Metroid: Zero Mission is a side-scrolling action-adventure video game published by Nintendo, and developed by its Research & Development 1 (R&D1) division for the Game Boy Advance. It is a remake of the 1986 game Metroid—the first installment in the Metroid video game series, and is designed to retell that entry's story with modernized gameplay. It was initially released in North America in February 2004.
Like the other titles in the series, the player controls space-faring bounty hunter Samus Aran, who travels to planet Zebes after learning that Space Pirates are experimenting with Metroids in an attempt to duplicate them and use them for their own gain. The gameplay focuses on exploration, with the player searching for power-ups that are used to reach previously inaccessible areas. The remake also features new items, additional areas, mini-bosses, difficulty levels, and a rewritten story which explores Samus's past.
Plot:
"Planet Zebes...I called this place home once, in peaceful times, long before evil haunted the caverns below. Now, I shall finally tell the tale of my first battle here.... My so-called Zero Mission." —Samus Aran
Space Pirates attack a Galactic Federation-owned space research vessel and seize samples of Metroid creatures. Dangerous floating organisms, Metroids can latch on to any organism and drain its life energy to kill it. The Space Pirates plan to replicate Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then using them as biological weapons to destroy all living beings that oppose them. While searching for the stolen Metroids, the Galactic Federation locates the Space Pirates' base of operations on the planet Zebes. The Federation assaults the planet, but the Pirates resist, forcing the Federation to retreat. As a last resort, the Federation decides to send a lone bounty hunter to penetrate the Pirates' base and destroy Mother Brain, the mechanical life-form that controls the Space Pirates' fortress and its defenses. Considered the greatest of all bounty hunters, Samus Aran is chosen for the mission.
Samus lands on the surface of Zebes and explores the planet, traveling through the planet's caverns. She eventually comes across Kraid, an ally of the Space Pirates, and Ridley, the Space Pirates' commander, and defeats them both. Along the way, Samus finds and destroys Mother Brain. However, while Samus leaves the planet in her gunship, it is attacked by Space Pirates, causing it to crash back onto Zebes, near the Space Pirate Mothership. Exploring the Mothership, Samus eventually reaches the Ridley Robot, a robot built in the likeness of Ridley. After defeating it, Samus escapes the planet using one of the Space Pirate's shuttles, while the Mothership self-destructs.
Gameplay:
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| Metroid (original NES version; left), Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance; right) |
Metroid: Zero Mission takes place on Planet Zebes, a large, open-ended world with areas connected by doors and elevators. The player controls Samus Aran as she travels through the planet's caverns and environments, hunting Space Pirates. Along the way, the player collects power-ups that enhance Samus's armor and weaponry, as well as grant her special abilities. These abilities allow Samus to access areas that were previously inaccessible, so that the game can be played linearly or non-linearly. For example, the player may come across underground caverns that bypass certain sections, a method termed sequence breaking. To save their progress, players can enter either Save Rooms or Samus's ship on Crateria.
As a remake of Metroid, Metroid: Zero Mission's layout bears a resemblance to the original, and various power-ups and items make reappearances from previous games in the series, with similar uses, effects, and appearances. However, the game adds new items, areas, and mini-bosses, as well as a completely new area named Chozodia.
Zero Mission is the first game in the Metroid series to include a sequence in which the player controls Samus without her Power Suit. In this portion of the game, Samus is more vulnerable to damage, must crawl through ducts on her hands and knees without the help of her Morph Ball mode, and has a weak pistol that briefly stuns enemies as her only weapon. However, Samus retains all energy tanks she acquired previously.
Completion of the game unlocks an emulated version of the original Metroid game. Zero Mission also allows players to unlock the Metroid Fusion picture gallery by linking between Zero Mission and Fusion cartridges via the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable.
The Verdict:
Since I have stumbled onto the wonders of Wii Homebrew, I re-discovered this game via emulation and streamed a bit of it on my Twitch channel. So bare with me that my experience with this game is via emulation and not on it's original platform on the Game Boy Advance.
Watch Kraid Boss Attempts from xionzeros on www.twitch.tv
Even though the original Metroid came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), I honestly never played it or stumbled across a physical copy over the years. The first Metroid game I have ever played was Metroid II: Return of Samus on the original Game Boy, followed by it's sequel on the SNES, Super Metroid, via emulation. Despite enjoying the hell of AM2R (my review of that game can be found via the link) via PC a few years ago, I haven't played a 2D Metroid game since Fusion back when it first released in 2002. I remember that game fondly, beating it several times in study hall that year. I still regard that as the best 2D Metroid outing as while I think Super Metroid is an excellent game, I think it's extremely overrated by the hardcore Metroid fans. Fusion never overstayed it's welcome and despite being VERY linear, it was a great adventure that faithfully explored Samus' past with it's narrative - something that the controversial Metroid: The Other M ATTEMPTS to do, but fails horribly at. Zero Mission, on the other hand, uses story elements from the Japan-exclusive gamebook, Metroid: Zebes Invasion Order, to expand on the lore from the original Metroid.
