Metroid NES is Actually Pretty Good

[@gabbo7101]

fun fact: it wasnt till metroid prime 3 did miyamoto know what a bounty hunter was. When he found out, he was horrified because he pictured samus as some kind of selfless hero, not a merc

[@JohanCruyff-wj4pf]

What's even wilder is that according to multiple Retro Studios employees, once Miyamoto found out he walked into their offices in the middle of a board meeting with three grenades and dropped them.

[@gabbo7101]

@@JohanCruyff-wj4pf yea then miyamoto fucking murdered john metroid and said "i'ma the captina nowa"

[@Xanderboof]

I like how misunderstandings and miss translations have shaped this series so much. Like how the varia suit was a mistranslation off barrier suit. Also in Metroid fusion, Samus’ suit couldn’t be taken off while she was unconscious by other people and it wasn’t actually fused to her body. If you go by the original Japanese version

[@dontworry4945]

they couldn't do surgery on her because she was unconscious? huh?! ​@@Xanderboof

[@Qaddosh]

Metroid, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros were the three games, along with an NES itself, that my uncle had rented back in 1989 from a video game store. Writing stuff down on paper was huge. We had pages and pages of sketched out maps and bits of notes about items and enemies. It was a formative time for me.

[@ddud4966]

If Metroid came out later in the NES's life, like 89/90, it would have had a better presentation and variety for sure. The later ROM capacities were like 3x or 4x the size of Metroid and the cartridge mappers were able to add new graphics capabilities, like tile animation. For 1986 it was just barely on the verge of being possible to make a game like this. There's not enough space to have unique rooms for the game's map, so they have to be reused.

[@alicevioleta3184]

honestly, the cartridge wasn't the reason. the game was made for the famicom disk system, on floppy disk.

[@Muhahahahaz]

@@alicevioleta3184sure, but unless they were gonna make it Japan exclusive, they still had to consider the fact that it needed to fit on cartridges outside Japan (which it did)

[@Darkkfated]

Seconded. Metroid looks the way it does because A) it had to fit on a Famicom floppy disc in Japan and B) it's an early NES game, put on a very small cartridge, with no fancy chips on it. Foreground objects, faux parallax scrolling, bigger sprites - all that stuff you show in the Megaman clip was only possible because companies eventually started slapping new chips onto cartridges to augment the NES' base capabilities. Such chips did not exist in 1986, therefore Metroid couldn't have looked much better than it did because the technology required to push the NES past it's launch limits hadn't been invented yet.

[@Razoredge581]

I don't know if it was intentional but the Kraid theme played in the background during the Sound/Music section when you were showing the other Metroid songs. You could still clearly hear the songs you were showing, but it was weird hearing other music in the background when you were trying to discuss specific songs. Well made and well written video either way, I really appreciate this sort of in depth look/perspective on games like NEStroid, and hope you continue doing deep dives on the Metroid series.

[@FlatulentFetus]

This was not intentional, I goofed in the editing. I am mad that I didn’t catch this. I’m glad you enjoyed the video otherwise. I’m very new to video production and script writing so I’m glad to hear I’m doing well enough to interest viewers.

[@Razoredge581]

@@FlatulentFetus on my alt/day-to-day account here, but I've been making/posting video essay type content on another channel for a couple years now and you'll pretty much always have mistakes in scripting, editing, information, etc. Obviously it's something to be on the look out for, and definitely triple check your final product, but realistically the person that'll most be annoyed with these errors is you. Outside of something painfully obvious and glaring no-one'll drag you for production errors, and it's just a matter of learning/improving from whatever mistakes you make. Again, good luck in your continued video production here.

[@niles6159]

@@FlatulentFetus Great video.. props to owning up to a minor mistake.

[@vernontk]

Okay, I thought this was odd 😊

[@hashtagwoke8506]

I'm ill, and was in a lot of pain when I started watching this. Thanks for distracting me, this video was a really fair and well written retrospective.

