Thanks to 2 Dudes Gaming for trying to get my old cartridge working. Use "games4geeks" on their eBay store for 15% off! www.ebay.com/str/2dudesgaming One more week until Dread! Thanks for the response so far this season! I'm always both honored and impressed that these comments sections are full of such well-written, insightful, and surprisingly lengthy comments, and I've highlighted a few of my favorites here. It just goes against every stereotype of UA-cam comments, y'know? Thanks you! twitter.com/TGCritique/status/1735954319545889117?s=20
As a kid growing up with both the NES and the SNES That first time you play super Metroid and you're going down the corridor and you walk into the room where you see the chamber that housed mother Brain the broken glass the just everything about it is reminiscent and you are instantly teleported back to when you were a little kid fighting mother brain with missiles and then jumping up that corridor It really did something back then It was eerie.
@@xXLiLJokerXx He's covering games he already talked about in preparation for the long Dread review. Think of these as recaps, director's commentaries, director's cuts, and bonus features wrapped into one.
There actually is one. Look up FSMR. Never saw the light of day though. It’s like Metroid SR388. It’s a relic lost to time from the early age of the internet when you could convince people things like a direct sequel to partners in time was in the works
FSMR(First Super Metriod Remake) was in development but I believe development stopped indefinitely back in 2022 theirs still hope for it I believe but chances of it getting released are still low
I think Super Metroid is a game that is etched into my soul at this point. I was obsessed with it as a kid. My younger brother once started playing SM and got stuck, so asked for my help. I hadn't played it at that point in maybe a decade, but once he handed me the controller I wall jumped and moved around on screen like a fish to water. He just looked at me and was in awe. A nice memory associated with one of my favorite games.
Ah, a callback to your romhack covering days! Still surreal that we used to live in a world where a Geek Critique on Sonic 3 would be 15 minutes long and end off with some hack recommendations. So excited for the hour long Dread Critique!
Me and my mum played through metroid when the NES was it. I cannot describe how exciting revisiting the opening of that gane in super metroid was when it dropped. Was genuinely my first experience of nostalgia, at the tender age of 9 😂
I've always seen the floaty jumps as being more casual friendly. Single Wall Jumps on Super are pretty easy once you get used to them, whereas it's pretty difficult in Zero Mission.
Agreed - I've been trying to figure out what I like about Super's controls. They might not feel as satisfying and snappy from the start, but they're easier to get into properly
On the one hand, I think the heavier physics kind of ruin the atmosphere a little bit, the original tries so hard to build up suspense in several sections that I don't think moving so fast suits that design. And as for the controls, I may have an opinion close to yours regarding oldschool "yank", to me smashing that select and X buttons to constantly cycle through your inventory is part of the skills (and part of the fun) of playing the game. On the other hand, I am really an advocate for people trying romhacks of retro games to suit their needs. So many old games have brilliant design and just need slight tweeks to feel like modern indie games. So I am glad you are trying and promoting some. Maybe I will try the redux version at some point.
I guess I'm in the minority because I actually like the floatier controls in this game. The physics of Super Metroid are my favorite out of all the 2D games.
@@Desertskunk same here. SM isnt meant to be fast paced. its atmospheric, slow exploration that slowly winds up the action. this game would be extremely difficult the remake and get right.... hence it never being done. best game ever made IMHO
I'm not exactly against the changes mind you, as I can't imagine modern metroid having anything but the snappy controls it's now known for. However, I also don't feel like, as much as I love the modern metroids, that super was a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling, isolation and emotional impact without a single word being said.@@mrcoolr429
I'm in complete agreement. Super Metroid's physics require meeting a higher skill floor in order to control Samus well, but the skill ceiling is also much higher than any of the other games. Once you master it, you'll have more freedom than you could ever find in a different Metroid game.
I agree, if Samus moved as fast as she did in Dread or Zero Mission, I feel like it would be harder to soak in the atmosphere that the game so expertly builds. The floatiness of jumps gives the planet a more alien feeling because it's literally like being in space, and the slowness of movement allows the details of the pixel art to sink in better and makes it easier for small things to catch your attention.
Honestly, I still prefer the floaty jumps and slower acceleration, needing to earn the ability to go fast always felt better than just being lightning quick from the get go, It feels weightless and just less fun
When the rest of the game is designed around the original controls, modders have to consider tweaking the entire game when doing things like this. For me the minor "clunk" added to the immersion, I've always seen it as a sci-fi horror game and you are basically in an astronaut suit after all. With experience the controls are pretty much perfect.
You've mentioned in videos past that it can be hard to go back to old games at times after we've acclimated to new polish. And for gamers who never experienced older gens in the moment I imagine doubly so; My wandering mind imagines a survey of older and younger gamers determining at what year games feel outdated to play. Yet somehow I imagine Super Metroid holds up immaculately
Super Metroid is horrible after any other metroidvania. Map not making doors at all is a complete deal breaker, and the game has weird jumping physics on top of that and bosses that have no tells
@@vazazell5967I loved playing it for the first time at 16... Which was 3 years ago. I played it after Samus Returns, and after Dark Souls, and after Prime. Like, I didn't have that much experience with 2D Metroidvanias before then, but still. Doors not being marked is a super minor issue for how small the world is. The weird jump physics are weird, but I don't see how they could turn someone off of a game.
Hey, 2003 kid, here! Super Metroid feels like a clunky, janky, archaic mess to me, control-wise Call me crazy, but I honestly think NEStroid controls a lot better
I was born in 83, and the NES was my first console (although I did play my cousin's 2600 some) and 16bit is definitely the "before this is old" space. Although its not universal. 3D games before X-Box and GameCube are very much the same to me with only a few exceptions
@@vazazell5967 I wouldn't say it's horrible (I played it for the first time last year and loved it) but it's definitely the clunkiest entry in the series that doesn't have an official remake. If I was to recommend it to someone like you with low tolerance for datedness then I would definitely suggest the Redux romhack like in this video.
I have watched so much randomizer i don't even think about maridia anymore. I started to speedrun SM and realized I was following "muscle" memory that wasn't even mine.
