[Here's one of my old 1UP blogs presented for your emjoyment. I originally posted it on August 6, 2011, for the 25th anniversary of Metroid (hence the title). My wife was the only one that commented on it back then so I don't think too many people actually saw it and since no new Metroid games have come out since then, well, I guess it's still current. Thanks for reading!]
25 Years of Metroid: A Mostly Personal Journey
Metroid, for me, was one of those franchises that was just sort of there while I was growing up. We had the original Metroid for NES and I tried it but was never able to really get into it. I didn't have the patience to figure out where everything was. (But thank God for Justin Bailey!) My older brother got Metroid II for the Game Boy but I found that even less appealing.
Then Super Metroid came out for the Super NES. It was excellent. Everything from the graphics to the music served to pull you into the experience. The controls were tight and response and the map was a godsend. I played through it several times as a kid and really enjoyed it. But even with all that it was still just an excellent action game, the cream of the crop of plenty of excellent action games for the SNES.
The dark days of the N64 came and Samus's only appearence was in Super Smash Bros. Every so often after that the fans would get teased by rumors of a new Metroid or maybe even some concept art or a screen shot in Nintendo Power as the GameCube drew closer. If I remember correctly, the GC box even had a picture from a work-in-progress Metroid game on the back. But then the bomb fell: The new Metroid was an FPS being made by some upstart dev studio in Texas. TEXAS! It was going to be an awful game and we all knew it. Oh well. At least we'd get Metroid Fusion in the classic Metroid vein.
But then, after eight years of waiting, Metroid Prime came out and against all odds it starting getting good reviews. From everybody. I figured I'd give it a try.
HOLY CRAP.
It was absolutely amazing. Blew my mind. Never had I seen a game that looked so good, that immersed you in its lonely world so completely and convincingly. And it was so darn fun too. I cannot over stress how much I love that game. And then they made a sequel! I have never been so excited leading up to the release of a game as I was for Metroid Prime 2. And few games have given me such satisfaction upon beating them as MP2. It was so hard! Of course, I later discovered that there is an optional weapon upgrade or something that is more or less necessary to beat the final boss...only I beat him without it. Man, that was one of the most grueling boss fights ever. And then a couple years later Prime 3 came out for the Wii. More action oriented than its predecessors, MP3 was a thrilling sci-fi romp that brought the Prime trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. (On a side note, I have not played the motion-controlled versions of Prime 1 and 2 from the Trilogy collection. I was in college when that came out and didn't have the money to get it, and now it's really expensive. I still hope to get it someday when I can justify spending that much money. After all, any excuse to play Metroid Prime is a good one.)
Metroid enjoyed several portable releases during the Prime years. The first was Metroid Fusion which came out the same day as Metroid Prime in North America. Fusion was fans' solace in case Prime was awful. So imagine our joy and relief when they both turned out to be good games. Billed as Metroid 4, Fusion played in the classic style of its forebearers, though it is regarded as somewhat of a black sheep due to its linearity and emphasis on story. And chronologically it's still (so far) the last game in the Metroid canon. Next came a remake of the original NES game called Metroid: Zero Mission, a superlative example of how to remake a game. It is an excellent game that everyone should play, though at this point its greatest legacy is Zero Suit Samus. I will leave you to your own opinions about whether or not that's a good thing.
The next portable release was a bit of a departure for the series, but the morph ball was just begging for a pinball game, right? Metroid Prime Pinball was actually quite good and the included rumble pak added a nice physical aspect to the action. The most recent Metroid portable release (over five and a half years ago!) was Metroid Prime Hunters, which downplayed the trademark exploration of the series in favor of more FPS-esque action. But hey, that wi-fi play was pretty awesome...I guess...
The release of Metroid: Other M brings us up to date. Having finished the Prime trilogy, Retro Studios moved on to other things (read: Donkey Kong) and Nintendo handed the Metroid reins to Team Ninja. While most people are down on Other M, I'm just glad they managed to make a solid game without giving Samus gratuitous boob physics. Seriously, though, Other M was a lot of fun to play. The controls were excellent and the physical brutality used against some of the bad guys and bosses was pretty awesome. (Freezing the arm of a giant lava monster and then running up it to blast the beast in the face point blank? Ohhhhhh yeah.) The story, on the other hand, and the inner drama were not so good. Even knowing that it all makes sense given the Metroid backstory in the origin manga (a guy pulled out his soapbox in the comments of an earlier blog I wrote about it), it is still very un-Metroid-ish. That's just not the way stories are told in Metroid games. I'm not against them trying new things, but that approach just didn't work. But still, at least it's a fun game to play.
So, 25 years of Metroid. I may not have gotten into the first two games much, but I've played them all since then and it has been quite the trip. Though some will disagree with me because of Other M, I think Metroid is Nintendo's only long-running franchise that has not had any embarrassing games (even Zelda had the CDi games). I'm a little worried about where the series might go after Other M, but I'm optimistic. I just hope we don't have to wait another eight years for the next proper series installment. The galaxy awaits!
lol just kiddin' around.
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