{"id":99,"date":"2011-08-25T21:40:52","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T21:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=99"},"modified":"2011-08-25T21:40:52","modified_gmt":"2011-08-25T21:40:52","slug":"metroid-ii-return-of-samus-gb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=99","title":{"rendered":"Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though I couldn’t stand this game when I was younger, I decided to go back and play through it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

1991 - Game Boy (Nintendo)<\/p><\/div>\n

I only marginally liked the first game, but when Metroid II<\/em> was finally released in ’91, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of it.\u00a0 I’m not sure why, really…\u00a0 maybe because everyone else wanted it.\u00a0 Anyhow, on a trip to my Aunt’s in Bristol, CT, we picked up the still relatively new title.\u00a0 It was a rare treat not to have to wait before returning home to Canada to play a new game.\u00a0 This was going to be great!<\/p>\n

Or, so I thought…<\/p>\n

The game’s controls were decent enough, and it was pretty straightforward.\u00a0 I just never really got into it.\u00a0 Here’s this massive<\/strong> area to explore, and the Game Boy’s tiny screen shows even less of Samus’ surroundings than the first game did…\u00a0 if a game could feel claustrophobic, this one certainly did.<\/p>\n

So here’s this game I owned, and I barely touched it…\u00a0 until this baby came out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

My gaming Holy Grail...<\/p><\/div>\n

Long before the Super Game Boy converter even came out, I was looking for it.\u00a0 Well, not it<\/em> specifically, but something like it.\u00a0 GamePro Magazine had printed a photo of an NES cartridge with a “pop-out” Game Boy game slot where the NES game sticker went.\u00a0 It was apparently only available in Japan at the time, but I was hell-bent on finding it in silly ol’ Canada.<\/p>\n

I had my sisters looking for it.\u00a0 I once got an excited call from one of them, saying they had seen something they had never seen before…\u00a0 after a closer look, it was just Dr. Mario<\/em>.\u00a0 Foiled again!<\/p>\n

Eventually, I gave up my search.\u00a0 Of course, shortly after I did that, the Super Game Boy was announced.\u00a0 Score!!<\/p>\n

Ironically, it was on another one of our yearly trips to Connecticut that we picked it up.\u00a0 It was a week of torture – here I was, 10 hours from home with a fresh, new, Super Game Boy, and no way of playing it.\u00a0 I just read my Instruction Booklet and hoped the rest of the week would go by as quickly as it could.<\/p>\n

When we got back home, sitting at the bottom of the huge pile of mail our neighbor brought in for us…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Yet another benefit of being a Nintendo Power subscriber!<\/p><\/div>\n

The Super Game Boy allowed you to enter 12-digit codes to fully customize the colors for whatever games you played, and this guide gave you specific codes for each level<\/em>…\u00a0 just to give that extra sense of depth.\u00a0 Each Link’s Awakening <\/em>dungeon felt different, each world in Super Mario Land<\/em> had its own character, and each area in Metroid II: Return of Samus<\/em>…\u00a0 felt exactly the same.<\/p>\n

Once again, I put Samus on the back burner.<\/p>\n

<\/em>This project of turning games into movies inevitably reached the Metroid<\/em> series, and I was torn about whether or not Metroid II<\/em> should be skipped.\u00a0 I bit the bullet, followed an online walkthrough and took my time in trying to enjoy this game I had so long ago set aside.\u00a0 Though I often cheat with games I suck at, none of them worked for this game…\u00a0 I was on my own.<\/p>\n

I’m really quite glad I did go back and play it.\u00a0 Yes, all the areas look alike.\u00a0 Yes, it’s a heck of a lot more linear, and yes, the bosses are a bit more repetitive and boring.\u00a0 It still plays like a solid action game, though, and if you know where you’re going, it helps…\u00a0 a lot.\u00a0 Be sure to collect every last missile tank, because of the 250 maximum that Samus carries (just where <\/em>does she store them, anyway?), 150 of them are needed to kill the final boss – the Metroid Queen.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, I didn’t know you couldn’t pause the game during the final boss battle!!\u00a0 That was crazy!\u00a0 Since I wasn’t cheating, I had to rely heavily on save states as to not look like a complete buffoon playing the game.\u00a0 A chance to pause and get my bearings would have been nice, but no, I had to Shift-F1 quicker than a mo-fo!!\u00a0 As you can see, I made it through the game fine eventually.<\/p>\n