Original review (4 stars)

Super Metroid is an incredible game that set the standard for so many games that followed. It has more than earned its place in history as one of the best games of all time.

I didn't love it, though.

I was a Genesis kid, so I don't have too much nostalgia for Super Nintendo games. That's why I've been so impressed when I've finally played through games like Super Mario World or A Link to the Past, both of which compare favorably to their successors (in my opinion, anyway). By contrast, I didn't enjoy playing Super Metroid as much as I did Zero Mission and Samus Returns.

By far my biggest issue was with the controls. I just couldn't find an arrangement that didn't feel awkward to me, an issue I haven't had with later 2-D entries of the series. I know a lot of folks swear that they'll eventually become second nature, but that never happened for me.

Secondly, the game's non-linear layout clashes a bit with its non-traditional style of tutorials. There are sections that are designed to teach you some of the game's more stupefying mechanics, but because the game isn't linear, there's no guarantee you'll find those tutorials before getting yourself stuck somewhere.

After several false starts with this game, I ended up resorting to a walkthrough for a decent chunk of its beginning. Once I'd collected a few maps and upgrades, I was able to wrestle with the controls and find my way around without dying or getting stuck quite as frequently. From there I really enjoyed my playthrough.

I would love to see a remake of Super Metroid with better controls and a bit more hand-holding for players like me who might never know to hold down after dashing to charge a super jump. For its story, setting and boss battles alone it's bumped Metroid Fusion for third place in my personal ranking of Metroid games.

Update (November 23, 2025)

I finished a replay of this after cruising through both GBA entries, and I gotta say… I think my 2019 review is a little harsh.

Sure, this game from 1994 lacks the control, physics and traversal niceties of games from a decade or two later. That’s how time works. But like, my dude, use rewind and/or save states, look up a couple of things online if you have to, and appreciate how amazingly well this game’s visuals aged, how vast this version of Zebes feels in scope, the variety of abilities to unlock and leverage in creative ways, how monstrous the bosses feel.

Zero Mission plays better. But Super Metroid feels grander to me now. I’m glad I’ve finally lightened up about it.

Super Metroid:

Gameplay: 10.0

Excellent gameplay can mean different things for different games, and in the case of Super Metroid I believe the most appropriate word to describe what makes it so great is depth. You're given basic tools to play through the game straight from the get-go, and it's easy enough for anyone to run, jump and bomb their way from touchdown to Mother Brain. However, it's once you start peeling back the layers that you start to see all the possibilities before you. Learning to wall jump completely changes the dynamics of the game, as does learning how to manipulate your super speed and morph ball. None of these advanced techniques are directly taught to you (adorable Zebes creatures notwithstanding), nor are any of them vital to complete the game. Mastering them is its own reward.

The controls in Super Metroid are deceptively fantastic. You'll start the game feeling a little slow and imprecise, but by the time you've hit the three-quarter point you've effectively transformed into The Flash, if Barry Allen had enough sense to arm himself with a plasma cannon. Like your basic movement abilities, learning how to make the most of your arsenal takes some practice as well, and is equally rewarding.

Story / Value: 9.8

The story in Super Metroid is borderline non-existent without context. Sure, there's the opening exposition, but it doesn't really amount to much unless you were actually there. This was, at least for me, the case whenever I tried playing this game in the past. It just felt like I was randomly dropped on an alien planet and told to... go. This is unfortunate as, should you play through the first two game before this one, you'll feel a genuine weight and presence in your mission. Zebes, where the first game took place, does a fantastic job of making you feel like you're returning to long-forgotten roots. Sadly, without that context, the effect is all but lost.

As far as the game itself, the pacing is more or less on point. Power-ups and abilities are given out at a good pace, and depending on how creative you are, and your familiarity with the game, you really have a lot of leeway in how you choose to tackle the game. You'll also get different endings depending on how long it takes you to complete the game, adding some replay value.

