4.5/5 ★ – Chunderclap's review of Metroid: Zero Mission.

Good: The graphics and visual style are really well done, and hold up very well even today. The character and boss models were detailed and satisfying to look at, and the visual effects, such as the speed boost, shinespark special thing, and the somersault damage effect were spectacular. The level design was really well done, with each area being a satisfying maze of corridors and columns that suited the exploration style really well. The gated exploration and nonlinearity of the map made the small scale map feel massive at times. Nothing felt overly mechanically difficult to pull off, with the first brinstar super missile probably being the hardest move to pull off in the whole game, and it was not terribly difficult. The above is due mainly to the crisp and responsive controls, that do not feel dated or sluggish at all. The boss fights were really fun, with each being unique in design but mechanically simple and pretty intuitive. Visually they were awesome, and they were well balanced, forcing the player to acknowledge all of the boss’ abilities as threats, but by no means requiring perfection to defeat. I really enjoyed the way the game let the exploration and map design carry the experience through the main part of the game, with the combat during boss encounters coming through as fun breaks from the exploration. With the exception of the brinstar super missile secret room, everything in the game felt intuitive, and I rarely felt completely lost or found solutions to be totally arbitrary. The first super missile is the only time I needed to look to the internet, and thats was mostly because it was my first time using the shinespark special move. While it was certainly a stark change of pace, I really enjoyed the game post-mother brain, as the stealth was an interesting change from the previously mindless combat in the earlier areas. The lore introduced in the “epilogue” section, while very cryptic, was very interesting and it was rewarding to see some reference and insight into the Chozo statues and Samus’ upbringing. It was totally cryptic and answered none of my questions, but it piqued my interest enough to have me eager to dive deeper in subsequent metroid games. Both of those self destruct sequences were really cool, and felt like awesome ways to cap off my infiltration of the zebes lair and space pirate ship. Bad: While i personally enjoyed it the exploration and traversal enough to not mind it much, the combat is definitely split into two camps, the run and gun, mindless combat that filled the majority of the game, and the unique and fun boss fights. If the exploration and traversal didn’t hold my attention so well, I could see the combat for much of the game to be rather disappointing. The self destruction sequences, which I did enjoy as I mentioned before, could have used tighter time constraints, to really heighten the panic and stress. I did feel like in certain places I would find myself caught in these almost constant loops of being hit by a projectile, and as soon as I got up onto a platform again I would be hit off, sometimes knocked in the air almost constantly. To that end, I did not enjoy the mother brain fight, primarily because I felt like I would constantly fall into lava, and as I jumped out there would be dozens of projectiles that would knock me back down, and if I ever did make it up, and happened to dodge the Mother Brain eye attack, before I could launch missiles I would be hit by another swarm of projectiles. While all the bosses felt unique in visual design and all of them felt intuitive and engaging, I do think mechanically all the bosses were very similar. Often times, just dodge projectiles, chuck a ton of missiles at a weak spot, rinse and repeat. The morph ball and the bombs all felt underutilized in the boss fights. Overall (9/10): Metroid Zero Mission is a spectacular introduction into the metroid franchise, and I can see why its level design principles were so influential, they were done so well it makes sense so many wanted to copy that formula. Combined with visually stunning and mechanically intuitive boss fights, and rewarding character progression, Metroid Zero Mission was an amazing example of everything that makese Metroidvanias such a popular subgenre.