Soapbox: I Hated Metroid: Zero Mission At First, Until I Loved It

As a kid, I played Metroid 2 on my gameboy countless times. Then super came along and it blew me away at how awesome. I had a hard time with the prime games at first, since I skipped them until they were Wii and I was so used to the 2d games. Now, Metroid is one of my most loved series, I’ve played every one atleast once, and even other m has had some love over the years. Other m I beat 100/0% and really only wish it was more Metroid exploration, and you could skip the terrible cutscenes.

Zero Mission was my first Metroid game, and I fell in love with it almost immediately. Heck, I remember when they had a demo of it at Walmart. I'd play for a few minutes, but it wasn't until I got my own copy from Circuit City that I began to play it seriously.

I also remember that my first-ever issue of Nintendo Power covered the game from right after beating Kraid to right after you defeated Ridley (for whatever reason, it didn't cover Tourian or Chozodia). In fact, that was the big reason why I even got my copy of Zero Mission in the first place. I'd reference the guide quite a bit when I played the game for the first time.

But I do second your request, Ollie. Nintendo NEEDS to put this on Nintendo Switch Online. It's practically criminal that they haven't put it up there yet, considering it is frankly one of the best Metroid games of all time. As someone who considers Metroid to be in their Top 3 favorite Nintendo franchises (along with Star Fox and The Legend of Zelda), it would make me so happy if they did.

And heck, if Nintendo ever decides to make a cartoon or anime series based on Metroid, they should use the art style from Zero Mission as the basis for the show's. If you get the chance, check out the concept art for Samus from Zero Mission on the Metroid wiki! It has some very interesting pieces of artwork that have never even been seen in the games.

I don’t blame Ollie; I blame the Prime series for creating false Metroid expectations.

I never played this one. They should put it on NSO to celebrate the 20th anniversary.

First Metroid game was Fusion, and I fell head over heels in love with the series from then on. I have not yet played a Prime game though.

I never hated Metroid games, but the first time I beat them I was unimpressed. They were just okay. This was true of Prime, Zero Mission, Super, and Fusion (all the Metroid games I played in high school & college) l.
It wasn't until I returned to them years later to get 100% completion that I really appreciated them. And my love for Zero Mission grew exponentially once I tried to get all the endings by learning to sequence break the game for speedruns. It became a whole new experience and I loved it!

Love Zero mission, Fusion, Samus returns, Dread. Super Metroid. All stunning 2D Metroids.

Not Metroid-related, but I felt this way about the first Legend of Zelda. At first, I got frustrated with it, but after I solved a couple puzzles, I grew to love it. Now it's my favorite game series.

This was the first Metroid game I ever played, back in 2004 when it first released.
I've played many Metroid games since then, but I've yet to play any that made me go "holy shakes, that was SO COOL" as much as Zero Mission did. No, not even Prime.

Seeing the picture of this article made me think for a moment that it would finaly xome to NSO

Metroid Prime actually gives me a bit of a headache when I play it.

Certain 3D games do that to me.

Like Disney Epic Mickey 2 The Power of Two, which I got for our Wii to play with my daughter. I had to eventually tell her I couldn't play the game because it was giving me headaches.

But other 3D games I am totally fine with, like the 3D Zelda, Mario, Yoshi or Kirby games.

So . . . I am glad there are 2D Metroid games.

I finished off Metroid Samus Returns last year and it has become one of my favourite games.

I am currently working on Metroid Fusion right now.

As for Metroid Zero Mission . . . I like the addition of the map and progress tracking (vs the original). It really helps me as a casual gamer . . . since I might go 2-3 weeks (or more) between playing the game . . . so I won't remember where I am in the game, or what the map looks like. LOL.

It honestly took me years to appreciate the Metroid series as a whole. My brother had always enjoyed the series, and had played most entries, but I was never able to get into them. Metroid Fusion was the first one that I played that I truly enjoyed, and years after I completed that one, I ended up playing Super Metroid and loved it. I still have so many games in the series to play though, so I have my work cut out for me. I also tried Metroid Prime Remastered and got most of the way through the game, but I ended up getting pretty bored towards the end. I think I mainly prefer the 2D entries in the series. Metroid Dread would probably be the next entry on my list.

Yeah, sometimes as a kid you can dislike something just because it's not literally exactly like something similar you do like.

