Two for the Price of One: A Look at the first two Metroids 30 and 35 Years Later

Two for the Price of One: A Look At the First Two Metroids 30 and 35 Years Later

August 23, 2021
By Ryan Porzl

For decades, Nintendo has consistently been one of the superpowers in the video game world and as such has not only created classic consoles and games but also, franchises. After scoring hits with Donkey Kong, Mario, and The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo would continue their hot streak when they would follow those up with the action adventure game Metroid. Originally released in 1986, the series follows the adventures of bounty hunter Samus Aran, who was not only one of the most popular characters of all time but groundbreaking becoming one of the first prominent female heroes in video game history. The success of Metroid would spawn a franchise, including the sequel: Metroid II: Return of Samus in 1991. With Metroid having just celebrated it's 35th Anniversary in August and with Metroid II set to celebrate it's 30th Anniversary in November, I figure I do a two for the price of one and look back at the first two games of Metroid. This article does contain spoilers.

Characters-

Samus Aran (Samusu Aran in Japan)- The protagonist. Samus is a famous intergalactic bounty hunter who has been hired by the Galactic Federation for various tasks. In the first game, she is sent to the Zebes planet by the Galactic Federation to stop The Space Pirates plans in using the parasitic metroids as biological weapons. In the second game, she's sent to the metroid home planet SR388 in an attempt to destroy them before the Space Pirates can get them.

Mother Brain (Maza Burein in Japan)- The main antagonist in Metroid. Mother Brain is a supercomputer with the resemblance of a big spiked brain with an eye that operates in a jar. In Metroid, she controls the Space Pirates as they seek the metroid creatures to use in experiments and as weapons.

Kraid (Kureido in Japan)- One of the bosses in Metroid, Kraid is one of two bosses Samus must defeat in order to reach Mother Brain. Kraid is a member of the Space Pirates' High Command and is a huge dinosaur-like monster that towers over all. His main feature is his large stomach with three spikes on it.

Ridley (Ridori in Japan)- A.K.A. "Geoform 187" and "The Cunning God of Death", Ridley is the commander of the space pirates and arguably the archenemy of Samus as he previously lead a Space Pirate attack on Samus' home world when she was younger that killed her parents. Resembling a pterodactyl, Ridley is the second of two bosses Samus must face before reaching Mother Brain in Metroid. Unlike Mother Brain and Kraid, Ridley returns in the remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus (Metroid: Samus Returns) as the final boss.

Metroid (1986)

Plot-

Metroid takes place in the year 20X5 when a group called the Space Pirates attack a space research vessel operated by the Galactic Federation and steal parasitic organisms called Metroids which are capable of latching on to living things, drain their lifeforce, and kill them. The Pirates steal them and expose them to beta rays in the hopes of using them as a weapon against anyone who opposes them. Eventually, the Federation track the Pirates to Planet Zebes and launch an attack but The Pirates hold their own and overwhelm the Federation to the point where they were forced to retreat. With no other options, the Federation turns to an intergalactic bounty hunter named Samus Aran (considered the best out there) and hire her to infiltrate the planet, fight her way through it, destroy the Metroids, and Mother Brain. Samus accepts the mission and fights her way through the planet, taking out top Pirates Kraid and Ridley (her future archenemy), as well as metroids before finally confronting and destroying Mother Brain. She escapes the planet before a time bomb goes off.

Gameplay-

Metroid plays like almost all the other games in the series. It's an action-adventure and exploration type game where the player plays as Samus and must explore and fight their way through Planet Zebes and it's various sections such as Brinstar, Norfair, Crateria, and Tourian which can be accessed by doors Samus shoots open with either her regular cannon (blue doors) or five missiles (red doors) and via elevators. In each area, Samus battles various enemies who randomly can drop health power ups that either increases Samus' health by 5 or 20 as well as missiles after the player has gotten at least one missile pack. Throughout her journey, Samus also can get new weapons and equipment which will help her further explore the planet. These include a long beam which increases the range of Samus' arm cannon, an ice beam which can freeze and damage enemies, missiles (Samus can increase the amount of missiles she has by getting upgrades scattered around Zebes with 255 being the most), a morph ball which turns her into a ball, a morph ball bomb which allows her to drop bombs in ball form, the Varia Suit which is a power suit upgrade, the Screw Attack which is an attack Samus can do when somersaulting in the air, and energy tanks which allow Samus to have more health. 