[@mindcrome]

Worth it just to hear the Kraid music

[@YouB3anz]

no doubt, kraid music so good he had to play it in the background for the entirety of the music section of the video

[@sanctumsys]

I love how this video is a profoundly fair take on this game after so many years of piling on it negatively. Metroid 1 and 2 I feel are heavily underrated because of their unfair reputations so it's good to see people finally view them fairly. One thing I'd like to point out: around 44:00 I feel the block, though obtuse, *is* actually hinted at to some degree: something I feel Metroid 1 uses quite effectively is the screen scrolling and repeated rooms, which while making navigation more difficult in general have a legitimate use: usually, a bombable tile will be bombable in every instance of that room on the map. Every room also has a set scrolling direction (even if it's a single-screen room, or appears single-screen at first like the lava pits in Brinstar) and bombable/shootable tiles will always be on the floor and ceiling of vertically scrolling rooms, and the left and right of horizontally-scrolling rooms, with the camera scrolling past the defined edge of a room often hinting at a secret. It's not an easy hint to pick up on, but I feel it's worth acknowledging as it is a design language that can be learned and mastered.

[@limewater]

I'm also really enjoying the video, and wanted to scroll down to comment on this same thing. To reiterate your point, that particular vertical corridor further hints at that there's something below in the way the screen scrolls. Typically, if you get to the bottom of a vertical shaft, the screen stops scrolling and Samus drops to a low point on the screen. This is a signal that you have reached the end of the shaft. In that particular shaft, the screen keeps scrolling, and Samus is close to the center of the screen. This is a sign that there is something more below. I remember noticing the screen scrolling as a kid and that encouraged me to bomb the bottom of this particular corridor.

[@Momoka7]

I played the game back in the day, when I was a teenager. I did not know that you can bomb tiles that not look like it. The ones that look broken early on of course, but the rest nope. The Legend of Zelda does the exact same thing, there are a ton caves you can find by bombing seemingly random tiles, and if it isn't bombs burn using the candle. But once I read/heard that there are tiles that not look like it but that can be bombed away, of course I tried allot stuff. The good part is it is always the same tiles, since basically there is only vertical shafts or horizontal tunnels so it is not like it is impossible to play once you know that. Not always are breakable tiles on scrolling rooms... there are a couple one-screen-rooms where you can bomb the ceiling or floor. Metroid was made to counter tropes of the time, the Maru Mari is to the left of the start because in Super Mario Bros you need to always run to the right. Mario defeats enemies by jumping on top of them and Samus can later jump into them with the Screw Attack. It is even at the point of being unfair at many places, but once you get the Screw Attack nearly everything becomes easy.

[@rbraunbeck96]

I wouldn't really call their reputations unfair. Metroid 1 has repeated room layouts, no map, no recharge stations causing you to have to manually grind for energy and missiles, no direction at all, you can't hit enemies on the ground with your arm cannon unless you have the Wave Beam, and just so much bullshit. Metroid 2 meanwhile is severely hampered by GameBoy controls, basically no boss variety, still has no map. And in both the Wave and Ice beams are mutually exclusive so if you ever want to switch you gotta go back to one of the statues and swap them out that way. Metroid 1 and 2 aren't bad games, but they've aged horribly

[@jaynukem1929]

Kraid is actually best fought with Morph Ball Bombs. The explosions of the morph ball bombs create I-Frames for Samus, allowing her to phase through much of Kraid's projectile attacks. Here at 40:46 we can see an example of bomb-phasing where you otherwise would've taken damage if not for the bomb's explosion.

[@Rhovanion85]

5:07 Actually, intentionally when the game was designed, Samus was supposed to be an android, it's only later during the development they created the backstory. The game was already called "Metroid" because you were playing as an android exploring a metro-like tunnel-system (metro-android) combining the gameplay of the 4-directional exploration of Zelda and the platform aspect of Mario games. When the game evolved they wanted a background story and changed the android to a person who is inside a powerful space suit and they called the "Jellyfish creatures" the metroids so they could keep the video game's title. Just in case anyone was wondering how they came up with the word "metroid" for a creature that sucks energy out of organisms.

[@Muhahahahaz]

Interesting! That makes a lot of sense

[@kurtheilman3809]

Thanks for this. So tired of reviews saying “unplayable crap” or the less common “masterpiece” or “flawed masterpiece”. It’s a great game by 1986 standards. The music is excellent and its non linear play was unique at the time. And yes it’s also got some jank. Better than most early nes releases but also not the best game on the system. Everything has to be amazing or crap according to KZbin reviews… calm down.