Presentation: 9.5

Super Metroid's visuals may not be groundbreaking, but they're still great. The environments all have their own look and feel to them, but still flow consistently. Samus has a variety of animations which all look excellent, and while there's not a ton of enemy variety they all look good as well. Bosses are large and intimidating, and no matter how busy the screen got I never experienced any sort of graphical hiccups.

Music: 9.0

The music in Super Metroid is used perfectly, creating a lonely, claustrophobic atmosphere. That said, while one or two tracks did stick with me after the console turned off, I never really found the score particularly compelling out of context. To be clear, it did nothing but enhance the actual gameplay experience, and it's surely recognizable, but it's not something I'd listen to outside of actually playing Super Metroid.

Sound: 8.8

Like the game's music, Super Metroid's sound effects are all perfectly tuned to enhance the atmosphere. Beam fire, monster explosions and ambient sounds all suit the game perfectly.

Fun \ Afterthoughts: 9.8

If you'd asked me a year and a half ago what I thought of Metroid games, my response wouldn't have been great. The few times I'd tried playing Super Metroid I'd found myself lost, confused, bored, and lamenting the "sluggish" and "floaty" handling of Samus. I never got the hype, and would get irritated whenever this game inevitably showed up at the top of Best SNES Games lists.

Then, last year, I sat down and played through the entirety of Metroid on the NES. I had a couple issues with it, sure, but something clicked. I enjoyed my playthrough, I had fun, I got it. If nothing else, I was now looking forward to playing future Metroid games! When I got to Metroid II on the Game Boy, I was a little apprehensive. It was called the weakest of the Metroid games, though a "necessary evil" if you want to experience the story. I loved it. I loved it more than the first game, in fact! And now I find myself here, playing Super Metroid "properly" for the first time, with new expectations and excitement.

I was not disappointed. Actually, I just might jump right back in to see if I can beat that 3 hour timer!

Now, I still don't think Super Metroid is the holy grail of the 16-bit era that many others do. That, likely, has a lot to do with genre and personal preference. I'd still rather settle in with a Squaresoft or Capcom title, if I absolutely had to choose. Still, I had an absolute blast playing this one start to finish, and I truly understand the hype now! Can't wait for Zero Mission, Fusion and the Primes.

Review:

Playthrough:

With Super Metroid and Metroid 2, it seems clear that things for Samus will become more dire as the series goes on. The structure of Metroid 2 was that the game became much more tense as Samus kept digging deeper into SR388. As that Metroid counter was going down, the tunnels get darker and you become even more isolated. Although the ending was more lighthearted and gave you a sense of self reflection, you still brought the Metroid species to near extinction. Given the context of Metroid 2, Super Metroid raises the stakes with how important that last Metroid Samus saved was. The title screen is the baby Metroid front and center with a couple of dead human bodies on the floor. The song that plays is a remix of Metroid 1's title screen except it doesn't go into that lighthearted part at all. There is no triumphant part. Just the loop that you'd hear in the first 30 seconds, except an octave lower. You feel something sinister is going to happen. You feel dread.

The intro cutscene emphasizes how important the last Metroid is. It could be used for the good of mankind rather than as a weapon which Mother Brain tried to do. But when you get a distress signal from the Ceres station, where the baby Metroid was in captivity. Turns out Ridley is kidnapping the baby for the Metroids to multiply and be used as weapons. You're too ppwerless without your upgrades, but fight until you're wounded. With the damage done to Samus, Ridley flees with the baby. In previous games, Samus want to Zebes and SR388 because missions were given to her there. Here, Samus goes on her own accord to on old yet familiar world.

When you arrive on Zebes, many of the doors you come across are blocked, some rooms require the Morph ball, some require missiles. For now, there is only one way, and that is down. You reach familiar territory. Trekking through the place where you fought Mother Brain, you reach the part where you got the Morph Ball in Metroid 1. Though the music is not triumphant or adventurous. It's ambient and gloomy. There are no enemies to be seen. It's quiet. Too quiet. When you grab the Morph Ball, something is shining on you as if you are being watched. It could be a camera, but who is behind it? Friend or foe?

