Metroid Samus Returns - Screenshots dump (Surface + Area 1)

Here's the screenshots I took during my first playthrough session of the new Metroid game, as well as some additional comments/thoughts on the game after looking through these again. This earlier post details the thoughts/comments I had WHILE I was playing through this part of game. Intro

The file screen shows the inside of Samus's gunship... this looks really cool.

Opening cutscene... This is all pretty much 100% accurate to the Metroid II instruction manual's story. It doesn't take long at all for the gameplay to start.

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Surface

The atmosphere here on the Surface of SR388, gave me a really good first impression. It's not technically impressive by any means, even for a 3DS game, but the aesthetic just works SO well.
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So far it's very linear, just place to learn the controls (which are also very good)

The first time seeing this Metroid sacrifice gate that lowers the poison water... I didn't know what this was at first, but I was just blown away by the aesthetic/cinematic design here... it's incredibly good.

More dead Federation soldiers... I think I remember seeing these in the original Metroid II as well. Of course they never made it further than the surface, so this is the last you see of them.

The lower part of the surface area seems to be going for a Chozo Temple vibe. Those Chozo sure do get around... They've lived on like almost every planet Samus visits.
I had no idea what this Chozo statue was about...

I got out of this room without using the Scan Pulse. After using it a couple times on accident, I decided to try not to use it as much as possible for this playthrough, cuz I like the feeling of getting stuck and having to bomb/shoot around everywhere to find the hidden path. Later when I go for 100% I'll probably use it more.

This cutscene showing a larva Metroid eating another creature... this is like the perfect art style for the Metroids... They look so menacing in this.

It's starting to get more non-linear now... although there's still not many ways you can go, there's quite a few hidden items all around the place. I dunno what this green door is about, but I obviously can't get through it yet.

So this is what the save points look like in this game...

The first time seeing a larva Metroid evolve into its Alpha form... This cutscene looked AMAZING. It's too bad the Alpha Metroids are pathetic and less of a threat than in their Larva stage.
After that I found the first energy tank and the Charge Beam...

After that I checked out the pause menu features for the first time. There's a lot of info here...

Finally those weird low-powered yellow doors that don't stay yellow make sense now. Also I noticed the charge beam's shot in this game looks really cool, like way better than it does in Smash. This is probably my favorite rendition of 2D sidescrolling Samus, in terms of how she looks and controls and everything...

This was where I understood how the big round gates work. I noticed how every single Chozo statue is a thing that you can stand at and the camera will zoom in while Samus interacts with it to save, reload energy/ammo, or unlock something...

And then I got to the first warp statue... and again I didn't know at the time what this was for.

Near the bottom of Area 1, below where the poison water was, I found some more stuff I can't get passed yet... these small spiky blue rocks, and slippery walls that you can't wall jump on. I kinda remembered seeing these elements in the original Metroid II, but I don't remember if they were in this specific part of the game (probably not).

Another Chozo structure... this one is an elevator. I like how these elevator cutscenes call back to both the original 2D Metroids and Metroid Prime in how they are designed.

Area 1

Wow, the change of atmosphere down here in the first underground area... it's crazy... Samus is like, surrounded by poison water leaking down all throughout the cavern, except in this one spot where the Metroid gate lowered the water.

The next poison-lowering gate requires 4 dead Metroids... then when I went a bit further on, it turned into this floral looking non-poisoned cave.

This one red door I got to... looks a lot like the greyed out yellow doors. I assumed at the time that this door requires a charged Super Missile... but then later when I entered this area from the opposite side, I realized that red glow was coming from the intense heat inside that area, and this door is most likely just a yellow charge beam door. Either way, I can't go in here yet without the Varia suit.

Then further east, it transitions again to an underground ruined temple atmosphere. I definitely don't remember this from the GB game... but I guess you can imagine it was just left out due to graphical limitations.

I turned around because it looked like the upper path was going somewhere important, and took the bottom path into this water filled area... Underwater physics without the gravity suit are exactly what you'd expect in a 2D Metroid. It doesn't hinder your wall jump.

It turns out it didn't really matter which way you want, either way you'd end up at the Bomb item location. Here's where the game starts feeling VERY non-linear, and I'm starting to feel lost and overwhelmed by all the possible paths.

Again, I'm still not using the Scan Pulse. I'd rather just bomb around everywhere myself. It felt so satisfying finding this hidden missile.

