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I played a tiny bit of the original NES Metroid back in the day so I made it my mission to play it properly earlier this year and I loved it. I think the main thing is: Are you able to appreciate retro gaming, appreciate game design and appreciate classics? If you don't, maybe you won't enjoy any older games and you'll just want to stick to whatever's the popular recent game. That's okay too. But if you DO appreciate any of those things, man, this game was amazing for its time and it can still be a great experience today. I will admit, trying it for a while was fun using only the manual as a guide, but when it started feeling a bit overwhelming, I did use a map that I found online. Other than that, I mostly went through the game on my own and didn't attempt to beat it in a certain time. Instead, I took my time and enjoyed it, explored as much as I could, died a million times and appreciated it. The only serious complaint I have is that you should have respawned with full health after dying because I feel like half my playtime was stocking up on energy and missiles. Yes, there's ways to make this easier, but not for the average or new player. You need to already be experienced in the game in order to avoid farming.

The only thing I think has aged poorly is the lack of in game map.

Great vid, beating Zero Mission is expected from the player, but beating the oeiginal Metroid is an ACOMPLISHMENT. Zelda II is another maligned game that is awesome in its own regard, hope someday you can do a video of it.

Super Metroid was my first. I agree with the guy that said NES Metroid feels like a prototype by comparison. I actually did play it though.

The multiplayer problem you mentioned in the video didn’t bother me. Because I only played the game in single player mode.

Cool

How does bro have only over a hundred likes? Your views look good, were you ratio'd fellow?

JUSTIN BAILEY - - - - - - - - - - - - I think the purpose of the second ice beam was simply a small mercy so that one could enjoy the wave beam game play and still progress without having to back track AGAIN and then all the way back AGAIN.

A breath of fresh air. I sub to you sir.

One of the best games ever made! My first Metroid game back in the late 80's.

It has aged like milk imo

Your opening line to this video “damn, you never know what I’m gonna blah, blah, blah” made me shut it off. Took time to write this to help you out.

I'm not sure if anyone said it, but Metroid came out in 1986, the Famicom Disk System came out in 1986, same year and months as Legend Of Zelda as well!! 14:44 the new game + is only a feature of the NES password cartridge version, the OG Japanese Famicom Disk System version has a save feature instead…

This reminds of all those original Zelda critiques where they go in completely blind and gripe about having "no direction" and "frustrating trial and error gameplay" when they never bothered to look up a .pdf of the Instruction Manual and the included-with-the-game incomplete paper map of the Overworld. You know, the two things that everyone had ready access to when the game was new? The two things that literally spell out where to go at first, where the first FOUR dungeons are, and what most of the key items (bombs, candles, boomerangs, shields, etc) do? It even tells you how to use the Bow you get in the first Dungeon (you need to buy arrows from a shop, and each arrow you fire costs a Rupee). All stuff that "modern" gamers will willfully ignore, and then complain about when the game expects them to know these things "that they were never told about". Can you tell this mindset irritates the crap out of me? Anyway, kudos for this great retrospectives that falls into none of the traps I just listed and instead was a great take on a great classic NES adventure.

I just want to say as an old guy that Ocarina of Time did get criticism for it's frame rate by gaming magazines back in the day. Consoles like the NES always output 60fps, but there would be slowdown instead. I think that the youngings don't like NES Metroid because it doesn't have a map subscreen.

The Sonic 1 section hit hard, Sonic 1 was such a pioneer in it's time and still my favourite. The variety of levels and mechanics was crazy and it created 90% of the Sonic formula that the following 2 games followed. Plus it has some of my favourite themes and music in any game, I honestly don't know where the disrespect comes from except that it has some slower sections (which weren't slow at the time) and speed relies on momentum and timing - rather than being a right. Loved this vid! You get it

the primary objective of metroid was an adventure that was designed to feel absolutely alienating. it still excels in this aspect more than any sequel that followed. gameplay concessions were added in super metroid that make the game more enjoyable and action focused. it is still far less cold and alien in the aspect that was the express purpose of the original title. it’s natural that people in 2024 confuse the feeling of being alienated as being poorly designed

I was always under the impression Mother Brain was a metroid Ridley and the other pirates captured and forced to work for them. The giant glass containment contraption was a prison cell and a super computer with Mother Brain acting as an AI of sorts, I guess? That why in Super Metroid Ridley breaks into the research station and steals the baby metroid, to rebuild the super computer. The game has aged as it should have. If we compare Turing's original computation machine to our modern day computer hardware and software, of course the former "aged poorly" but where would we be without the former? And how could you understand the latter without having some knowledge of the original "prototype?" Can you skip it? Yeah, probably. Should you? Up to the player and what they feel they would or wouldn't miss out on.

