Metroid 1 update

Though I've defeated Kraid and Ripley I still have yet to find the Wave beam or Varia suit. Granted the wave beam is useless(since you need the ice beam in order to complete the game and until Super Metroid came out you couldn't have both) but I could really use the Varia. It's odd too as I was able to find the Varia when I was ten but today I just can't figure it out.

While Metroid 1 had a number of unique design decisions that wouldn't make their way into future games(like the inability to crouch, emphasis on survival instead of destruction) I won't miss the poorly designed bosses. Ridley is an absolute joke in this game(which is probably why in later games he becomes one of the hardest bosses). Kraid is a tough boss but that's more due to him having all of the advantages like a good frontal defense with the spikes and the flying horns he sends in an arc. I regret picking up the long-range cannon since I could have used the increased firing rate to freeze all of his projectiles. I ended up defeating him using nothing but bombs(took a lot of damage in the process of course). The later Metroids would feature much better designed bosses.

One aspect of Metroid 1 that I do miss is the ability to get the screwball very early on. In the later games the screwball was reserved for towards the end(partly because a handful of secrets and access to final areas were blocked by screwball-only walls(?!). But I guess since the weapons in general are many times stronger in the Metroid sequels it kind of balances out. Shame though as the screw-ball is so much fun to use.

One of the worst aspects of this game is the enemies that crowd around doors as soon as you enter the area. There's really nothing you can do avoid these spots and due to the repetitive level design if you find yourself going in circles you'll end up taking quite a bit of damage. This is the worst in Kraid's hideout as with many rooms if you approach from the left you're going to get jumped on. Even towards the end it's possible to get latched onto by a bum-rushing Metroid as soon as you go through some doors(mainly going back to previous areas to get some much-needed energy). Obviously this was fixed in later games. 

Overall Metroid 1 is a really text-book example of a flawed first in a series. While it's gameboy successor wasn't much better Super Metroid, Fusion, and Zero Mission are all great to excellent games that still share some basis with the original. It is still an interesting game to study and experiment with for fans of game design but I really don't think it's a great or even a good game.