Metroid Zero Mission is the BEST Remake in Gaming History (Retrospective)

[@allthelonely4287]

I heard the reason why the power grip is needed to grab ledges in this game is for continuity reasons. Samus was able to grab ledges naturally in Fusion because her bio suit in that game was more agile than her previous one.

[@basedsamtv]

I've also heard this theory, but if it's true I don't think it really justifies having the nerfed movement for those precious few minutes at the beginning. Samus Returns also eventually retcons this anyway by having the ability to grab ledges in her normal suit without an upgrade. Nintendo/Mercury Steam really thought they could let *that* blunder slide :P

[@zekeram129]

@@basedsamtv No? I'm pretty sure the Power Grip is listed in her upgrades at the start of the game.

[@mike_280]

@@zekeram129 That’s in AM2R, not Samus Returns. Dread does call the ledge grab the Power Grip on the loading screen tips though.

[@zekeram129]

@@mike_280 I was specifically thinking of MSR, but I rechecked recently and nope. Would've been neat to have that as an upgrade, though.

[@Huntersaurus-a4c]

Samus Returns:

[@gabigote1439]

Samus: *gets super missiles early* Kraid: why am i not hearing my boss music

[@Kirainian_Gaming]

I believe Samus can naturally ledge grab in Fusion because the Fusion suit is so much lighter, and more agile than her normal power suit since most of it had to get surgically removed after the X parasite infection.

[@nicholascooney]

I never played this game to completion until 2020. Never owned it as a kid. It's NOT nostalgia that makes this game brilliant. It just is a damn good game.

[@trainzelda1428]

Massively agree. My first Metroid game was dread last year, then fusion, and I played zero mission just a few days ago. I never played any Metroid as a kid. All three are great games but zero mission just has great vibes & cool ideas all around.

[@imadie1484]

I personally grew up with these games as a kid when they came out and lemme tell ya: it was an amazing experience. My first Metroid game was Fusion and had to wait 2 years until I was 10 in 4th grade to play Zero Mission. Strangely though, I never got into the Prime series but then again, my parents were not wanting to buy 2 different systems (as my brother and I already had the PS2). But it was so awesome seeing the preview screenshots of at least a year prior through Game Informer. That and the games coming up in the immediate future was. Games in general and waiting for games was actually worth it. If you didn’t grow up playing them, I’m sorry on what you guys missed out on!

[@F0rger513]

Fusion was my favorite Metroid, with Zero Mission being my second, until Dread came out and supplanted them both.

[@F0rger513]

@damsen978 that's ok, i won't hold it against you

[@carrionysus5893]

she doesn't need the power grip with the zero suit because she's using her hands, not huge chunky metal robot gloves, one of which is also a cannon, and she doesnt have the extra weight of a big metal suit. always made sense to me - it's actually this aspect that convinces me of the "fusion suit is light enough not to need power grip" theory

[@Donny-Jensen]

BasedSam: Fusion is fun to play once. me: beats it multiple and still finds fun

[@Lucifronz]

Yeah, I just got done playing it for the second time and didn't want it to end so I moved on to AM2R with some of the Zero Mission control settings turned on. I will absolutely be playing it again in the future because... well, it's really fucking fun.

[@gamesystemaddict3949]

I'm very happy I got to grow up during the metroid golden age

[@iamlordapollo]

Zero mission is my favorite as well and was only recently dethroned by Dread. It just feels so snappy and responsive, it makes basic platforming a genuine thrill. I'm a huge sonic fan, and that whole franchise is about satisfying movement and flow state and ZM is the king of that feeling

[@Hatchet2k4]

Regarding the Varia, yes it's out of the way on the normal sequence but Zero Mission is a game that begs for its sequence to be broken. You can get it as soon as you have the bombs if you have the skill for a tough bomb jumping challenge, or you can come back once you have the Power Grip where it's still challenging but at least a little easier.

[@ZUUL_93]

The Chico Ruins/Chozodia become blown up and flooded, becomes Maridia. The Pirate Ship blows up, floods as well, becomes Wrecked Ship. It’s in the same places, technically.

