I wish I had listened to general fan wisdom and played Super Metroid first. Having played the original Metroid, then Zero Mission, this is my third romp in the planet Zebes, and I’m finding the game extremely redundant.
The original was a little tedious, but I absolutely loved Zero Mission. I appreciated the slightly more linear gameplay. Paired with the manga, it also had a surprisingly good story that establishes Samus as a character. In context with the manga, the Wrecked Ship segment where you lose and then regain your suit is an amazing piece of gameplay-driven storytelling.
And then Metroid II was just as interesting. A completely new horror-esque locale plus a really creepy minimalist storyline that makes you really question the orders forced on you by the Galactic Federation.
So I was expecting a lot more out of Super Metroid. So far, I’d say I’m about halfway through the game. I beat Torizo, the Spore Spawn, Kraid, and the Crocomire. Aside from a really stellar cinematic opening, there hasn’t been any plot to speak of, just a nonlinear dungeon to explore without a clear path. I know that in development, Super was meant to just be a 16-bit remake of the NES Metroid game, but was later retooled to be its own game, so that might be why the story feels so barebones?
Everything feels like a rehash of the original. I looked up the wiki and all (Brinstar, Norfair, Crateria, Wrecked Ship, and Tourian) but one of the levels (Maridia) are lifted from the original game, and I’ve heard that one new level we get is considered the worst one. It feels like a remixed new game+ rather than a full-fledged game that stands on its own, and honestly, I’m bored. It kind of reminds me of what I didn’t like about Castlevania after a while, that game after game took place in the exact same mansion.
This might seem a little unfair. Super Metroid came out first, so it might be more accurate to say that Zero Mission is just an asset flip, that it’s the less original game – which is absolutely true, but I played Zero Mission first. And nonlinearity isn’t a bad thing at all and it’s great for this genre, but since I feel like I’ve done all this before, I don’t feel motivated to discover all of Super’s secrets. Does it get any better, or can I skip to Fusion?
TL;DR I played Zero Mission first and read its tie-in manga. Now Super Metroid feels boring because it “reuses” all but one of its areas on the planet Zebes, and it has a comparatively barebones story. Should I keep going or skip to Fusion?
I miss the days when there wasn’t as much plot. We didn’t need Samus to have a relationship to the Chozo. They were just cool, mysterious alien statues. They could attack her. Then in Zero they could only have a puzzle battle to help her.
I really prefer the gameplay of Super as well. There aren’t so many speed booster puzzles. No long cutscenes. It’s really good at letting me get into a flow state. The music is great, too. If you’re not good at the game, you can get enough items to make a lot more mistakes. If you’re super good at it, there’s tons of sequence breaks.
Another thing I did not like about Zero was the stealth parts. Also didn’t like the qte in Dread nor the railroading. And the 2 remake’s parry mechanic was also annoying and constantly interrupted flow.
I’m surprised you liked two so much an I found the Gameboy one extremely repetitive. AM2R made it amazing, though, so if you haven’t tried that, give it a go. Not sure where you can get it these days, though.
The plots have also sometimes been meme worthy bad. Other M comes to mind.
Another thing I really didn’t like with some of the plot driven ones was excuses to not have items that were based on Samus being somebody’s subordinate. Just let me explore. Don’t give me a manager.
But if Super isn’t doing it for you, that’s valid. I hope you get more enjoyment than frustration from the series.
I totally agree. When I played fusion I was confused why Metroid had story and stuff. I just wanted about super Metroid with exploring and doing stuff. That said i remember that i enjoyed the game but nothing I wanted to revisit again. I played a lot of super Metroid back in the day and I even tried to complete the game as fast as I could making a save and did it in under 4 hours. I was so proud and this was back in the 90s before I knew anything about speedrunning.
I came of age during the PS3 era and the Indie Game Revolution, where people were debating on whether video games could be art, so I personally can’t help but prefer when games have storytelling and ludonarrative and lore.
But for many people, Super Metroid’s lack of a plot will be a draw and not a drawback, and that’s cool. I’d actually really love a new nonlinear Metroid game in the vein of Super someday, and perhaps this time it wouldn’t take place on the planet Zebes.
I have AM2R archived on my computer. I’m very excited to try it!