"Samus returns to eliminate the metroids on SR-388."

Introduction-

Metroid II: Return of Samus is a sequel to the NES's Metroid. This game was the first Metroid game to feature a save instead of a password. Metroid 2 was released for the Game Boy in 1991. About seven years later, the remake of this game in color was supposedly coming out. Unfortunately, the game was canceled, and never saw the light of day. However, even though Metroid two was only a GB game, I was longing to have for a while. Two summers ago, I got a copy of Metroid 2 off of eBay. From the second I turned the game on, I knew this game was phenomenal.

Gameplay-

Even though this is the most important category, I don't put it at the end. Anyways, this game has very good gameplay. It brings out the best the Game Boy has to offer.

Metroid 2's control was almost flawless. You were now allowed to duck and shoot to get those annoying enemies that crawled on the floor. Also, several new items allowed former flaws to be eliminated. Unfortunately, with one new item comes a fall in the control. The Space Jump item is just too hard to control. It fails several times when you really need it to work. This item creates the only downfall in the control department.

This game features a perfect level of difficulty. It can be challenging, but it is not aggravating. The metroids can be hard, but not invincible. This is one of the few games in the world that landed perfectly on the difficulty scale. This part of the game cannot be improved.

When it comes to fun, this game does pretty good. The metroid battles are intense and fun. The only problem is that there could be more metroids. The general areas are fun, but some irritating enemies can make a section in this game, falter. Other than a few mistakes of annoying enemies, this game does a great job on the fun factor.

Overall Gameplay: 36/40

Story-

I always thought that the Metroid series had a thing for stories. None of them have bad stories. This game is no exception. The following is my perspective of the story:

There is a planet near Zebes named SR-388. Many creatures once inhabited this planet. Over the years, however, the creatures of this planet have become more scarce. Eventually, the Galactic Federation found out what was causing the extinction of the planet SR-388. The planet was infested with Metroids! Once the Galactic Federation found out that this planet was the Metroid's native planet, the started sending teams to try to exterminate the Metroids. Unfortunately, none of the teams ever returned. The Galactic Federation recalls a name. The person they recall had destroyed the Metroid (on Zebes) before. The Galactic Federation calls upon Samus Aran to defeat the Metroids of SR-388. Will Samus succeed?

Anyways, that is what I think Metroid 2's story is. It is a pretty deep story.

Overall Story: 19/20

Graphics/Sound-

I hate to say this, but Metroid two flunked a category. Well, here we go.

Metroid 2 had a four color based palette (white, light gray, dark gray, and black), commonly called black-and-white. When you play Metroid 2 on a Game Boy Color or better, it is still four colors, but it is np blue black, yellow, and red. I always switch it back to black and white though. The sprites looked great and the enemies looked pretty good. The environment was almost all the same though. They could have done a better of varying the looks of your surrounding so you don't get lost. Oh well.

Metroid 2's sound is also sub-par. The central adventure field music is great. The small sections that you spend most of your time in leave you turning off the sound. One of the tunes is like a collection of ticks. When you finally get to the infant metroid area, the music is rejuvenated. From then on out, you won't hear any more bad music. I especially like the music that play during the credits. Nonetheless, two games in a series have already screwed up in this category. Nintendo never made a good Metroid game music selection until Super Metroid.

Graphics/Sound Overall: 13/20

Play Time/Lasting Appeal-

Metroid 2 scores big in this category. In fact, I proves itself to be just about perfect.

Metroid 2 takes an experienced player 3 hours or less (probably quite a bit less) to beat the game. However, the only reason the game would be to short would be if a player tried to rush through this game. If you take the game in a normal pace, you should have no trouble with the play time. Three hours is almost perfect for play time (or at least I think so). You can sit down and play for a while and you shouldn't finish in one sitting, unless, of course, you are really dedicated to beating games as fast as possible. It is not too short, and, it doesn't take forever to beat. Just like difficulty, play time was perfect.

Chances are that you won't be able to beat this game with one-hundred percent on your first time through. Being a somewhat maze-like game, tons of exploring can be done. This is why this game has great lasting appeal. Also, if you do manage to get all of the items, you will probably have found it found to do, so you might go back and do it again. When I first got this game, it seemed that every time I went through it, I found a new area to explore. Great appeal for this game.

Overall Play Time/Lasting Appeal: 20/20

Overall Score-
Gameplay: 36/40
Story: 19/20
Graphics/Sound: 13/20
Play Time/Lasting Appeal: 20/20
Total: 88/100 (About a 9/10)

If you get a chance to buy a working copy of this game, do so. You may even find yourself stunned. This game is amazing by today's standard (excluding graphics/sound)! To think that this game was made in 1991 is baffling. Metroid II: Return of Samus was a great game for a low-powered system, but, by playing the game, it is hard to tell that it is only and 8-megabyte game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/06