Retro Wildlands #52 - Super Metroid

[00:00:00] Greetings fellow travelers of Vagrants Explorers, Wildlanders and welcome to episode 52

[00:00:27] of the Retro Wildlands. My name is Nomad and this is my gaming podcast where I like to share my thoughts and experiences with a video game that I have discovered or re-discovered while roaming the gaming wildlands.

[00:00:41] Thank you very much for tuning into the show today, even though I'm not posting new episodes as often as I would like, it has been fun watching our download numbers as of late.

[00:00:51] I can always tell when someone discovers the show for the first time because I'll see a bunch of downloads that are all over the place in a very short amount of time.

[00:00:59] I always assume that was someone just going through the backlog and it's pretty cool when I get to see it.

[00:01:05] So whether this is your first journey into the wildlands with us or you're just jumping through the backlog, I'm really glad you decided to spend some time with us today.

[00:01:14] D.D.R.K9 Expedition Leader has been well to be quite frank, he's been up my ass a lot in the last few weeks and he's super excited for us to get back to the wildlands and have some people along with us.

[00:01:29] I was away a few weeks ago on a work trip to Orlando for my job and according to my wife, he did not take my absence super well.

[00:01:38] He wasn't losing his mind or tearing up the furniture or anything but he wasn't moving around quite a bit.

[00:01:44] Even with my wife and the kids around, D.D.R.K9 was just blah.

[00:01:49] I sometimes feel the same way when I'm on work trips.

[00:01:52] While I'm surrounded by co-workers and other familiar faces, my work trips can feel a bit isolating.

[00:01:58] But where D.D.T.N's to sink into melancholy, I tend to thrive on being sent away somewhere alone.

[00:02:06] It can be pretty daunting and sometimes a little intimidating, but as I get settled in for the week, I'll gain a little more confidence as I get a lay of the land and gather up some resources to help me through it all.

[00:02:19] And by resources I usually mean a pile of junk food and a bottle of bourbon from the local liquor store.

[00:02:25] And by the time I've conquered my purpose for being there, I'll leave wherever I'm at and head home.

[00:02:30] Usually a little stronger or maybe a little wiser, while I wait a year for my next mission where I'll be sent off again in two parts unknown.

[00:02:40] It can be an exhilarating feeling all things considered and why I think most gamers really hold an appreciation for the game that we're going to be talking about today.

[00:02:50] On today's episode, we're checking out a video game that many people consider to be the best period.

[00:02:58] To loosely quote Bret the Hitman Heart, this game is The Best There Is, The Best There Was and The Best There Ever Will Be.

[00:03:08] It's an action-adventure game with emphasis on exploration and open-ended gameplay that established and helped create the Metroidvania genre video games.

[00:03:19] And while I think most gamers know of this particular game's legacy and impact on the industry as a whole,

[00:03:25] it wasn't until I finally played it that I think it all really makes sense to me personally.

[00:03:32] This game took a pretty simple concept on paper and created a gameplay experience like none other,

[00:03:38] but it also found a way to continue to be relevant some 30 years after its initial release.

[00:03:44] That's because even though you can technically finish the game, you're never really done with it.

[00:03:51] There's many secrets to discover as you play and ways to play this game that continually pump the experience full of new life.

[00:04:00] You can take the slow methodical path or the fast and efficient one.

[00:04:05] The choice is ultimately yours, and when you play a game that allows you freedom like this,

[00:04:09] it's no secret why so many people think so highly of this game.

[00:04:14] It's special to them because the experience has been tailor-made based on how they choose to play.

[00:04:21] While the end point is more or less the same, it's how you get to it and the tools we use along the way

[00:04:27] that define the journey on the individual level.

[00:04:30] Couple all of that with a gritty, isolating atmosphere and some top-notch sound design,

[00:04:36] you have yourself the makings of a must-have experience.

[00:04:41] And it is an experience that I have finally, finally taken.

[00:04:46] Today, on the retro wildlands, we are going to be diving in to Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo.

[00:04:55] I have an interesting history with Super Metroid and it's one that I didn't really remember until I

[00:05:02] started this podcast project of mine and went back down memory lane.

[00:05:06] While the Super Nintendo was the main gaming console in my household for several years,

[00:05:11] Super Metroid was not a game I had the pleasure of playing when I was a kid.

[00:05:16] I know, it sounds sacrilegious at this point.

[00:05:20] I remembered recently that we did actually rent it at one point but I never got a chance to really

[00:05:26] dive into this game. There was a save file on the cartridge at the very end of the game and I

[00:05:32] got to play through the game's spectacular ending but that was about it.

[00:05:38] Somewhere along the lines, I had acquired the Super Metroid Players Guide published by Nintendo.

[00:05:45] That guide was a complete run-through of the game and detailed information on enemies you'd face

[00:05:51] and all the awesome power-ups that you could collect.

[00:05:55] For as many times as I read that book covered a cover, I could say that I actually played the

[00:06:01] game for real. But now that I'm older and we're on this journey of checking out retro games that I

[00:06:06] missed out on, it was only a matter of time before Super Metroid made its way onto the show.

[00:06:12] But to be honest with all of you, while I was already convinced of Super Metroid's impact on people

[00:06:19] and that it was an iconic game, I was curious if this game is still fun to play today.

[00:06:26] I mean, I don't really hear anyone talking negatively about this game and I often wonder

[00:06:30] if it was just the nostalgia talking. Was Super Metroid a game that truly holds up 30 years later

[00:06:37] or has everyone just been blinded by the warm and brightness-stalgiaries?

[00:06:42] Well, my friends, the time has come for me to share with you my thoughts and experiences

[00:06:46] with Super Metroid now that I've played it through and I can promise you one thing.

[00:06:52] No punches are going to be pulled today. We're going to see how well this game holds up as we

[00:06:58] joined Samus on her lonely, isolated journey to Planet Zebes to recover the last Metroid in existence.

[00:07:08] Now, if you're new to the show, I'd like to kick things off by chatting it up with you all for a

[00:07:13] little bit and giving you all a peek behind the scenes here in the retro wildlands before we're

[00:07:17] getting into the meat of the episode itself. Depending on what's on my mind, I like to talk about

[00:07:23] what's going on with the podcast itself, what games I might be playing, what's going on in my

[00:07:28] personal life, any projects I'm working on and whatever else pops up. I'll also use this time to

[00:07:35] read and respond to any comments I received about Super Metroid when I put a call out for them

[00:07:40] on our social media pages. Now, if none of this interests you and you just came here for my

[00:07:45] Super Metroid thoughts- no worries- you can skip ahead about 20 to 25 minutes and you should get

[00:07:52] into the game talk. I'll also have timestamps loaded into the show's description if you want to

[00:07:57] know exactly where you need to go and you don't want to fumble around with your podcast app.

[00:08:02] Though, I certainly encourage you to stick around. We're going to settle in with a little gaming

[00:08:08] talk and you'll get to hear your fellow wildlanders sound off with their thoughts and memories.

[00:08:13] So, without further delay, cozy up by the campfire my friends. Let's get into our opening segment that

[00:08:20] I like to call campfire ketchup.

[00:08:39] So my last few weeks and- well really, my entire month actually has been pretty eventful.

[00:08:45] I mentioned this earlier and I think I touched on it last episode but I recently got shipped off

[00:08:49] to Orlando, Florida for a work trip. I worked Friday through Wednesday, flying home on Thursday and

[00:08:56] it was all nonstop. While I love the fact that my job will ship me to places all over the United

[00:09:02] States once a year, this time of year is the busiest at my job and I'm finding myself putting in

[00:09:07] nine or ten hour days consistently. No real complaints don't get me wrong, I'm fortunate enough

[00:09:13] to have a job that pays the bills but that obviously leaves me very little time to game and focus

[00:09:18] on the podcast. However, despite the time away I was able to knock some games off my backlog,

[00:09:25] even a few modern games that I've been shipping away at. I think I mentioned this last episode but

[00:09:31] I finally completed the Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild and had a fantastic time all the way around.

[00:09:37] I'm eager to get my hands on Tears of the Kingdom and while it sort of sucks to be playing these

[00:09:42] games long after most gamers have probably finished them and moved on from them ages ago,

[00:09:47] I'm glad to be finally experiencing them and it'll be fun to be able to jump in some conversations

[00:09:52] about them. While I did play a decent amount of Super Metroid on my Switch through the Nintendo

[00:09:58] Online service, I actually played a lot of Super Mario Wonder on the Played and Ride to Orlando.

[00:10:06] Because of that I felt compelled to just stick with Wonder and finish that one out,

[00:10:11] which is exactly what I did. So on the second to last day of my work trip,

[00:10:16] while sitting on my hotel balcony in 70 degree weather, I finished Super Mario Wonder.

[00:10:23] While I don't have as many Mario games under my belt as I would like up to this point,

[00:10:28] I was very impressed with Wonder and I think anyone who likes Mario or just good games in general

[00:10:33] should definitely give it a go. It wasn't a perfect experience by any stretch and I do have some

[00:10:39] qualms about a few little things here and there, overall it was a fun experience.

[00:10:45] I won't spoil the ending or anything but I specifically loved the final battle at the end.

[00:10:50] The whimsical nature of Wonder is what made it so fun for me, so it was even funner to throw

[00:10:57] that out the window and have the game embrace Bowser in his wickedly evil ways by the end when

[00:11:02] it came to the battle itself and the music that was playing. I didn't 100% complete the game but

[00:11:09] I got a large chunk of the Wonder seeds, standees and badges. I'll go back to this one at one point

[00:11:16] I am sure but for right now Super Mario Wonder is done and done. I also decided to grab a copy

[00:11:25] of Mario vs Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Switch and give that one a go. Since I've really gotten

[00:11:31] into the Switch over the last year so I'm trying to play as many Nintendo exclusives as I can

[00:11:36] to get myself caught up. The new Mario VDK game is a remaster of the original which came out on

[00:11:44] the Game Boy Advance back in 2004 and it always looked interesting to me. I am not one for puzzle

[00:11:51] games really but the simple premise definitely seemed like it would be a little bit of fun.

[00:11:57] Mario gets dropped into a level and there's a locked door that he needs to get through in order

[00:12:01] to move on. Somewhere in the level is the key to that locked door. You need to manipulate blocks,

[00:12:08] switches and avoid enemies while you find a way to get the key to the door so you can keep moving

[00:12:14] forward. Reviews online mentioned that this game wasn't all that long maybe 4-8 hours depending

[00:12:20] on how complete you want to get the game so I figured it would be a decent game to grab for my trip.

[00:12:26] What really cemented the deal was the fact that my local retro game store is now getting copies

[00:12:32] of new games so when I saw Mario vs DK on the shelves at their location that sealed it.

