@@Cannotbetamed1 It can be tricky to notice, though, unlike the Chorizo (hostile statues) which lose pieces of themselves when they suffer enough damage.
You really have a point regarding the controls. In being such a extreme fanboy in 25 years I just forgot about this because after playing the game for at least 50 times. But then I played YAM2R - it's a night-and-day difference. Oh, and about the dying sequence of Samus. It's not that her clothes fall of because she dies. Actually it's just the opposite: It's just her Power Suit breaking when it's shield energy reached zero. Leaving her completely defenseless to the toxic atmoshere (and sometimes several hundreds degrees of heat combined with tons of acid) she dies almost immediately after as a CONSEQUENCE.
The Crystal Flash and charge combos actually are revealed to the player, along with bomb-jumping...but not straight away. Beat the game, and an additional title screen demo sequence will be unlocked demonstrating these abilities. But, to answer your question..."Why put abilities in the game and not bother to let the player know they're there?" These extra abilities aren't needed to beat the game; you can access and defeat Mother Brain without ever using a single wall jump or Shinespark. Rather, just like some of the items in the game, they're hidden. They're rewards for players who take the time to venture off the beaten track, or have beaten the game - players who have demonstrated enough mastery of the game to make effective use of them. Part of the reason they're rewards is that, if skillfully used, they allow the player to sequence-break: getting items in the "wrong" order, and accessing certain areas of the game earlier than intended. This is part of what contributes to the replayability for fans of the game - there are a vast number of ways to make your way through Zebes, and many experienced players have one or two favorite sequences they like to follow.
She doesn't understand, among several other concepts of 90's gaming, replayability. "Why doesn't the game show me how to do everything?" ..... "Replayability..."
@@ruggie.74 right. That's what made the game feel more realistic & fun instead giving you all the information.. Discovering all the hidden items & abilities made the game even more special. Hell I figured out most enhanced abilities on accident lmao.. When just messing around
That was my favorite part of replaying this game. Once I found out the hidden items and abilities I enjoyed replaying and seeing how many items I could get way before you’re supposed to
it was honestly a genius move. not telling players about all these extra moves works as a sort of early new game+, and it definitely worked. super metroid was one of the first big speed games with an absolutely massive following to this day
@@ZeikerYT agreed, I was expecting so much more from all the hype but there's a lot of problems with this one. I get it was the first of its kind, but I have a lot of issues with the lack of direction. Other people justify this as genius or intentional but it becomes a problem because the game is MUCH more linear and specific than it appears to be - leading to problems with progression, dead rooms, backtracking, and constant issues trying to find the one tiny thing you missed, or specific thing your supposed to do that isn't intuitive at all.
I believe the later 2D Metroid games (Fusion and Zero Mission) do a fairly competent job at addressing some of the control issues Super Metroid presents. Samus overall feels _much_ less floaty than she used to, and is much more precise in terms of jump arcs and whatnot. The grapple beam is never seen again (until Samus Returns, but I haven't played that one), so you won't need to worry about dealing with it. The Space Jump's weird timing is removed entirely, letting you just mash jump as much as you want if you need to go up. In addition, both Fusion and Zero Mission mark the addition of the Power Grip feature that lets Samus cling on ledges. Instead of being pre-selected, Missiles are toggled by holding the R button and pressing fire. Power bombs, in a similar vein, are toggled by holding down the R button while in Morph Ball mode and pressing fire. This does admittedly screw with the diagonal aiming slightly, so the solution the devs came up with was to have L stick with 'aim upwards' and pressing down while holding L would let you aim down, since odds are that you'll be shooting diagonally upward more often than you'll be shooting diagonally downward. Switching between Super Missiles and regular Missiles in Zero Mission (Fusion has Super Missiles as just a straight upgrade) is the only mechanic that requires toggling between one or the other. But considering that you'll mostly be using super missiles exclusively for boss fights until you run out, it's not all that big of a deal. So, yeah. In conclusion, play Fusion and Zero Mission. They're good games, even if Fusion is a decidedly more linear experience.
Why? Since when running around in circles for hours not making any progress except finding the occasional missile upgrade until the little time you have to play because you're a busy adult expires is any fun? I find this game to be one of the most aggravating I have ever played. I love most of the Metroid franchise, but this one goes in the NOT pile, along with the NES game and Hunters.
@@OliGaming-d1u??? Every Metroid game plays as you've just described ... I'm surprised you can love " most of the Metroid franchise " with what you've just said.
@@OliGaming-d1u I played Metroid for the NES, Metroid 2 for the Game Boy, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime 1 2 and 3, Metroid Fusion, Metroid zero Mission, and a few ROMs or hacks here and there to mess with them but never completed them. I have not played Metroid Other M, Metroid Prime hunters, nor that other weird multiplayer one. To me if you're going to play Metroid then you've got to get ready to memorize, backtrack, and look for weird obscurities and search every wall in the room. That's just how it is with a metroidvania EDIT: BTW I recommend playing Hollow Knight if you want a modern metroidvania with a fully-fledged map and markers to pinpoint locations you want to go back to
Super Metroid will always have a special place in my heart, as it was the first game I ever beat, and beat before my older brother. Back in the day u had to beat a game without an online walkthrough, and my bro got stuck, and gave up. I spent a week playing the game, and found what he missed. He got to watch me beat the game, and it was as awesome as it gets, as far as being a gamer goes.
No game is perfect, but for me, Super Metroid has always been my all-time favorite SNES game and a damn near perfect SNES game at that. It has absolutely everything I look for in a Metroid game. With its superb level design, great controls that aged super well, outstanding powerups and mechanics that the game is built around, amazing atmosphere and how distinct every portion of Planet Zebes is, excellent bosses, how it encourages exploration, puzzle-solving, thinking outside the box, and progressing at your own pace. Super Metroid is nothing short of revolutionary for me, and it still remains one of my favorite games of all time.
@Nighthawk The floaty controls are part of the experience, if you don't think so, try the gba like controls in the super metroid redesign hackrom and you will hate it, then be back to the floaty one.
I've played this game forever, and NEVER noticed it only tells you how to use missiles and not the morph ball! You're spot on regarding Samus feeling floaty. Great video.
One of my personal heros... for a tomboy who loves video games, the early Metroid games were a wonderful feeling for me... for once, a woman was shown in a strong role without making a point it was a woman in a strong role. Made a huge effect on me when I was in school.
This comment means more than most comments. I really believe game companies should consider this powerful kind of influence. Well done, RedKytten. Samus may be my favourite game character ever.
It's refreshing to remove the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia sometimes and listen to objective feedback from someone new to a classic game. Even with it's faults the devs nailed so many aspects, the atmosphere especially.
It is a masterpiece, and an irreplaceable part of gaming history, but let's be honest: she brings up some good points about the controls and floaty platforming. Later games have tighter controls and more consistent physics.
@@megabyte01 I used to have this opinion, then I sunk hundreds of hours into the game. The controls require a LOT of skill to master, and feel amazing once you do (the best of the metroid series imo). The only thing I find jank about any of the movement in the game (yes, including walljumps, space jump and many of the unintended movement mechanics) is suitless underwater... but that's designed to be jank so I think it's fine lol.
Best game of all time. I've replayed this game more than any other. I played it on release in 94, and still have my SNES with my big old Super Metroid cardboard box :D
the controls feel floaty, door colors are not on the map and found items are also marked as a dot on the map,...but thats it for me, the rest is top notch masterclass atmosphere and gameplay, that they are not showing everything was part of this generation, you played such a game for weeks or month and nintendo let you become unbelievable happy after you found out about it after weeks what nobody knows. You can"t critice things that were intentionally designed for that specific time in which you doesnt play the game back then. sry for bad english, greetings from germany
Another thing I'll add to this is that mechanics like the crystal flash and wall jump were explained in the manual. Just another element of the era which was widely known and accepted at the time.
Many of us see this game through nostalgia glasses, making it hard to find the faults with it. But Pam is right, the controls can be a pain in the ass, especially wall-jumping, which wasn't mentioned at all. But we can forgive these shortcomings because the rest of the game is fantastic, and still holds up even today. Great review!
The game does try to show you how to wall jump without explicitly telling you exactly how to do it. It took me like 15 minutes to figure it out because I expected it to work like Mario/Megaman X though.
I’m not sure why the wall jumping is so bad in this. I guess because it’s a secret, and if you know how to do it right away you can sequence break the game. I think the newer ones design the levels to accommodate for wall jumping.
You made me wanna give this game a try. Seeing a lot of the boss fights looked hella fun. And the exploration too! One day I will play a Metroid game! ...One day. Solid review.
I'd actually suggest AM2R. Being made by an extremely talented metroid fan, it's basically the definitive metroid experience (although nostalgia will always put super above it for me).
My advice for you is go into it without using a guide your first time through and explore. I used youtube my first time playing through and the act of having to continually pause and look up internet walkthroughs hampered my enjoyment of it. Playing through a second time now just exploring I’m having a way better time than the first
Phew.. I dunno. I replay this game usually a couple times a year, and every time I do I find myself wishing more platformers had controls that felt as precise and crisp as super metroids. It's just so damn easy to get around, especially once you master the wall jump. What games would you suggest do it better?
I find this game to have the most counter intuitive controls for a platformer. Even a simple jump to a platform requires an unkown amount of different imputs becouse you can't control yourself in mid air unless you completely change direction or stop by pressing a different button, instead of gradually modifying your speed. Momentum storage is completely unpredictable becouse of limitations probably, as it isn't gradual but it increments in steps, huge steps, and changes your speed in mid air out of nowhere, or slows you down even if you barely touch the ground after landing. The amount directional imput you need to have to start rotating in mid air is obscure, then you can't start rotating by moving, but for some reason you have to press jump again wich is confusing as hell, and you can't control your jump if you don't rotate for some reason. Weapon selection is ridiculus, idk if it was for limitations If i think of mario 2 or mario 3 or even mario 1 in terms of momentum, super metroid feels horrible, especially when the game punishes you very much for missing a jump you could barely control. Zero mission was way better
I seriously can't believe you actually said that. Did you really just compare a game that CAME OUT in 1994,which means that it was being worked on even before that,with one that came out last year?
@@ezioauditore8628 uhhh he litterally responded to the first guy's question, since he still plays metroid right now? Wtf is you problem he didn't compare anything.
Wall jumping is much better in GunStar Heroes. Pretty much any game with a double jump (like Super Ghouls and Ghosts as an example) feels better than Space Jump.
You are not alone when it comes to feeling like that though, because me and my brothers felt like that as well while playing through the MP series on the Gamecube.
I have to agree with a lot of your points, Pam. Super Metroid is a very well made game, it oozes production value and I totally understand why it’s so beloved. BUT, I also feel like the controls could have been so much better. Samus just feels... uncoordinated. I know it’s a totally different game, but I look at something like Megaman X and the ultra precise way X handles and wish Samus felt as streamlined.
Yes, the controls are flawless. They were flawless then, compared to what was out at the time. Maybe they controls haven't aged well, I'll agree with that.
That's an interesting observation to me because having played and loved both MMX and SM, I find Samus MUCH better to control. I think MMX has easier controls to grasp while SM has a bit of a learning curve. I'm biased for sure since SM is a top 3 all time game for me, but I'll argue that Samus is the most satisfying character to control in 2D gaming of all time.
I believe Zero Mission, as first Metroid experience for a gamer under 25 years old (the ones who are born after NES/SNES/GB Metroid games), is much more enjoyable than first titles of this franchise. I am not a fan of Metroid at all (because I feel map design unneedly complex and very easy to get lost, but hey, I've played NES Metroid when they were new games, so sue me if you desagree hehehehe), but I can and I do enjoy Zero Mission a lot. Just an advice: do not try to go for 100% completion in your first run, you may find it... rather frustrating: if you hit 100% completion and go to the last boss, its health and power rises A LOT.
I remember when this game came out and EGM gave it perfect scores. I bought it, along with the strategy guide and soon found myself agreeing with them. I was more of a Sega guy and this was the first non-gimmick SNES game where I was like: Ok. This is definitely something that you wouldn't be able to pull off on the Genesis. I think the most striking thing for me me was the amazing ambiance and mood-settings that this game accomplishes. They took advantage of the SNES' unique graphic and audio effects in order to provide a new type of gaming experience which didn't feel gimmicky. Yeah, it might not be perfect... the tutorials could be better, yada, yada, yada, but for 1994, this was pretty amazing. One of the best 16-bit games ever!
