Metroid fusion was the last of the 2D sidescrolling classic Metroid games created until the transition to newer 3D Metroid games such as Metroid Pinball, Metroid Other M which was a platformer and the Metroid Prime series which was a first person shooter/ platformer series. I think this game (along with it's predecessors) are the reason why Metroid is a great franchise and why Metroid excels in 2D sidescrolling action instead of pinball games and 3D FPS and platformers which are fine but not as fun in my opinion as games like this. This game was releases in 2002 on the game boy advance as one of the first games on the system and one of two Game Boy Advance Metroid games. This game I have to say if it wasn't for the masterpiece known as Super Metroid, would be the best Metroid in the series. A very original story and creative use of the gameplay makes this a fantastic game for your handheld Nintendo system and a great installment into the Metroid series.

Story

Samus, still working as a space bounty hunter as the game's protagonist, is exploring the planet of SR388 with a survey crew from Biologic Space Laboratories (BSL). As she is looking around with the crew she encounters the X parasite which takes over the bodies of it's hosts and copies it's appearance and memories before leaving the body with said appearance and memories killing the original host and moving on in it's own version of the deceased organism. Samus is unknowingly infected by the X parasite and when she tries to return to the BSL station she loses control and consciousness and ejects before her ship is destroyed in an asteroid belt. The Galactic Federation finds her and see's that the X parasite has attacked her and her central nervous system. So they take her to the operating table and inject her with a new vaccine created from Metroid cells that was from the infant Metroid in Super Metroid.

This makes Samus recover and have the ability to absorb X Parasite nuclei for nourishment. The BSL station is sent the infected power suit of Samus to study it. The BSL station is heard exploding from the Galactic Federation and they send Samus over to investigate the problem. Here she Finds out the X parasite has made a terrifying doppleganger of Samus with all her previous abilities installed in the power suit. Now Samus Must use the help from her ship's voice command in her suit to help her save all the infected organisms and survivors and gain her own abilities back before the X parasite destroys everything!

Story 8/10

For a Metroid game this is one of the more original and well executed plots, finding out the natural enemy to Metroids and any organism really is very interesting and provides fro some great game play and animations. The X doppleganger is stupidly powerful at first but eventually when you get to the fight it when you are powered up it is not too difficult to defeat with the right game plan. There's not much to say other than you get to meet up with the animals you saved from Super Metroid at the end which was very cool and they help you out this time and the ship's voice command turns out to be a former superior and colleague of Samus which was also cool. The time limit at the end make's it a lot more fun to fight the final boss knowing you need to win fast to escape. The Galactic Federation also show their true colours by wanting to breed Metroids again and risk everything to study the X parasite much to Samus' dismay and defiance.

Soundtrack 10/10

A fantastic soundtrack to compliment some very fun game play, it combines Metriod 2D sidescrolling nostalgia with fear of the the doppleganger music and futuristic themed music as well. The sound effects as well are  very good especially for the Game Boy Advance which had decent capabilities for the system, the final boss has some very nice screaming effects that make it all the more satisfying to defeat him. All the themes are pretty much in the same vein and the boss music is also unique especially nightmare's theme.

Graphics 10/10

This may be my favorite part of the game, the animations are flawless and creative. The X parasite story line opened up many possibilities for great creatures and the creators of the game took the ball and ran with it. The regular enemies are all infected various organisms from the ship's natural habitats among other things. Seeing Ridley in his X form is worth the price of admission alone, again the nightmare boss loos fantastic when fighting it and seeing how it looks worse with every blow you hit makes it look fantastic. The final boss and the doppleganger Samus and final form of the doppleganger also looks great. The regular X cells that you use for health also look nice as a pickup to gain energy.

Gameplay 10/10

The game is just fun, that's it. Plays pretty much like Super Metroid which is a good thing, however in this game is the added feature of hanging onto ledges to get up on platforms which was new in this game. All the areas are very fun and finding the secret items and completing the game 100% is always fun in Metroid games and in particular this one. Getting 100% is pretty hard since most of the items come at the end of the game in one sequence you have to find secret passages to get them all before you flee the ship and fight the final bosses. The abilities of Super Metroid are back such as the screw attack, power bombs, regular bombs, the space jump etc. The control is fluent so you won't have any problems in that respect and there is pretty much no need for wall jumping in this game. All the areas are veyr different and the game play gets different in each area as you have to compromise your game play.

Addictiveness 10/10

I have replayed this game about 8 times so you tell me if it is addictive, Metroid 2D sidescrollers are always fun anyways and this one is no different. More replayable than Super Metroid even if I like that game better. Getting 100% will make you want to replay this game just for the fun of it and to say you finished a great game to the limit. Playing this game on an emulator I have always found to be fun but handheld devices aren't bad either to play this.

Difficulty 6/10

As most Metroid games are, the game isn't hard at all really except for maybe a boss or two but once you figure out the pattern you'll be fine. Save Points are a plenty and the controls are good so there really is no reason to struggle with a game like this.

Overall Verdict 9/10

This is almost the perfect Metroid game, very fun to play, great animations, fantastic music and replayability for ages. If you are a fan of Metroid sidescrolling fun and great fluent gameplay this game is for you and fans of Super Metroid should love this game as the gameplay is very similar.

Hm, I'm not sure why this is in Game Discussion with a great review. Usually reviews that don't meet the requirement go here. Oh well. Metroid Fusion is a really cool game for GBA, and you did a great job reviewing it.

I did it from the game rom page, i thought it was gonna go in the reviews section