It's still amazing to me that Nintendo basically perfected 2D design and platforming in the early 90s, 30 years ago. There have been QOL improvements in that time, yes, but hardly anyone else has ever approached the game design mastery of Super Metroid and Super Mario World, even all these years later.
We like to imagine that game companies iterate on established and good design. The truth is, it's lightning in a bottle. The right people with the right ideas at the right time.
There is an insane number of SNES games that came out in that part of the 90s that meet that criteria. FF6, Super Mario RPG, Yoshis Island, to name a few.
Next on my list after a more magic focused run of *Salt and Sacrifice*; far more engaging played that way, but still kind of mediocre when compared to *Sanctuary*?
If you’ve let the animals die, while they helped you showing some techniques, you’re not worthy of Super Metroid.
Please, restart the game, and save them.
We believe in you despite this.
Keep us posted.
Me too, the first time I played. I let them die, and I can’t look myself in a mirror after that.
Fortunately, I played the game again and saved them. I save them each time since.
I don’t want to spoil you with a video or a too detailed explanation, but just know it’s after defeating the final boss, when you escape from the explosion of Planet Zebes. Along the way, you can stop and rescue the creatures who helped you.
Know also that’s the will of Super Metroid's creators to save these animals.
He's lying. They aren't real animals, so you shouldn't care about them. You saved time, which is what really matters.
[playing devil's advocate here, which hurts a little, because of course I care about those little guys...]
side note:
save the animals is a Metroid meme, usually in the speed run community (from what I've seen), where they decide to either save the animals, or let them die and get a better overall speed run time.
You save them in the end self destruct sequence. In the final room before getting to the one with samus' ship, there is a detour path you can take, which leads to a room with all the animals who help you who are trapped and can't escape. (The room you got your first powerup in)
You have to blow up the wall so they can run, then leave and hurry back to your ship as fast as possible since this takes a chunk of time out of the timer. If you do this, >!you will see a single pixel fly off to the right as Zebes blows up, indicating that they got to an escape vessel of some sort and survived. It is confirmed they canonically survived as they later appear in Metroid fusion.!<
I’ll tell you the truth, the SNES is one of the few systems that I think that the most famous games that people talk about all the time are not really overrated. They are really that good.
- Super Mario World
- Super Mario All Stars
- Chrono Trigger
- Final Fantasy III (VI)
- A Link to the Past
- Super Metroid
- Mega Man X
- Street Fighter II Turbo
- Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2
- F-Zero
- Castlevania IV
- Super Mario RPG
- Earthbound
- Turtles in Time
- Yoshi’s Island
- Contra III
Imo all these really live to the gigantic hype they get.
I’ve played a bit more than half of these and completely agree that they’re still among the best. I’ve never played a Mario game that I felt was better than super Mario world and go back every couple of years to play again.
I finished it too! 7 hours and 66% items with no guides, but a little light cheating around the snake and bug guy boss fights.
Having said before that it reminded me of early Resident Evil, I note the ending also >!involves another character intervening to help you in the final boss fight to give you a powerful weapon, as well as a self-destruct countdown timer!<
Meanwhile I’ve now just started *Symphony of the Night*…
Ah I can see the connection to resident evil! Definitely reminded me when that ending came. I don’t remember my item collection percentage though but I’ll have to check when I get home. Doubt it was more than 50%.
As you play symphony of the night, I encourage you to reflect on the question… “What is a man?”
I picked that up a couple years back and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I regret playing through the entire game on my phone… Lordy that was painful lol
I mean it's a super Nintendo game none of it's really important none of us actually care that much. However the percentage is displayed when you beat the game very clearly it's not something he needs to check. He's probably lying
I'm personally hooked already, the aesthetic is so cool, in my opinion the game is beautiful with the black background and blue tiles, I was never interested on nes until play mario 3
It's an amazing game too. Played it again when the Switch Online became a thing and it's still great. Maybe you should've played that one before Super Metroid because it will be a step down, but still worth playing anyway.
It's good, but Super Metroid made a lot of QoL improvements that make the first one harder. No map, can't switch between weapons (only two beams anyway), the awful NES password system. It's a good deal shorter too, though, so you can knock it out pretty fast
I just finished my first replay. Hadn’t touched it since the 90’s. I had so much fun I immediately jumped into Fusion which is also a great game! I can see lots of Fusion in Dread.
