## 2025-01-27 I planned to write about this when I started it yesterday but then I ended up finishing it this morning! It took me about 4 hours, give or take (I used a lot of save states). I'll be honest: I'm not, like, the biggest **Metroid** fan! I tend to err on the **Castlevania**[^1] side of [[Metroidvania|Metroidvanias]], because they skew closer to [[JRPG|JRPGs]], with their numbers and equipment systems and so on. I find **Metroid** games outside of the **Prime** trilogy to be a bit too tedious, with the constant searching for secret paths and hidden walls. I've had less patience with that sort of level design more and more as I've gotten older, too. **Fusion** side-steps a lot of these problems, which from my understanding are also why it's considered the black sheep of the series. Instead of randomly wandering around, **Fusion** has Samus team up with a computer that's always telling her what the next objective is, sometimes even placing a marker on the map. This made a lot of **Metroid** super-fans not very happy, but I personally really appreciated it - it allowed me to stay on track and also know what areas I needed to go to or not. As a result I made constant progress and was actually able to finish it - one of the only non-**Prime** **Metroid** games I've ever finished! It's also the only **Metroid** game I've ever 100%, so that probably makes it my favorite by default! ![[Metroid Fusion-20250127154918340.png]] I found the power-curve to be very well-paced, as I was getting new ones every 20-30 minutes or so. There were definitely still too many of the silly invisible blocks in this game for my taste. But the segmented structure of the map, with 6 separate sectors to check out, made it easy to search[^2] around without feeling too lost or overwhelmed. Also, it got very very difficult near the end, and my old gamer fingies couldn't handle the last gauntlet very well, so I simply turned on invincibility to get through it. I'm sure a younger version of me could get through it, but the me of today is unwilling to put up with that level of difficulty nowadays. Besides that, **Metroid Fusion** was a banger of a game - it has that usual [[Nintendo]] polish, holds up beautifully with its 2D sprites, and best of all, doesn't overstay its welcome. It was a great game to break in the [[Review - Anbernic 34XX|Anbernic 34XX]]. If you're a fan of the genre and haven't checked this one out yet, make sure you do - 'cause if I liked it then you definitely will! [^1]: A pedant would tell me that those are technically called ☝️🤓 *Igavanias*, but I would simply shove said pedant in a locker for being such a nerd. [^2]: Sibilance!