davidn | Stumbling through Super Metroid

The larva's sacrifice for you is indeed very sad, retroactively or otherwise!
And after a whole game of not telling any story whatsoever (but still managing to create a great atmosphere) you're launched back into it in fantastic style. From the sudden appearance of metroid enemies (freeze, then missile!) to the extra-sudden appearance of THE metroid, you're taken on a ride with all the sorts of chills and thrills usually reserved for the overenthusiastic claims on the back of a Goosebumps novel.

The entire final boss is so well done that it doesn't even matter to me that it's scripted to the point that you either can't lose or at least win very easily (which makes the real last boss Ridley, which I have no problem with) - that body and the horrific expression on the brain itself are genuinely terrifying, and you almost have to feel sorry for it when it finally succumbs to the Metroid's leeching.
And then, a moment of tension (that I didn't notice the first time I played) which I find absolutely remarkable - you're still incapacitated as the metroid slowly heals you, and you see a plume of purple breath from the steadily-recovering Motherbrain, and you're left genuinely wondering who's going to stand up first and kill the other. Turns out the metroid is the first casualty, giving you time to recover your wits, as the heroic music starts and fuels a desire for vengeance, and you realize you can't lose (unless you're absolutely terrible at the game, and if so how did you get this far?)

Okay, so it speaks for itself and doesn't need overanalysing like that, but now that the floor is open to comments I don't really know what to say; I feel I exhausted them all at the earliest possible opportunity that I could mention them (especially a couple of videos ago, where a good chunk of the 80+ comments were mine)! It was fantastic watching you play this from start to finish, and react so well in all the right places - and even surprise us with unexpected ingenuity in places! The best sort of game to video-play is the sort that provokes reactions, and short of throwing a mound of horror games at you and locking you in a dark, dank room to play them, I don't think we could have had better. =D

There are a number of special moves you can perform, by the way. If you charge your beam then roll into a ball, you'll spew out about five bombs - I think if you do it with a plasma bomb selected you can do something special there, too. In fact, if you have any combination of a charge beam + a single other beam and select power bombs, you can do a special super charge based on the type of beam. Oh, and you can hyper-jump diagonally by holding the aim-up button; it's fantastically useful! Finally, if you're below 50 health with nothing in your reserves, with at least 10 missiles, 10 super missiles(?) and 11 power bombs, you can do a special move to fully heal yourself at the expense of some ammo - that can be an absolute lifesaver.

There's just so much to this game that's hidden from you. Exploration-wise, though, you did very well - 77% of items is great,and you even found a couple that I routinely miss.

Edited 2013-06-04 02:38 (UTC)

Yes, I did think that last boss was oddly easy compared to the immense difficulty that I had with Ridley and the final fishbeast! But what a moment - I can't believe that I went through life until now never having even heard of that scene. It's fantastically scripted - I didn't see the smoke or get the significance of it changing to the dust colour and then back again until I watched the video as well, because I was too busy gibbering madly at it by that point, but... it gives you dread again just after hope!

And then... yes, the power you get both directly in the game and as the player is incredible. Suddenly, you're glowing, you fire great rainbow-beams of fury, and your hits knock the mother brain's head back wildly with the impact... combined with my own furious bleepstorm and determination to destroy!

And... there really is so much to this game! Things that I failed to discover, things that I would never have any hope of discovering... there's an amazing amount in it.

I think that, even if you had heard about that scene, it's the sort of thing that couldn't be conveyed in any way other than seeing it yourself. Although it's wordless in the game, obviously there are words to describe it, but nothing that comes close to first-hand experience. Tourian is such a sharp turn in gameplay, but it's just so excellent from beginning to end - well, mostly at the end, but even at the beginning when you're assaulted by Metroids feels like a great way to introduce you to the fact that things are about to hit the fan.

If there's one thing that Super Metroid has done irrevocably for the series - or my experience of it - is that I can't kill metroids without feeling bad about it. Even the normal, not-imprinted-on-Samus kind. I suppose they've always just been a force of nature (or Chozo engineering) that have seen interference and misuse. As of Metroid Fusion, they're practically the good guys.
...
...
Or are they?

Hah... that sounds ominous ;) I hadn't known why the series was called Metroid at all before (I call it an "alien thing" on the title screen) but now they seem to be at the centre of a more involved story than I had ever imagined from a SNES game.