This game, much like Fusion that released around the same time frame, has a pretty steep difficulty curve in some sections, but then again, I never played the original Metroid on the NES, so that could be just Nintendo being faithful to the original. The post-game section of navigating through the Space Pirates' Mothership was notoriously difficult since you were stripped of Samus' Power Suit and only armed with a pistol to stun enemies. Enemies in this area can easily wear down your health to nothing with their attacks, even after you regain the Power Suit. This new challenge is turned up another notch in a sense that you are unable to regain/farm these enemies for health/ammunition for your special weapons.
Watch Zero Suit Stealth Section & Chozo Ghost Boss from xionzeros on www.twitch.tv
It felt like a cheap attempt of adding a Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth component to the gameplay but it really doesn't feel fun at all. While I applaud Nintendo for the extra/additional content, the poor stealth mechanics here felt tacked on and took a little of the joy out of what was an otherwise fun adventure. There were plenty of moments where I suffered cheap bursts of random bouts of detection that turn this section of the game into a mad dash to the next room(s) where you can find a safe spot to hide until the Space Pirates can't find you. It's a lot of unnecessary trial and error navigating through this clusterfuck of a maze that is the Space Pirates' Mothership.
Watch Mecha Ridley & Mothership Escape + Credits from xionzeros on www.twitch.tv
Once Samus makes her way to the end of this section after regaining her Power Suit and unlocking her full powers, the final boss that you face is Mecha Ridley. Despite the fact that he goes down off at least 8-10 Super Missiles aimed at his core, this fight still felt pretty cheap to me given the fact that it doesn't take much for Mecha Ridley to wipe your E-tanks out to zero between his claw swipes, eye beams, and missile volleys. It wouldn't be that difficult if his core wasn't such a damn tiny target on his body that requires a precisely aimed shot to hit it without bouncing off the rest of his armored body. I thought Mother Brain was just as cheap earlier in the game too, if not more so from the array of Metroids you had to contend with before getting there. That last room where they trap you in there with at least 6 at once is straight up bullshit. I'm just going to put that out there right now.
Watch Metroid Hunting from xionzeros on www.twitch.tv
If the original Metroid was as hard as that, then I tip my hat to the folks who finished that with flying colors on the NES. I would've thrown my controller at the TV if it weren't for save states.
In terms of gameplay improvements over the original Metroid, I enjoyed the quality of life improvements over previous entries in the series as the map gave you updates of your next destination instead of sending you wondering throughout the massive game map without the faintest clue of what in the blue hell of what exactly you should be doing or looking for.
I liked that all of your beams "stack" like they did in Super Metroid as well, but I wish you could toggle abilities on/off like that game. That was allegedly a feature that was removed from the game prior to release, but can be activated via hacks/modifying the game's source code. (Sighs) What could have been, I guess. That was a highly beloved feature in Super Metroid, even to this day by the speedrunning folks.
I never knew how bare bones Samus' abilities were in the sequels until I played this entry. She had to acquire the means for ledge hanging (Power Grip), long range firing (Long Beam), missile usage and capacity (in Metroid II, you start off with 30 missiles), and the ability to crawl into small spaces (Morph Ball) instead of having these abilities right off the bat in Metroid II: Return of Samus.
I know Super Metroid enthusiasts - or rather fanatics - will hit me for this, but I never knew how to perform a ShineSpark (and all of its variations) until I played Metroid: The Other M. That being said, I adored all of the clever uses of this ability coupled with the normal usage of the Speed Booster to collect the various hidden items tucked away on Planet Zebes. If I were to replay this game to collect all of the items for 100% item completion, it would be to explore all of those means with this ability. I had seen some of it from the numerous speedruns of this game and Fusion on GDQ (Games Done Quick) or other noteworthy speedrunners' Twitch channels, but wouldn't mind taking the time to do so myself.
