Super Metroid

aka: Metroid 3
Moby ID: 6627
SNES Specs
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Description official descriptions

After having defeated Mother Brain, the leader of the Space Pirates who wanted to use alien creatures known as Metroids to dominate the world, the bounty hunter Samus Aran took the fight to the Metroids' homeland and eradicated them. Only a single Metroid larva remained. Samus took it to a galactic research station, and scientists assured her that the powers of the larva can be harnessed to help people. However, everything goes wrong when a dragon kills the scientists, takes away the larva, and destroys the research facility. Samus follows the dragon to the planet of Zebes, where she fought Mother Brain before. She must explore the dangerous planet, stay alive, and figure out a way to retrieve the larva.

Super Metroid is a platform game and a follow-up to Metroid II. Like the previous games in the series, it is not divided into separate levels; the planet Zebes is an open world which Samus traverses back and forth. This world is divided into rooms separated by doors which must be shot to be opened. Shooting is also used to open up secret passages, some of which contain nifty bonuses, but finding most of them is required to proceed in the game.

There are many items to find on the way, and each new item usually makes heretofore inaccessible areas available to Samus. The items include both weaponry (such as missiles, super missiles, or upgrades to Samus's standard laser gun), energy tanks that increase Samus' max health, and other gadgets (like a grappling hook that allows Samus to stick to the ceiling).

There are various enemies - alien fauna - lurking around planet Zebes. The enemies all respawn after re-entering a room, though Samus' increasing capabilities mean that they become easier to defeat as the player makes progress. After killing them, the enemies typically leave behind some health or ammo.

Spellings

  • スーパーメトロイド - Japanese spelling

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Credits (SNES version)

53 People (30 developers, 23 thanks) · View all

Producer
Director
Back Ground Designers
Object Designers
Samus Original Designer
Samus Designer
Sound Program and Sound Effects
Music Composers
Program Director
System Coordinator
System Programmer
Samus Programmer
Event Programmer
Enemy Programmer
Map Programmer
Assistant Programmer
Coordinators
Printed Art Work
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 93% (based on 51 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.3 out of 5 (based on 272 ratings with 8 reviews)

A super sci-fi adventure!

The Good
Superb detailed graphics, eerie, ambient music, great character designs, atmospheric sound effects and superior gameplay made Super Metroid the perfect adventure title.

The first Metroid was made in 1986 which had fans clamoring for more Samus.Then Metroid 2 for the gameboy came out in 1991, while the game was quite good, it was a bit of a disappointment to fans. Fans had to wait 3 more years for the best Metroid title of all time. And when Super Metroid finally came out, it blew everyone away.

The Bad
Nothing bad about this game at all!

The Bottom Line
An awesome adventure experience that's near prefect in every way.

SNES · by Phobos-Romulus (41) · 2008

Bring back my baby!!!!

The Good
What's not to like about this game? Graphics, sounds, music, difficulty, it's all perfect. Anybody will instantly fall in love with this game, including hardcore Michael Jackson fans. (Samus can moonwalk!) From what the description didn't tell you, Samus encouners a metroid egg (after the end of the game boy metroid) and after this egg hatches, the hatchling acts just like a bird, and presumes Samus is the mother. The game becomes a sort of "Pissed parent" sort of thing, which makes the hatchling a very vital part of the games end. Just remember to either search Planet Zebes inch by inch for every power up, or finish the game REALLY FAST. These will get you the best ending. Also, don't forget, all of the little freaks on the planet are pirates. They deserve to die just as much as the bosses.

The Bad
There is nothing I didn't like about this game, not one flaw.

The Bottom Line
____________ heh heh

SNES · by Daniel Maze (2) · 2003

Great SNES version of Metroid but finicky controls when emulated

The Good
The normal jumping and moving controls seemed very tight. I appreciated the big hit detection boxes for the energy and missile power-ups.

The Bad
Some combination Xbox usb controller and zsnes was too apt to interpret right or left presses as diagonals, which seemed to foul up certain advanced moves.

Wall jumping was nearly impossible so I had to program a macro command the pressed right or left and then jump 5 frames later- I wonder if a real snes controller with the real snes works better.

The Bottom Line
A lot like the original nes Metroid but greatly upgraded.

SNES · by Plasma Snake (2) · 2017

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
The art direction So Hai (261) Apr 24, 2008

Trivia

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.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kartanym.

Wii U added by ResidentHazard. New Nintendo 3DS added by Michael Cassidy. Nintendo Switch added by Kam1Kaz3NL77. Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Longwalker, Shoddyan, Guy Chapman, chirinea, Alaka, David Lloyd, Big John WV, Cantillon, Patrick Bregger, mailmanppa, Thomas Thompson, FatherJack, A.J. Maciejewski.

Game added June 14, 2002. Last modified October 13, 2023.