Even right up to the end you prove yourself full of surprises....first you get the Grappling Beam in an unorthodox matter (side note: I found out that getting there without the Speed Booster is impossible, so not knowing you could do that is the only reason to use your rather impressive technique) to getting that one Energy Tank in Maridia with the Spring Ball...and now you get past the Metroids without using the traditional method: Ice Beam followed by either 5 Missiles or 1 Super Missile...instead simply Power Bombing them into oblivion.

...In fairness, however, that's the only thing the Power Bombs were good for at that point.

On a final note: Congrats on completing Super Metroid, and bravo on that hilarious Ending Animation of Revenge. XD

That's right, I didn't discover that method even though I thought I'd tried everything... I think it's the first time that you're absolutely forced to use two different types of weapons to defeat one enemy (though I'd done the same thing to a wall-mouth covering an optional secret earlier in the same video).

16:00 - "It doesn't restrict you, either..."

How much you genuinely sound like you enjoyed that aspect of it just makes me all the more determined to advise not doing Fusion next. Or ever. Well, maybe once you've built up enough of a stomach and go in knowing full well that you're basically playing a bad game just to have experienced the knowledge of having seen the few good memorable moments (like, pretend there was an alternate version of Super Metroid that was horrible but still had the Metroid larva sacrifice ending, which is such a memorable moment in gaming history that everyone should see it even if it means having to endure the rest of this alternate-reality-horrible game. That's basically Fusion, only Fusion's main draw mercifully happens about an hour in instead of all the way at the end.)

By contrast, Zero Mission is a fantastic game that is properly explorable, but the timing on it may be a bit off. Zero Mission is an enhanced remake of the original Metroid, meaning it is literally the same point as the original canon-wise (Samus goes to Zebes and beats Kraid/Ridley/Mother Brain for the first time) though it does add a bit more after where the original ended. Basically, it's the original Metroid only they went back and adjusted it for things that Super Metroid invented, like the Gravity Suit, Power Bombs, and graphics. Thus, it is an outstanding game and has all the powerup-based exploration that Super Metroid had and Fusion did not, but I think doing Zero Mission right after Super might be a bit repetitive. How much Zebes can you take, exactly?

You have no idea how badly I want there to be a Zero Mission-esque remake of Metroid II (especially since that's where the larva originally came from), but the complete non-Euclidean impossibility of the world probably killed any attempt ever made to translate it to a game with a built-in map. So, that one's out, I guess.

Assuming you want to do another Metroid game in the first place, I guess that leaves Prime as far as my suggestion on where to go next!

Edit: I just realized I forgot about Other M. And so should you, honestly.

Edited 2013-06-04 03:23 (UTC)

It really did impress me - it's very free-form (apart from the introductory section where the upgrades are all very specific different coloured doors - I complained about this at the time but like I said, I now understand why they did it). And it's difficult to tell how much they expected sequence-breaking to happen - certainly making vertical skills like the wall jump available from the start meant that they intended to give some element of over-freedom for experienced players, but I've been recommended a couple of speedruns and they take advantage of a large number of ZZT-like unexpected combinations of skills as well.

Does the original Metroid take place in a map comparable to this game, if it's the same setting? That would be interesting, if so...

A lot of the elements from the first game are present here; the long shaft with the blue platforms you hated so much at the start is where the first game ended, the chamber immediately after is old Tourian, and the section of Brinstar you drop into from there is actually where the original Metroid starts.

The original NES Metroid map has some of the same areas (Super Metroid expanded--NES has Brinstar, Lower Brinstar/Kraid's Lair, Norfair, Lower Norfair/Ridley's Lair, and Tourian, while Super Metroid added Crateria, Maridia, and the Wrecked Ship) but the layout is a lot ... plainer. And by that I mean I sure hope you enjoy ten-mile-tall vertical shafts that fork into doors that only lead to more vertical shafts.

It did establish some basic ground rules (Norfair is the lava level) and a few memorable, if not iconic rooms (the start location with the ~~Maru Mari~~ Morph Ball immediately to the left), and Super Metroid and Zero Mission alike kept all of the basic stuff like that while redesigning the stuff in the middle to be A) unique (so even Super Metroid to Zero Mission, let alone the original, is not literally the same map) and B) more interesting and with a better layout than what the NES version had.

Try looking at that map from the starting location (it's on the far left but about halfway down, just below Tourian) and start following it from there as if you were playing. You should be able to sort every screen you see into one of two piles, "boring vertical chasm or long hallway" and "I REMEMBER THIS ROOM."

Wow, I hadn't realized just how similar the maps were...! Was Super Metroid almost a... remake in parts, if it's set in the same locations? I can't think of any other game that's really done that, had you play through upgraded versions of the same areas - apart from perhaps Silent Hill to Silent Hill 3...