@@teamhammerbros8466 There was a trend amongst Sega fans at the time to claim that the superiority of the Snes catalogue was due to gimmicks... it’s basically the fox calling the grapes sour, because the genesis was basically trash hardware, an NES competitor, and the difference between the titles was so striking that it created a lot of animosity. Many companies actually tried to “balance” common titles by either making the versions slightly different (more levels on the genesis) cheapen the Snes version somewhat (usually with less frames in an animation), so as to not hurt their bottom line. But in actuality the only one having gimmicks was the Genesis with its “blast processing”...
@@Hadoken. I was asking his perspective on the word choice. you should check out Console Wars. Where two gamers just go over the same titles from across SNES and Genesis.
Wow, I only recently got to play Super Metroid through the SNES classic and listening to your review I almost feel like we were playing different games. It easily jumped into my list of absolute favorite games of all time and I like the controls and feel of controlling Samus. A little button re mapping in the options (y should always be fire and b should be jump on the SNES) to make yourself a little more comfortable and everything else I enjoyed and looked at things like wall jumping, space jump and grappling as practice makes perfect like so many of the retro games of that time. Sorry you didn't love it.
@@AaronBonBarron this ^ Calling the controls imprecise is nonsense. She demonstrated a complete lack of understanding in mechanics when describing space jump
I’ve always been afraid of Metroid because I suck at “where do I go?” games and people always praise this so high. I’m excited to see your take on this given by the title, ha. Also, your eye shadow is on point! Watching now.
You can find opinion like this one on literally anything. No game is perfect, no game is loved by absolutely everyone. Both SM and SOTN stood the test of time for the most part and considered classics.
Backward Palindrome I did like the game, it just wasn't... Breathtaking I was promised a game with as much impact as chrono trigger or MGS, like a must have of video games. Well I found it good and I did 101% it but that's it, felt nothing really incredible, I thought Catslevania 4 was way better Btw I haven't done the 201% run with inverted castle and all, is it where the game really shines?
good call on secondary fire, but a decent fix for me was swapping deselect and select binds so I can just mash Y to get through stuff quickly. this game practically requires you claw-grip the controller using the right side of your index finger to hit X / shoot and then fat thumb dash and jump on B / A respectively for properly play control, and even then the execution and general skill ceiling and focus required to competently do so is extremely high. I run this game somewhat seriously and I know how it can be fuck-off difficult to control even at my skill level, but they only had so many buttons to work with and ideas to implement. really where this game excels most is the general physics engine the game uses and the speed tech involved, many techniques and tricks that are super rewarding to pull off and again have a vast and nearly infinite human skill ceiling. I'm willing to put up with the control issues because it's so interesting to try to move fast in this game, in the same way it's interesting to try to strafe jump quickly in one of the Quake games with their movement physics.
To be honest, bosses don't really need HP bars in Super Metroid, considering they will turn red as they are close to defeat and in general have more erratic behavior. Even though the general controls aren't as tight as in Fusion, Zero Mission, or Samus Returns...they are still manageable enough. The original Metroid was notably more floaty. Super Metroid not only encourages exploration when it comes its atmosphere, but also its mechanics. While I really don't think they should remake this game (unlike the first two Metroids, Super still holds very well), there are a few things I will agree with you never the less. While I did say the general controls are manageable, however, wall jumping is so very clunky in Super Metroid (even Other M has better wall jumping, which really says something). The X-Ray scope has its uses, it does feel limited by today's standards. It would have helped if it acted more like a 2D version of the X-Ray visor from Metroid Prime.
Pam how could you not have played this when we were kids.....Metroid is such a classic! I was a fan of the original on NES and really enjoyed Super Metroid too! Glad you got onboard and experienced this game! 😋
I played Super Metroid the first time 2 years ago and it was one if not the greatest gaming experience i had the last 25 years. For me its definitly the best Video game from the 16 bit era only rivaled by Alttp and Chrono Trigger. There is a good reason, almost all critics rank it among the best games of all time. Everyone has his own taste and opinion, and i respect that, but saying it "could be better" is beyond my comprehension. Especially the critic about the controles are way off. No other SNES game feels that smooth and this is mainly due to the amazing control.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Pretty much all of these complaints are about walljumping, and i also struggled at the beginning. But once i have figured it out, it became another great aspect of SM i have not expected. It complety changes the way you experience it the next playthrough. Anyway, i am not trying to convince you, i guess everyone has a game that is concidered to be a masterpiece that you simply dont like. For me it is Ocarina of time, i like it, but i dont see why people warship it that much. Have a nice day.
The controls could have definitely been better. There are ways to improve the precision platforming, but they're not very n00b friendly and require more thinking than simple platforming probably should. The space jump CAN be performed when jumping straight up, but you have to jump, press jump again to somersault and THEN you can do it. Again, not the best I'd say, but her not somersaulting jump is needed for easier platforming which makes sense for why it's setup that way. I agree with you about a lot of the hidden abilities, too. Secrets back then were a common thing in games (maybe to encourage things like replayability and sales of strategy guides), but still. Long term these things should have been more apparent. My biggest issue is the exploration. Some of the most essential things for progression are easy to miss (.i.e.: the location of the Ice Beam). It's one of the games that's definitely a lot better the SECOND time around.
9:17 The game shows them or rather that they exist but they are in the games hidden tutorial. The crystal flash is really the only thing completely hidden how to use it. 11:58 Because unlike everything else you mentioned the X-ray Vision is not usable as a weapon. 13:28 Her Armor falls off when she dies. It's to instill fear in the player that the character you are playing is a living being and not a robot which many people assumed. Pretty impressive you made it to Ridley with only 6 energy tanks though. The game show you that the boss is almost dead by the change of color. In ridley's case the more Red he his the closer to death he is. Anyway decent review, could be better. This game or rather the genre in general is one that loves subtlety which is easy to miss on a first playthrough. Was interesting to hear some new things that someone didn't enjoy as much though. The usual critique I've heard about this game is one you brought up about selecting Missiles etc and another one is that people tend to have a hard time grasping the "floatier" controls of this game. I sure didn't think this game was the amazing masterpiece when I first played it either that came a few years later when I started to understand the game more and discovered a lot of things the vanilla playthrough doesn't offer in the same regard. I hope you eventually try out the GBA Metroid games and eventually Metroid Samus Returns to see if they improved on the things you felt could be better with this game. :) Metroidvania is generally my favorite game genre. Hope you have a nice day! :)
This will always be the best game experience for me. Parenting was different back then and I was left alone in a house for three days at the age of 11 with this game as my baby sitter. It was an amazing game to play in the dark with all the ambient sounds the game had. As far as controls go I have to disagree with you. I can understand how the controls may not hold up in this day and age but for the time I think they were as close to perfect as it gets and a huge leap in control from the NES. Fast forward to a time after I had beaten the game and I had a teacher who had an office connected to her room with a projector and a screen in it. If I was done with my homework she would let me play in her office. It again was an intense feeling to play a video game on a screen that big. Samus was larger than a teddy bear on the screen so you can imagine how big the bosses were. I still get chills when I hear the music on the starting screen of this game.
Fair analysis. Ive always loved Super Metroid; it's one of my favorites. But yeah, some of the controls were pretty bad (especially space jump). However, I disagree on one point. You can, in a general sense, tell how you are faring in boss fights like Ridley without the need for a boss hp bar. The more you damage a boss, the more they change color and / or the faster they move. You can figure out that Ridley is about to die when he turns cherry red and starts bouncing all over the room like a space dinosaur on meth. An hp bar isnt really needed if you watch for the other signs.
I noticed Ridley got red *right* before he died. But when I was trying and failing I had fired 30 super missiles and 100 regular missiles (not with 100% accuracy of course) and couldn’t tell if I had gotten anywhere.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I think it takes 30 super missiles or 20 charge shots to kill Ridley from full health. Charge shots with plasma beam do a weirdly high amount of damage. Super missiles do double their normal damage to Ridley. However, hitting Ridley and a few other bosses with Super missiles causes a kind of enrage behaviour that makes them harder.
A very refreshing take on S. Metroid; always interesting to hear them. You've articulated them really well. I very much agree with your analysis on the controls, and something that's little frustrating to see other metroidvanias replicate. I take no health bars for boss as an creative choice, although a better feedback from weapon hits could've made a world of difference. I think that it was the result of trying something new that no one had ever done before at this level of complexity, so I can understand miscalculating a few things that you've mentioned in your negatives. And as you've raised in your positives, atmosphere is killer. I played it in 2015 and I was shocked how isolating it felt.
As much as I absolutely LOVE this game, I have to admit, that your criticism is valid. There were a number of time you mentioned a problem with the game and I went "Huh! Yes that did kinda sucked." Very good video.
@@sarahmvaz6772 yes I know it is technically the 6th game but as a North American it was released as Final Fantasy III. I have used both interchangeably but it always seems to upset people if I call it by either number. Therefore, I am just sticking with the title that I knew and loved as a child.
Your point of view is very interesting. I liked the notes on: A) the jump with the turning ability; and with the electric hook. B) the obligation following selection of desired items. C) an alternative to the rapid switch between normal firing and missiles. D) repetitive messages of the items. I saw nothing wrong with the constructive criticism of the Game. Besides that; this video inspired me to improve future creations of Games and their dynamics of interactivity, mainly, allowing the fluidity in the rhythm of the immersion without breaks and distractions due to Gameplay where Game and Players worked together in the construction of the same during that Game.
I never had a problem with the controls of Super Metroid, but then again it could be cause I'm more use SNES era controls and physics, the Metroidvania genre was still pretty new at the time this game came out, and it still didn't have a very large audience (let alone a name) so it's not like they had a tried and tested formula planned out yet.
I enjoyed listening to your review. It was very thorough. Some of things you mentioned like having no tutorial or the hidden attacks and features are what made the game great. Exploration and hidden secrets are the backbone of Metroid games. The first one didn’t even have a map lmao. Also, although there isn’t a boss health bar, they do change color to let you know they’re almost dying. It’s been one of my favorite games and still is!
13:27 To be honest, I’ve always found Samus’ game over death pretty scary when I was a kid. It just makes her look so vulnerable. I think having Samus in her underwear was meant to be a shout-out to the climax of Alien with Ripley in her underwear. Great review btw!!!!!
I completely disagree with your opinion about the controls, they're hard to master, but when you do you can do anything, there's so many ways to sequence break these game just by exploiting the controls and physics
Totally agree with your thoughts in regards to controls. A good portion of those issues are tied to speed of vertical camera movement and the visual perception of the player when scaling vertical space. Ex: Space Jump and and Grapple Beam causing instantaneous fast vertical scrolling. Also horizontal locomotion in the game is quite literally stymied by Samus's jump and reaction to damage. If you pay attention to Samus's character model her sprite abruptly juts backwards slightly whenever damaged and looses all momentum. Loosing momentum from damage is of course essential but many devs and teams have "figured out" that even momentary negative feedback needs to have a proper rhythm in order to "feel right". They solved much of this in Fusion and ZM by changing the timing and also having the character model move back and up when ever damaged, giving the player more time to assess "what just happened?". In terms of the organic tutorialization and also gating information I believe that one of the core reasons Super Metroid is considered a masterpiece is because of how well it makes the player really stop and consider the options they have and how to use or experiment with them. I will agree that not having tutorial descriptors for certain power ups (namely the space jump) and removing the redundant pause from subsequent missile pick ups was a misstep. I chalk those up to missed quality of life improvements more so than core design deficiencies. The one aspect that I was really interested in hearing your opinion on and was not noted in your review was your thoughts on SM's notable and impactful visual story telling, especially towards the end of the game. I would love to hear your thoughts since you are coming from the vantage of a new player in 2019. Let me know! I like your content. Please keep it up! Cheers!
I think retro games can be appreciated for their historical significance whether or not you enjoy them. They may be imperfect, but they paved the way for future games of their kinds. These games may not have done it well, but they did it first.
This is still one of my absolute favorite games ever. Yeah, I had issues with the controls as well, but I made the best of it without changing it. The music is one of the best parts of the game, because it really sets the mood for what's to come later on.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I wish I knew about the soundtrack CD years ago, cause I would have got it for sure. Sadly, I don't have it. The closest I have, is the soundtrack that came with Metroid: Samus Returns. Still good, but doesn't hold a candle to this games music.
I agree with absolutely everything you said. Both the positives and the negatives. I much prefer Metroid Zero Mission over this one, it is much smoother and doesn’t have the horrible controls. If Nintendo remade Super Metroid with the Zero Mission physics and controls, it would be damn near perfect.
