January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January.

Released: 5 September 2019
Originally Released: 19 March 1994
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems
Also Available For: Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U, Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)

The Background:
In August 1986, Nintendo fans were introduced to Samus Aran, the bad-ass bounty hunter protagonist of the Metroid series (Various, 1986 to present). Well-received upon release for its challenging gameplay and now heralded as one of the greatest games ever made, Metroid helped popularise an entire sub-genre of gaming; “Metroidvania” titles became known for being action-orientated games that emphasised exploration and the acquisition of power-ups to progress. Metroid was followed by the Game Boy-exclusive Metroid II: Return of Samus (Nintendo R&D1, 1991), which was both my first experience of the franchise and a largely divisive title that nonetheless directly influenced, at least narratively, the franchise’s jump to Nintendo’s ground-breaking 16-bit console. Producer Gunpei Yokoi and much of the original team returned for Super Metroid, which took two years to develop and took advantage of the SNES’s greater processing power to allow Samus to fire in all directions and explore a far larger, interconnected environment with a detailed map system. This also allowed the team to pull off more diverse visual effects, including more cinematic cutscenes that allowed them to pay greater homage to the Alien franchise (Various, 1979 to present), alongside a team of young, hungry developers. The result was a game met with universal critical acclaim; despite disappointing sales in the United States due to a poorly-timed release, Super Metroid was lauded for its impressive visuals, tight gameplay, and balancing combat with exploration and a steep challenge. A quintessential title in any SNES library, Super Metroid was accompanied by a Nintendo Power comic and ported to numerous consoles, including the Nintendo Switch Online service soon after it launched, allowing new generations of gamers (and myself) to experience it for the first time.

The Plot:
After a Metroid larva is stolen from the Ceres space colony by the monstrous Ridley, bounty hunter Samus Aran returns to the planet Zebes to retrieve the sample and exterminate Ridley and his Space Pirates once and for all!

Gameplay:
Super Metroid is a 2D action-adventure game in which the player once again assumes the role of Samus Aran, a highly capable bounty hunter, and sets off on a quest full of jumping, running, and backtracking (oh, so much backtracking) in order to eradicate the Space Pirates. Essentially, it’s a remake of Metroid in very much the same way Super Castlevania IV (Konami, 1991) is a remake of Castlevania (ibid, 1986); it takes many of the same mechanics, locations, and bosses of the first game and gives them a whole new, super sexy 16-bit makeover. Right away, the player can select between English and Japanese text and has access to three save files (though the Nintendo Switch’s save states and rewind functions negate a lot of this); the player can also customise the game’s controls and choose to turn Samus’s new “Moonwalk” ability (where she effortlessly slides backwards while shooting forwards) on or off. By default, Samus shoots her currently-equipped shot with X, jumps with A (the button can be held for a longer and higher jump), dashes ahead by holding B, and can switch weapons with the ‘Select’ button. Items can be cancelled with Y (though I found no use for this) and Samus can aim diagonally up and down using the L and R triggers. I found the default controls a little clunky so I swapped the jump to B, the shot to Y, and the dash to A, and even then I sometimes still got a little confused about whether I was shooting or jumping and found it annoying that there wasn’t an easier way to cycle between Samus’s different ammo.

Samus is gifted with infinite ammo for her basic arm cannon; the player can hold down the fire button for a rapid shot, but this later gets swapped out for a charged attack. However, the player can further customise Samus from the pause menu; here, you can equip and unequip the various weapon and armour power-ups Samus obtains, though I preferred to keep them equipped at all times. Unlike the previous games, a small, grid-based map appears onscreen at all times which makes exploration so much easier this time around. Using the pause menu, you can view the full map and better figure out your route, though you’ll need to access map terminals to unlock each location’s map. Pressing down on the control stick or directional buttons will see Samus curl up into a Morph Ball when she acquires the relevant power-up; this allows her to squeeze through small gaps and access areas that aren’t readily apparently. It’s worth shooting, placing bombs, and jumping to find hidden areas and alternative routes, too; the game gets very big and complicated very quickly so any shortcuts or additional resources are always a welcome bonus. Planet Zebes is a veritable maze of doors that must be shot open; they’re colour-coded so you always know which weapon to switch to, but you’ll also be asked to perform a fair amount of horizontal and vertical jumping. While Samus’s later techniques help with this, her wall jumping ability is absolutely nerfed; rather than simply jumping at a wall and hitting jump again, you need to awkwardly hold back and press jump with frame-perfect timing to actually execute the move, which can be needlessly frustrating at times.

