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She came. She saw. She conquered. If only I could do half that good.
Aw, Metroid. I had never given the original an honest go at. I've always been somewhat intimidated by its maze-like massiveness.
But I'm a big boy. Shouldn't be too tough, right?
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 Monday Game Time - 38:02
Well, here we are on good
'ole planet SR388. Got my power suit on, arm cannon is ready to go. Time to tear stuff up. The purpose of 5-Day Impressions is to give a general idea
of the game to those who have never played it before. That kind of defeats the purpose of playing Metroid, but I just thought it would be fun. Alright.
Everyone knows that as soon as the game starts, go left. Climb over the barricade and collect morph ball. Besides that and the JUSTINBAILEY password, I
know little else of what to do or where to go. I kept heading right for a little while and sooner or later made it to the elevator to Norfair. I tromped
around for a bit before I died. Actually, I died a few times, then decided to head back. I jumped around some more and somehow managed to find the Long
Beam upgrade. Thank you very much. Then I just ran around some more until I ended up exactly where I began. It was about then that I decided that was
enough for a Monday.
Final Thoughts - Monday: Finally, an adventure game! Up until now, the games have been driven by a sense of urgency.
It's nice to be able to take everything at my pace for once, even if I have no clue where I'm going. Aside from that, I'd just like to say that this
game is hard. Good job Nintendo.
Hey kids! Play along at home! Today's password is:
00UG00 000000
20e5BW 4000d4 |
 Tuesday Game Time - 48:09
I have good news and I
have bad news. The good news is that today I picked up two energy containers (backup health supplies), bombs, and the ice beam. The bad news is that I
still suck. Collecting that second energy container was the last thing I did today. First, let me back up. I found a pretty good map of the game (I know,
I'm a cheater), but it had one little flaw that really threw me off. A door in Brinstar which lead to the bombs and ice beam was marked down as a
solid wall, so I didn't even bother going that way. Ch. Should've trusted my instincts. I actually tried Norfair again before I got those two items, only
to fail quite some more like yesterday. After backtracking and collecting those two very important items, I headed down into Kraid's Hideout, where my
first objective was to go get the energy container I saw on my map. I was low on health, so I died right away, not knowing what to expect. Then since each
respawn brings you back with only 30 health points, I died about 12 more times. In the end, I got the energy container, recorded my password, and called
it a day.
Final Thoughts - Tuesday: Yesterday I kept telling myself that the game would get so much easier once I got the ice beam. I was
pretty much right. Remember, the original Metroid never had a map. I'm relying on a nice little jpeg I found on the internet. Tomorrow I expect to get as
far as Kraid. If I can't beat him, I'll have to look around for a couple more energy tanks.
Hey kids! Play along at home! Today's password is:
3-8000
600001
AL2L85 0000H2 |
 Wednesday Game Time - 51:50
Today I put it in overdrive.
If ever there was a day for checking about 15 things off the list, this was that day. Ok. So I started out in Kraid's Hideout where I left off, right? I tried
for about 10 to 15 minutes just to get one measly missile container. I tried and tried and failed time after time. It was about then I decided maybe the
enemies in that region were too tough for me. Eureka! Varia suit! Well, what I figured was that I couldn't get the Varia suit until I acquired some other
neato upgrade. By why bother with other upgrades? I want the Vario suit NOW! I was right. The door to the suit is in a high spot, so the High Jump upgrade
was required. Fortunately, I found a little trick online (I know, cheater cheater). It wasn't even that hard to do. All it took was a little patience and
some simple dodging skills. After I got the Varia suit I figured, while I'm in the neighborhood, why not pick up some other upgrades? So I did some more
exploring in areas riddled with enemies far easier than those in Kraid's Hideout. All in all today I collected: Varia suit, High Jump, Screw Attack (Yeah!
Screw Attack rocks!!), one energy tank, and thanks to a particularly fertile area in Norfair, six or seven missile containers.
Final Thoughts -
Wednesday: I'm feeling much better about this game now. At the end of yesterday I spent quite some time just picking up one energy tank in Kraid's
Hideout. Today I spent as much, if not more time. Then I realized maybe it's not my time. I suggested that today I might meet up with Kraid. Well, I'm
thinking that maybe the game wants me to go after Ridley first. We'll all see what goes down tomorrow.