[00:12:39] I didn't completely finish the game until a few days after I got home from my work trip but

[00:12:44] I can successfully add that to my list of completed games for 2024. All in all Mario vs Donkey Kong

[00:12:52] was a pretty good experience. The problem that I have with the game is that there really isn't

[00:12:58] much meat on the proverbial bone so to speak. Plus the game's difficulty curve was a little out of

[00:13:04] whack as well, at least it was to me. While I'm not a puzzler, I felt like the game was way too

[00:13:12] easy for about 60% of its levels. By the time the game really got going I was starting to get bored

[00:13:19] of it. Still, I completed the game just shy of 100% and I was pretty satisfied overall.

[00:13:26] I just don't think there was enough there to justify the $50 that I spent on it.

[00:13:31] And I'm not talking about overall play time. I can't remember where I heard it but someone

[00:13:36] described this game as being lacking in overall substance and I think I agree with that logic.

[00:13:43] Still, I think it's one that you should play if you're at all interested in puzzle games.

[00:13:49] I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10 but now that I'm done with it I probably will not be going back

[00:13:55] to this one. You know what? That reminds me. As I complete games this year even if I don't plan

[00:14:02] on covering them on the show I'm gonna try to start leaving a brief summary of my thoughts

[00:14:07] on our social media pages. It's been fun getting other people's thoughts and perspectives on

[00:14:13] games so I'm trying to get more of that out of our social media presence. If that's something

[00:14:19] that mildly interests you or you just want to add some video game spice to your timelines and

[00:14:24] feeds you should check out the RetroWild lands on social media, social media, social media if

[00:14:31] you haven't already. We have a link tree that you can go to at linktr.e, forward slash RetroWild

[00:14:40] lands and that will link you to our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, slash X, Threads and even Blue Sky

[00:14:47] pages. I do my best to remain active there and I pride myself on replying to most comments so

[00:14:54] give us a follow on any of those platforms if you're at all interested. Plus whenever I'm actively

[00:15:00] writing a script for a new episode of the show I'll put a call out for comments or questions to

[00:15:05] be read on the upcoming episode on our social media pages so if you ever wanted to have something

[00:15:11] read on the show that's how you can do it. So speaking of games I'm playing that I don't think

[00:15:18] I'll cover on the show, I have a few modern games that I'm trying to juggle right now and they all

[00:15:23] seem to just fall in my lap all at once. First up I got my hands on Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

[00:15:30] and holy shit was this game exactly what I was hoping for. I didn't think I was going to have a

[00:15:37] PlayStation 5 by the time this game launched but by the time I got one and thought to preorder

[00:15:43] this game I missed out on the physical collector's edition and the physical deluxe edition

[00:15:49] which in retrospect is probably a good thing considering what they cost but I did get rebirth

[00:15:55] the day after I came back from my work trip. I'm not too far into it but I am having an absolute

[00:16:02] blast so far. For anyone that's played the game so far that knows I'm in the grasslands and

[00:16:08] I just unlocked the ability to ride a chocobo. Right now I'm just wandering around and trying to get

[00:16:15] used to the new additions to the battle system and all in all though I'm quite happy with this

[00:16:20] game and I'm sure I'll be plugging away at it whenever I can. However my wife inadvertently got

[00:16:27] me interested in Hogwarts legacy of all games and now I'm pretty invested in that one too.

[00:16:34] It's funny when I got the PlayStation 5 from her for Christmas I made it a point to purchase

[00:16:40] Hogwarts more so for her since she's a bigger Harry Potter fan than I think I'll ever be.

[00:16:46] She finally decided to play it while I was away on my work trip and when I came home and

[00:16:51] watched her mess around with it it immediately caught my attention. She's not much of a gamer really

[00:16:57] but she was having fun exploring and unlocking new things. At one point I created my own character

[00:17:04] and as soon as I started playing I was hooked. This game makes you feel like you're progressing

[00:17:11] in some capacity all the time and when a game respects the time that I put into it like that

[00:17:18] it is an instant hit for me. At this moment I'm not very far into the game but I've made some good

[00:17:24] progress. I'm committed to finishing Hogwarts at some point but therein lies my current problem.

[00:17:32] I cannot balance two massive games like rebirth and Hogwarts so I need to choose one.

[00:17:39] I think Hogwarts would be the quicker experience but I know if I really get into rebirth I can

[00:17:46] kiss any other game goodbye for a very long time. Plus people are already being jerks and posting

[00:17:53] plot spoilers for rebirth on the internet and I'm starting to get little bits and pieces of the

[00:17:58] story spoiled for me so rebirth is probably where I need to put my focus but as per usual I'm just

[00:18:06] gonna follow my heart on this one. Now beyond those games I also decided to grab Hell Divers 2

[00:18:14] and holy crap is that game awesome. It is the talk of the gaming world right now and while I don't

[00:18:21] really have a squad of friends to play this game with I have a blast either on my own or with

[00:18:27] a group of random people. I played the original Hell Divers a lot on my PlayStation Vita so I would

[00:18:34] like to keep diving into the sequel wherever I could find time to do that. At the moment I am only

[00:18:41] a level 5 diver and not contributing too much to the galactic war but I'm hoping to change that in

[00:18:47] the near future as well. And finally I wanted to work through a shorter game on my Switch whenever

[00:18:55] I had a few minutes to kill here and there so I decided to pop in Double Dragon Guiden and so far

[00:19:03] I am having a pretty decent time with that one. It's a beat-em-up just like the older Double Dragon

[00:19:09] games but it has some rogue light gimmicks that keep the game play fresh. I've only put in maybe

[00:19:16] a couple hours into this one but overall I am liking it. It's a great pickup and play sort of

[00:19:22] experience and the retro aesthetic really really speaks to me. We'll see how I feel down the road

[00:19:29] but for something smaller Double Dragon Guiden is hitting the spot for now.

[00:19:34] Other than that I think that's really all I have going on around here. Oh I do have one more

[00:19:41] quick thing. I did get a chance to appear on a couple podcasts recently as a guest if you're

[00:19:46] interested in checking those out. I can't remember for the life of me if I mentioned this one last

[00:19:53] but I returned to the Waffling Taylors podcast where I joined Jay and his brother Squidge

[00:19:59] to talk about the Resident Evil 2 remake. That was a really good time and you should check it out

[00:20:06] if you're looking for a fun yet informative discussion about one of the best remakes out there.

[00:20:13] I also joined back up with Aaron over at the Superpod Saga podcast where I talked about video

[00:20:19] games that I loved that people actually hated. I was joined by a few other gentlemen and we went

[00:20:26] around the horn dropping games and talking all about them. I love hanging out with Aaron on that show

[00:20:32] because it is a perfect forum to let my hair down a little and get a little wild.

[00:20:38] So if you're interested in either checking those episodes out or you want to check out some new

[00:20:43] podcasting content, check out the Waffling Taylors and the Superpod Saga.

[00:20:48] Googling them will actually be your fastest way to find them as they both have their own websites

[00:20:53] but they're available on most podcasting platforms. Check them out and if you do please let them know

[00:21:00] that no mad sent you. Okay now I think that is actually all I've got for today as far as catching

[00:21:07] you up goes. Lots of gaming happening in my neck of the woods but for now let's transition into

[00:21:13] talking about the one that you're all here for today. It's time to talk about Super Metroid

[00:21:20] for the Super Nintendo. We received a handful of comments from the Wildlands community on Super

[00:21:25] Metroid so let's rip through some of those and set the scene for the awesomeness to come.

[00:21:31] First up we have Brando who chimed in over on our Twitter slash x-page. They said

[00:21:39] Super Metroid is my all time favorite game even though I've played through it multiple times

[00:21:45] never gets old for me. I could pick it up right now and still feel the same joy with it as when

[00:21:51] I played through it nearly 30 years ago. I just find every aspect of it to be stellar.

[00:21:58] If it's not apparent to some this right here is why Super Metroid is so special to people.

[00:22:05] It takes a special game to make us feel this way and I love that this game is like this for

[00:22:10] you Brando. The awesome thing is now that I've played through this game I think I can see a lot

[00:22:15] of what makes this game special to you. Gameplay is tight, the game's atmosphere is spot on

[00:22:21] and all of the games items and abilities add layer upon layer to the overall experience.

[00:22:28] For me final fantasy 7 is that sort of game for me since I spent so much time with it when

[00:22:34] I was younger. The opening music, the feeling I get during the first battle sequence.

[00:22:40] I have to imagine it's the same for you when Samus is heading to Sirus Station to respond

[00:22:46] to that initial distress call. Thanks for writing in Brando and I hope I do your favorite

[00:22:51] game justice on the show today. Next up we have a comment from the Super Pod saga podcast so I'm

[00:22:58] assuming this is Aaron doing the speaking. He wrote in over on our Twitter slash x page and said

[00:23:05] the soundtrack to the game is so so good they perfectly matched the environments with

[00:23:11] the ambient sound slash music and made this totally eerie and unexplored feeling in the atmosphere.

[00:23:18] So sick. Yes I'm glad someone wrote in about the soundtrack to this game. Super Metroid perfectly

[00:23:26] captures that atmosphere of isolation and loneliness. Samus might be a badass bounty hunter but

[00:23:33] the world she's on is full of things trying to kill her. Resources and abilities are limited

[00:23:40] and until you encounter a threat you really don't know the extent of it. More so it's just you

[00:23:46] down there and there's no help coming. You have to explore and brave the world's dangers to proceed

[00:23:53] in the game's music perfectly captures that feeling of isolation and dread.

[00:23:59] While I personally don't think this game soundtrack is that good to the point that I have it on my

[00:24:04] Spotify playlist or anything there are some good tunes to be had here and they do their job perfectly.

[00:24:11] Thank you very much for the comment Aaron and by the way this one's for you buddy.

[00:24:19] Staying on Twitter our next comment came from Robert Omb or is it Rob Omb?

[00:24:26] Robert has this to say. Despite growing up alongside the Metroid franchise I truly never played

[00:24:34] any until dread. I remember Samus from Super Smash Bros but that was the extent of my Metroid

[00:24:40] experience. Too bad because I fell in love with dread and primary mastered. I need to play the older

[00:24:48] titles. My friend there is certainly no shame in any of that. If it wasn't for this podcast I would

[00:24:55] not have played any Metroid games up to this point. I did enjoy playing a Samus in Super Smash but

[00:25:03] she was just a passing fancy for me. And while I do own a physical copy of Metroid Dread and have

[00:25:09] heard nothing but amazing things about that game I haven't cracked it hoping yet either.

[00:25:15] If you ever find the time I think Super Metroid or even Metroid Zero Mission would be the perfect

[00:25:22] older Metroid games to start out with. At least that's where I started and I've had some great

[00:25:28] times with both titles. The beautiful thing about gaming is it is never too late to jump into

[00:25:34] something new to you regardless of how old the game is. Thank you very much for the comment my

[00:25:39] friend and if you do jump into any older Metroid game let me know what you decide on I'd genuinely

[00:25:45] be curious. Next up we have Chris Copeland who was one half of the Retro Hangover podcast.

