Super Metroid

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Super Metroid
Developer(s)	Nintendo R&D1
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Gunpei Yokoi (general manager) Yoshio Sakamoto (director) Makoto Kanoh (producer)
Release date(s)	JPN March 19, 1994  USA April 18, 1994  Europe July 28, 1994
Genre(s)	Action adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Platform(s)	Super NES, Virtual Console
Media	24-megabit cartridge

Super Metroid (スーパーメトロイド, Sūpā Metoroido^?) is an adventure video game developed by Nintendo R&D1 and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console. Super Metroid is the third installment in the Metroid series of video games. With its 24-megabit cartridge size, it was the largest game available for the console at the time of its release.^[1]

Super Metroid is a 2-D platform video game with action and adventure elements. Game progression revolves around sequentially gathering power-ups that allow Samus (the main character) to overcome obstacles in order to access new parts of the world. Like most 2-D Metroid games, the world has a non-linear design and features many hidden areas, making exploration a central concept of the game.[1]

[edit] Plot and setting

Super Metroid title screen depicts the Ceres Space Colony after a series of attacks.

After managing to extinguish the Metroids on SR-388 (the planet from which the species originated) in Metroid II: Return of Samus, bounty hunter Samus Aran brings the last surviving Metroid larva to the Ceres Space Colony. There, scientists conduct research on the larva and reach the conclusion that the powers of Metroids could be harnessed for the benefit of mankind. Confident that things are in order, Samus leaves Ceres in search of a new bounty to hunt. However, shortly after leaving, Samus picks up a distress call from Ceres and returns to investigate.

As Samus explores the space colony, she is attacked by the dragon-like Ridley. Samus and Ridley engage in battle, but Ridley soon flies off with the larva in his talons. At the same time, a countdown sets off for the self-destruction of the space colony and Samus has 60 seconds to return to her gunship.

The entrance to Tourian, guarded by the statues of the four bosses.

Samus then trails Ridley to the planet Zebes, the home of the Space Pirates. The base was destroyed in the first Metroid game but has now been rebuilt. She sets out to locate the Metroid larva and prevent the Pirates from gaining use of its powers. As in the previous games, Samus is forced to delve into the planet through its complex cavities in order to hunt down the Space Pirates.

In order to complete her quest, Samus must destroy the four guardians of Zebes: Kraid, the giant lizard whose base makes up a large part of Brinstar; Phantoon, a spectral entity that controls the desolate -a.k.a. a giant ghost-Wrecked Ship and reroutes its power supply to the Mother Brain; Draygon, a crustacean monstrosity that occupies a submerged pirate lab in Maridia; and finally Ridley himself, who controls Norfair.

In Tourian, Samus discovers that the Pirates' Metroid breeding program has been successful.

After defeating the four bosses, Samus battles her way through Tourian, encountering newly bred Metroids. After passing through several corridors filled with crumbling enemies, she encounters a Metroid of incredible size. Before she can move to escape, the giant creature drains her of most of her life force. However, the creature seems to recognize Samus just in time; it appears that this huge Metroid is the larva taken from SR388. According to the Nintendo Power Player's Guide, the huge Metroid is aptly named "Super Metroid". This super metroid is the same metroid that Samus had found and delievered to the space colony. as in the beginning of the game, "The metroid followed me like I was its mother"

After the Metroid departs, Samus continues on, recovers her energy, and confronts the Mother Brain. After Samus shatters the creature's stasis tank and inflicts enough damage, Mother Brain attaches itself to a giant mechanical body and the battle begins again. During the battle, Mother Brain uses a massive cone-shaped burst of energy from its eyes, nearly destroying Samus. Knocked to her knees, Mother Brain begins charging to fire at her one final time. Before the final blow can be inflicted, however, the Metroid Hatchling appears,

Samus fighting the first form of Mother Brain.

draining Mother Brain of its energy until it appears dead. It then attaches itself to Samus and begins restoring her. However, Mother Brain wasn't fully dead; it revives and repeatedly fires upon the hatchling, killing it, leaving its remains to float down over Samus. Pulsating with light, Samus now finds that she possesses the "Hyper Beam", a powerful weapon that has replaced all her other beams. With it she easily destroys the Mother Brain, who falls to the floor and turns to dust.

