Metroid: Zero Mission - GBA

Remakes are always a touchy subject, whether it be for games or movies. Sometimes they improve upon the original and blow your mind with what they've done with the property. More often than not, they don't. Fortunately, Zero Mission fits the former category.

It follows the story of bounty hunter Samus Aran and her first encounter with the Metroids on Zebes as she tracks down the space pirates and their leader Mother Brain. There are old faces you know and love to blast and some new bosses and levels thrown into the mix as well, giving fans old and new more than enough to love.

The graphics are crisp, a marked improvement over the already beautiful Metroid Fusion engine. Similarly, the controls work the same, with a full range of direction to blast enemies and powers like the power dash and power grip which were not available in the original game. Most of the weapons have been seen in previous installments, using Super Metroid from the SNES as their basis. They work well, making bosses a
little easier with the ability to use super missles and power bombs in addition to stackable weapons, where in the NES incarnation you were limited to one high powered beam at a time and couldn't use ice beam and wave beam together.

The game is fun, though easy on normal. There is a hard mode to rectify this a bit. You can unlock the original game to play as well which is good for fans looking for a bit of nostalgia and to show newer players exactly how much of an improvement this game is.

You'll breeze through the original mission quickly but it doesn't end there, with an additional 20% of the game happening after the defeat of Mother Brain. It's a nice touch and if all remakes could be this good I would be a happy man indeed.