[00:25:53] He spoke up on Twitter and said, hate to say it I don't care for this game.

[00:25:59] Is it better than the first one? Yes but it still has too many elements of blowing up everything

[00:26:06] to find a secret from my taste. But I think there's a reason that Metroidvania wasn't coined

[00:26:12] until thevania part perfected it. I really appreciate this comment Chris and for as much as I have

[00:26:18] been and will sing the praises of Super Metroid I do share a bit of the sentiment.

[00:26:25] I don't think I really mentioned this in the episode itself but I did start to tire

[00:26:29] of looking for things in the environments that I could destroy with the right item or

[00:26:34] find that secret passage that was hidden in plain sight. There's certainly a novelty to it

[00:26:40] and there's a nice hit of dopamine when you do find something hidden but that magic faded

[00:26:46] for me over time. Speaking of thevania parts of the Metroidvania style game I do find myself

[00:26:53] wondering which of the two extremes I prefer. Metroid centric games are great because I love the idea

[00:27:00] of coming across an inaccessible area finding the thing that I need to progress somewhere else

[00:27:05] and then using said thing to open up more the game world. Simple idea, very engaging.

[00:27:12] But thevania portion of the equation is what I think I prefer. And when I thinkvania I think those

[00:27:20] RPG elements like gaining experience to level up and finding better equipment to boost your stats.

[00:27:27] There were a couple times I got lost in Super Metroid and it frustrated me a little because

[00:27:32] I always want to feel like my time is being used towards something. When I played Castlevania

[00:27:39] Symphony of the Night for the show I found myself lost a lot but at least I was taking out enemies

[00:27:46] and at least gaining experience or finding new items along the way. My time was not completely wasted.

[00:27:54] Still it takes two halves to make a hole and Super Metroid undoubtedly contributed its half

[00:28:00] near perfectly in my opinion. Thanks for reaching out to the show Chris always a pleasure to hear from

[00:28:06] you friend. Our last comment today comes from William over on our Facebook page. He said,

[00:28:14] hope you talk about the creator of Metroid, Gunpei Yokoi. Interesting but tragic story.

[00:28:23] Gunpei Yokoi was a name I know I've heard of in my retro gaming travels but it wasn't until I

[00:28:29] took the time to read a bit about him did I realize who he actually was and the impact that he had

[00:28:35] on gaming as a whole. He worked for Nintendo for many years long before they started making video

[00:28:41] games. It wasn't until 1974 that Yokoi started working on games. He was one of the first game designers

[00:28:49] at Nintendo and one of the first things he helped bring to life was the Game and Watch handheld

[00:28:54] gaming device. One day Yokoi was on a train and saw a passenger messing with their LCD calculator

[00:29:01] and he thought to himself would it be cool to combine an LCD watch and a video game.

[00:29:07] Thus the Game and Watch was born. Yokoi also created the cross shaped directional pad

[00:29:15] and put that into use on the game and watch systems. Obviously the directional pad design is still

[00:29:21] going very strong today. Later down the road Yokoi would join Nintendo's first research development

[00:29:28] team otherwise known as R&D1. Through this team Yokoi helped develop some awesome titles like

[00:29:36] Kidicris, Dr. Mario, Duck Hunt, Fire Emblem and you guessed it Metroid. R&D1 also produced the

[00:29:46] original Game Boy. Not every creation was a banger though as Yokoi had also helped with the design

[00:29:55] for the Virtual Boy. This system, some believe was just a little too far ahead of its time but

[00:30:02] regardless it was a commercial failure. Shortly after this Yokoi left Nintendo not because

[00:30:09] the Virtual Boy bombed but because he formed a new company called Koto Laboratory. Here he helped

[00:30:16] lead the development of the Bandai Wonder Swan handheld console but unfortunately Gunpei Yokoi never

[00:30:24] saw its release. On October 4th 1997 Yokoi was killed in an automobile accident.

[00:30:32] I had read that the car he was driving in accidentally re-rended a truck and when he and

[00:30:38] the person he was riding with went to inspect the damage Yokoi was hit by a passing vehicle.

[00:30:44] He was gravely injured on the spot and he ended up passing away a few hours later.

[00:30:50] It was such a huge loss and makes me shake my head just thinking about it.

[00:30:55] This man brought so much creativity forth. The directional pad, the Game Boy,

[00:31:01] the Game and Watch all of which still influence this hobby of ours even today and will continue

[00:31:08] for generations to come. Super Metroid is a great example of a continued legacy so while some

[00:31:15] people may no longer be with us on this earth their influences can be felt everywhere and I think

[00:31:22] Super Metroid is a great game to talk about in that regard. Released in North America on April 18th

[00:31:30] 1994, Super Metroid was a game that would help define video games for generations to come.

[00:31:37] It was a side scrolling action adventure game where players were given the freedom to explore

[00:31:42] an alien world however they saw fit. The only things that would hold you back on your mission to

[00:31:49] find the last Metroid were your lack of equipment and your inability to allow yourself to get lost

[00:31:55] while you explore. Both problems can be overcome and once they are, the game continually opens up for

[00:32:03] the player. While Super Metroid may not have been the first game made with open-ended exploration in

[00:32:09] mind it's one of the first that really got it right. The sense of progression you feel as a

[00:32:15] player as you gain new abilities and items was unmatched for the time and this approach to gameplay

[00:32:20] really made the experience tailerable to the player. No longer was the objective to get a high

[00:32:26] score or make it to the end of a level. You were on a mission to recover the last Metroid and the

[00:32:32] game wasn't going to hold your hand until you exactly how to do it. The time had come for many

[00:32:39] players to be what they always wanted to be and explore an adventure or even a bounty hunter.

[00:32:49] So what's it going to be Wildlanders? What do you want to be today? The road to adventure

[00:32:56] can be full of excitement and wonder or it can be full of isolation and dread. But no matter

[00:33:03] what route we take there's one thing that is abundantly clear. The last Metroid isn't going to

[00:33:10] save itself and it's going to be up to us to do what's necessary to get it back.

[00:33:56] If there was any point in my life where I think it was that video games really started to make an

[00:34:01] impact on my life, I think it really started when I was around four or maybe five years old.

[00:34:07] I'm having a hard time remembering exactly but there was a point where my mom and I were living

[00:34:11] with my grandmother after her and my dad split. While I was too young to remember a lot of the

[00:34:17] specifics I do have some core memories that were born during this time. For one it was during

[00:34:24] this time I developed my love for the Ninja Turtles. The 1980s cartoon was going strong and I

[00:34:30] spent most of my time watching episodes. Does anyone remember those Burger King Kids Club VHS tapes

[00:34:38] with episodes of the Turtles on them? I owned every single one of them and I would watch

[00:34:43] them until the VHS tapes practically disintegrated. During this time with my grandparents is when I

[00:34:49] discovered my love for root beer and cream soda as well. Oh and this is the time I discovered that

[00:34:56] ramen noodle soup was the best soup on the planet especially when you eat it with peanut butter

[00:35:01] and jelly. You know what I used to do and still do to this day? I'd cut my PB&J diagonally

[00:35:08] and I would dip that thing into my ramen noodle broth. Every time I bring this up to someone

[00:35:14] they look at me like I'm some sort of psychopath but trust me on this. It has to be the chicken

[00:35:19] flavored noodles though. Everything else I've tried tastes like crap but if you're feeling adventurous

[00:35:24] dip your PB&J and chicken flavored ramen it is life changing seriously. Anyway back on task

[00:35:32] somewhere along the line an original Nintendo appeared in the home and that little gray box would

[00:35:38] slowly start to change everything for me. I don't remember playing it a ton but I played

[00:35:44] the usual gems. Super Mario Bros was one of course and so it was duck hunt. I think I've mentioned

[00:35:51] this in a past episode somewhere but one of my favorite memories was when my grandfather would grab

[00:35:56] me by the ankles and pull me back from the TV whenever I would scooch just a little too close.

[00:36:03] After a while I got my hands on teenage mutant ninja turtles for the NES and absolutely

[00:36:08] loved that game for a while as well. Even though I wasn't really good enough to get past that

[00:36:13] electric seaweed part I still had a blast especially because of my love for the turtles at that point

[00:36:19] in my life. We had some other games too like WF WrestleMania, one of the worst games I've probably

[00:36:27] ever played. Not that I knew that as a kid it was one of only a few games that we had so when I

[00:36:33] was bored I did my best to make that turd shine. At some point during my life at my stint at

[00:36:41] grandma's house I learned about Nintendo Power magazine. Now I can't remember how but all I knew is

[00:36:48] I wanted a subscription. I ended up getting one for Christmas one year and from that point on with

[00:36:55] every issue of Nintendo power the world of gaming really opened up to me. Now here's where my memory

[00:37:02] gets a little fuzzy. I'm pretty sure it was because of Nintendo power but somewhere over the next

[00:37:09] few years I remember coming into possession of my very first Nintendo players guide.

[00:37:16] That players guide was all about Super Metroid on the beautiful Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

[00:37:24] From what I remember there are a bunch of players guides out there.

[00:37:28] I remember seeing one for Donkey Kong Country, one for a link to the past, another one for

[00:37:34] Link's Awakening and even one for Mario Paint. But where I saw or even how I came into possession

[00:37:42] of the Super Metroid guide I have no freaking idea. I never even owned Super Metroid growing up either

[00:37:50] but man I do remember reading that guide from cover to cover on more than one occasion.

[00:37:57] The artwork was captivating, the descriptions of all the games power-ups were awesome and I

[00:38:02] love pretending I was playing the game through all the maps that were laid out on all the pages.

[00:38:08] I could just imagine how it felt to explore the game and discover each and every one of its secrets.

[00:38:16] But alas that never came to be. There was a point where I rented the game and one of the

[00:38:22] save slots on the cartridge that I had was at the very end of the game. So I would repeatedly

[00:38:28] finish the game and partake in the awesome ending but I never really played the game from start

[00:38:33] to finish. Eventually our Super Nintendo would take a backseat to the Sony PlayStation and the rest

[00:38:39] was history for me. As time went on, Super Metroid seemingly stood the test of time and continued

[00:38:47] to be a game that would come up over and over again with labels such as innovative, unique,

[00:38:53] revolutionary and just plain fun. But I was knee deep in the fifth generation of gaming hardware

[00:39:00] and I was not looking back. Thanks to this podcast and so many of you, that has finally changed.

[00:39:08] I can now count myself as part of the many who have played Super Metroid and completed it.

[00:39:14] It took me 39 years after appearing on this planet but I can finally put this one on my gaming

[00:39:20] resume. But as I was playing through this game, I had one single question that I wanted to answer.

[00:39:28] After about 30 years of this game existing is it really as good as people claim it is?

[00:39:34] Especially when played for the first time today in 2024.

