is to hunt down the forty Metroid variants hidden around SR388; you can keep track of how many remain using the game’s limited heads-up display, but you won’t be given any hints or direction about where to find them beyond hitting dead ends until you’ve acquired new power-ups. Occasionally, Samus will dive into water or must traverse sticky goop; spikes and lava pits are commonplace, as are destructible elements like weeds and sandstone, and you’ll also have to navigate a pitch-black area later in the game that’s incredibly frustrating as there’s no way to light your path. Mostly, though, you’ll be exploring long corridors, deep shafts, and crawling up walls and through narrow tunnels, blasting enemies and hoping the path leads to an upgrade or another Metroid.
Graphics and Sound:
Releasing a couple of years after the debut of the Game Boy, Metroid II is quite a bland looking game, especially as far as the backgrounds are concerned. Backgrounds are largely completely blank, either white, black, or that weird green colour the Game Boy favoured, with very little in the way of foreground details, for the most part. Some areas are the exception to this rule, of course, with an abundance of overgrown stone ruins, rocky caves, and biomechanical areas peppered throughout the game so you know when you’ve transitioned from what could loosely be called the overworld to an area of some significance. Many areas contain lethal lava, dank water, or gloopy muck that restricts your movements but are largely indistinguishable from each other; sometimes the rocks look more like peanuts, sometimes they’re metallic, and sometimes they’re almost like bubbles, but the game becomes disappointingly and confusingly uniform very quickly. Caverns, ruins, and mechanical trappings signpost areas containing Metroids and power-ups, but it’s easy to think you’ve accidentally backtracked as SR388 isn’t exactly divided into elemental sections. Having the overworld be rocky and the main sections be distinctly water-, metal-, botanical-, or lava-themed would’ve helped to distinguish them but, as is, there’s only a handful of areas that impress when it comes to their aesthetics. While this is commonplace on the Game Boy, it’s not as if there weren’t games that were able to do a little more with the hardware, so it’s pretty disappointing here, especially as the game lacks a map.
On the plus side, Samus looks great, far better than she did on the NES and showcasing a surprising level of detail. While she doesn’t have any idle poses, her suit changes to reflect her upgrades and she has more poses to assume thanks to her expanded moveset. In addition to her iconic ship sat in the opening section, you’ll always know when a Metroid is nearby by the presence of a hatched Metroid egg, there are a couple of cutscenes showing the Metroids evolving into new, more powerful forms, the Chozo Statues are nice and big (with one even being destroyed), and there are usually some fun hidden paths to take towards goodies. Sadly, the music isn’t all that impressive, aiming for claustrophobic and ominous but being limited by the Game Boy hardware. However, the biggest disappointment for me was the complete lack of any story; there’s no story text, the title screen is incredibly bland, there’s no introductory cutscene, and the game just…ends, albeit with an impressive large sprite of Samus running alongside the credits that changes depending on how fast you beat the game.
Enemies and Bosses:
In addition to the indigenous Metroid population, SR388 is home to a whole host of alien lifeforms, from bug-like creatures to robotic forces and defences that I have assume were left behind by the Space Pirates. All of these will respawn after you exit an area and, while most can be defeated in one or two shots, others will be almost invulnerable until you acquire new power-ups or continually spawn and chase after you to bash you into spikes or lava. We’ve got floating slug-like enemies, laser turrets, hopping toad-like creatures, tiny bugs that drop from ceilings, weird flying proboscis-type things that drop you towards hazards, bat-like drones, and slug-like fish that slither around platforms. Speaking of which, the bone-armoured Motos resist your blaster and can only be taken out from behind or with the Screw Attack (though they often drop larger health orbs); they’re often found alongside Ramulken, who are similarly armoured but jump about the place, though most enemies can simply be blasted or outright avoided, especially if you’re close to a health point. The only boss-type enemy you’ll encounter that isn’t a Metroid variant is the armadillo-like Arachnus, which disguises itself as a Chozo Sphere and not only spits projectiles at you but completely resists your attacks when rolled up. However, it’s vulnerable to your bombs, so you can lay a bunch of those to take it out and pry the Spring Ball from its remains.