Hey kids! Play along at home! Today's password
is:
VzVFWv s00008
tv4p10 00007m |
 Thursday Game Time - 1:34:09
Great news! I just
couldn't stop myself because I was totally on a roll. Today I sought out and beat, not one, but both of the bosses that come before Mother Brain (final
boss)! I really wasted a lot of time, though. I was running around collecting powerups that I wasn't sure I had found or not. After deciding I was done
in an area, I was really concidering dying, which would restart me at the entrance to that area at the elevator. Then I decided that running around
refilling my energy tanks wasn't worth it. Ridley (the skinny dragon-looking one as seen in yesterday's picture) was the first on my hit list. He was
pretty easy. All I did was stand on the far left where he couldn't hit me and I just kept plastering him with my wave beam (Yes! I got the wave beam!).
Back to Kraid's Hideout, which I was still a little nervous about entering. It actually is the harder area because enemies are stronger and the place is
actually set up like a maze. Much to my satisfaction, I did not lose a life once. Kraid was a little tougher, though. There's no convenient spot to hit
him while being completely out of the way of his attacks. Being close to death, I left his room twice to seek more health. On the third go, I went in fully
healed and hammered him with the wave beam like Ridley.
Final Thoughts - Thursday: I realize now why this game is a classic. Sure it was
really hard at first, but once you get used to the way Samus is controlled (and pick up a few upgrades), then you just won't want to stop. Just check out
my time for today. Overall, I picked up: the wave beam, two energy tanks, and five or six missile tanks. In addition, beating each boss equips me with
the ability to carry 50 or so more missiles. Super keen!
Hey kids! Play along at home! Today's password is:
3-x-?- -y;101
9-?NyE 001GJY |
 Friday Game Time - 36:27
I was about to give up at
16 minutes today. Why? Well, I figured I was pretty much screwed. I made it into Tourian, the final area leading to Mother Brain, but the place was
crawling with metroids and all I had was the wave beam. Any fan to the Metroid series knows that to kill a metroid you need to freeze it with your ice
beam, then plaster it with a few missiles. I thought I was done with this game because I had collected both ice beam upgrades and I was stuck with the
wave beam. Then I got on gamefaqs.com and thanks to a most appreciated message board, I learned that the ice beam upgrades regenerate for this very reason.
I was most pleased to hear this, as it also allowed me to go back and pick up an energy tank I had been scratching my noggin about. Back to Tourian, where
I took it real easy with the metroids. I started having some trouble when I got to those floating red rings (as seen in today's picture). I made it to
Mother Brain's chamber without completely emptying any of my energy tanks, but then things got rough. In the boss chamber, things are flying at you from
all directions. It's really hard to dodge. While trying to stay alive, there are four or five force fields you have to take out before you can get close
to Mother Brain. Oh, and if you don't shoot them quick enough, the force fields regenerate. I managed to take out all the force fields and allowed a few
of my missiles to greet Mamma Brain before I died. I gave up here, but the good news is that next time through, the force fields will be gone!
Final Thoughts - Friday: Sorry I gave up this close to the end. I just got this far and decided my week was up. Besides, I really don't feel like
putting in all the effort of filling up my energy tanks again on restart. For those of you playing at home, punch in my last code, maybe look for one
more missile upgrade and one more energy tank, then go pay a visit to Mother Brain. This game has been fun. It might could last a lot longer if I wasn't
using a map, but then I think it would have gotten a lot more uninteresting.
Hey kids! Finish the game at home! Today's password is:
0iF--- x--o-q
34x?Cp 1000v? |
Total Time - 4:28:37
Felt More Like: 2:00:00
Estimated Time to Complete: 4:45:00
Final Thoughts - Week: Yeah, I really
was that close to the end of the game. In fact, *travels into the future a couple of days* I decided to pick this game up again before I got caught up in
another game. I took a little trip to go find a sixth energy tank, then went to say another hello to Mother Brain, where I took her out with two or three
energy tanks still full. This game is great. I didn't want to put it down at the end of each day. So my opinion is this: if you have an old Nintendo sitting
around at home and you can't think of any good games to prolong its life, go out and look for Metroid. Worth the price.
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