[00:39:39] I had to know. Is Super Metroid deserving of all its accolades or has it just been elevated due to

[00:39:47] nostalgia and how it helped create the Metroidvania genre of games? Maybe people liked it so much

[00:39:54] because all they had to play as a kid was this game and it's all based on personal bias and not

[00:40:00] so much about the game itself. But even as a kid having nothing but a strategy guide to reference,

[00:40:07] I saw the genius in Super Metroid. Still, I was very excited to finally play this game and

[00:40:13] I am equally as excited to let you know what I came away with.

[00:40:18] So, in order to answer all of these hard-hitting questions we're going to have to go deep on this

[00:40:23] one just like taking that long, long elevator ride straight to Norfare. Oh and real quick a word

[00:40:32] on spoilers. This game doesn't really have that revolutionary of a plot and it's been out since 1994.

[00:40:39] Everything is on the table in this episode and while I'm not really going to spoil much,

[00:40:44] I don't think. I will be talking about the ending sequence in detail so if you somehow have not

[00:40:50] played this game before and you don't want that spoiled for you go play Super Metroid and then

[00:40:55] come on back. I have to imagine I was the last person on the planet to play this game so I assume

[00:41:01] we're all good but I just wanted to throw that out there. Anyway, it's time we start peeling

[00:41:08] back the layers of Super Metroid and see exactly what it is that we're working with.

[00:41:14] So, what is this game? Super Metroid is a side-scrolling action adventure game where players

[00:41:23] take control of Samus Aaron, a galactic bounty hunter. The game is actually the third in the

[00:41:30] Metroid series and where the series really found it stride. The thing that really made Super Metroid

[00:41:36] special was this approach to gameplay. The world that the player is dropped into is more or less

[00:41:42] open-ended and you're free to explore in whatever order you want. While you do have a singular

[00:41:48] overarching objective, that's all you know and that's what you're driving to. Your mission

[00:41:54] is simply to find and recover the last Metroid in existence. The game doesn't tell you where it is

[00:42:00] or where you need to go. It's up to you as the player to explore the game world and discover

[00:42:06] where you need to go on your own, all while battling many alien creatures who don't really care

[00:42:12] to have you on their planet. Now, while it sounds like you can go anywhere anytime you want

[00:42:19] and you sort of can, you will come across some locked doors or other obstacles that you won't be

[00:42:25] able to get through right away. You'll need to find the right equipment or ability upgrades in

[00:42:30] order to progress through the game and this is where Super Metroid really shines. At its core,

[00:42:37] it's really a game about exploration and discovery and half the fun is searching for that thing

[00:42:42] you need in order to open up more parts of the game world. But expanding upon that, you're not just

[00:42:48] looking for a random mcguffin to drive the plot forward. The things you find, new abilities,

[00:42:54] weapons or equipment all add to the gameplay experience by allowing you as the player to explore

[00:43:00] further and become more effective in combat. You're literally leveling up as you go and slowly

[00:43:07] conquer the game world, you're not just gathering things and checking boxes here.

[00:43:13] I'd like to think that everything I just said makes sense especially to those who have played the

[00:43:17] game. That idea is what I'm going to speak to a lot this episode, but before we really dive into

[00:43:24] that portion of the discussion we need to set the stage. Let's grab the game cartridge and slot

[00:43:30] that baby into our Super Nintendo system. Actually just one second? Perfect, nice and clean.

[00:43:40] And to that one person who messaged me and said, blowing in the cartridge is actually harmful

[00:43:45] over time. I appreciate the insight, but let me have this moment okay? We all did it, we still do it,

[00:43:52] this is happening. There we go. Anywho, with that out of the way, let's power up Super Metroid.

[00:44:03] As soon as the game comes on screen, ominous music starts to play. In red we see the year 1994

[00:44:11] displayed on screen. Sounds from an unknown creature can be heard. We're then shown a pixelated close-up

[00:44:21] of what looks to be a laboratory of some kind. Something appears on the floor, but we can't quite

[00:44:27] make out what it is. The word Nintendo appears in red letters and a moment later the word presents

[00:44:36] appears. As we see more flashes of the lab, it's clear what's on the floor. Bodies, dead bodies.

[00:44:45] Metroid 3 appears on screen in red letters. The atmosphere is tense and it all comes

[00:44:53] to a head when we see what's at the center of it all. Inside a containment tube we see a little

[00:45:00] green organism. The last Metroid. At this point the game's title screen appears at the top of the

[00:45:09] screen. Super Metroid. Now if you think that opening was cool, just you wait dear listener.

[00:45:22] Super Metroid has one of my favorite opening sections in a video game and we'll be diving in soon

[00:45:28] enough. Now while there's no prompt on screen pressing start from here will get things moving,

[00:45:35] so let's do that now. After pressing start the screen is replaced with a view of three save slots.

[00:45:43] If this is your first time playing the game all the save slots will probably be empty and display

[00:45:48] the words no data next to them. Feel free to pick whichever one you want and once you do we're

[00:45:54] given a few more options. You have a controller setting mode where you can map all of your abilities

[00:46:00] and actions to specific buttons on the SNES controller which is very useful. There's also a special

[00:46:07] setting mode that tweaks a few other gameplay features. I didn't mess with this on my initial

[00:46:12] playthrough at all but you can tweak things like having your special weapon automatically deselect

[00:46:17] itself when you're moving to a new area and you can toggle on and off the ability to moonwalk.

[00:46:24] Basically moonwalking is the ability to fire on your enemy and move backwards without having

[00:46:29] Samus turn around. Really it's just walking backwards and shooting. I didn't play with this feature

[00:46:36] on but I have heard that some of you live and die by this technique. I am genuinely curious to try

[00:46:43] it out one day though. Anyway once the game settings are to your liking go ahead and start the game.

[00:46:50] From here the game is going to start us off by giving us a brief story recap up to this point in

[00:46:56] the Metroid franchise. While the instruction manual of Super Metroid does go into much more detail

[00:47:04] this opening is perfect for setting the stage so do not worry about going back to the previous

[00:47:09] Metroid games in order to understand what's going on here. The story recap begins amazingly with

[00:47:15] some random person's voiceover. The last Metroid is in captivity the galaxy is at peace.

[00:47:26] Oh that is so cringey to listen to today but I have to imagine hearing actual spoken words

[00:47:32] coming out of your TV speakers back in 94 was a momentous experience for some.

[00:47:38] Anyway from here we're shown an image of Samus the game's protagonist and through some text on

[00:47:44] screen she'll start recapping things for us. I first battled the Metroid on planet Zebes

[00:47:53] it was there that I foiled the plans of the space pirate leader mother brain to use the creatures

[00:47:58] to attack galactic civilization. In a black and white flashback we're shown a reenactment of when

[00:48:06] Samus first battled and defeated the evil mother brain in the first Metroid game. I next fought the

[00:48:13] Metroid's on their homeworld SR388. I completely eradicated them except for a larva which after

[00:48:21] hatching followed me like a confused child. Another black and white flashback shows this on screen

[00:48:27] for us as well and we can see Samus thinking about shooting the little guy in his non-face but

[00:48:33] ultimately runs off with a little creature in tow. I personally delivered it to the Galactic

[00:48:39] Research Station at series so scientists could study its energy producing qualities.

[00:48:45] Next we see Samus shaking the hand of a doctor light looking scientist who has the

[00:48:50] Metroid safely stowed away in a capsule underneath his arm. The scientist's findings were astounding

[00:48:58] they discovered that the powers of the Metroid might be harnessed for the good of civilization.

[00:49:03] Next we see a black and white shot of the laboratory presumably from the opening of the game where

[00:49:08] the Metroid is in the center of the room in its capsule being studied by a team of scientists.

[00:49:16] Satisfied that all was well I left the station to seek a new bounty to hunt but

[00:49:21] I had hardly gone beyond the asteroid belt when I picked up a distress call.

[00:49:26] Series Station was under attack. In a flash where shown Samus's ship as its speeds towards

[00:49:33] the space colony unsure of what dangers might await her.

[00:49:49] Now really quick before we continue I first started playing this game on my Nintendo Switch

[00:49:54] using their Nintendo online service. I had a pair of decent quality headphones on and I have

[00:50:01] to say the sound of Samus's ship flying through space sounded absolutely amazing.

[00:50:08] The overall sound design of Super Metroid absolutely smashed my expectations.

[00:50:15] From the dark ambience of the upcoming Space Station section the thunder claps on the surface

[00:50:21] of planet Zebes to the satisfying explosion of a mini bomb or missile.

[00:50:27] Do yourself a favor if you play this game in the future isolate yourself and listen to this game

[00:50:32] with a good set of headphones you will thank me later.

[00:50:38] After the screen fades to black Samus boards the space station. We can see Samus descending

[00:50:44] an elevator and once it comes to a stop control is given to the player for the first time.

[00:50:50] Alright bounty hunters we need to figure out what caused the distress call

[00:50:54] and make sure that everyone is alright. The moment we enter the space station it's

[00:51:00] immediately clear that something is wrong. The space station is shrouded in a misty blue hue

[00:51:06] and the music playing is ominous and verboding. Now before we get going a quick word on a couple

[00:51:14] things that we can see on screen first we have an energy readout on the upper left.

[00:51:21] It's just a numerical value at the moment which reads 99. Think of those as your hit points.

[00:51:29] If Samus takes any damage to herself via an enemy or an environmental hazard her energy will decrease.

[00:51:36] If that number reaches zero Samus will fall and your game will be over.

[00:51:42] Defeated enemies have a chance to drop items that will restore your energy but we'll touch on

[00:51:47] that a little later. At the top right hand side of the screen you'll see a mini map.

[00:51:53] It's a 3x5 grid and your location is always in the center.

[00:51:58] The map fills out as you explore an area but you do have the ability to find a map of an area

[00:52:04] if you're lucky enough to come across it. As you explore you're going to be referring to your map

[00:52:09] often I can guarantee that. For now though there's not too much when it comes to exploring

[00:52:15] the immediate area we're in so we'll touch more on the map a little later as well.

[00:52:20] Alright that's it for the HUD elements it's time to get moving.

[00:52:24] Using the directional pad you can move Samus around on screen.

[00:52:29] The elevator platform that we're on is just that, a platform.

[00:52:33] We see two smaller platforms below us so let's hold our D-pad to the right and drop down to

[00:52:39] the platform below. Good looks like we can only go down this way by dropping onto another platform so

[00:52:47] let's keep heading down. Nice at the bottom of the room that we're in there's a door to our right.

[00:52:56] Moving next to it causes the door to automatically open for us.

[00:53:01] Nice let's move through to the next room now the next room is fairly wide open so let's move

[00:53:09] to the right. As we move forward we come across a raised portion of the floor. We don't automatically

[00:53:16] step onto it so we'll have to jump. Pressing the jump button will have Samus, well jump and while

[00:53:23] this is just a way for you to jump for the very first time and see how that works I really encourage

[00:53:30] you to take some time in this room and get used to how Samus jumps around. While she's in the air

[00:53:37] Samus is kind of floaty almost as if the gravity isn't as strong as you would think it should be.

