Metroid (video game)

is seen jumping up while enemy creatures fly down toward her. The numerical health meter (energy) is in the upper-left corner, marked by "EN".|alt=A video game screenshot of a protagonist in a powered exoskeleton, traveling through a cave while winged monsters fly down from the ceiling. Metroid is an action-adventure game in which the player controls Samus Aran in sprite-rendered two-dimensional landscapes. In addition to common enemies, Samus encounters two bosses, Kraid and Ridley, whom she must defeat in order to progress. Ordinary enemies typically yield additional energy or ammunition when destroyed, and the player can increase Samus's carrying capacities by finding storage tanks and defeating bosses. Once Kraid and Ridley have both been defeated, the player can shoot their statues to open the path to the final area and confront the Mother Brain. ==Plot==

In the year 20X5, the Space Pirates attack a Galactic Federation-owned space research vessel and seize samples of Metroid creatures—the predatory lifeforms discovered on the planet SR388. Dangerous floating organisms, the Metroids can latch on to any organism and drain its life energy to kill it. The Space Pirates plan to replicate Metroids by exposing them to beta rays and then using them as biological weapons to destroy all living beings that oppose them. While searching for the stolen Metroids, the Galactic Federation locates the Space Pirates' base of operations on the planet Zebes. The Federation assaults the planet, but the Pirates resist, forcing the Federation to retreat. ==Development==

|alt=Portrait of Yoshio Sakamoto, making a public speech. After Nintendo's release of commercially successful platforming games in the 1980s, including Donkey Kong (1981), Ice Climber (1985), Super Mario Bros. (1985), and the critically acclaimed adventure game The Legend of Zelda (1986), the company began work on an action game. The scenario was created by Makoto Kano (credited with his last name), and character design was done by Hiroji Kiyotake (credited with his last name), Hirofumi Matsuoka (credited as "New Matsuoka"), and Yoshio Sakamoto (credited as "Shikamoto"). The production was described as a "very free working environment" by Tanaka, who stated that, though being the composer, he also gave input for the graphics and helped name areas. Partway through development, one of the developers asked the others, "Hey, wouldn't that be kind of cool if it turned out that this person inside the suit was a woman?" This idea was incorporated into the game, though the English and Japanese instruction manuals use masculine pronouns for Samus. Ridley Scott's 1979 horror film Alien was described by Sakamoto as a "huge influence" after the game's world had been created. The development staff was affected by the work of the film's creature designer H. R. Giger, and found his creations to be fitting for the theme. Still, there were problems that threatened timely progress and eventually led Sakamoto to be "forcefully asked to participate" by his superiors, hoping his previous experience could help the team. Sakamoto stated he figured out a way to bypass the limited resources and time to leverage existing game media assets "to create variation and an exciting experience". Nintendo attempted to distinguish Metroid from other games by making it a nonlinear adventure-based game, in which exploration was a crucial part of the experience. The game often requires that the player retrace steps to progress, forcing the player to scroll the screen in all directions, as with most contemporary games. Metroid is considered one of the first video games to impress a feeling of desperation and solitude on the player. Following The Legend of Zelda, Metroid helped pioneer the idea of acquiring tools to strengthen characters and help progress through the game. Until then, most ability-enhancing power-ups like the Power Shot in Gauntlet (1985) and the Starman in Super Mario Bros. offered only temporary boosts to characters, and they were not required to complete the game. In Metroid, however, items are permanent fixtures that last until the end. In particular, missiles and the ice beam are required to finish the game. == Release ==

Officially defined as a scrolling shooter game, Metroid was released by Nintendo for the Famicom Disk System in Japan on August 6, 1986. An arcade version of the game was released in July 1987 for Nintendo's PlayChoice-10 system. It was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in August 1987, and in Europe on January 15, 1988. Emulation The game was re-released several times via emulation. Linking the Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion (2002) with the GameCube's Metroid Prime (2002) using a link cable unlocks the full version of Metroid on the GameCube. The game is unlocked as a bonus upon completion of Metroid: Zero Mission (2004). A stand-alone version of Metroid for the Game Boy Advance, part of the Classic NES Series collection, was released in Japan on August 10, 2004, in North America on October 25, and in Europe on January 7, 2005. The game arrived on the Wii's Virtual Console in Europe and North America in 2007, and in Japan on March 4, 2008. Metroid was one of the ten NES games released as part of the Nintendo 3DS Ambassador Program for people who purchased the Nintendo 3DS prior to its first price drop. It was released in North America on August 31 and in Europe on September 1, 2011. Metroid was released for all 3DS owners on March 1, 2012. It was also one of the 30 games included on the NES Classic Edition, released in 2016. At E3 2010, Nintendo featured Metroid among NES and SNES games in a tech demo called Classic Games, to be released for the Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé said "not to think of them as remakes". Miyamoto said that these classics might be using "new features in the games that would take advantage of the 3DS's capabilities". Remake In 2004, a remake, Metroid: Zero Mission, was released for the Game Boy Advance. It features an extended storyline, improved visuals, various new abilities, and revised level design. ==Reception==

