Why?

04Oct07

Why is Metroid so hard?

I remember playing this game as a young child and dying almost immediately every time. 20 years later and I think I’m only just starting to “get” this game.  I just don’t understand how anyone in the year 1987 could figure out how to beat this game without cheating . After all, at no point does the game ever even hint at what direction you’re supposed to be moving in, what items you’re supposed to be looking for, or that sometimes you have to roll in a little ball through walls to advance the game. But at the same time, it is this very absence of obviousness that makes this game so appealing. The lack of structure, direction, or even explanation really goes against the way we typically want to think about our lives.

That’s right – I’m using an NES game as a metaphor for life.

Why? Even though the path to success seems to be fairly laid out – born, go to school, get a job, have a family, ect. – these days I find myself more and more not knowing which direction I’m supposed to be going in, what things I’m supposed to be looking for, and perhaps most importantly, which walls I have to walk through to beat the game. When I was kid, it didn’t really matter to me that I couldn’t get anywhere in Metroid. But as a 22 year old, finding myself struggling to beat Metroid seems to be an indication that I still have a few things to figure out. So the real question is “Why a blog?” Well, it seems like sometimes the only way to get through Metroid is to basically try everything.  So here it is – better late than never.

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Tags: blogs, life, Metroid