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GAF Plays: The Metroid series

METROID-1.jpg


Come August/September, there's a new Metroid in town. Until that time comes, new and old players are welcome to join us in celebrating the Metroid series.

The rules:

Pick some games from the series to play and discuss them in this thread. I don't want to be a tight arse, but try not to rely on help from the thread too much. I'm sure there are plenty of in-depth FAQs and walkthroughs floating around. Oh, and try to keep and Other M bashing out of the thread. Obviously newcomers are welcome (I'm one myself), but we want to keep the 'Metroid mood' (credit to Boney) positive.

This is for all you new people..


(In chronological order)

- Metroid (NES) Samus Aran's debut and the one that started it all. Many consider this 'unplayable' by today's standards and so opt to play Zero Mission instead.
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- Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA) A re-imagining of the original using the Fusion engine. Adds some extra mini-bosses and fleshes out Samus' escape.
ZM.jpg


- Metroid Prime (GC, Wii) Along with Fusion, thrust Metroid back into the limelight in 2002. The first Metroid game to take place from within the famous helmet of Samus Aran.
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- Metroid Prime: Pinball (DS) A retelling of the first Prime game. Pinball style.
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- Metroid Prime: Hunters (DS) A DS exclusive. Focused more on multiplayer.
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- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GC, Wii) Prime's sequel. Stronger emphasis on storyline and the concepts of light and dark. Also includes a multiplayer deathmatch mode.
ME.jpg


- Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii) The final part of the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Following on from Echoes, Corruption again focuses on story elements. The first to utilise the Wii's new control method.
MPC.jpg


- Metroid II: Return of Samus (GB) Samus travels to the Metroid homeworld to wipe them out. Less of a focus on exploration; more emphasis is put on combat here.
M2.jpg


- Super Metroid (SNES) Samus returns to prevent the Space Pirates from harnessing the Metroids as biological weapons.
SM.jpg


- Metroid Fusion (GBA) Samus must take on a deadly new threat in the form of Parasite X
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- Metroid Prime Trilogy (Wii) Compilation of Prime, Echoes and Corruption on one disc. 16:9 support and Wii controls are retrofitted to the GC titles.
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Where to find:
Both the NES original and the SNES sequel are available off the Wii's Virtual Console. Metroid is available for 500 Wii points, whilst Super Metroid is available for 800 Wii points. The main Prime series (this excludes Hunters and Pinball) is available on the Wii as the Metroid Prime Trilogy. As for the rest of them - well, you'll just have to play them the old fashioned way!

The rest of you should know what to do.

My Picks:
- Metroid completed
- Super Metroid
- Metroid Prime Trilogy (Prime, Echoes and Corruption) currently playing Prime
 
I got the Trilogy and got about half way through MP1. I never beat 2 or 3, so it's probably a good time to get back in.
 
If you have access to the Famicom Disk System version of Metroid: you can save the game instead of using passwords.

Though I was playing my US NES cart recently, and the passwords are much easier to deal with now thanks to cell phone cameras :P
 
Oh man, that Fusion artwork is putting me in the mood for some Fusion as well.

Definately put me in the Super Metroid camp, haven't played that in a few years.
 
Interesting artwork to choose for the OP lol. Seeing how Fusion was definitely not the best in the series.

Newcomers should play:
Zero Mission
Super Metroid
Metroid Prime

Of course the others are good. But those are the pinnacle of the series, in no particular order.
 
BocoDragon said:
If you have access to the Famicom Disk System version of Metroid: you can save the game instead of using passwords.

Though I was playing my US NES cart recently, and the passwords are much easier to deal with now thanks to cell phone cameras :P

Why the hell didn't I think of that? I've been typing them out on my iPhone's notpad :lol .

I just bought Metroid yesterday on Wii so this is very cool, I might tackle Super Metroid after.
 
SA-X_Face.jpg

Playing Fusion right now, and the directing to different areas doesnt really hurt the gameplay at all. Soundtrack doesnt have as much of an impact as the other Metroid titles, but the enemy/boss design is great.

Also even though you know where your target is, its still easy to get thrown off track when looking for how to get there.
 
Gravijah said:
Every time I try to play Super Metroid, I get stuck. Damn game.
Around what part? The map is pretty intelligently designed as in, you almost never have to turn around and look all over the place. Just once I think. You can give it another try while we wait for Other M (which you don't get to play)
 
Hooray! I needed a good excuse to finally play Metroid Fusion. I will post back here with full impressions when I finally beat it!

