8 Video Game Remakes That Were TOTALLY Justified

It can't be disputed that 1987's Metroid has been a huge influence on the video game industry as a whole. The fact that it lends its name to the now omnipresent Metroidvania genre, permeating everything from indie darlings like The Messenger to behemoths such as Dark Souls, is telling enough.

Metroid's world-building and atmosphere is unrivalled amongst Nintendo's first party IP, with its claustrophobic tunnels and hostile alien lifeforms clearly inspired by Ridley Scott's Alien.

Sadly, the very first game in the series has been reduced to more of an interesting historical artefact than an enjoyable game. Its lack of any kind of map makes its sprawling cave system a confusing chore to navigate, and its limited movement and aiming system does it no favours.

Metroid: Zero Mission, released for the Game Boy Advance in 2004, rectified all of these issues. The inclusion of abilities and equipment from later entries such as Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion were welcome additions that greatly improved the game's exploration potential, but it was the implementation of a map that truly made this a title that easily outshines the original.

Zero Mission's added epilogue is also an interesting twist on Metroid's core gameplay, adding some extra challenge and cleverly weaving in some extra lore to tie into the following games in the series.