Super Metroid: No, sir… I don’t like it.
September 4, 2007 by Tim · 5 Comments
This is going to be tough. I assigned myself the mission to complete Super Metroid before playing any other games, and I’m starting to regret it. I’m about halfway through the game, and I’m not having much fun. Things started out promising in the first couple hours, as I was making good progress and enjoying the combination of exploration and action. But now, further into it, it’s hitting on my biggest pet peeve in games — not telling me where the hell I’m supposed to go next.
I’m all for challenge in games, but I like the challenge to come from trying to figure out how to overcome an obstacle, not in how to find that obstacle in the first place. I feel like I have to re-explore the entire game every time I find a new powerup just to find that one hidden panel that’s now breakable, or that one door that I needed a stronger weapon to open. That’s not fun, that’s tedious. And all of this could be avoided if there was simply an indicator on the map screen to show when I had found all the exits in a room. Oh, that floor is bombable? Don’t show it as a white line on the map; that looks like every other floor that’s not bombable! Show it as a dotted line or something.
All this would be a little more acceptable if traversing the world was less frustrating, as well. The jumping controls are far too imprecise and have me yelling out “Oh, god damn it!” at virtually every precision platforming section. And don’t even get me started on wall jumping. That literally had me throwing my controller around the room today. Ugh.
I guess I can see the appeal of this game to truly hardcore gamers — the kinds of people who can sit and play a game for hours at a time, exploring every inch of a game’s world and patiently trying jumping sections over and over until they get it just right. But that’s just not me. Maybe it was when I was 12 or 13, but these days, I need my games to be a little less tedious. I had a headache when I stopped playing Super Metroid today. That’s not fun.
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Sorry to hear, but that’s how it goes sometimes. Some “great” games I don’t get, either. I never was able to get into Gran Turismo. It was too damn touchy for me. Some call it realistic handling, I call it boring and would much rather play an arcade-ish racer like Sega Rally which was much more forgiving. What helps with games like Super Metroid is having a handy guide nearby. For example, when I played I had the official SM strategy guide as well as the Nintendo Power strategy blow-out’s. When I got stuck (a few times) I snuck a peek at the guides and was able to go “AH HA.” Maybe it takes away from the purity a bit, but the key is to advance forward constantly and staying entertained with a game, instead of it becoming a chore.
The wall jump frustrated me a lot, too. Make sure you know the exact command, and it’s a bit easier to implement. Regular jumping didn’t bug me so much, though. Sometimes, a deep breath and stepping away from a game helps a ton. I’d actually recommend you remove the cartridge, play other games and come back to it later. When expectations are low, you’d be surprised how much a game can sneak up on ya. Whew this was longer than I anticipated. But there ya go, me ole 2 cents
You know, I agree with you completely — especially about continually advancing and staying entertained instead of letting a game become a chore. Now I’m referring to a guide when I reach a point where I don’t know what to do next. It’s a shame the game is designed in a way that requires me to do that, but it’s much more fun and I’m starting to enjoy myself more.
And you’re right, just turning the game off and walking away for a while always does wonders. I wrote the above post after I had spent way too long trying to get through a wall jumping section and was mainly blowing off steam. Once I went back to the game later, I figured out the timing and got through it on my second try.
At this point, I think I have every secondary weapon/power-up, so I shouldn’t hit too many more “sorry, you need another item to pass this point, but you’ll completely forget about it by the time you actually have that item” moments. At least I hope not!
Hi!
Sorry to hear about your experience. If you have a strategy guide by Nintendo covering the same game, please let me know. I am willing to make an offer.I am playing same game and have some problems. Thanks in advance.
I agree. I can’t believe people actually beat this game without some sort of guide… it’s just like shooting in the dark most of the time with Super Metroid. Somehow I still feel compelled to go back to it though, but I’ll have to bring my computer with me for help..bla..
I bought this game back in 1994 and managed to finish it on the console without a guide. I think the part that i got stuck on the most was around the maridia area, where you have to break a certain glass tunnel….. It took me about 1 or 2 weeks to complete the game.