Metroid Fusion is a 2002 action-adventure game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the fourth main Metroid game. Players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates a space station infected with shapeshifting parasites known as X. Along with the GameCube game Metroid Prime, Fusion marked the return of the Metroid series after an eight-year hiatus following Super Metroid (1994). Like previous Metroid games, Fusion is a side-scrolling game with platform jumping, shooting, and puzzle elements. It introduces mission-based progression that guides the player through certain areas. Fusion can be linked to Prime using the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable to unlock additional content for Prime. Fusion was acclaimed for its gameplay, controls, graphics and music, though its shorter length and greater linearity received criticism. It received awards including "Handheld Game of the Year" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, "Best Game Boy Advance Adventure Game" from IGN, and "Best Action Game on Game Boy Advance" from GameSpot. It was rereleased on the Nintendo 3DS's Virtual Console in 2011 as part of the 3DS Ambassador Program, the Wii U's Virtual Console in 2014, and the Nintendo Classics service in 2023. A sequel, Metroid Dread, was released in 2021 for the Nintendo Switch.
Gameplay
Metroid Fusion is an action-adventure game in which the player controls Samus Aran. Like previous games in the series, Fusion is set in a large open-ended world with elevators that connect regions, which each in turn contains rooms separated by doors. Samus opens most doors by shooting at them, while some only open after she reaches a certain point. Fusion is more linear than other Metroid games due to its focus on storyline; for example, Fusion introduces Navigation Rooms, which tell the player where to go. The gameplay involves solving puzzles to uncover secrets, platform jumping, shooting enemies, and searching for power-ups that allow Samus to reach new areas. Samus can absorb X Parasites, which restore health, missiles, and bombs. Power-ups are obtained by downloading them in Data Rooms or absorbing a Core-X, which appears after defeating a boss. New features include the ability to grab ledges and climb ladders. The player can use the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable to connect to Fusion and unlock features in Metroid Prime: after completing Prime, they can unlock Samus's Fusion Suit, and after completing Fusion, they can unlock an emulated version of the first Metroid game. In Metroid: Zero Mission (2004), players can connect to Fusion using the Game Boy Advance Game Link Cable to unlock a Fusion picture gallery, which includes its ending images.
Plot
Bounty hunter Samus Aran explores the surface of the planet SR388 with a survey crew from Biologic Space Laboratories (BSL). She is attacked by parasitic organisms known as X. On returning to the BSL station, Samus loses consciousness, and her ship crashes. The BSL ship she was escorting recovers her and transfers her to a Galactic Federation hospital for medical treatment, where it is discovered the X infected Samus' central nervous system. They cure her with a vaccine made from cells taken from the infant Metroid that Samus adopted on SR388. The vaccine gives her the ability to absorb the X nuclei for nourishment, but burdens her with the Metroids' vulnerability to cold. Portions of Samus's infected Power Suit are sent to the BSL station for examination, although the suit was too integrated with her body to remove entirely while unconscious. After Samus recovers, she is sent to investigate an explosion at the BSL station. The mission is overseen by her new gunship's computer, whom Samus nicknames "Adam" after her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich. Samus learns that the X parasites can replicate their hosts' appearances, and that the X have infected the station with the help of the SA-X, an X parasite mimicking Samus at full power. Samus avoids the SA-X and explores the space station, defeating larger creatures infected by the X to recover her abilities. She discovers a restricted lab containing Metroids, and the SA-X sets off the labs' auto-destruct sequence while attacking the released Metroids, who also devour the SA-X. Samus escapes, but the lab is destroyed. Adam berates Samus for ignoring orders and admits that the Federation was secretly using the lab to breed Metroids. It also reveals that the SA-X has asexually reproduced, subsequently cloning itself. Adam then warns Samus that she must escape from the station immediately. While escaping, Samus kills an X parasite mimicking Ridley, and then arrives at the Sector 1 navigation room, where Adam orders Samus to leave the rest of the investigation to the Federation, which plans to capture SA-X for military purposes. This infuriates Samus, who knows that the X would infect the Federation troops and absorb their spacefaring knowledge to conquer the universe, and states her intention to destroy the station. Although the computer initially stops Samus by locking the doors in the navigation room, she then calls it "Adam", and reveals that Adam died saving her life. Adam gives in and recommends altering the station's propulsion to crash into SR388, which would vaporize the X population. Samus realizes that the computer is the consciousness of Adam, uploaded after his death. En route to initiate the propulsion sequence, an SA-X confronts Samus, but she defeats it and sets the station on a collision course with SR388. As Samus prepares to leave, she is attacked by an Omega Metroid. The SA-X appears and attacks it, but is destroyed; Samus absorbs its nucleus and uses her newly restored Ice Beam to destroy the Omega Metroid. Her ship arrives, piloted by creatures Samus rescued from the station's Habitation Deck. They escape before the station crashes into the planet, destroying it.
Development
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