[@AaronJLong]

I enjoy replying Zero Mission as well as the NES original. They share a lot in common, but they are still very different games, and I love them both equally on their own merits. Zero Mission is faster, snappier, and has some crazy techniques you can pull off that you will need to master if you want the 100% under 2 hours ending. The NES original is slower, and more punishing, but aside from all the crap shooting at you in Mother Brain's room (and the Rinkas that shoot you when going through doors in Tourian) learning and exploiting the enemy AI, and using the ice beam to pick your battles is the name of the game. Even with the Screw Attack, sometimes it's better to freeze and bypass the enemies that endlessly respawn or are in rooms with low ceilings. It all depends on the mood I'm in. Luckily Zero Mission has both versions on the same cartridge, which I really appreciate, even though the graphics had to be squashed to fit on the GBA screen. I don't know how many other people got extensive use out of the inclusion of the NES original. For most, it seems to exist as a mere curiosity, to show how far we've come. Metroid Prime also had the NES Metroid as an unlockable if you linked with Fusion, with the Prime strategy guide even including a full guide for it. Ah, the days before the eShop and Switch Online subscriptions when they would include old games as bonuses, with several in GameCube Animal Crossing. I also got a GameCube Disc with Both NES Zelda games AND both N64 Zelda games as a bonus for buying a year's subscription to Nintendo Power for $20.

[@Lucifronz]

2:20 I did not know you could do that. Had to look it up, but it's apparently called the "Shinespark". Neat. 4:37 Ew. They didn't dodge a bullet with that artstyle change, they dodged a warhead. 15:17 When you were talking about people ignoring this section, that's exactly what I was thinking the whole time. Whether or not you like the stealth section: getting to tear through the pirates who were stalking you throughout the ship and causing you all that hassle is *extremely* satisfying. If I had *one* complaint it's that there are also black-suited pirates that show up only in the suit sections which are way more durable (read: annoying) which diminishes that feeling a tad, but it's not really a big deal. There are only like two or three rooms that even have them in it. 15:25 Yeah on my recent playthrough I forgot to prioritize getting them. I only realized it after I had beaten the game and looked at my RetroAchievements collection for the game (just to see what I missed and what I could go for maybe next time I played the game). It's kind of funny you can miss upgrades and still beat the game, but the power bombs only show up after Mother Brain so it's not too surprising in this case.

[@gamesystemaddict3949]

Great job. I'm loving this series. Would love a more in depth video on dread

[@GothGfGG]

I’m currently going thru them all as a result of falling in love with dread ur vids have been a nice backdrop to my super Metroid playthrough

[@ClarkKentai]

Zero Mission and Black Mesa seem to make up a template for how to do an ideal remake. Recontextualize the old stuff that doesn't make sense, add some extra stuff that hints at later series entries, change up the endgame to surprise players of the older entry.

[@CapitanJefe]

Really nice review. Zero Mission is awesome, can't wait to play it again.

[@spiderfreak1011]

You pretty much hit the nail on the head for what makes Zero Mission such a genius remake and game overall, I really look forward to replaying it and trying to get every speed run ending in the future!

[@George-on5hi]

You remind me how cool Metroid is and the creative minds that make it. Takes me back to when i was a kid.

[@Zeldamaster0999]

Fun fact, you can get the screw attack as soon as you get the speed booster, you just have to beat Ridley and the wall should collapse where you enter Ridley’s lair.

[@yoh2525]

If hard mode didn't boost damage taken I'd say it's the hard mode we need. Honestly I'd love to see future games make hard mode be less resources. But less energy available and taking more damage is a bit much imo. Glad you mentioned it because I don't see it talked about in other videos about ZM

[@ppowersteef]

Great to hear your review covering Zero Mission, I've loved your takes on all the series too. Zero Mission was also my first game, and I'm pretty glad I didn't had expectations of the long beam and power grip been default. Personally, I like that they're upgrades and obtained later, makes you really feel like Samus from the original NES, the idea that the long beam is optional can also provide an extra challenge too. It also made me think when playing the other series: "Oh cool, I have the long beam already", haha

[@kirb.e1262]

288th sub! Love this metroid series you’ve done so far. Been watching one every morning while i get ready for work lol.

[@-jobrocodwawz-6226]

Great review, and good job not falling into that "pretend I don't know about the extra postgame" cliche lol. Was definitely expecting it

[@bstoker9468]

This was my first metroid game and the first video game I ever fully beat and I remember crying in the backseat and hearing the cool victory music during the credits and then having the menu music play again after that and my mom could never know how important that moment was to me.

[@kringhetto]

I played this game so much as a kid. My personal favorite GBA game, and my cart still lives in my GBA at all times.

[@jsc1jake512]

One of the worst crimes Nintendo has committed against Metroid is not making this game more accessible. As of right now, it is locked to the GBA unless you bought it on 3ds/Wii U when the eshop was still up, otherwise there's no other way to play it... legally at least. Seriously though we have nearly every mainline Metroid game on the Switch, we're just missing Zero Mission and Samus Returns (I don't count their originals since the canon was also updated with their remakes, they're also VERY old and not many people would want to play them nowadays). SR is more accessible due to it being on a more recent console (3ds) but in a few more years, it'll have the same problem ZM does now, thus the point still stands. There are two amazing games locked on systems Nintendo doesn't support anymore, it'd be so easy to port them too since Fusion has the same controls ZM does and it's already been ported, plus the 3ds uses similar controls to the Switch, all you're missing is the lower-screen map which can be easily fixed by just keybinding the map to a button not already in use.

