"A pirates life for me! (Sinse Samus isn't likely to defeat them)."

For what Metroid is about to receive, may I be truly thankful.

Like a phantom mushroom, the gaming industry is a fickle and perplexing beast. Sometimes, truly abysmal piles of programmed putrescence are given the highest honest, while shining gems of glorious gaming goodness go unnoticed. Neither of these describes Metroid. For one thing, the series roles on like a highly persistent rampaging rhino, despite it's creator's unfortunate end in the late 90's. Also, some of the games produced under the Metroid banner have been nose wateringly stunning, and yes, I'm looking in the direction of super Metroid here.

As a complete and total Metroid obsessive fan boy, Metroid Zero Mission on the Gba was a lovely experience for me, not least because once I'd finished the exquisite game, I would be aloud to play it's original incarnation, the game that started the hole Metroid juggernaut on it's inexorable course, the only Metroid game up to that point that I'd never played before.

But what do I find, another peerless paragon of space pirate plugging? sadly no. While I can admit the game's revolutionary status, and look at it as a museum piece worthy of any collector's shelf, as a game there are several critical flaws that make this first in the series, also in my opinion, the worst. Even accepting the limitations of hardware in 1986, I'm still surprised (though infinitely grateful), that the series gained so much popularity. While it goes without saying that the problems of the first game were nicely ironed out in the next two instalments, this doesn't make the problems less problematic.

At this point I expect many people to be screaming in outrage, cursing my name and having visions of me being slowly boiled alive in a Norfair lava pit with Metroids feeding upon my foolish brains. while dooming me to such a fate might indeed be fare and just, I would beg people to please here me out before they start heating up the magma and running around Sr388 with a butterfly net making X parasite noises.

Metroid!
Episode I, the Pirate menace.

A long time in the future in a galaxy, --- err --- somewhere.

It is a dark time for the Galactic federation, interstellar trade has become common, but so unfortunately has interstellar piracy. An exploratory mission to the planet Sr388 discovered a new and dangerous life form possessing the ability to attach to it's prey and suck out vital energy. This life form was dubbed Metroids.

On the return trip from Sr388, the science vessel was attacked by a group of Space Pirates who took the Metroids back to their fortress planet Zeebs, with hopes of using beta rays to replicate them for use as biological weapons to attack galactic Pease. the galactic government's one desperate hope was the enigmatic bounty hunter Samus Aran, who, utilizing a power suit made decades before by the mysterious bird like race known as the choso, had carried out several missions which were thought to be impossible. samus therefore landed on the planet Zeebs, former home of the Choso race, and set about infiltrating the pirate fortifications to destroy the bio-mechanical Mother Brain, controller of the base's defences.

And so it begins. This plot, is in some ways typical of the time in which the game was made. Some bad fellows causing trouble deep inside their base, and the hero going in to stop them. Also typical of the time, the only points in the game where the plot actually mattered were the beginning, last boss, and the end, progression? nada! progress? zip! actual story? not one iota!

But this plot did do something fairly amazing in computer game history. Even if we leave aside the huge expansion of the Metroid universe that occurs in later games, there is one aspect of this minimal story that makes it stand out.

Samus! gender!

Back in the late 80s Princess Toadstool was about the height of gender equality in gaming, i.e., a pathetically frilly girly piece of rescue bate. even when games starred female charactors, the games were inevitably cute and cuddly. Now as a Bubble Bobble player I have absolutely no objection to cute, but it is a bit depressing to think the only females in gaming appear in shades of pink.

but not in Metroid! (until the gravity Suit in Super anyway). Samus identity as a lady was never revealed until the ending, and many a gamer received a nasty shock.

Hopefully today, we know (thanks to Ripley), that ladies can do just as well as gentlemen when it comes to doing in aliens.

But despite this historical significance, Metroids plot is still hardly astounding today.

Now I know what a square world looks like.

the graphics are, like the plot, typical of the time, blocky, and simple with a black background. Some touches such as the statues and vines on the ledges of certain corridors, even show an attempt to provide some real visual backdrop and atmosphere to the action.

