Metroid Zero Mission - Review

Recently I have been thinking about Metroid Zero Mission & how I really wanted to play it again. I first played it when I was still living in Galway about 10 years ago, a friend of mine loaned it to me & I remember thinking how awesome it was at the time.  Metroid Zero Mission is an updated version of the original Metroid released in 1986, featuring a lot more colour, story & gameplay.  While sometimes updated versions or remakes of games feel unnecessary this is definitely not the case with Zero Mission.


Have any of you ever eaten Findus Crispy Pancakes?  I remember eating them as a child & really liked them, they are minced beef wrapped in a pancake & covered in breadcrumbs.  Simple, cheap, tasty.  A few years ago I tried them again for the nostalgia value & to see if I still liked them. They were terrible; filled with cheap fatty meat, overly crispy, no substance, no flavor & nothing like a pancake.  I should have left them in my past as a good memory.  Playing Metroid Zero Mission I had to ask myself was it like the tasty Findus Crispy Pancakes I used like or what I now know them to taste like?

The story is simple but that is not a bad thing. There are space pirates who have set up shop on the planet Zebes, their plan: to capture samples of the creatures know as Metroids & use them to crush any enemies who oppose them.  You play as Samus Aran, bounty hunter, your mission:  stop the pirates & destroy the mechanical life form know as Mother Brain.


While I enjoy a good story in games sometimes simplicity is key.  I think this is proven with Metroid Zero Mission.  The additional storyversus the original really helps expand the Metroid story & that of Samus Aran.

While the game is 13 years old it still looks really good & beside the original 1986 classic it looks fantastic.  I think Mecha Ridley is one of the best looking enemies (see above), he is bird like with giant claws to destroy you & that glowing red heart is just begging to have missiles shot at it.  There are many interesting looking areas visually, two of my favorite are the Chozo Ruins & the surface of Planet Zebes.  The Chozo Ruins look great as they have an Ancient Egyptian feel with a slight twist. Being on the surface of planet Zebes is really cool as it feels so open & is a nice reprieve from being inside.  There are short animated sequences in the game that look as good now as they did before & really help build on top of what the original Metroid created.


Visually I didn't have many flaws with the game apart from maybe one near the end of the game. When you escape from the Space Pirate Mothership you get on what can only described as a blue computer mouse which just looks really terrible, especially when so much of the design used in the rest of the game is so good.


The musical score is created by; Kenji Yamamoto & Minako Hamano. Yamamoto previously worked on many game including; Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Donkey Kong Country Returns, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.  Hamano has worked on; Wario World, Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country Returns & Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening DX.


I feel the game moves between two very different sounds; a creeping foreboding & a powerful unstoppable force.  The two sounds helps balance the gameplay & offers a nice mix of darkness & light.  My favorite pieces include: 'Space Pirate Assault', 'Final Attack', 'Deorem/Mua Boss Theme',
'Mecha Ridley Boss Theme', 'Kraid's Lair', 'Brinstar Theme', 'Prologue', 'Main Theme' & 'Staff Credits'.

The gameplay is a lot of fun, going into an area & not being able to fully fill the map is exciting as I could not wait to get the upgrade that would let me clear the area 100% later on.  Finding the upgrades for your suit & increasing health & missile capacity was a great feeling.  My favorite upgrades were; screw attack, morph ball & power grip.


There were small things when playing the game that made me smile, one of the best examples of this is when you are on the Pirate Mothership & there is a barrel in your way.  When you hit it with your weapon it sprouts legs & starts walking away from the area it is blocking really slowly.


Mecha Ridley was my favorite boss, not only as he is the last boss but also it actually feels like when you defeat him there is more skill used unlike some of the others bosses that just felt like a lot of it was based on luck.


There are definitely good reasons to try & replay the game, one of them is that there are multiple endings to the game.  The ending you get all depends on item completion percentage & how quick you finish the game.  Finishing the game on normal unlocks the original Metroid game.


All in all some solid gameplay & a lot of fun to play.





So after 5 hours, 38 minutes & quite a few deaths what did I think?  Honestly it was a lot of fun playing it again & I can imagine playing it again in the future.  If you own a GameBoy Advance & never played it I would buy a copy right now.  A big monkey thumb up for this one!