Watch Mother Brain Boss Attempts & Escape from xionzeros on www.twitch.tv
I'm sure someone will correct me otherwise, but one thing that threw me off a little was that I was getting hit out of the Screw Attack in this game. If memory serves, Samus is supposed to be completely invincible during this attack, but during the Space Pirate Mothership section of the game, the Pirates were hitting me out of it left and right. I can understand the black Space Pirates showing some tolerance to it, but that just felt cheap when the normal ones were occasionally hitting me out of the animation. Back in Metroid II: Return of Samus, I vividly remember using that ability to avoid contact damage from Metroids and everything else under the sun. Once again, this was a minor gripe, but I can see why Nintendo possibly removed the i-frames of invincibility on this ability as it was a tad overpowered in that game.
Samus having some of these abilities that weren't seen until her 2nd and 3rd adventures create a bit of an inconsistency with her lore as in one of the later games, she clearly mentions that she wasn't taught how to use particular abilities until AFTER the events of this game, so it comes off as odd as trying to reconnect the events of Capcom's Maverick Hunter X (remake of the original Mega Man X) to the rest of the X series after Keiji Inafune left Capcom. In that regard, it's just best to treat this as a fun "spin" on Samus' initial adventure and not hold it too faithfully to her canonical narrative.
A part of me wished that this game let you bookmark stuff on the map like how Castlevania: Lord of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD did for further reference to aid you when backtracking with newly acquired abilities, but I had to mentally hit myself as a reminder for when this game was released. Features like that wasn't even considered back at that point in gaming, so we should be grateful that Nintendo even revamped the original Metroid title - period. Speaking of which, the original Metroid from the NES is unlocked on the main menu after you clear the game. In that regard, I found myself playing an emulator within an emulator as this was emulated within Zero Mission's ROM file. I think I played about 5 minutes of it and quickly realized that the difficulty curve on the NES original was much more brutal than what I was treated to playing Metroid II: Return of Samus on the Game Boy first. (Laughs) I definitely got the kid gloves in terms of my formal introduction to the series.
If you're a Metroid series fan, then this is a no-brainer to give this game a shot. Over the years, I have come to an understanding that there's a hard division between the Metroid community that either prefers Samus' 3D/first person shooter (FPS) outings with the Metroid: Prime series over her 2D sidescroller adventures, but I think there's something for both sides of the spectrum to enjoy here in terms of enjoying this remake of Samus' initial adventure. While I wasn't too crazy about the spikes in difficulty in certain portions of the game, I ultimately enjoyed playing through majority of the game as a whole. I feel like this is a respectful homage to Samus' original adventure, even though the latter portion of the game gets pretty tedious while exploring the Space Pirates' Mothership. I suppose that could be remedied for newcomers by choosing an easier difficulty setting, but that's to each player's own personal preference, of course. While this isn't one of my favorite 2D outings of Samus Aran's adventures, I still don't regret a moment of playing through this game.
It felt like a cheap attempt of adding a Metal Gear Solid-esque stealth component to the gameplay but it really doesn't feel fun at all. While I applaud Nintendo for the extra/additional content, the poor stealth mechanics here felt tacked on and took a little of the joy out of what was an otherwise fun adventure. There were plenty of moments where I suffered cheap bursts of random bouts of detection that turn this section of the game into a mad dash to the next room(s) where you can find a safe spot to hide until the Space Pirates can't find you. It's a lot of unnecessary trial and error navigating through this clusterfuck of a maze that is the Space Pirates' Mothership.
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| Mecha Ridley's weak point is that red spot on his chest, but good luck hitting that since getting anywhere NEAR that either bounces off or you take contact damage from getting too close. |
Once Samus makes her way to the end of this section after regaining her Power Suit and unlocking her full powers, the final boss that you face is Mecha Ridley. Despite the fact that he goes down off at least 8-10 Super Missiles aimed at his core, this fight still felt pretty cheap to me given the fact that it doesn't take much for Mecha Ridley to wipe your E-tanks out to zero between his claw swipes, eye beams, and missile volleys. It wouldn't be that difficult if his core wasn't such a damn tiny target on his body that requires a precisely aimed shot to hit it without bouncing off the rest of his armored body. I thought Mother Brain was just as cheap earlier in the game too, if not more so from the array of Metroids you had to contend with before getting there. That last room where they trap you in there with at least 6 at once is straight up bullshit. I'm just going to put that out there right now.
 |
| Whoever conceived of this cruel joke towards the end of the game deserves a stiff kick in the nuts - REPEATEDLY. |
If the original Metroid was as hard as that, then I tip my hat to the folks who finished that with flying colors on the NES. I would've thrown my controller at the TV if it weren't for save states.
In terms of gameplay improvements over the original Metroid, I enjoyed the quality of life improvements over previous entries in the series as the map gave you updates of your next destination instead of sending you wondering throughout the massive game map without the faintest clue of what in the blue hell of what exactly you should be doing or looking for.
