Another excised bit that I might as well post here. Unsure if I’ve blogged about this before, though I’ve certainly mentioned it to everyone under the sun. So here it is for posterity.

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Imagine a proper remake of Metroid II that focuses on the confusion and nervousness of being stuck down a dark, claustrophobic hole where everything looks the same and you can’t see more than a couple of yards in any direction. That’s the way the Game Boy game plays, and that’s why it has always felt the most emotionally authentic game in the series. It’s the limitations of the hardware that lend the game its power. Fan remakes always focus on making the game exactly like Super Metroid except with different levels.