Super Metroid (1994)

It doesn't recapture the loneliness and mystery of the first game, but that would be hard to do in any sequel.

Played this on an emulator the first time through, and was frustrated repeatedly by the controls- had to program a macro to consistently wall jump, and missed the in-game demonstrations of the other special abilities at first (like where the non-enemy creatures teach you how to run fast then jump).

Now playing through on the Switch it's more straight-forward, though wall jumping is still challenging but at least possible with the pro controller. Had the most trouble with the boss that swoops down repeatedly, had to retreat and get a few more missiles and energy tanks.

Even though I haven't play M2 or AM2R yet, I FINALLY started this because it seems to be a prerequisite for context for many games on my wishlist that i've been dodging (for that reason). Enjoying it so far, glancing at the guide over at strategy wiki is pretty helpful and moving me along without hand-holding and seems like a good alternative to gameFAQs

Love this PC-98 looking-as-hell cutscene that they inserted into the game!

playing Super Metroid (SNES on Switch Online)

Date: Feb. 15, 2020

Start Time: 11:30 AM

End Time: 1:00 PM

Approximately: ~1.5 hours

Save Time: --:--:--

-Notes (+Images):

ok, i'm writing this 1.5 weeks later so let's hope i remember enough. Played this on a long car trip.

Starting the game the prologue goes through metroid 1 plot (so obv, spoilers) and then starts with super metroid's plot. I have no idea of Metroid II's plot so it might also be recounted. The game starts out decent enough but the voiceover .. Running to find the end of this level & huh RIDLEY ALREADY?. Jumps are slightly awkward and i didn't do well in this fight but at least i didn't die. Anyhow I restarted the game a few times adjusting the controls, I find it difficult to jump and crouch one after the other but I suppose this will improve through playing.

I quickly escape the way I came. The beginning of this game is pretty fun & fast-paced, I thought I was going to have to explore more before some action. i've never played an SNES game before, so I really love the music, level design, & pixel art so far.

On the new planet, i took my time exploring. After getting the morphing ball I also wasted time by not realizing the floor is breakable on the door to the right bc of the dim screen, and asked my brother what the missiles were for (red doors). Don't think I would have figured out shooting the doors would open them, so this is my only complaint from the introductory world, and this is probably because i'm used to mario NES style. Otherwise, I'm fairly impressed with the level design that teaches you how to play without giving away instructions

Going back up the way I came, shooting & jumping is hard now that there are enemies, but I explore up and back to the top of the vertical cave before going down to the doors on the left side, 1 is a save spot & the other is blocked by blocks. I opened the door on the right and saw monsters that fly down so I left this for now & saved.

Defeated monsters to heal & restock missiles, & went up again to the horizontal part of the cave. There's a place to turn into a morph ball, drop down & find some bombs. Oh, so this statue is going to fight? died a couple times bc im not used to the controls (button placement sucks imo!) so i went earlier in my playthrough thanks to the virtual console feature. afterwards, i made my way back to the door i couldn't get through bc of the blocks. On my way back, realized bombs could make me jump as morph ball, so something to keep in mind. Since similar monsters were at the bomb area, I went back to the door I skipped & got a map.

hm im watching a longplay of super metroid to refresh my memory and there's a secret area to get missiles which i never suspected could be destroyed. Missiles are easy to come by so I won't go back but I should remember this

I then use the bombs, up top when the cave turns from horizontal to vertical, to go left down some weird cave, ruins, plants, and new enemies. After going through doors, going to an underground green area, I get more missiles (this area looks like mario pipes) and find another bomb-able track to a map. This one is actually useful since I haven't gone everywhere else first yet & find a save area. At this point I backtrack back to my ship and explore to the right in case I missed anything. There's a lot of platforms, and a green door which I don't know how to open yet. I go back AGAIN, and save after the cave & green area, & end the playthrough

It's not just Metroid -- it's Super Metroid. One of the most beloved games of all time, and I've finally played it. Well, tried to, at least. I gave it my best shot, honest! But I got bored, and was getting too frustrated by the controls. I think I played about 2/3rds of the game, and then watched the rest on Youtube.

Experiencing the game for myself though, I can at least say I get why it's so loved. Back in 1994, this game had to be mind-blowing. The dark and moody, dreary and dangerous alien world atmosphere is powerful, even to this day. You're this lone robo-suit warrior, stranded on some distant outlaw planet, and yeah -- the devs really succeeded in getting that tone across. The creepy alien creatures are well-designed, and the sound effects sound fittingly eerie. It's a scary game for its time, and must have shocked a lot of folks who had grown used to Nintendo's more family-friendly fare. I also have to give high praise for the music in this one. Some of those songs are outright fantastic -- and others are downright chilling. (Some of those tunes are both.) So a nice big A with a circle around it, for the game's presentation.

All that said, damn did I have a rough time playing this. I guess I'll start with the controls. Samus is about as unwieldy as it gets for a platformer protagonist. The game is unfortunately designed for loads of precision platforming, but Samus has such a terrible jump to work with. She's either barely moving horizontally (while going way up), or she's doing an awkward 12 flips for no reason in a rigid arc that is just difficult to work with. Then at some point you have to start doing wall jumps -- and these are absolutely terrible. I had to look up online how to do them, because the game sure wasn't going to tell me (despite being kind enough to tell me a thousand times, ten long seconds at a time, how to shoot friggin' missiles). You gradually learn other moves that also feel clumsy, so I didn't care to use them unless I had to. I will say upgrades for your weaponry at least feels satisfying.

The other big problem I had with the game was its level design in general. It's one of the founding "Metroidvania" games, and fans always say how much they love the "open world" aspect of the game -- how you can go wherever you want in the world. But the thing is, that never really felt true to me. My experience was always trying to find anywhere that I actually could go to next. Areas are gated off in a variety of ways -- you generally have to get some specific power-up (basically a key) in order to get into a new area. So I would search throughout the whole great big world, backtracking for 20-40 minutes, trying to find that specific power-up in order for me to actually advance the game at all. This happened repeatedly, and the constant backtracking got old after a while. I can see this game being more fun in later playthroughs when you know where you need to go next -- but for me trying to play through it as blind as I could for my first go at it, I generally found it tedious. I think it also doesn't help that there's a "sameyness" to each area in regards to the actual space you're playing in. They're all basically just rectangular rooms, all connected with basic hallways and shafts.

Perhaps what is affecting my judgement of this game most though is the fact that I have played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night before playing this... and I gotta say, I loved SotN from start to finish and would happily go back to play it again. SotN just did the whole "Metroidvania" thing a lot better IMO.

I don't intend to give up on the Metroid franchise entirely though. I do love the concept in general, and have heard that there are later entries that handle the controls a bit better at the very least.