Table Of Contentfuture360°
Designed and produced by:
Future 360, Future Publishing
Limited, 2 Balcombe Street,
London, NW1 6NW
020 7042 4000
Senior Sales Executive:
Mark Wooldridge
Project Manager:
Gareth Hogan
Editorial:
Ian Evenden,
Richard Stanton,
David Valjalo
Design:
Andrew Hind,
Darren Phillips
■
EDGE MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED
BY FUTURE PUBLISHING
£DGE
edge-online.com
Metroid
FORMAT: NES DEVELOPER: NINTENDO RELEASE: 1986
he original Metroid's for the end. Like every other
combination of 2D element that has come to define
platforming and winding the series - the intricate
maps created a new subgenre, crossword puzzle of the world,
and a new world for Nintendo: the sinister Metroids lurking
the muted gloom of space, below, the loneliness that
tightly closed doors and things occasionally taps you on the
scuttling in the dark, the thrill shoulder - it's kind of a secret.
of close-quarters space combat. Just not a very well-kept one.
The acrobatics and gunplay
were great arcade tools - yet you
often didn't need them, relying
instead on mental gymnastics.
Was that door this way or that?
Where did I last turn here? What
else is out there? All the while,
the signature ability that allowed
Sam us to turn into a morph ball
The final battle of Metroid
and squeeze through gaps piles (left), which sees Samus
on the sense of claustrophobia. face down Mother Brain,
Remembered as one of the remains a touchstone for
the series, and the game is
first videogames with a female
now available to enjoy on
lead, Metroid saved that surprise the Wii's Virtual Console
Metroid II:
Return Of Samus
FORMAT: GAME BOY DEVELOPER: NINTENDO RELEASE: 1991
t would be five years energy, missile stock, and how
before Metroid's sequel many Metroids remain alive -
appeared. Following the as you hunt down more, you
events of the first game, the begin to see new evolutionary
Galactic Federation decides stages. The most careful
Metroids are too dangerous to consideration was given to its
live. Samus Aran, one of the only platform and how that should
humans to have survived contact influence the game's structure:
with them, is hired for the job. a principle that has served the
Metroid II sees the bounty series well ever since.
hunter show her true mettle.
Exploration is downplayed in
favour of a pure hunt, and
Samus' abilities increase
dramatically. Plasma beams that
can penetrate walls, spread shots
for busy rooms and a new wall
crawling morph ball were added
Samus is proportionally larger on the small
Game Boy screen, but a more important to an armoury that wasn't short
factor is her expanded repertoire of abilities of firepower already.
Metroid II is to Metroid as
Aliens is to Alien. The bottom
of the screen shows only your
Super Metroid
FORMAT: SNES DEVELOPER: NINTENDO RELEASE: 1994
uper Metroid begins lead to a single entrance going
with the last Metroid in inexorably downwards. Reaching
captivity and the galaxy the bottom, you stand in the
at peace. Not for long. In a smashed shell of Mother Brain,
remarkable opening, Ridley her defence system lying in
assaults the space station and pieces, the calcified remains of
kills the scientists holding the an old battle.
hatchling; after a brief skirmish Super Metroid truly begins
with Samus, they both escape as at this point, with an army of
the station blows. Landing on a Space Pirates and their grotesque
rebuilt and re-engineered Zebes, commanders repopulating Zebes
the first game's setting, Samus and blocking the path to Ridley.
sets out to recover the hatch ling Beginning the game with
before it can be cloned. minimal abilities, Samus is soon
The real story of the Metroid enough blazing through the
games is how Samus' abilities planet's interior, powered-up The cybernetic Mother Brain, seemingly
destroyed in the first game, returns -but she
and the capabilities of the player and capable of defeating
doesn't remain in her original form for long
- increase throughout, always anything in her path.
tempting backtracking even as The architecture of Zebes, its trawling, as oozing and
they drive you onwards. Super small rooms and long corridors sluggish musical pieces circle
Metroid's greatest tool is its to be explored at will, has its on themselves, accompanied
environment: landing on Zebes, own presence. A mournful by tiny snicks and shuffles from
a thunderstorm and damp grass soundscape underpins your the planet's inhabitants. This is
how Metroid is supposed to be.
A masterpiece in terms
of structure, the game also
unfolds a narrative that is the
quintessential Metroid tale.
Super Metroid is available on
Virtual Console now, and there's
no better preparation for Other
M, its direct sequel, than
enjoying the 1994 game's rare
craftsmanship and sense of place.