Similarly, Samus later acquires the Space Jump power-up; with perfect timing, this allows her to infinitely jump, cross wider gaps and reach higher areas, but the timing required is just too finnicky and random at times (it would’ve been so much easier to just keep hitting jump for a sustained effect). To make matters worse, enemies again respawn when you leave the screen; sometimes, smaller enemies will constantly spawn in certain screens, allowing you to “farm” health and ammo. You’ll also sometimes need to hop into the hands of a Chozo Statue while in your Morph Ball form to clear the path and you’ll find numerous helpful areas where you can catch your breath; save rooms, restore points to refill your health and ammo, and Chozo Statues gifting either new gear or upgrades to your existing equipment, total health, and total ammo. It’s well worth hunting these down as you’ll need your more powerful weapons to defeat the game’s bosses and more formidable enemies; both drop health and ammo when defeated but things are much easier if your maximum level is increased. Although well-equipped, Samus struggles against hazards like water, lava, acid and spike pits; suit upgrades allow her to negate some of these, and her Grapple Beam allows her to swing over hazards but, again, the timing required can be difficult to master. Super Metroid starts out fairly linear but you very quickly become restricted in where you can go, necessitating the acquisition of new power-ups; the more you obtain, the more you’ll need to remember cervices, destructible walls, and unreachable areas. You’ll be constantly backtracking, searching for new paths to the main four bosses, which may mean you’re over or under-equipped for certain encounters. Thankfully, the game is usually quite helpful and won’t leave you trapped in a room because you don’t have the High Jump Boots, but it can be a pain trying to figure out where you need to go and what you need to do.

Graphics and Sound:  
As a SEGA kid, I’ve long been envious of Super Metroid; for me, it’s one of the premier SNES titles and its visual appeal is a huge part of that. In fact, I admit that I was more excited to experience the game than I was to play it because of the difficulty involved in the constant exploration and the frustration of having to use a guide to find my way. Obviously, the game is a quantum leap ahead of its predecessors; Samus had never looked more colourful and lively before (and wouldn’t for many years aftwards), despite lacking much in the way of idle animations. She moves with a fluid grace that is both clunky when it needs to be and slick when she’s showing off her new abilities, spinning and curling and Moonwalking about as she blasts apart Space Pirates. The game’s story is told through text and simple to understand, cinematic cutscenes that utilise both the in-game graphics and a sprinkling of “Mode 7” for extra flair, with much of the ambiance and visual style influenced by the classic sci-fi action/horror Aliens (Cameron, 1986). Space colony Ceres and some levels of Zebes featured dead bodies scattered about, flickering lights at times, and rising bodies of water of varying danger, while the surface is rocked by a constant storm of acid rain not unlike the surface of LV-426.

