PixlBit

Fusion and Other M both tried to add more story to Metroid. Fusion did it very well, I thought, but Other M...well, the gameplay was fun at least.

Zero Mission a great place to start. I have a physical copy of Metroid II and I'm gonna play it...sometime lol. The fact that there hasn't been a new 2D Metroid since Zero Mission in 2004 is very sad. You really do need to finish Super Metroid though. It has a great ending 

I have not had the pleasure of playing Rocket Knight Adventures yet, but I love Sparkster for the SNES (which is a completely different game than Sparkster for Genesis). It had awesome jetpack-infused gameplay, beutiful sprite work, and a great soundtrack (especially that first level). I know all the Rocket Knight games play a little differently but I hope to play them all eventually. I've downloaded the XBLA/PSN game, actually, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

Props for drawing attention to this great but overlooked series!

You gotta play Metroid Prime! It's so good!

I should play Super Metroid again because I haven't in years and yeah, it's so good. I like Prime a little better, personally, but that's basically splitting hairs because Prime is kind of like Super Metroid in 3D lol.

Imagine if there was a Castlevania game that was to Symphony what Prime is to Super Metroid. That would be an awesome game! It certainly isn't Lords of Shadow though.

The lack of a map in the original Metroid ruins it for me. I don't have the patience to learn where everything is or the gumption to draw my own map lol. Echoes was less forgiving in general but it was that final boss that was so brutal. Like I said, I missed the optional weapon upgrade meant to make that fight reasonable. Making that weapon optional was a very strange design decision to be sure.

Yes, Symphony of the Night is awesome! You at least have to play the first Prime game, though they're all good. And Other M is super cheap right now so you should definitely pick it up even if you don't play it right away.

Metroid Prime is my favorite. I'd love to go through them all again though, especially the two on GBA since I've played them only once apiece. You should finish the Prime trilogy. Echoes and Corruptioin can't top Prime 1 but they're still great games.

Yeah, I really like PS+. If you stay on top of it, it pays for itself in no time  It would be pretty awesome if Microsoft got the memo too...

Nice rant, Jesse. Aside from the points you make in the piece, this news makes me sad because I recently finished playing Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii and really liked it. It made me interested in checking out the series proper and now looks like it might be dead. Bummer.

I suppose the silver lining in the cancellation of Dead Space 4 is that EA hasn't shut down Visceral Games. I wouldn't put it past them...