RAIDERS OF THE EARTH'S SATELLITE
The Project Reviewer series so far...
Spoiler
I: CROSSING THE CODE - (CrossCode)
II: THE LORD OF THE GUNS - (Gunlord X)
III: MASSIVE ISLAND DESTRUCTION - (Arcade Archives: Dig Dug II)
IV: A BIT OF THE COSMOS IS GOOD ENOUGH - (Cosmos Bit)
V: NON-STOP MOTORCYCLE FUN - (Super Night Riders)
II: THE LORD OF THE GUNS - (Gunlord X)
III: MASSIVE ISLAND DESTRUCTION - (Arcade Archives: Dig Dug II)
IV: A BIT OF THE COSMOS IS GOOD ENOUGH - (Cosmos Bit)
V: NON-STOP MOTORCYCLE FUN - (Super Night Riders)
What's the best way to have fun with "Indietroids"? With another one: Moon Raider.
I'm your furendo.
Moon Raider's control scheme is very similar to those of Cosmos Bit, as the game limits you to jump and fire with a limited range like Samus on the first Metroid. You are also limited to fire up and horizontally (Megaman restriction), making the gameplay pretty annoying since there's small enemies which require diagonal firing or even crouching. One of the things that I have is that when you make a sommersault you can't stop the roll to resume firing like in the Metroid games, forcing you to hit the ground in order to resume firing. Same for aiming down when the situation requires it (Stage 6 boss for example), making controls very limited. Despite those restrictions, you have some helpful abilities. First one is the "double jump", you can do a second jump on mid air in order to avoid a death trap or reach a higher place, acting like a "Mini-Space Jump" and replacing the Walljump from Super Metroid. The second one is the rapid fire by holding the fire button. Doing this will increase the firing rate of your arm cannon at expense of your crystal energy making it the "Special Weapon" of the game. One of the main differences from traditional Metroid gameplay is the focus on disabling switches. This is the major player in the game as it makes an approach to a more Zelda-like gate unlocking similar to A Link to the Past rather than the missile gates in Super Metroid. From freeing friends to deactivating traps, you'll be constantly moving from one corner of the room to another in order to switch off the obstacles in your way before leaving the room you're confined. One of the major differences from Metroid is that if you die, you don't have to restart from a certain "Save Station". Instead, you'll restart the room where you got killed. Speaking of life and death, at first there's no way to replenish health if you get hit besides picking hidden medkits across the levels. But there's one way to regain energy. When you get the Dash Attack ability and you kill an enemy with it, they will drop an HP recovering pellet. This dash attack acts like the Speed Booster, Space Jump and Screw Attack altogether. One of the best parts of this Dash Attack is that you can control the direction of where do you want to go rather than constantly pressing the jump button like in Metroid. However, you have to keep an eye on how much time, when and where are you gonna use it since it consumes Crystal energy like the Speed Booster consumed life in Super Metroid. It is really curious the fact that despite being a 16-Bit influenced Metroid clone, lacks of a map like in the NES and Game Boy entries of the series, which contrasts with the NES-based Cosmos Bit which had a map. However, you're not gonna need a map at all in Moon Raider since the mazed rooms aren't too much complicated.
Don't forget to pick these crates!
Along with saving friends and clearing paths, your priority is also to pick these crates since they're part of the storyline since the Special Crates contain the medicine components required to heal Ava's mother. Ironically, If you get all the containers you'll be getting a total of 129, the rest are given after clearing the final boss. An odd choice if you ask me since gives you the wrong idea of "you're still missing something" even if you've got all the items before fighting the last boss.
"No Skills Allowed". A rule, not a "Self-imposed challenge".
Boss fights are the worst of all. Unlike Metroid where you can use your weapons and any obtained abilities, in Moon Raider you can't use your regained skills like dashing as they take away your crystal energy leaving you with your double jump and pea shooter, but they can rely on all kinds of moves like sinking platforms into the lava at the point of you'll be forced on jump-and-bounce on the back of the boss at expense of losing life, making the Health Upgrades an obligatory pick and not an optional thing you can miss. The only exception where you can use your Crystal energy skills is on the sixth level of the game where the boss says "You can keep it" since he'll try to ram you and you can pass through him with the dash attack, but if you don't want to waste energy, you can simply do a double jump. Basically, these are more of Megaman-like battles that relies on just firing the Buster gun while relying on simple jumping and hope for the best. This nukes the Metroid-like fun of using your learned skills unless you're the kind of player who makes "Self-imposed challenges" like "Default gun and Charge Beam in boss fights".
Welcome to the Bonus Room!
No Metroid-clone is complete without hidden rooms, right? One of the Hidden Rooms in Moon Raider are the Bonus Rooms which grant you crystals to regain "Skill Energy", but remember this: Once you enter, you've better pick everything and make sure there's nothing left, otherwise you won't be able to return since the door locks permanently.
Subtle hints for important upgrades.
The second Hidden Rooms are within the maze-rooms themselves. Some rooms have walls marked with an extraterrestrial face. If you walk towards them the wall disappears revealing a hidden mini-room with an upgrade to increase your life, Crystal Energy or your Firepower. This is more like the hidden Golden Chip room in the first Doppler stage of Megaman X3.
Cracks in the wall give the hint.
In Metroid and its clones, there's hints throughout the stage layout. Being the bomb-requiring cracks in walls one of them. This game also uses that. To break those obstacles you need to do a Dash-Attack like the Speed Booster blocks in Super Metroid. There's also water sections which require navigation, and unlike Metroid where you're slow and heavy as a rock if you didn't had the Gravity Suit, in Moon Raider, Ava simply swims. But you can't be underwater forever, as she runs out of air you'll be taking damage, but is a small price to pay for free movement underwater.
Graphically, it ditches the attempts of resembling the NES and aims to more modern graphics like the Game Boy Advance, at the point that the colors and levels resemble those of Metroid Fusion (level 1 is a clone of Sector 1 SRX) up to the point you can think whole game could easily pass as an extension of Metroid Fusion. The sprite animations are very well made and the animation is very fluid as if they're more like cartoons instead of a sequence of pre-setted sprites like old games did. The music combines modern electronic instruments with some NES-like chiptune notes, aiming for a "Neo-Classic" style of soundtrack where old-school and modern instruments are blended together to make this adventure-industrial mix-up that sorta reminds me of Metroid II: Return of Samus.
TRIVIA RAIDER
- The game spawned the sequel Mighty Aphid, which plays more like Megaman than Metroid.
Nothing like Metroid-esque action to spend the day.
Moon Raider might be a nod to Metroid Fusion in some aspects, but the very simplistic controls and strict boss rules partially kill the potential of the game as a Metroid clone. It is still fun to play just for the sake of getting lost in the labyrinths and find all the secrets, but its still a recommendation for all the Metroid fans out there.
Just pick the game and have fun.