Also,I remember when this ROM hack came out, it was a pretty big deal, and generated a lot of positive feedback. If I have the time, I'll play through it / post my impressions.
 
Probably going to go back in Metroid Prime 2 Echoes after beating fusion. Started a little big of it on the trilogy disc, and the graphic quality upgrade from MP1 is immediately evident.
 
Skel said:
Interesting artwork to choose for the OP lol. Seeing how Fusion was definitely not the best in the series.

Newcomers should play:
Zero Mission
Super Metroid
Metroid Prime

Of course the others are good. But those are the pinnacle of the series, in no particular order.

For me I would put Super Metroid at the top with Fusion being second best. I know that doesn't seem to be the popular opinion but Fusion was my first Metroid so it's special to me.

I started playing fusion again earlier and I'm about to fight Nightmare. Definitely an amazing game and imo shows that Sakamoto knows how to handle a story in Metroid.
 
I'll probably make a start on playing the rest of the Prime games (I've only played the first) once I'm done playing through all the Zeldas.

EDIT: Just realised that I'm actually done playing all the console Zeldas except 1 and 2 (which I can get in GBA form anyway). Might start on Prime 2 next week.
 
Updated the OP with boxarts and some brief words on each game.

I'm immediately struck by how beautiful Prime looks for an 8 year old game..
 
If I can pull myself away from Dragon Quest IX I'll do a playthrough of Super Metroid, an attempt at a speedy run through Metroid: Zero Mission (I'm probably pretty rusty by now though) and a 100% run of Metroid Fusion, which is something I never got around to finishing.
 
I probably won't end up doing the Prime series, as I beat Prime 3 a month ago and played through Prime 1 and 2 for the second time last summer and its still pretty fresh in my mind. And I'm planning on replaying Fusion after Other M comes out.

I'm game for Zero Mission, Super Metroid, and maybe Return of Samus.
 
Just beat Fusion, and situational changes aside, its still a great Metroid game. Also i guess thats why they decided to make so many titles to fill in the blanks: Anything that takes place after Fusion has to have the organic looking fusion power suit (orange and yellow scheme). Guess they just wanted to make sure to get every last bit out of the chozo design power suit before completely switching over.
That and SR388 being completely vaporized.

Also kinda shows that you're most likely going to disobey/branch off on your own for a decent amount of Other M.

*Should I spoiler things in this topic? The games have been out for awhile now, but I guess theres still people who havent played them.
 
I've played the hell out of the series, particularly Super and Prime, followed by the GBA games. I just got another copy of Super Metroid (for extra saves, lol), so maybe I'll give it a run. I'd kill for another Metroid with the same level of replay value.
 
I'm game as I was looking for an excuse to finally crack open my Metroid Prime Trilogy proper.

Also have Super Metroid, Fusion and Zero Mission so suppose I'll play those as well
 
I've not played the first two. Super and the Prime series are all some of my favorite games ever, though, and I loved Fusion when I played it a few years ago. The NES game is hard to get into at this stage of my life, should I just go for Zero Mission instead?
 
scitek said:
I've not played the first two. Super and the Prime series are all some of my favorite games ever, though, and I loved Fusion when I played it a few years ago. The NES game is hard to get into at this stage of my life, should I just go for Zero Mission instead?
I would suggest trying sticking with the original first if you can, although it's not for everyone due to some of the idiosyncrasies that come with being an early open world adventure game. Once you figure out where to get a few key items are though, the game is actually very playable imo. There are a handful of awkward areas where it's easy to get stuck, but nothing insurmountable.
 
Everyone should play:

Zero
Super
Fusion

Prime 1
Prime 3

Prime 2 is skippable imo even if it is also a good game it never really caught that Metroid feeling for me.
 
I'm slowly making way through the Prime trilogy for the first time in anticipation of Other M.

The first game I absolutely loved. It seemed to take everything that made Super Metroid so awesome and translate it in to 3D, very similar to A Link to the Past and Ocarina of Time. I got completely sucked in to the world and spent hours wandering around, trying to find hidden items or my next key item.

I completed the second one yesterday, though, and walking away from that my feelings were pretty disappointing. Although the core gameplay mechanics were just as good, if not improved in some respects with the addition of a few things, I absolutely hated the light/dark world gimmick. It made exploring or progression quite tedious and just annoyed me most of the time. I didn't find the planet as fun to explore, either, outside of the Sanctuary Fortress. I hated the
quest for the Sky keys too as it seemed to be copying the structure of the first game exactly and after 20 hours the last thing I wanted to do was trudge through all of those environments one more time.

