Critics loved it in the 90s Designers adore it today
It crystallized the concepts and set the standard of an entire Genre [all] in one breath
There's much that can be and has been said about it its aesthetic its music its puzzles its tone
Everything pieces together to create this downright delectable atmosphere
It's isolating Lonely desolate atmosphere
You feel absolutely abandoned and entirely unaided on your journey forced to figure things out and fend for yourself
But are you?
Super Metroid is a beautiful experience, and if you haven't played it yet
[I] highly recommend you pick up a copy and give it a shot right now
Because I might give away a couple of the neat surprises that this game has some store for new players
Don't worry though because there's still plenty I won't touch on so with that out of the way let's get to it
this game does an
Insanely good job of making the player feel completely alone and isolated and it goes to great lengths [to] preserve this lonely
atmosphere
Which is no small feat?
Considering that throughout the entire
Game [the] designers are taking the player by the hand and gently guiding them through it what they do was so well and so
subtly that most players never even notice
So the game starts [out] with Sam is taking the player up to speed on the status quo
She's a Bounty hunter who came across a space pirate named [mother] [brain]
Mother [Brain] was an Orac dude save for the fact that she planned to use the Metroid's to take over the entire Galaxy of course
so samus figured
It'd be a pretty good idea to you know totally freaking kill mother brain with a crap ton of missiles
[stills] brains on not satisfied enough with her own bam titude samus text upon herself to visit the [McCoys] home planet and
completely exterminate every single one of those
Levitating life suckers except for one which she hands over to scientists on a space colony because not only is she a bangin Bounty hunter
But she's a philanthropist to boot so after saving the entire Galaxy or somesuch. She's on her way out
The door when suddenly that same space colony sends a distress signal her way she throws her spaceship in reverse and decides to check it
out and this is where the genius begins [it] throws the player in a vertical shaft where they have no idea what to expect as
They descend this means the players are likely going to take things a little slow and not just jump in and hope for the best
[the] slow and careful pace gives a player time to get their bearings which means that they'll notice this mini-map in the upper [Right-hand] corner
As it begins to fill itself out is they make their descent?
After reaching the [bottom] the player goes right and as they do so they have to jump over these tiny steps that the designers have
Placed in their way these steps are here to help the player get familiar with the jump physics which feel a little odd before you
Get used to them at this point the player is probably feeling a little cozy as they haven't seen an enemy yet
And they've [just] been having fun front looking around everywhere what?
So the designers throw a curve [ball] and have a player discover a bunch of dead bodies covered in blood
bodies that were alive in sciencing
Just fine not five minutes earlier during the opening so things [just] got real it looks like that little
Metroid might have escaped and violently murdered all those
Researchers no pressure you go through another four and it's the Metroid should it should it should shit, huh?
What is how do I how when is that?
I'm glad that's over
Self-destruct [sigue] you've got to be kidding me and so the first enemy is a boss fight followed by an intense escape scene even Mario
Has to start out with a tiny goomba this game does [not] mess around not only does this establish a boatload of tension
But it also teaches the player a bunch of lessons [1] never get too cozy
[we] will throw a boss at you [three] minutes into the game bug life get on our level [2] you can fire in [eight] directions
During the opening the game clearly shows samus pointing her gun
Diagonally so after seeing this the player might instinctively do the same when this boss first takes flight this boss
his name is really by the way say hi his attacks are specifically designed to teach the player how to effectively control samus during a
Fight how to dodge how to shoot how to dodge and shoot and this ties into the third lesson 3 had a platform after this?
Fight the escape segment makes sure [that] the player knows how to control samus properly as they can't continue until they are able to escape
The colony before it explodes this isn't an Incredibly hard challenge by any stretch
But whether the player does it on their first try or the fourth it creates tension and promotes mastery?
So we're [5] minutes into the game and the player already knows how to platform and fight with the best of them
they've also gotten a handle in the mini-map and the entire tone of the experience has been set all of this and there hasn't even
Been a single text box or speech bubble the player found it out on their own because a space colony is specifically designed for them
To learn these concepts this worthless way of showing the player what to do pretty much permeates the [entire] game
And it's handled
Incredibly well like here the player is exploring when they stumble upon a huge clump of enemies that take quite a few [shots] to kill
The next room is filled with a bunch [of] enemies whom the player can't kill at all
But if the player presses onward they find a new item called the plasma beam now
They could just bog the experience down by telling by your verb a and what the plasma beam does but that's not how samus rolls
Yah, they instead have the player learn by doing
After getting this new beam the player will naturally want to try it out by shooting at these once invincible enemies
And I discovered that yeah this beam could totally hurt them now sweet then to exit this area
They have to go back to the room with that weird clump of enemies the player shoots at the clump and look these enemies are
Way easier to kill because the plasma beam goes through and hits all of them at once as opposed to doing it one by [one]
like the old gun did here
There is no need to pin the player down with long-winded
Explanations [a] player is invariably going to be curious about a new item so the developers [just] had to create
The proper conditions that gave the player inorganic explanation of this beams properties
It keeps the player immersed in the experience and it demonstrates some pretty skilled craftsmanship on the designers part
They didn't need [to] [use] any [of] this
oh
No this video is similar enough as it the trolls don't need any more ammo and before you guys reel me in the comments I
Am aware that there are [these] small text boxes that pop up whenever samus gets a new item
But that's just tells the player which buttons to push in order to select the item as opposed to telling the player every enemy this
Item effects and every circumstances item can be used these worthless tutorials would be absolutely useless
if a player had no clue how to use the item in the first place
This game's heavy show don't tell mentality also helps to cement different things within the mind of the player take this for example
While players are exploring they might come across this room
Up, but what is that haven't seen anything like it judging by the map?
