How Zero Mission ALMOST Perfected Metroidvanias

[@samus88]

What I love about Zero Mission is that it was absolutely DESIGNED with sequence breaks in mind. I don't think I can tell you off the top of my head a sequence break that requires a glitch to sequence break. Everything is intentional. You can go in a multitude of routes, but the game is not an open-world, technically. There is a linear path to achieve the intended sequence, but you can indeed find shortcuts to do almost whatever you want, and it was completely intentionally designed that way.

[@GBDupree]

Getting the screw attack early is even EASIER than using Speed Booster. You just shoot from below the 3 missile blocks in front of the door. That's literally it, nothing else fancy required. There is no reason not to get screw attack immediately because its so easy. Even for 15% runs the screw attack is just too useful, so its good to grab it even if you skip Speed Booster.

[@Brandt2698]

I never knew you could use missiles I always heard it was with the shine spark, thats awesome!

[@GBDupree]

@@Brandt2698 well its different blocks to be clear, they are the ones directly in front of the door, so about 3 or 4 away from the speed booster blocks. People just thought it had to be speed booster because that's technically how you get it the normal way (cause the ball launcher counts as that). But people only discovered the missile blocks later because of the Power Bombs revealing them.

[@user-hp2rv6kq2h]

I'm with you on the larva part took me like 20 mins to figure out to use bombs when it moves back to kill him.

[@matthewsimmons9277]

The game literally exposits the definition of a zero mission. A mission with a 0% chance of success.

[@HuntLabByAiscool]

Loved this game. I beat it like a dozen times. In my favorite run, I skipped the long beam entirely.

[@Brandt2698]

That must take a lot of patience not being able to shoot more than three feet. Maybe one day I’ll make a video about the minimalist run in these games

[@GBDupree]

@@Brandt2698 Even worse than no long Beam is no Power Grip. Its technically possible but the amount of wall jumping is a bit much, lol.

[@Hutch2Much]

my biggest problem with ZM is that it doesn’t invoke the same feeling of open-ended exploration that i loved in the original. one of my favorite things about metroid 1 was that i could pretty much do anything in any order, and the game just kinda let me do that. like, on my first play through, i fought ridley first, cuz i just so happened to be in his lair and heard he was easier than kraid. ZM has such a clearly defined path that it was a little disappointing to me. oh well, i could always try the hidden sequence break stuff

[@Brandt2698]

This is sorta good point since the crypticness is lost in Zero Mission since it’s very straight forward. But as I’m sure you realized I more than prefer zero missions much better playability and fun factor, as well as all of the sequence breaks to somewhat envoke this open ended feeling

[@Hutch2Much]

@@Brandt2698oh i understand completely. i wasn’t expecting the remake to be nearly as open, or require me to draw my own map or anything. i just wish there was some sort of middle ground between this and the original

[@rep9303]

@@Hutch2Muchcould have been an « original style » mode or something like that perhaps

[@benghis_kaan]

Yup! Zero Mission is probably my fave Metroid game, with Dread in close second

[@JaygiArchive]

17:41 Castle Crashers literally went on Sale today in Steam

[@elius1548]

I feel like Zero Mission was designed to be the perfect starting point for the series, and on that front it absolutely succeeded

[@carlrygwelski586]

Great video! There was one shine-spark in Norfair that I still never figured out lol

[@niclaswa5408]

See those people that commented “yes” in your Prime video more as a bonus view

[@AnimusPrime87]

Three jokes about the title in the first 60 seconds. I’m pretty sure that’s an any percent speed run record.

[@holschermarc]

Well we actually have an answer to why Samus cant crawl. On the original NES game they simple couldnt find a way to make her crawl and make it not look like shit. Thus the Morphball was invented as a solution to the problem. Ever since the Moprhball was just so popular that there was never a reason to implement the crawl ability.

[@Hutch2Much]

this is kinda hilarious because (imo) samus looks like shit throughout that entire game lmao

[@holschermarc]

@@Hutch2Much Of cause it looks like shit to us, the game is soon 40 years old. I think what they meant was more that u in no way could still look at it and recognize that its a crawling character.

[@rep9303]

Dude Metroid isa guy just like Zelda is😂😂😂😂

[@holschermarc]

@@rep9303 Dam i had it wrong the entire time. If i would have just know that i save Link in every Zelda game xD

[@Printerpenguin]

Zero mission is awesome, i still like dread and super better, largely because of the fight that you can't convince me wasn't the inspiration for Metroid prime pinball, but other than that and those 3 frustratingly hard shinespark puzzles I loved it

[@AndDeathForAll82]

It’s not a Metroidvania. It’s just Metroid.

