Super Metroid

"I can't get enough of it..."

Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time. I’m not going to beat around the bush here; I honestly can’t find a flaw with it. I love every aspect of it. To quote a friend of mine (Scientist PG): “The only flaw with Super Metroid is that it is too perfect.” So true. While perfection may not be a flaw, it makes it hard for other Metroid games (even Metroid Prime) to top this game. I’ve been playing Super Metroid for years, and it being my favorite game and all, I decided I’d write a review for it.

Story: Despite Metroid’s lack of in-game text, these games have a very rich story. Super Metroid, the third game in the Metroid series (not counting Metroid Prime). The story is as follows:

Long ago, the galaxy was at a state of peace, so several different races came together and formed a peace treaty, making the Galactic Federation, which maintain peace and civilization in the galaxy.

The Space Pirates, however, were a group of rogue aliens, a large race of insectoid, mantis-like creatures bent on galactic domination. They were extremely intelligent and ruthless; a threat to life itself. They destroyed the space colony K-2L, orphaning a young girl by the name of Samus Aran. The Chozo took her in and infused her with Chozo blood, making her one of their own. Time passed, and they successfully configured a Chozo Power Suit for use by the girl. The Power Suit, also known as the Bird Suit, held the most advanced technology in the galaxy: an arm cannon with limitless ammo and concussion ability, immense shielding capacity, and other things.

The Chozo were a very advanced race, knowing cosmic secrets and having a love and respect for life of all forms. Apparently nomadic, the Chozo would move from place to place, making their homes in different areas across the galaxy, and moving on at notice of a disturbance. As advanced as the Chozo were, they above all else desired peace, and avoided conflict when possible.

Anyway, one day on an exploration trip on the planet SR-388, a science vessel discovered a curious alien life form, which was found to be called a “Metroid.” This interesting specimen had the ability to latch onto a victim with two large fangs, and with two smaller ones, devour the very life force of the victim and harness that for itself.

The science team captured and contained a Metroid, and begin its trek back to Federation for further study of the life form; however, on their journey back, their frigate was hijacked by a group of Space Pirates, who killed everyone on board and took the Metroid back to their hideout on Zebes. The Galactic Federation sent in bounty hunter after bounty hunter, each which went in and were never heard of again. They turned to Samus, who was perhaps the most mysterious and powerful bounty hunter of them all. Feared throughout the galaxy, the Galactic Federation sent her in. She single-handedly destroyed the operations in the planet, killing Kraid, Ridley, and the Mother Brain.

Afterward, she was sent to the planet SR-388 to destroy the remaining Metroids and end the threat that they posed to the galaxy. An tracking device in her visor told her the number remaining, and she destroyed all of them but one… On the way out of the planet, Samus found an egg which vibrated and burst open, revealing a small, infant Metroid. She took aim at the creature, but it immediately spun around her and let out a soft purr: the creature thought Samus was its mother.

Samus took advantage of this and took the last Metroid in the galaxy to the Galactic Federation for experimentation; this is where Super Metroid’s intro starts:

“The Last Metroid, is in captivity. The Galaxy is at peace.”

Samus left the Metroid in the science team’s hands, thinking all was well, and departed for new places to explore and bounty to hunt. But before she even left the asteroid belt, she picked up a distress signal… The Research station was under attack. (The game picks up here.)

Gameplay: Super Metroid is a simple game on the surface. You start out on a deserted space station after receiving a distress call. You start the game with the bear essentials: your gun. You can jump, run, and shoot right off of the bat. Super Metroid adds in something new from the past two games: the ability to shoot diagonally up or down. This may not seem like much, but it helps immensely in-game.

Super Metroid departs from the past two games by adding many new things. In Metroid II: Return of Samus, there was no Long Beam needed to fire at long range, nor is there one in Super Metroid. You start with a long-range beam right from the start. You can’t rapid fire though, but that’s only an observation, not a complaint.

