Metroid: Samus Returns

Banjo

Mine arrived over the weekend, just looking at it now.

I thought the Collectors edition game box was supposed to have a reversible cover?
Edit : Wait, that was the US collectors ed, and the reverse side of the title card is the artwork on the Steelbook. Damnit, I left all the goodies up in the car so I can't look at them till lunch.

Edit 2 : Bagged me my first metroid! Have to say, the game looks absolutely gorgeous. I'm not liking the parry mechanic, because I'm crap at it and it's being rammed down my throat every step of the way. Also, it feels like an awful lot of buttons need to be held down at the same time to fight, and my hands are cramping after 30 minutes.

In terms of the extras - The artbook is nice. I've seen it once and will never look at it again. The audio CD box looks cheap in full black and white except for the Nintendo seal. I've just realised how little access to optical media readers I now have. The Giant gameboy cart steelbook is kind of cool and will be going into a desk drawer shortly, possibly never to be seen again. I have no use for the badge, but it's in a nice presentation box and practically bursts out of the cardboard when you open the Legacy Edition, as if the Chozo have Chozo-en you! I am afraid to put it on in case it causes me to be summoned to an alien planet to deal with a threat I don't have the skills or guts to tackle. The keyring is in a blind-bag style bag. It's an odd choice... Can't bring myself to open it. What if there are different versions of the morph ball and by finding out it's the common one in my bag I devalue it? WHAT IF??

Basically, I have made a terrible mistake

Great watch!

safetyboy

this looks absolutely stunning in 3d its the only game ive ever played with 3d on.

pasta-solo

The 3d effect really is amazing, the graphics look kinda dull when it's not turned on. Don't think I've ever had the 3d on for a full game before!

Ace Attorney

Traded in some 3ds and wii u games to get some loot together for this, to be be given 10 euro for mario kart 8 was a kick in the balls but sher hav the switch version to fall back on anyway. Picked this up looking forward to givin it ago this evening cant wait to see the 3d effect.

Banjo

Managed to Morph Ball bomb-jump on my first attempt.
That can't be right. They've dumbed it down!

Wait, when did "Spider ball" become a thing? Morph-bomb-jumps are obsolete! This is a travesty! If they remove all the skills, how will players ever learn how to pay the bills?

wes

Banjo wrote: »

Managed to Morph Ball bomb-jump on my first attempt.
That can't be right. They've dumbed it down!

Wait, when did "Spider ball" become a thing? Morph-bomb-jumps are obsolete! This is a travesty! If they remove all the skills, how will players ever learn how to pay the bills?

Not sure if your joking, but all those powers were in the original game boy version.

Mr.Saturn

howlongtobeat (never the most accurate metric, granted) currently has it at around 9 and a half hours to clear it, would that be accurate in everyone's experience? If so I'm kinda heartened to see it ain't as compact as the last couple 2D Metroids.

pasta-solo

pasta-solo wrote: »

The 3d effect really is amazing, the graphics look kinda dull when it's not turned on. Don't think I've ever had the 3d on for a full game before!

SM 3D World was the best implementation of it IMO
Played it through till completion with the 3D on

Will do the same here once I get a hold of a copy

sligeach

The game sold just under 31,000 in Japan. That's kind of disappointing. But then Japan's never really loved the Metroid franchise.

Banjo

wes wrote: »

Not sure if your joking, but all those powers were in the original game boy version.

Wait a minute - is there a Spiderball in super metroid? did I miss it and manage to complete the game by endlessly trying to get the timing right on drop a bomb - drop a bomb - first bomb propels you up in time to catch the explosion of the 3rd bomb you dropped etc etc?

does... does that mean I'm ****ing great at Metroid???

No spiderball in Super Metroid!

Banjo

****. So I'm just regular-good at Metroid?
I better ring my Boss and see if he'll accept my apology and take me back.

Edit : 3 days in and I've only bagged 2 Metroids. Either that 9 hours estimate is way off or I'm not even regular good

bkrangle

Got my legacy edition from parcel wizard today

The gameboy steel case is very nice indeed

Pity I won't have time to play the game until xmas!

sligeach

I got a notification from Address Pal today that my Legacy Edition is ready for collection. Might get to collect it tomorrow.

Banjo

Oh jeez... I don't know how to tell you this... It's kind of not an original game... It's more of a.. how can I put this delicately? See, on the Gameboy they... Look, it's a port ok? A God damned dlc-locked-behind-amiibo port.

sligeach

Between the UK and Japan it's supposedly sold less than 50,000 copies. That's awful, beyond awful. It deserves better. Why is the general public so ignorant to this franchise's greatness? America. Let's see how it fares there.

Turtwig

I guess that's pretty much the franchise on the back burner again:(

Your rate for collecting sales was 2%
See you next decade!

MilesMorales1

They've already announced prime 4, they can't back out!

Corholio

I haven't seen numbers for rest of the world but 30k in Japan isn't bad at all, where it has always been a low seller anyway. The number also doesn't include digital and Metroid was also out a day less than other games.

America and Europe (less so UK) will be the main judging of it. Hopefully it does good enough for Nintendo to be satisfied with it, a hit in numbers could influence how Prime 4 is developed.

Banjo

And given the awesome looking Legacy pack, how many sales were lost to people holding off on the off chance it comes pack into stock?

Turtwig

Legacy pack would appeal to a minority demographic anyway.