It looks like it's an entrance
But what the franz joseph hiding is that why can't I jump that high I'm worried about what's in there will be in you
After trying and failing to jump up there the player leaves this room behind and goes about their business
After a while they stumble into this room which oh no they can't get out no worries though
Because this ball contains the high jump boots now they can jump more than high enough to make their escape which begs the question
Were there any other areas I've seen that were too high oh this guy
I'm full going to find what's in you, so sure enough
They go back to the room and find that these new boots can jump high enough and the peasants rejoice
[it] seems like a very simple and straightforward scenario
But that's the genius of it the designers cemented this door in the players mind without using any text or dialogue
They made the door look bizarre and odd which is still the player with a sense of curiosity
And when the player just could not manage [to] reach it
They had to leave with a nagging feeling of dissatisfaction
Then later on when the player finds the boots the developers use the level design itself as a reminder
Hey, Remember the other time when you couldn't jump high enough
They were able to tease remind and pay the player off without using a single line of text on screen
it's
Amazing and most players don't even think about it because it's done with such subtlety the designers were able to gently nudge the player while
Still leaving more than enough room to let them feel empowered
This is game design, and it's an incredibly hard balance to achieve if the designer stop right here the game would be good
But they didn't they went further and made this game
Rate say You're at the end of the game you have hundreds of missiles every health upgrade and you just beat the boss the credits
Roll and
[75%] completion
What not only is this game great on a first playthrough?
but it's also just as good on subsequent playthroughs because the challenges and rewards the player for beating it faster and finding more items whether
you're just a casual a completionist or a speed runner this game has goodies for players of all sorts for example aside from all the
Hidden Power-ups of which there are many there are also a few secret skills that the designers put in this game
You don't have to know about any of them in order to beat the game however if you do find out about them
They can make subsequent playthroughs
Incredibly fun because you can use them to access certain areas and items sooner than you ordinarily could this opens up new layers of
Experimentation and exploration and keeps the game fresh for veteran players say it's my second playthrough, and I come across this room again now
I'm a seasoned Metroid vet and I know how to bomb up like a pro boom I could've gotten up here without the boots all
Along and I didn't even know it how awesome
is [that] most games would catch a sort of thing during play testing and do something to discourage it like throw an invisible [wall] [in']
But the designers [realize] that experimentation exploration are the lifeblood of this game, so they said oh, hey cool
Let's just design around it
So they went ahead and purposefully designed areas and items that we reach several different ways with some ways being much more obvious than others
and design this is called perceptible and hidden affordance so [first-time] players might do the obvious or
perceptible thing while veteran players might have fun and try to do the less obvious or hidden thing this makes things easy and accessible for
new players
but still leaves
Possibilities and discoveries open for vets and know none of this is by accident if you read any of the staff interviews or even play
the game it's pretty obvious that these guys knew exactly what they were doing and they went to great lengths to do it during the
Last few months of Development the team of 15 people who worked on this game had to slave away
Around the clock to get it out on time [often] [they] chose not to go home at all and instead
Opted to just sleep at the office. No joke these guys are like swindon. They're finishers seriously though
I've only just scraped the [surface] of the layers upon layers of genius that this game has to offer [this] game finds ways to communicate
Ideas and teach the player how to play through the level design itself while also leaving room for older players to experiment
It's just a fascinating study in game design and perhaps one of the most analyzed and beloved games from the 16-bit, Era
If you've never played it you owe it to yourself to pick it up and try it out because for a Sci-Fi game
There's definitely a lot [of] magic happening here
Hey guys Ronnie [Ronnie] edwards here your intro made me want to die
My buddies Matpat and Jarred the patient has just made an ultra our [goal] murder crossover radio
Beacon watch over here. Yeah, I already thought is way better than this crap
[I] was just playing metal gear solid 4 you sounded like [otacon]
Metal Gear solid 4 I love that movie
Dude, that joke was old like four years ago