Metroid Fusion

Metroid Fusion
Developer(s)	Nintendo R&D1
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Yoshio Sakamoto
Engine	Heavily-modified Wario Land 4 engine[1]
Released	November 15 2002 November 17 2002 November 22 2002 February 14 2003 March 2 2006
Genre	Action Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Ratings	ESRB: E (Everyone) ELSPA: 3+ OFLC: G8+
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Media	32-megabit Cartridge

Metroid Fusion (メトロイドフュージョン, Metoroido Fyūjon^?) is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo R&D1 and released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance portable video game system. It is the fourth main installment released in the Metroid series, and it is the first Metroid game to appear on this console. It is the direct sequel to the critically acclaimed Super NES game Super Metroid and currently set chronologically eighth and last in the series's fictional universe. Metroid Fusion represented somewhat of a departure for the series, as it scrapped the semi-nonlinear adventure formula from earlier Metroid games and introduced a non-playable computer character to direct the player where to go and what to do there (thus making it significantly harder to sequence break and explore freely in the game). Metroid: Zero Mission uses a modified version of the Metroid Fusion game engine. Both are modified versions of the Wario Land 4 engine.^[1]

Plot

The player plays as the main protagonist, Samus Aran, a galactic bounty hunter who must explore artificially maintained habitats on board a space station run by Biologic Space Laboratories or BSL, which, along with Samus, has been infected with a parasitoid species known as the X Parasites, or simply the X. She must re-gather her special abilities and her weapons she has lost (however she still has the power grip and long beam upgrades), as well as some new ones, to neutralize the threat to the station. Along the way she encounters various obstacles and enemies, including a highly dangerous X Parasite which acts as the main antagonist, the SA-X, which is mimicking Samus and her classic Power Suit. Unlike other games in the series, Samus is in constant contact with her Galactic Federation "employers" by way of an intelligent computer, her commanding officer. This computer, which she names "Adam" in honor of her former CO, gives Samus a series of objectives throughout the game, and is capable of locking and unlocking doors and hatches to ensure she achieves her objectives before she can progress. These include acquiring powerups, defeating enemies, and reaching certain areas. However, these objectives usually require a solution that is not immediately obvious, giving the player room to explore and experiment with the game's environment as in previous titles. The environments in Fusion also change throughout the game in much more radical ways than in other games in the series. For example, some corridors become permanently blocked by explosions, parts of the research station being jettisoned into space, and new creatures that appear in previously explored areas. Some gameplay elements differ significantly as well, including disabling single-wall jumps, mid-air bomb jumping and other methods commonly used to perform sequence breaking. Samus spends most of the game being stalked by the SA-X, which appears unexpectedly in various locations. Confronting the SA-X in battle at these times is suicidal, as it possesses Samus's most powerful abilities such as Super Missiles, Screw Attack, Power Bombs, and Ice Beam. Most of the creatures encountered in the game are actually X parasites mimicking other lifeforms; many being familiar foes from prior entries in the Metroid series. Creatures are usually reduced to floating X cells when they are destroyed. Samus can absorb these to replenish her lost energy and missiles. However, if Samus does not absorb them, they can re-form into new enemies or disappear entirely. Some monsters can also absorb additional X parasites, evolving into newer, more powerful forms. The Metroid Fusion instruction manual states that Metroids were actually created by the Chozo to prevent the spread of the X parasite. The word "Metroid" means "Ultimate Warrior" in the Chozo language. The Federation is revealed to be creating duplicate Metroids, which the SA-X destroys. Adam was Samus Aran's commanding officer during one of her assignments with the Galactic Federation. Little is known about this mission or about Adam himself, but Samus seems to have great respect for him. At some time during this mission, Adam died in order to save Samus. She stated in Fusion that Adam called her "Lady" on her missions and if any one else had said it, it would have sounded sarcastic, whereas from him, it was respectful.

Unbeknownst to the bounty hunter, Adam's mind was uploaded into a computer following his death, but most likely does not remember anything of Adam. At the beginning of the game Metroid Fusion, Samus is given a computer CO. She is not aware that the computer's artificial intelligence was in fact Adam Malkovich's digitized mind. Because of the similarities she noticed between the computer and her former CO, she started privately referring to the computer as "Adam." Later, when Samus questions her official orders and accidentally addresses the computer as "Adam", her old CO reveals himself and helps Samus devise a plan to destroy the X-infected research station by setting it on a collision course with SR-388, thereby extinguishing the threat posed to the universe by the X Parasites. However, after defeating the SA-X and retrieving her full power, Samus is attacked by a final surviving Omega Metroid,which she manages to defeat. Samus' fate after these events is unknown, as well as how the Galactic Federation now perceives her - still as an asset, or an unpredictable new threat.

Gameplay

Equipment

Samus fighting a Core-X which had possessed the biomechanical organism Nightmare.

