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AM2R (Metroid 2 Fan Remake) Gets Its First Proper Demo

By Ishaan . November 6, 2011 . 4:30pm

Metroid II: Return of Samus is already available as a 3DS Virtual Console title in Japan, and is also headed to Europe sometime this year. While you wait for that, you can try out a demo version of AM2R, which stands for “Another Metroid 2 remake”.

 

 

This is a fan project that’s been in development for quite some time now, and is a remake of Metroid II using Metroid: Zero Mission’s art. You can download the recently-released demo (the full game is still far from done) from this link.

AM2R (Metroid 2 Fan Remake) Gets Its First Proper Demo


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  • Solomon_Kano

    With Zero Mission art you say? I’ll definitely have to check this out. Metroid 2 is the only 2D Metroid that I haven’t played, so getting it in Zero Mission style is great.

    Now if only Nintendo themselves would give us a new 2D Metroid…

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749504598 Shane Guidaboni

      The DS was perfect for a new 2D Metroid. Why they made Metroid Prime: Hunters instead I’ll never know. 

      • Solomon_Kano

        I would guess that it had to do with Prime being the freshest Metroid at that time, so they wanted to do a game in keeping with its style.

        I agree that the DS was perfect for a 2D Metroid though. Especially seeing how the system saw an excellent new Contra and Metal Slug, though not really in the same genre, you’d think that a 2D Metroid would’ve fit right in. Maybe we’ll see one on 3DS. That Metroid Dread project may still be off in the limbos of game development after all.

        • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

          Metroid Dead is done, haha. Sakamoto says he’d rather work on a new Metroid than do anything with Dread again. I suspect that’s what the DS game was going to be, but for whatever reason, things didn’t pan out.

          • Solomon_Kano

            Yea, I know it’s dead lol. I do recall an interview with Sakamoto where he mentioned it in relation to the 3DS, but that was rather old. Dread was indeed the DS game, I believe. I remember IGN “confirming” that a while back. Even though they had no evidence.

          • Solomon_Kano

            I don’t think it’d be bad for them to improve upon what was done with Other M either, but I figure Nintendo would be reluctant to do so with its lukewarm reception.

            I’m also doubtful they’d reuse its engine since we probably won’t see another Metroid until after the Wii U hits. Then again, I have no idea what that engine is like, so it may very well be an engine they could use for Wii U development too.

          • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

            Mmm… I’d imagine we’ll get a Metroid on 3DS first for the simple reason that they kind of need to figure out just what they want to do with that series, and the 3DS gives them a place to do that without having to invest a huge HD budget. At least, that’s what common sense dictates.

            As for the lukewarm reception… This is just my personal opinion, but I don’t think the reason Other M wasn’t greeted very warmly was because of Samus talking or any of that other stuff. I think it boils down to four basic reasons:

            1. Expectations were allowed to go out of control – There was a gap of more than a year between the E3 reveal and when the game was actually released. At that first E3, Other M looked a lot more like a mix of third-person and Metroid Prime, and people figured you could switch in and out of first and third-person freely while moving. A lot of folks were taken aback when they found out about the remote-switching thing.

            2. Competing in a genre where you have no chance – That epic space opera type TV ad that NOA produced for Other M. I think that was a bad idea. There are established series that people already go to, if they want that sort of thing (Mass Effect, Star Wars etc. etc.), and I’d argue that no one associates that genre with Metroid. Even Other M was a much more personal story about a single isolated incident in Samus’ career, not some galaxy-wide battle.

            3. Too Japanese – I can understand a lot of people being taken aback by what they did with Samus’ character. I think all the talk about sexism is going a little overboard (I don’t believe she’s ever presented like that), but I do think the cultural gap played a large part in the misunderstanding here. This one’s on Sakamoto. NOA knows the Metroid audience better than anyone. He should have let them weigh in on development and the final script.

