Super Metroid Appreciation Station

[Henroid]

If the game was randomized with dodging and stealthing around the SA-X it would've been even better, sure.

[SecretAsianMan]

The SA-X is important to the game's story and shows up in the scenes a lot, but as far as your actual interaction with it, yeah it's really disappointing.  I remember on several playthroughs playing cat and mouse with it, seeing how long I could keep dodging and avoiding it.  Not that I'd want a whole game made out of it or anything, but I think it'd be amazing if the SA-X had an actual AI and would wander the game, leading to sudden and unexpected encounters instead of scripted sequences with obvious ways of escaping it.

[Griddlelol]

I finally finished it, and I'm happy with how it played out. It was a totally competent Metroid game. I enjoyed it, but it's not amazing. I wish I had more to say, but everyone has already said everything on it.

Oh, I didn't like Samus' design as much. The suit looked too fluid with her body, which is obviously intentional considering the plot, but I much prefer the mechanical looking bounty hunter.

[mikemariano]

Oh, I didn't like Samus' design as much. The suit looked too fluid with her body, which is obviously intentional considering the plot, but I much prefer the mechanical looking bounty hunter.

 

When playing Metroid Fusion I sometimes forgot that I wasn't controlling Super Metroid Samus.  I got myself killed doing that!

[Griddlelol]

I watched some videos on Samus' back story. Goddamn they're awful. It's like they subvert everything that I think is cool about the character, turning her into a bit of a magic super hero.

 

The things that really irritated me are:

 

1) Samus was rescued and trained by Chozo. Why? The Chozo seemed to be this mystical race, with not much known about them and Samus was one of the few who learned about their past (in Prime). Knowing she was trained by a Chozo destroys that. It wasn't particularly interesting info for her if she already knew a bunch about the race. It also means they're not long extinct...

So she had to have super special amazing training to accomplish her status as badass bounty hunter? Why? I assumed she was just a cool person who was good at what they did. 

 

2) Her suit was magic Chozo tech. Again, I assumed it was a custom built suit that she had either designed, or had input into what a bounty hunter would find necessary or useful in the field. It seems pretty boring that it's some magical thing that magic aliens made specifically for her, with all the knowledge of what she would need ahead of time. 

[Henroid]

I'm not sure that "Samus learns about the Chozo as a whole" was an intention of Prime. Maybe the player does, but it doesn't really ruin, to me, that Samus may be reading shit she knows already. The history is also more specifically rooted in Tallon IV.

 

Also she was rescued by the Chozo because Ridley is a mf'er.

 

As for her training... who knows. And frankly, does it matter?

 

I thought the power suit was very early (in the series) explained to be Chozo tech she was given.

[tberton]

Pretty much every ability in Super Metroid is gained from a Chozo statue. That's a pretty strong indication that Samus' suit is Chozo technology.

[Sno]

First off: I hate trying to take the Metroid story at all seriously, because I never really got the impression from the games that there was any particularly cohesive picture shared between developers of what the universe of that series actually is, but if you want to read into it, it seemed to me that the Chozo had probably been in decline over a fairly long period of time. The different games all seem to present you with Chozo ruins in vastly different states of decay.

 

Why did the Chozo adopt Samus? I took it to be simple decency, she was the sole survivor of a space pirate attack. As for the training and equipment they bestowed on her, i choose not to interpret it as them having any particular grand plans for Samus, but instead simply - as any caring parents would - trying to ensure that the child have access to as many advantages and benefits as she possibly could be afforded. Clearly, the universe of Metroid is a dangerous place.

[Merus]

The implication is that Chozo were once powerful, but they are very clearly dying out. Like, she lived on Zebes.

 

I really like the idea that Samus has, in some form or another, been living in the ruins of better days for her entire life.

 

I'm with you on the suit, though. I think it is a shame that Nintendo don't sit down and work out exactly what tone they're trying to hit with these games, although I recognise that having a consistent tone across installments is not really on the cards for any Nintendo games.

[Griddlelol]

I just assumed the suit upgrades were parts found and integrated into the suit. I don't think that requires any sort of assumption on the origins of the suit.

I'm content with completely ignoring the Metroid story, and letting the environment and feel of the games deal with the narrative part. I think Samus is cool for different reasons than the terrible story, and fortunately none of the games have shoved too much backstory down my throat.

[Sno]

You should totally play Other M.

[syntheticgerbil]

If you guys are interested, here's translations of the official comic of Samus' past with the Chozo: http://www.metroid-database.com/manga/listing.php?vid=19.

 

The "official" word is that the particular Chozo that took her in knew her parents and felt sorry for her after they were killed by Space Pirates.

[Henroid]

The Chozo aren't dying out, they were just freaked out over losing their spirituality. They've abandoned known space and become tribal recluses by choice. Tallon IV, while full of dead Chozo, isn't like a Chozo burial ground or where they went extinct. They actually state in records in Prime that they abandoned the planet because the Phazon made it unlivable.

[SecretAsianMan]

I watched some videos on Samus' back story. Goddamn they're awful. It's like they subvert everything that I think is cool about the character, turning her into a bit of a magic super hero.

