November Retro Community Playthrough - Super Metroid

[singlebanana]

Ah yes! I think from your description that you are at Kraid. He has quite the look makeover from the first game. You strategy sounds good. You should be able to backtrack easily later on and get the charge cannon, but I think you should acquire that sooner than later. On certain bosses, the charge cannon is one of the few items that inflicts damage when you run out of missiles/bombs.

[MaterialHandlerMike]

Big lizard/slug boss.....Kraid?

[JerryGreenwood]

a big part of the reason I shied away from SM for so long is because I had always heard about how difficult it was.

Well, did you hear about how awesome it was? Since when is a gamer like you scared of a little difficulty? 

+1 for everything else you said.

The atmosphere of SM is inteded to be desolate.  No communication, no friends, no tips or clues......Oddly enough the bosses arent really difficult at all, even with moderate supplies.  The exploration is whats killer.

Having said that though, I was very frustrated with the lack of direction the first time I ran through this game 20 years ago.  You feel like a rat in a maze.  But there's nothing more satisfying than figuring out a puzzle on your own.

It's a great atmosphere. That atmosphere relates to a music comment I had about this game. I've always heard people love the music in the game. For years, I thought it was awful.

"It's not music, it's just dark, ominous tones. The masterbating dog killer is on the loose again. He'll kill the owners but at least the dogs are happy." - extra credit to the first person to name that movie.

Anyway, while I prefer the music in the original Metroid (amazing), I finally understand what they were going for. They weren't trying to make good, catchy songs. They were aiming for that desolate, lonely, scary feel. Even the songs they did write feature a lot of organs and phantom effects so it adds to the entire theme.

I would never call this game difficult, but I do think there is a solid challenge in this game regarding combat. As a kid, I died against every boss in the game.

Spoiler (hover to show)

Phantoon in the Wrecked Ship probably killed me 15 times before I beat him.

Even in this playthrough, I'll run around and not be careful and next thing I know I have 20% of my health left.

I never had much trouble in figuring out what I had to do except for

Spoiler (hover to show)

super bombing the glass tube that passes through Miridia.

That literally took me weeks.

And I agree 100% about the satisfaction of solving a puzzle or defeating a difficult boss on your own. It's a challenge. Remember the GamePro ratings they had for games? They included "challenge" in their categories and if the game was hard, it got a 5/5 and it had that cartoon face screaming at you. Back in the day, challenge was a GOOD thing.

My current save is in Maridia, and I've reached the big lizard/slug boss that spits out stuff at you.  I haven't beat  him yet, but I know now what I need to do, I think:

Spoiler (hover to show)

Shoot him in the eye to prompt him to open his mouth so I can pelt his mouth with missiles?

Earlier in the game, I found the charge cannon, but I must have died before continuing onto the next area, so I don't have that weapon at this point.  Should I restart so I can go back and get it.

If you've saved in Maridia, then you've defeated Kraid a few hours ago. You can and should go back for the Charge Beam. Why not?

If it's the boss I'm thinking of, your theory is wrong.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Your spoilers echo my first playthrough as well. Isn't it hilarious how, based on generation, people tend to get stuck on the same gaming mechanics of people in their generation? Kids and people new to Super Metroid these days are expecting Samus to crawl and don't understand why they can't duck or crawl, while we complain about not having context for game mechanics and challenge.

[singlebanana]

Well, did you hear about how awesome it was? Since when is a gamer like you scared of a little difficulty?

I think that my experience with the first Metroid game was one of high frustration. Sure, I ended up beating the game as a kid, but it isn't a game that I would ever be excited about picking up again. I had always heard about how difficult Super Metroid was and even that it was more difficult than the original (which I know now is not true at all). I think that quite a bit of my frustration with the original as a kid really colored my expectations for SM, and that's a shame. Oh well, I'm really happy to have played this game now and unlike it's predecessor, it's a game I would willingly go back and play again.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Try Metroid II. The "difficulty" on that one is somewhat earned, and it's in the vein of the first one, but it has more emphasis on exploration.

[JerryGreenwood]

@Shadow - Very true. I guess it'll always be like that. Kids that grew up with PS2 will be saying "What happened to the good ol' days when you actually had to FIND a save point? Now I can just scan my retina with my PS5 controller and I get a save point customized to my DNA . Kids today don't understand the difficulties we had."

I've heard good things about Metroid II. Unfortunately, I've only played it for a few minutes on the "green screen" Game Boy.

[Shadow Kisuragi]

Metroid II is...odd, but it's one of my favorite Game Boy games. I hated it the first time I played through it, but after learning the mechanics and finally understanding the point of the game, it grew on me, much like the original Metroid did after I learned what I was supposed to do.

[monstrtomstr]

Just joined the site, missed out on Metroid, so I think I'll start myself out here. I'm in 

[singlebanana]

Just joined the site, missed out on Metroid, so I think I'll start myself out here. I'm in 

Awesome! We will add you to the list. Welcome to the site and nice Gimmick! avatar.

[MetalFRO]

Big lizard/slug boss.....Kraid?

I assume so.

Well, did you hear about how awesome it was? Since when is a gamer like you scared of a little difficulty?

I think that my experience with the first Metroid game was one of high frustration. Sure, I ended up beating the game as a kid, but it isn't a game that I would ever be excited about picking up again. I had always heard about how difficult Super Metroid was and even that it was more difficult than the original (which I know now is not true at all). I think that quite a bit of my frustration with the original as a kid really colored my expectations for SM, and that's a shame. Oh well, I'm really happy to have played this game now and unlike it's predecessor, it's a game I would willingly go back and play again.

I echo this somewhat.  I haven't beat the first Metroid (not even CLOSE), but plan to play through it and beat it eventually.  The first game, despite some cool attributes, didn't "grab" me as a kid.  I was much more of a shmup, platformer, and action game kind of guy.  The more relaxed pace of that game was fine, but the sparse nature of it was not what I went into console gaming for.  If I wanted something slower paced, I pulled out King's Quest or Starflight on the family home PC

[monstrtomstr]

Defeated Kraid!  

[singlebanana]

Defeated Kraid! 

Congrats! That's one of the more aggravating fights IMO.

[RetroRage]

@MetalFRO You'll need the Charge Beam.  Go back and get that sucker.

@Jerry The music of Green Brinstar, Red (Lower) Brinstar and later on in Lower Norfair are three of my favorite pieces of video game music period.  The Red Brinstar theme is my morning wake up alarm I love it so much.




so good.

[JerryGreenwood]

Big lizard/slug boss.....Kraid?

I assume so.

If you've saved in Maridia, then you've defeated Kraid a few hours ago. You can and should go back for the Charge Beam. Why not?

If it's the boss I'm thinking of, your theory is wrong.