Introduction

Metroid was developed by Nintendo R&D1 under producer Gunpei Yokoi, first released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan in August 1986 before arriving on cartridge for the NES in North America the following year. The team set out to blend Super Mario Bros’s side-scrolling action with The Legend of Zelda’s open, non-linear exploration, and character designer Hiroji Kiyotake gave the resulting bounty hunter protagonist, Samus Aran, a fully enclosed powered suit inspired partly by the reveal-driven tension of Ridley Scott’s Alien. Players guide Samus through the caverns of planet Zebes, backtracking through an interconnected map to find upgrades like the Morph Ball and Ice Beam that open up previously inaccessible areas, in a structure that would later be recognized as foundational to what’s now called the ‘Metroidvania’ genre. The game’s most famous twist was reserved for players who finished quickly: removing Samus’s helmet at the ending reveals her as a woman, a rare and deliberately underplayed choice for a lead action-game protagonist at the time.

Metroid

How to Play Metroid Online

Press Start Game above and wait for the NES emulator to load, then press Start. You explore the underground of planet Zebes as bounty hunter Samus Aran, collecting upgrades that open new paths. By default the arrow keys are the D-pad and the Z and X keys are the NES buttons; check or change the layout in Control Settings in the emulator menu.

Metroid Controls

NES button	Action
Left / Right	Run
Up	Aim up
Down	Roll into the Morph Ball (once you have it)
A	Jump
B	Fire beam or missile; drop a bomb in Morph Ball form
Select	Switch between beam and missiles
Start	Pause

Tips for Exploring Zebes

Go left first. The Morph Ball, which lets Samus roll through small gaps, is just to the left of the starting point.
Bomb walls and floors. Many secret passages and upgrades are hidden behind blocks that break with bombs or shots.
Collect Energy Tanks and missile expansions before taking on bosses.
Refill on endless enemies. Some creatures keep flying out of pipes; shoot them to collect health and missiles.
Freeze Metroids. In Tourian, use the Ice Beam to freeze a Metroid, then hit it with missiles.
Write down the password when you see it, so you can continue later.

Story and Legacy

Samus must defeat the bosses Kraid and Ridley to open the way to Tourian, where Mother Brain controls the Metroid creatures. Metroid’s open, non-linear map, together with its twist ending that reveals Samus is a woman, made it a landmark of the NES. The series continued on the Super Nintendo with Super Metroid, and the exploration style it created inspired many games. For more NES adventure, play The Legend of Zelda or Castlevania.