MilesMorales1 wrote: »

They've already announced prime 4, they can't back out!

They could very easily. The 3DS was chosen as a much less expensive litmus test. If there's no appetite for the franchise why spend millions developing it for switch?

Mercurysteam, at least, deserve to make another 2d metroid.

CastorTroy

Banjo wrote: »

And given the awesome looking Legacy pack, how many sales were lost to people holding off on the off chance it comes pack into stock?

*raises hand*

But yeah, Metroid was never a huge seller in Japan and UK aren't big mobile gamers. Or Nintendo gamers. As far as I know. Then there are the ones who only want it on Switch.

ERG89

sligeach wrote:

Why is the general public so ignorant to this franchise's greatness? America. Let's see how it fares there.

It's weird people are so happy to see certain games announced that they don't end up buying. It's like when they see the trailer they already won.
It's not a Nintendo only thing but I think stuff like DOOM for Switch may not sell much when they get released as the general public will have a reason not to buy it.
Maybe its full price or they're busy playing Mario or Xenoblade.

Corholio

I think it's one of those situations, if Metroid sells low, that sometimes no one is to blame really. Nintendo have put a really good Metroid game out after many years without one, low sales would maybe justify Nintendo's years without a Metroid title and good sales would show desire to keep releasing titles in the franchise. I do think it's a little harder to gauge because it's a 3DS title, it's probably nearing the end of it's cycle or at least a cycle where releases are often. Even though console versions never sold huge they did ok and the work Retro did really revitalised the series in what was always a risky move to 3D. Hopefully it ends up doing well and that interest in the series is logged for those who makes the decisions.

Turtwig

Mr.Saturn wrote: »

howlongtobeat (never the most accurate metric, granted) currently has it at around 9 and a half hours to clear it, would that be accurate in everyone's experience? If so I'm kinda heartened to see it ain't as compact as the last couple 2D Metroids.

It definitely isn't as compact as the other metroids. Areas are much bigger.

Took me 16 hours+ to beat with over 80% of items collected. Final boss battle was just brilliant. It's such a spectacle in 3d too but if you're like me and jerk the 3DS when there's intense movement and timing required it's probably best to turn it off again. Cut scenes in 3d for that fight are just cool so make sure to switch the 3d back on for those. Throughout the whole game actually Samus comes across as an amazing character and quite the badass too.

Was really taken aback by the 100% "reward". Gave me the chills. Made a lot of sense too but I just really hadn't thought about things that way.

Spoiler unrelated to the above but kind of relevant if you've not yet played Super Metroid or don't know the story. Anyone who knows the story of Super will find this safe.

That little larvae is really cute. I kind of want to keep him now. They really make you like it too by the animation and the behaviour.
Really nice stuff.

Mr.Saturn

Turtwig wrote: »

It definitely isn't as compact as the other metroids. Areas are much bigger.

Took me 16 hours+ to beat with over 80% of items collected. Final boss battle was just brilliant. It's such a spectacle in 3d too but if you're like me and jerk the 3DS when there's intense movement and timing required it's probably best to turn it off again. Cut scenes in 3d for that fight are just cool so make sure to switch the 3d back on for those. Throughout the whole game actually Samus comes across as an amazing character and quite the badass too.

Was really taken aback by the 100% "reward". Gave me the chills. Made a lot of sense too but I just really hadn't thought about things that way.

Spoiler unrelated to the above but kind of relevant if you've not yet played Super Metroid or don't know the story. Anyone who knows the story of Super will find this safe.

That little larvae is really cute. I kind of want to keep him now. They really make you like it too by the animation and the behaviour.
Really nice stuff.

Cheers for that, sounds like a treat. Appreciate that they might be undoing some the damage done to Samus' character in Other M. Granted, Other M is so maligned for its story (whereas the gameplay didn't really pick up the slack enough) as to be almost collectively considered non-canon, but good to see they're covering their bases.

Kirby

I'm a metroid fan but I don't think I'll be getting this one. I'd rather get the snes mini and play through Super again.

I find the aesthetic here to be awful. Something about the way 3d objects look on the 3DS really annoys me. It's so low res and ugly.

Super metroid is a prettier game. That shouldn't be the case with what we can pull off today.

I look at other 2d metroidvania's like Ori and then I look at samus returns......and it's night and day. I'm not saying I think Unity would run on the 3ds.....but why not go simple? Go back to sprites. It's simply better looking.

pasta-solo

Kirby wrote: »

I'm a metroid fan but I don't think I'll be getting this one. I'd rather get the snes mini and play through Super again.

I find the aesthetic here to be awful. Something about the way 3d objects look on the 3DS really annoys me. It's so low res and ugly.

Super metroid is a prettier game. That shouldn't be the case with what we can pull off today.

I look at other 2d metroidvania's like Ori and then I look at samus returns......and it's night and day. I'm not saying I think Unity would run on the 3ds.....but why not go simple? Go back to sprites. It's simply better looking.

While I agree for the most part that sprites look better, I was pleasantly surprised by the graphics in Samus Returns. From screenshots and videos online, I did not like the games art style at all. However, in game, with the 3d slider up about half way, it looks a lot better to me. I still prefer Super Metroid or Zero Missions style, but Samus Returns is a nice looking game in its own way.

Very hard to pass judgement on something you haven't even played.
I will wait till I pick it up. From reading here the 3D feature coupled with the layout is one of the best implementations of it.