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Description
I guess the beginnings of this picture would probably go back a few years now. Ya see, I've always wanted better looking versions of older 8-bit, and even sometimes 16-bit, games. So over the last couple of years I've messed around with coloring Gameboy sprites. Now ideally I'd just redraw everything and make it have the quality of something like Rayman Origins, but there'd be something a bit magical to me to have full color versions of the original games as well. Now I have no idea how to actually make a ROMhack, let alone a full original game, but god damn if I won't have some materials ready for if I ever did make full color versions of Gameboy Games.

Getting into the Metroids themselves, I've always loved the original SR388 life cycle of Metroids. It was the first time I'd seen a species in a video game given so much biological detail. Where it really popped out though, once I actually looked at it, was in Metroid Fusion for me. When I first went through the Restricted Laboratory in that game I didn't realize they had the SR388 stages of the lifecycle in there. Like, I saw them, but I didn't realize they were the actual creatures. I thought they were meant to be screens displaying the different forms on them so I kind've ignored it. Then I faced the Omega at the end, was like "Holy Shit!", and realized upon replaying it that "oh...those are the...woah, they have them ALL here?!".

As amazing as it was to see all the forms again, the years would go on and I'd assume we'd NEVER get to actually interact them in a game. Fan games of Metroid 2 would constantly be proposed with no indication from Nintendo that they'd EVER deal with the original life cycle again. And the fan games would ALWAYS fade away. Except for one. And you all know what one that is. Another Metroid 2 Remake. And dear lord, a PROPER remake of Metroid 2. Finally. And, to me, arguably the best game in the series. Alongside Zero Mission...and Super...and Fusion...and Prime...and Prime 2...

...yeah, most games in the series are the best game in the series to me...

But this game. The amount of work and time that went into it was unprecedented for even official titles. Nearing a DECADE of production. To see SR388, to see the ONE Metroid game that NEVER got ANY attention FINALLY be realized was...I played through it three times in a row once it was finally out. Yeah, still pissed Nintendo pulled the crap they did, but the newer takes on the areas, the visual detailing, everything about it is everything I'd wanted.

...well okay, maybe not EVERYTHING. Getting to the actual Metroids themselves, I will not deny that the sprites are a work of art. That being said though...they felt like they strayed a bit from what'd been established to me. Not in MAJOR aspects, but in that it was essentially the Zero Mission of Metroid 2. You have the Fusion materials to show specifically what they look like for what the series looked like by that point. I can appreciate the inclusion of fur along the collars of the later forms as the forms in that game seem to be an amalgamation of the Fusion and Metroid 2 designs. But, to me, Fusion refined things to such a degree that it seemed pretty much like "okay, THIS is what they look like" as opposed to Metroid 2 where the illustrations felt more like things slapped together to make a "video game" creature. Again, it's incredible what they did and how much they put in, but I myself would've personally made the forms look a bit different, specifically the Zeta and Omega. They look more like they're something out of Symphony of the Night.

Oh, and the Queen was an absolute bitch to get on here. There hardly exists any proper-sized sprites on the internet for the AM2R versions of the forms but I did find these from a guy called WickedClown. Only problem however was that he only had the front half and part of the back foot of the Queen. So I had to go in, fight the Queen TWICE, and rush to the back of the sprite before it exploded to get pictures of what the back end look like. Then I had to shrink that to line up with what WickedClown had and made my own sprites of the back over that to make everything look all nice and neat. Hopefully it turned out alright. Originally I loved the Queen's designs, but upon actually seeing the back (which you hardly get a glimpse of while playing), it seems they traded in the smoke-stack structures on the rear for a full tail which...kinda docks some points from me.

But then we get to Samus Returns. Now I kinda cheated here because it's next to impossible to get the full model of the Queen from screenshots so I used the art they did of it instead for that form. But the rest are, clearly, taken from shots of the game itself. And I gotta say...not a fan of these.

The only decent looking ones to me are the baby, larval, Alpha, and Omega forms in Returns. And even the Omega looks like a hedgehog with how its carapaces on its back are constructed. As for the rest?...ehhhh...

