Super Metroid

1001 Video Games

The SNES version of Super Metroid appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Intro Voice-over

The voice during the game's introduction, the one that says "The last Metroid... ...is in captivity. The galaxy... ...is at peace.", is none other than Dan Owsen. He is known for doing much of Nintendo's localization efforts in the 1990s. His work included translating manuals and in-game text. He is also known for his "Ask Dan" column on Nintendo's web site, and can be seen in some of Nintendo's promotional VHS tapes.

SMILE

SMILE comes from Super Metroid Integrated Level Editor which was developed by "Jathys". The project was open-sourced and gave the possibility to edit almost everything: levels, enemies, items, colour palettes, text, individual room's gravity and many more. Although the editor was not fully completed, it was usable enough to create your own modifications and publish them. Currently the project is dormant. More information is available here

Soundtrack

Because the original Metroid used the Famicom Disk System (and its wavetable sound chip) in Japan, and the releases outside of Japan were on cartridges and thus only used the default NES sound system, the original soundtrack had to be slightly reprogrammed. In Super Metroid, the changes made by the FDS-to-Cartridge conversion back in the original game are made more apparent when the older - albeit remixed - themes are used.

The music in Super Metroid, considered to be some of the finest compositions for the SNES, was composed by Hirokazu Tanaka, Kenji Yamamoto, and Minako Hamano. Information about the CD soundtrack can be found here.

Speedruns

Super Metroid is, due to its level design and planning, one of the most popular games for speedruns and is still being perfected to this day.

Awards

• Electronic Gaming Monthly
  • June 1994 (Issue #59) - Game of the Month
  • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best Action Game
  • November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #6 (Best 100 Games of All Time)
  • February 2006 (Issue #200) - #23 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time
• FLUX
  • Issue #4 - #62 in the "Top 100 Video Games of All-Time" list
• GameFan
  • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss.1) - Overall Best Action/Adventure Game of the Year
  • 1994 (Vol.3, Iss.1) - Best SNES Action/Adventure Game of the Year
• Game Players
  • January 1995 - Best SNES Adventure Game of 1994
  • August 2001 (Issue #100) - #29 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
• GameSpy
  • 2001 – #46 Top Game of All Time
• Retro Gamer
  • September 2004 (Issue #8) – #89 Best Game Of All Time (Readers' Vote)

Information also contributed by Calpis, Julian Turner, PCGamer77, Scott G and uclafalcon.