Metroid's 25th Anniversary: Short Blog

Twenty-Five years ago today the original Metroid was released on the Famicom Disk System in Japan. This would be the introduction to a beloved video game series very near and dear to many gamers hearts. I haven't seen much coverage on this today so I've decided to compose a blog to commemorate this milestone in Samus's history.

My first experience with Metroid was when my brother's friend brought over Prime. I was instantly hooked, the start up screen was amazing it was a close up of some organic matter (presumably a Metroid), and then the menu theme begins to play, which is one of my favorite songs of all time. I started the game and was instantly immersed into the dark ambient universe. I was thrust into a mysterious planet without being given any explanation of what was going on, I entered the facilities and saw the corpses of space pirates littering the floors, I pursued further to face off against the Parasite Queen and then I died. Rules being that when you died you have to switch the controller I then passed it to my brother's friend who took over from that point on. I had never experience anything like that before. The atmosphere it was just so unique.I just kind of stared at the T.V. screen in awe as my brother's friend proceeded to play.

When Christmas came later that year I asked my sister for a copy of Metroid Fusion. I didn't really know anything about the game, I just knew that it had the name Metroid and was hoping that would compensate for my inability to play Metroid Prime because I didn't have a gamecube. Whenever I'm asked what my favorite game of all time is I always reply Metroid Fusion, that game -- I love it to tears. Truthfully I can't pin down just one game that is special to me, because there are far too many, but It was Metroid Fusion that showed me that games could be more than just fun, and for that the game is very precious to me. I was twelve at the time and up until that point I was playing video games just for the game play. It never really occurred to me that video games could be more. I had played games that took place in space before, but Metroid Fusion was the first one that truly felt like I was in outer space. Years passed and I had quickly started to gobble up everything Metroid that I could find, it wasn't until 2009 that I got my hands on a copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Now that I had experienced 2D Metroid at it's finest I finally made the plunge to 3D that many had made 7 years earlier. I loved it. The game is brilliant. It took everything that made previous Metroid titles great, and expanded upon them making the universe even more immersive. The way that narrative unfolds is nothing short of genius. Instead of the story being revealed through traditional cut scenes, you have to piece it together yourself from stolen reports, journals from the deceased, and database hacking. This is what propelled the game into being a highly psychological journey. No other game has managed to envelop me in the same way the original Metroid Prime has. The wonderful atmosphere that this game has is one of beauty, fear, wonder, and uncertainty.

Metroid is my favorite video game series of all time, which is not something I say lightly. Out of the over 200 games I've played in my lifetime (yes I've counted) no other game series has captivated me the same way that Metroid has. I've since beaten every single Metroid game except Return of Samus (which I will remedy once it hits the 3DS eShop) and Corruption (which I've been putting off because it's the last major Metroid game I haven't played yet and I'm sad to not have anything else to look forward to). A mix of iconic music, unrivaled atmosphere, fantastic art direction, inventive exploration aspects and so much more is what makes this series special to millions. Thank you for the amazing twenty-five years let's hope to make it an even fifty.