Introduction to the game

Metroid(メトロイド Metoroido) is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo. It’s the first game in the Metroid series. It was originally released first for the Famicom Disk System on August 6, 1986, and later for the Nintendo Entertainment System in August 1987 in North America and in Europe on January 15, 1988.
The development of Metroid was handled by Nintendo Research & Development 1 (Nintendo R&D1) and Intelligent Systems. The game was produced by Gunpei Yokoi and was directed by Yoshio Sakamoto, with the music by Hirokazu Tanaka. The game was known for its eerie sci-fi flavor. The game's style, focusing on exploration and the search for power-ups that are used to reach previously inaccessible areas, influenced other video games. Its varied endings for fast completion times made it a popular game for speedrunning.

Plot (booklet)

[SPOILER ALERT]
In the year 2000 C.C. (Cosmic Calendar) the leaders of various planets united in order to form a congress that became known as the Galactic Federation in an attempt to construct a fair and structured universe that would enable society to grow and prosper. Under the guidance of this new federation, the individuals of the planets began to associate with each other and a new civilization began to develop. Various leaps in technology for transportation were created, such as interstellar spaceships, and society flourished through the use of such expansion.
At this time, Earth came into contact with individuals from these other worlds and the advanced technology that these people possessed was shared with the humans of Earth. All seemed well in this new society. However, devious groups known as "Space Pirates" began to attack the spaceships in the hopes of looting valuable goods from them and striking fear in the hearts of the people. In order to counter these attacks, the Federal Bureau set up a new combat force known as the Federal Police. Yet the pirates were extremely difficult to battle in the depths of space, even with the advanced technology of the Federation. Thus, they recruited a group of courageous individuals who became known as "Space Hunters", equipped with the best weapons available. The Federation provided huge financial bonuses to the Hunters in reward for hunting down and destroying the pirates.
It is now the year 20X5 C.C., and the universe has continued to develop while battles still rage throughout space. Recently, reports have indicated that a spaceship is traveling with a capsule containing an unknown life-force from the deserted planet SR388. This ship has been attacked and seized by the Space Pirates. While research about this life-form, currently in hibernation, is incomplete, it is known that exposure to beta rays for 24 hours will cause it to multiply. Some scientists believe that this life-form may have been the cause of destruction of life on SR388. The Chozo called this being a "Metroid" and the mere thought of it being in the hands of pirates is utterly disturbing to the human scientists. If the Pirates learned how to multiply this organism and use it as a biological weapon, the cost of lives could be overwhelming. The Federation launched search teams to find the Pirates and were fortunate to discover that their base was located deep within the planet Zebes. However, none of the forces are strong enough to take the pirates down.
Samus Aran surrounded by enemies near the start of the game.
During this outside battle, operations to multiply the Metroid within the Space Pirates' headquarters were soon becoming a reality. Desperate for a solution, the Federation decided that the only option left was to attempt to infiltrate Zebes and destroy the leader of the Space Pirates, "Mother Brain." To make matters difficult, the structure of the planet Zebes is a natural fortress that consists of a large maze. Scattered throughout the maze are various traps and allies of the Space Pirates. This mission clearly requires a special individual to complete, and so the federation has selected the most dominating Space Hunter of the entire organization: Samus Aran.
Samus, though human, has a cybernetic suit built by the Chozo, thus providing her with a strange power. She has, to this date, completed many missions considered impossible, and her suit has the power to withstand lethal attacks, while providing many itself. Samus makes her way through the fortress-planet Zebes, collecting weapon and health upgrades, advancing to new areas, defeating Kraid, Ridley, and Mother Brain, and, in the end, destroys all Metroids on Zebes.

fun facts

Is it a he ?

In the game’s manual, Samus Aran is presented as a male. We can read ‘The space hunter chosen for this mission is Samus Aran. He is the greatest of all the space hunters...’. In fact, Samus ended up being a women, it was decided during the last phase of development. By the way, Metroid was lauded for being one of the first video games to feature a female protagonist, though the player must complete the game in under five hours for this to be revealed.

Metro-android

Initially, the game was called ‘Space hunter’. Anyway, during the development, the team came up with ‘metro’ because of the underground setting. Then they mixed it with ‘android’ reffering the suit that Samus is wearing in the game. I guess they just wasn’t sure in what direction they would make the serie evolve.

Map of Zebes realized by Daniel Dubreuil.

So close and yet so far

The aim is to reach the game's final boss, Mother Brain. But what you didn't know was that its location was directly above you as you started the game (check the map).

Varia Suit (from metroid database).

Varia suit

Although the name of Samus' suit is fairly iconic today, the Varia Suit isn't its original name. Varia Suit is actually a mistranslation of Barrier Suit (バリアスーツ Baria Sūtsu), named because it can withstand high temperatures and acid. The developers decided to keep with the mistranslation because of the suit's "variable" nature.

Pelé

Pelé

In a interview, we learn that Kiyotake-san was a big soccer fan and named Samus Aran after Edson Arantas do Nascimento (Pelé). In fact, he thought his real name was Samus Arantas Nascimento!

Yoshio Sakamoto (left) and Hiroji Kiyotake (right), developers of Metroid.

Speedrun world record

The game is pretty popular among the speedrunners. The world record was set by MetroidMcfly (US), he finished the game in 11m 40s. Here’s the video.

Wanna play Metroid ?

You can, of course, play it on NES. Metroid has been remade for the Game Boy Advance under the title Metroid: Zero Mission, which updated the graphics, expanded the original plot and added new areas and abilities to the game, and even included the original version of the game being an unlockable feature upon completion. The original Metroid was also ported onto its own cartridge in the Classic NES Series, and later released on the Wii's Virtual Console on August 13, 2007. Besides, Metroid was released on the Nintendo eShop to the public on March 1, 2012. Finally, Metroid is part of the 30 games included in the NES/ Famicom Classic edition (https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/).

Check this out!

Want to learn more ?

• Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_(video_game)
• Metroid wikia : http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Metroid_(game)
• More facts on digital spy : http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/feature/a803746/30-things-you-didnt-know-about-metroid/
• The Induring influence of Metroid, the Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/14/16303016/metroid-nintendo-influence-legacy
• Metroid database (here you can find a lot of interesting stuff): http://www.metroid-database.com/game/metroid/

Interviews

• Interview of the developers in occasion of the release of the NES classic edition: https://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic/metroid-developer-interview
• Sakamoto’s interview : https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4333/the_elegance_of_metroid_yoshio_.php

Guide

• https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Metroid
• http://www.metroid-database.com/game/metroid/#guides

Thanks for reading ! If you’ve already played it, tell me what you think in the comments! In case you never did, I hope reading this made you curious. Have fun!