Metroid (game)


 * This article is about the first game in the series. For information on the whole series, see Metroid (series).
 * For the species, see Metroid (species). For all other uses, see Metroid (disambiguation)‎.

Metroid (メトロイド, Metoroido) is the first game in the Metroid series. It was 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 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. Metroid would be remade for the Game Boy Advance under the title Metroid: Zero Mission, with a new plot and areas added to the game, with the original game being unlockable. The game was also ported onto a cartridge in the Classic NES Series. Metroid was later released on the Wii's Virtual Console on August 13, 2007.

Story
In the year 2004 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.

Note: According to Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus ' s manuals, the year of the Galactic Federation formation was the year 2000. In Metroid: Zero Mission ' s manual, the year of the Galactic Federation formation was 2003, retconning what was stated in the Metroid and Metroid II manuals.

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 to strike 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 of the planet SR388. This planet 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. Scientists decide to call this being a "Metroid" and the mere thought of it being in the hands of pirates is utterly disturbing. If the pirates learn how to multiply it 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.

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.

Gameplay
Metroid provided one of the first highly nonlinear game experiences on a home console. The basic gameplay is a mix of action adventure and platform shooter. Samus begins with a very limited amount of power-ups, and must explore the large areas to achieve the next "locked" or unreachable area. Because the game world is presented in one multi-screened "level," there are often areas that can be reached before they were meant to be by more experienced players. In this and later games in the Metroid series, this openness would lead to speed runs.

Endings
Metroid has five different endings that vary depending on how much time you take to finish the game. The endings feature Samus Aran in various stages of undress.
 * The slowest ending featuring Samus with her back to you.
 * The second slowest has her in full attire waving to you.
 * The middle ending has Samus removing her helmet to show she is a female human, despite many players at the time believing she was a robot or male in a robotic suit.
 * The second fastest ending features Samus in a leotard.
 * The fastest ending features Samus in a bikini.

Development
Metroid is notable for featuring a female protagonist, despite many games having a male protagonist at the time. However, as pointed above, you would only know this if you completed the game under an hour. The English instruction manual even did not say what Samus's gender was, and simply described Samus as a "space hunter" (now "bounty hunter") and specifically stated that Samus's identity was "shrouded in mystery". At some points the English manual used masculine pronouns in relation to Samus in error. Japanese third-person pronouns tend not to be gender-specific, making the surprise easier to carry off in the Japanese version.

The player's manual included with the game presents the term "Metroid" as both singular and plural, though this has changed, causing "Metroids" to be the plural.

Password system
Metroid was one of the first games to use a password system for saving game information between play sessions, and the only Metroid game to do so. The original game released for the Famicom/Famicom Disk System allowed saving of games on the disk, but the North American release was in NES cartridge form and didn't implement battery backed memory, unlike The Legend of Zelda.

Metroid presents you with a password when Samus dies. Passwords are normally entered via the title screen, where the options "Start" and "Continue" are given. Continue leads to a screen where you can enter the password you have received at the end of the last game. After doing so, you can continue playing, starting from the location at which you ended the game with the same powerups and progress you had before. However, many gamers disliked this password system and found it inconvenient, causing Metroid II: Return of Samus to use a battery backed save system.

JUSTIN BAILEY
JUSTIN BAILEY refers to a famous Metroid password that gives you nearly all the power-ups in the game, and allows the you to use Samus in a purple leotard rather than her armored suit. However, the difference is purely visual as Samus has the same abilities and takes the same amount of damage from enemies that she would if she were wearing her suit.

The password starts you in Norfair as an armourless Samus with five Energy Tanks, 255 missiles, the Varia Suit, the Hi-Jump Boots, the Screw Attack, and the Wave Beam. Both mini-bosses have been defeated and the path to Tourian has been opened. However, you must still find the Ice Beam as the password does not give it and the beam is highly recommended to defeat the Metroids in Tourian. A final Energy Canister can also be obtained before fighting Mother Brain.

There are many theories regarding the password. For example, Justin Bailey was originally thought to be one of the creators of the game, but no such name appears in the game credits. It is also often said that the Justin Bailey code was a reference to an English or Australian term for a bathing suit. Bathing suits are referred to as "bailies", so "Justin Bailey" would more accurately be rendered as "Just In (a) Bailey", which is what Samus appears to wear when the code is used. However, Samus' outfit with this code is a leotard, not a bathing suit.

It was also rumored that the password violated Metroid's normal checksum verification, which would suggest that JUSTIN BAILEY was deliberately coded into the game. A website called The Metroid Database has attempted to debunk this myth using password generators:

...the JUSTIN BAILEY password is a total fluke. If you play around with Metroid's password system (something you can do with the Metroid Password Generator program, found in Fan Apps), you can come up with other names and words that work as passwords. The "Justin Bailey" code is one which was found early on and happened to work pretty well, so it became widely reported.