If I was being overly picky, I'd point out that using the same colour in the same chamber for monsters and ledges can sometimes be a pest, but I'm not sure weather this was a consequence of the Nes's hardware rather than bad draw ring. In general the graphics aren't an area I'm unhappy with.

In Zeebs, everyone can here you bleep.

Like the graphics, the game sounds like it's time, full of bleeps and wave modulations of bleeps. I actually think the sound was pretty well done here. Unlike many early games the sounds are all fairly distinct and easily recognizable for what they are. Only one sound effect is used for each event, which was quite an achievement in 1986.

Can bleeping be this spooky?

everybody praises the music of original Metroid, sighting the atmospheric use of chords, the way tunes stick in your head, and all in all the quality of what was done with such a small amount of hardware.
In this case, I agree with everybody! no themes in the game, accept maybe the item room theme and Mother brain's theme, are boring or too repetitive. Some pieces show an extremely good use of chords, and you'll find yourself humming them even when not playing the game, Krade's theme is my particular favourite.

the music, makes the game extremely atmospheric, and is very good for keeping you on your toes during long sequences that might otherwise get repetitive.

Altogether, a first class job.

Beware the bounce of doom!

Here, I'm afraid is where I'm going to imitate a wandering spirit by moaning and rattling my chains as we discuss Metroids game play.

As is probably well known, Metroid is a 2D side scrolling game in which you wander around a truly gigantic maze collecting items. Some items like high jump boots and bombs will let you access other parts of the labyrinth, while others like Missile and energy tanks will help you survive against the hoards of creatures inhabiting the planet and the three space Pirate leaders, Krade, ridley and Mother Brain.

the amount of space to explore in this game is huge, so Metroids not for people who get lost easily, particularly as (unlike later Metroid games), there are no in game maps. Some people see this as a down side to the game, but personally I like exploring, and getting lost is all part of that kind of fun for me. while the limitations of the game mean that many passages and corridors are the same chamber reused in different places, I found myself quite able to keep track of where I was provided I didn't lose my concentration.

A far more serious worry in the game is the problem of gravity. Despite the fact that in Metroid Prime it is revealed that Zeebs is not an unusually small planet, the way Samus bounces around the caverns is reminiscent of the Astronauts during the moon landing.

Combined with it's singular lack of downward force, we can speculate that the atmosphere of Zeebs is extremely deficient of Oxygen, since Samus clearly has a lot of trouble reacting quickly, which I guess is due to oxygen deficiency (either that or she's been on the bottle). whatever the reason, getting Samus to respond to your controls is a major hassle, which, combined with the treacle slow jumps can cause head exploding frustration. For example, when hit by an enemy crawling along the floor, you'll find yourself being bounced along on it's back like a backwards basket ball, taking ridiculous amounts of damage. In what I can only assume was a fit of sadism, the developers made your invincibility time from being hit run out just as you land back on your feet, making you ripe for another bounce.

Now talking of the enemies, every veteran of later Metroid games will recognize the wall crawling, flying, popping up from pits, bouncing of ceilings, coming at you in never ending swarms, population of Zeebs. their attack patterns are many, but easy to overcome, right? wrong! there are several factors which make the inhabitants of Zeebs far harder work on this first trip than later excursions.

firstly, there's the enemies regeneration rate. Accept for certain well known enemy types, Metroid fans are used to enemy's staying dead once they've been blown away until you leave the room and re-enter it. Not in this game! either the Zeebesians have the fastest healing powers in the galaxy, or they breed like rabbits on Viagra. Either way, if one goes off the screen even by a hair, scroll back down and it'll be back. Well Relax, you say, we're quite used to that from mega Man. But while the re-spawning enemies are generally fine for Dr. Light's creations, for Samus there a world of hassle since frequently you have to run up and down chambers searching for items. Bombing the floor while enemies fall on you from above is not a fun experience. In vertical shafts, the regeneration is pure torture since one slip or hit down usually results in taking many blows from the monsters you just killed on your way up.