[00:53:44] While you're running if you jump with Samus she'll curl herself into a ball and flip end over

[00:53:50] end until she lands on her feet. While she's in the air like this you can move her around a little

[00:53:57] bit and be kind of precise with where she lands. Now if you're not moving and you decide to jump up

[00:54:04] Samus will still jump but she won't do any of the cool flips. You can maneuver her in the air like

[00:54:11] this but she won't move nearly as far this way. One benefit of jumping like this is that Samus

[00:54:17] can fire her arm cannon in the air if she's not spinning. Another benefit is you'll have a little

[00:54:23] bit more precise control when you're doing some precise platforming. It'll make more sense as we

[00:54:30] play the game but if you've never played Super Metroid before jump around in this room and get

[00:54:35] a bearing on how it all works. It will absolutely help take it from me. Okay let's keep moving.

[00:54:43] As we move into the next room from here we're taken to an area with a few staircases going down.

[00:54:48] Nothing to do here except keep moving down where the next door is eagerly awaiting us.

[00:54:54] Once we pass through this door we're taken to the laboratory room that we saw in the opening

[00:54:59] title sequence. A red-headed female scientist is sprawled out on the floor but what's more

[00:55:05] concerning is what we see when we move deeper into the room or more precisely what we don't see.

[00:55:13] The capsule where the Metroid was being housed has been destroyed and the Metroid is missing.

[00:55:19] It sure stinks like space pirates in here Hall of a Sudden Doesn't it? Either way this is not good

[00:55:26] and it is almost guaranteed the danger is still lurking. We got back to the space station pretty

[00:55:32] quick after hearing its distress call so I can almost guarantee the trouble is still out there.

[00:55:38] Regardless we need to push forward. After going through a long hallway we come into a room.

[00:55:47] The ambient music of the Space Colony has gone silent all of a sudden and all is quiet.

[00:55:54] From the doorway we drop down to the floor below. Looking ahead we see pretty quickly that we are not

[00:56:03] alone. The Metroid in its glass capsule is sitting in the middle of the floor. That's strange.

[00:56:12] When we move towards the Metroid we find that we can't pick it up or interact with it in any way.

[00:56:18] At this moment however something shimmers in the background. Something almost golden.

[00:56:26] All at once we see Ridley fade into the foreground. Ridley is a winged dragon looking alien who

[00:56:34] happens to be one of Mother Brain's highest ranking commanders. If the space pirates are here it's

[00:56:41] clear they mean to capture the Metroid and try to use it for their evil purposes. We cannot let

[00:56:47] that happen. Ridley with one monstrous claw on the Metroid capsule lets out a demonic screech.

[00:56:59] At this point while it's not inherently obvious control has returned to the player.

[00:57:05] This is as good a time as any to use that arm cannon Samus has and stop Ridley from escaping.

[00:57:11] Unless you've remapped the controls pressing X on your controller will fire your arm cannon.

[00:57:17] It's a semi-automatic ish type of cannon so you'll have to press the button each time you want

[00:57:23] to fire. Doing so will have Samus shoot in the direction that she's facing. While Ridley is sitting

[00:57:29] there looking cocky let's give him a few arm cannon blasts. Nice good hits. Anytime an enemy

[00:57:38] takes damage they'll blink white for a split second. At this point Ridley decides to take to the air

[00:57:45] and he starts to use his wings to float upwards. Now shooting airborne enemies can be a little tough

[00:57:52] but you have a couple of options. First you can jump in place and fire your cannon or you can

[00:57:59] have Samus angle her cannon arm upwards at a 45 degree angle. To do that just press and hold the

[00:58:06] right shoulder button. Samus will angle up her cannon and then you can commence firing.

[00:58:11] There you go nothing to it. The left shoulder button will have you angle your arm towards the ground

[00:58:20] and if you hold both of them together Samus will actually aim straight up. This could be done while

[00:58:26] jumping so if you're really looking to become a combat master you'll want to master aerial combat

[00:58:32] using these resources. Even though you have some pretty good mobility to start Samus's cannon

[00:58:39] isn't all that strong to start with and Ridley can easily put a beating on you here.

[00:58:45] He'll either fly directly into you, shoot fireballs at you or whack you with its razor-sharp tail.

[00:58:52] When you do take damage your energy will decrease. If your energy happens to drop too low however

[00:59:00] the game will let you know that you're in danger of parishing by sounding off a warning alarm.

[00:59:05] I usually find low health claxons absolutely annoying in most video games but this one is not too

[00:59:16] bad. It's just a low enough tone that it isn't too grating on the senses. If you want a chance

[00:59:24] that actually taking Ridley down in this section of the game do your absolute best to avoid his tail.

[00:59:30] It does the most damage in a single hit from what I've noticed.

[00:59:34] Now this fight will end one of two ways. If you're a space bounty hunter master ninja

[00:59:41] you'll pump Ridley full of enough holes that he'll actually drop the Metroid capsule

[00:59:46] but he'll find a way to grab it before he flies off and escapes.

[00:59:51] If Ridley gets the upper hand and damages you enough to the point where your low health

[00:59:55] alarm starts to go off Ridley just says screw you and flies straight away anyway.

[01:00:01] The only real difference here is he just doesn't drop the capsule first.

[01:00:06] Assuming you're going to have the same experience I did you'll get your ass handed to you and

[01:00:10] watch Ridley fly away with what I assume is a stupid shitting grin on his face.

[01:00:16] Don't worry though this needs to happen for the rest of the plot and the game to happen it is

[01:00:21] a necessary evil. However on his way out Ridley leaves us with a nasty surprise.

[01:00:29] The room starts to shake and an emergency siren blares.

[01:00:35] On screen we see the words emergency self-destruct sequence activated evacuate colony immediately.

[01:00:45] Holy crap we're only a few minutes into this game and things have escalated quite quickly.

[01:00:51] On screen a timer appears. We have one minute to get the helotty here.

[01:00:57] We need to get moving so let's go. All we need to do is backtrack to where we started so it

[01:01:03] shouldn't be too bad. We just need to keep moving. Now here's a cool trick I didn't quite figure out

[01:01:11] until well into my initial playthrough because I didn't bother looking at the controls game.

[01:01:16] While Samus is technically running when you move her around normally holding down the B button on

[01:01:22] the controller will make Samus run faster. This is great for the few straightaways in front of us.

[01:01:29] As we move back the way we came the murky blue background and atmosphere of the colony

[01:01:34] is replaced with a slightly red hue and the environment starts to shake.

[01:01:40] We don't have any enemies to fight on our way out but as things heat up there will be bursts of

[01:01:46] steam coming out of the walls and floor that can harm us if we touch it. It won't reduce our energy

[01:01:52] but the knockback is enough to throw its backwards and slow us down. And with only a single minute

[01:01:58] to get the helotty dodge we need to avoid these distractions as much as possible.

[01:02:04] When we get back to the wide open room, the one we were learning how to jump in,

[01:02:08] we can see parts of the ceilings start to fall down as well. The time limit to our

[01:02:13] destruction has moved under our mini-map. About 37 seconds left to go. We are moving people let's

[01:02:21] keep going. When we finally reach the final vertical corridor, the one we dropped down through,

[01:02:28] an explosion dramatically seals the door behind us. Spirts of white steam are flowing out of

[01:02:35] practically every crack in the foundation. What's worse, the entire room starts to literally sway

[01:02:43] back and forth. Now I'm not 100% sure but I believe this is the power of the Super Nintendo

[01:02:50] using mode 7 to make the background move around like this. It is incredibly awesome to see but

[01:02:57] it can be a little disorienting which I'm sure is the point. Either way we need to keep focused and

[01:03:04] we need to keep jumping up to each platform to eventually get to the elevator. Be careful though

[01:03:10] the blasts of steam are ruthless, you do not want to fall all the way back down to the bottom

[01:03:15] of the room. That would be catastrophic. Ah crap took a hit. Steady?

[01:03:22] Doc dammit! Come on 20 seconds we can do this just one at a time.

[01:03:27] Keep moving but time your jumps carefully. Come on there perfect there's the elevator platform

[01:03:37] just one more jump and awesome we made it! As soon as we land on the elevator platform the timer

[01:03:46] stops and the screen fades to black. From space we can see the space colony on the verge of

[01:03:52] destruction as small explosions ripple across the surface.

[01:04:02] Just as it explodes we see Samus escaping in her ship at the last moment.

[01:04:11] Whew we made it! How was that for an opening huh?

[01:04:16] Before we move on I have to say if I ever did a list of my favorite video game opening

[01:04:23] segments super Metroid would be on that list for sure. There was just something about the dark

[01:04:29] and foreboding atmosphere to start and the frantic escape sequence to cap it all off it just

[01:04:35] really set the stage for me. And this is coming from a guy who does not really care for the quote

[01:04:41] unquote escape sequences in games. Not that I have anything to really base this off of but

[01:04:48] I can't think of any other SNES game that has an opener that matches the spectacle of super Metroid.

[01:04:56] The opening really set the stage and got the player vested in what's to come.

[01:05:00] If this is how the game starts I couldn't wait to see what happened next.

[01:05:06] With the last Metroid stolen it's only obvious what comes next.

[01:05:12] The space pirates are most likely going to try and use it like they did originally

[01:05:16] and harness the power of the Metroid for evil. This means Samus needs to head to their base

[01:05:23] and put a stop to them once and for all. That's right we're heading back to where it all started

[01:05:30] for the series Planet Zebis.

[01:05:47] As we land on Zebis we're treated with a view of Samus's ship from the front.

[01:06:00] The planet's surface is a desolate place. The overcast sky is ominous and rain is falling pretty hard.

[01:06:09] Thunder crashes overhead and it's clear that we're not getting any sort of warm welcome here.

[01:06:15] When Samus' ship makes it to the ground it actually hovers just above it.

[01:06:20] The top of the ship opens up and Samus emerges from the interior.

[01:06:25] After the door to the ship closes

[01:06:30] control is given to the player. This is where the game truly begins and it's up to us now

[01:06:37] to find the missing Metroid before the space pirates have time to realize their plans with it.

[01:06:43] But the question here is where do we go and where do we even start?

[01:06:50] That right there is the beauty of Super Metroid. There is no roadmap

[01:06:56] no objective marker. It's up to us to explore the planet and figure it all out on our own.

[01:07:02] And that is exactly what we're going to do.

[01:07:06] As we check out a little bit of Planet Zebis we'll touch on some more of the game's mechanics

[01:07:11] and what to expect along the way. After that we'll touch on some of my favorite power ups,

[01:07:16] check in with some interesting green aliens as they teach us a few things and we'll

[01:07:20] cap our journey off by highlighting the incredible ending. Sound good to you all? Perfect, let's get

[01:07:27] going. Let's start off by heading to the right of the screen. As we move we'll quickly come across

[01:07:35] a dead end. Pay attention to what's clogging the passageway here. These dirt blocks are a great

[01:07:42] example of obstacles that can be destroyed if you have the right weapon or ability.

