Is Metroid a sidescroller Zelda?

[Nintegageo | 583]

Just curious what people think.

[Gloves | 12,452]

No. 

Zelda good, Metroid bad. 

[JamesRobot | 6,194]

Zeldatroidia?

Edited November 18, 2021 by JamesRobot

[RH | 5,336]

Lol, I've made this claim before. Maybe on the unpopular opinions thread.

[Tulpa | 3,770]

It's a side view adventure game similar to Simon's Quest or Faxanadu.

 

[cj_robot | 559]

Nope.

Zelda is an overhead-perspective Metroid, though.

[rdrunner | 455]

Last time I checked, the only side scroller Zelda is The Adventure of Link.

Metroid and Zelda share a few concepts, but it would be a disservice to both series to say they're that alike.

[Sumez | 3,205]

The entire pitch for Metroid was Zelda but as a side-view platform game, Nintendo have stated that many times, and the connection between them is pretty clear. I thought everyone knew of that.

3 hours ago, rdrunner said:

Last time I checked, the only side scroller Zelda is The Adventure of Link.

ast time I checked, A Link to the Past definitely scrolled sideways too.

[fox | 1,795]

Zelda is open world.  There a large overworld which you are free to explore, with little dungeon pockets.

Metroid is non-linear.  You start off with a rather small area of the map to explore, and that grows as you get new abilities to unlock an ever expanding interconnected series of rooms.

Two different design approaches.

[RH | 5,336]

1 hour ago, fox said:

Zelda is open world.  There a large overworld which you are free to explore, with little dungeon pockets.

Metroid is non-linear.  You start off with a rather small area of the map to explore, and that grows as you get new abilities to unlock an ever expanding interconnected series of rooms.

Two different design approaches.

Counter-point, if we look at each series as a whole, 2D Zeldas are largely, exactly the same.  The only difference is the perspective.  LttP, LA, OoS/A, and the GBA games--all of them open up the map with acquired powers, exactly like Metroid.  I haven't played Zelda 2 much, but the over world is top-down where the dungeons are side-scrolling.  IIRC, it was semi-open world, but did require power-ups to be required, so that is more a move in the direction of "Metroid" style gaming.

So yes, they are not "Metroidvanias" but "Zeldoids"... or maybe "Metreldas".  Hmmm.... we may need to work on that one.

[Sumez | 3,205]

The original design philosophy behind the first Zelda game was exactly this. An open ended world that you could explore freely, but with new paths opening up as you gathered items or acquired skills.

The idea behind Metroid is exactly the same.

Same basic idea, but completely different gameplay.

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,126]

11 hours ago, rdrunner said:

Last time I checked, the only side scroller Zelda is The Adventure of Link.

Metroid and Zelda share a few concepts, but it would be a disservice to both series to say they're that alike.

That was my line of thinking as well.

[DefaultGen | 5,798]

Nah, they're both just action-adventure games where you explore and power up. Metroid maps are designed to be explored and re-explored as the core gameplay loop. Besides sometimes power-ups like heart pieces, you completely beat a temple in Zelda and you're expected to back out to the overworld and never come back to it. Zelda is also full of characters and often explicit quests. Metroid games are intentionally isolated and lonely, and objectives are often just presented through gameplay (e.g. I need to get to that floating platform but I can't).

Zelda II is just a sidescroller Zelda though!

[GPX | 1,433]

Yes, they’re the same. Much like Galaxian is the same as R Type. The basic premise in these 2 examples are to shoot other space baddies. I rest my case.

[T-Pac | 8,441]

[SpoonMan Abrams X | 699]

My thoughts I think can be quickly summed up like this;

You're not spending time combing your way back through the Dungeon #2 to get the hookshot a second time for Dungeon #5 then again a bit later to get the mirror shield for Dungeon #8. Meanwhile you definitely have to come back to Brinstar many times in Metroid.

You don't really do a whole lot of back tracking in Zelda, with few exceptions. You are required to visit each dungeon once. You go back to nearly every area of a Metroid game a number of times.

Honestly the title of this thread makes me really want a "proper" Metroidvania Zelda title. Closest thing to that is maybe Phantom Hourglass with it's Temple of the Ocean King? Maybe that's why like the game so much lol

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,126]

1 hour ago, CasualCart said:

Sonic and Pong do involve bouncing back and forth so they are basically the same. 

[twiztor | 930]

if we are only talking about the original entry of both game series, i can certainly see a case to be made. An emphasis on exploration, with the key points being obtaining items to overcome obstacles, and killing enemies to regain health/replenish items. i mean, it's not a 1:1 comparison, but they're definitely more alike than not. 

Once we get to the sequels, the comparison really isn't valid anymore, as both series dove deeper into what made them unique.  Link's Awakening =/= Metroid 2.  LTTP =/= Super Metroid. Twilight Princess =/= Metroid Prime. 

[Sumez | 3,205]

7 hours ago, twiztor said:

if we are only talking about the original entry of both game series, i can certainly see a case to be made.

I thought that was a given. Zelda games went in a very different direction very fast compared to the first game.

[mbd39 | 2,131]

It was a unique game for the time that created its own genre that is still quite popular today.

 

[peg | 386]

16 hours ago, Sumez said:

I thought that was a given. Zelda games went in a very different direction very fast compared to the first game.

Yeah. That direction is called into the dumpster.

[Vectrex28 | 366]

On 11/18/2021 at 2:29 AM, Gloves said:

No. 

Zelda good, Metroid bad. 

Heresy. How can this man be the admin. Reported

(i didn't report obv pls no ban)

Edited November 25, 2021 by Vectrex28

[Gloves | 12,452]

1 minute ago, Vectrex28 said:

Heresy. How can this man be the admin. Reported

(i didn't report obv pls no ban)

Still love you bb.