AM2R

DrAwesome821 · January 25, 2018

What's everyone's opinions on AM2R, especially compared to Samus Returns on the 3DS? Personally, I prefer the art style and music of AM2R, but it has a couple issues, including not working with Nvidia GPUs and some of its quirks, yet overall it's still a really solid game. As for Samus Returns, I haven't put enough hours into the game yet to truly compare it, but just from the 2 hours I've put in so far, I'm gravitating more towards AM2R.

DrAwesome821 · January 29, 2018

Follow up post: After playing more into Samus Returns, I've noticed it isn't as true to the original as AM2R.

My opinions on Samus Returns:

Decent controls and smooth gameplay. I personally prefer the aiming mechanics here.
Music isn't that great, too Metroid Prime feeling overall and just relies on rehashes and remixes of existing music.
In fact, it almost feels too Metroid Prime to be a 2D Metroid game. Overall atmosphere feels similar to a fully 2D Other M, except not as terrible.
On the box it says the game is a reimagining of the 1991 classic Metroid II. They're not kidding, as the game is very different from Metroid II in terms of map layout and gameplay.
Collector's Edition includes bonus CD filled with music from the series. Nice to have.
Love the melee counterattack. Makes battles a bit more strategic and overall a nice touch to the game.

My opinions on AM2R:

Very true to the source material. Really reflects what Metroid II was supposed to be without the technical limits of the Game Boy.
Pixelated art style makes it feel very at home alongside the other 2D Metroids, especially Zero Mission and Fusion.
Music stays very true to the original while also updating it to keep it from hurting your ears after long gameplay sessions.
Reimagined the various areas of SR-388 as things such as a temple, a mining facility, and a factory. Gives it a unique feel.
Gameplay feels very true to the original, although controls are much more Zero Mission feeling. Would have liked the 360 degree aiming of Samus Returns but I can live with the 8 direction aiming here.
You can play it on the PC which makes it a lot more convenient. Also Xbox controller support (on supported versions of Windows)
The version I have (v1.1) has various bugs, such as incompatibility with Nvidia graphics cards, which means I'm relegated to playing it on my Windows 7 netbook, so I lose Xbox controller support so I'm left to playing with this janky gamepad from the early 2000s I got secondhand. The game actually works pretty great with it too, except for the occasional slowdown or stutter.
Sadly, Nintendo decided to DMCA the game so bugs and other things will never get fixed.

In conclusion, I think Samus Returns is a solid game, but not the proper way to play Metroid II. AM2R does an overall better job of remaking Metroid II and is very impressive considering it was independently developed by a couple people. What Nintendo should've done instead of DMCAing AM2R and hastily rehashing Metroid II for the 3DS should've been to bring in the developers of AM2R and put AM2R on the Switch, which would be a perfect place to put the game. It would've reached a wider audience and Nintendo would've made a lot of money from it.