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[Defect]

Having to press select twelve times to be able to use missiles, super missiles, power bombs, etc. is the definition of clunky. If you try to go activate one quickly, you inevitably end up moving passed the one you want and end up having to cycle back to it. The GBA games control much better.

Alright, weapon select I sorta agree.

I don't agree with the floaty jumps/movement. I feel like you have perfect control of Samus and you can do plenty of tricks while in Fusion you cannot. I know they fixed walljumping in Zero Mission but it still didn't feel right to me.

 

[Nerrel]

Metroid is the one I'd least like to play. And I mean I'd actively go out of my way to avoid playing it. There's just nothing fun about it, even though some of the great elements of the series are there. It's the embodiment of tedium. Even if you draw a map, you have to deal with the endlessly repeating rooms and the utterly cheap wall bombing. There's very little there that still works today.

Metroid II isn't too far behind, but at least it's not outright painful to play. It does a lot of cool things that keep it from feeling quite as primitive as the first. It's still very repetitive and the monochromatic visuals don't help much, but being focused on hunting instead of exploring makes that less of a concern.

I rank Zero and Fusion as being about equal, both miles ahead of the first two. Zero is a little freer and has some advancements over what Fusion implemented. It's a little short and I find it to be the weakest 16-bit game game visually... there's something goofy about the comic book style and techno soundtrack. It works well with the gameplay, and it's a lot of fun to see and hear, but it's still goofy. The item placement may be the best in the series... it really was a treat for veteran Metroid players to try to 100% the game.

Fusion is a little more serious and I find it to be much more memorable. The visuals are still a little "off" to me, with a plastic kind of appearance that lacks the detail Super had. It's main problem is that it's so fucking restrictive, especially during the end of game 100% collecting. I've never played a Metroid that made getting 100% so unappealing. It's still very solid otherwise.

Super is the best for me. Despite its age it has the most detailed, inspired visuals and the best soundtrack. None of the other games have anything that can compete with the atmosphere of lower Brinstar or Maridia. The bosses/enemies and the world designs are the best in the series. It's the freest of the 16-bit games, and rarely ever forces you to go somewhere and never completely locks you out of areas. The controls aren't as advanced as later games, but I don't consider them inferior for it. They still feel great, and allow you to do a lot of things the later games don't.

Super Metroid has the wonkiest movement controls and combat mechanics

Overall NES Metroid is my favorite and Super Metroid my least favorite but they are all fantastic

It doesn't. I love the sense of momentum you have, and in that sense the physics feel more dynamic to me than later entries (where you always feel overly heavy and aggressive). There's nothing more satisfying than running to full speed and then somersaulting hundreds of feet. The wall jumping in Super Metroid is also the best of any video game. I don't think the later games improved on this... they just refined it into something different. I don't see any weakness in the mechanics... It's a lot of fun to fight Ridley while bouncing off the walls and rolling under his tail in ball form. You also have the freedom to kill bosses in a lot of different ways.

As far as your ranking goes... you're very weird.

I don't see any way anyone can place Metroid 1 above any other game unless it's out of pure nostalgia.

Having to press select twelve times to be able to use missiles, super missiles, power bombs, etc. is the definition of clunky. If you try to go activate one quickly, you inevitably end up moving passed the one you want and end up having to cycle back to it.

If you're bad at hitting the button, I guess. I have missiles mapped to 'A.' I just tap it once or twice depending on which missile I want, then hit 'X' to cancel when I'm done. The most you ever have to press is 4 times, but honestly you rarely use power bombs, so it's usually just two to three presses. That's not so hard to manage. I consider the awkward up/down aiming in the later games to be a bigger hassle.

 

[KevinCow]

If you're bad at hitting the button, I guess. I have missiles mapped to 'A.' I just tap it once or twice depending on which missile I want, then hit 'X' to cancel when I'm done.

Where do you map Run, then? That only leaves Select.

 

[Nerrel]

Where do you map Run, then? That only leaves Select.

