4/5 ★ – james_i_think's review of AM2R - Return of Samus.

I've always wanted to know about Metroid II, a missing link of sorts that is quite alienating due to the limited capability of the GameBoy. Thankfully, that's why this exists; a SNES-style remake in the same vein of Zero Mission made entirely by fans to round off the "Super Metroid Trilogy". It's a very faithful creation of the original game, but with enhancements in all the right places to make it slightly less linear and more in line with Super Metroid. I'm a big fan of the way that the earthquakes are used to indicate the ability to move on to the next area, similarly to how the Chozo statues are used in Zero Mission. While it's a bit more vague than a map waypoint, it lets you know something on the map has changed, and is just one step closer to having to find your way around the planet based on its geometry in the third game. The additional powerups are also very well considered. I thought some items you get early on would break the game, but the areas were designed well enough that it never became too easy (or difficult) to navigate around and find where to go next. While I really like the premise of Samus having to questionably exterminate the whole Metroid species to prevent future exploitation by the Space Pirates, unfortunately most Metroid encounters were the weakest part of the game. I understand that the usual parasitic larval Metroids fly directly for you in order to latch onto you, but it makes less sense for the armored flying forms to do the same. These don't make good boss encounters when all they do is fly at you and you have to run around to get beneath them and hit their weak points. I think some kind of set pattern of flight with their dashing attacks would have worked much better. I much prefered their fully grown forms that walked on the ground, because the telegraphed their attacks and made more of a traditional fight. Like Zero Mission, the extra boss fights were tough but a welcome addition. The little data logs gave nice hints about how to beat them too, which helped a lot. Regardless of a few gripes, I think Nintendo should buy the rights to this game and make it official, in a pack with Zero Mission and Super Metroid. They're much too proud to do so of course, especially since Samus Returns exists, but this is really the perfect type of fan game. It's not piracy, or stealing the IP for profit; it's a labour of love to make the game they've always dreamed about. It stands as an entry in the updated Metroid trilogy, and I think that's a resounding success.