Metroid… Traveling back in time to 1986
In the early days of Nintendo, the infamous Shigeru Miyamoto and Gunpei Yokoi, the creator of the Game Boy, were competing against each other within Nintendo itself. Miyamoto-san and his R&D2 (now known as NCL) went head to head with Yokoi’s R&D1 (now known as Intelligent Systems), and as a result Miyamoto and his team developed historic games like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). However, R&D1 would not go down without a fight. In 1986, Yokoi and his team released a monumental video game which seemed to be a hybrid of both of Miyamoto’s Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. This game was Metroid.
Metroid starred the galactic space bounty hunter Samus Aran. A bounty hunter armored with the battle suit of the ancient bird-like race of the Chozo. This armor created a mystique around Samus’ true identity, as Samus would defend the universe from the Evil Space Pirates and their leader, the Mother Brain. The Mother Brain and her minions, the most notable being Kraid and Ridley, planned to unleash the race of life consuming Metroids upon the galaxy. The Metroid is a race indigenous to planet SR388. They never meant any harm to anyone, but when the Mother Brain’s evil scheme came into fruition, the Metroid became violent, thinking that fighting and destroying their enemies would be the only way to survive. However, the Mother Brain had captured enough Metroids to fulfill her plans, and took them to her base of operations on planet Zebes. The Galactic Federation ordered Samus to go to Zebes, to destroy the Mother Brain’s base of operations and exterminate any Metroids on the planet.
On Zebes, gamers were brought into the underground caverns of Zebes. As you would go from room to room, you were more than likely to get lost inside the tunnels of the planet, since the majority of the rooms were identical. Still, Zebes was a colorful planet, even at the depths you explored. You explored through, a green jungle, an orange dessert, and the fiery caves of Norfair. With each area featuring deadly foes that always ended up being much more than Samus could handle. Nevertheless, Metroid delivered one of the most memorable gaming experiences in Nintendo’s history. Exploring the gigantic world of Zebes would have been enough to entice any gamer, but the way you explored the areas as Samus, made the game more enjoyable than anyone could have fathomed.
Earlier, I mentioned the ancient bird-like race of the Chozo. The Chozo are practically extinct during the time when Metroid takes place. Yet, the remains of Chozo are spread across planet Zebes, with many of them sitting on the floors, holding in their hands a treat for Samus, which will upgrade the powers of the Chozo armor Samus dawns. Such upgrades would be the Morph Ball, an item which would allow Samus, to transform into a ball about the size of a basketball, allowing her to roll into small crevices and reach areas she never could have before. Other items such as the Long Beam, extended the range of her blaster, and the coolest item of them all, the Screw Attack, caused Samus to transform into a living lighting bolt whenever she threw herself into enemies in mid-air.
Because of the many things I mentioned above Metroid ended being a monumental gaming experience on the Nintendo Entertainment System. However, the thing that shocked gamers the most with Metroid had absolutely nothing to do with the gameplay. No, once you defeated the Mother Brain and escaped Zebes before it blew to bits, gamers found out who was under the helmet of Samus Aran…a woman. Metroid was the first game ever in gaming history to feature a female protagonist.
The original Metroid reborn…
At E3 2003, Nintendo revealed the next Metroid title to hit the Game Boy Advance. That game is Metroid: Zero Mission. Metroid: Zero Mission takes the gameplay of 2002’s Game Boy Advance hit Metroid Fusion, and takes us back to planet Zebes in a remake of the classic Metroid which debuted on the Nintendo Entertainment system 17 years ago… However, from what we have seen so far, Metroid: Zero Mission is a much different game from the classic Metroid we all know and love. New locales have been added, such as outdoor environments (remember, the original took place only underground). The visuals have been completely revamped. New enemies have been added, and old ones such as Kraid have been revamped, with Kraid now being the gargantuan size he was in Super Metroid. But the drastic gameplay altering change which has been made is the inclusion of the acrobatic maneuvers found in Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. Our favorite heroine can now jump off walls, and hang off ledges. And all of this can be confirmed from just a handful of screens and the E3 teaser video Nintendo released. But one thing still remains and that is the classic Metroid theme orchestrated by Nintendo’s own Hip Tanaka, a classic video game theme which is so memorable, so full of adventure and excitement that you can’t help but just love.
Thoughts on the future…
When news first broke out about a new Metroid game making its debut at E3 for the Game Boy Advance, I couldn’t help letting the die hard Metroid fan within me, spring out of my soul and cry out in happiness and joy. Just the thought of returning to planet Zebes gives me Goosebumps. For once, there’s a remake of a game I can actually get excited about.
I wonder if Intelligent Systems will include that Justin Bailey password?
