One of the best games ever made, for reasons that everyone has already said, and yet I will repeat anyway.
This game's design just holds up so well. The way it rewards exploration is timeless, and makes the game downright cathartic to revisit. The game somehow manages to give you no guidance while simultaneously avoiding being outright cryptic (with some exceptions which I'll get to) and letting the player figure out solutions for themselves. That is a groundbreaking achievement in exploration-based game design and it's no wonder that this game essentially spawned a genre. When you find a solution in Super Metroid, it truly feels like you earned it, and the game completely understands how good that feeling is. Environmental clues and experimenting with your abilities are the keys to finding your way through (and if not, just use the X-Ray visor), and it is just as satisfying a gameplay loop today as I'm sure it was in 1994. The game is not very lengthy, but it's just long enough that I feel the game gets the most out of its gameplay structure and locations, without going on for so long that it starts getting monotonous. I feel I must stress this game's lack of monotony; each of the game's locations are very distinct from both a visual standpoint and design standpoint. They're all just the right size, with no repeated rooms, and some notable landmarks to help you remember the layout, which is a huge improvement from the first two Metroid games. I also appreciate how the game starts small before opening up. The compact beginning area where you get the morph ball and missiles is a great way to ease new players into the structure of Metroid games before letting them out in the deep end. And of course, this game wouldn't be nearly as fun to play if it didn't have that map.
That's not even mentioning the game's incredible presentation. The visuals are fantastic, with great attention to detail and subtle but impactful visual effects bringing the world of Zebes to life. And of course, the atmosphere is unparalleled. Between the creepy and the serene, every tone is executed perfectly in Zebes' compelling mixture of sci-fi and nature. Gorgeous environments matched with an ambient yet melodic soundtrack really does go far. I love Crateria, the moody rain and damp grassy caves is such an appealing aesthetic to me and it would be recaptured with Prime's equally breathtaking Tallon Overworld. And that moment when you go down the elevator and the energetic upper Brinstar theme gradually fades in is just... wow. It's so subtle but it really feels like the game kicks into gear in that moment. It's a perfect demonstration of how this game excels in atmosphere and tying its audiovisual design with its world design. It's an all-time great moment for me, and this is a game filled with all-time great moments. The opening in the space station is an immediate hook, the previously mentioned beginning area serving as a recreation of certain Metroid 1 rooms is a great bit of continuity (something games of the era almost never had), Ridley's Lair isn't very long but the music and visuals make it feel like the epic last stand that it is, and the story comes full circle with an absolutely legendary final boss and ending that still ranks among the most memorable in any video game. It's mindboggling how cinematic this game feels considering the time it came out, and it does so without speaking a single word outside of the opening!
I don't think this game is a 10/10 though. It just has too many flaws that hold it back. My first issue is the occasional lack of clarity. While the vast majority of this game can be solved with good intuition, there are a few moments in the game that outright require a guide, which is a huge no-no for a game like this. Some stupid moments that come to mind are: that bridge in Brinstar that requires you to run across, breaking the glass tube with a super bomb to enter Maridia, being able to go through lava with the Gravity Suit, and exiting Ridley's Lair through a completely normal looking wall which the X-Ray visor doesn't work on for some godforsaken reason. None of these are ever told or indicated to the player. I thought putting players in a situation where they have absolutely zero way to know what to do without a guide was Zelda's job, not Metroid's! It would also be nice if doors were indicated on the map; I think that's the main quality of life feature this game is missing. Side note, but I also found the Maridia area generally frustrating and unfun to traverse, but it's immediately followed up by Ridley's Lair and that is peak Metroid so I'll forgive it.
My other main criticism is the controls and movement, which I find downright unenjoyable. The jump has too much vertical momentum and not enough horizontal momentum. Pressing L to aim diagonally downwards and R to aim diagonally upwards is archaic. Why is there even a run button? And wall jumps are the biggest offender. You all know what I mean. Screw that one pit. What I'm saying is, if you got MercurySteam to remake this game in Dread's engine, add a few QoL features, and make a few small alterations to the world design, you'd probably have the perfect game. Some food for thought.
Basically, Super Metroid is a masterpiece, a must-play for literally everyone, the single best action game on the SNES, yadda yadda yadda. You get the idea. PLAY IT.
