Super Metroid (SNES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete

A playthrough of Nintendo's 1994 action-adventure game for the Super Nintendo, Super Metroid.

Samus Aran, galactic bounty hunter extraordinaire, had succeeded in her mission to eradicate the metroid threat from SR388. She brought the species' sole surviving specimen, a baby, to a laboratory on the Ceres Space Station before taking off toward her next adventure. However, shortly after departing, she is alerted to an emergency at the colony and rushes back.

She arrives to find everyone dead and the lab in ruins. Discovering that the metroid hatchling is still alive, she goes to retrieve it when she's attacked by the space pirate Ridley. He stops just short of killing Samus, but he steals the specimen and sets the station to self-destruct before fleeing. Samus makes it back to her ship just before the station explodes and follows Ridley to the planet Zebes.

Once Samus lands on Zebes, she's entirely on her own. She will ultimately have to confront the space pirates, but before she can do that, she'll need to expand her offensive and defensive capabilities. Beneath the surface of the planet lies a vast network of caverns teeming with untold alien horrors.

Samus is fairly weak at the start of her adventure, but as anyone familiar with the series can tell you, she doesn't stay that way for long. As she explores, she'll find upgrades to her suit and weapons systems that'll help even the playing field.

Large chunks of Super Metroid's world are gated by obstacles that can only be surmounted once Samus has found and augmented her suit with the appropriate enhancements. As her capabilities increase, more areas become accessible, and eventually she'll become powerful enough to take on the head of the space pirates, Mother Brain.

Super Metroid greatly expands on the core gameplay of the first two games. The game map is huge, and every bit of it has been meticulously designed to promote experimentation. Once you've found the first couple of upgrades, you're free to do pretty much whatever you like. It signposts just enough to provide you a general sense of purpose, but the gameplay is largely non-linear. For as many times as I've played it over the years, I don't think I've ever taken the same exact path twice through the game.

The sheer number of secrets here is mind-boggling, and Samus's new abilities (especially the power bomb and the X-ray viewer) and the new auto-mapping feature go a long way in making the game feel accessible without spoiling the fun of discovery. Pretty much every chamber has *something* useful to be found, whether it be a shortcut through a seemingly solid wall or an energy tank to extend your life gauge. There's a lot of content here, and none of it is filler.

But in my mind, what really propels Super Metroid to stardom is its presentation. The game is drenched in atmosphere. Each area, no matter the theme, looks and feels worn, and the crumbling artifacts that litter the ground speak volumes about the long-dead Chozo civilization that once thrived on Zebes.

The way the aliens feel like organic extensions of their environments does wonders for immersion, and the soundtrack is among the best I've heard in a game, nailing the perfect ambient tone again and again. (And those screams!) More than anything, the cinematic visual and sound design's way of evoking feelings of dread and isolation reminds me of the movie Alien. I don't think there's any higher praise I could give a horror game's presentation than that.

It's not a particularly long game, but it is so packed with secrets that you could play for months and still not find everything on your own.

The only problem I've ever had with the game is its controls. They're awkward and there aren't any button configuration that are comfortable in all circumstances - there are many situations where you'll have to adopt a claw grip on the controller so that you can hit three or four buttons at the same time. It's obnoxious, and for years, it really put me off of the game. (Thankfully they learned their lessons with this one - Zero Mission and Fusion's controls are much better.) I got over it eventually, but it's unfortunate that such a flaw found its way into an otherwise brilliant game.

If there are any Nintendo fans out there that haven't yet played Super Metroid, do yourself a favor and give it a spin. The game is just as good as everyone says it is.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

[freelandfilmz]

the soundtrack on this game is amazing, used to play this every night with my dad

[UXSpecialist]

You know what's beautiful about this? The creators treated the source material as almost a sacred piece of historical fact. They had so much reverence and nastalgia for the original game, it bleeds through the pours of this game. I wish movie makers did the same for our beloved movie franchises. They could learn a lot from these developers

[Nbjk]

when you've seen so many speed runs of this game you forget that this game can still be done casually and be enjoyed.

[DevMeloy]

I appreciate that this is an actual playthrough and not just a speedrun.

[NintendoComplete]

Super Metroid is amazing. What else is there to say?

[amso]

Few games come close to this game’s feeling of isolation.

[simonmejia]

This game doesn't need any introduction. Everyone knows this title. The one that made the Metroid series a household name among hardcore Nintendo fans, and the one that set the gold standard for the Action and Exploration in the Adventure genre. An all time classic.

[Enehall]

One of the best games ever made! I foolishly didn't play it until one year ago, beat it twice, and now I need to go for a third after watching this. It's truly a real masterpiece!

[robashley]

This man took 3 hours to do what took me 3 weeks when I was a kid. Well done

[Peter_Morris]

This game still gives me chills in places. It's just phenomenal. I wish Fusion hadn't been hobbled by being on the GBA. The graphics on that system were great, but I really think the sound quality wasn't as good as the SNES.

[beaniegee]

'90s video games are and will always be all that!!

[miqotelover]

47:06 such a horrific death watching that as a kid playing this.

[guilitotorres]

One of my all-time favorites for sure. I still remember my emotions when I discovered the stage where you put the jewels on the alien statue and it sinks giving you a new stage and when the larva alien helps me at the last boss ❤️

[jonny-b]

Wow, I didn't realize just HOW much they carried over into Metroid Prime. Just bought an old copy for Gamecube a week ago for nostalgia. And the game is way ahead of it's time.

[PremiumLeo]

the level of completion is insane. This would have taken me atleast 10+ hours of running around, trying to figure things out. Thank you youtube for having someone else do it for me ;)

[blodguizer]

Bought this game when I bought my SNES that came with Link to the Past. I played this again recently and despite being 25+ years old the battery backup still works.

[chadcampbell]

I didn't even play this game until the announcement of Dread. Couldn't believe I never played s Metroid game as a kid. The brilliance of the planet layout, the way the environments feel with the music and all. This game feels ahead of it's time. It took a little bit to get into it but the longer I played it the more I could appreciate how brilliant it is. One of the greatest games ever made.

[j_endless]

One of the best SNES games, as well as one of the best games of all-time for me.

[Aero]

Had this as one of the games I had for my Super Nintendo. My brother mainly played it. Ah the memories..

[WinstonSmith]

Nice to see a full run of this game where the player remembers to take the detour during the final escape and release the friendly creatures so they can escape the planet too.