Before I go into the number one reason, I wanted to express some gratitude. Writing this Metroid Blog has been a blast. I love Super Metroid and flipping out about it.
So, here's a picture of a Bear riding a T-Rex.
Super Metroid is the greatest game every made. Here's reason number one...
#1 Samus Aran is Super Freaking Awesome
I made another list. Let's go through it with pictures instead of words:
1 - Samus walks around with an armada of weapons
Who whould you would want 174 missiles? Samus. Who really needs to combine beam weapons into something more awesome? Samus.
Well does she really need to be able to just jump into enemies and kill them?
Yes. Because it's the screw attack and she's a boss.
...which happens to be turning into a very small ball.
Traverse small corridors
Avoid attacks
use Bombs and things.
The morphing ball makes no sense and is awesome. Don't you want to fight super huge monster things? Yes, but first you have to crawl through the smallest of spaces.
I always felt like the morphing ball was another snub at Mario. "Oh your guy grows bigger? Well screw that we're going to small town."
Yep. Morphing ball.
3 - Samus gives no shits
So the lava. They make you walk through it to get a missile. That's not hard. You just have to take some damage. That's like a sign saying 'no weaklings allowed.'
As a player, I'll just press forward on your control and go and grab it. It's funny to me how I'll panic a little each time.
For the boosting of spikes. Just press back as you hit something and you'll do this boost jump thing. Why give Samus something so obtuse and complicated? Probably to be more awesome.
Yep.
5 - Samus gets paid to blow stuff up
Wtf is this thing?
Where did that come from?
How about this?
Super Metroid sets you up to feel like a badass. Those examples above where designed so you go either "I'm awesome." or "OH NO!" *blam blam blam* "I'm awesome."
I got this idea from Sequelitis #2. I'm gonna steal Eograptors ideas more blatantly, and use Megaman: X as an example.
In the Megaman: X intro, you fight Vile. Vile poops on you.
The first time I did that fight - I felt helpless. It felt something like "wtf is this cheap dude. ow ow shit ow frik. ow ow."
Right before you die, Zero shows up, and shoots Vile's arm off. That's the moment you realize Zero is a badass. But you're supposed to feel that way - You just got messed up badly. When Zero beats up your bully of course it's gonna seem like a badass.
This idea of setting you up to feel awesome. That's the number one reason Super Metroid is the best game ever. It evokes awesome. Here's some more examples:
1 - You fight this sweaty monster thing. It keeps pushing forward and doesn't seem to die. You're probably lose the first time. So the second time you make it eat missiles and die in the lava.
You're gonna feel awesome after beating a dude who just won't die.
3 - You fight your way through the entire flippin game, beat up the Metroids, take down final boss, only to lose to stupid transformation. But then (!) a Super Metroid swoops in, saves your behind, and gives you the ultimate weapon.
Hyper Beam |
Well shoot. That entire closing sequence of the game rocks. You feel powerful and scared at the same time. Then you win and feel so awesome.
Dude, awesome list, really, i couldnt agree more with number one, one of the best things about videogames is the feel of awesomeness and the feel of being in control and super metroid managed to do that like no other game has done before. Super metroid is a great game because it treats the player in a respectful way, there is alot of care and love put in the that game, the gameplay is exquisite and the level design is well tought out, the game feels very armonic and complete.
ReplyDeleteMan i have a lot of memories about this game, a used to play super metroid with my father until very late at night, and for us it was an epic journey, because we didnt know where to go or where to get the powerups, and for us maridia was THE level, we got stuck in that part of the game for days :P, so when we managed to get to the maridia boss, electrocute it and then getting the gravity jump, man it was so rewarding ^^.
Thanks alot for the read nick, really appreciate it, consider me a fan of you. God bless. Anon
Dude, awesome list, really, i couldnt agree more with number one, one of the best things about videogames is the feel of awesomeness and the feel of being in control and super metroid managed to do that like no other game has done before. Super metroid is a great game because it treats the player in a respectful way, there is alot of care and love put in the that game, the gameplay is exquisite and the level design is well tought out, the game feels very armonic and complete.
ReplyDeleteMan i have a lot of memories about this game, a used to play super metroid with my father until very late at night, and for us it was an epic journey, because we didnt know where to go or where to get the powerups, and for us maridia was THE level, we got stuck in that part of the game for days :P, so when we managed to get to the maridia boss, electrocute it and then getting the gravity jump, man it was so rewarding ^^.
Thanks alot for the read nick, really appreciate it, consider me a fan of you. God bless. Anon
excelent!!!
ReplyDeleteThis entire blog from reason 20 to 1 is just the thing that we need to get the message out that super metroid is incomparable to every game up to this point. I kinda wished you made an extended blog about the music, atmosphere, and artstyle in the game as those wernt mentioned in your blog whatsoever... All the reasons focused more on game designers philosophy rather than other areas such as sound design. That being said, this blog is nothing short of an intellectual dissertation of one of the greatest video games ever created...
ReplyDeleteThat was a wonderful analysis of the game. If you're interested, a while ago I came across a review of Super Metroid that analysed it in similar depth, and looked at some other aspects of the game. Here it is http://www.actionbutton.net/?p=591
ReplyDelete@Anonymous -Feb 28
ReplyDeleteWoah that article from actionbutton is awesome! I've only glanced at it so far. But yes!