While the game’s action is confined to Zebes, Super Metroid isn’t short on visual variety; this is used somewhat sparingly, and to great effect, so the rocky vegetation of Brinstar contrasts nicely with the sunken depths of Maridia and the lava-infested Norfair despite each location sharing similar layouts. Generally, Samus travels left to right from room to room but you’ll also be met by long vertical corridors and have to blast through the environment to progress. It’s not always clear which weapons or abilities you need to progress but there are some visual hints; blasting blocks or walls can reveal the symbol of certain weapons or arrows, indicating how to blow them open or to use your dash, or helpful little gremlins or dangerous digging machines can open new paths. Samus will discover a derelict ship that is plunged into darkness and lifeless until she restores the power; she can also break open glass tubes to further explore the depths of Maridia, blast and pass through certain blocks to drop into hidden areas, and even sink into sand to find new rooms. While there’s not always a lot happening onscreen, this allows each area to stand out all the more and the game to perform consistently, and each location expands and changes with your increased abilities, allowing you to make jumps you couldn’t before to navigate past hazards more effectively. The game also sounds fantastic; there’s a beautiful balance between silence, ominous ambient sounds, creepy tunes, and bolder, more blood-pumping music. Super Metroid ramps up the tension and adrenaline with its boss themes, especially when fighting Ridley and Draygon (who both sport Anguirus’ signature cry). Finally, the game is quite graphic at times; there’s the aforementioned dead bodies, Samus explodes in a similar fashion to Mega Man when killed, and Crocomire’s flesh melts from its bones upon being forced into a lava pit!

Enemies and Bosses:
Samus must blast her way through a slew of alien baddies to win the day, with many of them being variations of the standard, mantis-like Space Pirates. These insectoid aliens clamber on walls, march along the floor, and even hop overhead, firing jagged projectiles and often shielding themselves from your attacks with their claws, necessitating a weapon upgrade or a more convoluted attack pattern. Smaller enemies also pepper the game’s environments, ranging from wasp-like Zebbos, crab-like Scisers, and bat-like Skree, all of which are easy prey for you to farm some resources. Rippers can be temporarily frozen to act as platforms, Kilhunters will buzz about on their insectile wings, spiked Geemers slither about on small platforms, clunky Workrobots stamp about shrugging off your beams, and Evirs emerge from acid to fire projectiles at you. Enemies like the Beetoms and Metroids are a real headache as they can shrug off your regular shot and will latch onto you to drain your health, while Namihes and Funes spit fireballs from walls and guys like the Alcoon and Oum tend to burst out of nowhere for a surprise attack!

As if that wasn’t bad enough, there are eleven bosses to battle here, with a couple being very similar battles fought in different circumstances. You’ll encounter Samus’s archenemy, Ridley, early on; confined to an enclosed arena, Ridley will swoop at you, spit fireballs, and swipe with his Xenomorph Queen-like tail, but you don’t actually need to defeat him here, just survive until he flies off with the Metroid larva. Ridley, returns, far more formidable, as the penultimate boss; this time, you’re confined to a small platform with health-sapping lava underneath and Ridley hides high above, swooping in to grab and squeeze the life out of you. He also breathes fire and becomes extremely aggressive as the fight goes on, though he is vulnerable to all of your weapons, with the charged Plasma Beam and Super Missiles being the most effective, but he’s certainly no pushover even with all your upgrades. Similarly, you’ll battle two malevolent Torizo Statues, one just after acquiring the Morph Bomb and one later on. You’ll need to make use of the Morph Ball in the first encounter to dodge its projectiles; both stomp about to smash into you and swipe with their claws, but the golden one will sidestep missiles and catch and toss your own Super Missiles back at you and was, honestly, one of the toughest bosses in the game for me! Another early boss encounter is against the Spore Spawn, a gigantic, genetically-engineered plant that bobs about, launching itself at Samus and causing small spores to rain across the screen. These can be blasted for ammo and health, which you’ll need as this alien plant can only be defeated by shooting its central core, which only opens up for a brief window. Defeating it earns Samus the Super Missile power-up and sees the environment wither and decay.