For starters, they took the idea of a tail and slapped it on full-force for this version of the life cycle. One of the iconic things about the forms was that they had less full-tails and more cut-off-smoke-stack-tails. Take that away and it makes them look less alien and more like just some animal. The one that got hit the hardest though is undeniably the Zeta Metroid. I mean...god damn what happened here? I know they were trying to make it more Xenomorph-like because "Metroid. Alien. Amirite?". But the thing is...the Zeta was not a Xenomorph. Metroids did get more Xenomorph looking as they went on yes, but the Zeta had a very distinct look to it, which, again, I gotta point to Fusion. Sure it's not as "edgy scary", but I'd say it's imposing enough for its size alone. It may not look like it here, but a Zeta in ANY incarnation other than the original Gameboy game TOWERS over Samus. It's slightly bigger than an in-game door. The thing's gigantic.

And one last thing. What's with the eyes? Metroid 2 and Fusion showed the forms with the original amount. 1 on each side of the head for the Alphas, 3 for the Gammas and Zetas, and four for the Omegas and the Queen. AM2R comes along though and BAM, five eyes for the Omega. And I can't be sure, but I'm pretty certain I remember seeing the very first initial sprites released had them having four eyes instead of five. But what makes this especially jarring is that final form, the Queen, has four eyes...after the Omega has five....

..WHAT?

But that's nothing compared to Samus Returns. This one just went eye-happy. Slap eyes on EVERYTHING. Zetas got four, Omega's got five, and the Queen has SIX. What the hell? I probably wouldn't have these problems if 2 and Fusion hadn't kept it the same amount between the two but they did, and any time I see more eyes on them it's REALLY jarring.

But I'd say that about covers it. Guess this can go up alongside my Eggman and Eggmobile Evolution warahi.deviantart.com/art/Eggm…

Should also say that the Fusion versions of the Metroids were colored by Xand0r on Reddit (other than the Omega, just took that straight from Fusion myself). I edited the thigh of the Zeta there a bit but he changed the legs from Fusion to a standing position so I'd say the credit goes both ways there

Description
I guess the beginnings of this picture would probably go back a few years now. Ya see, I've always wanted better looking versions of older 8-bit, and even sometimes 16-bit, games. So over the last couple of years I've messed around with coloring Gameboy sprites. Now ideally I'd just redraw everything and make it have the quality of something like Rayman Origins, but there'd be something a bit magical to me to have full color versions of the original games as well. Now I have no idea how to actually make a ROMhack, let alone a full original game, but god damn if I won't have some materials ready for if I ever did make full color versions of Gameboy Games.

Getting into the Metroids themselves, I've always loved the original SR388 life cycle of Metroids. It was the first time I'd seen a species in a video game given so much biological detail. Where it really popped out though, once I actually looked at it, was in Metroid Fusion for me. When I first went through the Restricted Laboratory in that game I didn't realize they had the SR388 stages of the lifecycle in there. Like, I saw them, but I didn't realize they were the actual creatures. I thought they were meant to be screens displaying the different forms on them so I kind've ignored it. Then I faced the Omega at the end, was like "Holy Shit!", and realized upon replaying it that "oh...those are the...woah, they have them ALL here?!".

As amazing as it was to see all the forms again, the years would go on and I'd assume we'd NEVER get to actually interact them in a game. Fan games of Metroid 2 would constantly be proposed with no indication from Nintendo that they'd EVER deal with the original life cycle again. And the fan games would ALWAYS fade away. Except for one. And you all know what one that is. Another Metroid 2 Remake. And dear lord, a PROPER remake of Metroid 2. Finally. And, to me, arguably the best game in the series. Alongside Zero Mission...and Super...and Fusion...and Prime...and Prime 2...

...yeah, most games in the series are the best game in the series to me...

But this game. The amount of work and time that went into it was unprecedented for even official titles. Nearing a DECADE of production. To see SR388, to see the ONE Metroid game that NEVER got ANY attention FINALLY be realized was...I played through it three times in a row once it was finally out. Yeah, still pissed Nintendo pulled the crap they did, but the newer takes on the areas, the visual detailing, everything about it is everything I'd wanted.