For me... I was very harsh on Xenoblade Chronicles when I originally played it on the Wii, because I kept comparing to to the Tales games. My biggest complaint was how you couldn't directly tell your party members to do specific moves whenever you wanted like in Tales. It just felt like a pure downgrade in action-RPG design.
I did eventually warm up to Xenoblade, but it took the Definitive Edition for me to give it a second chance.

Zero Mission's great, but I still prefer Fusion out of the two gba Metroids.

Zero Mission is certainly one of the best 2d Metroids. For me part of its appeal is that it is less frustrating, makes for a breezy experience. On par with Super Metroid, a notch below Dread in terms of overall enjoyment

I did a 2D Metroid deep dive back when Dread was about to come out - played through Samus Returns, Fusion, and Zero Mission for the first time each back-to-back (had already played through Super) - and of the three Zero Mission was my least favorite.

Still liked it quite a bit and been wanting to play it again, but I think from Mother Brain on the game just kind of noticeably drags and a lot of the upgrades are waaaay too Shinespark dependent.

For all the "greatness" of the original Metroid, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who is new to the series unless they were simply curious about the original version. I would recommend this one, instead!

@AstroTheGamosian
Mother Brain was in Captain N. Does that count?

@Lizuka I watched a 100% playthrough of Zero Mission (I have played and beaten the game, but not 100%) and that Shinespark stuff made my head spin.

I just kept thinking to myself, "how did anyone even find this stuff back in the day?!"

Dread did a much better job with it - I did 100% that one.

Fusion is the cat’s whiskers for my tastes

I started Metroid series with Super Metroid and loved it from the first sight. I tried Metroid I and Return of Samus on emulators sometime later, but I wasn't catch by them, I didn't even finish them. when I have the opportunity to play zero mission I new it would be my chance to fill this gap (and the same later with Samus returns, witch I loved deeply in my heart). I finished both remakes and loved them both. Years after that I finished the original games on NSO (and again, Super Metroid) and I'd love to play Zero Mission (NSO), Samus Returns (remaster? Re-remake?), Other M, Prime 2, 3 and hunters (yeah, I'll pass Federation Forces and Pinball) on switch (maybe Switch 2 with backwards compatibility?) And have the entire series on my hands (and wish the same for Zelda, Donkey Kong country and Fire Emblem)

I hated the whole genre until I played about an hour into Zero Mission. It's really good.

I think I got into Metroid too late in life. I've played most of them, currently playing Samus Returns actually, and I think they're fine, but they feel so archaic compared to modern Metroidvanias with many many moments of frustrating design. They are much less tedious once you've gotten several upgrades, but even the upgrade system feels very random and unceremonious. You rarely get them from beating a boss, instead finding them in a random empty room when the game decides it's convenient. I'm sick of the tiny sweet spot on bosses where it feels more like luck when your missiles hit than any actual skill. It's really tiring having to morph bomb several blocks in a row just to move a few feet, but oh you fell through the floor and oh, the blocks are back, so you have to spend 5 more seconds blowing them up again, and oh now the enemies are back, blah blah blah. I'm never sad I spent my time beating them but I can never find it in me to praise them either. I hope they make Prime 4 feel like a real evolution into modern times, I thought Dread felt like much of the same and overall very sterile and not particularly memorable besides the fluid controls and the ending.

Hollow Knight has my heart where Metroidvanias are concerned, it's going to be hard to top that one.

That's how I feel about Metroid Prime, funny enough. I didn't bother with it back in the GameCube days so my first experience with it was the remaster. And I hated it the first time I played it. Navigation felt confusing, I died a ton, and didn't know what to do. Dropped it almost immediately.

Then last month I had a random urge to give it another shot, so I started a new game in casual mode. I stopped dying, followed linearly and made liberal use of the hint system until I had my bearings enough to actually explore, then it all began to flow. Finished the game, loved it, and now I want to play the other ones.

@Dpullam When I played the Gamecube original, I also got a bit bored or distracted toward the end my first time around. I think part of that is that the discovery part of the game is mostly over as is the building up of Samus. And maybe the game's length is a part of that. I also had distractions outside the game. I had a great time up to that point and started over some months later and did finish the game and loved it. That's how it goes sometimes and it's funny how we both had that similar experience.

I feel dirty playing this on my Anbernic 35XX.... The screen is way better than the original GBA.....

@NintendoDad Yeah, the 2D games are good to get that Metroid experience if you can't play the 3D ones. I've never been especially prone to motion sickness, but I have noticed it with some games too, especially first-person. I don't recall experiencing that with Metroid Prime, but I haven't played it in a while. It may help that Prime doesn't move as fast as other first-person games. I've noticed I experience that with games and videos where there's a focal point in the foreground, but the background moves a certain way, so that describes a lot of first-person games, a lot of SNES Mode 7 like the overhead parts of Contra 3, and a lot of smarthphone selfie videos.

