Customer Reviews

Super Metroid

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It's sort of funny how I came to own Super Metroid. Back in 1995, I had some money and I was looking to buy some used Super Nintendo games at the local Movie Gallery. I found one that I wanted, but I had enough money to buy one or two more. I didn't really see any others that I was dying to have, but Super Metroid looked spectacular from the back of the box and I had always heard about how great it was, so I went ahead and bought it. Little did I know that it would turn out to be my favorite game of its kind, and possibly my favorite video game of all time!

When you first start a new game of Super Metroid, a short cinema that consists of 3D pictures and dialogue will start showing and telling the story. I could tell you the story, but that would spoil it.

Your job is to control Samus Aran, and guide her through several different and challenging worlds that mainly consist of futuristic-looking aliens as enemies. While you make your way through the game, you can always pause the game and look at the map to see where you need to go and where you're currently at.

Samus always has a gun that you can use, but there are several other weapons and gadgets that you can find somewhere in the game, and then use. There are missiles, super missiles, bombs, super bombs, other kinds of beams such as an ice beam, new suits such as a gravity suit for the underwater environments, the ability to run EXTREMELY fast, a grappling hook, X-ray vision goggles, extra energy units, and much more.

But it's not a piece of cake for Samus. All over the place, are several different enemies that can fly, eat Samus alive, jump from one side of a room to the other, and more. There are also AWESOME bosses that you have to defeat. These bosses can range from a towering dragon that throws claws at you, a bird that has wings that never get tired, to the all-powerful Mother Brain, and others.

Pretty much, Super Metroid is mainly about exploring the different environments. Samus starts out at scratch, with only one energy unit and a basic gun. You must find missiles, extra energy units, new suits, and all the other items, in order to be able to use them. The more items you find, the better off you'll be, and the better ending that you'll see at the end of the game.

There are also items other than weapons or powerups that need to be found in each world, such as save points (for saving your game), map data, and more.

Everything about Super Metroid couldn't have been any better. The graphics are haunting, well detailed, and couldn't have been any better for this type of game. The backgrounds have great effects such as lightning or morphing effects, and the characters in the game look very sci-fi and detailed. Just like the graphics do, the sound effects and music add to the science fiction and horror theme of Super Metroid. I'm one of the few lucky people in the world who is fortunate enough to own the Super Metroid soundtrack (it was only made in Japan and it's VERY hard to find), and let me tell you, it has the best music I have ever heard in a video game. All the tracks have that horror sound to them and they're all overly catchy.

As for sound effects, all of the sounds from the explosions, to the screeching and terrorizing voices of the enemies, are unbelievable. Super Metroid's control is slick, without being too touchy or sluggish; it's perfect in other words. Finally, Super Metroid has the best replay value of any adventure game I've ever played. I've went all the way through the game at least 50 times, and I'm still not tired of it! And I KNOW that I will NEVER get tired of playing Super Metroid. It's fun to see how many of the items you can find and how fast you can get through the game.

If there is anything bad about Super Metroid, it's the fact that it is only a one-player game. BUT, it is still one of the best games ever made. Super Metroid is as close to perfect as any game that has ever been made, in my opinion.

If you own a Super Nintendo, Super Metroid is a MUST-HAVE! It's not only one of the best games for the Super Nintendo, it's one of the best video games of all time, for any system. Electronic Gaming Monthly recently published a list of the 100 best video games of all time, and they chose Super Metroid as the best game of all time. That's right, they chose it as #1. When you play it, you will see why! Get it today while you can!

You're Samus Aran on your third (and best) video game adventure as you return to the ruins of planet Zebes. A side-scroller second only to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid can blast with the best of'em, with 7 massive areas, 5 different weapons, a grappling beam, x-ray vision (no, you cannot peak through her armor!), a swirly-swirl attack that enables Samus to soar through the air, a jumping ball-curl, tons of well-detailed underling anemies, and several excellently-detailed boss enemies. . . are you still with me? You go all the way from the surface of Zebes, through an abandoned space station and dark tunnels and lots of water, to the extremely hot pits of the planets core, where you fight the infamous Mother Brain. I'm not giving anything else away though. You have to play this plastic little gem yourself.

Now for the bad stuff: like all her known previous adventures, Samus goes this one alone and, unlike the the Nintendo Power comic, does not interact with any other characters. This, in my opinion, can make the game feel kind of lonely, especially when there is also no sunshine to brighten the area.