[@Phoenix_1991]

I will automatically sub to anyone who makes Metroid 'retrospectives'.

[@amoney1790]

The Santa clause 2 is on rn.

[@BigPoobis]

Is this real

[@amoney1790]

@@BigPoobis Santa?

[@timtanium7074]

24:45 "The player may falsely conclude they have reached a dead end..." I know it's not novel to say that the footage shown at this clip contains the dumbest the necessary hidden path in the series but I'm really glad you highlighted here. Fantastic analysis so far, excited to watch the second half of the video.

[@retrofraction]

This very much is one of my favorite NES games ever. There was a lot of happy accidents with this game, in that they really didn't have the extra space to really add all of the nice stuff that we all take for granted with later entries. I love the conclusion as I think some people are a little bit unnecessarily hard on it, but I also lover Spelunker XD Great review!

[@shenmuelandlord]

Okay I just beat the game in like two sittings. You're right it is pretty good.

[@manilatoaster6731]

The thumbnail is very suggestive.

[@fubu72]

Counterargument: the block hiding the path into deep Norfair literally stumped me on my blind playthrough until I decided to stop being a lil bich and approach the game like the cryptic game from 3 decades ago that it is and started charting an actual map. This only makes it painfully obvious there is a hidden path in this corner, no, that there MUST be a hidden path in it. Exploring Zebes in such an organic manner is a vibe that could only be found in a game from those times. It was so satisfying to complete and also ingrained the layout of the entire map into my brain and made it easy to do posterior, faster runs for the hell of it. It is my belief this was the intended way to interact with the game, like... like it was a "game".

[@Muhahahahaz]

Kids these days don’t know about drawing maps 😅 (However, the fact that this room is part of a vertical shaft, but the screen doesn’t stop scrolling down, is already enough of a hint to know there’s something below you. If you were at the actual bottom of the shaft, then you wouldn’t be able to see so many rows of the “floor” below you for no reason)

[@cato3277]

Wish they’d taken a page from Zelda 1’s dungeons and had a map that would fill in as you explored the area.

[@shawesomest]

Metroid’s Manual (NES and Famicom both) recommends that the player draw a map. And it was expected at the time that players would read the manual before (or while) playing their games. You are entirely correct in the idea that it was intended to be played with a drawn map.

[@meezobeef]

i never got too into this game, starting to rethink maybe i’d like another play through! good video

[@bigjosh4951]

I really like the original metroid and I'm glad to see someone give it the time it deserves. Yeah, many aspects of it can be very frustrating from a modern perspective, but there's still a lot to enjoy. Never heard of metroid planets before this video though, I'll have to check it out

[@barelyhere7200]

The first Metroid is probably one of the most important games ever made but I probably will never play it. I played zero mission (which is very good) and I had to use a guide for 90% of the game because apparently I’m stupid😅. I respect the first Metroid but I don’t have the patience to actually play it

[@SECONDQUEST]

It's okay buddy. I couldn't beat super mario rpg when I was a kid. A game made for kids.

[@cliffg.4205]

Really that is the way to play this game. Because it's the same game, but has all the quality of life improvements he talks about.

[@rethardotv5874]

NES Metroid aged way worse than legend of Zelda or Super Mario bros. Luckily it was remade.

[@SpanishSebas]

Good thing for you is that Metroid's map is, at its core, very similar to the one in Zero Mission. So if you can remember Zero Mission, you have a lot of work done for Metroid (NES).

[@there-is-weeping-in-the-at1746]

You had to use a guide for zero mission? The game where you're pointed towards your next objective every 5 minutes?

[@LeonardoRodrigues-uj1sm]

What an incredibly written video, holy shit

[@IonicEditsYT]

0:00 Beginning 18:05 Urp 1:02:50 End

[@stibba4286]

lol

[@GarlicMonoxide]

I absolutely loved this game as a kid in the 80s..but never was able to beat it. I got it again sometime in the past 10 years or so..maybe I'll give it another shot 😅

[@stzaleft7355]

Lil pusssay couldn't even beat metroid? Byyytch I beat jaws!

[@goldenphonautogram6141]

Also I can’t wait for the Metroid 2 video. Literally my favorite game of all time.

