Introduction

Some history:

Metroid: Samus Returns was announced on June 13th, 2017, during Nintendo’s live Treehouse segment at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It was revealed less than an hour after Nintendo had already announced that another game in the Metroid line – Metroid Prime 4, of all titles – was also in the docket. Metroid: Samus Returns had been in development since only 2015.

Metroid: Samus Returns is a remake of one of Metroid’s lesser-appreciated games, ~~Metroid Prime: Pinball~~ Metroid: Return of Samus for the Gameboy. While a technically acceptable game, Metroid: Return of Samus left a lot to be desired due to the Gameboy’s limitations as a console and due to Metroid being gluttonous as a series: each Metroid title has featured huge, expansive areas, with emphasis on exploration. Metroid: Return of Samus stretched the resources of the Gameboy and its cartridges to their limits, to the point where the game was incapable of using a map system, and instead the game came with a physical map. You had to keep track of your positioning the old fashioned way.

Metroid: Return of Samus was released in North America in November of 1991. Twenty-six years later, it was remade as Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS – four handheld generations later. Now that computational power and hard-drive space are nonissues, the game could be reimagined in all the 3DS’s glory.

The Let’s Play:

Normally I wouldn’t be especially keen on doing a Let’s Play so soon after its release. As of this writing, the game has been out for five days. But there are a number of reasons why Metroid: Samus Returns is an exceptional case for me:

Frankly, I just love Metroid. It’s my favourite Nintendo IP.
The capture mod for my 3DS cost me quite a bit of money and I’ll take any excuse I can to use it.
Metroid: Samus Returns was announced just three months after the last update to my previous Let’s Play, the double-feature of Metroid Prime: Federation Force and Another Metroid 2 Remake. AM2R was, in every respect, an amazing title, crafted with love and care by enthusiasts for the Metroid series that wanted to see Metroid: Return of Samus brought into the modern spotlight. AM2R was DMCA’d by Nintendo just one day after its release, and it’s evident that Metroid: Samus Returns was why (on top of protecting their properties, of course). Milton Guasti had set an incredible bar for Nintendo to pass, and we’re going to find out if they did. In the spirit of my Let’s Play of AM2R, I am also doing Metroid: Samus Returns blind.
Metroid: Samus Returns was produced by Yoshio Sakamoto, (I incorrectly state he had directed it in the first video) who, as far as I’m aware, had disappeared after Metroid: Other M until now. I have to know if he’s learned.