But like the ratings I gave it, this is a 5-star game and should be fun throughout the ages. Besides, it stars the arguably best (and best female) video game character to date. Go for it!!

What makes this game so fun, so classic?
A slow beginning that recaps the previous metroids; being dumped into a HUGE, absolutely MASSIVE world filled to the brim with secret passages, secret items, secret weapons, freaky enemies, and surprise after surprise. When this first came out, there was no gamefaq.com to help you; you were on your own, and chances were you didn't beat the game in under 3 hours the first time you played. This is the game that inspired Symphony of the Night and all the GBA Castlevania games.
Personally: This was the first game that I ever played for five hours without getting anywhere. How frustrating! To get to the end of a looong passageway only to find a dead end. But wait.... just shoot the ceiling in the right spot... or roll into ball mode and go through a fake wall... voila! There's the elusive speed boost, or the space jump, or any of the dozens of pickups, and another portion of the map became available, granted that you could find it.
Another thing other reviewers missed is the inclusion of all kinds of 'secret moves'; such as the wall jump, bomb jump, power bomb health refill, the energy jump, the power bomb beams, etc. There was often a second way to beat a boss other than attacking head-on. These were NOT mentioned in the manual. The player figures these moves out almost intuitively.
This is a perfect game. The graphics and sound are perfectly matched; the gameplay is incredible and easy thanks to Nintendo's trademark flawless controls; unless you don't like exploring new worlds and blasting space vermin, this is a classic.
First timers, be aware that though the enemies are pushovers, this game is NOT easy the first time; you WILL spend hours shooting walls and floors and ceilings looking for an energy tank or a missile upgrade..... that is, until you find the Search Scope, which reveals all the secrets for you....
And after you get the good ending, try going back and getting 100% item pickups; Gotta Catch 'Em All!
(Suck on that, pokemon!!)
Good luck. Even if you get frustrated at times, the experience is more than worth it.

Words cannot describe how blown away I was by this game when I played it for the first time at the tender age of about 8-10 years old. Being a huge fan of the original Metroid for NES (possibly the greatest game ever made, or equal to this one), I was frantic when I saw the commercial for this game on TV (Yep, I still vividly remember the commercial, even after all these years.) When i finally was able to purchase this game, I could barely handle the excitement. Sitting down and playing it, I was not the least disappointed. The graphics were amazing, the music atmospherically beautiful, and to be honest, I was completely captivated by the awesomeness of Samus's suit. I have played most of the great NES and SNES games, but none of them stand out in my memory as strongly as this one. I still remember getting stuck in Brinstar for a long time because I didn't know pressing "B" made the character run!!( this was the first game I ever played that had a run option, i believe). I vividly remember looking in the instruction booklet and anxiously awaiting finding the powerbombs. Anyway, this game is just great, so I'll break it down for you:

Graphics-10/10 WOW...the graphics in this game were the best a console system had ever seen at the time. (I believe this came out before Mario RPG, Donkey Kong, and Chrono Trigger.). It was the first game to go beyond 16 bits and make it to 24 bits (amazing feat back then). The backrounds are great, and while in the Norfair stages the backround is wavey symbolizing the effects of the lava and extreme heat. The bosses are absolutely breathtaking, especially Kraid. Instead of the little itty-bitty Kraid that was in Metroid one, this one has been totally redone, and is bigger and badder than ever. Samus's suit looks great, and the weapons look awesome as well.

Music-100,000/10 The music is absolutely beautiful and extraordinary. Hearing Brinstar's green theme for the first time was just amazing, and it is still stuck in my head. The more recent metroid game, "Metroid- Fusion" had a pretty low grade, techno-esque soundtrack, but this game is totally different. The music is often times somber and sad sounding, and often dark or mysterious. Every single levels song perfectly fits that area. The music for the Norfair area is quiet and dark sounding, fitting the darkness of the area, and the Maridia music is very eerie and brilliant, fitting for a water area. Definitely the greatest soundtrack ever for a video game, and even better than a lot of other music.

Controls- 10/10 Controlling Samus is a breeze, anyone can do it. She stops moving when you take your hand off the buttons, and runs smoothly. You can also wall- jump among other things in this game. Like I said, this is one of, if not the first game to create the ability to run, which as small as it sounds is a great thing.