The first major boss of the game is against Kraid, now much bigger and even more imposing than before (though a smaller version is again encountered beforehand). Now taking up a good chunk of the screen, with the bottom littered with spikes, Kraid lunges at you, spits rocks, and causes boulders to rain from above. Kraid’s only weak spot is his eyes and, when you’ve dished out enough damage, he raises up and you need to make use of small platforms to avoid his projectiles and fire at his head whenever he roars. In the lava-soaked depths of Norfair, you’ll battle the all-but-invincible Crocomire; immune to all of your attacks, you need to force Crocomire   into a lava pit before it skewers you on a wall of spikes! Watch for its projectiles and its skeletal remains, which will burst through said wall in a last gasp attack! Whilst exploring the wrecked ship, you’ll be attacked by ghost-like aliens and eventually face off against their master, Phantoon, a giant, squid-like alien wraith that hovers around the room dropping blue flames, though you can dispense them with your shot to grab some resources. This guy also disappears and reappears about the arena and can only be damaged by shooting at its single, ugly eye, though neither it nor the worm-like Botwoon should cause you too much trouble if you keep your beam charged and have plenty of missiles on hand.

The same can’t be said of Draygon, which acts as something of a teaser for the later Ridley fight. Draygon will swoop down and grab you, slamming you against the wall if you’re not careful, requiring a unique strategy beyond just dodging and shooting. If you let it grab you, you can shoot your Grapple Beam at an electrified wall panel; you’ll take damage, but you’ll also toast Draygon in the process, leaving her insectoid children to mourn her corpse. I wouldn’t underestimate the Silver Space Pirates, either; this duo is fought in Ridley’s lair and are only vulnerable when they flash gold, making them an exercise in frustration as they flip and slice and kick to whittle you down. Once you’ve defeated the main bosses, you’ll be able to access Tourian, a metallic landscape where Metroids wander freely. Here, you’ll encounter the titular Super Metroid, which proves invulnerable and will drain your health to almost nothing before fleeing. Eventually, you’ll battle Mother Brain once more; like before, this massive brain sits in a jar and is protected by laser walls, a constant spread of projectiles, and a lava floor. Once you shatter her protective casing, she rears up into this monstrous bipedal monstrosity that stomps about in a claustrophobic area, spitting explosive breath and blasting you with laser beams from her eyes! When you deal enough damage, she’ll decimate you with an unavoidable rainbow laser; luckily the Super Metroid comes to your aid, sacrificing itself to restore your health and gift the Hyper Beam, which cuts down Mother Brain. Once she’s defeated, the whole planet crumbles around you and you have three minutes to escape to the surface, whereupon you’ll be granted a special image of Samus depending on how well you played.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Samus starts with ninety-nine units of energy and her regular arm cannon but it’s not long before you’re increasing her exploration abilities with the Morph Ball and upping her arsenal with the missile and Super Missile, which both deal far greater damage than her regular shot, and increasing her maximum energy with the fourteen Energy Tanks. You can also find four Reserve Tanks to have some health restored after death, can use the X-Ray Scope to search for these, and hidden paths, in the environment, and grab the Speed Booster to run through walls and enemies alike and the Grapple Beam to latch on to overhead blocks and certain walls (if you can get to grips with the controls). In addition to finding numerous energy recharge stations, you can also fully refill your ammo at similar stations, usually located near a save room, and you’ll find loads of power-ups to increase your maximum ammo for each bomb. Samus can also upgrade her suit to allow her to freely move underwater, increase her defence, and allow her to resist certain types of lava, all of which is essentially for exploring the entirety of Zebes, Samus’s main cannon can also be upgraded to allow her to charge a more powerful attack that’s great for inflicting big damage against bosses, temporarily freezes enemies to create extra platforms, and allows her to fire three beams at once that go through walls and enemies alike. You’ll also acquire the ability to drop balls when morphed (clearing obstructions in tighter spaces and boosting you over small ledges), a screen clearing Power Bomb, and the Spring Ball that lets you jump while morphed. The High Jump boots increase your jump height, the aforementioned Space Jump allows you to clunkily continuously jump, and the Screw Attack adds an electrical crackle to your jump spin to damage enemies.

