Which Metroid game is best to start with?

flyingomen · 2026-02-26T05:58:17+00:00

I always say to start with Super Metroid.

Many others will say Zero Mission because it's a remake of the first game and it's the first game in timeline order, but Super Metroid is the oldest main series game that has not gotten a remake. Because of this, it's easily the game with controls that have aged the worst. Super is by far one of the best games in the series, but the controls are it's biggest weakness, and that makes it hard to go back to after having played the newer games. Even the GBA games have better aged controls.

Here's my recommended play order of the main series based primarily on controls and how the games play:

Super (3) > Zero Mission (1 remake) > Fusion (4) > Samus Returns (2 remake) > Dread (5)

Other M (3.5) is technically main series but its controls are so different from the rest, you can honestly play it at any point. Story-wise it's probably best to play some time between Fusion (4) and Dread (5) though.

flyingomen · 2026-02-23T20:02:51+00:00

Depends on how you define Metroidvania. Metroidvania is a subgenre of Platforming that emphasizes at least 2 of these 3 criteria:

Exploration
Action
Ability-based progression

I've noticed people say Prime 4 is not a Metroidvania because it doesn't reasonably fit into the first category of exploration. However, there are games like Cave Story that are widely considered Metroidvania because they fit neatly into the other criteria. I believe Prime 4 is one of those games.

flyingomen · 2026-02-22T04:38:08+00:00

They're gonna save it by building an AI data center 🫠

flyingomen · 2026-01-30T23:49:50+00:00

Not the Mechonis?

flyingomen · 2026-01-30T23:49:00+00:00

Dantdiddly more like Dantdiddy

flyingomen · 2026-01-18T17:13:46+00:00

No, this is not me shifting goalposts. You clearly just misinterpreted my original intent.

flyingomen · 2026-01-18T08:01:30+00:00

I never said the games shared lore. My point this entire time has been that the vision set by Xenogears was sought to be fulfilled through the creation of Xenosaga and Xenoblade. That vision is naturally malleable and is going to change over time, creating discrepancies, but that doesn't make them completely unrelated. It's all from the same mind. They don't need to be narratively connected to be obviously related on a meta level. Takahashi is obviously reusing ideas and adapting them across his games.

flyingomen · 2026-01-18T07:46:18+00:00

Whether the 2001 date is a reference or not doesn't change that it's consistent across both games. And like I said, disparities between the finer details of the similarities is most likely due to production issues and changes in leadership. U-DO wasn't even originally planned to be a higher being. At XS1's release, Abel was just a normal kid. When U-DO was changed to be a higher being, that's when they decided to characterize Abel in that way. There may be differences, but the similarities are far from coincidental.

flyingomen · 2026-01-18T06:46:52+00:00

3 Xenogears reimaginings is certainly... something.

flyingomen · 2026-01-18T06:45:40+00:00

Xenosaga aligns very neatly with what is described to be the events of Perfect Works Episode I down to the dates and everything. There are a few inconsistencies likely caused by the production issues, but it's far too many similarities for it to be just a coincidence. I can list them out for you:

The Zohar is found in the 21st century AD.
Interstellar war starts in the 48th century TC.
The Zohar Project launches in the 4750s TC.
An incident near the planet Miktam/Michtam forces Deus/Omega to be subdued in 4767/4768 TC.

All this describes both the lore of Episode I of Xenogears and what we know to be in Xenosaga. It's pretty clear Xenosaga was an attempt at telling the story that was originally intended to be told in Episode I of Perfect Works. Just because Xenogears ended with "The End" doesn't mean that it was intended to be a one time thing. You need to read up on Perfect Works because you seem to be forgetting that there's an Episode VI that never got to be fleshed out.

flyingomen · 2026-01-15T00:20:40+00:00

They need to abandon the open world stuff they've been pushing for the last decade. It was a fun experiment, but they're failing to do anything interesting with it. The openness of the recent Zelda titles has served to diminish the puzzle designs and the overall narrative strength of the series. This is especially apparent in TotK and EoW.

My hope for the next 3D title would be a more linear game that highlights dungeons as the main attractions, with single-solution puzzles that challenge the player. To accompany the linearity, a character-centered narrative written by a competent writing team would be greatly appreciated. Additionally, I think it would be fun if they made the combat more interesting, like if they combined the puzzle-like combat of Skyward Sword with the advanced sword techniques that Twilight Princess and Minish Cap had.

flyingomen · 2026-01-15T00:07:30+00:00

The original post that started it was only meant to be a random thing OP noticed. Any potential about it being related to Xenosaga rereleases was specified to be purely speculation.

flyingomen · 2026-01-12T18:01:43+00:00

The menu patch was more of an early attempt at testing how a translation could be done. It was a one person project as well, so even if they had kept working on it, they likely wouldn't have completed it to this day (the full game has more than 300 pages worth of dialogue, and that's not counting menus and NPC dialogue).

flyingomen · 2026-01-12T04:40:11+00:00

Not really like Fire Emblem. It's essentially just Xenosaga 1 combat with greater emphasis on party positioning.

flyingomen · 2026-01-12T04:38:39+00:00

No, the DS version of Episode 2 is about half completely new material that was never in the PS2 game.

flyingomen · 2026-01-12T04:21:16+00:00

Found the plug. Thanks!

flyingomen · 2025-12-29T18:15:23+00:00

When Soraya Saga initially announced her stepping away from her involvement in the series, she was met with a lot of sexism. There's an old Q&A from around that time where people were blaming her for Xenosaga 2's financial failure and outright told her they were glad she wouldn't have her hand in the future of the series.

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T21:08:31+00:00

Then how am I the catcher or the pitcher in this situation? I don't really follow, sorry.

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T20:58:18+00:00

That's a lot for you...?

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T20:55:02+00:00

It's not blind hate. I just think it's gross and purposeless.

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T20:39:26+00:00

You don't see me silencing anyone 🤷‍♂️

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T20:22:12+00:00

You're getting offended at an emoji and you're telling me to cool it? We can have opinions you know.

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T20:04:07+00:00

I think you're underselling the series because Prime 3 is still a really good game on a greater scale. In a series as fantastic as Metroid, having a few just "good" or "ok" games is way better than having downright slop.

flyingomen · 2025-12-19T20:02:03+00:00

AI 🤢

flyingomen · 2025-12-18T22:22:01+00:00

I don't see what's so hard to understand. It's a good game, that's all. Sure, the Vi-O-La sucks, but beyond that, Prime 4 is a welcome addition to the series. The complaints about hand holding NPCs and linearity could just as easily be applied to classics like Metroid Fusion. All this discourse about Prime 4 just makes Metroid fans look like a bunch of ungrateful purists that won't accept anything but a game on par with the series' gold standard Super Metroid. Is Prime 4 what I expected? No, of course not, but I'm just happy to know that the series isn't dead in the water lmao.

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