By Elias Dounis on February 16th, 2004

Genre: Platformer
Developer: Intelligent Systems
Publisher: Nintendo
# of Players: 1
Memory: Battery Save
ERSB: Everyone
Released On: February 9, 2004
Supports: Game Boy Advance Link Cable
MSRP: $39.99
Also On: None
Website: http://www.metroid.com/

After an eight year absence from the videogame scene, Samus Aran, science fiction’s most famous galactic bounty hunter since Boba Fett of Star Wars fame, returned to gaming with a blinding bolt of lighting which shattered the earth, breaking new ground and stepping into uncharted territories in not just one plastic package of gaming bliss, but in two with 2002’s Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion. Metroid fans rejoiced. However, fans had already begun to anticipate Miss Aran’s next mission as they watched the credits roll.

Fret not!

In May of 2003, at the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), it had been revealed that yet another two Metroid games were in development for each of Nintendo’s (current) gaming platforms. The two games shown… the tentatively titled Metroid Prime 2 for the GameCube and Metroid: Zero Mission for Nintendo’s Prize Child, the Game Boy Advance.

While little is known about Retro Studios’ sequel to the great Metroid Prime, Intelligent Systems’ Metroid: Zero Mission is a 2D retelling of Samus’ first adventure; her Zero Mission; a remake of the classic NES Metroid exclusively for the Game Boy Advance.

1986 - Metroid in Retrospect
Armored with the battle suit of the ancient bird-like race of the Chozo, Metroid starred the galactic space bounty hunter Samus Aran. Samus’ duty had been to defend the universe from the Evil Space Pirates and their leader, the Mother Brain, who along with her Space Pirate minions (the most notable being Kraid and Ridley), planned to unleash a species of parasitic life forms called Metroids upon the galaxy. Discovering the Mother Brain’s plans, the Galactic Federation hired Samus for a mission to infiltrate the Mother Brain’s base of operations on the planet Zebes, to destroy the Space Pirate HQ and eliminate the Metroid threat.

On Zebes, gamers were brought into the planet’s underground caverns. As you would go from room to room, you were more than likely to get lost inside the tunnels of the planet, and with that feeling of not knowing where the hell you were, came an incredible sense of exploration. With this said, Metroid ended being a monumental gaming experience on the Nintendo Entertainment System, however not only due to its amazing gameplay, but also due to its ending’s twist. Once players defeated the Mother Brain and escaped Zebes before it blew to bits, gamers discovered that underneath Samus’ armored exterior existed a woman… a shock to all gamers, since Samus had been the first female protagonist in any game.

Zero Mission
As mentioned earlier, Zero Mission is the retelling of Samus Aran’s first adventure, but with a fresh new take on the entire game. The game is akin to Samus’ latest 2D offering, Metroid Fusion, featuring some of maneuvers first introduced in that game, such as the Power Grip, as well as bringing back others from previous Metroid games, not featured in Metroid Fusion, such as the Plasma Beam, Varia and Gravity suits. Of course, the game has also completely been redesigned in order for these items to be used in the traditional Metroid fashion. Which is to stumble upon the item at some point through Samus’ adventure through the caverns of Planet Zebes, and find an area which you can use them; often found in an area you came across before, which had once been inaccessible, but which now can be accessed in order to enter a new area, or receive yet another item such as a Missile, Super Missile, or Power Bomb upgrade. A good example of this can be seen when using the infamous Ice Beam upgrade to access a blue hatch door way above Samus’ jumping reach. In order to reach this door Samus must have acquired the Ice Beam to freeze floating creatures called Rippers and use them as stepping stones to reach the hatch door. With that said, Metroid: Zero Mission, just like any other Metroid before it, requires a large amount of backtracking. However, in a way where it never gets dull since a new path often always opens up.