[@yeolemillinial8295]

a bit of info on the special mapper chips used in nes game, it was first a thing late 1989 in japan, we likely didn't see a game use them until 1990. i challenge you to find a game that had amazing backgrounds for the nes back before this time. you can find backgrounds but they are mostly solid colors with a cloud or two because they was all they could do at the time. custom mapper chips was the real game changer here.

[@MacKillroy1313]

Goonies 2 by Konami had a map feature similar to what came later with Super Metroid or the map chip shown in this video. Super basic by comparison but the pattern was set.

[@-LOTO-]

A few months ago I made a spoiler free recommendation of Metroid 1. If I had been willing to spoil the game, yours is the kind of video I would have made instead. It covers a lot of what I think is interesting and cool about the game, although you've come down on it a little harsher than I did. As for the Ridley block, I allude to it in my own video as one that I actually found entirely on my own by reasoning it out. In the manual, Ridley's Lair is drawn below Norfair with a tiny hole at the bottom of Norfair. I deduced that this meant there was a destructible block somewhere in the zone that would lead there and started checking floors. Fortunately, that block is VERY close to the start of Norfair so once I made that decision it wasn't long at all until I found the block itself. Also maybe don't keep playing Kraid's Lair's theme while you're trying to show off other songs in the soundtrack. It just becomes an awful mess.

[@Muhahahahaz]

Yeah… That’s one thing I think a ton of modern gamers seem to overlook. Every single one of these games came with a manual, and you were expected to read it! If you just blindly fire up these games in an emulator without finding a PDF of the manual, then you’re just not going to have the same experience

[@theghostwiththemost789]

You’ve only made a couple videos but your videos are so damn good. I’m a pretty new Metroid fan which means I have nothing better to do then watch hour long retrospectives about it. I’ve only played zero mission, federation force and dread but I own every game In the series besides the pinball one. I’m excited to possibly see future videos about other Metroid games

[@tonyroth1111]

Really great video. I would love to see you tackle other games in the franchise

[@TokyoXtreme]

The Easter egg burps in these long-form videos really go a long way towards theming the video into the Metroid universe. I liken them to the fanfare you hear when acquiring one of the more cryptically hidden energy tanks.

[@dinglepuss8594]

This is cool i love these games so i'm always happy to see videos talking about them. I hope u will do the whole series

[@jonathanplooij3666]

the kraid music is amazing

[@headman82]

It’s really nice when younger people can find things to enjoy in an old game, even if there are some jank and game design flaws. This game means allot to me despite it being a bit jank. The music is the best part about this game because I love the nes sound chip and how the music gets more dark and ominous as you progress

[@fybso3057]

Amazing video! I love finding hidden gems on youtube like this

[@RobsonLanaNarvy]

16:48 - The sound of suffering coming from Ridley

[@thegoldenw]

This was an awesome video! Love how you talk about the item and event progression of Metroid games. To me, the best games in the franchise and the genre are the ones that make the progression super satisfying. It creates incredible game feel when done right. I also definitely want to check out Metroid Planets now. Excited to hear your thoughts on Super and Prime in particular.

[@yeolemillinial8295]

personally i used to prefer the more robust sound of the FDS version, but lately i have changed that opinion, if oyu really listen you can hear that the melodies where redone for the NES and have sounds not at all used in the famicom version that makes it feel more refined. i REALLY need to do the mod that makes the extra sound channels more accurate to ultimately decide though because the "new" famicoms extra sound channels are a bit off i have read. edit: wish you would have muted the music in the background when you played the comparisions for the audio, hearing brinstar music behind kraid lair really threw me off lol

[@shinkojima8903]

If you look closely under that infamous tile in Norfair, you can see 4 identical tiles in a square (the small bubbles tile). I always thought that was the hint for the path, as I don't think the tiles are arranged like that anywhere else in Norfair. So it's well-hidden, but it's not completely random.

[@Muhahahahaz]

For sure! Also, the fact that the screen keeps scrolling down If you reach the actual bottom of a vertical shaft, then the floor will only take up like 2 rows at the bottom of the screen. But if you can keep going, then Samus will be closer to the middle of the screen, and you can see several rows of the floor (Similar things happen for horizontal rooms, where the screen will scroll further left or right, so you can tell there must be a bombable tile to get to the next room)

[@oneupadvanced]

Really nice essay, well done!

