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4.5 stars - Definitely the first game of its kind

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: June 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Metroid(1986). The first Metroid game and only one to appear on the NES.

Imagine that it is the year 1986. Nintendo had finally managed to break through the market with Super Mario Brothers the previous year, and it looked to be an uphill climb in greatness for the system. The NES was becoming a household name, and Nintendo was sure to release many more classics which would define the system. Metroid was one of these.

Of all the spectacular 2D platform adventure games to be released throughout the last 20 years or so, such as the masterpieces Super Metroid, Castlevania Symphony Of The Night, Rygar, the GBA Castlevanias, Clash At Demonhead, and others, all of them owe their design to the popular original Metroid. While Super Mario Brothers technically invented the 2D action platform genre, and Zelda was a milestone for adventure gaming, up until Metroid there were no games that merged the two genres together. To put it simply, Metroid showed us a large sidescrolling environment with no "levels" so to speak, and combined it with items to collect and upgrade your character. For its day this was unheard of.

Now I will go through the Positives, the Negatives, and the other Negatives that I consider to be overblown about Metroid...

THE POSITIVES:

-WELL DESIGNED GAME LAYOUT. Each area that you traverse is filled with lots of pathways, secrets, enemies, and powerups for you to collect. One thing I'm very impressed with for the game back in its day is that it's designed to prevent you from accessing certain areas without the aid of another ability/weapon. It also leaves you to think of ways to bypass some of these obstacles before you have these abilities. Very clever, Nintendo.
-VERY DIVERSE ARRAY OF WEAPONS AND ABILITIES. For weapons, you've got the long beam, ice beam, and wave beam, which isn't a whole lot compared to other games, but enough to suit you for this adventure. Your abilities range from a hi jump, to a morph ball, to a protection suit, and to a damaging screw jump attack. Good enough for exploring the inner sanctums of Planet Zebes.
-GOOD RANGE OF ENEMIES. While they tend to repeat themselves in different areas of the game, they do come in a variety of types. Most of them are very challenging, some are enough to make you pull your hair out, and others can be avoided altogether.
-GREAT DIFFICULTY. This game is not an easy one, and its steep uphill learning curve will be loved and hated by many.

THE NEGATIVES

-THE ICEBEAM ACQUIRING LATER ON BECOMES FLAWED. What I mean is that every weapon you acquire replaces the one before it, and because of that, once you have your most powerful weapon, the wave beam, you'll be in trouble when you reach the final lair. You need the icebeam again when approaching the end of the game. Some may get frustrated with this aspect.
-YOU CAN'T DUCK AND SHOOT! It becomes really annoying early in the game when you don't have the bomb yet and you need to shoot those spikey creatures on the ground and you can't.
-THE BOSSES ARE TOO EASY. Well, Mother Brain is a bit tough because of all the stuff shooting at you, but Kraid and Ridley are both a bit disappointing because all you have to do is come close to both of them and just let loose with the missles.

Now I'll address the Negatives that people have about the game that I think are just hot air:

-THE GRAPHICS ARE OLD. People often say this about the game, but honestly, can you expect anything more from a game that came out in 1986? It works for the time. Though some of the environments can get a little bland in places, it's not that bad.
-NO SAVE GAME FEATURE. Again, keep in mind that the year is 1986, and the only game that would've already had this feature is Zelda, which may or may not have come out before this game. The passwords can be tedious, but they save everything.
-VERY LITTLE STORY. Once again, 1986. See a common theme here? If you think about it, the original Zelda really didn't have any bigger of a story to it either but nobody complained there. Same thing with Super Metroid. Plus, let's not forget how adding an in-depth story into the gameplay killed the freedom and pacing of Metroid Fusion.
-NO MAP FEATURE. While having a map would help, the game isn't really all that intricate compared to Super Metroid, so by not having the map, the challenge factor bumps up and makes the game FEEL larger.