the second trouble with Zeebesians also comes into play in vertical shafts. Metroid is the only game in the series where Samus cannot fire down while falling. this means for all practical purposes that going down any shaft will result in horrible damage from the enemies circling the ledges. So, you employ a little patience and rather than freefalling down the shaft you make your way slowly and carefully from ledge to ledge as though you were climbing the shaft but in reverse. Sadly though, not only will this take you a heck of a long time (there are some very long shafts on Zeebs), but also you'll take almost as much damage as you would free-falling why? because of the third problem with combat on Zeebs.

Samus! cannot! duck!

After you've played the game for only a few second you'll understand my excessive use of exclamation marks. the Metroid games have always been full of nasty little buggers who slither across the ground to take a chunk out of you. In this game however, you have almost no defence against such attacks. If your lucky enough to gain the bomb upgrade, it's possible with the right timing to destroy these enemies with bombs, though missing will almost always lead you into the bounce of doom. the only sure way of killing off such enemies is with the wave beam or screw attacks, but since both of these are hidden deep in the game, you'll have lots of agony before you get to them.

not only the Zeebesians will try to end your quest in a painful manner. Frequently you'll come across Lava or acid pools which will drain away your vitality like a badly leaking tap in a public toilet should you fall into them. so, obviously you make every effort not to fall into them, but with Samus' sluggish motion, the floating jumps, and hoards of beasties trying to knock you in this is easier said than done. Once in, getting out is not an easy matter. Samus makes tiny hops out of the liquid, and very rarely will you find a ledge close enough to the ground for you to struggle on to, and with no ability to bounce off walls as in other games, dropping in the drink frequently means instant death.

the final cap stone on this huge pyramid of frustration is Samus' distinct lack of endurance. while netting an energy tank will indeed grab you 100 extra units of energy, however many tanks you have you will always start with only 30 units, which frequently means only three hits. Lucky for you the monsters drop energy isn't it? well actually no. Each capsule you grab restores five units of energy, when most enemies will be doing ten, twenty or even more damage. Combine this with an item drop rate about as generous as Ebenezer Scrooge's annual donation to charity (and I mean before he met the ghosts), and you have one huge mountain sized glob of trouble.

to be fare, there are still fun points about the game play of Metroid. The bosses are great fun, especially with the music pumping away, and the items are hidden with thoughtful elegance, requiring some brain work to find, but non of the hideously evil puzzles seen in later Metroid games.

Some people have also taken issue with the password system of the game, and though I can see this could be a problem, it is simply a function of the time the game was made, and if you get a later release of Metroid it won't be an issue.

One minor hitch with restarting post death, is the fact that you restart only at the beginning of each zone. To my mind, had the game given you full energy to start with, nobody would have taken issue with this, but as it stands, starting a zone like Norfare or ridley's area with only 30 units of energy and the need to refill is just one extra cruelty.

to fry, or not to fry?

so there you go, my reasoning concerning Metroid. there are some features such as the bosses and the music which are truly great, and others such as the freedom given to you throughout the game and Samus gender which have changed the way gaming progressed. all in all though, even the good features of the game play like the cunning item placement, are overshadowed by the looming spectre of the horrible controls, lack of energy, stingy item drop rate and inability to duck or fire down.

Now perhaps I am being too harsh, and am comparing Metroid too much to it's more expanded successors. maybe, had I played this game in 1986 as a little lad of four, I would think differently now?

this might be true, but now, from where I'm standing I can only say that unless your a game collector, a truly dedicated Metroid head, or a masochist, you should leave this game alone.

Being as Nintendo have stuck it as a freebie on Metroid Zero Mission and Metroid Prime, you can obtain it for nothing, which is, I'm very sorry to say, the right price for the enjoyment you'll get out of this game.

As I said, I do love the Metroid series, and I would wish I could be more complimentary about this game, but unfortunately that would involve lying.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/06