Wait... are you telling me that I could have used my gun in all those different ways?? I finished the game only knowing about the supercharge!! Well... I have to agree with you, those controls ARE NOT intuitive. However, the game is so well designed that it teaches you the basics without using any kind of explicit and boring tutorial. It progressively guides you without making you feel like an idiot (until you find out there are like 20 other ways of using your gun, that is...). That 10:27 part!!! How frustrated I felt (and still feel) everytime I wanted to perform that wall jump to get up there!!! But well, apart from those things, it's a master piece.
I agree with some of the complaints about the controls, i can't remember everything that was a struggle, but the wall jump technique was the most difficult to master. Your assessment of the screwattack was spot on, especially when you use it vertically because one small mistake would have you falling all the way down lol. But it at least was more manageable than the wall jump. I didn't know about the crystal flash technique or the various charge combos. That's pretty cool info that I learned from watching this video review. I knew about the Five-Bomb Drop which is easy to execute. Good review. p.s. I hope you get to review Metroid Prime one day.
I bought this game when it first came out, and I definitely agree about the controls. I really enjoy the hack Project Base, and others which used it as a....base. The controls are superbly re-done, combining the best of Super with the best of Fusion and MZM.
I do have to disagree about the controls. The only problem I found with the controls were wall jumps which are never necessary. Also there is an indicator that the boss is taking damage. They change color the closer they get to death. Ridley turnes red. This is still one of my favorite games that I still play today.
Yes, I know most bosses turn more red as they take damage. But that’s very imprecise. I still couldn’t tell during all those attempts on Ridley if I was getting any further each attempt.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I have had my difficulties with Ridley in the past. For some reason last time he didn't seem as hard. I don't remember what I did differently.
I am so sorry I miss this. I can honestly say that anyone who has beaten the first three Metroid games is a true gamer. I didn't have enough patience to get through the first one for the NES. Perhaps some day I'll complete it. Major respect to the ones who have.
Metroid 1 is very hard. There's literally no map and a lot of rooms look very similar. You HAVE TO draw your own map while playing unless you have an unbelievable memory or are comfortable with wandering around blindly and wasting hours making little progress. In addition to that, the mechanics/combat are very punishing. There's a steep learning curve. You will die a lot. And dying is very punishing because you start with only 30 health. The thing is though, it's an extremely rewarding game. Exploring the map is so difficult that finding upgrades and secrets is probably more rewarding in this game than any other metroid. Finding the screw attack was one of the most rewarding and thrilling upgrades I've ever gotten in any game. If you have the nerve to buckle down and really focus on beating this game it's surprisingly fun and it feels good to get good at it, but it's certainly not for everyone.
It's not only one of the best Golden Era Nintendo games ...it is one of the best games of any platform ever made...in any parallel universe ....The level design...the story...the music...The art ...The GAMEPLAY....It is an absolute masterpiece of game design. All those elements are already exceptional but how they synergize for the greater experience is beyond critique ...
I'd recommend Metroid Fusion and Zero mission, as they address most of the complaints you have about the controls, though they are a bit more linear, and you can't toggle suits and beam combinations anymore.
I like how after the early 2000's after the phrase metroidvania was coined, all top tier metroid games abandoned the concept. We should just call it handheld vaniaroid. But that sounds like a wierd butt dysfunction. So I get it.
1995 was a very different time, super Metroid was one-of-a-kind when it came out. It felt so thrilling and suspenseful getting much inspiration from the movie aliens. I think it's unfair to judge the game by today's standards because obviously game developers have learned so much since then. The 90s especially with the early days for learning what works with videogames and controls. Also some would say the discovery of her moves and abilities is part of the fun of the experience. Some would consider the mystery a nice feature of the game. As a kid I certainly didn't have the Internet, didn't read the manual, or have any friends tell me how to play the game and yet I discovered the majority of things you can do in the game myself purely from trial and error experimenting in the game. And for anything new I learned was from the Nintendo power magazine. But there was very few things I learned from Nintendo power, a few items missed on the map and how fast I had to beat the game to get the best ending. I'm obviously a huge fan of the Metroid series so I apologize for my rant :P I just disagree with the but it could be better part of your title. I think it came out perfectly for the time it released in. But I do understand where you're coming from and there is a slightly better experience with the game AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake) I highly recommend that game, it's basically super Metroid but made for a more modern age! Super Metroid was my favorite in the series until AM2R came out made by a devoted fan. It's a unofficial remake of Metroid 2. it was made by a Argentinian programer named Milton Guasti and released in August 2016 for Windows.
I just beat this for the first time myself this year. I have played it in the past but never too far into it. I too had major issues with the jumping and spinning to get to higher locations. I still loved the game and its up there as one of my favs on the snes but definitely not without its flaws. Great review Pam.
Even though this came out in 1994, this is my favorite game of all time. The isolationist atmosphere, the difficulty, the exploration, the MUSIC, it was all great. Finding secrets didn't feel annoying. Learning tricks also was pretty cool, like wall jumps and sparkshine. I understand your points about the controls, but I grew up on awful controls on many nintendo games, so I was just straight up used to it lol If I could make a recommendation though Pam, check out Sundered. It's a Metroidvania game with heavy eldritch themes. It's around 20$ on Steam and it's so good I beat it on all difficulties.
I was very happy to hear that you had an overall positive experience with Super Metroid. Definitely my favorite game growing up. Fair criticisms for sure. It took me a long time to really become adept at the platforming component. Jumping up followed by moving to the side became much more reliable than jumping while currently moving to the side. Her somersaults were so difficult to anticipate her landing I essentially only jumped that way when needing to leap over large gaps or reach higher locations. As a kid I remember literally hunching my shoulders up and down so I'd learn the rhythm of her space jump, so I'd know not to press jump again prematurely. I guess I never really considered the possibility that she could have been designed in a way to allow for both primary and secondary weapon shooting simultaneously. To me it always seemed consistent with the notion that her right arm is this cannon, and things like the missiles, super missiles, and the god-damn-m-f'ing grappling hook (the auto-recoil is what drove me nuts) were attachments that needed to be inserted into the opening of the canon for their use, thus negating the primary weapon functionality. I think in my imagination, I envisioned that the cannon arm was heavy as hell and she would use her left arm/hand as a support to aim and steady herself rather than going in with both hands blazing. Great video as always.
Thanks Diego! Yeah, I didn't love the somersaults. When I first got Space Jump I kept trying to just jump straight up like any kind of double jump would generally let you do. Having to be moving horizontally when you start your jump to do it made things more awkward than they could have been.
Another game that has a crazy beginning on SNES is Demon's Crest....It's like an instant boss battle, get your boots on and better hope you ate those Wheaties this morning.
I've loved this game since I was a kid and have played through it many times over the last 20 or so years. The soundtrack has always felt so good to listen to, making it easier to pick up and play again at any time. I recently played through it again on the SNES emulator on the Switch, the controls are no better, the switching of weapons has always bugged me. Especially if aiming for 100% the switching to x ray becomes very tedious. one of the most frustrating things about the mechanics is the wall jump. It's such a precise button input that can be really helpful for getting to some extra missiles in the early game, but I've never been able to get to any level of consistency with it. The bomb jump is even more insanely precise, but it's not greatly useful so it doesn't bother me so much. However, even with its flaws, I would still put this on a recommendation list of games you need to play,, Along with Megaman 2 and Link to the past from Nintendo's library.
When I was a kid I was blown away when I found out Samus was a woman. Now every time I see someone in a Mech type suit I wonder whether it’s a man or women.
Yeah, they mostly did that to make you remember "hey you know, Samus is not a dude". Now the character is known enough to not have to do it, but back then, you would assume some character in a sci-fi suit was "obviously" a man.
Something to note in regards to boss health bars, is that nearly every boss, including Ridley, has it's colors become more and more dark as you deal damage to it, so the darker it's colors the more damage you've dealt.
You can have your opinion. But I believe that at the time, it was a masterpiece game. Because we are reviewing this game much later than it was released, then yes, it could be better. But that's after a decades worth of creative innovations for video game history that has influenced our perspective of this gem. At the time it was released, it was hard to say what it needed or how it could be better. Anyway. I'm a big metroid fan, so, it could be that I enjoy it alot.
Just beat this game for the first time and began looking for reviews. Glad I’m not the only one who felt frustrated by the controls. I never felt like I really “got it”. And sometimes I would get stuck in quicksand for 45+ seconds and couldn’t get out!
@@Cannotbetamed1 the controls must be accurate, because the speed run videos I’ve watched are absolutely insane! :p Pam, do you talk about Symphony of the Night in any videos? It’s definitely my favorite of this genre.
I've just finished it and think that it is a really great game, especially thinking about how long has passed since it was released. I didn't have problems with the controls for moving, I just had to get used to them and I'm ok someway to them, like they give Samus a special and unique feeling. I agree that switching through weapons is painful, and also the wall jump and space jump takes too much skill to be done for me, space jump in particular since it is mandatory to proceed in the game. You eventually learn how to use it but still seems like you have to explode to perform it. The exploration is sooo good! You always want to do a little more, and it always so rewarding, and the progression too. The difficulty of the game in terms of enemy was also good: enemy are not strong but it is not the point, they are there more to give atmosphere and lore to the world. I've to say though that sometimes I hated how I had to go back all the way, or I got stuck because I couldn't find that specific item hidden in that specific hidden way. Also, for the wall jump it seemed to me that if you happen to fall where the 3 little creatures are, either you learn to wall jump or you get stuck in there! I had to read online since the wall jump is done in a very specific way (not like other modern games). I've also liked that there are secret abilities not needed for a normal run, though I discovered them online. Maybe a hidden way to discover them a part from the demo in the menu would have been better. I really hated that if you save just before the final boss, you can't go back anymore =( That is super sad. Overall, the game is aged so well that is almost incredible how modern games haven't, after more than 25 years, evolved the genre that much, it was pretty much all there. PS: the boss changes color to show its HP, the more it is red the closer it is to die! I agree with you though about being hard to know which attack was better, though I explored so much I never had problems with the bosses.
Actually she kinda did terrible at genocide. She pulled the final punch and let one live. Genocide means all, not all but one. What's more is the survival of that metroid means the galactic federation can clone some metroids whenever they want now. That's not quite genocide.
Welcome to the Metroid series! $:^ ] I've played and finished the main series as an adult, plus played a little Prime but don't own the newer systems. (Yes, GameCube is too new for me, lol.) Although I agree with the Space Jump being harder than it should be, I disagree with many of your other controls complaints: 1. Shine Spark isn't merely taught to you in an out-of-the-way place; the first time you try to Speed Boost over the "out of the way" place, you don't know you'll get sucked down that tunnel, and thus you're forced to investigate and imitate the bird creature who kindly teaches you how to get out of the tunnel, thereby unlocking a new ability that you didn't realize you had all along. *Very* interesting character-wise, plus mechanically tutorial-wise. 2. You didn't mention wall-jumping. Oh. Wow. Wall-jumping is 10x harder than Space Jumping. I hated it. (Spoiler alert: The fourth in the series, Metroid Fusion, fixes this atrocity. Yay!) 3. Not all the items showed instructions onscreen... Hm. Okay, I agree that consistency is better, but in 1994, the de facto learning experience was not in-game tutorials with 5 MB of subtitled voice acting. $;^ J It was the instruction manual. It was *expected* that players were cracking out the instruction manuals for story + how-to-play before ever turning the game on. (Or am I the weird kid who read first while everyone else fumbled with controls and enemy types?) Still, I suppose a simple "^ AND v TO MORPH" couldn't've hurt, lol... 4. The reason for having special abilities not explained in-game nor in the manual? To reward the experimenters! I'm not talking arbitrary fiddling, either. I'm also not so much talking Crystal Flash because to pull *that* off, Samus has to hold her tongue just right on a Wednesday. I fully agree, that one's stupidly hard to "figure out" (a.k.a. accidentally stumble upon and/or buy the Nintendo Power Oficial Player's Guide, lol). No, I emphatically mean the awesome almost-easter-egg charge shot explosions. Lemme explain. Despite having access to the Internet by the time I borrowed and played through Super Metroid a decade-ish ago, I discovered these 100% on my own via the game. Put the Game Pak in, push the Power switch on, and you get that amazing intro title screen; don't Press Start, and (also a staple of 1994) you get Attract Mode (an arcade culture holdover); watch it long enough, and you'll see both the impossible-seeming Crystal Flash and some crazy power that makes you go, huh! I've never seen that before... and by studying those few seconds of demo every couple minutes that it loops back around, and trying things in-game, boom, you, too, can discover Power Ice Bombing the whole screen, among other things. $E^ ] 100% agreed that the series' biggest idiot-move is *continuing to this day* to strip Samus for reward. Frankly, not cool. $:^ \ The original game revealing your guy/robot/cyborg mystery dude was actually a lady was awesome, but they went wrong directions with it overall, unfortunately. A good acquaintance Tweeted your video, and I watched. I didn't expect to write so much, wowee. But! That just shows your content engaged me pretty hard! Nice review/critique, thanks. $:^ J
Hey, thanks for the comment. 1. I never fell down this hole until right near the end. I just watched back in my footage and when I came to this place in Brinstar, I used Morph bomb clear a path through the wall, then I just walked across the bricks that would fall into the pit. 2. I never wall jumped once. 3. I have no problem with games relying on the manuals - though I missed the Morph Ball instruction for a bit as I looked at the morph ball description, not the control diagram. I just got really sick of being told how to shoot a missile every 20 minutes while it never displayed on screen an instruction I would have found more useful. 4. I guess the special abilities being hidden isn't that big a deal. A nice little reward for the patient and curious. Since I considered the stacking weapon upgrades a feature, I NEVER would have thought to unequip some of them in order to use these abilities.