4
The X-parasites are organic nasties that
bond with other organisms, which almost
inevitably results in something horrible
Metroid Fusion
FORMAT: GAME BOY ADVANCE DEVELOPER: NINTENDO RELEASE: 2002
s Nintendo's handheld powered hunter made in her
upgraded, so did Samus, mirror image.
her original armour Fusion also introduced Adam,
replaced with a suit infused with Samus' commanding officer, who
Metroid DNA. And the rainbow helped guide her through the
colour scheme wasn't the only mess of the Biologic Laboratories
new trick on offer. space station. Upgrading and
Samus begins Metroid Fusion taking out the bigger enemies,
even more powerless than in you're always avoiding the
previous adventures. Pacing biggest one of all - until you're
through a space station infected good and ready. A game of hunt
by X Parasites, the destroyers and be hunted, Metroid Fusion's
of her original suit and the eye for set-pieces and twisting
Metroids' purest enemy, she's interiors are a key legacy to
stalked by the SA-X, a super- Metroid: Other M.
Metroid: Zero Mission
FORMAT: GAME BOY ADVANCE DEVELOPER: NINTENDO RELEASE: 2004
he impossible mission Though a game of simple
statement: the original, elements, the original Metroid's
but better. The GBA triumph was in their
hardware played host to a combination. With Zero Mission,
reimagining of the first game in that impeccable foundation was
It's important not to mistake Zero Mission for the series, incorporating almost layered with almost two decades
a simple graphical overhaul. The structure of
every improvement the Metroid of refinement: Samus' abilities
the map is altered and new areas are added,
as well as a playable postscript to the game team had delivered since. are total, the levelling of her suit
perfectly managed, with subtle
techniques rewarding master
players endlessly. This Zebes is
one that turns in on itself, with
secret shortcuts and tricks toying
with the original design.
Its influence on Other M can't
be underestimated - not least as
the most recent 2D entry in the
series. Its winning blend of old
and new, as well as fleshing out
the role of Ridley and the Space
Pirates - with a new twist along
the way - makes Zero Mission
the culmination of Metroid in
2D, and a series highlight.
Metroid Prime
The suit's visor is realised magnificently, all
neon readings and translucent reflections -
FORMAT: GAMECUBE DEVELOPER: RETRO STUDIOS RELEASE: 2002 and makes screen-filling nasties look great
etroid Prime was a exceptional style. Its multi-level material called Phazon, before
landmark videogame, environments were home to facing the Metroid Prime itself.
a new type of firstperson pitched battles, but they were It's not just as a visual
experience that valued agility never simple arenas: as ever, an showcase that Metroid Prime
and brains as much as a quick interlacing set of objectives sticks in the player's memory -
trigger finger, placing brawn pulled Samus back and forth though the lush tendrils and
on a par with brains. across the planet of Tallon IV. weird laboratories of Tallon
Not that it's short of a In the process, the origin IV brought the universe so
laser blast or two. Among its story of the Chozo, the creators vividly to life. It's because,
finest achievements was a of the Metroids, unfolds. As more than ever before, the
toggling aim that worked within more of an archaeologist than controls and the perspective
the firstperson viewpoint to ever before, Prime has you put you in Samus' metallic
create a visceral, frantic combat scanning the world through boots - and they were just
system unlike any other, Sam us' visor to discover more as quick, finessed and deadly
presented through a HUD of about it, and a mysterious as you'd ever imagined.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
FORMAT: GAMECUBE DEVELOPER: RETRO STUDIOS RELEASE: 2004
fter destroying the
Metroid Prime, Samus is
sent to investigate the
disappearance of marines on the
planet of Aether. She finds them
dead, slain by the monstrous Ing,
parasites that thrive in darkness.
Echoes not only had the
structure of the earlier title, but
split the design and objectives
across multiple dimensions. The
opposition were more feral than
ever, the Ing relentless, the
Metroids evolving into deadlier
and deadlier foes, yet the worst
of all is ... familiar.
The Metroid Prime has Echoes features two races split between
light and dark dimensions -and splits your
survived, but reformed in its
weapons accordingly for effective combat
conqueror's image. An eerie
doppelganger that shadows your Refining both the interface Chozo lore, scannable
progress as well as impeding it, and hub-and-spoke design that environments and subtly shifting
Dark Samus is mindless and fixed Metroid Prime had pioneered, details. It asked a lot from
on destruction, with the means Echoes stands apart as the most players, but its challenge and
to achieve it. cerebral Metroid, chock-full of depth repaid them in full.
