Am I the only person that didn't like the Metroid series?

[G4MZ0v3R]

Am I the only person that didn't like the Metroid series? I played through them, but was never impressed. I mean everyone I ask loved it, but can't really explain why and oddly enough almost none have finished the original and Super versions. Hmmmm

[Ed Oscuro]

I haven't finished the original game, and don't really care for its stiff gameplay. Super Metroid? The graphics don't impress me anymore, and the areas seem stale by now (after playing for a few years!), but it's still a great game. Prime is a game you either love or hate (often folks dislike it apparently solely because it's "not Metroid" due to the 3D perspective...), and I'm one of the folks who loved it for the most part (yet didn't bother to finish). Zero Mission was good fun, and Fusion was alright but held rather little replay value as I saw it. Metroid ][ doesn't seem to get much mention, which is a shame as it's a very competent original Game Boy game. I'm looking forward to "Prime 2" (along with the new Zelda, my GameCube collection will increase by a third after I get these two titles), and that's all I've got to say.

[G4MZ0v3R]

I liked prime, but im a FPS fan anyway.

[-hellvin-]

I do not like original metroid at all. It's a game I will never play through. Super Metroid is my game in the series of choice. I just love everything about it. I haven't overplayed it so both times Ive gone through it has been real fresh. The metroid GBA games were really fun but nothing spectacular. Zero Mission was cool but I'll probably still never play the original, hehe. Prime......well. I guess it's metroid but it's a little blah. I did get pretty addicted to it and played it till I beat it but I'm sure I'll never go through the game again.

[Ed Oscuro]

Prime is definitely an interesting sort of game for me. It's got the lock-on feature from the N64 Zeldas (which, of course, I like much better than Prime, simply because the worlds of OoT and Majora's Mask are much more interesting), but usable all the time - that's new in any FPS I'd played. If I had to make a choice, though, I'd go with old fashioned mouselook. I'd like a combination of the two, though (imagine having your gun autolock but being able to target independently with the right analog stick to switch relatively quickly between two targets), but that's for the future, I suppose.

[max 330 mega]

i am a true metoid hater.. they bore me to death, i cant stand them. :o

[Ernster]

I never cared for the Metroid series either..strange because its the only Nintendo series I dont like. O_O

[PhoeniX]

I love the metroid series, the metroid prime series however... My thoughts are that Metroid prime is to Metroid as Megaman is to Megaman X, a different cannon. This is affirmed by the inner reflexivity of the the (original) Metroid series, i.e. DIRRECT references to NES Metroid and gameboy metroid in SuperMetroid and the prequel nature of Zero Mission. That said, I like the original Metroid, I am indifferent to the Prime series.

For me the prime series is a not a bad (quasi) FPS with (quasi) RPG elements and the feel of (perhaps) a survival horror, but it doesn't wow me, nor does the upcomming Prime 2. It is a competent series but not like the classic.

The classic series is brilliant, several people would have claimed that Super Metroid is one of the best games of all time... I personally agree. But this is nothing in comparison to Metroid Zero Mission, I loved this game!

Now I understand the lackluster response to the current series, I also understand not laking the rather dated original and gameboy titles, I even understand not liking the unimpressive story and level structure of Fusion, but what I don't understand is serious negative critique of Super Metroid or Zero Mission; Has anybody who played (through) these game honestly been dissatisfied with their experience? Now it doesn't have to be your favorite game, but surely you guys "see" the brilliance?

[Nesmaster]

i never cared for the metroid series, however i did enjoy prime a bit, probably because i love FPS.

[Gunstar_Hero UK]

I've played and enjoyed every Metroid game to date.. I thought Prime was great..But, Oddly enough the title i played and enjoyed the most was Fusion.. Anyone else love fusion?

[Querjek]

I hate the original.
I think Super Metroid is so-so.
I like Metroid Fusion.
I REALLY like Metroid Zero Mission.
I thought that Prime was ok, but I'm not a big FPS fan.

[FlufflePuff]

I also didn't really like Prime, but I did really like Fusion. My only complaint was that it was really short. Fusion probably is my favorite game on the GBA, possibly second only to Advance Wars. I loved the old school feel and enjoyed playing it in the same way that I enjoy the Castlevania games. I disliked Prime for only one reason. It's a FPS on a console. The genre doesn't belong on consoles. Since they tried to put Doom on the SNES, it's been one big failure after another. The controller just isn't a replacement for a keyboard and a mouse. *rant*

[Lady Jaye]

I'm not too crazy about the original Metroid (but you know, they gotta start somewhere, right? Seriously, though, the problem I have with Metroid NES is that I've played through Super Metroid, Zero Mission AND Fusion beforehand, so I keep on expecting to be able to use gameplay elements that were added in later titles of the series.

