SNES Review: Super Metroid

Review by: Pierst179

Super Metroid was released when the SNES was already fading, and most people were already wondering how would the next-gen consoles and their 3-D graphics look like, still it turned to be one of the most remarkable games ever, how did the game managed to do that? Read below.

Samus' SNES adventure picks up exactly where Metroid II left of, after defeating all Metroids that lived in SR-388, a baby Metroid followed her, instead of terminating him and consequently all Metroids forever, she decided to take him to a Galactic Federation lab so that scientists could do different researches on Metroids.



While looking for a new bounty she picks up a distress signal coming from Ceres, the place where the baby Metroid was being kept, after heading to Ceres she discovers that a Space Pirate attack had taken place there, when she walked into the room where the baby Metroid was supposed to be she finds out that Ridley is there, after a battle the Metroid is taken by him.

So now our favorite Bounty Hunter has to rescue the Metroid to stop the Pirates from using him. Super Metroid works basically in the same way as Metroid, even the planet to be explored is the same.

During the game you will have to search for updates for your suit while exploring the place, while playing you will have to do loads of backtracking in order to find the missing upgrades, sometimes you can even go through a long path until you get to a dead end where you discovered you missed an item.

Inside this big puzzle you will find many others, such as Morph Ball mazes, hidden passages and enemies that are not so easy to be defeated. The boss battles are really straightforward and simple, yet some of them are pretty tough.

That's how the game works, the whole planet itself is a huge puzzle that has got to be figured out little by little, patience is required and if you have got it you will be rewarded with an unique experience.

Sometimes the adventure can get a little bit frustrating because it doesn't matter if you killed every single enemy in a room, when you go back there they will be all still alive.



The graphics are great, unfortunately they can't be compared to some of the games that were released less than one year later, still Super Metroid has a great variety of scenarios that are very compelling and interesting, the textures look good and all enemies, especially the bosses look really outstanding. Light effects are also very nice, during more intense battle you will see lots of explosions and they look good.

The sound is really immersive, some themes are really catchy, and you should not be surprised when you start humming some of them while walking on the street. The sound effects are pretty good, I oftenly use Samus' plasma beam just to hear that sound.

The game itself isn't too long, but there are so many things to collect that I'msure yo will be spending a lot of time just wandering around looking for a door that hasn't been open, or for a hidden path to a secret room that may contain a Missile Expansion, or some more Power Bombs.



The replay value therefore is very high, playing this game is enjoyable and fun, despite some minor flaws like irresponsive controls while performing some moves and the fact that as you advance the game gets easier instead of harder, because by the time you get to the end you can have so many energy tanks and such a powerful suit that enemies will slightly damage you.

Super Metroid is an unique game, it is the installment of the series that determined the style for the three Prime games that would keep the series going.