However, Mother Brain's destruction activates a time bomb. Samus leaves Tourian and escapes through the emergency evacuation shaft of the original base. Taking off in her gunship, she sees the planet behind her crack like an eggshell and explode in a brilliant flash of light.

[edit] Gameplay

See also: Items in the Metroid series

[edit] Weapons

From the inventory screen, the player can enable or disable weapons and other abilities that Samus has gathered by collecting power-ups.

The use of weapons in Super Metroid is twofold: to defeat enemies and to overcome obstacles found in the environment.

Beams 

Samus's arm cannon, like the rest of her Power Suit, is highly modular and upgradable. Her starting weapon is the Power Beam, which is relatively weak and therefore useless against some enemies and most bosses. There are five upgrades, however, each of which increases the abilities of the Power Beam by combining with the previous upgrades: The Charge Beam allows Samus to focus energy into more powerful shots; the Ice Beam adds the ability to freeze enemies, making them temporarily harmless and allowing Samus to stand on them; the Wave Beam allows shots to pass through walls and other solid objects; and the Spazer makes Samus's shots wider and more powerful. The Plasma Beam upgrade, which greatly enhances beam power and allows shots to pass through multiple enemies, is not compatible with the Spazer and is thus an exception. During the final sequence of the game, Samus can obtain the strongest beam of all, known as the Hyper Beam. This weapon replaces all of her other beams and can destroy some objects that are otherwise impervious to her firepower. All of Samus's beams have unlimited ammo.

Ballistics 

Samus's arm cannon can also fire ballistic weapons, which have limited ammo capacity that is increased through the collection of tank upgrades. Samus can find both Missiles and Super Missiles. Missiles are used to open locked doors and to defeat enemies that are invulnerable to regular beams. Super missiles are similar to ordinary missiles but carry three times the power against most enemies, but five against Metroids. They are capable of opening doors that missiles cannot, and there are many enemies that cannot be destroyed with any other weapon in Samus's arsenal. The impact of a Super Missile can dislodge enemies crawling on walls and ceilings.

Bombs 

When in Morph Ball mode, Samus's Power Suit can deploy two types of bombs. Ordinary Bombs are primarily used for destroying obstacles that block Samus's path. These bombs can be used to defeat enemies, but are usually not very effective for that purpose. Power bombs destroy all regular enemies and bomb-destructible obstacles on the screen. There are some blocks and doors that can only be cleared with Power Bombs.

Other 

The Screw Attack is a jumping technique that transforms Samus's jump into a whirling sawblade of energy. Virtually any enemy she contacts while in this state will be instantly destroyed.

[edit] Areas

Ceres Space Colony

Ceres Space Colony is where the game begins and is the scene of the discovery that the Metroids could be used for the good of mankind.

Crateria

The surface area of planet Zebes. The surface of the planet is plagued by acid rain, thus the living creatures are mostly found below surface level.

Brinstar

The jungle area of Zebes, teeming with life. The area of Brinstar explored in this game is mostly different from that of the original mission. Kraid's hideout is located in this area.

Norfair

It lies deep below the surface and thus requires that its visitors carry sufficient protection from the incredible heat. Ancient Chozo ruins can be found in the deepest parts of lower Norfair, where the space-dragon Ridley rules supreme.

In the aquatic world of Maridia, Samus encounters many strange creatures.

The Wrecked Ship

A long time ago, astronauts belonging to an ancient civilization crashed on Zebes. This is what remains of their space ship. The ghost Phantoon has shut down the Wrecked Ship, making most of it inaccessible at first. Due to the location of the Space Pirate Mother Ship in Metroid: Zero Mission, fans have speculated that it is intended to be the Wrecked Ship depicted in Super Metroid. However, Zero Mission director Yoshio Sakamoto has dismissed this possibility, saying that the two ships are separate - during Zero Mission the player passes through an area that appears to be outside the Super Metroid wrecked ship in Crateria, whilst the Mother Ship has not yet landed^[2].