Overall, Metroid is a flawed masterpiece, but a masterpiece nonetheless. If you feel like divulging in a historical yet essential classic of the NES, then Metroid should fill the gap nicely. This game already comes as a bonus to both Metroid Prime and Zero Mission, so you might as well save money and play those. While Zero Mission may be a better rendition of the original game, no one can deny the classic sensibilities of this NES shooter. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Other recommendations:
-Any other sidescrolling Metroid title (Fusion, Super Metroid, Zero Mission, Metroid 2)
-Any NES Mega Man game
-Castlevania Symphony of the Night (PS1) and any of its GBA contemporaries (Circle, Harmony, Aria)
-Rygar (NES)
-Clash At Demonhead (NES)

NOTE: For those who don't know, enter the password:
JUSTIN BAILEY
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The game that defined open-ended exploration; a true classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: June 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In 1986, METROID forever changed the face of video gaming. A richly atmospheric title, METROID offered a darker, grainier side to the bright images and sunshine gaming that were at that time populating Nintendo. (To this day Nintendo still specialises in that `sunshine gaming,' with more titles for little kids than adults, but that's rather beside the point). SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, the 8-Bit's flagship title, was colourful, woefully short, and a fun jaunt to rescue Princess Toadstool from the evil Bowser. SUPER MARIO BROTHERS displayed a mastery of excellent level design, but it did not take long to beat. The rest of the video games at that time, san ZELDA and KID ICARUS, were also of a relative simple nature.

Enter Samus Aran. This was a game that offered unprecedented depth of play, was dark and grisly, and had great, mood setting music, and long, twisting corridors that led you deep into the Space Pirates' lair. An incredibly large game for the time, comparable only to THE LEGEND OF ZELDA and KID ICARUS of the first generation Nintendo titles, you could wander around for hours, exploring and gaining access to new areas with new items. I tend to think of KID ICARUS (why didn't this become a franchise???) and METROID as brothers, and ZELDA and METROID as first cousins. While ZELDA offers a very innovative, opened-ended (for the time) overworld experience with fantasy elements, METROID does the same type of innovation for side-scrollers, with a map just as expansive (though in a different format) as ZELDA. Which brings me to the actual game play of METROID.

Metroid operates as one long map broke off into sections. There is no level progressions like Mario. But the game does contain you too certain areas that only opens up after you had receive new items. These items are cleverly hidden throughout the game's map, and just when you think you've come to a dead end, suddenly you bomb the floor and a whole new area opens before you. And the game isn't too kind when it set you down in that opening area of Brinstar. Equipped with only 30 energy units, Samus has to be tough to survive. Energy is scarce and can be time-consuming to collect. (Compare obtaining life in METROID to SUPER METROID; in SUPER METROID there's all sorts of energy). The energy being so hard to collect, and the ungodly complex password system, do flaw the game, but we have to remember this is a first gen NES title, so you have to cut it some slack.

Now would be a good time to talk about METROID's glitch. Much like the negative world in SUPER MARIO BROTHERS, METROID has one of the most famous glitches in the video gaming world. Called the Secret Worlds, you use a wall jumping technique that enables you to get to "new areas" of the game that are otherwise unreachable. Thought to be a secret, an intentional programming easter egg, these Secret Worlds, while still fun to search for, are not intentional. They are glitches. Search the Internet to find out all about these secret areas.

After transversing Brinstar and Norfair, getting new items, then Samus has to fight through the two bosses' hideouts and put them down before the final confrontation: Mother Brain. My favorite old school enemy, Mother Brain is a proven nemesis, much harder to beat than the laughably pathetic Bowser or even the more challenging Gannon. On top of that, once you beat her you have to get out of Tourian within a certain time limit (admittedly, it's more than enough time to get out). Even though Mother Brain's tough, we video gamers led Samus to victory countless times because of the stupendous game play and the compelling story. Once Mother Brain is dead and we get Samus out of Tourian, then the real payoff is unleashed. Samus is a WOMAN! And if you beat the game under certain time limits, you get different endings. During the days of rescuing damsels in distresses with a Brooklyn plumber or a green-clad boy, Samus's gender is very revolutionary, which brings me to the story aspect of METROID, which is currently under attack by ZERO MISSION.

METROID's best features are successfully combines rich story-telling (for the NES) with innovative gameplay. This isn't a kid's game like Mario. This is a classic science fiction story, heavily influenced by Ridley Scott's ALIEN. Metroid is a story of a Space Federation fighting for its very survival against the fearsome Mother Brain and its two subordinates, Ridley and Kraid, who had stolen the Metroids and had their own devious designs for them. I have a sneaking suspicion that the boss Ridley was named after Sigourney Weaver's character and Ridley Scott. Gunpei Yokoi, executive produce of METROID (and also one of the chief developers of the original Game Boy), said that while ALIEN was never specifically discussed during Metroid's development, it cast a heavy shadow over METROID. That same dark terror, about never knowing what was around the next corner and how you were hoping, against all odds, that Ridley in ALIEN and Samus in the game would come out on top, forever cemented both tales in the imaginations of their prospective audiences.

