Metroid: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
Line 5:
{{quote|''[[Saving the World|Must restore peace!]] [[Collapsing Lair|Must escape!]] [[For Great Justice|Peace of the universe is once again restored.]] [[Samus Is a Girl|HOLY CRAP I'M A GIRL!!!!!!]]''|'''[[Brental Floss]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXluUARlaOM "Metroid" in 5 seconds]'''}}
'''''Metroid''''' is the story of [[Bounty Hunter]] Samus Aran, who, armed with modular cybernetic [[Powered Armor]] from an [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens|ancient civilization]], repeatedly crosses paths with a species of energy-absorbing animals known as "Metroids
The ''Metroid'' franchise is somewhat unusual among [[Platform Game|platformers]], especially Nintendo produced ones, for the substantial continuity which exists between the games. The first (NES) game was released in 1986 and deals with Samus's assault on the Space Pirate base on Zebes. After defeating the Mother Brain, Samus is dispatched in the ([[Game Boy]]) sequel, ''The Return of Samus'' (1991), to hunt down evolved Metroids on their home world. The end of this game segues directly into (Super Nintendo) ''Super Metroid'' (1994), where the final larval Metroid is stolen by space pirates who return it to a rebuilt base on Zebes.
Line 17:
The latest game, ''[[Other M]]'' (Wii), was released at the end of August 2010, and combines elements from both series. It was worked on by the unusual combination of the inhouse team responsible for the Metroid series and none other than [[Dead or Alive|Team]] [[Ninja Gaiden|Ninja]]. [[Love It or Hate It|Whether or not the developer and gameplay shifts were a success or not depends greatly on who you ask.]] [http://wii.ign.com/dor/objects/14354733/metroid-other-m/videos/metroid_trl_e3_otherm_060209.html Trailer can be seen here.] It [[Interquel|takes place between]] ''Super Metroid'' and ''Metroid Fusion'', making it the only game since ''Fusion'' to take place after ''Super''.
Across the entire franchise, a number of characteristic elements have persisted, such as the continuous string of upgrades which Samus acquires over the course of the game (
This series is also known for being one of the two best known series of [[Metroidvania]] games, as implied by the name
Technologically, the original ''Metroid'' is noteworthy as one of the first multi-way scrolling platformers. Its North American release was also the first game to use a password system to save progress. The original Japanese release of ''Metroid'' was for Nintendo's disc-based system, and allowed the players to save their progress on the disc. Since the cartridge-based US system lacked this ability, the player was presented with a 24-character password which encoded the state of the game, allowing the player to resume his or her progress later.
The ending of the original ''Metroid'' is also a [[Tomato Surprise]]: if the player did sufficiently well during the game, he is treated to a [[It Was His Sled|(then) stunning revelation:]] Samus Aran's armor is removed, revealing the bounty hunter as [[Samus Is a Girl|a shapely (by 8-bit standards) woman]]. This reveal is also in most of the other games -- although no longer a surprise -- at or near the ending. Those who [[Read the Freaking Manual]] would find that Samus is openly referred to as a female by ''Metroid
Though Samus herself has never appeared on television (except in commercials), Mother Brain was featured as the [[Big Bad]] of the Nintendo-themed animated series ''[[Captain N: The Game Master]]''
A live-action feature film based on the franchise was optioned after ''Metroid Prime'' was successful, [[What Could Have Been|but appears to have lapsed]].
Line 35:
----
{{tropelist}}
==
* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: Samus has been shot at with explosive stingers, [[Fire, Ice, Lightning|lava grenades, super cooled plasma, high density neutrinos]]
** Samus herself has fired plasma, super-cooled plasma, ice, lava grenades, electromagnetic blasts, standard electrical blasts, concentrated light energy, concentrated dark energy, matter/antimatter, sonic booms, ''miniature black holes''
* [[Action Girl]]: One of the earliest video game examples, and ''easily'' one of the most well-known.
* [[Aerith and Bob]]: Several enemies have weird names like "Desgeega" or "Holtz", or portmanteau names like "Crocomire" and "Sidehopper". A seahorse-like enemy in Norfair that spits fire at you? "Dragon".
Line 43:
** Among the humans we have Adam, James, Lyle, Ian, K.G. (Keiji), Anthony... and Samus.
* [[After Boss Recovery]]: Many bosses and mini bosses drop tons of health and ammo refills when you beat them.
** Justified in ''Fusion'' as all the bosses and enemies are made of X parasites that Samus absorbs to recover health, so it makes sense that the bigger bosses have more potent X for her to eat.
* [[Air Vent Passageway]]: Applies to all kinds of ducts/tunnels, with the Morph Ball. Subverted in ''Zero Mission
* [[All There in the Manual]]: The games are easy to understand plotwise on their own, but there's quite a bit of canonical backstory for both ''Zero Mission'' and ''Fusion'', as well as the entire franchise on the whole, to be found in the manuals and the [http://www.metroid-database.com/manga/listing.php?vid=19 two-volume] [http://www.metroid-database.com/manga/listing.php?vid=13 manga].
* [[Exclusively Evil|Always Lawful Evil]]: The Space Pirates. Justified, as it's claimed any space pirates who question The Way Things Are are executed, sometimes on the spot. Any space pirate who expressed non-evil thoughts wouldn't have a very long life expectancy.
** According to some scans in the ''Prime'' series and some out-of-game info, not all of them are very happy with evil being the law, and certain POWs were incredibly easy to interrogate. Other scans seem to paint them more as [[Lawful Stupid]], with common troops not being nearly as malicious or cunning as Science Team.
* [[Ambidextrous Sprite]]: Averted in all 2-D games after the first; Samus has different sprites for all directions. In fact, this may only be played straight by the NES version; in commercials for the Famicom game, she has unique sprites for facing left and right.
* [[Androcles' Lion]]: A major plot element in the series. In ''Metroid II'', Samus is tasked with exterminating the Metroid species, but stops at killing a newborn. In ''Super Metroid'', the baby is kidnapped, and Samus goes to get it back. {{spoiler|Samus is eventually reunited with the Metroid, who is now gigantic after being nursed by the Space Pirates. It starts to swallow her, but recognizes her as its surrogate mother, and lets her pass. At the final fight with Mother Brain, the baby sacrifices itself to heal Samus and give her the hyper beam
** In ''Super Metroid'', Samus saves some Etecoons and Dachora during the escape sequence. At the escape sequence in ''Fusion'', the same animals help control the gunship to escape the space station.
** It also occurs in
* [[An Ice Person]]: Samus, considering all the ice power-ups. She gets this affinity turned around on her in ''Metroid Fusion''; because she has Metroid DNA, cold becomes her greatest weakness. The organism in her old suit, the SA-X, uses her old ice beam to devastating effect whenever she bumps into Samus.
* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: The [[ROM Hack]] Super Metroid Eris.
| |||