Genre: Action-Adventure
Year: 2002
Developed by: Nintendo R&D 1
Published by: Nintendo
Platforms: Game Boy Advance
#181
Feeling Like: Somebody’s watching me
As I mentioned in the Shadow Complex writeup, I love Metroidvanias. It’s no surprise to see Metroid Fusion so high on the 500, even if it’s nowhere near my favorite of the series.
This is perhaps the most linear of the Metroid games, although you could quite easily argue that all of them direct you along a set path, with disguised freedom. It’s also the easiest, or at least I think it was; Metroid games always have a perfect difficulty curve for someone like me who wants a fair fight, but doesn’t mind getting lost or beaten up from time to time.
Metroid Fusion’s biggest strength is its atmosphere, or rather the mood it puts you in as evil X-parasite version Samus hunts you down. It is a minor miracle that it can convey paranoia and fear on a tiny little handheld like the Game Boy Advance.
I’m not usually a fan of the enemy having the same powers as the hero. It diminishes the uniqueness of the character and it reeks of the creators being unable to come up with an interesting parallel other than the same…but evil! Or bigger! Sometimes it works, but to me the most interesting rivalries are based on differences of skill and personalities. Naruto vs Sasuke is right up there, Daredevil vs. Bullseye in the Netflix show is one of the best examples. Matt Murdoch is unbeatable in hand to hand combat, but as soon as Bullseye gets some distance, the advantage is his.
Metroid Fusion absolutely nails this. It’s not just an infected Samus roaming around, it’s an infected Samus roaming around that is absolutely terrifying. Listen to the music! The footsteps! I’ve never been so intimidated by something walking. You aren’t even close to being a worthy match until much later in the game. Most of the stages revolve around some kind of frantic escape, or witnessing the aftermath of her wrath. They did a brilliant job in this regard – if the player is going to be scared to peek around every corner, the developers needed a threat to match and they nailed it.
Plus, the X-Samus has all its powers. You don’t. It may be rote to start all over again equipment-wise, but it’s such a good formula that I don’t mind doing it over and over again. It’s interesting to see how, story-wise, they keep up with this or put a new twist on it.
But this isn’t exactly a new game. It may have Metroid Dread DNA, but this was released over 20 years ago. It was the first 2D Metroid in eight years, released right alongside the sublime Metroid Prime. Nintendo had a lot of freedom, but also a lot of expectations to live up to. If you’re going to go somewhere from Super Metroid, you better go in a different direction. It seems, much to our benefit in 2002, Nintendo decided to hedge its bets and go in two directions simultaneously.
While I typically rebuke handheld games with a level of snobbery reserved for some viscount that doesn’t like to dirty his hands, I must admit that the animation and artwork are fantastic here. Samus moves with fluidity, weapon blasts look great and enemies are appropriately alien. The map and location will feel very similar to Metroid veterans, but for those that never took the plunge, it will feel fresh as well as classic. The moveset and controls feel adequate, even with only a few buttons at your disposal – hey, it worked for Metroid!
The franchise really was birthed from classic Science Fiction movies like Alien or The Thing and Fusion honors those movies better than any other game in the series. You’re constantly being stalked by something deadly. Hiding behind a door, or going into another room won’t cut it. Things can be infected, dominated and you’re just praying it won’t be you. And while you’re armed to the teeth compared to Ellen Ripley or R.J. MacReady, the dread is just as evident here.
The 500 