ranking the metroid series

earlier this year i finished the last two metroid games i hadn’t played, but it’s taken me a while to find time to sit down and post my ranking of the entire series. in looking at the series as a whole, it’s clear why this deserves a place among the best of nintendo’s franchises, right up there with the mario and zelda series. although the games’ generally slower pace may have caused it to lack the other series’ more-popular appeal, the games are deeply satisfying and from the start focused on exploration in a way that was new, captivating, and hugely influential, as seen by any number of games that followed it, most famously the castlevania series. not to mention its heroine, samus aran, one of the first ladies of gaming, and a true video game icon.

when i ranked the mario series about a year and a half ago i enlisted the help of another blogger to provide a contrasting view. i had a hard time finding someone else who had played the series and wanted to write about it, so this time around i’ll be posting the ordering of the soon-to-be-defunct nintendo power. they included a ranking in their october 2010 (v. 259) edition, although it omits metroid: other M, which had just been released. so without further ado, here’s my ranking of the fantastic metroid series, with links to the corresponding posts on my blog. as with the mario series, i’m really looking forward to seeing how my own opinion evolves as i begin my second tour of the series, and heartily looking forward to more games in this great series. (incidentally, i didn’t include them in the list, but if you’re interested you check out my thoughts on metroid prime pinball and the metroid prime hunters demo called first hunt.)