I find third-person games to be much more tolerable, though I have noticed that for racing games, if the camera is basically locked to the back of the car, then that's not good for me.

I actually had similar thoughts about Metroid Prime when it released. I didn't like what I played in the demos and wrote it off. I loved the 2d games and didn't get the 3d game at all despite liking fps games. Years later I bought a clearance copy that had a large memory card in it for 9.99 for the card since that was cheap for the card. One day I didn't k ow what to play so I gave the game a chance... Wow was I wrong. Prime was a masterpiece and I almost didn't experience it out of knee-jerk reaction to the store demo.

@sdelfin

'glad to hear I'm not alone. It sucks not wanting to play a game because it makes you feel sick.

Now that you mention it . . . yeah . . . the 3D games I have no problem with are the third-person games. I'm glad I'm ok with those games.

'and glad there are 2D Metroid games too.

(Although the Mickey game is third-person. But there seems to be an odd rendering of the perspective. It's like a fisheye view more than a normal view. I'm wondering if that was what made me have headaches.)

Good piece, Ollie. I do hope you updated your mother on the situation and you told her you misjudged the game. I had a similar experience with Castlevania Circle of the Moon. I wasn't super excited for it at first(I didn't hate it, though), and I was a bit bored at first, but it started to click after a bit. There was a necessary period of adaptation and learning required, even though I was already somewhat familiar with the type of game. But once I did adapt, I was having a great time and would play for hours. It's kind of like playing shmups. You have to expect to die a lot, which isn't very much fun, and then you suddenly realize you're not dying all the time anymore it's fun. There's an adjustment with some kinds of games.

I last revisited a bunch of Metroid games about a year ago. My opinion on the GBA games remains the same as it was, that Fusion is the better of the two. It's something about the setting and level design. But Zero Mission is also very good, and some of the technical improvements are wonderful. Samus' sprite, for example, is great.

It's always weird to hear when people say they enjoyed Metroid Prime, but Resident Evil 4 eclipsed it for them. I hate that game(though, some hate scanning in Metroid Prime, so fair play there). It starts out well enough, but devolves halfway into a narrative and QTE mess. For me, Metroid Prime was way better, and probably the best on the system, but that is, of course, subjective.

This piece highlights something important, that first impressions are often wrong, and that applies to so many things. I have revisited games I didn't get on well with at first. In quite a few cases, I ended up having a drastic shift in view with some even becoming among my favorites(sorry, not you, Resident Evil 4....go away).

Zero Mission is my second favorite Metroid game.
The fact that the original Metroid solidified my love of console gaming has a lot to do with why i love Zero Mission so much.
I think Link to the Past is a much better iteration on a previously released title but i really despised the first Zelda so there was more to improve. OG Zelda had me wondering if console gaming was for me.
Metroid convinced me that it was. But the game is pretty rocky by modern standards, and Zero Mission is where i will always point people to go if they wish to experience the Metroid before Super.

Right there with you man. When I was in elementary school I had this idea that side scrollers were somehow inferior to 3D games. Now some of my favorite games are 2D platformers.

I felt the same during the first moments of Metroid dread, or more specifically coming up against an EMMI for the first time 😫

I still don't care for it. Though I totally get it for being so many people's first 2D or first Metroid game. It's very much a babys first sort of series entry.

The game interrupts the exploration constantly by pointing out where to go on the map and frequently refills everything removing any challenge. Tons of expansion packs are only obtainable at the end when they are of no benefit. The Super Metroid power ups and controls are an awkward mashing on the original layout. Most of the music is meh, the Kraid's theme remix is a butchering of one of the best NES tunes. The visuals are great, the updated/added bosses are good, and the extra segment at the end is legit awesome but everything else is not for me. Easily my least favorite 2D Metroid. The original needed a remake but this wasn't it.

I played this one for a while and liked it enough until the run/slide area through all the blocks over the lava or whatever.

Nope. Quit after trying about 10 times. Terrible mechanic. Thankfully I emulated so save state but even that didn't save it. I'm done.

I was 5 when the first metroid came out on nes and i would rent it every weekend. I bet i did not make it very far but the haunting music and dark atmosphere kept me coming back. I eventually got my own copy but i did not finish it until my teenage years. I think i finished super metroid first but i have been a life long metroid fan ever since.

