You’ll hear fellow authors assure you there’s no need to safeguard your best ideas. They’ll say things like, “Ideas are cheap. Execution is key.” And to a certain extent, that’s true. But some of the biggest sellers out there were not written with perfect execution. Far from it. They were born of a great (orContinue reading “Often Misunderstood Writing Advice: “Ideas are a Dime a Dozen””
Tag Archives: NES
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (FINAL)
Series starts here. After ascending the final elevator, you get your clear screen and a congratulatory message. And then you get an ending that is based on your completion time (but the game doesn’t tell you that). Since I’d been playing for months, it’s pretty obvious I got the 10+ hour ending: This is the endingContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (FINAL)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 7)
Series starts here. I called for my brother. It was time to hunt down Mother Brain. But my goodness, when I entered the final area, my palms were sweating buckets and my hands were shaking so bad, I couldn’t do it. The music was heart-rending. It made me feel like I was bubbling to death inContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 7)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 6)
Series starts here. The very next day, I somehow managed to pull my wits together and defeat Ridley. With the space dragon destroyed, I rushed to the mysterious statue corridor to see if the path had opened, the path I was certain must lead to “Mother Brain”. And what do I see? Only one of theContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 6)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 5)
Series starts here. By this point, I’d been playing Metroid off-and-on for the better part of a year. In the meanwhile, I got to experience many other games at friends houses such as Trojan, Gradius, Pro Wrestling, Tiger-Heli, The Legend of Zelda, and Castlevania. Nintendo subculture was taking on a life of its own, already poisedContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 5)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 4)
Series starts here. I pressed on. Kraid was somewhere in this area, and my mission was to hunt him down. Unfortunately, I fell for the “Fake Kraid” scam. Also known as Mini-Kraid, this guy fooled many a player into leaving Miniboss Hideout #1 too soon. He is a brown a blue variant of the real boss,Continue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 4)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 3)
Series starts here. It was seven-year-old me vs. Metroid. No strategy guide. No maps. No help from parents (Most 80s parents were hopeless at video games. Good luck getting them to pick up a controller in the first place; As the NES’s popularity rose, they were actively being propagandized to believe video gaming was a meaninglessContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 3)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 2)
Part 1 here. Right away, the world of Metroid pulled me in. The title screen had this haunting deep bass theme, powerful, yet so sparse as to be disquieting, almost daring me to enter its world despite my age. It was at that moment I knew I was in for something more than what myContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 2)”
The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 1)
In 1986, a video game called Metroid got released for the Nintendo Entertainment System to critical and commercial acclaim. The game was highly atmospheric and featured exploration-style gameplay similar to the likes of Adventure, Pitfall, and The Legend of Zelda. If you completed the game fast enough, there was a “face reveal” at the endContinue reading “The Metroid Reveal was a Dirty Setup (part 1)”
Nick Enlowe 