0:45 I always thought the term “Metroidvania” was due to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night using the Metroid style game play. Not the other way around. I accept being wrong on that or did I misunderstand what you’re saying? Great video regardless!
the original metroid did it first. castlevania 2 did it, then super metroid did more, then castlevania SotN pulled from super metroid. lots of other games did the same thing, like blaster master, but metroid and castlevania were the franchise names that had lasting popularity.
@@IIIDemon I agree, the OG Metroid is the Grandfather of the genre really. It was more simple in regards to powerups and environments, but I'm not sure there was really a game before it that captured the style that would become the "Metroidvania" genre.
This is a nearly a perfect game. My one gripe is the dots on the map... they don’t ever disappear after you collect the item. I feel Zero Mission and Fusion fixed this by making the unfound items a circle and then changing them to a dot after you collect the items. In a game heavily geared toward exploration, I found myself going to the same dots after each subsequent play session b/c I couldn’t remember if I had collected that particular item or not. I also didn’t like how the dots were sometimes just important rooms like missile or energy refill rooms. Like would it have been so hard to come up with a slightly different icon? But, it says a lot when your only gripe about a game is a nit-pick. This game, and Zero Mission, are phenomenal. Nearly perfect.
Okay given that Super Metroid is one of my favorite games of all time *DEEP INHALE* you have some very good points. I think it's to the games detriment that it lies halfway between something like Super Mario World or Link to the Past, where the level design teaches you almost everything without any words, and something like early Final Fantasy where it's a given you have to do some research in the manual; I also never realized how dependent my previous Metroid game experience factored into my enjoyment of this game when it was released.
10:17 most of the control issues can be solved by the player himself by increasing the own skill level, which requires time and patience just like with every other skill to learn. you can actually go into space jump vertically by pressing the dash button while jumping. this way Samus starts to roll while midair (even when not going horizontally), which is the requirement for space and also wall jump. you can even start over if you fall down somewhere, then press the dash button to start rolling in mid air and then jump. but most of the time you land on ground faster than the average player can react. further, you can skip a lot of grappling beam sections by performing the wall jump, which again is a matter of the players skill level, which is a very nice additional option for players who seek for additional challenge to fight the fealing you at the end of the game, that you feel invincible, as you have mentioned
@@infinitygames9317 so I gotta play this piece of shit a FEW MORE times? Man it’s not even BAD per-say but Metroid fans act like it literally jerks them off whenever they play it and pretend no other game even has merits and that you’re a dumbass for saying it has problems, really pathetic
@@yeahey5947 This isn't entirely true. Yes people are blind to faults sometimes, but this game is the closest most games have ever gotten to perfection imo. The perfect physics, near perfect world design, perfect unobtrusive hints, a near perfect OST. You get more out of it every time you play as well. Learning new tricks to shave time off.
I agree with the complaints about the controls. The movement controls are really specific, so it makes mobility difficult. It's just something you have to learn by trial and error. For example the wall jumps require you to slightly turn the opposite direction before hitting the jump button. Neutral jump doesn't result in a somersault. Shinesparking into a sloped ground will help continue the speed dash.
@@Desticler played super metroid multiple times, never figured out how to use it. For a long time I neither knew of its existence or name (just now learned the name). Learned of its existence about a year ago when I first came across The Geek Critique.
SM3 holds a huge sentimental place in my heart... Still to this day remains my most favorite game. it's really refreshing to see a person with different opinions while everyone praises it and calling it "Perfect"... I couldn't agree more with your views about the controls. Thanks for the great review :) subbed!
As someone who holds this game above others, I can explain why people won't defend it. It can't be. I understand why people don't like the game as much today as it's not very newbie friendly with the controls or the tutorials. Looking at it from that perspective, I get it. I personally speedrun the game, and I still find the game to be the speedrunner's dream. Once you get good enough at traversal with the floaty controls, you almost never even use the grapple beam. I'm not excusing the controls, don't get me wrong, but there's a lot to them that is sadly missing in the later installments for me.
Grappling beam is eh, it's not exactly user friendly and becomes almost useless for speedrunning. Which reminds me, if you did want more difficulty out of the game, try playing it fast and ignoring most health and ammo pick ups and the game becomes more enjoyable.
Just like any advanced move in SM, it takes training to nail it. Your initial space jumps, wall jumps and grappling will be sloppy, but once you figure out the tempo and practice a bit, you will be flying like a bird, because SM controls is responsive and fair.
I was a little shook by the title at first, but I totally get where you're coming from. I adore the game, but the controls can be a pain in the ass sometimes (hence why whenever I played it on my Wii U and 3DS, I would use my quick saves so I wouldn't have to keep climbing my way back up). The wall jump being the worst! They thankfully feel much smoother in Zero Mission and Samus Returns. Otherwise, I love it for it's atmosphere, exploration, innovation, and being an overall rewarding experience.
I never got into Metroid. I remember trying the first one on a display at toys r us and quickly became frustrated by the endless tunnels and no hint of what I was supposed to be doing. never gave the series another shot. which is too bad because of the love people have for this one specifically.
This is one of my favorite games. Ever since I was a little boy I loved the idea of finding secret passages and this is a game that seems to go into that a lot. The fact that some of the game mechanics aren't the greatest doesn't really bother me because the atmosphere and mood of the game are fantastic. I remember many years ago I played Super Metroid on a keyboard because I didn't have regular controllers at the time. I also have to say that I love the Grappling beam. I don't recall ever having any problem using it when playing. Part of the fun of this game is figuring out how to either use what you have or get what you need to get past obstacles. It requires a lot of patience sometimes but the thrill you get when you finally do it is worth it. I will admit however that I don't have the same patience playing other games as I do Metroid games. I think this probably has to do with the calming and inspiring effects of the game music.
20 year old me couldn't wait to get his hands on this game. I love the first 2 Metroid titles. Sadly, I got very badly stumped early in the game. Shortly after the introduction opening. This was before online answers and guides were readily available. I never went back to the series afterwards.
This is a fair and objective view of the game from someone who’s experience isn’t clouded by nostalgia. All of your complaints are legit. Experienced Metroid players have grown to love the controls, but that doesn’t mean that they are good/intuitive. Games like Zero Mission and Metrod Fusion on GBA make for a more modern Metroid. Those titles may have the quality of life improvements you’re looking for, but I still find Super Metroid to be best in the series.
Agreed. The controls were the fly in the ointment of this game. I also hated that the UI didn't highlight the middle item by default and instead had you press the button two more times to get to the most right one and vice versa. But the game is a masterpiece, nonetheless.
Funny you mention her underwear during her death animation. Originally, she was going to be totally nude in that animation, but they eventually decided American audiences wouldn't have been ok with that.
I used to rent this from the video shop back in the day. I remember it being bundled with a full playguide. Been playing it on my SNES mini classic recently and have been stuck at Kraid, not sure if i'm missing a power up or just suck, i can't remember having the same problem back in the 90's :)
The bosses KIND of have a health bar, being that they slowly change colors to a deeper red. Great review :)
Thank you
Exactly.
there is even a part where she is showing Ridley in a lighter orange...
@@Cannotbetamed1 It can be tricky to notice, though, unlike the Chorizo (hostile statues) which lose pieces of themselves when they suffer enough damage.
Besides the uncertainty adds to the experience.
You really have a point regarding the controls. In being such a extreme fanboy in 25 years I just forgot about this because after playing the game for at least 50 times. But then I played YAM2R - it's a night-and-day difference.
Oh, and about the dying sequence of Samus. It's not that her clothes fall of because she dies. Actually it's just the opposite: It's just her Power Suit breaking when it's shield energy reached zero. Leaving her completely defenseless to the toxic atmoshere (and sometimes several hundreds degrees of heat combined with tons of acid) she dies almost immediately after as a CONSEQUENCE.
I see
I'm pretty sure Ridley's sprite gets red as the fight goes on, indicating that he's close to dying.
Ridley actually does turn red, the more damage you deal to him.
The Crystal Flash and charge combos actually are revealed to the player, along with bomb-jumping...but not straight away. Beat the game, and an additional title screen demo sequence will be unlocked demonstrating these abilities.
But, to answer your question..."Why put abilities in the game and not bother to let the player know they're there?"
These extra abilities aren't needed to beat the game; you can access and defeat Mother Brain without ever using a single wall jump or Shinespark. Rather, just like some of the items in the game, they're hidden. They're rewards for players who take the time to venture off the beaten track, or have beaten the game - players who have demonstrated enough mastery of the game to make effective use of them. Part of the reason they're rewards is that, if skillfully used, they allow the player to sequence-break: getting items in the "wrong" order, and accessing certain areas of the game earlier than intended. This is part of what contributes to the replayability for fans of the game - there are a vast number of ways to make your way through Zebes, and many experienced players have one or two favorite sequences they like to follow.
Yeah, that part is one of my less serious criticisms. I made it through the game without most of them.
She doesn't understand, among several other concepts of 90's gaming, replayability. "Why doesn't the game show me how to do everything?" ..... "Replayability..."
@@ruggie.74 right. That's what made the game feel more realistic & fun instead giving you all the information.. Discovering all the hidden items & abilities made the game even more special. Hell I figured out most enhanced abilities on accident lmao.. When just messing around
That was my favorite part of replaying this game. Once I found out the hidden items and abilities I enjoyed replaying and seeing how many items I could get way before you’re supposed to
it was honestly a genius move. not telling players about all these extra moves works as a sort of early new game+, and it definitely worked. super metroid was one of the first big speed games with an absolutely massive following to this day
Finished it this year. One of the best games I have ever played.
Took me 5 years
Took a 2 year brake so
I played it this year for the first time. One of the worst games I have ever played and one of the few I could not finish. What a difference.
Ok everybody either likes the game or doesn't I love
@@ZeikerYT agreed, I was expecting so much more from all the hype but there's a lot of problems with this one. I get it was the first of its kind, but I have a lot of issues with the lack of direction. Other people justify this as genius or intentional but it becomes a problem because the game is MUCH more linear and specific than it appears to be - leading to problems with progression, dead rooms, backtracking, and constant issues trying to find the one tiny thing you missed, or specific thing your supposed to do that isn't intuitive at all.
I believe the later 2D Metroid games (Fusion and Zero Mission) do a fairly competent job at addressing some of the control issues Super Metroid presents.
Samus overall feels _much_ less floaty than she used to, and is much more precise in terms of jump arcs and whatnot. The grapple beam is never seen again (until Samus Returns, but I haven't played that one), so you won't need to worry about dealing with it. The Space Jump's weird timing is removed entirely, letting you just mash jump as much as you want if you need to go up. In addition, both Fusion and Zero Mission mark the addition of the Power Grip feature that lets Samus cling on ledges.
Instead of being pre-selected, Missiles are toggled by holding the R button and pressing fire. Power bombs, in a similar vein, are toggled by holding down the R button while in Morph Ball mode and pressing fire. This does admittedly screw with the diagonal aiming slightly, so the solution the devs came up with was to have L stick with 'aim upwards' and pressing down while holding L would let you aim down, since odds are that you'll be shooting diagonally upward more often than you'll be shooting diagonally downward.
Switching between Super Missiles and regular Missiles in Zero Mission (Fusion has Super Missiles as just a straight upgrade) is the only mechanic that requires toggling between one or the other. But considering that you'll mostly be using super missiles exclusively for boss fights until you run out, it's not all that big of a deal.
So, yeah. In conclusion, play Fusion and Zero Mission. They're good games, even if Fusion is a decidedly more linear experience.