That's kind of the weird thing with Super Metroid: once the internal battery dies, it generates a bunch of saves with 00 health. Try to start one up, and you'll spawn then instantly die. Stuff like this is why I'm very glad I got into the hobby of soldering and replacing/repairing this old hardware. Also, considering some of my own personal gaming endeavors recently, I can't wait till you eventually do some critiques on the other side of the term "MetroidVania" and cover some of IGA's works before Konami pulled a Konami.
Finally this video convinced me to try Redux (with these heavy physics and the save points restoring health and ammo, no less)…. And it’s just perfection. Thank you so much!
Shoutout you and I assume your mother for recording and documenting a lot of your life. They add such a personal element of nostalgia to your stories and I can always relate to them.
This game was the first metroid game I played back in 2021 not long after dread's announcement, and your video on this game is one of the ones that got me curious to check it out on Nintendo switch online, and it was that moment where I discovered one of my new favourite games of all time and one of my new favourite series of all time. My first time playing super was really fun despite the awkward controls and I cannot thank you enough for helping me get into this incredible franchise, can't wait to see your dread video!
I too had Super Metroid forced upon me. I really wanted to buy some kid's game like Super Widget. But the videogame store guy told me Super Metroid was the cool game. And I wanted to be cool. And so I made my mom buy that for me instead, leaving slightly upset that I didn't get what I came in for. But now I'm so happy I was peer pressured. Super Metroid is my favorite game ever. Super Widget is pretty badass too though.
@@senor-achopijo3841 in terms of what the console has to offer, Super Metroid has in my opinion the best graphics, soundtrack, and control (which is perfect), and the easiest to get into. I mean EarthBound is incredible, but its also a hard game that isnt super easy to just pick up and get into. However thats all just personal opinion on RPGs in general
@@Sharkspartan6548 Yeah, it's always such a great time. The whole Tourian sequence is the highlight for me, but really, it's an amazing game from start to finish.
@@Magic_Ice Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country 2 are 10/10 games, no doubt. Chrono Trigger is at that level too, though I've found over the years that I like Final Fantasy 6 a bit more. To Shark, in terms of SNES RPGs that are very accessible while also being great, maybe Super Mario RPG is the easiest to get into followed by Chrono Trigger.
Great vid. I got NES Metroid for christmas `86. I was 5 and terrified. It took me 3 years to beat. 3 YEARS. A few tears ago I bought a repro rom cart of Super Metroid Phazon, highly recommended.
8:59 Another apt comparison would be Kid Icarus. A NES original, a GB follow up, and then it was gone. Although, the series was very lucky to be revived with Kid Icarus: Uprising.
I tinkered with a "Super Metroid - GBA Style" mod back in the day, but I've never tried the Redux mod. Given all the great changes it seems to make to the physics, you've definitely encouraged me to give it a whirl 🙂
Every time I hear the opening Brinstar music, I flashback to this one Friday back when I was like 6 or 7 years old, with my brother playing Super Metroid, and me watching along, eating a pizza my family ordered that night.
I think I already mentioned in the first Super Metroid video, but this was also my very first Metroid game. I was in a rent store and paid to play for one hour, and started with Tetris 2, then half an hour later I decided to change games and went to see the list of games in the wall.Then decided to change for a new game (in 1995 it was indeed a new game). The rest is history. ^^
Rest in peace to that old cartridge. Shame about that. Haven’t tried the Redux mod yet. Making the game control more like Fusion sounds excellent to me. The floaty nature of jumping in Super Metroid always took me some getting used to. Also, you had me load up my most recent play through and indeed, I ran out of steam somewhere in Maridia.
1:30 I did almost the same thing when I was a kid, except it was in Zero Mission. It was that one room in Kraid where you had to speed boost to get an energy tank. I also had fun with the screw attack and morph ball cannons in that game.
Your original Metroid series is my favorite set of videos about Metroid and sincerely seeing you going over them again makes me so happy. Excellent work!
I was I think 17 or 18, and the series, after being dormant for so long, was about to be revived with Prime and Fusion. I had never played a Metroid game before, but was getting into the hype via both Nintendo Power and the very early internet. The summer before those two games came out, I found a copy of Super Mettoid at a rummage sale, and played it in order to "get ready" for the two new games about to come out in a few months. So, technically, Super is my first Metroid game.
As someone who counts Sonic 3 AIR among my favorite games, I appreciated this shoutout to fan made improvements. Like you with Super Metroid, I prefer how connected and epic Sonic 3&K feel to other 2D entries. But after Mania, it felt hard to go back to a world without the Drop Dash (and other such improvements)... Having those inside my favorite Sonic game ensured that I'll be speeding around Angel Island for years to come.
Really great video, it’s fun seeing you revisit the series that got me watching you! Love the angle you took here, it’s hard for people who grew up playing a more restrictive version of a classic to say “play the way that is fun for you” but sometimes that’s the only way a more modern player would feel close to the same joy we experienced decades ago. I still find it difficult sometimes but it’s hard to tell someone who’s first console was a PS4 to pick tank controls in SH2 or something. Can’t wait for the next video!
Before ever playing a 2D Metroid game, I watched tons of videos analyzing them as games, so when I finally played them, they all felt familiar and kind of welcoming. My experience was akin to that younger brother who gets to learn about games by watching, not by playing then directly at first.
I still don't know how to explain the fact that I end up crying (happily) at one point or another during all your Metroid critiques. Something about them just gets me very emotional for the franchise.
Unironically the Metroid critique is my favourite series on the entire platform. I am SO glad you are bringing them back. The fusion video was what got me to pick up zero mission and fusion on the Wii u virtual console, and to give super a go via emulation on the switch, introducing me to a game series, and genre, that I love. I can’t WAIT for the dread video! I have a lot more thoughts about it compared to other series releases, being a fair bit older when playing it for the first time, and I’m super excited to get your opinion, as coming from a similar twitchy sonic childhood I often find your points very salient
I’m sorry I can’t think of an insightful or lengthy comment at the moment haha, but just wanted to add how nice it is to hear your updated thoughts on these older Metroid games so many years later, and the anticipation is building rapidly with only one more video to go before the feature-length Dread episode!