You acquire the beams from the past games in this one, as well. Power, Wave, Ice, Spazer, and Plasma all make a triumphant return. Each Beam has its own distinctive properties. Power is the weakest of the bunch, and also the default weapon. The Spazer widens your attack area, firing out three horizontal beams stacked one on another. This also increases strength. Wave shoots through walls, Ice freezes enemies when they’re near death, and Plasma shoots straight through enemies, tearing them to pieces as it goes (as the most powerful weapon, this is its right).

Unlike the past games, acquiring new Beam data doesn’t delete the past data stored; instead, Samus’ suit now has the ability to combine the weaponry. This is only limited in usefulness when Plasma Beam is found, since Spazer and Plasma cannot coexist (don’t ask me why). By acquiring a new weapon, it adds itself to the cannon’s previous ability, instead of replacing it. When you acquire the Wave Beam, you’ll fire out purple orbs of energy than trace a jagged path and fly right through walls to hit things you may not want to encounter yet. After you grab that, acquiring the Spazer will cause the three beams to spin around each other, meaning that the combined Wave Beam and Spazer will fly right through walls.

Of course, if you feel like turning off a particular weapon or ability, you can access a screen inside of the pause screen (by pressing R) that shows Samus’ suit in green wire-frame. It will have ability windows and small lines pointing to where they apply to (the Beams will have a window with a line pointing to the arm cannon, while the Morph Ball and Spring Ball would be added to the stomach, and so on). By highlighting one of these abilities and pressing A, you can deactivate them. This isn’t used much, and really isn’t all that useful unless switching the Ice Beam on and off (since its faster just to kill things without the extra shot the Ice Beam requires). Still, it’s nice to have around, perhaps just to look at for fun.

Also new to the Metroid series, Super Metroid gives you a map this time around. It is very useful, since Zebes can be a hard place to navigate. The map will be tiny when you first start out, only covering where you are and where’ve you been. There are map stations placed through Zebes to help with this. These almost look like little fire hydrants, with a symbol in the middle, describing what they do (There are three of these: Map, Energy Recharge, and Missile Recharge stations). By walking up to it, it will put out a small pipe that attaches to the arm cannon and uploads the data to you map screen. Pause it and the full map (save for secret areas) will be shown: blue areas are the places you haven’t explored yet, pink are places you have.

There is a multitude of awesome new power-ups. The Speed Booster, the Grapple Beam, the Super Missiles… I won’t give away all of them, but things get really cool in Super Metroid. One of the new power-ups, the Speed Booster, allows Samus to run at high speeds. By holding the run button (controls are fully customizable this time around), Samus will start running, going faster than normal. Wait a second or two, and she’ll burst into an extremely fast run, moving at perhaps more than double her regular running speed. Blue shadow Samus figures will be trailing behind her, giving you the impression that she’s running faster than the eye can see. In this mode, she’ll break through any enemy and some specific Speed Boost blocks. By ducking in this mode, you can perform one of the coolest moves Metroid has seen: the Shinespark. When you duck in the middle of a Speed Boost run, Samus will absorb the energy and maintain the charge, glowing yellow as her suit retains the massive amounts of power. Then, by jumping and pressing left/right/up/diagonal directions, Samus will leap into the air and fire herself straight in that direction, moving at incredible speed, bursting through any enemy, and keep flying in a straight line until she hits a wall. The only downfall is that it absorbs insane quantities of energy to maintain thrust on this move, but that's ok, since you’re able to acquire more energy tanks than you need, for the most part. That’s all the information I’ll give on power-ups, since it’s more fun to find out what these are for yourself. Of course, since Super Metroid is such an old game, you might know what the power-ups are before even playing, but hey.

There are also new moves in this game. “Hidden” moves. Some are shown to you, other aren’t. The Shinespark is one of these moves, but is shown to you by an ostrich-looking bird called the Dachora. Other moves in the list are a wall jump, bomb jump, and even a move called the Crystal Ball Flash, which wasn’t revealed anywhere in the game. Using this requires a combo of different buttons to press, weapon requirements and the likes. Using these new moves, you’ll find Super Metroid to be a very un-linear game, since, if you’re skilled enough, you can skip entire portions of the game using the advanced maneuvers. Indeed, Super Metroid can be played a number of ways, but some of these moves require a lot of time and effort to get down pat.

