| MTZehvor said: Bit of a side note, but I think claiming that Metroid is simply "masked" linearity fails to take much of what Metroid is into account. While most Metroid games have a "standard" order that someone will probably complete them in on their first attempt, they usually allow for these tasks to be accomplished out of order. For instance, the original Metroid allows for...things to really be done in just about any order, so long as Tourian is beaten last. The bosses in Super Metroid can and have been beaten in any order without the need for hacks. This is a bit less prevalent in games like Metroid 2 and Fusion, but I think dismissing all non linearity from Metroid's past misses much of what Metroid games have done. On topic, though, I would argue that you're making platforming out to be a much more significant component of Metroid's essence than it truly is. I can find no interview with a developer or other official source that lists "platforming" as a core value of Metroid. Secondly, saying that nearly every single powerup in the 2D genre is platforming based is a borderline ludicrous claim. The Screw Attack, Charge Beam, Wave Beam, Plasma Beam, Spazer Beam, Missiles, Super Missiles, Power Bombs, Varia Suit, Gravity Suit, and X-Ray Scope have absolutely nothing to do with platforming. The Ice Beam and Speed Booster have extremely minor effects on platforming in very limited scenarios. Really, the only powerups that are platforming oriented are the Space Jump, Morph Ball Bomb, High Jump, and possibly the Grapple Beam. That's 4-6 out of 12 or so powerups from the original 4 2D games that are designed towards platforming. Vertical movement is not the main focus here. Finally, though, I think the notion that platforming is almost absent from the Prime games is incorrect as well; much of the platforming focuses on horizontal space instead of vertical. Elysia from Metroid Prime 3, Torvus Bog from Metroid Prime 2, and Phendrana Drifts from Prime focus heavily on platforming segments. Chozo Ruins and Magmoor Caverns from Prime include plenty of platforming as well, as does the entire sunken Frigate Orpheon. The Ing Hive from Echoes and Bryyo Cliffside (I believe that's the name) from Corruption have quite a bit of platforming too. Platforming is most definitely not removed from the Prime series. Even Hunters, the much maligned wicked stepsister of the Prime series, focuses intently on platforming, particularly on Alinos and Arcterra. |
I'm definitely not calling Metroid strickly linear, because it's just not, but the way exploration is handled is far more guided than in a game like Zelda 1. That's all I was getting at.
As for an official source, there is an entire article on the inception and creation of the Metroid that goes in to detail about that.
Here: http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/08/15/ign-presents-the-history-of-metroid
It's frankly undeniable that platforming is a major focus of the games. Like I said, nearly all of Samus' power ups are platforming power ups. Samus has more platforming powerups in Super Metroid than Mario has in his first five games. Honestly, I shouldn't have to look for a source that proves that Metroid is a big platformer.
Are you honestly trying to claim that the screw attack, an attack that allows you to break through obstacles as you perform infinite jumps, isn't a platfroming power up? The Gravity Suit, which is literally only there to make platforming possible under water, isn't a platforming power up? The Speed Booster isn't limited in it's uses at all. It required for progression in several parts of Super Metroid. The regular bomb, shine spark, high jump boots, ice beam, grappling beam, morph ball, wall jump, and space jump are all platforming power ups. The beam powerups are by far the least important power ups in the 3D games, aside from the ice beam, only acting as artificial difficulty barriers against the space pirates. Removing them in favor of just one would literally change nothing about the games, and would only require a scaling of the enemies HP. Removing even one platforming power up would literally require revamping entire levels of the games.
So that's 11/16 or so power ups, and again, the beams are all basically one curved power up that don't add substantive change to the gameplay. Vertical movement is 100% the key focus. It's what created the subgenre. Metroidvania is a platforming subgenre. It was initially concieved to describe a subset of platformers, because of how great a plarformer Super Metroid was.
Saying that platforming was gone from Prime was definitely hyperbole, obviously it's full of platforming, but it took a huge back seat, and the quality of the platforming and especially the level design suffered harshly because of it. Samus feels like a tank in Prime. Samus feels like an actrobat in 2D Metroid. That's a huge difference and a big issue. Samus is supposed to play nimble and spritely, and that was impossible in Prime because of the nature of first person platformers.
It's like comparing the platforming in Mario 64 for the platforming in Super Mario World. Yeah, there is platforming in 64, but there was something significantly lost in the transition to 3D there. It was much worse for Metroid. I always say this - Mario 64 is what 3D Metroid should have been. The level design in Mario 64, for the most part, is much more Metroid than it is Mario.
I think people misconstrue that since Prime is an amazing game, it's also perfectly true to Metroid. That's not the case, even a little.