Run is on ZL (which does have to be remapped to select in the emulator/VC menu). I find it more comfortable to hold a trigger and keep the thumb free for just shooting and jumping (on Y and B) and missile selection. I put 'aim up' on ZR, then 'aim down' on R. It requires button remapping to do this, so when I play on the original I have to sacrifice 'aim down.'

I think it's a great improvement over the default scheme. I have never liked that awkward "hold 3 buttons at once" button mapping one bit.

 

[Green Mamba]

Yes "too wordy" is the colloquial term for games that have text based narrative, which isn't s valid criticism by itself and depends on execution, hell there's an entire genre that revolves around "too wordy" games in terms of visual novels.

I'm going to trim down your post as basically none of it has to do with my criticism at hand--using text is fine, but there is no excuse for Fusion not allowing you to skip dialogue (even on repeat playthroughs). For a game that encourages multiple playthroughs (as getting 100% is basically impossible for a first time through unless you know what to do in advance) this is basically unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. So yeah, I'd say Fusion is too wordy, because it has no respect for the time of players going through it more than once, shooting for higher percentages and better times like it's designed to. The inability to skip dialogue is entirely at odds with this design decision, and as such, the game should be criticized for it.

 

[Molemitts]

Of the ones I've played Fusion is by far the worst, it's linear with a hamfisted story, where Super Metroid helped to pioneer environmental storytelling. The backtracking feels less a natural part of the exploration and more annoying because you're just being told to do it. The bosses were never a highlight of the series but in Fusion they're just annoying, especially fighting that same thing after each boss. It feels like complete step down from Super Metroid.

 

[GuessMyUserName]

Metroid 1's a piece of shit, 30 energy my ass.

 

[Pop-O-Matic]

Can we all at least agree that the worst 2D Metroid is still better than the best IGAvania?

 

[GuessMyUserName]

Can we all at least agree that the worst 2D Metroid is still better than the best IGAvania?

Not at all?

All of them are quite easily better than 1 & 2 by a very large margin. I love Fusion more than most people do but I'd put the Sorrow series above it, maybe Ecclesia too.

 

[illadelph]

Metroid II is actually really awesome. I played it on the Super Game Boy though, which adds some color and makes things easier to see.

The original is probably is the weakest for me, if only for the fact that you start with extremely low health with every new life, meaning that you need to spend a really long time tediously grinding for health after every death later in the game. You kinda wish you had a map when you play it, but it's not absolutely essential. The original's atmosphere is still unparalleled; you truly feel helpless and isolated, and Hip Tanaka's 8-bit soundtrack is haunting and eerie.

I haven't played Zero Mission.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Out of the one's I have played i'm not a big fan of Zero mission. Think it pales in comparison to Super and Fusion.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Metroid 1's a piece of shit, 30 energy my ass.

The biggest reason why I refuse to touch that game again. Just thinking about that makes my head hurt. No thank you.

 

[foltzie1]

Metroid 1's a piece of shit, 30 energy my ass.

The biggest reason why I refuse to touch that game again. Just thinking about that makes my head hurt. No thank you.

Get good?

Though I used to beat Metroid once a day for a while so I may be biased.

 

[Lothar]

The biggest reason why I refuse to touch that game again. Just thinking about that makes my head hurt. No thank you.

It takes maybe 2-3 minutes to fully replenish your health. And you only need it fully replenished before boss battles. This is no big deal.

Dark souls deaths are way the fuck more painful and frustrating.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Get good?

Though I used to beat Metroid once a day for a while so I may be biased.

It takes maybe 2-3 minutes to fully replenish your health. And you only need it fully replenished before boss battles. This is no big deal.

Dark souls deaths are way the fuck more painful and frustrating.

I have no words to express how confused I am that these are opinions.

Metroid 1's 30HP can shove it up its ass. Takes like 10 minutes to get full health then you lose it instantly when 20 enemies follow you through a door. Absolute pain in the ass.

