Genocide for galactic peace - Let's Play Metroid 2: The Return of Samus

I was thinking the same thing as soon as I saw it. It's an oddball, as naming conventions go. It goes from a lengthy, redundant name here, to simply "Spazer" in Super (omitting the "Beam" that goes with Charge, Ice, Wave, and Plasma). Then for some reason they decided to be really boring in Fusion and call it "Wide" (I always explained this to myself as a different/modified version that fixed the compatibility issues with Plasma that were there in Super).

It's been a while since I played Metroid 2, but as I recall, the beams are used for tunneling almost as much as combat, and Spazer is definitely the best at that, clearing a nice, Samus-sized path with ease. I usually stuck with Plasma, which isn't bad at tunneling either, but there is an argument there.

I also recall the Ice Beam working differently in this one. Against any enemy it works on (except larval Metroids), one shot will freeze them for several seconds, letting you do the usual "platform/stepping stone" thing. Then they melt/crumble rather than unfreezing. It's sort of like the delayed most powerful beam in the game.

Thanks for doing this, Beowolf! I always liked this game...I appreciate a Metroid title actually being about Metroids. I was surprised when I learned things like the Spider Ball and Space Jump came this early in the series (my first games were Prime and Fusion). Even if the level design doesn't get quite interesting or varied enough to match, Samus is extremely versatile here.

I wish the spider ball had made a return in more 2D Metroids.

I'm going to guess it didn't because it really opens up areas, more so even than Space Jump in a lot of cases, and the other 2D games allowed for a different sort of "limited free-roaming". Does that make sense?

...I'm fairly sure I've seen enemies unfreeze normally in this game. Damn, now I'll need to find a way to check.

Some of you may recall that around 1990, Valiant Comic published a line of books called the Nintendo Comics System. The four main books were Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, Game Boy, and Captain N: The Game Master. The last of those four is what matters here, because only the TV show had license to use non-Nintendo-owned characters like Simon Belmont and Mega Man. The comic was forced to swap in alternate choices (and also to try to avoid retreading the TV show’s plots), so they ended up focusing heavily on Pit (referred to as “Kid Icarus”) and Samus Aran.

Keep in mind that at this point, Metroid was not yet a franchise. There was exactly one game, and that game only revealed anything about Samus as a special hidden ending. The comic writers were basically creating everything about both Samus and the world outside of Zebes out of whole cloth. The Space Federation, Samus’ role as a bounty hunter—hell, what everyone other than Samus dressed like was a product of their imaginations. Samus gets introduced in Issue #2, “Money Changes Everything” in a standard “Captain N visits a game and meets the inhabitants, and shows off because he’s played the game before” plot.

(Also, they made the goofy mistake of referring to “Metroid” as a place rather than a species early on; they later retconned that into Metroid being an artificial asteroid built by Mother Brain that was named after the species; and was a separate place they fled to after Samus destroyed the base on Zebes.)







Captain N #5 starts playing up the Betty-and-Veronica nature of Lana and Samus’ affections for Kevin, and is one of several stories where we see a recurring character of trait of Samus: She’s honorable, and refuses to cheat to win at anything, including Kevin’s affections.

Via kangaroo court, Lana and Samus are sent to a prison planet, and we get to see Samus without her equipment:







And we get to Important Thing About Samus #2: She’s the most badass member of the N-team. Kevin only outshines her because he’s played the games before; for raw talent and fighting prowess, she’s the easy winner.


The cover of Captain N #6: Eat your heart out, Zero-Suit Samus.


In this issue, Kevin falls through a warp zone to Garbage World, where all of Videoland’s trash is sent. Samus uses a space-time warp to go after him.









The device malfunctions and she arrives years later. I love the artwork of Samus’ power suit in this sequence.


(In the end, of course, she refuses to let Videoland fall to Mother Brain, even if it means losing future-Kevin.)



Also in that issue was a two-page spread of Samus’ ship, which would be retconned out of existence when Metroid 2 was released the following year.

The backup story in issue #6 was also Samus-centric, and notable because Samus ended up fighting Princess Lana:







And we get to see how the comic artists managed Samus’ ball form!



Samus herself plays very little role in Captain N #7, but I figured you’d also appreciate this full shot of Mother Brain in her comic incarnation.

More comics that I didn’t scan can be found at Metroid Database. (Which, of course, I discovered after I used my tablet to make crappier scans of my original comics. Ah, well.)

Back to the game next week!

I never quite understood why they gave Mother Brain such kissable lips

I approve of Valiant's characterization of Samus—confident, powerful, and the tallest person in the room. Of course, then she goes woozy for the male audience stand-in, but you can't have it all, I guess.


It seems to be based on this art from the first game:





After Metroid II revamped her design, this suit wasn't seen again until the Wii U port of Bayonetta, of all things.

