Trip Hazard

AM2R - Samus roids again

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My nerdy metroid lovin' pal messaged me yesterday - for the first time in about a year - to let me know that this massive project has finally been completed. AM2R is a remake of Metroid 2, years in the making, and mixes a bunch of new assets with some stuff cribbed from Zero Mission, and the result is very polished and fun. 

 

I have never played the original M2 so have no basis for comparison, but my friend relates that this version is more enjoyable to play than that venerable classic due to a smattering of new bosses, and hidden items being tucked away in clever new places, so I'm sure it'd be worth a play even for those who've done M2 to death at this point. Don't forget to use your xbox pad!

 

Anyway, grab it here:

 

http://metroid2remake.blogspot.co.uk/

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I just started this last night and really liking it so far!. I played a shit ton of Metroid 2 when it came out on Gameboy, and it's probably one of the first games I ever somewhat mastered. At the time I didn't even know there were alternate endings for how quickly you beat it, but gradually ended up seeing them all as my time improved.

 

It's really interesting to play because they've added Super Metroid/Fusion/Zero Mission mechanics like the map, charge beam and wall hanging. The original didn't have any of those things, but they're nice to have in this.

 

I think I only played about half an hour, but already there are some surprises and new twists that weren't in the original game even though the basic level layout seems to be exactly the same. I think there were sections of hallway where there was pretty much nothing that they've stuck in some new tricks. 

 

The only thing so far that I'm not the biggest fan of is they've added in a lot of music to the game, whereas in the original the music was very sparingly used. There large sections of the game where there's only a bit of ambient sound which really helped make it feel like a cold and isolated place.

 

I'm definitely going to play the whole thing through though, it's already such a tremendous fan creation. Clearly A LOT of love went into it.

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Metroid II is my favorite Metroid game!  But as Derek said, the isolation was a huge part of that.  Music and a mini-map don't really aid that, but the YouTube stream I was watching seemed pretty good for the first 15 minutes.  This is impressive work!

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Metroid 2 was the first Metroid game I ever played. It's good, but the other entries in the series have sort of made it the odd one out. It's more linear than the other games, and it's the only one where actually elimination of metroids is a constant activity as you play.

 

You also may want to download it ASAP, as at least one mirror has been hit with a takedown from Nintendo.

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Damn, that sucks. Still, it must be all over torrent sites by now, right? If it isn't and anybody wants it, I can upload the zip file

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Right now it's just sites that were mirroring the download. The main blog still has a couple direct links and a torrent, so it's still easily available (for now).

 

There's also some speculation that the takedown might be in the same vein as other fake NOA takedown notices that have happened recently, but it has yet to be determined for sure.

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There isn't much that can be done about the torrent itself, of course, but the blog's main download links just got nuked, too.

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I've had a hectic week at work but finally got some time to myself to sit down and give this game some attention.

 

About 3 hours in, I've been *mainly* having a lot of fun, but becoming quite bored of the actual fights against metroids. They move quickly and erratically, and oftentimes I think I've definitely hit the weakpoint only for my missile to dink off the armour. Quite a few of my fights now I'll just sit in the corner, aiming up, and just tank damage so that I can fire a missile as the metroid moves back after hitting you. That is tedious, but no more tedious than hopping back and forth hoping that it moves above and to the side of me.

 

So, I might be stopping for the day now 'cos I am super stumped. I found a green, dark area with ********* things stuck on the walls. I think I've explored everything here that is accessible to me, but I feel I defo need the super missile to get further, and even after a thorough search of the whole map, I can't bloody find it! I would appreciate a nudge in the right direction.

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I really enjoyed this! It's frustrating (but understandable) that it can't be openly available anymore but at least the developer is handling the situation well. Edited from the dev blog:
 

... Eventually, I learned to program in C#. Now I'm making a living as a professional programmer thanks to what I learned developing a fan game. Technically speaking, I'm satisfied.

... I added new contents, trying to be respectful about the established lore. Demo after demo people liked the game. Then the game was out, and for a brief time, players enjoyed the game they were expecting for a long time. Artistically speaking, I'm satisfied.

Please, don't hate Nintendo for all of this. It's their legal obligation to protect their IP. Instead of sending hate mail, get the original M2 from the eShop. Show them that 2D adventure platformers are still a thing people want.


Of course with all the modernization, while improving many things, the remake loses some of the original's magic. And that reminded me of this very personal and thorough Metroid 2 blog post on Gamasutra: A Maze of Murderscapes: Metroid II
 

Metroid II elicits moods that share a kinship with games like Silent Hill, King’s Field and Yume Nikki.  Lonely games for lonely, sensitive people wherein one explores a tangentially connected series of dreamy hellscapes. The oneiric aspects of these three games are accentuated by the restricted, deliberate movements of their protagonists, as if everything were submerged in the syrupy nightmare fuel of the subconscious.

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Finally got around to starting this. It's good, but some of the little details of the original are so ingrained in my memory that when one of them doesn't work in the exact same way, I start getting annoyed.

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I think elsewhere Austin has talked about this and said that "commercial" to Nintendo is more about whether it can affect them commercially, rather than about the project itself making money.

 

It's not hard to see the reasoning behind the idea that a pre-existing fan remake would undercut sales of an official one, whether or not you actually agree that it'd make an impact.

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"Commercial" in this instance is legal/doublespeak for "this could compete with a real commercial product that we might or could be or are making".

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