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Metroid II: Return of Samus

1991 video game

Metroid II: Return of Samus
North American boxart
Developer(s)	Nintendo R&D1
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Gunpei Yokoi (producer) Hirojii Kiyotake (director) Hiroyuki Kimura (co-director) Ryoji Yoshitomi (composer)
Platform(s)	Game Boy
Release	NA August 26, 1991 JP January 2, 1992 EU May 21, 1992
Genre(s)	Action Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player

Metroid II: Return of Samus (メトロイドII RETURN OF SAMUS, Metoroido Tsū Ritān Obu Samusu) is the second title released in the Metroid series, and the only one to appear on the Nintendo Game Boy. Samus Aran returns in this sequel to the NES classic on a mission to exterminate the Metroids, now venturing to their home planet, SR388.

Gameplay

The layout of the game is similar to other 2D Metroid installments. However, Metroid II is more straightforward in the sense that advancement through the levels is not strictly controlled by item acquisition as in the other games, but by killing a fixed number of Metroids in the area. Once they are destroyed, an earthquake occurs and SR388's lava levels decrease, allowing Samus to travel deeper through its maze-like tunnels. Like the game's predecessor, Metroid II contains no in-game map. One aspect unique to the game is the Metroid detector, which displays the number of Metroids left on the planet. Metroid II is also the first in the series to utilize save modules, located in various points around the planet. In Metroid, saving was accomplished by dying: in Japanese Famicom Disk System version, the player is given the option to continue or save, and in the international NES version, the player is given a password. This was the only Metroid game to not have a timed escape sequence at the end of the game until the release of Metroid Prime, which had one shortly after you begin the game.

After the credits are displayed at the end of the game, the total time the player took to complete the game will be displayed. During the credits, Samus is shown running on the screen. After that, she wears two pieces of bikini suit. Depending on the completion time, after the credits Samus will either continue running, jump and then pose in her suit, or jump and then pose without her suit.

Items and abilities

Metroid II features all the items found in the original and introduces many new items and skills found in future games of the series.

Recurring Items from the Original

• Rather than being the first items she finds as in other games, Samus begins this mission with the Morph Ball, the Long Beam, and a small number of missiles. The Ice Beam and Wave Beam return as upgrades, as well as the Morph Ball Bomb, the Varia Suit (Barrier Suit^[1]), the High Jump Boots, and the Screw Attack.

New Items in the Series

• The game significantly expands Samus' arsenal, both in functionality and in power. The game features two new weapons: the tri-splitting Spazer Laser Beam (identified in-game as the "Spazer" and later changed to simply "Spazer Beam" in Super Metroid), and the powerful Plasma Beam that passes through enemies. As in the original game, only one beam can be equipped at a time, but Samus can switch between them by going back to where they are originally found.

• Metroid II features a bevy of new suit enhancements as well. Making its debut in this game, the Space Jump allows Samus to spin-jump repeatedly in the air and can be used to access otherwise unreachable areas. When this is combined with the Screw Attack, Samus can shred almost any enemy by flying into it.

• When it comes to the Morph Ball, the game introduces a number of new features to the series as well. This game is the first in the series to feature the Spider Ball and the Spring Ball, which have become Metroid series staples. The Spring Ball gives Samus the ability to jump while in the Morph Ball form. Before its introduction, the only way to jump while in Morph Ball form was with bombs. The Spider Ball in this game allows Samus to climb most walls or ceilings, giving her immense freedom to explore. To date, Metroid II remains the only Metroid game in the series to feature the fully functional version of the Spider Ball, although it does appear (in a far more limited capacity) in all three Metroid Prime games.

Metroid lifecycles

This is the only Metroid game that shows the assumed natural transformations of the Metroids in order: Metroid (the original type that appears in all the games except for Metroid Prime Hunters), Alpha Metroid, Gamma Metroid, Zeta Metroid, and Omega Metroid. As can be expected, the more powerful Metroids are found further into the game, with the Queen Metroid being last.

Plot

Metroid II takes place an unspecified period of time after Metroid Prime 3: Corruption; bounty hunter Samus Aran has defeated the Space Pirates on several different occasions at this point. Her original victory on Zebes was against their plans to use the newly-discovered lifeform known as the Metroid for evil purposes. To ensure this will not happen a second time, the Galactic Federation attempts to send teams to planet SR388 to destroy the Metroids. When none of the teams survive, they contract Samus to handle the task.^[2]

During the course of gameplay, Samus hunts down and destroys each Metroid on the planet. As she does so, she takes note of the steady mutation that each goes through, mutations which cause them to grow from small jellyfish-like creatures into massive, hovering lizard-like beasts.

At the game's climax, Samus fights a final battle against the Metroid Queen. After killing it, Samus makes her way back to her ship. Along the way, she finds a Metroid egg which hatches before her eyes. A tiny little Metroid hatchling floats out of the broken shell and imprints onto Samus as its mother. Unable to commit to her genocidal mission, Samus spares its life. The two continue exiting the tunnels, and the Metroid hatchling clears the way, helping Samus escape the caverns. Samus and the young Metroid board the gunship and the game ends.

Reception

It was rated the 102nd best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.^[3]

Color version

There was also a color version titled Metroid II: Return of Samus DX announced in 1999 shortly after the release of the Game Boy Color. Dan Owsen of Nintendo claimed its color-palette needs were even taken into account in the design of the Game Boy Color hardware.^[4] Some pictures were shown but the game never saw daylight despite the release of the colorized version of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening.

Since then, an unofficial group has taken the time to "colorize" the game, and the IPS patch to add colorized graphics to the game is now available through the Internet. This unofficial Metroid II DX completely revamps the graphics by adding full Game Boy Color palette color to the game. The colorization method used by Metroid II DX causes some distortion to occur during gameplay, noticeably when graphics "fadeout" and also during the final boss battle. The reason for this is that the aforementioned method inserts the GBC color palette into the empty space at the end of the original game data, and adds the colorization itself during each "V-blank cycle". Special effects that utilize this cycle, such as the Queen Metroid and the "fadeout", are replaced by random tile distortions. No other noticeable effects are present with the patch.

Like all original Game Boy games, the original monochrome Metroid II cartridge is also compatible with the Super Game Boy accessory for the Super NES (although it is not an enhanced title), allowing the player to manually remap the color scheme to a maximum of four different colors. Additionally, the Game Boy Color (and subsequent compatible systems) automatically colorizes the game, but not true full color, as it is still limited to the same colorization techniques of the GBC and GBA.

The lack of color in Metroid II had some long-term effects on Samus's appearance. According to the GameTrailers five-part Metroid Retrospective, the Varia Suit gained the extra armor plating and bulky, round shoulderpads that have become its most recognizable traits. The change was necessary in order to differentiate it from Samus's normal Power Suit.^[5] In addition, rather than Samus's arm cannon and visor changing color to distinguish between "Beam Mode" and "Missile Mode", the end of the arm cannon tip moved outward and back to show that the "missile hatch" was open. These graphical changes have been used in all Metroid games since Metroid II rather than the color changes from Metroid.

References

External links

• IGN page
• Metroid II at the Metroid Database
• GameFAQs entry for Metroid II: Return of Samus
• Metroid II Secret Worlds - Game glitches, also known as "secret worlds"
• Template:StrategyWiki
• A fan project dedicated to remaking Metroid II using graphics from Metroid:Zero Mission and Super Metroid