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[COLUMN] Metroid Fusion Isn’t Fun (and That’s the Point) | by Marty Sliva
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 15:00:09 +0000 UTC
I have a weird relationship with the Metroid franchise. Super Metroid is one of my favorite games of all time, and I replay it on a near-annual basis. The atmosphere, player freedom, and intricate design are mind boggling for something from three decades ago. It’s one of those rare games that birthed a genre and arguably hasn’t been topped since.
But despite my deep reverence for the SNES classic, I’m relatively agnostic towards the rest of the series. I’ve always considered myself a fan of the franchise, but maybe I just really like that one single game?
Like a lot of NES games, the original Metroid felt like a proof of concept that was perfected during the next generation—similar to how I hold games like Super Mario World, A Link to the Past, and Final Fantasy IV. Over the years, I’ve logged single playthroughs at release for Metroid Fusion and the Prime trilogy, but none of them really stuck with me in the same way that Super Metroid did. The closest any has come was Metroid Dread, which I devoured the weekend of release and loved at the moment but have yet to revisit since.
But this apathy has thawed throughout the past few weeks, as KC and I have slowly made progress in our Metroid Prime playthrough. Spoilers: that game rules. I’ve grown a newfound respect for Metroid’s 3D evolution, which expertly translates the puzzle-box structure and impeccable vibes of Super Metroid in a really impressive way. This has made me want to revisit all of the other games in the series and see if fresh eyes might allow me to glean something new.
So, last week, I sat down with 2002’s Metroid Fusion via Nintendo Switch Online, and over the course of a few hours, I was gobsmacked by how weird, frustrating, and ultimately brave the GBA entry was at deconstructing the formula laid down by Super Metroid and examining the act of us doing what we’re told while playing a game. And while it’s no Super Metroid, it’s humming an entirely different tune that I can’t get out of my head.
Right off the bat, Samus herself feels great to control—it’s wild how much of a game changer it is to be able to grab onto a ledge and pull yourself up. This adds a layer of expression to combat, puzzles, and traversal, making the moment-to-moment gameplay a joy. Going along with this are the small bits of story, dialogue, and characterization sprinkled throughout the adventure. Though it’s less elegant than the mostly nonverbal storytelling found in Super Metroid, it takes bigger swings in the themes it chooses to tackle. More on that in a bit.
There are also some aspects of the game that I’m neutral on. For example, the wealth of ammo upgrades and recharge stations scattered throughout the map meant that my pockets were always filled to the brim, and while that kept me clear of frustration, I kind of missed having my missiles and bombs feel precious, with enemy drops acting as genuine life savers. I’m not sure if either way is the “correct” way, just two different methodologies.
But other initial thoughts weren’t as cheery. While Super Metroid’s Planet Zebes twists and turns in on itself—a kind of spaghetti-bowl map design that would become a staple of the genre for so many games going forward—Metroid Fusion’s Biologic Space Lab is much more simplistic in its structure. There’s a main hub with six elevators leading to the six different zones, making each trek into one feel much more like a confined “level” than the unfolding exploration of Zebes.
This rigid format means that there are fewer instances of excitedly retracing your steps to see which previously locked doors and unreachable ledges can now be surmounted thanks to the new toys you’ve come across. Fewer of those Metroidvania “aha!” moments of revelation. Along with that, having a voice in your ear that literally points to the exact spot on the map you need to go to makes you feel less like an explorer and more like a gofer.
And while I stand by my thought that this yields a playspace that lacks quite a bit of the fun and discovery of its predecessor, Fusion’s secret weapon is that it’s fully aware of this. It’s a feature, not a bug.
Nearly every design decision that might seem cliche or frustrating has a purpose behind it. For example, there are no shortage of games that find an early narrative conceit to strip you of all your nice and shiny abilities. But Metroid Fusion differs by then forcing you to confront a being that still has all of those wonderful toys, the SA-X. I loved every single encounter with Samus’ parasitic doppelganger despite knowing how scripted they were. Holding your breath as it stalks the room you’re hiding in, or the later scare of the floor crumbling beneath you, instigating an escape chase for your life as the SA-X throws all of your familiar weapons your way. These are the kinds of moments that’ll stick with me for a long time.