[@sxturnidx]

Metroid Planets proved to me how cool the original world design is, it's genuinely fun.

[@iAmSammyJ]

Thank you for sharing this. Definitely subbed to keep an eye on this channel. :)

[@christianmanske9437]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thank you for sharing your advanced knowledge on Metroid. Great job!

[@TheKritken]

That particular floor tile that you must bomb to get into Ridley's hideout is quite a problem, but I remember how I discovered it. Once you reach the ice beam in Norfair, when you are to return to the lower levels by bombing the floor, you'll notice that, that room looks identical to the one you need to bomb to get to ridley's hideout, and I was right. Get the hint?

[@mikecraftbro]

I’d definitely like to see more of these Metroid vids and others like it

[@Jazerus]

The NES at the time of release wasn't capable of much better visuals than this. A comparison to Mega Man 5 is ignoring all of the cartridge-side hardware upgrades that the system took advantage of in its later years. Mario, Metroid, Zelda, etc. weren't all released with more basic graphics because they just didn't put in the effort to take advantage of the console's capabilities, that was what the NES was capable of without advanced mapping chips and large cartridges.

[@adamwatts2000]

I love how samus is a he in the manual, my emulator setup actually downloads manuals so i like to read them

[@raulwizcastrobravo3296]

wait what? how? that's a great feature!

[@fattypros82]

Being a huge Metroid fan since I played this in 1988 for the first time, it had to walk so M2 and Super could run, I always loved getting the screw attack and telling all those respawning pipe monsters to eat screw! Great video, looking forward to more!

[@jamesedward3619]

One thing I've always wondered though: does Metroid actually hold his gun? Or is he a cyborg like Data from Star Wars? Either way, he's a pretty cool guy. He kills space pirates and doesn't afraid of anything!

[@yeolemillinial8295]

the fact that the varia suit is a thing on zebes i always assumed that Samus had some kind of connection to zebes inhabitants, then she goes on a crusade to take all the metroids out in metroid 2 it made me feel it even more because that felt like it was for vengeance to go that far. felt pretty vindicating to see that theory conceptualized in zero mission when it came out.

[@MacKillroy1313]

Also, Kraid and Ridley have a super convenient energy tank in each of their respective rooms. Anecdote: one time I almost died trying to face Kraid too early but managed to win by getting the energy tank in his room before finishing him off.

[@Emberson-9000]

My favorite part of Metroid Planets was also burp. Very nice feature. Very good improvement.

[@bunnibibo4694]

"No dessert until you've finished your grinding, Timmy!"

[@N3Selina]

22:45 - comedy gold what a nice video about this game. i could never get into the metroid games. idk why. i tried but i never could. it's nice to see appreciation for it :)

[@ScorchtheHawk]

“Here’s the music to listen to” (Plays Kraid’s theme under every song)

[@tinyguy9398]

Actually, to its credit, more often than not the game DOES give you visual clues as to you whether bombing a set of blocks will lead to a hidden path. Any time there is a block that is visually distinct in a path of otherwise standard (i.e., bombable) blocks, that is guaranteed NOT to be a hidden path. For instance, in the Norfair example you keep bringing up, for 80% of the floor tiles, if you look at the tiles immediately below them, for the majority of the tiles the line of tiles is at some point intersected by what appears to be an oversized bubble. You cannot bomb past or destroy these extremely large bubble tiles so there is no point to even lay a bomb on any floor tile or shoot any wall where a vertical or horizontal path intersects one of these oversized bubble tiles. So if you notice this and look for cues in other areas you will see most secrets are choreographed in this way. In the room leading to the Varia suit, for instance (28:51), any vertical column in the ceiling that is intersected by a red bush like tile cannot possibly lead to a hidden path as those red bush like tiles, like the oversized bubbles in Norfair, cannot be destroyed. The same can be said for the pallet swapped, gray bush like tiles in Kraid. There are a few instances where hidden paths are very much not visually choreographed. But most of the times these paths lead to option items such as missile or energy upgrades and are in late game areas like Ridley so are not nearly as egregious. All that is to say, this to me puts Metroid on par with the bombable walls in the original Legend of Zelda. Where as in the latter you more often than not needed to consult your dungeon map for indication as to where you most likely would need to bomb to find a hidden path, in the former you are given distinct visual clues as to whether bombing certain tiles is a waste of time. Neither game told you this, you just needed to discover / notice it for yourself. I just think more people overlook this simple visual clue staring them in the face because they are brute forcing the game rather than thinking about every screen critically.

