I always point out this is why the SA-X is so creepy while the EMMIs in Dread are just annoying. The SA-X could come from anywhere, it wasn't restricted to just one area. Of course after you play it you know it's scripted, but you don't know that the first time it blasts through a wall.

Love that game

Yes! The SA-X is so damn unsettling and every encounter is made more terrifying when Adam keeps reminding you to run from it or you’ll die And you WILL die. Very quickly. Fusion is so good

Emmi moments when first playing Metroid dread match if not beat this

All Emmi did was frustrate me, meanwhile SA-X gives an overwhelming sense of anxiety and stress in almost the entirety of Fusion. Kinda like the difference between a cheap jumpscare vs a real sense of foreboding and genuine terror

Thats how I felt about the SA-X. It never scared me, just became "that annoying boss at the end". Its a very subjective experience.

SA-X is such a great villain. Evil doppelganger of yourself with all your powers and none of your higher reasoning = incredibly dangerous and threatening.

I would saybwith MORE ppwers than Samus, cause HER missiles can't breach walls and airlocks!

For me it was that chase through TRO, but that was more a reflexive terror at being actively *chased*, I guess. THIS was still a pretty good one for setting up *HOW* dangerous SA-X was, though...

I remember this moment fondly despite how much I feared the SA-X. Any encounter with the SA-X afterwards was terrifying. Nowadays I tempt fate and constantly provoke the SA-X just to test how sharp my reflexes are lol.

The way I thought that thing was about to jump down that shaft and chase you immediately. My heart wasn't ready for this game!

I agree. I still have nightmares of being stalked by SA-X 😅

Definitely!! Those moments throughout the game were so well done

This was actually my introduction to the Metroid series. And I loved it.

This cutscene literally looks like a creepypasta, like if it wasn't officially in a game I would never believe it was

What you talking about son? those eyes scream dead sexy to me. 😬

First time I saw this scene, it legit scared me.

100%

I think its the sudden switch from pixel art to full blown detailed image that gets me

Shit legit terrified me back when I first played it Metroid Fusion was not the right game for lil' eleven-year old me to play

I do wish the game had gone with the mechanic of having the SA-X be an active presence throughout the game, rather than scripted encounters

Which Metroid game is this?

Metroid Fusion for Game Boy Advance

Thank you.

You're very welcome!

And it's on Nintendo switch online!

I'd love to see a Metroid Fusion remaster as mostly a horror game. Definitely the scariest Metroid game, especially with themes like this youtu.be/k8CYUNmFkQo?...

That cut scene is fucking scuffed!!! It's a horror movie in itself!!!

The part where you have to run past it in the overgrown biome gave me such anxiety as a kid. One of the hardest gaming walls to break through

I've always imagined Metroid would do great as an Alien Isolation-esque horror style

Turning into ball form and just zipping down tunnels running from *something*, what a camera chase that would be.

I agree

Any scene with the SA-X is so creepy and I love it

This game is peak Metroid actually scared me somewhat as a kid.

Love that game

It really was, and it was awesome! Those dead, white eyes looking directly at the player menacingly really set a horrific tone.

It's interesting in hindsight because I loved that game when it launched. It sunk it's teeth right in and I was forever a Metroid fan. I played all the originals but didn't get "it," until Fusion. At the time the criticism was it was too linear because it showed an objective. It was fire.

Even the Prime games, especially 2, have this looming sense of dread. I've replayed Prime 1 the most, and it definitely whiffs of horror in it's environment and scope. Dread however is the true successor to this moment in Fusion and that game is better than cake.

I only started to play Fusion last month actually! ... And yeah, it's a great horror game. SA-X is creepy in all the right ways.

When SA-X does a screw attack and Samus barely has missiles at that point. You know you don't have a fighting chance at all

IDK I remember spending hours trying to get out of a bottomless pit in the NES Metroid that gave me nightmares

I’ve said it a million times before but if you were going to make a Metriod movie Fusion should be your base. Think Aliens meets The Thing. God, can you imagine the body horror potential if used with practical effects? Just the infected suit removal alone.