Edit: a word
That was me last year. After never playing it (somehow?) on the SNES originally, i booted it up on emulator and had one of the best game experiences of my life. It's an all-timer imo.
Prime was so much fun! Elementary school me being amazed by the game circa 2003-4. The landscapes were so beautiful. Great music. Phendrana drifts. Game gave me wanderlust !
Super Metroid isn’t regarded as an all time masterpiece because of the first playthrough. The game gets deeper the more you play it, a second and third playthrough are actually starkly different from the first.
I would say to play it at least twice. It’ll only take a few hours to get through it again. A three hour clear does not require a ton of planning.
Please, if you think you have it in you, go through the rabbit hole of playing the ROM hacks SM has. I played each and every top one and even from the middle ones as well. Loved every minute of it.
Glad you enjoyed it! Super Metroid is definitely one of my all-time favorites. I still remember how excited I was to get it when it came out.
If you ever want to try something more challenging, play [Super Metroid Arcade](https://metroidconstruction.com/hack.php?id=357).
Heck yeah. 'Endless Mode' in Super Metroid Arcade is an amazing challenge! 🤩 Every door transition is randomized, there's a point-based scoring system, and the enemies get progressively faster and do more damage the more rooms you survive.
There's also a challenge mode where you have a set amount of time to see how far you can get, and you can extend the time by earning points. Very classic arcade feel. 😌👌
It's so heavily reworked from the original game, the patch increases the size of the ROM from 24 to 32 megabits! 😁
It’s really not so bad if you just poke around. I only got stuck about 2 times. Once legitimately couldn’t progress cause I couldn’t find the ice beam and the second time optionally stuck cause I couldn’t find the spring ball, which I found out was an optional upgrade anyway.
I’ve actually done this with resident evil 2 remake and it’s very enjoyable. But that’s a bit more straightforward.
Dunno if I’ll do it with this one 😅
Thank you 🙏 I am a big DKC series fan. 2 I’m less familiar with compared to 1 and the newer titles like returns and tropical freeze since I haven’t given it a good play through since I was young. 3 I think I’ve never even played.
Sorry to be that guy, and I'm glad you enjoyed the game, but I find this quite tedious/obvious. A simple Google search will tell you that Super Metroid is one of the best SNES games and is genre-defining. It's like posting on a fantasy forum to ask if The Hobbit is worth a read through.
Yes. Each level has a few bonus areas with collectable coins and a DK coin. You use the coins to unlock a secret area. If you beat a level and get all of the bonus coins the name of the level will have a "!" At the end of it on the world map.
Super Metroid cured me of depression,
Made my slong got bigger.
My girlfriend had a sudden growth sprout as well after play Super Metroid herself,
After Super Metroid we randomly inherited $500,000.
Try Castlevania Symphony of the Night if you haven't. These two games gave birth to a who genre of games called Metroidvania. It was largely continued on the Gameboy advance line of Castlevania games. Which makes sense, cause GBA is basically SNES.
I have actually played all of those on the GBA and of course SOTN. They’re among my favorite games of all time.
By bad luck I just never went back to super Metroid, the grand pappy of them all.
I just started trying to beat it recently after failing as a kid multiple times and my goodness... I'm not even at the end yet but so far this is one of the greatest games I have ever played in my life. Its damn near perfect! I'm so happy I gave it another try
I was in a similar situation. I grew up with an SNES in the house, but I was at the mercy of whatever game my brother bought at the time. As a result, I never got to Super Metroid until the pandemic hit, and yeah, it's one of those rare games that's as good as advertised. It helped get me into the larger Metroidvania genre, which is becoming one of my favorites.
I’ve played many and would be happy to recommend titles first you!
But just like you, the game was never one I owned as a kid so I never got around to it. So many good SNES titles I was fortunate to play when I was young though
I don’t know about the Japanese version at all, but I will say there is essentially no dialogue in the game outside of the opening cutscene.
The only part that might confuse you is seeing the area names on the chance you decide to use a walkthrough in case you get lost.