the metroid series
as ranked by geozeldadude and nintendo power
#	geozeldadude‘s list	nintendo power’s list (excerpts from vol. 259)
1	metroid prime (GCN) (1 | 2 | 3): much as i loved super metroid, i have to give metroid prime the edge and put it at the top of my list, and i suspect many people would be as torn as i am. although i prefer 2-D games in general metroid prime brings the metroid universe to life in a way that really highlighted all the advantages of the 3-D game, at the expense of minimal drawbacks. the gaming universe was skeptical, to say the least, of the transition to 3-D, but retro studios pulled it off beautifully: not only nailing the combat, but succeeding in making the platforming feel natural as well. the game builds on the core metroid exploration-focused gameplay and incorporates new, absolutely top-notch design. there are several gaming moments in my life that really stick out in my mind as highlights, and first landing in the light rain of tallon IV and stepping out into the gentle snowfall of phendrana drifts are high among them. one of my favorite games of all time, up there with mario 3 and the original game boy tetris. i’m wary of replaying this game again in case it loses some of its magic (esp. after having played through its sequels), but at the same time i’m quite looking forward to it.	Super Metroid: Super Metroid, even more than the 8-bit original, defines what we think of as a Metroid game. The action is beautifully tuned, but it’s not a pure action game. It’s a agame about exploring an alien world, about always wanting to find out what’s around that next corner. The drive to progress — to knock of the bosses and gather new items — is all wound up in that need to push forward and see something new. … It’s the kind of world that compels you to visit again and again, and it makes Super Metroid one of the finest games of all time.
2	super metroid (SNES): another case of a close second. although i played this game after fusion, the difference really is in the details and this game was perfectly paced and a leap forwards from the NES and game boy games.	Metroid Prime: Playing Metroid Prime felt a little strange at first. But one thought predominated: “They actually did it.” Prime spent a very long time in development, during which Metroid fans wondered if their beloved side-scrolling series would really work with a shift to a first-person perspective. … Then the fall of 2002 rolled around. You could feel a collective double-take ripple through the gaming world as we discovered that Metroid Prime was everything we could have hoped it would be: a powerfully immersive 3D re-creation of the classic Metroid experience. … Rarely has a series so perfectly made such a massive technological leap, but Nintendo and Retro Studios almost made it look easy.
3	zero mission (GBA): usually i wouldn’t include remakes in a list like this, but zero mission feels completely distinct from the NES original it’s based on. although the NES game originated the core of the series’ greatness, zero mission had a few new tricks up its sleeve, including a great section featuring the debut of zero-suit samus. and although samus was as sprightly and speedy as in fusion, the pacing of this game was much better with areas opening up in a more satisfying way.	Metroid: Zero Mission: Zero Mission is the kind of remake that gives remakes a good name. The Game Boy Advance revival of the original Metroid got it right — it held on to the essential character of a classic game while improving it in every possible way. … Better graphics … Deeper storytelling … New bosses, new items, new areas, a whole new final level … What’s more quietly exciting is the way Zero Mission creates a bridge from the first Metroid adventure to the events of the Metroid Prime trilogy, making it feel more like those games are telling one big story.
4	metroid (NES): although i’d played it as a kid, it took me a while to bring myself to replay the original NES game. despite modern sensibilities the lack of a map turned out to not be as painful as i had feared, and although i was stuck for a bit trying to find the ice beam i enjoyed the game’s slower pace and reacquainting myself with the origins of the series. not quite the classic that the original mario is, but still very enjoyable.	Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: Though it never quite reaches the towering heights of the first Metroid Prime, Corruption nonetheless stands as a phenomenal conclusion to the trilogy. The move to the Wii console brought with it enhanced controls, which demonstrated that first-person shooting could feel significantly better with the Wii Remote than with a standard controller. To showcase that, Corruption shifted the formula slightly to place a greater emphasis on action … Retro Studios again proved its knack for crafting imaginative, cohesive worlds that beg to be explored.
5	metroid fusion (GBA): my bias towards 2-D games puts fusion ahead of the other games. the linearity of fusion didn’t bother me as much as it did others, and i found it to be a nice change of pace from the rest of the series. but the game does feel easier and more mindless than the rest of the series. a middle-ranking metroid game still beats out many other games, though, and it’s still an enjoyable if not hugely memorable experience.	Metroid (NES): … Metroid combined platforming with world exploration to make an adventure that was thoroughly unique for its time and has been the template for dozens of games since. Samus Aran jumped, rolled and fired lasers and missiles with an inventive control scheme that took full advantage of the Control Pad and two buttons. … the game broke new console ground with its amosphere and exploration-heavy platforming, plus it was among the first console adventure [sic] with a female lead character. Old-school players may see the series originator’s number-six ranking as an injustice, but the game does show its age. … Furthermore, its place on the list is a testament to the innovation that it inspired in the Metroid games that followed.
6	metroid prime hunters (DS): it was refreshing to play a 3-D metroid on a handheld, and it was impressive how much of the metroid prime design they managed to fit in. there were still many places where the limitations were apparent, though, including the visuals and recycled boss fights. the controls weren’t ideal (although not that uncomfortable) and the new emphasis on combat was a nice change of pace, although the repetitive structure made the experience feel too predictable. more memorable than fusion, but a less polished experience overall.	Metroid Prime 2: Echoes: Prime 2 might be a better game than this ranking suggests, if you look at it in a vacuum. It suffered a bit from coming out relatively soon after the breakthrough of the first Metroid Prime, though. They’re very much alike in some regards, and the sequel amplified some of the weaker points of the original. Nonetheless, Echoes is worth playing, beyond a doubt, for its grim, moody atmosphere and some very creative level designs. The rest of the Metroid Prime trilogy just happens to be a fair bit better.
7	metroid prime 3: corruption (wii): it took me a lot of effort to finish this game. the third in the trilogy really didn’t add much new except for the new wii controls which felt great. despite the polish the formula felt tired, and the overall experience was highly disappointing.	Metroid II: The Return of Samus: When it was the only handheld Metroid on the block, volume two of the original saga held up all right. It’s been a while since then, though, and subsequent games raised the bar pretty high. The graphics and stages couldn’t help but be repetitive — you can ask only so much from the original Game Boy — and that emphasized problems with the level layout and scenario design. … Return of Samus has its memorable moments, though, especially the introduction of the charming little Metroid larva.
8	metroid ii: the return of samus (GB): samus’s first foray onto a handheld console. serves as a nice bridge between the original NES game and the SNES masterpiece, but the linearity does hold it back. a fun metroid game, but not that memorable when compared to the rest of the series.	Metroid Prime Hunters: [The] packed-in demo of Metroid Prime Hunters, subtitled First Hunt … proved the fledgling handheld as a viable platform for first-person-perspective gaming. The final version of Hunters … touting a relatively short single-player adventure and multiplayer arena battles for up to four via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, along with a voice-chat feature. Samus was just one of seven bounty hunters tearing up the game’s space-station locations, and each had similarly crafty abilities. … The emphasis on the multiplayer experience makes it less of a classic Metroid adventure than the rest, and control proved to be a little unwieldy.
9	other M (wii): i had a really bad experience playing this game. although i’m all for series exploring and testing their boundaries, this game really felt subpar in every way. as a successor to fusion the nimbleness of our heroine makes some sense, but the ninja-style combat felt shoehorned in. the needless transitions from 2-d to 3rd-person and 1st-person views were awkward at best and extremely jolting and irritating at worst. the exploration lacks the masterful design of the other games in the series, and the hokey story disappointed legions of fans, myself included. probably the most disappointing main-series nintendo game i’ve ever played, and the only consolation is that the series can only go up from here. (hopefully sooner than later!)	-

metroid prime pinball: missions complete

in my last post i mentioned that metroid prime 3: corruption was the last main metroid game i had to finish. the last metroid game was actually the only spin-off the series has seen thus far, metroid prime pinball, which i played through immediately after finishing MP3. so now i’ve officially finished the whole series! w00t! but more on that later …

metroid prime pinball was enjoyable and makes good use of the metroid prime 1 assets, including sound effects, bosses, powerups (bombs, power bombs, and missiles), and general aesthetic, and the boards fit perfectly on the two-screen tall DS. the pinball games i’ve played thus far haven’t been character driven in this way, and it made for a nice change of pace; i’m looking forward to exploring that side of pinball video gaming more. i also enjoyed the bit of extra kick the game gets from the under-utilized rumble pak. (also, just a side note for anyone who didn’t already know, you can bump the table by swiping the touch screen, something i didn’t find out until after i had beaten the game, doh!)