I’ve been watching a long time and the last thing I expected to see was a 2 dudes gaming shoutout. That’s my go to store. Didn’t realize you lived so close. Great video again
Okay I have to give props for that video wrap-up. Deadpan delivery of a smart play on words Ive never actially heard before. I literally laughed out loud in my car.
Super Metroid with GBA style aiming and weapon switching? Heck yeah! The weapon switching was like my biggest gripe with the game even back when it was new. GBA was a definite improvement in that area. I do like my floaty jumps though. The GBA gravity felt more tuned to those games' screen resolutions and room layouts. I'll probably give it a try sometime, but even from the footage it looks off to me. Maybe when I'm controlling it, it'll win me over though. For now though it just looks a bit cursed in SM. I did quite enjoy Dread though so maybe it's just that I'm so used to seeing SM be a certain way. Heck, the faster falling and mandatory early game hell run were what made me bounce off of Super Metroid Redesign.
Here’s a fun drinking game: every time TGC expresses something he likes about games, try to connect it back to Sonic the hedgehog, if it does then take a shot! Jokes aside, I love your stuff TGC, excited to see the next episodes
So interesting thing about SNES carts that are put into storage for long periods of time. The Save Ram chips in those carts will start to degrade if the cart is left powered off with a bad save battery. If the cart no longer holds a save after replacing the battery, than it is likely that the SRAM chip is degraded to a point that it cannot be written to anymore.
Most likely a dead SRAM chip in the cartridge. Replacable with a soldering iron, but I'm not sure what specific SRAM chip Super Metroid uses. You can actually also replace it with a pin compatible FRAM chip and never need a battery again. I did that with both an N64 Memory Pak and a Pokemon Red cart. Pass that along to your game store in case they ever run into this issue again. Even if they don't want to try and replace those chips it's still good info to give customers so they aren't left wondering.
Credit to the "floatier" standard jump and a Space Jump that handles like a tank for offering a reward for practice. Even when you got these powers, you had to earn the ability to use them well through mastering them. All that said, I'm much more likely to load Redux for the sake of everything else the game excels at. After years of playing the normal way, this more agile Samus makes me feel so powerful, and it's a whole lot of fun.
holy shit, an elizabethton shoutout was about the last thing i was ever expecting. i’m about an hour from johnson city but i spend time at the bars downtown all the time, mostly the hideaway, and one of my friends (who used to work at mulligan’s gaming pub) lives in elizabethton. i’ve never been to 2 dudes, never even heard of it actually, but i’ll make sure to visit some time. solid chance my buddy’s been there before though. that’s awesome, had no idea you were around here
Metroid was a major time burner for me growing up, LOVED that game. I beat it at like 11 or 12 and im 43 now. I was broke when i was older it took me a while but i got Metroid 2 and honestly got stuck for almost a month lol, Ive heared other YT commentators talk about how its a horror game and i totally agree. Almost every game has given me somd sort of Jump scare, sometimes i have a dream that im in a 3d version of the game like Prime and fighting giant bosses and going thru tubes filled with lava.
I have to agree I’ve played Super Metroid so many times and watched so many speed runs that I can’t even remember what a normal play through of the game looks like
The almost exact same story happened with me and Super Metroid. Only the fighting game was some power rangers sore fighting game and his name was Marshal and just the older brother of a friend of mine in kindergarten. Metroid is still probably my favorite franchise of all time.
What’s funny to me, as you mention being so young when you received Super Metroid, is that my first Metroid game was Prime. I was maybe four, maybe 5 when my dad first booted that game up for me on that purple cube. I was absolutely out of my depth when I first started playing. But I remember being absolutely entranced with Talon 4, and even just the Frigate Orphian. Being able to peer out into space, being held in that energy cage on that starting platform did something to my psyche. I dreamt of ways that Samus could maybe fly out of that cage so I could explore the ships hull. Or even some of the nearby asteroids. It wasn’t until I was a little older that I got an actual taste for the game, and it was all said and done for me then. It wouldn’t be until a couple years ago that I would be able to play Super. It may not have been one to one, but I couldn’t help feeling that similar wonder at the very start of the game, on that space station. Just at that elevator.
Because of your comment, now i imagine a universe where Balloon Fight got a highly acclaimed SNES installment and became a Smash Mainstay. Why do you gotta torture me like this Geek?
Man, I’m loving these “redux” vids so far! It’s great to hear your updated, slightly more nuanced takes on these games. Your original super Metroid video is gettin pretty old at this point. Id love to see something like this for the prime games too someday. Though I would understand if you didn’t considering how much longer those games are. But, in particular, I’m curious if your opinion has changed of the first one at all. I played through prime 1 for the first time myself a few years ago on the GameCube and honestly didn’t love it. I found it to be pretty frustrating to navigate and I found the back tracking really cumbersome. By the time the credits rolled I was exhausted by the game. But I recently played through the remastered switch version this year and went into it with a more patient mind set. I took my time and went through the game slowly and methodically paying careful attention to my surroundings and to where I was going so I didn’t get lost. Man, there was so much detail I completely missed in my play through and so much interesting lore I just glossed over! By the time the credits rolled this time, I was in love with the game and hungry to play the sequel.
My favorite game ever. One of the reasons is that collecting 100% of the items is a lot more fun than in other games in the franchise, thanks to advanced techniques like the wall jump and the shinespark. I don't like these hacks because they mess with some sequence breaks (like the short charge). Not to mention that I found a glitch in that hack that made a spike in the Wrecked Ship kill me instantly, and I had 5 E-Tanks.
I basically made a somewhat broken "modern remake" by patching in widescreen and a restored ost and applying crt royale (the most accurate shader). The widescreen in particular isn't perfect and the restored audio tends to be a bit too clean? I don't know how to describe, but it works well enough that i don't really notice either issues.
You want the definition of a classic video game that has aged like fine wine? That's Super Metroid, baby! Easily one of my favorite video games of all time.
I actually have this patch injected into a 3DS VC file on my softmodded New 2DS XL. Just the base Redux package, though. It is now incredibly difficult to go back to vanilla Super as the very few problems I had with it are pretty much gone thanks to this patch. It took a timeless masterpiece and gave it the last bit of polish needed.
