>>91748124I honestly think Metroid II was pretty good even if it's way different in structure to every other Metroid. It was kind of a bold move, but the changes were actually necessary to make Metroid work on the old greenscreen GB. Also it's the game that gave Samus's armor its now iconic look.
It's much more linear than the other Metroids, largely because the monochrome GB palette would've made backtracking much more difficult. For the same reason, your progress in the game isn't tied to how well equipped you are, but how many jellyfish bugs you've killed; you can fully explore and finish the game with just the bomb, ice beam, the jump upgrades, and maybe spider ball. All you really need are missiles and energy tanks.
This also shifts the game's focus from exploration to extermination. The first game was about stealing your way into a labyrinthine base to find a way to stop the space pirates, and your're doing it to save the galaxy. By contrast, Metroid II's whole mission is just "okay, no fucking around, kill everything". SR388 is an utterly insignificant dirtball, it never even got a proper name. It's not important for any reason than some admittedly dangerous organisms that don't even have their own agenda and can't even get off-world by themselves. It's a three-hour long victory lap, basically.
Metroid II is also the first explicit act of near-genocide by a Nintendo hero, and that's pretty hilarious in a dark way.
