Metroid II: Return of Samus

Intro: I had been looking for Metroid II for some time and long story short to my shock and awe I found it at a thrift store(cartridge only) for, get this...53 cents! Anyways, it is always difficult to review a retro game, especially one on the original Game Boy. I will attempt to both grade it on how it was as a Game Boy game and how it failed/succeeded as a sequel to the NES classic Metroid. However, I will also compare it to other games today to see how well it has aged.

Story: Nonexistent. Okay not really, but without the booklet or box it just starts off. A lot of games did this during the Game Boy and NES era. Still, as the credits roll I can't help but wonder why didn't they make the credits an intro and instead of having developer's names it could use three lines to tell the story. However, being a Metroid fan you know how the story goes as it effects the two games that succeeded it chronologically; Super Metroid and Fusion.
The premise is that Samus goes to the Metroid home planet, SR388, to kill all the metroids to prevent further Space Pirate experimentation. Samus arrives and hunts down the Metroids which evolve into four fearsome stages. Those who have played Metroid Fusion will recognize the Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and Omega metroids.Then after killing the Metroid Queen, Samus runs into a hatch-ling metroid that views Samus as its adoptive mother. Thus, with the little metroid's help Samus gets to her ship, however, unable to kill the hatch-ling she will deliver it to the Galactic Federation for research.

Gameplay/Controls:To me this is the quintessential Game Boy game; something that you can play on a car trip or in your spare time. Hunt down metroids, access new areas, get upgrades, and hunt down more metroids. You can kill two and save or you can play the whole game during a long trip. It's your standard side scroller game much like Metroid and plays basically the same. New to the series are the Spazer and Plasma beam as well as the Spider and Spring ball abilities added to the morph ball. You can go back to places where you received the beam upgrades to switch through them, this is rather cumbersome and Super Metroid introduces a much better select system. The addition of save stations is very welcomed. It seems that they are placed rather randomly, which can lead backtracking for those wanting to play it safe. However, as I mentioned above Super Metroid the pinnacle of 2D-side scrollers became the basis for the 2D series so playing through this may feel quite antiquated in comparison. Take for example the use of health and missile replenish caches. Find and touch a shiny orb or glowing missle expansion and your health and missiles will be fully replenished respectively. Unfortunately, new players will find themselves backtracking to some of these locations especially later in the game where health and ammo are vital to success.

Graphics:The consensus on other reviews seems to be the the graphics weren't exactly pushing the Game Boy so it is no stretch to say it looks quite bland compared to the new entries. Playing using the Game Boy Advance the color definitely adds to it. The Samus and Queen Metroid sprites are impressive the other metroids decent, but overall the enemies are boring and generic. You do get your first glimpse at her impressive looking gunship that is now a series staple. The background is the worse. The cavernous environment is plain and much like Metroid will have you scratching your head saying "Have I been here before?"

Sound: Once again the consensus is that this was not impressive. The atmospheric music the series is known for took a back seat in this entry and the sounds effects were standard grunts from enemies and bloops from missile shots, but I wouldn't go extreme and say play it with the sound off as some suggest.

Conclusion: You can beat the game in anywhere from under 3 hours to 6 depending on your skill level. Plus there is a rather cool little bonus for beating the game in 3 hours or less. I had great fun with it in my spare time. In my opinion it is a must for fans of the series. Like the second Mario and Zelda it is often seen as the black sheep and least impressive especially when the next entry to all these series went on to be some of the best games in the series and, well, ever. It was a stepping stone towards Super Metroid and an integral part of the series story. Play it and enjoy it for what is is.

*Feel free to PM me for details on the game or whether you'd like to see more numbers in my review. It is my first and any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Score: 8.0