I do find it funny that a lot of people complain about the original Metroid's cryptic nature and difficulty when I feel The Legend of Zelda has a lot of the same issues but unlike Metroid, I think the gameplay of NES Zelda is timeless.
Metroid feels more claustrophobic and a lot of the world can look very similar to one another, whereas Zelda is very expansive and Hyrule has very distinct areas that make it feel more like a living, breathing world.
I can see people gravitating towards Zelda more for that reason alone.
A really good point actually, Zelda manages to have distinct areas much better for sure. I'm not sure how deep you are into the franchise but some locations like Spectacle Rock, even if unnamed, persist even in the newest games as recurring locales.
Hyrule is more of a fully realized world than Zebes. Locations in Zebes are very similar. Metroid's map is like Zelda's map if the only locations were the dungeon interiors.
I'm showing my (young) age here but I unfortunately didn't grow up with the NES but I do own one now.
I think a big contributor to that feeling of little variety are the colour palettes in NEStroid. I think if you take a look at a map of the game, the areas do have distinct layouts and game design language but aesthetically they are far too similar and of course, cryptic. Completely agree on Zelda though and I do think it is the stronger game by far.
As well as that I think a lot of modern Metroidvanias outstay their welcome. It's for this reason that I've always found Hollow Knight to be a bit of a slog for me, Metroidvanias need to be bite-sized.
I'm actually publishing something on it tomorrow. I think it's the most important console ever made; it's not my favourite and I think it has a lot of shovelware but it's iconic and I'm always glad to boot it up.
I enjoyed Hollow Knight but I always felt it was an amalgamation of Symphony of the Night's best parts an Dark Souls with some Super Metroid sprinkled in, I know people love it though and I wouldn't go as far to say that I dislike it, I'm just not as enthralled.
I actually finished a 100% run of Dread about 2 weeks ago. I didn't find the bosses too crippling (but I must stress, I've beaten most of the Castlevania games, this is a case of me being used to brutal difficulty, not an insult to your gaming skill) but I will say the stealth sections annoyed the shit out of me and I think it lacks the atmosphere and map design brilliance of Super.
You raise a very good point about the original Zelda. From the very beginning, the player can explore nearly the entire map. Even modern open world RPGs don't allow such a degree of freedom. The fun of Zelda comes from uncovering what was previously hidden in familiar locations.
Hell yeah, excellent game. I finally beat it and Zelda 2 for the first time a couple of years ago thanks to Switch's rewind feature making them much more manageable.
What Atari's Adventure pioneered regarding exploration and item usage, Zelda perfected. Hyrule remains the most memorable and fully realized NES world.
I really loved the play style Birds Eye's view. Zelda I and III. The first person perspective revolution of later 1990s to present didn't do it for me.
This is one of the few classics I've never played. This is despite putting it on every emulation device I've ever owned. I really should rectify this... Great write-up!
"Being a kid means spending 15 minutes going back and forth burning every bush on a screen on the original Zelda without any payoff, and never feeling like you wasted your time."
Man, this resonates. I hope kids today have a game like this, and I hope it's not just Minecraft.
I hear ya, I never beat LoZ until I was 20 or so. I enjoy it today, but like Metroid, the game intimidated me when I was younger. I hated not being given a clear direction, and I never had a Nintendo Power subscription growing up so I didn't even know I could "cheat" haha.
An iconic classic, thanks for writing this post.
I do find it funny that a lot of people complain about the original Metroid's cryptic nature and difficulty when I feel The Legend of Zelda has a lot of the same issues but unlike Metroid, I think the gameplay of NES Zelda is timeless.
Both can be cryptic for sure.
Metroid feels more claustrophobic and a lot of the world can look very similar to one another, whereas Zelda is very expansive and Hyrule has very distinct areas that make it feel more like a living, breathing world.
I can see people gravitating towards Zelda more for that reason alone.
A really good point actually, Zelda manages to have distinct areas much better for sure. I'm not sure how deep you are into the franchise but some locations like Spectacle Rock, even if unnamed, persist even in the newest games as recurring locales.
Hyrule is more of a fully realized world than Zebes. Locations in Zebes are very similar. Metroid's map is like Zelda's map if the only locations were the dungeon interiors.
I'm showing my (young) age here but I unfortunately didn't grow up with the NES but I do own one now.
I think a big contributor to that feeling of little variety are the colour palettes in NEStroid. I think if you take a look at a map of the game, the areas do have distinct layouts and game design language but aesthetically they are far too similar and of course, cryptic. Completely agree on Zelda though and I do think it is the stronger game by far.
As well as that I think a lot of modern Metroidvanias outstay their welcome. It's for this reason that I've always found Hollow Knight to be a bit of a slog for me, Metroidvanias need to be bite-sized.
I'm actually publishing something on it tomorrow. I think it's the most important console ever made; it's not my favourite and I think it has a lot of shovelware but it's iconic and I'm always glad to boot it up.
I enjoyed Hollow Knight but I always felt it was an amalgamation of Symphony of the Night's best parts an Dark Souls with some Super Metroid sprinkled in, I know people love it though and I wouldn't go as far to say that I dislike it, I'm just not as enthralled.
I actually finished a 100% run of Dread about 2 weeks ago. I didn't find the bosses too crippling (but I must stress, I've beaten most of the Castlevania games, this is a case of me being used to brutal difficulty, not an insult to your gaming skill) but I will say the stealth sections annoyed the shit out of me and I think it lacks the atmosphere and map design brilliance of Super.
You raise a very good point about the original Zelda. From the very beginning, the player can explore nearly the entire map. Even modern open world RPGs don't allow such a degree of freedom. The fun of Zelda comes from uncovering what was previously hidden in familiar locations.
Hell yeah, excellent game. I finally beat it and Zelda 2 for the first time a couple of years ago thanks to Switch's rewind feature making them much more manageable.
Today I learned the Switch has a rewind feature?!
Yeah for almost all of the NSO classic games!
Shoooot, now I gotta start taking advantage of that.
I always tell myself that I will not rewind the game, I will not rewind the game, I will not rewind the game, and then I end up rewinding the game.
I still forget to use it these days, haha.
What Atari's Adventure pioneered regarding exploration and item usage, Zelda perfected. Hyrule remains the most memorable and fully realized NES world.
I really loved the play style Birds Eye's view. Zelda I and III. The first person perspective revolution of later 1990s to present didn't do it for me.
This is one of the few classics I've never played. This is despite putting it on every emulation device I've ever owned. I really should rectify this... Great write-up!
Thank you! It's definitely worth at least one playthrough.
Honestly the greatest game of all time. Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox) is a close second, and they're remarkably similar in all the right ways.
I loved Ninja Gaiden for Xbox, but never played Black. What’s the difference?
They kept perfecting the game. After two extremely good downloadable "hurricane packs," Ninja Gaiden Black is the final version.
Camera controls, new enemies, mission mode, the list goes on and on.
If you've never played NGB, go for it. It's a masterpiece.
Best game ever besides Mario bros
Your mom knows what's up.
When the parents know best!
"Being a kid means spending 15 minutes going back and forth burning every bush on a screen on the original Zelda without any payoff, and never feeling like you wasted your time."
Man, this resonates. I hope kids today have a game like this, and I hope it's not just Minecraft.
I hear ya, I never beat LoZ until I was 20 or so. I enjoy it today, but like Metroid, the game intimidated me when I was younger. I hated not being given a clear direction, and I never had a Nintendo Power subscription growing up so I didn't even know I could "cheat" haha.
Yeah, that makes sense!