Metroid | Cheerful Ghost

Cheerful Ghost Radio Episode 41: Metroid Review

In this episode of Cheerful Ghost Radio, we're continuing our NES Classic reviews with Metroid! Released in 1986, Metroid puts you in control of Samus, fighting through aliens on the planet Zebes, and taking on Mother Brain. Metroid has spawned numerous sequels, and along with Castlevania started the "Metroidvania" subgenre of action-adventure games.

Mother Brain Destroyed, Pray For True Galaxy Peace! NES Metroid Completed in 3.33.

jdodson gives this an astounding "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

jdodson gives this a "Must Play" on the Ghost Scale

This achieves something special, and it would be a shame to miss it.

"You fulfilled your mission. It will revive peace in space. But, it may be invaded by the Metroid. Pray for a true peace in space!" - Ending screen text to NES Metroid.

Even back in 1986 Nintendo was opening up Metroid for a sequel. It's also kind of strange/fun to see a Nintendo game talk about praying for peace. Who does Samus pray to for peace and what is her belief system? I tried to do some searching to find out and it seems the Metroid Wiki doesn't seem to know either because talking about the Galactic Federation in the Metroidverse they say:

"The specifics of culture, religion, trade, currency, technology, civil rights/liberties, and so on are also unknown."

... Read All

Making My Way Through Metroid: Norfair Complete, Ridley Up Next!

When I bought the original NES Metroid I had already completed Super Metroid and played the heck out of Metroid II on Gameboy. I was at the store and had $20 and wanted to walk away with a new game and Metroid on NES was $20. At that time we were all pretty deep into the Super Nintendo era and heading back to the Nintendo Metroid didn't sit well with me then. I played the game a little bit and used the Justin Bailey code to actually beat the game but I didn't put in any serious time with it.

After getting an NES Classic I decided to come back and look at the original Metroid fresh. Does the original NES Metroid hold up or would I never really be able to enjoy this... Read All When I bought the original NES Metroid I had already completed Super Metroid and played the heck out of Metroid II on Gameboy. I was at the store and had $20 and wanted to walk away with a new game and Metroid on NES was $20. At that time we were all pretty deep into the Super Nintendo era and heading back to the Nintendo Metroid didn't sit well with me then. I played the game a little bit and used the Justin Bailey code to actually beat the game but I didn't put in any serious time with it.

After getting an NES Classic I decided to come back and look at the original Metroid fresh. Does the original NES Metroid hold up or would I never really be able to enjoy this game?

Metroid Is Awesome If You Have A Map

Well, come to find out, I really like the original Metroid quite a bit but that doesn't mean it doesn't come with a few things to consider. Firstly the original Metroid is difficult and doesn't hold your hand in any way to make it obvious what you are supposed to do. So if you expected to jump in and have the game help you figure out what to do you're gonna have a bad time. Unless you want to map out the whole game yourself, which you can totally do and honestly how we used to do it. As a youngster I had to map out the original Legend of Zelda so I could beat it because it's impossible to do otherwise. Metroid is no different because of my limited amount of time playing games these days, using a map is essential.

All that to say, I picked up Nintendo's "Playing with Power" guide last year and it includes a really great Metroid map I've been using to play the game. It's fun to look at the map, figure out what to do next and then make it to that point and then refer back to the map. Modern games bring the map in game, as Super Metroid does, but doing it the old way, with a Nintendo guide handy and has been a fun experience.

Metroid Is Ultra Hard, Until You Get Certain Items

Metroid is hard as hell until you get about 3 energy tanks and the Varia suit then it gets much simpler. In fact i'd say Metroid, so far, went from "SUPER CRAZY HARD MODE" to "completely fine mode" the more I play. Since I am making my way through each zone, collecting each missile, item and energy tank I'm pretty well set right now and as such the game has really lessened in terms of difficulty. I'm on my way to take on Ridley now and the difficulty might spike again, but so far things have got much easier.

Metroid is a classic NES game that, until now, hasn't really clicked with me. But playing it now, with a really detailed map and making a breakthrough in terms of being better at playing the game i've reached a pretty fun high of enjoyability. If you don't have any prior experience with the original Metroid and want to give it a shot I seriously recommend you look into some good maps to chart a course through the game. You can take the game at it's own terms and map it yourself, but if you are a bit crunched for time using a guide will save you time and some heartache.

How Do You Actually Pronounce "Zebes" The Planet From Metroid?

The planet from the original Metroid is spelled "Zebes" yet some people pronounce it differently. Is it pronounced "Zeebz", "Zeebees", "Zehbiss" or "Zebeth?" Personally I grew up pronouncing it "Zeebs" but I've heard it said a couple different ways. Gaming Linguistics offers a nice discussion of the original Metroid games and then digs in to the official word on how Zebes is pronounced. The answer he comes to may surprise you! Just kidding, it's not that surprising but it's a fun journey and I want to try my hand at more clickbait-like phrases to see if it causes more discussion. Spoiler alert, it doesn't seem to at all!

Metroid Password Save Breakdown

On teh intarwebs I found a breakdown of the password save system for the original Metroid. It reads like a technical whitepaper and seems pretty straightforward to construct your own passwords if you so desire.

I sort of inspected a few of my games that used a password save system and noticed patterns that let me modify them. For instance, in Mega Man 2 I collected E Tanks only(did nothing else) and noticed what happened to the password. Collecting the maximum amount and noticing the password allowed me to create a password where at any point I could refill my character back to maximum E Tanks. I was able to do the same to a few other games as well and it was always fun... Read All