Maridia

The water world of Zebes. Most of Maridia occupies territory that was once part of Brinstar. The area contains an aquatic Pirate laboratory where they have bred a mostly unsuccessful Metroid clone called the Mochtroid. The giant crustacean creature Draygon is the guardian of this area.

Tourian

The control center of the Zebesian Space Pirates and the Mother Brain. The location has shifted to a more secure area since the first Metroid game, when Samus wreaked havoc on the Space Pirates' plans.

[edit] Enemies

[edit] Bosses

The bosses are listed in the order in which Samus usually encounters them.

Kraid

Kraid, who was part of the miniboss duo of the original NES game (the other one being Ridley), makes its comeback. He is considerably larger than before, taking up the space of two vertical screens. Although many players speculated that Kraid somehow grew since the first game, Metroid: Zero Mission has since retconned Kraid to have a consistent size between games. Outside Kraid's chamber, a seemingly fresh human corpse is found, of whom the identity has never been revealed.

Phantoon

Phantoon is a ghostly flying skull who taps into Mother Brain's brainwaves and feeds off the Wrecked Ship's energy supply. Unlike most bosses which are fought at or near the end of a level, Phantoon must be defeated before the rest of the Wrecked Ship area may be explored.

Draygon

Draygon is an enormous sea creature that resides in Maridia. Her hard armor-like shell provides her with a great amount of defensive strength.

Mother Brain employs its most deadly weapon.

Ridley

Ridley, the dragon whom Samus fought in the original NES game, makes his comeback as one of the hardest bosses in the game. He is responsible for the bloodbath at Ceres Space Station and the kidnapping of the Metroid larva.

Mother Brain

The final boss, this entity is a disembodied brain in a tank protected by deadly Rinka laser rings, automated defense cannons, and self-regenerating organic life support conduits known as Zeebetites. Once damaged sufficiently, the Mother Brain attaches itself to a powerful cybernetic body which allows it to attack intruders directly.

[edit] Mini-bosses

Torizo

The Torizo appears to be a simple Chozo statue which possesses the Bomb item, until Samus takes the item from it. A Chozo-like creature then bursts out of the statue and attacks using its claws, energy waves, and fake item spheres.

Spore Spawn

The Spore Spawn is a native inhabitant of the subterranean jungles of Brinstar. It consists of an entire room of plant biomatter connected to a large, head-like pod which can swing about the room. Spores are constantly released from the ceiling of the room during the battle.

Crocomire

This denizen of Norfair is a red, thick-skinned beast with eight eyes which can tolerate even the hottest temperatures. It is massive, and its primary mode of attack consists of rushing toward Samus in an attempt to push her back into a spiked wall. Just prior to its death, it jumps at Samus for one final attack as a skeleton, but the attempt is in vain as it simply collapses into a pile of bones.

Botwoon

Botwoon is a serpent-like creature with a crocodile's head. Its main attack simply consists of rushing between the various burrows in its chamber in wide arcs. It will occasionally reveal only its head from one of the burrows and will shoot energy beams at Samus.

Golden Torizo

A much more difficult incarnation of the Torizo fought in lower Norfair. It can only be harmed by charged shots; it will dodge missiles (showing a very flat profile as it does), and catch super missiles to throw back at the player.

[edit] Friends

Not all inhabitants of Zebes are hostile towards Samus; many do not actively attack her and some are harmless altogether. In Brinstar, Samus may also encounter the following helpful creatures:

Etecoons

A wall-jumping trio of small, four-limbed creatures that demonstrate the difficult wall-jumping technique with considerable ease. They are encountered in an area that can only be exited through the use of wall-jumping, bomb-jumping, or space jumping. These creatures are green in Super Metroid, but appear blue in Metroid Fusion and other artwork.

Dachora

A green alien that resembles an ostrich. The Dachora demonstrates the Shinespark technique, which is required to escape from the area in which it is found.

After defeating Mother Brain and starting the self-destruction of Zebes, the player may choose to save these friendly creatures. A flashing metal door appears in Crateria, the one that originally led the player to acquire the bomb ability. In this chamber the creatures appear to be trapped. Samus can destroy the opposite facing wall so that the aliens may escape. This causes a slight change in the ending cutscene, in which a flash of light can be seen escaping from the planet. This ending is canon, as the creatures show up alive and well in Metroid Fusion.