Fun factor- 1,000,000/10...yep you read that right. There are plenty of power-ups to collect, among many other things such as missle containers and energy tanks. I've beaten this game probably 15-20 times, and it NEVER gets old. In fact, my SNES malfunctioned recently , deleating my Super Metroid file i had recently started. I was near the end of the game when it got deleted, but I still found myself playing it again without being bored or sick of it. In fact, I'm glad it got deleted, because now I can play through it again!!
Seriously though, if you do not have this game you are missing out on the greatest video game ever created, and it isn't just for kids either, I'm 18 and i still love this game after 10 years. I would also recommend getting Prime, and the first Metroid. Zero Mission is also pretty good, but be aware it is extremely short, but still MUCH better than Fusion, which was a total let-down.

Super Metroid is commonly hailed as the greatest Super Nintendo game ever! Sure, it's graphics can't hold a candle up to Metroid Prime and it's story isn't quite as good as Metroid Fusion, but if you're gonna make a Metroid game you might as well do it right don't you think? What I mean is we want exploration while there's a good storyline in tact. Something that the two new Metroid games didn't put together. While Metroid Prime has great exploration it's story kind of sucks. While Metroid Fusion has a great storyline (probably the best in all the Metroid games thus far) you can't explore worth crap! But put them both together and you've got a Metroid classic! That my friends is Super Metroid!

I remember playing the first Metroid game and it was an inspiration to me. It wasn't some linear path, you had to explore. Sure there's a lot of backtracking but if there wasn't then it wouldn't be called "Exploration" now would it?

The storyline of Super Metroid is that the Metroid Hatchling Samus found at the end of her previous adventure, she left in the care of scientist. But that station came under attack and Samus finds that she must help. When she gets there she has a confrontation with Ridley who ends up flying away with the Metroid hatchling and Samus tracks him down to planet Zebes. This is a great storyline!

Some landscapes look a lot like those of the original Metroid game but enhanced. Some abilities are even in the same spots! Still, that exploration is there and for that I was happy. Instead of having a linear path to follow you can play the game at your own pace and find the power-ups how you want to find them. Exploration in my opinion is what Metroid games are all about.

As far as difficulty goes, this Metroid game is REALLY easy compared to the original NES one and the newer Metroid Prime. It's about the same as Metroid Fusion, meaning that if you know how to take on something you'll undoubtably come out of nearly every confrontation without a scratch.

I have only ONE gripe with this game. That is the default control settings. Thank goodness Nintendo has allowed us to change them! The default control scheme is TERRIBLE (using the X button to shoot?) and it's better that you can customize the controls.

Now, as far as games go I think Super Metroid is one of the greatest games every made! It would be on my top ten list of the greatest games ever and I'm happy to have gotten the oppertunity to play this.

If you want an example of how a Metroid game, let alone Action/Adventure then this is a great example! Super Metroid is without a doubt one of the greatest games ever made and I have to second the opinion on making it the greatest SNES game of all time!

Well, I got this game a few months ago, and as soon as I saw the intro flashback, I knew it was going to be a good game.

The Graphics are similar to that of the 2 GBA Metroids (and, well, vice-versa) and so is the sound. From dark depressing music you'd expect to hear in the dark gloomy caverns of Norfair and Brinstar, to fast-paced boss themes. The enemies shriek when shot, and explosions sound like explosions.

The gameplay is complex yet easy to learn. The biggest difference I noticed between this and Fusion (besides the lack of Navigation Rooms, thank God) is the fact that you use one button to cycle through Missiles, Power Bombs, etc. You can also turn weapons and suits off, a great way to kill yourself. Sometimes I forget I set it to Super Missles and I waste them on a Geemer, the games only flaw. Once you get farther into the game, though, that wont happen as much, and you can continue blasting enemies, collecting expansions (Percentage doesn't affect the ending! YAY!) and praying that the next room is a Save Room and not a boss. This game offers a lot of cool easter eggs too, one of my favorite moments was dropping into a room and realizing, 'Hey! It's the room that Samus escaped through at the end of Metroid 1!'. So, for people who have the original, but not this one, Super Metroid is a 24-meg trip through Zebes that offers whole new areas, weapons, gameplay, graphics, music, and enemies while still being nostalgic.

Everyone remembers "Metroid" for the NES and its sequel for the Game Boy, "Metroid II: Return of Samus." Well, third time's the charm for this series as Samus Aran must hunt down and capture the Metroid larva that had been taken from a security lab. Once again, she battles through Zebes. Read on to see WHY this is the best Metroid game in the series and why I think it's the best game on the system.

