Metroid Prime (GameCube, 2002)

With Metroid Prime 4 finally about to drop, it seemed like a good time to revisit and fix up the one post I did for a Prime series game. While sometimes I prefer their darker follow-ups, Prime 2 and Fusion, I feel like Prime is nearly tied with Super Metroid for the title of "best game in the series". That's some tall praise right there. Super Metroid is probably easier to revisit and has a nice quick flow to it, so I'd probably put it just above this one.

Fun Fact: The reason Metroid Prime 4 has taken so long is because it took a while to secure the rights to the Seinfeld riff every time Myles makes a joke.

Originally posted April 2013, now redone for 2025 with some new HD shots added. There'll be a mix of those and 2013 camera shots here.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Nintendo DS, 2006)

 

In my continuing quest to figure out what the best of the big eight Iga-Metroidvanias is (the six portables, plus Symphony and Bloodstained), I've got two left and this is one of 'em. It's definitely a major contender. And I'll say this, Circle of the Moon isn't going to win, probably because it's the Iga-Metroidvania that doesn't even contain Iga.

Regardless, this game is freaking fantastic, and is a direct sequel to Castlevania Bloodlines.

Castlevania - Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance, 2001)

 

Four years after Symphony of the Night, we got a sequel of sorts. This is the next "Metroidvania" in the series. It doesn't measure up to its predecessor very well at all, but it's still a pretty good game. This also kicked off the series' second golden era (the first being their 16-bit triumphs). It's the first of a Game Boy Advance trilogy of Metroidvanias that was immediately followed by a DS trilogy. They're all good (though some much more than others). A few bullet points first off:

-This was a Game Boy Advance launch game. I totally missed out on that era myself, but it's pretty awesome that people got this as a launch game.

-The European version was just called "Castlevania" which is kind of funny. Made it look like (yet another) remake of the first one.

-Koji Igarashi didn't work on this at all, and later kind of disavowed it as not being canon. He was back for the next one, Harmony of Dissonance, to "fix" things. IMO that game is the weakest of the six GBA/DS Metroidvanias, though, so not much fixing went on. This game is easily the second-weakest, with the other four being well above the first two.

-Playing this on the PS4 Castlevania Advance Collection which is a pretty nice value (and again, means I'm not forced to emulate, so I'm glad they're making an effort to re-release these things). That said, the GBA trilogy found on said collection is much easier TO emulate or even buy than the now-rare DS trilogy that followed it, so I was really hoping they would do a second collection with the DS trilogy. No such luck. Where's the DS trilogy, Konami?

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Reverse Castle

 

The Twelve Days of Halloween concludes with the end of Symphony. ...come to think of it, this probably would have made a lot more sense as the "Thirteen" Days of Halloween.

Fun? Fact: This post and the previous Symphony post both have exactly 66 images, and this wasn't even necessarily intentional. It just shook out that I had 132 images total that were good enough to post, and I evenly divided them. An even crazier coincidence is that the exact midpoint is the Reverse Castle arrival. Weird. Very weird. Almost...spooky.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Playstation, 1997)

 

This game is like the Elden Ring of Castlevanias.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night (Playstation 4, 2019)

 

Here we go, the main event. This was on a bunch of systems; PS4 is what I'm playing it on.

Metroid Dread (Switch, 2021)

This is it, the big game of the month...and the largest post in site history. Will I enjoy the game I've been waiting for for 19 years? Will the site crash from this ginormous post? Tune in and we'll find out.

Another Metroid 2 Remake (PC, 2016)

 

I've gone into how important Metroid 2 was to me personally in the 90's. Looking back, it turns out Metroid 2 might actually be the most significant game in the series in terms of the effect it had on the rest of the games. And this, in my opinion, is the best version of it. Basically Zero Mission 2, and far more faithful to the Game Boy original than the Mercury Steam remake is. I can't say enough good about this game and I've been wanting to cover it for years. Not bad for a 100% fan-made project.

Samus Returns (Nintendo 3DS, 2017)

The 2017 remake of Metroid 2: Return of Samus is pretty divisive. Some people loved it, some people didn't have much fun with it at all. I grew up with Metroid 2 and it was the first game I found myself really attached to, so this remake was long-awaited for me to say the least. They changed a LOT about the game though, and at the end of the day I think I prefer the fanmade AM2R over this. All Metroid 2 needed for a remake was a "Zero Mission II" type game, which AM2R is. However, it isn't like Samus Returns is terrible or anything. It sets up multiple future games and puts a more complex spin on Metroid II's world. Let's get it done.