I liked that all of your beams "stack" like they did in Super Metroid as well, but I wish you could toggle abilities on/off like that game. That was allegedly a feature that was removed from the game prior to release, but can be activated via hacks/modifying the game's source code. (Sighs) What could have been, I guess. That was a highly beloved feature in Super Metroid, even to this day by the speedrunning folks.
I never knew how bare bones Samus' abilities were in the sequels until I played this entry. She had to acquire the means for ledge hanging (Power Grip), long range firing (Long Beam), missile usage and capacity (in Metroid II, you start off with 30 missiles), and the ability to crawl into small spaces (Morph Ball) instead of having these abilities right off the bat in Metroid II: Return of Samus.
I know Super Metroid enthusiasts - or rather fanatics - will hit me for this, but I never knew how to perform a ShineSpark (and all of its variations) until I played Metroid: The Other M. That being said, I adored all of the clever uses of this ability coupled with the normal usage of the Speed Booster to collect the various hidden items tucked away on Planet Zebes. If I were to replay this game to collect all of the items for 100% item completion, it would be to explore all of those means with this ability. I had seen some of it from the numerous speedruns of this game and Fusion on GDQ (Games Done Quick) or other noteworthy speedrunners' Twitch channels, but wouldn't mind taking the time to do so myself.
Watch Mother Brain Boss Attempts & Escape from xionzeros on www.twitch.tv
I'm sure someone will correct me otherwise, but one thing that threw me off a little was that I was getting hit out of the Screw Attack in this game. If memory serves, Samus is supposed to be completely invincible during this attack, but during the Space Pirate Mothership section of the game, the Pirates were hitting me out of it left and right. I can understand the black Space Pirates showing some tolerance to it, but that just felt cheap when the normal ones were occasionally hitting me out of the animation. Back in Metroid II: Return of Samus, I vividly remember using that ability to avoid contact damage from Metroids and everything else under the sun. Once again, this was a minor gripe, but I can see why Nintendo possibly removed the i-frames of invincibility on this ability as it was a tad overpowered in that game.
Samus having some of these abilities that weren't seen until her 2nd and 3rd adventures create a bit of an inconsistency with her lore as in one of the later games, she clearly mentions that she wasn't taught how to use particular abilities until AFTER the events of this game, so it comes off as odd as trying to reconnect the events of Capcom's Maverick Hunter X (remake of the original Mega Man X) to the rest of the X series after Keiji Inafune left Capcom. In that regard, it's just best to treat this as a fun "spin" on Samus' initial adventure and not hold it too faithfully to her canonical narrative.
A part of me wished that this game let you bookmark stuff on the map like how Castlevania: Lord of Shadow - Mirror of Fate HD did for further reference to aid you when backtracking with newly acquired abilities, but I had to mentally hit myself as a reminder for when this game was released. Features like that wasn't even considered back at that point in gaming, so we should be grateful that Nintendo even revamped the original Metroid title - period. Speaking of which, the original Metroid from the NES is unlocked on the main menu after you clear the game. In that regard, I found myself playing an emulator within an emulator as this was emulated within Zero Mission's ROM file. I think I played about 5 minutes of it and quickly realized that the difficulty curve on the NES original was much more brutal than what I was treated to playing Metroid II: Return of Samus on the Game Boy first. (Laughs) I definitely got the kid gloves in terms of my formal introduction to the series.
Play It or Don't Bother?
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| If I actually owned a Game Boy Advance, I totally would have owned this in my gaming library, but if I had a choice between this title or Metroid Fusion, the latter gets my vote any day of the week as the better of the two titles. |
If you're a Metroid series fan, then this is a no-brainer to give this game a shot. Over the years, I have come to an understanding that there's a hard division between the Metroid community that either prefers Samus' 3D/first person shooter (FPS) outings with the Metroid: Prime series over her 2D sidescroller adventures, but I think there's something for both sides of the spectrum to enjoy here in terms of enjoying this remake of Samus' initial adventure. While I wasn't too crazy about the spikes in difficulty in certain portions of the game, I ultimately enjoyed playing through majority of the game as a whole. I feel like this is a respectful homage to Samus' original adventure, even though the latter portion of the game gets pretty tedious while exploring the Space Pirates' Mothership. I suppose that could be remedied for newcomers by choosing an easier difficulty setting, but that's to each player's own personal preference, of course. While this isn't one of my favorite 2D outings of Samus Aran's adventures, I still don't regret a moment of playing through this game.
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