Always gotta drop some support for hidden gem channels like this.

To actually answer your question at the end of your video, it turns out that Metroid games rely to a very simple trick to calculate your completion rate: You have exactly 100 item to collect, so they give, very straightforwardly, 1% completion per item collected. You can check it out. This is why the total number of some items seems so random, they are there as fillers. The one time it's not exactly like this is for Samus Returns (as well as fusion), as the game is linear an the suit upgrades are inevitable, they only count the extensions in the completion rate. This is why you can have a rate of 0% in returns and Fusion if you collect none of the Energy, missiles/super missiles nor power bombs extensions.

I think the more triumphant tone of Zero Mission stems from it being the 1st entry chronologically. It doesn't have any of the "kill or be killed" claustrophobic vibe of Metroid II, doesn't have the final Metroid's death scene of Super, doesn't have the Federation's betrayal and Samus nearly dying from Fusion. There wasn't any moral grayness to it. It was just you=hero, brain=villain, go kill. I like the path the series went down, but in order for those darker themes to really take hold and feel meaningful they need a contrast, which I think Zero Mission does very well.

This game was my childhood, alongside Fusion. The only real complaint I ever had about it is how it's just so piss-easy, but that didn't stop me from playing it over and over again

I'm playing through the Metroid series for the first time leading up to Dread and I'm enjoying your videos every time I finish a title. Love your work!

I just completed zero mission for the first time and had a huge grin as the credits rolled. It is my first Metroid game and I am hooked. I am going chronologically so, Samus returns is next for me. I am hooked. Now the term metroidvania makes more sense. Nintendo made a masterpiece franchise

Zero Mission and Fusion are probably my favorite 2D Metroids when it comes to trying to see how fast I can beat them. Just recently I beat ZM and shaved about 30 minutes off my best time (now it's 2hrs 16min). Great work on the video man. Keep up the good work!

Idk what anyone says but Zero Mission main title theme SLAPS

Another great review! Love how clean the editing is, keep it up!

I actually really like the Zero Mission 100% clean-up! ZM was my first Metroid game I got back in 2005 and child me found it frustrating and challenging. After the credits rolled and I got my item percentage I decided I wanted to get to 100%. I LOVED the challenges getting those last few items and I didn't mind backtracking since the areas are compact and Samus moves so quick.

Fantastic review! This was an excellent look back at this amazing game. It's really interesting to hear the thoughts of someone who is more experienced with Metroid than I am. I didn't even think about the completionist requirements when I played it. I'm interested to hear your thoughts on Samus Returns!

I only recently discovered your channel but I wanted to say that your videos are very high quality and I subbed almost instantly

Zero mission was my first game of the series, 2 years ago I got gba used and it came with a small bunch of games including Zero mission! I got into the series because of this game!

Zero Mission is my second favorite Metroid game behind Super. I don't understand why it's so overlooked or why so many people prefer Fusion.

This video was a 99% run. Amazing video. The only miss was saying that ZM has the best soundtrack in the series. The musical arrangements in ZM are a huge upgrade over Nestroid, but they don't touch SM or Prime.

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Just beat Zero Mission last night (first time playing) & I kid you not I went through ALL the maps seeing what I missed to find the bombs. Finally I was like f*** it & went on to beat the game only to realize I find them at the end -______- wasted a good hour & a half. I played fusion before so I though super bombs was like 4th or 5th item you found 🤦🏽‍♂️ great play either way!!

Personally, I liked Fusion more. I actually enjoyed the little dialogues. Sure, they are unskippable, but it does make things more intense, since the major plotline is about conspiracy, and you can't exactly have that without some words. And the X parasites were really freaking scary, in a good way. First of all, SA-X, and I'll leave it at that. Also, I loved how Serris was worked up to be a really badass boss, only for you to find its corpse when you get to the boss room (X parasite killed it and copied its ability). And then there's Nightmare.

Even though I still find some value in Metroid NES today, Zero Mission is the objectively superior experience to that game. I also find it to be the most replayable, next to Fusion.

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I got this for 27 bucks at a local game shop. Had to dig out my GBA SP and buy a charger online but it was worth it.

I love this game so much fun

Am2r. My initial response when it dropped was "Fans do what Nintendon't" . When Nintendo dropped their's the year later I liked it but am2r just feels like more of a metroid game to me than the official...

Yeah, I've never 100%ed this myself either due to all the trial and error involved with it. Not to mention the massive amounts of backtracking. Like, I don't always mind backtracking, but Zero Mission does it to ridiculous levels. Depending on who you ask though, Mecha Ridley becoming harder upon collecting everything could also be considered a bonus. Especially if you like having a more challenging boss fight. Though I'm not sure if locking that behind 100% item collection was a good move.

I agree, the best she controlled until dread! Dread is the best feeling metro game ever made, which I didn’t think was possible after Metroid prime.

I feel so old watching that...

I loved ZERO mission....if it didn't have the stealth mode at the end and made that just another area to explore I'd even put it over Super Metroid!

Don't know if you're aware, but you can still get 100% in Fusion in the post game by loading your safe file again after beating the game.

18:17 - Well... that's unfortunate. 😔

you should definitely give am2r a try its a fan remake of metroid 2 and it’s probably one of the best if not the best 2d metroid game iv ever played even though its a fan remake

If you wanna see a cool speed run of zero mission look up dragondarch gdq metroid zero mission. He runs it on hard, low % collects no more than 9%items its an insane run its awesome

Is zero Mission actually more open-ended than Super Metroid? I would beg to differ but I haven't played zero Mission all that much

6.31k subscribers, 9.1k views on the video, but somehow this video has 1.8M likes. Thats really weird to me.

Currently 3 minutes in and the fact you didn't mention the manga or the live action movie when talking about this game's origins is odd. They were making a live action movie in 2004 and had to cancel because there was not enough lore so they decided to create a backstory. Thus the manga was born and Metroid 1 was remade to fit into that new narrative

11:35 i disagree. Call it nostalgia, but I sincerely prefer the NES version of this soundtrack. I don't even like the remixes that came back from Super Metroid, but I do like both Wrecked Ship remixes, and Ridley's Hideout is not as ear grating as the original

Not a huge fan of Zero Mission. All the enemies move with very little energy, mainly just slugging along, waiting to get shot. Most enemies die at the edge of the screen if you just keep spamming the button to shoot. Once enemies are no longer a threat, the game just becomes a maze with no sense of threat to it. I just remember going through Ridley's Lair in one of my playthroughs and it suddenly hit me that I was feeling really lethargic. Haven't really been able to enjoy the game ever since, but if other people can, well, more power to you. I wish I could say I had a first chapter of the Metroid saga that I could fully enjoy.

ngl, i skip the chozodia survival shit section every time i go back to this, im not big on the whole survival horror thing, and i feel the space pirates' detection is a bit unbalanced. still a fantastic game but ive done that ONCE and i never wanna do that part of the game again cause as i said, i dont really like survival horror

the reasons why I personally dont love this game and find it decently overrated - Beams and general movement feel odd and "too fast", not exactly sure how to call it - too short - way too easy - annoying as crap 100% due to the extra-late PBs with PB doors earlier in the game and the extra time spent on just getting out of the last area back (at least in Dread there are barely any ROOMS that are locked off from PB blocks, just the tanks themselves and the way back is WAAAY shorter)

The 100% shit is what drives me to hate this game.