Metroid: Other M (Nintendo Wii, 2010)

Metroid Week BEGINS. If all goes well I'll be covering the few non-Prime Metroid games that I hadn't covered in playthrough form before on here. Specifically Other M, Samus Returns, and AM2R. At some point in the future I'll also cover the Prime series, likely right before Metroid Prime 4 if it ever comes to pass.

Without further ado, starting off with Metroid Other M, a game that isn't very well-liked to say the least. It's still a halfway decent playthrough, despite its problems. That said, I don't personally intend to ever revisit this one and I've got a lot to gripe about here.

This is basically Metroid 3.5 since it takes place before Metroid Fusion. For a very long time (until now, really) this was all Metroid fans got as far as any continuation of the story goes, which makes it being a letdown even more of a...letdown. On the bright side, one doesn't particularly need to play this to understand the rest of the series, and it can be skipped.

Super Metroid Hacks

Super Metroid: One of the finest games on the SNES. Also now available on SouljaConsole as Soup Arm Etroid.

Today I'll be looking at six Super Metroid hacks that I've had laying around for the past few years: Metroid Redesign, Another Super Metroid, Super Metroid Battle, Metroid Legacy, Metroid Reverse, Metroid Limit, and Super Metroid Justin Bailey Hack. I'll be playing each one until I reach an impasse - whether it be a boss fight or a dead end - or otherwise don't feel like continuing. I'll rank each one on a 1-10 scale, with Ten being "as good as Super Metroid" and One being near-unplayable. Anything over 6 or 7 is probably worth checking out.

Metroid 2: Return of Samus (Game Boy, 1991)

This was the second game I ever owned (after Kirby's Dream Land). And now it has an unofficial remake out plus an official remake in the works. This makes me happy, to say the least. Metroid 2 was the first game that really pulled me in and showed me that games could be deeper than what I thought as a kid.

Metroid Fusion Finale - A Multitude of Idols

In this installment I take on all of the final battles. There are quite a few.

Metroid Fusion #2 - Space Madness

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for Samus arching her back while wearing a micro-outfit.

...What? I'm a dude.

Metroid Fusion (Game Boy Advance, 2002)

Metroid Fusion is chronologically the final part of the Metroid series. It's also effectively the end of the Metroid series as a 2D entity. It's a pretty huge game story-wise, with a lot of ground to cover, so I'll be breaking it into multiple parts rather than doing one Super-style megapost.

Metroid: Other M - A Quick Look

Behold the most generic title screen ever! Actually, everything about this game screams "generic".

Played this via Dolphin, and the emulator didn't let me get very far. I decided I'd post what little I got like I did with 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Alien 3, even though a Metroid game deserves better than a half-baked "first five minutes of the game" post. Thing is, this is the worst Metroid game. As a huge Metroid fan who felt super let-down by this game, even the first five minutes give me a massive amount to talk about. Everything I hate about this game shows up in some form in the first five minutes...well, almost.

Game Review: Metroid Prime Hunters

Nintendo DS, 2006

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo Software Technology

Time to Complete: 7 - 9 hours

I noticed that there was a hole in my Metroid post lineup. I've written about every main-series Metroid game except one, and it's time to do something about that.

Super Metroid (Super NES, 1994)

Best game ever? Possibly

My 2012 Metroid Crusade rolls on with what is almost undisputably the best Metroid game. It's on plenty of shortlists for "best game ever". It scored the lofty #1 on the now-defunct (or is it?) Electronic Gaming Monthly's "Top 100 Games of All Time". It's the game that I got an SNES for in 1994. This is Super Metroid, one of the SNES's crowning moments and one of those games that helped the SNES bury the competing Sega Genesis.

Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance, 2004)

The 0th Mission

Last month, I reviewed the iconic original Metroid (http://www.coronajumper.com/2012/07/metroid.html). Now I'll be taking a look at the 2004 remake. This game improves on the NES version in numerous ways, but (debatably) loses some of its charm. The big question is... why didn't Metroid 2 get the remake treatment? Graphic-wise it has aged even more than the original game and would be a perfect candidate for a solid remake.

Metroid (NES, 1986)

"Wait, you mean The Metroid is a girl?"

Now that Paladin's Quest is over with, it's time for me to change course and look at something a bit more iconic: the Metroid series. The first Metroid I played was Metroid 2: Return of Samus in 1993, but I soon heard legends and tales that an earlier game existed in the then-duology. To say I was captivated by the idea of an NES Metroid would be an understatement, but unfortunately for me I never got to play this game until I eventually got an NES in 1999. I recently revisited the game for the second time for the purposes of this post. This is one of the best (and most difficult) classics to be found on the NES. Read on to see my thoughts as I play this fine work of game design.