THE GOOD
The capabilities of the SNES allowed Super Metroid to far surpass its predecessors with cooler and smoother graphics, eerie music, and more areas to explore. Samus simply looks awesome in this game. The map is HUGE and you will spend hours finding hidden stuff and more enemies to blast. There is also a wall jump technique here that's introduced. I was also enthralled by the EXTREMELY LARGE bosses in this game. These are probably the biggest bosses in any game. The story is also very engrossing and has good use of flashbacks to previous Metroid games. WOW. I can't emphasize this game enough; WOW.

THE BAD
What bad? That's right, NONE!

OVERALL
Reading other reviews on Amazon (and "Metroid Fusion" in particular), I cannot believe all the reviews "Metroid Prime" is getting. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly a good game, but it is NOWHERE NEAR THE QUALITY OF THIS GAME. By far, this is the best the Super Nintendo ever produced and it is therefore, the best in the series. Sure, the graphics may have aged (note to you gamers: just because Donkey Kong Country followed less than a year later, DOES NOT MEAN IT COULD'VE BEEN BETTER WITH THOSE TYPES OF GRAPHICS), but WHO CARES?! This game is a masterpiece. Don't be washed by away by graphics; BUY THIS GAME. It's a keeper.

It's unbelievable to me how many perfect or near-perfect scores Super Metroid has received from game players all across the internet. To this day, gamers STILL have the time of their lives running, blasting and spin attacking their way through each and every area of the planet to reach the final stage and face the evil Mother Brain.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that this game had me totally floored back in 1994 (which led to me spending an ENTIRE summer playing the game, much to my mother's displeasure) but I'm afraid over time I've began to notice a few small problems that make it very hard for me to give the game a perfect grade. Keep in mind I think Super Metroid is still, after all these years, one of the best adventure/shooters ever made, but I can't give in to childhood memories and whip out a 5-star rating. Sorry! One problem is the challenge. This game is incredibly easy. I can't believe so many people find it difficult to progress through the game. Come on, those nasty space pirates you fight in the beginning part of the game only require ONE hit to defeat! It's funny how something so nasty-looking can be defeated so easily!

And the easiness doesn't stop there- throughout the game you encounter simple enemy after simple enemy. It's a shame, because one of the most important things about the Metroid series should be the challenge, and when you take that away you're left with a game that feels like it's intended for 5 year olds. I just wish it was like the original Metroid in that each enemy you walk up to requires a good four or five shots to completely destroy. Shooting and killing them with only one shot is ridiculous, especially when you consider that the weapon you're using to defeat them is just your regular blaster and not some kind of special upgrade. It also drives me crazy how every enemy you defeat seems to conveniently leave you a purple energy ball, and most of the time you will receive the BIG energy ball, and as you probably know the big ball is the one that recovers more of your health. Nintendo made the game so you can't lose, basically.

My only guess is that this "challenge" gamers frequently speak of is the difficulty in finding all the weapons and other important items because, to be fair, MANY of the weapons and items in Super Metroid are hidden quite well. Without a walkthrough it's easy to miss something, even if you walk past the same area a hundred times. This is where your weapons, such as the power bomb, come in handy. Many of the secret areas throughout the planet require a power bomb to break through sections of a wall, and some of these places are where you least expect, because many times there's no sign something is hidden.

I've heard other complaints about this game. Granted, they're not popular complaints (and only a small amount of people actually believe them). But I happen to be one of those people, and the complaint I'm speaking of is the lack of enemies throughout the planet. Many times you find yourself walking across boring empty areas, desperately searching for something to shoot. An example would be walking from the spaceship all the way to the Wrecked Ship area. On your way you only see a couple enemies around, and if you ask me there should be a LOT more. To be fair, again, this isn't a major complaint, but the more you play the game the more you notice things like this, and in the end you wish more weird-looking creatures or space pirates were around so you'd have something to shoot as you walk to the next area. I guess this is probably just me complaining about "never having enough". Well, tough. This is how I am, so you mine as well get used to it. :)

The graphics are phenomenal, which is one HUGE positive with Super Metroid. You've heard countless times someone refer to something as "unique" and you're probably getting sick and tired of it. Well, in this case, the graphics ARE totally unique, because I can't think of another game out there that shares the kind of graphics featured in this game. I can understand people who aren't comfortable with the music in Super Metroid and find it disturbing. Just imagine how freaky the music was for me back in 1994 when a game like this was the first of its kind!