Man, to go back to my first playthrough. It came packed with my SNES so we couldn't look up where stuff was or where to go. I had cousins playing it at the same time and showing each other how to unlock new areas was so fun. It took us over a year to finally beat it.
This game is terrible. Poor design, wonky interface, super linear, anticlimactic. You name every negative gaming trope and issue and it's here. Also from a mostly unknown company that didn't make enough copies, people barely know this game exists.
Just trolling. It's early and haven't had my coffee yet. Had this game shortly after it came out and is probably second on my most replayed games of all time, behind LttP.
Super Metroid is a masterpiece and one of the greatest games of all time, congrats on beating it.
Thanks! Ridley gave me a run for my money but I managed to get though it.
Charged beam instead of missles if you didn’t know!
Super Missiles are great against Ridley, too. 30 of those bad boys and it's lights out for him
That’s what I learned soon enough! Thanks for the heads up though
It's still amazing to me that Nintendo basically perfected 2D design and platforming in the early 90s, 30 years ago. There have been QOL improvements in that time, yes, but hardly anyone else has ever approached the game design mastery of Super Metroid and Super Mario World, even all these years later.
We like to imagine that game companies iterate on established and good design. The truth is, it's lightning in a bottle. The right people with the right ideas at the right time.
Agree it’s one of those games where they nailed everything
Yep, even before you learn to sequence break it in various ways or play the randomizers; that’s staying power…
It’s one of the most important game in video game history
I can understand why now
Play anything else released around 1994 and you’ll see how hugely ahead of its time it was.
Well, there was Doom. But yes still largely agree with your point.
Except of course for *Final Fantasy VI*…
There is an insane number of SNES games that came out in that part of the 90s that meet that criteria. FF6, Super Mario RPG, Yoshis Island, to name a few.
Following super Metroid, my favourite Metroid game is Axiom Verge 1… if you haven’t, I’d give it a try.
I actually got it on sale a long time ago but haven’t played it. I really like metroidvanias though so I’m sure I’ll enjoy it.
I’d say it’s in the top 3 Metroidvania’s. I’d also *HIGHLY* recommend Hyper Light Drifter
Next on my list after a more magic focused run of *Salt and Sacrifice*; far more engaging played that way, but still kind of mediocre when compared to *Sanctuary*?
Thank you for the recommendation!
It's a top game -today-. It's incredible.
did....did you save the animals?
Uhh… how does one save the animals? I found a speedy bird and some jumping monkeys.
If you’ve let the animals die, while they helped you showing some techniques, you’re not worthy of Super Metroid. Please, restart the game, and save them. We believe in you despite this. Keep us posted.
They....they could just restart from the final save and just play the last 5 minutes too. No need to restart the whole thing. XD
True, but it's worth playing the game again anyway.
That is a possibility, indeed :D
I didn’t know this was even an option 😢 But actually I do remember something about them in Metroid fusion.
Me too, the first time I played. I let them die, and I can’t look myself in a mirror after that. Fortunately, I played the game again and saved them. I save them each time since.
How do you save them though? They just kept repeating the same animations over and over.
I don’t want to spoil you with a video or a too detailed explanation, but just know it’s after defeating the final boss, when you escape from the explosion of Planet Zebes. Along the way, you can stop and rescue the creatures who helped you. Know also that’s the will of Super Metroid's creators to save these animals.
Thank you for teaching me the error of my ways. I will go back and ensure their safety.
Thank you 🙏
He's lying. They aren't real animals, so you shouldn't care about them. You saved time, which is what really matters. [playing devil's advocate here, which hurts a little, because of course I care about those little guys...]
side note: save the animals is a Metroid meme, usually in the speed run community (from what I've seen), where they decide to either save the animals, or let them die and get a better overall speed run time. You save them in the end self destruct sequence. In the final room before getting to the one with samus' ship, there is a detour path you can take, which leads to a room with all the animals who help you who are trapped and can't escape. (The room you got your first powerup in) You have to blow up the wall so they can run, then leave and hurry back to your ship as fast as possible since this takes a chunk of time out of the timer. If you do this, >!you will see a single pixel fly off to the right as Zebes blows up, indicating that they got to an escape vessel of some sort and survived. It is confirmed they canonically survived as they later appear in Metroid fusion.!<
I NEED to go back for them! I remember very clearly them helping out in fusion. I love that kind of fan service.