If you’re unfamiliar to the way a Metroid game progresses, it can pretty much be summed up in a few simple statements. First off, you’ll begin the game with next to nothing; only enough to get you through doors. As you walk the world of Zebes, you’ll find a ton of things you can’t access: doors, small cracks in the floor, holes that you need the Morph Ball to roll into, and a whole lot of other things. As you acquire more power-ups, you’ll find the game to open up massively, allowing you to get into just about anything you see.

Graphics: These are marvelous. Everything in the game flows with elegance. Each environment has its own look. The surface of the planet, otherwise known as Crateria, is always overcast, and constantly under a drizzle of acid rain. Deeper into the planet, you’ll find the lush and beautiful area of Brinstar, full of plant life and small creatures roaming about the area. Each area is very different from the last.

Samus herself looks very good, as well. Her suit has been redone in the 16-bit graphics of the Super Nintendo. Her shoulders move up and down as she breathes, and in dark areas, you can see her visor flashing.

There are many different enemies, some old, some new. You’ve got things crawling around the walls, creatures floating around the air, beings that cling to the ceiling waiting to ambush you, and all sorts of other life forms. You’ll also encounter Space Pirates every once and a while. Each enemy is also specific to its area, for the most part.

Sound: I love everything about Super Metroid’s sound. Seriously, everything is perfect.

The music is a marvel. I personally liked it a lot. Everything fits the mood so perfectly. The somewhat techno beat of Brinstar is one of my favorite musical game pieces, but that’s just one of musical themes in the game that are worthy of mention. The sound of Norfair is a quiet, hellish tune, perfectly fitting of the fiery world around you, while the first area of Maridia is equally soft and haunting. Bosses’ themes set the ominous tone for impending fight, and the power-up music has also been revamped and sounds excellent. Overall, I really can’t find a tune I don’t like or I’d get rid of.

Sound effects are very well done, also, but there are too many little things to go into here. Things like the sound of gun fire, the sound of Samus’ footsteps, elevators, doors, enemies; they were all well done.

Replay Value: Super Metroid is packed full of replay value. The first time through, you may take over 8 hours to beat it. Just finding your way around and exploring, looking for new power-ups and item enhancements, defeating enemies, delving further into the surface of Zebes; it can all be very time-consuming and confusing. The game follows a jagged path, as you may get one upgrade and find you’ll have to use it on the other side of the world.

In terms of linearity, Super Metroid has very little. Granted, you’re “supposed” to follow a certain path, but using the new moves that the game designers deliberately put in the game, you can not only obtain some items early, but you can skip entire portions of the game while trying for a speed run.

Also, what is your goal? To obtain a fastest time, or to get a 100% game? Maybe to get a fast 100% game in? The game has a clock built-in, which keeps track of your time played. There are 3 different endings depending on the time it took you to beat the game. Beating the game in under 3 hours gives you the best ending, while somewhere around 5-6 hours gives you the second best, and last comes to anything over those.

All in all, I think Super Metroid has a LOT of replay value. This is a game that I play every other month or so, for entertainment factor and nostalgia. This game has so much going for it, I can’t help but play it every once and a while.

Overall, Super Metroid is a game I can’t get enough of. Ever since I first got my hands on Metroid, I’ve had a huge (some might say “disturbing”) obsession with it, and Super Metroid more than curbs that obsession. That doesn’t mean I don’t want more Metroid games; Prime and Fusion were also excellent, but they don’t reach the level of perfection that Super Metroid achieved. With this title’s outstanding game play, marvelous music, great graphics, excellent replay, rich story, and what is, in my opinion, the most astounding and powerful ending to a video game there is, Super Metroid is something I almost can’t live without. For the final time, Super Metroid is my favorite game there is, and rightfully so.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/17/03, Updated 03/17/03