Introduction and History

The Geography of Metroid

Week 1

Introduction

"Blog Busters."



"Greetings, TOM! Welcome to my module on blogs!!! As you all know, I host a module in Environmental Studies in Transition Year. My theme, as the title suggests, is all about Blogs and Reality.Your job is to create a blog that has a geographical aspect in it and present it to me at the end of the module. Remember, use your imagination and creativity! Everything that you look up to assist you with your blog including sources must be in your own words, or it will be taken up as a "PLAGIARISM IS THEFT" mark. You can also add videos and pictures too! Try to be creative! That's my motto!!! I wish you a very good luck, TOM! Score 80% or over to pass the module." (Adapted from Warioware Inc.).

Warioware Inc

Warioware Inc (2)

Hello, my name is Tom and today in my blog I will explain everything that you need to know about the Geography of Metroid. But what the hell is Metroid?!! We need to introduce the concept first! Man, when I try and type out the word on Microsoft Word, there is a red squiggly line underneath it! Why is that? It's because the word Metroid is MADE UP!!! For God's sake! Now, let's get back to the knowledge of this bizarre word.

   

Samus Aran, the protagonist and hero of the Metroid trilogy.

So basically, Metroid is a series of  action and science fiction video games that are developed by Nintendo. Now what you need to learn is that Metroid is set on a fictional planet called Zebes and the player's job is to try to explore the different areas of Zebes as much as possible and eradicate enemies along the way. The player is a bounty hunter called Samus Aran and her job is to try to report to the Galactic Federation (authorities) anything that she finds. First, she must make a decent landing on the hostile planet with her iconic gunship and traverse through passages and doors to unknown worlds. But most importantly, she must destroy her targets known as the Metroids (eponymous enemies in the game that latch onto their prey and drain their energy out of their victims) and evacuate the planet as quickly as possible after Samus finishes off the cybernetic monster known as Mother Brain (the final boss in the game).


In week one, I will talk about what the game is in more detail and the
different games that are released by year. Because I have five weeks of this, I will explain one game in much more detail, because the amount of information is large in the series. As this is the introduction, I will  mention some of the games that have been released on different platforms in my own words and on a timeline (not all of the games will be in my own words, because there will be so much knowledge). I have also been playing it over the summer of 2017 and in 2015 when I was in Florida with my family in June. I will tell you the game that I will talk about next week. I think Zebes has a unique geography and people would love to learn more about this planet. Like Earth, Zebes has supportive life..... where most of the inhabitants seem unfriendly and want to kill Samus. Because there are a lot of games in the series, I will only talk about some of the games that I know more about.



Now I will talk about the history of Metroid. Metroid was originally made and released by Nintendo on the NES (stands for Nintendo Entertainment System) in Japan on August 6, 1986, and then it was released in 1987 in North America and 1988 in Europe. Basic tools such as the health status and ammunition were used in the game.



Later on, in 1991, a sequel of the game was released in 1991 on Gameboy called Metroid II: Return of Samus. Unlike the first game, this game had a proper save system, which allowed the player to resume where they took off. In Metroid, there was a password system where the player had to punch in different digits.  In common, both games are in single-player mode. However, they were also set on different planets. The planet that Samus goes to investigate is called SR388, where she must find an egg of a baby Metroid. A revamped version of this game has been released on the Nintendo 3DS in September 2017.

wikipedia

In the first Metroid game, the player controls protagonist Samus Aran who fights alien monsters on the fictional planet Zebes.

Three years later, Director Yoshio Sakamoto announced that Super Metroid was going to be released on the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) in 1994. This was the first game to be in color, and as well as improvements of graphics and game design, new techniques were introduced such as the use of the Grapple Beam, jumping of walls and the manoeuvre through lava and water. There were also acquisitions to new suits to which Samus can wear throughout the game.



