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Post by excelsior on Mar 13, 2024 10:02:39 GMT -5
OK, I played through it. I like it. It's very simple, but I enjoy that you're thrown in a world without direction, given the fact that it's fairly small and you can make your way across quite quickly, it doesn't feel overwhelming or too demanding. Also, the battles, whilst way too simple, only take seconds to get through. They're also nicely presented with the pop-up window in the center of the screen. The overall look is a bit nicer than the original version. I quite like that it pretty much focuses on the grind, but it largely boils down to getting the pacing right for me. The game does serve as a nice template for later RPGs, but there's so many on SNES where they add essentially redundant options, or the combat is slow or general pacing of the game is poor. I find DQI easier to like, mostly because I never find it to be a slog. That said, there are games that do build on the template successfully, so I will rank this around the middle.
Ranking - B
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Post by excelsior on Mar 19, 2024 12:15:57 GMT -5
- Publisher - Nintendo
- Developer - Intelligent Systems
- Genre - Exploration-Adventure
- Initial Release - 19 March 1994
Take on a legion of Space Pirates and a new Metroid force as you forge into the covert underworld of Planet Zebes! It's up to you and Samus to recapture the long-surviving Metroid hatchling before evil hands unleash its energy. An army of ominous creatures are poised for battle at every turn of Zebes' twisted, threatening passageways...including the menacing Ridley and the great lizard Kraid. Knock down enemies with a killer somersault and swing on an electric beam through narrow passageways! They're no match for you and Samus...but wait! It seems the Mother Brain has returned...
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Post by excelsior on Mar 19, 2024 12:25:27 GMT -5
I had been saving this for the 100th SNES game of the week for some time, but that anniversary just seems too perfect. That's right; the seminal Super Metroid turns 30 today! Honestly, if this game has aged a day, it's like a fine wine. This game set the standard for an entire genre and influenced so many future game developers. It's difficult to say a bad word about. This was one of those games that you knew would be special just from its packaging. The big box and players guide promising an adventure that must be experienced. That adventure was and is perfect, with the richest ambience imaginable to a thoughtfully put together game world that longs to be explored. The bosses are huge and distinctively alien, pushing the sci-fi theme as far as could be asked. Is this the very best game on SNES? Quite possibly.
Ranking - S
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Post by personman on Mar 19, 2024 16:50:52 GMT -5
Yeah I really have little interesting to say about this one, it's one of the most important titles of all time. Without it we may have not have gotten one of my most favorite sub series with SOTN and the others that followed (I don't care if IGA claims the only inspiration was Zelda lol) and you can see traces of its influence all over the place. Also indie devs these days might have to think of another type of game to make and we just can't have that now can we, ha.
Sounds like I'm being snarky perhaps but sincerely its one of my favorites. S, of course.
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Post by dsparil on Mar 19, 2024 17:41:11 GMT -5
Super is a classic, but the better controls of future games make it hard for me to play vanilla these days. There is a patch to make it more similar to Fusion and Zero Mission, and I find it much more pleasant that way. I'd still go S, but I do feel slightly tepid regardless.
As a side note, the recent hack Super Junkoid is very good and probably better than the base game to be honest.
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Post by nightdreamer on Mar 19, 2024 19:46:08 GMT -5
Super Metroid is unquestionably an S for me. Funny thing is I never could get into it as a kid probably because I wasn't really vibing with the minimalist ambience back then. I beat it recently with Nintendo Switch Online and couldn't get enough of it.
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Post by spanky on Mar 19, 2024 20:22:00 GMT -5
There's a handful of SNES games that I would say are shoe-ins for S rankings...and this is one of them! There's so many things I like about the game I struggle to focus on just one. Navigation is quick and a joy, there's some great environmental storytelling, and the awesome music. If I wanted to levy criticism at this game (and I really don't), I guess you could say that the overall design is a bit straightforward compared to the original,and a lot of the special charge weapon combinations go unused. I'm sure there's people who prefer the inscrutability of the original game and if I'm being honest with myself, I'm not one of them.
Super Metroid feels like a turning point for the SNES. All the major releases post-Super Metroid (and including it) feel like a cut above the games that came before. The cart sizes are getting larger and the developers are starting to master the hardware. All the rough edges of early SNES - the hollow sound, the slowdown etc, really start to fade away with this game. Absolutely an S.
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Post by Snake on Mar 19, 2024 21:39:44 GMT -5
Super Metroid
The very 3rd NES game I played in my life was Metroid. For one of the earliest of games, it just oozed with exploration and atmosphere. The title screen music alone permeates with such a haunting mood that still affects me to my core. Seeing what wonders going 16-bit did for Super Mario and Zelda, Super Metroid was an instant must play. But I didn't expect it to be so damn good! Much like the original Metroid, I love the minimalism of narration and hand holding. No words, no texts trying to steer you or narrate you anywhere. You are essentially Samus, exploring solo. And the design and progression is so beautiful. Even when you come across some of the native animals that essentially serve as a follow-by-observation-instructional on techniques, like with the frogs triangle jumping off the walls, you're treated to special touches like being able to help them escape by game's end.