Metroid was a commercial success, reported to be "famous" and "very popular" by 1989. Critics A reviewer in the Japanese video game magazine Beep said they found themselves absorbed into the game, while finding it took time to use the game's controls and found the only negative to be the long loading time on the Famicom Disk System. All three reviewers in complimented the gameplay, with one reviewer writing it did not have the disjointed feeling that similar personal computer games had and another saying the game grew better as Samus becomes stronger in the game. The third reviewer initially thought it would be similar to the game Mighty Bomb Jack, but was surprised at its originality. Two reviewers complimented the background music and graphics, with one saying that if Super Mario Bros. felt like being in a manga comic, Metroid made the player feel like they were in a special effects film. Catherine Cella of Pennywhistle Press described Metroid as fun, noting its graphics as detailed and colorful, but calling the password-based save system tedious. Computer and Video Games said it was a "tough" platform arcade adventure with a "very handy" password system and recommended it to "avid" arcade adventurers. Computer Entertainer praised the graphics as "outstanding" and the gameplay as being "full of surprises around every corner". Both Computer and Video Games and Computer Entertainer complimented the ability to restart the game where they had last left off through Nintendo's new password system. Two years later, the magazine named Metroid the fifth-best game for the Nintendo Entertainment System in its Best of the Best feature, describing it as a combination of Super Mario Bros.s platforming and The Legend of Zeldas exploration and character upgrades. The game was ranked 44th on Electronic Gaming Monthlys original 100 best games of all time in 1997, dropped to 69th in 2001, but was ranked 11th on its "Greatest 200 Videogames of Their Time" in 2006, which ranks games on their impact at the time (whereas EGMs earlier lists rank games based on lasting appeal, with no consideration given to innovation or influence). Game Informer ranked it 6th best game of all time in 2001 and 7th in 2009, saying that it "started the concept of open exploration in games". In 2004, Metroid was inducted into GameSpots list of the greatest games of all time. GamesRadar ranked it the fifth best NES game ever made. The staff said that it had aged after the release of Super Metroid but was "fantastic for its time". Metroids ranking of multiple endings entices players to race the game, or speedrunning. In a retrospective focusing on the entire Metroid series, GameTrailers remarked on the original game's legacy and its effect on the video game industry. They noted that Metroid launched the series with its ever-popular search and discovery gameplay. The website said that the combination of detailed sprites, original map designs, and an intimidating musical score "generated an unparalleled ambience and atmosphere that trapped the viewer in an almost claustrophobic state". They noted that the Morph Ball, first introduced in Metroid, "slammed an undeniable stamp of coolness on the whole experience and the franchise", and they enjoyed the end segment after defeating Mother Brain, describing the race to escape the planet Zebes as a "twist few saw coming". They said the game brought "explosive action" to the NES and a newfound respect for female protagonists. Reviewing the original NES game, AllGame awarded Metroid with the highest rating of five stars. For the Wii Virtual Console version, IGN commented that the game's presentation, graphics, and sound were basic, but they were still pleased with Metroids "impressive" gameplay, rating the game 8.0 out of 10, for "great", and giving it an Editor's Choice award. The review stated that the game was "still impressive in scope" and that the price was "a deal for this adventure" while criticizing the number of times it has been re-released and noting that it takes "patience" to get past the high initial difficulty curve. In GameSpots review of the Virtual Console version, they criticized its "frustrating room layouts" and "constantly flickering graphics". In particular, the website was disappointed that Nintendo did not make any changes to the game, specifically criticizing the lack of a save feature. Metroids gameplay, focusing on exploration and searching for power-ups to reach new areas, influenced other series, mostly the Castlevania series. The revelation of Samus being a woman was lauded as innovative, and GameTrailers remarked that this "blew the norm of women in pieces, at a time when female video game characters were forced into the role of dutiful queen or kidnapped princess, missile-blasting the way for other characters like Chun-Li [from the Street Fighter series] and Lara Croft [from the Tomb Raider series]". Schartmann further argues that Tanaka's emphasis on silence was revolutionary to videogame composition: This view is echoed by GameSpots History of Metroid, which notes how the "[game's music] superbly evoked the proper feelings of solitude and loneliness one would expect while infiltrating a hostile alien planet alone". ==Notes==