[@Sackula]

Excited to check this out. Growing up with the game, I’ve never felt that it wasn’t great, but I’m excited to hear another perspective on why. :)

[@WilliamBlanchard12]

As I watch more of these reviews, I do disagree with more stuff than I initially did, but I REALLY appreciate a KZbinr that isn’t afraid to state his opinions boldly. Good work.

[@hansgretl1787]

I really appreciate the deep dive. You really managed to convey many of the things that I was never able to put into words myself until now, and even motivated me to really play it for myself right now. Thanks for that. I love that you just don't even acknowledge the burping. I know that it's the kind of humor most people don't laugh at, but I found it funny.

[@OldBird388]

this was a very well written review and i really enjoyed this video. i never had thought about metroid being a combination of zelda and mario. you’ve shined some much needed light on this game. as a long time metroid fan, im excited to see what else you have to say about the rest of the series, considering how much passion felt from your words

[@marx4538]

I think the simplistic visuals is what makes Metroid look great. There is something special within a game that does alien environments like NES Metroid, not being influenced by inherent direction of trying to make an environment look unwelcoming or film-inspired, and instead being colorful and nice whenever it feels like, with not much human logic and instead purely memorable shapes and colors, where-as games like 2 or sometimes Super feel too intentionally organic, and sometimes disgusting in the same way as a sewer, making it more unpleasant to look at than anything. I also personally greatly enjoy Metroid's non-linearity: it's both incredibly fun and charming for quick replays, and I think that despite repetitive room design, the game ends up being far more interesting to replay than something like Super, which has a lot of unique rooms but also so, so much bloat and also time spent on an average playthrough that it just becomes draining to replay. NES Metroid having more repetitive rooms can be solved by making a map, which greatly helps understand the areas you're in, but Super's sheer amounts can't really be avoided, and it's constant limiting of the player to certain areas also adds to that tedium, and I'd say that the same issue applies to 100% where even if you know what to do, there's simply too many items in the game. I would prefer cryptic design over forced timespending at any point. As for diagonal aiming, I think bringing up Mega Man is a good showcase there - Metal Blade is the ultimate death to weapon balance in 2, and while it's not just because of diagonal aim in of itself, Mega Man as a whole was designed around that as that specifically makes dealing with enemies above or below you more difficult and requires you to find ways to get around that: I personally think this approach also fits Metroid, especially as it gives bombs more combat potential and in general makes the game use the base moveset more, something I feel the later games abandon more and more with making later enemy encounters more mindless through how powerful your beam gets on top of the base moves and by focusing puzzles less on stuff like that Kraid one from NES Metroid where it requires careful navigation with Morph Ball and bombs, and more on upgrades like Shinespark being used for upgrade-specific challenge rooms to get an item. Still, great video! It's very cool to see someone look at the game from neither an inherently negative nor positive perspective, and I can certainly see some points pretty well. I wish you luck in future videos, if you make any! It's odd to see the aspect ratio and cropping of the game footage to change seemingly at random, though. Is there any reason for that?

[@JustPlayingTheClassics]

Great video. 👍

[@Cri_Jackal]

16:45 "Oowwww, owww, OOOWWWW, ooooww, OOOOOWWWW!" Also, I see the tradition of Ridley having ridiculous human sounding screams began right at the start.

[@akirkirkman9127]

that part actually made me laugh cuz I'm used to the broken sounds on the NES XD

[@Ghostie.]

Around 11:45 You left the background music going while playing the music samples.

[@FlatulentFetus]

I am so bummed that I didn’t catch this until after uploading. I made a last-second change to the music and forgot to take it out for that segment. My b

[@RakoonCD]

​@@FlatulentFetusWe'll be waiting for the 1 week anniversary remaster.

