Summer Games Challenge 2016

[Key-Glyph]

Interesting Metroid thoughts, you guys. Thanks for the discussion! I'll be looking forward to playing Super Metroid next summer. I want to avoid paying an arm and a leg for it, but with all the praise, and with how much I love the series... I will probably cave.

As for Metroid II, I found myself stuck this afternoon with some deadly water that wouldn't drain. Obviously I had to find some more metroids to trigger the earthquake that lowers the water, but where were they?

I figured the best way to discover what I was missing was to re-draw my map. In its original state, this thing was all over the place. Since I hadn't been sure how big the map was going to be when I was starting out, or how much room I was going to need in any particular direction, I kept scribbling myself into corners. The only way out was to pick random empty spots elsewhere on the sketchpad and then label the two separated parts with a reference letter. This was basically the Mapquest version of Metroid. I knew to turn left in 300 feet, then keep right, etcetera etcetera, but I had absolutely no understanding of the greater, holistic picture of the terrain.

So I'm enjoying putting the pieces together in a new draft, and feeling satisfied with how it's all making sense, and lo and behold, I see what I've missed. There was one tower area I hadn't explored to the top. It led to two more metroids. Once they were defeated, the earthquake struck.

After that, things really got rolling. I keep advancing down, down, down into the depths of the planet, and am now finding metroids that are much further along in their life cycle.

Here's the thing, though. I'm going to step into Samus' shoes armor for a second and ask myself: am I the bad guy in this story? Should I be refusing my orders? The Galactic Council told me that metroids were dangerous -- that they'd destroy any living thing they could latch onto. So why are there other indigenous lifeforms on the metroid homeworld? They all seemed happy enough, until I arrived and started killing them and their fellow dwellers. What's the deal here?

And sure, metroids are a threat to us if we're standing right next to them, but they weren't a direct issue until someone (read: probably humans) took one off its planet. It fell into the wrong hands, and the crisis began. The first game was an utter tragedy, with a pirate group breeding these creatures into an existence on an unfamiliar, unsuitable world and putting Mother Brain through who knows what kind of anguish in her glass prison. Now the metroids as a whole have been deemed necessary to exterminate -- and they're not even a problem at the moment! Okay, so we sent some research teams to their planet, and those people died. What did we expect, exactly? That everyone was going to have tea? And now we're going to wipe an entire species off the galactic grid because we're either afraid some other jerk (read: probably humans) will visit the planet and exploit them, or we're simply driven by revenge?

Excuse me, Galactic Council, but I don't think it's the metroids that are the real problem here.

So as this game progresses, I'm feeling sadder and sadder about what I'm doing. Eventually I am going to confront The Last Metroid, and I am going to kill it. I'm also thinking about how the game mechanic links the destroying of metroids to tectonic events on their home planet, and how that makes them seem connected in-universe. Am I killing the planet too, by killing these creatures? Just how much suffering am I bringing down upon this distant world?

I know everyone probably hates Dave Matthews, but I can't help thinking of these lines of his that I've always found heartbreaking:

When was it killed? The very last dodo bird?
And was she aware she was the very last one?

Six metroids remain. Do they know?

[CFFJR]

Interesting Metroid thoughts, you guys. Thanks for the discussion! I'll be looking forward to playing Super Metroid next summer. I want to avoid paying an arm and a leg for it, but with all the praise, and with how much I love the series... I will probably cave.

Going back to your idea some time ago, I'd be happy to lend you my copy.

At least you'd be able to feel 100% confident that you want to spend that money if you end up loving it.

[pierrot]

The Super Famicom version of Super Metroid actually has an option to change all of the text into English. It used to be the case at least, that with some intrepid sleuthing, the SFC version could be had quite inexpensively.

[Key-Glyph]

Aww, thanks CFFJR and pierrot. You guys are great. I'll be looking into one of those two avenues next summer!

Also, I just beat the game this afternoon. There may or may not have been actual tears in my eyes. It was perfect.

[noiseredux]

Debbie Downer gif... But you are still the best, Key.

[Key-Glyph]

Sorry noise.

