The on foot player is SO underpowered. You move slow, you fire one shot at a time, you get punished for dodging three times in a row. Your charge shot is useless as it doesn't explode on contact. The only good thing is that you are invincible during your dodge.
The normal missions are very doable, but it's the multi-boss fights where the struggle begins and it becomes apparent that those fights were not balanced for a solo Samus player. The dual Ridley fight was especially painful.
The final level was a joke with the gunship because you can just ignore Ridley. Not the case as Samus. I got so frustrated during that mission, and you have to do it without healing or items. It's rough.
If you don't accidently walk into one of the million hearts littered around and fail the master rank requirement that way, Ridley will make sure to hit you the moment you look away from him and ruin your life. That boss could've used more obvious sound cues or something. I had to incapacitate him over and over to not deal with the random grab attacks from behind.
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Timestamps:
[00:00:10] Stage 1: First Contact
[00:01:31] Stage 2: Geemer Invasion
[00:04:38] Stage 3: Approaching Cyclons
[00:06:54] Stage 4: Token Sweep
[00:08:44] Stage 5: Zebesian Incursion
[00:10:21] Stage 6: Cyclon Infestation
[00:12:52] Stage 7: Destroy 10 Cyclons
[00:14:21] Stage 8: Infernal Battle
[00:17:07] Stage 9: Cyclon Queen's Tokens
[00:19:00] Stage 10: Hostile Colossus
[00:22:36] Stage 11: Geemers!
[00:24:31] Stage 12: Subzero Combat
[00:27:21] Stage 13: Metroid Hunt
[00:29:11] Stage 14: Defend Your Allies
[00:31:39] Stage 15: Zebesians Incoming
[00:33:47] Stage 16: Evade the Snipers
[00:36:53] Stage 17: Air Supremacy
[00:40:20] Stage 18: Frosty Token Sweep
[00:42:32] Stage 19: Strike from Behind
[00:47:49] Stage 20: The Final Battle
[00:52:03] Stage 21: More Geemers
[00:55:14] Stage 22: Unidentified Enemy Object
[01:01:09] Stage 23: Metroid Rush
[01:04:18] Stage 24: Kraid's Army
[01:08:40] Stage 25: Token Sweep
[01:11:04] Stage 26: Defend Your Allies 2
[01:13:28] Stage 27: De-iced
[01:15:37] Stage 28: Ridley and Ice Ridley
[01:25:11] Stage 29: On Familiar Ground
[01:31:40] Stage 30: The True Final Battle