[01:07:47] We can't destroy this obstruction right now but this is a classic example of a point where you

[01:07:53] want to make a mental note of. As you acquire new weapons and abilities you'll eventually come across

[01:07:59] the thing that you need to destroy this obstruction. Now this is actually a good time to mention one

[01:08:06] thing about Super Metroid that I didn't really care for, and that's trying to keep track of what

[01:08:12] obstruction was where and what item I needed to surpass it. Now let me be 110% clear.

[01:08:21] That's a personal gripe and nothing against the game or its design. While the game's map is

[01:08:27] useful in that I can just look at it and see that this area over here is incomplete and I need to

[01:08:34] just come back and check it out, I found myself backtracking the areas a lot and just walking around

[01:08:41] aimlessly until I rediscovered an obstacle that I now have the means to work through.

[01:08:47] In my initial 6 hour playthrough, I felt like I used about two of those hours just figuring out

[01:08:53] where the hell I needed to go. In other games where you find specific keys or items that serve a

[01:08:59] specific purpose it was much easier to know that I needed to head to that one door or go to that one

[01:09:07] specific location due to a picture or a marking that matches the item that I have in hand.

[01:09:14] But again, this is a me problem because really part of the magic of this game is discovering how

[01:09:21] to interact with things you don't know you could interact with once you have the right item or

[01:09:27] you learn the right technique. Anyway, rant over. Since we can't go right let's turn around and

[01:09:35] ahead to the left. Once we get as far as we can go, we'll come across the door.

[01:09:41] Now the doors on planet Zebis aren't as accommodating as those on the space colony. They do not open

[01:09:48] automatically. You have to shoot them open which is fine but not all doors open with Samus' arm

[01:09:55] cannon. Blue doors like the one that's in front of us right now will open when blasted with pretty

[01:10:02] much anything so nothing to really worry about here. Now there are several different colored doors

[01:10:09] that will find that only open up when hit with a specific weapon. Red doors for instance need to be

[01:10:16] hit with five missiles before they'll open. A green door takes a single super missile. Yellow doors

[01:10:23] need a blast from a power bomb and the metal doors you come across will only open when a specific

[01:10:29] condition is met which is most commonly kill all the enemies in the room.

[01:10:36] This is another example of the gear gating system where you have to have the right equipment in order

[01:10:41] to move forward. For us though, this blue door in front of us is no match for us now so let's open

[01:10:47] it up and proceed. On the other side we're now in an interior cave location. As we move forward

[01:10:57] there's an incline in the terrain we need to jump on but what we'll probably notice immediately

[01:11:02] is the small path underneath that's only about as high as Samus' knees.

[01:11:08] Obstructing that little path are blocks that look like the breakable blocks that we saw outside.

[01:11:14] Even if we could destroy them though, Samus can't crouch down far enough to enter that tight space.

[01:11:20] Huh, only we could... I don't know. Morph. Into a ball perhaps. That would allow us passage below.

[01:11:31] For now though, we just need to keep moving to the left. After a bit of time passes we'll find

[01:11:38] ourselves dropping down a long vertical corridor. There's small platforms here and there but this

[01:11:44] corridor seemingly goes down forever. A light mist seems to be floating around and it feels like

[01:11:51] this area of the planet hasn't been disturbed in quite some time. Once we get to the bottom of

[01:11:57] the corridor and proceed through the door on the right, veterans of the first game or those of you

[01:12:02] who paid attention during the opening segment will know exactly where we are. Just past the door

[01:12:09] is the exploded capsule that used to house Mother Brain and it was the location where Samus took

[01:12:16] her on in the original game. Even though I never played the original Metroid, I felt a bit in awe

[01:12:23] in this room. I certainly appreciated the call out and the respect for the original game here

[01:12:30] and that's further showcased in a few rooms that are coming up ahead of us. After taking an

[01:12:36] elevator further down, the area we find ourselves in looks very blue and almost purposefully rendered

[01:12:43] in a graphical style that looks just like the original NES game. I'm making an assumption here

[01:12:50] but I think this area was an actual area in the original game. Once we get off the elevator

[01:12:57] and hang left, we'll be forced to jump over a few platforms. Once we do, we'll drop into a chamber.

[01:13:05] In the center of this chamber is a pedestal that has a glowing red ball on it,

[01:13:11] placed there with the utmost care and reverence it seems. Regardless of where it came from,

[01:13:17] it looks important so let's see if we can grab it. Once we jump up and touch the item, we collect it.

[01:13:24] And the words Morphing Ball pop on screen. This item will be the first of many that we'll find

[01:13:38] along our journey. With the Morphing Ball power up in our possession, we can now crouch down and

[01:13:43] down again to have Samus turn into a little ball about the quarter of her overall size and roll around.

[01:13:51] Now if you're thinking what I was thinking when I first got the Morph Ball, my first thought after

[01:13:57] getting this power up was I eventually wanted to go back to the area above and see if we could destroy

[01:14:03] those little blocks in the middle of that little passageway and use the Morph Ball to descend further

[01:14:09] down. Now this right here to me is the absolute best part of this entire game. It's one thing

[01:14:18] to find an item and either gain a new way to fight the enemy or a unique way to traverse the

[01:14:23] environment but it's learning how to use these new items and abilities in order to become more

[01:14:29] effective in combat or how to move forward in new areas that really cement this game as one of

[01:14:35] the greats. The game does not hold your hand. While some items you pick up come with a quick

[01:14:44] press this button to do this thing while of text, the game doesn't specifically tell you how to use

[01:14:50] your item the most effective way or where you need to use this item in order to progress.

[01:14:55] That right there is the beauty of it all. It's really up to you to figure out what you need to do

[01:15:01] with the tools that you have and how you can use that knowledge you gain to move forward.

[01:15:07] The best part of my experience was when I found a new item and now I'm backtracking to older

[01:15:13] areas to see if obstacles that were in my way before can be overcome now. But that's not where it

[01:15:19] all ends either. Planet Zebius is rife with all sorts of secrets too. There could be areas of the

[01:15:27] floor or ceiling that will only crumble when you blast them with a power bomb or maybe there's

[01:15:32] parts of the environment that you could only move through if you had the ability to jump while

[01:15:38] using the morphing ball. When I finished my first playthrough, I had somewhere around 63% of all

[01:15:45] items collected and I thought I had done a pretty decent job of poking around fairly thoroughly.

[01:15:51] Clearly there's much more to be found and that's honestly very exciting to me.

[01:15:57] While Super Metroid does a great job creating an atmosphere of isolation and constant danger,

[01:16:02] there was still some wonder to be had as I stumbled across something I missed earlier or tried

[01:16:07] using a new item in a different area and seeing some awesome results that I wasn't expecting.

[01:16:14] Now in my opinion the game does run the risk of becoming very tedious at this point if all you're

[01:16:19] doing is going room to room and trying to blast things open with missiles or power bombs and not

[01:16:25] finding anything it can be kind of repetitive. But even despite this I have to imagine so many

[01:16:33] people hold this game in such high regard because of all the secrets and all the things that they

[01:16:39] could spend time finding. I can imagine kids just locking themselves away and spending hours upon

[01:16:45] hours discovering all that this game has to offer. Even if the item that you discovered was

[01:16:51] just another five missiles that you could carry and add to your overall total it all felt worth it.

[01:16:58] Especially when you discovered things that you could do that didn't require a specific ability or

[01:17:03] item to unlock. What do I mean by that sentence? Well allow me to highlight one of my absolute

[01:17:11] favorite parts of this whole game and it involves a few little green alien creatures.

[01:17:19] I believe it's in the area of Zebes called Brinstar but you'll come across two alien species that

[01:17:27] thankfully don't want to kill you and harvest your organs. It's not fairly obvious at first but

[01:17:33] these little aliens are going to teach you some awesome skills that will help you a ton on your

[01:17:39] adventure. First we have the ostrich looking creature known as the dachola. At least that's what

[01:17:47] my players guide calls them and who knows if I'm pronouncing that right anyway. The dachola lives in

[01:17:53] this long corridor and when you run to the other end of it you'll see a long shaft upwards

[01:18:00] that seems to go on forever. There aren't any platforms to jump up on or anything that you can use

[01:18:06] to climb. Plus the corridor is extremely wide too. I remember being confused and I started to go

[01:18:13] back the way I came thinking how the hell would I even climb such a long corridor. But that's when

[01:18:20] I noticed something. In this area the dachola is running at full speed down the corridor.

[01:18:28] Huh, that's cool I guess but it wasn't until I kept pace with the little ostrich that I realized

[01:18:35] what was going on. You see at this point in the game I had a power up called the Speed Booster.

[01:18:43] This allowed me to run at blazing fast speeds while dashing and would even allow me to disintegrate

[01:18:50] some obstacles in enemies too. The dachola was running so fast that I had to use my speed booster

[01:18:56] in order to keep up. Once it and I reached the end of the corridor it would crouch,

[01:19:03] flash for a moment and then jump way up through the corridor. Once I saw that I immediately put

[01:19:12] two and two together. I'll bet I could do the same thing I thought to myself.

[01:19:18] So I went back to the start of the corridor, speed boosted all the way to the end

[01:19:26] and crouched right when I got to the wall. Sure enough Sam has started flashing.

[01:19:33] Once I pressed the jump button she shot straight up to the very top of the area. It was awesome.

[01:19:42] I read somewhere that this technique was originally called the Superjob but later became known as

[01:19:48] the Shine Spark. Neat. Elsewhere on Brinstar you come across a similar type of situation,

[01:19:56] a corridor that dead ends into a long vertical shaft upwards. Only this time in order to move

[01:20:03] up the shaft you had to learn a technique from the furry edicunes. Three little green fuzzy elf-looking

[01:20:12] creatures. Just like with the ostrich that I just mentioned you had to watch these little guys

[01:20:18] carefully. They would actually climb up the vertical shaft by wall jumping. They would jump onto

[01:20:26] one wall, turn around and jump towards the opposite wall. Using this technique they would make it all

[01:20:33] the way to the top of the shaft. There was no room to do a Shine Spark here so we had to learn how

[01:20:40] to wall jump. Now let me get this gripe out of the way so we can get back to the good stuff.

[01:20:47] Wall jumping in Super Metroid sucks. It fucking sucks and I know plenty of you that have reached out

[01:20:53] to me and said things like, just stick with it you'll get it. No, no! I am not good at wall jumping.

[01:21:00] I don't want to be good at wall jumping. Take it back, I don't want it. Yeah!

[01:21:07] It just requires you to spin jump towards a wall. Press the opposite direction you want to jump in

[01:21:14] but you can't jump again right away. You have to wait a half a heartbeat then you can jump.

[01:21:21] It was just frustrating for me. Probably because I don't have as much patience as I used to

[01:21:27] but still. Anytime I had to wall jump anywhere, I was not happy about it.

