@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Glad you liked it. The game does a surprisingly good job at funneling players forward without making it obvious--for instance, after your first run through Brinstar, you eventually fall down a tall shaft full of Rippers that you can't escape until you find the Ice Beam. So for the next hour (or more), you can't return back to the large chunk of game that you started off in, lessening the potential amount of areas to backtrack in. It's basically saying "Hey, if you get stuck, you can rest assured that the answer isn't in any of that part of the map."

Which is good because I think the game's most obscure bit of progression is right around that point: Super Missile-ing the wall in the Norfair elevator shaft to get to Kraid. That could've used an extra visual cue.

Otherwise, still my favorite game ever! I speedrun it regularly because it's insane how much of the game you can skip or take out of order due to the wall-jump and other quirky, advanced moves. The Spore Spawn, Crocomire, and Golden Torizo minibosses are completely skippable, for instance, as are items like the Grapple Beam, X-Ray Scope and High Jump boots.

@Hero_Of_Hyrule We're seeing eye to eye on this one. I've played Super Metroid three times, I think, with plenty of time between each. It's a super great, groundbreaking game, but occasionally is a tad too obtuse in figuring out where you can go. I think every time I played it, at some point I was unsure of how to progress at some point, stuck for upwards of 30 minutes. But it's pretty amazing how well it's designed for being the first of its kind.

Where the game really shines is in repeat plays from pros, finding new routes and skips and stuff. They're still finding new things years later. On that strength, it goes to the top of my Metroid list, with Zero Mission a close second.

I have moved on from playing Super Metroid randomiser runs (which are super great btw) and am now trying out a bunch of different romhacks, some of which are actually rather great. If anyone has any recommendations I am all ears!

@Pokefreak911

Have you heard of the Super Metroid/Link to the Past crossover randomizer?

@Pokefreak911 Apparently this game A Robot Named Fight is basically a Super Metroid randomizer knockoff game that's pretty good.


@Secret_Tunnel Haha, that's amazing.

I'm about an hour into my first ever replay of this since playing it for the first time in 2007 during the lead-up to Metroid Prime 3's release. I just replayed Zero Mission for the firsr time too, and while that game is very fun and zippy, so far Super is so much more. It's not just the atmosphere tickling my imagination, it's the level design's subtle hints at more efficient routes I could take on a future playthrough. It's arcade-influenced replayable action design blended with slow-paced introspection. Even having played dozens of games inspired by it, Super Metroid is still blowing me away; I can only imagine what it must have been like playing this in 1994.

I like Zero Mission a lot but there’s something about its design that feels less organic and immersive than Super Metroid. Super Metroid has its flaws but everything about it is so engrossing. Just like, seeing the world practically pulsing, like it’s really alive, with so many hauntingly atmospheric songs. I remember not “getting” Super Metroid at first, but once I got my first couple of upgrades, I was completely hooked and thought it was just the coolest thing ever.

Yeah, Super Metroid is a little clunky (even compared to Metroid 1) but it definitely has a vibe.

Compared to Zero Mission and Dread, Super Metroid is way harder and jankier. The level design is weird and requiring me to go in unexpected directions, I'm getting lost, dying... it's great! This feels like a real, spiky, alien artifact of a game!

The sequence breaking in this game is nuts. I got lost for hours without the Gravity Suit after thinking that this was the intended solution:



On the plus side, I now have every energy tank, three of the four reserve tanks, and learned how to wall jump. Scouring the map for the right tile to bomb isn't necessarily the most fun thing in the moment, but the amount of replayability that's being revealed to me the more I learn about this world is beautiful and exciting.

The only known unknown I've encountered so far is that morph ball hole above the wall jumping tutorial. I'm not supposed to jump, turn into a ball, and then get into that hole from this side, am I...?

@Secret_Tunnel

That's how I do it! Well, I might wall-jump first. There's another way to do it too that requires a later power-up.

Made it through Maridia last night! I assume this is the last proper chunk of the game, with its strange level design and ominous Mocktroids. I couldn't figure out how to escape from Draygon's grip, so ended up defeating it the easter egg way, which if I wasn't already aware of I likely would have discovered.

There are a couple of loose ends left—that Spring Ball hole in Brinstar and a big section of Maridia that I never got access to—but being that there are probably a dozen little hidden missile upgrades hiding all over the map anyway, I'll probably skip trying for 100% and just book it to Ridley's lair and then Tourian.

I can see why people call this game a masterpiece, and I wouldn't fault anyone for saying it's the best game ever. Its movement tech and open level design are unbelievable, and in conjunction with the atmospheric storytelling, it probably is the best game ever on some objective level.

Clear Time: 7:11
Item Collection: 68%

One minute faster than Jargon! But there's a whole other row of energy tanks? I wasn't even close to 100%!

Guillaume said:

Dropping multiple bombs is easy enough to do accidentally, and isn't the ice shield shown in the demo reel when you don't touch anything on the title screen?

Apparently this demo only unlocks after you've beaten the game. So much depth, so many secrets! I knew to save the animals—what a thrill!

What a game!

DEER FORCE

Secret_Tunnel said:

Clear Time: 7:11
Item Collection: 68%

One minute faster than Jargon!

Curse you.