I wish I had listened to general fan wisdom and played Super Metroid first. Having played the original Metroid, then Zero Mission, this is my third romp in the planet Zebes, and I’m finding the game extremely redundant.
The original was a little tedious, but I absolutely loved Zero Mission. I appreciated the slightly more linear gameplay. Paired with the manga, it also had a surprisingly good story that establishes Samus as a character. In context with the manga, the Wrecked Ship segment where you lose and then regain your suit is an amazing piece of gameplay-driven storytelling.
And then Metroid II was just as interesting. A completely new horror-esque locale plus a really creepy minimalist storyline that makes you really question the orders forced on you by the Galactic Federation.
So I was expecting a lot more out of Super Metroid. So far, I’d say I’m about halfway through the game. I beat Torizo, the Spore Spawn, Kraid, and the Crocomire. Aside from a really stellar cinematic opening, there hasn’t been any plot to speak of, just a nonlinear dungeon to explore without a clear path. I know that in development, Super was meant to just be a 16-bit remake of the NES Metroid game, but was later retooled to be its own game, so that might be why the story feels so barebones?
Everything feels like a rehash of the original. I looked up the wiki and all (Brinstar, Norfair, Crateria, Wrecked Ship, and Tourian) but one of the levels (Maridia) are lifted from the original game, and I’ve heard that one new level we get is considered the worst one. It feels like a remixed new game+ rather than a full-fledged game that stands on its own, and honestly, I’m bored. It kind of reminds me of what I didn’t like about Castlevania after a while, that game after game took place in the exact same mansion.
This might seem a little unfair. Super Metroid came out first, so it might be more accurate to say that Zero Mission is just an asset flip, that it’s the less original game – which is absolutely true, but I played Zero Mission first. And nonlinearity isn’t a bad thing at all and it’s great for this genre, but since I feel like I’ve done all this before, I don’t feel motivated to discover all of Super’s secrets. Does it get any better, or can I skip to Fusion?
TL;DR I played Zero Mission first and read its tie-in manga. Now Super Metroid feels boring because it “reuses” all but one of its areas on the planet Zebes, and it has a comparatively barebones story. Should I keep going or skip to Fusion?
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There was a big shift between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. Compared to Zero Mission, there is almost no plot in Super Metroid. The only major plot point is the whereabouts of the metroid which Ridley abducted in the opening scene.
Super Metroid is much more action focused then the later entries. I will say that the later areas are a little more atmospheric than the first half of the game. Wrecked Ship definitely has a different vibe than the rest.
I’d say it’s okay to take a break from Super Metroid and try Fusion. Fusion is much more linear and story driven. There was a short Super Metroid comic series in Nintendo Power that might provide some more context.
It’s been a while since I’ve played super metroid, but I really liked it. The point of it isn’t the plot, it’s exploring strange new places and then coming back to them cleverly when you realize the new item you’ve unlocked will work on that mysterious closed door. If you’re really not enjoying it, I suggest you just skip to fusion because super metroid isn’t particularly plot heavy. I liked discovering all the secret areas and items in super, but to each their own.
Super Metroid is the first game I really explored breaking the mechanics and routing of progress. Perfectly timed bomb jumps, wall jumps, etc to access areas early and such. I always found that to be neat.
More recently though, Super Metroid was one of the first randomizers and an early popular speedrunning game.
I think that’d why it’s maintained a level of popularity not easily seen from the game itself.
Which, in one sense, is definitely cool. I get the impression that Super Metroid is a game with tons of replay value that encourages playing it in a different way each time.
In another way, to make this happen, I didn’t think it was very fun for first-time players. Bomb jumping is kind of an awkward mechanic and harder to pull off than in Zero Mission, and finding upgrades seemed to rely more on pulling off complex techniques with perfect timing. I don’t remember ever being required to wall jump in Zero Mission or 2. There’s so many beginner’s traps too, with the one-way doors and the noob bridge. In Zero Mission, I felt like upgrades were more clearly telegraphed to the player, so you could get more of them without using a guide. In Super, it’s a lot of bombing random walls and stuff, and the X-Ray Scope feels really limited.
If I got stuck, it would be difficult to consult guides, because many writers seemed to put sequence breaks into the walkthrough as opposed to a “natural” playthrough.
While it might be true that Dread has a lot of “hand-holding” (I don’t know because I haven’t played it yet), part of me wonders if that criticism comes from experienced players who want a harder challenge than Super that lean even farther into advanced-level techniques. I guess I’ll find out when I play it.
As others have said, there isn’t much story for most of the game outside of subtle, environmental story that can only be inferred. The biggest story beats happen at the very beginning and very end of the game.
Those callbacks that are annoying rehashes for you are intended to be nostalgic for players of the first game. Keep in mind that there was an 8 year gap between console metroid games.
If you aren’t having fun playing the game, then it’s failing at its primary goal. Feel free to skip the rest of the game, but please be sure to at least watch an online video of the ending, before, during, and after the final boss. The opening of Fusion and other future games in the series reference that ending, and it’s absolutely an iconic piece of gaming history.
Edit: I couldn’t find any examples on PeerTube, but this video of the ending from YouTube is fantastic (should you choose to skip the game).
You’re not going to find more text/explicit plot than you have already. That said, there is good environmental storytelling in the last zone of the game. The next zone for you (Wrecked Ship) might have a little more for you to chew on. I’d say get through that zone and then see how you feel about it. If you like it, the ending will probably feel rewarding.
The following post will meander a bit as I wrote it in a kind of stream of consciousness state.
I don’t know where you heard that Super Metroid was originally a remake of the NES game, I’d never heard that and I can’t find anything to back that up. As well, keep in mind that Super Metroid came out a full decade before Zero Mission did, and the original NES game that Zero Mission is a remake of was even lighter on story than Super is. If you aren’t enjoying Super because of a lack of story that’s fine, you won’t miss much if you skip it, though I will warn you that a very common complaint about fusion is that until basically the very end the game is extremely linear. That said, I also think it’s unfair to call Zero Mission an asset flip, it’s much more a full on remake. Back to the Super Metroid thing, I will point out that the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid is mostly not the Wrecked Ship you traverse in Zero Mission, there’s like one screen that is shared between the two games.
When I called Zero Mission an asset flip, I was trying to steelman a potenial opposing point in favor of Super. I may not have been successful at this. And I myself don’t actually see it as an asset flip – I loved Zero Mission.
Gameplay > Story
I personally prefer story over gameplay, but to each their own.
The story is in the instruction manual. Like all games from that era (except rpgs)
