RTTP/LTTP(?) - Super Metroid - This game did not age well...

TerribleAtThisGame

TerribleAtThisGame

Member
iu


PSYCH BITCH! It aged fucking phenomenally! I haven't had this much fun gaming in some time!

To elaborate on the stupid thread title, I've played through Super Metroid several...yet somehow never beat it. And the last time was an eternity ago. Having been on another Metroid binge of Zero Mission, Prime 1 and AM2R, I was determined to finally beat Super Metroid. Thankfully, my old former-pothead brain had forgotten everything. Every single thing. It was incredible. Thanks to geriatric amnesia and drug abuse, I was able to experience this absolute masterclass of a game completely fresh. God is indeed real.

I know this game has been discussed to death but seriously, experiencing the actual ending for the first time is still exciting, fresh and amazing in 2025. I had the pleasure of playing this with really good shaders in Retroarch and it looked gorgeous. I forgot how cool these rooms look when the emulated screen curvature makes the backgrounds kind of "roll" over it. The game just feels passionate, clever as hell and fine-tuned to perfection. Also...what a sequel, damn.

I mean, fuck, 10/10 on every front. Gameplay, level design, sound design and music (!!). The only thing that I have to criticize about it are some aspects of the controls. They're a definite learning curve and can feel finicky, specifically the space jump/screw attack can be frustrating imo. I remapped Select to L2 and Pause to R2 which eliminated the pain of switching at least. That being said, I get it. They were ahead of their time and really crammed every detail into this game that it still feels shockingly modern to me. How cool and satisfying is the X-Ray visor!?

Nintendo at this time were unbelievable and this game deserves every ounce of praise in my book. It made me thoroughly happy.

js38vG4ZJQHOM16n.jpg
418genAFZqIy64Tc.jpg
 
Dammit. I thought there had finally been someone on GAF who feels as strongly as I do about how Super Metroid's aged like milk (maybe there is somebody I'm forgetting; I'm sorry). Pretty concretely #9 of 13 on my personal list.

Samus controls like a pregnant cow (not my words but I'm stealing them), you can't reinitiate screw attack outside of a normal jump if you ever drop a somersault input (which is awkward), long bomb jumping chains are also awkward, shinesparking consumes health. And that's all just on the control side. So many of these rooms are long corridors with no variation - I'm looking at you, Norfair. The map's not nearly as sophisticated as today's maps, not indicating which upgrades you've picked up or if there are multiple in a room. There's that stupid, fucking one way drop in the water level. I just reread my list I linked to and my complaints are identical lol

I thought this game was 'ok' 15 years ago. I don't see the magic, and this is coming from a huge Metroid head. Every other 2D game beside the original and Samus Returns blows it out of the water. Super Metroid's been too iterated on, within and without the series.
 
Just here for people who read the thread title but not OPs psych out in the first sentence

Anticipation Popcorn GIF
 
Before clicking this thread I knew this was going to be about the jumping, walljumping, and screw attack.

It's something every player either gets accustomed to, or they never do because the entire time they would rather have it control like Zero Mission.
 
March Climber said:
Before clicking this thread I knew this was going to be about the jumping, walljumping, and screw attack.

It's something every player either gets accustomed to, or they never do because the entire time they would rather have it control like Zero Mission.
Click to expand...
I did get accustomed to it and I think it's no biggie. Just the one thing I CAN criticize about it. The thread isn't about that at all but rather how much joy the game brought me, Sir.
 
TerribleAtThisGame said:
I did get accustomed to it and I think it's no biggie. Just the one thing I CAN criticize about it. The thread isn't about that at all but rather how much joy the game brought me, Sir.
Click to expand...
I didn't mean the thread would be about it, I just knew your criticism would be about it.

As you've stated with your own words in the OP, there's a definite learning curve and it can feel finicky.

It's one flaw of the game that doesn't age well because it forces people to get used to a specific rhythm/timing, or else the player will have a rough time going forward.
 
March Climber said:
Before clicking this thread I knew this was going to be about the jumping, walljumping, and screw attack.

It's something every player either gets accustomed to, or they never do because the entire time they would rather have it control like Zero Mission.
Click to expand...

I can live with the floaty movement - I can see that being a person-to-person thing; not everything needs to be fast. I actually like that midair morphs maintain your momentum as opposed to ZM where you drop like a lead balloon. It's the silly stuff like not being able to cancel a normal jump into a somersault and taking damage for shinesparking (plus not being able to do much with it because the idea's brand new) that bothers me. They're ideas that are improved upon in Super Metroid's better successors.
 
March Climber said:
I didn't mean the thread would be about it, I just knew your criticism would be about it.

As you've stated with your own words in the OP, there's a definite learning curve and it can feel finicky.

It's one flaw of the game that doesn't age well because it forces people to get used to a specific rhythm/timing, or else the player will have a rough time going forward.
Click to expand...
I actually spent a good ten minutes in a room learning the patterns, I tend to do that when I don't understand a mechanic. I still thought even after getting the logic of it, it failed quite a bit and wasn't sure why lol. But again it's not a biggie or some big blemish.
 