[@basedsamtv]

is zero mission really not on the switch yet? if so, that's a shame because I think it's by far the best entry point to get into the series, it'd be ironic if it wasn't very easily accessible on nintendo's own ecosystem. I actually would have liked to see a port of samus returns on the switch that had all of the same enhancements to the controls that dread had. might not sell great but could have been a budget release to fill in gaps in release windows while everyone is waiting for the switch 2 lol

[@UltaFlame]

I will always prefer fusion to zero mission, personally. But its a lot of fun. Underrated content. Did you enjoy Dread?

[@basedsamtv]

I have a vid of my full thoughts coming out later today, but tldr, yes I enjoyed it a lot :P

[@MatthewMedina-b7l]

I think Fusion pushed the series where it needed to go. I haven’t been able to play Zero Mission and I’m waiting for it to come Switch Online. But Fusion really enhanced the controls, with Dread being the best controls in the series.

[@psicologiajoseh]

I'm just beating Metroid Zero Mission now... One of my top 5 experiences in terms of gaming I've ever had. Amazing.

[@LuBe-e3b]

I would never sell my copy of Zero missions,I love playing it on the Gameboy player under my gamecube.

[@mek2472]

Lucky. My young ass will never have those 2 things without spending a arm and a leg😭

[@AlexanderMeek]

Still have my original cartridge as well! Such a nostalgic game for me.

[@chancepaladin]

the elites at the end of mzm do insane damage. if you aren't watching your life bar they pop you so fast.

[@thedugdugman45]

I just wish that these gba games were remade in dreads engine! boy! Think of that! A dread fluidity metroid fusion! Now that would be awesome!

[@froddobaggins]

Zero Mission is also my favorite. Nothing beats playing it on the GameBoy Player.

[@registereduser]

I grew up with (and beat) Metroid and Metroid 2 in the late 80s/early 90s, they’ll always be classics to me.

[@kylehennkens9578]

Well-deserved sub, my dude

[@Mike14264]

Honestly, I should go back to these GBA Metroid games more often, I really loved both. Having beaten Zero Mission a few times already, I appreciate just how much sequence breaking you can do _if you know where to go,_ but Chozodia is kind of a pace halter on that front. Cool gameplay switch, but that one _is_ the most fun for the first time only. Fusion tho, I honestly appreciated the greater difficulty. Caught me off guard but it was enjoyable. Having beaten it later, I do think it had cooler bosses, but both were great in terms of Shinespark puzzles 👍

[@ScooterDoge]

0:51 Dread is number 1.

[@moavideogamer8417]

Out of all Metroid games i've played so far, this is my favorite

[@luckyhammerorthor]

My brother and I were replaying this and literally I went for varia first and he went to high jump, and regretted it. But also found out I spent 30 minutes trying to get varia with bombs.

[@BenjaminSpencer-m1k]

I can recall being young boy in my teens i think 14 or 15 maybe even younger and buying Metroid brandnew from Kmart of all places. The game was so refreshing as compaired to everything else on the system, enjoyed every moment of the game.

[@basedsamtv]

i miss kmart so bad

[@LoneWolf_Cub_Ogami_Itto]

Agreed. Though both Legend Of Zelda Link's Awakening, Super Mario RPG and Resident Evil REmake on Cube are also up there.

[@axl256gamesx7]

The nostalgia you feel for this game is the same I feel for warioland 4 Damn good game aswell

[@Lacoste9277]

This isn’t the most open ended Metroid game. Super still holds the best replay ability to it. The speed running tactics in Super is so much fun to learn. Metroid zero mission is hurt by how easy it is and how short it is. By no means saying it’s a bad game, but this game gets so much love when other games in the series did it better. The fact you can do a reverse boss run in super is so much more fun especially when tackling merita with just the power suit.

[@_Teej_264]

That's really only fun when you have the map internalized. Games like ZM and Fusion are replayable and fun for most entry players but while masterful in many areas, Super just ends up a floaty maze for your first few completions and know where to go without wasting time in random corners of no (yet) significance.

[@pnut3844able]

Super Metroid is my all time fave game. Zero mission and fusion are both amazing though

[@jessegarrett6343]

This video reminded me why I've never replayed this. The stealth and the wonkyGBA jumping physics.

