Metroid is back in the headlines thanks to the surprise release of Metroid Prime Remastered on the Switch, so we thought it was only fair to run a CIBSunday post related to the franchise – and we've picked the game that a great many people still feel is the apex of Samus Aran's adventures.
Super Metroid is a massively influential title for many reasons. Not only did it refine the template laid down by Metroid and Metroid II, it did much to popularise a genre that would, in time, become known as 'Metroidvania' (thanks to the 1997 release of Symphony of the Night, a game which took a massive amount of inspiration from Super Metroid but introduced RPG elements to the mix). Lauded as a classic at the time of release, Super Metroid's reputation has only grown in the decades since, and it is widely considered to be one of the best SNES games of all time.
Picking up a copy of Super Metroid today can be an expensive experience, especially if you want it to be complete and in relatively good condition. Complete copies of the North American version are changing hands for hundreds of dollars, and the European edition – which shipped in a larger box to accommodate the massive instruction manual – is even more costly.
The Japanese version is the cheapest currently, but even that is selling for well over $100 these days – and (as several of you have pointed out in the comments) is entirely in English. You only need to understand Japanese text if you want to properly digest the manual.
Thank goodness, then, that Super Metroid is available on Nintendo Switch Online and on the SNES Classic Edition.