On topic, I feel like Metroid 1 is easily the weakest entry, simply because it's so dated. Metroid 2 is held back only by the tiny ass GB screen and the huge ass sprites. Whoo they are detailed. Too bad I can only see the one foot distance in front of me. If they just took the exact same game, and made a 3D classics version where you can see more of the area around you, it'd immediately improve.

 

[PtM]

Yeah, M1's HP bullshit was most aggravating.

Will probably continue to stay clear of M2.

 

[Toxi]

Get good?

Though I used to beat Metroid once a day for a while so I may be biased.

"Git gud" is silly in this case. Having to grind back health and missiles every time you spawn is silly, especially when the Japanese version of Metroid didn't have that problem.

Metroid does a lot of things well, but I could do without that bullshit.

 

[Toxi]

Yeah, M1's HP bullshit was most aggravating.

Will probably continue to stay clear of M2.

You should give it a try. While it's not the best Metroid ever, the Spider Ball is really cool and the lack of a map isn't that much of a problem because of how you progress between areas in a linear fashion.

 

[Lothar]

It does not take 10 minutes to get health back. You're not recovering health in the right room. There's a big room in Norfair with about 20 big aliens. Each one gives you 20 health. You can just fly through wit the screw attack and get all your health back in a few passes. That's an example of a good recovery area. It is really no big deal if you just think a bit.

 

[Rutger]

The fact that we have to grind energy whenever we start the game is silly.
It doesn't matter how easy it is, it's a bad mechanic. I was able to enjoy the first Metroid despite how clunky it is, but the tedious health is certainly one reason why I don't feel like returning to it anytime soon.

 

[iosef]

Tried Metroid 2 a number of times and just couldn't get into it. Felt like a slog. I appreciate the attempt to do SNES-scale sprites on the GB but it just didn't seem to work; you couldn't see anything on the screen which limited the types of challenges and gameplay situations the game could pose.

Loved Fusion for the superb gameplay but hated the text, linearity, and hand-holding.

Feel deficient that I've never finished Super -- on the bucket list, have liked what I've played. Never tried Zero Mission.

For the life of me I don't understand the hate for the OG NES Metroid in this thread. The gameplay is divine and it has the best soundtrack of any video game I've ever experienced. I'd love to see a breakdown by age of gamer: for those bred on automaps and auto-aim and regenerating health I can see how it would be off-putting. For me -- happy to make maps of Zebes on graph paper while my middle school teachers droned on -- figuring out the environment was a huge part of the game, which it would not be the same without. I am old.

 

[A Link to the Past]

Get good?

Though I used to beat Metroid once a day for a while so I may be biased.

That's certainly a solution, but it doesn't mean that the game isn't more flawed for it. :v

 

[natsuyasumi]

Here's a rom hack that addresses the concerns of all the people who are stuck on the 30-health respawns. I imagine a Game Genie code could do the same.

Here's a rom hack that implements saves instead of passwords, and retains health/missile status. A map and other features too. Pretty good QoL improvements.

Here's a rom hack (of sorts) that adds a sophisticated map and other features (but needlessly redraws all the graphics, mostly for the worse). Interestingly the now-defunct homepage of this hack shows it with normal graphics.

 

[Lothar]

The fact that we have to grind energy whenever we start the game is silly.
It doesn't matter how easy it is, it's a bad mechanic. I was able to enjoy the first Metroid despite how clunky it is, but the tedious health is certainly one reason why I don't feel like returning to it anytime soon.

It's minor. You don't start off with all your health in Zelda either. You have to find a fairy fountain. Or kill enemies for a while for hearts.

So minor compared to games like Dark Souls where you can lose like 10,000 souls and have to re-do 20 minutes of progress.

 

[Ogodei]

Probably Metroid II just because it's insanely easy to get very, very lost. At least in OG Metroid you can tell what region you're in by what color the walls are.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

cheap wall bombing.

Translation: "Wah, these walls don't have cracks and now I have to rely on logic and intuition to find secrets!"

I don't see any way anyone can place Metroid 1 above any other game unless it's out of pure nostalgia.

