Though a little late posting here, in celebration of the Metroid series turning 25 I sat down and thought of my first time playing a Metroid game.
 
I remember getting my Super Nintendo when I was a kid. I was so happy and played the system constantly... which led to me getting into some trouble with the parents and being grounded from it for an extended period of time. In the early days of my time with this great console I played other greats, such as Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Towards the latter part of my time with the console and before the launch of the Nintendo 64, my dad, brother, and I picked up a game called Super Metroid. I don't remember why we picked it up (maybe the box art drew us in), and I was too young to really keep up with all the games for the NES and SNES, so I had no idea what a Metroid was nor what a game about it would entail. Little did I know that I was jumping into a great, influential game series; one of which, like its Mario and Zelda relatives, is turning 25 years old. Happy Birthday, Metroid!

Due to the length of time since I first played it I don't remember a lot of what I felt, but one thing I do remember is the feeling that the game was HUGE. So many collectibles, nothing to strictly point me to a location and say "go here," and simply exploring to try to find what appeared to look like the right direction. Needless to say, there were plenty of times I got lost. And died.

At the very beginning, I remember encountering Ridley and freaking out as I was getting my butt royally destroyed by him. I thought "I'm already going to get a game over?!" Once I hit critical health and he took off, I then freaked out about the ship blowing up, also worrying over the game over. I don't recall dying at that point, but I still remember the fear induced by that crazy song...

After landing and going through the early areas of Zebes, I recall wondering why the area's were so empty. Then after getting the Morph Ball, I remember the fact that I could roll into a ball was really cool. But wait... What was that light?

I found out that the light triggered the spawning of all the enemies from the previous rooms I had explored. I was introduced to the space pirates, rippers, and geemers. The world began to open before my eyes, and I couldn't help but be excited as I moved about exploring new rooms, seeing new monsters, finding new passages, and acquiring new items all in this fairly detailed and colorful world. 
 
I don't remember too many other things from my first play through, but here are a few highlights that I do remember:  
- Mini-Kraid sucked. He did so many terrible things to me...  
-Samus is a woman ? 
-No matter what anything or anyone said, the wall jump is impossible.  
-Speed boost was amazing, but Shinesparking was mind-blowing.  
-The sunken/haunted/crashed ship was rough.  
-Ridley was crazy hard.  
-SAMUS IS A WOMAN?!

Despite all the difficulty for my young self, I really enjoyed the game and it became one of my all-time favorites. It endured the test of time for me, as I went back and played through it several times, and got where I could easily beat it in 3 hours. I even proved to myself that I could easily perform the wall jump. I even 100%'d it one time too. I loved playing this game, and even today I load it up for a little while. I also go and watch glitch videos and the crazy speed run videos ( 100% in 50mins??).

When it comes to recent Metroid games, I really enjoyed the Prime series, Metroid: Fusion (felt so much like Super Metroid), and even Metroid: Other M's gameplay though I tend to agree with everyone about the story and cutscenes. But none of them inspired the same awe and feeling of first playing Super Metroid (though Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion came close). Maybe if there was a reboot similar to that of Donkey Kong Country, that feeling could be captured again.

Here's to more great Metroid games!

While going through my Twitter account I stumbled across a re-tweeted link that lists a bunch of references for aspiring indie developers. This includes links to development resources like engines, where to find assets or artists-for-hire, royalty free sound/music or places to find musicians/voice actors/etc., business related information, and much more.

A lot of the work is still in early form, and a lot of links are still being set, but it's still a great list of resources as-is. If you (and maybe some friends or low-cost robots) are planning on working on your own, be sure to give the list a look and bookmark to keep up with updates. It's bound to have something you need, and if not now, it will likely in the future.

You can find it at http://www.pixelprospector.com/indie-resources/