 

The things that really irritated me are:

 

1) Samus was rescued and trained by Chozo. Why? The Chozo seemed to be this mystical race, with not much known about them and Samus was one of the few who learned about their past (in Prime). Knowing she was trained by a Chozo destroys that. It wasn't particularly interesting info for her if she already knew a bunch about the race. It also means they're not long extinct...

So she had to have super special amazing training to accomplish her status as badass bounty hunter? Why? I assumed she was just a cool person who was good at what they did. 

 

2) Her suit was magic Chozo tech. Again, I assumed it was a custom built suit that she had either designed, or had input into what a bounty hunter would find necessary or useful in the field. It seems pretty boring that it's some magical thing that magic aliens made specifically for her, with all the knowledge of what she would need ahead of time. 

 

While it's not the most interesting or well written backstory, I still like it enough.  The way I saw it was that the Chozo consider themselves as artisans, philosophers, and scientists more than warriors, but they clearly saw that Samus had a different path.  Samus' abilities are the result of her upbringing by the Chozo and the equipment she got from them, but she manages to surpass them by accomplishing what they couldn't on Tallon IV (and other places I won't mention specifically).  She's basically their legacy.

[dartmonkey]

Could you peeps give me a recommendation? I own several Metroids but I've just never got into it. I've played about 10 minutes of the original on 3DS VC, about 20 mins of Fusion in the ambassador programme, and about an hour of Prime from the Wii trilogy disc. I've just bought a Zero Mission cart too. Bearing in mind nothing's really grabbed me, is Zero Mission the best place to start?

[Griddlelol]

Either Zero or Super in my opinion. Prime is fantastic, but the map is a little bit more complex than the 2D ones.

[SecretAsianMan]

If you plan to play both, I'd do Super before Zero Mission.  Movement in Zero Mission is much easier compared to Super.  Even though Super is my favorite Metroid, I'll admit that Zero plays better.

[tberton]

I just assumed the suit upgrades were parts found and integrated into the suit. I don't think that requires any sort of assumption on the origins of the suit.

I'm content with completely ignoring the Metroid story, and letting the environment and feel of the games deal with the narrative part. I think Samus is cool for different reasons than the terrible story, and fortunately none of the games have shoved too much backstory down my throat.

 

Certainly it doesn't require that assumption, but there's enough there that when somebody says "Samus' suit was made by the Chozo," it's pretty easy to say "oh, that makes sense" rather than "that's ridiculous!".

[mikemariano]

If you guys are interested, here's translations of the official comic of Samus' past with the Chozo: http://www.metroid-database.com/manga/listing.php?vid=19.

 

The "official" word is that the particular Chozo that took her in knew her parents and felt sorry for her after they were killed by Space Pirates.

 

I had those Nintendo Power issues!  And I totally forgot about Beard Dude and Fat Sheriff!

 

And I guess this is the last time that Samus's hair is officially purple.

[Sno]

Could you peeps give me a recommendation? I own several Metroids but I've just never got into it. I've played about 10 minutes of the original on 3DS VC, about 20 mins of Fusion in the ambassador programme, and about an hour of Prime from the Wii trilogy disc. I've just bought a Zero Mission cart too. Bearing in mind nothing's really grabbed me, is Zero Mission the best place to start?

 

Super Metroid, definitely. Zero Mission is a great place to go after that though.

 

The Prime Trilogy is also definitely worth digging into more.

 

Super is where to start though.

[syntheticgerbil]

I had those Nintendo Power issues!  And I totally forgot about Beard Dude and Fat Sheriff!

 

And I guess this is the last time that Samus's hair is officially purple.

Oops I don't think I directly linked to the right one. There was a later "official" one than the Nintendo Power one released as two books. http://www.metroid-database.com/manga/?vid=19&cid=55

 

However that one released long ago in Nintendo Power is pretty cool. I like that one as well as the Link to the Past one. Both artists do a great job.

[Griddlelol]

I'm playing Prime 2 at the moment and its surprisingly good. I'm no where near as enthused about it as Prime, but that's because it's a sequel.

I don't like the ammo for alternate beams. I came really close to not having enough to open a door, and now I'm incredibly stingy with them. The world also feels less interconnected. I'm not sure if that's just because I've started (I have one temple down) but essentially if feels like Like you head to an area, then stay there until it's done.

I kept back tracking through the world when I got stuck, thinking that maybe the path was that way, now I have a new piece of gear, but inevitably I had just over looked something where I was.

[Sno]

The environments in Echoes definitely don't flow together very smoothly, i would agree that there is a bit of a modular feel and a lot of awkward backtracking.

[GavinTheAlmighty]

The worst is needing to backtrack across the light world, then into the dark world, then across a bit of the dark world to a separate portal for the light world again.  It may have been because I got lost a few times, but the backtracking felt doubly long, which detracted from my enjoyment of the game.

 

I adore the dark variations on the light world theme music though.  Dark Agon is magnificent.

[miffy495]

I really liked Prime 2 when I played it for the first time ever about two months ago. It was fantastic, and while the ammo thing was annoying I never found it got in the way THAT much. If you blow up a box with light ammo, it will usually spit out dark, and vice-versa. Units will refill either 5 or 10 shots, and it seems sensitive to how much ammo you have remaining (if you're low, it'll give you more 10s). Beautiful design, amazing bosses. Just a wonderful game. I'm planning on kicking off summer break this year with Corruption. Those are some GAMES, man.