Because of the gameplay and atmospheric story, Samus Aran has become a classic video game icon. Thankfully, after many long years the METROID franchise has become alive again with new releases. But for those who want to relive the Samus's first glory, then this game would hold you enthralled. This is truly a classic game.

P. S. Unfortunately, do to the realitive simplicity of the NES version of events, Nintendo has saw fit to introduce a radical remake of the game on METROID: ZERO MISSION, enlarging it and changing around events. While I enjoyed ZM, I felt it much to linear and went against what made the original so great to begin with: open-ended exploration. See my METROID: ZERO MISSION review for more details.

Good grand game for its time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 18, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK, I'm a little sick of my peers (ages 13-19) giving old skool games low ratings because they aren't up to "todays" standards or because they're "too old" to be fun anymore. I'm a 16 year old gamer and actually prefer old-skool myself. I think it's time we start reviewing a product for what it really IS rahter than how old it is.

For its time, Metroid was a milestone in video gaming. One of the largest games when it was released that wasn't quite so linear. The game doesn't have a completely set path for you to take. You're supposed to get around by exploring the game and finding abilities. It is possible to find nearly every ability before you even fight your first boss. This was also one of the first games to use the "Password" system. There were probably a a few before this.

Also, what I like most about this game (and what the games these days need) is that its HARD! Should you play this game you'll be stunned at some of its difficult feets. Some things you must do to get abilities are amazingly hard, but well worth it.

For 8-bit graphics these are amazing and some of the best on the NES I've seen. This is by far one of the best NES games you could ever get. The game is also HUGE that you MUST explore. If (when?) you die you always get a password displayed. Depending on what area you're in will depend on where you start. For the NES using this system was a bit different at the time.

Metroid is a milestone among games. Not to mention it had one of the most shocking moments in videogame history (that when I played, I myself was a bit shocked at the time), that being that Samus is a woman. Sure nowadays its no big deal but when Metroid came out all the big heroes in games were male characters back in this time. So while today it isn't shocking to see, back then it was.

Overall, you'd have to be crazy not to be able to enjoy this game. Unless of course you're like most of my friends who could care less about the gameplay and more about the graphics.

Overall

The good
+Old Skool fun for everybody
+Extremely fun
+Redefined Exploration (for me anyway)
+A good challenge
+Great Audio and Graphics for the NES

The Bad
-If I could think of one right now I'd tell you...umm...Samus can't aim diagnally or duck? No that really isn't anything bad considering most games in that time you couldn't aim diagnolly. So I guess there's nothing bad I could say about this game. Except that some of the glitches the NES cartridge tends to have sometimes.
-The other con...its too bad that compared to today it won't get what it deserves anymore. It's so much better than Metroid Prime is (though even I have to admit I like Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion a bit more than this one)

The beginning of something great

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 11
Date: May 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In the latter half of the eighties, Capcom released the side-scrolling action/adventure title Metroid for the NES. At the time, it's doubtful Nintendo had any idea the game would become a cult classic. Although the series never really won gamers over the way that, say, Mario and Zelda games have, hardcore gamers won't deny that the Metroid series is one of the finest out there. Read on for my review of this, the original game in the series.

PROS:
-THIS WAS THE FIRST GAME OF ITS KIND. No other game to date gave you a side-scrolling action/adventure experience that was this big - and gave you passwords to save your progress!
-THERE ARE TONS OF SECRETS. In the many corridors of Planet Zebes, there are many hidden items - considerably more than you'd expect to appear in this kind of game in this era.
-THE GAME IS EASY TO LEARN. Basically you just run and shoot - and that's all there is to it. Even new gamers will pick up the control scheme relatively quickly.
-THE GAME IS FULL OF COOL ITEMS. You can get an accessory that lets you transform into a ball, an item that lets you drop bombs while in that form, the Long Beam which expands the range of your beam, the Ice Beam which will allow your beam to freeze foes, the ultra-powerful Wave Beam which can pass through walls, as well as missiles you can use to blow down locked doors and kill enemies faster.