you can play any single board you’ve unlocked in a high-score mode, but the mission mode, where you progress through a pinball version of the metroid prime story, is the real draw. however, the game suffers from being quite uneven. first off, there are two boards you can start off on, tallon IV and the pirate frigate, but the latter is much more difficult and soon you’ll be constantly skipping it in favor of the former. the tallon IV board is by far the most enjoyable and polished part of the game. the board has heaps of things to do on it, and you’re required to complete numerous missions, including non-pinball oriented mini-games such as shooting down enemies, in order to obtain artifacts to beat the mission mode. pirate frigate has a similar setup but feels barer, and the four remaining boards are focused on boss battles and in comparison are quite short and simple. finishing this mode is satisfying and i didn’t mind that the overall experience didn’t drag on, although i had little interest in tackling the expert mode that becomes unlocked.

all in all, a fun experience and i can now say i’ve officially beaten all the metroid games. will be posting a separate entry on that before too long. in the mean time, here’s to many more years of power suit-losing, morph ball-rolling, speedrunning, and spin attacking greatness from ms. samus aran!

flip through these metroid prime pinball links:
- good FAQ at gamefaqs
- tips on expert mode
- apparently nintendo power game the game a whopping 9.5 out of 10
- entry at wikipedia
- and just for fun, someone’s created a necklace of a metroid eating a pikachu, haha.

metroid prime 3: corruption concluded

metroid prime 3: corruption was the last main metroid game i had to finish, but it took me a ridiculous amount of stopping and starting before i finally sat down and gave it enough attention to see it through to the end. the game was one of the earliest wii games, and definitely and immediately proves that the wii’s controls are ideal for FPSes as the game features a smoother control than ever before seen on a home console. presentation- and content-wise the game doesn’t feel like much of a step up from the gamecube games; in fact the metroid prime formula is followed so closely that despite the polish i found myself more bored than i have been in almost any other metroid game (how much more scanning do i have to slog through??).

there are some minor differences, although for me not enough to keep the momentum going. there’s a stronger emphasis on combat, which didn’t really interest me much, especially since the difficulty of the game is incredibly low (perhaps due to it being on wii and an attempt to bring the series to a new audience). like recent entries in the series the game is fairly linear, but the inclusion of warp points (common in the zelda series but new for the metroid series) is appreciated, although hopping between multiple planets is a cosmetic change that doesn’t add anything new in terms of gameplay. samus’s ship plays a greater, albeit still quite minor, role, but the gesture-based controls do add a feeling of immediacy and help make the experience feel unique. i’m a bit ambivalent about the expansion of the metroid world to include additional characters and voice-acted interactions, such as with random soldier NPCs. part of the appeal of the series has been the sense of isolation, and on the one hand, adding more characters, etc. helps add motivation to the plot, while on the other hand the most notable additions, the three rival bounty hunters, mostly come across as being little more than x-men rip-offs (despite this gandrayda still turned out to be pretty cool).

the hyper mode system is a bit gimmicky and pointless and didn’t really appeal to me (in fact, the producer says that retro was reluctant to include it at the beginning). unlocking bonus content via tokens (inc. tokens you can only get by exchanging over wi-fi with a registered friend) is also fairly pointless and annoying. it seems the majority of reviewers didn’t share my opinion overall, however, as it received rave reviews upon its release including a perfect score from ye olde nintendo power.

it’s great to finally have this final metroid notch on my belt, and the controls make me really look forward to revisiting MP1 via the metroid prime trilogy. i’m really looking forward to seeing where the series goes, especially after the lukewarm response to other M, and i hope that some of the hunters from the DS game make a return someday. retro studios proved themselves with a bang with their amazing take on the metroid series with their first metroid prime release, but it remains to be seen if they, or any other studio, can repeat their breath-taking feat with the series. i, for one, am definitely looking forward to it, and also to replaying all the games in this amazing series.

