Back at it in Super Metroid

Jono · December 31, 2018, 07:01:32 AM

It’s been awhile but I’m back to playing Super Metroid after letting other games, life, work, and other shit getting in the way of my playthrough. I’m not gonna let that stop me from finishing this amazing game.

Last time I played I was in Norfair trying to get past this huge lava pool, which I’m guessing is the inspiration to the Norfair stage in Smash Bros. I backtracked all the way to the beginning of the game to familiarize myself with the controls and Samus’s movement since it’s been a minute since I’ve played.

I went to areas I missed and ended up finding the X-Ray Scope which has one of my favorite sounds whenever using it. The effect for it is also cool too.

After I found that, I went back to Crateria and went to the Wrecked Ship. I was confused when the Save Pod and Map thing didn’t work when I found them, also those floating ghost-skull things that will spawn on top of you were creepy as hell. I knew something was wrong when these things would spawn inside the Save/Map rooms because that didn’t happen in any other area in the game.

Found my way to a Boss Door and I did not know what to expect to see. Thankfully the boss here wasn’t all that difficult and I managed to kill him with relative ease after I figured out his paths.

I guess killing him restored the ship or something and now everything is alive and moving, including those trash-can looking robots which were dormant before fighting the boss.

I saved in the Save Room I found earlier and stopped there for now.

Verbatim · December 31, 2018, 02:24:55 PM

cool, i was wondering if you'd ever find the damn wrecked ship

Jono · December 31, 2018, 03:24:34 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on December 31, 2018, 02:24:55 PM

cool, i was wondering if you'd ever find the damn wrecked ship

I was going to head that way after getting past that lava pool but I decided to go to the Wrecked Ship instead.

After I get done with that area, I’ll probably go back into Maridia. I only went through a couple paths there before getting out and going back to Brinstar.

Jono · December 31, 2018, 10:40:25 PM

Well now I’m stuck in this room full of spikes in the Wrecked Ship. There’s a Chozo in here but the statue is not holding anything. I’ve tried all I can to find a way out but there’s none and the door I used to find this room is grayed out.

Now what?

Verbatim · December 31, 2018, 10:51:05 PM

oh, you'll figure this one out

Jono · December 31, 2018, 11:37:35 PM

Well after like 30 minutes of just swinging back and forth, I landed on the Chozo in ball form and he woke up and destroyed all the spikes. That was really all I had to do LOL

Gravity Suit has been acquired.

Jono · January 01, 2019, 12:22:05 AM

Oh great, Maridia has water AND quicksand?

Verbatim · January 01, 2019, 02:07:17 AM

maridia is definitely my least favorite area

Jono · January 02, 2019, 06:19:57 PM

Item count overview so far:

95 Missiles
30 Super Missiles
30 Power Bombs
8 Energy Tanks
300 on Reserve Tank

Jono · January 02, 2019, 10:20:03 PM

Maridia is such a strange location. It's like 3 different environments all thrown into one.

You have the quicksand/desert type of terrain, then you have the parts that are underwater with vegetation/infrastructure, and now I'm going through what looks like a sewer system with snails that make a funny sound when you bump them.

I ended up fighting that Tiger/Snake/Alligator mini-boss and beat him. He was kind of difficult to figure out his movements as he was going faster. Thankfully I had enough Super Missiles to take him down.

I plan on finishing Maridia tonight as I make my way towards the main boss of this area. I can't wait to see how the death animation looks like for this one.

Jono · January 03, 2019, 03:12:45 AM

Finished Maridia, and it definitely was the most challenging area of the game for me so far.

The main boss fight was intense as hell and it took me a few tries to beat him. So far he was the most annoying boss fight because of the constant spam from the laser cannons on the walls.

I figured out how to kill him with that electric hole in the wall where you shoot the grapple beam when he’s holding you. I had just enough energy to spare to finish him off with that attack.

Seeing his little minions push his carcass into the ground was kind of sad but I was expecting something nastier to crawl out and have another boss fight. When I heard the Item Room music play after that I knew I was done.

The Space Jump and Plasma Beam has been acquired. The Space Jump took me a few tries to figure out, we’ll im still trying to perfect it cause Samus keeps getting out of it whenever I jump.

Jono · January 03, 2019, 04:12:29 AM

Lower Norfair is hell

Jono · January 03, 2019, 05:05:37 AM

Jesus fucking Christ this place does not give you a chance to breathe.

I got stuck in the same spot for nearly 2 hours because I had almost no energy left so I had to farm for health, and that wasn’t easy since the aliens here hit you for 50 damage.

After farming I saved in the only Save Pod down here I’m guessing.

I made it to Ridley but I lost. I must have hit him with like 30 Super Missiles and he still ended up killing me.

