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Super Metroid (JP) (also referred to in-game as Metroid 3) is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System game released in 1994. This game is the third game in the Metroid series. In 2007 to celebrate the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Nintendo released this on the Wii's Virtual Console. During its first month on sale, it was the most downloaded game on the Wii Shop Channel. When Super Metroid was released on the SNES it was the largest game availabale on that system with a 24-megabit cartridge. Nintendo R&D1 and Intelligent Systems developed the game. It was the last Metroid game for eight years until Metroid Prime on the Nintendo GameCube and Metroid Fusion on Game Boy Advance.
Plot[]
The game starts right after Metroid II. After delivering the Baby Metroid to Ceres Space Colony, Samus receives a distress call from there and immediately heads back there to investigate. When she arrives, she finds that everyone is dead and the baby Metroid is missing! Shortly after this, she finds that Ridley has stolen the Baby! After a quick fight, Ridley manages to escape to Zebes with Samus following closely behind.
Samus lands on the planet into an acid rainstorm. She goes down into the destroyed Tourian from Metroid 1 and then into the old Brinstar where she gets the Morph Ball and some missiles but is spotted by a mysterious camera. Once she goes back into the old Tourian, she is ambushed by Space Pirates! These ones go down easy so she makes her way to a room in Crateria and finds Morph Ball Bombs. Once she finds those, she makes her way to a strange golden statue depicting four bosses (Kraid, Phantoon, Draygon, Ridley). She then goes to Green Brinstar and finds a whole bunch of stuff including Super Missiles and Charge Beam. Samus goes behind a shutter and gets stuck. Then she heads to Red Brinstar and falls down a big shaft. Everything that Samus has explored so far is now temporarily out of reach. Samus forgets about it for now and finds the Spazer and entrance to Kraid's Lair. She can't get in there though because she cannot jump high enough. After a quick detour in Norfair, she finds the High Jump Boots and is able to get into Kraid's Lair. Once Kraid is dead, Samus finds the Varia Suit and is able to explore the hot planet core. In Norfair, Samus finds the Speed Booster and also comes across the entrance to Ridley's Lair. She takes note of that for later and goes back up to the entrance to find the Ice Beam. Once she has that, she goes back up the high shaft in Red Brinstar to get Power Bombs. Samus gets them and heads back to Norfair to blow up some rocks and finds a secret passageway. The passage leads to Crocomire's room. After he is dead, Samus finds the Grappling Beam in the next area in Norfair. Once she has that, she heads to Crateria and goes into the Wrecked Ship. Samus finds and kills Phantoon which restores power to the ship and allows Samus to find the Gravity Suit. After getting that, she goes into Maridia where she finds some Mocktroids. She finds and kills Draygon, allowing her access to the Space Jump and Plasma Beam. Once she has those, she heads back to Norfair and goes into Ridley's Lair. There, she finds the Screw Attack after killing a gold Torizo. Shortly after, Samus finds and kills Ridley. The room after Ridley's Boss Room contains a familiar capsule...
...Seems the Baby is out of Containment.
But anyway after seeing that, Samus heads to the Golden Statue Room where the statue rusts and sinks into the muddy ground where the entrance to Tourian is revealed. Samus goes down the elevator and into the rebuild enemy stronghold. After killing some cloned Metroids, she finds herself in a simulated desert where all the enemies have turned into dried husks. Even a Torizo!
Samus heads into the next room where she finds a whole bunch of husks and one blue Side-Hopper...
Suddenly a gigantic Metroid appears and ambushes Samus! It drains her energy to one point when it suddenly stops. The giant Metroid is revealed to actually be the Baby and has grown giant due the the experiments performed on it. The Metroid flies away in embarrassment. Samus recharges her energy in the next room.
Once that is done, Samus goes to a familiar chamber for the ultimate battle against Mother Brain. Samus shoots the Mother with everything she's got but it doesn't seem to phase her at all. Suddenly Samus notices that Mother Brain is charging up a power attack...
