Metroid Fusion & the Winds of Change

Metroid Fusion is different.

And that’s okay. Not every game in a series has to be the same. They don’t have to all follow the same formula, theme, or… anything, really. What the designers creating the game come up with is the most important thing. The opposite is true, as well: Not every game in a series has to be unique. So often we hear people bashing Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty for just being the same game every year, but at the end of the day, there has to be a reason for that, right? These games sell because what they do works, and that’s what’s most important.

So what does this all have to do with Metroid Fusion? Well, like I said, Metroid Fusion is different, and that’s okay. The Geek Critique made an excellent point in his video on Metroid Fusion in that if Nintendo wanted to make Super Metroid 2, they would have. That one point alone massively contributed to changing my perspective on this game. Two years ago, I went on a bit of a tirade on Metroid Fusion for being too different. Whether it was the linearity, the dialogue, you name it. As a few comments pointed out, my main criticism of Metroid Fusion was that it’s not Super Metroid. But what I didn’t realize back then, is that this whole idea of Fusion being a departure from the rest of the series is the main theme of the entire game. Looking at Metroid Fusion as a whole, it’s clear to see how much it diverges from its predecessors. Its gameplay, story, atmosphere, among other things, feel so wildly unfamiliar. This is intentional; the game purposely takes this direction, and as a result, every single aspect of Metroid Fusion follows this same path. It’s the black sheep of Metroid on so many levels.

For starters, let’s talk about Samus herself. After being infected by an X-Parasite, her death is almost guaranteed, until she’s injected with a Metroid vaccine that saves her life, further increasing the significance of the baby Metroid in the series’ lore. The irony of the fact that Samus, after spending 3 games hunting these creatures down only to essentially become one herself, is hugely apparent here. This, along with her altered appearance, changes Samus forever. “For me, one life ended, reborn as something different.” Fans of the series up until this game’s release might have resonated quite a bit with this line. Imagine, after waiting so many years in between Super Metroid and this game’s release, that this is what you’re met with: An altered, new Samus, who suddenly has a voice, a purpose, emotions. Aside from the brief intro sequence in Super Metroid, you never really got to hear what Samus had to say. Her dialogue in the beginning of that game was more of a recap of past events than anything; but here, in Fusion, Samus… has feelings. No longer is she this heartless, emotionless killing machine. Before starting her mission, she remarks that the explosion on the space station “awoke a nameless fear in [her] heart." She’s a human, and just like humans, just like this series, she has changed.

Samus’s characterization isn’t the only thing that’s changed in Metroid Fusion. The entire mood of the game is drastically different as well. In earlier games, Samus started her mission with a heroic purpose: eliminating the Space Pirates and Mother Brain; eradicating the Metroids; trying to find Ridley and the baby Metroid. At least in the first two games, Samus’s heroism is apparent as soon as you start the game: a triumphant fanfare plays as Samus appears on screen. The background music shares this heroic attribute as well; its melodic, upbeat sound creates an aura of confidence, both in-game and in the player. Samus appears to be powerful, or at least appears to have the potential to become powerful. Metroid Fusion does the opposite of these things. Samus starts off defeated, vulnerable, and weaker than ever. Her newly-acquired Metroid DNA makes her incredibly weak to the cold. Since most of her Power Suit is gone, she’s left with a suit that can barely protect her, Her computerized commanding officer Adam even remarks that Samus is only at 10% battle capacity at the beginning of the game, coldly and bluntly knocking Samus down a peg even more. From the moment you take control of Samus, you immediately feel alone, despite the fact you just finished talking to Adam. The sound design in this game has to be praised here: there’s no background music accompanying you as you take your first steps into the desolate space station that lies before you, just lifeless, robotic bleeps and bloops that echo in the distance. After uplinking with Adam in a Navigation Room shortly after you begin the game, you set forth into a dark corridor, and baleful, foreboding music sets the tone as you crawl deeper into the station. This is among the best ways I’ve ever seen a game establish its mood. This game is terrifying, and it makes that clear before you can even get used to the controls.

