Blast(ers) From the Past ... Oh Yes.
In my random moments of boredom, I’ve recently started re-playing Metroid Fusion, on my Gameboy Advance. Man. What a great game.
I don’t think I realized how great the game was the first time I played it through, because I was in such a hurry to get to the end of the game. I was probably also having a really good time.
Trading the Old Metroid for the New
Granted, the “classic Metroid experience” was diminished a little bit. Instead of wandering around mysterious caverns, exploring, looking for the next place to go, a computerized C.O. tells you where to go. But in hindsight, I think it was a brilliant move, because it allowed a much richer story to unfold in-game.
How else would we be able figure out that a clone of Samus is not only hunting you, but also trying to lead you into a trap? How would we learn about the conspiracy behind the Biologic Space Laboratory?
And if you hate big spoilers, skip this paragraph. Because the plot twists at the end of this game were cool. That moment when you realize that H.Q. has been manipulating you this whole time – to meet their needs, not necessarily do what they knew you’d know was right – was awesome.
It felt like playing an episode of The X-Files. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Metroid Fusion finally did for side-scrolling shooters what Half-Life did for first-person shooters.
I Want More
I think it’s interesting that Nintendo has – thus far – decided only to continue telling the story of Samus Aran in 2D. The 3D games, Metroid Prime, are set well before the events of Metroid Fusion.
It’s kind of cool that Metroid started off as a 2D game, and the story has only progressed in 2D games. But when even portable systems like the PSP and Nintendo DS use 3D graphics as the gold standard, it seems 2D gaming is basically dead.
What’s worse, it’s going to be hard to make a compelling story when the Metroids are all but extinct. Fusion leapt over this hurdle with style and class; but as fans of Fox’s 24 know, once you’ve come up with enough cool stories, it’s impossible to keep going without copying a little of what you did in the past along the way.
A Couple Ideas
I have no clue what to do about story, but I do want to suggest that if Nintendo ever do a 2D Metroid game again, it would be really cool if it was done in the visual style of a comic book – like a manga. We’ll have the resolution to do that visual style in a compelling way with the Wii supporting a 480p resolution (which, admittedly, isn’t that high, but if the video interlacing from previous game consoles cuts vertical resolution in half – which I’m not sure if it does or not – we should see a tremendous increase in picture clarity).
Either that, or since Retro Studios says that Metroid Prime 3 will be the last game of that series, maybe that’ll make room for a Metroid 5 on the Wii. Metroid with the Wiimote, 3D or 2D, still sounds like a lot of fun.
But the question still remains: What will the story be about?