History VideoGame / Metroid1

[[TheEighties In the 1980s]] of the Gregorian Calendar, employees from the nation of Japan advanced a company known as {{Creator/Nintendo}}, and [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld an age of prosperity began]]. A successful exchange of consumers and developers resulted, and thousands of video games shuttled back and forth between nations. Soon, however, TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 began to attack the industry, threatening galactic peace. Nintendo struck back against this aggression, but the Crash's attacks were powerful and it was impossible to withstand it in the vast reaches of the West. So Nintendo called together [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 powerful video]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI game franchises]] to battle the stagnant market.

[[TheEighties In the years 1980s]] of the Gregorian Calendar, employees from the nation of Japan advanced a company known as {{Creator/Nintendo}}, and [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld an age of prosperity began]]. A successful exchange of consumers and developers resulted, and thousands of video games shuttled back and forth between nations. Soon, however, TheGreatVideoGameCrashOf1983 began to attack the industry, threatening galactic peace. Nintendo struck back against this aggression, but the Crash's attacks were powerful and it was impossible to withstand it in the vast reaches of the West. So Nintendo called together [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 powerful video]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI game franchises]] to battle the stagnant market.

* NewGamePlus: If you do well enough, or just get the password from someone else, you can play through the game without the power suit, with all the controls and power ups still working the same for an unarmored Samus. Just a one time thing for this game though, Samus is much weaker without the suit in the sequels.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The wave beam does more damage, can hit the various [[DenialOfDiagonalAttack crotch monsters]] and can shoot through walls. Unfortunately you need the ice beam to reach certain areas and to kill the Metroids at the end (even if you decide to skip the Metroids and let the time bomb finish them off, the ice beam is still the better option).

* SequenceBreaking: {{Averted trope}}: because unlike every other game in the series there is no sequence to follow beyond getting the morph ball then going right. The morph ball, bombs and missiles are the only things required to beat the game (making seven power ups optional), though you will probably need the ice beam too if running an absolute minimum run. Real Kraid and Mother Brain are the only bosses you have to kill, Fake Kraid, Ridley and the Metroids can even be ignored if you so choose.

* SamusIsAGirl: This was a huge secret in the original game, but [[ItWasHisSled now everybody knows it]].

In the year 1986 of the Gregorian Calendar, the company decided on a risky strategy: to send a lone space hunter game to penetrate the Crash's stronghold and destroy the mechanical life-form that controlled its defenses. The space hunter game chosen for this mission was ''Metroid''. Considered the greatest of all early shooter-adventures, ''Metroid'' successfully completed numerous missions that others had thought impossible. Despite its accomplishments, much of its hero's identity, Samus Aran, remained a mystery... unless the player beat the game in under three hours, upon which they discovered that SamusIsAGirl.

* PaletteSwap: The Varia Suit upgrade turns Samus's armour pink, activating missiles turns her arm cannon blue. A few enemies are also palette swapped, usually appearing together in the same area while other enemies with the same function get different sprites in other areas.

* CopyAndPasteEnvironments: One of the reasons that the original is [[NintendoHard hard as hell]], [[SurpriseDifficulty especially for people who played the sequels]]; this was, however, crucial in making a fairly large world without running out of cart space.
** The upshot is that many of the secret area entrances are copy-and-pasted as well, so finding one can make it easier to find others in the same area.

** '''[[AC:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UyVylP7AI ENGAGE RIDLEY MOTHER FUCKER]]]]''' Sadly, that code has now become a system-killer in the 3DS port.

** '''[[AC:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UyVylP7AI ENGAGE RIDLEY MOTHER FUCKER]]]]'''
*** Sadly, the above code has now become a system-killer in the 3DS port.

* {{Antepiece}}: This game is hard, but the devs will sometimes precede hard parts with easier versions of the hard part to give you some safe practice. There is a difficult shaft you must climb at the very end[[http://www.2-dimensions.com/2013/05/18/the-anatomy-of-metroid-xi-shafted-again/]] at the start of this last level, there is a similar shaft with wider platforms.[[http://www.nesmaps.com/maps/Metroid/Tourian.html]]

* UndergroundLevel: The whole game is one big one

* ContinuingIsPainful: In ''Metroid (NES)'', every time you get killed or use a password to continue where you left off, you spawn with '''only 30 Energy'''.
** A [[http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1186/ patch]] for the ROM not only adds the saving system, but also saves your health (no grinding to regain your health after loading!) and offers a (although minimalist) map screen!

!!Tropes present in both games:

* SamusIsAGirl: This was a huge secret in the original game, but [[ItWasHisSled now everybody knows it]]. ''Zero Mission'' doesn't even try to hide it, as a glimpse of Samus's eyes is seen at the beginning, her unarmored body can be seen on the death screen, and [[spoiler:a whole level is spent out of armor when Samus's suit is destroyed.]]
* ShoutOut: Ridley, whose name is derived from Creator/RidleyScott, the director of ''{{Film/Alien}}'', a huge influence to ''Metroid''.

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!!Tropes exclusive to the original game:

* AmbidextrousSprite: Present only in the NES version of this game; in commercials for the Famicom game, she has unique sprites for facing left and right. Interestingly, some differentiated left/right sprites are in the ROM of this game, but are [[DummiedOut unused]].

* PaletteSwap: The Varia Suit upgrade turns Samus's armour pink, activating missiles turns her arm canon blue. A few enemies are also palette swapped, usually appearing together in the same area while other enemies with the same function get different sprites in other areas.

* NintendoHard: There's a save feature, but you can't save whenever you want, only when you die. Plus, you respawn with only one energy tank full, so you have to grind to regain your remaining health.