And yes, I saved the animals.
This game's design just holds up so well. The way it rewards exploration is timeless, and makes the game downright cathartic to revisit. The game somehow manages to give you no guidance while simultaneously avoiding being outright cryptic (with some exceptions which I'll get to) and letting the player figure out solutions for themselves. That is a groundbreaking achievement in exploration-based game design and it's no wonder that this game essentially spawned a genre. When you find a solution in Super Metroid, it truly feels like you earned it, and the game completely understands how good that feeling is. Environmental clues and experimenting with your abilities are the keys to finding your way through (and if not, just use the X-Ray visor), and it is just as satisfying a gameplay loop today as I'm sure it was in 1994. The game is not very lengthy, but it's just long enough that I feel the game gets the most out of its gameplay structure and locations, without going on for so long that it starts getting monotonous. I feel I must stress this game's lack of monotony; each of the game's locations are very distinct from both a visual standpoint and design standpoint. They're all just the right size, with no repeated rooms, and some notable landmarks to help you remember the layout, which is a huge improvement from the first two Metroid games. I also appreciate how the game starts small before opening up. The compact beginning area where you get the morph ball and missiles is a great way to ease new players into the structure of Metroid games before letting them out in the deep end. And of course, this game wouldn't be nearly as fun to play if it didn't have that map.
That's not even mentioning the game's incredible presentation. The visuals are fantastic, with great attention to detail and subtle but impactful visual effects bringing the world of Zebes to life. And of course, the atmosphere is unparalleled. Between the creepy and the serene, every tone is executed perfectly in Zebes' compelling mixture of sci-fi and nature. Gorgeous environments matched with an ambient yet melodic soundtrack really does go far. I love Crateria, the moody rain and damp grassy caves is such an appealing aesthetic to me and it would be recaptured with Prime's equally breathtaking Tallon Overworld. And that moment when you go down the elevator and the energetic upper Brinstar theme gradually fades in is just... wow. It's so subtle but it really feels like the game kicks into gear in that moment. It's a perfect demonstration of how this game excels in atmosphere and tying its audiovisual design with its world design. It's an all-time great moment for me, and this is a game filled with all-time great moments. The opening in the space station is an immediate hook, the previously mentioned beginning area serving as a recreation of certain Metroid 1 rooms is a great bit of continuity (something games of the era almost never had), Ridley's Lair isn't very long but the music and visuals make it feel like the epic last stand that it is, and the story comes full circle with an absolutely legendary final boss and ending that still ranks among the most memorable in any video game. It's mindboggling how cinematic this game feels considering the time it came out, and it does so without speaking a single word outside of the opening!
I don't think this game is a 10/10 though. It just has too many flaws that hold it back. My first issue is the occasional lack of clarity. While the vast majority of this game can be solved with good intuition, there are a few moments in the game that outright require a guide, which is a huge no-no for a game like this. Some stupid moments that come to mind are: that bridge in Brinstar that requires you to run across, breaking the glass tube with a super bomb to enter Maridia, being able to go through lava with the Gravity Suit, and exiting Ridley's Lair through a completely normal looking wall which the X-Ray visor doesn't work on for some godforsaken reason. None of these are ever told or indicated to the player. I thought putting players in a situation where they have absolutely zero way to know what to do without a guide was Zelda's job, not Metroid's! It would also be nice if doors were indicated on the map; I think that's the main quality of life feature this game is missing. Side note, but I also found the Maridia area generally frustrating and unfun to traverse, but it's immediately followed up by Ridley's Lair and that is peak Metroid so I'll forgive it.
My other main criticism is the controls and movement, which I find downright unenjoyable. The jump has too much vertical momentum and not enough horizontal momentum. Pressing L to aim diagonally downwards and R to aim diagonally upwards is archaic. Why is there even a run button? And wall jumps are the biggest offender. You all know what I mean. Screw that one pit. What I'm saying is, if you got MercurySteam to remake this game in Dread's engine, add a few QoL features, and make a few small alterations to the world design, you'd probably have the perfect game. Some food for thought.
Basically, Super Metroid is a masterpiece, a must-play for literally everyone, the single best action game on the SNES, yadda yadda yadda. You get the idea. PLAY IT.
And yes, I saved the animals.
JCLKaytwo
1 month ago