We wanted to take Samus right back to where it all began as well, so we used the first screen of the original Metroid, from way back when everyone still thought she had a penis.
How authentic is it?
Not far off the original at all. The level editor's restrictions on how close certain items can be placed to others made us cut out the pillars, but that worked out better from a gameplay point of view as it let us turn the bricks in the middle of them into platforms. Without that tweak the top of the stage would have been pretty much inaccessible. We also took the liberty of replacing the end blocks of thecentral platform with spikes and making the rest out of it out of ice, but that was more for a laugh than anything else.
How does it play in Brawl?
Fantastically. This stage has got it all. A tall central space for air combos. Perfectly placed walls for rebound shots. Aspacious but dangerous lower area with a big risk/reward factor. A safer but tricky to reach top level... Fights are varied, spontaneous, tactical and very very funny, and you can't ask for more than that from a Smash stage.
