When Samus fell into yet another pit of lava for the twentieth time, I seriously questioned if I had the patience for this game. Yet, thirteen hours later, I’d become a Metroid convert.
I’ve collected several games in the Metroid series, knowing they’re beloved classics, but I never felt compelled enough to play them. I’ve even started the original Metroid a few times in the past but always quit after 15-20 minutes.
I never allowed myself enough time with Metroid to understand its appeal. I figured it wasn’t a game for me. But last week, I decided that I wanted to give this game a chance and see it through to the end.
Note: If you’re stuck somewhere, for example if you need to figure out how to open gates, find specific upgrades, or locate the mini bosses, check out the FAQ below.
Table of Contents
- My Rough Start with Metroid
- How the User Manual Changed Everything
- This Game is Incredibly Challenging
- Suit Upgrades
- Enemies: Challenging But Expertly Designed
- Why Metroid’s Soundtrack Stands Out
- The Different Zones
- Who Is This Game For?
- Final Thoughts
- Frequently Asked Questions
My Rough Start with Metroid
Like all the times I’ve played Metroid before, getting started was rough.
If you take just a couple of hits, you’re dead. You have only one life, and when you die, you get a “game over.”
This is an old-school NES game, so like many NES games, you don’t just start the room over – you actually start all the way from the beginning! However, I learned later that you actually start over at the beginning of each level, not the beginning of the game, and you get to keep all of the upgrades you’ve found.
The controls are quite good and responsive for the most part, but landing from a jump is challenging. For example, there are many areas where you have to jump onto pillars floating above pits of sand or lava. It’s so hard to land on these pillars!
I would constantly jump over or fall short and land in the pit and die. You can jump out of pits, but it’s really hard, and sometimes you get stuck under a block and can’t move. This became extremely frustrating. After finding upgrades, this becomes much less of a problem, but it can be hours before you get to this point.
In my first hour, I was having some fun but also not. I was getting further after each death, I was getting better at beating the enemies, and I was finding upgrades, but I was still dying so much that it felt tedious to replay areas over and over.
At one point, I felt like I had gone as far as possible. I went through all of the doors and I had progressed as far as my suit upgrades would allow. There was only one door available to me, and I just couldn’t beat it!
The enemies would overwhelm me, or I would get to a spot with a pillar, and I’d fall into the pit and die.
I kept grinding for energy before going in (in that spot in the image above), which took forever and was annoying, and then I’d die within seconds of entering the door.
After an hour of play, I couldn’t think of anywhere else to go, and I was done. I shut down the game and thought that I didn’t have the chops to play these old NES games anymore. I felt pretty certain that I was done for good.
How the User Manual Changed Everything
After a night of sleep, I got the idea to read the user manual.
I almost never cheat or use walkthrough guides. I can count on one hand (maybe two) how many times I’ve done it my entire life. I’ll grind for hours, over multiple days…sometimes even weeks, before I give up and use a guide.
But the way I see it, reading the user manual isn’t cheating – it comes with the game, and it’s meant to be read.
The manual was exactly what I needed.
Well, this completely opened up the game for me.
I realized that the area I was stuck in earlier was so hard because I wasn’t supposed to be there yet! I was now finding more red gates to open, upgrades for my gun, spare energy tanks, and a suit upgrade that let me drop bombs, which opened up even more areas. I was also finding secrets in the walls!
My second gaming session was so much more fun. Two hours felt like 30 minutes.
* Side note: Samus is a woman, and even reveals that in the end scene, but for whatever reason, the English-language user manual refers to Samus as a “he.”
This Game is Incredibly Challenging
Even when I was making nice progress, this game rarely lets up – the monsters are difficult up to the very end, jumping onto floating pillars is always frustrating, and searching for secrets is tedious and annoying.
Discovering secrets in Metroid is actually a necessity. Games just aren’t made like this anymore.
To find the upgrades required to beat the final zone and Mother Brain, you need to blast open hidden blocks in the walls, floors, and ceilings. And this game gives you no clues (well, hardly any) that this is even a thing.
I found a breakable block only by accidentally shooting a ceiling while trying to shoot an enemy. I’m sure the developers assumed a player would eventually learn this, as I did, but your patience will be tested on the road to get there.
As you find upgrades, certain areas definitely get easier, especially once you get several Energy tanks and the Varia suit upgrade, but it takes hours to get to that point. And even then, the final zone just wipes you out. But like any game, you’ll improve each time you replay an area.
There were several times when I just couldn’t figure out where to go, and I wanted to give up.
For example, the lair for the mini-boss, Ridley, is hidden by a destructible block on the floor in one of the rooms with purple blocks. But I had no idea what area it was in. I had to drop bombs all over this game to find it. When my bomb finally revealed Ridley’s hidden lair, I literally threw my arms up with relief (and disbelief).
I experienced several moments like this throughout this game.
Suit Upgrades
While I’ve never played any Metroid games before, they’re always mentioned to describe newer games of a sub-genre they inspired called “Metroidvania,” based on the characteristics of Metroid and Castlevania games.
