Exploring the history of the Metroid series in honor of its upcoming anniversary and the imminent release of the fifth numbered part.
Triple originality
The 1980s were a time of daring experimentation. Lone programmers or tiny development teams created games that could sell in millions of copies. The genres had just begun to settle down, and the profession of “game designer” actually did not exist: even in Nintendo everything was done by programmers and artists. Moreover, the latter often did not even imagine the technical limitations of the hardware for which the development was carried out. Perhaps this is what allowed the ideas of several newbie developers within the walls of Nintendo to become so ambitious.
By creatively combining different mechanics (and, of course, using glitches), it was possible to cut a significant part of the path. Largely thanks to Metroid, speedruns were born
Thus, Metroid, being a shooter in its mechanics (and not a top-down adventure game like Zelda), shifted its focus from action to an adventure component: exploring the world, backtracking, pumping. The planet Zebes, on which our hunter in a spacesuit was running, was full of secrets that the player had to find, and its inhabitants were not necessarily hostile to the hero – someone did not try to attack, but simply flew or crawled back and forth. And it worked great for immersion in the world of the game: he lived his own life, and did not work mechanically as part of the attraction. The action here did not revolve around the protagonist, and this emphasized the feeling of loneliness in a foreign world.
Unlike most games of the time, Metroid did not suffer from a constant lack of health or ammunition – literally every enemy left behind either a healer or ammunition
In addition to the unusual surroundings and structure of the game, the developers also surprised by five different endings: depending on the speed of the passage, the player received different greetings from the protagonist at the end. The fastest were rewarded with an image of the hero without a spacesuit, which revealed the main plot twist of the game: it turned out that the space hunter Samus Aran was a woman.
However, although the concept of the project was outstanding, the execution did not shine. The game was literally put together on the knee by novice artists, and it is striking. Both the design of the locations and the location of secret passages and secrets do not stand up to criticism here. And it is very inconvenient to navigate such wide open spaces without a map. So, we can only recommend the first part of Metroid right now for the purpose of familiarizing with an important milestone in the history of games.
After all, it already included all the key elements of the genre, which would later be called “metroidvania”: free movement around the world, search for permanent improvements and new skills of the hero and return to old locations in order to open new paths with the help of newly acquired skills. Alas, other games of the time did not pick up this formula, so Nintendo had to develop it. However, she was in no particular hurry to do it.
One step back, two steps forward
The only reason to think of the second Metroid at all is its storyline. Although it only fits in two lines, its impact on the future of the series is difficult to overestimate.
In the first part of Metroid, the hunter Samus Aran traveled to the planet Zebes to stop space pirates from breeding Metroids, terrible creatures that can suck energy from any living creature. She defeated all the pirate leaders – Craid, Ridley and the artificial intelligence called Mother Brain – and destroyed their base. Hurray, the mission is over.
But metroids still exist on their home planet SR388. And in the second part, Samus goes there to finally end them. After the last of the monsters, the huge Queen, dies, another metroid hatches from the egg, quite a tiny one. He circles around Samus, thinking that she is his mother, and she takes him with her.
This act of mercy – the first manifestation of the heroine’s character – greatly impressed Yoshio Sakamoto, who worked as an artist on the first Metroid and completely missed the second. It was Sakamoto who spearheaded the development of subsequent installments in the main Metroid line, and his interpretation of Samus drew heavily on this scene.
However, in the sequel Sakamoto wrote, Samus still showed no emotion, although this could already be done on the SNES. And in itself, the third part looked like a remake of the first: Samus brought the baby metroid to the scientists, and then Ridley flew out of nowhere and took him back to Zebes. And there, Craid, Mother Brain, and the base of space pirates have already successfully revived – and Samus needs to clear all the same places again. Ah shit, here we go again.
I must admit, Zebes has become very prettier literally in one console generation.
In addition, as befits a classic, it has aged quite well: it can be passed with pleasure in 2023. True, the second half of the game still sags noticeably (especially in the underwater segments), and some are not even secret, and the obligatory passages are masked so sadistically that the devil himself will break his leg. At the same time, it was Super Metroid that became the last truly non-linear part of the series.