corrupted metroid prime 3: corruption links:
- page collecting videos of the 3 endings
- here are the translations of the messages you can hear from samus’s gunship
- having played this game some 4 and a half years after its release i missed out on the MP3 wii channel, but here are all the videos on youtube: set 1 | set 2 | set 3 | set 4 | set 5
- i agree with quite a lot of this look back at MP3 on n-sider.com although be forewarned, there be spoilers
- and just for fun, here’s what a goomba to metroid transformation looks like

polarizing metroid: other M

by now probably most metroid fans have already played through metroid: other M for wii, the latest entry of the series. i already knew that the game had gotten mixed reviews, but i was eager to try it out for myself. looking back i realize now that i had assumed that since i’m more open-minded than most and i was looking forward to seeing a long-established franchise change things up a bit, that i would probably enjoy the game.

unfortunately, it was not to be, and the radical changes that were introduced in this entry were for the most part highly disappointing. in fact, i was so upset about the game when i finished it that i posted the following to the racketboy forums the following day:

i had a really bad video gaming experience yesterday, although it ended up being kind of a revelation so i guess that’s kind of a good thing, maybe.

now, i’ve had plenty of video gaming experiences over the years, ranging from being excited about an upcoming release, feeling great about beating a game (among the more noteworthy was beating FE10 with meg as my #1 haha) or getting a really great score, being really wowed by the quality of a game (e.g. metroid prime), being frustrated (majora’s mask), or being bored (last section of wind waker and all of super paper mario) or disappointed in a game.

but in terms of gut-busting visceral reactions, nothing compares to what i felt last night when i finished the first ending of metroid: other M. the point of this post isn’t to debate about the pros and cons of the game; the point is that although i enjoyed parts of the game, when i finished the last battle and as the credits rolled the sense of anger and disappointment i felt was beyond anything i’ve experienced in a very long time. i can’t think of the last time i felt so angry about anything, let alone a game. as i went to bed (which was late, b/c i had stayed up to finish it) and even throughout today i’ve still felt this nagging “hurt”, for lack of a better word.

it’s easy for me to pinpoint why i felt this way: i’m absolutely all for series trying out new things, but for a series to go so wrong in so many ways (in my POV, of course) at once was just so painful. again, the point of this post isn’t to debate this particular game, but to talk about the fact that it was really surprising to me that i felt so emotional about it. i seriously can’t think of the last time i was so emotional about a game; it must have been when i was in grade school. in a way it was kind of a good thing to find out that my interest in video games is still so strong, and also to find out how much i really love nintendo and the metroid series, which i hadn’t truly realized (although i really wish there had been some other, less painful way to find this out).

it also kind of made me wonder if my reaction is indicating that my love of video games is maybe too strong, and that i’m getting to be too much of a fanboy. in the grand scheme of things, does a bad entry in one of my all-time favorite series really matter?

as i mentioned, i can’t believe how upset i was about the game. after a few days i went back and finished the epilogue to get the second ending, and with a little distance i feel i’m able to review the game a bit more impartially.

there’s no shortage of reasons to dislike the game, with plenty of people online to agree wholeheartedly. here’s a quick run-down of the common complaints with my comments:

- most people haven’t complained much about the one wiimote configuration, and the shift from first person to third person. overall this was fairly well-designed, although the first-person perspective is mostly useless and just slows the game down. pretty much everyone mentions that one of the worst parts of the game is easily the “pixel hunting”, where’s waldo-esque fixed first-person perspectives, due to the fact that the thing you’re looking for is tiny and you don’t even know what you’re looking for. it’s clearly supposed to “immerse” you into the world of the game but ends up just being a frustrating, complete waste of time, especially since the screen is usually almost completely dark in these sections anyway.

- occasionally the game shifts to a resident evil 4-style over-the-shoulder perspective in sequences where you can only walk around slowly. again, its intent is clearly to immerse you into the game, but these sections just slow the game down with no payoff. the game has so many cutscenes anyway, that spending three minutes walking slowly from point A to point B in this perspective is just pointless.

- those two changes are indicative of the larger scale change, which was to emphasize action over exploration, basically reversing the ratio of previous entries in the series. although i hated the combat itself at first, i grew to appreciate it although i never particularly liked it. the auto aim is necessitated by the 3-D environment and the limited controls (using the nunchuk and pointing to shoot at enemies would have made this part of the gameplay actually worthwhile), but it makes fighting enemies way too easy. also, the “sense” move, which allows you to dodge easily, looks great but also makes the game far too easy, as you can just constantly tap a direction while shooting and rarely get hit. this makes battles incredibly mindless and repetitive (the enemies themselves are fairly repetitive as it is), and there’s no motivation to kill enemies anyway since they don’t drop health or missiles (instead you can recharge them manually with another new move, called “concentration”). boss battles are also boring and too easy as well, and the thing that really pushed me over the edge in terms of disliking the game were the last two battles of the main section which were just horribly, horribly designed.

