Descending deeper

More screenshots and things from playing AM2R, or Another Metroid 2 Remake, which, as I neglected to mention in the first post about this playthrough, is a fan-made remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991), published in 2016. Despite being a fangame, many fans consider it basically an official Metroid game, and I can confirm from what I've experienced so far, it's very good. This isn't a fully blind playthrough despite being my first, but I've admittedly forgotten a lot of the puzzles and item locations from watching others play it, and it's been fun to figure things out for myself.

Mild spoilers for all versions of Metroid 2's story (original + official and unofficial remakes).

Birbs holding birbs.

The crunch the mechanical enemies explode with is very satisfying.

Some Chozo writing on the hydro station dam. Cool cool.

Oh, you're not going to attack me, or even do contact damage? Well, now I just feel terrible for shooting at you. Sorry about that.

I like that the critters are mostly just minding their own business, though, and that some aren't even a threat at all. Sometimes the environments Samus finds herself in are inherently hostile, but AM2R's version of SR388's ecosystem is, at least close to the surface, pretty unbothered by her presence. The only things really going out of their way to attack her are automated machines built to defend long-abandoned facilities, and the bosses consisting of the metroids she's here to hunt and local apex predators big enough to view her as prey or competition for it.

The official Metroid 2 remake, Samus Returns (2017) (which I haven't played, only watched playthroughs of, as I don't own a 3DS, so I can't compare these two games on that front), takes a different approach, with the wildlife being more aggressive towards her just for existing near them. I think both suit their respective approaches to the game's story, which they've both taken liberties with to adapt it to how things have changed since the time when there was only two games' worth of pretty up-to-interpretation lore, with one major difference being the metroids' impact on the ecosystem.

But more on that later.

BIG SHOULDER SUIT BIG SHOULDER SUIT

The colours on the varia suit morph ball are so delicious I want to eat it!

Also I love the buzzing noise the spider ball makes, it sounds like purring. Getting the hang of controlling it, too.