Back in 1986 when it launched, "Metroid" was a MOOD. A dark one. Kraid's Lair was deadly and foreboding. Ridley's bunker in "Norfair" was brutal. And the sheer size of the map made TLoZ feel fairly small, ya know? And those were the games *I* bought: SMB, Duck Hunt, Gyromite, TLoZ, Metroid, Castlevania, Kid Icarus, and Mach Rider. Sure, I grabbed up other titles later on, but those eight were the primary ones I played until I snagged Rygar, and some others. "Super Metroid" on SNES just improved on everything about Metroid, but that's just like how ALttP did the same for TLoZ.

Always HATED this Game with a Passion... Still do 35 years later

Metroid is my favorite franchise and I think the Original Metroid game is “Fine”, but would definitely recommend Zero Mission over the OG. Yes, Zero Mission is a replacement for the OG. OG was great for its time and I respect that. I played it in its entirety, once just to say I played the original and I am fine with that and will probably never hi back to it.

Hated it when I was five still hate it now. But the premise was interesting. Also could never get used to the rectangular controllers. They always hurt my hands. NES was A terrible gaming experience in general. Excitebike was barely above the threshold for entertaining. SMB2 a cheap reskin Metroid was bad M2 worse and on a puke green screen. After that I’m surprised the series didn’t die. Super Metroid was peak until Metroid Dread. Point blank period.

I've played the randomizer so much I couldn't even tell you were the wave beam is anymore. I think it 's in the green area in Norfair.

Thank you for sticking up for og Metroid. It's a labyrinth. Figuring it out IS the challenge. It's WHY it's fun. I don't know why people want a labyrinth spoon fed to them.

