A playthrough of Nintendo's 1987 sci-fi action-adventure game for the NES, Metroid.
Steeped in numerous classic sci-fi tropes, Metroid tells the tale of intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran and her struggle to save the galaxy. After discovering an incredibly dangerous life form on another planet, Federation scientists transporting the organism are attacked by pirates. The specimen of this new species (dubbed “Metroid,” a portmanteau of metro and android) is stolen, and the pirates bring it to their headquarters on Planet Zebes, intending to breed it for use as a super weapon. A full assault on the heavily guarded planet fails, leading the Federation to ask Samus to infiltrate the pirate stronghold, eradicate the Metroid species, and destroy the “Mother Brain” at the core of the planet.
Metroid features an open-ended world that requires extensive exploration, feeling very similar to The Legend of Zelda despite being a run-and-gun platformer. Planet Zebes’ subterrane is comprised of a maze of caverns split into five distinct biomes, including Brinstar (rough and rocky), Norfair (fire and lava), Tourian (the technological heart of the planet), and the lairs of Kraid and Ridley, Zebes’ head guardians. Samus must comb each area thoroughly for items that will boost her abilities.
Upgrades will provide Samus with access to new areas and bolstered firepower, and the pacing of their placements gives the game a good, solid sense of progression. Some of the items are sitting out in the open, but many of them require you to dig a bit to find. Sometimes you'll see a block that's a bit off-color from the ones around it, or a rock ledge looks a bit out of place. Those are the signposts that have been left for you to follow. The game doesn't hold your hand by explicitly telling you what to do and how to do it, but it doesn't leave you completely on your own either. You just have to keep a hawk eye for the clues.
I do love how hard it tries to let you discover everything on your own. Have you ever noticed how, when she beams down at the beginning of the game, Samus stays facing the screen until you nudge her in one direction or the other? The game doesn't suggest a way to start, and surely enough, if you resist the conditioning to run straight to the right, you're immediately rewarded with your first upgrade. The game is good at dangling carrots in just the right places, and the rewards are always worth the effort.
Metroid‘s presentation, while plain, is extremely effective. The stark contrast between the barren background and the bright foreground is a clever way to visually depict how at odds Samus is with her environment. Making you stare into a black void the entire time nails the sense of isolation, and everything is just made all the more more unsettling with the music. The sound is usually minimalist and discordant, and it's super creepy - not something you'd expect coming from an NES game. Those techno-bloopy sounds in the item chambers always used to put me on edge playing this as a kid!
For as much as I love Metroid, though, it hasn't endured quite as well as Super Metroid has over the years. Too many of the rooms get repeated, Samus's jump is floaty and awkward to control, the physics can feel a bit janky at times, and there are a couple of really cheap moments when falling off a ledge all-but-guarantees a game over. Most of these issues also tend to be exacerbated by the game's poor technical performance. The game slows waaaaay down when enemies swarm the screen, and when the action starts to chug, accurately judging your jumps becomes an exercise in frustration. Samus sure seems to love diving into pools of lava.
For everything that it does right, though, it deserves massive credit. Clearly, a ton of attention and effort was poured into every aspect of its production, and the experience of playing it is still incredible all these years later. As long as you don't have an aversion to taking notes and you can resist the lure of a walkthrough, there's a lot to unwrap and savor here.
If you require an automap, clearly marked objectives, and a battery-backed save feature, you'd probably be better off playing Metroid: Zero Mission on the GBA.
You can find my video of Metroid II: Return of Samus here: • Metroid II: Return of ...
And Super Metroid here:
• Super Metroid (SNES) P...
(This video is a replacement for my original seven-year-old upload. The video quality is much higher and the aspect ratio is correct now. I've been meaning to update it, and now that it's October and Metroid Dread is coming out next week, this seemed like a good time to do it!)
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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