Current Events > Just replayed Metroid Fusion before starting Dread. Spoilers for series

(+) Yeah! (+)

I started the Metroid series a bit late to the party. Missed the NES and GB titles, and when I rented Super like many people I was foiled by Noob Bridge. It wasn't until I was in high school and Fusion came out that I really got into the series. I'd heard/read about the series from friends and online a lot but prior to Fusion I didn't really dig into it myself but once I did I loved it. Fusion was something very new to me, having mostly played JRPGs up to that point, and it kickstarted my love of platformers as a genre, especially exploration focused ones.

That said, I didn't exactly have a way to play the older games. I, naturally, scooped up Zero Mission when it came out and loved it too. It wasn't until MUCH later that I played Super Metroid properly when I started watching the speedrunning scene. I've played it quite a few times since then, many more times than Fusion in fact, and have watched high level play of it even more (mainly since every Games Done Quick gave it a spotlight for years lol). And its great, very iconic. Fusion was still my favorite though.

This replay was the first one since I started dipping my toes into speedrunning and Super Metroid in particular. There's always been some banter about which game is better/people's favorites with most people citing Super as the better game while a minority (myself included) prefer Fusion. I thought this would be a good chance to re-assess the game with more experienced eyes, try to objectively decide for myself its merits rather than just viewing it through rose tinted glasses. So that's what this thread is, my honest thoughts on Fusion from the perspective of someone who played it first and later gained a deeper appreciation of Super.

First and foremost, knowing more about the genre, its clear how railroady Fusion is basically from the word go. It almost feels like the devs saw how players cracked open Super with crazy movement tech and went hard out of their way to shut it down. Wall jumping is still possible but feels harder AND many areas are designed so that walls are just far enough apart that it won't work for sequence breaking. Bomb climbing seems to be absolutely impossible, as far as I can tell bombs do not bop you around if you're already airborne. That's not even getting into how the game actively locks you in/out of areas for most of the game. Once you enter a zone you better hope you've got enough upgrades to clear it because you're not back tracking until the game is ready to let you back out!

Secondly, the lack of new and interesting power ups is very noticeable. With the exception of the Ice Missiles/Ice Diffusion Missiles everything is just a copy/paste from Super. The game gives them to you at a decent clip which keeps gameplay interesting and evolving but it feels a bit lazy if you ask me. That said, just upgrading all Missiles to Super Missiles was a cool QOL upgrade rather than tracking 2 kinds of ammo for it.

Third, its very wordy. Super Metroid very much understood the principle of "Show me, don't tell me". It had, what, like maybe 10 lines of narration, if that? Meanwhile Fusion gives you a novella every section it feels like. Probably 20 minutes of run time is scrolling text in Navigation rooms. I definitely get the developers wanting to add some story and tension to the game (and it does a good job of building tension) but it definitely breaks immersion a bit going from running/fighting for your life to literally being locked in a Navigation room until you let the Computer plot dump on you.

That said, Fusion does some things very right. SA-X FEELS like a menace, especially if you've never played the game before. Fusion nails down the survival horror aspect of being locked on a spacecraft with a deadly threat pperfectly. You always feel like you're just one step ahead of SA-X, except for when it occasionally catches up to you. This is to say nothing of the more mundane threats SA-X has unleashed (if you can call a fire breathing backflipping spider or whatever The Nightmare is mundane FFS). The Big Creature Battles have that flair for the spectacular I expect from the series by this point.

Likewise, the overall atmosphere of the game is great. The tiny details of each region, like the Horntoad nests in the background of SRX region, make the world feel very alive. And seeing noticeable changes to the regions before and after the X invade each one is very cool. I also very much appreciate the in-universe explanation for why Samus is so weak at the start of the game. Too many game, notably the Mega Man series, handwave this. By the time Mega Man 4 rolls around you'd think the Blue Bomber would be a walking, talking war machine with an arsenal to match but Rock always starts off with just the Mega Buster and if he's lucky is talking dog best friend. Fusion giving a rational reason for why Samus is back down to just the Power Beam was a nice touch.

The last thing I want to touch on is pacing. Replaying it I definitely noticed the pacing felt pretty terrible, at least compared to Super Metroid. The raliroading really kept me from wanting to do any backtracking or exploring old areas with new powerups unless I was forced to go to a previous region. The one time I tried (after I got Power Bombs so I could easily check rooms for secrets) I mostly found Screw Attack blocks so I just kinda gave up backtracking at all. It felt to me like the devs very much wanted you to collect every power up or nearly every power up before they cut you loose on the game. Unfortunately, by the time you GET the Screw Attack you're about 10 minutes from finishing the game entirely. It felt bad. I figured I'd give the finale the old college try to see if I even needed to go exploring and while it took a couple of attempts that was definitely more mechanical skill than anything. One big difference between Super and Fusion? Super's finale requires you to have done at least SOME due diligence so that you have enough Missiles/Super Missiles to finish the game. In Fusion, every weapon except the Beam is pretty much worthless in the final act. Realizing that was the nail on the head for me regarding doing a final pass for more power ups. At best I might have found a couple of E Tanks because nothing else would be helpful.

Overall, I can say conclusively I think Super is a better game, especially mechanically. I personally still prefer the narrative and atmosphere driven ride of Fusion but it is easy to see why so many people prefer Super. Super does a better job of delivering on the power fantasy of being a badass space warrior alone in dangerous teritory

Well said. I agree with all those points--they both offer a unique and fun experience. It was the same for me. I spent a childhood uncovering secrets in SM and it felt meaningful. In Fusion it's like a chore as you collect more and more useless power bomb expansions at the very last leg of the game.

HudGard posted...

Well said. I agree with all those points--they both offer a unique and fun experience. It was the same for me. I spent a childhood uncovering secrets in SM and it felt meaningful. In Fusion it's like a chore as you collect more and more useless power bomb expansions at the very last leg of the game.

Thanks, it was interesting going through a game I love with fresh eyes. Some of Fusions flaws are really glaring to me now.

In other news, played a few hours of Dread. So far Dread has been good if a bit easy. Very forgiving checkpoints are nice, controls are tight, powerups feel good. Its very cinematic. It feels like the dev team really nailed down a way to both give the player agency but also still work in cutscenes to showcase how they want Samus to act/fight (and she's 100% badass). They even struck a good balance between the "you're alone on a hostile world with only your wits and an arm cannon to aid you" vibe from Super Metroid with the "Everything has gone to hell but if you listen to your Commanding Officer you just might live" vibe from Fusion. The Navigation rooms are back for narration purposes but gone is the railroading, only allowing you to go where the plot demands you go. So far I'm really impressed

I love Fusion a lot just because of the atmosphere and while it wasn't the first I played, it was the first I beat. I recently replayed it after many years of not touching it, and yeah the handholdy aspect is certainly front and center. Mercury Steam wanted to remake Fusion but they got the Dread job instead, I really hope they get the chance to remake Fusion anywa I think they'd do a good job.

With that said I don't like Super, Samus feels too much like a tank while future games she's more fluid and responsive, so I tend not to replay it.

Zero Mission I think is where it's at for me, it's got the "here's the world have fun" aspect of Super with the fluid controls of Fusion (with a significantly better wall jump).

Dread definitely takes some inspiration from Fusion but it's also a good mix of the other games components. I think you'll enjoy it. There's definitely some flaws, but it's still overall a really fun game and very enjoyable.