            4. Music – Taking away Metroid-style music is like taking away the music that people like to hear in Mario or Zelda. I understand that Kenji Yamamoto was busy with DKCR while Other M was being developed, but they should have at least tried to mimic his style of music instead of handing it off to somebody else.

            Personally, I love Other M, but for Sakamoto, I’m sure it was a bit of a wake-up call. At the end of the day, though, he’s still a Nintendo developer, and if there’s something those guys are good at, it’s identifying why something is successful and why it isn’t (and then trying to fix it), so I do expect they’ll give the Other M style of game another shot. It’s the natural progression for Metroid, after all. :)

            (sorry about the long rant! This is my favourite game series, haha)

          • Solomon_Kano

            I take no issue with rants when they’re well thought out, and yours was exactly that haha.

            Good points all around. Those were pretty much the things I took issue with in the game. People chalk the game sucking up to Samus talking and that really makes no sense to me. There are legitimate issues to be found in the game, but that’s what people latch onto. I rarely saw complaints about the gameplay beyond reviews, though that’s not to say there weren’t any, but it seemed that all anyone was bothered by was the supposed “bastardization” of Samus’ character.

            Thankfully, Nintdendo is exactly as you said. If nothing else, they must do some incredible post-mortems on their games because I’ve never found the same complaint with one of their series twice.

            I agree that a 3DS Metroid would make sense before another console one. I just kinda ignored that in thinking about how the next console one would turn out. But, yea, it’s easily the lower-risk prospect and it would give them some breathing room in terms of design before taking the leap to HD development. I’d be very interested to see how that turns out.

            Metroid isn’t quite my favorite series, but it’s easily my favorite from Nintendo so I always like to hear people’s thoughts on it.

          • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

            Yea, I feel like way too many reviews latched on to the first fault they found with the game and then refused to look beyond it. It’s very frustrating, because I think Other M did some very, very daring things for which it never gets any credit.

            People love to blame Team Ninja, too, but I feel like they’re the reason Other M still manages to be good despite whatever faults one might find with it. They’re the ones that insisted making it a 3D game, and I feel like that’s half the reason it’s interesting. How you keep your distance from enemies, learning their timing so you can dodge, finding opportunities to go into first person and use your missiles. 

            I love how physically involved you have to get with the game, too, to use the missiles. I feel like that actually calls for quick reactions and being able to aim in the heat of battle, rather than just holding down a button for lock-on.

            It’s kind of funny that people keep calling it “Metroid Gaiden” but it actually has more in common with Dead or Alive! A lot of Samus’ grappling/takedown moves look like they were pulled right out of DOA, and I’d love to see them give melee combat another try in the next one, provided they’re developing it.

            And yea, I’d love to see the kind of post-mortems they do over at Nintendo. They’re probably incredibly harsh when it comes to self-evaluation, seeing as how they even found numerous faults with Mario Galaxy, which they addressed in Galaxy 2.

          • Solomon_Kano

            I’m in agreement on Team Ninja’s involvement. They took a different approach to Metroid’s gameplay and, to me, it payed off. There were elements that had me scratching my head hearing about them, but were actually pretty cool in practice. Their want to make a game that was familiar yet different is really Other M’s greatest strength, I’d say.

            I always found the “Metroid Gaiden” comments stupid, but I hadn’t given any thought to similarities to DOA. Thinking of the game in the context of Team Ninja being the DOA guys rather than going “oh, they made Ninja Gaiden” puts a lot of the action into perspective. Not a comparison I had even considered, but very apt. Yea, it would certainly be interesting to see how Team Ninja would develop the melee further if they’re involved down the line.

            Nintendo’s Galaxy team would either have to be really harsh or reeeally perceptive to have found so many things to improve over the original. For all the acclaim that Galaxy found, they went above and beyond with 2. I mean, they even improved stuff that I didn’t think needed improvement!

        • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=749504598 Shane Guidaboni

          Yeah, most likely. The prime games for Gamecube were excellent, but I prefer the 2D Metroid. The top or bottom screens could have been used for the map. It just made more sense than making a Metroid Prime game for the DS with strange controls. After that they put all their attention towards Other M which got a luke warm reception with the addition of voice acting for Samus. They need to put their focus back into an excellent 2D Metroid in the same vain of Super Metroid. 

          • Solomon_Kano

            Yea, I loved the Primes but I always preferred the 2D ones. The 2D ones really seemed like such a natural fit for DS.

            I can’t really imagine what they can do besides returning to 2D unless they go back to Prime, but I don’t think they’d do that without Retro. And I doubt Retro has any plans to return to Metroid. I guess they could do a 3rd-person one, but I hope not.

          • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

            I’d imagine the next game will use the Metroid: Other M engine and expand on that game. I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all… Other M had some problems, but there were plenty of good things about it that could really shine if they took the time to address some of the issues with them. <3

  • aoihana

    Oh ~ how cool! I loved Zero Mission, so I can’t wait for this project to complete. I’ll have to check out the demo some time.

    This reminds me of the Sonic 2 HD Project:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmpIkrl-B5M

  • thaKingRocka

    I worry that they’ll never be allowed to finish.

  • theoriginaled

    Im really surprised Nintendo hasn’t pulled the rug out from under them yet. REALLY surprised.

    • http://gloopyeegra.wordpress.com/ Arla

      Why? Nintendo lets fan projects go one all the time. Besides Pokemon I don’t recall them shutting down fan projects. S-E on the other hand…

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/xxHiryuuxx Hiryuu

    Finished the demo last weekend when they mentioned it.  Didn’t think SE would really think about mentioning it.

    This and Minitroid need to be watched after.

  • Bakuryukun

    I sometimes wish major gaming sites wouldn’t report on stuff like this, because these projects don’t really NEED the attention before they are completed fully, all it does is put them at higher risk of being shut down.

    • http://twitter.com/Paradox_me Paradox me

      While it doesn’t seem to be the case with this project, some of the larger ones require funding of some sort. This usually comes in the form of donations, making the publicity essential.

      The developers are also usually doing this stuff on their free time, sometimes taking years to complete the project. Some encouragement or at the very least being acknowledged by media coverage can make a world of difference.

      It’s a double-edged sword, really.

  • Suicunesol

    So I’ve spent a while with the demo. As someone who played the original Metroid II on my Game Boy and never really forgot the sheer hours of frustration of being sucked dry by a baby Metroid, nor ever forgot the horror of venturing deeper and deeper down into a Metroid-infested cave, I had to see right away how this remake was being done.

    For those who liked Super Metroid, I think they’ll feel right at home. Samus is just as colorful as she was in that game (heck, I think her sprite was taken directly from it) and she plays very, very similarly. It’s nice and colorful with some “views” every now and then, even though I could swear the original Metroid II took place solely within a dark cavern.

    Now, while I may seem a bit picky, I do have some issues with it:

    ~I don’t agree with the jump physics in this game, especially after playing the original. Samus somersaults whenever she jumps in the demo, and the game feels a lot less “floaty” than in the original. In the GB version, Samus had a sort of “moon jump” that made it somewhat easier to aim at enemies while in midair. This demo has a lot more gravity to the jumps.

    ~The first Metroid boss was much too difficult in this demo. While Metroids have always given me a hard time, the one in the demo wouldn’t give me a moment’s rest. It always hugged the ground, making it difficult to shoot its belly. And in the original, you didn’t even have to shoot its belly to hurt it. You just needed to hit it.

    ~I think the music needs work. It’s not that it’s midi. It just doesn’t capture the atmosphere (especially in the second area). Maybe it’s my nostalgia talking. But that’s just the way I feel. I suggest putting some emphasis on some ambient sounds.

    Otherwise, additions like hanging onto ledges were really nice. The save points restoring health was a nice touch too. If the remake is ever completed, I might actually finish the game for once.

