Super Metroid turns 30 years old today. What are your fondest memories of the game?

[ReyVGM]

Super Metroid was released in North America April 18th... 30 years ago!!

At the time, I was kind of bored of video games. Until I saw the game's commercial. That scene of Samus running with the speedbooster made my eyes bulge with excitement.

I credit Super Metroid with bringing me back into the gaming fold and I haven't left since.

What are your first or fondest memories of the game?

 

[Anth0ny]

I first played it on Wii VC and it still blew my tiny little mind. I was going into it with high expectations too (EGM named it the GOAT on one of their top 100 lists)

30 years later, still one of the GOATs. Timeless classic.

 

[Chrono]

A classic in every sense of the word.

 

[Doskoi Panda]

blowing that motherfuckin tube was one of the biggest 'holy shit that actually worked' moments I've ever had playing a video game

i've never played the game thru using that widescreen hack that made the rounds a few years back. I think it's time

 

[kamineko]

breaking the glass was wild

the wrecked ship, I remember being fascinated by the vibes there. felt unique to the setting

 

[MegaRockEXE]

I played this back in like 2001 for the first time. Haven't played it since but it made quite an impression on me. The things that stand out to me the most is seeing that secret Power Bomb move in the title demo and not knowing how to do it in-game. And also the softlock you can get yourself in, if I recall, by saving in the last room. And also how satisfying that triple rainbow beam was to fire.

 

[Dogui]

First time getting the running upgrade thing was such an epic moment for me.

I always play the Thundercats opening in my mind when i'm running and wrecking stuff with Samus lol

 

[Slayven]

Peak metroid

 

[Marz]

First time hearing that music

 

[Darkreaver]

Best game ever been created.
(I grew up with metroid games.)

I really like the underwater theme. Its pure isolation in an alien world. The music and ambient is one of the rare games that does this.

 

[Dice]

The whole ending segment still hits me deep.

It's sprites but this was so cool and moving and scary.


View: https://youtu.be/tVUYyVfydqY
This song is so 90s in the best of ways. What a mood.

This is still such a great title and intro sequence. It really sets up such a spooky vibe, the alien noises, and the musical cues as it "types up" "M E T R O I D 3".


View: https://www.instagram.com/p/B7zxkkMJ96D/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I drew this a few years back but I still like it (I love this game a lot if ya cant tell)

 

[NukeRunner]

Finding out you can save the animal friends :)

 

[Ashes of Dreams]

One day I'll play a Metroid game! I swear it.

breaking the glass was wild

the wrecked ship, I remember being fascinated by the vibes there. felt unique to the setting

Click to shrink...

Hey kamineko. I can totally understand the vibes of Super Metroid being groundbreaking back in the day. Just from what I've seen of it.

 

[Eila]

Almost perfect game, but for some tech hiccups and floatiness. Oh, and this part:

I spent hours trying to advance the game before I figured out what you had to do.

 

[Laserbeam]

I played through it again a few years ago on my Switch, mostly while sitting outside in the evening relaxing, during a really stressful and depressing time in my life and it was great all over again and I'll never forget it or the first time I played it.

The mood and atmosphere is still so completely absorbing that it's crazy.

 

[Bananastand]

This game might have my favorite OST of all time.

Gotta plug the Luminist synth version of the soundtrack. I hope Nintendo ever makes a Metroid that sounds like this.


View: https://youtu.be/zR4DiAxwZuU?si=GgeIr-tiPR86Uu8T

 

[Suede]

Oh look, it's my favourite video game.

 

[daninthemix]

Played it at night while home alone. One of the spookiest most atmospheric games even to this day.

 

[Noppie]

I'll throw a curveball and say watching the speedruns evolve over the year.

 

[Dice]

This game might have my favorite OST of all time.

Gotta plug the Luminist synth version of the soundtrack. I hope Nintendo ever makes a Metroid that sounds like this.


View: https://youtu.be/zR4DiAxwZuU?si=GgeIr-tiPR86Uu8T

Click to shrink...