CONS:
-YOU CAN'T FIRE UPWARD OR DOWNWARD DIAGONALLY. You can fire left, right, or up - and that's it. This gives you a lot less flexibility when it comes to battling your enemies.
-YOU CAN'T DUCK WITHOUT BECOMING A BALL IN THIS GAME. Being able to crouch down and shoot at enemies was a huge luxury in other Metroid games, and you don't get that same luxury here.
-THE GAME USES PASSWORDS, NOT A BATTERY. Because of this, you'll often find yourself spending as much time writing down and punching in the (twenty-four character!) password as you do playing the game. And to make things even worse, the password entry can get confusing. There are capital and lower-case letters, and it's easy to mix up 0 and O, 1 and l, etc.
-THE GAME PREDATES THE SPAZER, PLASMA BEAM, SPACE JUMP, X-RAY SCOPE, AND SO MANY OTHER COOL GADGETS THAT MADE LATER ENTRIES IN THE SERIES SO COOL. If you've played any other game in the Metroid series, don't expect this one to be better. This was Nintendo's first attempt at a Metroid game, and the results were often mediocre.
-THE WAVE BEAM OVERRIDES THE ICE BEAM, AND VICE VERSA. This means that you'll probably end up having to get the Ice Beam more than once - and you'll have to go way out of your way to do it. Why couldn't Nintendo just have included an option to switch between beams?
-VIRTUALLY NO STORYLINE. The game has almost no storyline whatsoever - and you're not going to get any of it unless you bother reading the instruction manual.
-ZERO MISSION TELLS THIS GAME'S STORY IN A MUCH BETTER WAY. The recently-released Game Boy advance title Metroid Zero Mission is a retelling of the story in this game - and it's an all-around better game to. So, why not just pass this game up and play Metroid Zero Mission instead? And besides, if you beat Zero Mission, you unlock THIS game, so you really can't go wrong there.

OVERALL:
Overall this was an excellent game that was ahead of its time, but it also left a lot to be desired. Still, I won't deny that it was a very good game - and one of the NES's true classics. If you have an NES video game collection that is missing this game, you don't have an NES video game collection.

Classic Metroid!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: August 18, 2001
Author: Amazon User

This is one of my favorite games!

It takes you in as you take the role of Samus Aran to destroy the Mother Brain and destroy the Metroids. The glitches can make it better or worse (secret worlds best, freeze worse).

The only problem I have is that after I got it (after months of searching), it kept popping up in pawn shops and used video game stores!

One of the greatest NES games

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: March 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have had this game since before i was born, well at least my brother has. anyway, this game is so cool, you play as bounty hunter Samus Aran and you have to defeat 3 bosses, but it is kind of hard, i still play it, and i can't beat it! i use the code and get to the end, but its just really chalenging, but you will not like this games if your one of those people who can't realize that the game they are playing [is not good] because of the rich graphics, well what i'm trying to say is that some games no-one would give them a chance if it werent for the awesome graphics, but i like games with and without good graphics, thats what everyone should do.

Unique, inspiring, a masterpiece...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I first played Metroid when I was about 4 or 5, very young. I saw my parents playing it, and I had to play it of course. I think the thing that took my breath away the most was the idea of being able to play in one huge world and gain abilites by finding items. The difficulty was very high, so I had plenty reason to come back for more, as well. The GBA version of Metroid is much easier, in my opinion, due to the fact that you don't need to imput the passwords over and over again. That is the only flaw in this game: the passwords are confusing as heck. It uses lower and upper case letters, as well as a plethora of numbers and punctuation marks, so it is easy to write down something and get confused later on ( zeros look like o's...). Anyway, next to Super Metroid this is probably the greatest video game ever made, and expresses what a good video game is all about: Using your brain power to achieve something that is not only complicated, but fun. This is an open-ended game which is one huge level. Unlike Contra, Adventure Island and all those classic NES games, Metroid was one huge level which was intertwined and allowed the player to interract with the environment (ex: shooting a creature with the ice beam, then blowing a few blocks away above your head to reveal a hidden passage). It's hard to express how fun this game was, and still is.

