19/40

By Charles - May 3rd, 2026

I decided that I would give the Metroid series a try. I had heard that this game was pretty rough and you needed a map to beat it. I decided against this since I typically have more fun with retro games figuring things out by myself. I feel like you get to understand these games better when playing them as you would when they originally released. While I think it's better than most people give it credit, Metroid still isn't great.

Ranked 1st in Platformers

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Ranked 1st in NES Games

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Metroid

NES, 1986

~$2100 Sealed

~$26 Used

Other Releases:

Virtual Console

GBA Classic NES Series

Nintendo Switch Online

Presentation

10

Metroid is composed of one big level in which you have to find different collectibles and power ups to make your way through the maze. The problem is that you can spend 20 minutes exploring an area and it's the same 3 segments over and over. This gets rid of any sense of accomplishment for beating a tough platforming section since you'll have to do it ten more times.

Difficulty spikes between areas are a huge issue. If you miss collecting a certain item, you will die almost instantly going into a new area. Even worse is that every time you die, you get reset to 30 health, which is one or two hits in later areas. You're now forced to spend the next ten minutes of your life grinding item drops. The boss fights are very easy which makes things very anti-climatic. There is next to no strategy and you just have to spam missiles. 

This game took me about a week to beat, but most of that was just frustration. If you know what you're doing, this game takes an hour or two. It's not actually very long. There are multiple endings that can be unlocked by beating the game fast enough. Playing the game again from the ending screen with a fast enough time allows you to play as Zero Suit Samus with some of her power-ups. This is a great feature for an NES game.

Pros:

• One big level to explore

• Collectible items

• 2nd Playthrough

Cons:

• Repetitive sections

• Very easy bosses

• Difficulty Spikes

Ranked 1st in Platformers

See also:

Ranked 1st in NES Games

See also:

Controls

10

Metroid is composed of one big level in which you have to find different collectibles and power ups to make your way through the maze. The problem is that you can spend 20 minutes exploring an area and it's the same 3 segments over and over. This gets rid of any sense of accomplishment for beating a tough platforming section since you'll have to do it ten more times.

Difficulty spikes between areas are a huge issue. If you miss collecting a certain item, you will die almost instantly going into a new area. Even worse is that every time you die, you get reset to 30 health, which is one or two hits in later areas. You're now forced to spend the next ten minutes of your life grinding item drops. The boss fights are very easy which makes things very anti-climatic. There is next to no strategy and you just have to spam missiles. 

This game took me about a week to beat, but most of that was just frustration. If you know what you're doing, this game takes an hour or two. It's not actually very long. There are multiple endings that can be unlocked by beating the game fast enough. Playing the game again from the ending screen with a fast enough time allows you to play as Zero Suit Samus with some of her power-ups. This is a great feature for an NES game.

Pros:

• One big level to explore

• Collectible items

• 2nd Playthrough

Cons:

• Repetitive sections

• Very easy bosses

• Difficulty Spikes

Ranked 1st in Platformers

See also:

Ranked 1st in NES Games

See also:

Controls

10

Metroid is composed of one big level in which you have to find different collectibles and power ups to make your way through the maze. The problem is that you can spend 20 minutes exploring an area and it's the same 3 segments over and over. This gets rid of any sense of accomplishment for beating a tough platforming section since you'll have to do it ten more times.

Difficulty spikes between areas are a huge issue. If you miss collecting a certain item, you will die almost instantly going into a new area. Even worse is that every time you die, you get reset to 30 health, which is one or two hits in later areas. You're now forced to spend the next ten minutes of your life grinding item drops. The boss fights are very easy which makes things very anti-climatic. There is next to no strategy and you just have to spam missiles. 

This game took me about a week to beat, but most of that was just frustration. If you know what you're doing, this game takes an hour or two. It's not actually very long. There are multiple endings that can be unlocked by beating the game fast enough. Playing the game again from the ending screen with a fast enough time allows you to play as Zero Suit Samus with some of her power-ups. This is a great feature for an NES game.

Pros:

• One big level to explore

• Collectible items

• 2nd Playthrough

Cons:

• Repetitive sections

• Very easy bosses

• Difficulty Spikes

Ranked 1st in Platformers

See also:

Ranked 1st in NES Games

See also:

Controls

10

Metroid is composed of one big level in which you have to find different collectibles and power ups to make your way through the maze. The problem is that you can spend 20 minutes exploring an area and it's the same 3 segments over and over. This gets rid of any sense of accomplishment for beating a tough platforming section since you'll have to do it ten more times.

Difficulty spikes between areas are a huge issue. If you miss collecting a certain item, you will die almost instantly going into a new area. Even worse is that every time you die, you get reset to 30 health, which is one or two hits in later areas. You're now forced to spend the next ten minutes of your life grinding item drops. The boss fights are very easy which makes things very anti-climatic. There is next to no strategy and you just have to spam missiles. 

This game took me about a week to beat, but most of that was just frustration. If you know what you're doing, this game takes an hour or two. It's not actually very long. There are multiple endings that can be unlocked by beating the game fast enough. Playing the game again from the ending screen with a fast enough time allows you to play as Zero Suit Samus with some of her power-ups. This is a great feature for an NES game.

Pros:

• One big level to explore

• Collectible items

• 2nd Playthrough

Cons:

• Repetitive sections

• Very easy bosses

• Difficulty Spikes

Ranked 1st in Platformers

See also:

Ranked 1st in NES Games

See also:

Screenshots from [Nintendo Entertainment System: Nintendo Switch Online (Metroid)] © [Nintendo], used for review purposes.