Verbatim · January 03, 2019, 12:54:21 PM

So, I think you're at a good point for me to teach you something really fucking cool and very useful

there's a secret technique that you can do (which isn't in any other Metroid game, as far as I'm aware), that you'll basically never learn how to perform on your own, unless you're extremely observant

if you don't wanna know, don't check the spoiler, but the game's way of "teaching" you how to do it is very subtle, and pretty much everyone misses it, so i would recommend just checking

Spoiler

it's called Crystal Flash

in ball form (with power bombs selected), if you have less than 50 energy left (accounting for reserve tanks) and at least 10 missiles, 10 super missiles, and 11 power bombs, you can hold both the aim-up and aim-down buttons, as well as down on the d-pad, and then plant a bomb

once you do, keep ALL of those buttons held--D-pad down, Aim-up, Aim-down, and Fire--and assuming you did it right, something will happen, and you'll know when to let go

however, beware that the missiles and bombs required to perform this technique will get consumed in the process (iirc)

this is just one of a variety of secret techniques that you can do; the game's way of teaching you this involves paying close attention to the demos on the title screen, which showcase some of these techniques being performed

i only learned of this technique long after i had already beaten the game, and it's shit like this that keeps this game as my top favorite

Jono · January 04, 2019, 03:55:16 AM

I BEAT RIDLEY... but the game isn’t over yet?

Jono · January 04, 2019, 03:13:31 PM

Me during the Mother Brain fight

Verbatim · January 04, 2019, 03:21:55 PM

Best game of all time

Jono · January 04, 2019, 03:54:26 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on January 04, 2019, 03:21:55 PM

Best game of all time

I didn't beat Mother Brain as I failed both times when I fought that thing.

But just the music and the sounds Mother Brain makes is some of the most frightening and disturbing things I've ever heard in any game ever. I'm getting goosebumps just by thinking of the track that plays when you fight it.

Verbatim · January 04, 2019, 06:09:16 PM

ah, i see

just wondering, did you ever end up finding Screw Attack?

Jono · January 04, 2019, 06:31:52 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on January 04, 2019, 06:09:16 PM

ah, i see

just wondering, did you ever end up finding Screw Attack?

Yup, and using that is so much fun going through long corridors and one-hitting everything with it.

Jono · January 06, 2019, 04:22:17 PM

I beat Mother Brain and I completed Super Metroid. Playtime was 12 hours and 30 minutes for this playthrough. Rate for collecting items was 73%, and the game seems to be stuck at this screen. Is this supposed to happen?

Anyways, what a game. What an experience. I’m happy I was finally able to play it. This game just makes me wish my brother had gotten a SNES instead of a Genesis back in the day.

I guess it’s on to the Metroid Prime trilogy next.

Verbatim · January 06, 2019, 04:38:34 PM

Congrats

important question: did you save the animals

Jono · January 06, 2019, 04:49:09 PM

Quote from: Verbatim on January 06, 2019, 04:38:34 PM

Congrats

important question: did you save the animals

Uh... I don’t think I did. I made it back to the ship with 15 seconds left.

Verbatim · January 06, 2019, 05:00:52 PM

Quote from: Jono on January 06, 2019, 04:49:09 PM

Uh... I don’t think I did. I made it back to the ship with 15 seconds left.

i see

well, it's no big deal ~~you fucking monster~~, but during the emergency escape, if you look, you'll actually find a door containing the animal helpers that you met throughout the game (the ones that teach you to wall jump and stuff), and opening it allows them to survive

it's totally understandable that you'd miss it if you're just gunning for the exit, though (i did on my first run as well)

YouTube

this will give you a slightly different ending where, during that cool shot where samus's ship flies toward the screen, you can see a little pixel flying over to the right of the exploded planet (an escape pod, or something), letting you know that the animals made it out okay (shown at about 1:15)

super metroid is a legendary speedrunning game, as i'm sure you know, and during GDQs, it's common for the game to be played as the grand finale—often with an overarching donation incentive which involves allowing the viewers to choose whether the runner saves the animals or not, so it's a bit of a meme

Jono · January 06, 2019, 05:19:33 PM

Oh man now I feel bad for the mama turtle and her babies.

Edit: They weren’t there lol, those little aliens that teach you how to walk jump were cool. RIP little guys.

Verbatim · January 06, 2019, 05:28:53 PM

oh, and just so you're aware, the Metroid games have a non-linear chronology

the prime games actually all take place before super, and prime 1 is the second game chronologically after the NES game

Metroid 1 -> Prime series -> Metroid 2 -> Super -> Other M -> Fusion

- Zero Mission is just a remake of the original NES game
- Samus Returns is a remake of Metroid 2
- Hunters and Federation Force are not important
- We don't know anything about Prime 4
- We don't talk about Other M

i think that's all