Hey! Huge NEStroid fan here! Genuinely my favorite game in the series, so I figured I'd share some thoughts I had along with this video, since I appreciate any defense of this game. I do end up repeating a lot of points from the video, but I really wanted to vent some of my thoughts For anyone who wants to read this comment, I'll warn you ahead of time that I ended up being a little more rude than I intended, so I apologize in advance! I'll preface the rest of my comment with the angle I'm approaching this from so anyone reading can better understand where my mindset comes from. I'm not an 80's kid; I was born in 2003 (just turned 21 today!), and I didn't really grow up with Metroid. I got into the series in about 2016 when my friend (who's always been a Metroid fan since at least the 1st grade when we met) convinced me to try out Zero Mission when I got a GBA emulator on our school-issued Chromebooks. From there, this series became one of my all-time favorites, and I've been ROM hacking Zero Mission and NEStroid both for seven, nearly eight years by this point. I've basically religiously studied these games on every level to the point where I think I might've developed some extremely niche and odd opinions. One of the most surprising is that NEStroid has become my favorite game in the series (I always liked it more than most people I talk to do, but it's only in the last few years that I've REALLY grown to adore this game.) So, I do have a little bit of nostalgia bias since I've been religiously into this series for the entirety of my teens and I've dedicated a large chunk of my life to analyzing and trying to replicate Metroid. I also played a lot of retro games growing up. But, I absolutely grew up in the modern era of games and I've played no shortage of them I will concede that a lot of factors of old video games have some flaws, but I think people are too quick to chock very intentional and well thought out design decisions up to "they just didn't know any better!!!" In reality, I think games aging poorly as a result of higher quality standards almost never happens, and it's really just down to people's tastes changing. But, just because someone prefers something else, I don't think that makes the original thing bad. Like you said in the video, of course! It really really REALLY frustrates me when people refuse to engage with a game on the terms it is asking to be engaged on, and then calls it bad when they don't have a fun time. I know people don't like the "skill issue" argument, because it really can feel unfairly dismissive and like their feelings are being dismissed... Good. Your feelings on a game DESERVE to be dismissed if you yourself are dismissing the game and what it's trying to do. I'm sick of this attitude that video games have to cater to everyone. I'm sick of this attitude that video games can't be fun if they're hard, or punishing, or if you have to use your brain at all. That last one especially is important. NEStroid is a strategy game in an action platformer's clothing. NEStroid is not Super Metroid. It never will be Super Metroid. It never SHOULD be Super Metroid. But, people will still be mad at it for not being Super Metroid, because it colored their expectation on what the series "should" be that anything different is sacrilege. At the end of the day, if someone isn't willing to come at criticizing a game in a fair and respectful manner, their opinions are trash. There are plenty of valid complaints about this game: The camera isn't great sometimes, shooting in mid-air is a bit finicky, enemies can hit you during door transitions, jumping up onto breakable blocks in the ceiling is a bit more cumbersome than it needs to be, Kraid's attic, etc. But, 90% of what people complain about can literally just be solved by playing the game in a way that makes sense. Metroid (and every game in the series) is a game that EXPECTS you to replay it. It's made to be replayed. You memorize the world, you plan your way through it, you plan your path even through individual rooms. You remember where things are, and you use your brain! Then, wow, the game turns out to actually be good! Who knew, a game is fun when you let it be fun? I also really hate how quick people are to scoff at the idea of making their own maps. A: It's genuinely fun. B: Why is it an issue? Like, I hear people say that you shouldn't need resources outside of a game to play a game, but that makes zero sense. It's a completely arbitrary line to draw. I think people are genuinely just too lazy to, god forbid, grab a pen and paper, or open MS Paint. They want the game to do all the work for them. Because, when it comes down to it, that's the REAL reason people don't like 80s/90s games. It's not because they're badly designed or unfair (usually), it's just because they don't want games to challenge them in any way that they aren't ready for or used to. I don't think it's bad to prefer games like that, but I'm sick and tired of them instantly turning around and shitting on games I love for being "outdated" and "unfair" and "archaic." I'm really not trying to sound like a video game eletist, because I'm not. I think the way modern video games are designed is perfectly swell, and I love them just as much in different ways. But people won't get out of their own asses after watching like six TH-cam videos (and even that's being generous) on game design and then thinking they understand it enough to be THE judges of whether anything they like or don't like is objectively good or bad. People say they shouldn't have to think of a game in the context of its time for it to be good, because they care more about if it's good now. And, I get it. But, if you're just refusing to play it a certain way its meant to be played, a way that you're perfectly capable of if you just try, you lose your right to any sort of opinion on it. You're just insulting something you ACTIVELY REFUSE to understand at that point. I LITERALLY grew up in the modern gaming era and I love these games. I know objectivity in art is hard, but I am living and OBJECTIVE PROOF that they didn't suddenly stop being good after the 90s. It's not a matter of lowering your expectations to not be disappointed. It's instead a matter of just expecting something different. Not worse, just different. Not outdated, just different. But, my biggest gripe with people complaining about NEStroid is the whole respawning with 30 energy thing. "Oh, every time you die you have to grind back to full health!" NO. NO you do NOT. You are CHOOSING to grind to full health. You don't need to stop and farm just because you died. It respawned you with low health to punish you for death, so accept the punishment. Just keep playing the game. "Oh, but what if I die again? I'm only two hits away!" Maybe try not dying instead? If you actually take the time to think about Samus' movement and learn the combat mechanics, badaboom, you're not gonna die. In fact, if you just kill every enemy on your way to your next objective, you'll be back on good health in no time without needing to stop and grind! You died and got punished, but it'll still reward you for good play and redeeming yourself. And, you don't even need to refill up to full health to be safe from death, either. Just one or two energy tanks is a perfectly fine amount if you're not letting yourself get hit every six seconds, and Varia suit makes it even better! This isn't the kind of game where you're supposed to brute force your way through. It's trial and error instead, which is not the same thing. You are expected to actually TRY to be better at the game and experiment and do things differently when you fail, not slam your head into the same part of the wall until either it or your skull breaks. Or, of course, leave an e-tank open, as the old advice goes! 13:30 You can get the Norfair ice beam without ice beam or bomb jumping if you come in the back way, but it's a little unintuitive (Also, the footage shown is a part in Ridley's Lair rather than Norfair) 17:56 Thank you for bringing this up! It really annoys me how much people harp on this one block when it really isn't even that bad. Hell, if you collect the second ice beam (without going in backwards), the route out of there literally has an identical screen that you have to bomb down through. And, just about every other dead end in Norfair has a spot to bomb through, further hinting this Also, I really wish there were more NEStroid like Metroidvanias, where it takes the more arcady approach (particularly not losing progress on death, and just respawning at the start of the area. I think it does a lot to turn the areas into platformer levels almost) I also hate how people pretend Zero Mission replaces this game. It does not, period, end of quote. They are different games. I love them nearly equally, but they are not the same, and one does not replace the other! Thank you especially for pushing this point All in all, really loved this video! Thank you so much for sharing! If you like NEStroid, I think playing some hacks of it is a great idea! In particular, Metroid X from 1998 is one of my absolute favorites. It's basically just more NEStroid!