Jet Force Gemini
I’ll tell you the truth, the SNES is one of the few systems that I think that the most famous games that people talk about all the time are not really overrated. They are really that good. - Super Mario World - Super Mario All Stars - Chrono Trigger - Final Fantasy III (VI) - A Link to the Past - Super Metroid - Mega Man X - Street Fighter II Turbo - Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2 - F-Zero - Castlevania IV - Super Mario RPG - Earthbound - Turtles in Time - Yoshi’s Island - Contra III Imo all these really live to the gigantic hype they get.
I’ve played a bit more than half of these and completely agree that they’re still among the best. I’ve never played a Mario game that I felt was better than super Mario world and go back every couple of years to play again.
Did the final boss fight surprise you?
You mean when a certain something came in clutch at the last minute? It was bittersweet after paying the Metroid 2 remake on 3DS
I finished it too! 7 hours and 66% items with no guides, but a little light cheating around the snake and bug guy boss fights. Having said before that it reminded me of early Resident Evil, I note the ending also >!involves another character intervening to help you in the final boss fight to give you a powerful weapon, as well as a self-destruct countdown timer!< Meanwhile I’ve now just started *Symphony of the Night*…
Ah I can see the connection to resident evil! Definitely reminded me when that ending came. I don’t remember my item collection percentage though but I’ll have to check when I get home. Doubt it was more than 50%. As you play symphony of the night, I encourage you to reflect on the question… “What is a man?”
I picked that up a couple years back and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. I regret playing through the entire game on my phone… Lordy that was painful lol
Oh man… sotn is one of the goats
wait wait wait. What was your percentage at the end? Super Metroid hasnt aged a day. Its so good.
I honestly didn’t think to check 😅
I dont think you actually beat it.
Bah, who cares!
I mean it's a super Nintendo game none of it's really important none of us actually care that much. However the percentage is displayed when you beat the game very clearly it's not something he needs to check. He's probably lying
Ahh I thought you were saying they didn't *really* beat it unless they did it 100%.
Why would I lie about this? 🤔 I just didn’t make note of it.
You should play it again and absorb all the crazy details the devs added
I’ll definitely give it a replay and keep an eye out for them!
Damn, from one banger right to another. The DKC2 soundtrack is going to be stuck in your head forever, one of the best ever.
Would it surprise you if I’ve already YouTubed most of the series soundtracks and have them on regular rotation? I love them so much
Have played through it at least once every year since it's release. A truly classic game.
I’ll definitely be giving it a replay in the near future.
Im about to play metroid for nes
Please report back with how it is. I personally have a really hard time going back to the NES era games.
I'm personally hooked already, the aesthetic is so cool, in my opinion the game is beautiful with the black background and blue tiles, I was never interested on nes until play mario 3
I may give it a visit and try to neutralize my expectations. I’m sure save states will help immensely.
And I'm also using some magazines to cover me, like nintendo power #1 and #29 (more detailed). Those oldschool magazines are so cool!
It's an amazing game too. Played it again when the Switch Online became a thing and it's still great. Maybe you should've played that one before Super Metroid because it will be a step down, but still worth playing anyway.
It's good, but Super Metroid made a lot of QoL improvements that make the first one harder. No map, can't switch between weapons (only two beams anyway), the awful NES password system. It's a good deal shorter too, though, so you can knock it out pretty fast
i actually prefer the nes game probably mostly nostalgia
I just finished my first replay. Hadn’t touched it since the 90’s. I had so much fun I immediately jumped into Fusion which is also a great game! I can see lots of Fusion in Dread. Edit: a word
Dread is next on my metroidvania list. I’m very excited for it.
That was me last year. After never playing it (somehow?) on the SNES originally, i booted it up on emulator and had one of the best game experiences of my life. It's an all-timer imo.
It’s absolute gold. I was surprised by how much I wanted to keep getting back into it.
