Super Metroid is a super fun game for the Super Nintendo.
If you've ever played both Super Metroid along with Metroid Prime on the Gamecube, then Prime feels like a 3D Super Metroid. For their times, both games were some of the most atmospheric games ever created and also some of the best in their time period. Metroid Prime uses a lot of the same power ups as Super Metroid did and feels like a revamped SM while not feeling fun and not recycled. But if you liked Super Metroid that doesn't mean that you'll like Prime and vice versa but I'll tell you that there aren't many people who don't find enjoyment in those two games.
So in Super Metroid, you are playing is the female bounty hunter Samus Aran, and you return to Zebes, which is the place you were located in the original Metroid and you are tracking the Space Pirates who have taken the last remaining Metroid which was going to be used to experiment on for the good of mankind. Soon after you arrive in Zebes, you'll have a quick run in with Ridley who you'll see more than once throughout the game. You'll also see many familiar baddies here, boss battles and common enemies from before.
Metroid controls really easily and has a lot of new things put in that without them is what made the original Metroid so fricking hard. You move with the D-pad but what really saves your put is the ability to shoot diagonally in any direction. You can shoot diagonally left upward, right upward, left downward and right downward. In addition to that, you can jump and shoot down and duck and shoot which all were things that you couldn't do in the original Metroid which made it challenging. These new features don't make the game super easy but they make it appropriate for any gamer to pick up and play. You shoot with Y and you go into morph ball by tapping down twice. You can charge a beam once you get the power up by holding Y and you can switch to missiles, super missiles and more with the select button and then you shoot with Y. You can jump with the A button. The controls are fitting and you can instantly shoot diagonally with L or R.
There are different parts of Zebes that you'll enter. You'll visit familar places like Brinstar, Crateria, Norfair and more. Each of these places have many different rooms with secrets like energy tanks and missiles and power ups. Power ups are frequent finds in this game partly because there are so many of them and some really cool ones. The missiles can be really helpful for enemies and bosses and some can only be distinguished with them. You start off with five missiles but you can get over two hundred as you find missile upgrades which add five missiles to your previous stock, and the added stock is permanent so it will be out of the number, not when you use the missiles there lost for ever. Energy tanks are also helpful. Your health is a bar of 99 health but you can get tanks to add health to your previous health. So if you have ten energy tanks you'll actually have around 1100 health in all. There are many other power ups like super missiles upgrades, bomb upgrades, new beams, new suits new moves and other cool things like that.
The map system is complicated at first but simple once you’re used to it. Press the start button to get in and out of your map and in the map you’ll see all the rooms that you have visited before for that area. The map changes for what area you’re in. For example, if you’re in Brinstar then you’ll have the Brinstar map but in your in Norfair you’ll have the Norfair map. The map system is strikingly similar to the map system in the Castlevania series so it’s pretty easy if you’ve played a Castlevania game with the 2D map system. There are certain rooms called Map Stations where it will fill up the whole map for the area and show every save point, power up location, etc. The areas you have been in will be highlighted and the areas you haven’t entered will be left blank.
The gameplay in Super Metroid may look straightforward given that it is a side scrolling plat former but you are almost limitless on where you want to go. You don’t have to get a certain power up first and you can beat the game without some power ups although it is helpful to have them making the game the opposite off linear. Once you’ve gotten the hang of the map system, you’ll be playing this game like a pro and you’ll guess where you have to go until you find a new power up or boss fight or something like that. The boss fights are all very unique and almost always have a certain weak spot except a few bosses don’t. Some bosses may have you die before you figure out how to beat them but there are quite a bit of save points in the game so you’ll be able to get back to that boss soon. None of the bosses are extremely tough but they are all very fun. There aren’t very many bosses but there are tons and I mean tons of enemies. In almost every corridor there in a variety of enemies except in save rooms and map rooms and places like that. Enemies can get annoying but never frustrating.
The graphics for Super Metroid are very well done on the Super Nintendo. You may have heard it being one of the most atmospheric games for its time and that is true. The art is extremely well done and the backgrounds and areas are brought to life. The bosses are superbly well detailed and the enemies and sprites look pretty dang good themselves. Even Samus is eye candy on the Super Nintendo. Well, not like that because liking a 16 bit character like that, is well…well if you do you belong in an asylum. We’ll just leave it at that. The graphics are incredibly well detailed and everything is brought to life and looks fantastic.
As with the graphics, the soundtrack is equally amazing. The music is very moody and fit’s the setting very well. All of the music tracks are nice to listen to and it always speeds up at an intense moment like a boss fight or escape sequence. Other than that the music stays pretty monotone but it never really gets repetitive. The sound effects are downright incredible for the Super Nintendo. Everything is noticeable like when you shoot missiles or beams or when you jump and attack and land on things and when you use bombs and so much more. The sound has certain flaws but it overall holds up very nicely.
Super Metroid is much, much longer than any other 2D game in the series but not longer than Metroid Prime or Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. However, it isn’t too long or too short and it’s a perfect summer blockbuster. It’s a game you’ll certainly find enjoyment in playing more than once. As for side quests, there’s nothing unless you count collecting missile tanks and energy tanks but lack of side quests doesn’t hurt the game at all really.
Overall, Super Metroid is another essential Super Nintendo game and one of my favorite games on my favorite system. Super Nintendo has many classics and this is one of them. Any Metroid fan who hasn’t played this game, go pick it up now and if you liked Castlevania, you’ll find enjoyment here too. Super Metroid is an awesome game and you should try it. It sticks to the Metroid formula, and that’s a good sort of thing.