Metroid Prime 3:
Corruption
FORMAT: WII DEVELOPER: RETRO STUDIOS RELEASE: 2007
P hazon is ever-present the next. Prime's fundamentals
in Prime, but not until were accentuated, the lock-on
Corruption does its true targeting now the basis for a
horror become clear. As part of pinwheeling shooting gallery
a system-wide Space Pirate that demanded precision as
assault, Phazon is a contagion of well as quick reflexes.
terrifying efficiency, corrupting After purging three planets,
planets and scrambling the including the Space Pirate
Galactic Federation. homeworld, Samus has her final
Samus, along with other showdown with Dark Samus - or
bounty hunters, tries to stem the the Metroid Prime - at the very
tide. From the first steps, it was source of Phazon. Corruption
clear how different Corruption's put a seal on the Metroid Prime
world was - not least in how trilogy, but it also set a standard
you looked at it. for firstperson motion controls
The use of the Wii Remote to yet to be surpassed. The slick
guide perspective was beautifully switches between alerts and
natural, a control scheme that attacks alongside its unique
found its perfect complement in controls made Corruption a
Metroid's pacing: intense combat · singular firstperson experience -
and pinpointing one minute, a and a tantalising starting point
considered look and slow sweeps for Other M.
Metroid: Other M
FORMAT: WII PUBLISHER: NINTENDO DEVELOPER: NINTENDO/TEAM NINJA RELEASE: 2010
aving spent so much time
alone with Samus Aran,
traversing worlds and
discovering alien life, it's
surprising how little we really
know her. A lone traveller, she's
at once iconic and unknown,
her backstory only alluded to in
previous iterations and never
fully exposed for all to see.
Team Ninja - the veteran studio
of Ninja Gaiden fame - and
Other M isn't all furious
Nintendo are aiming to rectify
seek-and-destroy
that. Set slap bang in the blasting: your time is
middle of the Metroid timeline, divided by hacking
Other Mis filling in the blanks and solving the puzzle
that each area provides
not just of the story but of
Samus' persona. Before you
even step into her big yellow
boots you're brought up close service and refresher, bridging
and personal with the planet the gap between the 1994 classic
hopping heroine. and Metroid Fusion. It's a bold
It's all rendered beautifully by storytelling decision that takes
animation house D-Rockets' things back to where they began
lush cinematics, Samus' in a bid to rekindle some of the
voice narrating the flow platforming magic of old. There's
of the space opera acted also the added bonus of drawing
out before you and in new players with its high-end
providing a motivation production values and, soon
for her quest that has after that beautiful destruction
previously been absent. of Zebes, a unique synergy of
The plot, one that gameplay styles.
begins with Samus The opening act alone is a
defeating the Mother compilation of previous entries,
Brain of Super transitioning from the
Metroid, is at once fan exploratory FPS from the
As ever, rockets are the most
devastating trick up Samus'
sleeve, dispensing with multiple
targets and heating things up
GameCube years to the from spinning whirlwind kicks to
sidescrolling sections of a long skull-cracking flips, are unlike
time ago. But there is also a anything the series has seen
wealth of new gameplay before, lending urgency and
avenues being explored by the vibrancy to battles and makirig
team behind action adventure Samus as much of a weapon
classic Ninja Gaiden, not least as any in her inventory. And in
putting Samus through her that inventory, of course, there's
combat paces with an arsenal the ability to roll into the morph
of close-quarters combos and ball and use any number of
special attacks. Counters now other fan favourites - with the
play a key role in maintaining promise of some new additions
health and the upper hand, with to round out the package.
some traditional beat 'em up
finishers to conclude battles In motion, Other Mis a
and make you look good in a system shock, its gung-ho pace
dynamic close-up. The acrobatics, going against the measured
nature of the past games. Sam us would put blinkers on a well traversing open spaces brings a
charges through the locales - designed gameworld and neuter sweeping aerial view that gives
populated by luminous player agency. Fortunately, Team a sense of the scale and scenery.
undergrowth and buzzing with Ninja has managed to sidestep If run-and-gun is the new buzz
new species and threats - taking this landmine in a way it hasn't phrase, old-and-new is the
down hostiles with rapid-fire before. The camera, though best summary of the overall
blasts and springing from fixed, is context sensitive and, production. Though the crisp
platform to platform with ease crucially, appropriate for each visuals are a delight, presenting
and finesse. Encompassing area. Entering an enclosed space one of the first truly inviting
multiple gameplay styles runs the introduces a thirdperson camera, science-fiction worlds on Wii, it's
risk of misjudging the camera: an incentive for exploration all nestled firmly in the bosom
tailoring it only to sidescrolling rather than combat, while of the past. It isn't all smash
and grab, either. There are
quiet times in what has been
shown that require the famed
combination of hunting and
scanning in order to enable
progress, breaking up any
monotony that could hamper an
all-out actioner of this sort and
again displaying the quality and
intricacy of level design for
which Metroid is renowned.
The sound of a blast from
Sa mus' hand-cannon, or the
The mini-map is a must for finding swoosh of a rocket, is like music
secrets -just don't expect any
to a veteran player's ears, and it's
sympathy from respawning foes
as you dash to the next area clear that the audio design,
10
