While there's quite a lot to appreciate here (my .5 star encompasses all negative ratings), after the first hour or two Super Metroid becomes unbearably tedious to the point I could hardly stand it.
It's funny how strongly this game leans into the metroidvania convention this series more or less created: character upgrades as pseudo-keys. Like, that's all it is. Each area exists to give you a new upgrade which allows you to access new parts of previous areas. And this is great for a while! There's a reason it's endured as one of the most important elements of the genre. But this is just about all the game is. There's no time to enjoy your new upgrades and feel powerful, no novel mind-expanding ways to use them, and no cool narrative being opened up by going through those steps. As a result, finding a new upgrade never feels empowering...it becomes a chore, a responsibility to sweep through old areas and find what you need. This happens over and over and over until you reach the final two bosses which are mostly ammo checks, with the latter ending with a hard HP check. The boss fights in general are rather dull, consisting mostly of standing in place and firing everything you've got. It's a shame, really, as (at least before the grappling hook and scanner make inventory management unwieldy) the movement and combat in regular areas feel pretty damn good.
Undoubtedly a massive moment in the history of the metroidvania, but dwarfed in quality by its children. Weirdly enough, I can imagine enjoying this with speedrun strategies if I ever learned them. Breaking this open and smashing through the soft key requirements sounds wonderful.
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Part of the Glitchwave Top 100 Project (#20/100)
It's funny how strongly this game leans into the metroidvania convention this series more or less created: character upgrades as pseudo-keys. Like, that's all it is. Each area exists to give you a new upgrade which allows you to access new parts of previous areas. And this is great for a while! There's a reason it's endured as one of the most important elements of the genre. But this is just about all the game is. There's no time to enjoy your new upgrades and feel powerful, no novel mind-expanding ways to use them, and no cool narrative being opened up by going through those steps. As a result, finding a new upgrade never feels empowering...it becomes a chore, a responsibility to sweep through old areas and find what you need. This happens over and over and over until you reach the final two bosses which are mostly ammo checks, with the latter ending with a hard HP check. The boss fights in general are rather dull, consisting mostly of standing in place and firing everything you've got. It's a shame, really, as (at least before the grappling hook and scanner make inventory management unwieldy) the movement and combat in regular areas feel pretty damn good.
Undoubtedly a massive moment in the history of the metroidvania, but dwarfed in quality by its children. Weirdly enough, I can imagine enjoying this with speedrun strategies if I ever learned them. Breaking this open and smashing through the soft key requirements sounds wonderful.
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Part of the Glitchwave Top 100 Project (#20/100)