[01:21:33] There was a part in a section called Marida. Marida? Whatever. That I struggled with for about 20 minutes.

[01:21:41] My fingers hurt, I was getting upset and I just wanted to morph ball into the fetal position

[01:21:47] and cry myself this late. Looking back I don't think I even needed to wall jump to get up there.

[01:21:54] I probably could have gotten up there another way but still. Other 2D platformers did wall jumping

[01:22:01] so much better than Super Metroid. Speaking of, I think Batman on the NES is probably my favorite

[01:22:08] way to wall jump. Anyway, while I didn't personally enjoy wall jumping, let's circle back to what

[01:22:16] is truly incredible about the Shine Spark and wall jumping. And that's the fact that you can do

[01:22:23] these abilities at any time without having to be taught by these little green alien things.

[01:22:29] Lots of games, especially modern ones, don't allow you to perform a specific action until you

[01:22:36] unlock it by spending skill points or acquiring a specific item or equipment piece.

[01:22:42] The Shine Spark and wall jumping are two techniques you can always do so long as you know the steps to

[01:22:48] take. Further, when the game uses these creatures to teach these techniques to you,

[01:22:54] you're not given any tutorial or button prompts. You have to watch their actions and mimic them

[01:23:00] as best you can. Because of that, learning these techniques makes them that much more impactful

[01:23:07] to the player because you discovered a secret within yourself, yourself. It is genius game design.

[01:23:17] If you happen to figure out how to do these things before beating your furry green alien friends,

[01:23:23] all the better. You can get a leg up on some areas of the game and that in and of itself is its

[01:23:29] own reward for your ingenuity. Out of all the cool items and things that you can collect in this

[01:23:35] game, I genuinely enjoyed learning how to wall jump and learning how to perform a Shine Spark.

[01:23:43] Which brings me to something else I thought was awesome. The wall jump and Shine Spark aren't the

[01:23:50] only secret techniques in this game. Granted, I had to look some of these up but did you know

[01:23:57] once you have the charge beam and the ability to drop bombs with the morphing ball that you can

[01:24:02] drop five bombs at once by charging your main attack and then just rolling into a little ball.

[01:24:09] There's also the ice bomb technique. If you have the ice beam and the charge beam equipped,

[01:24:15] a power bomb in your arsenal and selected, charging your main weapon will throw out four ice balls

[01:24:22] that will surround you. How about this one? Does anyone listening know about the crystal flash technique?

[01:24:31] I only knew this existed thanks to my player's guide. This secret technique isn't only cool

[01:24:38] it can be an absolute lifesaver and I actually used this one in my own playthrough.

[01:24:44] To pull off the crystal flash, you need to have 10 regular missiles,

[01:24:49] 10 super missiles, and 11 power bombs on hand. If you happen to have any reserve tanks that

[01:24:55] you use for health, those need to be empty and your overall energy needs to be 50 or less.

[01:25:02] Basically you need to be near death. To initiate the crystal flash, first you need to select

[01:25:09] the power bomb and morph into a ball. Then you need to hold down the L and R shoulder buttons

[01:25:16] as well as down on the directional pad. Once you do this, hold down the button you used to

[01:25:23] fire Samus's main arm cannon. Keep holding these down and after the power bomb detonates,

[01:25:29] Samus will be engulfed in a white spherical light. She'll lose 10 missiles, 10 super missiles

[01:25:36] and 10 power bombs but this technique should completely heal Samus. It's a fantastic trade-off

[01:25:44] if you're deep into enemy territory and you're not near a safe point. I really appreciate

[01:25:50] Super Metroid for these secret techniques. Whether you discover them on your own or by looking

[01:25:55] them up, they add yet another layer to the game that really enhances the overall experience.

[01:26:02] I can only imagine some kid back in the day figuring some of these out and then telling all

[01:26:07] their friends what they learned at the playground at recess. Good times.

[01:26:14] Before we end this episode, we have to talk about some of the game's awesome items and pieces

[01:26:20] of equipment that you find along the way. I don't want to spend too much time here since I think

[01:26:25] most of you listening probably already know about a ton of these but I did want to share my thoughts

[01:26:30] on a few. When I was reading the player's guide growing up, I was amazed at how many items and

[01:26:37] weapons there were in this game. The list along with their descriptions took up two whole pages

[01:26:44] of the player's guide. Missiles and super missiles were Samus' bread and butter weapons.

[01:26:50] While they were limited by however many you had on hand at the moment,

[01:26:54] they were much more useful than Samus' starting arm cannon.

[01:26:58] And the best part, they fired however fast you pressed the button on your controller so it was

[01:27:04] quite satisfying just unloading on an enemy. The charge beam made Samus' regular weapon a little

[01:27:11] bit more practical. Holding the fire button would charge up a shot and releasing it would have it

[01:27:17] let loose on the enemy. Personally, I usually just used a missile more so than actually charging up

[01:27:24] a shot but they still could be very effective. The ice beam was another cool upgrade. Get it?

[01:27:33] Cool because it's cold. Anyway, the ice beam has the potential to freeze some enemies in place

[01:27:40] allowing you to use them as platforms. While this seems like a nice to have feature, it's actually

[01:27:47] essential to progress in some areas. It added a nice change to the overall combat experience but

[01:27:54] my favorite weapon upgrade was the plasma beam. Its sheer power is enough to wreck most things and

[01:28:03] it just feels awesome to use. And it cuts through multiple enemies if I remember right.

[01:28:10] Other than weapons, Samus has some utility type items that she can grab.

[01:28:16] For a while, one of my favorites was the grapple beam. This beam acted like a grappling hook and

[01:28:23] you could attach it to certain types of blocks and even to certain enemies. Once attached,

[01:28:29] you could make Samus swing back and forth and at the last moment she'd let go and she'd go

[01:28:35] flying, usually towards areas that she wouldn't have been able to access otherwise.

[01:28:40] It's a simple concept and not at all interesting really but I really loved having to push

[01:28:46] the D pad back and forth in order to get Samus' momentum built up before letting her fly.

[01:28:53] There's also an item called the X-Race scope that I almost missed out on completely.

[01:28:59] Using this item will emit a small cone of light out of Samus' helmet and you can see

[01:29:05] if parts of the room that you're in are destructible or hiding secrets. A fantastic tool to be sure

[01:29:11] but I didn't use it a ton since I found it so late in the game. I am sure there were kids

[01:29:18] back in the day x-raying every single pixel in this game in order to find the next hidden thing.

[01:29:25] But after fully playing the game and looking back on my experience as a whole,

[01:29:30] my absolute favorite ability has to be the screw attack. When you have the screw attack

[01:29:38] and you do a spin jump, Samus turns into the supercharged buzzsaw-looking thing.

[01:29:47] Virtually any enemy Samus touches while in screw attack mode will be tore up into tiny bits

[01:29:54] and pieces. It is glorious! And the screw attack gets even cooler if you have an item called the

[01:30:03] Space Jump Equip. When you're in a spin jump, pressing jump again will allow Samus to sort of

[01:30:11] jump again while in mid-air when she has the space jump equipped. And this effectively allows her

[01:30:17] to summer salt all over the dehem place and reach most any inaccessible area.

[01:30:24] While you're floating around like this and you're in full on screw attack mode,

[01:30:28] all your enemies will be cowering before you as you rip them to shreds.

[01:30:35] It really made the game fun and by the time you have both of these abilities,

[01:30:40] you've spent a good portion of the game battling enemies using conventional weaponry.

[01:30:46] Now the tables can be turned and it's absolutely something you feel like you've earned as opposed

[01:30:52] to just another overpowered item. Which leads me to a point I think I made when I talked about

[01:30:59] Metroid Zero Mission in one of our early episodes. The one thing that I will always appreciate

[01:31:07] about this type of game genre is growing along with the character that I'm playing as.

[01:31:13] I may not be going on an emotional journey with Samus or anything, but she becomes stronger

[01:31:19] and more versatile as she collects more items in equipment. The same holds true for me as the player.

[01:31:27] Every new item or technique adds some new layer to the overall experience and makes me feel just

[01:31:34] a little bit more powerful. By the end of the game, I went from feeling like a fledgling newbie

[01:31:41] to a fully fledged bounty hunter who was molded through fire and battle-hearted.

[01:31:47] And any game that makes you feel a sense of progression and growth like this is doing it right.

[01:31:56] So with everything that we've already covered, I feel like there's still so much to discover

[01:32:02] and discuss when it comes to Super Metroid that we'd almost need another episode to touch on at all.

[01:32:07] Overall, though, I really enjoyed my experience with this game having played it for the first time

[01:32:14] recently. There were some things that frustrated me about this game though. I wish the map was better

[01:32:20] about calling out obstacles that needed a specific item to circumvent. I didn't feel like jumping

[01:32:26] was as crisp and responsive as people made it out to be, and I did not enjoy wall jumping in

[01:32:32] the slightest if my rant earlier was not clear enough. Worst of all, I hated it when I would find

[01:32:40] myself lost as to what I needed to do next and the way forward was not obvious to me.

[01:32:46] I know that's part of the overall experience and I can appreciate that, but I found myself

[01:32:52] sitting down with this game and ending my session having made no progress at all at times since

[01:32:58] I still didn't know where I needed to go by the end of my session. Back in the day, when we had

[01:33:05] nothing but time to game, I would probably not bad an eye to this. But today as an adult with

[01:33:13] responsibilities, full-time job and kids I need to keep alive, the time I lost wandering around

[01:33:20] genuinely frustrated me. And it didn't help that last month has been one of the most stressful

[01:33:27] that I've experienced at my adult job in the 10 years that I've been working there.

[01:33:33] I basically played this game in a poor mood most of the time and I found myself

[01:33:38] easily agitated at a lot of little things. But now that I've had time to digest my experience

[01:33:47] and really look at it at a high level, I can't help but feel accomplished and genuinely satisfied.

[01:33:55] While I don't think Super Metroid is my absolute favorite game of all time now or anything,

[01:34:01] I absolutely see the genius and I absolutely had a great time with this one.

[01:34:06] The hype is real and now I understand why this game is considered a must play.

[01:34:13] Even if you find yourself needing to use a guide which I'm proud to say I only did once when

[01:34:19] I was truly lost, the gameplay experience is solid throughout this entire journey.

[01:34:25] I never felt bored and I never felt like playing was a chore.

[01:34:31] Except for that time that I was lost but I digress. So if you haven't played this game before,

[01:34:38] certainly give it a shot. If it's been a while, you owe it to yourself to go back and

[01:34:44] relive those glory days. For me though, the one thing that I will always remember

[01:34:51] is the epic final battle with Mother Brain and how the kindness Samus showed in a single moment

[01:34:59] helped her to save the day. When the time comes to battle Mother Brain, you'll find her in a

[01:35:06] glass capsule like the original game but once you destroy that, Mother Brain transforms into a

[01:35:12] bipedal giant standing about as tall as the screen. Samus is locked in a room with her so all we

[01:35:19] can do is unload on Mother Brain and hope we do enough damage to take her out once and for all.