Maybe peer outside of your own little bubble and see the nice things that have been written about it in this very thread?

Man, you sure as hell aren't fit to judge over "too wordy"!

Boney's joke
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Your head

To me it seemed very clear that his post was intentionally overly-verbose in response to the claim that "too wordy" wasn't a valid criticism.

 

[Red]

I really enjoy the movement in Super Metroid. It feels very alien and contributes to the atmosphere of the game. Really everything in Super Metroid coheres into a truly one-of-a-kind experience.

However, in practice I prefer the swift, crisp movement introduced in Fusion and furthered in Zero Mission. You lose some of the uniqueness of Super Metroid's otherworldly pace, but you gain a more responsive set of actions.

My worst is probably Metroid II, which always feels a little cramped, and is a bit too esoteric in places. I love the spider ball but at the same time feel like a sense of the labyrinthine underground that was executed brilliantly in Metroid I is undermined by it. Still, "worst" Metroid for me is generally preferable to the best of many other franchises.

 

[Nerrel]

Translation: "Wah, these walls don't have cracks and now I have to rely on logic and intuition to find secrets!"

There are no indications of where secret paths are, no logic as to where a path may be, and because the rooms that repeat so often also repeat all of their bombable areas and fake walls, there are many dead end secrets littering the map. A player may discover the same secret path twice in different rooms and give up on trying it in the third room where it actually does lead somewhere. The lack of a map isn't the real problem; there are barely any landmarks or interesting sights to remember the areas by and trying to sort out so many visually identical spaces is intensely tedious. And no, having to draw your own map doesn't reduce the tedium, it increases it.

This is why I say nostalgia is all that's holding the game up. You could only see the charm in these things if you grew up playing it. If a game came out like this now- no map, endlessly reused backgrounds (with most of the backgrounds that do change just being palette swaps), tons of false start secrets, grinding for health, enemies that hit you during door animations, incredibly primitive controls- it would be regarded as a bad game, even by $10 eshop standards. There's a reason why Metroid throwback games like Cave Story and Axiom Verge don't emulate any of those things... even though they borrow their very foundations from Metroid. No one wants to play a boring, repetitive game like this anymore, even if they love the core ideas that Metroid introduced.

Maybe peer outside of your own little bubble and see the nice things that have been written about it in this very thread?

I actually don't see much of anything nice being written about it. The few people who like it are are only defending it by brushing obvious faults off by saying "it's no big deal" or "git gud." There's no actual positive argument about the game's quality being made here, just refusals of the complaints.

It does not take 10 minutes to get health back. You're not recovering health in the right room. There's a big room in Norfair with about 20 big aliens. Each one gives you 20 health. You can just fly through wit the screw attack and get all your health back in a few passes. That's an example of a good recovery area. It is really no big deal if you just think a bit.

This is assuming that you have access to that room and that you have access to that powerup, which would pretty much require you to be near the end of the game... at which point it would be practically no use. Your argument is that grinding for health is no big deal if you just trek across the map to get to find a room where the health grinding is a little better, then travel all the way back... how is that supposed to not be tedious, again?

 

[flak57]

There are no indications of where secret paths are, no logic as to where a path may be, and because the rooms that repeat so often also repeat all of their bombable areas and fake walls, there are many dead end secrets littering the map. A player may discover the same secret path twice in different rooms and give up on trying it in the third room where it actually does lead somewhere. The lack of a map isn't the real problem; there are barely any landmarks or interesting sights to remember the areas by and trying to sort out so many visually identical spaces is intensely tedious. And no, having to draw your own map doesn't reduce the tedium, it increases it.

Eh? Secret passages in Metroid are hinted at - dead ends, rooms that don't seem to have a purpose, etc.

And they're almost all on the bubble type surfaces in Norfair. Should be incredibly obvious to keep searching/bombing them even with a few false passages.

 

[Shiggy]

Probably the one where you cannot crawl.

 

[kunonabi]

Can we all at least agree that the worst 2D Metroid is still better than the best IGAvania?

