Anyone who has played Super Metroid knows that this game is not just a video game...It is a masterpiece of the medium. The game came out over ten years ago, and it only seems to get better with age. Not too many games can manage to pull that feat off. In case you haven't played it, yes. Super Metroid is that good.
You take the role of Samus, a female bounty hunter as she witnesses the abduction of the last metroid in the galaxy. She follows the abductors to the planet Zebes and prepares to blast her way through the planet and, eventually, to the planet's core to end the abductors' plans once and for all. Along the way she ends up in multiple environments, such as underwater, in a volcanic area, a jungle area, and even a ghost ship. Making your way through each area, simply put, is a joy.
The gameplay seems pretty simple at first glance. Kill enemies. However, as you play the game, you realize that simply killing everything won't get you anywhere. Sometimes, rather than destroy an enemy, you may need to freeze it with an ice beam you eventually pick up. Freezing it turns it into a stepping stone, allowing you to get to a formerly off-limit area, something you can't do if you simply kill. Super Metroid encourages players to explore and find all of the various secrets hidden in the game's beautiful and well-designed levels.
The boss fights are amazing. The bosses may seem unstoppable at first, but each has a weakness, and each is very beatable...Although, the bosses are almost too beautiful to maim. The graphics here are some of the best you'll see on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Along with the graphics, the musical score is top-notch and really adds to the flavor of the game. To this day, ten years after I first played the game, if I hear a song from Super Metroid, I can name exactly what level it comes from. Not too many game soundtracks stick out in my mind like that.
I spoke of the brilliant level design earlier, let's go back to that for a second. The design is fantastic. As you start off, you'll find several areas in levels that you cannot gain access to. However, as you progress in the game and aquire new gadgets and weapons, you can go back and explore these places. On top of that, there are cleverly hidden passages and walls and floors that can be destroyed, if you have the proper ammo on you. On top of the hidden secret areas, hidden traps will drop newbies of the game into areas of Zebes that your mother would tell you to stay away from if you lived there. It is level design at its finest.
The game also has many secrets not even involving the level layout so much. The multiple endings encourage the player to replay the game again and get better in order to get the "good" ending from beating the game in under three hours. There are also some creatures that you may come across that won't harm you, such as the trio of acrobatic gremlin-like creatures that teach you how to wall-jump and the ostrich-like creature that teaches you another useful way to use your sprint boots...And lets not forget the famous "sonic boom" trick.
Super Metroid is a classic game in every sense of the word. It's gameplay and concepts have been borrowed from many, many games since its release. It is a game that has been time-tested and still comes out just as great as the day it was released. This is a game that can have you playing from beginning to end in one sitting...Simply because you don't want to put the controller down once you start to play. Super Metroid is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the greatest games ever to be created. Thank you, Nintendo! - Ape
April 18, 1994
March 19, 1994
July 28, 1994