Its one of the best games I have ever played. And I was never a Nintendo guy. But Super Metroid... When I received a spare SNES from some guy somewhere back in 2002 or so, I decided to purchase a cart of Super Metroid. I had played it before in brief stints at other places, but now I wanted to complete it.

And I beat it in one or 2 sittings. I couldn't stop. Pacing, level design, atmosphere, graphics... I think its perfect. You need to commit to your actions, this means it can feel a bit off if you just start out. But to me it became second nature soon enough.
 
TerribleAtThisGame said:
I actually spent a good ten minutes in a room learning the patterns, I tend to do that when I don't understand a mechanic. I still thought even after getting the logic of it, it failed quite a bit and wasn't sure why lol. But again it's not a biggie or some big blemish.
Click to expand...
I did the same years ago when I first played it. I'm not here to argue or make it a big deal btw, I just had a laugh to myself because I had internally 'called it' when I opened the thread.

I think that is one of the most common things I hear/read from anyone who picked up the game a decade+ after it released, and honestly, I agree with them 🤷‍♂️

I always figured the game should at least be given a toggle in the options for those who might consider dropping the game due to finicky jumping mechanics, to help it age a bit better.
 
TerribleAtThisGame said:
iu


PSYCH BITCH! It aged fucking phenomenally! I haven't had this much fun gaming in some time!

To elaborate on the stupid thread title, I've played through Super Metroid several...yet somehow never beat it. And the last time was an eternity ago. Having been on another Metroid binge of Zero Mission, Prime 1 and AM2R, I was determined to finally beat Super Metroid. Thankfully, my old former-pothead brain had forgotten everything. Every single thing. It was incredible. Thanks to geriatric amnesia and drug abuse, I was able to experience this absolute masterclass of a game completely fresh. God is indeed real.

I know this game has been discussed to death but seriously, experiencing the actual ending for the first time is still exciting, fresh and amazing in 2025. I had the pleasure of playing this with really good shaders in Retroarch and it looked gorgeous. I forgot how cool these rooms look when the emulated screen curvature makes the backgrounds kind of "roll" over it. The game just feels passionate, clever as hell and fine-tuned to perfection. Also...what a sequel, damn.

I mean, fuck, 10/10 on every front. Gameplay, level design, sound design and music (!!). The only thing that I have to criticize about it are some aspects of the controls. They're a definite learning curve and can feel finicky, specifically the space jump/screw attack can be frustrating imo. I remapped Select to L2 and Pause to R2 which eliminated the pain of switching at least. That being said, I get it. They were ahead of their time and really crammed every detail into this game that it still feels shockingly modern to me. How cool and satisfying is the X-Ray visor!?

Nintendo at this time were unbelievable and this game deserves every ounce of praise in my book. It made me thoroughly happy.

js38vG4ZJQHOM16n.jpg
418genAFZqIy64Tc.jpg
Click to expand...
Thats Good Robert Deniro GIF
 
I'm not a fan of the SNES, but this is one of the few good ones. A solid 9/10
 
Paltheos said:
long bomb jumping chains are also awkward, shinesparking consumes health.
Click to expand...
But these are "secret" non essential moves.

Also, bomb chain jumping isn't supposed to be easy, considering how game breaking it can be for someone who doesn't know what he is doing.
 
nkarafo said:
But these are "secret" non essential moves.

Also, bomb chain jumping isn't supposed to be easy, considering how game breaking it can be for someone who doesn't know what he is doing.
Click to expand...

They're traversal tools. 'They could as easily not be in the game', of course, but that would just make the other games that much better for including (and improving) them and considering their availability in level design.
 
Paltheos said:
Dammit. I thought there had finally been someone on GAF who feels as strongly as I do about how Super Metroid's aged like milk (maybe there is somebody I'm forgetting; I'm sorry). Pretty concretely #9 of 13 on my personal list.

Samus controls like a pregnant cow (not my words but I'm stealing them), you can't reinitiate screw attack outside of a normal jump if you ever drop a somersault input (which is awkward), long bomb jumping chains are also awkward, shinesparking consumes health. And that's all just on the control side. So many of these rooms are long corridors with no variation - I'm looking at you, Norfair. The map's not nearly as sophisticated as today's maps, not indicating which upgrades you've picked up or if there are multiple in a room. There's that stupid, fucking one way drop in the water level. I just reread my list I linked to and my complaints are identical lol

I thought this game was 'ok' 15 years ago. I don't see the magic, and this is coming from a huge Metroid head. Every other 2D game beside the original and Samus Returns blows it out of the water. Super Metroid's been too iterated on, within and without the series.
Click to expand...
Aged milk can male the most exquisite cheese.

Still on my TOP 5 games of all time and I replay it yearly.
 
I supposed, i should play it... Again in this year....

at least i finished any metroid or castlevania each year.
 
TerribleAtThisGame said:
I actually had never seen it but it's so fucking cool. Was looking for the NA box art and saw this.

I'd buy this Voivod LP.
Click to expand...
Its actually a cut-off version of this image.
Also, the Japanese box art of the game is so superior to the NA version that it's not even funny. For those that don't know, look it up.
vGCb9NS92umGlYw9.jpg
 
Last edited:
Came into the thread expecting that OP would see the light by the first sentence....was not disappointed.

OP also lead off with an amazing piece of cover art...I grant them a thumbs up.
 
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