On the other hand, I love Super Metroid, Zero Mission and Fusion. Even though both GBA games were relatively short, they were highly enjoyable. And Fusion is a rare case of a remake being much better than the original.

As for Metroid II and Prime, I don't have an opinion. I don't have Metroid II and I haven't played Prime enough to make my mind about the game.

[whoisKeel]

Heh, I like the original...and I've finished it as a kid, so I played it alot...it's a little too hard and repetitive by today's standards. But nowadays if you download a map, it isn't too bad.

Super Metroid is just genius...I've probably finished that game a good 5 or 6 times in my life throughout the years, once in one sitting in my younger days. Then SOTN came out, a direct spinoff of S.Metroid, and I played the hell outta that.

I enjoyed Metroid Zero Mission, alot...

I had mixed feelings on Prime...I thought it was a very good, polished game...but I didn't find it very fun.

I haven't played any others, but yeah, I like Metroids.

[whoisKeel]

edit: On a side note, is one of the things people don't like about the series...all the backtracking?

[Perkar]

i will admit that the backtracking can become tedious after awhile, especially in PRIME, but taken as a whole this is really a small complaint.

the only game in the series i haven't enjoyed (and thus haven't completed), is Metroid 2 for GB. is it just me or does Samus fill about 1/4 of the screen? can't see enough of the environment to make this playable...

[farfel]

No.

I don't like solving puzzles and trying to find all the hidden stuff

Yes.

I like the cool character and platforming and battles. So I solve the puzzles with gamefaqs cheating and just enjoy the action part

[suppafly]

I´ve never liked any metroid games. I played metroid on NES and was bored with it.....i had a much better time playing a similar exploration game, like Blaster Master

[9c1lt1]

i didn't care for it either.
The colors in the game really clashed, and the spinning character made me feel sick after playing. :puke:

It's the same reason I'm not into Sonic.

[Push Upstairs]

I dont care for the Metroid series because it like, totally ripped off the Castlevania games! :P


I havent played the first in awhile but i do own "Metroid 2" and i admit that the game would be a pain in the ass without my Nintendo Power maps.

Metroid is sometimes good...but if i am gonna quest and backtrack i'll take Zelda instead.

[8-Bit Master]

I didn't really like any of the Metroid games upon their release, but I seem to like the series as it grows. It seems to get better with each release (just like Metal Gear in my opinion).

Metroid - Decent NES exploration/platformer, but a little boring
Metroid II - Haven't played it very much, didn't seem too bad
Super Metroid - A highpoint in the series
Metroid Fusion - My favorite Metroid game to date
Metroid Prime - Extremely good looking game, but is a little bit boring like the original
Metroid Zero Mission - NA (haven't played it yet)

[Dr. Morbis]

I dont care for the Metroid series because it like, totally ripped off the Castlevania games!

Care to explain how? This is news to me.

And to all the people who hate "backtracking": it's called exploration. Would you rather just scroll to the right for a few hours (like SMB) then call it a day? Metroid (originally) was the antithesis of linear gameplay. But I guess, like all other games, the publishers are shooting for 'mass' appeal now.

[nesgamer]

Am I the only person that didn't like the Metroid series? I played through them, but was never impressed. I mean everyone I ask loved it, but can't really explain why and oddly enough almost none have finished the original and Super versions. Hmmmm

Nope your not alone. I never liked the games.

[Bratwurst]

Metroid was a big step in NES history.. it was one of the first (if not THE first) games on the Nintendo that utilized the MMC1 board and let you backtrack. I am glad to say I experienced and finished it before even a Gameboy sequel changed everything. It was big, you could get lost, it had atmosphere, it was beautiful. You have to at least appreciate the fact that there weren't many games that encouraged or even allowed exploration in the manner that Metroid did.. I can't think of any other titles for that year.

Super Metroid and especially Zero Mission have 'spoiled' things in a sense that it's even difficult for me to go back and play the original. Good lord, start at 30 energy everytime I stick in a password!? I also remember some very unforgiving points in the game where you could get stuck, and those sucked mightily.

[MegaDrive20XX]

I for one....love Metroid, every single form of it. Regardless of it being platformer or FPS.

Metroid NES <--- Confusing when I first played it, never touched it again until after Super Metroid arrived

Metroid 2 Return of Samus <-- Biggest reason to have an original GameBoy hanging around...took everything from the NES game and added more.