I first played SM in 2007 on an emulator, then went and bought an SNES cartridge on ebay. It's probably the only game that instantly shot to the top of my favorite list with one play-through, and it's one of the few games where, after finishing it, I wanted to jump right back in and start a new game.
I always preferred Super’s original control scheme (minus the weapon switching). I always liked the slower pace allowing me to play how I like, while also having the run button make players who want a more fast paced experience play how they liked.
Redux getting the recognition it deserves. You love to see it. This is how I played Super Metroid in 2022/2023, and is the best way to play the game going forward Yes I will take that to my grave
Dude i first played this game when i bought it on the wii virtual console back in 2007 too! Playing with the gamecube controller was tricky, but if you can learn to infinite wall jump with that you’re golden.
I remember your original Super Metroid Video got me to get the game when I got my new 2dsxl back in 2018. And it set me down a lifelong path of adoration for the series. Even if i haven’t played every one, the others i’ve played being Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Prime Remastered and... hmm... What was that one from 2021 again? I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Eh idk. Point is I live for Metroid
FYI there is a dev intended path through Super Metroid, it is as follows: Morph ball First Missiles Bombs and Bomb Torizo (Charge Beam opens up right here) Spore Spawn for the first Super Missiles High Jump Boots (Spazer Beam opens up right here) Kraid for Varia Suit Speed Booster Ice Beam First Power Bombs (in red tower) Grapple Beam (Wave beam opens up right here) Gravity Suit Space Jump (Plasma beam and Spring ball open up here) Screw attack The only beam upgrade that's really necessary to beat the game from a progression standpoint without any advanced techniques like wall jumping is ice beam. There are a handful of items you can get with wave beam, but not progression relevant. There is also another Power Bomb pack that you can get without taking the massive detour to red tower that the devs 100% intended as a sequence break, but that would require wave beam and either infinite bomb jumping or the knowledge that a lot of running speed from speed booster gives more jump height.
Interesting enough you could actually short charge a shine spark in the original game. It most likely wasn't intentional since it's a consequence of how the game checks if the A button is pressed or not. It's one of the coolest things to learn in this game and it's particularly satisfying learning how to kill Draygon with it.
I first played Super Metroid back in 7th grade, when the only SNES games I owned were Mario Kart, DKC, and Zelda. It made one hell of an impression on me... I still remember my first clear time was over 17 hours, and I felt amazing when I dropped that to under 11 my second time. 😆
My own Metroid journey started with Zero Mission, with the original Metroid II following it. Going into Super, I'd experienced both the sharper, snappier Samus from the GBA era onward, and the slower, floatier Samus from the original trilogy. And while I definitely enjoyed Super - the overhyping I'd seen before finally playing it surprisingly didn't tarnish my impressions of it unlike the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films (weird connection, I know) - it ended up being one that I'd always put off playing. And when I did go back and play it, I'd actually meet a similar fate as you did, falling off somewhere around Maridia. By the time I was going back to it, I had become far too accustomed to the new way Samus controlled in Fusion and the crisp, streamlined perfection of Dread. It made Super feel sluggish, almost unbearable in comparison. When I discovered the Redux mod, though, it brought me back into the depths of Zebes again and again and again! It's bliss, it's sublime, it's GLORIOUS to - in your own words - spruce up this evergreen. And seeing that you too had found this life-changing mod, well it just puts a smile on my face and makes me want to touch down for another expedition.
I don't get it. Super samus is way more flexible and fun than the GBA games. So much more depth to her movement, even just a little step forward and she leaps higher than Mario at his best. With high jump boots and speed booster it gets insane. Sure GBA samus is more predictable, and the edge grab makes platforming easier, but that's like saying a Corolla is more fun to drive than a sports car.
Thanks to 2 Dudes Gaming for trying to get my old cartridge working. Use "games4geeks" on their eBay store for 15% off! www.ebay.com/str/2dudesgaming
One more week until Dread! Thanks for the response so far this season! I'm always both honored and impressed that these comments sections are full of such well-written, insightful, and surprisingly lengthy comments, and I've highlighted a few of my favorites here. It just goes against every stereotype of UA-cam comments, y'know? Thanks you! twitter.com/TGCritique/status/1735954319545889117?s=20
My buddy Rob takes care of their eBay stuff. They definitely respect their customers
Why is each video getting shorter? I wanna see u talk about Metroid for hours ur very entertaining.
As a kid growing up with both the NES and the SNES That first time you play super Metroid and you're going down the corridor and you walk into the room where you see the chamber that housed mother Brain the broken glass the just everything about it is reminiscent and you are instantly teleported back to when you were a little kid fighting mother brain with missiles and then jumping up that corridor It really did something back then It was eerie.
@@xXLiLJokerXx He's covering games he already talked about in preparation for the long Dread review. Think of these as recaps, director's commentaries, director's cuts, and bonus features wrapped into one.
@@nfugitt89 fair enough
I tried to see if anyone did an AM2R to Super Metroid, but all my searches for "ASMR" were entirely unhelpful...
Lol
There actually is one. Look up FSMR. Never saw the light of day though. It’s like Metroid SR388. It’s a relic lost to time from the early age of the internet when you could convince people things like a direct sequel to partners in time was in the works
Like searching for “Pokémon xvideos” instead of “Pokémon-x videos”...fun time
FSMR(First Super Metriod Remake) was in development but I believe development stopped indefinitely back in 2022 theirs still hope for it I believe but chances of it getting released are still low
You're probably looking for "Super Metroid Zero Mission."
I think Super Metroid is a game that is etched into my soul at this point. I was obsessed with it as a kid.
My younger brother once started playing SM and got stuck, so asked for my help. I hadn't played it at that point in maybe a decade, but once he handed me the controller I wall jumped and moved around on screen like a fish to water. He just looked at me and was in awe. A nice memory associated with one of my favorite games.
"the faster the character is, the more fun i have"
Can't wait till he gets to dread considering how smooth and snappy samus control in that game
Ah, a callback to your romhack covering days! Still surreal that we used to live in a world where a Geek Critique on Sonic 3 would be 15 minutes long and end off with some hack recommendations. So excited for the hour long Dread Critique!