Despite my general distaste of the Castletroids I'd put at least 3 of them ahead of Zero Mission and Fusion.

 

[correojon]

I'm playing through all of the Metroid games (some for the first time) and so far, I've enjoyed all of them. I haven't started up Super or Metroid 2 yet. I think it's safe to say that, while great, Metroid Prime 2 is the weakest of the mainline Prime games, and we all know about Other M. So this got me thinking. What's the worst of the 2D games? I'm curious to hear some opinions.

Sacrilege! Metroid Prime 2 is a great game, maybe it has some pacing issues but it features what is one of the best levels ever: Sanctuary Fortress. Not only in the Metroid world, but taking all games into account it´s pretty safe to say that this level is a serious GOAT candidate and that alone puts MP2 far above MP3 (and personally, I enjoyed it more than MP1).

 

[moniker]

Metroid 2 by far.

 

[Opinionatedfish]

Hmm...

Metroid 1 is still fun to me and much easier with the new Virtual Console save states. The remake fixes a lot of general playability issues and brings it more in line with Metroid 3.

Metroid 2 is the only one of the series to have legitimately terrifying and difficult bosses. Never had any issues with maps since I used graph paper to make maps. Seriously, kids these days are too lazy to make their own maps? They'll be the first thing eaten by the arrival of the Old Ones. Also, that last boss is AMAZING.

Metroid 3 is an apex of solid action. They took the closer view of Metroid 2, removed the game breaking Spider Ball, and refined the formula to a fine, deadly, point. They also had an amazingly great visual story telling to the game that surpasses future games in the series.

Metroid 4 is where they started trying to shoehorn too much handholding and story telling. It's best to show and not tell. Also, this game introduced the second most terrifying thing in the series: Samus Aran-X. The game tries to capture the feeling of being chased by an unstoppable force and is reasonably successful. Although they did ruin the awesomeness of a creature from Metroid 2.

So, I think they are all quite good.

From a technical, gameplay standpoint.. they are like this to me.

M3,ZM,M2,M4,M1

In terms of how I would group them by how much I enjoyed them?

M3,M2,M4,ZM,M1

That said, "worst" is kinda hyperbolic as all of the 2D Metroid games are good.

 

[GenG3000]

The original one. It has aged terribly, probably the worst of the original Nintendo classics in that regard. Clunky, glitchy, unintuitive design, repetitive areas, passwords to advance, farm to regain health.

 

[Madao]

Yep. 1 is awesome and people saying it's obsolete are just out of their minds. The world feels massive, full of secrets and full of red herrings and dead ends without even any upgrades. I does have a few nitpicks like being able to get stuck in lava but other than that, game is top tier.

Metroid 2 on the other hand feels incredibly cramped, and not just because of the sprite to resolution ratio which is all whack. I'm fine with the game being segmented and hunting metroids is a very novel idea that works great, however it doesn't control very well, and the segments are too short and straightforward. Metroid encounters are pretty anti climatic with mayybe the exception of Omegas and the Queen. It's too easy to feel the pressure of digging deeper and both new upgrades like Spider Ball and Space Jump make exploring a more tedious thing. I do enjoy the verticality of the huge rooms and it's less corridor like approach, and I think the game is pretty good, but there's a clear divide between this and the rest of the series (other than Hunters)


They're only optional to high level players that are aware of how to sequence break the game to it's entirety.

And I hate that people can diss on Fusion by how it deviates from other games to make it's focus on action rather than exploration. Segmenting by missions and giving you a clear short term goal benefits handheld play inmensely, in which every short burst of play is gonna be filled with interesting scenarios and challenges. I say this all the time, but I think Fusion is the greatest 2d cinematic action game there is, the way it plays itself with objective based segments, that are incredibly diverse, along with amazing set pieces (getting ambushed by the SA-X is probably one of my favourite gameplay memories ever) and the amazing brooding soundtrack. The short term objective based structure does make it a lot more gated, but unlike Metroid 2 every room is filled with interesting challenges ,puzzles or hidden routes, andwhat's even better is that as the game goes along, it starts to throw a number of curve balls regarding how you end up getting to your objective.

