Happy 25th Birthday, Metroid August 21, 2011

This month marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Metroid in Japan. It was a game that has inspired such a cult following from its fan base it has been made a staple of Nintendo’s portfolio of properties, putting it on par with the likes of Mario and Zelda.

To celebrate the anniversary of the game series that brought what was probably the first major female action video game protagonist, Samus Aran, I have decided to scour the internet to bring back some of the best and most nostalgic memories I have of this beloved series of games.

For those of you unfamiliar with the series, I recommend starting off like I did, with watching a very good retrospective series produced by GameTrailers.com a few years ago, right around the time Metroid Prime 3 was releasing on the Nintendo Wii. They go into pretty explicit detail about the release of the games, the platforms they were released on, and along the way you can get a feel for just what has made this series so beloved for the past twenty-five years.

Metroid was the brainchild of one of the major Nintendo head honchos, Gunpei Yokoi. Due to his pedigree during the early Nintendo years some people put him on par with his pupil, Miyamoto (considered by many Nintendo fans to be the father of us all) and one of the reasons the company was so succesful with games and game systems. Yokoi is also considered to be the father of the Nintendo Game Boy, which was a highly successful handheld device that kept Nintendo on top of the handheld market for several generations. Like a match made in heaven, Metroid 2 would release exclusive to this handheld platform, continuing the story of Samus Aran, and expanding the Metroid universe even further.

I have to admit personally that while I did own an original NES (as well as an original Game Boy) I was severely limited by funds and only could have so many games for the system and sadly Metroid was not one of them. I also was never fortunate enough to own a Super NES during its lifespan, and while I had seen games demoed on it when visiting various friends, I never got to experience any of them myself during the 16-bit era. This is why I’m so grateful that the Nintendo Wii had the Virtual Console store, and it actually was a huge selling point for me when buying the system. I wanted to be able to play all these classic games I missed out on and the Metroid series was a big part of that.

For those of you who would prefer an abridged retrospective of what those years were like, enjoy this brief retrospective that Nintendo did just prior to the release of Metroid: Other M. For a short, it’s actually extremely well done, narrated by Samus Aran herself, showing the story of the first three Metroid games cut to remastered CGI footage which retold the ending of Super Metroid (Metroid 3).

Following Super Metroid, the glory days of Metroid would hit a dark period following the end of the 16-bit era. In the aftermath of the massive failure of the Virtual Boy, Yokoi was forced to leave Nintendo and tragically died two years later in a car accident. Many have considered his death a conspiracy, or assume had he not been fired from Nintendo he would still be alive today, but no one can really predict that sort of thing. Regardless, There was no Metroid game released for the N64 generation.

But it wasn’t going to be the end of Metroid forever. Nintendo now had a new console, the GameCube, which was in last place in the console war behind Microsoft and Sony. While it was last, It had some graphical power behind it if you knew how to develop for it well enough. They also had the direct access of a very talented second party developer named Retro Studios, and they were going to release a new kind of Metroid game for a whole new generation. What follows is considered to be one of the most nostalgic game commercials of all time.

Metroid Prime was a major hit for the Nintendo GameCube and became a killer app for the console in a time when it was desperately needing one. This was around the time I started to get into Metroid. After seeing all the positive reviews of the game, I just had to play it for myself. Once Metroid Prime released for the Player’s Choice line, I bought a GameCube off a friend of mine just so I could play the game!

When Nintendo announced they planned to bundle the game with new GameCubes I sold my GameCube back to my friend (for exactly what I paid for it) and bought a new silver one, because the bundled copy of Metroid Prime had a behind the scenes preview disc for Metroid Prime 2. That preview disc was gearing up to be a major collector’s item. What made it so special was it could only be obtained by either buying a new GameCube bundled with Metroid Prime or buying five listed Nintendo games and registering their unique codes on Nintendo’s website. This early game registration site would be a precursor to Club Nintendo. Ironically enough, to this day I’ve never opened the game’s package.

Metroid Prime 2 released just before Christmas 2004. It would be the last Metroid game to release for the GameCube and the first to include multiplayer. Even with its few deeply loved games, the GameCube still finished last in the previous console generation war, unable to meet the minimum amount of sales Nintendo desired.

But a new generation of consoles were on the horizon, and Nintendo knew for it to be a success not only would it need to have something to set it apart from its peers, but the full backing of all their beloved properties, and Metroid Prime 3 would need to release for it, taking full advantage of the new Wiimote controller. When Nintendo was ready to release it, they were sure to make it a major staple of the Wii’s marketing blitz.

The Nintendo Wii was selling out everywhere for well over a year after release thanks to its proper marketing, great games, and unique control system. Nintendo released a limited edition of the three Metroid Prime games, called the Metroid Prime Trilogy, to take full advantage of the Wii’s control scheme, and released it in limited quantities for the same price of Metroid Prime 3.

With the Metroid Prime Trilogy complete, Metroid went dark at Nintendo. Retro Studios was now working on other projects, but Metroid would not be gone forever, and during an E3 press conference, the head honchos at Nintendo of America announced that a new Metroid game was coming, and it would be developed by Team Ninja, the company responsible for Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden.

Metroid: Other M was a different kind of game that people were not expecting. This was not another Metroid Prime game. It went back to the original game story of the original Metroid games, but also touched upon the expanded Metroid Universe only previously seen in print. A lot of people criticized how Samus Aran was depicted in it, but I had an appreciation for the game that other critics didn’t. It wasn’t as overwhelming as the Metroid Prime games had been, (with the overwhelming desire to scan anything and everything) and the linear nature of some of the levels actually helped with exploration. I had a lot of fun playing this game, I enjoyed the CGI cutscenes a lot, and I thought the ending was very satisfying.

Now that the Nintendo Wii is on its way out, what is next for Metroid and its hero Samus Aran? The Wii U is going to be Nintendo’s first strike at the next generation of the console war, which is currently unanswered by Sony and Microsoft. Currently, there has not been a Metroid game announced for the platform, but Nintendo knows they have one of the most recognizable property catalogs of any game studio in the world, it would be a shame if they were to let it go to waste.