A Metroidvania game basically means that the game is non-linear and requires skills to be learned or keys to be found before you can open up certain areas. You do a lot of backtracking in these games.
You start Metroid with only basic skills: shoot, jump, and roll; it’s just enough to survive for a little while. As you progress, you find new skills. These skills are all mentioned in the manual, too, so if you read through it, it can give you some insight into any roadblocks you might hit while playing.
- Spare Energy Tanks – Your health is called energy, and you’re limited to 99 points, but you can find spare energy tanks that fill up to an additional 100 points. You’ll need these to progress through challenging areas where you’re overwhelmed with enemies.
- Missile Upgrades – The first time you find the missiles, you’re given a capacity of five missiles. That’s all you need to open red gates, so it’s enough to progress through the game. You’ll find more as you play, eventually being able to carry as many as 255 missiles.
- Weapon Upgrades – You’ll get skills like being able to shoot further and shoot waves. These can make getting through really congested areas a lot easier.
- Freeze – This is a weapon upgrade that lets you freeze enemies, which you can then jump on top of to reach areas that were previously inaccessible. You’ll need this upgrade for the final zone.
- Screw attack – This is a powerful attack that turns Samus into a weapon while she’s spinning in the air after a jump. I didn’t find this until the very end, so while it’s useful, it’s not critical.
- High Jump Boots – These let you jump 1.5x times higher. I’m also unsure if these are critical, but they’re definitely handy.
- Varia – Raises resistance by reducing enemy damage by half. This was a game-changer. With this upgrade, enemies do much less damage, and falling into pits is almost no longer a worry.
- Bomb – While rolled into a ball, you can drop bombs that can kill ground enemies, destroy blocks, and open up passageways. You absolutely need this skill, but it’s easy to find.
Enemies: Challenging But Expertly Designed
Enemies have different patterns; some enemies will move in a wave across the screen, some will shoot straight forward, and some crawl. They’re all annoying. But hey, that’s part of the game, right?
This game reminded me a lot of Mega Man, too, but maybe that’s because that’s how games were in this era. But to give you an example, enemies will respawn if you move several screens ahead. This can be annoying but also an advantage because you can kill enemies, leave the screen, and return to collect more energy balls or missiles. That’s the old retro-game grind, and you’ll find yourself doing a lot in Metroid.
When you’re hit by an enemy, you’re knocked back a bit. This can be quite frustrating, especially when you’re on a ledge. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been knocked into a pit that I couldn’t jump out of after being hit by an enemy. Be prepared for this! You’ll feel like crying by the end of some gaming sessions…
I’m not going to go through all of the enemies because there are too many, but also because the user manual covers every single one. So read that if you’re interested. But the enemies were designed amazingly well. They all have unique patterns and challenges. And for a game released in 1986, the detail of each enemy is excellent.
The mini-bosses were quite difficult, too, but like Mega Man, if you have the right upgrades, defeating them can be much easier.
Why Metroid’s Soundtrack Stands Out
The Metroid title screen starts with an amazing song. I love it. For those who grew up with this game, I can only imagine how iconic it is and the nostalgia it creates today.
Beyond the title screen, each area has a distinct soundtrack, but it’s designed to be minimalistic. In fact, Hirokazu Tanaka mentioned that he wanted the game to be the “opposite of the “hummable” pop tunes found in other games” and that it was designed to be like a living organism with no distinction between the music and sound effects.
He accomplished his goal, but despite that, I still hummed to some of the music. My daughter did, too, and even complained once when she couldn’t hear the music when I put my headphones on. I played the rest of the game without headphones, just for her. I loved the music and sounds, though. It never felt boring or tiring.
The Different Zones
There are three zones in Metroid: Brinstar (rocky zone), Norfair (fire zone), and Tourian (central base).
You start in Brinstar and work your way through different areas. Although there are distinct zones, some areas of the game feel so different from others that they don’t feel like a part of one of the three zones. It’s not a problem, but I think they could have separated them more granularly and described them in the manual for easier navigation.
The user manual has a very broad and rudimentary map of the game and offers it to help the player, but makes the comment, “Or better still, make a map of your own to guide you.” This is great advice that I highly recommend. Especially in the beginning, it’s easy to forget the doors you’ve gone through and where certain puzzles are that you need to return to later.
When I started to map out the game and write notes of the puzzles and doors that were complete, the game became much less overwhelming. Whenever I found a new skill, I knew where to go to use it.
Who Is This Game For?
This game is tough. Metroid doesn’t hold your hand or lead you to the answers when you get lost. It can be tedious and frustrating, and you might have to rely on luck or walkthroughs to get through it. Gamers more familiar with modern games might find the difficulty overwhelming.
Metroid is perfect for gamers who appreciate challenging, retro experiences and enjoy discovering secrets through exploration. There were times when I questioned if that was really me!
Final Thoughts
All said and done, the gameplay was quite fun. And finding new skills that open up new areas of the game is a dopamine rush every time you find one.