In the finale of Super Metroid, a metroid baby who has eaten up on pirate grubs rescues her “mother” in the battle against Mother Brain, heroically sacrificing herself
After the third part, the series took a time out, missing the Nintendo 64, but in 2002 it returned at once with two issues that were not related in any way. The fourth numbered part was handled by the same Sakamoto, and a new, unknown American studio was responsible for the transition of the series to 3D. No one expected that she would be able to wipe the Japanese nose, but a miracle still happened.
Rebirth
Early history Retro studios did not inspire optimism. Its founder entered into an agreement with Nintendo before starting the company; without even getting devkits in hand, the small studio immediately began to work on four projects at once. The results of the first year of Retro’s existence were disappointing – but then Nintendo intervened, effectively removing the founder from running the studio. Shigeru Miyamoto himself flew to Texas and began to chop from the shoulder. Three out of four projects were unceremoniously canceled; in the fourth, first-person shooter, the legendary game designer saw the potential. Prepared for the worst, Retro employees received an offer that was difficult to refuse: to make a new part of Metroid on their own engine.
But transferring a game from 2D to 3D without losing the essence of the original source is a very difficult task. The developers initially thought to use a third-person view, but Miyamoto vetoed this decision. He also threw ideas to the developers: for example, “What if Samus had bug eyes?” So the heroine’s helmet got various visors – filters that allow you to look at the environment in a different way.
Perhaps the most important of these was the scanner, which illuminates all interesting objects in the field of view and gives information about them. Thanks to him, the level of immersion in the world of the game increased at times: he allowed reading the ancient letters of a dead civilization and told about every representative of flora and fauna he met. But his functional role was no less important: he showed all the hidden paths, suggested what exactly was needed to open them. Thanks to the scanner, the player always understood what was around him and what was worth paying attention to. The need to poke at all the walls in a row, as in two-dimensional “Metroids”, disappeared.
Prime is much more linear than Super Metroid, with important improvements coming in strict order. And if the player cannot figure out where to go for a long time, the game will helpfully give a hint
And what is the soundtrack!
Primus needs fixing
Wii owners have been hooked around a city flying in the sky long before BioShock Infinite!
Farewell to pixel art
But let’s go back in time, in 2002, when the paths of 2D and 3D parts completely diverged. The Prime series, even in its most plot-rich moments, did not claim to be connected with the old canon: the fans simply decided that, since Samus already knew Ridley, but the Metroids had not yet been completely exterminated, then the events of all Primes took place somewhere between the first and the second part. But with the same success they could be taken out into a parallel universe – what’s the difference?
The one who worried about the old canon was Yoshio Sakamoto: he was determined to continue and develop Samus’s story. Although it was difficult to continue it: the last metroid died, the space pirates were defeated, and in order to prevent them from being reborn on Zebes again, Samus blew up the entire planet. What’s next?
And then the popular scenario “ancient evil awakens”. As it turned out, metroids were artificially bred on the planet SR388, because there were terrible X-parasites that not only ate all living things, but also mimicked other organisms. Traveling to SR388 to find out what is going on there, Samus becomes infected with the parasite and crashes. Scientists save her with the help of the cells of the same baby metroid, which she brought them to study earlier.
So the Metroid series narratively repeated the movie cycle that at one time inspired its appearance: in the second part, the heroine dealt with the Alien queen, in the third she took with her the Alien baby, who died in the finale, and in the fourth she was reborn, absorbing some of those with whom fought all my life. And she was locked in a spaceship where monsters were taken out. The heroine wants to destroy the ship, and her on-board computer reminds that Company The Federation wants to use this wonderful new organism as a biological weapon. Parallels suggest themselves.
Самус называет ИИ-собеседника Адамом, потому что он своими манерами напоминает ей офицера, под началом которого она служила в армии. Затем, разумеется, выясняется, что он буквально и есть оцифрованная копия Адама Малковича — человека, который ранее пожертвовал собой ради спасения жизни Самус. Вдвоём они уничтожают космическую станцию вместе со всей планетой SR388 — и тем самым бросают вызов всей Федерации. Что же дальше? А дальше почти 20 лет ожидания сиквела.
