Aliens: Infestation and Super Metroid prove I can't play video games

I explored every room I could in Aliens: Infestation, acquired and learned every power-up, and even went to the start of the area to see if I missed anything. What was I looking for? A clue on how to make my way across a large gap in a hallway that separated me from completing the game. Had I missed something?

Aliens: Infestation may be considered by most a "Metroidvania"-style game. It has your typical exploration, upgrades, and backtracking. The atmosphere is great as you slowly walk through the hallways encountering soldiers, robots, and of course, aliens. It's also a bit creative by allowing the player to rotate between different marines, each with his own personalized dialogue. Metroidvania is one of my favorite genres, so I was happy to play this game while I waited for Shadow Complex 2.

Then I got stuck.

I looked online for any videos or written walkthroughs that somebody may have posted on the situation. Nothing. The location was too vague; nobody seemed to mention it. Maybe I missed some sort of grappling hook. I looked through the five-page manual for a clue on the game's possible upgrades. How helpful do you think that was?

After two days of no progress, I had almost given up when I remembered another game that stumped me in a similar fashion many years ago: Super Metroid. My roadblock then was a hallway with a collapsible bridge that I couldn't get across in time. After failing that for hours, l dialed my friend's number.

"Hey Jimmy, do you remember that really long hallway in Brinstar that has a collapsible bridge? I'm totally stuck on it. How do you get across it?"

"You mean the one you can run across? Dude, you know there's a run button right?"

Run. As I remembered my friend laughing at me a decade ago, I checked an Aliens: Infestation video on YouTube. Were they running? I pulled out my DS and loaded up the game. I thought I had checked every button already, but then I held the right trigger. I sprinted to the gap, leaped, and easily made it to the other side. How did I not notice the run button? The same way I didn't notice it all those years ago.

When I first played Super Metroid, I tested out every button. When I tapped the A button, Samus hopped. Pressing X made Samus shoot her arm canon. I hit B and...nothing. If only I had made Samus walk while holding down B, I'd have realized she could sprint. I later learned that fans appropriately called that bridge the n00b bridge. Turns out I wasn't the only one who got stuck there.

You'd think that after a decade I would have learned how to play a Metroidvania game. Amazing how Aliens, the franchise that inspired Metroid, has reminded me that old habits die hard...and that I'm horrible at Super Metroid.

Tags: Super Metroid, Aliens: Infestation, Shadow Complex 2

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Kenn Quist

October 20, 2011

For me part of the problem is learning one way and then having things change over time. I still start playing most RTS games like Warcraft and most FPS games like Doom. This of course generally leads to failure.

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August Narducci

I had a similar problem in the game Galerians on PS1, where you are in an orphanage (if my memory serves me correct). On the top floor you have to jump across a hole in the floor in a hallway. I tried this a ton of times and every time the character would grab the ledge, but then fall through the hole down to the ground floor. I ran around that level for hours thinking I had missed something, or thinking there was a different way to go. I was so frustrated, I quit playing the game entirely. Finally, on a second playthrough, and through a total fluke, I tried pressing 'up' on the d-pad once he grabbed the ledge. The character climbed right up and I was able to continue. I was so angry that the answer was something so simple...

Sam Alegria

While I haven't played Galerians, this type of scenario has also happened to me. I would do half of the action right, but then mess up on whatever the next button press would be. :P

Rob Savillo

I guess this whole situtation just feels very alien to me, heh. I mean, didn't Super Mario Bros. successfully cement the whole "hold B to run" control convention back in the mid '80s for side-scrolling platformers?

Crazy, though, that that section in Super Metroid has the name it does. I had no idea that it stumped anyone.... I had to do a double take just to make sure you weren't talking about the section that requires the Speed Booster upgrade.

I thought about that too. I figured maybe because the B button on the SNES controller isn't in the same place as on the NES, where there are simply two butons.

The interesting thing is that I played both Metroid Zero Mission and Fusion and I was very aware of the run button. Maybe because the GBA has the B button where you would expect it, similar to the NES controller. Basically the SNES controller confuses my brain.

The layout is tilted on its side, but the button's in the same spot...just to the left of the A button!

(Side note: Years of playing Nintendo systems is why I can't wrap my head around the Xbox's controller. The face-button labels are backwards!)

haha, my brain reads where the X button is as the new B button on the SNES controller.

On to the Xbox controller subject...why did Nintendo always do their alphabet backwards?

Because Japanese is read from right to left.

I'm used to the Nintendo labeling. When I played an Xbox and onscreen prompts told me to press a button, I always pressed the wrong one. My muscle memory kicks in. Sorry, Microsoft, I just can't use your controller.

Chris Kimsey

I played through about four hours of Resident Evil 4 before I found the run button... I thought forcing the player to walk everywhere just for atmosphere WAS a little excessive.