So I've been poking around on the internet a little bit and have discovered I had some misconceptions about the Metroid story. For one thing, Mother Brain is apparently the leader of the space pirates (?!?!) when I thought she was just another alien captured and exploited to their nefarious ends. I checked the NES and Gameboy manuals to see where my understanding went wrong, but they never really clarified Mother Brain's purpose or status besides her being integral to metroid cultivation and therefore necessary to destroy. Am I the only one who made this interpretation?

Secondly, the NES manual reminds me that the advanced civilization of SR388 is believed to have been obliterated by the metroids. Still not a good reason to go in and exterminate their species -- not least of which because it's only an assumption -- but it makes the Galactic Council's paranoid offensive tactic in Metroid II more understandable within the story.

And here's the last thing... I've suddenly realized that I identify with Samus Aran more than any video game character whose morality choices were not directly up to me. And based on the intense emotions I felt at the end of Metroid II, and vaguely knowing some of the major plot points in Super Metroid, I am 99% sure I'm going to be an effing wreck next summer and that I am going to want to (metaphorically) burn down the (in-game) universe with my anguish.

Can't wait. This series is officially up there with Ecco and Mass Effect in its importance to me.

I'm going to stop talking about this series now, sorry.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Key..,the Metroid series is just amazing. I love every entry - even Other M - and you have such great times in front of you. Super Metroid and Metroid Prime are, IMO, a two of the very best games in any genre. I love them so much, and I can't wait until you play them too.

.....


Summer Games Challenge

1. Adventure - Broken Sword (PC/iOS)
2. Beat 'em Up - Guardian Heroes (SATURN/360)
3. Fighting - Virtua Fighter Remix (ARCADE/SATURN), Virtua Fighter 2 (ARCADE/SATURN/PS3), and Fighting Vipers (ARCADE/SATURN/PS3)
4. FPS - Perfect Dark (N64/360)
5. JRPG - Dragon Warrior II (NES/GBC)
6. Racing - Virtua Racing (ARCADE/PS2), Daytona USA (ARCADE/DREAMCAST), and Sega Rally Championship (ARCADE/SATURN)
7. Rail Shooters - Virtua Cop (ARCADE/SATURN) and Virtua Cop 2 (ARCADE/SATURN)
8. Run 'n Gun - Ikari Warriors (ARCADE/PS3)
9. Shmup - Galactic Attack/Layer Section/RayForce (ARCADE/SATURN/XBOX/iOS)
10. Sports - Decathlete (ARCADE/SATURN)

I knocked out Broken Sword yesterday. It was a fine adventure game, and I will write more about it in the games beaten thread. I am beginning to think, however, that I just don't like point-and-click adventure games that much...Also, it too me just over ten hours to get through the game; so, apparently, Broken Sword is almost as log as Shadow Tower. (Who knew?)

After a slow-paced, adventure game, I felt the need for speed and fired back up Virtua Racing. I was much better at it this year, and I took finished first place on every track in arcade mode and also beat the gran prix mode. It is a very solid racing game, and I will write more about it in the games beaten thread. For now, I'm off to Daytona!

[Exhuminator]

Some of the Metroid questions you have Key, are answered in Super Metroid and Metroid Zero Mission. The rest are answered in Metroid Prime and Other M. I don't want to ruin any of the answers for you though.

[Sarge]

I envy you, Key. You get to experience this fresh! Metroid is such a great series.

The funny thing is, I liked it alright after the first two games, but I wasn't super excited about Super Metroid. Boy, that changed in a hurry. All the Nintendo Power coverage certainly didn't hurt, but once I finally got my hands on a copy, it was awesomesauce all the way through.

Even though they change the structure with Fusion a bit (more linear), it's still great, Zero Mission might be the greatest remake ever, and the entire Prime series (but particularly the first game) is amazing. (If you can experience it via Trilogy, that's the way to go.)

[Exhuminator]

the entire Prime series (but particularly the first game) is amazing

My thoughts... Prime 1 is awesome. Prime 2 sucks. Haven't played Prime 3 yet because 2 was so bad.