Since I started to think about the possibility of having a blog, I thought that the only use of it out be to post content as a catalog for people to see my work. Ultimately this is still a goal, but I had thoughts of writing a little about me and my hobbies. So for this post I want to right about one of my most beloved passions, video games.
I have no fear of saying that games have changed my life, not only by teaching me a lot of things and making a awesome top of conversation on school/college/work break but also the way I think, the way I talk, the way I see people and how I interact with them. Video games are as such as powerful art form as a movie, or music or any other but they let you be completely immerse on the experience, riding you on a boat throw a river of deep down emotions, irresponsible and careless joy or even technological astonishment. Simply put, they have a potential only limited by the mind of those who make them.
But there is an episode of my life that I remember, specifically, that made me in completely awe with this world, a long time ago when I was still very young… I used to go with my mother in a video game rental of my neighbor, it was a small shop with (in that time) three Playstations One and a Super Nintendo. I had a Super Nintendo myself so I got there time to time to rent a new game and this time was no different. That occasion was special since the owner was in a good mood he let the boys rent three games by the price of one and for me that was great news! I picked up the two games that I had in mind on the bench and, since I had another one to choose, I took my time to get the last. The problem is that my mother wasn’t really in a patient mood so I had to do it in a rush. Giving a quick look at the shelf of games one called my attention, it had a robot-looking thing shooting a giant dragon with a cannon in the place of the arm! What a joyful game it should be, of course I literally knew nothing about it but what should I say, it was free in the end. Took it to the cashier and got home, played the games and eventually I put this new game on my Nintendo. As far as my game tasty goes nowadays I think I was pretty lucky back then.
My initial thoughts however was that Super Metroid was a normal game, you don’t see a masterpiece as it is by playing for some minutes when your around 10 years old. Although the 2D side scrolling platform was a well known POV in the 16 bits generation with very expressive titles, I wasn’t used to 2D shooters so my first impression was of a shooting game, blow up some bad guys! But I hadn’t much background so I couldn’t think of much else. The initial parts of the game as well are plenty linear, not until you get to Brinstar the player starts to know were he’s putting his hours in. When you get to that part, you start realizing that there is much more than simply shooting, the area that was more or less caves changes to a much more vivid, flora-wise rich environment with a more upbeat music. You now is presented with a much larger area that have some rooms you can’t access until much later in the game. You do see some blocks on your path with strange symbols that don’t break with you current equipment, they are only there to tease you with mystery.
You keep up the game, gain some new powers like the super missile, high jump boots and even uncovers a new area, Norfair. The game simply put shows the player pieces of the world, those pieces need to be mastered to eventually mount the bigger puzzle that Zebes is. And soon after that, after getting the ice beam, the game shows it full potential. I remember struggling a lot in my first Super Metroid run, as it was my first Metroidvania title. But I do remember as well the joy of discovery that the game provides, there was nothing like it. Watching Samus getting stronger and stronger at each power up to the point where in late game initial area enemies were nothing was very satisfying. This gets to an point where you can even walk through lava! That was so awesome back them. This kind of power wasn’t displayed to the player as number on an RPG character, but the player could feel it as he progress the game, it’s something natural that simply couldn’t be exposed with numbers on the Super Metroid atmosphere. There are ways to mix those mechanics in a good and sweet style, but it would require a little more sugar to the recipe.
And the backtracking, don’t even let me get started. The world design was made in a sense that it let you memorize all the world sections really easily, were each section have a specific characteristic that the player can rely on. For example, Crateria is this big convoluted mix of caverns and over world mostly brown and gray, Maridia is an area with maritime creatures and flooded by water, Norfair is a big pit of lava with a lot of red color and so goes on. That is a common trend between Super and the other Metroid entries. This design decision let players make a mental map of power ups and places to use them in ways that wouldn’t be possible if all the map was, let’s say, a big city of concrete with look alike buildings. Those little details made an incredible difference between playing the game and don’t get into pit roles where the player don’t find an exit and in the end, let him have a very smooth experience.
All those factors lead me to complete awe with this series, such as I still play Super Metroid to this day and it doesn’t feel dated at all. I still recommend it to my friends that are looking for a strong game in it core, it main mechanics. There are other factors that I could have mentioned but the idea isn’t to make a full review of the game, but tell a little of my history with a game that certainly changed the way I played games beyond that point.
The history doesn’t end here. If Super Metroid told me of the possibilities of a deep, well elaborated game mechanic, there was another entry on the series that showed me the marvelous of technological achievement and that no game can only work in a certain era, you just need a new perspective in old ideas.
See you in part 2!
posted 11/19/2019, edited 02/08/2021