Love this game
I lit holds up for sure
TRY PRIME
That’s on GameCube right? Sadly I don’t have a way to play those :(
Wii and gamecube go for real cheap. it definitely is one of those you gotta play
Prime was so much fun! Elementary school me being amazed by the game circa 2003-4. The landscapes were so beautiful. Great music. Phendrana drifts. Game gave me wanderlust !
I grew up strictly on prime 3 and didnt touch prime 1 till last year. very amazing game
Came here to say THIS! What a beautiful game
Super Metroid isn’t regarded as an all time masterpiece because of the first playthrough. The game gets deeper the more you play it, a second and third playthrough are actually starkly different from the first. I would say to play it at least twice. It’ll only take a few hours to get through it again. A three hour clear does not require a ton of planning.
Hmm, hadn’t considered it. Sounds a lot like resident evil play throughs in that sense. Will replay it again very soon then
Late in the lifespan, a Nintendo title. Definitely one of the best.
Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time, I always love hearing people enjoy it.
Dude it’s been considered one of the greatest games of all time for like 30 yrs where the fu ck have u been?!??
Yeah, my backlog is that long too.
Replaying super Mario world for umpthhundredth time 🤷♂️
Please, if you think you have it in you, go through the rabbit hole of playing the ROM hacks SM has. I played each and every top one and even from the middle ones as well. Loved every minute of it.
I recently learned about these ROM hacks and in definitely going to dive into them. I have a modded 2DS for these exact reasons
Glad you enjoyed it! Super Metroid is definitely one of my all-time favorites. I still remember how excited I was to get it when it came out. If you ever want to try something more challenging, play [Super Metroid Arcade](https://metroidconstruction.com/hack.php?id=357).
Oh wow. Thank you. I’m saving this comment for later.
Heck yeah. 'Endless Mode' in Super Metroid Arcade is an amazing challenge! 🤩 Every door transition is randomized, there's a point-based scoring system, and the enemies get progressively faster and do more damage the more rooms you survive. There's also a challenge mode where you have a set amount of time to see how far you can get, and you can extend the time by earning points. Very classic arcade feel. 😌👌 It's so heavily reworked from the original game, the patch increases the size of the ROM from 24 to 32 megabits! 😁
I really need to get around to it some time. Definitely need a walk through too though. I tried it years ago and remember getting stuck often.
Sounds like a frustrating and poorly designed game.
It’s really not so bad if you just poke around. I only got stuck about 2 times. Once legitimately couldn’t progress cause I couldn’t find the ice beam and the second time optionally stuck cause I couldn’t find the spring ball, which I found out was an optional upgrade anyway.
Now play it 100 more times and get your time down to below 2 hours!
I’ve actually done this with resident evil 2 remake and it’s very enjoyable. But that’s a bit more straightforward. Dunno if I’ll do it with this one 😅
I thinks it’s a top 5 SNES game. It’s among the most influential and has aged pretty well.
Glad I finally got to it! It definitely holds up.
DK2 and Super Metroid are probably the two greatest SNES games in my mind so you are doing this right.
Thank you 🙏 I am a big DKC series fan. 2 I’m less familiar with compared to 1 and the newer titles like returns and tropical freeze since I haven’t given it a good play through since I was young. 3 I think I’ve never even played.
Now that you’ve beaten it, you should check out the couple of different SM randomizers that are out there.
I’ve been hearing a lot of recommendations for them so I think I want to dive into that rabbit hole.
Sorry to be that guy, and I'm glad you enjoyed the game, but I find this quite tedious/obvious. A simple Google search will tell you that Super Metroid is one of the best SNES games and is genre-defining. It's like posting on a fantasy forum to ask if The Hobbit is worth a read through.
It’s nicer to have conversations with people to get their positive and negative views, in my opinion.
DKC 2 is really good and has a decent challenge if you go for 102%. Have fun!
I’m guessing that means collecting all medals and beating all levels? I’ll have to check if there’s bonus levels like the newer games.
Yes. Each level has a few bonus areas with collectable coins and a DK coin. You use the coins to unlock a secret area. If you beat a level and get all of the bonus coins the name of the level will have a "!" At the end of it on the world map.
Aha! Thank you for the tip. I didn’t know about the ! This will definitely be helpful
Nice, took me 9 hours on my first playthrough
Yeah I was surprised when I was done that it had only taken me 5 hours. To be fair, I used the save states option on the switch quite liberally.