It's a different beast than it's predecessors but there's nothing about it that intrinsically makes it inferior. Linearity, cinematic, dialogue and others are not inherently bad characteristics for any game to
have, and in the Metroid context it holds true as well. Just because it goes against your expectations or series tropes, there's nothing about Fusion itself that's not well realized by itself and that it doesn't play it for it's advantage. And condemning it or critizicing it for what it isn't is -in my opinion- completely ignorant and backwards.

The western versions not having a Hard mode is bs, and the game having something similar to Julius Mode from Castlevania with an "Adam-less" mode that has a a more free progression system with would be the icing on the cake (I wouldn't know how to deal with Sector 2 having massive changes though).

A remake that included this and a few role reversal time trial missions in which you have to hunt Samus as the SA-X would be my dream remake.

to be fair, the JP version came out later. if it had released at the same time everywhere it'd have hard mode in english too.

oh also, Fusion's greatest weakness is being a Metroid game. same with Prime 2 and 3. series expectations really skew the range of what's good and bad and discards what these games do better.

in a way they're all sufffering the Majora's Mask syndrome. most of the game's "flaws" are because of the series they belong to.

 

[Oblivion]

Metroid 1 and 2. Both are very primitive and dated.

metroid 2 has never appealed to me, largely because the screen jumping around constantly because of samus's size, plus the fidelity of the graphics, which is predictably heinous. i appreciate how influential it was on future games, but i would rather hear someone talk about it than play it.

the original, on the other hand, is super badass. fighting and besting mother brain after slogging through the deadly cheerios and shrinky plasma walls feels as awesome in 2016 as it did in 1989.

b-man! You're alive!

 

[cartman414]

If you're bad at hitting the button, I guess. I have missiles mapped to 'A.' I just tap it once or twice depending on which missile I want, then hit 'X' to cancel when I'm done. The most you ever have to press is 4 times, but honestly you rarely use power bombs, so it's usually just two to three presses. That's not so hard to manage. I consider the awkward up/down aiming in the later games to be a bigger hassle.

This, so hard. Especially considering how crucial it becomes with those ceiling handrail battles. It becomes hard to aim properly while firing missiles. Kind of like juggling cats and dogs.

 

[xevis]

Fusion

Plz. Fusion is straight up excellent. Expertly crafted levels, tense atmosphere and a really scary doppleganger. I loved it to bits.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

There are no indications of where secret paths are,

Ha!

First off, nearly all the game's secret paths are at floor level:

If you don't think to bomb the wall at every dead end, the problem lies with you, not the game.

You'll find, on occasion, passages that aren't at floor level, but they're never located higher than a single bomb jump. I hope you figured out to how to bomb jump on your own and didn't expect the game to teach you how to use it to your advantage.

The upper passage seen in this GIF? Not necessary. It's either there to provide an alternate path to more experienced players, or it's a dead. Can't remember which, but even if it's the latter, that should be a non-issue even for someone as inexperienced as you, seeing as how incredibly easy the correct path is to uncover.

And floors? Don't fucking worry about passages hidden in floors. The only floors that have secret passages in them are at the bottom of vertical shafts. Just plant a row of bombs--boom, boom, boom--and see if any tiles explode. The vast majority of these (which is not many) are in Norfair and at least half of them are dead ends put there just to fuck with you.

Actually, I take that back. There is one horizontally-oriented room with a secret passage and that's in Ridley's Hideout. There's even a clue given: a barrier sits in the middle of the room, and you can clearly see enemies on the other side of it.

And they're almost all on the bubble type surfaces in Norfair. Should be incredibly obvious to keep searching/bombing them even with a few false passages.

Also this.

And no, having to draw your own map doesn't reduce the tedium, it increases it

Fun fact: I've never once drawn or had to consult a map for this game.

