Alright, fine. Maybe this game isn’t THAT bad. Maybe.
I think what helps Metroid 1 push past its fatal (and I mean extremely fatal; like this game has been shot in the chest and is now bleeding out type fatal) flaws is its nonlinearity. There’s so much freedom to gather items in whatever way you want, and it actually adds quite a bit of replay value that rewards player experience and memory. I just started a second file and I got the Varia Suit within the first 45 minutes using nothing but my memory and a crude map of Brinstar that I drew myself (made on the advice of The Geek Critique, but I don’t have enough paper to draw a map of the entire fucking game, so all I have is Brinstar and a small section of Norfair), which made me feel like an absolutely awesome badass.
I’m not gonna sit here and defend this game, though. If you don’t like Metroid 1 due to its litany of problems, that’s a totally valid opinion. I’ve just grown to appreciate it a bit more now.
Zero Mission is still leagues ahead of this game, though. If you wanna get into the series, you should definitely skip this one in favor of that and come back later if you’re curious about where it all started.
I think what helps Metroid 1 push past its fatal (and I mean extremely fatal; like this game has been shot in the chest and is now bleeding out type fatal) flaws is its nonlinearity. There’s so much freedom to gather items in whatever way you want, and it actually adds quite a bit of replay value that rewards player experience and memory. I just started a second file and I got the Varia Suit within the first 45 minutes using nothing but my memory and a crude map of Brinstar that I drew myself (made on the advice of The Geek Critique, but I don’t have enough paper to draw a map of the entire fucking game, so all I have is Brinstar and a small section of Norfair), which made me feel like an absolutely awesome badass.
I’m not gonna sit here and defend this game, though. If you don’t like Metroid 1 due to its litany of problems, that’s a totally valid opinion. I’ve just grown to appreciate it a bit more now.
Zero Mission is still leagues ahead of this game, though. If you wanna get into the series, you should definitely skip this one in favor of that and come back later if you’re curious about where it all started.
3 Comments
no maps
No map, poor performance, frequent glitches, copy-paste room layouts, disappointing bosses, restarting with only 30 health after each death etc., nothing that hasn’t been talked about to death at this point
RedBackLoggd
5 months ago