Hour and a HALF. xD And yeah, I thought going 15 minutes on Sonic 3 was *really* long.
@@GeekCritique...so is there a possibility of a remake of those old Sonic videos of yours?
@@aducharme01 Don’t distract him, he still hasn’t even made videos about the 3D boost era Sonic games!
Man now I can’t wait to try Super Metroid redux, and I can only hope all these videos inspire newer gamers to try this timeless classic
You should try Project Base instead. It has all of the features of Redux PLUS a ton of bug fixes and even MORE QoL improvements.
It does change the level design a bit, so if you’re used to the original super Metroid, stick with redux.
Me and my mum played through metroid when the NES was it. I cannot describe how exciting revisiting the opening of that gane in super metroid was when it dropped. Was genuinely my first experience of nostalgia, at the tender age of 9 😂
I've always seen the floaty jumps as being more casual friendly. Single Wall Jumps on Super are pretty easy once you get used to them, whereas it's pretty difficult in Zero Mission.
Agreed - I've been trying to figure out what I like about Super's controls. They might not feel as satisfying and snappy from the start, but they're easier to get into properly
On the one hand, I think the heavier physics kind of ruin the atmosphere a little bit, the original tries so hard to build up suspense in several sections that I don't think moving so fast suits that design. And as for the controls, I may have an opinion close to yours regarding oldschool "yank", to me smashing that select and X buttons to constantly cycle through your inventory is part of the skills (and part of the fun) of playing the game.
On the other hand, I am really an advocate for people trying romhacks of retro games to suit their needs. So many old games have brilliant design and just need slight tweeks to feel like modern indie games. So I am glad you are trying and promoting some. Maybe I will try the redux version at some point.
I guess I'm in the minority because I actually like the floatier controls in this game. The physics of Super Metroid are my favorite out of all the 2D games.
I prefer the floaty controls as well. They helped sell the oppressive, lonely atmosphere, helped make the world feel hostile and alien.
@@Desertskunk same here. SM isnt meant to be fast paced. its atmospheric, slow exploration that slowly winds up the action. this game would be extremely difficult the remake and get right.... hence it never being done. best game ever made IMHO
I'm not exactly against the changes mind you, as I can't imagine modern metroid having anything but the snappy controls it's now known for. However, I also don't feel like, as much as I love the modern metroids, that super was a masterclass in atmospheric storytelling, isolation and emotional impact without a single word being said.@@mrcoolr429
I'm in complete agreement. Super Metroid's physics require meeting a higher skill floor in order to control Samus well, but the skill ceiling is also much higher than any of the other games. Once you master it, you'll have more freedom than you could ever find in a different Metroid game.
I agree, if Samus moved as fast as she did in Dread or Zero Mission, I feel like it would be harder to soak in the atmosphere that the game so expertly builds. The floatiness of jumps gives the planet a more alien feeling because it's literally like being in space, and the slowness of movement allows the details of the pixel art to sink in better and makes it easier for small things to catch your attention.
Honestly, I still prefer the floaty jumps and slower acceleration, needing to earn the ability to go fast always felt better than just being lightning quick from the get go, It feels weightless and just less fun
When the rest of the game is designed around the original controls, modders have to consider tweaking the entire game when doing things like this.
For me the minor "clunk" added to the immersion, I've always seen it as a sci-fi horror game and you are basically in an astronaut suit after all. With experience the controls are pretty much perfect.
You've mentioned in videos past that it can be hard to go back to old games at times after we've acclimated to new polish. And for gamers who never experienced older gens in the moment I imagine doubly so; My wandering mind imagines a survey of older and younger gamers determining at what year games feel outdated to play. Yet somehow I imagine Super Metroid holds up immaculately
Super Metroid is horrible after any other metroidvania. Map not making doors at all is a complete deal breaker, and the game has weird jumping physics on top of that and bosses that have no tells
@@vazazell5967I loved playing it for the first time at 16... Which was 3 years ago. I played it after Samus Returns, and after Dark Souls, and after Prime. Like, I didn't have that much experience with 2D Metroidvanias before then, but still.
Doors not being marked is a super minor issue for how small the world is. The weird jump physics are weird, but I don't see how they could turn someone off of a game.
Hey, 2003 kid, here!
Super Metroid feels like a clunky, janky, archaic mess to me, control-wise
Call me crazy, but I honestly think NEStroid controls a lot better
I was born in 83, and the NES was my first console (although I did play my cousin's 2600 some) and 16bit is definitely the "before this is old" space. Although its not universal. 3D games before X-Box and GameCube are very much the same to me with only a few exceptions
@@vazazell5967 I wouldn't say it's horrible (I played it for the first time last year and loved it) but it's definitely the clunkiest entry in the series that doesn't have an official remake. If I was to recommend it to someone like you with low tolerance for datedness then I would definitely suggest the Redux romhack like in this video.
I have watched so much randomizer i don't even think about maridia anymore. I started to speedrun SM and realized I was following "muscle" memory that wasn't even mine.
That's kind of the weird thing with Super Metroid: once the internal battery dies, it generates a bunch of saves with 00 health. Try to start one up, and you'll spawn then instantly die. Stuff like this is why I'm very glad I got into the hobby of soldering and replacing/repairing this old hardware.
Also, considering some of my own personal gaming endeavors recently, I can't wait till you eventually do some critiques on the other side of the term "MetroidVania" and cover some of IGA's works before Konami pulled a Konami.
Is the 00 health an issue even when the battery has been replaced? I'm confused why the game store didn't apparently manage to fix it.
Subtle nod to the christmas season, “Sprucing up an evergreen!”
"Sprucing up the Evergreen." Now that is some quality wordplay.
Finally this video convinced me to try Redux (with these heavy physics and the save points restoring health and ammo, no less)…. And it’s just perfection. Thank you so much!
Shoutout you and I assume your mother for recording and documenting a lot of your life. They add such a personal element of nostalgia to your stories and I can always relate to them.
