![Anniversary: Super Metroid Is 30 1](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.timeextension.com/a5cd42b39eb63/anniversary-super-metroid-is-30-1.900x.jpg)
Super Metroid, considered by some Nintendo fans to be the best game on the SNES, is 30 years old as of today.
It launched in Japan on March 19th 1994 and came to North America on April 18th of the same year. Europe had to wait until July 28th to get its hands on the seminal title.
Directed by Yoshio Sakamoto and produced by Makoto Kano, the game is built on the template laid down by its NES and Game Boy prequels, introducing concepts such as an automap ability and inventory screen to the series.
With its open-ended yet gear-gated nature, Super Metroid is credited with establishing the 'Metroidvania' genre, alongside 1997's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which itself takes inspiration from the SNES game via its explorable world.
Despite its incredible influence, Super Metroid has only sold 1.42 million copies since its release. It was followed by Metroid Fusion on the GBA and Metroid Prime on the GameCube, the latter of which would take Metroid's signature gameplay and shift it into a 3D, first-person world.
More recently, the series has returned to its 2D roots with Metroid: Samus Returns (a 3DS remake of the Game Boy sequel) and Metroid Dread.
Comments 10
Fake news. All of this is fake news. Stop spreading this nasty propaganda, please. You're embarassing yourselves.
the notions that super metroid is fully one half the "metroidvania" story, and that it shares that status with SOTN equally, are an assault to my sensibilities and factual reality.
don't game journalists ever get tired of this narrative? it's a word, and it never was a very good one.
Happy 30th anniversary Super Metroid!
Still hoping your newest 'family member’ Metroid Prime 4 gets ”delivered" as soon as possible….
I just bought Samus Returns. What timing. It looks really nice in 3D. You have to see it for yourself.
I got into Metroid with Prime. Didn't like it that much at first. Hated the backtracking. But it grew on me. It's a masterpiece imo. I then played Zero Mission. Didn't expect much of it, wasn't really interested in 2D gaming, but ended up amazed at how good of a game that was.
@Coolmusic I would expect on the Switch's successor. They can take advantage that way of the more powerful hardware and have a killer title for it. Maybe it'll be crossplatform like with Breath of the Wild. I do wonder if when they announced Prime 4 they had even started work on the title. This happened when they announced a new Smash game at that E3 with the puppets, and Sakurai hadn't even been notified yet. He learned about it then and there. Or at least that's what I heard.
@F-ZeroX : Yeah, I fully expect Prime 4 on Switch's successor as well.
"I do wonder if when they announced Prime 4 they had even started work on the title."
I dunno how far the previous dev team at the time (forgot who it was) got on MP4 but appearently it was far enough that Nintendo could look at things and, by their standards, be so let down that they get Retro to take over and restart everything.
I'm sure Retro will do a great job with MP4 but I do hope one day someone of the previous team will post some concept art and images of the game's original direction, would love to see it.
Sexy TV on the Picture
@Coolmusic Yeah that'd be interesting. A lot of this stuff leaks out eventually. Like I was looking a bit into canceled N64 games a while back. A lot of pressure is on the MP4 devs. I'm really curious to see what they come up with eventually and if they can live up to expectations. Sure hope so.
@-wc- It is a terrible genre-title. But it's not as awful as "rogue-like" and the equally heinous "rogue-lite", or how about "souls-like"? Yuch.
Actually, Metroidvania is more terrible.
But yeah, I know it's a slog having to type out "game with perma-death", or even worse, "game with perma-death characters but some of your stats or items carry through", but in the case of souls-like, what does it even mean? Unfairly difficult? That's all I can think of, when some of the games don't even remotely look or feel like Dark Souls outside of being heinously difficult and requiring twitch movement. And indeed, how do you call those "metroidvanias"... I guess adventure platformer? Sounds about right, no?
Like calling platformers "mario-likes".
But I am a grognard. So...
@Daniel36
I have less of a problem with the dumb name (and yeah, it is dumb! 👍) and more of a problem with the fact that it gives legitimacy to the idea that the genre was equally birthed by the two games, super metroid and SOTN, and we have been stuck with that story for the last... 26 years(?!) and here we are again:
"one half of the Metroidvania puzzle"
1) super metroid popularized (and to be fair, perfected) the form, it wasnt the first.
2) SOTN copied super metroid and somehow now gets equal credit in the eyes of gamers and game content writers for all eternity.
in my opinion, these are both Action RPGS.
Super Metroid is sci fi Zelda on its side.
SOTN is Super Metroid with vampires and more "rpg elements."
Feel free to disagree! I love it haha. ✌️
(PS - it sounds like I'm minimizing or trashing these games, but they are easily two of my favorite games of all time! I played both when they came out, when I was a child, and on a good day they are both still top 10 or even top 5. so, I'm not bashing them!)
@-wc- Oh no no noooo, you're not thrashing them in the slightest, nor do I feel you did. Super Metroid is easily in my top 10 and I hold SotN in very high regard as well, but the term is just... stupid.
A wonderful first world problem to have though, being annoyed by naming conventions.
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