I respect your opinion but this, for me, is one of the best snes games ever.
Retroplayer everyone knows this. It’s a fact
Definitely a great game. A classic for sure. What is so cool about games is everyone has a different experience.
@YAMBAG84 I’m a huge fan of platformers and Metroidvanias...
Super Metroid is perfect. Fight me.
So do I. The problem I think is that they are comparing it against to new titles of this series.
I first played this game when it was new, and it's still one of my favorite games of all time!!!!
Same here. This is my favorite game of all time. Metroid Dread is quickly becoming my second favorite.
Pam gettin' ready to rustle some jimmies with that title!
I thought the same. She is right about the controls though.
If it was anyone else, I might agree. But I knew she would explain in a respectful way. Not be an attention seeking dip shit like Top Hat Gamer.
@@RPT111 I think the controls are perfectly fine and have aged super well.
@@RyansChannel0203 ok boomer
My thoughts exactly, causing war amongst Boomers xD
without a doubt one of the best games of all time
Why? Since when running around in circles for hours not making any progress except finding the occasional missile upgrade until the little time you have to play because you're a busy adult expires is any fun? I find this game to be one of the most aggravating I have ever played. I love most of the Metroid franchise, but this one goes in the NOT pile, along with the NES game and Hunters.
@@OliGaming-d1u I agree !
@@OliGaming-d1u??? Every Metroid game plays as you've just described ... I'm surprised you can love " most of the Metroid franchise " with what you've just said.
@@Rain1 Let me guess, you haven't played any Metroid game past Super? Progression is a lot better in the games after that one.
@@OliGaming-d1u I played Metroid for the NES, Metroid 2 for the Game Boy, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime 1 2 and 3, Metroid Fusion, Metroid zero Mission, and a few ROMs or hacks here and there to mess with them but never completed them. I have not played Metroid Other M, Metroid Prime hunters, nor that other weird multiplayer one. To me if you're going to play Metroid then you've got to get ready to memorize, backtrack, and look for weird obscurities and search every wall in the room. That's just how it is with a metroidvania
EDIT: BTW I recommend playing Hollow Knight if you want a modern metroidvania with a fully-fledged map and markers to pinpoint locations you want to go back to
"She is sent to do some genocide. She does the genocide real good." 🤣😂🤣 I'm gonna be cracking up about this one all day long, thank you for this gem!
Super Metroid will always have a special place in my heart, as it was the first game I ever beat, and beat before my older brother. Back in the day u had to beat a game without an online walkthrough, and my bro got stuck, and gave up. I spent a week playing the game, and found what he missed. He got to watch me beat the game, and it was as awesome as it gets, as far as being a gamer goes.
That’s an awesome memory
Let me guess... he got stuck by not power bombing the glass tube?
@@LosN209 Haha I'd have guessed he braved a trip to Maridia without the gravsuit - why you ask? Because it happened to me lmao
No game is perfect, but for me, Super Metroid has always been my all-time favorite SNES game and a damn near perfect SNES game at that. It has absolutely everything I look for in a Metroid game. With its superb level design, great controls that aged super well, outstanding powerups and mechanics that the game is built around, amazing atmosphere and how distinct every portion of Planet Zebes is, excellent bosses, how it encourages exploration, puzzle-solving, thinking outside the box, and progressing at your own pace. Super Metroid is nothing short of revolutionary for me, and it still remains one of my favorite games of all time.
I thought it was pretty good.
@Nighthawk I have yet to play them, but the floaty controls don't bother me that much.
@Nighthawk The floaty controls are part of the experience, if you don't think so, try the gba like controls in the super metroid redesign hackrom and you will hate it, then be back to the floaty one.
I've played this game forever, and NEVER noticed it only tells you how to use missiles and not the morph ball! You're spot on regarding Samus feeling floaty. Great video.
Thanks!
One of my personal heros... for a tomboy who loves video games, the early Metroid games were a wonderful feeling for me... for once, a woman was shown in a strong role without making a point it was a woman in a strong role. Made a huge effect on me when I was in school.
This comment means more than most comments. I really believe game companies should consider this powerful kind of influence.
Well done, RedKytten. Samus may be my favourite game character ever.
It's refreshing to remove the rose tinted glasses of nostalgia sometimes and listen to objective feedback from someone new to a classic game. Even with it's faults the devs nailed so many aspects, the atmosphere especially.
Yes, the atmosphere was great!
This game is a masterpiece
It's a fact bruh
This game is, eh.
Yes. It is perfect.
It is a masterpiece, and an irreplaceable part of gaming history, but let's be honest: she brings up some good points about the controls and floaty platforming. Later games have tighter controls and more consistent physics.
@@megabyte01 I used to have this opinion, then I sunk hundreds of hours into the game. The controls require a LOT of skill to master, and feel amazing once you do (the best of the metroid series imo). The only thing I find jank about any of the movement in the game (yes, including walljumps, space jump and many of the unintended movement mechanics) is suitless underwater... but that's designed to be jank so I think it's fine lol.
Best game of all time. I've replayed this game more than any other. I played it on release in 94, and still have my SNES with my big old Super Metroid cardboard box :D
Nice, smart of your to keep that.
Still have mine too. Though the white card board seems to be very rare and silly expensive.
the controls feel floaty, door colors are not on the map and found items are also marked as a dot on the map,...but thats it for me, the rest is top notch masterclass atmosphere and gameplay, that they are not showing everything was part of this generation, you played such a game for weeks or month and nintendo let you become unbelievable happy after you found out about it after weeks what nobody knows. You can"t critice things that were intentionally designed for that specific time in which you doesnt play the game back then.
sry for bad english, greetings from germany
Another thing I'll add to this is that mechanics like the crystal flash and wall jump were explained in the manual. Just another element of the era which was widely known and accepted at the time.
@arvindhmani06 Might want to check the manual again. Neither of those abilities are in there.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I apologize, it was not the manual but the players guide that mentioned it.
Many of us see this game through nostalgia glasses, making it hard to find the faults with it. But Pam is right, the controls can be a pain in the ass, especially wall-jumping, which wasn't mentioned at all. But we can forgive these shortcomings because the rest of the game is fantastic, and still holds up even today. Great review!
Thanks!
The game does try to show you how to wall jump without explicitly telling you exactly how to do it. It took me like 15 minutes to figure it out because I expected it to work like Mario/Megaman X though.
I’m not sure why the wall jumping is so bad in this. I guess because it’s a secret, and if you know how to do it right away you can sequence break the game. I think the newer ones design the levels to accommodate for wall jumping.
You made me wanna give this game a try. Seeing a lot of the boss fights looked hella fun. And the exploration too! One day I will play a Metroid game! ...One day. Solid review.
Thanks! I'm playing a Suikoden, you should play a Metroid :)
I'd actually suggest AM2R. Being made by an extremely talented metroid fan, it's basically the definitive metroid experience (although nostalgia will always put super above it for me).
My advice for you is go into it without using a guide your first time through and explore. I used youtube my first time playing through and the act of having to continually pause and look up internet walkthroughs hampered my enjoyment of it. Playing through a second time now just exploring I’m having a way better time than the first
@@toogifted6491 in general, that applies to all games... with exceptions.
@@propheinx2250 I really liked AM2R! A shame it got copyright slammed.
Phew.. I dunno. I replay this game usually a couple times a year, and every time I do I find myself wishing more platformers had controls that felt as precise and crisp as super metroids. It's just so damn easy to get around, especially once you master the wall jump. What games would you suggest do it better?
Hollow Knight
I find this game to have the most counter intuitive controls for a platformer. Even a simple jump to a platform requires an unkown amount of different imputs becouse you can't control yourself in mid air unless you completely change direction or stop by pressing a different button, instead of gradually modifying your speed.
Momentum storage is completely unpredictable becouse of limitations probably, as it isn't gradual but it increments in steps, huge steps, and changes your speed in mid air out of nowhere, or slows you down even if you barely touch the ground after landing.
The amount directional imput you need to have to start rotating in mid air is obscure, then you can't start rotating by moving, but for some reason you have to press jump again wich is confusing as hell, and you can't control your jump if you don't rotate for some reason.
Weapon selection is ridiculus, idk if it was for limitations
If i think of mario 2 or mario 3 or even mario 1 in terms of momentum, super metroid feels horrible, especially when the game punishes you very much for missing a jump you could barely control.
Zero mission was way better
I seriously can't believe you actually said that. Did you really just compare a game that CAME OUT in 1994,which means that it was being worked on even before that,with one that came out last year?
@@ezioauditore8628 uhhh he litterally responded to the first guy's question, since he still plays metroid right now? Wtf is you problem he didn't compare anything.
Wall jumping is much better in GunStar Heroes. Pretty much any game with a double jump (like Super Ghouls and Ghosts as an example) feels better than Space Jump.
I remember this strange feeling of loneliness playing metroid prime on gamecube
Metroid Fusion also sports that...has a nice horror/suspense element to it.
You are not alone when it comes to feeling like that though, because me and my brothers felt like that as well while playing through the MP series on the Gamecube.
Yeah metroid prime 4 better keep that vibe
I have to agree with a lot of your points, Pam. Super Metroid is a very well made game, it oozes production value and I totally understand why it’s so beloved. BUT, I also feel like the controls could have been so much better. Samus just feels... uncoordinated. I know it’s a totally different game, but I look at something like Megaman X and the ultra precise way X handles and wish Samus felt as streamlined.
That’s a good word for it, I did feel uncoordinated when using the grapple or even just switching weapons.
Skin Puppet Ah look, a troll has emerged from it’s parents’ basement to offer a weak insult. Go back to playing with your skin flute, little one.
Yes, the controls are flawless. They were flawless then, compared to what was out at the time. Maybe they controls haven't aged well, I'll agree with that.
That's an interesting observation to me because having played and loved both MMX and SM, I find Samus MUCH better to control. I think MMX has easier controls to grasp while SM has a bit of a learning curve. I'm biased for sure since SM is a top 3 all time game for me, but I'll argue that Samus is the most satisfying character to control in 2D gaming of all time.
Those beautiful sprite graphics hold up so well. It looks like a new indie game. Now I want to play Metroid! I think I am going to try "Zero Mission".
It does look excellent
Zero Mission is SO much more fun to control and play.
I believe Zero Mission, as first Metroid experience for a gamer under 25 years old (the ones who are born after NES/SNES/GB Metroid games), is much more enjoyable than first titles of this franchise. I am not a fan of Metroid at all (because I feel map design unneedly complex and very easy to get lost, but hey, I've played NES Metroid when they were new games, so sue me if you desagree hehehehe), but I can and I do enjoy Zero Mission a lot. Just an advice: do not try to go for 100% completion in your first run, you may find it... rather frustrating: if you hit 100% completion and go to the last boss, its health and power rises A LOT.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Fusion is arguably better, and I argue! But you should really play both, they solve many of the control issues.
@@personavisceration371 beat fusion waaaay back and loved it!
The title of this video is blasphemy in many circles....
Clickbait youtuber
How much better could a Masterpiece be? And what do you call that?
Well I prefer Fusion and Zero Mission over Super, because the controls suck.
That's why I don't run in circles. I do my own thing
I agree with you but this video is her personal opinion!
I remember when this game came out and EGM gave it perfect scores. I bought it, along with the strategy guide and soon found myself agreeing with them. I was more of a Sega guy and this was the first non-gimmick SNES game where I was like: Ok. This is definitely something that you wouldn't be able to pull off on the Genesis.
I think the most striking thing for me me was the amazing ambiance and mood-settings that this game accomplishes. They took advantage of the SNES' unique graphic and audio effects in order to provide a new type of gaming experience which didn't feel gimmicky. Yeah, it might not be perfect... the tutorials could be better, yada, yada, yada, but for 1994, this was pretty amazing. One of the best 16-bit games ever!
idk what you mean by non gimmicky Super Nintendo game. I grew up on the snes I just am confused.
@@teamhammerbros8466 Same here. What gimmick did you think the SNES had? Mode 7? That wasn't a gimmick.
@@teamhammerbros8466 There was a trend amongst Sega fans at the time to claim that the superiority of the Snes catalogue was due to gimmicks... it’s basically the fox calling the grapes sour, because the genesis was basically trash hardware, an NES competitor, and the difference between the titles was so striking that it created a lot of animosity. Many companies actually tried to “balance” common titles by either making the versions slightly different (more levels on the genesis) cheapen the Snes version somewhat (usually with less frames in an animation), so as to not hurt their bottom line. But in actuality the only one having gimmicks was the Genesis with its “blast processing”...
