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 You are Samus Aran, a space hunter who has
been hired to sneak into the planet Zebes and destroy the Mother
Brain. She is attempting to
cultivate a vicious alien group of Metroids, which she will use to take
over the world. You must make your
way through this maze-like planet and collect the various parts of your
suit that have been scattered around.
Once you have gathered all of your pieces to your suit your
mission is to find Mother Brain and destroy her once and for all.
Metroid appeared in Japan
in 1986 on the Famicom Disk System.
It was released six months after The Legend of Zelda and was created by Gunpei Yokoi at the
same time that he was also working on Kid
Icarus (this explains the similarities between the two). The depth of all three games forced the
gamer to play them over a long period of time because they had lots of
secrets to uncover. Because they
were so large they all needed to have a way for their progress to be
saved. That is where the FDS came
in – in Japan
the games could be saved because they were on disks. Unfortunately, in the United States, Nintendo never
released the Disk System. Instead
they decided to place a battery directly into The Legend of Zelda, which was an ingenious decision. When Nintendo of America looked at
Metroid’s sales in Japan
they decided that they weren’t great enough to warrant a battery. Thus a new system was born – the
dreaded giant password system.
Metroid requires a 24 digit password that uses capital and lower
case letters along with the numbers 0-9.
This leaves plenty of opportunities for error and was much
maligned by gamers across the United States. Instead of the password system Japan
had a menu similar to that of Zelda.
You had three spots to save your progress with little icons of
Samus Aran and it kept track of the number of times you had played each
game. Of course Metroid was such a
huge seller that both of its true sequels received batteries. Sadly, neither of these sequels were
released on the NES and instead were saved for the Game Boy and the Super
Nintendo.
Metroid is a very dark and
mysterious planet. If you aren’t
paying attention you will quickly find yourself lost and going around in
a circle. One of the
misconceptions about this game is that you have to make your way through
an enormous land. It is actually
quite a small area but there are so many secret exits and backtracking
that the  game appears to be much larger than it
is. What makes this game so cool
is that you start out with only 30 energy and a gun. Throughout the game you will find lots
of power-ups for your suit such as the ability to roll into a ball and
lay bombs while in a ball. You
will also be able to find an upgrade to your suit that will cut all
damage in half – a must in the later areas of this game. There are other power-ups as well such
as Ice Beam, Wave Beam, High Jump Boots and Long Range Shooting. In addition you will be able to add up
to six reserve energy tanks that will give you a maximum of 699
energy. Very quickly you will also
find missiles. Missiles will kill
virtually any enemy in one shot and by the end of the game you will be
able to hold over 200 of them.
They are also the key to killing the three bosses that are
scattered around the planet. In
order to find Mother Brain you must first destroy her two henchmen Kraid
and Ridley. Once they are defeated
a path will open up that will take you to her Metroid infested lair. Once you get killed you receive a
password and have the option of continuing. Once you start playing again you will
find yourself at one of a few starting points with only 30 energy. This is annoying because you will need
to spend a substantial amount of time boosting your energy level up to an
acceptable amount.
Metroid’s popularity has proved
to be enduring as it appeared on almost every issue of Nintendo Power’s Top 30 and still
has sequels being pumped out for Nintendo to this day, although they now
look nothing like the original Metroid experience. This is one that goes in the top tier
of games for the NES.
Positives:
I love the fact that you are
dropped in the middle of nowhere and have to figure out where you are
supposed to go. The games feels
enormous but if you are paying attention or  mapping out your way you will quickly figure
out that the amount of rooms in the game is actually somewhat small –
certainly there are less screens than The
Legend of Zelda. I also really
like the atmosphere that Metroid offers up. The game features all dark screens and really
reminds you that you are walking around a cavernous planet. The amount of power-ups is very
cool. The two most powerful
power-ups are the Varia Suit, which is extremely vital since it cuts all damage
in half and the Screw Attack which turns your regular jump into a
powerful spin attack that is as powerful as a missile. Another very strong positive are the
five different endings that you can receive – the best of which is one of
the greatest surprise endings of all-time.
Glaring
Negatives:
One major negative is that when
you die you start with only 30 energy.
By the end of the game you will be able to hold up to 699 energy
pellets and will need them all.
That means you will be spending awhile filling up by killing loads
of bad guys before you can even proceed with your game. The other negative, of course, is the
password. It is a real shame the
Nintendo didn’t allow Metroid to have a battery because it is very easy
to screw up the giant password that you have to write down. I think that it is clear that Metroid
would have made more than enough money to justify the extra cost of a
battery.
Graphics
and Sound: Good
Metroid has nice creepy music
that add a quality atmosphere to the proceeding. The sound effects are fun and not
abrasive. The graphics were great
for 1987 and still hold up today.
When you kill aliens, you get to see their guts fly in different
directions. The scenery emits a
suitable bleak feel but it is a little annoying how similar all of the
areas look because it makes it very easy to get lost.
Gameplay
and Controls: Great
The controls handle very
well. Samus moves very smoothly
and has lots of neat moves that can be pulled off as the game
progresses. There are a couple of
gripes though. One is that you
can’t duck and shoot because when you duck you turn into a ball. That means that you can’t shoot
anything that is on the ground below you; you have to bomb it. The other minor problem is that
sometimes Samus moves a bit wildly and you take a little damage that
could have been avoided. For the
most part, though, everything works very smoothly.
Features:
Password
Without a password this game
would be impossible, of course as soon as you see your first password you
will wish this game came with the battery it was originally intended to
have.
Fun?:
Yes
There is definitely a little bit
of frustration in this game but overall it is a genuinely fun game. You have lots of power-ups to find and
tons of secret passages to uncover.
Unless you cheat, you will be searching for quite some time.
 Challenge: Yes
This game is going to challenge
you. You either will have to
create a map or resign yourself to checking the maps on the Internet
every once in awhile.
Replay:
Yes
The game has five different
endings depending on how quickly you can beat the game so there is
definitely incentive to go back
and see the different endings.
2
Player: No
I’m not even sure how that would
work.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Element.View&egID=1483&lgID=642
Bottom
Line: One of the best
Metroid is one of those games
that you have to own. It was one
of the greatest games ever made upon its release in 1987 and although
graphically inferior it is still one of the most enjoyable games
around.
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