I'm going to play and complete the third before Other M comes out, but I'm not looking forward to it now. I know 2 is the black sheep of the trilogy for most people and 3 was well recieved, but after being so bored by 2 in places my enthusiasm has taken a hit.
 
I'm going to do another playthrough of Zero Mission and Super before Other M comes out.

Also, why did I get a malware warning from Microsoft Security Essentials when I clicked on tehis thread? :/
 
I bought Metroid 2 for the original Gameboy for 5 euros, the only Metroid game I had never played. Time to hook up the GameCube with Gameboy Player again!
 
I'll probably play Super Metroid. The only other Metroids I have played are Prime 1 and 2, I also tried Fusion but I was 12 and impatient so I took it back after about an hour.

Would it be wrong to approach Super like a modern 2D Castelvania?
 
Just finished a playthrough of super metroid. 2 hours total, but only 60% of pickups. Ah well.

May go onto a playthrough of Metroid Prime 2 next on the highest difficulty. Not sure.
 
toasty_T said:
I'll probably play Super Metroid. The only other Metroids I have played are Prime 1 and 2, I also tried Fusion but I was 12 and impatient so I took it back after about an hour.

Would it be wrong to approach Super like a modern 2D Castelvania?
Well, it was the obvious influence on those games, but none of them can touch it as far as level design goes. Imo Super Metroid also has a perfect economy of elements, while the Castlevania games add layers that do more to convolute the experience than broaden it imo.
 
Nice timing, right now I'm playing Prime 2 using the Trilogy version (which trumps the original in EVERY SINGLE WAY, and I will not accept any ridiculous statements like "but but but but but the original was made for the gc controller buh eh sdfahslfkjabhsdg").

I'm doing it on Easy though because a lot of shit is going on in my life so I can't be assed to die all the time, but it's nice to play Prime 2 with no tension for once.
Maybe it's worth mentioning in the OP that the Trilogy's difficulty modes are one step lower than they 'should' be?
 
Just beat Super Metroid with my son watching (he loves the series and is currently playing Zero Mission/Fusion) :D

So damn epic!

Next up, finish Prime 1
 
I just started Echoes yesterday, so the timing is perfect. It's the only Prime game I've never been able to beat, so I'm going to try Trilogy with the motion controls and see if I can do it this time.
 
I watched a speedrun of Fusion a couple of weeks ago so I'm ahead of ya ;) If I have time, I'll probably replay Zero Mission and/or Prime 3 before Other M comes out.
 
I've beaten all the 2D metroid games(most of them twice) in the last 2 months. I started out playing the original metroid with cheats about 5 times in a row trying to memorize the map for speed runs.

It was fun but the real enjoyment is in Super Metroid, Metroid Zero Mission, and Metroid Fusion.

I also beat metroid II which I recommend. You need to use a map but there is a very nice on on Gamefaqs.
 
Someone in this thread has an avatar hosted on a malware site.

edit:

SpokkX said:
Everyone should play:

Zero
Super
Fusion

Prime 1
Prime 3

Prime 2 is skippable imo even if it is also a good game it never really caught that Metroid feeling for me.
It's YOU!

Kill your avatar SpokkX.
 
What a coincidence, after all these years I finally finished Super Metroid yesterday... :D

I must confess, I do prefer Zero Mission/Fusion/Prime1+2+3 over it :P
 
I don't know why people say that the original Metroid on his NES version is unplayable, the only problem is the password system imo, I had a lot of fun playing the game on my NES last week and still felt like a very polished game.

Hard? Yes.
Fun? Hell yes.
 
Leonsito said:
I don't know why people say that the original Metroid on his NES version is unplayable, the only problem is the password system imo, I had a lot of fun playing the game on my NES last week and still felt like a very polished game.

Hard? Yes.
Fun? Hell yes.

It's not unplayable so much as cumbersome and repetitious.
 
Leonsito said:
I don't know why people say that the original Metroid on his NES version is unplayable, the only problem is the password system imo, I had a lot of fun playing the game on my NES last week and still felt like a very polished game.

Hard? Yes.
Fun? Hell yes.
Coming back with 30 health is very very tedious.
 
Finished Super Metroid and Fusion last week, now I'll start Corruption (my favorite Prime, haters gonna hate).

Then I'll play the best Metroid game ever, Zero Mission.
 
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