The boss fights are fun, the urgency and tension of the moments are mood-making. Rich and vibrant graphics, fun skills, magnificent soundtrack, to the emotional bittersweet ending.
No surprise to see that we're pretty much all giving this game:
Rank - S
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Post by ommadawnyawn2 on Mar 20, 2024 13:50:34 GMT -5
I've given my thoughts on Super Metroid previously on this site and still stand by that post, so I'll just post what I said then with some tweaks for better flow: This is the one that made me love the Metroid games after being more ambivalent about them previously. Not just thanks to its various quality of life improvements (save points, map and ammo stations, a great map system), improved and evolved controls (8-way aiming! Toggleable equipment! Wall jumps!), but also all the other things fleshing out the experience in a more subtle and refined way like the environmental storytelling focus and improved sense of place. Plus the unnecessary but cool things like power bomb healing. From the moment the game begins, world design and atmosphere are top tier with a memorable intro cutscene and gameplay that set the tone perfectly, distinct areas that are rewarding to explore, solid visuals that don't distract from the gameplay and great overall pacing. It set a new standard for environmental storytelling, with interesting touches like the foreshadowing of the Maridia, and creatures that don't seem to just be placed there to wait for and fight the player in an obstacle course but also seem to inhabit the world, and naturally you'll sometimes encounter neutral and friendly ones. Another thing setting it apart are the well-realized sci-fi horror elements in the boss introductions, the crashed ship, the intro leading up to the player being attacked on the planet, and a good sense of vulnerability and solitude throughout most of the adventure with the former being contrasted in a cool way by the near god form attained in the finale. Player movement (once you have all the upgrades and know advanced techniques), while there have been minor improvements for later games in an action game sense, is still rather flexible and satisfying, and gels perfectly with the aforementioned sci-fi horror aspect. You move around in a super advanced astronaut suit that grants you amazing abilities like space jump and shinesparking but this is not earth, gravity and friction are not the same and you are not the most adapted to this environment - the enemies are, as shown in their greater mobility. I've seen complaints about the wall jump but I think they did it just right considering the sequence breaking opportunities it provides; you feel like a champ when you start mastering it and breaking the intended path through the game. Combined with bomb jumping, and (the unintended but easy to pull off and less glitchy than an out of bounds trick) mock ball you can make the game pretty much fully non-linear, and if you need more replay value there are some well made hacks to check out. Super Metroid is still my fave game in the platform adventure/metroidvania genre, an all-time classic and an easy S.
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Post by excelsior on Apr 10, 2024 5:39:50 GMT -5
- Publisher - Williams
- Developer - Digital Eclipse
- Genre - Arcade
- Initial Release - September 1996
Ms. Pac-Man is here to drive you totally wild and crazy with more fun than you've ever imagined! Four feisty ghosts are chasing MS. PAC-MAN. Use your skill and strategy to rack up points while outrunning the gobbling ghosts. Grab an energy pill, and score even more points. Now gobble up all those fearless ghosts!
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Post by excelsior on Apr 10, 2024 5:48:17 GMT -5
Since this is an abbreviated week, I thought this was a good time to squeeze in Ms. Pac Man. There aren't a great deal of classic arcade ports to be found on SNES. I'd have to imagine they just didn't perform well against larger competition going for a larger scale in the 90's. It's certainly not a game I would have chosen to pay full price for on SNES, but I do like Ms. Pac Man. The SNES version doesn't bring much to the table, opting for authenticity. You do have difficulty modes and can deviate from the standard arcade maze option, it just doesn't feel like very much. My biggest issue is that the table doesn't fit into the one screen. Being a one-screen game is one of Ms. Pac Man's most important features, as visibility is so important. For that, I'm going to say I'd rather play the original. There aren't a great deal of alternatives to play on SNES, but I would generally go for Mr. Do instead.
Ranking - C
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Post by dsparil on Apr 10, 2024 7:41:05 GMT -5
C sounds right. It's shocking to see that there even is an SNES Ms. Pac-Man and as such a late release. Seems like something put out just to squeeze a few bucks out of the remaining audience. The GB Ms. Pac-Man was a Namco game instead of Williams, but this could have worked as a dual GB/SNES via SGB release like Space Invaders.
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Post by vnisanian2001 on Apr 10, 2024 10:18:25 GMT -5
C
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Post by spanky on Apr 10, 2024 13:25:55 GMT -5
I've heard anecdotally that this sold quite well for being such a late release. I assume it was a budget title. I wish you could play a version of the arcade mode that fit the map all on one screen so it didnt need to scroll and I think it's sort of ugly...but the extra options and maps are nice. Who doesn't like Ms. Pac Man? I'll give it a B.
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Post by personman on Apr 11, 2024 14:14:37 GMT -5
My mom got this and played it a fair amount once I got a 64 and left my SNES unattended more often than not. Never really cared for Pacman so I barely even touched it myself but seeing that the full maze isn't on screen at all time would keep me from trying this. I can just see all the ambushes as the screen scrolls being frustrating. Amusingly I remember seeing a Cutting Floor article that claims this is a port of the Genesis port... which was a port of the unlicensed NES port or the original. Port turducken lol.
I'll go with C.
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