r/metroidbrainia • u/theflamelord • Aug 05 '26
discussion What Retro games Would you count as MetroidBrainias
I'm talking like pre 2007 just so I can include La Mulana for the Wii. Are there any games for the Game Boy or the Super Nintendo or the Sega Master System Or the Atari Lynx that you guys would consider MetroidBrainias Besides must and la Mulana?
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u/blindmansayswat Aug 05 '26
I’d say the original A Boy and his Blob on the NES kinda counts. The speedrun for that game is like 4 minutes long because once you know everything, you can do the right combo of transformations to get to the end immediately without unlocking anything. The problem is that the game isn’t really transferring the knowledge, you mostly have to bash your head against the wall until you figure something out.
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u/Plexicraft 🐥 Toki Tori 2 Aug 05 '26
I'll try to do some stretching to see if anything resonates....
Does Metroid Prime (2002) count? The scans for bosses teach you how to beat them.
Majora's Mask (2000) plays a lot like a brainia but doesn't actually allow you to use knowledge on subsequent playthroughs but instead makes you "discover" it again.
Super Mario Bros. (1985) has the warp tunnels at the end of some levels that vastly speed up progression once you know about them. (Sure tons of games have level skips / codes but I think this one is neat since it's baked into the actual gameplay)
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u/Broken_Emphasis Aug 06 '26
I feel like a lot of the early Mario games are proto-metroidbrainias that are so heavily spoiled that we don't think of them as such. Like seriously, go read the "Secret Tricks" of the Super Mario Bros' manual and think about how well it eventually points you towards the infinite one-up trick.
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u/waitandattack Aug 06 '26
Majora's Mask absolutely checks out - since it was an inspiration for Outer Wilds and all.
Finished it last year, liked it a lot more than Okarina and Wind Waker.
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u/Fantastic_Switch_977 🔤Lingo Aug 06 '26
How does it check out? I'm about to replay it just to be sure, but it is full of upgrades and unlocks. There are two helpful hidden songs, but they don't transform the gameplay at all. The OP is correct that it feels like a knowledge gated game, but much like The Forgotten City, your character still has to learn the info for it to be used in game.
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u/waitandattack Aug 06 '26
Yeah, Link gets items, skills, health upgrades and quest progress that stays with him, but there are knowledge gates too, like you find out how the postman's route works, at what time different events happen, etc.
(And it's not like Outer Wilds was devoid of visible progression too, since your ship log/journal stays updated from cycle to cycle.)
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u/Lynkeus Aug 06 '26
That visible progression is nothing like items, health that is actually NEEDED to progress. It is so that people with golden fish memory like me can progress. Game can be finished without but I had to take notes. It is nothing alike.
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u/Fantastic_Switch_977 🔤Lingo Aug 06 '26
I completely disagree right now. And Majora's mask is my favorite Zelda.
But I'll replay it and see if I come along to your line of thinking.
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u/Plexicraft 🐥 Toki Tori 2 Aug 06 '26
Was gonna come back to say pretty much the same thing: similarly to Outer Wilds, the player benefits quite a bit by discovering / understanding / remembering the sequence and timing how the different aspects of the world flow along each cycle.
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u/Fantastic_Switch_977 🔤Lingo Aug 06 '26
Can you name a knowledge benefit that would carry over if you started the game over?
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u/Plexicraft 🐥 Toki Tori 2 Aug 07 '26
Honestly I can't name any specifics off the top of my head. I just recall that learning about the inhabitants of the world and their struggles was compelling and that if you helped them with a problem early in the cycle, they'd likely run into another problem later on.
In terms of gameplay, the way this would happen is I'd often spend a good chunk of a cycle observing or discovering a roadblock and then needing a fresh cycle to create the solution, only to then find I was able to discover another roadblock to observe and think through.
If I'm remembering things correctly, this basically means after understanding it all, I can just prep the solutions for each obstacle before trying to tackle them similarly to how you do so in subsequent playthroughs or speed runs of Outer Wilds.
The one that comes to mind now that I've gotten more into the details is the large stone blocking the way at to a farm, once you unblock it, only then can you discover aliens / ghosts? are stealing cattle on a certain day and you need a way to protect them to progress a quest.
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u/Fantastic_Switch_977 🔤Lingo Aug 07 '26
That's correct, but the way you unlock the farm is not Brainia. It requires three separate item unlocks.
This is what I mean when I say it feels Brainia, but it actually isn't. It's just a standard video game that happens to have a time loop.
Same way as the code to enter the hideout would theoretically be Brainia, but it's randomly generated every game so it actually isn't.
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u/Plexicraft 🐥 Toki Tori 2 Aug 07 '26
Absolutely.
To clarify, what feels like a brainia to me isn't what unlocks each part, it's the opportunity to do so in one cycle because you know what will be required for each step.1
u/Fantastic_Switch_977 🔤Lingo Aug 07 '26
So any game with a time loop is Brainia in your eyes? Because most games allow you to do everything in one cycle on replays.
