Since this community is new I wanted to spark some discussion.
I’ve been a fan for years and used to frequent forums for the series back in the day. I learned about Metroid from a friend back when I was in elementary school (probably around 2004-2006 I honestly can’t remember). I played Fusion and eventually Zero Mission on my GBA.
When I was in middle school I learned about Super Metroid ROM Hacks and watched tons of let’s plays of them back then. Eventually I got Super Metroid myself on Wii VC and got to play a bit myself.
After that I didn’t branch out too much. I only really played Prime 1 and did play AM2R when that released. I still enjoy coming back to the series though.
What’s your experience?
I first saw Metroid on the NES at my cousin’s house and thought it was a very cool looking game. I think I must have been 7 or so? We got our own copy some time later and I remember getting stuck a lot. It was hard with no map!
Many years later I read about the upcoming Super Metroid game coming to SNES in my GamePro magazine and I remember renting it as soon as it was available. Amazing game, got stuck around where there was a deep hole and you had to wall jump your way out like a creature showed you. Bought it soon after that and beat it, been a fan since then. 🙂
I actually discovered the franchise pretty recently, in 2021. It was around the time I got myself a switch, which was the first Nintendo console I played since the Gameboy color. I didn’t know almost anything about Metroid and Nintendo games in general (except of course Pokémon).
One day when I was back at my parents’ house for the weekend I found my brother’s 3DS and took it with me. I started playing and browsing through the games he had installed and, I don’t know why, Metroid Fusion caught my attention. For me it was just a random game I thought I could try, but I was instantly mesmerized by it. I started looking up all the other games and then I played Super Metroid on NSO. I was in awe, that game was absolutely incredible and aged impeccably. Truly one of the best games ever designed.
When I was in full force with my Metroid hype, I watched my first ever Nintendo Direct and… Yes, it was the one where Dread was announced. It felt magical to me, my head exploded. In the months leading up to Dread I played all the other games in the franchise, mostly on the 3DS after I hacked it (actually the need to play Zero Mission was the main reason I decided to hack it). I was constantly on r/metroid and read up every Dread report. When it finally came out I wasn’t disappointed.
Let’s leave it at that right now, I feel like I’m gonna write a whole book otherwise lol.
Thanks for the post! Let’s try to make this space something special!
I had never owned a Nintendo console and the only Nintendo games I played somewhat regularly at my friend’s house were Wii sports and Mario kart Wii. So my Nintendo journey only began in 2020 when I decided to try ocarina of time because I had seen it placed really high in a few “greatest games of all time” lists. I got hooked and eventually ended up buying a switch and playing a bunch of zelda and super Mario games. I also bought a new 2DS XL for my girlfriend at the time because she had some nostalgic memories of the DS, and that is where I ended up playing Metroid: Samus returns and had a blast. I subsequently played through zero mission and fusion, and then super metroid, but samus returns remained my favourite purely because it plays so smoothly. So it goes without saying that I fucking loved dread when it came out. And finally with the release of prime remastered I also played through that and was mindblown by how well metroid works as a 3d fps. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy 2 quite as much, and I stopped playing 3 after a few hours because it felt too linear.
I don’t remember if I played Metroid on the NES; I did play Metroid 2 on the original Gameboy though and later borrowed Super Metroid for a few days. But it was only on an emulator (ZSNES) that I finished Super Metroid. And Metroid Dread was the final reason why I bought a Switch after staying away from Nintendo for 2 decades.
I don’t even remember how I got my hands on Zero Mission, I was like 8-9 years old. And it blew my mind. It was an incredible experience. I later got Fusion, and the fight against Nightmare was so scary but also so hype. I remember playing it at my Grandma’s while everybody was already sleeping.
I played Super and AM2R when I was considerably older, though I kept replaying ZM and Fusion throughout my teenage years.
I have never played a Prime game, though. The mix of the Halo-style 3D shooter, and then not being canon has always put me off. But I’m aware that they’re very good games.
So I guess I’ve been a fan for most of my life already.
