Video games - Super Metroid

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	Video games - Super Metroid

Super Metroid is the third installment and only 16-bit game in the Metroid series of video games. It was developed by Nintendo's R&D1 team, and released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. With its 24-megabit cartridge size, it was the largest game available for the console at the time.

Super Metroid is a 2D platform game with action and adventure elements. Game progression revolves around sequentially gathering power-ups that allow Samus to overcome obstacles in order to access new parts of the world. The world has a non-linear layout and features plentiful hidden areas, making exploration a central concept.

In-game story line

Prologue

After managing to extinguish the Metroids on SR-388 (the planet from which the species originated) in Metroid II: Return of Samus
, bounty hunter Samus Aran brings the last surviving Metroid larva to the Ceres Space Colony. There, scientists conduct research on the larva and reach the conclusion that the powers of Metroids could be harnessed for the benefit of mankind. Confident that things are in order, Samus leaves Ceres in search of a new bounty to hunt. However, shortly after leaving, Samus picks up a distress call from Ceres and returns to investigate.

In the first playable sequence of the game, the player controls Samus through a short series of corridors inside the space colony. In the laboratory where the Metroid larva was being studied, she finds its container shattered and the scientists dead on the floor. Continuing, Samus finally reaches a dead-end room where she finds the Metroid larva in the claws of the dragon-like Ridley, one of the Space Pirate leaders.

Samus and Ridley engage in battle, but Ridley soon flies off with the larva in his talons. At the same time, a countdown sets off for the self-destruction of the space colony and the player has 60 seconds to return to Samus's gunship. After reaching the exit, the first playable sequence ends and a cut scene shows Samus trailing Ridley to the planet Zebes, the home of the Space Pirates that was destroyed in the first Metroid game but has now been rebuilt. She sets out to locate the Metroid larva and prevent the Pirates from gaining use of its powers.

Exploration of Zebes

The main sequence of the game begins when the player emerges from Samus's gunship, which hovers above the rocky surface of Zebes in an area called Crateria. There is an ongoing thunderstorm, with thick rain falling. As in the previous games, Samus is forced to delve into the planet through its complex cavities in order to hunt down the Space Pirates.

As Samus first enters the tunnel system of Crateria, the area is completely desolate with no sign of Space Pirate activity. She makes her way to the ruins of Tourian, the Pirates' headquarters and lair of Mother Brain, which she destroyed on her last visit. Moving deeper, she reaches Brinstar, the area where the first Metroid game started, and there she finds the first upgrade, the Morphing Ball. Upon collecting this critical item, a spotlight activates, focusing on Samus. Once Samus returns to Crateria, she finds the planet now swarming with dangerous creatures and Space Pirates.

The Space Pirate leaders

After crawling her way through Crateria (and finding new upgrades along the way), Samus encounters the next incarnation of the Tourian base, which is guarded by a conglomeration of four statues. In order to unlock the gate into Tourian, Samus must defeat the four Space Pirate leaders that these statues represent.

Samus finds another route into Brinstar and slowly makes her way through the underground jungle until she reaches the entrance to Norfair. When she realizes that the path to the first leader, Kraid, is blocked by a high cliff, Samus searches for High Jump boots in Norfair. After obtaining them, Samus defeats Kraid and moves on to Norfair, but she soon realizes that the path to Ridley's Lair is blocked by a lava-filled chasm. Thus, she travels to the Wrecked Ship located in the eastern edge of Crateria to defeat the second leader, Phantoon, and obtain the lava-resistant Gravity Suit. In addition, this suit allowed her to move through the water as if she were on land. Samus also needs the Space Jump boots in order to traverse the chasm. She discovers these in the subterranean caverns of Maridia, and after vanquishing its guardian and the third leader, Draygon, she is now fully equipped to take on Ridley and his underground fortress in the center of Zebes.

Once there, Samus fights hoards of monsters, including elite Space Pirates skilled in hand-to-hand combat, fire-breathing demons, and another showdown with the mysterious species of belligerent Chozo, the Torizo. She finally encounters Ridley, and an epic battle ensues. Thanks to her exceptional skills and powerful equipment, Samus is able to vanquish the mighty beast, bringing an end to the fourth and final leader.

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Video games - Super Metroid

In-game story line

Prologue

Exploration of Zebes

The Space Pirate leaders

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