In Games

I haven't played Metroid very often because I don't like shooting games, but the game has a very solid fanbase and thus deserves to be Game of the Week.
So get your carts out or load up your NES ROMs in the emulators and give it a shot.

As usual, I present thee Japanese and American boxart. Enjoy.
BTW, feel free to discuss about boxart, too. Which do you like better and why?

Japanese version (Famicom Disk System):


In the West:

Metroid is a very good game. I had lots of fun with the first Game. The 2nd one for GameBoy is also pretty good also, And we can't forget the Snes version.

Another one that I loved. I still have my original cart that I bought when it was first released (I have a lot of Nintendo carts, a lot of my collection has had to be replaced at hock shops and garage sales because of theivery), and it's always been a fun and challenging (to say the least) game.
Each time I play it, I can never seem to remember where the hell everything is, and in a lot of ways, that's a good thing, it's like it's new, kind of, each time I play it.
~BEWARE--HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!!!~(So don't read if you haven't finished the game), the first time reached the end and hit the timed escape bit, I nearly had a heart attack! But I managed, somehow, to make it on the first try. I can't say the same about the Mother Brain. The most annoying part of that area is those damned fireballs, freezing them, and then going back to missling the MB. I also love the part of the energy tank hidden in the ceiling in the beginning area.
As for the box art (in fact, in most of the Game Of The Week entries), even though the US versions bring back memories, I have to say I like the Japanese art better, there's more art put into it, while the US boxes just seem to have pictures of game sprites.
This is another one that has an endless bag of tricks, as well! My favorite is bombing my way up that one wall in a ball, to get the (Varia? Spin Attack? I can't remember which), before getting the jump boots, to "cheat" the game! Good selection!

Cool game ;) There's one big drawback about the US version... the stinkin' passwords. Why, oh why did they give us passwords, yet the FDS version has three different save slots? You know how Zelda is with three save slots? Yeah, same deal on Metroid(J). I really wish they would've kept that formula for over here.

Besides that, the game is darn awesome, and doesn't just take a few minutes to beat... unless you're a badass of course ha. Anyway, good selection Manuel, you're not pulling any punches on the classic games.

I never played this game actually, just a few times now and then.

The Famicom version was on re-writable disk card, that's why it had saves.
I guess putting a battery in was too expensive? So they decided to use the passowrd system.


I try my best to get all the classics in.

I cannot figure out how to do ANYTHING in this game. I wander aimlessly and give up. Am I retarded?

Nope. It's just a very cavernous and difficult game; and next to impossible to map unless you've got lots of time on your hands. An example of retardation is getting almost all the way through the 1st Megaman when it was new and not realizing that you had special weapons from the defeated bosses.
I can still remember what I said. "What are those gauges

i never really cared for the original Metroid. i could never figure out where to go or what to do. it might have something to do with me playing Super Metroid first. i don't know what it is, but this game seems overrated to me, same with many popular games *cough*Final Fantasy*cough*. excuse me

The big problem is definitely that you hard time recognizing where the hell you are, something perfected by early Playstation Games.

Other than that, I had a blast with it. It was a new take on exploration gameplay on the NES, and I salute it. I don't necessarily think it's overrated at all, I just think that it's sequels did exactly what a good sequel should do; be better.

I was like this when I first played it too. You really need to map it out yourself (I did) or I guess cheat and get a map from internet. Once you get into it it does become easier. I found the first area to be the toughest to get by. Kept dying.

Metroid is a really good game. A nice mix of action and exploring. Lots of secrets to find (secrets on nearly every screen). What I really liked about Metroid was how a lot of the areas are the same as in Super Metroid (I played Super first). It's neat recognizing the same parts done in 8bit graphics. It is quite a challenging game, but I never felt it was impossily hard.

For downsides I agree with Roth on the passwords - long and annoying. Also the way you start with nearly zero health evertime you die meaning you have to spend ages going around collecting it. That is particularly annoying towards the end of the game when you have loads of energy tanks. Thankfully the problem was fixed in Super Metroid.

Keeping in spirit with the Game Of The Week, I cast aside SNK Vs. Capcom 1 and beat Metroid last night and got the not s' good ending.
Going to start all over tonight and try it again.

I still can't get past that first area...

Agreed!

I never played this before so today I opened the NES ROM and cannot get past the second or 3rd room. What the hell are you supposed to do!?

If someone has the answer, just PM him! I still want to figure this one out on my own.

Amen!

One of the earliest games owned by a friend of mine. We played this game so much. I remember the Anticipation of finding those rooms that contain the ‘new item.’ We couldn’t wait to shoot the statue’s ball, and see what our next item was. The concept of not having ‘levels’ in a game was brand new at the time, and it was quite a fun experience exploring, getting new weapons/abilities, and then exploring further. I remember how easy of a boss Ridley was, since you could stand on the lower platform unharmed, but how you had to fight Kraid one on one.

SPOILERS (but not really bad ones)

Towards the end of the game, when you face the Metroids, I remember being freaked out when they first appeared. Their movement seemed so quick compared to other things in the game, and I was so afraid of being grabbed by one, when my friend had described them to me earlier. They just drain your life so fast! The bad part about the mother brain room is that the amount of enemy fire moving around slows the game down, which adds to your difficulty of trying to control your character, especially when it periodically speeds back up to normal, when there isn’t as much action on the screen.

Great Game!