It's a little uncomfortable, really.

Or a voice like Flip Wilson.

I thought they were trying to imitate Audrey II. Then I looked it up and found out she was literally voiced by the same guy. It all makes sense now!

Well, you know. More sense.

I'll admit to being much less familiar with the Captain N cartoon (of which I've seen half a dozen episodes ever) than the comics (which I have a fairly solid collection of). But I find it amusing that somebody looked at the tank-bound Mother Brain in Metroid and thought, "That's a mean, green mother from outer space, and she's bad!"

...Not to be confused with the final boss of this game, who we'll see likely next week, and who arguably fits the description better.

This awesome LP has inspired me to replay this game, and I did a bit of experimentation. I was speaking from decade-old memories before, and they were off.

Apparently, this version of the Ice Beam freezes and deals damage with each individual shot. It's roughly twice as powerful as the standard beam (at least from my experimentation on early-game enemies). Similar to Super Metroid, the enemy will freeze rather than die after hitting their damage threshold. Unlike Super Metroid, they'll simply die once the freezing wears off. Following up with another shot will kill them on the spot. Enemies seem to stay frozen about ten seconds, whether they're going to live or die upon thawing, and each subsequent shot renews that "timer."

So I didn't quite remember how it works, but this is still my favorite rendition of the weapon. Any enemy is effectively killed if you manage to land the first shot, seeing as you have ten seconds to follow up. Plus you have the typical utility of enemies as platforms. Of course, it's by far the worst digging beam (well, tied with the standard one), so things stay balanced.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the LP and to delving deeper into the game myself!

We open with a zig-zagging downward path, dotted with familiar enemies.


As I reach the end of it, I realize that the color scheme I’ve entered makes it impossible to read the bottom bar of the screen. Let’s fix that.


Anyway: Area 6. I really begins here, a horizontal segment with a pair of new enemies. The first is the Drivel, a more aggressive version of the flying foe which spits acid blobs at you.






The second is the Skreek, the long-overdue “pop up and shoot at you” enemy.


See these blocks? They are impenetrable to lasers and bombs. You need to use missiles on them.


Note the seemingly bottomless lava here.


Then a long climb with bunch of Pincher Flies. Not that it would matter if they were Yumbos or Meboids, of course.


That leads to one of these long stretch corridors with…oh, look, a newly-minted Gamma.


And apparently it left a husk out here. Not very useful as a warning, this one.

First things first, we drop down through the next husk into the water and snag a missile upgrade. We’re going to need all of these we can get, going forward.


We could go up here (by space jumping), but I’m opting to shoot through these hedges and go inside.


Inside the ruins is an empty chute with a few platforms that leads to this area’s save point.


Out the other side, and head down.


Ah, there’s a Metroid here.


First we need to carefully navigate this room full of spikes.


Hey, something seems odd about that Gamma Metroid. Why is it shimmering like that?






Because that’s actually our very first Zeta Metroid. They take 20 missiles to kill, are just as aggressive as other Metroids, spit fireballs, and are only vulnerable from the front and back. At least we get to fight this one in an uncomplicated room.


Back up the tunnel, there’s an entrance to the central area about the save point.


It looks empty, but there’s a secret passage upwards. There are four missile doors here; each of these hides a Chozo statue with a beam weapon, so you can equip your choice of Ice, Wave, Spazer or Plasma. I’m going to stick with Plasma for now. (And I’m not planning to waste my missiles under current circumstances, either.)

This vertical climb isn’t deserted, but it’s sparsely guarded by Gunzoos. It’s a fairly easy climb, and preferable to doing the climb outside.


Another hidden passage leads back out.




Down and left, and we have to navigate an even longer asshole spike room.


At least the Metroid at the far end has the good sense to only be a Gamma. (I still wasted more missiles than I should have.)


Then we spider-ball up the side of the outer cavern.


To this corner, where completely unmarked, is another round of this “bomb the ceiling then get out of the way” bullshit.


The rewards are worth the pain, though. A missile upgrade, and energy tank #5.


We can come down the other side the same way.


Just below there is another spike cavern.


With a sand-filled cavern on the other side.


Aww, snarf. And, of course, it turns into a Gamma you have to fight in the sand-filled cavern. You should have a chance to at least shoot open some breathing room if you don’t approach it too quickly.

Back outside, on the top of the central structure, you can find that metroid’s husk, with an energy tank right below it.




This hopping crab is called a Ramulken, and it’s a pain to kill—when you have the room (and you generally do), you’re best just avoiding it.


The nearby hole gives you access, but there’s a trick: You can’t see at all inside.


You can see a missile upgrade, so use that as a landmark first: The hole back up to the energy tank is right about you. (Of course, you can only hold 5 tanks, and the game has six, so by retrieving the one in the ceiling, I rendered this one useless.)


