Current Events > The original Metroid is unplayable garbage

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just beat Zero Mission, fantastic game BTW. And afterward I played the original version that gets unlocked. I've done this before, but not in awhile. And like all the times before I stopped playing it within ten minutes or so.

Here are some of the problems with the game:

- You always start a new life with 30 health, even if you get energy tanks later in the game

- The above means that if you die to Mother Brain (the final boss), which is really easy to do considering it's the final boss, you literally have to spend a half hour killing enemies to regain health

- The platforming is not very good (see the example in the AVGN video where he is trying to get out of Kraid's lair). Zero Mission fixed this by adding a grab ledge feature.

- Unlike in Zero Mission, the energy beams don't build up on each other. So while the wave beam is the best for doing damage, you need the ice beam to defeat the Metroids (no one tells you this BTW) so you have to recollect it.

- Knowing where you are and where you're going is an incredible challenge because there is no map, everything looks the same, and the game gives you no direction.

- To begin the game, your weapon is very weak, very short-ranged, and you can only fire in three directions. Some of this gets fixed by the end of the game, but good luck getting through the agony without quitting.

Watch these vids if you want to get some idea of what's wrong with the game, although there are a lot of cuts. Funny thing is James keeps calling it one of the best games of all time while pointing out its major flaws for literally no reason other than nostalgia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXykbwNn06s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEexxgNDHNI
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I stopped playing Metroid after that one time I was going through a door and a monster killed me before I even had control of Samus back

hot take: like 95% of NES games are unplayable garbage

altho i do have fond memories of watching my dad play the NES metroid, he created his own map on graph paper

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Nostalgia can paint some pretty terrible games in a positive light. I experience this every time I attempt to play an old Castlevania game. I love them in theory, but I hate them in practice.

I agree.

The original Zelda on the other hand is still a lot of fun, despite the flaws.

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Modern gamers need their hand held. Thats why they dont like it.

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I beat Metroid "legit" (aka no savestates and no passwords except my own) and it was grueling. Starting with 30 health every time was the worst thing ever
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I feel this is everyone's experience after finishing Zero Mission.

They're like "Oh! Original Metroid is unlocked?!" Let me see what that's about..."

Then they play for like 2-3 minutes and quit that shit


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Hard for me to look at it objectively, I've been playing the game for 30ish years or whatever and just know it so well that I don't need a map or to worry about health refills after dying. Although yeah the starting at 30 health is kind of a bad decision. Other than that though it just seems like most of it wouldn't be too hard with a little trial and error and exploration.

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Romulox28 posted...

hot take: like 95% of NES games are unplayable garbage

this is just true tbh

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Thank you tc

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Yeah, it is like the game is a challenge instead of pushing a button to win.

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OfDustandBone posted...

Nostalgia can paint some pretty terrible games in a positive light. I experience this every time I attempt to play an old Castlevania game. I love them in theory, but I hate them in practice.

See I didn't get around to Castlevania until the last decade or so--and while I kind of see the appeal and can see if I'd had the games as a kid I'd have been into them, I don't really care much for them now. Nostalgia is definitely key.


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Yeah, the existence of Super Metroid rendered the original game obsolete, even moreso when Zero Mission came out. I don't recommend playing the original game unless you're absolutely curious where the series started out.

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it's very rough, but hardly unplayable

sheesh, kids today
>__>

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I am a huge Metroid fan but will never beat 1. It is too frustrating. It is 100% a product of its time but they couldve done several things to make it more playable.

Zero Mission was such a great remake.

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HylianFox posted...

it's very rough, but hardly unplayable

sheesh, kids today
>__>

I think it's mainly that we've been spoiled by the fluid movement of modern games. Retro games are just so damn clunky by comparison. I'm not a kid though - I'm 42 and I've been playing games since the Atari 2600.

Romulox28 posted...

hot take: like 95% of NES games are unplayable garbage

okay, now you people are just being dense

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Alpha218 posted...

I am a huge Metroid fan but will never beat 1. It is too frustrating. It is 100% a product of its time but they couldve done several things to make it more playable.

Zero Mission was such a great remake.

It's worth fumbling through with the NARPAS SWORD at least.

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Unplayable? No.

Aged like milk at noon in the Arizona summer? Yes.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Modern gamers need their hand held. Thats why they dont like it.

This. No one here has played old PC puzzle games where you actually had to take notes on paper

Oh, and I should add that Ive 100% cleared Metroid 2, with the assistance of a map online. That game is so fucking confusing and desperately needed the remake

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Metroid 1 Randomizers even give you the "start with 99 Energy" option.

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BeyondWalls posted...

Modern gamers need their hand held. Thats why they dont like it.

The fact that E tanks dont start at least partially filled on death and the vertical corridors just seem to go on and on just make the game fucking tedious to play through. Has nothing to do with hand holding. When I get a permanent health upgrade I should be able to use it when I die instead of painstakingly having to fill it up again.

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Rexdragon125 posted...

This. No one here has played old PC puzzle games where you actually had to take notes on paper

some of my fondest memories are drawing maps for the original Zelda

good times

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It all depends on how much hand holding you want. If something wasn't fair try again. If it's broken don't play it. Metroid isn't a broken game.

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NES games have aged like milk. Wasn't until the SNES that we started to get quality games regularly.

Metroid is a bad game for a lot more reasons than it doesn't hold your hand. The terrible gameplay and design choices (like how you start each life with only 30 health and there is no way to instantly fill up your health) have nothing to do with holding your hand.

People saying all NES games are bad are wrong as well. I can't think of a better rhythm game to this day than MT's Punch Out.
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SpreadManning posted...

NES games have aged like milk. Wasn't until the SNES that we started to get quality games regularly.

Active Posts: 1

was it worth it?

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Damn_Underscore posted...

(like how you start each life with only 30 health and there is no way to instantly fill up your health)

Thing is, this isn't an issue since the game was meant to played through in one sitting

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HylianFox posted...

Thing is, this isn't an issue since the game was meant to played through in one sitting

I think if that was the case it wouldn't have had passwords at all

also I feel like I've seen this exact topic multiple times in the past few months

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The more we discuss this the more I miss when games would actually punish the player for dying
:/

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HylianFox posted...

Thing is, this isn't an issue since the game was meant to played through in one sitting

Whenever I play Metroid, if I die I pretty much just give up because I'm not gonna go through the massive grind to get my health back up, especially when I have Energy Tanks to fill up. And uh...I hate traveling Norfair because there's one spot that's absolutely terrible for platforming, where you're pretty much stuck if you fall and are forced to die.

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kirbymuncher posted...

I think if that was the case it wouldn't have had passwords at all

also I feel like I've seen this exact topic multiple times in the past few months

I made a topic recently saying LoZ and Metroid were both bad games with great concepts.

Metroid is MUCH worse than LoZ though.
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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gLgnmBnW3vw

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^I never knew Nintendo did an anti-Aeris tbh.
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New and EXCITING!
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