One story beat that I always liked was how the baby metroid recognizes Samus. When you first encounter Ridley on Ceres station, the battle ends when your health gets low enough to trigger the "low health alarm", which the baby hears. Then, when you encounter the baby metroid again and it starts to drain Samus' energy, it stops when it hears the alarm again, recognizing that it's Samus. Then, in the final fight with Mother Brain, the baby comes to the rescue when it hears Samus' alarm once more. Always thought that was cool!

I remember as a kid I got so pissed off when mother brain killed the metroid. I thought we were going to go on adventures together or something.

Fun fact: the doors in Ceres Station are actually registered as enemies and can be destroyed with Power Bombs and actually have sprites for their destroyed state.

I know I'm wayy late to the party, but the entrance to Ridley's lair does do a similar thing to all the other "maybe I need to come back here doors" because you can morph ball through the tunnels above, and reach near the dragon faced door, but not quite reach it

Super Metroid blew me away as a kid. I loved the final boss sequence because I had never played a game that toyed with my heart before like this game did. Games used to be just mindless fun for me until Super Metroid showed me how they can tell compelling and deeply personal stories.

Fun fact: Ceres was the Roman Goddess of motherly relations, amongst other things. A common theme in Metroid.

The battle with Mother Brain is indelibly seared in my brain. - I too remember the panic when MB prepared the final blow, followed by intense relief seeing the BABY foil her attack. - It was revelatory to see the baby metroid give Samus's energy back. We'd never known it was possible for a metroid to do that! - Funnily enough, for me at least, the first time I saw the baby metroid appear to have killed MB and then moved towards Samus, I thought the baby was still going to kill me! Seeing Samus's energy start refilling was another wave of relief! - This was of course followed by concern for the baby metroid as MB reawakened and started to attack. I remember pleading with the metroid, "I've got plenty of energy! Defend yourself!" - Seeing the baby metroid die was a powerful event, and although I might be embellishing my memory a bit, I think that I angrily attacked with Samus's cannon as soon as I could. I'm not sure if I realized that MB's attack had drained all of Samus's missiles, but regardless, I just had to attack MB in protest. - Finally, seeing that wild beam from Samus's gun was a huge surprise, and I do remember immediately pausing the game and checking Samus's inventory screen. It was such a rush to see all of the BEAM elements replaced with one solitary entry: HYPER Receiving the Hyper beam from the baby is a poignant moment: it's as though the baby stole that power from MB and passed it to Samus just as the baby faded from existence to help ensure the survival of its mama.

I agree that the game gets right into subverting expectations by opening with you having to go left. And still a favorite part of the games design is that first shaft you descend that you'll be unable to go back up. It's already sending so many messages, however secretly you already do have the ability to wall jump but you wouldn't naturally know that.

This game is awesome, not just because of the perfect gameplay and game-flow, but also because of its narrative. I think that the final sequence of the battle against Mother Brain is one of the best silent narrative ever in any medium. When I fought her for the first time, I could literally feel the anger flowing from Samus. Trully something unique.

Whoever designed the end of Crocomire's boss battle is both a cruel bastard and a damn genius.

One small thing you didn't mention. If you save the creatures that teach the abilities, as Samus ship is escaping the planet, just before it explodes, you can see a little dot race away as well which is suppose to be the creatures ship. It does not appear if you don't save them. Great video, amazing game. You're break down brought back so many memories of countless hours with this game.

This game is a masterpiece. Flawless gameplay and proof that you don't need words to tell a good story.

the ending is so badass no matter how many times you play

Nothing else has ever compared to my first time playing this game all the way through, as a teen. Mind-blowingly well crafted, immersive and largely intuitive, with only the briefest of dialogue pieces, yet full of life and hand picked details in each and every sub-area, which also gives the games environs, the Planet Zebes, its own personality too. Also, the music is a cinematic masterpiece, the animations contain enough detail to give the impression of biological or mechanical composition and life in movement, and so on, and so on, and so on. It's no wonder it's my favorite game of all time!

This was an absolute treat. Great upload mate. I just beat super metroid for the first time this morning. I am 34 years old and just went into it mostly blind. I remember playing it for an hour on emulator way way back and loving the atmospheric opening but got stuck somewhere and stopped. Now all these years later I started again and I was absolutely hooked, no guides, no wikis or youtube, just me and the game. I did beat metroid prime and fusion already however so that helped me understand the way these games work. I absolutely love how little handholding there is, no big stop go tutorials, no waypoints, no glowing directions etc. You land on the planet and are essentially on your own till the credits role. What a game.

