Super Metroid wavers a bit between being atmospheric, and being "Nintendo-ish". The music is often atmospheric and subdued, and sometimes there is no music, only background noises. The metroid larva making chirping noises was a great detail that made it feel more "animal-like", like a living creature even though it's a biological abomination. And there are some great creepy moments and atmospheric elements. A corpse being feasted on by small bugs, who scatter when you draw near, shortly before a boss fight. The ghost heads that keep spawning right where you stand if you stay still too long in the Wrecked Ship, before the power goes on.
On the other hand, little things hurt the atmospheric nature of the game quite often. Backgrounds sometimes very blatantly look like they're made out of tiles, the same tiles used by the foreground. Even when I first rented this game as a kid, I laughed at the "green bubbles" in Norfair, mentally comparing them to NES graphics. The "tile" problem is very noticeable in some areas, but not as much in others. And then there's the graphics glitches involving layers, such as how any time you use the X-ray Scope, it somehow looks "through" parts of the foreground, or water. Or if you lay a power bomb, any water in the room vanishes temporarily.
But these are minor annoyances. Super Metroid really shines in creating a massive, incredibly diverse world to explore. The sheer amount of visual variety not just between locations, but within the same "area", is astounding. It also makes it easier to recognize your location using visual landmarks.
Exploration, the core of the series, makes this game shine. There's tons of things to collect in the sprawling, mazelike underground, and as the game's challenge ramps up, there's plenty of reason to collect them just to stay alive. New abilities really open up the game, making distant mountains and high ledges reachable, encouraging the player to revisit locations possibly multiple times. It's also great to explore just to see the sheer diversity of the game's world.
Super Metroid is simply a polished game that remains, even 20 years later, if not the best, then one of the best of its genre, setting the standard for the genre it partially named, the "Metroidvania".
A bit uneven in presentation, but sets the standard for its genre in content
Super Metroid wavers a bit between being atmospheric, and being "Nintendo-ish". The music is often atmospheric and subdued, and sometimes there is no music, only background noises. The metroid larva making chirping noises was a great detail that made it feel more "animal-like", like a living creature even though it's a biological abomination. And there are some great creepy moments and atmospheric elements. A corpse being feasted on by small bugs, who scatter when you draw near, shortly before a boss fight. The ghost heads that keep spawning right where you stand if you stay still too long in the Wrecked Ship, before the power goes on.
On the other hand, little things hurt the atmospheric nature of the game quite often. Backgrounds sometimes very blatantly look like they're made out of tiles, the same tiles used by the foreground. Even when I first rented this game as a kid, I laughed at the "green bubbles" in Norfair, mentally comparing them to NES graphics. The "tile" problem is very noticeable in some areas, but not as much in others. And then there's the graphics glitches involving layers, such as how any time you use the X-ray Scope, it somehow looks "through" parts of the foreground, or water. Or if you lay a power bomb, any water in the room vanishes temporarily.
But these are minor annoyances. Super Metroid really shines in creating a massive, incredibly diverse world to explore. The sheer amount of visual variety not just between locations, but within the same "area", is astounding. It also makes it easier to recognize your location using visual landmarks.
Exploration, the core of the series, makes this game shine. There's tons of things to collect in the sprawling, mazelike underground, and as the game's challenge ramps up, there's plenty of reason to collect them just to stay alive. New abilities really open up the game, making distant mountains and high ledges reachable, encouraging the player to revisit locations possibly multiple times. It's also great to explore just to see the sheer diversity of the game's world.
Super Metroid is simply a polished game that remains, even 20 years later, if not the best, then one of the best of its genre, setting the standard for the genre it partially named, the "Metroidvania".