#220: Metroid: Zero Mission (2004, GBA)

I can't think of another game remake I approve of more heartily than Metroid: Zero Mission. The reason for this lies in looking at the title it is remaking, the original Metroid. To put it simply, when compared with every other title in the Metroid series, the original Metroid kind of sucks. Like, really sucks. Whereas every other Metroid has displayed tight control, interesting and varied environments, and exploration based gameplay that veers closely towards being aimless and arbitrary without actually being so, the original eschews all of these. The environments are ludicrously repetitive, objectives are obscure and inscrutable enough to make Simon's Quest blush, the controls are loose, and the way enemies spawn endlessly must have been a big inspiration to Ninja Gaiden. Now, all is not all bad there, Metroid did more for establishing atmosphere as a tenet of game design than any other 8-bit title I can think of, it established the wonderful Metroid formula, and as far as NES titles go its problems aren't especially damaging. Still, in the grand scheme of Metroid, the original had been relegated to the not really worth going back and playing pile.

So along comes Metroid: Zero Mission, which does a brilliant job of merging the excellent gameplay of Super Metroid with the general world and plot of Metroid (well, plot-wise it merges in the story built around the original, seeing as the original did not really have a plot in-game). The result is a pretty much perfect blend of of nostalgia (such as when one recognizes moments from the original) and fresh new ideas (like the excellent stealth sequence near the end of the game).

It's not a 1:1 remake, the order one acquires items has been jumbled around, the player is provided general waypoints to help overcome some of the more arbitrarily hidden tasks of the original, the level layouts have been pretty totally overhauled - the general structure is kept, but now individual areas actually look unique as opposed to the originals ludicrous repetitiveness. Now, this makes things feel somewhat smaller, but this works to its benefit - what good is a large world when each hallway is identical to that before it?

Metroid's excellent sound design loses some of its charm in the move to the GBA - the tracks are mostly the same, but they just don't feel quite right being orchestrated over being 8-bit - some of the sense of atmosphere is left behind in the transition from sparse to lush. The graphics, while obviously being a hell of a lot more detailed likewise undermine that sense of atmosphere - again, there is something to be said for sparseness over lushness. Also not helping things on the graphical front is the GBA's seeming inability to produce graphics that don't feel washed out (actually, it can produce them, it's just the original's lack of a light source forced developers to use a washed out style). One could actually make a strong case that Zero Mission here has the weakest atmosphere in the series.



Luckily for it, atmosphere isn't what makes Metroid great, gameplay is, and Zero Mission - despite the inclusion of waypoint assistance - does about the best job of letting the player loose to explore and discover since Super Metroid (well, discounting the Prime series).

Metroid: Zero Mission
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo R&D1
Released: 2/9/2004
Obtained: February 2004

9.0/10