No wonder how this game bred a brand new genre and set high standarts from the very beginning.

I'm very impressed by the sheer creativity of its mechanics and map design. There are so many different stuff to discover in the most random places. I used X-ray almost everywhere I go but I still missed a lot of that random shit. The game forces you to think out of the box in order to get those sweet perks. For a SNES game, it's astounding.

Mechanics are also pretty tight and fairly responsive. However, they require some mastery, sometimes more than I can chew, to be precise. As a guy who sucks at platforming, I had a hard time doing the wall jumps and space jumps. Figuring out their timings were rough. I finished the game and I still can't do them consistently but I'm sure it can be done. I've seen some playthroughs, Samus looks like a god in the hands of great players.

I also like the visual style. It feels both colorful and dreadful at the same time. It gives you the feeling of isolation but also it is a feast for your eyes. Delicious.

In short, this game is a substantial accomplishment in its era. The size of this freaking game is 3 MB but it offers so much for you to play with. I could give it even a higher score if its platforming aged more gracefully. I had some difficulties and struggling with the core mechanics can be frustrating.

PS: Shout out to the composer, this soundtrack sounds really sick. Omnious and badass at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9ieYLHc1fQ&ab_channel=7GamerMinutes%2B%3AVideoGameMusic

When trying to write out thoughts on a video game, it is very easy to talk about the negatives, since usually, those are specific things that directly subtract from the gameplay experience. However, I find it quite difficult to explain in detail just what makes a game GOOD. Super Metroid is a perfect video game in my personal opinion. Everything that this game does is perfect. Ridley stole the baby Metroid and fled to Zebes. Samus Aran explores Zebes in hopes to find Ridley and save the baby Metroid. Along her way, she explores the different environments for powers and upgrades to assist in her goal. She must face Kraid, Phantoon, and Draygon, before making her way to Ridley's hideout. Once she destroys Ridley, she finds out that the baby Metroid is gone. From here, she goes to Tourian, only to find out that the baby Metroid has grown up, and that Mother Brain has been revived. She has one last epic battle with the Mother Brain, assisted by the now grown up Metroid, before escaping the planet seconds before its destruction. This is a pretty simple story, but WOW. This game takes all of the good elements from the previous two installments, combines it with its own genius ideas, and creates one of the best games of all time. This in essence is the perfect Metroid. The explorable environments are the perfect mix of both that feeling of being completely lost and wanting to explore every last corner, and yet, rarely will you ever get truly lost. The design here is just so exact and perfect for what a Metroid game needs. The powers/upgrades you find are perfectly spaced out and hidden in such clever and unique ways so that you find them at the perfect times. The bosses you fight have such fun patterns to learn, and all pose a different, yet consistent and satisfying challenge that fills you with excitement as you eventually defeat them. The Super Nintendo graphics and soundfonts also perfect set the themes of this games areas whether it be Brinstar, which looks and sounds full of life and growth, to an area like Maridia, which could not seem more alien and dead. Never more has a game filled me with such wonder and interest and excitement more than this game has. AND ALL OF THAT, coming from the year 1994. Every single specific minute detail of this game is 100% perfect. It does not stop here either. This games influence reaches far and wide across the gaming landscape. Even if this subgenre of game has been dubbed "Metroidvania," even the "vania" part of this title, representing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, was directly influenced by Super Metroid. This is literally everything you could ask for a video game to do. It seriously does not get better than this. I recommend anyone at all who likes video games, to throw this on completely blind, and let your self get completely lost in its wonder. What a game!

Another game I would have gone absolutely bananas over if I played it as a kid but sadly didn't until I was a teenager with a SNES emulator. May still be the high point for the series, although Metroid Dread was a strong contender (I like the Prime games but prefer Metroid side-scrolling). The controls feel phenomenal, the slow power creep is so satisfying, and the bosses absolutely rule. Exploring Zebes is such a blast, and much like A Link the The Past it's an insane step up from the first two games in the series.

It’s 1996… 4 year old me can barely even play Super Mario World to a competent level, never mind a deep, complex game like Super Metroid. 1 or 2 hours was enough to get me to a point where I didn’t know where to go, so I would drop it.

Returning to this game nearly 30 years later, and I know see why it is considered a revolutionary masterpiece.

Stacking it up against games of the time and nothing comes close to how it looks, plays and feels.

The opening atmosphere, the game does an excellent job of making the player feel lonely and creating a desolate world. And the atmosphere through the game is top notch.

The sound. The shooting of the beam, the jumping and spinning sound, the music, the alarm sounds. Everything is on point and feeds the atmosphere, similar to the first Alien film.

The gameplay and power ups. Again, revolutionary for its time. Traversing the world is so much fun when you start to unlock some of the power ups.

The story. I had the benefit of having played Metroid: Zero Mission before this, so knew a little bit about what was going on. A simple story but a very effective one.

The outrageous, amazing ending. I loved it. So unexpected and exciting.

I couldn’t give it a rest. Super Metroid is one of those games where you just have to keep playing and want to find out what’s around the next corner. I didn’t even think about any other game whilst playing this.

I just can’t give it a 10. Mainly due to the confusion and the time it took me to figure out where to go at the end. This game does not hold your hand. And I know this is meant to add to the mystery of the world building and is meant to make the player carve his own path. But I just wish it gave you even a slight hint of what to do next. Near the end, when the paths become much more complicated, I felt a little frustrated at times. But it was satisfying when I did manage to carve a path. A minor gripe.

