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Overview

Samus high-jumps back to portable systems for her fourth adventure, but the linear nature of the game dampens enthusiasm, despite a few bright spots.

Review

Not too long ago I replayed Super Metroid trying for a 100% run with a short time, and decided to just continue with Metroid Fusion instead. It picks up where the previous title left off, with Samus off on a new adventure not too long after the events of the previous game where once again, instead of doing bounty hunting, she jobs for the Federation, and in the process gets infected by an alien virus. The opening is certainly grim, suggesting that her now-infected armor fused with her and had to be surgically removed, "dramatically altering my physical appearance", as the intro cutscene says. The baby Metroid she saved from the ending of Metroid II: Return of Samus which gave its life for her in Super Metroid saves her once more after death with a cell culture, as the "X" parasite's only known predator was the Metroid. which, oops, Samus wiped out in the course of the last three games (should be a lesson about "don't mess with mother nature" there), and it isn't too long before you're thrust into a new quest of the space station, which has six large chambers mimicking some of the environments that Samus has previously found herself in.

The big problem with Metroid Fusion besides the obvious step-down in graphics and sound from Super Metroid is it's extremely linear. There are six large chambers (plus a hub world) with secrets but there's almost no sequence breaking. You're typically told to go to one place, and do something, and sometimes plans change because the X parasite (who has taken the appearance of Samus as she appeared in Super Metroid) is running around causing problems.

The strengths of the game include simplifying some of the more annoying controls of Super Metroid along with more of a survival horror theme, though the weaknesses include the aforementioned issue and some rather muffled music due to the GBA's weaknesses.

As far as survival goes, there's even a point where the ship's computer (who has been ordering you around) has this scene where it looks like it might be manipulating you as well (the plot twist is fairly well-known at this point, but it's not because it's evil).

In the end, like previous games, you do get to see a big picture of Samus (more or less of her depending on how many items you picked up and how fast you cleared the game) but unless there's some major damage near the no-no regions it turns out she's better than ever as far as physical appearance goes.

Player Notes

As of this writing (September 19th 2026) I haven't actually finished the game yet. I know the big twist(s) but right now I just beat annoying spider boss around two-thirds of the way of the way in. I know I played a bit of this game in 2019 (on my 3DS) and back in 2002 when it first came out, but got far in neither. I picked it up recently (in September) after having started at some time ago (first on a GBA emulator, I used a flash cart as I no longer have the physical cartridge).

Screenshots

The European version of the game lets you select a language. (Romhacking.net)

Aforementioned "annoying spider boss" and I did it with far less health and missles. (Wikitroid)

The space station features lots of environments from Metroid games past. (Hardcoregaming101).