And you're not wrong about the long boring vertical shafts - they're not just long, they're the same screen stamped out over and over and over and over and over! I wonder if this was a space-saving issue, they had a limited library of rooms and just defined which room layout went where on a grid...

If memory serves (keep in mind I'm having to go back a ways for this,) when Super Metroid came out, it was originally meant to be a sort of ... half-sequel, half-remake, in that the story is clearly set after the events of Metroid 1 and 2, involving the theft of the larva that you originally got at the end of 2, etc., yet the point of the story is still just as clearly to send you back to Zebes (home of Metroid 1) where the designers will conveniently have a chance to revamp everything.

What confuses the issue somewhat is that (after they made Fusion, which is chronologically later on and is beside the point), they made Zero Mission, which really is an actual enhanced remake/retelling of Metroid 1, and comparing the obfuscation of the map (I wasn't able to find a screenshot one) to the NES version makes it seem at first glance like the layout of the recurring areas (Brinstar, Norfair, and the two boss lairs) is much more faithful to the NES layout, though I assure you that I would have noticed if actually playing the game were anywhere near as repetitive. Plus, much like Super, they did expand on that with new powers and new areas to take into account the new powers (obviously there weren't Power Bomb doors in the NES version!)

Also, despite what that title card says, this is not a complete map; NES Metroid ends after you beat Mother Brain and escape the self-destruct countdown, whereas Zero Mission tacks one new area not shown here on after that.

I forgot to mention in the speech over the credits that I loved that the final challenge of the game is ascending up through the huge vertical shaft where you started your adventure and learned to know through having to go back and forth through it... (I was too panicked to notice it was actually the same location at first, but my "why not bring back terrible memories!" comment was more appropriate than I realized) - that really ties the whole thing together in a loop. And making the start of the game remind you of the last Zebes visit, and then using that same place to end the game in similar circumstances once more... that's a beautiful reference on so many levels that I missed!

If you do it right, that "final challenge" isn't actually much of a challenge at all; I found out completely by accident on my last playthrough that you can actually Shinespark through most of those platforms! I shot up the right side of the shaft and was clear of it all in about 7 seconds. O_o;

I'm probably late to the party on this one, but I've just now, while looking at this map, made a connection between "Chozo and Chzo" and I believe my fanfic meter is spinning like crazy.

Or is that just abject terror?

Edited 2013-06-05 15:00 (UTC)

*JD*

Your intuition is correct as the original Metroid's map is a collection of square rooms used repeatedly. Here is what the game's hexmap looks like (i have no idea what a hexmap actually is).

http://www.metroid-database.com/m1/hexmap.gif

Each different alphanumeric combo is a different room layout and particularly when you get to vertical shafts they are often one room layout stacked on top of it self several time over, as you noticed. Beyond that you see a lot of repeats in various hallways as there really is a limited total amount of layouts altogether. It was an early NES game (one of the first two to ever feature a password save feature), that they managed it at all was a bit of a wonder.

There is one odd quirk to this that once you realize makes exploring for secrets much easier. While you can bomb certain squares to try and access a secret (some are just invisible things you can roll through)... these are the same in every room that has the same layout. The tricky part is that for in order for it to be a secret passage to a different room (or part of one) the next room's layout must have a matching secret passage that connects to it, if it doesn't you just go halfway into the wall and stop there. That happens a lot.

Of all the re-used things from the original Metroid in Super, the fact that they kept the early energy tank in the ceiling that you can only get via the high jump or ridiculous bomb jumping in the exact same location is my favorite.

I suppose "hexmap" just refers to it being a grid that refers to hexadecimal values (00 to FF) to look up the rooms - having a really ugly font is optional. I'm not sure if it's a standard way to store room connections in NES games but due to the limited space I would say that it may well be! It's a great way to make a seemingly huge environment out of limited resources... I only see the room numbers going up to about 2C, that's 44 unique layouts in the whole world.

I would think it would make finding secrets even harder - you get more of a chance to discover the breakable things in a room, but then have to hunt around the entire game for rooms that match that layout in which the tunnel actually leads somewhere!

You monster!! You left the mohawk bird and wall jump friends to die on an exploding planet!

...Yes, you can actually save them. You didn't though, they are surely dead.

Posted elsewhere but this is the link to that Gamasutra article that breaks down Super Metroid's design and how it subtly guides you.