And Metroid Fusion is filled with these swift darts of brilliance. Powering through an icy laboratory only to see the shape of a frozen Ridley on the other side of a wall is an excellent jump scare. Taking yet another elevator ride to a new area, only to have the lift break down midway and force you to creep through the ventilation system is a masterful subversion of expectations. Noticing the subtle tonal changes and growing discontent of your computerized commanding officer as you start disobeying orders recontextualizes all of the prior hand holding.
And that last bit is the one I have the hardest time wrapping my head around. I think the more regimented structure of Fusion is decidedly less fun than the open-ended adventure of its SNES predecessor. But that’s the point, and the game addresses it well in the final act, not dissimilar to the subversive aspects of games like Silent Hill 2, Spec Ops: The Line, and the Nier franchise. Of course, I don’t think Fusion holds the same narrative weight of those masterpieces, but it’s an impressive swing for a GBA game nonetheless.
A few days removed from rolling credits, I’m still not sure how I feel about Metroid Fusion in totality. Its highs had my mind racing, its lows made me just want to replay Super Metroid for the hundredth time, but its big swings in the design department remain fascinating to examine. Immediately after finishing it, I started up and jammed through Metroid: Zero Mission. I loved it. And hell, I’m even looking at the haunted copy of Metroid: Other M on my shelf and seriously considering giving that black sheep another try with fresh eyes. What could possibly go wrong?
The last bit I keep tumbling over in my mind is how wild it is that Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime released on the same day in the US—November 18th, 2002. After nearly a decade without a proper installment in the franchise, Nintendo and Retro dropped two very different but very successful visions of what a Metroid game could be. And I’m happy to report that both are holding up excellently 22 years later.
Comments
David C
Thank you for highlighting Metroid Fusion, it is a great entry. Very linear and scripted compared to all other games in the series, but it does build up well with how Samus eventually disregards the orders of the Federation by the end of the game. "the later scare of the floor crumbling beneath you, instigating an escape chase for your life as the SA-X throws all of your familiar weapons your way." Yeah this stuck to me as a kid as well, I was terrified when I got to that part and spent a long time trying to figure out what the best thing to do was, even scared to enter that morph ball tunnel lol. The SA-X was a thousand times scarier than the EMMIS in Dread honestly; with the former, as scripted as it is, you didn't know that the first time and always felt like the SA-X could show up anywhere. With the latter... the game lets you know immediately where the EMMI zones are. You know what to expect.
David Doornbos
Fusion was my first forray into metroid that wasnt the game boy metroid 2 when I was like 6 years old. I look at it with fondness and rose tinted glasses as my favorite. I didn't get a chance to play any of the other metroid games until about 4 years ago during the height of the lockdown in the states. So nostalgia is definitely a prevailing reason.
James
Something that makes Metroid Fusion frustrating is that the main progression path sometimes requires you to shoot at random bits of wall to find breakable blocks or raising platforms. It's the kind of thing you'd expect for hidden secrets, but it makes navigating the main story path a right pain at times.
Scrap_Dragon
I need to read this fully and in detail. Personally I did find Metroid fusion fun in a sense with its brutal difficulty The first time I played it was with the Nintendo 3DS ambassador program. It was a cathartic experience to beat it.... Now that I'm reminiscing it maybe it wasn't as fun as I thought it was at the time. I think 14-year-old me not having too many games is really rose tinting this game.
Tim Wilson
Fusion is a very different and very difficult beast, but it has it’s moments of background storytelling as well. For instance, there’s the sudden jumpscare of Frozen Ridley suddenly being missing. I would recommend Other M (Shock! Gasp!) but don’t go into it expecting every other Metroid game. The plot and characterisation of Samus are unexpected, but I don’t think it makes her anymore of a badass to see and examine her past trauma and to see her move past it (Varia suit idiocy aside) and the gameplay is fast, frenetic and more like a spectacle fighter which I very much enjoyed, while still having that exploration element. The switching into first person with the wiimote is a bit annoying but you adapt to the lag pretty fast.
Dave Pavlick
I played Fusion for the first time last year and found it enjoyable for reasons I wasn't expecting and couldn't easily articulate. You've put that feeling into words here.
