/vr/ - Retro Games

I was a young child then, but most of my friends were into NES gaming (recall that 50% of households had an NES then). At least in the suburbs, Metroid was a fairly common title to have in your collection. Maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of my friends had it, you'd see it a lot.

Nobody really understood its significance in terms of "Metroidvania" obviously, but it was generally regarded as a high-quality platformer. Back then, we mostly saw it as a platformer, and there were a LOT of those on the NES. You'd discuss it along with Ninja Gaiden, TMNT1, and Chip & Dale.

I actually sat down with graph paper and beat it, but this was extremely rare. I don't know anyone else who beat it. Honestly, it's too complicated for most dumbass kids under 10. Most of my friends would just wander around, flail at exploring, and give up. But they still said it was a great game.

(Tangential, but this was the same issue with Zelda 2. I beat it, but my dumbass friends couldn't understand the concept of the XP system, side quests, upgrading magic, etc.)

>>9959907
Didn't play it the year it came out, but I did play it at some point when the NES was still relevant. This was still pre-SNES.

Metroid did not fully become "Metroid" until Super Metroid.

>>9959907
I was.
It was not a huge deal culturally.

I was more of a Zelda kid, but I played Metroid with my neighbor friend, and I spent a long time looking at this Metroid map when it appeared in Nintendo Power #1. I thought the whole NES was the "big deal."

I just played the first 1/3 of the game over and over again and loved it despite not ever getting farther. Music, atmosphere, great times.

My dad of all people loved the game and got really excited when I discovered and beat Kraid after weeks of playing. I did beat it eventually but I may have used a Nintendo Power password. It was a game you could really lose yourself in and as others have said, you didn’t really care if you made little progress and had to start over again.

>>9959907
I played it around when it came out but was in second / third grade. Remember we typed in codes. One was Justine Bailey or something? We just explored a bit and failed to figure anything out.

It was awesome and I loved it. Every game I loved was a big deal to me. I didn't think about genres much then.

>>9959913
>>9960139
the duality of anon

I'm from western Europe and I don't think it even released in my country. Wikipedia says it released in 88 "in Europe" but there is no real source, and on mobygames the only European release dates are in the UK and in Italy.

Either way the game and series seem completely unknown until the 00's; and I have NEVER seen a copy of Metroid or even Super Metroid IRL.

This is why I really don't think it even released over here and the "European release" might just be UK and Italy and that's all. Contrary to popular belief there was no "European release" that includes all of Europe, it didn't work that way, it worked per region (UK, Scandinavia) and sometimes even per country.

>>9959907
>was anyone here alive in 1986
You'd be lucky to get people born in 2006 in this board. I was alive back then but in my pal country we played Sega consoles.

>>9961019
Well fuck I stand corrected, the game was released January 15 1988 in my country, pic related. I suppose it wasn't a big success however. Never seen a copy or knew anyone who cared about this series before the 00's when internet and ROMs became more widespread.

>>9959907
Why do you care about any of this? What is the point of those questions? How does it impact your ability to enjoy the game in ANY way? This is not meaningful in the slightest.

>>9959939
Shit take.

The first game I ever bought (with my parents’ money) was metroid in maybe 1991 or 92.

>>9961034
Yeah I imagine French kids would rather play Surrender Simulator.

>>9959907
>Was anyone here alive when this came out in 1986? What was it like to experience?
Yes. It was a complete irrelevance no one cared about. Gaming then was and had been nearly entirely focused on 8 bit computers and no one gave a fuck about nintendo, at that stage the big deal was the Amiga and the Atari ST releasing in 1985 now THOSE were a big deal as their predecessor home computers had been. Shit like this OP was a fucking irrelevance at best.

>>9959939
That's not true. It was among the major NES games along with Mario, Zelda, and Kid Icarus. Mother Brain was the main villain in Captain N.

>>9961751
>It was among the major NES games
All the innovation was on the computing platforms and by the mid 80s the two main players with the amiga and st. Shit like Zelda was fucking unknown to most people who were into gaming in the 80s because it was not running on any computer and the early versions were just late rip offs of computer games (computer games, not console games) like Phantasie, Ultima and early 8 bit stuff. really I was around back then. Nintendo had an outsized presence in Japan doh) a presence in the USA (but premium and innovative gaming in the 80s was always on computing platforms ). Mario was juts an overpriced side scroller copied from 8 bit multiroom side scollers one of 100s .

