Sorry to bump this, but I didn't want to start a new topic for an existing one.
So, it occurred to me, after watching all the Contra runs, that there might be a way to do a pacifist run of Metroid, which I think would be a lot more interesting, albeit laggy, than the Contra pacifist run (which kills way more enemies than a Metroid pacifist run right now would take - even one of the tanks can be skipped by dying twice.)
But here's my thought. You'd need bombs, the ice beam, and all the missiles.
Here's the problem, though. You'd need 21 missile tanks, which gives you 105 missiles. You'd need 5 for the door into Tourian, 20 for the doors in Tourian, 40 for the Zeebetites, 1 for the glass jar, and 32 for Mother Brain, coming to 98. Sounds great, but, while you can get the ice beam from the back door in Norfair, you'd need another 5 for the bombs. That's 103.
I thought about not needing the bombs, but there are a couple of places they are required (to acquire more tanks - the top right area of Brinstar is one example).
Now, you can get to 20 of the missile tanks using bombs, the door glitch, or otherwise, but the first red door on the right you come to in Kraid's Lair has a tank behind it which doesn't seem accessable by any means. Using missiles here to open the door would be pointless, because you'd just end up with the same amount.
Does anyone know any tricks or glitches that can get to that missile tank? I'm sure this site needs another Metroid run like it needs a hole in the head, but after much planning, I'm just curious if it can be done.
It would be sweet, seeing nothing die but Mother Brain (and the Zeebs, if they count as creatures).
Otherwise, at least one creature (a metroid, actually) would need to be killed before the game could be finished.