The level design is simple and somewhat plain, but the details on everything else in the game, like Samus, the enemies, bosses, and the special effects, are detailed and impressive. The controls are responsive, too, unlike many games of this time period, which also makes Metroid more accessible than most.
I’m glad I gave this game a chance. Playing Metroid allowed me to see firsthand why it became the hit series that it is and why modern games emulate its design. And after beating the game at nearly 13 hours of gameplay, that feeling of accomplishment and relief was real.
I both loved and hated playing Metroid, and I can’t wait to play others in the series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Warning: Spoilers Ahead!
I’ve put together some FAQs for some of the most common problems I’ve seen people run into.
How long does it take to beat?
According to HowLongToBeat.com, it takes an average of 6 hours, but can take up to 17 hours in leisure play. It took me about 13 hours to beat.
How do you switch weapons?
You switch weapons with the select button. You can only switch between the regular weapon and missiles. Once you get a weapon upgrade, such as the ice beam, it replaces the long beam permanently and you can’t switch back to the normal beam.
How do you crouch?
Press down on the d-pad and you roll into a ball. You can’t crouch, but you can turn into a ball to get under small areas.
How do you shoot missiles?
After finding a missile upgrade, you press select to change to missiles
How do you get the Varia suit?
The Varia suit is in the area with green blocks. There are hidden breakable blocks above one of the hallways. The door is too high to reach with a normal jump so you will need the high jump upgrade, although I found a workaround with the ice beam. It takes some work but you can get the ripper to follow you up, freeze it in the right spot, and then jump up to the door.
How do you find and beat Kraid?
You will need the bomb upgrade to find Kraid. Kraid is in the area near the beginning of the game with destructible blocks on the floor. Drop down and follow the doors to a new area. The red door is on the right side of this new area but is hard to access. You can sometimes roll from above onto the platform, but it’s easier to freeze the floating ripper and jump up from below the door. Kraid can only be injured with bombs. You may need several energy tank upgrades to survive this battle.
How do you find and beat Ridley?
Work your way to Norfair (the fire zone) until you reach the area with purple blocks. There’s an area where the only door is at the bottom and to the right. There’s a hidden block on the floor. Go down and enter the first door on the left. Eventually, you’ll reach an elevator that takes you down to a new area.
In this new area, go through the right door. In the next vertical section, go to the first door on the left, and keep heading straight until you get to Ridley. If you have the ice beam, Ridley is very easy, as you can freeze his fireballs and deal damage quickly.
How many energy tanks are there?
The manual states that there are six tanks in all.
How many missiles are there?
According to the manual, Samus can carry a maximum of 255 missiles. You will find several missile upgrades as you play, but you will also earn large missile upgrades (75 missiles) after beating the mini bosses.
How do you open red doors?
Red gates are opened with 5 missile blasts.
How many endings are?
There are five endings. Learn more Fandom’s Wikitroid.
- Worst ending: This ending shows Samus looking out towards space. You get this ending when you beat the game in 30 hours 5 minutes on NTSC and 36 hours 5 minutes on PAL.
- Bad ending: Samus will look towards the player and wave. You get this ending if beat the game under 30 hours 5 minutes on NTSC and 36 hours 5 minutes on PAL.
- Fair ending: Samus will take off her helmet and reveal she is a woman. You get this ending when you beat the game in under 7 hours 24 minutes on NTSC and 8 hours 53 minutes on PAL.
- Good ending: Also known as the Justin Bailey ending. Samus will be in a leotard and boots. You get this ending if you beat the game in under 2 hours 28 minutes on NTSC and 2 hours 58 minutes on PAL. If you keep playing, the game will restart with Samus in the leotard.
- Best ending: Samus will be in a two-piece bikini. She will not be in this bikini if you replay the game. You get this ending by beating the game in under 1 hour on NTSC and 1 hour 11 minutes on PAL.
Can you wall jump?
No, you cannot wall jump in Metroid NES.
Where are the bombs?
The bombs are in the first zone but require the missile upgrade to open a red gate. Move through the blue area to the yellow area and head upwards. Then enter the first gate on the left and go straight to the red gate where the crouch bombs are located.
Where is the ice beam?
The ice beam is a tricky upgrade to find. You’ll find a hallway in the first zone with blue bubbly-shaped rocks with a sand pit underneath the bridge. The flying ripper enemy under the bridge is the hint that you can go below the sand. Use a bomb to break a hole in the bridge and drop down into the sand. There is only one gate to enter in this area, where you’ll find the upgrade.
Where is the High Jump upgrade?
The High Jump upgrade is in the same area that you find Ridley. Break open the floor in the purple area of Norfair, enter the first door on the left. You’ll find the statue holding the high jump boots.
Where is the Screw attack upgrade
Go to the same place you found the high jump boots, but this time go beneath the statue and break open a hidden block in the purple wall. Keep moving forward until you reach a green hallway. This hallway has a secret breakable block in the ceiling, where you’ll find a gate that leads to the Screw attack upgrade.