[edit] Reception

Super Metroid remains one of the most popular and critically praised games for the Super NES. It has sold 1.4 million units (780.000 in Japan and 460.000 in North America), becoming a Player's Choice. It frequently appears in "best games of all time" lists; Electronic Gaming Monthly has named Super Metroid the best game of all time,^[3] and IGN ranked it the third best game of all time in its 2003 "top 100" list, and tenth best game of all time in its most recent 2005 list, with the motivation:

"Hailed as one of the best 2D adventures ever, Nintendo's sci-fi epic still provides one of the most thought out and intriguing gameplay experiences around. Ranging from extensive platform challenges to gigantic boss battles to a comprehensive power-up system, Super Metroid has attained a divine place in the hearts of longtime gamers. Certainly, it stands as something players and developers can idolize for years to come." [2]

Swedish game publication Super PLAY ranked Super Metroid number 6 in the "top 100" list its March 2003 issue, commenting on its atmosphere (the following is a translation from Swedish):

The graphics and sound form a wonderful symbiosis, creating an almost tangible atmosphere. Concerning the looks, there is no individual part that sticks out; the game maintains an even, stable, and thoroughly crafted graphical style. The music mostly consists of reserved, dark and mystical melodies that lurk in the background. After a while they consume you, fully immersing you in the Samus role. And the role is indeed an exciting one to play. The pure joy of exploration is on top and constantly makes you thirst for more.

In a Metroid feature in its December 2002 issue, Super PLAY also noted the game's care to detail:

Super Metroid remains one of the most well made adventures ever produced. Every detail, from the echoing ice shafts to the statue that shifts color to illustrate which of the game's four bosses have been defeated, is indicative of an almost manic dedication among the developers at R&D1.

In the July 2006 issue of GamePro, Super Metroid was listed as one of the "15 Retro Games For The Nintendo Wii You Must Play".

Many Metroid fans consider this game as the best out of all Metroid series.

[edit] Pushing the limits

In recent times, players have pushed the game to its limits. Sequence breaking is so popular that it has become a staple of the Metroid saga, but the large map and non-linear nature of Super Metroid started the trend. By using advanced techniques such as wall jumping, bomb jumping, and shinesparking, players can reach certain parts of the map before having the items normally required to do so. This concept is referred to as sequence breaking because it defies the developers' intended path of natural progression through the game. For example, many players skip the Grappling Beam because areas that normally require it can be passed with skillful trick jumping, and after the Space Jump is acquired the Grappling Beam becomes all but obsolete; however the grappling beam is still required for getting the spring ball because of the way the path to the item is designed.

Sequence breaking has also allowed players to reach the end with extremely fast times. Players have been able to finish 100% of the game in under one hour, or in less than 40 minutes without 100%. Other players attempt to complete the game with as little or as much as possible within certain boundaries. Some players have been able to complete the game with only 14%, and others are able to obtain up to 81% of items without fighting any boss or mini-boss beyond the Torizo fight for bombs. Additionally, a glitch called the Space-Time Beam has been found that resets most of the game to its initial state, allowing players to play through the game again with all of their current weapons except missiles.

Speed Demos Archive contains videos of world record speedruns for Super Metroid in three categories. The fastest completion time with 100% items is 55 minutes, set by "Red Scarlet." The fastest completion time without collecting all items ("any%") is 32 minutes by Satoru Suzuki, recorded in a single segment.^[4] The best any% time recognized by Twin Galaxies, whose rules disallow exploitation of many undocumented features in the game's physics, is 42 minutes, set by Brian Hodge.^[5] The tool-assisted records are 39 minutes for a 100% completion, and 27 minutes for any%.

[edit] See also

• Gunpei Yokoi
• Relics of the Chozo

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Super Metroid

• Super Metroid at Nintendo.com
• Super Metroid entry at GameFAQs
• Super Metroid at The Metroid Database
• Super Metroid speed runs at archive.org
• Super Metroid at MobyGames