Metroid Fusion and the dawn of familiarity

Well, the stars aligned for me to play the fourth installment in the Metroid series. Said installment is, of course, Metroid Fusion for the GameBoy Advance system. Two events that were necessary for me to really enjoy a Metroid game occurred just in time for Fusion. The first is that I built a strong enough foundation composed of Metroid series basics to avoid (much) frustration. The second is the game itself: Metroid Fusion has the smoothest control scheme of any installment that came before it.

Nearly every video game series, be it Mario or Zelda, has its own way of doing things. Coincidentally, I grew up with Mario and Zelda, so the basic principles of those games are stuck with me. I did not grow up with Metroid. But after playing the NES original and the SNES iteration, I've learned and solidified the basic principles. Samus Aran, a bounty hunter in a sci-fy space world, is always the main and playable character. She does a kind of spin through the air when she jumps diagonally. A host of power-ups and upgrades can be added to her suit through the course of any given adventure. If in doubt, bomb everything in sight, or use bombs to catapult Samus into hidden shafts. I get it now. And that foundation has enhanced the Metroid experience ten-fold for me. 

Still more important than that are the improvements made with Metroid Fusion itself. I distinctly remember the thrill I got when I first discovered Samus's ledge grip ability. Going back to previous Metroid games and finding Samus incapable of grabbing onto ledges made the gameplay feel incomplete indeed. The rest of the gameplay in Fusion feels flawless and comfortable, not to mention fun. Samus's ever-growing list of weapons and abilities are easy to manage and use.

This may shock you, but the next Metroid game I'll experience will be Metroid: Other M, which is the most recent installment. Sorry if that disappoints you, but I found a brand-new copy of the game for $20 (a steal!), and I can no longer let it sit dormant. See you in two days!