I love the Metroid series more than I like turtles.

Super Metroid is by far my favorite, but I've played it so many times and have everything memorized; so now a days I have no desire to play it.

When Zero Mission came out, buying it was a no-brainer, but having played the original inside and out, it wasn't a new experience.

@NintendoDad I think you may be onto something there with the fisheye effect. I think that can mess with the mind because of the inconsistency of the background. The way I describe it is it feels like a difference between what the brain expects and what it sees. I have a similar issue with excessive screen shake. A lot of modern games, including 2D indie games have a lot of screen shake. Most old games did not, or only did it a little bit. It wears me down. I also notice issues with 60fps live-action video. Not only does it look unnatural, but it makes even the tiniest camera movement feel strange to me. It took me a while t figure out a lot of these things, but noticing the difference between third-person games, and first person games was a big one. Pay attention to what works for you and what doesn't. You'll probably notice certain patterns like what I mentioned.

@GameOtaku Personally, I don't think it does. I liken Captain N: The Game Master to Wreck-It Ralph or Super Smash Bros.: it has characters from all sorts of video game franchises converging together into one universe.

Heck, Samus doesn't even appear in the cartoon series; she only appeared in the comics! And even then, she wasn't really the main focus; from what I have read, she was simply a rival to Princess Lana for Kevin's affections.

I would rather there be a Metroid-specific cartoon series, not one where you have some Metroid characters getting involved in another universe. Plus, the benefit of a Metroid-specific cartoon series would be the ability to see more of the seedy underbelly of the galaxy, especially in parts of the galaxy where the Galactic Federation has little or no jurisdiction.

It's not like every episode would have Samus fighting Space Pirates or Metroids. Some episodes would have her on a backwater world solving some issue conflict local to that planet (such as defeating a local gang terrorizing a village or stopping a monster that is destroying a vital resource; and that latter one could have the plot twist of the monster protecting its young from the settlers, and Samus manages to get the settlers to peacefully coexist with the creatures).

I love this game so much but do not currently have a good way to play it. I normally play on DS lite with a GBA cartridge, but the shoulder buttons on the DS lite aren't working well. I really hope they put this on switch online.

(suggestion for any future article similar to this one: a warning regarding vulgar (or profane) language in the article itself)

I loved Zero Mission so much it got me to think I enjoyed the first Metroid more than young me did. I did not. Like many first NES games, you see the potential, but it was a hair too rough around the edges for my tastes.

Glad you saw light bother, now come and join us in the hall for prayer to the Nintendo gods. The Metroid chapel is to the left.

Fantastic game and fantastic remake. Everyone should play Zero Mission!

Rather, everyone should play any Metroid game!! They are all great!

It's was an enjoyable read

I love how they sexed up the original Metroid in a coat of Super Metroid paint. It was a fun ride, and the added on Zero Suit Samus section post game was a nice extra.

@sdelfin Exactly! Shared experiences is one of my favorite things about gaming in general. Knowing other people may have had similar experiences, or sometimes seven wildly different ones, even in a linear style game!

I've recently started streaming games on Twitch and my first choice was to play the original Metroid. I kind of regret my choice as Zero Mission is such a well done remake and comes with so much quality of life improvements that the original is missing. Simple stuff like a map, removal of the need to farm health/missiles. Stuff we find basic in this day and age.

My first Metroid game was Fusion, which I think is the better of the two GBA releases, but Zero Mission is one of the best remakes in the history of Nintendo. The GBA overall is probably one of my favourite Nintendo products. It was like having a portable SNES+

I bought Zero Mission on release day too, but I knew exactly what to expect having started with Return of Samus. I was looking forward to playing the updated Metroid as I never managed to get far in the original. The areas were just too similar to each other and I could never remember what was going on when I next picked it up.

For Metroid's 35th birthday, and in preparation for Dread, I played through the 4 2D Metroid's and tracked my progress on Twitter. https://twitter.com/mlfowler_/status/1423747872357507072?t=pxESTQFa7PV37Yzu3pqhCw&s=19

I considered starting a Prime playthrough, wondering if I'd finish before Prime 4 released. I haven't started and Prime Remastered has appeared so now I live in hope of 2 & 3 remastered before 4 arrives. Prime 3 is the only Metroid I've never really played, Skyward Sword put my shoulder out and I'm done with excessive motion controls.

Wasn’t this supposed to be on Switch online like a year ago?