I've been meaning to give this a replay for a while, because it kind of dawned on me a bit ago that I rated it on the lower end of the rating scale, and I basically only focused on the punishing aspect of dying. It's fair, but is the rest of the game really that bad? While not my very first game, Samus was there for me since the beginning of my days of tapping buttons and staring at a TV screen like a mindless drone. It started feeling kind of unfair that I'd write it off like that, especially when I go easy on other games on the system for arguably worse things like sending you three levels back for dying to the final boss, or worse, sending you all the way back to the first screen.
I stare at my copy of NES Metroid passed along to me by my dad and utter, "was I too hard on you?".
Booting it up, I always feel that childhood rush as I hear that title screen music. Not long after I found myself once again blasting through Zoomers as they crawl along walls, as unfortunately Samus can't bend at the knees to shoot them while they're on the ground. From now on I will be addressing Zoomers as "Spikeys", as that was what I knew them by and "Zoomies" were what I would call the Zebs which actually did some kind of "Zooming" of sorts. Yeah it's stupid, but I was young and reading instruction manuals wasn't my strongest aspect back then, and I'm pretty sure my dad had since long lost them by the early 90s. I got my morph ball, then I adventured onward through Brinstar for the seemingly hundredth time. Everything came back to me, and it kinda came naturally for me to remember where most of everything was. If only everyone had that kind of experience with this game I suppose.
Going down to Norfair was always an unnerving experience for me when I was little. The music suddenly changed! It became eerie, weird and different from the more upbeat theme of Brinstar, and those statues at the elevator! They were super unsettling to me! Do I have to fight these guys eventually? I was always afraid of statues coming alive and attacking me in games back then, it's funny considering something similar happens in the beginning of a certain SNES title related to this particular game...I wonder what would've happened if I had actually played it back then. Don't even get me started on that scary monster face in the elevator room to Kraid's Lair! That elevator music used to put me on edge all the time. Is something gonna get me?
Braving the scary monster face, I eventually took the elevator down to Kraid's Lair. It was then that I got to hear a tune, it was a piece of 8-bit bleeps and bloops that would become completely ingrained into my mind for the rest of my life. It was mesmerizing, almost trance-inducing. I stood there on that elevator platform for ages wondering what the music was doing to me. Was something uttering a lullaby to put me into a false sense of security so it could come out of hiding and devour me? No, it was something else. I just...really really liked it. A doom-filled melody for a place full of the hardest creatures yet for me to fight, and a scaled down alien version of Godzilla for me to get ragdolled by. Good stuff "Hip" Tanaka, thank you once again.
Other standouts in my adventure include Spikeys walking into doors along with Samus and presumably biting her hand after she attempted to tame it and make it a pet dog, an absolutely adorable version of a purple dragon that I would main in Smash Bros. Ultimate, and lastly getting combo'd by honey nut cheerios in the final fight against the Mother Brain herself. I wasn't quite good enough to have Samus take her armor off, but she did take her helmet off, showing that she is indeed...a lady...or a very feminine guy. I do wonder how long it took me to find out she was a girl, I wanna say it was Smash Bros 64, but who knows anymore. She's cool though, and that's all that matters.
The Final Verdict: I still think kneecaps should be annihilated for the sheer punishment handed out for biting the dust, but....I had fun. Was I hard on you NES Metroid? Yeah, a little bit. Sorry about that. You've got your problems, but you're still nice.
Please look at Ridley though, look at the boi. I would like to give him a cracker.
I stare at my copy of NES Metroid passed along to me by my dad and utter, "was I too hard on you?".
Booting it up, I always feel that childhood rush as I hear that title screen music. Not long after I found myself once again blasting through Zoomers as they crawl along walls, as unfortunately Samus can't bend at the knees to shoot them while they're on the ground. From now on I will be addressing Zoomers as "Spikeys", as that was what I knew them by and "Zoomies" were what I would call the Zebs which actually did some kind of "Zooming" of sorts. Yeah it's stupid, but I was young and reading instruction manuals wasn't my strongest aspect back then, and I'm pretty sure my dad had since long lost them by the early 90s. I got my morph ball, then I adventured onward through Brinstar for the seemingly hundredth time. Everything came back to me, and it kinda came naturally for me to remember where most of everything was. If only everyone had that kind of experience with this game I suppose.
Going down to Norfair was always an unnerving experience for me when I was little. The music suddenly changed! It became eerie, weird and different from the more upbeat theme of Brinstar, and those statues at the elevator! They were super unsettling to me! Do I have to fight these guys eventually? I was always afraid of statues coming alive and attacking me in games back then, it's funny considering something similar happens in the beginning of a certain SNES title related to this particular game...I wonder what would've happened if I had actually played it back then. Don't even get me started on that scary monster face in the elevator room to Kraid's Lair! That elevator music used to put me on edge all the time. Is something gonna get me?
Braving the scary monster face, I eventually took the elevator down to Kraid's Lair. It was then that I got to hear a tune, it was a piece of 8-bit bleeps and bloops that would become completely ingrained into my mind for the rest of my life. It was mesmerizing, almost trance-inducing. I stood there on that elevator platform for ages wondering what the music was doing to me. Was something uttering a lullaby to put me into a false sense of security so it could come out of hiding and devour me? No, it was something else. I just...really really liked it. A doom-filled melody for a place full of the hardest creatures yet for me to fight, and a scaled down alien version of Godzilla for me to get ragdolled by. Good stuff "Hip" Tanaka, thank you once again.
Other standouts in my adventure include Spikeys walking into doors along with Samus and presumably biting her hand after she attempted to tame it and make it a pet dog, an absolutely adorable version of a purple dragon that I would main in Smash Bros. Ultimate, and lastly getting combo'd by honey nut cheerios in the final fight against the Mother Brain herself. I wasn't quite good enough to have Samus take her armor off, but she did take her helmet off, showing that she is indeed...a lady...or a very feminine guy. I do wonder how long it took me to find out she was a girl, I wanna say it was Smash Bros 64, but who knows anymore. She's cool though, and that's all that matters.
The Final Verdict: I still think kneecaps should be annihilated for the sheer punishment handed out for biting the dust, but....I had fun. Was I hard on you NES Metroid? Yeah, a little bit. Sorry about that. You've got your problems, but you're still nice.
Please look at Ridley though, look at the boi. I would like to give him a cracker.
Whoever thought it was a good idea to always start the game at 30 HP needs to have a golf club smashed directly into their kneecaps. Astoundingly bad design to force the player into farming for their health back upon continuing, hopefully they blackballed the guy responsible for that decision forever from game development.
The theme for Kraid's Lair is still my first love when it comes to good game music at least, so it still has something going for it besides nostalgia and Ridley's adorable sprite.
The theme for Kraid's Lair is still my first love when it comes to good game music at least, so it still has something going for it besides nostalgia and Ridley's adorable sprite.