Super Metroid

Nintendo's Super Metroid is a wonderful game that explores a beautiful planet, extraordinary creatures, and an intense soundtrack. This 16-bit adventure sees Samus Aran, a bounty hunter, go to the planet Zebes to take back the last metroid larva from Ridley and the space pirates. Throughout the game, you discover many energy tanks and weapons to help fight vicious enemies, and collect new suits such as the Varia and Gravity suit. You (playing Samus) fight many bosses, including Ridley, Kraid, Phantoon, Draygon, and finally Mother Brain in Tourian. There are even some friendly creatures that teach you the methods of Shinespark and wall-jumping! If you suffer from epilepsy or intense moments, beware of the final scene though. It had me shaking for minutes. Overall, I think Super Metroid is a great piece of entertainment for the whole family to play. I even got a new personal record today of completing in 5hr 2min!

(www.plasticpals.com) Super Metroid regularly ranks highly on lists of the "best games of all time", and is widely considered an indisputable classic. It inspired a whole new form of level design that has been copied by the Castlevania series, among others. Newcomers can experience it today on the Wii's Virtual Console for 800 Wii points (a classic controller is required) to see what all the fuss is about, which I would highly recommend.

Super Metroid picks up right where Metroid II (GameBoy) left off. Samus can't bring herself to kill the last Metroid (a deadly jellyfish-like organism) after it hatches and assumes her to be its mother. She decides to give it to a scientific research station so that it may be studied. Soon after dropping it off, the space station sends out an emergency S.O.S. and Samus returns to find the baby Metroid being stolen by Ridley, a dragon-like alien. It's back to Planet Zebes, the Space Pirates' home base, to retrieve the Metroid and end the Space Pirate menace for good.

Samus must work her way through Zebes' sprawling subterranean labyrinth, and she'll need to upgrade her powersuit's capabilities to do so. The Chozo was a bird-like alien race that adopted her as a child and built her armored suit, and remnants of their technology can be found throughout the planet's interior. The morphball allows Samus to curl up into a ball, allowing her to roll into tight crevices. Area maps can be downloaded from handy computer terminals, but it'll be up to Samus to fill in the blanks. Soon bombs are acquired which eliminate certain blocks, allowing Samus to enter uncharted territory. Color-coded doors can only be opened with the right type of missile or bomb, and other areas are off limits until Samus acquires a grappling beam and other abilities. The underlying game design is both simple and satisfying; as the list of upgrades grows, so too does the player's freedom to explore.

Super Metroid uses every button on the Super Nintendo's controller, which allows Samus to do a few new things. A dash button allows her to pick up speed in straightaways, and the L and R shoulder buttons allow her to aim diagonally up and down for those pesky diving enemies. Even with all the buttons, you'll still need to equip certain weapons by cycling through them with the Select button, which can be a bit of a pain. The regular spin jump is very slow and floaty compared to the newer entries in the series (see Metroid Fusion, Metroid: Zero Mission), which is slightly annoying. I also find the grappling beam's hook to be a little too precise; a larger hit detection would allow Samus to grapple small targets more easily, which would be more fun. A couple of Samus' new abilities aren't explained very well in the game, such as the ability to wall-jump and charge her dash energy for super jumps, so new players should definitely read the manual. Thankfully these annoyances don't detract much from the overall experience.

Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, but after settling into the game's 16-bit graphics, I completely forgot about the flashy presentation of contemporary games. Sure, there's some slow-down here and there when the action gets heavy, but otherwise this is a fine looking game. It was one of the best-looking games of its day, and even today the graphics do a serviceable job. The newer 2D Metroids on the GameBoy Advance look only marginally better. The sound and music holds up pretty well too, with the exception of the ridiculous voice clip in the game's introduction.

Super Metroid, like its predecessors, presents a unique challenge among video games. On one hand, players can try to explore every nook and cranny of the planet to find 100% of the hidden upgrades. This will probably take the common player 6-8 hours to do on their first attempt. On the other hand, the game rewards players for beating it quickly (under one hour) by showing a secret ending. Unless the player uses a walk-through, they'll have to memorize the quickest path through the game, which would take several attempts to master. In fact, there are so many ways to play through it that there are still players around the world attempting to set new world records. Its lasting appeal is a testament to its quality, which continues to shine despite many years of technological progress in the medium. For a mere 800 Wii points, it's a must-have on the Wii's Virtual Console service.

This game is excellent, especially when dealing with two dimensional Super Nintendo gaming.

You control Samus Aran, who has been on two previous missions. She encountered Metroids in both, and now the last Metroid has been captured by Ridley. You must fight your way through incredible caverns.

The graphics are stunning for Super Nintendo, possibly some of the best. The music is also excellent (who can forget the chilling voices in the second, final section of Norfair?). The battles are intense. The gameplay is extremely easy to control. The storyline and plot are both deep and interesting. Not only does this game mix great gaming with great music, it also adds in puzzles, freaky enemies, and unique sound effects that all add to the gameplay, allowing you to immerse yourself in the world of planet Zebes.

Also, for a Super Nintendo game, this one is huge. There's Brinstar, Norfair, Maridia, the Wrecked Ship, even Tourian. You even see the previous location of the Mother Brain in Brinstar as you make your way through the caverns, which helps the consistency of the games alive. Nothing is altered to make the storyline contradict itself.

The previous games were pretty good, but this one is obviously the best. It is an excellent thriller, action/adventure, puzzle game that will interest anyone.

One of the greatest games of all time, especially of the sci-fi genre. Absolutely everything about this game was well done from the amazing graphics, to the tight controls, to the even more haunting music in the background. From the start to the finish, the game never lets up as far as atmosphere and action. Creature sounds are top-notch and will actually make you jump in some places. Metroid has always been fun because at the start you are real weak and then by the end of the game, you feel like you could take on any kind of bounty hunter prey in the universe. This game is still in my library and i still play from time to time. Absolutely recommended.

This fantastic Snes gem is widely and very justifiably regarded as one of the very best early generation console games of all time and I for one still love it, it surpassed its predecessor in every possible way and even today the non-linear exploration which really above everything else is the central aspect, as well as the atmospheric focus on isolation makes it just as spine-tingling and fun a game as it ever was. You actually feel like you're on your own on an alien planet as you encounter the endless hordes of subterranean alien monsters to blast into oblivion. I love how daunting they made the boss battles, none more so than big 'ol Kraid! He might've seemed like an impossible scaly mountain coming right at you, but he was a pushover compared to some of the other guys! The battle against Ridley is a heck of a lot easier if you have the Plasma Beam, and that nifty trick you can do with the Grappling Beam to win an easy victory against Draygon was such an awesome touch! The world feels so huge, and all the different music scores set up the moods in all the different areas so perfectly. How satisfying it is just to progress and discover the many upgrades, both necessary and hidden. It's a game that rewards your curiosity, and you can just search throughout every nook and cranny of Zebes until the cows come home, and I guarantee that there'll still be something you've missed somewhere... In this one part, behind a room with a missile upgrade, there's a secret room, and then another secret room behind that one! You have to retread a lot but it never gets monotonous, and it never feels unfairly difficult to get through, or that it's going on for too long. Some of it requires extreme patience, with the sand in the watery realm of Maridia being an especially aggravating pain-in-the-ass to slog through, and good luck mastering that goddamn Wall Jump!!! Both engrossing as well as hauntingly beautiful to look at and listen to, even today it doesn't feel all that dated, which is pretty impressive when you realise it's over twenty years old now. It's a certified classic that's very worthy of its reputation, so charge that beam, customise that suit, and roll your way to an explosive victory you'll remember forever! "The galaxy...is at peace."