Even despite Game Boy limitations, they still made a great Metroid. Sure, in the pantheon of the series it's probably my least favourite, but I can't sit here and say I didn't play the shit out of it.

I liked this one less than the first game. The sequel fixes the save game system, but it features a tiny viewport combined with huge, near-empty, sometimes non-euclidean cave areas that we're meant to hand map. The new spider ball form adds to the tedium, making you slooowly crawl across the cave walls in search of secrets. This is the first MV where I just opened up a hint map an hour into the game. The endlessly recycled minibosses and the generally pitiful difficulty also drag down the score.

This game just needed to not be on the Game Boy. If there was a map and more buttons to use, then this game would be pretty good. If this game came out on the SNES or even the Gameboy Color, it would be way better. Tiny screen, and everything looks the same.

There are some interesting ideas in this one (and it, surprisingly not Super Metroid, is largely responsible for the visual design of Samus as we know her today - just check out her sprite in this game, it's all there) and the final battle and ending are pretty cool but ultimately the kind of samey environments and overly confusing world design kind of drag it down.