...well okay, maybe not EVERYTHING. Getting to the actual Metroids themselves, I will not deny that the sprites are a work of art. That being said though...they felt like they strayed a bit from what'd been established to me. Not in MAJOR aspects, but in that it was essentially the Zero Mission of Metroid 2. You have the Fusion materials to show specifically what they look like for what the series looked like by that point. I can appreciate the inclusion of fur along the collars of the later forms as the forms in that game seem to be an amalgamation of the Fusion and Metroid 2 designs. But, to me, Fusion refined things to such a degree that it seemed pretty much like "okay, THIS is what they look like" as opposed to Metroid 2 where the illustrations felt more like things slapped together to make a "video game" creature. Again, it's incredible what they did and how much they put in, but I myself would've personally made the forms look a bit different, specifically the Zeta and Omega. They look more like they're something out of Symphony of the Night.

Oh, and the Queen was an absolute bitch to get on here. There hardly exists any proper-sized sprites on the internet for the AM2R versions of the forms but I did find these from a guy called WickedClown. Only problem however was that he only had the front half and part of the back foot of the Queen. So I had to go in, fight the Queen TWICE, and rush to the back of the sprite before it exploded to get pictures of what the back end look like. Then I had to shrink that to line up with what WickedClown had and made my own sprites of the back over that to make everything look all nice and neat. Hopefully it turned out alright. Originally I loved the Queen's designs, but upon actually seeing the back (which you hardly get a glimpse of while playing), it seems they traded in the smoke-stack structures on the rear for a full tail which...kinda docks some points from me.

But then we get to Samus Returns. Now I kinda cheated here because it's next to impossible to get the full model of the Queen from screenshots so I used the art they did of it instead for that form. But the rest are, clearly, taken from shots of the game itself. And I gotta say...not a fan of these.

The only decent looking ones to me are the baby, larval, Alpha, and Omega forms in Returns. And even the Omega looks like a hedgehog with how its carapaces on its back are constructed. As for the rest?...ehhhh...

For starters, they took the idea of a tail and slapped it on full-force for this version of the life cycle. One of the iconic things about the forms was that they had less full-tails and more cut-off-smoke-stack-tails. Take that away and it makes them look less alien and more like just some animal. The one that got hit the hardest though is undeniably the Zeta Metroid. I mean...god damn what happened here? I know they were trying to make it more Xenomorph-like because "Metroid. Alien. Amirite?". But the thing is...the Zeta was not a Xenomorph. Metroids did get more Xenomorph looking as they went on yes, but the Zeta had a very distinct look to it, which, again, I gotta point to Fusion. Sure it's not as "edgy scary", but I'd say it's imposing enough for its size alone. It may not look like it here, but a Zeta in ANY incarnation other than the original Gameboy game TOWERS over Samus. It's slightly bigger than an in-game door. The thing's gigantic.

And one last thing. What's with the eyes? Metroid 2 and Fusion showed the forms with the original amount. 1 on each side of the head for the Alphas, 3 for the Gammas and Zetas, and four for the Omegas and the Queen. AM2R comes along though and BAM, five eyes for the Omega. And I can't be sure, but I'm pretty certain I remember seeing the very first initial sprites released had them having four eyes instead of five. But what makes this especially jarring is that final form, the Queen, has four eyes...after the Omega has five....

..WHAT?

But that's nothing compared to Samus Returns. This one just went eye-happy. Slap eyes on EVERYTHING. Zetas got four, Omega's got five, and the Queen has SIX. What the hell? I probably wouldn't have these problems if 2 and Fusion hadn't kept it the same amount between the two but they did, and any time I see more eyes on them it's REALLY jarring.

But I'd say that about covers it. Guess this can go up alongside my Eggman and Eggmobile Evolution warahi.deviantart.com/art/Eggm…

Should also say that the Fusion versions of the Metroids were colored by Xand0r on Reddit (other than the Omega, just took that straight from Fusion myself). I edited the thigh of the Zeta there a bit but he changed the legs from Fusion to a standing position so I'd say the credit goes both ways there