Additional Features:
Upon finishing Super Metroid, you’re given a percentage showing how many of the game’s secrets you found. You can freely load up your save file to backtrack and hunt down anything you missed if you like, but the game’s endings are based on how much time you took not how much you found. You’ll only get to see Samus in her skin-tight under garments if you beat the game in under three hours; playing between three and ten will see her remove her helmet, and playing for more than ten hours sees her preserve her modesty behind her suit and you settling for a thumbs-up. In the final escape sequence, you apparently have the option of saving the trapped Dachoras and Etecoons, though I didn’t notice them in my playthrough and it appears to add nothing to the ending but personal pride. This version of the game naturally allows you to create a save state at any time and make use of the Nintendo Switch’s rewind function, which is perfect for the game’s many aggravating sections, and you can also take advantage of a special save state version of the game that lets you skip right to the end with all of Samus’s upgrades.

The Summary:
Of all the Metroid games I’ve played, I’ve played Super Metroid the most but I never managed to finish it before this playthrough. The game is absolutely gorgeous, with a visual appeal that’s matched by its soundtrack and massive, action-packed bosses and the appeal of its main character. However, the large-scale nature of the game and the copious backtracking were always intimidating for me as I really didn’t want to have to keep referring to a guide; luckily, I was able to get through Super Metroid without too much help in this regard, but it can be frustrating when you seem to have exhausted all your options only to have missed a destructible block tucked away. While Super Metroid is impressively put together, with some fantastic detail, variety, and challenge on offer, playing the game from start to finish has made me see flaws in the game’s controls; wall jumping is absolutely atrocious and techniques like the Space Jump are needlessly finicky, ruining a lot of the platforming sections and making me wonder how anyone ever managed to succeed at the game without the aid of save states. The bosses are equally challenging, even when Samus is fully armed and powered up, making for a tough but ultimately very rewarding gameplay experience. Had these control issues been tweaked to be simple button presses, it would’ve been a perfect five out of five but Super Metroid is still one of the quintessential SNES titles and is well worth investing your time and patience.

My Rating:

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Super Metroid? Would you agree that it’s one of the titles that defined the SNES era of gaming? Did you struggle with the controls at all and what did you think to the large, inter-connected game world? Which of the bosses and upgrades was your favourite? What did you think to the graphical upgrade and the level of detail on offer? Which Metroid game is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or on my social media, and be sure to check out my other sci-fi content across the site.

January sees the celebration of two notable dates in science-fiction history, with January 2 christened “National Science Fiction Day” to coincide with the birth date of the world renowned sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov, and HAL 9000, the sophisticated artificial intelligence of Arthur C. Clarke’s seminal 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), being created on 12 January.

Released: 14 November 2018
Originally Released: 6 August 1986
Developer: Nintendo
Original Developer: Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems
Also Available For: GameBoy Advance, GameCube, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), Nintendo Wii, Nintendo Wii U

The Background:
It’s probably fair to say that, compared to Nintendo’s other heavy-hitters like Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda (Various, 1986 to present), the Metroid franchise (Various, 1986 to present) is maybe one of the company’s more under-rated properties. I actually have had very little experience with the series outside of the Super Smash Bros. series (Various, 1999 to 2018) and brief experiences with Metroid II: Return of Samus (Nintendo R&D1, 1991) and Super Metroid (Nintendo R&D1 Intelligent Systems, 1994), though this is mainly due to growing up as a SEGA guy. Metroid came about after Nintendo had seen success with their early titles for their industry-saving console, the NES. Producer Gunpei Yokoi and directors Satoru Okada and Masao Yamamoto collaborated on the title, which was heavily influenced by Alien (Scott, 1979). The developers sought to create an action-orientated game in which power-ups would be not only permanent, but necessary to completion, and with a strong emphasis on non-linear exploration. Metroid ended up being so successful in this regard that it, and Castlevania (Konami, 1986), spawned an entire videogame subgenre dubbed “Metroidvania”. Metroid was well-received upon release; reviews praised its challenging gameplay and it has since been recognised as one of the greatest games ever made. Metroid would spawn a number of sequels and spin-offs, and was ported to many subsequent Nintendo consoles either as an unlockable bonus or as a full-blown remake. Considering how popular and influential the series, and this first game, have become over the years, it’s no surprise that Metroid was included in the Nintendo Switch Online service soon after it launched, which also allowed me the chance to play it for the first time.