 

[haotshy]

Getting trapped in that goddamned wall jump pit

 

[Deadceptor]

This will always be in my top 3 of greatest games ever. Still remember the first time playing this in 1995, the overall atmosphere was just mindblowing at the time! It still has the most iconic sound effects and OST for me to this day. Also fell in love with speedrunning it like 10 or 15 years ago. Can't wait to play it with my kids. I already scared them shitless with the intro...maybe they'll be ready in a few years.

 

[MajorasHeart]

Definitely Ridley's fight and the lead-up to it. Lower Noirfair's theme is such a banger <3

 

[eXistor]

Still my number 1 video game and the only one I can comfortably give a 10/10 to. It really made an impression in the day, especially the very start of the game where you go back to Zebes for the first time since Metroid 1 and find it initially desolated and come across the broken and empty Mother Brain tank. Chilling stuff.

 

[rahji]

Blowing up that glass pipe. I even called the nintendo hotline back then as I was stuck.

 

[Chrono]

So much of the music sticks with me, but this one immediately comes to mind. You take the elevator down to Brinstar, and then...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsG3sw51yYI

Chills. Love the way it just fades in.

 

[EarthPainting]

I prefer most Metroid games that came after it, but they all walked in the footsteps of Super. As for my fondest memory, saving the animals at the end was very endearing.

 

[HolyJonte]

I have only watched A Link to the Past / Super Metroid randomizers on YouTube and they are great, such a cool idea to combine two different games to one, fantastic!

 

[Icarian]

I still have the original, bought it randomly (like most games back then) in a random store, one of the best SNES games.

I never realized people had trouble with the glass tube until I got into the internet years later, getting the hang of wall jumping took me longer because it was the first time I encountered that mechanic in a game.

 

[Sweet Blue]

Happy birthday to the GOAT, may not be the most perfect game, but to me it is, the pleasure to play it and explore Zebes is still intact after all this time.

 

[th1nk]

One of the GOATs. The atmosphere is incredible. Landing in the rain and the moody soundtrack… holy fuck shivers.

I will get stoned on Era but a lovingly crafted remake would be so. fucking. amazing.

 

[Dukie85]

Same as I said about ALTTP, this is my favorite game of ALL time, shared with ALTTP. I can never choose between the two. It's a masterpiece. Sequence breaking is the greatest thing in the world. Bomb bouncing to places I shouldn't be shouldn't be as fun as it is.

 

[julia crawford]

the bridge

yes i'm still ashamed of it

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Even though I rank games like Outer Wilds and Bloodborne above it, it's still in my all-time top 10.
Some of my fondest memories are the finale, the Chozo statue carrying you, the glass tube and Crocomire's skeleton appearing one last time.

 

[SharpX68K]

Loved this game then, and now. Incredible.

EGM and GamePro reviews

Game Players magazine interview and review:

 

[onibirdo]

I played it on Wii or Wii U VC and rememember not liking it very much, mainly because controlling it felt cumbersome after Fusion and Zero Mission.
I should give it a proper chance again.

 

[PuppetMinion]

Getting my mind kinda blown when I was running around, not knowing what to do and I randomly broke the glass tube messing around.

Oh and practicing doing the wall jumps until I finally could do them on command.

 

[Mr Swine]

Green Brinstars banging soundtrack and Mother Brain rising up from the ground after she fakes her "death" in the control capsule

 

[Shift Breaker]

My first in the series was Fusion, followed by an absurd amount of time playing Zero Mission, so when I finally got to Super it took a few playthroughs to really click with the physics differences and stuff like the wall jumps compared to Zero Mission.

That was one thing, but I think it finally cemented itself as one of my favourites when I finally got the hang of the early Super Missiles (plus some other items) trick in Brinstar. The feeling of making the most of the game's momentum to maintain running speed in ball form and just squeeze through to get through a gap before it closes and reap the rewards. Also helpful for getting Early Ice Beam, but that is a bit more of a pain without the Varia Suit. Still like to try it, though. Don't know how intentional some of the sequence break tricks are, but being able to do so is really what makes Super Metroid (and Zero Mission) for me and what I look for in every Metroidvania.