Graphics- 10/10 When it cam out, the graphics were top of the line and the environments look pretty awesome, especially the Norfair, Ridley, and Kraid environments. The backrounds are in many different textures and colors. Some environemts are downright creepy (the purple orbs in Norfair, and the purple drooping rock-esque things on the ceiling for example, or the big structures of the alien heads on the walls before you enter Kraids and Ridleys lairs, also the creepy structure before you fight Kraid and Ridley.), while others just fit in perfectly with the enemies and music themes. Each of the enemies has an interesting designs, and for its time the bosses were pretty cool.

Music- 10/10 The Brinstar theme has got to be the catchiest and most memorable music theme out of any video game...ever. The other themes are great as well, especially the Kraid, Norfair, and Ridley themes. The music is quite atmospheric and sets the tone for the exploration quite perfectly, making it not only fun to explore, but pleasing to the ears as well. Music plays a big role in this game.

Controls- 10/10 For its time, Metroid played extremely smooth, and Samus controlled great. It was one of, if not the first game to allow you to aim upward, making it a lot better. Sure you can duck down or aim diagnolly.. but this was NES, not Playstation 2, remember?

Gameplay- 100/10 One hundred out of ten. This game took the idea of gameplay which was created by titles such as Super Mario Bros and just blew it away. There are countless items and powerups to collect, each uniquely hidden and well worth it. Metroid was the first game to really utilize exploration, unlike other games which were purely level-to-level. Sure, sometimes things are hidden in a ridiculous manor compared to games these days (having to blow away some random block to unveal the next room), but I think this only made the game more unique and durable. I mean, having to search for new rooms was not only thrilling, but it really made it feel like you were Samus embarking on a bounty hunter mission against the aliens of Zebes. Gameplay is absolutely flawless.

Overall-10/10 This is probably the greatest NES game ever made, and I think everyone (kids or adults) should play this game, for it is not only brain-teasing, but is also quite fun. If you can look past its dated graphics and what-not, you will see that for its time everything was great, and to me it still looks as good as it did before. I cannot recommend this any more.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great game!!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: July 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Ok, this is a great game, but, it can be very frustrating. You die too quickly. Some enimies are very frustrating, like the purple flying robot, if he finds you, he will get to the bottom, so you can't attack him, unless you're lucky enough to have the ability to
place bombs while rolling. The first most frustrating ememy in the game is the flys that come out of the pipes. They're extremely annoying!! They're are not stupid, if you jump, they will go higher on the next attack. It is just so annoying!!! I reccommend this game, but, be aware that this game is frustrating. The other thing is that the password system is frustrating, because, it is easy to confuse different characters with others.
Overall, I reccommend it, but, watch out for the flys!!!

A 2D masterpiece.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I remember being bored of Super Mario Bros. because it was too juvenile and decided to pick up Metroid. The game went down in history as one of the only original NES games where you could save your progress(the other 2 that I know with a password option are Kid Icarus and The Legend Of Zelda).The graphics look really fuzzy by today's standards but back then they were jawdropping. The music was also a great highlight and the challenges and maze like platform structures added an extra sense of depth. One of the fondest childhood memories Ive had was playing this game.

quite possibly the greatest game ever made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

aaah, the good old 8-bit euphoria.... I miss the time when games were so simply entertaining. This game was my favorite amongst them next to Castlevania, and still is. I actually know the the source code to this game (it was required for a programming class, but it was the most fun i ever had doing a school project).

The Metroid series is very unqie in a lot of ways. It was one of the first games to played on entirely one level. However, that one level is so enormous, that it won't even cross your mind. So don't let the one level thing fool you - Metroid games are long and take several hours to beat as long as you don't cheat. The game is so filled with secret passages and little programming glitches that it'll keep you busy for weeks even after you've completed the main game! One fun thing to do is to look around for the Secret Worlds, which are actually programming glitches that duplicate the area you're already in and warp it.

One time my brother's friend tried to play the game, gloating about how how simple and cheesy it was. He boasted that he could beat it in less than an hour simply because it was 8-bit. Oh, how ignorant he proved to be when he got downwinded in less than a minute. The game is DAMN HARD, even today.

I recommend this to everyone - period. Anybody can find something to enjoy from this masterpiece. I particularly recommend that younger kids who didn't have the privilege of growing up with 8-bit as my generation did take a chance with it. Pretty graphics aren't everything - in fact, they're virtually nothing. This is gaming at its best!

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