The idea is to navigate Samus through the sections of Zebes, collect the power ups and new weapons to further advance, face two bosses in Kraid and Ridley which, upon defeating them, activates their statues which Samus must shoot in order to gain access to the area with Mother Brain. From there, the player must defeat Mother Brain and escape before time runs out. The player has one life, if Samus' energy goes to 0 with no more energy tanks, then the game is over. However, Metroid does have infinite continues with the player being sent back to the beginning of the section they were last in. The game also has a password system which allow the player to stop the game and return later. The game also has multiple endings depending on how long it took to beat the game. If the player took more than 10 hours than they get the worst ending which is Samus in her suit looking away at the player. If the player took 5-10 hours then they get the bad ending which is Samus in her suit. If the player took 3-5 hours to win then they get the neutral ending which is Samus without her helmet on (thus revealing her to be female). If the player took less than 3 hours to win then they get the good ending of Samus in a leotard while unlocking suitless Samus mode. If the player took less than 1 hour to beat suitless Samus mode then they get the best ending of Samus in a bikini.

Behind the Scenes-
Metroid was produced by video game pioneer Gunpei Yokoi. Yokoi is a legend in the gaming industry for his creations and designs such as the cross or d-pad used on controllers that are used to move characters in games along with Nintendo's portable systems such as the Game n' Watch, the Game Boy, and Virtual Boy. He also produced another Nintendo franchise in Kid Icarus which also came out in 1986 and for being the mentor to fellow video game legend Shigeru Miyamoto while helping Miyamoto get Donkey Kong off the ground. The game was directed by Satoru Okada who was the general manager of Nintendo Research & Engineering, created the original Game Boy, and served as director to Kid Icarus and Super Mario Land. The writer and concept designer was Makoto Kano who later served in the same position for Kid Icarus, Famicom Wars, Metroid II: Return of Samus, and Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins while serving as a producer for Super Metroid and provided artwork for Pokemon Stadium. The composer was Hirokazu Tanaka. Tanaka would later serve as composer for other Game Boy games like Kid Icarus, Tetris, Super Mario Land, the Famicom's Mother (a.k.a. Earthbound Beginnings), Dr. Mario, and Super Nintendo's Mother 2 (a.k.a. Earthbound).

When work began for Metroid, Nintendo was coming off several hit games, mostly in the platforming genre like Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, and Ice Climbers while they were also coming off the action-adventure game The Legend of Zelda and the decision was made to create another action game. The name "Metroid" is a portmanteau of "Metro" and "Android". The classic 1979 movie Alien was a huge inspiration for Metroid, especially after the game's world had been created. An example would be the boss Ridley who was named after Alien director Ridley Scott. Nintendo decided to make the game nonlinear and exploration important in an attempt to distinguish it from other games at the time. One of the main features Metroid innovated was, along with The Legend of Zelda, was to have weapons and items that could be used to strengthen Samus throughout the game. In the past, certain items like the star in Super Mario Bros was temporary and only made the game slightly easier without it being crucial in winning the game while stuff like missiles, morph ball, morph ball bombs, long beam, energy tank, the varia suit and the ice beam are permanent with some being crucial in beating the game such as the missiles which are needed against Mother Brain. The decision to make Samus a woman was thought up during production when someone made the suggestion and asked if it would be cool to have it be revealed a woman under the suit.