[01:35:26] Obviously, her massive head is her weakness so we get to work unloading our arsehole.

[01:35:32] For me, it was a volley of super missiles right to the teeth.

[01:35:36] Mother Brain will do her best to take you out with a variety of laser projectiles, bombs and

[01:35:47] other nasty things. As long as we stay relatively mobile and keep firing on her head, we'll start

[01:35:54] to wear her down. At this point, Mother Brain decides to step up her game by unleashing a powerful beam

[01:36:01] attack that once unleashed cannot be avoided. Mother Brain shoots a multicolored beam that's so

[01:36:12] powerful it pins Samus against the back wall. By the time the beam ends, Samus barely has any health

[01:36:20] left. Samus was hit so hard that no input by the player will bring her back to her feet.

[01:36:27] She'll struggle but she'll continue to fall to her knees. Mother Brain almost toys with Samus,

[01:36:35] shooting a low power projectile or two at her to whittle her health down even farther.

[01:36:41] Finally, she rears back and charges up another energy blast eager to finish Samus off for good.

[01:36:48] But just before she can unleash the killing blow, the Metroid we came here to save latches

[01:36:55] onto Mother Brain and start sapping her of her life force. Mother Brain is brought to her knees

[01:37:05] and looks to be defeated. At this point, the Metroid who still seems imprinted on Samus takes

[01:37:12] the energy it absorbed from Mother Brain and transfers it to Samus, refilling her energy tanks.

[01:37:19] But Mother Brain is far from finished. As Samus is being healed, we can see a

[01:37:25] couple missed coming from Mother Brain's open mouth. Soon the color returns to her and she goes back

[01:37:33] on the offensive. The Metroid shield Samus says Mother Brain unleashes a volley of laser attacks.

[01:37:43] Clearly wounded, the Metroid floats away but comes charging back towards Mother Brain.

[01:37:52] But in the last moment, Mother Brain nails the Metroid with a laser blast.

[01:38:03] The Metroid defeated falls towards Samus. But something happens as the Metroid dies.

[01:38:12] It seems to have transferred its energy and possibly some of the energy it stole from Mother Brain

[01:38:17] into Samus. Samus glows the color of a rainbow and slowly gets to her feet.

[01:38:26] At this point, control returns to the player and as soon as we fire Samus's main arm cannon,

[01:38:31] we discover something truly awesome. Samus is now in possession of the Hyperbean,

[01:38:37] which shoots a laser blast powerful enough to throw Mother Brain's head back towards the opposite

[01:38:43] wall. With the Metroid's final act of self-sacrifice, we are given the gift that we need

[01:38:50] to end this evil once and for all. Mother Brain tries her best to fight back but the power of

[01:39:01] the Hyperbeam seals her fate. In no time at all, Mother Brain starts to fall apart. Her final

[01:39:09] death cry, the last will ever hear from her. As the rest of Mother Brain's mechanical body falls away,

[01:39:20] we watch as her head slowly turns to dust. And with that, our journey is finally…

[01:39:32] Ah, son of a bitch! An emergency siren starts going off and a message on screen appears.

[01:39:39] Time bomb set, escape immediately. A countdown of three minutes appears on screen and a doorway

[01:39:48] behind us blows open. Well, we all know the drill by now. It's time to get the hell out of here.

[01:39:56] As soon as we go through the doorway, Metal Shudders close in front of us. We make shortwork

[01:40:02] of those with the Hyperbeam and then we continue forward. The entire stream is shaking and small

[01:40:08] explosions are going off all around us. Just how big is this time bomb anyway? We don't have much

[01:40:17] time to think about it, we just have to keep moving. As we push forward, Samus will encounter

[01:40:23] space pirate goons who stand in the way of her escape. The Hyperbeam will make shortwork of these

[01:40:29] fools so keep shooting and keep moving. It could be a little disorienting trying to navigate some

[01:40:36] of these corridors with all the screen shaking going on but don't lose your cool. We have come

[01:40:41] this far, it would be an absolute shame to die at a time like this.

[01:40:47] Ultimately the goal here is to get back to Samus' ship which means we need to go up.

[01:40:53] The maze-like area we find ourselves in seems like it might be hard to navigate but it's not that

[01:40:59] hard to push through. Things get heated though when we start to move upwards. Molten Hot Lava starts

[01:41:06] to rise underneath us so we need to make sure that we're taking our time and making the jumps

[01:41:11] we need to make in order to keep moving up. Eventually we'll come to a familiar looking vertical corridor.

[01:41:18] Remember the one that we fell down in the very beginning of the game that was covered and all

[01:41:22] the old mist? Yes, that's where we're at so we're already close to where our ship is.

[01:41:29] By the time we make it to the surface we can already see the finish line but there's still something

[01:41:36] else that we need to do before we leave the planet. Now I don't know if this is something that

[01:41:41] we would have figured out in the normal course of gameplay or not but we have the opportunity

[01:41:46] to save our green fluffy little alien friends and since they were so kind to us earlier

[01:41:51] I vote we see if we can help them out. But where are they from here?

[01:41:57] As you make it to the surface you'll see an area you can go down through using the morph ball.

[01:42:03] That is where we need to go. Let's see if we can pull this off. How much time do we have?

[01:42:10] About a minute and ten seconds. Come on let's go there's no time to waste.

[01:42:16] As we make our way down we'll find a doorway. I believe this is the passage that we would

[01:42:21] have used to find our very first power bomb item if I'm not mistaken. Follow this passage to

[01:42:28] the very end and then we'll pass through another door. Through that door we'll find our furry friends

[01:42:33] trapped in a room that's slowly filling up with lava. If you destroy the back wall that will give

[01:42:40] our friends away out. Perfect off they go. Where are we at with time? 56 seconds. All right let's move

[01:42:50] it. We need to backtrack the way we came and get back to the surface. When we make it to the

[01:42:57] outside everything is shaking. Many explosions are going off all over the place and steam rises

[01:43:04] from the ground. It's pretty clear that this time bomb is somehow designed to take out the entire

[01:43:09] planet at this point. Just keep moving and do not look back. There there it is. Samus' ship is

[01:43:18] right in front of us. As soon as we jump on it and press the down button on the directional pad

[01:43:23] the door opens up and Samus makes her way in. Once the door closes,

[01:43:31] Samus powers up the ship and it immediately starts to ascend.

[01:43:36] We're treated to a top-down view of the surface of Zebius, most of which is on fire at this point.

[01:43:44] We pass through the clouds and eventually we're given a view of the planet from afar.

[01:43:48] As it radiates a purple hue we can see the surface of the planet start to crack.

[01:43:55] All at once in a flash of blinding light the planet explodes.

[01:44:08] Did Samus make it off the planet in time? Of course she did. She has like a dozen more games

[01:44:15] she needs to be in. We see her ship fly away from the explosion and if you happen to be paying

[01:44:21] close enough attention you'll see a small glint of light flying away from the planet on the right

[01:44:27] side of the screen. That was our fuzzy alien pals and they made it out too. Fantastic job.

[01:44:36] What sort of in-game reward do you get for your efforts? Well nothing except knowing that you

[01:44:43] did the right thing and I'm sure that counts for something. Nevertheless we survived and

[01:44:50] averted a major crisis. Phew what an amazing end to an amazing game. The operation was completed

[01:45:00] successfully. See you all next mission.

[01:45:30] And with another successful mission comes the end of another show my friends.

[01:45:46] This has been Episode 52 of The Retro Wildlands Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

[01:45:55] Thank you very much for tuning into the show today. There is no denying in the mark that

[01:46:02] Super Metroid has left on gaming and I'm glad I can finally say that I played through it.

[01:46:07] While I sometimes wonder if I really do like Metroidvania games as much as some of you,

[01:46:13] I can't deny that I've had a great time with this game and I absolutely believe it holds up

[01:46:19] as a must-play game today. Even if I found myself lost sometimes or unsure of where I needed to go,

[01:46:26] I always appreciated the feeling of starting a game out as a weakling only to finish as a strong bad

[01:46:32] ass. Really it's that journey of growth that really makes these sorts of games for me and it's

[01:46:40] clear to me why so many people hold this game in such high regard. I'm eager to continue my journey

[01:46:46] into the Metroid franchise so if there's a game in the series that you'd like to hear me break

[01:46:51] down next, all you have to do is just let me know. If you like the show and you want to show it and

[01:46:58] myself some support please consider subscribing to it on your preferred podcasting platform.

[01:47:04] For the time being I don't really have a release schedule for shows and with my busy work

[01:47:09] and personal lives I do my absolute best to make podcasts whenever I have the time.

[01:47:15] That said, subscribing to the show will let you know the moment I post something new.

[01:47:21] Now if you really like the show and want to help spread the word about it,

[01:47:25] I would appreciate it if you took a moment and dropped us a good review.

[01:47:29] You can leave The RetroWildlands a star rating on Spotify or you can post a written review on iTunes,

[01:47:36] Pod Chaser or Pod Bean, the platform the show is based out of.

[01:47:41] Good reviews will help the show circulate a bit more in searches but more than anything it'll

[01:47:46] make me feel like a million bucks. Nothing motivates me more than knowing you listening really dig

[01:47:52] what I've been putting together so it would mean the world to me if you took a few minutes out of

[01:47:56] your day and left a written review. But don't feel obligated my friend seriously, more than anything

[01:48:03] and the fact that you're listening to the show right now is much more than I could ever ask for,

[01:48:07] so above all else know this. I thank you very much for being here.

[01:48:16] So what's coming up next? After all the Nintendo I fed myself over the last several weeks,

[01:48:23] I've been itching for something a little bit more mature. While I love me a good romp around

[01:48:31] the mushroom kingdom or a grand adventure around Hyrule, lately I've been feeling a pool towards

[01:48:37] something a little more intense. Something that I can use to de-stress a little and when I was

[01:48:44] thinking about what game that might be, a friend casually mentioned a gem to me that he used

[01:48:50] to play as a kid that I think is going to hit the spot. While it's available on systems like the

[01:48:56] Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One or even over on Steam if you wanted to enjoy today, this game was

[01:49:03] originally released in 1993 for the MS-DOS computer system. This game was one of the first first

[01:49:12] person shooters ever released and it helped build and define that genre for years to come.

[01:49:19] And it was one of the first games that I can remember where I could eviscerate my enemies with a

[01:49:25] chainsaw. I, of course, am talking about Doom. So stay tuned wildlanders and don't forget to

[01:49:35] subscribe to the show. The next time we take to the gaming wildlands this expedition is going to

[01:49:41] hell and I would absolutely feel privileged and honored if you would join us for this journey.

[01:49:48] Until then my friends, my name is Nomad and you can find me roaming the retro wildlands.