Often times, games that are horror based, such as Amnesia or Outlast, do fine jobs of creating that scary atmosphere in-game, but it never really seems to translate well to the player themselves. Metroid Fusion fixes this problem. Not only is Samus weak, but she’s also being followed. The SA-X is what remains of Samus’s old Power Suit, brought to life by the X-Parasites. It possesses all of Samus’s most powerful abilities. And it stalks you throughout the entire game. It’s so powerful that Adam tells Samus to simply run from it if she were to encounter it, and if you’re foolish enough to try to fight it, it disposes of you in the blink of an eye. The SA-X reminds the player of their place in the game. It has very real implications on the player: if you try to fight it, you will die. If that wasn’t enough to scare the player out of trying to face it head-on, the game practically forces the player to hide from it whenever it’s in the same room as Samus. The first time this happens, you get a real sense of just how dangerous this thing is, and how easily it’s able to put the player in their place. This encounter occurs directly after coming off a boss fight which, generally after defeating a boss, the player feels pretty confident, maybe even accomplished; but this feeling doesn’t last long. You drop down into a dimly lit room when the music stops and is replaced with this sinister, ominous soundscape, and then… Heavy footsteps linger in the distance; the background music mimics a heavily beating heart; and the SA-X walks forth, hand on its arm cannon, shoots the door open, and leaves. If this wasn’t terrifying enough, later in the game, you can hear the SA-X patrolling the area, but you can’t see it; the only way to progress is to take a blind leap of faith downward. Irony is once again a major component of this part of the game: the very embodiment of how powerful Samus used to be is hunting her down at all times. That is horror done right. This isn’t even the only example of horror in Metroid Fusion. Take a look at some of the bosses: Yakuza is a huge, flying spider that, after taking enough damage, loses its limbs and rapidly spins its head as it flies in zig-zags across the room. Similarly, after taking enough damage, the aptly-named Nightmare’s mask falls off to reveal its hideous, grotesque face. If the SA-X wasn’t enough to scare you, the bosses will assuredly do so.

The most obvious departure from series tradition Metroid Fusion makes is in its gameplay. Many people, myself included over two years ago, criticize the game for being too linear, when the games that came before it were barely linear at all. This goes back to what I said earlier about The Geek Critique’s point that if Nintendo wanted to make Super Metroid 2, they would have. What we got was very obviously not that. And while so many people try to make this out to be a bad thing, I can’t help but disagree now. Yes, Metroid Fusion is linear. Yes, it’s more story-driven. But can anyone honestly give me a real reason as to why that’s a bad thing other than “it’s not what Metroid used to be like?” Things change all the time, and not just in video games, but in all forms of media. Remember when Radiohead was a punk rock band? Remember when people actually read physical books instead of e-books? Change is inevitable; it affects everything and everyone. But because people are so adamant that things stay the same, they’ll just as quickly reject something that’s different as they will accept something that they’re used to. And I’m not saying this as if I’ve never resisted change before; of course I have, it’s human nature to do so. But I find it so unfortunate that games like this are often overlooked because they’re considered “black sheep.” I’m also not trying to talk like this game is underrated and everyone hates it; lots of people love it, and that’s great! But I think in a lot of areas, it’s misunderstood.

For one, let’s start with the game’s linear nature. The core of the gameplay is mission-based: talk to Adam, receive your mission, accomplish said mission, and report back to Adam. At its core, that is what this game is. I made a pretty silly point in my original video on this game saying that I thought this system was bad and that it didn’t work. It only dawned on me when I was almost done writing its script that I realized a huge reason this system probably even exists is because this game is on a handheld console. I treated this point as an afterthought instead of doing my due diligence and fixing my script to reflect that. Even in segments where it feels like you’re simply traveling from point A to point B, the journey never feels that way. You’re never given a direct path to where you’re supposed to go. There’s even several parts of the game where you have to leave the given map in order to progress. Metroid Fusion, despite its linearity, never gives the player a straight shot. It never feels like the game is insulting your intelligence. By that same token, the game also never quite lets you outsmart it. Super Metroid is the prime example of a game that the developers intentionally let the player “break,” or at least gave them the tools to do so. Metroid Fusion does not offer that kind of opportunity. Some might say that’s a good thing, others might say it’s bad, but I have no opinion on this. Not every game has to be as “breakable” as Super Metroid. A game being linear has never inherently been a bad thing, and it never will be. And even then, Metroid Fusion isn’t always as linear as it appears to be. For a lot of this game, Samus carries out her orders the way Adam wants her to. But as the story progresses, she slowly begins to diverge from that path. She regains powerups like the Plasma Beam and Diffusion Missiles without authorization; she discovers the secret Metroid breeding lab and subsequently causes it to be jettisoned from the station. Samus begins to defy her orders, and it reflects in the gameplay. It feels liberating being able to go off the beaten path that Adam lays out for you, even if it is the intended route you’re supposed to take.