Coming from a guy who got the console sporting “blast processing” the idea that Snes games had gimmicks until Metroid is funny and novel.
@@Hadoken. I was asking his perspective on the word choice.
you should check out Console Wars. Where two gamers just go over the same titles from across SNES and Genesis.
Your dislikes about the game are what makes the game great. A game that let's you learn as you go is better than holding your hand
Well I do wish that the controls wear similar to what they did in the GBA versions and yeah I like that it doesn't tell you what to do.
Well said, exactly my thoughts.
This. Comment. Here.
They don't make games or gamers like they use to..
@@Nintendude. There is a hack called Metroid redux it does just that seeing how old this comment is you probably already know but yeah.
Wow, I only recently got to play Super Metroid through the SNES classic and listening to your review I almost feel like we were playing different games. It easily jumped into my list of absolute favorite games of all time and I like the controls and feel of controlling Samus. A little button re mapping in the options (y should always be fire and b should be jump on the SNES) to make yourself a little more comfortable and everything else I enjoyed and looked at things like wall jumping, space jump and grappling as practice makes perfect like so many of the retro games of that time. Sorry you didn't love it.
A bunch of the gripes just seemed like "it's bad because I'm not good at it".
@@AaronBonBarron this ^
Calling the controls imprecise is nonsense.
She demonstrated a complete lack of understanding in mechanics when describing space jump
What a masterpiece, I dont have switch, only need to play dread to complete the series
Well... it's over to decades later and I learned something new about Super Metroid. The charge beam specials
I’ve always been afraid of Metroid because I suck at “where do I go?” games and people always praise this so high. I’m excited to see your take on this given by the title, ha. Also, your eye shadow is on point! Watching now.
Hey, Erin!
There are certainly some places where it’s not obvious where to go.
And thank you! I tried to make my eyeshadow match Samus’s armour.
@@Cannotbetamed1 what brand are you using?
It’s the Colourpop So Jaded palette
@@Cannotbetamed1 thank you!
Strangely the "I'm having a good time but how's this a masterpiece?" Is a feeling I didn't get with super Metroid BUT with SOTN
What about SOTN didn't you like?
You can find opinion like this one on literally anything. No game is perfect, no game is loved by absolutely everyone. Both SM and SOTN stood the test of time for the most part and considered classics.
All gaming is subjective. Popular opinion has made these classics. Not everyone likes Citizen Kane either.
Quick answer both games are products of their time and Nintendo’s a better overall developer than Konami.
That being said both are classics.
Backward Palindrome I did like the game, it just wasn't... Breathtaking
I was promised a game with as much impact as chrono trigger or MGS, like a must have of video games.
Well I found it good and I did 101% it but that's it, felt nothing really incredible, I thought Catslevania 4 was way better
Btw I haven't done the 201% run with inverted castle and all, is it where the game really shines?
good call on secondary fire, but a decent fix for me was swapping deselect and select binds so I can just mash Y to get through stuff quickly. this game practically requires you claw-grip the controller using the right side of your index finger to hit X / shoot and then fat thumb dash and jump on B / A respectively for properly play control, and even then the execution and general skill ceiling and focus required to competently do so is extremely high. I run this game somewhat seriously and I know how it can be fuck-off difficult to control even at my skill level, but they only had so many buttons to work with and ideas to implement. really where this game excels most is the general physics engine the game uses and the speed tech involved, many techniques and tricks that are super rewarding to pull off and again have a vast and nearly infinite human skill ceiling. I'm willing to put up with the control issues because it's so interesting to try to move fast in this game, in the same way it's interesting to try to strafe jump quickly in one of the Quake games with their movement physics.
Claw grip is not something I'm willing to consider. I'm old, my hands will get sore. :P
Barf Larry zyuranger Famicom is a fun game 👍
To be honest, bosses don't really need HP bars in Super Metroid, considering they will turn red as they are close to defeat and in general have more erratic behavior.
Even though the general controls aren't as tight as in Fusion, Zero Mission, or Samus Returns...they are still manageable enough. The original Metroid was notably more floaty.
Super Metroid not only encourages exploration when it comes its atmosphere, but also its mechanics.
While I really don't think they should remake this game (unlike the first two Metroids, Super still holds very well), there are a few things I will agree with you never the less. While I did say the general controls are manageable, however, wall jumping is so very clunky in Super Metroid (even Other M has better wall jumping, which really says something). The X-Ray scope has its uses, it does feel limited by today's standards. It would have helped if it acted more like a 2D version of the X-Ray visor from Metroid Prime.
Pam how could you not have played this when we were kids.....Metroid is such a classic! I was a fan of the original on NES and really enjoyed Super Metroid too!
Glad you got onboard and experienced this game! 😋
I played Super Metroid the first time 2 years ago and it was one if not the greatest gaming experience i had the last 25 years. For me its definitly the best Video game from the 16 bit era only rivaled by Alttp and Chrono Trigger. There is a good reason, almost all critics rank it among the best games of all time. Everyone has his own taste and opinion, and i respect that, but saying it "could be better" is beyond my comprehension. Especially the critic about the controles are way off. No other SNES game feels that smooth and this is mainly due to the amazing control.
A lot of people have complaints about the controls.
@@Cannotbetamed1 Pretty much all of these complaints are about walljumping, and i also struggled at the beginning. But once i have figured it out, it became another great aspect of SM i have not expected. It complety changes the way you experience it the next playthrough. Anyway, i am not trying to convince you, i guess everyone has a game that is concidered to be a masterpiece that you simply dont like. For me it is Ocarina of time, i like it, but i dont see why people warship it that much. Have a nice day.
The controls could have definitely been better. There are ways to improve the precision platforming, but they're not very n00b friendly and require more thinking than simple platforming probably should.
The space jump CAN be performed when jumping straight up, but you have to jump, press jump again to somersault and THEN you can do it. Again, not the best I'd say, but her not somersaulting jump is needed for easier platforming which makes sense for why it's setup that way.
I agree with you about a lot of the hidden abilities, too. Secrets back then were a common thing in games (maybe to encourage things like replayability and sales of strategy guides), but still. Long term these things should have been more apparent.
My biggest issue is the exploration. Some of the most essential things for progression are easy to miss (.i.e.: the location of the Ice Beam).
It's one of the games that's definitely a lot better the SECOND time around.
9:17 The game shows them or rather that they exist but they are in the games hidden tutorial. The crystal flash is really the only thing completely hidden how to use it. 11:58 Because unlike everything else you mentioned the X-ray Vision is not usable as a weapon. 13:28 Her Armor falls off when she dies. It's to instill fear in the player that the character you are playing is a living being and not a robot which many people assumed. Pretty impressive you made it to Ridley with only 6 energy tanks though. The game show you that the boss is almost dead by the change of color. In ridley's case the more Red he his the closer to death he is.
Anyway decent review, could be better. This game or rather the genre in general is one that loves subtlety which is easy to miss on a first playthrough. Was interesting to hear some new things that someone didn't enjoy as much though. The usual critique I've heard about this game is one you brought up about selecting Missiles etc and another one is that people tend to have a hard time grasping the "floatier" controls of this game. I sure didn't think this game was the amazing masterpiece when I first played it either that came a few years later when I started to understand the game more and discovered a lot of things the vanilla playthrough doesn't offer in the same regard.
I hope you eventually try out the GBA Metroid games and eventually Metroid Samus Returns to see if they improved on the things you felt could be better with this game. :) Metroidvania is generally my favorite game genre. Hope you have a nice day! :)
I hope you have a nice day too
Great review of the review! Lol
But yes!
This will always be the best game experience for me. Parenting was different back then and I was left alone in a house for three days at the age of 11 with this game as my baby sitter. It was an amazing game to play in the dark with all the ambient sounds the game had. As far as controls go I have to disagree with you. I can understand how the controls may not hold up in this day and age but for the time I think they were as close to perfect as it gets and a huge leap in control from the NES. Fast forward to a time after I had beaten the game and I had a teacher who had an office connected to her room with a projector and a screen in it. If I was done with my homework she would let me play in her office. It again was an intense feeling to play a video game on a screen that big. Samus was larger than a teddy bear on the screen so you can imagine how big the bosses were. I still get chills when I hear the music on the starting screen of this game.
Fair analysis. Ive always loved Super Metroid; it's one of my favorites. But yeah, some of the controls were pretty bad (especially space jump). However, I disagree on one point. You can, in a general sense, tell how you are faring in boss fights like Ridley without the need for a boss hp bar. The more you damage a boss, the more they change color and / or the faster they move. You can figure out that Ridley is about to die when he turns cherry red and starts bouncing all over the room like a space dinosaur on meth. An hp bar isnt really needed if you watch for the other signs.
I noticed Ridley got red *right* before he died. But when I was trying and failing I had fired 30 super missiles and 100 regular missiles (not with 100% accuracy of course) and couldn’t tell if I had gotten anywhere.
Cannot be Tamed Remember he’s a pirate. They are shifty lol.
Jonathon Polk but i yes
@@Cannotbetamed1 I think it takes 30 super missiles or 20 charge shots to kill Ridley from full health. Charge shots with plasma beam do a weirdly high amount of damage. Super missiles do double their normal damage to Ridley. However, hitting Ridley and a few other bosses with Super missiles causes a kind of enrage behaviour that makes them harder.
This game was perfectoin, got it for my 14th birthday. And theres no room for improvement pure PERFECTION.
Nah
A very refreshing take on S. Metroid; always interesting to hear them. You've articulated them really well.
I very much agree with your analysis on the controls, and something that's little frustrating to see other metroidvanias replicate. I take no health bars for boss as an creative choice, although a better feedback from weapon hits could've made a world of difference.
I think that it was the result of trying something new that no one had ever done before at this level of complexity, so I can understand miscalculating a few things that you've mentioned in your negatives.
And as you've raised in your positives, atmosphere is killer. I played it in 2015 and I was shocked how isolating it felt.
I agree no health bars is a creative choice, and not even one I think is bad. Just on that one fight in particular I had no idea how I was doing.
Hemang Chauhan Yes game is perfect
The atmosphere is the best part of the game!
As much as I absolutely LOVE this game, I have to admit, that your criticism is valid. There were a number of time you mentioned a problem with the game and I went "Huh! Yes that did kinda sucked." Very good video.
Thanks!
This and a link to the past are THE best snes games.
The best games period
They really are the best along with Chrono Trigger, FF3, and Super Mario RPG.
@@phoenixjaded621 FF6
@@sarahmvaz6772 yes I know it is technically the 6th game but as a North American it was released as Final Fantasy III. I have used both interchangeably but it always seems to upset people if I call it by either number. Therefore, I am just sticking with the title that I knew and loved as a child.
Don't forget Chrono Trigger.
Your point of view is very interesting. I liked the notes on: A) the jump with the turning ability; and with the electric hook. B) the obligation following selection of desired items. C) an alternative to the rapid switch between normal firing and missiles. D) repetitive messages of the items. I saw nothing wrong with the constructive criticism of the Game. Besides that; this video inspired me to improve future creations of Games and their dynamics of interactivity, mainly, allowing the fluidity in the rhythm of the immersion without breaks and distractions due to Gameplay where Game and Players worked together in the construction of the same during that Game.
The title is pure BLASPHEMY! For its time!? EVerything can always be better but for its time it was PERFECT!!!
It could have been better in 1994 too.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I'll concede it may be my bias as a 10 year old at the time but the jump from Metroid to Super Metroid was enough to please me.
I never had a problem with the controls of Super Metroid, but then again it could be cause I'm more use SNES era controls and physics, the Metroidvania genre was still pretty new at the time this game came out, and it still didn't have a very large audience (let alone a name) so it's not like they had a tried and tested formula planned out yet.
James Groves agreed 😇
I enjoyed listening to your review. It was very thorough. Some of things you mentioned like having no tutorial or the hidden attacks and features are what made the game great. Exploration and hidden secrets are the backbone of Metroid games. The first one didn’t even have a map lmao. Also, although there isn’t a boss health bar, they do change color to let you know they’re almost dying. It’s been one of my favorite games and still is!
13:27
To be honest, I’ve always found Samus’ game over death pretty scary when I was a kid. It just makes her look so vulnerable. I think having Samus in her underwear was meant to be a shout-out to the climax of Alien with Ripley in her underwear.
Great review btw!!!!!