Then bomb down from the entrance and pick up the missiles. Then blunder your way back out.


Finally, we’re going to head down the east side of the central structure, back towards where we came in. I’m dropping past my actual destination to reach this missile recharge first.


This is where you actually enter.


Think there’s a Metroid in here?


Yep, and it’s a Zeta.


Looks like there’s a passage above it.

Bomb a couple of spots, and we can find the last of the game’s major power-ups: The Screw Attack.






This makes you invincible (except to spikes) when space jumping.


Now we’ll go refill missiles, then spider-ball down and east and around this ledge…WAHH! This Gamma is really hard to fight without getting pulverized or knocked down repeatedly.


Fortunately, there’s an energy recharge just next to it, accessible from just above it.


There’s also a missile upgrade just under the ledge below.


Climb or fall down the east wall, then through another long spike room.


Does this terrify you? It should. If you don’t step any closer than this, you can clear out some of the sand with Plasma or Wave beams, to give yourself a little breathing room.


Then let him transform.


If you’re lucky, you can lure him to your level on one of these little outcroppings, and pump him full of missiles before he moves up and starts peppering you with fireballs.


He’s the last Metroid in this area; killing him triggers the earthquake. Also as a positive note, I believe he’s also the final Zeta Metroid we’ll ever have to fight. (For all of the buildup, there are relatively few of each sort of Metroid. Which isn’t that surprising, with less than 40 of them spread out through the entire game.)

Back through the spikes, then hit the missile recharge and the save point before we go.


An interesting note: Following Area 6, we have every power-up in the game, all of the energy tanks and all of the missile upgrades. Samus is as strong as she gets in this game, and we still have (arguably) four areas to go. This is endgame from here on, which I think starts way too early, given the size of the game.


Here’s the map of Area 6. It was the last of the real large open areas.

Hopefully I'll be back later this week!

So my memory wasn't totally busted. There IS that room where you can choose your beam!

I remember going back to it later in the game to try them all out. I really think that design choice of only letting you use one beam is why they went with the stacking beams in Super.

Also, I didn't mind them calling it Wide beam in Fusion since it looked different from the Spazer in 2/Super anyway. And it was compatible with Plasma, but in Super, it wasn't! Plus, I'd have to play the JP versions of this or Super to be sure, but I think Spazer is kinda like Varia and just an inaccurate romanization of Spacer (Barrier for Varia).

It's a good, good thing there are only three Zetas in the game. Those things are a menace.

The only thing tougher then the Zetas are the Queen; Omegas are stronger, but they spend a lot of time just... Sitting around in midair... Patiently waiting for you to shoot them full of missiles

Dude, spoilers.

Yeah I think besides Queenie, Zeta Metroids are the fewest in number out of all the types. Only three of those, with only 4 Omegas.

You spend so much of the game fighting Alphas and Gammas. Sometimes I wonder if one or two Zetas should've been in the last area to cap it off. On the one hand that would add a bit more variety earlier on, but on the other that would mean actually fighting more Zetas, so yeah. Nerts to that.

My internet was busted for most of the past two days and I loaded up my old save of Metroid II for a bit. I actually played right up to the start of this section, so I may play along right to the end.

Helloooo! If all goes well, this should be our penultimate installment!


Area 7 is pretty straightforward: Down, left, down, left.




All full of familiar enemies: Skorps, Glow Flies, Seerooks.


You’ll hit this pool of lava at a dead end, and then need to turn up.


The upper ring is Area 8. It’s also simple and straightforward. There are Motos here.


Coming up this way, we find an Alpha Metroid just molting—pretty easy pickings, at this stage of the game.


Weird that there are two husks here, but killing the Alpha sets off the earthquake, so whatever.


Heading back down, the route back to Area 7 has been cut off! (This is the only time in the game you’re unable to backtrack, incidentally.)


Let’s go back up and see if we missed anything.


Oh, yes, we missed something. This, my friends, is an Omega Metroid, which a Zeta grows into.


Omegas are boss battles, even more so than any other Metroid form. This game doesn’t have unique bosses like Kraid and Ridley, but these guys make up for it. 40 missiles to kill them, or some number fewer if you manage to hit them in the back. (And they can only be injured from the front or back.) Like Zetas, they fly and spit fireballs and suffer very little knockback.


Defeating him triggers a second earthquake, which allows us to get back to Area 7, then past that dead end into Area 9.

(I’m not changing the color scheme for this area either. This whole segment is rather short.)


Remember to kill Skorps for the missile pickups. You’ll need them.


Like the last two segments, this area is a fairly straightforward horizontal run over lava, then upward climb with familiar enemies. (Admittedly, we haven’t seem Moheeks in a while.)


Then a Save Point, which should worry you.


From the Save Point, there’s a long enemy-free climb upwards.