    • http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens

      ._. ……You can see things so clearly…..

      • Suicunesol

        Um, I’m not sure if that’s sarcasm or not, but thank you so much, I guess. ‘_’

        I’m just offering my opinion on the demo.

        • http://www.youtube.com/user/Kamek20xxExtra?feature=mhee Michael Stevens

          This is not sarcasm…….obviously. ._. You are welcome…….I suppose. -.-

          • Suicunesol

            In my experience, this emoticon ._. is not a good sign.

            But hey– it’s the internet! :P

    • http://www.jb2x.com/wordpress/ JB2X

      Not trying to be a party pooper or anything, but I’m just here to lay out a couple of bits of information for you.

      For your first point, yes, that is true, the jump physics are nowhere near being those of the original GB game.  The physics, just as the sprites themselves of Samus, were pulled straight out of the Metroid Zero Mission game for the GBA.  Pretty sure the guy(s) that worked on this remake did their best to suit the map layout for those types of physics.

      Well… hahaha, I guess that’s about the only thing I wanted to point out, really.  You really should find a copy of Metroid Zero Mission for the GBA and play it.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.  It’s a retelling of the first Metroid game, along with a bit of an extra story to the end, which ties in to Super Metroid.  Once I saw that, I knew I was in for a treat.

      • Suicunesol

        Thank you for the info. :)

        I completely forgot about Zero Mission, to be honest. Whenever GBA Metroid is mentioned, I think of Fusion. ~_~

        If the Ambassador GBA games include Zero Mission, I’ll make sure to give it a shot.

    • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

      Ahh, so the Samus sprite is from Super, then! I kept thinking it looked bulkier than the one in Zero Mission, but I wasn’t sure. Also, like @JB2X:disqus said, everything seems pulled from ZM, since a lot of the diehard Metroid community largely seems to accept that as the best overall Metroid game to date (even though Super is more widely recognized).

      I kind of prefer ZM to Super for the exact reasons you noted. Jumps feel tighter, you feel a little less stiff, and so on. Never played the original Metroid II, though, so that’s something to try out when the VC release happens…  

      • Exkaiser

        It’s not quite the Super sprite… If you look towards 0:55, she’s got a sprite where she’s standing with her gun extended and her left arm holding it from the top, which she never did in Super. The missile extension sprite is also different.

        If it looks bulkier, it’s because Zero Mission didn’t actually have a sprite for the Varia Suit. It’s a mix between the SA-X’s sprite from Fusion and the Zero Mission sprites for poses, with a more yellow palette than what Fusion used.

        • http://www.siliconera.com Ishaan

          Ahh, I see! It’s been a while since I played Fusion or Super, but I do make it a point to replay and complete Zero Mission every year, so I don’t remember all the frames from either of those. But now that you mention it, yea, the SA-X sprite (the same as Samus at the start?) did look similar to the one from Super.

          That’s a hell of a lot of work this guy’s putting in. It’d be nice if this gets released in complete form someday. I’ll probably get Metroid II when it hits VC, but I seriously don’t see myself completing it. I can’t even go back to Super anymore after playing with Zero Mission and Other M controls.

        • Suicunesol

          Oh, I see. That explains why the sprite in the demo had such big, round shoulders even though she wasn’t wearing the Varia Suit. ~_~

          • Exkaiser

            Reverse Zero Mission!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Phoenix-Ezra-Schwarz/1229376991 Phoenix Ezra Schwarz

      I appreciate them making the boss harder by giving it a specific weak point. Adds more challenge, which is something I appreciate. Wow that was redundant…

      • Suicunesol

        And I agree with you somewhat. But this is the first boss. :o You have limited health and limited missiles. At the very least the Metroid should expose its weak point a little more.

  • http://gloopyeegra.wordpress.com/ Arla

    I thought this project was gonna have original art, still neat. Not really a fan of Metroid but I hope the person behind this completes it.

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