The second Classic NES Series for the GBA marks the return of the original Metroid. Originally released in 1986, Metroid is one of the most revered franchises in Nintendo's expansive library. With games like Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission, and the DS-based Metroid: Prime Hunters on the way out, the key to this release is nostalgia. Nintendo knows there are enough of us that grew up in the NES era that will jump at the opportunity to buy new versions of our favorite classic games. Regardless, this game is a direct port of the original game, and that has been included as an unlockable feature in many recent games-nostalgia sells.

I was never a big fan of Metroid growing up, and playing it now I can remember why. Accepted practices of games from the late 1980's didn't exactly remain popular, and Metroid is one of the worst offenders of making you backtrack through levels. It turned me off when I was eight years old, and it turned me off again now. While many games in the Classic NES Series are still fun to play today-such as Dr. Mario and Xevious-Metroid didn't do it for me at all.

If you aren't familiar with Metroid, you play the role of Samus Aran. Samus is a bounty hunter out to stop space pirates from releasing dangerous creatures called metroids into the universe. Jump boots and a wide assortment of weapon power-ups are littered through the game. These power-ups will help you battle your way through the maze-like world and fight Mother Brain. Finding these power-ups and using them to open up new areas of the world are the key to this classic and also what contribute to it's overabundance of backtracking.

As a standalone game, I found the original Metroid to be quite irritating and not fun at all. I would much rather play one of the modern remakes than suffer through this one. I know there are plenty of people who are glad to just own this one in the event that they feel like playing it, but for the vast majority of gamers this will not be a good investment. This one will be a good game for only true Metroid fans alone.

Jan 4, 2005 | 3 comments
Chris Rasco