Super Metroid

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."

(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 is probably my all-time favorite video game. With the exception of the recent CASTLEVANIA games, not other series has integrated action and exploration so seamlessly, and at the same time provided a story that is deep and involving. Controls are intuitive, even to the greenest of gamers, and there are hundreds of little nooks and crannies to explore, so even though you can beat the game fairly quickly, it pays to be patient and thoroughly explore every room. All of these element alone make for a great game, but this one has the edge over the competition: Samus Aran. Samus is easily the most interesting of all video game characters. A female bounty hunter equipped with a technologically enhanced spacesuit and arm cannon, Samus always works alone, never speaks, and has a vendetta against the race of blood-sucking parasites known as Metroids. Her desire to eliminate them from the entire universe goes beyond the battle between good and evil and becomes an obsession. In the beginning of the game, she is commissioned to bring back the last Metroid in existence for scientific research. Something goes wrong, though, and the specimen is stolen by Ridley, a horrific winged beast and the right hand man of the Mother Brain, a mysterious evil force from the planet Zebes. Samus goes to Zebes to hunt down the Mother Brain and recapture the baby Metroid, but is faced with much more than she bargained with. I've heard that there's a filmed adaptation of the series in the works. IMDb shows no cast, screenwriter or director yet, but word has it Hong Kong action filmmaker John Woo is interested in the project. This is perhaps the first video game with a legitimate shot at becoming a good movie, and I hope that the filmmakers don't overlook certain opportunities. Samus must be portrayed not as a brooding, one-liner spewing action heroine, but as a human being, troubled but not emotionless. There must be a real sense of isolation in her journeys, and maybe some insight on why she must always work alone. While I don't hold out a lot of hope that anyone involved in the film will be reading this review, I feel it important that I get my views out there into the open, so at least someone will know that it could have been done.

Super Metroid is one of the most excellent Super Nintendo adventures of my time. I mean the game was executed so well, that I was amazed when I first played it (a few years after the game was released). I can tell you, it shows wonderful potential of gaming to the limit. It's creative, thought provoking, and fun. Shigeru Miyamoto is the Steven Spielberg of video games. While Hideo Kojima (Metal Gear) is the Akira Kurosawa of video games.

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.