Metroid II: Return of Samus

Metroid II: Return of Samus is an action-platformer developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy in 1991. The sequel to the 1986 NES original, it sends bounty hunter Samus Aran down into the tunnels and caverns of the Metroid homeworld, SR388, with a single grim directive: exterminate the Metroid species one specimen at a time. Structured around that hunt, it uses a counter that ticks down as the player clears each creature, gating progress until the planet is cleared level by level, and it introduced series staples including the Spider Ball, the Space Jump, and several new Metroid evolutions. Rendered in monochrome on the small screen, it trades the original's open exploration for a more claustrophobic, oppressive descent, isolating the player deep underground with only the hostile life of a single world for company. Well regarded and later remade more than once, it remains a distinctive, atmospheric entry in one of Nintendo's signature series. It is the moody one every summer list needs, the August of the collection: not the bright pool game but the tense, lonely one you played by flashlight in the tent or under the covers past bedtime, the screen the only light in the room. Summer nights are part of summer too.