This game was the first metroid game I played back in 2021 not long after dread's announcement, and your video on this game is one of the ones that got me curious to check it out on Nintendo switch online, and it was that moment where I discovered one of my new favourite games of all time and one of my new favourite series of all time.
My first time playing super was really fun despite the awkward controls and I cannot thank you enough for helping me get into this incredible franchise, can't wait to see your dread video!
That Paul Harvey reference was old enough to need a hip replacement.
Huh? *googlegooglegoogle* OH. Haha, yeah, I didn't even know what I was referencing! I just remember my parents listening to that show.
Guys, I think he's a Sonic fan
I too had Super Metroid forced upon me. I really wanted to buy some kid's game like Super Widget. But the videogame store guy told me Super Metroid was the cool game. And I wanted to be cool. And so I made my mom buy that for me instead, leaving slightly upset that I didn't get what I came in for. But now I'm so happy I was peer pressured. Super Metroid is my favorite game ever. Super Widget is pretty badass too though.
Super Metroid will always be the definitive SNES experience.
Which is crazy, considering how many fantastic titles the SNES has.
@@senor-achopijo3841 in terms of what the console has to offer, Super Metroid has in my opinion the best graphics, soundtrack, and control (which is perfect), and the easiest to get into. I mean EarthBound is incredible, but its also a hard game that isnt super easy to just pick up and get into. However thats all just personal opinion on RPGs in general
@@Sharkspartan6548 Yeah, it's always such a great time. The whole Tourian sequence is the highlight for me, but really, it's an amazing game from start to finish.
Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country 2, and Chrono Trigger will always be the peak of the SNES
@@Magic_Ice Super Metroid and Donkey Kong Country 2 are 10/10 games, no doubt. Chrono Trigger is at that level too, though I've found over the years that I like Final Fantasy 6 a bit more.
To Shark, in terms of SNES RPGs that are very accessible while also being great, maybe Super Mario RPG is the easiest to get into followed by Chrono Trigger.
Great vid. I got NES Metroid for christmas `86. I was 5 and terrified. It took me 3 years to beat. 3 YEARS. A few tears ago I bought a repro rom cart of Super Metroid Phazon, highly recommended.
8:59 Another apt comparison would be Kid Icarus. A NES original, a GB follow up, and then it was gone. Although, the series was very lucky to be revived with Kid Icarus: Uprising.
I tinkered with a "Super Metroid - GBA Style" mod back in the day, but I've never tried the Redux mod. Given all the great changes it seems to make to the physics, you've definitely encouraged me to give it a whirl 🙂
Man that is one cool teenage cousin.
Every time I hear the opening Brinstar music, I flashback to this one Friday back when I was like 6 or 7 years old, with my brother playing Super Metroid, and me watching along, eating a pizza my family ordered that night.
I think I already mentioned in the first Super Metroid video, but this was also my very first Metroid game. I was in a rent store and paid to play for one hour, and started with Tetris 2, then half an hour later I decided to change games and went to see the list of games in the wall.Then decided to change for a new game (in 1995 it was indeed a new game).
The rest is history. ^^
I love the power up chime in the Metroid games ….so soothing 🥹
Rest in peace to that old cartridge. Shame about that.
Haven’t tried the Redux mod yet. Making the game control more like Fusion sounds excellent to me. The floaty nature of jumping in Super Metroid always took me some getting used to.
Also, you had me load up my most recent play through and indeed, I ran out of steam somewhere in Maridia.
1:30 I did almost the same thing when I was a kid, except it was in Zero Mission. It was that one room in Kraid where you had to speed boost to get an energy tank. I also had fun with the screw attack and morph ball cannons in that game.
Your original Metroid series is my favorite set of videos about Metroid and sincerely seeing you going over them again makes me so happy. Excellent work!
It really must be the giving season for GeekCritique
I was I think 17 or 18, and the series, after being dormant for so long, was about to be revived with Prime and Fusion. I had never played a Metroid game before, but was getting into the hype via both Nintendo Power and the very early internet. The summer before those two games came out, I found a copy of Super Mettoid at a rummage sale, and played it in order to "get ready" for the two new games about to come out in a few months. So, technically, Super is my first Metroid game.
As someone who counts Sonic 3 AIR among my favorite games, I appreciated this shoutout to fan made improvements. Like you with Super Metroid, I prefer how connected and epic Sonic 3&K feel to other 2D entries. But after Mania, it felt hard to go back to a world without the Drop Dash (and other such improvements)... Having those inside my favorite Sonic game ensured that I'll be speeding around Angel Island for years to come.
Seriously, thank you for these videos. Your retrospective on this series is really sentimental to me. Keep up the great job.
Really great video, it’s fun seeing you revisit the series that got me watching you! Love the angle you took here, it’s hard for people who grew up playing a more restrictive version of a classic to say “play the way that is fun for you” but sometimes that’s the only way a more modern player would feel close to the same joy we experienced decades ago. I still find it difficult sometimes but it’s hard to tell someone who’s first console was a PS4 to pick tank controls in SH2 or something. Can’t wait for the next video!
Who the hell "grows out of videogames in high school"??😮
Before ever playing a 2D Metroid game, I watched tons of videos analyzing them as games, so when I finally played them, they all felt familiar and kind of welcoming.
My experience was akin to that younger brother who gets to learn about games by watching, not by playing then directly at first.
I still don't know how to explain the fact that I end up crying (happily) at one point or another during all your Metroid critiques. Something about them just gets me very emotional for the franchise.
Elizabethton! I'm in Knoxville!
Absolutely floored to see all the constant uploads as of late! You've been working hard, and I'm really digging the content. All the best, mate!
Been playing this a lot lately Definitely one of my favorite games of all time
Unironically the Metroid critique is my favourite series on the entire platform. I am SO glad you are bringing them back. The fusion video was what got me to pick up zero mission and fusion on the Wii u virtual console, and to give super a go via emulation on the switch, introducing me to a game series, and genre, that I love. I can’t WAIT for the dread video! I have a lot more thoughts about it compared to other series releases, being a fair bit older when playing it for the first time, and I’m super excited to get your opinion, as coming from a similar twitchy sonic childhood I often find your points very salient
I’m sorry I can’t think of an insightful or lengthy comment at the moment haha, but just wanted to add how nice it is to hear your updated thoughts on these older Metroid games so many years later, and the anticipation is building rapidly with only one more video to go before the feature-length Dread episode!