similarly, the linearity of the game is excessive, and although it succeeds in keeping the game action-focused, it doesn’t feel in keeping with most other metroid games. actually, i remember feeling the same way about metroid fusion, and in that context this entry makes more sense (i think most of us have forgotten about the series progressing from that entry since the fantastic metroid prime games and the remake metroid zero have come in between). as with that game, after the ending this game also becomes more metroid-like as you can search for the remaining powerups at your own pace. but even on that level, finding the powerups in this game feels much more simplistic and monotonous than usual, as it’s often just a matter of going to a room marked on the map and just using the appropriate weapon with no thinking involved (i.e. typical “pick up key, put in lock” mechanics). lesser complaints are that the game is filled with long empty corridors with nothing to do but run through them, as well as stupidly excessive overall darkness in the main sections of the game which makes it pointlessly difficult to see anything. also, the novel bit of gameplay at the end of the epilogue felt tacked on and underdeveloped, which was definitely a shame as it features one of my favorite recent additions to the metroid universe (even casual fans probably know what i’m talking about).

overall, i think of this entry as a god of war-izing of a great franchise, in effect, dumbing it down to make it appealing to a mass audience, and filling it with a lot of gloss but very little substance. i had noted a similar thing when i had played through twilight princess last year, and the trend is certainly worrying. i’m all for broadening the core audience in terms of appealing to casual players, but thus far the level of dumbing down has been offset for the most part by increases in difficulty in other areas. but to “hollywood”-ize a core franchise like this to such an extreme and lose all the elements that made it uniquely “nintendo”, is upsetting.

- one of the other main complaints people have is about the story, characterization, and voice acting. i thought the voice work was fine, and the story had enough twists in it to keep me interested. but i agree that the characterization was disappointing, and that instead of a kick@$$ bounty hunter who’s saved the universe multiple times we got an insecure heroine who, quite frankly, i had little sympathy for because the game never gave me much reason to. definitely contributes to the overall disappointment.

- another common complaint is the weapon authorization mechanic, whereby adam, the CO, has to permit samus to use her weapons instead of finding pickups. the setup is no more ludicrous than in other games where samus “loses” her equipment and randomly finds it, but i can see how psychologically players would find this completely unbelievable.

like RMC at gonintendo i really, really wanted to like this game. he ends his review by saying that the game isn’t a bad game, but that it “is the first main-entry Metroid game that I feel lacks the usual Nintendo magic. You can see glimpses of it. It wants to come out, but too many other bad design choices hold those moments back.” i agree with that sentiment, but although the production values are very high i wouldn’t praise it even as much as he does in terms of the action sequences, which after a couple of hours i found to be tedious and dull. i’m not a big fan of action games in general (part of the reason i still haven’t finished god of war), and it seems that all the reviews that give the game high marks are clearly fans of the genre.

i think that the reason i felt so upset with the game is that for me it’s not just “the first main-entry Metroid game that I feel lacks the usual Nintendo magic”, but one of the first nintendo games ever that has disappointed me to such a great extent. historically nintendo hasn’t focused on action to the exclusion of other elements such as exploration, ambience, and puzzle-solving, but i can only hope that this was an anomaly and that this trend doesn’t continue. i wouldn’t go so far as to say nintendo has “sold out”, but i really hope they recognize that this was an experiment that didn’t succeed and that needs some careful rethinking. here’s hoping.

other metroid: other M links:
- great subsite at metroid.retropixel.net including maps, screenshots, and wallpapers.
- official website, includes wallpapers and videos
- entry at wikipedia
- entry at metroid.wikia.com
- iwata asks feature
- original e3 trailer

samus returns in metroid II

i’ve been playing through boatloads of sequels lately, including metroid II: the return of samus for game boy. this was the last 2-D metroid game i hadn’t played (metroid prime 3 is the only other game in the series i hadn’t finished) and i wanted to try to get caught up on the series before the release of other M. i’d purposely avoided finding out too much about the game, so i wasn’t sure how it was going to bridge the stiffness of the NES original and the superlative pacing of its SNES sequel.

it turns out that in retrospect the game functions as an extremely good bridge to the SNES game, and in many ways holds up better than the original. samus is much more limber and has new abilities that have become standard, including crouching and shooting down while jumping, and the additions to her arsenal have also become core powerups in the series. in the interest of avoiding spoilers i won’t mention which ones in particular are included, but suffice to say they’re often among my favorites in the series.

as for the drawbacks, the main criticism of the game is that it’s very linear, and that instead of open exploration you’re often progressing from one area to the next. at the beginning of the game i wasted time wandering around because i didn’t know beforehand how the game was structured, but even after i was well into the game i didn’t find myself missing the backtracking much at all. i definitely wouldn’t want every metroid game to be so linear, but i don’t mind it occasionally. the game is pretty generous with the energy and missile recharge stations and save locations so the frustration factor is quite low, and the graphics are quite good for a game boy game. i agree with one of the other common complaints which is that the music definitely pales in comparison to the rest of the series.

