Metroid is a classic NES game, and one that I tried to play when I was a kid. For whatever reason, I didn’t have the patience for it when I was growing up. There was something about it that didn’t click with me back then.
When I played it in high school, I thought it was great. I always found it to be fun, but never finished it. Back in the 1990s, I didn’t have a guide or a map for this game, so I felt lost while I was playing it. Now, you can easily find guides, walkthroughs, and probably speedruns of Metroid if you really want to find them.
Nintendo of America probably realized how complicated this game was for kids. Metroid was one of the games that got a guide in Nintendo Power. If you had that issue, or knew someone who did, then it was much easier to play. By the time I knew someone who had a subscription to Nintendo Power, I really wasn’t playing my NES as much.
The Metroid games, especially the 2D ones, always felt like horror games to me. There were a few spooky games on the NES, and while this doesn’t lean into it as much as the Castlevania games, it is a little creepy. There is something about being alone in space that is unsettling. Add in a bunch of monsters that want you dead, and you have an Alien movie.
TLDR: A wonderful and creepy NES game.
Memories of Metroid
Metroid is one of the games that my brother and I rented or borrowed. I know that my neighbors owned the game, but I’m not sure if any of my friends did. My memory is also a little fuzzy as to when I learned that Samus is a woman.
This is one of the games that always stood out to me. The name was a little weird, and it didn’t play like other games. I remember getting Air Fortress for Christmas, and thinking that half the game was like a watered down Metroid. It is really fun, but when I was six, I was hopelessly lost when playing it.
Metroid was always one of the NES games that was in the rotation of games that my brother rented. I can’t remember if I selected it or not, and I can only assume that I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. We did borrow the game from our neighbors and play it at their houses.
I’m going to say that I learned about Samus being a woman from someone on the playground. Let’s say that this happened in the first grade; it could’ve been at any time when I was in elementary school. I don’t remember being shocked or surprised. Stuff like that in video games didn’t really do that to me. It has been over thirty years since then, so I might be remembering things wrong.
There were a few games that felt like staples of any NES collection. For me, Metroid is one of those games. While I don’t have the same connection with this game that I do with The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, or Super Mario Bros. 3, it is a game that I enjoy playing. It is still a fun game to play.
Narrative
Metroid has a pretty good story that is told in the manual and at the beginning and end of the game. This is pretty standard for early NES games and other console games from the 1980s. It sets up a lot that would come in the later games in the series.
The game is set in the year 20X5, so insert whatever number you want. Space Pirates have attacked the Galactic Federation and taken samples of Metroid creatures. The Space Pirates are planning on using them as bioweapons. So, it isn’t too far off from other science fiction horror stories.
After trying to get them back, the Federation decides the best course of action is to send one person in to get the Metroids back. Oh, and you have to destroy Mother Brain, who happens to be controlling the Space Pirates. The game also introduces Kraid and Ridley; both of them would be long-running villains in the Metroid series.
Metroid has a very simple story. It does a good job of explaining who you were, what you needed to do, and who you were fighting. NES games like this didn’t need to have grand stories, but something like this helped them out. It is fun to see how these long-running Nintendo series got their start and see how far they’ve come.
Gameplay
Metroid has very good gameplay. It can be frustrating at times, but it isn’t overly frustrating. I always felt like I was getting a little further each time I started over. It did take me a while to get used to the game, but that isn’t a fault of Metroid. It speaks more to my declining eyesight and hand-eye coordination.
There are plenty of monsters to kill in this action platformer. Many of them drop health power-ups, and they have a high respawn rate, so you’ll be able to get your health back up if you need to. Enemies also have patterns that you can exploit once you’ve identified them.
Aside from the health pickups, there are a lot of weapons and abilities that you need to beat the game. Here is a list:
- Morphing Ball
- Bomb
- Long Beam
- Ice Beam
- Wave Beam
- High Jump Boots
- Screw Attack
There are only a few bosses in this game, which isn’t all that uncommon. The biggest obstacle you face is the maze that is this game. Here are the bosses you’ll face:
- Varia
- Fake Kraid
- Kraid
- Ridley
- Mother Brain
The controls are pretty good. There are some things that I don’t like, specifically that you can’t duck and shoot. Once you get the morph ball, you can turn into it and drop bombs when you get the bombs. I just wish you could duck, especially since there are quite a few enemies that are too short to shoot while standing up.
