Metroid Zero Mission

This game is too good. I think this is peak metroidvania. The upgrades... and the power you feel by the end is omega greatness.

This is how you do a remake.

Does a great job of balancing Samus being out of her element with moments of complete badassery that end up being immensely satisfying. Wonderful exploration, lots of secrets, mostly fun boss battles (final one is the weakest). Eerie atmosphere, though not on the level of Dread or Fusion in that regard. Decent stealth part, storytelling is sufficient. Always love the music, that's true here as well.

The enemy design is overly passive to such a degree that you can enter a room and kill most enemies without even causing them aggro at a safe distance since the level design is mostly empty, linear hallways. The world design is bland with very little shortcuts or interconnectedness, which makes the routing challenge pretty boring. I do think the game has some solid sections in the late game and generally plays well, but the more I look back on Zero Mission the more that I think it's overrated.

a perfect remake. one of the most fun installments in the series to replay as well

A revisitation of the original with the look, feel, and approach to exploration and progression of Super Metroid—and it works beautifully. A map and a bit of gentle "go here next" does make things go by a bit quickly compared to the old days, so the extra finale's not a bad idea, and I do like the little "stealth" element it briefly throws in.

A really nice remake of the original, achieving something that feels like a blend of Metroid 1, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion in its gameplay. The only part that I was a little disappointed in was the somewhat weak finale and final boss, but everything before that is Metroid bliss.

This is a great remake of the first game and adds a whole new part to the game. The new bosses aren't really that interesting though and the Mother Brain boss is more frustrating than it is difficult. For the most part, this game is pretty much Super Metroid, which is one of my favorite games, but it just feels like I'm not really doing anything new.

Less linear and restrictive than Fusion, and much better made than the original NES game. I enjoyed the added content more than I had expected. But I do miss the memorabe "challenge rooms" guarding upgrades in Super Metroid. By contrast, this game seems to overly rely on chains of shinesparks to hide yet another rocket upgrade.