Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance) Preview

There has been some major confusion regarding this title since its announcement at 2003's E3 event

The lethal bounty hunter must traverse the various areas of Zebes in an attempt to reach Tourian, the stronghold of the Space Pirates, a native species that is breeding a batch of special creatures called 'Metroids' who can literally suck the life right out of anything they latch on to. Once there she must seek out and destroy the evil Mother Brain and hinder the Space Pirates's dastardly plan. This storyline is very reminiscent of the NES game, but not only will there be significant expansion to it later on in the game (uncovering much background information), it will also be related to the gamer in the form of various still images and maybe even some animated scenes, as appeared in Metroid Fusion.

As with the previous versions, players will be able to explore the maze of paths, both visible and hidden to the naked eye, whilst discovering many items that can increase Samus's health, ammunition, range of abilities or simply her general arsenal, and stumbling upon brand new locations, many of which will prove extremely vital in order to complete the mission. But this time things will differ from Fusion in that the game will not hold your hand and lead you through to the end. Zero Mission reverts back to Super Metroid and leaves the investigating completely up to the gamer. Thorough exploration is, of course, voluntary, yet this advice must be heeded: progression through the game may be frustratingly halted if you do not have the correct weapon, ability or accessory to open certain doors, walls and so on

So all in all the game is looking to shape up exceedingly well when compared to prior editions. But there is still the matter of what these extra additions will be. There has been much speculation over the additions that are supposedly going to lengthen the Metroid experience (Fusion was criticised as being too short because of it linearity). Nintendo has not exactly helped the situation either, fanning the flames with comments such as 'If you thought the original Metroid had a surprise ending, wait until you get past Mother Brain in Metroid: Zero Mission. A new twist provides a deeper adventure than ever before' and '...you won't always have the Power Suit to protect you...' So what could happen after Mother Brain? Perhaps Samus will be stripped of all her abilities and forced to continue on through a final set of challenges? Nothing concrete has been revealed as of yet, so feel free to speculate as much as you want below in the comments. After all, you all know by now that C3 likes its speculation...