"Obviously the best adventure game on the NES..."

Well this game was made very early, mainly during the early years of Nintendo. So that can explain for the Mario Brothers graphics, despite that fact the graphics were fairly good and the music was pretty catchy as well. This was the first of the highly successful Metroid series, but it just didn't work out too well in Japan. Well enough talk and onto the review!

Graphics: 7/10
The graphics in this game were done pretty well with a lot of character sprites being used on the enemies in the stages. However background design was almost completely absent as all you would see is just black in the background most of the time. The game did not show any signs of slowdown at all, which is a good thing and the graphics were easy to bear. Overall Nintendo did a fairly good job in the graphics department.

Music/Sound: 9/10
The music in this game was a more adventurous type of music rather than the rather spooky music found in Super Metroid. The music was rather catchy at times and would changed from different areas in the game, in fact this game even had boss music, which was the first game to do so. The sounds were a little edgy since they were just bleeps and bloops, but not the last bit annoying. Overall Nintendo did an excellent job in this department.

Replay Value: 10/10
There were a lot of rumors going on about the hidden areas in the game. In fact they were true! In fact even if you had beaten the entire game, you probably explored only a third of the game's total areas! There were at certain areas in the game where you can use a "Wall Door" technique that lets you explore the uncharted areas in the game. While some may call this a glitch, the extra areas in the game were very unique. But there was a point in the game if you had messed up on the "wall Door" technique you would stay at ball form and become stuck forcing you to start the game over again, which hurted me at times. But these areas that were supposedly unfinished were simply awesome! You can't get to these side areas by doors or shooting your way through blocks, I'm not sure if it was intentional or not intentional, but I'm glad Nintendo didn't do a thing about it! Also in some of these hidden areas were unfinished rooms so you might find yourself stuck, but oh well! Start the game over again! Overall Nintendo has done a simply remarkable job in this department, with literally a TON of replay value.

Gaemplay: 10/10
The gameplay was very easy to adapt to in this game, it was like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but with a little change. You are bounty hunter Samus, you have tracked Mother Brain to the planet Zebes and you must stop her before the faith of the galaxy is lost. So you set off into the planet Zebes equipped with a armored suit and an arm gun. So you arrive on a platform at the heart of the planet Zebes and you must stop Mother Brain. There are a ton of areas to explore in this game, and special weapons that aids you in your journey as well, along the way you can pick up items like the Varia Suit, which doubles your defense, a morph ball, Ice Beam, and many other items. Youc an also pick up missles that would allow you to take down those pink doors, and there were 255 missles, each coming in a set of five, and it was pretty fun exploring and finding all 51 sets of missles. The areas in this game are vast and you will need certain special weapons to find your way through to the next area, in fact when you think your stuck in nowhere, there WILL ALWAYS be a way out, unless of course you stumble upon those unfinished rooms using the "Wall Door" technique. There were only three bosses in this game though, being the over weight craid, Ridley, and your final showdown with Mother Brain, you needed to defeat Ridley and Kraid to get to Mother Brain, but there was a glitch that would allow you to find Mother Brain before you defeated Kraid or Ridley, but that's another story. The control was excellent to say the least and if you lose it was your own fault. Anybody familiar with the Metroid series knows that this game was huge, in fact this is possibly bigger than Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! You also had 5 different endings in the game, which would be given to you if you had completed the game in a certain amount of time, and after you defeated Mother Brain, you would endure the classic escape scene before the bombs detonates, just like in Super Metroid. You also had a password save feature, and the password was bearable, but long. Overall Nintendo deserves a 3 month vacation or something, because they have certainly outdone themselves in this department.

Overall: 10/10
With vast areas to explore, a TON of side areas(mainly the "Wall Door" side areas) and incredible music. You would literally spend hours on this game as it takes a good 10-20 hours to complete this game, not including the side areas and collecting miscellaneous items like the Wave Beam and extra Missles. This game was vastly huge and will guarantee to keep you interested in the game, while the endings are all similar they are still different, and it just amkes you play the game over again to get the better ending. Couple that with smooth control and pleasant midi music and you've got once heck of a deal. This was quite possibly the best adventure game for the NES, in fact this game kills the Tomb Raider series and even Metal Gear Solid! Trust me! If you liked Castlevania: Symphony of the Night get this game now! If you liked the other Metroid games, pick this game up now! In fact if you have never even heard of this game, pick it up anyways!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99