[@Boamere]

I think super is my favourite and then this game and dread are tied very close second. The part where you are in your zero suit was incredible game design

[@KCEBGaming]

Mecha Ridley supposedly was just a pet Ridley built

[@dylanmacdonough9565]

Iv been beating Zero Mission since GBA! Than on DS, than on Switch! And still beating it!

[@nazor1]

Well made video!

[@caseyp3879]

I love Dread but I would love another official pixelated 2d new Metroid. It’ll never happen but I can dream

[@HeathenDance]

Zero Mission is the cartoonish, fluffy duffy version of a dark, atmospheric and eerie sci-fi videogame classic. I personally prefer the original Metroid for all these reasons. My only problem with the NES Metroid is the idiotic necessity for energy harvesting every time you lose and/or restart the game. But there's ways to play it using save states since many years ago, thanks to emulation. Not a big fan of GB Advance Metroid games, but to each his own, so, I'm glad they exist.

[@leserrors7669]

Can u do same about other games like a marathon of zelda or mario or any other games uve played

[@seancondon5572]

GBA titles (all of them) suffer from the GBA's lack of dedicated audio hardware. Any game with sound has to do so through software, eating up valuable CPU cycles in a process which is known in the industry as (don't laugh, this is literally what it's called) bit banging.

[@JamesDatWork]

I would say it's a toss up between this and Bionic Commando for best remake .... but I agree that this is still my favorite Metroid game.

[@Zealant]

There’s a hum in the background whenever your voice track is on.

[@hexywesky]

Just finished for the first time and it was sick

[@pepeelghetto1231]

On my first playthrough when I got to CHozodia I didn't even return to the rest of the map xD, in fact I thought It wasn't possible lol

[@oasis9009]

Not seeing anyone mention this, so I wanted to say the Long Beam is easily skippable!

[@luism8130]

I miss Metroid games. I need Dread 2!

[@platinumuschannel]

For eight years Metroid fans were able to say that Super Metroid was the best in the series because... Well... They weren't wrong. But for me Dread and Zero Mission trump Super because I appreciate the mechanics that fusion introduced to the series. I will grant Super that it's incredibly gracious with allowing you to play the game in pretty much any order you want to through SBing. But Zero Mission and later Dread provided a ton of sequence breaking opportunities and I appreciate that! It's a shame that Prime's developers did what they could to stifle this practice. Sequence breaking is what gives Metroid games major replay value in my book. As for Hard Mode-- Do the 15% items challenge on hard, it'll test you.

[@Costa3891]

Gona replay it. Does it run at 30 or 60 fps?

[@basedsamtv]

60 i'm pretty sure!

[@itsmestan]

calling Ridley easier than he was in Fusion is pretty accurate lol, he only only took me a couple tries but I'm still stuck on the Fusion boss fight 😭

[@MatthewMedina-b7l]

Use the beam. Significantly more powerful than Missiles.

[@thepolarphantasm2319]

Yeah if you charge beam fight Ridley in fusion you can wipe the floor with him, I usually only lose about 3-5 tanks of energy

[@TheUnhandyElk]

i fucking love zero mission because its the only game i have on my gba but when i do get new games i will still fucking play it

[@reynoldthakur4006]

I've beaten Zero Mission 4 or 5 times all times in less than 3 hours each.

[@mopbrothers]

Love this game, but one thing I don’t like about Zero Mission is how claustrophobic and ‘narrow’ a lot of areas are. The original Metroid had a lot more open space. I also wish there was a Justin Bailey reward for beating the game. Still it’s one of the best Metroids.

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

Metroids are my favorite Metroidvania's

[@Shiftarus]

I loved this game but I think Dread is just a TINY bit better for me personally. Dread would never exist without fusion though!

[@Stevewebstermusic]

Resident evil remake. I love zero mission as well but re1 remake is a stone cold classic

[@Timichaud]

I still prefere Fusion because it is way more creepy, scary and different too. If all metroid games have the same power ups all the time I think its repetitive. Same thing for Prime 2! Its not better than Prime 1 but it was for me very fun to play something new and even darker.

[@williamgersztyn4663]

Definitely one of the best remakes out there. I’m torn between this and Ys: Oath in Felghana being the best remake. The original game Wanderer’s from Ys is considered the worst in the series and Oath became one of the best, if not the best in the series.

[@RisingBeast00]

To me the Resident Evil remake from 2002 is still the best remake of all time

[@LoneWolf_Cub_Ogami_Itto]

I own this physical complete in box in mint condition.

[@brandonkrol]

This game and the Resident Evil remakes* are prime examples of remakes done right. *not including Resident Evil 3 Remake even though I still enjoy it personally.

[@n8thegreat682]

Hi, question, are you a geek critique fan, cause on many points in this video you seem to agree with him, almost to the word

[@basedsamtv]

yep! he was absolutely a big inspiration for me making these metroid videos. my thoughts are my own, but i definitely leaned on his style of presentation and humor in these older videos. i like to think i've found my own unique voice in the meantime :)

[@andrewperez5550]

Ive played all the 2d metroids and i think super and dread are the best.

[@sentimientos84]

Have you played am2r it’s flawless

[@basedsamtv]

Stay tuned ;)

[@tjcihlar1]

This was great, but AM2R was the bigger upgrade.

[@bemad7886]

didn't even watch the video yet. Yes.

[@mattrodgers157]

Super>Fusion>Dread>ZM>AM2R

[@imeandmyself3376]

u can skip longbeam and it makes the game substantially harder

[@Alucard12456]

The best remake is still RE 1 remake.

[@JustB3NJI]

Just recentgly polyaed it and yes Zm is top drawer.

[@Iandar1]

Zero mission is an excellent remake however I do think it isn’t as good a remake as the dead space remake is.

[@klubbelalel2821]

At 1:40 you say the progression is non-linear, which it is not. take a look at Game Maker's Toolkit's video on this game called ''The World Design of Metroid 1 and Zero Mission''

[@basedsamtv]

i love boss keys and mark's videos were a pretty big inspiration for me making this series, but i disagree with his take on zero mission. pretty much every metroidvania game is going to have an "intended" linear path to take, whether or not the game tells you what that path is. he even acknowledges that there are sequence breaks and alternate routes! just because they're more difficult to find doesn't make them less valid.

[@davidford7336]

Onihap

[@yeahyeahwowman8099]

The best Remake is the Resident Evil 1 remake.

[@AquaBlueTea]

Sorry mate but Resident Evil 1’s Remake holds the title of the greatest remake in gaming history

[@LeviAuren]

Watched the whole series... Geek critique with different opinions

[@The_Cakeminator]

As someone who grew up with the original, this is my least favorite Metroid game. It feels like a dumbed down version of the game with some puzzles and new hidden items thrown in just to add some challenge, and it doesn't really add anything to the series. It's what I'd imagine Metroid would look like if it was aquired by Disney.

[@zanderandrus7074]

I don't think it's the best I'm not good and I still beat 80% of it in one sitting

[@novustalks7525]

It's a fantastic remake, but the best ever? Even Nintendo alone has better remakes. Bowsers inside story + for example

[@basedsamtv]

so i personally consider ZM to be the best remake because of the sheer amount of increase in quality from the source material. metroid NES was a game i found to be mostly annoying and frustrating when i played it, whereas this is one of my favorite games of all time. that's a pretty massive jump, and it's admittedly something i could've made clearer in the video itself. i haven't played any of the mario & luigi games so i could very well be wrong on this, but i can't imagine that there's as big of an improvement going from the DS to 3DS version of BIS, i know people already loved the DS version to begin with.

[@novustalks7525]

@@basedsamtv yeah they're more of a visual and audio touchup than anything. Zero mission on the other hand obviously overhauled everything for the better. I like metroid 1 to an extent but it gets so annoying very quickly. Zero mission fixed that

[@welovethesnorks]

NES metroid beats this hands down

[@sidnew2739]

In which reality?

[@JD-xz1mx]

Wow......... I could not possibly disagree more. Zero Mission is a perfectly fine game. It is an unfathomably terrible remake. It obliterates the basis for the appeal of the original game.

[@basedsamtv]

interesting! what do you think zero mission is missing from the NES game? i genuinely really like hearing perspectives from people that prefer the NES version, it clues me in on things i may have missed and gives me more of an appreciation for the game.

[@thenamelessphoenix5508]

I agree SHUT UP IF YOU THINK ANY OTHER REMAKE IS BETTER🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 anyways metroid zero mission is the best remake + i'm remaking it in terraria

[@basedsamtv]

cool! are you using the metroid mod? i really enjoyed it back in the day before 1.3

[@nonplayercharacter596]

Lol speedrunning

[@laary7589]

A m 2 r

[@nonplayercharacter596]

I'm so sick of zoomers

[@ShadowMan64572]

Meh, it's ok. This is the kind of game that should feel rewarding to 100 percent complete, but this game has some REAL bad nonsense with some sections.

[@mutoneon]

If you like Zero Mission more than the o.g. Metroid you are not a true Metroid fan to me. It is straight up bumper bowling, practically impossible to get lost or die.

[@sidnew2739]

Not a true fan...blabla...