It was Christmas of 1995. After owning the Super Nintendo Entertainment System for a year, I was still filled with excitement playing the only two games I had at the time: Super Mario World and Super Mario Kart. On the 25th of December, however, I received a gift that would transform me into the gamer I am today. That gift, of course, was Super Metroid.


Awesome

From the moment I started in the eerie space station, I was hooked. I played this non-stop until the next game in my library came into fruition (Star Fox). Although I was confused about the plot sometimes (too much for my youthful mind), I continued to enjoy every moment of music, art style, and gameplay. That ended when I reached this room:


This is why I drink.

When I first entered the room, my initial thoughts were, "Ok. Jumping aliens. Now what?" I first jumped up to see a ledge just out of reach on the left. I thought this could be done if I tried hard enough with the High Jump Boots. I think I spent two hours trying the single-jump method. This process repeated for a few days. The initial confusion turned into sheer frustration. After a week of back tracking to the save room, looking for other exit points, and throwing my controller in my 10-year-old rage, I erased the game and started over.

Until high school, I avoided the area altogether. I dreaded seeing the corridor with an energy tank and false floor. I can obviously breeze by the area now that I know the wall-jump technique, although I cannot remember how I came to learn it. However, when I play SM now, I am still haunted by frustration when I see the gray-square corridor of evil and the resulting scenes.