Game: Metroid II: Return of Samus
Song: Ending theme
Composer: Ryoji Yoshitomi
Above: Ending from Metroid II
There's a near-100% chance you've never played Metroid II: Return of Samus. It's excessively old, has no map to guide you through the labyrinthine planet and sports some lovely black-and-white graphics that look four thousand years old. Why should you even bother at this point, right? Because it actually has the coolest premise of any Metroid game, plus a couple of kickass songs to top it all off.
The ending theme (above) plays as the credits roll. It's standard 8-bit ending fare, which means it's an uplifting, congratulatory song that should soothe the soul of even the most jaded gamer. Those old 8-bit endings really knew how to send you off in style.
And there's a re-imagined version from OverClocked ReMix - it retains all the simple charm of the aging original while adding a new-millenium layer of trancey sound effects. Embrace your weekend with this playing in the backgroundand nothing can go wrong.
So the songs are strong - what about that cool-ass premise teased in the opening? Metroid II send Samus to the Metroid home planet on an extermination mission, meaning the titular parasites are all over the place instead of late-in-the-game enemies. You also run into their various mutations and the queen Metroid herself, then end it all by sparing the last Metroid larva in existence. This tiny moment on a forgotten handheld game actually sets the stage for Super Metroid and Other M, so it's continually surprising that Nintendo hasn't re-released this is some other form. Colorful DS remake, please?
Training theme by Kaneoka, Nakatsuka and Yamamoto
Anthem and Another Winter by Anamanaguchi
Hell March by Frank Klepacki