Release-

Metroid would be released on August 6, 1986 in Japan for the Famicom Disk System, August 1986 in North America for Arcades, August 15, 1987 in North America on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and January 15, 1988 in Europe on the NES. The game was met with very positive reviews and praise as AllGame and Famitsu both gave it a perfect 5 stars, Computer and Video Games (CVG) scored it 80%, Game Players scored it a "Positive", and Nintendo Power scored it a 17.5 out of 20. The game sold well selling 2.73 million units by 2004. Over the years, the game has appeared in many "Greatest" list. In 2006, it was ranked #11 in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games on a Nintendo Console. In 2008, NP would rank it the fifth best game on the NES for their Best of the Best Feature. GamesRadar would also rank it the fifth best game in the NES history and while they thought the game aged following Super Metroid's release in 1994, they thought it was fantastic for it's time. Game Informer ranked it 6th place of their Best Games of All Time list in 2001 but dropped it to #7 in 2009. GameSpot would induct it in it's list of the Greatest Games of All Time in 2004. Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) placed it #44 on their list of the 100 Greatest Games of All Time in 1997 but dropped it to #69 for their 2001 list. Due to it's impact, EGM would later rank it #11 on their Greatest 200 Video Games of Their Time list in 2006. Most of the praise was towards it's controls, music, and graphics though some did think the game started to show it's age by the time Super Metroid came out eight years later and it's age was apparent years later in re-releases especially with the lack of a save feature. In retrospect, the game is considered groundbreaking with it's format and the fact that Samus is a woman, making her one of the first heroines in video game history after previous games usually had women as damsels in distress.

Aftermath-

In the decades since it's initial release, Metroid has begun a franchise that has become one of the most popular in video game history with sequels being released since with the most recent being 2021's Metroid Dread. As for Metroid, the game has been re-released many times including on the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as part of the Classic NES Series Collection, on the Gamecube in 2002 as a bonus if the player connects the GBA with Metroid Fusion with the Gamecube with Metroid Prime, on the Wii Virtual Console in 2007, on the Nintendo 3DS in 2012, and the Nintendo Switch Online in 2018.

Along with the re-releases, Metroid was also giving a remake in 2004's Metroid: Zero Mission on GBA. Like other remakes, Zero Mission featured updated graphics and music as well as new features added including animated cut scenes and the back story having more to it. The game also has features that would be common in future Metroid games such as a map system and maps that Samus can download, save features allowing the player to save their game, and chozo statues that can replenish energy and missiles. Items and weapons that appeared in later games but not in the original Metroid such as the charge beam and speed boost were added. Samus also has new features as she can both duck and turn into a morph ball where she was not able to duck in the original while also being able to climb ledges to get to a higher platform. Red doors only need one missile to open them instead of five. The game also features mini-bosses to go along with Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain. Speaking of the latter three, the bosses have more detail in their looks while Kraid is gigantic and Ridley can fly during the battle.

Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991)

Plot-

Metroid II: Return of Samus takes place sometime after the events of Metroid. Before the events of Metroid II, The Galactic Federation finds the home planet of the metroid species which is SR388. Realizing the dangers that the metroids possess, the Federation decides to send teams down to hunt and destroy the remaining metroids. However, each team that is sent disappears and with no other option and because of her previous experience with metroids, the Federation turns to Samus for help. Samus arrives on SR388 and travels the planet hunting down metroids all the while gaining new equipment and weapons. During her journey, Samus finds out about the metroid's evolution going from jellyfish like creatures to lizard like. After killing 47 metroids, Samus meets and fights the queen metroid, eventually defeating it. During her escape from the planet, Samus sees a baby metroid hatch from an egg and it forms a bond with her thinking of Samus as it's mother all the while Samus can't bring herself to kill it. The two return to Samus' gunship and escape the planet. 

Gameplay-

Metroid II: Return of Samus plays like the first game as it's an action-adventure exploration game. The difference here is the player is hunting metroids with the object being to hunt down 47 metroids. By killing metroids, Samus is able to further advance on the planet while the player is able to advance in the game. The metroids vary depending on their evolution stage. As a result, the game is more linear than the original since you have to kill metroids in order to advance. The stages the metroids are in are original, alpha, gamma, zeta, and omega. The more evolved the metroid is, the stronger their attacks are.

The game also has new features, moves, weapons, and equipment. Metroid II: Return of Samus has a save feature which allows the player to save their game. The game also allows Samus to duck and fire as well as shoot downward when she's in the air. Among the new weapons and equipment Samus gets, there are two new beams in the tri-splitting Spazer Lazer Beam and the Plasma Beam. Samus can only equip one at a time but can switch between them if the player returns to the location they first found them. There's also the space jump which allows Samus to jump an infinite amount of times as long as the player gets the rhythm down and reach areas she originally couldn't. There's the spider ball which allows Samus to latch on to floors and walls while in ball form which, again, allows her to reach areas she originally couldn't. Finally, there's the spring ball which allows Samus to jump in ball form.