We’ll head left first, over these bubble-pillars (you need to be careful and not rush; there are spikes on the floor between them).


Then we fight the first of the final four Metroids. It shouldn’t shock you that this is an Omega.

A useful thing about Omegas: Hitting them from the back is actually easier than you’d think, because their pattern will sometimes end facing away from you. If you land a “weak point” hit on their back, the Omega gets a couple of invincibility frames, so you need to pause for a second before firing again, or the second missile will pass through them harmlessly. (They do a little leg-kick and make a little noise that indicates this.)


Now we head back across the bubble pillars and to the right.


There’s a pit in the middle of the next section of bubble pillars. This is the way forward, but we’re not done here yet.


Continuing right gets us to a shaft that has some enemies (Halzyns and Motos—we’re pretty much out of unique enemies at this point), and another save point at the top of it. (The game understands your desire to save when Omegas are around.)


We’re going to go down and right, though.

And right again, across bubble pillars to another Omega, this one above a pool of water, though that doesn’t affect the battle at all.

Another note about Omegas: Getting good at Screw Attack jumps is important. Screw Attack doesn’t hurt them, but means they can’t hurt you when they’re trying to body slam you all over the arena.


Back out, down and left.


And one more Omega in this section. We know the drill by now.


And then there was one Metroid left alive; and an earthquake heralds Samus’ arrival.


This is the layout of the area I just went through.


Back to the pit that leads into the final segment. Next time!

I remember Omegas being a nightmare to fight. That screeching noise they made when you bounced off them with the screw attack still haunts me.

I think the worst part about this section is that there isn't a missile recharge nearby, I don't think. If you come in with max possible missiles and take advantage of every back attack you can you'll be fine, but if you end up fighting one or two Omegas the stupid way you either got some backtracking to a recharge point, or some time spent grinding enemy drops. Either option sucks.

And here we are. There’s only one Metroid left in existence, and we’re about to complete our mission of genocide, for the safety of the galaxy.


The first stretch of Area 10 is quiet, almost peaceful. We climb down,


Then back up.


Then head across this corridor. The liquid is harmless.


Then up and around the corner.


To cross another corridor. These pools are larger, with hidden holes in them that can drop you down to the first level. This costs you nothing but time, though—there are no enemies here.


Then a third corridor and…whoops.


It’s easiest to just space jump through the entire area, rather than trying to memorize where the holes are.


Then another switchback, and a Save Point. I believe this is the final save point, as a matter of fact.


Go up through the ceiling above the Save Point.


The liquid can be a little annoying to get out of, since it limits your jumps and screws up the spider ball. Just space jump it.


Actually, just space jump this entire enormous chamber.


Or bounce off these Septoggs, that works.


Or spider ball. That’s the lazy man’s method.


The only things worth finding here are in the ceiling, and they’re all important. In the far right are an energy recharge and a missile recharge.

In the center area is a broken Chozo statue.


…and the Ice Beam? Weird, why would that be here? Oh well, I’ll snag it anyway. It’s not like Plasma will do much against the final Metroid.


The far left is the way forward.


I love the way that the rocks give way to ruins, here. It’s clear that SR288 hosted a civilization before the Metroids arrived and wiped it out, and the fact that the final Metroid is nesting somewhere in the deepest ruins arms all sorts of theories as to where they came from and what happened.

I realize that the later games made the whole history explicit, but back at this point, the wonder of exploration and mystery was so, so much of this game. The comics made up an expanded world for Samus to inhabit, but never got into the history of the Metroids or the civilizations they destroyed. I romanticize the Game Boy era because it was my first system and I was a kid in prime nostalgia-forming territory, but really, the limits of the technology gave us so, so much for our imaginations to fill in.


Speaking of which, I wonder what…


Uh-oh. The Metroid detector just went crazy, jumping from one remaining to NINE.




And here’s why: A new batch of baby metroids just hatched! These behave just like the metroids from the original game. They’ll grab onto Samus and suck her energy until you shake them off with bombs; you need to freeze them with the Ice Beam and then kill them with five missiles before they defrost.


There’s only one real trick: Freeze them before they snag you.


The next chamber has one right below the entrance. This actually gives you a second to react and plan your moves, because they can’t move through the platforms.

The third chamber also has one when you come in, then a second above it. (Far enough away that you won’t aggro both at the same time.)


Then the path turns left. A Metroid will descend upon you as soon as you enter; quick reflexes will determine if this is the hardest or easiest of the babies.


There’s also one waiting in the middle of the spike-filled chamber.


And one below the entrance in the next room. (Which I wasted too many missiles on when I accidentally let it defrost.)


And the final one further down that shaft.


Killing all 8 hatchling Metroids causes an earthquake.


Hop through this final chamber. Fortunately, that all-spikes area is very short.


See those broken tubes? That’s where we’re going. Take a deep breath, the end is in sight.