Many players previously thought this code was the only way to play as an armourless Samus, but every password actually contains a flag indicating whether you will be using armorless Samus or not. Armorless Samus is also a bonus that is normally available when you clear the game under three hours, though this only to the NES version.

One glitch with this code relates to the number of missiles Samus has at the start. Although you start with 255 missiles, the maximum number of missiles is 205. Collecting a missile left behind by an enemy or collecting an upgrade will reduce the counter to 205 missiles.

There are also more variations of the code, such as adding dashes in the bottom row instead of spaces, causing you to start in different starting points. If you type in HEIHOS, then it will erase your memory! ALso, if you type in HOSHI SAGA BRAIN, then it will take you to the main screen. The Hoshi password is weird, because Hoshi Saga wasn't even thought of in that time.

NARPAS SWORD
This recently discovered code was purposefully built-in to the game and will not check with password generators:



All "0"s are "zero," except for the one "o" in "SWORD". The zeros can also be left out.

This code gives Samus infinite health and missiles, the Ice Beam, and every power-up in the game with the exception of Energy Tanks and missile expansions. You also still have to find and defeat both Kraid and Ridley.

It is interesting to note that when this password is used, the Ice Beam's projectiles are represented by the sprite for the Wave Beam projectiles, despite being colored like the Ice Beam and behaving exactly like the Ice Beam. This appears to be the result of trying to give Samus the Wave and Ice Beams simultaneously; obtaining the Wave Beam while using this password does nothing. The sprite is the same one used to make up the Wave Beam only rendered a different color. This combined sprite can be seen by selecting both ice beam and wave beam using a Metroid password editor.

There have been some debates on what the password stands for. Some players believe it refers to a "Narpas" sword, Narpa's Sword, or possibly even Narpas's Word. Others feel the password is properly read as "NAR Password", with several suggestions having been offered for the meaning of "NAR": an abbreviation for the name of the person who handled the conversion from the Famicom Disk System and designed the password system (Tohru Narihiro); an acronym for "North American Release"; or an acronym for "Not A Real", as in "Not A Real Password".

Famicom Disk System
Prior to the NES release, the game was released in Japan on the Famicom Disk System. Unlike the NES versions, this uses a three-slot save system, similar to the save system used in The Legend of Zelda series, rather than lengthy passwords. In addition, armourless Samus was not included in the FDS version. The FDS version instead adds a money bag image to the save slot, which indicates a completed game.

The FDS version utilizes the system's wavetable sound channel for several sound effects, such as doors opening and larger monsters being hit. One other major sound change was to the "countdown alarm" when Mother Brain dies. In the FDS version, it's a loud screeching siren, while in the NES version, it's a slightly soft "whoop whoop" sound. Five themes in the game also use the wavetable channel, adding an extra instrument to the music, though this instrument was removed from the NES version.

Another notable difference between the FDS and NES version is lack of a "steady-state" enemy. Due to lack of the extra memory provided by the FDS RAM adapter, the NES version featured enemies that performed in a less than random fashion. For example, Squeepts in Norfair jump out of the lava at one of three heights. In the FDS version, they can change their height in between jumps (low one jump, then high the next), but the NES version would restrict the state of the enemy so that it could only jump at one set height that would be redetermined only when the enemy data leaves memory. This lack of unpredictability removes a significant level of difficulty to the game.

The character initialization and item collection themes in most other Metroid titles were based on the themes from the FDS version of Metroid; however, Metroid: Zero Mission uses a combination of both the FDS and NES music, with the exception of the "Planet Escape" theme, based on the FDS version, whereas the NES version was extended with a section of the song.

Legacy
A sequel to Metroid was released on the Game Boy titled Metroid II: Return of Samus. Since Metroid, Samus has been a popular video game figure and has appeared in various games. Comics and mangas were spawned based on the popularity of Metroid. A Metroid (manga) was created to explain the backstory to this series. Tokyopop at one point listed a Metroid manga amongst the list of upcoming books, though has since disappeared.

Ports
Metroid is present as an unlockable bonus in Metroid Prime. The game was also remade into Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance, which was a retelling of Metroid, though with more plot and areas. Zero Mission also included Metroid as an unlockable bonus. Nintendo also re-released the original Metroid for the Game Boy Advance as part of the Classic NES Series in 2004. Metroid was also released for the Wii's Virtual Console on August 13, 2007.

Areas

 * Brinstar
 * Norfair
 * Kraid's Lair
 * Ridley's Lair
 * Tourian