overall this ranks somewhat low in terms of the whole metroid series, but as with nintendo’s other franchises that’s not so much because the game itself is subpar, but rather it’s due to the extremely high quality of the other titles. the now-famous ending was fun to see, and now that i’m caught up on the main story of the series i’m really looking forward to playing through other M, although i’m still debating about whether or not i’m going to finish up MP3 before then. depends on how much i get sucked into it. given the mixed reviews of other M i’m unsure of how much i’m going to like the new take on the beloved series, but i’m trying to avoid reading too much about it and trying to keep an open mind. we’ll see.

the return of metroid II links:
- entry at wikipedia
- review at nintendolife.com
- good page on the game at metroid recon including screenshots, a scan of the manual, and mp3s
- entry at metroid.wikia.com
- collection of maps
- PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
- screenshots of the endings at vgmuseum.com
- video of the best ending at gamespot.com

exploring the original metroid

i seem to be playing a fair amount of NES games this year. one game i’ve been putting off but finally dusted off was the original NES metroid which i have vague memories of playing bits of when i was a kid. i had played through some of it again a few years back but hadn’t gotten much into it, but this time i sat down determined to finish it.

the first thing that struck me was that this game is pretty hard, and people are either going to love the old-school challenge or hate it. the platforming challenges are much more difficult overall than the rest of the 2-D entries in the series, and many people see the absence of abilities that became standard later, such as diagonal shooting, and crouching, as being just plain awkward. but the limitations actually fit the game well and make upgrades like the plasma beam and the screw attack that much more useful (although the plasma beam is sadly underutilized in this game). in the games that followed exploration became even more emphasized than here at the expense of the combat side of the game, which is too bad, although this game has exploration in spades as well, along with what has become the series’ essential ambience provided by a mysterious score, graphics, and sound effects.

one of my main points of comparison between entries in the series has been the pacing, and my impression has been that later games make it too easy to zip through areas, making the whole experience feel rather rushed. this game, just by virtue of its technical limitations, unfolds fairly slowly. not having an in-game map, another modern-day expectation, actually proves to be a refreshing change of pace, and samus’s slow movement ensures that you’ll have enough time to fully enjoy the alien surroundings. there’s a significant amount of slowdown due to too many enemies on-screen at one time, and another common complain is that areas oftentimes look too similar, but given the technical limitations of the era (the game came out only a year after super mario bros. and 6 months after the legend of zelda) it’s astounding how much the game developers were able to pack in through judicious use of palette swapping and mixing up sections of rooms to make up a unique area. and let’s not forget that the game introduced the world to one of the first female protagonists of video games ever, ms. samus aran herself, in all her green-hair-and-purple-one-piece glory.

as for my experience, being a metroid vet helped a bit, although i did get stuck for a while trying to find the ice beam. once i did, though, the rest of the game was pretty straightforward. the game is a bit more nonlinear than some of its sequels, and as a side effect the item gets are a little less evenly spaced out, but this is the first metroid game that i’ve beaten with pretty much 100% of the items and also the first time i’ve played a metroid game back to back, speed-running my way through the second time. all in all it was great to revisit the series’ roots, appreciate all the groundwork it laid for what has become a top-tier franchise, and enjoy the game for the not-quite-timeless-but-still-monumental classic that it is.

samus’s 8-bit links:
- entry at wikipedia
- reviews at videogamecritic.net and nintendolife.com
- screenshots of all the endings at vgmuseum.com
- entry at metroid.wikia.com which includes info on the the hidden world glitch. and i must not be the only person who didn’t know that the name “varia suit” was due to a mislocalization of the original japanese for “barrier suit”.
- PDF of the instruction manual at replacementdocs.com

metroid prime hunters: last hunt

this is gonna be a short ‘un. for the most part i try to play games in a series in order, but it don’t always work out that way. case in point: i played through metroid prime hunters even though i hadn’t played the demo of the game that preceded it by more than a year. but i got my mitts on the demo soon after that, so i thought i would take it for a spin even though i was going about it all backwards.

needless to say there wasn’t much that the demo experience offered me, having played the actual game. playing through the three single-player modes was entertaining enough, and it was interesting to me that the modes were focused on getting score multipliers through continuous enemy kills. since you need two copies of the demo to play the three multiplayer stages (alas, there’s no vs computer mode like in the main release) i didn’t get to try them out, but one of these days i will. the game includes a control option where you tap the screen to shoot (apparently the original control scheme), but nothing else much worth noting. by this point hand cramps were definitely not a problem, though: either my hand muscles have strengthened from playing through metroid prime hunters or i’ve just adjusted the way i hold my DS when playing. either way it was fun to have to have this little closer to my metroid prime hunters experience. i doubt the big N’s planning a sequel to that game anytime soon, but i’d definitely be up for one. one can only hope and keep the flame alive.