Metroid has a password save system. This was pretty standard for the time. It does bring back some memories for me of scribbling down letters and numbers, only to completely forget what game they went to, or losing the scrap of paper I was using.
Overall, the gameplay is very good. While the game can be a little frustrating for new players or someone who hasn’t played the game for a while, it isn’t impossible. The controls are great, and you can find plenty of help online. Here is a link to the map I used for this playthrough.
Visuals
Metroid is a very good looking game. Most of the Nintendo made games look very good, and this is no exception. Character sprites look great, and the boss characters stand out. If there is one criticism I have, it has to do with the background.
Samus and the enemy sprites look good. It does look like you’re on an alien planet and fighting those enemies. They all have a pattern for you to exploit, which is pretty standard for games at the time. Boss characters really stand out as they’re bigger and have a different look.
The game is in one big stage. It acts like a maze, and you’ll need to find the items to get through areas. This makes the level design a little simple at times. It does get a little boring to look at every now and then.
Right away, it isn’t easy to tell what you can shoot and what needs a special item. As you move through the game, you’ll learn. Everything is color-coded, so if you aren’t color blind, then you’ll know. This is how a few games did things back in the 1980s. I don’t mind it all that much.
Overall, the graphics in Metroid are very good. I don’t have any issues with how the graphics work with the gameplay. There are a few spots that I think could’ve been better, but those can be explained away by the technical limitations of the NES at the time this game was made. For an NES game from the mid-1980s, Metroid is one of the better looking games.
Reviews of Metroid at the Time of Release
There aren’t a lot of reviews from 1986 for Metroid. From what I can find, the Japanese magazines really liked the game, and reviews from North America and Europe were lower. Like many retro games, the scores dip considerably in the 2000s and bounce back in the 2010s.
There are a few reviews from the late 1980s on MobyGames. The scores have the game in the 7s and 8s. Because I can only see the blurbs on that website, there isn’t a good quote to pull from them.
Famitsu gave the game a 5/5, Beep gave it a 3/5, and Famicom Hisshoubon gave it a 4/5. Much like the other reviews, there isn’t much I can say aside from the scores. I do find it odd that Famitsu’s score was 5/5 when they usually score games on a 0-40 scale.
This isn’t all that different from how other retro games have fared over time. The initial reaction is positive, then in the 2000s it became popular to trash retro games, and in the 2010s the scores went up. I tend to discount the reviews from the 2000s, mostly because they come from people who are just seeking attention.
8.5/10. Metroid has great graphics, the controls are good, and the gameplay is fun. There is the right amount of frustration in this game that makes you want to keep playing. Thankfully, there are plenty of guides and videos to watch if you get stuck nowadays.
Pros
- Great graphics
- Good Gameplay
- Fun and Challenging
- Nice science fiction story
Cons
- A little confusing
- Frustrating at times
Conclusion
Metroid is one of the games that I think I enjoyed more prior to the internet. While it is nice to see where I need to go and how to get there, I kind of miss the exploration and trial and error. You could probably say this about many games on the NES. This is an enjoyable game, but not as much now that I know where to go and can find the best ways to beat it.
For some reason, I didn’t have as much fun with this game as I remember. It might be that I didn’t play this game to death as I did with The Legend of Zelda. With Metroid, I only rented it and borrowed the game, so my time with it was limited. I owned The Legend of Zelda and played it until I knew where everything was. Playing that game feels like muscle memory, and Metroid feels like an exercise.
I never thought of this as a horror game before, but I can see how it can be one. Some of the other Metroid games leaned into that more, which is something that I enjoy. This first game has some of those same elements. Isolation, desperation, and confusion. In some ways it feels like a low budget horror movie.
There is one more NES game that I want to look at for the Halloween season. Then I’ll get into a few that I haven’t played before. Oh, and I’ll get to a few other retro and indie games over the course of the next month.
If you like this post, check out some of my others on retro horror games. Such as Blue Stinger or Castlevania II.