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/HugoBille/20120114/9236/The_Invisible_Hand_of_Super_Metroid.php

Hmm, what else.

Even as a big Metroid fan the only other entry I'd consider to possibly be great was Metriod Prime. Fusion and Zero Mission both have strengths and weaknesses, oddly enough some combination would have probably worked out fine (Zero Missions flaws are being a rather formulaic by the numbers Super Metroid clone, putting in fake sequence breaks and artificially locking you out of items you acquired until it becomes convenient later. It also locks you out of much of the exploration until late game as does Fusion, it is just less heavy handed in it. Not bad mind you but unless you want something exactly like Super Metroid except less good there's no point to head right to it).

I actually have a lot of respect for Metroid II: Return of Samus as it is the most labyrinthine, truly lost in a hostile world Metroid game ever made, but it is also rather rough around the edges and would probably disappoint many who try it for the first time today. Super Metroiding it up a la Zero Mission would sorta miss the entire point of the game but it definitely would benefit from some modern tinkering.

So yeah, if you are gonna play another go with Prime 1.

I started reading that article last night, and it's fantastic - it points out a lot of things that I did and didn't realize it, such as encouraging you silently to go through doors by making sure you'll have a specific weapon equipped... and putting those weird eggs in the corridor to the plasma beam to demonstrate to you just how much more powerful your new weapon is. It's touches like that, where you don't even notice their purpose, that make this game really special :)

I do have Prime, actually, as part of a boatload of Gamecube games that my brother-in-law gave us in return for helping clean out his horrific apartment - I'm going to be interested to see how the formula translates.

In that regard, Prime's a lot easier to figure out. Your inventory menu describes how your equipment works in much greater detail, plus you have the added bonus of the Scan Visor: you can simply scan an object, item, or enemy, and figure out all sorts of stuff about it (and, in some cases, activate some stuff).

You still get the little "psst, here's how you should use this" nudges, though.

Hey, great video!

Unfortunately, I've forgotten basically everything else I wanted to say already :P

I have to admire your skill at wall jumping, and also at using the space jump/screw attack. I always had so much difficulty with the latter, that I felt jumping actually became more difficult after getting those power-ups. I knew I had to get it to progress, but oh no~ my jump!!

Discussing the Norfair boss route. . well, it is called "No[r]fair," but it's actually quite possible to get through the stone dragon mouth and enter Lower Norfair without using the gravity suit to resist the lava damage. Honestly, I had forgotten it was even possible to ignore the damage from the lava at all! You eventually have to judge that it's the way to go, and take the plunge that brings you inexorably towards the end of the game.

You've got plenty of energy at that point in the game, anyway. Especially you: you almost got every energy tank in the game!!! . .And still only 77% item collection!

You're pretty lucky you didn't get killed by Mother Brain's. . .brain beam. Because that's something that can actually happen. I think I did the same thing you did, the first time I played the game, and had to deal with all the metroids leading up to Mother Brain: super bombs are the only way to go, or so it seems. .

See you next mission!

I did actually experiment with diving into the lava in Norfair regardless, before I had the gravity suit... I didn't make it, obviously, because you need the space jump (which is really difficult to pull off consistently!) as well, but I saw I could definitely survive for a while down there.

Thank you for that tribute :)

This tribute amused me more than it should. :P It's like the world's saddest epitaph, or something. :P

D.F.

WELL THAT WAS INCREDIBLY INTENSE AND EXCITING. I've never actually seen the ending before.

Mother Brain is completely terrifying.

I'd never seen it either or had any idea what was going to happen, which I now find strange as apparently it's all over the Internet and a very well-known bit of game storylines akin to "Aeris dies"... but it was very special to have that live realization!

My excuse is that Super Metroid is terrifying enough that I've had no desire to watch an LP of it until now. Congratulations, you overrode my fear of the MASTERFUL SUSPENSE AND HORRIFIC ATMOSPHERE featured in this game.

Heh - it honestly is far more suspenseful than I had imagined! A lot of that is in the sound, the cheerful background music of most games of the era is gone and replaced with very... "thick" atmospheric music, and there's always a feeling of being... alone and very far underground, particularly during the descent in Norfair near the end.

Well, now that you're done, I suppose there's a few secrets you can be let in on.

(WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU DON'T WANT A FEW ITEMS YOU MISSED REVEALED TO YOU!)

-Don't worry about this, this is just filler space so that, if you wanted to skip the spoilers and accidentally glanced down, you won't see anything. :]

-That room in early Brinstar, with the floor of spikes and falling rocks that you couldn't get through? It had an invisible floor about 2/3 of the way up; the "artificial restriction" was simply you bonking your head on it. The X-Ray Scope would reveal it. Getting past that, if memory serves, would have gotten you...some Missiles.

