Super Metroid Review: Exploration That Still Rewards Patience

This is a source-attributed retrospective, not a first-hand playtest: nobody on this project has replayed Super Metroid for this piece, so what follows draws on documented contemporary reviews and later retrospective rankings, each attributed to where it came from.

World structure

Super Metroid (1994) is built around one large, interconnected map on planet Zebes rather than discrete levels, with new areas opening up as you find upgrades. This design is significant enough that the genre it helped popularize, action-adventure games built around exploring an interconnected map, later took the portmanteau name "Metroidvania," combining Metroid with Castlevania.

Movement and combat

The game expanded Samus Aran's moveset beyond earlier Metroid games, adding new aiming angles and traversal techniques that later games in the series built on further.

Navigation friction

Contemporary reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with 9s and 10s common, but the recurring specific criticism at the time was that the game's built-in map system made navigation notably easier than it might otherwise have been, implying the underlying world could be disorienting without it.

Modern player verdict

Super Metroid's critical standing has grown over time rather than faded. IGN's 2006 ranking of the top 100 SNES games placed it third overall, and Nintendo Life's 2021 ranking of the 50 best SNES games put it in first place. That's a documented critical consensus, not our own personal verdict.