8 Tiny Gameplay Tweaks That Changed EVERYTHING

Sometimes a gameplay tweak that has immense ramifications on a series doesn't revolve about giving players new options to dish out the damage, but instead, give them ways of mitigating incoming enemy attacks, and it's here that the Melee Counter from Metroid: Samus Returns truly deserves some love, because not only was it immensely satisfying to pull off, but it further cemented how much of a badass Samus truly is.

It's never fun to find yourself in a situation where you can do little to defend yourself against enemy projectiles and attacks, especially when you're on a sliver of health and may well end up dying before your attacks can shift the bastard who has you pinned down, but for a long time, this was exactly what plagued the Metroid series until the Melee Counter quite literally knocked that dated concept out of the park.

Now Samus could stare right into the eyes of a charging foe, then in the blink of an eye counter their attack and leave them open to a one-hit kill response often shortening the encounter immensely. As a result, this not only became a cool way to dispatch enemies but for pros and speedrunners became the way to progress through the game.

The mechanic returned to mass praise in the almighty Metroid Dread and somehow made you feel even smugger to pull it off, mainly due to how they incorporated the move into boss battles and as the only way to defeat certain enemies.