Thanks
I completely disagree with your opinion about the controls, they're hard to master, but when you do you can do anything, there's so many ways to sequence break these game just by exploiting the controls and physics
Totally agree with your thoughts in regards to controls. A good portion of those issues are tied to speed of vertical camera movement and the visual perception of the player when scaling vertical space. Ex: Space Jump and and Grapple Beam causing instantaneous fast vertical scrolling. Also horizontal locomotion in the game is quite literally stymied by Samus's jump and reaction to damage. If you pay attention to Samus's character model her sprite abruptly juts backwards slightly whenever damaged and looses all momentum. Loosing momentum from damage is of course essential but many devs and teams have "figured out" that even momentary negative feedback needs to have a proper rhythm in order to "feel right". They solved much of this in Fusion and ZM by changing the timing and also having the character model move back and up when ever damaged, giving the player more time to assess "what just happened?".
In terms of the organic tutorialization and also gating information I believe that one of the core reasons Super Metroid is considered a masterpiece is because of how well it makes the player really stop and consider the options they have and how to use or experiment with them. I will agree that not having tutorial descriptors for certain power ups (namely the space jump) and removing the redundant pause from subsequent missile pick ups was a misstep. I chalk those up to missed quality of life improvements more so than core design deficiencies.
The one aspect that I was really interested in hearing your opinion on and was not noted in your review was your thoughts on SM's notable and impactful visual story telling, especially towards the end of the game. I would love to hear your thoughts since you are coming from the vantage of a new player in 2019. Let me know! I like your content. Please keep it up! Cheers!
I thought the more scripted parts of the game were great, both at the start and end.
I LOVE THIS GAME!!! One of my absolute all time favourites.
I think retro games can be appreciated for their historical significance whether or not you enjoy them. They may be imperfect, but they paved the way for future games of their kinds. These games may not have done it well, but they did it first.
I agree
This is still one of my absolute favorite games ever. Yeah, I had issues with the controls as well, but I made the best of it without changing it. The music is one of the best parts of the game, because it really sets the mood for what's to come later on.
I love the music, I’ve been listening to it at work since I finished the game.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I wish I knew about the soundtrack CD years ago, cause I would have got it for sure. Sadly, I don't have it. The closest I have, is the soundtrack that came with Metroid: Samus Returns. Still good, but doesn't hold a candle to this games music.
I agree with absolutely everything you said. Both the positives and the negatives. I much prefer Metroid Zero Mission over this one, it is much smoother and doesn’t have the horrible controls. If Nintendo remade Super Metroid with the Zero Mission physics and controls, it would be damn near perfect.
Wait... are you telling me that I could have used my gun in all those different ways?? I finished the game only knowing about the supercharge!! Well... I have to agree with you, those controls ARE NOT intuitive. However, the game is so well designed that it teaches you the basics without using any kind of explicit and boring tutorial. It progressively guides you without making you feel like an idiot (until you find out there are like 20 other ways of using your gun, that is...).
That 10:27 part!!! How frustrated I felt (and still feel) everytime I wanted to perform that wall jump to get up there!!! But well, apart from those things, it's a master piece.
I agree with some of the complaints about the controls, i can't remember everything that was a struggle, but the wall jump technique was the most difficult to master. Your assessment of the screwattack was spot on, especially when you use it vertically because one small mistake would have you falling all the way down lol. But it at least was more manageable than the wall jump. I didn't know about the crystal flash technique or the various charge combos. That's pretty cool info that I learned from watching this video review. I knew about the Five-Bomb Drop which is easy to execute. Good review. p.s. I hope you get to review Metroid Prime one day.
I bought this game when it first came out, and I definitely agree about the controls. I really enjoy the hack Project Base, and others which used it as a....base. The controls are superbly re-done, combining the best of Super with the best of Fusion and MZM.
This is it. Having done a completion on Project Base it's almost difficult to go back to the original. Project Base is just so good.
I do have to disagree about the controls. The only problem I found with the controls were wall jumps which are never necessary. Also there is an indicator that the boss is taking damage. They change color the closer they get to death. Ridley turnes red. This is still one of my favorite games that I still play today.
Yes, I know most bosses turn more red as they take damage. But that’s very imprecise. I still couldn’t tell during all those attempts on Ridley if I was getting any further each attempt.
@@Cannotbetamed1 I have had my difficulties with Ridley in the past. For some reason last time he didn't seem as hard. I don't remember what I did differently.
I am so sorry I miss this. I can honestly say that anyone who has beaten the first three Metroid games is a true gamer. I didn't have enough patience to get through the first one for the NES. Perhaps some day I'll complete it. Major respect to the ones who have.
I haven't even tried the first two.
@@Cannotbetamed1 couldn't get past the first one... Couldn't get past the first.
@@jimmyfoppiano2822 tbf, metroid 1 is not an easy game to keep track with
Metroid 1 is very hard. There's literally no map and a lot of rooms look very similar. You HAVE TO draw your own map while playing unless you have an unbelievable memory or are comfortable with wandering around blindly and wasting hours making little progress.
In addition to that, the mechanics/combat are very punishing. There's a steep learning curve. You will die a lot. And dying is very punishing because you start with only 30 health.
The thing is though, it's an extremely rewarding game. Exploring the map is so difficult that finding upgrades and secrets is probably more rewarding in this game than any other metroid. Finding the screw attack was one of the most rewarding and thrilling upgrades I've ever gotten in any game.
If you have the nerve to buckle down and really focus on beating this game it's surprisingly fun and it feels good to get good at it, but it's certainly not for everyone.
It's not only one of the best Golden Era Nintendo games ...it is one of the best games of any platform ever made...in any parallel universe ....The level design...the story...the music...The art ...The GAMEPLAY....It is an absolute masterpiece of game design. All those elements are already exceptional but how they synergize for the greater experience is beyond critique ...
No she's right it's overrated and leaves alot to be desired.
I'd recommend Metroid Fusion and Zero mission, as they address most of the complaints you have about the controls, though they are a bit more linear, and you can't toggle suits and beam combinations anymore.
This.
9:25 best game song in history lol
I like how after the early 2000's after the phrase metroidvania was coined, all top tier metroid games abandoned the concept. We should just call it handheld vaniaroid. But that sounds like a wierd butt dysfunction. So I get it.
1995 was a very different time, super Metroid was one-of-a-kind when it came out. It felt so thrilling and suspenseful getting much inspiration from the movie aliens. I think it's unfair to judge the game by today's standards because obviously game developers have learned so much since then. The 90s especially with the early days for learning what works with videogames and controls.
Also some would say the discovery of her moves and abilities is part of the fun of the experience. Some would consider the mystery a nice feature of the game. As a kid I certainly didn't have the Internet, didn't read the manual, or have any friends tell me how to play the game and yet I discovered the majority of things you can do in the game myself purely from trial and error experimenting in the game. And for anything new I learned was from the Nintendo power magazine. But there was very few things I learned from Nintendo power, a few items missed on the map and how fast I had to beat the game to get the best ending.
I'm obviously a huge fan of the Metroid series so I apologize for my rant :P
I just disagree with the but it could be better part of your title. I think it came out perfectly for the time it released in.
But I do understand where you're coming from and there is a slightly better experience with the game AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake)
I highly recommend that game, it's basically super Metroid but made for a more modern age! Super Metroid was my favorite in the series until AM2R came out made by a devoted fan. It's a unofficial remake of Metroid 2. it was made by a Argentinian programer named Milton Guasti and released in August 2016 for Windows.
I just beat this for the first time myself this year. I have played it in the past but never too far into it. I too had major issues with the jumping and spinning to get to higher locations. I still loved the game and its up there as one of my favs on the snes but definitely not without its flaws. Great review Pam.
Thanks! Glad to know I wasn't the only one who had issues with some of these things.
Even though this came out in 1994, this is my favorite game of all time. The isolationist atmosphere, the difficulty, the exploration, the MUSIC, it was all great. Finding secrets didn't feel annoying. Learning tricks also was pretty cool, like wall jumps and sparkshine. I understand your points about the controls, but I grew up on awful controls on many nintendo games, so I was just straight up used to it lol
If I could make a recommendation though Pam, check out Sundered. It's a Metroidvania game with heavy eldritch themes. It's around 20$ on Steam and it's so good I beat it on all difficulties.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Super Metroid: Project Base is an awesome mod that fixes most of the annoyances the original game has. You guys should give it a try
I was very happy to hear that you had an overall positive experience with Super Metroid. Definitely my favorite game growing up. Fair criticisms for sure. It took me a long time to really become adept at the platforming component. Jumping up followed by moving to the side became much more reliable than jumping while currently moving to the side. Her somersaults were so difficult to anticipate her landing I essentially only jumped that way when needing to leap over large gaps or reach higher locations. As a kid I remember literally hunching my shoulders up and down so I'd learn the rhythm of her space jump, so I'd know not to press jump again prematurely. I guess I never really considered the possibility that she could have been designed in a way to allow for both primary and secondary weapon shooting simultaneously. To me it always seemed consistent with the notion that her right arm is this cannon, and things like the missiles, super missiles, and the god-damn-m-f'ing grappling hook (the auto-recoil is what drove me nuts) were attachments that needed to be inserted into the opening of the canon for their use, thus negating the primary weapon functionality. I think in my imagination, I envisioned that the cannon arm was heavy as hell and she would use her left arm/hand as a support to aim and steady herself rather than going in with both hands blazing. Great video as always.
Thanks Diego! Yeah, I didn't love the somersaults. When I first got Space Jump I kept trying to just jump straight up like any kind of double jump would generally let you do. Having to be moving horizontally when you start your jump to do it made things more awkward than they could have been.
Another game that has a crazy beginning on SNES is Demon's Crest....It's like an instant boss battle, get your boots on and better hope you ate those Wheaties this morning.
So true. The first time I played that I was like wtf!
I've loved this game since I was a kid and have played through it many times over the last 20 or so years. The soundtrack has always felt so good to listen to, making it easier to pick up and play again at any time. I recently played through it again on the SNES emulator on the Switch, the controls are no better, the switching of weapons has always bugged me. Especially if aiming for 100% the switching to x ray becomes very tedious.
one of the most frustrating things about the mechanics is the wall jump. It's such a precise button input that can be really helpful for getting to some extra missiles in the early game, but I've never been able to get to any level of consistency with it. The bomb jump is even more insanely precise, but it's not greatly useful so it doesn't bother me so much.
However, even with its flaws, I would still put this on a recommendation list of games you need to play,, Along with Megaman 2 and Link to the past from Nintendo's library.
I'm glad someone who has been playing this since they were a kid can see where my critiques are coming from. Still a great game though.
When I was a kid I was blown away when I found out Samus was a woman. Now every time I see someone in a Mech type suit I wonder whether it’s a man or women.
*woman
Ya go
Yeah, they mostly did that to make you remember "hey you know, Samus is not a dude". Now the character is known enough to not have to do it, but back then, you would assume some character in a sci-fi suit was "obviously" a man.
Something to note in regards to boss health bars, is that nearly every boss, including Ridley, has it's colors become more and more dark as you deal damage to it, so the darker it's colors the more damage you've dealt.
One of my favorite SNES games.
You can have your opinion. But I believe that at the time, it was a masterpiece game. Because we are reviewing this game much later than it was released, then yes, it could be better. But that's after a decades worth of creative innovations for video game history that has influenced our perspective of this gem. At the time it was released, it was hard to say what it needed or how it could be better. Anyway. I'm a big metroid fan, so, it could be that I enjoy it alot.
Just beat this game for the first time and began looking for reviews. Glad I’m not the only one who felt frustrated by the controls. I never felt like I really “got it”. And sometimes I would get stuck in quicksand for 45+ seconds and couldn’t get out!
That quicksand was so frustrating.
@@Cannotbetamed1 the controls must be accurate, because the speed run videos I’ve watched are absolutely insane! :p
Pam, do you talk about Symphony of the Night in any videos? It’s definitely my favorite of this genre.
I've just finished it and think that it is a really great game, especially thinking about how long has passed since it was released.
I didn't have problems with the controls for moving, I just had to get used to them and I'm ok someway to them, like they give Samus a special and unique feeling.
I agree that switching through weapons is painful, and also the wall jump and space jump takes too much skill to be done for me, space jump in particular since it is mandatory to proceed in the game. You eventually learn how to use it but still seems like you have to explode to perform it.
The exploration is sooo good! You always want to do a little more, and it always so rewarding, and the progression too. The difficulty of the game in terms of enemy was also good: enemy are not strong but it is not the point, they are there more to give atmosphere and lore to the world.
I've to say though that sometimes I hated how I had to go back all the way, or I got stuck because I couldn't find that specific item hidden in that specific hidden way.
Also, for the wall jump it seemed to me that if you happen to fall where the 3 little creatures are, either you learn to wall jump or you get stuck in there! I had to read online since the wall jump is done in a very specific way (not like other modern games).