Then Mother Brain unleashes a super powerful Laser Brain Attack on Samus! The attack nearly kills her but the Baby comes and the last second and saves Samus! Mother Brain is reduced to a husk and the Baby heals Samus with the power stolen from Mother Brain. Suddenly the Mother revives herself somehow and starts shooting the Baby! The Baby is nearly killed and detaches itself from Samus to get ready for another attack but Mother Brain manages to kill it. The dying Metroid falls onto Samus, granting her the immensely powerful Hyper Beam attack! With this power weapon, Samus is able to kill Mother Brain and avenge her fallen Metroid. Once the Mother is dead, a time bomb activates and Samus has exactly 3 minutes to escape from Tourian before it explodes! Samus makes it out of Tourian but finds out that this self destruct sequence will destroy the entire planet! After a quick detour to save the animals, Samus is able to escape the planet in her gunship! The operation was completed successfully!
Once this happens, the game credits roll and we see our item collection percentage.
Enemies[]
Locations[]
- Crateria: The surface of Zebes. Also contains the old destroyed Tourian from the original Metroid.
- Brinstar: A jungle and damp cave. Also contains part of the old Brinstar from the original Metroid and Kraid's Lair.
- Wrecked Ship: A crashed spaceship located in the eastern section of Crateria. Also contains Phantoon's Lair.
- Maridia: A flooded cave that contains failed Metroid clones. Also contains Draygon's Turf.
- Norfair: A hot underground cave. Also contains Ridley's Lair.
- Tourian: Mother Brain's base. Contains a simulated desert with a dead Torizo.
Gameplay[]
The game is very similar to the previous games in the series. The game is much larger and featured enhanced graphics and gameplay features, though the basic premise is retained. As the player you control Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who is sent to the planet Zebes. The game is a platformer action game, and you can retrace your steps instead of following a linear path. The world the player will explore is large, and a variety of species inhabit it that will attack Samus Aran. There is now a map. Samus has a wide range of weapons with her, and she'll gain upgrades as the player progresses through the game. A new ability in the game allows Samus to walk backwards while firing her Arm Cannon, which is based on Michael Jackson's famous moonwalk move. Samus can also wall jump similarly to Mega Man X and combine weapon beams together. She can also do a move called the Crystal Flash
Development[]
Reception[]
After this game released, it became very popular. The game is played by many people to this day and is also popular in the speedrunning community due to its many glitches and secret tricks.
Legacy[]
Super Metroid is often lauded as one of the series' best games. It was rated the seventh best video game of all time by IGN in 2007 while Electronic Gaming Monthly said it was the best game of all time in 2003. After Super Metroid was released, Samus wouldn't appear in another Metroid game until the Game Boy Advance was released years later. She'd make cameo appearances, however, such as in Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars for the SNES and would even appear as a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64.
The game was featured on the cover of Nintendo Power V60, and it won Best Move (Crystal Flash) in the 1994 Nintendo Power Awards.
In 1997, the game was ranked at #6 in Nintendo Power's 100 Best Games of All Time, as printed in Nintendo Power V100. 100 issues later, in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games, it was pushed down to #12. And in the magazine's 20th anniversary issue, it was ranked #4 on the SNES list for Nintendo Power's Best of the Best.
External links[]
- Super Metroid at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Super Metroid at GameFAQs
- Super Metroid at MobyGames
- Super Metroid at Nintendo.com
- Super Metroid at Virtual Console Reviews
| Metroid series | |
|---|---|
| Metroid series | Metroid (NES Classics) • II: Return of Samus • Super Metroid • Fusion • Zero Mission • Other M • Samus Returns • Dread |
| Metroid Prime series | Metroid Prime (New Play Control! • Remastered) • 2: Echoes (New Play Control!) • Prime Hunters • Prime 3: Corruption • Prime 4 • Prime Pinball • Prime: Trilogy • Federation Force |
| Related | Nintendo • Retro Studios • Samus Aran • Super Smash Bros. • Nintendo Land • Gunpei Yokoi • Kensuke Tanabe • Yoshio Sakamoto |