Super Metroid: Return of The Mother Brain <-- Original Subtitle some don't remember, was on ad posters in many stores back in the day, for some reason the soundtrack is incredible to this day, yet this is the first Metroid game to combine all three story lines into one which many game series never really attempted...noticed CastleVania SOTN did the same thing?

Metroid Prime <-- to get an idea of how big Ridley is, and how the gameplay can turn into a FPS easily is quite a feat

Metroid Fusion <--- Now this was the one that caught my eye when Prime and Fusion were announced, a true sequel to Super Metroid and givng players a true return to 2D action/adventure was a nice touch. Yet I swear to god, the first time I saw SA-X, I nearly had a lump in my throat, because I didn't know if "it" was going to attack me or not..especially the next few scenes when you are running like a bat out of hell from it.

Metroid Zero Mission <--- I still need to play this one, but I heard so much good about it

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes <--- I have the demo disk and I must say, I can't wait to see the final cut, but for a spoiler alert...."Dark Samus" is something not to f*** with...

Which reminds me, I hope Nintendo sneaks in a goodie in Prime 2...because having the chance to play NES Metroid on Cube was nice...but is it me or the game is really blurry as hell and the screen resolution is unformatted for most TV's?

[FantasiaWHT]

I always enjoyed the games enough for a playthrough, but not much more than that. I had fun, but I could never go through the backtracking and exploration over again.

interestingly, I HATE (and am HORRIBLE at) FPSs, but I had quite a bit of fun with Metroid Prime.

[blissfulnoise]

I never realized Metroid was so looked down upon. I'm very biased because Metroid was like the 5th NES game I bought, and the first I beat on the system (before SMB, yes).

The game was pure magic to me. The sense of exploration was phenomenal. And yes, you had to backtrack, but only to learn new passages and to pick up all the energy tanks and missiles you had missed. And the music is still some of the best on the NES. The themes from Brinstar and Norfair we're so well done it's an understatement to call them classics. And in the Chozo (we know now they are anyway) Statue theme was downright creepy to me. It maid me feel as though anything could happen once I walked into that room.

Playing through the game gave an overwhelming feeling of unpreparedness. You start off way underequiped to deal with the threats on Zebes and you really felt like it. That’s where this games difficulty level comes from (well, that, and the mazes). It's ironic that the first upgrade you get is the Maru Mari, an item that essentially enables you to hide and fit into places where bad guys can't. And each successive power up made you feel as though you could really start taking on the mobs of aliens, building your confidence bit by bit.

That is, until you got the screw attack. Then you felt downright invincible. To me, that's still the single greatest "power-up" item from any game ever. I'll never be able to explain this to folks who never played the original Metroid when it was released, but man, getting that item was so unbelievably cool. Aliens you couldn't have even hurt before were exploding into little chunks! With the high jump boots you were tearing back through areas you had to slink around in before. This made backtracking fun as you lay to waste what made you so jittery the first times through.

Of course, this lured you into cockiness. By the time you shut down Ridley and Kraid and went into Tourian, you felt invincible. Until you tried to screw attack a Metroid for the first time. Then you found yourself loosing life at a ridiculous rate and panicking… "HOW DO I GET THIS DAMN THING OFF OF ME!!!" I mean, you were sweating here folks! After figuring how to beat a Metroid, necessity put you back into cautious mode, slowly moving forward inches at a time in order to prevent mass swarms of Metroids (read: 3) of them attacking you at once.

By the time you got to Mother Brain's lair you had no idea what to expect. And you only hoped you had brought enough missiles to take down the Metroids, blow up the Zeebetites, and have enough to deal with whatever was next. That sense of unpreparedness was back in spades. Each missile COUNTED. When you finally fought your way to Mother Brain, you had to ask yourself why she wasn't fighting back. Sure, those Rinka's were bearing down on you like crazy, trying to prevent you from getting in a good shot, but Mother Brain herself just sat there. What the heck could she be waiting for?

Certainly no one was expecting a time bomb once they thought they claimed victory. Filled with adrenaline, you raced against the clock to prevent having to redo your horrific decent into Tourian. As the platforms got narrower and narrower, that sense of familiar panic would set in again... would you make the next jump? What if you fell down several flights, would you have time to recover??? All the power suit upgrades couldn't help you now!

Even fewer (read: no one) expected to find out that our hero with the cool armor, Samus, was really a woman. That was a swerve that I don't believe had been done in a console game before then. The ending made you feel like you accomplished something, and the music over the credits remains my second favorite 8-bit music to this day (having to bow to the Kid Icarus title theme).