Yes it aged poorly. So poorly Nintendo remade it. Next question.

Metroid will always b one of the best games ever my childhood is this game

Samus is a girl

Justin bailey for life

Interesting point. I'm a big fan of this franchise. Even playing Castlevania: SOTN first in 1998 and some years after Super Metroid. And after that i'm big fan of Metroidvanias. When i played the original Metroid i suffered a lot, but i started to play in a different way. Less combat, more exploration and i finally i ended. With no map, completely lost i ended. Now i understand why this game is so iconic. Metroid Zero Mission is a great Remake. One of the best remakes made, but the feeling of the original is unique.

Why you calling her a he...?

I havent played the original metroid yet, but I have started to play the original zelda game and like metroid you have no map....UNLESS you read the manual online and it gives you details on all the items and it gives you half a map so you can find the first 4 dungeons and an overview of the first 2 dungeons. At the moment I dont need to complete the map but with it I found some upgrades for Link from going to the question mark places on the map and searching that area. I was a young kid in the 90s so I dont remember much until like 99 or so, but I do remember when I got Pokemon Red and a gameboy colour, it had a big manual which would introduce you to the game, give you some story and some hints and it gave you a checklist for the pokemon in the manual and since then when I got a new game I would read the manual first. Old games do have weird designs compared to how games are designed now, but the indie game space depending on the game do require some thinking and observations. Like in project zomboid you are told at the start that you are going to die. And then you're thrown into the zombie survival world and you dont know what to do, but the game comes with a manual that you can access and the whole point of it is to see how long you can survive, then when you die you do another run with the new knowledge that you gained from your previous run. To me now Dark Souls was the moment when newer generations was introduced to old game design where you are suppose to struggle at first but then learn and gain new skills to tackle the obstacles.

Hey xaiver do you prefer using emulators to play old games..

Lol don't know if you knew this or not but Metroid is a Robot. You referred to it as a Samus through out the video. In Metroid 1 when you beat the game in over 3 hours it was a big reveal that you played as a robot when Metroid didn't remove its helmet. Back in the 80s there weren't many, if at all, robot characters.

Says they never found the energy tank that was a trap, while showing footage of getting said energy tank. I'm amused! Nice video by the way! I love replaying Metroid 1.

It is bizarre to me how people can be so indignant that someone has a different opinion. It's an OPINION. It's literally an issue of people having their own tastes and preferences and tolerances. I loved Metroid as a kid. Haven't particularly wanted to try it as an adult. But i have zero desire to even try Dark Souls. And opinions like this video are great, because there are people who like a thing i liked as a kid. Why get bent out of shape when someone says they find something fun?

I rented this once back then and promptly forgot about it. I didn't like how so many enemies were too short to shoot. Metroid 2 fixed this and I have liked all the 2d's since. I have given the original more tries in recent years but still don't like it.

I will always love the original Metroid. Even later entries couldn't bring back the same feeling of that elevator ride into Kraids lair.

Even by modern stabdards Metroid is superb. Modern games are pretty trash. most arent even games really, just simulators

I decided to start my Metroid experience with Metroid Zero Mission. I actually played Super Metroid first but only a few minutes worth. I stopped after I heard about Metroid Zero Mission being a remake of the first Metrod game so I decided to play Zero Mission before seriously going into Super Metroid. After playing Zero Mission, I can't get into the NES original version. I just like the Zero Mission graphics, music and cutscenes too much to get into the NES original. At some point I should give the original game a serious try but the thought of doing that just makes me want to play Zero Mission again.