Behind the Scenes-
Like the first, Metroid II: Return of Samus was developed by Nintendo Research & Development 1. Yokoi returned as producer while Metroid concept designer Makoto Kano returned, this time, as designer. The composer was Ryoji Yoshitomi who was a composer and sound designer for Nintendo, at the time. He later became a sound supervisor for them while working heavily on the Mario series. The game was co-directed by Hiroji Kiyotake and Hiroyuki Kimura. Kiyotake previously worked on the first Metroid as a character designer while having previously worked on Duck Hunt, Kid Icarus, and Famicom Wars. He later became the designer for Wario and has been involved in the Wario series. As for Kimura, he previously served as a character designer for Super Mario Bros. 3 and later became the manager of Nintendo's EPD (Entertainment Planning & Development) Group #10 which has seen him as producer of many 2D Mario games as well as Pikmin 3.

Metroid II: Return of Samus was considered a "New High Point" for the Game Boy with graphics that were considered as good as the 8 bit ones seen on the NES. According to Kiyotake in a 2004 interview, the planet name SR388 was based off the Yamaha SR4000 motorcycle. The Game Boy's black and white  graphics forced Nintendo to make changes to Samus' armor that became permanent. In Metroid, different colors were use to differentiate Samus' regular suit and Varia suit. Because there was no color in Game Boy games, the designers needed to find another way to make the suits different so the player can tell which was which. They solved this by adding round metal shoulders to the Varia suit which has since been continued in Metroid games since.

Release-

Metroid II: Return of Samus was released on Game Boy in November 1991 in North America, January 21, 1992 in Japan, and May 21, 1992 in Europe. The game received some positive reviews though some have considered it weaker than it's predecessor. 1Up.com scored it a low D+ while other reviews were better as GameRankings scored it 79%, Famitsu scored it 25/40, IGN scored it 9/10, Nintendo Life scored it a 7/10, and Entertainment Weekly scored it an A+. The game was ranked by 12 Nintendo Power staff members as part of their Top 100 games of all time back in September 1997. Also in September 1997, Nintendo Power would list it #34 on their list of the 100 Games of All Time. Eight years later in 2005, Nintendo Power would place it #85 Best Game on a Nintendo Console on their Top 200 Games List. Nintendo Power would also rank it the 12th best Game Boy/Game Boy Color games of all time. Game Informer would consider it the 9th best Game Boy/Game Boy Color. IGN considered it "refreshing departure from the norm" in regards to it being one giant level instead of a bunch of small rooms while also praising it for it's replay value. As mentioned, 1Up.com wasn't as high on the game though they did consider it "ambitious" but they also considered it painful to play and something a "dark spot on a brilliant series". Nintendo Life thought the difficulty was improved especially with the addition of health and missile stations while also saying it "expands on the original quite nicely" though they weren't high on the music.

Aftermath-

Metroid II: Return of Samus has been re-released a few times including in North America in 1993 as part of their "Player's Choice". It was then re-released in Japan in 2000 as part of their Nintendo Power Service. Most recently, it was re-released in 2011 as part of the Nintendo 3DS virtual console.

In the decades since Metroid II's release, there have been several attempts at remaking the game. In 2016, several unofficial Metroid II remakes were being made and released with the most famous one being AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) which was developed by a man named Milton Guasti under the pseudonym DoctorM64. AM2R plays like Metroid: Zero Mission while adding minibosses, stackable beams, map system, and log system. However, the game was eventually taken down at the request of Nintendo.

In 2017, Nintendo would eventually release an official Metroid II: Return of Samus remake called Metroid: Samus Returns on the Nintendo 3DS. Along with updated graphics and music, Samus Returns features new things such as Samus' ability to fire in all directions and perform melee attacks as well as new abilities called Aeion abilities that require an energy gauge. The game also features 50 metroids instead of 47. Like Zero Mission, weapons that were not in the original such as the grapple beam, power bombs, and super missiles were added here. A map system is also featured as it a hard mode upon completing the game. The game also had Amiibo support with compatible figurines from Metroid that could unlock stuff upon scanning the figurines such as a metroid marker which locates metroids and reserve tanks. Upon beating the game, the Amiibo support also unlocks an art gallery, sound test, and fusion mode which is a harder mode which includes the fusion suit. The game also features a battle with Ridley as the final boss.