Foe. Space Pirates show up and want you dead. You manage to get away from them and go get the bomb. It sits on the hands of a Chozo statue. You grab the bomb, and the statue turns out to be a Torizo that was guarding the upgrade and now you have to fight it. For here on out, expect the unexpected.

After the boss, you can go to 2 places, you can progress the story by going up and then left, or you can go down and use your bomb to get a missile tank. You get out of that missile tank route by holding right and using your bomb. When done so, you will learn a secret route. These will appear throughout the game so be on the lookout.

The thing that players will first notice, if they have played Metroid NES and Metroid 2 GB, is that many things have been updated. Samus's jumps aren't as floaty, rechsrge stations exist for less grinding, and most importantly, Super Metroid has a map. This makes navigating through areas much easier than in Metroid 1. It's clear how different rooms are given their length and width. Only problem, and my biggest initially, is that it doesn't give enough information. I wish that like Zero Mission and AM2R, the map would tell which doors led to rooms, where rooms take you. It would make navigating less of a chore if the map has rooms that are adjacent to each other. I couldn't find any ROM hacks that alleviate this personal gripe so let me know if there actually is one or in development.

Upgrades and moves have been widely expanded. My favorite one are the ones that involve with sequence breaks and being quick like the Speed booster, Shinespark, and Samus's walljump. There's a reason why Super Metroid is one of the most popular video games to speedrun; with its upgrades and nonlinear structure, there are many ways to approach the game such as the Reverse Boss order runs, minimalist runs. Super Metroid sets the standard for Metroidvanias. The magic of Metroid tends to be how the game makes the player feel like that they have outsmarted the game while also being deliberately designed. Most well known example being the enterance to Kraid's lair. You think that you need the Hi-Jump boots to get there, but you can just wall jump off that ledge. It's a game that is confident in its players with respect rather than patronize (unless if it's for a story reason like in Fusion which really works).More than any other Metroid does Super Metroid incentivize repeat playthroughs and that's what will make me realize that your opinions are best formed on repeat playthroughs. I've played the game 3 times so far and now I'm willing to replay Zero Mission, AM2R, and Fusion.

One thing people nag on are the controls, I already mentioned my thoughts on them. Playing further, I have appreciated them even more, especially the wall jumps since I got them down. I love how much height you can get from them thanks to Samus's floaty jumps to the point where I might prefer them over ZM and AM2R's.

I've really come around to this game on repeat playthroughs. With it's nonlinear structure, varied ways to get from point A to point B, excellent environmental storytelling, I now get why Super Metroid is one of the greatest games of all time and Yoshio Sakamoto's magnum opus. Is it perfect? Hell no, but what it does well, it does extraordinarily. At first this used to be my least favorite 2D Metroid that I have played, but now, I don't know. With Dread just an hour away and replays to do, we'll see. No rating. For now, I love this game and Metroid is now one of my favorite franchises.

Super Metroid was the first Metroidvania I ever played, as I was trying to prepare myself for Metroid dread back in the day. I really enjoyed it at the time, and have played nearly every other Metroidvania in existence since.

Coming back full circle and replaying it, I have a new perspective on what makes it so amazing and stand out from the rest. Beside the art and music, good player feel and it’s historic genre establishing design, what really sets it apart is the level design. The way you weave and bob through each sector, slowly exploring and gaining abilities - it’s pure magic.

Most Metroidvanias get lots of things right. They look good, play good, and tick every box. But the secret spice that makes it hard to put the controller down is that masterful world design, and it needs to be studied much more.

I love this game, despite its few weak points. GBA Metroid improved the map and controls a ton, and modern Metroid improved things for us completionists. But if you use the Metroid Redux hack, it fixes all those issues (like displaying doors and having a missile toggle). I highly recommend it- super underrated hack.