 In 2004, an improved version of the original game known as Metroid Zero Mission was released on the Game Boy Advance (GBA for short). It is a remake of the 1986 version of Metroid and new features were included such as cut scenes (clips at certain intervals throughout the game), extra items that Samus must acquire, new bosses to fight and a story which explores more on the hero's past. There were also improvements in visual graphics, design, programming, texture and music.



In 2002, Metroid Fusion was released worldwide. The game has a completely new story and Samus is infected with a parasite (as a result, her suit was destroyed and so needed a replacement) ,after being ordered by the Galactic Federation to investigate the Biologic Space Laboratories space station. Instead of exploring different regions of the planet, Samus must traverse through different sectors which have different climates (for example Sector 5 ARC stands for Arctic and Sector 2 TRO stands for tropical). She must also defeat her enemies, which most of them have been infected with the parasite and fight her doppelganger the SA-X (the main antagonist in the game, who has been infected with the X parasite).

Enemies were common in the Metroid series and most of them overlap in other games, with the exception of the main character. In addition, new characters and enemies will be introduced in the future.


As there is so much information, I will show you a timeline of the different games released and the package artwork:

1986	Metroid (NES)
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991	Metroid II: Return of Samus (Gameboy)
1992
1993
1994	Super Metroid (SNES)
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002	Metroid Fusion (GBA)
	Metroid Prime (Nintendo GameCube)
2003
2004	Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
	Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Nintendo GameCube)
2005	Metroid Prime Pinball (Nintendo DS)
2006	Metroid Prime Hunters (Nintendo DS)
2007	Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii)
2008
2009	Metroid Prime: Trilogy (Wii)
2010	Metroid: Other M (Wii)
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016	Metroid Prime: Federation Force (Nintendo 3DS)
2017	Metroid: Samus Returns (Nintendo 3DS)
TBA	Metroid Prime 4 (Nintendo Switch)

                                                                     

Planet Zebes

So, there you go, that's the timeline of all the Metroid games released.


Now, I will show you a video for 5 minutes of someone playing the NES game:

Doors are a common obstacle in the game and most of them require beams to open them.

Finally, I will show you an evolution of Samus Aran from the past to the present.....

Evolution of Samus Aran

 

Next week, I will be talking more about a specific game in the series and more about planet Zebes. I will also be talking about more of the enemies in the game and the different items that Samus can use in order to help her on her geographical mission. We will also learn about more of the Metroids, and the different types of them. I will show you a map form of Zebes and learn about the names of the different regions and their climate type. Finally, we will learn some of the inhabitants that dominate those areas.

That's it for all of Metroid! Talk to you next week!

I would recommend a number of sites for more information:
ie.ign.com/wikis/super-metroid/Walkthrough

https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Super_Metroid
www.supermetroidguide.com/
metroid.retropixel.net

www.metroid-database.com/

metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Metroid.com


metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Super_Metroid_Nintendo_Player%27s_Guide

https://portforward.com/.../walkthroughs/Super-Metroid/1.-Beginning-to-Bomb-Toriz...

Super Metroid FAQs, Walkthroughs, and Guides for Super Nintendo ...

https://www.gamefaqs.com/snes/588741-super-metroid/faqs

1. Cached
2. Similar

For Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo, GameFAQs has 40 FAQs (game guides and walkthroughs).

‎Super Metroid 15 ... · ‎Super Metroid Game Map for ... · ‎FAQ/Speed Guide · ‎Item Tree

[PDF]Super Metroid - Nintendo SNES - Manual - Games Database

www.gamesdatabase.org/Media/.../Manual/.../Super_Metroid_-_1994_-_Nintendo.pdf

Al Mistendo products areſcarsec by sås for （se gry witt otter. | authorized products bearing the Official Nintendo Sea of Quality". Thank you for selecting the Super Nintendo Entertainment System". SUPER METROID" game pak. Please read this instruction booklet thoroughly to ensure proper handling of your new games.

You can also refer to the instructions booklet for more information on the game.

There are also many other websites to look at, so stay tuned for more information on the game!

That's all folks!