[@vancodling4223]

The way you describe speedrunning is right on. Having beat Metroid Prime 200%, hardmode, glitchless, in 1hr:30mins, just for fun... its just so satisfying

[@TheTotalOverflow]

Enjoying the video so far, just wanted to point out that during the segment where you play the game’s music, you still have the Kraid track playing underneath everything, even under its own track highlight later. You’ll definitely want to fully mute the backing music track in future videos so 2 songs aren’t playing overtop each other. Likely an editing mistake.

[@metrizans]

22:44 thanks

[@packpock4369]

What games didn't have flickering and sone slowdown lol?

[@BlondeBarbarian]

WOW!! Great video! Thank you for actually taking the time to analyze this game genuinely and not just shitting on it for being old! I played this game back in the day when it was new and I was a VERY young kid so it has a special place in my heart. It makes me sad that everyone just skips it in favor of Zero Mission since that game offers a very different experience from the original and kind of erases a lot of the connective tissue that exists between it and Super. Hopefully videos like yours will convince more people that the original Metroid is deserving of respect and shouldn't be so casually ignored.

[@linewizard]

Such a good section on music, and you leave the BGM playing over it the whole time!!! (!!!!!)

[@Retrokid1998]

Great video really does show Metroid pros and cons

[@BigHushAffiliate]

Of course it is duuuuh!! I was 4 in 86. That nes music man…… what a flood, what a flood of memories and nostalgia… *sigh* Great to see people still speak about these games. 🤜🏻🤛🏻

[@aboringknight1177]

This is a really well made video, great job. Ive been seeing a bit more appretiation for the original metroid over the last few years, not like making it highly regarded but saying that if you have the right mindset, its not bad at all. Ive tried a few times to get into it, but i probably need to dedicate myself to a playthrough. Maybe if i make a video on Metroid, would love to retrospect on the entire series

[@jaynukem1929]

The Kraid track is a Masterpiece.

[@ICharlyl]

You sound and write an awful lot like Nerrel. Almost makes me doubt if this is a swcond channel of his lol. Either way, im happy for the find because i love this style of content. Congratulations

[@josesitocomunica9056]

Nuevo suscriptor

[@MacKillroy1313]

Wave Beam notes: makes finding hidden items easier, as well as hidden passages through walls. But to find it you need to be good at finding hidden items and passages through walls lol

[@RepublicTrooper125]

I loved Josie Woah's video but also commented that I disagreed with her. I think the game is great even if hard for newcomers. its got spunk and atmosphere that many other NES games doesn't have.

[@michaelzborowskyii4668]

Ya better believe it's good. I explored this as a kid like I explored the legend of Zelda. Metroid is darker. Atmosphere, great music and the map is vast. Makes me feel small and alone. So creepy I love it

[@goldenphonautogram6141]

The production values are so good dude

[@oscarvaldes5621]

This video is really well made

[@SamusGunship]

watching starting now, but to the title of this video i have to say, yeah no doubt, few people give Metroid as much love as it deserves. It is way underrated. Even the people that respect it, don't enjoy the game as much as they should. Ok watching as you explain why Metroid is good, since your premise is correct. Metroid is good not only as a starting point, but it is inherently good. I would argue that in many ways it is superior even to Super Metroid.

[@GKoopa]

What's this route mapping program you show a couple times in this video? It looks really impressive E: Oh, it's at the end of the video lol

[@recompile]

Dumb luck? I played the game as a kid when it was new. I distinctly remember finding that "impossible" path in Norfair the very first time I entered that room. See, by the time you're skilled enough to get through the previous hall, you've played the game enough to realize that bombing every floor and shooting every wall and ceiling looking for secrets is a major part of the game. Both the left and right paths from the elevator also quickly lead to 'dead ends'. If you weren't looking for a hidden path forward, what on earth were you doing? There's also the map in the manual that very clearly shows Ridley's hideout below Norfair.

[@tonyrichards254]

An easy way to see if there could be a bomb-able passage in Norfair is to check if there are any tiles in the way that are single large bubbles. Those are always solid.

[@Ghostie.]

Neat!

[@TheSnoopyclone]

If you never played Metroid on the nes, do not play it with a map. Just play and explore the game. You are meant to get lost and experience the dread of the environment and enemies. Have fun because it’s a really fun game.

