Super Metroid

"Quite possibly the best non-rpg game of all time."

I remember having played the first Metroid for Nes when I was younger, and I didn’t liked it, of course I didn’t liked it!, I was too young to play such a complex like that one. Many years later, one day my best friend phoned me because his parents bought him a Snes, he told me that with the console came a weird game with a dragon and robot on the cartridge’s label, I immediately run to his house and when I arrived and saw the Super Metroid cartridge I became a little disappointed, but as it was the only we game we had we started playing, and from that day on my life completely changed. Am I exaggerating you say?, you can bet you butt that even if it is for once, I haven’t said a single stupidity.

Plot:
After having destroyed Mother Brain and all her Metroids in their own homeworld, a Metroid larva survived and mysteriously started following Samus like little baby. Samus delivered that little specimen to a research laboratory to be examined. But short time after her departure, she picks a disaster signal that comes from the station she has left. Once you get back to the station the adventure begins, and this story follows the evens of the first and second Metroid for the Nes and Game Boy respectively.

The plot is not the core of Super Metroid, in fact, aside from the very first part and the ending there isn’t any plot basically. But that is not a problem, I repeat that the plot is not really important in this game, but it has to said that the opening sequence of the game and the tragic and very touching ending are simply unforgettable.

Graphics:
Super Metroid is a graphic miracle, the game’s overall design is a work of art, from Samus’ mechanical suit, to the disgustingly stunning beats, or the wonderful environments you will have to move around, everything is just fantastic. And while moving around those creepy, mysterious and unexplored planets you will see tons of amazing an unbelievably beautiful effects and details like rain or thunders, the weird vegetation or the planets friendly indigenous forms… then the bosses are a-m-a-z-i-n-g, some of the most imposing and impressive bosses you will ever see are in this gem. Super Metroid really pushes those 24 megabytes to the limit, even without being the best graphically, Super Metroid is one of the most visually striking games ever made.

Music:
The music is another thing makes Super Metroid the unbelievably involving experience it is, even without having that much music. Yes, because Super Metroid is one of those few games where the lack of music is what makes the music, your foot steps the first time you enter a unexplored area, the creepy noises that “something” seems to be making ahead, or even the absolute lack of sound. Of course there are some musical themes, and of course they rule, but the best thing about Super Metroid’s soundtrack is, paradoxically, the lack of a real soundtrack.

Gameplay:
Super Metroid’s gameplay is simply perfect, it is impossible to find any flaw because there isn’t any, that simple, and Nintendo deserves twice as credit for making something so deep and complicated work so good. Probably, only after finishing the game you will truly realize the masterwork this game is in terms of gameplay. It is hard to explain how Metroid works, it is some kind of hybrid between a platform and action game where more than anything you will have to explore. The entire world of Super Metroid is a very intricate labyrinth, so your best ally it is going to be your map. Fortunately this map is perfectly made, it shows clearly all the places you have or you haven’t been, if there is something you haven’t got, etc. Using the map is impossible to get lost.

Sometimes Samus’ movements are very hard to perform, I mean, they work perfectly, but the hard part comes when you have to use these movements in certain situations, these parts will truly test you skills with the control pad, and Samus has an unending selection of movements, and you will to learn exactly how to use all of them or you are dead meat, like that now classic and always wonderful little ball form, I guess it is called “morph ball” or something like that.

Then we have the weapons, each weapon is useful for something, they are not just better looking or more powerful, sometimes you will have to switch weapons because some of them only work against certain enemies or destroy certain structures, etc.

Replay Value:
Believe it or not I have completed the game entirely more or less five or six times (and I mean ENTIRELY, each time with more than 90% of items), probably spending more than 100 hours each time. While trying to find all the missiles, super missiles and all the items to reach the 100% I have probably spent more time with this game than with any other (and with all, I have never reached that damned 100%, there are some missiles left that I haven’t found). Then we have the game’s difficulty, Super Metroid is really hard, and I think it’s better to play with a friend so that you can remember better the places you have already been or any other little thing you forgot to do.
For me Super Metroid never ends, this is one of those games you just start to play to beat some time until you realize you have been playing all the night.

Overall:
Super Metroid was my all time favourite video game until I played Super Mario RPG and later Final Fantasy VII, it is by far one of the biggest masterpieces in terms of video games in history. But please, I beg you, I you have not played this game in a Snes, then don’t even try to download a ROM, aside from not being the same, this game is nearly impossible to play on an emulator (because of the tough gameplay), I pity you I you have never played, you have missed one of the deepest and more enthralling experiences ever, I just can’t find the exact word to describe how involving the world of Super Metroid is, and if you can’t understand this, then that’s because you have never played.

”My lack of vocabulary and grammatical errors (if there’s any) are because I’m not from an English speaking country, sorry about that.”

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/05/04, Updated 02/14/04