I won't go into it, but Super Metroid improved on all of this in every conceivable way, without negating the feeling of playing through the first one. Each were valid, and each were wonderful games. Not a lot of sequels can improve so drastically on the originals without stomping all over them. The Legend of Zelda series comes to mind as being another one.

Metroid was such a landmark game for an in 1987. So many concepts and ideas had never been seen before. Not to mention it was one of the first titles to incorporate a password feature. Again, it was magical for an 8 year old. And later on, once the 'hidden' rooms were discovered, the game opened up in a whole new way, just like the minus world did for Super Mario Brothers.

Side note: Did the minus world from SMB creep anyone else out? I thought a vortex was going to open and suck me in once I got there for the first time. It was just so unnatural! A world with no purpose, no escape, and a time limit.... like America under the Bush Administration… frightening!!!

Sigh; again, I don't think if you played Metroid during its original release you could really see how wonderful that game was. Maybe time does destroy all things, but it hasn't gotten to my memory yet.

[Aboliax]

Metroid - Really didn't like it.
Metroid II - I have it but like most games I have I haven't played it enough to make a desicion.
Super Metroid - One of the best
Metroid Fusion -Excellent game, despite all the talk of it being "linear"
Metroid Zero Mission - Mediocre, this one wasn't memorable to me for some reason, it was ok I guess.
Metroid Prime - Great game, I liked the innovation, liked the length too.

Overall one of Nintendo's best series IMO, and even better than Zelda (I only like the Gameboy games anyways)

[G4MZ0v3R]

Blissful your explanation makes me want to give them another shot lol ty

[slip81]

I've never beaten any of the Metroid games. I don't mind the series, but I'm not a huge fan. I suppose someday I will sit down and beat the original, and I'll get Super if I can ever find it at a decent price. Haven't played Prime yet.

Metroid games are okay, and I can see how they were revolutionary for their time, but just nothing spectacular for me.

[ubersaurus]

I liked them all but the first one. It just didn't age well at all. What I really hate is how damn hard it is to fill your health up if you die, or get kicked around. It takes like 15 freakin minutes!

That, and the fact I'd always get lost, were the reasons Metroid never appealed to me. Ironically, Zillion was the better game(IMO), but Metroid went on to popularity and great things, whereas Zillion just sorta died after 2. Probably due in part to Zillion 2 being such a departure, but then, Metroid 2 was different too, just, not as much.

[soniko_karuto]

i got bored after my ex could not stop only talking/drawing/fantasizing about it.

that and megaman.

for about 1 year and a half. :angry:

[Push Upstairs]

I dont care for the Metroid series because it like, totally ripped off the Castlevania games!

Care to explain how? This is news to me.


#1 It was a joke.
#2 the :P you decided to trim out was a sign that it was a very un-serious statement.

It's not news and never has been news. Please go to your nearest humor center and upgrade to version 3.0 :P

[dreamcaster]

The only Metroid I like is Super Metroid. The others I'm quite indifferent to.

[Wavelflack]

I sense a bunch of kids in this thread. I don't recall anyone "at the time" complaining about the game. I'm referring to the original, of course.

My take? The original is the only one worth playing. It was fantastic, and still is. Try playing it sometime without fucking Gamefaqs walkthroughs and maps. It's not that hard. There are some parts that you don't just breeze through, but try being an honest player. It's much more satisfying.
Backtracking? Eh. The game is not that big, and besides (as someone else already pointed out) it was one of the first nonlinear games on NES. You were supposed to explore. Finally, the black background (behind the platforms and walls, etc.) really made the game feel even more lonely. I know it wasn't a design consideration, but rather a technological limitation, but it still made a difference in the feel of the game. And the music was exceptional, memorable, and appropriate.

Then we come to Super Metroid. Super Metroid is shit. It introduced the era of "single purpose powerups" in the series. I'm referring to things such as the grappling hook and so forth. What is the point of giving you a grappling hook, and then limiting where you can use it? Why not just make a bridge there and skip the negligable "coolness" of Samus' grappling animation?

Music? Somehow sampled trumpets and orchestral hits ruin the atmosphere. I know I'm probably the only person who despises SNES PCM sound, but I do. I'd rather have FM synth.

Graphics? Too messy. Too noisy. I have this same complaint about Sonic 3. In the quest for "more detail", they made everything sloppy and nasty looking. I'd have preferred a clean Metroid look, with more intense colors perhaps.