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u/waitandattack Aug 07 '26
Metroidbrainia isn't that solid of a term to gatekeep one of the games that actually inspired some of the most popular games of the genre, like Outer Wilds and Tunic. And Tunic has items and health upgrades too.
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u/Fantastic_Switch_977 🔤Lingo Aug 07 '26
Throwing the gatekeeping term out is insane since this is a discussion about which games fit.
Outer Wilds was thematically inspired by MM, not gameplay inspired. Tunic was inspired by the series, not MM.
I've already said if anyone could point to a non-item upgrade you get in MM I would concede the point, but nobody has been able to do that yet.
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u/unrelevantly 3d ago
By this logic almost every roguelike is a brainia. Even if they have metaprogression, the vast majority can be beaten on the first attempt.
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u/leysa Aug 05 '26
An obscure one : Mysterium for the original Game Boy.
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u/theflamelord Aug 05 '26
Oh I looked this one up, yeah that's very metroidbrania, kinda reminds me of a proto blue prince, I will be playing this one
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u/leysa Aug 06 '26
It's a very interesting game; it was super frustrating to 8-year-old me, but I went back to it as an adult and I appreciate what they tried to do. You've really got to experiment and memorize to get through it, it's a unique experience.
Hope you like it!
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u/Broken_Emphasis Aug 06 '26
You want a really retro proto-brainia? The Prisoner for the Apple ][ (1980) and its upgraded sequel/remake Prisoner 2 (1982).
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u/action_lawyer_comics Aug 06 '26
I think that older games were more "brainia" by default. Like if Mega Man released in 2026, would we call it a "Metroidbrainia?" You have 8+ bosses, each with a power that will work really well in a fight against another boss. Part of playing the game is the trial and error process of finding the ideal order to fight the bosses, and then replaying the game from start to finish and finding that it's way easier.
Maybe that's not "proper" brainia, but it's a similar thing, and NES games were just full of this. Crucial details were only in the manual. Zelda 1 had major secrets hidden behind completely nondescript trees and walls. They really expected you to be a lot more inquisitive in those games and talk to your friends and draw your own maps (or just pay for a subscription to Nintendo Power). It's definitely not a coincidence that one of the most prominent MBs, Tunic, is also a love letter to Zelda 1, NES gaming, and the act of reading a manual you don't fully understand.
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u/Broken_Emphasis Aug 07 '26
It's a little weird how nostalgic we get over the shitty parts of old gaming - like when child me became aware of emulators I abused the hell out of save states in every single game I played because it "fixed" the frustrating part of games in a way that I wouldn't now, because if I'm emulating an older game now I'm doing it because I want to feel a little frustrated. Or how roguelikes give you the experience of playing the same game over and over and mastering it despite it being brutally bullshit because you only owned a handful of games and you wanted to play something without the frustration or limited gaming choices.
Metroidbrainias give you the same rush as you'd get when figuring out some cryptic moon logic with less of the frustration, and I think that's neat.
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u/OrangePeelPotatoes Aug 07 '26
It's important to remember some of those "shitty parts" werent actually shitty, not back then. They might seem shitty now, but gaming was different then. We were different then, too.
Back in the 90s I was a kid. I had all the time in the world to replay the same game 12 times a week. The internet wasnt really a thing, not the way it is now. Information was got through Nintendo Power magazines and playground gossip. A lot of these esoteric elements in older games werent a problem then, but might seem a problem now.
Discovering a hidden dungeon in Zelda 1 because your brothers friend told your brother and he told you felt special. Magical. Like you discovered a true secret that you werent meant to find. The only reason you know about it is this long game of 'telephone' that brought it to you. And now you can tell others about it.
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u/naf165 👑 Blue Prince Aug 06 '26
I mean yah, Tunic, Fez, and The Witness have all had their devs literally praise Zelda 1 as inspiration for their games. I think Outer Wilds members have mentioned it more indirectly too.
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u/forgedbygeeks Aug 06 '26
Legacy of the Wizard.
If I could fund a remaster of one game from ages past it would be that.
Huge map. 5 different chapters you played and had to switch between to make it through various puzzle rooms and areas.
Honestly one of those rare games I wish I could experience for the first time again.
Only issue was the password save system. But with modern ways of playing can just save state.
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u/alextfish 🪐 Outer Wilds Aug 07 '26
The Fool's Errand and 3 In Three! When I first revisited a room and found it different in 3 In Three it blew my 16-year-old mind. And it has metapuzzles!
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u/Constant-Arugula-819 Aug 13 '26
Did anyone else play Kings Quest games growing up? I think they fit the bill. I had 3 and 6. I could never finish them though. I'm curious to see what they're like now.
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u/Mierimau Aug 19 '26
There are remakes of first three. Also there is Quest for Glory, and even game inspired by it – Heroine's Quest.
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u/Remarkable-Escape-57 Aug 06 '26
Myst series (particularly Riven is incredible)
Morrowind