I had this game from release and i never noticed the first elevator room got brighter once you've been spotted!!!

This game is an absolute masterpiece, especially when considering the circumstances under which it was developed. Different artists which were new to the industry causing significantly different graphics styles which had to be cleaned up, lots of experimenting with graphics and sound techniques causing the module ROM size to steadily increase over time and three budget overruns which got the game almost canceled three times during development. Plus a ridiculous amount of crunch time near the end where developers even stopped cleaning themselves for a while and more or less lived in the office.

Why I love Super Metroid? Atmosphere. From the whole "attacked by an unknown enemy"-research station, to the first few minutes on Zebes in which everything is silent and you just have the lightning and the fleeing insects... The dead army guy with bugs all over him, other friendly aliens, rooms which have no music, the game is amazing in setting up scenes/ stories.

4:00 I find that the steam bursts also make one feel like the escape never goes perfectly, thus making the player think they're in over their head when they aren't.

Great video! I especially liked how you put the screenshot mosaic map over the screen at key points, and overlaid the original Metroid game onto Super and showed other parts that relate in small picture-in-pictures. This is probably one of my favorite metroid games and my favorite super metroid review. I do wish you had spent a bit more time though on sequence breaking and how the game invites you to do it by giving you multiple ways to get the same place, and to avoid what would otherwise be necessary backtracks. Also you didn't mention probably one of the most important tools for such breaks: The bomb trick. Otherwise, 10/10.

5:00 GREAT editing!

Super Metroid is still one of the greatest games ever created, even after 25 years.

I've been binge-watching Metroid related content since the Dread reveal, and I got to say, your videos are some of the best❤ P.S. love that new thumbnail

Made a subscriber out of me, I think your channel is going to go very far if you keep this up. Great presentation and great points.

The replay ablitiy of this game is just perfect even over 20 years later this game is still as fun to play as it was my first playthough in 95. also as you get good at this game the movement you can do is just in a world of its own.

I speedrun this game all the time just for fun, I love how it's so open and doesn't treat you like a baby. It's amazing, and has cemented itself as not only one of my favorite games, but one of the best games of all time. Great Video, keep up the good work

This video was very high quality and i hope you get more subs

WHY AND HOW HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF YOU BEFORE

Regarding the statue that comes to life, it shows battle damage as you fight it, letting you know that harder to kill enemies will have visual changes to let you know that you are progressing in the fight and are getting closer to beating them. This is important because Metroid enemies never have health bars to gauge how close you are to beating them, it's always a guessing game to keep the tension high.

One thing I've always found amazing in the atmospheric tension of the Ceres Station escape sequence is the way the vertical hallway rocks back and forth. Architecturally, I'm not sure how realistic that is, but it makes it feel like the whole structure is coming apart at the seams, it makes precise platforming all the more necessary in a tense situation, and it makes the reward of escaping all the more relieving.

Great video, I'm always down for someone singing the praises of Super Metroid. I had a Genesis growing up and didn't play this until 2009 and it still became one of my top 10 all-time. Its nearly flawless.

One of the many, many reasons this is a perfect game in my eyes is the replayability. No two play-throughs are the same. If you know enough of the ins and outs of the game, you can get the items and power-ups in almost any order you want. Hell, you can even do the jump glitch in the golden statue room to bypass all four main bosses. You can play the game how YOU want. It's never on rails, and it NEVER holds your hand.

This was a really great analysis :) Super Metroid is really one of my favourite games. The soundtrack is especially wonderful. Even today it holds up fabulously

Does anyone else get chills down their spine when "the last metroid is at peice" plays.

I have played through this game 6 times and I JUST realized that the room at 4:59 is Mother Brain's original boss room. This game is the gift that keeps on giving.

the Torizo statue gave me ptsd, i couldn't trust any chozo statue after that

love the animation and editing, it all looks so professional! this type of video reminds me quite a bit of sequelitis, but a little more relaxed. I hope to see more great stuff from you!

Thanks. I love you too, boo. 😘💕

Man, that was a great analysis! Also thank you for not saying please like and subscribe at the end and instead just be chill and down to earth about it.

This is one of the only videos I've seen on Super Metroid that really tackles what I love about it: the freedom they give you for a second playthrough and how good it feels to push those boundaries.

🌌🌠🌠This was such a marvelous game! 🖤Samus!