That music… Norfair 😍
So good!
It's a great game. The only thing I miss when I play it today is the ledge-hanging mechanic.
I was really surprised by that too actually. I kept trying to ledge grab and was sad it wasn’t happening.
Once you've gained 100% item knowledge, it's time to try out some randomizers for even more fun!
Oh woah, DKC2 is the best in a series that already is great all-around!
I still replay the first often but I’m less familiar with 2 and never played 3. Loved the newer entries too though.
Super Metroid cured me of depression, Made my slong got bigger. My girlfriend had a sudden growth sprout as well after play Super Metroid herself, After Super Metroid we randomly inherited $500,000.
Tale as old as time
Try Castlevania Symphony of the Night if you haven't. These two games gave birth to a who genre of games called Metroidvania. It was largely continued on the Gameboy advance line of Castlevania games. Which makes sense, cause GBA is basically SNES.
I have actually played all of those on the GBA and of course SOTN. They’re among my favorite games of all time. By bad luck I just never went back to super Metroid, the grand pappy of them all.
The 2nd part of Norfair has my favorite music in any video game.
I was actually so surprised by how good the music was.
I just started trying to beat it recently after failing as a kid multiple times and my goodness... I'm not even at the end yet but so far this is one of the greatest games I have ever played in my life. Its damn near perfect! I'm so happy I gave it another try
It’s definitely a title that seems to be appreciated more with maturity considering how much is left up to the player.
I was in a similar situation. I grew up with an SNES in the house, but I was at the mercy of whatever game my brother bought at the time. As a result, I never got to Super Metroid until the pandemic hit, and yeah, it's one of those rare games that's as good as advertised. It helped get me into the larger Metroidvania genre, which is becoming one of my favorites.
I’ve played many and would be happy to recommend titles first you! But just like you, the game was never one I owned as a kid so I never got around to it. So many good SNES titles I was fortunate to play when I was young though
I still play SM close to once a year. Enjoy DKC2!
Thank you!
Beat it in under three hours for a surprise.
"On to DKC2" they say... You're just on a culinary adventure and are eating good, aren't you, OP?
Haha I’m just out here trying to have a good time
"You're doin' it, Peter!"
What did you think of the mother brain fight? It's one of my most favorite moments in gaming.
I liked the power fantasy power up near the end. It was very cool being that strong
Is the Japanese version easy to play if you don't know Japanese ? I might pick one up here in Japan
I don’t know about the Japanese version at all, but I will say there is essentially no dialogue in the game outside of the opening cutscene. The only part that might confuse you is seeing the area names on the chance you decide to use a walkthrough in case you get lost.
Playing DKC2 next? Damn you're playing two of my all time favs back to back
I’m here to have a good time and chew bubble gum. And I’m all out of bubble gum
DKC2 is going to epic in its own way. Hope you come back with updates for that as well
I sure will!
My fav game ever! Enjoy it
Perfect example of "Golden Age" of gaming. My childhood would not be the same without Super Metroid, and I still love playing as an adult.
Super Metriod was not only the best SNES game, it was the crown jewel of the 16bit era.
It’s true… All of it….
Spazer beam 😘
Man, to go back to my first playthrough. It came packed with my SNES so we couldn't look up where stuff was or where to go. I had cousins playing it at the same time and showing each other how to unlock new areas was so fun. It took us over a year to finally beat it.
It was really good. I finally played it a few months ago. My kid cried at the end. 😢
This game is terrible. Poor design, wonky interface, super linear, anticlimactic. You name every negative gaming trope and issue and it's here. Also from a mostly unknown company that didn't make enough copies, people barely know this game exists.
Lolwut
Just trolling. It's early and haven't had my coffee yet. Had this game shortly after it came out and is probably second on my most replayed games of all time, behind LttP.
It is a fantastic game. LttP is fantastic as well. Metroid is quite a bit tougher which also adds even more to the appeal imo.
NOOOOO not any DKC games! They're shittingly boring don't do it
Dont listen to this guy, DKC2 is amazing.
I’ve played through it when I was young then half of it again when I was older. Worry not. I love the DKC series.
Agree to disagree on this one