Metroid: Zero Mission

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I have a personal dilemma and it relates to the way I feel on remakes. I find it difficult to pick up and play remakes of classics from my childhood. Admittedly, due to this reason, Metroid: Zero Mission was, at first, a sharp thorn in my side. I didn’t want to see another timeless classic go to waste at the hands of an avarice like Nintendo. I feared that Nintendo, like most other companies, would add in excessive amounts of crap that the player wouldn’t care about. Some of the superfluities players often notice are: extra costumes, commentary and sound tests, all just to make the game appeal to new players and nostalgic ones alike. Naturally, incredulousness sank in as I stared at the bold letters Metroid: Zero Mission on the front of the glossy box.

After starting the game up, I quickly noticed our renowned female heroine has made her triumph return to gaming. Who could this be?

Wait for it...



It’s none other than the female bombshell Samus Aran! (and with more curves than ever!) She’s more reminiscent now when compared to past adventures; in fact, we play the whole game through her memories. She has failed one too many mnemonics classes, as she can’t remember anything, and she surely can’t remember all the tiny details from her first epic battles on the planet. With what she has left, she’ll lead you through the darkest regions of Brinstar to the most prominent points in the Chozo ruins. Occasionally, we’ll be treated with a colorful cut scene that reanimates the highlights of her time on the planet Zebes.

The adventure begins in the same quaint fashion it did back in 1986. You start in the most murky, desolate region of Brinstar. You’ll still be forced to explore the many vacant rooms and tedious dungeons to progress. However, they added in Chozo statutes so you’ll at least get some future knowledge of the map. These will show up periodically in predetermined spots on the map. These statues will make the arduous task of exploring easier. You’ll no longer have to laboriously wander from one shadowy corridor to another to find that required power up. Instead, you’ll be pointed in a general direction. This is a great addition, as it cuts of massive amounts of “down time” between areas.

However, a few problems plague Metroid: Zero Mission. One of them being that Nintendo made it too easy. There are absolutely no challenges in this version of Metroid. It doesn’t matter what level of difficulty you choose; it’ll be extremely easy. In the original, you would be lucky to make it out the first region without dying a few times. Unforgiving controls and a high difficulty level would prove enough to send the most skillful gamers away from the television in a fit of anger. Monsters would incessantly eat away at your precious health until your body would be nothing more than a lifeless corpse. You’d die, and it was hard. It was really hard; I can recall almost busting a few controls in fit of anger from dying right before a boss.

Fast-forward around eighteen years; they have it to where you probably won’t even die once during the whole game. Bosses are disappointingly facile and so are the “challenges.” Giant worms will fall to nothing more than a few missile blasts. Huge monstrosities will crumble at the force of a few ice shots. Where’s the challenge? Where’s my old Metroid? They have seemingly ripped the spirit out of the old Metroid and expect the gaming community to accept this lackadaisical rehash with open arms. The challenge was the old Metroid. This is not the old Metroid in a sense. Of course, you can play the game on a harder mode once you manage to beat it, but you won’t stay around for that.

They’ve totally revamped the game play, too. This isn’t to come as a surprise, since Nintendo has done it with all their other remakes. They’ve added some the newer weapons and abilities that weren’t around for the first game. Nintendo has redesigned the whole planet with these new weapons and abilities in mind. They’ve added in the super bombs. These are useless since you get them so late in the game. They also are part of the reason they redesigned some regions of Zebes. One part comes to mind where they designed a whole room just so they can put three little super bomb icons in there (icons letting you know what weapon to use.) Getting past the super bombs they have they spin attack. They have reworked it some and it is much more potent than back in ‘86. Getting past the added in stuff, the game play is basically the same as in 1986.

Metroid Zero Mission will be completed so quickly you’ll wonder what you were getting so excited for. It’s not exactly a horrible game, but they did make it too easy and too short. When you start to get into the thick of things, it’s over. You’ll only have fun with all your abilities and weapons for a good fifteen minutes before the game suddenly comes to a halt. Just like this review.

Final - 6

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/04, Updated 02/22/04