The Plot:
Bounty hunter Samus Aran journeys to the planet Zebes to retrieve the parasitic Metroid organisms from the malicious Space Pirates, who plan to replicate the Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then use them as biological weapons in their mad plot for galactic conquest.

Gameplay:
Metroid is a 2D, sidescrolling, action/platformer with a strong emphasis on run-and-gun action, horizontal and vertical jumps, backtracking, and exploration. Players take on the role of Samus Aran, an armoured bounty hunter with a blaster for an arm, and must explore the planet Zebes, which is comprised of five relatively distinct areas all joined together in a huge game map. Samus begins the game able to shoot directly ahead or above and to jump, and you’ll quickly find that ground-based enemies are beyond your ability to destroy in the early going as Samus can’t shoot downwards or defeat enemies by jumping on them. You’ll also, literally, run face-first into a wall if you give into your gamer’s instinct and head to the right; instead, you should go left from the starting area, where you’ll find your first Chozo Statue and your first power-up, the Morph Ball, which lets you curl up into a ball by pressing down and thus slip into small tunnels and areas. From there, the sheer scope of your mission quickly becomes very daunting; not only do enemies respawn when you leave the immediate area (not the immediate screen, as you can scroll to the left and then go back to the right and your enemies will be back) but you’re missing the most crucial aspect a game like this needs: an onscreen map. I have absolutely no idea how gamers managed to play Metroid without this simple convenience, and have heard that they either drew their own maps or consulted magazines at the time just to get an idea of where the hell you’re meant to go. Since you acquire different upgrades along the way that help you access new areas, and a lot of the areas look very similar save for some different colours and flourishes, you’ll need a good memory and a lot of experimentation to figure out where you’re going and what you’re doing.

Thankfully, you can at least hold down B or X for a rapid fire function and hold A to jump a little higher, and Samus is relatively durable; her health is measured in numerical units, and her default weapon has unlimited ammo, but you will have to deal with some difficult jumps (made all the more frustrating by some horrendous enemy placement and movements) and knockback damage that can send you dropping into lava or spikes, where your health will whittle away to nothing in no time at all. Metroid gives you just one chance to finish the game; if (well, when, really) you die, the game is over and you’re given a ludicrously long password to continue but, thankfully, the Nintendo Switch version allows for both save states and a rewind function if (again…when) you make a mistake. Health and ammo is dropped by enemies and there are numerous points where you can simply stand there, blasting at constantly respawning enemies to farm health or missiles, but take care as enemies can pounce from behind and more spawn in the moment you pick up your item. Your primary goal in Metroid is to find and defeat two bosses to create a bridge that leads to the final area, Tourian, to confront Mother Brain but, to reach these bosses, you’ll need to find new upgrades to open doors or reach new areas with a higher jump, temporary platforms, or dropping down through destructible blocks. Although areas start out pretty simple, it’s not long before you need to blast at stone blocks to create pathways and platforms (though you need to be careful as the blocks will damage you if you’re standing there when they spawn back in), hopping over tiny rocky platforms floating over lava, and dodging past tougher enemies. Luckily, there are no instant death hazards here, but you can easily get trapped in a dangerous position where enemies and hazards drain your health, or you’re left with such little health that you’ll die soon after anyway. All of this means that Metroid is a pretty touch experience, even with the quality of life features offered by the Nintendo Switch; it doesn’t take much for a simple mistake to lead to disaster, enemies can take quite a few hits before being dispatched, and it’s ridiculously easy to get turned around and completely lost. Luckily, there’s no time limit to worry about, and the game is much more enjoyable with a detailed map to help you out.