I see why this game is a classic and was cutting edge for its time, but from a modern perspective, I think it's a little rough around the edges. Some of the progression is rather obtuse... random passages and secrets that you would never think to explore on your own (I ended up using a map for the last third or so of the game). And the backtracking... ugh. I wish there were some kind of warp points or something, because navigating this massive map looking for missile upgrades is tedious as hell. I set out with the intention of 100 percenting this beast, but upon seeing the end credits and realizing I was still only at 99%, I just didn't feel like going back through everything to see what tiny thing I had missed.

The controls are also a little wonky. Unlike later Metroidvanias, the controls here feel very floaty and unpolished. Some of the boss fights could have been sweet and had a real slick feel to them, but the controls tend to feel too imprecise and haphazard. Made the combat not as satisfying as it could have been.

It may be unfair to compare basically the first classic Metroidvania to later, more advanced entries in the genre, but it's hard not to miss games like Symphony of the Night and Hollow Knight while playing this one. Super Metroid broke new ground at the time of its release, but yes, definitely dated now.

I am in between games right now. Been playing a lot of "backlog" games to cross things off my list, with the occasional labour of love in there (look at you Elden Ring). That's all good, but it became a bit of a chore, and when playing something to get it off your list becomes a chore, its no longer fun. Enter Super Metroid.

I was sitting around the past weekend, and was like "yeah, I could play Super Metroid again". So I did. Expecting to get to Kraid, maybe slightly further and then I would shut it off and be done with it. Instead I played it all. See, this is only my second time playing Super Metroid. I absolutely loved it the first time, but the second time is where the rubber really hits the road.

See, the first go around, you get dropped into the game, and have zero idea where to go. You fumble around, looking for secrets, struggling to figure things out, dying to bosses; pretty typical learning stuff. This time though, even several years on from my first play through, its a completely different game. I remember things. I know where to go, and what lurks around the corner. Not flawless memory mind you, but enough to change the focus from struggling to fast, smooth execution. I went from 8 hours 40 minutes, to my PB of 3 hours and 27 minutes. That's with still sucking at wall jumping and not being able to properly skip with Shinesparks.

Super Metroid really captures the essence of peak retro gaming. It looks amazing. The sound and music is amazing. The game play is tight, engaging and exciting. You are shooting aliens, finding secrets, and platforming your way though all the dense content the game has to offer. The first playthrough is the tutorial. The subsequent runs are when you actually play the game. One of the best of all time.

Preliminary: After a few surprise disappointments/underwhelmers in early 1994 (Sonic 3, Castlevania Bloodlines, Wario Land), this is nice so far. I like the music and the Look, very atmospheric nice tunes (or did I mean nice blue hues?), I have been listening to the Alien novelizations audiobooks, similar vibe with the intro.

Wait but how is there no roll mechanic or pause function lol. Or maybe thats' only in this intro level? And how many hits does this boss thing take......

Well I really liked the intro and first walk lol. But from that boss on, the music everything wasn't as special. Just another overwhelming action game trying to show off this generation of console's abilities.

Not a fan of how crouching works in general in this. I dunno this isn't terrilbe, and I like the adventure game elements and Metroid throwbacks, but I'm just not really feeling this.

Day 2

Ok I'm vibing this a bit more. Maybe I was just grumpy yesterday. I ilke the UI of the menu. And I like the exploration of early game right now. I hope it sticks. The usual Metroidvania unlocking of new areas with an obvious barrier needing a skill is there, but I like that it's a bit more clear (so far). Never a fan of obtuse or absurd or unclear methods to get into new areas.

Maybe it's just me but sometimes there seems to be a delay or missing action when I press buttons.

Yesss I just mastered the Wall Jump.

I definitely have been fully hooked, haven't even taken time to type here. I wish the Sound were better, some great atmospheric parts but mostly juts annoying sound effects and meh tunes. But yea tbh this Play is real close to a 10/10 in the sense taht I am unequivocally hooked a la the first Castlevania or FFV. Sweaty palms, fully focused, forgot to do my other things tonight haha.

Day 3

I really did NOT like the Wrecked Ship first boss the squid looking thing. That was an annoying boss imo. And this area is feeling a bit dry after the exciting hook of the prior area.