I've also liked that there are secret abilities not needed for a normal run, though I discovered them online. Maybe a hidden way to discover them a part from the demo in the menu would have been better.
I really hated that if you save just before the final boss, you can't go back anymore =( That is super sad.
Overall, the game is aged so well that is almost incredible how modern games haven't, after more than 25 years, evolved the genre that much, it was pretty much all there.
PS: the boss changes color to show its HP, the more it is red the closer it is to die! I agree with you though about being hard to know which attack was better, though I explored so much I never had problems with the bosses.
"She does the genocide real good."
Dang. This is going to be one of those quotes that'll be stuck in my head for about a week now.
"Them aliens blowed' up real good!" (SCTV reference)
Actually she kinda did terrible at genocide. She pulled the final punch and let one live. Genocide means all, not all but one. What's more is the survival of that metroid means the galactic federation can clone some metroids whenever they want now. That's not quite genocide.
Welcome to the Metroid series! $:^ ] I've played and finished the main series as an adult, plus played a little Prime but don't own the newer systems. (Yes, GameCube is too new for me, lol.)
Although I agree with the Space Jump being harder than it should be, I disagree with many of your other controls complaints:
1. Shine Spark isn't merely taught to you in an out-of-the-way place; the first time you try to Speed Boost over the "out of the way" place, you don't know you'll get sucked down that tunnel, and thus you're forced to investigate and imitate the bird creature who kindly teaches you how to get out of the tunnel, thereby unlocking a new ability that you didn't realize you had all along. *Very* interesting character-wise, plus mechanically tutorial-wise.
2. You didn't mention wall-jumping. Oh. Wow. Wall-jumping is 10x harder than Space Jumping. I hated it. (Spoiler alert: The fourth in the series, Metroid Fusion, fixes this atrocity. Yay!)
3. Not all the items showed instructions onscreen... Hm. Okay, I agree that consistency is better, but in 1994, the de facto learning experience was not in-game tutorials with 5 MB of subtitled voice acting. $;^ J It was the instruction manual. It was *expected* that players were cracking out the instruction manuals for story + how-to-play before ever turning the game on. (Or am I the weird kid who read first while everyone else fumbled with controls and enemy types?) Still, I suppose a simple "^ AND v TO MORPH" couldn't've hurt, lol...
4. The reason for having special abilities not explained in-game nor in the manual? To reward the experimenters! I'm not talking arbitrary fiddling, either. I'm also not so much talking Crystal Flash because to pull *that* off, Samus has to hold her tongue just right on a Wednesday. I fully agree, that one's stupidly hard to "figure out" (a.k.a. accidentally stumble upon and/or buy the Nintendo Power Oficial Player's Guide, lol). No, I emphatically mean the awesome almost-easter-egg charge shot explosions. Lemme explain. Despite having access to the Internet by the time I borrowed and played through Super Metroid a decade-ish ago, I discovered these 100% on my own via the game. Put the Game Pak in, push the Power switch on, and you get that amazing intro title screen; don't Press Start, and (also a staple of 1994) you get Attract Mode (an arcade culture holdover); watch it long enough, and you'll see both the impossible-seeming Crystal Flash and some crazy power that makes you go, huh! I've never seen that before... and by studying those few seconds of demo every couple minutes that it loops back around, and trying things in-game, boom, you, too, can discover Power Ice Bombing the whole screen, among other things. $E^ ]
100% agreed that the series' biggest idiot-move is *continuing to this day* to strip Samus for reward. Frankly, not cool. $:^ \ The original game revealing your guy/robot/cyborg mystery dude was actually a lady was awesome, but they went wrong directions with it overall, unfortunately.
A good acquaintance Tweeted your video, and I watched. I didn't expect to write so much, wowee. But! That just shows your content engaged me pretty hard! Nice review/critique, thanks. $:^ J
Hey, thanks for the comment.
1. I never fell down this hole until right near the end. I just watched back in my footage and when I came to this place in Brinstar, I used Morph bomb clear a path through the wall, then I just walked across the bricks that would fall into the pit.
2. I never wall jumped once.
3. I have no problem with games relying on the manuals - though I missed the Morph Ball instruction for a bit as I looked at the morph ball description, not the control diagram. I just got really sick of being told how to shoot a missile every 20 minutes while it never displayed on screen an instruction I would have found more useful.
4. I guess the special abilities being hidden isn't that big a deal. A nice little reward for the patient and curious. Since I considered the stacking weapon upgrades a feature, I NEVER would have thought to unequip some of them in order to use these abilities.
0:45 I always thought the term “Metroidvania” was due to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night using the Metroid style game play. Not the other way around. I accept being wrong on that or did I misunderstand what you’re saying?
Great video regardless!
That is where the term came from, but that later got applied as the unofficial subgenre name to all games of this type.
You are correct. I don't play Metroid games thinking wow this reminds me of Castlevania.
the original metroid did it first. castlevania 2 did it, then super metroid did more, then castlevania SotN pulled from super metroid. lots of other games did the same thing, like blaster master, but metroid and castlevania were the franchise names that had lasting popularity.
@@IIIDemon I agree, the OG Metroid is the Grandfather of the genre really. It was more simple in regards to powerups and environments, but I'm not sure there was really a game before it that captured the style that would become the "Metroidvania" genre.
This is a nearly a perfect game. My one gripe is the dots on the map... they don’t ever disappear after you collect the item. I feel Zero Mission and Fusion fixed this by making the unfound items a circle and then changing them to a dot after you collect the items. In a game heavily geared toward exploration, I found myself going to the same dots after each subsequent play session b/c I couldn’t remember if I had collected that particular item or not. I also didn’t like how the dots were sometimes just important rooms like missile or energy refill rooms. Like would it have been so hard to come up with a slightly different icon?
But, it says a lot when your only gripe about a game is a nit-pick. This game, and Zero Mission, are phenomenal. Nearly perfect.
The dots not disappearing on the map bugged me too.
Okay given that Super Metroid is one of my favorite games of all time *DEEP INHALE* you have some very good points. I think it's to the games detriment that it lies halfway between something like Super Mario World or Link to the Past, where the level design teaches you almost everything without any words, and something like early Final Fantasy where it's a given you have to do some research in the manual; I also never realized how dependent my previous Metroid game experience factored into my enjoyment of this game when it was released.
Thanks for being reasonable in your feedback :)
@@Cannotbetamed1 Thanks for the great content!!
10:17 most of the control issues can be solved by the player himself by increasing the own skill level, which requires time and patience just like with every other skill to learn. you can actually go into space jump vertically by pressing the dash button while jumping. this way Samus starts to roll while midair (even when not going horizontally), which is the requirement for space and also wall jump. you can even start over if you fall down somewhere, then press the dash button to start rolling in mid air and then jump. but most of the time you land on ground faster than the average player can react. further, you can skip a lot of grappling beam sections by performing the wall jump, which again is a matter of the players skill level, which is a very nice additional option for players who seek for additional challenge to fight the fealing you at the end of the game, that you feel invincible, as you have mentioned
a masterpiece in its purest form.
Not really
@@mikeuk66 it is a masterpiece. You're just wrong if you say otherwise.
@@mikeuk66 It is a masterpiece. It's just not easy to see on your first playthrough. Give the game another few runs.
@@infinitygames9317 so I gotta play this piece of shit a FEW MORE times? Man it’s not even BAD per-say but Metroid fans act like it literally jerks them off whenever they play it and pretend no other game even has merits and that you’re a dumbass for saying it has problems, really pathetic
@@yeahey5947 This isn't entirely true.
Yes people are blind to faults sometimes, but this game is the closest most games have ever gotten to perfection imo. The perfect physics, near perfect world design, perfect unobtrusive hints, a near perfect OST. You get more out of it every time you play as well. Learning new tricks to shave time off.
I agree with the complaints about the controls. The movement controls are really specific, so it makes mobility difficult. It's just something you have to learn by trial and error. For example the wall jumps require you to slightly turn the opposite direction before hitting the jump button. Neutral jump doesn't result in a somersault. Shinesparking into a sloped ground will help continue the speed dash.
If I remember correctly Crystal Flash is a hidden secret/technique, hence why it isn't mentioned in the manual.
Shinespark?
@@propheinx2250 Crystal Flash and Shinespark are completely different hidden techs.
@@Desticler played super metroid multiple times, never figured out how to use it. For a long time I neither knew of its existence or name (just now learned the name). Learned of its existence about a year ago when I first came across The Geek Critique.
My favorite SNES game, has aged incredibly well. Also, the best SNES soundtrack.
Oh come on, who wouldn't be obsessed with Samus' underwear?
SM3 holds a huge sentimental place in my heart... Still to this day remains my most favorite game.
it's really refreshing to see a person with different opinions while everyone praises it and calling it "Perfect"... I couldn't agree more with your views about the controls.
Thanks for the great review :) subbed!
Thanks so much! Welcome to the channel.
500 comments in and no one has come to the defense of the poor Grappling Beam.
Good point. :)
As someone who holds this game above others, I can explain why people won't defend it. It can't be. I understand why people don't like the game as much today as it's not very newbie friendly with the controls or the tutorials. Looking at it from that perspective, I get it. I personally speedrun the game, and I still find the game to be the speedrunner's dream. Once you get good enough at traversal with the floaty controls, you almost never even use the grapple beam. I'm not excusing the controls, don't get me wrong, but there's a lot to them that is sadly missing in the later installments for me.
Grappling beam is eh, it's not exactly user friendly and becomes almost useless for speedrunning. Which reminds me, if you did want more difficulty out of the game, try playing it fast and ignoring most health and ammo pick ups and the game becomes more enjoyable.
Just like any advanced move in SM, it takes training to nail it. Your initial space jumps, wall jumps and grappling will be sloppy, but once you figure out the tempo and practice a bit, you will be flying like a bird, because SM controls is responsive and fair.
cool !
I was a little shook by the title at first, but I totally get where you're coming from. I adore the game, but the controls can be a pain in the ass sometimes (hence why whenever I played it on my Wii U and 3DS, I would use my quick saves so I wouldn't have to keep climbing my way back up). The wall jump being the worst! They thankfully feel much smoother in Zero Mission and Samus Returns. Otherwise, I love it for it's atmosphere, exploration, innovation, and being an overall rewarding experience.
I never got into Metroid. I remember trying the first one on a display at toys r us and quickly became frustrated by the endless tunnels and no hint of what I was supposed to be doing. never gave the series another shot. which is too bad because of the love people have for this one specifically.
Michael Clarke That's unfortunate. If you like exploration then this is a great series for it.
Michael Clarke Yes very much
This is one of my favorite games. Ever since I was a little boy I loved the idea of finding secret passages and this is a game that seems to go into that a lot. The fact that some of the game mechanics aren't the greatest doesn't really bother me because the atmosphere and mood of the game are fantastic. I remember many years ago I played Super Metroid on a keyboard because I didn't have regular controllers at the time. I also have to say that I love the Grappling beam. I don't recall ever having any problem using it when playing. Part of the fun of this game is figuring out how to either use what you have or get what you need to get past obstacles. It requires a lot of patience sometimes but the thrill you get when you finally do it is worth it. I will admit however that I don't have the same patience playing other games as I do Metroid games. I think this probably has to do with the calming and inspiring effects of the game music.
Still to this day, best game ever made.
20 year old me couldn't wait to get his hands on this game. I love the first 2 Metroid titles. Sadly, I got very badly stumped early in the game. Shortly after the introduction opening. This was before online answers and guides were readily available. I never went back to the series afterwards.
That's too bad.
This is a fair and objective view of the game from someone who’s experience isn’t clouded by nostalgia. All of your complaints are legit. Experienced Metroid players have grown to love the controls, but that doesn’t mean that they are good/intuitive. Games like Zero Mission and Metrod Fusion on GBA make for a more modern Metroid. Those titles may have the quality of life improvements you’re looking for, but I still find Super Metroid to be best in the series.
Agreed. The controls were the fly in the ointment of this game. I also hated that the UI didn't highlight the middle item by default and instead had you press the button two more times to get to the most right one and vice versa. But the game is a masterpiece, nonetheless.
Funny you mention her underwear during her death animation. Originally, she was going to be totally nude in that animation, but they eventually decided American audiences wouldn't have been ok with that.
I used to rent this from the video shop back in the day. I remember it being bundled with a full playguide.
Been playing it on my SNES mini classic recently and have been stuck at Kraid, not sure if i'm missing a power up or just suck, i can't remember having the same problem back in the 90's :)