-Remember the Power Bomb you located up above your ship, in the room to the right of that little cliff? On the opposite side of that area, along the cliff face, was a part you could bomb (or Screw Attack) through. That would have led you to the two Missiles above the entrance to the Statue Room you spotted but couldn't reach, as well as the final Energy Tank.

-Also, that seemingly impossible Missile pack in Maridia, that you had to Shinespark to get but had no room to in that room. You had to build up the Shinespark in the hall to the right (blocked by a Super Missile gate, so setting a savestate after opening it could save you a lot of ammo), duck to set it the instant you were back in the large room, get over to the proper spot (the foreground topography helps here; you stand right on the leftmost patch of grass/seaweed/whatever), and then launch yourself upwards. ...all for some Missiles. XP

-Finally, there's one secret you missed in the final escape sequence that a few people screamed at you about: the creatures that taught you how to Wall Jump and Shinespark can be rescued. During the countdown to Zebesageddon, they're gathered in the room where you got the Bombs, down the shaft to the left of the door to your ship's landing area. It's the only set of passages NOT locked. You can get in there, blast out the wall behind them with the Hyper Beam (the weapon you got to fry Mother Brain with), and let them make a run for it. It changes the ending a little bit....for the sake of nagging at your curiosity, however, I won't say how. :b

-Don't worry about this, this is just filler space so that, if you skipped down to the following "Spoiler Warning Over" line and accidentally glanced up, you won't see anything. :]

(OKAY, SPOILER WARNING OVER!)

Again, congrats on your well-earned victory, and kudos for finding yet another unplanned way out of a situation (i.e. Power Bombing the Metroids rather than freezing and Missiling them)....you are, without a doubt, the most unorthodox Metroidvania player I have ever seen. XP

It's like they say - idiotproof something, and nature will make a better idiot. What that phrase REALLY means is that the "idiot" will find a different way around the problem or use something in a way not originally intended for that item. (Bomb jumping is a good example of this, I think) The designer is only one person. and there's millions of "idiots" who have played Metroid blind or found glitches for additional sequence breaking.

On a sidenote, the first time I played Pokemon I somehow completely skipped learning how to catch a pokemon, so I only had a Charizard by the time I hit Cerulean City. Now THAT'S an alternate, unintended playstyle.

Edited 2013-06-04 17:46 (UTC)

Oh, thanks :) But you're right - it leaves so many things open without artificially restricting them, and I wonder how many of the places where there's the potential to sequence-break were left in consciously... putting abilities like the wall jump in and making them available but unknown from the start of the game is a great decision that allows experienced players to experiment wildly!

Thank you for that email-friendly spoiler consideration :)

The invisible floor makes sense, even though it's... totally unique! I'm rather glad to be informed that that wasn't a deliberate blockade to prevent you coming through that room in the opposite direction than was intended, as I'd thought... someone said I was doing some minor sequence breaking there, is there a more correct way in?

Having to build up a Shinespark through a door is a clever touch, I think someone (possibly you) mentioned it in the Youtube comments as well... every game should have one or two things that are a little insane :)

I feel rather bad about leaving those wall-jumpers and the punk flamingo behind, now! Though I'd made so many mistakes during the escape that I wouldn't have had time to get them. It must be said that the destruction caused by that last explosion was a lot more... comprehensive than I'd ever guessed.

One final note if you're interested: A tally of everything you missed.

-17 Missile packs
-2 Super Missile packs
-1 Power Bomb pack
-1 Energy Tank
-2 Reserve Tanks

That's really not bad, for first-time blind exploration! Apart from the missiles - I can't imagine being particularly enthralled with the reward of 95 more capacity for them!

85, actually, but I see your point. :b

Personally, I'd have preferred having half of the Power Bomb upgrades swapped for Missile upgrades, for 2 reasons.

1) Most players don't use Power Bombs often enough to need 50 of the damn things at once (although given your last performance, I imagine you could have probably used more of them).

2) That would have boosted the maximum missile count from a somewhat strange 230 up to a nice, geeky 255...aka FF, the biggest 2-digit number in hexidecimal.

Oh yeah, one other thing that came to mind that might have saved you...oh, at least a minute or two?....during your run: There are actually 2 ways to open Red doors.

Slow way: 5 missiles.
Quick, "to hell with this crap" way: 1 Super Missile.

