Super Metroid and A Link to the Past

On to Shorter Games

Etrian Odyssey and Fire Emblem Conquest were both great games but they were also pretty long. My playtime on each one went over 60 hours. Thus, there was a little feeling of burnout after playing two new long games in a row. I figured the cure for that was to play some shorter games that I’m very familiar. Plus, I generally play through both these games about once a year and it’d been about a year since last I had done so.

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this scene.

Last few times I played this I had kind of a speed running mindset. This time I decided to stop and smell the roses a bit. I made sure to talk to NPCs and even deviate from some of the paths I usually take. In the Eastern Palace I realized there are rooms I haven’t been to in years because they aren’t necessary to finish the dungeon. One such room yielded the dungeon map. After that, I decided I would try to visit every room in every dungeon. Some had some surprises waiting on the way.

Some dungeons like the Desert Palace and Thieves’ Hideout just had trap rooms that I usually don’t go into. I remember one devious room had fireball spitters, little room to maneuver, and the floor collapsed to drop Link on the floor below. Some dungeons like Skull Woods and Misery Mire had extra rooms with a key and a locked door for a net gain of zero keys. In both cases I’d end the dungeon in the past with extra keys so exploring the place just had me use the extra keys.

I didn’t do much extra non-dungeon exploration. However, what little extra I did yielded a lot of rupees. Turns out there are enough rupees to buy literally anything you could want (all upgrades, all plot essential stuff, and fill up four bottles with the best potion before Turtle Rock). I even wasted some rupees in Thieves’ Town as there are two or three spots that give you 300 rupees and I went there with about 500. In the past if I wanted to max out the number of bombs and arrows  I could carry (costs 1,200 total) I would money grind in a certain spot that respawns 50 rupees per visit. That wasn’t necessary this time.

I want to give a special callout to a room in Ganon’s Tower I usually don’t go to. It featured flying floor tiles (come up from the ground and fly at you) and snake heads spitting fireballs. Lots of stuff to dodge and I did a poor job of it. Poor Link looked like Luke in Empire Strikes Back when Vader just started messing with him and Force chucking everything in the room at him.

And yet I still hate this room with the invisible floors more.

I also did much better than usual against a couple bosses like Vitreous and Ganon due to being more aggressive. On the other hand, the second fight against Agahnim took longer as I started the fight very incompetently.

Super Metroid

Carrying on the mindset of exploring a bit more I think I ended up with the largest item percentage I’ve ever had with this game (still only 71% though). The biggest difference I noticed was with Super Missiles. I usually end a run with only 15. This time I ended up with 30. Unfortunately, I don’t use Super Missiles all that much since the Plasma Beam usually outclasses it but there was one fight where all those missiles came in handy.

Some of the new areas I explored led to Missile Refill sites. Considering that you can usually mow down anything with beam weapons easily enough and that they don’t even refill Super Missiles this was always a letdown.

The Speed Booster in this game remains simple to use yet tons of fun. Note the bug trying futilely to escape the coming carnage.

I didn’t do much extra exploration of Maridia. The problem with that area is one-way quicksand combined with the large size of the area. I got caught once and explored the room I ended up in but ended up resetting  when I saw how far away from my goal it left me. The pickups weren’t worth it in that case.

A did better against a couple bosses in this run. Phantoon usually brings me down to one energy tank and the fight takes a little while. The reason is he counters Super Missiles with a hard to dodge attack so I don’t use them. Previously I would use regular Missiles which are just too weak by that point (another reason to be let down by Missile Refills). This time I charged up my beam weapon whenever he was invincible (which is fairly often). I got some good hits in and that shortened the fight tremendously and without provoking his difficult counter.

I had probably my best fight against my pal Ridley. Only used three energy tanks, an all-time low for me. Main reason I think was the extra Super Missiles. They still pack a bunch and don’t need to be charged so I can shoot them hap hazardly to try and score hits on Ridley. After that I think I did a better job than usual of dodging Ridley and not getting cornered while nailing him with charge shots.

The final confrontation against Mother Brain remains a great scene. Amazing what they did with no dialogue and very little interference of gameplay. Some of the later, story heavy Metroid games could learn a thing or two from this one. Also, it’s still great to lay a no holds barred beatdown on the final boss.

I hope whoever took this shot called Mother Brain in the back left corner pocket.