How do I bomb jump, FFS? (Original Metroid)

Drez

So, I'm in my 30s now. I played the original Metroid on the original NES when it originally came out originally and I wasn't able to do any sequence breaking or whatnot because I couldn't figure out the timing for bomb jumping.

I just re-purchased Metroid for my 3DS via the Nintendo eShop and I still can't do it.

Any help? What am I doing wrong? I can SOMETIMES get up a second level but I can't figure out why Samus will sometimes drop a bomb in mid-air and sometimes she won't.

Nova_C

The timing is a specific rhythm. It's been a long time, but I remember figuring it out as something like, drop a bomb twice a second or so. It's a very regular rhythm to make it work, but if you do it too fast, then not all button presses will equate to a dropped bomb.

Drez

Thanks, Nova. I'll try that.

This is crushing my will.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

You need to drop a second bomb on the way up from the first bomb, so that it will 'catch' you on the way down. Then drop another bomb halfway up from that explosion, etc. The trick is dropping a new bomb quickly enough after the first detonation that you won't fall past it.

IIRC getting it started was the hardest part; once you get to the second bounce you're just pushing the bomb button at regular intervals.

Drez

Eat it You Nasty Pig. wrote: »

You need to drop a second bomb on the way up from the first bomb, so that it will 'catch' you on the way down. Then drop another bomb halfway up from that explosion, etc. The trick is dropping a new bomb quickly enough after the first detonation that you won't fall past it.

IIRC getting it started was the hardest part; once you get to the second bounce you're just pushing the bomb button at regular intervals.

The first part doesn't always seem to work though - like dropping the first in-air bomb.

Like I understand.

1- You drop a bomb on the ground.
2- Before it goes off, you drop another.
3- Then you drop one in the air.

The 2nd bomb goes off, propelling you up to the 3rd bomb. Then you keep dropping.

The 3rd bomb doesn't seem to set very often. Not sure why.

Rear Admiral Choco

The way I always remembered was to have a steady (I think) 4/4 count, dropping bombing on the first, second and fourth seconds. So like 1-bomb, 2-bomb, 3-nothing, 4-bomb.

Drez

I still can't fucking do this.

I'll try your suggestion, Choco. Thanks.

Athenor

Here's how I managed to pull it off: Yes, there is a rhythm, but it is slightly off on the first "beat." Drop your first bomb, then drop your second the moment before you land, so that it is 1-2 pixels higher than the first. From then on, I believe you plant the bomb on the upstroke, again only slightly higher than the previous.

Bomb jumping is all about falling into the bomb, not planting one at the apex. I think when I used to do it, I'd plant the bomb at about the time my reflexes registered the explosion from the previous bomb, which gave me just about the right delay.

Interestingly, I think Metroid: Prime used nearly the same timing, just limited to 3 bombs.

MechMantis

Athenor, it is indeed about falling onto bombs... but putting bombs at the apex of your jump is how you do that past a certain point. Though it's entirely irrelevant to how I do things.

Admittedly, I haven't done much bomb jumping in Metroid 1, but for the other games it's a fairly constant rhythm of bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb in a very regular fashion. Tying it to explosions, in my experience, has just lead to fucking it up. Usually after a period of not playing X Metroid game I just mash the fire button while in morph ball form, trying to find that rhythm, due to it being slightly different in each game.

Drez

There are three options at this point:

1) My Nintendo eShop copy of Metroid is broken.
2) My 3DS is broken.
3) *I* am broken.

Morphed Samus does not seem to want to drop bombs in midair very consistently: I know you can have three bombs on screen at a time, but even if I only explode one and hop in the air, another one won't always lay midair.

Is this normal?

TraceofToxin

Drez, do you have any natural musical inclination?

Maybe you lack any sense of rhythm/beat?

Nova_C

TraceofToxin wrote: »

Drez, do you have any natural musical inclination?

Maybe you lack any sense of rhythm/beat?

This should not be a problem as I have no rhythm whatsoever. :P

Drez

TraceofToxin wrote: »

Drez, do you have any natural musical inclination?

Maybe you lack any sense of rhythm/beat?

I am a karaoke king.

In all seriousness, I have done like 30 musicals, so it's not that. I used to play the trombone, too.

The Ender

Drez wrote: »

There are three options at this point:

1) My Nintendo eShop copy of Metroid is broken.
2) My 3DS is broken.
3) *I* am broken.

Morphed Samus does not seem to want to drop bombs in midair very consistently: I know you can have three bombs on screen at a time, but even if I only explode one and hop in the air, another one won't always lay midair.

Is this normal?

Your 3DS will be running an emulated ROM, which probably does not map the inputs very precisely. If you seem to be timing the button presses precisely, but Samus just isn't responding, that very well could be an artefact of the emulator.

Athenor

I find with my method, you only really need two bombs on screen at a time. And by going with a shallower timing there's less of a chance of catastrophically screwing it up. Also, bomb jumping is much easier in later games because it was an intended mechanic; I don't believe there is anything in the original that requires bomb jumping, it's just one of those cool things people found.

Drez

Athenor wrote: »

I find with my method, you only really need two bombs on screen at a time. And by going with a shallower timing there's less of a chance of catastrophically screwing it up. Also, bomb jumping is much easier in later games because it was an intended mechanic; I don't believe there is anything in the original that requires bomb jumping, it's just one of those cool things people found.

You can get the varia suit early with some bomb jumps, but I ended up using a door jump to make it work.

The Ender wrote: »

Drez wrote: »

There are three options at this point:

1) My Nintendo eShop copy of Metroid is broken.
2) My 3DS is broken.
3) *I* am broken.

Morphed Samus does not seem to want to drop bombs in midair very consistently: I know you can have three bombs on screen at a time, but even if I only explode one and hop in the air, another one won't always lay midair.

Is this normal?

Your 3DS will be running an emulated ROM, which probably does not map the inputs very precisely. If you seem to be timing the button presses precisely, but Samus just isn't responding, that very well could be an artefact of the emulator.

I think that's quite possibly the case.

fightinfilipino

you may also want to consider that Nintendo might have fixed any sequence-breaking "bugs" in the Metroid rerelease; this would include repeat bomb jumping

agoaj

You can't infinite bomb jump in Metroid 1. Most sequence breaks are accomplished by jumping off a bomb explosion or a single bomb jump explosion, and then there's the door jumping thing which breaks the game entirely.
http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Sequence_Breaking

If you just mash the bomb button, eventually the timing will sync up to get you two bombs high I think.

naroom

I find bomb jumping a LOT easier in the NES metroid than I do in the 3DS metroid. I can't do it at all on the 3DS, I was there for hours.

The 3DS metroid has some issues with responsiveness, and it drops frames more often. The NES emulator that the 3DS uses for Metroid performs worse than an actual NES does.

To prove this to yourself, get the Wave Beam and try shooting it when there's maybe 4 or more enemies moving around. You'll see the game slow down significantly. While this happened some on the NES version, it's much more severe on the 3DS version.