Metroidvanias have been some of my most enjoyable experiences lately. I bet you’re thinking “Guy. How the fuck have you never played Super Metroid until now?” I’m not particularly certain myself. I think it was the seemingly slow-paced start that kept me from delving deeper past Brinstar, into the sprawling tunnels and rooms that comprise the Planet Zebes. Perhaps it was an abundance of shiny, newer metroidvanias to play. Well, a lil pandemic hit, and quarantine life gave me ample time to check out the Nintendo’s SNES online emulator thingy (which is practically the only value you’ll get out of Nintendo Online). Well, the line-up is actually kind of fire and my eyes immediately found Super Metroid, a game that would go on to thrill me long before quarantine tedium would see me spending one and a half hours playing Pop’n Twinbee.

Please don’t allow yourself to become as engrossed as I briefly was in this middle-of-the-road shmup.

I’ve played quite a few Metroidvanias, including all of the 2D Metroids made after Super Metroid, everyone’s new favorite standard bearer ‘Hollow Knight‘, and a fair share of the Igavanias, and it took only 2 hours of Super Metroid for me to understand why it’s still the blueprint for a great 2D platforming-adventure game. Visually, this game is a beast, as anticipated. The sprites are large and the animations are fluid, much like later 2D Metroids, which is crucial because the environment tells so much of the story. Much like the last couple of Kirby titles on the SNES, this game pushed the system to its limits, resulting in some pretty ageless visuals.

AM2R (pictured above) features the most expansive moveset and most user friendly arm cannon, which is extremely important considering the crazy amount of scripted encounters this game has; Super Metroid (below) excels by allowing the player room for discovery and creativity a sometimes, and demanding it at others.

The gameplay in Super Metroid is second only to AM2R, the unofficial Metroid 2 remake made in Gamemaker by Argentinian programmer Milton Guasti (also known as DoctorM64) using what appeared to be resources taken from the GBA titles, in addition to some original resources. The thing that separates Super Metroid from AM2R, Metroid: Fusion and Zero Mission is the slower pace and input difficulty. The game just seems to move a little slower in many regards, which can throw many first time players for a loop. Rapid power beam shooting isn’t very rapid, which means that inaccurate shooting will result in longer conflicts. Shooting a charged shot in the air requires a second press of the firing button as opposed to just releasing said button. Wall-jumping and space-jumping have much more strict timing requirements. Perhaps I’ve been playing too much Dark Souls, but something about these little things requiring a bit more participation from the player sat really well with me.

This little shaft (lol) forces you to grasp the timing of wall-jumping. You can get lucky and nail one, but to nail a series of wall-jumps requires understanding of the technique.

I’ve heard a lot about Super Metroid‘s much vaunted non-linearity and it did not disappoint. There were several times that I found myself utterly lost, only to realize after consulting some supplementary materials, that I had already finessed some power up that wasn’t meant to be acquired for hours using some bummy combination of sprint jumping, wall-hopping, and bomb jumping. Small note on the music: I never cared much for the music of the Metroid series and I still don’t, but this game had a great soundtrack, and I’m not mad that many of these tracks seemed to be later reused in Metroid Prime. I practically hopped up out of my chair when I got to Norfair and heard the music that would be used for Magmoor Caverns!

All-in-all, this game is absolutely required text for any Metroidvania student. There’s a reason why Super Metroid is always, always, ALWAYS, mentioned amongst the best of the genre and it is not nostalgia.