This is quite possibly one of the most frustrating of the awesome NES classics out there. If you're able to make it through the whole game in one sitting, you're crazy. If you also manage to do it on an NES without it glitching up on you, you're fckinc insane.
During Metroid Showdown (October 4-5, 2003), Gerf and Bouyack played Metroid head-to-head using emulators. The final times for this matchup were as follows:
Prior to Metroid showdown, Gerf's record time was 52:44.
Only Gerf and Vanv have both an NES and the Metroid game cartridge, so chances are this section will never be as "open" as others in the High Scores list. In any case, Gerf beat Metroid on the NES in 35:08.14, according to his watch memory. This was done on February 15th, but the year is (amusingly) not stored. A best-guess estimate is 2004, which would place it at four months after the infamous Metroid Showdown.