The moving pillar was better.
Both of the final versions get upgrades to stand out from the rest. The pillar becoming mobile was interesting, and it made it legitimately more of a threat. The eyeball moving to the ceiling was the same way. But the eyeball also rolling around on the ground? Well, that’s both silly and boring. It doesn’t make the eye any harder to survive, as it gives you a bit of a break while it decides to do figure eights just because it can. It also doesn’t hit the walls, so you can just stand against a wall and wait. Considering how long these boss fights are, I welcomed the break, but all it did was make the fight longer, really.
As much as I dislike the gameplay in terms of controls and lack of creativity, I have to admit the cutscenes are cool. They’re obviously pre-rendered rather than in-engine, but considering how much the game lags with just three Guardians attacking you, that was a necessary step. And since they’re working with new material rather than things you’ve seen before, it looks better, to me. Other M’s cutscenes were cool and all, but Mother Brain just looked weird. It’s just not at all how I picture it when looking at the Super Metroid graphics.