Review #31: Is the Original Metroid Worth Playing Today?

About a few months ago. Someone wanted to ask me a video game related question. It was from someone who was looking to giving the Metroid games a shot and asked it the first game of the series was worth trying or would it be better to skip to Super Metroid since that’s the game if the series everyone adores. I had to sit down and think about this as it got me to think about the original 1986 Metroid on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

I also have always wanted to do a themed month with reviews and got the idea of doing an “All NES November” where I only review NES games this month. Figured since I have had Metroid on the brain and it would fit the theme, what better time to ask the question of is the original Metroid worth playing today?

Metroid has kind of a strange history for me. I only found out mostly about Metroid ala Super Smash Bros for the Nintendo 64. I did not have a Super Nintendo back when I was younger or really knew anyone that owned Super Metroid or the original Metroid on the NES. So safe to say I missed the hype that was Super Metroid. Regret that now to be quite honest, but despite Metroid being a flagship face of Nintendo, I never really knew or cared about the sci fi game until much later.

Thanks to re-releases and whatnot, there was a time I got to play the original Metroid. Mostly learning about it due to the game’s secret ending if you can beat the game fast enough. The ending if course learning that Samus is in fact female. In the mid/late 80s this was monumental. Women can be badass too you know. Samus in later years is seen as a staple of strong female protagonist in gaming and I’m 100% all for that.

Metroid is what you would call an action adventure game of sorts. This is not my first rodeo reviewing a game like Metroid as I did with Castlevania Symphony of the Night. I always saw the Metroid games as “a rat in a maze” game. I’ll explain in a bit, but first lets look at the story.

Samus Aran, (that’s you!) who is a bounty hunter and part of the Galactic Federation who is sent an emergency order to defeat the Metroid, a predatory organism that feeds off life energy found in all living things. The Space Pirates plan to replicate these Metroids to be used a biological weapons to destroy all living things. It is up to Samus to go to the Space Pirates’ base on planet Zebes and destroy the Metroid and defeat the Mother Brain (The final boss of the game) who is the head of the Space Pirates’ operation along with some rough nasty looking bosses on her side such as the commander of the Space Pirates, a dragon like monster in Ridley (who has become a recurring boss in the series). So far there’s only one known Metroid but if the Space Pirates are able to mass produce and clone this single organism, that puts the entire galaxy in danger. It’s up the Samus to stop the Metroid at the source.

Metroid is a 2D side scroller shooter. Samus can jump and has a blaster on her arm she can use to destroy alien creatures and big bad monsters. The game starts with you going down an elevator. You have a blaster and a jump and… that’s about it at first. You can’t really progress far until you go to your left and pick up your first upgrade item in the morph ball. This allows Samus to turn into a ball and can fit in much tighter spaces than before. This sets up visual how Metroid has progression. Find yourself locked or in a room you can’t continue in? Likely chance you need to come back later until you have an item that makes you progress. This might be the very first case in gaming where back tracking is done right and doesn’t feel repetitive. As you explore, you might fall into a pit and have to find your way back up. You can also pick up energy upgrades to give Samus more health, and let me tell you, you’re gonna need it. Metroid has a password system depending on how far you get to pick you back up in the game.

Samus about to start her space adventure!

The magic in Metroid is the game’s sense of exploration and isolation. You never know what’s in the next room, or around the corner at first. You feel lost but in a good way. For its time, Metroid is quite impressive in pulling this off.

Metroid is the kind of game where at first, you’re going to die, a lot. The more you play, the more power ups you get to make yourself stronger to the point that you are a one person army that can wreck anything. Metroid does a fantastic job of build up and progression along with the sense of feeling lost but in an exciting way. Again, something that was quite remarkable in 1986. The game has different areas that change up the pace of the game along with three bosses that will sure test your skill.

Samus fighting the always dangerous Ridley

As Metroid as is impressive, there comes its issues. The game can get very frustrating and having to redo an area after dying can be a struggle. Not to mention there’s moments where enemy placements just feel cheap or you never get the health you need when you need it, resulting in farming the same enemies over and over again. I think an experience system would have helped this game but that’s not what Metroid is. There’s also cases where you can soft lock yourself out of progressing if you accidently sequence break ala getting the wrong upgrade somewhere, or finding yourself in an area that you now can’t escape since you don’t have say a higher jump upgrade.

I think my issues with the original Metroid is it feels like a game that has great ideas but is so limited by the power of the NES. It feels like a game that was too ambitious and just misses the bullseye but still hits the board. There’s some good moments but the overall experience is much to be desired. It sucks because I believe it’s because of limitations rather than bad choices in a game design aspect. The game during boss fights with slow down also gives me the feeling of the game’s vision being fully realized is just short due to hardware limitations.

So returning to the question, is the original Metroid worth playing today? Well… it depends. If you are trying out the Metroid series for the first time… I’m going to say no. The game is a little rough and could be a turn off for first time players. If you want to start on Metroid, I would recommend starting on Super or better yet, start on Metroid Zero Mission. Zero Mission is a Game Boy Advance remake of this game that adds so much quality of life changes, updated graphics, and even some fresh original content to boot. Zero Mission to me feels like the game Nintendo so badly wanted the NES game to be, but could not achieve it.

I will say if you do enjoy the other Metroid games and want to experience the game that started it all, go for it. I’ve heard people say “just skip the first one” but I would not go that far as Metroid has so upside. I just would not have my first experience of Metroid being the first game. It’s very rough. Worth checking out as a historical experience but don’t go into the game thinking it’s going to be a great experience as a game because there’s a good chance it doesn’t.

Despite all this, Metroid was still quite the success and of course, launched a who series of games and became on of Nintendo’s faces of their gaming empire. Not to mention tons of games were inspired by Metroid in a gaming sense and sci-fi in general. There’s a reason the “Metroidvania” sub-genre is a thing. People love these games so it’s kind of neat to play Metroid to see where a game like this got its start.

Long story short, NES Metroid has moments and the idea is there, but really feels like a concept that was not fully realized until Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo. I think if people play this, they will either love it or hate it and nothing between. Because of this, I’m not sure if I could 100% recommended it to be honest. It also makes it very hard for me to score as I can see people loving or hating this game. I respect Metroid for all the things it’s done and was quite revolutionary for its time, however as a game you play. It’s good and is quite impressive for the system for its time but the rough parts are indeed very rough.

If you want to experience the original Metroid, I would highly recommend getting the remake in Metroid Zero Mission on the Game Boy Advance instead, but if you really want to experience the original Metroid, then I’d say at least try it as a historical piece.

Samus was a major step forward when it came to female protagonists in video games.

Metroid gets 3 out of 5 stars