Metroid II: Return of Samus Is The Original Game Boy At Its Best

The further you get into the game, the more chaotic the score becomes. The heroic tune that christened Samus’ landing on SR388 is all but muted by the final area. The last few tracks embody a sense of musical anxiety, droning on with beeps and chirps that are almost too much to bear at times. The music does err on annoying, but it actually adds to the overall ambiance by making you want to get out. Metroid II’s score builds dread on an almost visceral level, but everything about the game works to create a deeply alien atmosphere that borders on unsettling. 

Despite featuring no text whatsoever in-game, Return of Samus sports a surprisingly cohesive narrative that stands out as an excellent example of environmental storytelling. Per the manual, the Galactic Federation makes an active effort in wiping out the Metroid species following the events of the first game. After a research team, search & rescue party, and special combat unit all vanish on SR388, Samus Aran is tasked with a solo mission: kill every living Metroid. At its core, Metroid II is a story about a genocide that plays into humanity’s tendency to kill what we fear. 

Even though Metroids were depicted as genuine threats in Metroid I, there is no glamor to Samus’ hunt. She is invading a species’ homeworld and systematically wiping them out one by one. The Metroids mutate the further you get into SR388’s depths — putting their full threat into scope — but then you have to stop and remember that these Metroids are simply defending themselves on their home turf. They are dangerous, but you are instigating. Even their hostility can be attributed to the three teams of intruders the Galactic Federation sent before Samus, already tampering with the ecosystem. 

Metroids mutate through four distinct phases: Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and Omega. Each one is more monstrous than the last, and higher tier mutations appear with greater frequency the closer you get to the Queen’s Hive. The Queen Metroid herself is one of a kind and the mother of all Metroids, birthing them all around SR388. The fights against the Metroids are all an endurance match. Rarely are they ever difficult, but each one is frantic and will drain your resources if you fight carelessly. Omega Metroids can rip through Samus’ health if you let them while tanking missiles up close. 

Combat as a whole feels more intimate than in the original Metroid, with the Metroid fights playing to the game’s strength. A small screen size and zoomed-in perspective demand what are essentially glorified slugfests. Samus’ controls are tighter and more responsive than they were on the NES, with a surprising amount of mechanical depth under the surface. Samus actually feels reasonably powerful, so gameplay moves at a consistently smooth pace. Her mobility has been tweaked to allow her to crouch and shoot directly down while mid-air. Crouching, in general, is incredibly useful as it lets you reposition Samus in front of ground-level enemies, allowing you to kill them with your arm cannon instead of Morph Bomb. 

Upgrades, on the whole, are more creative in Metroid II and prioritize changing how you interact with the level design. The Spring Ball is inspired if a bit simple, a power-up that allows Samus to jump while in her Morph Ball. This is far more convenient than Bomb Jumping and lets you easily fit into cramped spaces without needing to strategically place bombs. Morph Bombs still have their place, but the Spring Ball makes navigation smoother. The Spider Ball lets you cling onto any walls, while the Space Jump lets Samus repeatedly jump through the air so long as you can keep a rhythm. Both of these upgrades radically change how you interact with SR388, helping you find hidden pathways in the ceilings and explore otherwise unreachable areas. 

You can still only equip one Beam at a time, but Metroid II handles this better overall. Samus will be introduced to new Beams whenever they become relevant to the level design, rotating back in when necessary. The Ice Beam shows up in areas where you need to create platforms, the Wave Beam when you need to break through platforms, and the Spazer & Plasma Beams once the difficulty curve takes an uptick. The fact there are multiple Beam upgrades across SR388 downplays backtracking while keeping each one a viable option. You will need the Ice Beam for the finale, but the fact you can get one in the last area means you can comfortably use the Wave, Spazer, or Plasma for the rest of the game. 

SR388 itself is relatively linear compared to Zebes. While there is a central hub, you need to visit each area in a set order. The planet’s caverns are flooded with acid, which only drains whenever all the Metroids in an area are killed, bringing you one level deeper into the planet’s core. Samus has a radar in her suit that keeps track of all the living Metroids on the planet while letting you check how many are in your current area by pausing. While the main story is linear, individual areas are not, and you can generally kill Metroids in whichever order you please. 

The lack of interconnectivity between major areas means less backtracking overall (though not none). The first half of the planet is loaded with secrets, and there is a lot to explore despite the linear structure. Upgrades are frequent in the first few areas, and you are actively rewarded for your exploration. The second half becomes far more focused in contrast, with level design occasionally leading you right to Metroids with no upgrades to grab. There are still secrets to track down in the back half, but they tend to be better hidden and nowhere as abundant. In a sense, this is Metroid II’s way of encouraging backtracking. If Samus is low on resources by the end of the game, you have no choice but to turn back to earlier areas. 

Zebes conveyed its alienness through hostility, while SR388 is more surreal. Return of Samus’ monochrome palette makes the adventure feel like a dream that gradually spills into a nightmare. This is echoed in the story’s twist when 8 classic Metroid suddenly hatch as you enter the Queen’s Nest. In the original Metroid, the safest way through Tourian is by freezing individual Metroids and moving on. Metroid II makes you kill each one. Fighting them is nowhere as hard as in the NES game, but these Metroids drain health fast and are an imposing sight for anyone who played the original. 

Metroids are believed to be dangerous because they cling onto any living thing they see and drain them dead. This is why Space Pirates ambush the Galactic Federation in the first Metroid’s backstory, to begin with, stealing their Metroid samples to use against them. As you enter the Queen’s Nest, you’ll see an unhatched egg you cannot reach until after you defeat the final boss. The last egg the queen left behind hatches… into a passive Metroid who does not attack Samus. Metroids are dangerous, but they are animalistic by nature and are not born with malice. A baby Metroid’s instinct is not to hurt Samus but to imprint on her. Perhaps not all Metroids are like this, but the fact one is begging the question as to whether this genocide was actually warranted. 

Return of Samus’ finale is a direct inversion of Metroid’s. Instead of escaping a detonating base, you silently walk away from a planet whose main species you nearly wiped to extinction. The baby Metroid imprinted onto Samus helps you escape by eating away at substances resistant to your Beams and missiles. There is no dialogue or ending narration — just a march to your ship with the last Metroid in captivity. There is no triumph to killing an entire species, a point Metroid II’s gameplay hammer homes. 

It is easy to lament that Return of Samus is “stuck” on the Game Boy — especially in a world where Samus Returns, and AM2R (Another Metroid 2 remake) exist — but the handheld’s limitations are what define Metroid II’s strengths as a video game. The limited color palette and hardware drawbacks of the Game Boy undeniably impacted Return of Samus’ development, but not for the worse. The haunting atmosphere, subtle yet poignant story and detailed aesthetic are all a direct result of the Game Boy. Great artists use their limitations to their advantage to create even greater art. Metroid II is nothing short of brilliant and one of the Game Boy’s killer apps.