Enjoying this video, but wanted to offer one bit of visual critique as I watch: around 10:25 you ping places on the minimap. This is a nice touch that accompanies your script, but it's not eye-catching enough. Something like an arrow that moves from point to point instead of a small and easy-to-miss circle ping would help a lot here.

Brilliant video on one of my favorite games of all time. That bit about the space pirate in the back of the room actually blew my MIND when you explained it -- such a simple yet effective trick which one doesn't even notice.

There's something so satisfying about loving a game, not being able to express why clearly, and then watching a KZfaq vid accurately articulating every reason.

Super Metroid is one game that still gives me a creepy sense of fear to this day playing it. They knew just how to create an atmosphere that was unsettling. An all time classic game for sure!

Amazing video. Well written and put together.

There's also another small moment where the game teaches you how to use ball mode to dodge attacks. When you enter the room with pirates for the first time, their beams go in order that forces your to sit, but the last beam is low enough to hit you even in sitting position. You press down again and covert into the ball. And you dodge all beams this way.

Instantly subscribed. Very nice to see the gameplay while you tell your story with your voice.

At 12mins, I always thought this to be another bounty hunter that just never made it. It created great story element for me as it made me more scared of what was to come behind the next few doors.

Dude you're killing it with this video. It's a real shame that good content like this doesn't get the exposure it rightfully deserves. All I can say is keep at it, man! My good internet friend started making analytical gaming videos like this and out of nowhere one of his videos got over 100k views and his sub count tripled in a week. Never stop making amazing content, and people will come and find that content and share it with other people.

Great channel and review of Super Metroid. Definitely one of the best classic games that really weaves its lore beautifully. You get touches of the original mixed in with a real idea of a timeline. Revisiting the world once again with a lot of nods to the original but also tons of new things that the player discovers along the way.

This is my favorite Super Metroid video on KZfaq. It so awesome how you explain everything in a very sophisticated and entertaining way.

I love this game so much awesome action and music. You played my favorite song at the end 23:05. Man you brought back memories!!! 😭

Excellent video. The quality was top notch. Subbed and looking forward to more content. Also Super Metroid...one of the best!

I didn't expect the little animated segments! This is so cool! When it first showed your guy sittin' on the couch with a metroid @3:50 i literally went "Whoa!" out loud! Subbed

This will always be my favorite game from my childhood. The music and atmosphere was so well done. I don't think I've seen it bested. I wish dread was as good. I would really enjoy a refresh of this.

Truly one of the best games of all time.

With Super Metroid being one of the most finely crafted works of art out there I would easily have to say the same for this video. Good fucking lord Dan that was drop-dead amazing. I wan- no I NEED MORE of these. You dissected the game to its core and broke down every last detail about it and it was all fucking amazing to watch. On top of your top notch editing and sexy as fuck voice. Please never stop making these. You have a large following incoming and I promise its coming soon with content like this.

I haven't even finished the video and I had to pause it and comment how incredible it is. I am only 7:18 in and I *LOVE* how you used the map on top of the game footage. Excellent so far. You earned a subscriber. Thank you for this.

Great video and thorough analysis. Love the animation too! Having played through Super Metroid many times twenty+ years ago, you brought up several points which I hadn't considered before, and you made me appreciate this great game even more!

This is my favorite game of all time. I never get tired of watching reviews of it. Subbed.

I always say when I watch speedrunners and racers that this is the most technical game ever made, no playthrough of any player will go the same way since there's so many varieties per playthrough and each player can always improve in their own way. It's so damn good, even the many custom romhacks and randomizers all fall in the same speck of awesomeness as long as they retain the base mobility and physics of the original, and I'll never get tired of it.

I honestly didn't think the first Super Metroid video was bad, but you absolutely did the game justice with this one. Really great analysis and you have some super interesting insights. The animated interstitials are really cute and break up the footage nicely to hold attention. Keep up the good work!

Stumbled across your channel when the recommendations tab showcased your Metroid Fusion atmosphere video. Instantly subscribed after that! Have only watch the first 11 seconds of this video, but already know that's it's going to be great! Keep up the good work!!

I would have to add that i found the Sprite work in this game amazing. Just looking at Samus in her Idle animation.. So much life. You see her body moving when she is breathing. The top part of her body is moving, slightly. As in showing that she a living person inside. When you run whille the Arm canon is aimed up or down, when you press L or R button. You see the shoulder pads basicly jiggle, going up and down. As well as samur holding her Arm cannon as well in the idle animation. In Super Metroid, she is holding the arm canon on top. Whille in Metroid Fusion, she is holding under the arm canon.