While exploring the subterranean caverns of SR388 with a group of human scientists, Samus stumbles upon the X and has to be stripped of her infected power suit and consequently, her special abilities. She must retrieve them through either downloading the data from terminals scattered throughout the station, or through absorbing certain powerful X parasites using her newly acquired Fusion Suit. There is thus an in-game reason for Samus starting the game without the equipment she found during Super Metroid, which is further developed through the introduction of the SA-X. Samus gathers many of the powerups available to her in previous games, and also gains the entirely new Ice Missiles (also featured in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption) and Diffusion Missiles. Because of the Metroid DNA used to combat the X parasite, Samus now has the Metroids' weakness to cold. Because of this, she can be frozen by the SA-X's Ice Beam until she gets the Varia Suit. Also, she cannot use her old Ice Beam, and must use Ice Missiles instead, which have essentially the same effect as the beam. These can be further upgraded to Diffusion Missiles, which have the same function but a have an extremely large blast radius which encompasses the whole screen. The Diffusion Missiles must be charged up before firing to obtain the full effect. The extra blast merely freezes ememies and does not damage them. The Jump Ball and High Jump abilities are now combined into one item. Instead of her regular yellow Power Suit or orange Varia suit of previous missions, it is now the organic-looking yellow and blue Fusion Suit. Each type of missile will simply replace the last rather than being a separate kind of weapon, and regardless of what kind of missile is being fired - normal, super, ice or diffusion - it will only ever use up 1 missile. Power Bombs now reveal what kind of weaknesses certain blocks have, their larger blast radius making up for the absence of Super Metroid's X-Ray Scope. Samus does eventually recover her Ice Beam ability by absorbing the SA-X, but it is only in effect during the final boss encounter. Absorbing SA-X also resulted in Samus recovering her trademark gold and orange colors, but the usual recovery animation is not shown due to the conditions of recovery.

Graphics

The graphics are very similar to those found in Super Metroid for the Super NES and are rendered in 2D. The game is a side-scroller, all of the action is displayed from a side-on angle.

Special features

Owners of both Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion can unlock new features in Metroid Prime using the Nintendo GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable. If the player completes Metroid Prime, they can unlock Samus's Fusion Suit for use in Prime; if they complete Metroid Fusion, they can, depending on the game version, unlock an emulated version of either the original FDS version or the NES port of Metroid. There is also a bonus to be had by linking to Metroid: Zero Mission - the entire Fusion gallery of pictures is unlocked in Zero Mission, including the extra ending images from the Japanese version of Fusion which chronicle Samus's early years, and some additional concept art.

Metroid Dread

Metroid Dread was first announced in the June 2005 issue of Game Informer, and further details emerged on the magazine's Internet forums. According to the forum moderators, the game was a 2D side-scroller being developed for the Nintendo DS, and its plot follows the events of Metroid Fusion.^[2] On 2005-09-19, IGN reported that Metroid Dread is indeed in development, but would probably not be formally announced for some time.^[3] Nintendo had neither confirmed nor denied its existence.^[3] On 2005-10-07, the Nintendo-Next website reported that the project has been cancelled, but chose not to reveal their sources.^[4] On 2006-02-17, the British Official Nintendo Magazine included Metroid Dread in their "Official Release Dates", listed under November 2006, albeit as 'TBC' (to be confirmed). However, on March 16, 2006, in the second issue of the magazine, the game was marked with a vague '2006' release date, although ONM highlighted the ambiguity surrounding the game, and suggested to wait until E3 2006 for some more concrete information. On 2006-03-23, the website N-Sider reported that the IGN editor Craig Harris was asked about Metroid Dread, and his response was that it was too early to show at E3 in 2005, but that it could be shown later that year. This lends credence to the possibility that the game has not been canceled, and that this could have been reported falsely by Nintendo-Next. ^[5] The game failed to make an appearance at E3 in 2006 or 2007, although this is not necessarily an indication that the game is indeed canceled. Matt Casamassina, when asked about Metroid Dread in a podcast on the August 24 2007, mentioned that "a wink to the fans" about the game was in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, although he clarified that this was by no means a confirmation of the title. This was later explained as an in-game message in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (by scanning a panel within the Pirate Homeworld's "Metroid Processing" room) stating "Experiment status report update: Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion."^[6]. In an interview, Pacini stated that this was a coincidence and not related to the rumoured game^[7]. On September 6, 2007 Nintendo said they are "not making the 2D Metroid at this point in time." ^[8] This does not, however, rule out another 3D Metroid game, or a sidescroller in what is usually called 2.5D.

Reception

Metroid Fusion received some initial criticism for departing from the open-ended gameplay for which the series is known, but the game has still received high reviews overall.On Metacritic, It holds a score of 92% based on 44 reviews.[2]

See also

• Gunpei Yokoi

References

• GameSpot's Metroid Fusion Review. CNET Networks, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-10-21.
• IGN's Metroid Fusion Review. IGN Entertainment, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-10-21.
• "Debug room found in Fusion". Metroid 2002 forums. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.

External links

• Metroid Fusion official site
• Metroid Fusion at GameFAQs
• Metroid Fusion at Nintendo.com (archived at the Internet Archive)
• Metroid Fusion at the Internet Movie Database
• Metroid Fusion at Gamestyle
• Metroid Prime & Fusion Original Soundtracks (disc 2) at MusicBrainz