The linear nature of this game also helps support the more action-oriented gameplay it revolves around. Enemies do a ton of damage to Samus, and a lot of the gameplay involves strategically positioning yourself in order to attack enemies in the safest way possible. Even when you have a lot of energy tanks, you’re never truly safe from just how dangerous the enemies can be. You’ll be needing those energy tanks for the huge amount of bosses in the game. In my original video on this game, I complained about the fact that many of the bosses appeared to act randomly. And while I still think that’s mostly true, their randomness can be worked around. For example, Serris, a boss I originally complained about, gives you plenty of time to react to its forms of movement. The only boss I can really say is a little unfair is Ridley. His movement is completely sporadic, and can be difficult to fight against, especially considering there isn’t much room to move around. The strikingly large amount of bosses in Metroid Fusion gives the game a unique take on Metroid that other games in the series don’t have. It’s able to provide an experience that takes a unique spin on the Metroid formula. All throughout the exploration segments of the game, you’re constantly prepping for the next boss, and the game can instill a bit of anxiety into the player. Metroid Fusion is a very difficult game, thanks in large part to its focus on action, and tough-as-nails bosses that challenge players to utilize every skill they’ve acquired during the course of the game.

The other major reason why this mission-based system exists is because Metroid Fusion is a story-driven experience. A comment on my original video on this game made a great point (despite how aggressive it was) about the fact that unlike other Metroid games where the mood generally stays the same throughout, Metroid Fusion has a dynamic mood, one that’s constantly changing. I think that’s really neat. This is reflected in the world itself in that many sectors in the space station evolve as the story progresses. When leaving Sector 2 for the first time, you’ll find several cocoons littered about, which hatch into more powerful enemies later on. On your first run through Sector 5, you’ll see a huge shadowy figure flying around in the background. You might not think much of it, until it’s revealed that it’s actually Nightmare, and that it’s broken out. Revisiting Sector 5 will reveal that it’s been totally destroyed by the Nightmare. A more subtle change is that after defeating Ridley, you’ll see what appears to be Metroids’ shedded skin in a few rooms in Sector 1, which are implied to have belonged to the Omega Metroid you fight at the end of the game. Probably the coolest minor detail is that after getting the Varia Suit, the ice X-Parasites that once loved to attack Samus now run away from her, knowing that she’ll no longer be harmed if she absorbs them. Metroid Fusion is filled with these great little details that make it feel that much more alive. Its world is ever-changing and dynamic, and that’s a huge aspect that sets it apart from all other Metroid games.

But despite all this, despite the fact that Metroid Fusion so adamantly goes out of its way to be different, it’s still at the end of the day undeniably a Metroid game first and foremost. It still has that unmistakable Metroid soul, the soul that’s apparent in the games preceding it and all the games following it. You still collect powerups to become stronger; you’re still alone on a vast, detailed alien world; you still get to be a kickass bounty hunter that accomplishes unbelievable feats. These are the things that make Metroid an incredible series. These games immerse you in a fantastical world and allow you to take the role as one of the most iconic and influential characters in gaming. And while yes, for the thousandth time, Metroid Fusion is indeed different, it paved the way for the rest of the series to follow suit. Metroid Prime was hated at first, but it turned out to be one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, and went on to produce two more sequels. These games took Metroid in another new, uncharted direction that never would have been explored were it not for the desire to change. It’s that desire to change that is responsible for making Metroid what it is today - and it all started with a black sheep.