Nice I like the pink hue of the Gravity Suit. And I definitely got hooked again, just got to the lower part of Norfair, I have lots of power-ups etc. I have decidedly not been impressed with the Sound, nothing terrible but it was talked up so much. Now in this new part of Norfair, I read it's super catchy and so good... It's decent but nothing spectacular (to me). It gives RPG dungeon vibes, which like I always say, is not my favorite vibe. But it is my favorite of the regular tunes so far (and I like one part of it in particular). Anyway, I think this could've been a 5 star, despite some burnout from its length, if it weren't for the Sound (and the Look is good, don't get me wrong, but the Metroid Look has never been its selling point for me).

Day 4

Yesss finally the Screw Attack! My beloved! And the tune I discussed at the end of yesterday has grown on me, definitely the best track so far.

Oooo I'm at 100% items/upgrades/etc and I'm in Tourian and I don't think it's the "song" but I love the gargled noise that happens in this final area. If it is the tune, right on. Truly alien sounding and what I wanted with the atmosphere. Nice it is the song

For a game with a time-based mechanic, it sure does take its time with "cutscenes" and enemies rising etc.

This version of Motherbrain was much more manageable than the first Metroid, even with the antics/mechanics that are more story-based.

I wish I liked the main boss/epic tune better. I was hoping for a truly special tune for the final escape, which is always super overwhelming in Metroids. I can't imagine escaping without a guide and having the patience to potentially have to start back at my last save before the final boss etc. But then again, I had the patience for the intense Abe's Odyssee ending as a kid so I suppose I would.

I definitely had the Play hook, was hoping for more from the Look and Sound, but really see how the Feel is so beloved. The ending felt epic albeit very short. More emotion/storyline in this, even tho there's never any dialog in Metroids it seems haha. And I did choose to save the animals that helped me (which I of course would not have known anything about without using a guide), but all I got was a minor change in the ending heh. But get this, even with a guide and savestates (tho I didn't have to abuse those at all, which is a nice sign of the difficulty balance), I was TWO MINUTES off from getting the best ending >.< Lol! But I love seeing that 100% for item collection and that rating at the end would've driven me to replay and replay and ask around and refernece guides etc as a kid to get that number up. Me and number-go-up/100%-showing games, from early adventure games to Runescape/grinding RPGs: it's my hook. (Checks phone to see number go up in Melvor Idle :-p )

Look: 8/10 I love Samus' suit, I love the love and detail they put into this, and I love how different upgrades affect your sprite's Look. However, I honestly was hoping for something more.

Sound: 7.5/10 Probably the lowest point for me. I've never been a fan of dungeon-y tunes, even in my favorite soundtracks. A couple tracks redeemed it and make me think I should give an 8 for this, namely the lower part of Norfair's and the atmospheric Tourian one. Hmmm

Play: 9.5/10 Some flaws sure, like having to click Select to cycle through all these special weapons, but full of great features, great UI of the menu and ability to turn on/off abilities, incredibly addicting Metroidvania gameplay, etc. I had to take breaks from it, and it was a little longer than I prefer (so probly should get a 9 not 9.5 for this), but excellent nonetheless.

Feel: 8.5/10 With a stronger Look and Sound, this would've been easily a 5 star and likely a favorite.

Attachment: 8.5/10 As much as I was impressed by Metroid at the time of its release, now I'm thinking this would be the Metroid I return to. Then again, all 3 had a similarly excellent hook, this one just got me particularly hard haha. But after reading the other 2 (the Gameboy and NES ones) reviews that I wrote, I wonder if this really was just the same Play hook I had with those... Hm

Overall: 8.4/10 As close to a 5 star as you can get

Completion: 100% Item Collection

Playtime: 7h 21m of actual playtime (how is that so different from my official time lol, did I really die that much and have to reload from a save? did I really press Pause that much? I'm confused... Ohhh or the cutscene times maybe don't count?), 3h 1m of official game time for ending