Super Metroid

Super Metroid is considered by many to be one of the greatest video games of all times, or at the very least one of the high points of the SNES. It popularized and nearly perfected the metroidvania genre, and its amazing level design and atmosphere still holds up today.

Super Metroid boasts an incredibly simple yet effective story told with minimal dialogue. The gist is that after saving a baby Metroid, Samus has to return to Planet Zebes to save it from the space pirate Ridley. Outside of a fairly expository prologue that sums up the events of the first two Metroid games, Samus's return to Zebes is told entirely through the level design and visuals, from her revisiting the opening area of the first game, to her stumbling into the Wrecked Ship having been taken over by a ghost named Phantooon, to her reunion with the baby Metroid only to learn it's all grown up. It's absolutely stunning how many memorable setpieces and story beats this game manages to put you through without letting out a single word. And even more, there are hardly any cutscenes either. Most of the game is pretty much entirely playable, so it feels like you're experiencing these events along with Samus. It helps all of these setpieces feel much more memorable, and there are so many amazing moments that still stick in mind head. Like after spending a large portion of the game stuck in Norfair, you finally manage to escape onto the surface only to run into your ship again, or when you briefly visit Brinstar only to return the same path only to find that it's infested by aliens.

It helps that Super Metroid's level design is absolutely top-notch. Just like with the story, this game manages to show you how to play without any dialogue or instructions. Whether it's color-coding the missiles to match the doors that you use them on, having animals physically show you moves you never knew you had like the wall jump, or having one-way doors that lock behind you to show that you're going in the right direction. The first portion of Super Metroid is actually super linear for a metroidvania, but since the game never holds your hand, it feels like you're discovering all of the game's secrets yourself. And when you're fully let off the leash in Maridia, it feels incredibly natural. There are so many amazing bits of level design in this game that continue to impress me the more I play it, but to discuss it all would take way too long.

But let's face it, the thing most people rave about when it comes to Super Metroid is its atmosphere, and that's for very good reason. Super Metroid is, in a word, isolating. You're alone, even with tons of hostile aliens and cute little critters on Planet Zebes, the only time you feel comforted is when you reunite with your ship. Planet Zebes has incredible environmental design, it really feels like a foreign alien planet with tons of unique fauna, flora, and rock structures. Each area, nay, every single screen manages to look completely different and unique from one another, and that's all thanks to the amazing pixel art visuals. And I love it whenever Super Metroid really leans into its eerie horror elements, like in the aforementioned Wrecked Ship, it's always so effective. The soundtrack definitely helps generate this oppressive tone, it's just so atmospheric and intense. When you run into a hallway infested with aliens on Crateria, the music becomes scary and dark, but once you gain control of the situation, the music for the next area, Overgrown Brinstar is a lot more catchy and upbeat... at least until you fall into the underground area where the music turns grim again. It's a perfect example of using a video game soundtrack to tighten the tone of your game.

You might have noticed that I haven't talked out Super Metroid's controls yet, and that's for a reason. The controls are probably the game's weakest aspect. Samus's movement and gunfire combat works fine for basic exploration, but eventually you have to deal with tight platforming and start to realize just how clunky it is. I found myself constantly overshooting and undershooting jumps during the later half of the game. And while shooting at enemies guns blazing is super fun, dodging attacks is a lot more annoying due to how large Samus is. This is the absolute worst during boss fights which completely flood the screen with hard-to-avoid projectiles. I also found the wall jump to be incredibly finicky and hard to pull off consistently. In the grand scheme of things, the controls aren't awful and the moments I get truly fed up with them are somewhat rare, but they do occur and add a dose of frustration to an otherwise nearly flawless game.

Despite my gripes with the controls, however, Super Metroid is phenomenal in pretty much every other aspect. For a while, it was my favorite metroidvania of all time (Nowadays, I prefer Hollow Knight, Metroid Prime, and even Zero Mission to a degree). The story is compelling, the setpieces are memorable, the pacing is perfect, the level design is immaculate, the visuals are beautiful, and the soundtrack is excellent. Super Metroid is easily one of the most immersive games I've ever played, and the fact that it was on the SNES makes it even more impressive.

5/5 Stars