>>9961738
>no one gave a fuck about nintendo
My god, what the fuck is wrong with you? Who says ridiculous things like this? Who are you trying to convince?

>>9961738
Auster raus

>>9961019
>>9961034
kutmongool

I was 1, so I didn't play it for a while. My brothers had it already had it though.

>>9961924
Literally the most obvious troll on the board and people keep falling for it. Damn.

>>9959907
>It was cool but it wasn't exactly the first non-linear game around.
>2nd game shat the bed, just like Zelda and Castlevania.
>No one cared about Super because it was released on a dead system and everyone was saving their money for a PS1 or PC.
>No one gave a shit about SotN either because it was boring old 2D.

>>9961034
that is pretty cool how that toys r us sticker is still in tact over 40 years later

>>9959907
Kids dont understand the significance of things. But playing metroid on an nes on a wood paneled crt leaves a certain impression thats impossible to describe.

>>9962598
Hey you. Describe that impression of playing metroid on an nes with a wood paneled crt.

>>9962809
The moment the game started, I was instantly transported into this futuristic, alien world. The graphics are out of this world! The colors are so vivid, and the characters and environments are so detailed. It feels like I'm actually exploring another planet! And the gameplay, it's like nothing I've ever seen before. I take control of Samus Aran, this awesome space bounty hunter, and the way he (he's gotta be a dude, right?) moves and fights is so smooth and responsive. It's like I'm in total control of his every move. And the levels in this game are massive! They're like these complex mazes filled with hidden paths and power-ups. It's all about exploring and discovering new areas. I feel like a real space adventurer, uncovering secrets and battling alien creatures.

>>9962947
YOU SAID IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE.
YOU'RE A PHONY.
https://youtu.be/ToQVoyWWluQ?t=19

>>9959907
old fart in to report:
i was almost 6 when it came out. the one thing that kept me going was the password system, but the codes were too goddamn long, and sometimes i got 0s, Os, a/e, 1/l fucked up and i had to start all over again...or better yet, try all kinds of combinations where the confused letter or number was, and replace it. this system taught me process of elimination and boosting critical thinking just by having passwords in a game. there was something cozy about writing it all down exactly how it was seen on screen, even going so far as to use the right color pen or crayon for the best result. my old and damaged brain can just take screenshots on the phone and store it in a game passwords folder so i can easily pick up where i left off.
and using the freeze beam only alleviated the possibility of landing in shit pits with no way back up if the wave was equipped.
now i want to play this again but on the physical NES emulator, not the switch where cancerous suspend points thrive.

>>9962947
This is almost as cringy as those tiktok sluts roleplaying as jews killed in concentration camps during WWII

>>9959907

>>9959907
>alive when this came out in 1986?

yes. got it for christmas.

>What was it like to experience?

amazing, mysterious. made me throw my controller at the tv.

>Did you know that it was a big deal and a whole new genre?

nope.

>>9962947
This is a halfbreed zoomer who got a d in his common core writing class. How did you wander away from ticktok pubehead?

>>9962809
Not possible means not possible. Try describing a dream with any detail. Its a flash of something that was there and is now gone.

>>9961040
AGGRESIVE DOWNVOTE SWEATY

It's a heckin' question on my 4Chins and OP needs representation CHUD!

>>9961040
He just wants the old grandpas that browse 4chan to out themselves so he can laugh at them.

>>9959907
Wasn't around when it came out but I had a friend who was obsessed with this game in the late 90s and he would replay it over and over again and got it down to an exact science and could beat it as fast as he wanted. Was a literal speedrunner before that was even a thing.

>>9959907
It was really cool because there were t that many good games available. Everyone had Mario and Zelda and metroid, and then everything after that was just whatever and usually shit in comparison.

W
For a whole summer I'd go over to my friends house and they had like 6 kids in the family and 3 wanted to play so they'd Justin Bailey and try to speed run it. If you died you had to pass the controller.

I was younger so I annoyed them by not going to mother brain and just getting lost in the game.

If you play a game descended from a Justin Bailey save for awhile and over several deaths you can get some weird glitches, like floating doors and doors locked in walls, and wave beam but it's blue.

I assume it's from Justin Bailey anyway. This seemed very consistent across multiple consoles and cartridges so it doesn't seem like it would just be dirty contacts.