Graphics and Sound:
Given that it’s an 8-bit title, Metroid is quite the pixelated adventure; Samus, especially, stands out against all of the game’s dark backgrounds thanks to her orange armour but, as you might expect, doesn’t really have many frames of imagination. She ambles along at a decent pace, even able to shoot and run at the same time, but you’ll notice that the game suffers from severe slowdown when too many enemies or items are onscreen at the same time. Each area of Zebes is accompanied by a funky little tune, with the now-recognisable Metroid theme being the catchiest of them, but you won’t encounter any context or story-related text until the final moments of the game, meaning you’ll need the instruction manual to have any idea of what the hell’s going on.

Planet Zebes is split into five areas: Brinstar, Kraid’s Lair, Norfair, Ridley’s Lair, and Tourian, with each one connected by stone or mechanical tunnels and lifts that you can descend and ascend. Each area has a different colour scheme to help differentiate them a little (blue, green, grey, purple, etc) but they’re also very similar and feature nearly identical tunnels and screens in each area, meaning that it’s very easy to lose track of where you are. Some areas feature cloud platforms, stone columns, lava, bubble or monstrous platforms and ceilings, while others are long vertical shafts you need to make your way up. These long shafts can be safer spaces where you can restock on your supplies, but you’ll also need to make use of your Bomb to blow up blocks and descend downwards to give your Morph Ball a little boost to enter into seemingly impassable walls. While lava pits are best avoided, some are actually fake and lead to new areas; other times, you’ll need to navigate through tubes, avoiding or blowing up enemies and hoping you don’t end up being boiled alive. Little touches like moss, different types of stones or foreground elements, and minor visuals help to make some screens a little more distinct but it’s very easy to get confused as some screens are literally identical but at different points on the map and you’ll no doubt be driven made by the constant beeping when your health is low.

Enemies and Bosses:
Planet Zebes is host to all manner of alien baddies who will hop, swoop, and fly right at you without a second’s hesitation. While some of the smaller, weaker enemies can be destroyed in one shot, others take multiple shots and even the simplest of enemies can cause a major problem as they respawn constantly from all angles and it’s easy to get hit by one (and knocked into lava…) Spiked Zoomers are the easiest and most frequent enemy, though you’ll probably be farming pick-ups from Zebs quite often as well. Skree drop from the ceiling and will explode if you don’t destroy them quickly, Wavers, Rios, Multivolas, and Sidehoppers bounce around the screen erratically, Dragons spit fireballs at you in an arc from lava, and Rippers travel back and forth and make for useful temporary platforms oney you acquire the Ice Beam. In Tourian, you’ll encounter the titular Metroids, bug-like parasites that float around and home in on you to suck your energy away and which can only be destroyed with your limited supply of missiles.