As in many Metroid games, the titular, jellyfish-like aliens will appear near the end of the game, latching onto you and draining your health and only being vulnerable when frozen by the Ice Beam and peppered with missiles. The forty other Metroids you battle in several mini boss encounters are evolved Metroids that take on an insectile, ant- or wasp-like form that allows them to fly. The most common of these are the “Alpha” variant, which are largely harmless and simply float about the place, meaning the “Gamma” variant is quite the sharp difficulty curve with its more monstrous appearance and lightning bolt appendages. They’re a joy compared to the “Zeta” Metroids, though, which frustratingly badger you from behind, spit fireballs, and can only be damaged when blasted in the face with missiles. Similarly, while the “Omega” Metroids are far slower, they spit electrical sparks that produce splash damage and float about the place, making them a difficult target despite their size. Each of these may also be fought in enclosed arenas, above spikes or lava, within sandstone, or in areas with small platforms or blocks to make avoiding damage even more troublesome. Once you’ve destroyed thirty-nine of them, nine more regular Metroids need to be dispatched before you face off with their monstrous, dragon-like queen. While technically a simple battle, requiring only that you use the Screw Attack to escape damage and blast the queen with missiles (you can even Morph Ball to safety to refill your health and ammo using a convenient tunnel), this is a laborious and dull fight thanks to the restricted area, the aggressiveness of the queen, and the fact that you need to hit her with 100 missiles! Apparently, there’s a way to Morph Ball into her mouth and lay a bunch of bombs in her, but I couldn’t manage that so it was a lot of tedious evading, blasting (missing), and rewinding when I took too much damage.
Power-Ups and Bonuses:
As ever, enemies will drop health orbs and missiles to refuel you but, this time around, you can also find larger, dedicated, and inexhaustible refuel stations to top these up in a pinch, and they’re not always hidden away either. Similarly, you can find Energy and Missile Tanks to expand your health bar and maximum ammo (though these are often hidden away or at the end of winding tunnels). As is often (if not always) the case, Samus mysteriously loses all the upgrades she got in the last game and needs to reacquire them from Chozo Statues hidden throughout SR388. You can upgrade her arm cannon to the Wave Beam (which increases accuracy), the Ice Beam (which temporarily freezes enemies), the Spazer Laser Beam (which fires a triple shot), and the Plasma Beam (the most powerful, which passes through objects and enemies), and will even get the chance to switch back to them at one point (with the Ice Beam being required for the final section). Samus’s jump can be extended with the High Jump Boots before allowing her to reach higher, further areas (through carefully timed taps of A) with the Space Jump, before becoming an offensive move with the iconic Screw Attack. Her Morph Ball can also be upgraded to drop bombs, bounce, and cling to walls, which, while slow, is basically a requirement in some areas.
Additional Features:
Sadly, there’s not much to Metroid II. Like I said, there are Energy and Missile Tanks to find that you could conceivably miss but that’s about it. The only reason you’d replay the game beyond enjoying wandering around a confusing handheld landscape is to try and beat the game in under three hours so you’ll be treated to seeing Samus in a bikini; otherwise, there are no bonus or extra features to speak of here. As ever, you can make liberal use of the Nintendo Switch’s rewind and save state features to make the game a lot easier, though it’s still a challenge at times.
The Summary:
I’m glad I finally played through Metroid II: Return of Samus; when I was a kid, I had the original cartridge for my Game Boy, but I remember getting stuck fairly soon into the game. Low and behold, I hit the same dead end here and quickly became reliant upon an online guide, which is not my preferred way of playing any game. Sadly, it’s basically required here as there’s no map system, which is weird as I definitely think a rudimentary map could’ve been inserted whenever you pause the game. Ultimately, this was a tough one for me; I liked how much the gameplay mechanics of the original were improved, even if only in basic ways, but I don’t think this kind of game works on the Game Boy; Metroid is all about exploration and backtracking and, while Metroid II is a bit more linear than others in the series, it still requires more than the Game Boy is capable of delivering. Yes, the sprite work looks good, but every area is too constricted and repetitive to stand out like they would on even the NES and it gets a bit boring facing the same batch of Metroids over and over again. There is a lot to like here, with some fun encounters and areas and the thrill of upgrading Samus’s suit and abilities, but I think Metroid II was trying to be a little too ambitious for the Game Boy. I’m tempted to see what the Nintendo 3DS remake is like to compare it but, sadly, it’s ridiculously expensive to get hold off so I’m left with this paradoxically technically impressive and technically limited entry in the series that felt too much like a chore to play through for mee to properly enjoy.
My Rating:
Could Be Better
Are you a fan of Metroid II: Return of Samus? Did you own it on the Game Boy and, if so, how did you cope without a guide or the rewind features? Were you impressed with Samus’s new abilities and combat options? What did you think to the more linear mission and Metroid-hunting gameplay? If you’ve played the Nintendo 3DS remake, how does it compare to the original? Which Metroid game is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or on my social media, and be sure to check out my other Metroid reviews.
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