Несмотря на несвойственные серии линейность и упор на сюжет, публика приняла Fusion тепло: приятная картинка, удобное управление и солидный дизайн уровней сыграли свою роль. Её можно рекомендовать к прохождению и сейчас, но с важной оговоркой: она не даст вам тот самый игровой опыт, за который все носят на руках Super Metroid — или даже Prime.
Сакамото же вместо сиквела занялся приквелами, мидквелами и ремейками. В 2003-м вышла манга Metroid, раскрывающая очень много интереснейших подробностей. Оказывается, Самус осиротела из-за Ридли, из-за чего у неё сильная травма; она провела юность на Зебесе, и воспитывали её чозо — та самая вымершая раса, по руинам чьей цивилизации мы и гуляем. Ещё манга знакомит с Адамом Малковичем, показывает жизнь в Федерации… И столь интересная и важная часть лора Metroid так и не выходит на Западе. Что вдвойне иронично, ведь в Японии серия Metroid не пользуется и долей той популярности, какую она заработала в США и Европе.
Zero Mission — такой ремейк, после которого об оригинале можно и не вспоминать. Лучше стало ровно всё. Удобное управление и новые умения из Super Metroid, переделанный дизайн уровней, нормальные бои с боссами, свободное исследование мира при наличии удобных подсказок… Если вы хотите познакомиться с двумерными «Метроидами», начинать стоит именно с неё.
Космодрама
Другое дело, что тут это представлено в катсценах, суммарная продолжительность которых составляет два часа — фактически четверть всего хронометража. То есть довольно простая история подаётся многословно, с подробностями, с пространными эмоциональными внутренними монологами, с флешбэками — к смерти малютки, к тому, как Самус служила под началом Адама. Хотя между двумя центральными персонажами определённо есть химия, Сакамото всё же не ахти какой сценарист.
Как раз за сценарий фанаты в итоге и разгромили Other M. Только прицепились они к тому, что удивлять их не должно было: например, к шоку, который Самус испытала при виде Ридли, к её стенаниям о малышке и к тому, что она сознательно не пользуется своими умениями, пока Адам ей это не разрешит. Первое и второе легко объясняется тем, что раньше Самус свой характер не особо проявляла (и вообще читайте мангу), а последнее и мелькало в Fusion, и требовало чуть большего внимания к сценарию и к отношениям между Самус и Адамом. Корень проблемы очевиден: Сакамото наконец-то сделал из Самус живого человека с эмоциональными всплесками и не всегда рациональным поведением, а фанаты нарисовали у себя в головах совсем другую героиню, куда более стоическую. В 94-м её встреча с Ридли не корёжила, понимаете ли.
Вслед за сценарием фанатов разгневала и линейность игры… хотя столь же линейную Fusion все до этого радостно проглотили. Ведь по своей сути Other M — это трёхмерная Fusion. Столь же сюжетная, столь же заскриптованная, только сложность поменьше. Она, без сомнения, не входит в число лучших игр серии (геймплей тут очень странный и довольно примитивный, да и арт-дизайн чрезмерно пёстрый), но столь резкого негатива она явно не заслуживала.
Справедливости ради, Fusion действительно могла обойтись без ремейка (да и Other M с натяжкой можно считать оным), в то время как играть в убогую монохромную вторую часть сейчас никто бы не стал. Правда, она нуждалась не только в обновлении графики, но в и кардинальном переосмыслении, обогащении новым и разнообразным контентом — и с этим MercurySteam не очень справилась.
Samus Returns
AM2R
Спустя долгие годы ожидания продолжение Fusion всё же было анонсировано на E3 2023. После долгих лет без нормальных частей уже само существование Metroid Dread вселяет радость — но есть и поводы для опасения. Разработкой вновь занимается MercurySteam. Игра снова выглядит, мягко говоря, не очень привлекательно. Механика парирования снова в деле. Трейлер показывает нам сцену погони с моментальной смертью героини — а это уже скорее в духе противоречивой Fusion и совсем не похоже на классику.
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