This is why I say nostalgia is all that's holding the game up. You could only see the charm in these things if you grew up playing it. If a game came out like this now- no map, endlessly reused backgrounds (with most of the backgrounds that do change just being palette swaps), tons of false start secrets, grinding for health, enemies that hit you during door animations, incredibly primitive controls- it would be regarded as a bad game, even by $10 eshop standards.

Which is sad, because to my dying breath I will long for another game like this. It doesn't even have to be this specific type of game, I just want any sort of game that rewards exploration and intuitive searching the way games like Metroid and The Legend of Zelda did.

I actually don't see much of anything nice being written about it. The few people who like it are are only defending it by brushing obvious faults off by saying "it's no big deal" or "git gud." There's no actual positive argument about the game's quality being made here, just refusals of the complaints.

Behold:

For the life of me I don't understand the hate for the OG NES Metroid in this thread. The gameplay is divine and it has the best soundtrack of any video game I've ever experienced. I'd love to see a breakdown by age of gamer: for those bred on automaps and auto-aim and regenerating health I can see how it would be off-putting.

Metroid is one of the tightest, best games on the NES. Masterful experience. I think I'd put it in the Top 5 NES games. Just incredible. You know what? It's better than Fusion. Editing my list.

Once Metroid 1 clicked with me I actually really enjoyed it. You have to unlearn reliance on later Metroid mechanics and it's pretty damn unforgiving, but I liked it enough to finish it.

I almost want to put 1 ahead of ZM because it didn't hold my hand or have a stealth sequence. But dat buttery smooth gameplay.

There is no bad 2D Metroid for me at least. 2 is maybe the less interesting for me, but fuck off 1 haters, for someone who loves old dungeon crawlers take a notebook and draw Metroid maps are still awesome for me.

Starting with 30 energy is a weak complaint. You can replenish all your health in a minute or two if you know which enemies to kill. (Hint: The ones that drop big energy and always drop something) Anyone who would stand there and farm with the small bugs that pop out of the ground that don't give you much energy isn't too smart. They deserve to stand there forever.

ZM doesn't replace the original because the original has less hand holding, more exploration, and better challenge. ZM always felt like a dumbed down version of the original to me.

Yep. 1 is awesome and people saying it's obsolete are just out of their minds. The world feels massive, full of secrets and full of red herrings and dead ends without even any upgrades. I does have a few nitpicks like being able to get stuck in lava but other than that, game is top tier.

You can dismiss some of these as being nostalgia-fueled, but don't lie by saying

The few people who like it are are only defending it by brushing obvious faults off by saying "it's no big deal" or "git gud."'

With that being said, you really ought to just buckle down and git gud.

 

[cartman414]

Yeah, I'm just going to quote myself here:



Of all the words I see people use to describe classic video games they can't get into because of all the so-called "improvements" introduced in later editions, 'obsolete' is by far the dumbest.

Even back then I felt Metroid had issues, as I had cited several posts back.

Starting with 30 energy is a weak complaint. You can replenish all your health in a minute or two if you know which enemies to kill. (Hint: The ones that drop big energy and always drop something) Anyone who would stand there and farm with the small bugs that pop out of the ground that don't give you much energy isn't too smart. They deserve to stand there forever.

ZM doesn't replace the original because the original has less hand holding, more exploration, and better challenge. ZM always felt like a dumbed down version of the original to me.

It's still user unfriendly, and the odds are much worse than future Metroids, which for added effect, had energy refill stations.

Metroid touched me on some deep level as a kid. I was completely absorbed. I can still go back to Metroid and have a lot of fun. Seems odd that people think it's hard.

Metroid 1 on a CRT is still strangely beautiful. The starkness of it, all the black. And the music and sfx are perfect.

Zero Mission did not move me.

It's hard by dodgy design.

"Worst" is such a harsh term especially when describing such a ground breaking series like Metroid.

Metroid 1 is devoid of criticism for establishing the series and formula.

