Metroid Musing: Is Metroid II’s Spider Ball One of the Worst Abilities in the Series?
I want to preface this Musing by saying that I don’t think you’d find anyone who didn’t at the very least enjoy the Spider Ball in the Metroid Prime series. Gliding across the magnetic rails, using your Boost to go flying across chasms, and rolling carefully to find hidden Missile Expansions are some of my favorite activities in Prime’s 1, 2, and 3. But in Metroid 2? Oof. I think it’s actually my least favorite ability in Metroid.
The way you slowly crawl across the ceiling in painfully slow, and actually switching between the Spider Ball and the regular Morph Ball feels very cumbersome, and is rendered completely useless by later powerups. Although Samus Returns at least spices this powerup a bit with the Power Bomb augmentation, I still don’t think it fares much better in that game, while AM2R just smartly gives you the Space Jump shortly after acquiring the Spider Ball so you don’t have to use it.
The slow, plodding nature of Metroid II’s Spider Ball has earned it the dubious distinction of being my least favorite powerup in the series, but what say you? Is it really that bad, or am I just picking on this particular ability? Let us know in the comments below!
Andy Spiteri is the Webmaster of Omega Metroid and Host of the Omega Metroid Podcast, The Zelda Cast, and Virtual Theater. Probably drinking a Tim Horton’s Double Double as you read this.
