Retro Game of the Month January 2018: Metroid (NES) and Super Metroid (SNES)

Tanoomba

Tanoomba

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So I followed through with my plan and played through the entirety of Metroid. I cheated in that I used a world map, marked down the order I wanted to collect power-ups in, and used save states to undo costly errors (of which there were many). I still didn't get the best ending (2 piece bikini Samus), but I got the second-best one and I'm pretty happy with that. It's a lot easier to appreciate the things the game does right when you find workarounds for its flaws. The final battle against Mother Brain is really tense and you're nowhere near OP even if you made an effort to power yourself up as much as possible.

Having said all that, I actually think I might come back to Metroid again at some point and try to beat it again, not so I can get the best ending (I hate time trials anyway), but so I can beat it without using save states. As glad as I am that I've seen the entire game first-hand, I do feel like I deprived myself the satisfaction of beating it legitimately.

Now on to Super Metroid!
 
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Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

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All this sexy Metroid talk is making me want to get primeVR up and running

PLVFa_d.jpg
 
Tanoomba

Tanoomba

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So I'm gonna be streaming Super Metroid for a bit. No frills, though. No overlay, no voice, and frequent pee/beer breaks, but I haven't played this in a long time and I'm looking forward to experiencing it again.
(My gameplay will very likely deteriorate as I progress)
 
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McCheese

McCheese

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I struggled through most of Metroid, but I don't think I'll manage to beat it before the end of the month. I really enjoyed the exploration (did it mostly blind) and making my own maps and trial and error, although the grinding has been soul crushing. It's been a busy month so I won't have a chance to get to Super Metroid.

Still, I'm really happy to have played the original Metroid. I remember as a kid I'd get into the first couple large, vertical shafts and end up lost and/or dying and giving up. I'm not even sure if I ever got above the first missile power up back in the day. It's one of the few classic NES games I never did much with, so it was fun to experience it, even with its glaring flaws.
 
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Szlia

Szlia

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Very early in the month I played Metroid and now very late in the month I motored through Super Metroid in a day. I had not played it since 94 or 95 (except a bit of the beginning a couple months ago on SNES mini with a friend who did not know the game and did most of the playing) so I set myself no goal and ended with a 6ish hours clear time with 80% item collection. I think I died 2 or three times? But I got very very close a couple times more (notably a Ridley kill with no more ammo and sub 100 hp!). The funny part is that my cart still has a 100% save with a 5ish hours play time! I am not sure if it's my original save though... but I guess not. I seriously doubt I cleared the game casually and then went for 100% in just 5 hours!

Anyway.... the game is still highly enjoyable, but some flaws stand out for me: movement in water/lava/acid... god.... movement in quicksand... JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! Also, 20+ years later I still don't know what is the actual input to dash properly... I just kinda mash buttons and it happens eventually. In several spots in the game, you get stuck with a particular challenge and can't track back without overcoming said challenge. The problem, is that the challenge is at time not very obvious, making it unclear if you have the tools to progress and can't find how or if you don't have the tools to progress and can't find how to track back... It's pretty confusing and the only reason you keep going at it is that you assume the dev team would not have left soft locks in there.

It's funny that in a 6ish hours playtime the parts that left an enduring memory are very tiny things that felt ground breaking at the time, mosty the story telling using only the game world. I am talking about the way the animals teach you new moves, all the end boss sequence starting with the first appearance of the super baby metroid... so a solid 2 minutes out of 6 hours! Amusingly, the biggest jaw dropping moment back in the days was chatting with a friend after beating the game and seeing the new rolling demo you get, with moves we had no idea were even possible.

Oh and to conclude these ramblings, for the first time ever, I saved the animals!
 
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Tanoomba

Tanoomba

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I was actually pretty surprised at how much Super Metroid feels like the original Metroid. I guess after having played the more recent entries that guide you along and make sure you always know where to go, it was surprising to find myself getting lost again and again. To be fair, my already weak geo-spatial awareness skills were hit pretty hard by the beer, but the game really counts on you committing yourself to exploring and figuring everything out yourself, which is fantastic when you get the satisfaction of earning your progress but frustrating during the dead time when you're not accomplishing anything.

Of course, Super Metroid is WAAAAAAY more forgiving than Metroid. Enemies drop a lot more life and missiles, plus you find recharge stations scattered across the world, and of course the in-game map is a game-changer. I did find the map a little hard to read at times, though, since there's very little information in there besides "been there/haven't been there". As punishing as the original Metroid was, Super Metroid made great efforts to ease the player's mind with save stations and life refills so the player can concentrate more on exploring and less on dreading making a mistake that will cost them dearly.

I don't want to get into too much detail about the brilliance of the atmosphere and in-game story-telling until I make it further, but the game grabs you right from the stunningly eerie title screen which still sends shivers down my spine. I imagine most people here have played Super Metroid before, but if you haven't you should really at least play through the beginning.
 
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Tanoomba

Tanoomba

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So I started Super Metroid over again, this time on my Super Famicom Mini. To prevent the difficulty I had figuring out where to go last time I played, I drew out maps of Brinstar and Norfair as I progressed, marking the spots I would need to return to with Power Bombs, the Dash ability, the Grappling Beam, etc. This helped a LOT. No more wandering around pointlessly, trying to find a room I vaguely remember requiring a power I just acquired.

There are a few charming details I had forgotten about, such as a family of alien turtles and some shelled creatures who make fun noises when you knock them around. It's still as satisfying as ever when your newly acquired abilities allow you to demolish enemies that had previously given you trouble. The whole end of the game and the buildup to the final boss are incredible, with some great storytelling via in-game scenes. I ended up beating the game in 5 1/2 hours (in-game timer) with about 83% completion, but I didn't die at all and I saved the animals of course.

Biggest gripes:
- Jumping out of sand makes no sense. It's ridiculously inconsistent and can be very annoying.
- The wall jump and the space jump are both overly finicky.
- The map doesn't indicate whether or not adjacent rooms are actually connected. It's easy to plan a route only to find yourself at a dead end and have to take a big detour.

I'm really glad I played through it again, though. Overall I'd still consider Symphony of the Night the better Metroidvania but Super Metroid is a classic for a good reason.
 
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Folanlron

Folanlron

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Ya, wall jump/space jump have always been a pain in any Metroid(except Prime, course only way for wall jumps/space jumps was via Screwattack so was only available in 2&3) I still play thru Prime 1-3 every year, man so good. Waiting to see anything on Prime 4, after Federation force, I'm kinda mehhh with what they are doing to the series =/
 
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