[@fantasticdavidson1179]

@@AndDeathForAll82 I never understood why they call them there they don’t play the same castlevania may have hidden items like vania but vania is definitely linear for the most part meaning not having to back track but Metroid is more like resident evil were back tracking is definitely present in the game castlevania for the most part your just forward and up to an end goal to fight a boss Metroid is more exploration like the Spencer mansion in resident evil so it’s definitely more like resident evil than it ever was like castle vania I think in my opinion

[@AndDeathForAll82]

@@fantasticdavidson1179 Symphony of the Night copied a lot about Super Metroid and added RPG elements, so games like it ended up being called Metroidvania. It’s annoying, but it’s fine. Where I draw the line is when people use that term to describe Metroid itself. That’s nonsense. It contains nothing that Castlevania later added, so it really doesn’t fit Metroid at all. Metroid is just Metroid. SotN and games like it, are Metroidvania. Putting that label on Metroid can confuse newer gamers and make them think the franchises influenced each other, but the influence was completely one-sided. Also, games that are inspired by Metroid, but don’t have RPG elements, should not be called Metroidvania. It only makes sense if the game is clearly influenced by SotN.

[@niclaswa5408]

@@fantasticdavidson1179Allow me to explain. There are 2 types of Castlevania games. There’s “Classicvania” games like Super Castlevania 4 where you play through linear stages, and “Metroidvania” games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that plays through non-linear areas like Metroid. You seem to have mistaken the “Classicvania” games with the “Metroidvania” games. I hope this cleared things up.

[@carlrygwelski586]

I AGREE

[@rep9303]

I mean are we gonna call Hollow Knight, Ori, Pseudoregalia and others « Metroid games »? The only reason they’re called « Metroidvania » is cus they tried to do a similar genre to those 2 franchises, same way we call any game resembling Dark Souls a Souls-Like or any game resembling Rogue (1980) a Rogue-Like; plus even tho they’re made by FromSoftware, Elden Ring and the other non-darksouls games are called Soulsbornes (also souls-like). Perhaps Metroid-Like could work (even though it still technically wasn’t the first game like that) but idk cus Symphony of the Night (and the other castlevanias for that matter) was also very important for the genre with how it alters the similar to be more unique. Or we could just call them Search-Action games that works too

[@gomooleonard]

Why can't Samus crawl? To answer your question, the original NES graphics were so primitive that they couldn't animate a character crawling. So instead, they gave her the ability to turn into a ball.

[@rep9303]

His name is METROID….

[@xcrack6364]

I’m only just now kind of going back and playing through the older games and I absolutely love Super Metroid, but I really like zero mission a lot. Also playing Samus Returns, fusion, prime HD and Dread which I also really, really enjoy.

[@jjtheenton]

Zero Mission is pretty much my ideal Metroid. My only genuine criticisms are Ridley being too easy, Mother Brain being abysmal, and 100% completion being locked behind the post-game. Other than that, it's basically perfect.

[@holschermarc]

Yeah Ridley is basicly just a DPS Check and the little pea shooter on MB fights shouldnt have knockback. Also getting the Powerbombs in Tourian as a last Key to open the last door to MB would have been a better idea

[@Brandt2698]

I agree a lot!

[@fantasticdavidson1179]

I beat zero mission never beat metro but if u beat zero mission u beat metro but had more fun with it

[@Brandt2698]

If by metro you mean Metroid on the NES, then I would definitely agree

[@fantasticdavidson1179]

@@Brandt2698 yes that’s what I meant I played zero mission on the switch

[@SomeCanine]

I think I would have liked this game a lot more if it didn't have all that shine spark stuff. I played the game a few days ago again and I did a few of the harder shine spark spots and it just wasn't fun. It was tedious. Sure, it's cool to be able to do the thing but when the reward is something you don't really need, it feels a bit like a let down. I feel like it would be a lot more enjoyable if the shine sparks were solely for sequence breaking and not just for adding to the item collection percent.

[@Brandt2698]

This is a good point, I don't know that many shinespark sequence breaks besides the Screw Attack one I mentioned. This definitely would have been a more fun reward than getting like five extra missiles

[@Ghostflowers]

RIP headphone users 12:10

[@Oliver_Glez]

wait......... METROID IS A GIRL!?!?1?