Metroid 2 tried something different and gave us a linear Metroid with a dash of horror exploration, (impressively) all in a technologically inferior portable system.

Metroid 3 built upon both games and perfected the formula with a cinematic feel and an emphasis on visual narrative.

Metroid 4 went back to the linear nature of part 2, but instead of playing it safe brought in an element of challenge. Metroid 4 is an alien feeling Metroid game, visually, narratively, and gameplay-wise.

Metroid Zero Mission, personally, is the weakest 2D Metroid game in the series for its lack of innovation. It just took established gameplay elements that had evolved within the series and slapped them together to build upon an established, classic game. Also, the cartoony look that they tried to push looked terrible and very un-Metroid like (it detracted from the atmosphere).

Polish trumps innovation. Zero Mission fixed all the flaws of Metroid.

 

[spekkeh]

Plz. Fusion is straight up excellent. Expertly crafted levels, tense atmosphere and a really scary doppleganger. I loved it to bits.

Color swapped enemies are always lame.

Always.

 

[SpokkX]

Metroid 1 (NES) has been replaced by the excellent Zero Mission. Metroid (NES) is still better than Metroid 2 (GB), which is easily the worst 2d Metroid

 

[TedMilk]

My order of the ones I've played:

1. Prime 1 (probably favorite game of all time)
2. Fusion
3. Super
4. Corruption
5. Echoes
6. NES

I can't stand the light and dark ammunition in Echoes. Corruption would be higher, but the voiced dialogue, multiple planets, and lack of multiple beams hold it back. I didn't mind the text sections in Fusion because I could just ignore that. I liked the single planet to explore and no other non-hostile thing, and I could just explore it. The atmosphere of Prime 1 was so fantastic. I could talk about Prime 1 all day.

So much this. Fusion is the best 2D Metroid for me and Prime 1 is the best game ever.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

It's hard by dodgy design.

It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, a master game designer.The only thing 'dodgy' to ever come from him was the Virtual Boy.

The real kicker for me is that your biggest complaint about the game, that you start with 30 energy every time you die, isn't even present in the Japanese version. The game was made for the Famicom Disk System and when it was the ported to the US, they made the admittedly poor decision to not include battery back-up and instead go with a password system which, unfortunately, did not record the amount of health you last had, only the number of missiles and energy tanks.

 

[d3vnull]

Metriod 2 dude, that game is garbage

bruh...

 

[Simbabbad]

Zero Mission. It's just a Super Metroid remake and has no gameplay link with NES Metroid, and the infiltration parts are pretty bad and misplaced.

 

[cartman414]

It was produced by Gunpei Yokoi, a master game designer.The only thing 'dodgy' to ever come from him was the Virtual Boy.

The real kicker for me is that your biggest complaint about the game, that you start with 30 energy every time you die, isn't even present in the Japanese version. The game was made for the Famicom Disk System and when it was the ported to the US, they made the admittedly poor decision to not include battery back-up and instead go with a password system which, unfortunately, did not record the amount of health you last had, only the number of missiles and energy tanks.

No questioning Gunpei's genius, but there's little denying the inherent limitations. The game has a huge amount of cruft to cover up the lack of variety (oft-repeated corridors, most power-ups being missile packs by a longshot), and various questionable mechanical decisions (i. e. impenetrable projectiles from bosses, lava being super hard to jump out of). The 30 energy respawn being a result of the password system is new to me. Still though, most energy pickups are 5, less than the default 8. Also the difficulty curve is mostly front-loaded and mostly flattens the moment you grab the Screw Attack.

I'm more open to old school NES games than a lot of other people, but like the first Zelda, Metroid 1 felt monotonous to navigate through.

 

[SoulUnison]

Zero Mission. It's just a Super Metroid remake and has no gameplay link with NES Metroid, and the infiltration parts are pretty bad and misplaced.

What? This is... This opinion is wrong.

 

[Puru]

I genuinly thought the first one was terrible, to the point i was surprised such a game could actually get sequels.
I actually enjoyed the second one and still somewhat enjoy it.