Metroid II: Return of Samus

I don’t understand why there couldn’t have been a map; I understand the game is old and hardware limitations were a strong consideration at the time, but Link’s Awakening was on the same system, had more expansive gameplay, and had a map screen. I complain because the backgrounds are similar enough that I kept backtracking by accident, not helped by a few rooms with similar layout occasionally being used together (one is an effective fake-out, in fairness). Otherwise, this is an effective horror-adjacent portable adventure, conjuring just enough dread to earn that hyphen without being overwhelming. A fun five hours.

6