 

[boris_feinbrand]

I actually traded Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo for it, a few months before Prime came out. Was curious what the game was about, so I got out my old SNES and put in the game.
From the very first moments i was blown away by the atmosphere. Even the title screen was phenomenal.

I was hooked. Like obsessed. For someone that had basically not played 2D side scrollers ever since the PS1/N64 came out, it was a revelation. It led me down a path of discovering a lot of SNES gems that I hadn't tried before (game selection was limited, as my parents didn't allow me to buy any back then, given how obscenely expensive games were back then)
I still maintain that Super Metroid is one of the Best games ever made. It's design is timeless and in terms of structure and game design is still absolutely relevant.

 

[Mariachi507]

I first played it on Wii VC and it still blew my tiny little mind. I was going into it with high expectations too (EGM named it the GOAT on one of their top 100 lists)

30 years later, still one of the GOATs. Timeless classic.

Click to shrink...

I knew Samus from Smash, but didn't know her game. That EGM list is what finally put it on my radar. The first time I played it was in the early 00's on an emulator. I used the keyboard to control it. Talk about a trial of error, I imagine I only beat it because of save states. I distinctly remember the wall jump pit taking hours.

I still loved it, despite the shortcomings I created myself in that situation. I replay it every two or three years. Each time I seem to get a bit better with the exploration and controls. I remember how gratifying it felt to finally find the early Power bombs.

 

[Nessus]

I remember poring over Nintendo Power for any information before it came out, and I loved the magazine ad:

My best friend who lived right across the street got it and I was so envious. I would have been like 12 or 13. But he let me play it and I fell in love with it. I had Metroid II on my Game Boy which somewhat sublimated the envy, but I didn't actually get my own copy until my late teens/early 20s.

Still my favorite game of all time and will always be. Metroid is my favorite series, and the only series where I've got a complete collection of every game (only loose carts for the ones that originally came in cardboard boxes, and I don't care about getting different regions).

 

[VariantX]

Using the speed booster for the first time in an "escape sequence" from rising lava

 

[Mirk]

Will always be my favorite. Try and get a play through in every year. Took me a whole summer to beat back then. Ending hit hard almost failed the escape was so worked up about the baby.

 

[Z-Brownie]

One of my favorite games ever, i remember dropping playing Resident Evil 1 (one of my favorites too) to play it when i was 12 and was quite emotional when my son (now 8yo) got into Metroid series too.

 

[kamineko]

One day I'll play a Metroid game! I swear it.

Click to shrink...

do it!

 

[BennyWhatever]

I didn't play/beat this until AFTER playing/beating Metroid 1, 2, Zero Mission, Samus Returns, and Fusion. I can definitely say that it holds up. Awesome game.

 

[Serpens007]

One of the best games ever period.

My fondest memory is the same as everyone's: being lost for too long until I found out about the glass. Mind blowing stuff

 

[secretanchitman]

-Intro sequence in the space colony with just the atmospheric music and realizing that you're actually playing it
-Getting stuck in the wall jump pit
-Not knowing how to break the glass to get into Maridia
-Watching my brother's friend beat the game with 100% completion in under 3 hours (was blown away as a kid because he got the best ending)
-Reading/memorizing the Nintendo strategy guide for it
-Original Metroid draining all of your health and then saving you from Mother Brain
-Getting the Screw Attack and feeling just about invincible

10/10 game, easily in my top 5 games of all time. I was just listening to the soundtrack the other day (Brinstar - Red Soil Swampy Area, Tourian and of course the Theme of Samus) and it's so fucking good.

 

[Shin Kojima]

I was already a fan of the original Metroid so I fondly remember showing screenshots of Super to my new-to-Nintendo friend, successfully hyping him up for it.
It's still my favorite game of all time.
I revisit it every year.