Overall, I’m so glad I have now experience this game in full. And I know see why people consider it a masterpiece.

1994
A cry rings out. The room is engulfed in darkness, with just enough light to see the outline of a corspe as the camera pans over machinery.
NINTENDO PRESENTS
As more of the room is revealed, the music intensifies and grows louder as that same cry is heard again. We can see computers and the dead bodies of scientists on the floor.
METROID 3
The source of the cry is finally identified: a single baby Metroid, stuck in a test tube. We zoom out to see the entire room, while the music beeps louder and louder. Finally, we hear a somber, yet familiar tune, as the title fades in.
SUPER METROID

This intro alone is enough to tell you that this game means business. It is such an improvement from Metroid II that it's almost unbelievable. I'm not going to bury the lead here, Super Metroid is one of the best games ever made. It is perfect in every regard and basically flawless. every positive thing you've heard about it are true. it is an absolute monolith of game design in every sense. from the story, to the art direction, to the atmosphere, the gameplay, the level design, the music, it is absolutely fantastic.

I'm honestly kind of stumped because, what do you want me to say? it's Super god damn Metroid! everyone and their mother has already sung their praises of this game, justifiably so. do you need to tell me that the movement is impeccable, that the power-ups are all amazing and satisfying to use, that the progression really makes you feel grow more and more powerful until you become unstoppable, how the game is challenging yet never unfair, how the world is a joy to explore and feels like a real place while giving you the freedom to choose how you advance, how the soundtrack is fucking incredible, how the graphics are absolutely gorgeous yet never once slowed down, how fun the bosses are to fight, how satisfying it is to find out a secret after you followed your intuition, how cool it is to sequence break even by a tiny amount, how the game actually freaked out a couple of times and genuinely jumpscared me once?

there's a reason Super Metroid is cited as a pillar of the metroidvania genre, because every single game in the same vein has been trying to replicate it, with the single exception being Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I'm not really one to oppose differing game opinions, even if they go against the majority, but if you wanna start talking shit about Super Metroid you better have some air tight arguments because you're going up against one of the greatest, most focused, well-designed and polished games to ever exist.

I give Super Metroid a perfect 10 out of 10!

Super Metroid is just such a great milestone for gaming. It's timeless, and almost UNIVERSALLY agreed to be the best Metroid game. It has inspired so many games like it, booming the metroidvania genre. I love Super Metroid, and it's been 30 years without aging bad, I know it'll go another 30 the same way.

I don't know what new I can input to the conversation about this classic, but I know for a fact that it is a staple in not only the SNES era, but the history of gaming as a whole.

This is my first Metroid game.

Samus movements are a bit clunky. First, I never became truly comfortable with the Spin Jump. I couldn't get used to the momentum of this move, and often ended up slipping off platforms.
Figuring out how to use the Wall Jump wasn't obvious at all. I had to train on a wall for a few minutes to get a good grip of it.
And worst of all, the Space Jump: Underwater, I was able to perform this move without any issue, but outside of that, I was never able to chain them consistently. The timing is just so weird and unintuitive, and that's the reason I had such a bad time in the last area, Ridley's Lair. You need to fly across rising lava as quickly as possible using this move, and that was terrible.

Also, this isn't the game's fault, but I don't vibe with the sci-fi/alien/futuristic setting... Different strokes, right?

There are some items that are fun to use. I liked being able to freeze the enemies to use them as platforms, thanks to the Ice Beam. Swinging myself around with the grapple beam was also kinda fun.

I didn't like the abundance of hidden paths. Having to stop constantly to use the X-Ray kinda ruins the pace of exploration. It's the biggest issue in the game for me.

I enjoyed the boss fights for the most part. They aren't too easy nor too hard. I do want to note that I was using save states. So whenever I died against a Boss, I could respawn in front of it and retry immediatly.
Crocomire was pretty cool, the fact that you need to push him into the lava rather than reducing his HP to 0. And the way he comes back as a skeleton to scare you one last time was neat.
Draygon was my favorite Boss in the game, and I also had a good time with Golden Torizo.

Using the Power Bomb in Maridia to break the glass tunnel was such an Eureka moment for me. I was stuck for so long, and it felt very satisfying to finally figure this out!

As I said earlier, I kind of had enough once I reached Ridley's Lair. I got stuck at the 2 Ridley's Guards.
I didn't have enough ammo to deal with them, and I was really fed up with this area, so I didn't have the courage to backtrack to gather HP & ammo. The lack of teleporters is definitely a deal-breaker.
So I stopped here and watched the rest of the game on YouTube.

Honestly, I had a good time in the first half of the game. Before I reached the last quarter of the game, I thought about giving it 3.5 stars, or even 4 stars. But it became really tedious near the end, hence my final rating.
I'm still happy I played such an iconic game, it was about time I played this series! I feel like I would have more fun with Metroid Dread tho?

----------Playtime & Completion----------

[Started on May 5th & stopped on May 7th 2024]
Playtime: 18 hours
I stopped at the 2 Ridley's Guards.

After reading the Retro Gamer Super Metroid 30th anniversary feature, funnily enough, I fancied playing it. And play it I did. Absolutely soaked in unsettling atmosphere, and some great action platforming, it's a game that is not only brilliant in its own right, but actually made better by sequels like Prime and Dread.

I did have a few moments where I found it to be a little laborious. Some of the backtracking was a chore, and the wall jump and space jump were inconsistent, but I can overlook those as minor gripes in a game that I had a lot of fun with.

I don't really need to go over what's been said a zillion times already. Game good.