Anyway, the one thing that makes this a must-own game and near classic is the long, gigantic maze of a planet you need to explore. Yes, despite the lack of challenge from the planet enemies (ALL of them) and the emptiness of much of the world, exploring each new room CAN be a lot of fun. You'll want to keep searching until you discover every little missile or energy tank available, and that is what a good adventure game should do.

One thing that IS hard is the wall jump technique, which has a tendency to baffle many people. You see, you have to jump near a wall and press certain buttons on the controller at just the right moment, and you will bounce off the wall (any wall) and repeatedly bounce in an upward direction. If your timing is off just a *little* you won't be able to make the move happen, and Samus will fall straight down (not that falling down kills you instantly, unless you land on spikes and stay there). Some gamers can't master the wall jump, while others become really good at it and think it's a nifty way to grab hard-to-reach items early in the game. I think if you practice enough eventually you WILL be good at it. It is tricky, though. But when you finally get the hang of it, you'll find out how useful it is. I should also mention that the wall jump technique is NOT a requirement (except in one area). It's just a trick to learn if you feel like it.

I can't think of anything else to talk about... oh wait, yes, those big ugly nasty bosses you have to fight are SO COOL! Kraid, as you've read by now, is a drastic improvement over his appearance in the original NES Metroid because now he takes up TWO SCREENS! Back in the day this was known as the coolest thing ever. Unfortunately, to bring back a complaint from early in my review, Kraid can be defeated by using only a few super missiles. Once again, this is making the game too darn EASY and Nintendo should have made Kraid, along with the rest of the bosses, harder to defeat. They should have made Kraid like in the original Metroid, where you were required to waste a LOT of regular missiles in order to defeat him. I love fighting that octopus-looking thing in the Wrecked Ship level. That thing is cool. Ridley is awesome and packs a mean punch. He's my favorite boss battle because it's all about power versus power. The Mother Brain is an absolute JOKE to fight. Even if you only manage to find 100 missles (there's 230 of them total) she's STILL a simple boss fight, and this includes BOTH her incarnations. Heck, in her second form when she changes into something bigger and badder, she's actually easier!
The different areas of the planet are beautifully designed, too. I especially think Norfair, even though it's creepy and covered in fire, is a cool looking area featuring some of the scariest looking monsters and the sweetest background graphics in the game. Maridia, the underwater stage, is another very nice looking place filled with fish and other creatures, some of which live in the sand. I'm a little disappointed Tourian has only 15 Metroids for you to freeze and destroy, which is unlike the original Metroid where you had to face 30 of them or so.

Even though it seems I am somewhat putting the game down, I think it's a wonderful, addicting game, and it comes very close to being one of the very best shooters ever. I believe if Nintendo had worked on the challenge I would have given the game a higher score. You should buy it.

I loved the game. The weapons, the creatures, the levels and of course the ending. Which I've beat game countless times, each time with a sense of accomplishment. You find different weapons after battling the bosses. Picking up Energy Tanks, missiles, power bombs, reserve tanks, etc. You've reached a point in the game where you've picked up all the weapons, missiles, bombs, and suits you can muster. And boy do you need it to do battle with Motherbrain! It's an all time favorite just as Zelda is. I would recommend this game to action-adventure game players who love to seek and destroy. Super Metroid is an A+++++ game!

When I say this is the best video game ever, i'm not kidding. I'v played many video games for many systems like Genesis, SNES, N64, Saturn, Playstation, Playstation2, NES, Atari Jaguar, and original Atari. I recieved it as a gift and considered returning it, since I knew nothing about it. That would have been the biggest mistake I had ever made in my life. Once I started playing this, I couldnt stop.

This game has everything a gamer can want. Awesome graphics and sound, challenging gameplay, awesome moves, and incredible bosses. I loved it so much, I couldn't stop playing. This game creates such an awesome effect, you feel like you're there. I had been looking for a game that was a little harder, and I found it. I can go on and on about how great this game is. It's more of a role playing adventure than a video game. When I finally beat it, I almost cried, there was no more Super Metroid. Ever since then I'v been waiting for Samus to return in an all new Metroid adventure.

There is no reason NOT to get this game. I can't think of anybody that wouldn't like it, except for a small child, because it would be too difficult and probably a bit scary. But if you've graduated from pre-school yet, GET THIS GAME. If you don't like it... well since that's impossible, I don't have to tell you what to do if you don't like it. GET THIS GAME. GET IT NOW. I'M NOT KIDDING. YOU NEED IT. BUY IT NOW.