Super Metroid
1994
- shooter
- platform
- adventure
- action
- science fiction
- thriller
- single player
The story
The Space Pirates, merciless agents of the evil Mother Brain, have stolen the last Metroid from a research station, and once again Mother Brain threatens the safety of the galaxy! Samus Aran must don her awesome array of high-tech weaponry to retrieve the deadly Metroid hidden deep within the cave-riddled planet Zebes. Super Metroid features excellent graphics, with a huge variety of enemies and worlds to explore. The side-view action will be familiar to many players, only now there are new weapons and items, including the Grappling Beam, which allows Samus to swing across large chasms, and the X-Ray Scope, which reveals secret passages.
What it’s like
Deep blues, violet caverns and the sickly green glow of acid pools make up most of the palette, rendered in crisp 16-bit pixel art where every sprite is hand-animated and the backgrounds breathe with slow parallax. Light is mostly artificial: lava that throbs orange across cavern walls, emergency strobes in derelict corridors, and the faint bioluminescence of alien flora. Long stretches pass with almost no sound beyond ambient drones and the drip of water, then a Ridley Wall theme or a boss track swells in with brass-like synth and percussive urgency. Pacing is patient and exploratory, a slow unlocking of routes and upgrades that rewards wandering and backtracking, punctuated by sudden, dense confrontations. Its mood is lonely, eerie and quietly awe-struck, the kind of solitude that feels vast rather than bleak. Violence is frequent but abstract: enemies burst into pixel debris, bosses are large and punishing, and there is no gore or sexual content, though fear comes from darkness and isolation more than shocks. It suits late-night solo play, a focused weekend session, or anyone who loves atmospheric exploration and the satisfaction of earning a new ability.
More games like Super Metroid
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Super Metroidand we’ll explain which ones fit you.
