9/10 – 9 hours
Review as written on 8/5/2022
Aged like wine. Super Metroid is an amazing and iconic entry into the top tier franchise, and is still extremely well designed given its age and the world it existed in. There was nothing like this game at the time, with its atmosphere, and absolutely brilliant formula that would define its genre. The sheer brilliance of exploring a world, stumbling across dangerous or puzzling areas, finding the right upgrade and coming back to open up a whole new place to explore is endlessly satisfying and fun, and this game got it right so early in the video game universe, no wonder its heralded so widely. You can aim your blaster freely, and the slew of upgrades open up so many movement options when you master them. Hell, even at the start you can wall jump, which is harder to use than it should be, but its INCREDIBLY rewarding for finding later areas earlier on. This isn’t my first Metroidvania, but i am astounded at the quality of the gameplay loop considering the age of this game.
My only issues are found with this game’s unforgiving nature. I don’t mind a challenge, but areas like Maridia with annoying quicksand and Norfair’s many grabby enemies can be annoying to deal with. I’m a spoiled brat who played the Switch version with rewinds, but when those options are gone, those areas become annoying. Its also really easy to get lost, which can create some monotonous pockets. Boss hitboxes are also hard to dodge, and they love to grab you too. I loved fighting Ridley since he was tough, but strategic. Draygon however was complete clownery.
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