So I just finished Metroid Fusion, clear time is 9 hours 44 minutes, and 84% if items. I unfortunately have been playing via virtual console, so I was not able to run any such thing to alter the files to have my hand held less. And yes, unlike all the others I have played, that it tells you where to go next is kind of odd, but I do have various ideas on what the game did. The freedom of Super Metroid was good, but I think that there were a couple things they may have improved on, in general I think the difficulty was much better paced, actually it feels pretty hard from the first boss, and feels like you are fittingly getting stronger to overcome challenges. I also found myself actually needing to resort to missiles, something I previously only mostly used against specific bosses or conserving for battles against Metroids in Metroid 2. And the space jump/screw attack, was so much easier.
As a specific boss I want to call out the series staple, Ridley. That guy is always hard, it feels like each time I have beat him it has been by the skin of teeth, like 30% of the last energy tank, and actually cheer worthy. And kind of the opposite, despite often telling you where to go, I had a few moments of being totally stuck, it has a habit of either changing pathways like destroying doors, not letting you go back the way you came, and kind of difficult well hidden ways forward that make you feel like an idiot for not getting them quickly. Not entirely sure I would play this again any time, I guess I would know most of where to go to not get lost, but some of the challenges to get things were actually pretty darn hard that got me really learn things, and it really kind of gets strange where it systematically locks you out of areas, especially near the end where once you get the last ability, to get any items you miss you have avoid pushing the story forward by entering certain Navigation rooms, and thus you have to move to the different areas through pathways you are only now able to find.
I will play Metroid Prime 2 next, after I finish some assignments, I already started at the beginning, and so far I am a little interested in the way it is getting story and lore across. So I will just have to download Zero Mission, and I have really been searching for Other M, or maybe even Hunters for the DS, but apparently Metroid games are harder to track down than I expected.
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Through dream I travel, at lantern's call
To consume the flames of a kingdom's fall