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This world never had a place for me.

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The Wilis

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sketch

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Fusion

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So you want to Metroid now:

With Metroid Dread being real and looking amazing, I know people are trying to get into Metroid, so I'm here to give my opinions and advice on where to start.

The Beginning(story):

Metroid Zero Mission. It is a remake of the original Metroid but is one of the best playing Metroid games thus far.

Available on: GBA, wiiU e-shop.

Pros: Beginning of the story, great controls, great starter Metroid game.

Cons: Few convenient ways to buy.

Most convenient to Play:

Super Metroid. The gold standard for a Metroidvania game.

Available on: SNES, wii-U e-shop, 3DS e-shop Nintendo Switch Online.

Pros: One of the best games in the series. Amazing atmosphere. Most readily available.

Cons: No future Metroid game plays like it. Controls are a bit odd.(Remember you have a run button in this one)

Most relevant to Dread(story):

Metroid Fusion. Until Dread, Fusion was the latest game in the timeline. This game has a bigger story focus than most Metroid games and a tighter difficulty curve. Dread is a direct sequel to Fusion.

Available on: GBA, wiiU e-shop.

Pros: Started the era of Quick/agile Samus. Solid difficulty. Terrifying in places.

Cons: Few convenient ways to buy, one of the most Linear metroid games.

Most relevant to Dread(Gameplay):

Metroid Samus Returns. the latest entry in the series by release. Also made by Mercury Steam. Samus in this game will feel the most similar to Samus in Dread. It is a remake of Metroid 2 for the original Game Boy.

Available on: 3DS

Pros: Solid gameplay, same developer as Dread.

Cons: Limited by being on 3DS. Linear, Issues with repeated boss fights.

Honorable Mention:

AM2R. The fan remake of Metroid 2. Plays like a refined Zero Mission. Nintendo DMCA'd it, but the fan community has managed to recompile the source code and keep it alive, still available to find online.

Available on: PC.

Pros: Takes Zero Mission gameplay and improves it. Excellent game feel. Fan made.

Cons: Still has Metroid 2's flaws with repeated boss fights and linearity.

Pretty much any 2D Metroid game made after Metroid II is worth playing and a reasonable place to start. Don't worry to much about the story progression. Most games give you a good recap of the previous entries if they are important. Gameplay and the experience of playing and exploring the world are more important.

Dishonorable Mention:

Metroid Other M.

Cons: Don't.

Pros: Interesting as a "where did things go wrong" once you have played the rest of the Metroid games. If you like how Samus looks in Smash 4/Ultimate, here's where that suit came from.

Available on: Wii.

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Quick Sammy before bed

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don't anger a metroid at 3 am

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Metroid Prime Samus Spaceship Art

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Happy 30th Anniversary for Super Metroid!

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Gravity suit

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2024's first Samus(after a long busy period)

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baby bird 🐣

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HOPE...?

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today (provided the tumblr post scheduler works as intended) is very special!!!!! the original super smash bros was released in japan 25 years ago. smash is turning 25 baby

wanted to make a cool poster for the occasion since the smash series is very special to me. ive been wanting to since christmas?? but it took quite a long time to really nail an idea and almost dropped the project entirely. BUT THANKFULLY one day i finally had my plans click together that would let me see this through to the end.

i also have plans to print this for myself n actually hang it up. so for the first time, i actually used a cmyk color profile (and even made room for trim marks!) in preparation for that. i just need to not get cold feet at the last minute when asking my local printer lol…… but working in cmyk was actually a neat little challenge that i’ve never done before, and i really like how the colors came out here :]

oh also to add (mainly for myself) - this was originally completed january 9 yahoo

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Let's talk about the retconned lore from Metroid Prime

Way back in 2002, Metroid Prime was released for Gamecube in the United States. Play through the game, and you'll eventually reach the final boss, who is also named metroid prime! But just who is metroid prime? Well, the original release of the game had quite a lot of things to say about the final boss! There were space pirate logs that detail how the creature came to appear in its final state. You get to read about the formidable beast, and how the pirates tried and failed to keep it contained. Eventually, you get to have a showdown with this terrifying creature you've heard so much about.

A couple months later, the game released in Europe, and several of the pirate log entries were completely revised, scrubbing away most mentions of metroid prime. The creature was no longer built up as a villain, but only mentioned in passing and left largely mysterious until the final encounter. These changes would persist for subsequent versions of the game, and the original NTSC logs would not be acknowledged again.

What happened? Why did they change so much in the PAL version? Well, let's start by taking a closer look at the log entries we're not supposed to see. The following log entries are courtesy of the independent Metroid Wiki, and you can read all the old and new logs there.

The retconned logs

The following logs are all from the NTSC version of the game, and none of them appear in subsequent versions.

Pirate Data: "Metroid Prime" Test subject Z-d, hereafter referred to as Metroid Prime, was recently discovered in a cavern by mining crews. It quickly dispatched the miners, but was eventually contained by security units and drones. Once contained, we were able to begin studies upon Metroid Prime. The results have been astonishing. It is genetically similar to a Metroid, albeit on a high evolved level. It displays a limitless capacity for Phazon infusion and shows no Phazon-based degeneration whatsoever. It continues to grow in size, and while it has manifested some psychotic behavior, the cold field we use to pacify remain effective. Authorization for advanced studies on Metroid Prime have been approved.

This entry describes how the pirates chanced upon metroid prime and managed to capture it. It likely looked very different at this point in time, since they were able to subdue it and still had a lot of growing to do. They decide to keep it as a research subject.