Fusion introduced too much unnecessary backstory no one ever needed though.

Fusion threw in a few lines while Samus mused about the AI during elevator rides. Other M trying to build an entire backstory from this was the reason people even remember it.

SA-X was terrifying every time it showed up

Holyshit. Which game is this?

Metroid Fusion

Cool. Because that was BOSS. :) What console?

Game Boy Advance!

oh cool. I may go and emulate a completely legal copy of this game I totally own in physical form. :P

It's also on Switch and Switch 2 with the free GBA download if you have one.

The initial entry aside, the SA-X was a great creepy antagonist throughout It's appearance was scarce enough that you never got used to it. Yet it's presence could be felt throughout the lab, evidenced by the damage it'd leave behind here and there

Oh yes, the fact that it wasn't trashing everything even made me paranoid that it was following some agenda, that it might be much smarter than I thought.

It also purposefully targets upgrade stations later in the game hence why you find them destroyed more often the further along you are, as the SA-X is trying to prevent you from getting strong enough to defeat it.

And one huge reason why no matter what anyone says about Dread, the game’s robots will never compare. This is how you do real fear.

All of the encounters with the SA-X were spine chilling. Just hearing the thunk thunk thunk as it patrols around.

Here, this will ruin it for you. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI89...

YES! More people need to play fusion. It's so good.

That zoom in TERRIFIYES me

It also heavily implies that Samus could just blow up all those doors herself, if she chose to be that destructive...

I was also sadly hoping for a moment in the game where a shred of humanity emerged in Xamus. And suddenly its not "just" a deadly threat, its starting to truly "wake up"... And at the very end, comes the "I am afraid" moment, and for an instant, you are hit with "oh god, am I the villain now?"

At that point I still thought, there would be a plot twist at the end of the game. That I was playing a clone of Samus, being manipulated by the federation and the real Samus was hunting me down.

Absolute peak. Metroid Fusion really made SA-X terrifying

one hit kills are boring

I haven't played it in a couple years but I don't think it's one hit kills? I mean unless you have no extra health tanks 😅

This is the moment that cemented fusion as a horror game

Fusion is as close to horror as Metroid has ever been besides Prime 2 and Dread.

❤️ Metroid Fusion

Samus... But green? SIGN ME UP! 😂

The silence as it walks in with just the footsteps, then the reveal with the music swell... Shivers down my spine every time.

I really dug how it was kind of a turnabout. Samus hunted the metroids to extinction, later got fused with metroid DNA, and it's now being hunted by... Herself. Poetry.

This game is so good, I loved the creepy space station vibes it was such a different experience from the other Metroids.

Metroid has always had a creepy and tense atmosphere even back on the NES, but Fusion? Fusion is a fuckin’ horror game in disguise. Kinda glad they kept that vibe for Dread too.

Dread had a few genuinely creepy moments, I loved it!

The head tilt alone is legit the sort of thing all those stupid video game creepy pastas wish they could pull off.

Was completely terrifying teh first time

I have a video you might enjoy! www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuhd...

one of my fave games from the gba

"Remember, if you see it... ...just run."

This part sent a chill down my spine, but the info you obtain much later in the game (without spoilers) made my jaw drop with fear.

Jumpscare

First metroid game i played, only one I beat. Fantastic game

First game I beat was Metroid.

There's another bit where the SA-X is walking around. You try to take a vantage point above it, and there's a collapsing floor right there. I managed to grab hold of the ledge, but my heart went right into my mouth. The SA-X thankfully didn't see me dangling mere inches above her head.

I can't believe Metroid destroyed that wall and the door.

That turn to look straight at you, the player… chills

YES. I won't forget it

I still remember the cold sweat after it zoomed in on sa-xs face

When I was playing it back in the day, I remembered this scene in Prince of Persia immediately, and I knew, “shit, here we go again.”

Fusion scared me when I had it as a younger person. Running from the X copy scared the shit out of me

When I saw this the first time as a kid, I know I had nightmares about this