Retro Gaming Moves: Screw Attack [Metroid]

One of the most famous classic gaming moves, Screw Attack, is one of Samus Aran’s best power suit moves in Metroid. It was powerful enough to kill most enemies by contact; one hit for one kill.

What makes this special attack at retro gaming classic is its well balanced game play style. Although Screw Attack is enormously powerful it required Samus to jump at full length to trigger. On more than one occasion gamers would use their Screw Attack to kill an enemy easy to find they don’t have a great platform to stand on and land in the lava, in a worse situation than they started.

Game developers knew they had a hit on their hands, as Screw Attack makes an appearance in many of the future Metroid games after the original NES release. The power up had the ability to trigger at will, if somersaulting of course, yet requires skill and respect to use to perfection.

Screw Attack gives gamers a nice piece of mind, knowing a risky jump won’t end you with a tap from a flying enemy and a bath in the lava. You could freely jump and destroy annoying little enemies whom have no other goal but to get in your way and slowly take away energy with each tiny hit.

On one hand Screw Attacks main purpose is to allow a gamer to jump through areas in levels quickly without an extreme annoyance from starter enemies strategically placed to add challenge. As Samus grows in power the beginning enemies aren’t the true threat and thus are wiped from the level as you go. You become more worried when encountering new, stronger enemies who cause real harm to you and your super suit.

This retro move is placed perfectly in level progression, making you feel a great sense of accomplishment when aquiring it (it’s not just another missile pack) and allows you to progress into deeper caverns without utter fear at every tap. Powerful enough to invoke when needed but weak enough to leave you vulnerable in closed quarter battle.

Screw Attack, a Retro Gaming Move.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Episode 480: PsychonautsEpisode 480: Psychonauts

As the episode title would imply, this week’s Gaming Flashback is Psychonauts, with Jonah revealing he’s a total fanboy and backed the sequel for over $800. He also has no idea what Oxenfree is, since he hadn’t played it yet. (He has, and realizes he was completely wrong about it being like Cabin in the Woods.)

The news:

  • Captain Falcon was almost the mascot of the SNES
  • Hackers have already infiltrated the Call of Duty: WWII open beta
  • Assassin’s Creed: Origins‘ non-violent discovery tour update wants to teach you history

Let us know what you think.

Castle Crashers, Win A Free CopyCastle Crashers, Win A Free Copy

Although we weren’t able to get a free copy to give away for Castle Crashers due to limited supply, GameStooge has one, and has the ability to hand one out. If you’re looking to get in on the contest and potentially get a free code to download Castle Crashers upon its release, checkout GameStooge’s contest.

The rules are simple: “Write in the comment section what is your favorite movie with a castle, and why it’s the castle is so great in it – minimum 30 words.” The game looks crazy fun, so I highly suggest you put in a contest entry if you’ve got an Xbox 360 gamer tag and 360 console to play it on!

Episode 631: Nintendo Dislikes VirtualEpisode 631: Nintendo Dislikes Virtual

This is the second attempt at Episode 631, as the previous episode had bad audio, and was boring to boot. This week’s episode features a lot of questionable content, as well as a Dark Souls Gaming Flashback.

The news includes:

  • Surprise Halo Infinite multiplayer launch buckles Steam servers
  • Grand Theft Auto Trilogy back on PC after Rockstar removes ‘unintentionally included’ files
  • Microsoft adds 76 more games to Xbox backwards compatibility
  • Nintendo explains why there is no virtual console on Switch

Let us know what you think.