Pirate Data: "Prime Breach" Subject Metroid Prime's breach has been contained. Reports indicate that it sensed a large batch of raw Phazon in the lab from within its stasis tank and broke through the glass, using previously unsuspected strength. Besides consuming all of the Phazon, Metroid Prime assimilated several weapons and defense systems from fallen security units. It has suffered no ill effect from said assimilation: indeed, it began to use its newly acquired weapons against us. Once we pacified it, we were unable to remove the assimilated gear without threat to Metroid Prime — the gear is now an integral part of its body. Command is intrigued by this newfound ability, and has ordered further study to commence at once.

This entry describes an incident where metroid prime escaped containment and got a hold of some space pirate weapons. The technology was permanently melded to its body and instantly made it much more threatening. Nonetheless, they were able to contain the creature for further study.

Pirate Data: "Prime Mutations" Metroid Prime continues to feed and grow ever larger in the impact crater caves. Its hunger knows no bounds, and it has begun to manifest unusual mutations since its breach. These include armor plating on its epidermis and mechanical outgrowths that generate defense screens. These screens render it invulnerable to most weapon systems, but a flaw in the mutation leads to increased vulnerability to certain weapons. It compensates for this by shifting the screens quickly. This latest development concerns Security units greatly: they feel it's a matter of time before Metroid Prime corrects this defect and renders itself invulnerable to all weaponry. Containment would be nigh impossible if this were to occur.

The pirates continue to monitor metroid prime, and take note that it is only growing more powerful. It now has armor plating and defensive screens that block most types of damage, and the pirates grow anxious that it might soon become completely impervious.

Pirate Data: "Chozo Artifacts" We are particularly interested in a number of curious Chozo Artifacts we have been able to recover from a number of religious sites on Tallon IV. These relics resonate with power, and yet we are unable to harness them in any way. Science Team is attempting to fuse them together with Phazon, believing that a link might exist between them. We know that these Artifacts are linked to the Chozo Temple that block full access to the Impact Crater. We have yet to crack this enigma, however. Command grows impatient regarding this matter: results must be produced soon.

I am including this log for the sake of completeness, even though it has nothing to do with metroid prime. It was replaced with a similarly-worded log, the only difference being that the new log implies that the space pirates have no knowledge of the artifacts' locations.

What do they imply?

There's one important thing I want to point out about these logs. The story about metroid prime assimilating space pirate armor and weaponry does a lot to explain the boss's appearance and abilities. I believe it was a very intentional choice that the player encounters beam troopers earlier in the game, who are only vulnerable to one of several specific weapons, and then this mechanic is iterated upon during the battle with metroid prime. Metroid prime's design even calls back to the armor of the beam troopers.

All this to say: according to the NTSC version, the boss we encounter at the end of the game is some kind of phazon-mutated metroid that's been souped up with space pirate technology. The logs end without any conclusion to this story, so we're left to assume that metroid prime has become too powerful to be contained, so it decided to make its home in the impact crater, where it could feast on an endless supply of phazon.

I also want to note something the logs don't tell us: where the creature originated from. The space pirates simply found it in a cave during a mining operation, so its origin is left unclear.

And that brings us to the next topic...

Why were they changed?

Anyone familiar with the lore of Metroid Prime will have noticed a huge plot hole in this story. In all versions of the game, the lore entries explain how the Chozo erected an impenetrable containment field around the impact crater to slow the rate of corruption, and the space pirates have spent considerable effort trying to break through it. This leaves no explanation for how metroid prime, the creature, could have entered the impact crater after spending time in the pirates' custody. Unless it has some unexplained method of effortlessly passing through the barrier, the story told through the pirate logbooks doesn't make much sense.

In order to fix this plot hole, all of the above pirate data entries were replaced in the PAL version with completely new ones, most of which make no mention of metroid prime. The following is the only PAL log entry which makes reference to metroid prime:

Pirate Data: "Impact Crater" Investigations into a possible ingress point for the Impact Crater continue to meet with failure. The shield of strange energy that protects it is impermeable, and all attempts to tunnel past it have proved fruitless. Our continued futility in this matter is made all the more significant in light of recent life form readings we've discovered emanating from deep within the crater. Analysis of the readings indicates that a massive creature is gestating in there, absorbing enormous amounts or Phazon from the Phazon core at the heart of the impact crater. This discovery makes accessing the crater doubly important - not only will it open the door to the vast deposits of Phazon within, but it will also lead us to this creature, whatever it may be.

The new lore emphasizes that the space pirates cannot breach the impact crater, but they can sense the presence of a powerful being inside. In this version of the game, this is our only hint towards the existence of metroid prime. It makes more sense that the final boss lurking inside the impact crater has been trapped in there the whole time, festering in its own juices, growing more powerful until our fateful encounter.

You could also read these changes as being more in line with the lore developed in the rest of the Prime trilogy. Metroid prime is implied to be the guardian of Tallon IV's leviathan core, or perhaps a mutated version of the core itself. Either way, it cannot leave the leviathan seed that it is bound to.

What was lost?

The new lore introduced in the PAL version gives no explanation for why metroid prime so strongly resembles a space pirate trooper, since according to the current canon, it would have no contact with pirate technology. We can only interpret its similarities as a coincidence. This is unfortunately a very cool design choice that will forever be a leftover of a patched over plot hole.

While I'm extremely interested in the retconned log entries as a historical curiosity, I think the writers ultimately made the right call changing the lore to be more consistent with the rest of the game and the trilogy as a whole. I know it couldn't have been an easy choice.

And hey, if you learned something new from this analysis, I'll consider it a job well done!

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Mama bear

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what a great game