Dan Geeks Out: Video Game Review #157: Metroid

Metroid

Nintendo Entertainment System

Nostalgia Factor:

I was only four years old when Metroid came out back in the mid-80s. This was never a game that I actually owned myself. Instead, I would play it whenever I was visiting a friend that had the game. Metroid was a bit too complex for us at that age. We never had any idea of what was going on, nor did we ever make a significant dent as far as progressing in the game. But hey, we liked it and we had fun with it.

My uncles also had the game, and I loved to sit there spellbound, watching them as they played. My uncles are several years older than me, so they had a better grasp of how to advance in the game and how to eventually complete it. I remember when my uncle John beat the game, it seemed like such a giant accomplishment to me. I ran out of the room shouting “John beat Mother Brain! John beat Mother Brain!!!” Aaaaaand no one cared. Good times.

Metroid was a game that always vexed me when I was younger. As a kid, I was generally pretty good at video games and beat nearly every game I sat down and played. Metroid was another story. Perhaps if I had owned the game myself and had been able to invest more time in it, I would have been able to beat it. But I never did.

Years and years went by before I saw this game for sale at Mega Media Xchange. I quickly snatched it up and added it to my collection. I was in my mid to late 20s at the time, so clearly a LOT of time had passed since I’d first played it as a kid. I used an online walkthrough to beat the game, and I felt so accomplished when the closing credits started to roll. By beating Metroid, it was like I had exorcised an old demon that had been following me around since I was four years old. This was several years before I started doing reviews.

Now here I am in my mid-30s. A week or two ago this random urge to pull out Metroid and give it another go (this time, with limited help from online guides) overwhelmed me. It was time to return to the game that had haunted me for so long when I was a small child.

Story:

There isn’t much to report as far as Metroid’s storyline goes. You power up the game and it takes you to the title screen. If you wait a minute and don’t push any buttons, you get a screen that says:

"EMERGENCY ORDER!

DEFEAT THE METROID OF THE PLANET ZEBETH AND DESTROY THE MOTHER BRAIN THE MECHANICAL LIFE VEIN

GALAXY FEDERAL POLICE M510"

And that is all the information the game gives you concerning its storyline. Informative, huh? If you have an instruction manual, maybe it outlines the storyline in more detail. Unfortunately, I do not have a manual.

Gameplay:

One of Metroid’s strongest areas is in its gameplay. Using the directional pad, you control the game’s protagonist, Samus Aran. Samus can run left and right. She jumps. She shoots. The deeper into the game you get, the more moves you can unlock. The most notable move is unlocked when you collect the morph ball mere seconds into the game. This item turns you into a ball when you press the down key. This allows you to roll through small corridors and tight spaces. You can drop bombs when in ball form. Not only is this useful for killing enemies and destroying fake walls and floors, the bombs also help propel you into the air to reach hidden areas.

The controls for the game are all crisp and responsive. Samus moves perfectly in tune with the directions you input into the controller. I have no complaints there. The game can be difficult at times, especially with some of the precision jumping that you need to master in order to progress in the game. But the game rarely ever feels unfair, which is a testament to its design. If you die or miss a platform with an ill-timed jump, it is most likely your fault that it happened, not the game’s.

How does Metroid play out? Why did I struggle with this game so much as a kid? Quite simply, it all boils down to the format of the game. On the surface, it may look like your typical 2D platform game, but it is not. Most games of this nature from the NES era were pretty simple. You started on the left side of the screen, working your way towards the right until you reach the end of the level. Rinse and repeat. But things are not that simple in Metroid.

In Metroid, there are no levels, no stages, nothing of the sort. The whole game is one giant maze, and it is pretty much wide open right from the beginning. Where you go, where you choose to explore – that is entirely up to you. Hidden in this maze are essential power ups like missile and health upgrades and different types of attack beams. In order to beat the game, you have to explore this giant map, collecting as many upgrades as you can. You are going to need them if you want to have any hope of beating Mother Brain at the end of the game.

In order to get to Mother Brain, you need to first kill two of the game’s boss characters: Ridley and Kraid. Ridley and Kraid each exist in their own separate hideouts that you have to find and explore. Think of your starting area in the game as the “main hub”. Hidden within this hub are elevators that take you to Ridley and Kraid’s lairs. Find and kill these two characters, and this unlocks the elevator to Mother Brain. The game doesn’t give you much in terms of direction, so it is up to you to discover this on your own. Given the maze-like structure of the game, it is no wonder I could never figure out what to do when I was as kid. Knowing what to do now, in present day, made things so much easier.

I expected to come into this game and spend days and days wandering around getting lost. That didn’t happen. I actually beat Metroid pretty quickly in two different playing sessions that totaled just a couple hours each. Amazing how I could beat a game so quickly that I had struggled with for so long as a child. But I had fun. It was a great time. It is no fun wandering around with no idea of what your goal is or where to go. Having a purpose in mind really, really helped me to enjoy this game, so much more than I ever did when I was younger. Even more than I did when I had to use a walkthrough to beat it about ten years ago. I’ve never appreciated Metroid more than I do right now.

Graphics:

I think Metroid still looks terrific. The game’s look and feel just oozes classic charm. All I have to do is take one look at a screenshot of the game and it immediately teleports me back to my childhood.

That said, if you are not a child of the 80s, you are going to think this game looks super primitive. Focus on the positives though. Samus look great. The enemies look great. There are a wide variety of enemies that all look different, they aren’t just the same thing over and over again with different color schemes. The areas of the game all look different too. Each section of the game has its own unique feel with its own distinct personality. Yes, the game’s visuals are super primitive, but remember that this came out in 1986. Most of you reading this probably weren’t even born yet!

Sound:

Aside from its gameplay, Metroid’s music and sound effects may be one of the strongest things about it. As soon as you turn on the system, you are immediately greeted by the game’s booming, iconic opening theme. This theme is kind of eerie and intimidating, and it definitely gets you in the mood to play some Metroid when you hear it. Once you start playing, the game’s equally iconic but cheery hub theme starts up. Enter different areas, and different music starts to play. Each area’s music is freaking great, and fits in perfectly with the environment to create a truly engrossing atmosphere for the game. I can’t say that there is a Nintendo game out there that has a better soundtrack.

The sound effects, while not quite as good as the game’s music, are really good too. I love the jumping sound, the sound of your main weapon, the sound of the ice beam, the sound your bombs make, and the sound the game makes when you hit an enemy. All iconic. If it was up to music and sound effects alone, Metroid would definitely get an A plus.

Overall:

Metroid is a great game no matter how you look at it. When I view it through my nostalgia goggles, I look at it is a big, challenging game that, although I had fun with it, gave me fits as a kid. Looking at it by today’s standards, the game has aged surprisingly well. If you can ignore the graphics (which I actually enjoy, but I know most younger people won’t), you will find great gameplay, great music, and a really fun world to explore. It definitely helps if you know what the goal of the game is when you start it out. If you come into it blind, it can be a little confusing and difficult to get into.

Metroid is an important game as it laid the groundwork for “open world” platform games. You don’t just move from the left side of the screen to the right, you explore! You find things. You backtrack. You discover new areas. Seems commonplace in games now, but it can all be traced back to Metroid. They don’t call newer games in this vein “Metroidvania” style for no reason.

Would I recommend this to anyone who hasn’t played the game before? Yeah! Metroid may not be for everyone, and it certainly is not without its flaws, but it is an important game both in my life and in the history of video games as a whole. It is not and probably never will be my favorite Nintendo game, but I’ve played Super Metroid, some of the Prime games, and Other M, and this still stands out as my favorite in the series.

Final Score: