I talked a lot about Metroid Fusion in my Metroid: Other M review, but it bears repeating: Other M is the direct descendant of this game, and not Super Metroid, mainly because Metroid Fusion switches things up in the series in really interesting ways. Gamers might have thought that Fusion was going to be a weird, one-off experience in the Metroid canon (and given the fact that all we've had between this and Other M has been Prime games, one could be forgiven for thinking so), but it's clear that this is basically the direction that the original Metroid team wants to take the series, for better or for worse.
I, for one, am finding myself extremely surprised by how much I've actually enjoyed the overt storytelling aspects of both Other M and Fusion. Samus doesn't just have an opening exposition monologue as in Super Metroid – here, she has a full speaking part, and anybody who complains about the writing in Other M has to acknowledge that it's very much in line with the writing in Fusion, as Samus waxes poetic on any number of subjects.
Whereas Other M gives full background to Samus' relationship with Adam Malkovich, here, we're introduced to the character through memory. The story for this game is intriguing: Samus accompanies a team of scientists to SR388, where, with no metroids left on the planet, the metroid's main prey, dubbed "X," is allowed to roam freely. X is a parasitic mutagen, horribly disfiguring and mutating whatever it comes in contact with, and lo and behold, it attaches to Samus and almost kills her. Flying back home, Samus loses consciousness and crashes into an asteroid.
Luckily, the Galactic Federation saves her, but at a cost – she loses most of her Varia suit, which has to be surgically grafted onto a new suit called the "Fusion suit" (hence the game's name), and she has to be injected with metroid DNA to fight off the X parasite. The Galactic Federation begins working on the vaccine to be administered to anyone who would come in contact with the X parasite, but at that moment, the ship they're on begins to become a nightmarish wasteland – the X parasite has infiltrated the ship, mutating all of the experimental bioweapons that the scientists had been working on (another interesting element that's explored further in Other M). Not only that, but the parasite is recreating itself inside of pieces of Samus' suit, creating a mindless, killing machine version of Samus that's roaming around the hallways and is called "SA-X."
All of this changes up the gameplay in the Metroid series drastically. For one, as in Other M, Samus in under orders, this time from a robotic CO that Samus has dubbed Adam (hmmm…). This means that navigating the world is much more straightforward, as your objective is always clearly marked on your map. There are ways to go off the beaten path, to be sure, but exploration is almost entirely linear. As well, as is expertly explained in the opening sequence, Samus' powers are not to be "found" around the world map – rather, she has to regain them by absorbing specific X parasites, to "learn" back her old powers.
The final aspect of the gameplay that is drastically different is the overall tension. Not only are the enemies more powerful and Samus weaker (often two or three hits will kill her, especially near the beginning), but you have to contend with SA-X roaming the hallways, mimicking Samus at full strength (and therefore, someone to avoid). As you can't take on yourself at full strength, this means a lot of tense moments, lying in wait as SA-X stalks the hallways.
Something that I've found really interesting while doing this feature is that pretty much every Metroid game introduces some new mechanic that seems to overhaul the experience. Maybe Metroid is less easily definable than I previously thought. Sure, there are a number of signifiers that seem to tie the series together, but it's definitely more of a "feeling" than anything that can be accurately nailed down. Fusion shows that in full. For a Game Boy Advance game, this game holds a place of extreme importance in the series – namely, it's the very last bit of information we have on the saga. In the opening credits, the game is called "Metroid 4," and I hope that the next game that Nintendo decides to do in the series isn't a side story but is a continuation of what was started here, nearly 9 years ago now.
What Metroid Fusion shows me as well is that the Metroid team is clearly interested in the design philosophy they applied here – more streamlined, less confusing, and more interested in plot. It's certainly a sea change for someone like me, who sees the Prime series as being the pinnacle of the entire Metroid series. I'm interested to see where they take it next.
With that being said, for all of its design changeups, Fusion does still play a lot like Super Metroid – the controls, the level architecture, the enemies, and the general gameplay, are all pretty much the same. It's the world surrounding it that's changed, and I think that contextualizing Samus' actions can really only be a good thing.
Well, now that we're done with Metroid Week, we're going to be going back to regular coverage on the site. I'd just like to say that it was a blast to play through these games, and I hardly even need an excuse to play through Nintendo series anymore (just watch out when Skyward Sword comes out…). The Metroid series has proven itself to me as one of the premier action-adventure game series, and I hope you had as much fun reading these pieces as I did writing them. And if you're not a Metroid fan and I haven't convinced you to become one, well… sorry for taking up so much of your time!