roundin’ up the last of the first hunt links:
- thorough description of the demo at eurogamer.net
- entry at metroid.wikia.com
- PDF of the manual at replacementdocs.com
- a FAQ at IGN

hunting down the metroid prime hunters

oftentimes when i finish a game if i have the next in the series lying around i’ll try it out just to get a taster for how the series progresses. so even though i’d just finished playing metroid prime: echoes, i tried out the next in line, metroid prime: hunters for DS … and found myself totally hooked.

the first thing you notice is how great the game looks; it’s impossible not to be amazed at how much of the gamecube metroid prime games’ design they managed to fit onto the DS. the game includes movie cut-scenes that also look pretty good. the game does a pretty good job of making the most of the hardware and masking its limitations, except for a fair amount of enemy reuse (including the bosses, of which there are only two main ones that are repeated four times each, with variations) and too many places where rooms are overly symmetric or the room designs are reused too closely. the latter becomes apparent even from the first section of the game where there are three rooms in a row that are pretty much identical, making it too easy to get confused about which room you’re in and which door you’re heading towards.

i definitely enjoyed the single-player “adventure” mode, although as people have noted the game is fairly linear. it’s divided into nine sections, two on each of 4 worlds and a final stage, although after all the backtracking of MP2 i found the rigid pacing (and warp portals) to be for the most part refreshing. there’s a clear emphasis on action over exploration, and the game highlights one-on-one battles with 6 spankin’-new rival “hunters”. the rival bounty hunters are pretty well designed and their unique abilities make the multiplayer mode entertaining (although i couldn’t really get into it; just not into FPS games enough i guess). the one drawback to the “formula” is that each of the 8 main sections of the game require you to “escape the planet” in a race against the clock, and having to deal with forced timed battles is just annoying. luckily, automatic temporary save points are fairly numerous. all these differences give the game quite a different feel from the usual metroid game, which is why i found that i wanted to continue playing (and ultimately finish) the game even though i’d just finished MP2.

another thing that people complain about often is the control scheme. the stylus mode is really the only viable option since the buttons-only mode doesn’t give nearly enough fine control, but the problem with that mode is that your hand gets cramped easily. however, i did find that after i’d played for a while i got used to it and my hand didn’t feel cramped so much. i’m really curious about trying the game out with a “thumb stylus”, which you can read about here and also here. the latter link is from a post at IGN about the original DS which came with an early demo version of MP:H, which i’m also curious about trying out.

among my other, more-minor complaints, are that the morph ball mechanics are less forgiving than the other prime games and that there are rather too many insta-death situations, both of which cause some really tedious sections of the game. the story is yet another rehash of the first prime story, and i beat the game without realizing that there’s something you’re supposed to do to get the actual ending which was also quite annoying.

at first as i played hunters i kept feeling like i really understood how mario fans must have felt when they first got to play super mario land: that having a portable mario game made up for any shortcomings. but in the end overall i found this game to be quite enjoyable, so much so that i’d actually give it the edge over MP2, which for me just dragged on. as i mentioned, i didn’t spend that much time with the multiplayer modes which were enjoyable enough against the computer but felt fairly repetitive, but i’ll come back to them at some point. meanwhile, i’m seriously itching to try out metroid prime 3. let’s see if i get sucked into that one as well …

huntin’ for bounty-ful links:
- the official site has a lot of video clips and wallpapers for each of the hunters
- if anyone’s interested, nintendo power’s coverage of the game included a preview of the multiplayer mode (march 2006, v. 201), a cover feature and a poster of the hunters (april 2006, v. 202), a review (may 2006, v. 203), and a guide to beating the final boss (june 2006, v. 204).
- great game site at metroid.retropixel.net
- the entry at strategywiki.org includes a lot of info on multiplayer strategy
- entry at metroid.wikia.com, which includes screenshots of the brawl trophies for all the hunters
- video of the ending
- a good FAQ at gamefaqs
- guide at IGN
- entry at wikipedia.org
- entry at metacritic.com

metroid (metroid) echoes (echoes echoes echoes)

finally beat metroid prime 2: echoes this week. (here’s a good run-down of the game for anyone who hasn’t played it.) the game seems to be universally praised for being an expansion of the original metroid prime, but the consensus is that it doesn’t offer a whole lot that is new. some people feel that the game does everything that was in the original, but “better”. i was blown away by the original when i played it a few years ago, but much as i love the metroid series i found this entry to be somewhat tedious. the game not only lacks the freshness of the original, it just feels too similar, and its storyline of a threatened alien race feels incredibly stale.