Difficulty or Lack thereof
Difficulty levels were first introduced in a Metroid game with Retro Studios Metroid Prime for the Nintendo GameCube, and continuing the trend is Metroid: Zero Mission. At the start, two difficulty levels are available: Easy and Normal. Even on Normal, Zero Mission is way too easy a game for a veteran Metroid player. Bosses (Ridley and Kraid, who both show up in their Super Metroid super-sized forms) are defeated easily enough that in the case of Ridley, all that is needed is for the player to stand in a static position, equip Samus’ missiles, and just repeatedly unload your ammo until you’ve fried that fiery dragon into ashes. It’s a shame that Ridley can be defeated so easily, since often he appears in a Metroid game as your most feared enemy. Luckily though, upon completion of the game on Normal difficulty, Hard Mode opens up, and is, or will be, in a Metroid fans point of view, the ideal way to play Metroid: Zero Mission. On Hard, a few Save Points will be removed from the game (but still in excess), the amount of Missiles, Super Missiles, and Power Bombs will be decreased, as well as your health, and on top of it enemies will become a tad bit stronger, becoming less vulnerable to Samus’ attacks.

With the Hard difficulty, at times, Zero Mission brings back memories of the Classic NES Metroid, and kindly enough, included in Zero Mission is perfectly emulated version of the original Metroid, a game that is a true test of one’s gaming skill. Never has been going from room to another identical looking room ever been so fun, and no that is not sarcasm. Metroid is one of the greatest gaming achievements in Nintendo’s history.

Metroid Version 1.5
In the original, when the Mother Brain was defeated, a planetary self destruct sequence went off, and off Samus went, escaping Zebes as it blew to bits. Now that was the original Metroid, in Zero Mission things change. After defeating the Mother Brain, which unlike the Ridley and Kraid battles, is nice challenge, Samus attempts to escape Zebes but soon gets shot down by some Space Pirate vessels, getting sent back down to Zebes’ surface (it seems that only the Mother Brain’s HQ had been destroyed). With her ship wrecked, Samus must now find her way off of Zebes by infiltrating the Space Pirate Mother Ship (which landed on Zebes with the arrival of Ridley, shown by a cool little cinema earlier in the game). Since, Samus is one deadly chick with one powerful arm cannon, things should be easy right? Well, don’t count on it because crash landing on Zebes rendered Samus suit useless and she must now infiltrate the Space Pirate Mother Ship in a tight blue latex outfit equipped with a near useless stun pistol. This is where Metroid: Zero Mission stops being the great Metroid game it once seemed to be and turns into Splinter Cell knock-off, with Samus hiding from Space Pirates, sometimes even in the shadows, in order to find her way out. Although, this portion of the game does happen to be entertaining, it hadn’t been necessary to the game in the slightest. It holds no significance to the Metroid story and feels out of place compared the traditional, kick ass Metroid gameplay we all know and love.

As for the game’s audio and visual presentation…It’s on par with Metroid Fusion, making good use of the Game Boy Advance’s sprite capabilities and featuring a soundtrack of highly memorable Hip Tanaka Metroid tunes remixed for our auditory pleasure.

A Short Game with Long Lasting Appeal
Yoshio Sakamoto, Zero Mission’s director, had said that the final portion of the game would comprise about twenty-five to thirty percent of actual game. Unfortunately, this translates to about twenty to thirty minutes of actual game time, and if you happen to do the math, that equals out to about two hours of actual game time, which sounds just about right for Metroid veterans. For gamers new to the series, I wouldn’t know… All that I know is that I pity you for not experiencing one of the most revered game franchises of our time. However, just like any other Metroid game, there are tons of hidden items to find, and thankfully Zero Mission features the most puzzling ways to acquire a single item, requiring much more time and thought than any other Metroid game before it. In addition to that, the game is undeniably fun and entertaining, enough for gamers to continuously go back to for, what Metroid fans like to call, a “Speed Run,” because of this, Zero Mission may never loose its appeal, and of course you always have the classic NES Metroid to play as well.

The Last Metroid Is In Captivity, the Galaxy Is At Peace
Metroid: Zero Mission IS the classic NES Metroid reborn on the Game Boy Advance. However, fans of the series may not hold it as high as Samus’ first game, and definitely not on the same level as the great Super Metroid. But from a different perspective, Zero Mission is definitely a game that should be played by all those in search of a great gaming experience. There’s just a certain extent of polish found in a Metroid game that you cannot help but appreciate and Zero Mission is no exception.

-See You Next Mission