Metroid Musing: What Is Samus’s Ultimate Weapon: the Power Bomb or the Screw Attack?
Growing up playing the earlier Metroid titles like Super, Return of Samus, and NEStroid, it was always apparent to me that the pinnacle of Metroid’s gameplay loop of collecting powerups for Samus was the point when you acquired the Screw Attack, a move so powerful that you could literally slice enemies into bits by simply touching them.
This was always the ace for Samus, her ultimate weapon. This was true in Metroid Fusion as well. But with Metroid: Zero Mission, something started to change: suddenly, instead of the Screw Attack being the coup de grâce , the Power Bomb was presented as a much more dangerous item and Samus’s new ultimate weapon.
This has since been continued in Other M, Samus Returns, and Metroid Dread, with the Power Bomb being the last powerup you acquire, with Other M and Dread specifically having you grab them as the game was practically over.
However, despite what the later 2D games have done to build up the Power Bomb, I still view the Screw Attack as Samus’s ultimate powerup. I may be stuck to the old school, but what about you? What do you view as Samus’s ultimate weapon?
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.
