I have come to the conclusion that none of you are my friends. Friends would have tied me to a chair and forced me to play Super Metroid far long ago, the second they found out that I had never played it before. Instead I have just played and beaten it for the first time over the past week having downloaded it on my VC. Consider my mind flucking blown. I heard Chad and almost everyone else in the world rave about the game but I never really though it would be as incredibly groundbreaking, moving and impressive as I found it, even by todays standards. You've all heard about (and probably played) the game a million times so I'm just going to rattle off a few things that really knocked my socks off and replaced them with Metroid socks, a type of sock that is unrivalled by all other socks.

First the animations in this game are gorgeous. Every movement made me wish for more animated 2D sprites in games, longing to see how a truly well designed game could actually bring a painting to life. It's sad that so much development goes into making pretty 3D games that suck when a 16 bit game can create more beauty and terror than they have in one screenshot. Around the time I got to the first boss I found myself getting angry at how lazy and uncreative some games are now. Each areas distinctive look, from Craterias rocky surface to Mardrias watery caves, created a more vibrant world than half the games I've played recently. I couldn't believe this game came out over ten years ago as the level of detail and design felt like something that had only entered into the world of gaming very recently. Needless to say, I was literally playing with my jaw open for a good long time.

The same praise goes towards the music which, I have decided, makes all other game music composed before and after it an insult to the gaming music in general. The second I heard the piano chord in the theme in Brinstar I had to put the controller down and simply listen to the music. It was incredilby unique and powerful, single piano notes sounding out in a desolate cave as you explored alone. I don't think any music has ever summed up the feeling of the game so well in just one single note. I though it wasn't going to get any better. Then I entered lower-Norfair and once again a perfect them started playing. Not simply catchy and well done, like the Mario themes, and not granduesque and fully orchestrated, like many FF themes, this music was just, to put it simply, perfect. Rarely in gaming does a piece truly compliment the nature of the level, the feeling of the player and still work on a repetitive loop, the fact that Super Metroid does it in almost every area is not only stunning, its truly upsetting. Upsetting because the game did it so right an no one seemed to listen for a good long time.

Finally, the bosses. I was unsure after the first mini-boss (the plant that opens up and you shoot inside it) that Super Metroid's bosses would stand up to the ones in Prime, which I believe are some of the most creative bosses ever made. Of course Kraid showed up and blew that idea straight out of the water. Two screens high and with limbs flying everywhere it was clear that the game designers hadn't slacked off on their bosses either. It's funny it took me so long to beat Crocomire and figure out I had to push him into the lava pit. I was so locked in my "2D means find weak point and shoot" ways I didn't even think that I could do something else. It was actaully thinking about the grappling beam trick with the other boss that made me slap my head and think of a different strategy. Absolutely fucking brilliant.

I simply can't believe I never played this game before. I feel like I've been entirely uneducated in my gaming life and all of a sudden a new type of gaming has been opened up. As a side note Super Metroid really shows off how incredilby well the guys at Retro Studio converted the feeling of the Metroid series into the 3D. It's incredible how well you get the same sense of exploration out of both the 2D and the 3D Metroids. I had played the original and the gameboy and the advance Metroids but its very clear that the majority of the inspiration for Prime came from Super Metroid. And why not, more games need to be inspired by it.

Now, I got the Orange Box for Christmas so I'm going to go play some Portal. So expect another one of these love gushing posts in about two days.