Hah... yes, that would have been a nice cap :) And I didn't discover that you could open Missile doors with Super Missiles, but I think I may have accidentally opened a Super Missile door with a Power Bomb a few times...

I don't have a :3 icon for this post, so this'll have to do. :)

That was... quite a series of mood swings at the end! The Super Metroid flies in, and you see it devour an otherwise invincible enemy and watch as it shrivels up and turns to sand in its jaws, and your response is terrified incoherent gibbering and a realisation that this is why the whole galaxy fears them... and then that turns to incomprehension as it moves to eat you too, then changes its mind and flies off again... and then the Mother Brain fight nearly kills you, and it swoops in and 'eats' you, and you're like DAMMIT THIS IS JUST ADDING INSULT AND BIO-HORROR TO INJURY NOW... and then you realise it's healing you... and then Mother Brain engages it and you suddenly feel all protective of this horrible monstrosity... and then she kills it, and my response, at least, was I AM GOING TO KILL YOU NOW. And then you look back at the story from the start again... the last Metroid follows Samus around like a confused child... it's studied for its energy-generating properties... and it all clicks into place, and you end up feeling quite sad for the little fangly jellyfish.

I know this is ridiculously out of date (it's what, a 1994 game, so the rest of the world has had 19 years to cope with this 'revelation'), but for someone coming to it for the first time, it's still quite touching.

Come to think of it, it's the second time in the game the 'parent/child' relationship has been explored through the 'show, don't tell' style the game has; the first time was that ~~ugly flying boss wait I can't use that that's nearly all of them~~ thing you fought at the end of part 9, where, after you killed it, its 'children' came in to take the body away. That was quite poignant, as well. I guess it sort of parallels the Aliens movie (and sort-of Alien Resurrection as well), in that it explores the concept of motherhood, and uses that very intimate link as a source of horror when it's presented in conjunction with grotesque monsters.

Anyhow, that aside, congratulations on your first official Stumble Success! Here's to many more!

D.F.

It really is a much more shocking thing to happen than I ever expected from a SNES game - so was Final Fantasy 6, but this told it so beautifully without ever saying a word... the astonishment in my voice as I work out what's going on and who's giving me my energy back... I'm so glad that it dawned on me at that exact moment, just before that hope was ripped away again (provoking almost melting the bleep machine - and yes, a huge determination for revenge, compounded by Samus' glowing, the new mega rainbow beam, and the sheer punch that it gives the Mother Brain with its head snapping back with each hit... it's extraordinary.

The parent/child relationship gets even better... I was working on a study called "Endometroid conditions" at work the other day, and it turns out that "endometrioid" is something to do with the womb...! I have to wonder if that's where the title came from...

Thanks for sharing the journey :)

On a sidenote, now that your play is over and done, when do you feel up to recording Undertale? Do you need a little extra time away from your editing software..?

I'll be doing side projects for a while (I've already got another one going!) but especially as the Undertale demo isn't a massive undertaking, I'd be glad to attempt it whenever everyone else is willing :) My parents, however, will be around for a few weekends starting on the 22nd.

Sub 9-hours without a guide! I think the first time I finally beat the game took 6-ish, but that was with me constantly going to gamefaqs because I spoiled myself rotten.

I'd still like to try recording a speedrun of the game with you if you're interested!

And on that note, the world record for an any% run just got beaten today, 45 minutes 47 seconds real time. (Nobody uses the ingame timer because it's not always running).

You should check out most modern Castlevania games though. There's a reason they're called Metroidvanias. I never played Symphony of the Night which was a PSX game, but Aria/Dawn of Sorrow for GBA/DS were both fantastic.

Edited 2013-06-05 00:01 (UTC)

Thank you for sounding impressed ;) Yes, I'd like to give that speedrun commentary a try!

I played Symphony of the Night before, but never got around to trying any of the others - I really enjoyed it and Super Metroid, so I'd love to get into more eventually :)

Oh also I can point out that this is a thing! http://smrandomizer.codeplex.com/

A tool that will randomize the position of minor/major powerups giving you a random game (with some constants, as it tries to avoid creating unwinnable games). It's pretty brutal though in what tricks become mandatory sometimes.

Thankfully it has an option to disable the possibility of having to do Maridia without the gravity suit. Yes, it's possible. I think you have to be a sadist though.

The ingenuity of fans is just wonderful sometimes :) An entirely different game with new challenges (that you don't even know in advance), created through simply substituting locations...

Stumbling through Super Metroid - Part 12 (Last!)

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