Goddamn that intro makes me feel cozy

Excellent video. Very detailed analysis of not just level design, but also game flow. Knowing what's going on in the player's head the entire time.

This is definitely my favorite video of yours. I’ve watched it so many times

amazing video, I just beat this game for the first time. I grew up with zero mission and then fusion. Now that im old i like this game the most of all 3. This game is so underrated when it comes to exploration, choosing your own paths, sequence breaking, and even the feeling of executing hard mechanics. I wish this game had gottten a proper sequel with something like 6 guardian bosses. Sad Nintendo doesnt see the potential. New age pixel art would look amazign and be cheap for them to produce

There actually is some indication that you have to return to the pre-Ridley lava pit. There's a tunnel you can morph ball through that takes you just close enough to the entrance that you can see the giant Ridley head.

19:18 "You can't run from it" Good sir, you haven't tried enough 😂

That was a very thorough run through the game, brought back memories of probably the best game ever made. The gameplay, atmosphere, music, story and graphics is perfect for that time. So glad I played Metroid all those years ago.

This video literally made we want to play it again.

Awesome review. You make all of us Hardcore Metroid fans proud!

My favorite game ever! And you made just made me like it even more. Well done, man!

This video brings back so many good memories of when I played Super Metroid! Awesome game indeed! And the videos succeeds at explaining what makes it awesome. Thank you!

Yay, one fan like me, I really loved this game, I've played it like 20 or so times since I first played it, and no run has been equal top any other, after a few runs I found that you could get the spazer beam really early in the game, on another run I used the mockball since I saw it on a speed run, and more recently in my third to last run I've found, accidentally, a missile expansion under motherbrain's old room. So every run is different from the previous one. That's what makes it special, the expectation of finding something new, or doing it better at another run.

Gotta say, this video was really good. High quality animation, insightful commentary and an enjoyable style. You've earned a sub.

Awesome video, mate! Very cool to see your breakdown of such a great game. :)

Great video! The parts where you overlayed the zoomed out map and metroid 1's tourian were really cool. It did kinda turn into a plot summary near the end though.

Good systemic analysis of game´s internal rules and design. I have suscribed and a big hello from spain.

11:51 Or you encounter a metal snake-looking thing and many years later a guy makes a KZfaq video where he calls it a humanoid-looking thing and you go "huh? humanoid thing? How is he seeing that as a...oh, is that what that was supposed to be this whole time?"

I liked it before I watched but very much enjoyed how far in depth you went I literally re felt thosegoose bumps from the start

Definitely late but I just wanted to say how well put together this video was. I loved it!

Ahhh one of the greatest of all time. Your so perfect Super Metroid.

I grew up playing this game, so this is the most ever game I've played so far.

Gotta thank TerminalMontage for introducing this fantastic series to me. I finished Super Metroid last week and this is just as you said. The game area is huge and the re-visiting rooms is a key part of the game. The story, the build up, and the iconic final boss fight with the hero music, perfect execution. I finished Metroid Fusion just today and now I am stuck without Emulators to play the rest of the games.

Damn i love this channel!! Please keep making videos, will keep watching!

Good job! Nice intro ^^

Best out of all the Metroid games hands down

Ah great video man, not too long, great points highlited, what a masterpiece of a game it is!

I love your videos Dan root! They way you explain things is just so relaxing

I was listening to this while making breakfast. When you got the part where the child metroid dies, that screech.... still gives me goosebumps... #metroidBro

hey man! Fellow content creators here, just want to say we (well I) Love your work! I am a huge metroid fan, and someone who loves to over analyze characters and gameplay as well (this isn't an add, trust me) just wanted to say I loved this! Have you played the fan made metroid game AM2R? For me it's tied with Super for being my favorite metroid game

That was an amazingly well crafted review. I dont get to see many creators actually animating in a review. You've earned my sub.

Oh my God, this video was so good! Hope you get more subscribers, you deserve it!!

Ridley does have a weakness though- he's the only his that takes damage from power bombs, and you can damage him before the fight starts by using it.

This video encouraged me to play Metroid, and eventually a bunch of other great snes games. until *norfair*

The cozy intro with the rain in the background made me feel so comfortable and happy inside I subscribed immediately, this is cheating and I'm reporting you

Really sweet video! Gave me nostalgic chills the way you went through everything, excellent job. you've got a sub!