among my complaints are that the game seems twice as long as the first one, and it seems to have a lot more backtracking in general. i’m always skeptical of games that create an “alternate world” in order to reuse much of their design, and like my opinion of final fantasy 3 (a.k.a. 6) the majority of the alternate world in MP2 feels like unnecessary padding. also, when first encountering the “dark” world of MP2 the environments are fittingly drab and somewhat difficult to navigate due to the monochromatic purple color palette. i did appreciate the different feel of the pacing in the dark world, which requires you to hop between the various safe havens of light that are spread out in each room, but by the game’s end the dark world’s galaxy of purple oppressiveness is just boring and dull, dull, dull.

people often mention the boss fights, and they are fun because they require you to actually strategize to determine each boss’s weakpoint; but they’re also somewhat annoying because each boss fight has multiple sections, all of which require some trial and error to master. this definitely gives the boss fights a very same-y feeling, which is unfortunate because for the most part they’re very well designed. the final boss fights are the most annoying of the game, and the game’s ending is pretty lame. i also had mixed feelings about the fact that the game only has three alternate endings: one for if you finish with less than 75% of the items, one for finishing with more than 75%, and one for finishing with 100%. lastly, i didn’t have anyone to try out the multiplayer with, but i checked out all the stages and it looked like it could be pretty fun. not sure why it gets dissed so much, but i’m guessing that’s probably just in comparison to other multiplayer FPS games.

despite all my complaints this was definitely a worthwhile entry in the series and i have a feeling it’s one of those games that’s much more fun the second time through. i’ve already dipped into the next game in the series, metroid prime hunters on DS, and have been quite enjoying the new interface. and i’m really looking forward to playing through metroid prime 3 on wii. and who knows? i may even finish those just in time for the new metroid: other M, due out sometime next year.

metroid (metroid) links (links links links):
- great site on the game at metroid recon, including screenshots, item guides, and a walkthrough
- as with the original metroid prime game, metroid2002.com has tons of information on sequence-breaking and glitches for the sequel
- video of the 100% ending. for all that effort you’ll be rewarded with a few seconds of extra video, yippee!
- guide at IGN

zeroing in on metroid: zero mission

it’s actually been a bit longer than i thought since i’d finished a metroid game, although i’ve been playing bits of some games off and on for a while. i sat down and finished metroid: zero mission a couple of weeks ago, which as you probably already know is the remake of the original NES metroid for the GBA.

the general response to the game was overwhelmingly positive when it came out, with critics praising the rehauled parts of the game as well as the new content, which introduced us to our heroine samus’s now-famous zero suit form. overall zero got slightly lower scores than the previous GBA metroid game, metroid fusion, although personally i preferred zero mission. i know i’m not alone in that, although it’s not immediately obvious why i would prefer it since zero mission is definitely the easier game. but i think i felt the same way as i felt when i played super metroid a while back: what it boils down to is noticeably superior map and room design. the elements of all three games are incredibly similar in terms of gameplay, but zero mission is definitely a case where the cumulative attention to detail makes the experience as a whole more compelling.

one of the things that struck me when i played super metroid was how much slower the pace was than fusion, which led to a more atmospheric and memorable game overall. zero is in many ways an even faster game than fusion: samus is more sprightly and easier to control than ever. although oftentimes you can zip through room after room in zero, the pacing is better than fusion overall in that there are plenty of places where you have to stop and get your bearings, plan your route, or puzzle your way through what seems to be a dead end. the new zero suit samus content has a different feel than the rest of the metroid series, but for the most part that section meshes fairly well with the game and points to some possible new directions for the 2D metroid games to go in (although it’s been more than 5 years now since zero was released with no new 2D metroid game in sight, alas). with zero i was amazed yet again at how in spite of so much similarity each individual game in the series is a lot of fun. i’m almost surprised at how much i enjoyed this game, although i think the next iteration will have to include even more novelty to keep the series from feeling stale.

the original NES version of the game (included in zero mission as an unlockable after you beat the game) forms a stark contrast to all the other games, as samus moves much more slowly and routes take much longer to uncover. i played through it when i was a kid and again years ago, but it’ll be interesting to play through it again at some point to compare it to zero. and i’m definiitely psyched to see how the original NES’s sequel, metroid 2 for the game boy, compares to the other games both in terms of gameplay and pacing. since it’s the only 2D metroid game i haven’t played at all, i’m probably going to tackle it sooner than later. definitely looking forward to it.

zeroing in on samus’s zero mission links:
- guide from IGN, including info on 15% completion, a mode that i’m not particularly interested in but which gives different endings.
- screenshots of all the game’s endings at vgmuseum.com
- game page at classicgaming.gamespy.com, including maps
- entry at wikipedia
- 1up posted a history of the metroid series a few years ago that also looked at the backstories presented in official sources. IGN also posted a history of the series last year.