"And now you know, the rest of the story" great reference haha
I’ve been watching a long time and the last thing I expected to see was a 2 dudes gaming shoutout. That’s my go to store. Didn’t realize you lived so close. Great video again
Okay I have to give props for that video wrap-up. Deadpan delivery of a smart play on words Ive never actially heard before. I literally laughed out loud in my car.
Be strong bladder, we aren’t moving till this is over
Honestly this is my favourite metroid game, the atmosphere of this game is crazy
Super Metroid with GBA style aiming and weapon switching? Heck yeah! The weapon switching was like my biggest gripe with the game even back when it was new. GBA was a definite improvement in that area. I do like my floaty jumps though. The GBA gravity felt more tuned to those games' screen resolutions and room layouts. I'll probably give it a try sometime, but even from the footage it looks off to me. Maybe when I'm controlling it, it'll win me over though. For now though it just looks a bit cursed in SM. I did quite enjoy Dread though so maybe it's just that I'm so used to seeing SM be a certain way. Heck, the faster falling and mandatory early game hell run were what made me bounce off of Super Metroid Redesign.
Here’s a fun drinking game: every time TGC expresses something he likes about games, try to connect it back to Sonic the hedgehog, if it does then take a shot!
Jokes aside, I love your stuff TGC, excited to see the next episodes
Thanks for covering one of my favorite rom hacks of all time!
I've been having a really horrible day, without getting into it, watching this has been such a breath of fresh air. Thank you again, TGC!
So interesting thing about SNES carts that are put into storage for long periods of time. The Save Ram chips in those carts will start to degrade if the cart is left powered off with a bad save battery. If the cart no longer holds a save after replacing the battery, than it is likely that the SRAM chip is degraded to a point that it cannot be written to anymore.
Just in time to watch during my workout. Your original SM video is still my favorite retrospective on the game, so I'm excited for this
Glad I'm not the only one who listens to him while working out
Most likely a dead SRAM chip in the cartridge. Replacable with a soldering iron, but I'm not sure what specific SRAM chip Super Metroid uses. You can actually also replace it with a pin compatible FRAM chip and never need a battery again. I did that with both an N64 Memory Pak and a Pokemon Red cart.
Pass that along to your game store in case they ever run into this issue again. Even if they don't want to try and replace those chips it's still good info to give customers so they aren't left wondering.
Glad to see you uploading Metroid again! I can’t wait to see your dread video
Credit to the "floatier" standard jump and a Space Jump that handles like a tank for offering a reward for practice. Even when you got these powers, you had to earn the ability to use them well through mastering them.
All that said, I'm much more likely to load Redux for the sake of everything else the game excels at. After years of playing the normal way, this more agile Samus makes me feel so powerful, and it's a whole lot of fun.
holy shit, an elizabethton shoutout was about the last thing i was ever expecting. i’m about an hour from johnson city but i spend time at the bars downtown all the time, mostly the hideaway, and one of my friends (who used to work at mulligan’s gaming pub) lives in elizabethton. i’ve never been to 2 dudes, never even heard of it actually, but i’ll make sure to visit some time. solid chance my buddy’s been there before though. that’s awesome, had no idea you were around here
All these Metroid videos dropping! Merry Geekmas indeed 🎄
"Sprucing up the Evergreen"
I like that
5:45
YES
Loeder's Artaria III
Metroid was a major time burner for me growing up, LOVED that game. I beat it at like 11 or 12 and im 43 now. I was broke when i was older it took me a while but i got Metroid 2 and honestly got stuck for almost a month lol, Ive heared other YT commentators talk about how its a horror game and i totally agree. Almost every game has given me somd sort of Jump scare, sometimes i have a dream that im in a 3d version of the game like Prime and fighting giant bosses and going thru tubes filled with lava.
I forogt how much i love these videos......I've been waiting for the dread video ever since the game came out!
I have to agree I’ve played Super Metroid so many times and watched so many speed runs that I can’t even remember what a normal play through of the game looks like
Your original reviews were so much better than the new ones, you kind of come off as a little up your own a&s in the reduxes
The almost exact same story happened with me and Super Metroid. Only the fighting game was some power rangers sore fighting game and his name was Marshal and just the older brother of a friend of mine in kindergarten. Metroid is still probably my favorite franchise of all time.
What’s funny to me, as you mention being so young when you received Super Metroid, is that my first Metroid game was Prime. I was maybe four, maybe 5 when my dad first booted that game up for me on that purple cube. I was absolutely out of my depth when I first started playing. But I remember being absolutely entranced with Talon 4, and even just the Frigate Orphian. Being able to peer out into space, being held in that energy cage on that starting platform did something to my psyche. I dreamt of ways that Samus could maybe fly out of that cage so I could explore the ships hull. Or even some of the nearby asteroids. It wasn’t until I was a little older that I got an actual taste for the game, and it was all said and done for me then. It wouldn’t be until a couple years ago that I would be able to play Super. It may not have been one to one, but I couldn’t help feeling that similar wonder at the very start of the game, on that space station. Just at that elevator.
what id wanna disable is that switch to selecting and diaganel aming. i love the two button up/down aiming with different buttons
Because of your comment, now i imagine a universe where Balloon Fight got a highly acclaimed SNES installment and became a Smash Mainstay.
Why do you gotta torture me like this Geek?
Yeah, I mean, Ocarina of Time is also an evergreen masterpiece, but I like how the 3DS version made the controls and the whole flow much smoother.
Greatest fucking game ever made. Don't ever remake it. Ever. Some games need no tweaking.
I need an illustrated timeline of your exposure to metroid, because I’m confused on the order of events lol
love the Paul Harvey reference. he was part of my childhood, too. :)
So happy you are redoing the series 🎉
I love this series, iv always noticed little video clips of banjo kazzoie. Please can we get a vid on it..one of my all time favorites
Man, I’m loving these “redux” vids so far! It’s great to hear your updated, slightly more nuanced takes on these games. Your original super Metroid video is gettin pretty old at this point.