Considering the size of its map, Metroid only features three bosses; I assume you can theoretically tackle Kraid and Ridley in whatever order you like (assuming you take the right paths using a guide) but I fought Ridley first. This stubby little purple dragon hops up and down in the middle of the arena shooting projectiles at you. These also form a kind of protective shield that will block your shots, but can be destroyed with your weapons. Ridley doesn’t really need to do much else as he can absorb a huge amount of punishment before finally exploding, and the same can also be said about Kraid. Kraid is a little more formidable; he meanders back and forth across a platform surrounded by acid and constantly fires missiles and throws bladed projectiles at you, all of which you must dodge and shoot through in order to land the necessary multiple hits on the bulbous monster. There’s also a fake version of Kraid hiding in his lair, which will respawn upon defeat, and only by destroying the real Kraid can you complete the bridge and enter the game’s toughest and most unfair area by far. Mother Brain is a stationary brain inside a glass jar but is protected by an intricate and unrelenting arsenal of wall-mounted lasers, bubble-like projectiles, and barriers which you must blast through with your missiles. As if that isn’t bad enough, you’re given precarious platforms to stand on to shoot at her and must battle over a lava pit, constantly dodging and being pummelled by projectiles as you desperately try to fire your missiles at her through the narrowest of openings. Once she’s defeated, you’re then given about 999 in-game seconds to navigate up one final shaft and get to safety before the whole place explodes, making for a heart-poundingly tense and massively frustrating finale to an already challenging game.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Samus will find a wide variety of useful, permanent power-ups to gradually make her journey a little easier. It’s well worth taking the time to explore (or use a map…) to seek these out as you can increase her health by finding Energy Tanks (which will add another block of 99 health units to your total) and increase her maximum supply of missiles up to 255 with Missile Tanks. Since you need missiles to open doors and deal the maximum amount of damage to enemies, and will find yourself absolutely crucified in Tourian without these, these are both well worth seeking out. As mentioned, you’ll need the Morph Ball to progress past the first few screens, and soon acquire the Bomb to use in this form to destroy ground-based enemies or propel Samus into tunnels. The Long Beam will extend the range of Samus’s default weapon, which can also be upgraded to the Ice Beam (which, naturally, freezes enemies and turns them into temporary platforms but be warned as a subsequent shot will unfreeze them) and, eventually, the Wave Beam (which increases the firing range of your main attack). Samus can also find the High Jump Boots to extend her vertical jump, the Screw Attack to damage enemies with a spinning jump attack, and the Varia Suit to reduce the amount of damage she takes from enemies and hazards.

Additional Features:
As mentioned, the Nintendo Switch version allows for up to three save states and includes a rewind feature, both of which are incredibly useful for when you land in a sticky situation or want to take a break. If you fancy jumping ahead, you can also play an “SP” version of the game that bestows you with all the available equipment and upgrades and drops you right outside of the battle with Ridley. Unlike many videogames of its era, Metroid doesn’t feature a high score system but it does include multiple endings; the faster you finish the game, the more of Samus’s true form will be revealed in the ending. Additionally, after finishing the game, you’ll automatically start over in a new game with all of your power-ups (though without the additional Energy and Missile Tanks you acquired) or even garbed in a skin-tight outfit rather than armour.

The Summary:
I may not have ever properly played a Metroid game before, but I was fully aware of the franchise and its emphasis on backtracking and exploration. Consequently, I was a little intimidated to play through Metroid, especially as my limited experience with the series had left me struggling to find my way around. Although it is a real problem that Metroid doesn’t feature any kind of map (which is weird, as The Legend of Zelda (Nintendo R&D4, 1986) released earlier that same year and featured a rudimentary map system), it’s nothing you can’t solve with a quick Google search, meaning your only remaining hurdle is the challenge offered by the gameplay. While the controls are tight enough, Samus is a bit slippery and floaty at times, and her inability to fire in all directions makes things problematic, but nowhere near as annoying as the respawning, erratic enemies and tricky platforming sections. The various upgrades definitely help with this, and once you have a bit more health and a more powerful main attack and have gotten used to the repeating rooms and enemies, the game becomes a lot of fun. It’s definitely rough around the edges, though; when playing retro games on modern consoles, I always try to imagine how gamers coped back in the day and, in the case of Metroid, I can only assume they got through it with a great deal of patience and trial and error. Still, this was a decent experience and I’m glad that I finally played through it; it’s maybe a little too challenging and confusing at times for just a casual playthrough, though, so I’m interested to see if I find the later releases more appealing with their improved graphics and controls.

My Rating:

Pretty Good

Have you ever played Metroid? If so, what did you think to it and how do you think it holds up today, both against its subsequent titles and other games from that era? Did you struggle to navigate the inter-connected game map? Which of the bosses and upgrades was your favorite? Have you ever finished the game without using modern enhancements, and what’s the best ending you’ve achieved? Which Metroid game is your favourite? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave a comment below or leave a reply on my social media, and be sure to check out my other Metroid reviews.