I just can't get into Metroid Prime. I play it and play it, but it just hasn't connected. I'll play fusion more when I get a GBA/GC adaptor. I don't like playing portables for more than throwaway 5 minute games. Playing an hours long quest on a tiny screen isn't appealing. Metroid 2 is pretty dull (I DO play that on Super GB). I feel like someone else came along before me and killed most of the enemies, and I'm just doing clean up work. ZZZzzz..

[Captain Wrong]

I'm kind of "meh" on it. I think a large part of it is if you played it back in the day or not, so I kind of agree with Waveflack, though I'm hardly a kid. I just never played this game back then. All the NES games I had were quarter muncher arcade ports, which probably has something to do with why I don't much care about 99% of the Nintendo franchises people get all worked up over.

I tried to go back later on and play all the Metroid games when I got into retrogaming, but I just didn't find them that engaging. Like I said, maybe if I'd played them back in the day, but I was too busy with Contra and Bubble Bobble.

[rbudrick]

I played Zero Mission for the first time this weekend. Pretty awesome remake of the original. In just two afternoons I made it to mother brain with no maps or anything, but I was afraid to beat her because I feared it would save my file after that and I wouldn't be able to go back to all the parts I missed. So at that point, I got some maps online. I tried like all hell to get into Chozodia (Man was I surpised that was in there!!!!! I thought the yellow doors in the Chozo ruins were just another part of that level!).

So, I could have beatenthe game in basically a day and a half, but I chose to explore instead. In finding maps, I also found (SPOILER ALERT) that you can't get tto Chozo until after you beat Mother Brain, and that I had found everything there is to find in the game already besides everything in Chozodia and the stuff you can't get until after Chozodia....I also ruined the surprise and the ending by going online to find out how I get to all these places I couldn't reach yet...shoulda just beat it there and then, but I didn't know, ya know?

-ROb

[tritium]

I liked the original. Bizzarre music and scenery made it almost scary to me.

I hated supermetroid because it took less than 10 minutes to get me lost and consued about what I was supposed to do next.

The only otherone I played was prime. I liked it even though I'm not a huge fan of fps. I haven't gotten very far in it though.

-tritium

[Ed Oscuro]

I sense a bunch of kids in this thread. I don't recall anyone "at the time" complaining about the game. I'm referring to the original, of course.
It is interesting to note that the Metroid series was traditionally never very popular in Japan. You could go out and find much more engaging arcade game ports on the SG-1000, and a number of third-party publishers quickly put together a number of titles for the Famicom that were far better than many of Nintendo's early efforts. It does predate Contra, by a whopping span of a whole year or so, but even so it fits the mold of the early Nintendo releases - very inspired, interesting, and yet mediocre games with a few (but only a few) catchy tunes.

Yes, I'm lumping Zelda into that. The original Y's is much, much better.

[ubersaurus]

I will say this about the original metroid...because of that, metroids in ANY game freak me out. It's like, you'd go to bomb them off, and they'd latch back on before you even get back to your feet. That fear carried on to the other metroid games, to the point where in Prime, where metroids are seriously wimps, I still refuse to get anywhere close to them if I can help it.

[Duncan]

I´ve never liked any metroid games. I played metroid on NES and was bored with it.....i had a much better time playing a similar exploration game, like Blaster Master

Blaster Master basically is Metroid, just with a car doing all the work and some top-down boss battle sections.

I like both Metroid and Blaster Master. Kid Icarus (Metroid with an angelic twist) is also a lot of fun.

As for backtracking, that's really closer to real life than most games ever got back in the day. You don't get anywhere in the real world without treading the same old ground every now and then. ;)

The Castlevania comment made before by someone else was, I believe, intended as a joke. :D

[Ed Oscuro]

Thought on Zero Mission...the game doesn't look that great with plain old A/V cables, and I was very much pleased with how the game cleared up when using S-Video.

[dethink]

the original game was, and still is amazing.

the atmosphere at the time was unmatched. it creeped the hell out of my 8 year old brain then, and still feels foreign and alien now. you really did feel lost and helpless.

see blissfulnoise's post, as he's gone into the exact details i would have pointed out. but to me it begins and ends with the original...everything else is just a pale homage. i think what helped the first was that there really was no story, and no hand holding at all. these aliens were up to something, and all you had to clue you in was the paragraph on the attract mode. you had no idea what their motives were, but they were up to SOMETHING unpleasant.

i played through SM completely many times, and even MAPPED the whole thing out with a friend over the course of a week in high school, but it just never captured the magic of the original.

[Jasoco]

I've never been able to get too far in them. Something just makes me get really tired of it too soon. I've tried many times, but just can't play for too long.. MAYBE one day. But for now, I'm contempt with everything else.