[@will_of_europa]

The required norfair bomb block is similar to the pitfall blocks under the extendosnakes in fusion to go beyond the locked doors

[@FlatulentFetus]

In my mind, the blocks in Norfair are exponentially more problematic because that similar part in Fusion locks you into a small portion of sector 3, meaning you’re far less likely to waste time elsewhere. Though I do agree they are similar.

[@rivid]

Not sure if it was intentional but Samus looks like she's getting double teamed in the video's image.

[@oceanman7336]

Everytime I come back to the video I always do a double take so it's probably intentional still it makes me chuckle

[@Jackpkmn]

I figured out the door jump wrap glitch before I found that bomb able floor in norfare.

[@COZAASYx93]

Metroid only channel? Yes.

[@_thresh_]

I believe you got Metroid and the samuses names mixed up, Metroid is the guy you play as and samuses are these weird jello aliens

[@_thresh_]

Also here's an editing tip: make sure to mute the background music when you are playing clips of other music for examples, it's a bit distracting

[@yeolemillinial8295]

ok i gotta stop you on using megaman 5 to show how much better the nes "could be" this is when you need to know some things from that time, when metroid was made games still had a 47k memory limit, severely limiting the space they had to work with, this is evident in megaman 1 that was made during that same limitation. also later in the NES life time you started seeing games with special hardchips in them that enhanced the capability's of the NES which nearly all NES games would start having once developed depending on the needs of that game, paralax scrooling wasn't even possible when metroid was made on the NES until the chips were available. so no, when metroid was made the NES was not capable to doing the same stuff that megaman 5 could do. full stop

[@FlatulentFetus]

There are other variables that I may not have accounted for. But either way, I still think that Metroid NES doesn’t look as good as other NES games. Perhaps it’s the best that they could have done at that time as far as fidelity goes. As I said in the beginning of the video, I'm not interested in viewing the game in the context of its time. Your additional information is interesting to hear, but I still maintain that there are much better looking NES games. I never said anything about Metroid failing to live up to Mega Man's standard, I just said that other games look better. I think you're arguing with a point I never made.

[@mrwess1927]

@@FlatulentFetusif we could go back and remake it with optimized hardware it would look super sick,

[@yeolemillinial8295]

@@mrwess1927 a MSU version of the game JUST dropped. for the SNES, it looks the same but it has red book audio and an in game map as well as the ability to switch between the wave gun and ice blaster

[@Rhovanion85]

True, but he does make a point that the spacesuit-samus looks weird when Zero-Suit Samus looks much better.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

​@@FlatulentFetusRemember it was made for the Disk System, which was a great enhancement at the time...

[@yeolemillinial8295]

i just played through the nes and famicom version of this the other day and get bikini samus ending in both with 100% item completion. pretty nice for a game that i havn't picked up since i was a kid. nice, i actually played on my modded "new" famicom which is the same model you show here.

[@_V.Va_]

It's ironic how Kraid has the most "fleshed out" sounding theme but the character himself has been nelgected in about every other aspect. No expanded lore like Mother Brain or Ridley, and only has 3 appearances total in the franchise.

[@Guitarraeficaztutorialesytabs]

Wanna feel alone and lost in a distant planet, play Metroid 2. Not the Remake, the gameboy original. Fucking haunting game. Awesome. (And Super Metroid is an absolute masterpiece).

[@alexandreturcotte6411]

*Samus pog*

[@skeeterd5150]

I was born in 1980. One needs to look at a game versus its contemporaries. There was Nintendo seal of approval, but there were so many unplayable games back then. This was a great game that stood out so much. The music and atmosphere gave me such a weird uneasy feeling. It’s so easy to judge this one against its “super “ sibling.

[@XavierRussell-zv5zg]

Someone probably already said this, but the hint in the Norfair floor is that the patterns of the blocks arent consistent, and the pattern messes up exactly where you need to bomb.

[@heyitsmort7744]

What game is at 22:08??? That looks sick!

[@FlatulentFetus]

That is Comix Zone on the Sega Genesis. If you get really good at it, you can beat it in like 30 minutes. I’ve never been able to get the good ending though.

[@adamwhite4215]

Something about this thumbnail seems...off. 😏

[@sambajane]

broke = whining because a game is too hard and doesn't feel like it was designed with convenience in mind woke = realizing that the game is challenging you to explore truly unknown depths and accepting that challenge