People think older games are bad because as players they suck and are unable to beat them. Most modern games are super easy. And these new “gamers” give up on something they aren’t good at IMMEDIATELY. It’s a skill issue. Not a game issue.

It aged poorly. Super Metroid on the other hand...

13:26 if you take the wave beam, you will lose the ice beam. wave is cool for the ridley section. the second icebeam is to revert back for the final part of the game.

This game has aged absolutely gracefully! Drawing your own map and looking for secrets instead of map markers is such a fresh and fun mechanic that i would like to see it in more games.

Ocarina of Time is a masterpiece still to this day. It IS the best Zelda and this is coming from someone who went with Playstation that generation instead of N64 (brother had the N64 which is how I played it). As for original Metroid. I would say it was never that good. There is no map so ypu have no idea where to go. Most of the rooms look the same. It is just a terrible game. Metorid II and Super Metroid fixed all the problems the first game had. Also the passwoed system sucks ass. Zero Mission the remake of 1 is better in every way possible. It just is. Sorry folks but facts are facts.

It's refreshing to see a video like this. As someone who was the target audience when it came out (and still have my CIB copy) this is one of those things where I have to remind myself that people like you exist and not write it off as a generational thing where Gen Z and late Millennials are just a bunch of a**holes to anything Gen X and early Millennials related. For instance the "Nostalgia" cop out for why we enjoy anything when there's so much stuff we played, listened to or watched that we NEVER did until decades later and enjoyed it because it's GOOD. But people who already have their minds made up don't want to hear it. And they can go f*ck themselves. Preferably with something painful. The "aged poorly" argument really pisses me off as who the f*ck gets to be the final judge for something like that and where can I find them to tell them shove it sideways? If you think I'm just being hostile you don't understand Gen X. We don't sugarcoat things or mince words. This game IS good. It is it's own experience. Getting lost and figuring it out is the point! And f*ck anyone who complains about that but will spend 500+ hours roaming around in an open world game. That's called being a hypocrite. But back to Metroid people let other people, who usually are looking for attention or money (people that sane people avoid like the plague), tell them what to think. It's like the so, so tired bullsh*t of "oH mY gOd! SaMuS iS a WoMaN?! wOmEn CaN't Be In ViDeO gAmEs!" And that that was our reaction back then. NO ONE DID THAT! But people born AFTER us get to decide that that's what happened. So in conclusion to those who want to continue to be wrong. 1. Think for your Goddamn self. TRY the f*cking game. Who knows? You might like it! And if you genuinely can't get into it. Fine. But that was reached at by YOU. 2. Listen to the people who were actually alive at the time. 3. Always keep an open mind.

"I've never played it, and I'm never going to, but I'm still prepared to talk about it as though I know anything about anything." What a fing clown.

Metroid is great. Everyone thinks they're a critic with impeccable taste. It's so much fun to play

It's an interesting topic. I mean, I completely understand what people mean when they say these games aged poorly. There are a lot of things that what would be considered "bad" game design if they were released in a game today. I've heard it commonly argued that the idea of limited lives is just a poor holdover from the days of arcades. That requiring the player to redo ANYTHING they've already completed is just padding. To those, I'd point out that limited lives and continues encourages improvement and demands mastery of a game's elements. Lives are a resource to be managed. Each improvement leaves you with more of that resource for your next attempt. You make it farther, not JUST because you've improved but Lso because you now have more resources making the challenge easier as a direct result of that improvement. Some of the more modern gamers might be surprised to learn that when Super Metroid was first released, there was a very vocal subsect of the fandom that was UPSET that the game had built in maps. "It takes out the challenge of exploring and discovering secrets!" they'd say. While that's not my particular take, I think there's still room for it? and I think there's definitely something to be said for engaging with these games on their own level that can still bring enjoyment. That DOES require an extra amount of effort and allowances by the player, however. I would be curious what you might view as a game that HAS aged poorly. Personally, I have a much harder time going back to most N64 games than NES games. The frame rates are terrible to the point where it actually feels difficult to control. (in extreme cases a number of games averaged 15-20 fps) The analog stick has just been improved on SO very much since those days it feels imprecise and clunky. Of course these are more hardware issues that game design.

I love to play the Zelda1/Metroid1 randomizer.