These tower structures really look interesting... and it makes a lot more sense than a bunch of ground-based tower-like features that just naturally formed underground.

First death, at an Alpha Metroid fight... I was playing really sloppily... It's really easy to just jump over its charged ram attacks. It took me a bit to realize you can't parry against those attacks.

Then I tried out the warp station for the first time just to see how it looks.

More Area 1 exploration... got the Ice Beam. II think 'm starting to notice some repeat background art now, but it's still pretty great.

At first I was like "wtf I hate how the Ice Beam takes forever to kill enemies and forces you to use missiles or melee instead"... but then I realized you can easily switch between Ice beam and Power beam with the big touch screen buttons next to the map.

Seeing these Metroid Larva shells always lets you know that you're near another Metroid fight... just like in the original Metroid II. I wonder if the fact that Samus is hunting them down is causing them to evolve much faster than usual...

The exploration is just so good... I don't exactly know that I'm going the right way, but I end up going to where the Spider Ball item is just from naturally exploring without using Scan Pulse.

Using the Spider Ball, I was able to get back up to the top section with the ruined temple atmosphere. This place definitely looks unique. It has this green glow to it, like the sky up in the Surface.

I immediately recognized this as a Spazer Beam door. It's very obvious if you've played other 2D Metroid games.

I knew about this before, but yeah this game has the "charging spin jump" that works similarly to the screw attack. This was first introduced in Super Metroid, at the same time the Charge Beam was first introduced.

I remember this Spider Ball ceiling area from the first game that has a missile and energy recharge. Except now you can actually see the background details and how this place actually looks without the GB's technical limitations.

One I don't like about the controls is how the Spider Ball feels... Having to hold L while also using the circle pad for a long time is very straining... Since the circle pad is very much needed for aiming in this game, I can't see it being possible to go d-pad only, but I wish you could use the d-pad for movement as well as the circle pad. Switching between the Aeion abilities could easily be done on the touch screen instead so the d-pad could be free for another movement option.

Still impressed by the variety in the atmosphere here, just in Area 1 alone.

And the sheer size of this area... wow, it's a massive improvement over the original game. It's so complex... I got stuck at where the 4th Metroid of this area is... the part where you need to freeze enemies with the ice beam to use them as platforms. The enemies do not stay frozen for very long at all in this game. So instead I started backtracking back through Area 1, looking for other hidden stuff.

I just realized this red block can't be destroyed by bombs... this was when I realized that Purple = Weak to bombs, and Red = Weak to missiles.

First time entering a red area... lol it's kind of weird how quickly the music changes to the Norfair/Magmoor tune as soon as you come into this room. It kinda ruins the mood tbh.

Went back to the Metroid gate and deposited 3 of the 4 Metroids I need.

Then I decided to backtrack up to the surface and see what I can get there now that I have the bombs and spider ball.

I'm still loving this atmosphere... all the variety in the background art... it's so good that I don't even care about the meh quality of the 3D assets.

Surface backtracking after Spider Ball

lol... I remember doing this in Metroid II after getting the Spider Ball, and it's the same thing here... At some point, the screen just stops scrolling and it doesn't let you go any higher up the cliff.

The cliff on the left side of Samus's gunship, however, you CAN go up onto.

It leads to a big gorge where you can go down in between the cliffs... and there's a bunch of other paths here that I can't get through yet. I immediately recognized that unbreakable spike wall as the exit that you come out of at the end of the original Metroid II.

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Finishing up Area 1

I tried that ice beam platforming puzzle again, and was able to get through it this time with some good timing. It wasn't until a bit later that I realized you can freeze enemies for a longer period of time with a charged ice beam shot.

Back to the purple zone to drain the water and go down further into the next area...

I think I get it now... this purple area is like, the central part of the underground labyrinth, where all of the Metroid gates that lower the purple water are, and where all of the elevators leading down to the next area are... Then there are the big Area-specific non-purple zones, where the Metroids are at. Maybe the purple water is actually hazardous to the Metroids as well? I'm not quite sure... Hopefully this game will add a bit of additional lore to explain the purple water and why it's there.

Just starting Area 2

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I barely got very far at all here, before getting stuck and giving up for now... All these slippery walls that hinder your progress... I feel like I'm gonna need Space Jump to progress here or something. Hopefully I'll figure it out without using Scan Pulse.