Super Metroid

Review

by Scott Alan Marriott

If you were to name the three most memorable games on the NES, chances are they would be The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Metroid. The common link between all three is that they transported you to another world: for a time it seemed like you lived in Hyrule, the Mushroom Kingdom or on Planet Zebes. Unfortunately, Metroid never saw a sequel on the 8-bit wonder, although Samus Aran, the female star of the game, would return in 1991 on the Game Boy. Now seven years after the original, Samus once again finds herself drawn to Zebes.

Super Metroid is very much a game of exploration and discovery. Sure there is a healthy amount of intense blasting, but the heart of the series has always been about taking time to search through every nook and cranny of a mysterious underground world. And you'll need to do just that in order to progress through the six enormous, interconnected areas: Crateria, Brinstar, Maridia, Norfair and Tourian.

You see, while Samus wears yellow and red metallic armor to protect her from untold dangers, she still needs to outfit herself in five areas: energy supply, beam, suit, boots and miscellaneous special attacks. These are located somewhere within the deep recesses of the planet.

These items are necessary in order to confront the bosses in each area (some of which are two screens high!), open portals to access new locations, and reach otherwise unattainable areas. A new feature designed to help you is automapping. This great addition takes some of the guesswork out of navigating the areas. Of course, you lose that sense of mystery of not knowing exactly where to go, but it's not much fun getting stuck!

A few of the items you need to look for are energy tanks to add life to your health meter (you can also replenish your energy at the site of your ship), different weapons such as the freeze beam (you can turn enemies into ice and then climb on top of them to reach new areas), high jump boots and a morphing ball attack. You can see exactly how much equipment you have (or change weapons) by switching to a status screen showing a schematic drawing of Samus' suit and all the wondrous toys she has.

What makes this game work is the tight control, varied play mechanics (you can even use an electrical "rope" to swing over chasms), and sense of discovery. There are lots of secrets lurking in the depths of Zebes and the huge boss characters will have you scrambling to find the best weapon combination to use against them.

If there is but one drawback to the game, it's that the game isn't long enough (around 14-18 hours). Yet games like this don't come around that often, so you need to savor every morsel. Plus, there are different endings to get if you can finish it within a certain time frame. Like other games by Nintendo, Super Metroid is oozing with quality and first-rate gameplay. Here's hoping it doesn't take as long for the next in the series.