[@rep9303]

No he isnt dude shut up

[@rep9303]

WHAT THE FUCK

[@fantasticdavidson1179]

@@Oliver_Glez no Metroid is a creature in fictional game from outer space samus is a girl

[@rep9303]

@@fantasticdavidson1179metroid is the girl dude, the green things are the samuses😂😂😂

[@ohno5559]

Duh. Metroid is a robot, and all robots are girls

[@BlondeBarbarian]

I disagree. In fact I'm starting to think ZM might be the most overrated of the 2D games. Some flaws that people never point out for some reason: 1. The game is way too easy 2. The ending comes out of nowhere with an anti climactic final boss with only one phase. 3. They fucked up all the cool little connections with SM. Didn't even bother to include fake Kraid, rendering that moment in Super nonsensical to new players. 4. Hint statues telling you where to go next < A well designed game that naturally guides the player There's more but I don't have all day to list them. ZM is a good game, but perfect Metroidvania? Please. Its not even the best 2D Metroid game. Not even close.

[@Brandt2698]

I think these are all fair points. I don’t mind the difficulty, and also don’t think many connection to super Metroid is necessary since it isn’t remaking that game. (Also super Metroid does take place after so that could be when fake Kraid appeared?) I also believe the game still has a decent enough balance with the statues and intuitive design. I do agree the final boss for SURE could have been better designed and more climactic

[@BlondeBarbarian]

@@Brandt2698 the fake kraid thing is seriously one of my biggest sticking points actually. That whole sequence is carefully designed to play on and subvert the expectations of those who played the original. Keep in mind the fact that SM even having a fake version of kraid isn't the only callback happening there. It's also referencing the fact that players will be expecting kraid to be SMALL, but then get blindsided when he rises out of the ground like Godzilla. If kraid was always huge, the surprise falls completely flat. I just want people to experience the classic trilogy the way it was always intended rather than the way most people experience it now. It's basically like the star wars special editions where in their zeal to "fix" the classic they also end up ruining it somewhat.

[@samusaran7317]

​@@BlondeBarbarianFusion is overrated

[@GBDupree]

I definitely agree with Fake Kraid, BUT its not because of SM references (because SM was referencing the Original in the first place and ZM has all the references besides Kraid) But because Fake Kraid was in the original game as well, in fact it was far more devious as he looked exactly the same except his color, so if you didn't explore everywhere to find the real one, you would go all the way to the Tourian entrance only to discover its still not unlocked. I also remember fake Kraid always respawning, as another clue he's not the real one. My only possible reason for why they didn't include him was because the Map shows where the area boss is, and because most players would likely be familiar with Kraid being known for his size at this point, making the fake one more obviously fake to the degree that most people wouldn't even realize he is meant to be a red herring. I still would have left him in, even as a bonus boss. the game is delicately balanced in its difficulty, it literally couldn't be harder without messing up the other playstyles it supports (like 15%). Perhaps if they had done more with 100% runs increasing difficulty somehow. Hard mode is difficult enough though, so the game isn't ridiculously easy, and a normal mode 15% is much more challenging than Hard if you still need a challenge. so I don't understand the issue? If you want difficulty than this game can provide that. The final boss is just an add-on reference to Meta-Ridley from Prime, as a way to bridge the gap for the story (much in the same way Meta-Ridley is in SR). Its just bonus content because the main game would have been too short otherwise and they didn't want to massively change the world map from the original. My main issue is with the map design of the final area, its too annoying to navigate, but at least you don't need to spend much time there. The game is naturally guiding the player, you don't need the hint statues. But there was a genuine fear at the timje that most players hated exploring, as Metroidvanias weren't as popular, so they wanted this game to be someone's first game in the genre and tried to accomodate as best they could. Nowadays people are very familiar with Metroidvanias and they are very popular, so the statues wouldn't be needed, but it was a different time back then and developers weren't as certain about the appeal. At least the statues only give a general clue on where to go but nothing on how to get there, so it still requires searching on your own. If the statues were removed then nothing would change because the game is so good at naturally guiding the player, they just added it as extra help. It just feels like "look, a marker! BAD DESIGN" while ignoring all the good design surrounding it.

[@jarlwhiterun7478]

Holy shit dude, enunciate! I literally though you were speaking gibberish for a full 10 seconds. Show down the speech