Metroid: Samus Returns

not a big fan of the counter system

It's really nice to have Metroid back. Even though this is technically a remake, it has very little in common with the original Metroid 2. The new melee mechanic works well, it has expert level design, great music and visuals... just another awesome Metroid experience.

it's the worst Metroid game, excluding its source material, which means it's still pretty good. but there is far too much padding, and the number of iterations of scanning the room, bombing a wall, and rolling into a room to shoot missiles at a Metroid can't carry this to the finish line. just play Zero Mission again.

A little too straight forward and simple but it can't be helped much based on what this is a remake of

My favourite 2D Metroid so far. It's amazing how much this game has improved over the original M2. SR has much more interesting map design, and adds a number of great quality of life improvements (autosaves before boss battles, fast travel stations, a huge pickup radius on creature drops,...) that make the gameplay feel very smooth and fluid. Combat is also improved by the parry mechanic. My only gripes are that the secrets are a bit too obvious and the Magmoor Caverns track is too loud.