Id love to see something like this for the prime games too someday. Though I would understand if you didn’t considering how much longer those games are. But, in particular, I’m curious if your opinion has changed of the first one at all. I played through prime 1 for the first time myself a few years ago on the GameCube and honestly didn’t love it. I found it to be pretty frustrating to navigate and I found the back tracking really cumbersome. By the time the credits rolled I was exhausted by the game. But I recently played through the remastered switch version this year and went into it with a more patient mind set. I took my time and went through the game slowly and methodically paying careful attention to my surroundings and to where I was going so I didn’t get lost. Man, there was so much detail I completely missed in my play through and so much interesting lore I just glossed over! By the time the credits rolled this time, I was in love with the game and hungry to play the sequel.
Ah, Super Metroid will always have a special place for me. I think it's just so unique in its gameplay and atmosphere. I'm glad to be a fan of it!
My favorite game ever. One of the reasons is that collecting 100% of the items is a lot more fun than in other games in the franchise, thanks to advanced techniques like the wall jump and the shinespark.
I don't like these hacks because they mess with some sequence breaks (like the short charge). Not to mention that I found a glitch in that hack that made a spike in the Wrecked Ship kill me instantly, and I had 5 E-Tanks.
I basically made a somewhat broken "modern remake" by patching in widescreen and a restored ost and applying crt royale (the most accurate shader). The widescreen in particular isn't perfect and the restored audio tends to be a bit too clean? I don't know how to describe, but it works well enough that i don't really notice either issues.
You want the definition of a classic video game that has aged like fine wine? That's Super Metroid, baby! Easily one of my favorite video games of all time.
I actually have this patch injected into a 3DS VC file on my softmodded New 2DS XL. Just the base Redux package, though. It is now incredibly difficult to go back to vanilla Super as the very few problems I had with it are pretty much gone thanks to this patch. It took a timeless masterpiece and gave it the last bit of polish needed.
I first played SM in 2007 on an emulator, then went and bought an SNES cartridge on ebay. It's probably the only game that instantly shot to the top of my favorite list with one play-through, and it's one of the few games where, after finishing it, I wanted to jump right back in and start a new game.
I always preferred Super’s original control scheme (minus the weapon switching). I always liked the slower pace allowing me to play how I like, while also having the run button make players who want a more fast paced experience play how they liked.
Redux getting the recognition it deserves. You love to see it. This is how I played Super Metroid in 2022/2023, and is the best way to play the game going forward
Yes I will take that to my grave
Dude i first played this game when i bought it on the wii virtual console back in 2007 too!
Playing with the gamecube controller was tricky, but if you can learn to infinite wall jump with that you’re golden.
I remember your original Super Metroid Video got me to get the game when I got my new 2dsxl back in 2018. And it set me down a lifelong path of adoration for the series. Even if i haven’t played every one, the others i’ve played being Zero Mission, Samus Returns, Prime Remastered and... hmm... What was that one from 2021 again? I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Eh idk. Point is I live for Metroid
metroid dread
FYI there is a dev intended path through Super Metroid, it is as follows:
Morph ball
First Missiles
Bombs and Bomb Torizo
(Charge Beam opens up right here)
Spore Spawn for the first Super Missiles
High Jump Boots
(Spazer Beam opens up right here)
Kraid for Varia Suit
Speed Booster
Ice Beam
First Power Bombs (in red tower)
Grapple Beam
(Wave beam opens up right here)
Gravity Suit
Space Jump
(Plasma beam and Spring ball open up here)
Screw attack
The only beam upgrade that's really necessary to beat the game from a progression standpoint without any advanced techniques like wall jumping is ice beam. There are a handful of items you can get with wave beam, but not progression relevant. There is also another Power Bomb pack that you can get without taking the massive detour to red tower that the devs 100% intended as a sequence break, but that would require wave beam and either infinite bomb jumping or the knowledge that a lot of running speed from speed booster gives more jump height.
This is my favourite way to play super Metroid.
Interesting enough you could actually short charge a shine spark in the original game. It most likely wasn't intentional since it's a consequence of how the game checks if the A button is pressed or not. It's one of the coolest things to learn in this game and it's particularly satisfying learning how to kill Draygon with it.
End of the video, and I'm like "Oh shit that was short"
I could listen to you talk about Metroid for hours... maybe for weeks if you consider rewatches.
I first played Super Metroid back in 7th grade, when the only SNES games I owned were Mario Kart, DKC, and Zelda. It made one hell of an impression on me... I still remember my first clear time was over 17 hours, and I felt amazing when I dropped that to under 11 my second time. 😆
2:00 Sad for me, cuz’ I’m a dane!
Really? Couldn't be.
I can imagine arm-pumping must be a nightmare on the redux
Excellent video, young man.
My own Metroid journey started with Zero Mission, with the original Metroid II following it. Going into Super, I'd experienced both the sharper, snappier Samus from the GBA era onward, and the slower, floatier Samus from the original trilogy. And while I definitely enjoyed Super - the overhyping I'd seen before finally playing it surprisingly didn't tarnish my impressions of it unlike the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films (weird connection, I know) - it ended up being one that I'd always put off playing. And when I did go back and play it, I'd actually meet a similar fate as you did, falling off somewhere around Maridia.
By the time I was going back to it, I had become far too accustomed to the new way Samus controlled in Fusion and the crisp, streamlined perfection of Dread. It made Super feel sluggish, almost unbearable in comparison.
When I discovered the Redux mod, though, it brought me back into the depths of Zebes again and again and again! It's bliss, it's sublime, it's GLORIOUS to - in your own words - spruce up this evergreen.
And seeing that you too had found this life-changing mod, well it just puts a smile on my face and makes me want to touch down for another expedition.
I don't get it. Super samus is way more flexible and fun than the GBA games. So much more depth to her movement, even just a little step forward and she leaps higher than Mario at his best. With high jump boots and speed booster it gets insane.
Sure GBA samus is more predictable, and the edge grab makes platforming easier, but that's like saying a Corolla is more fun to drive than a sports car.