Super Metroid's Greatest Moment

“This is a glass tube.” “Dear god.” “There’s more.” “No.”

What's also kinda funny is that there's another moment like this in Metroid Prime, where you have to powerbomb a glass tube in Magmoor to get to an optional power up, and the exact moment I saw it I thought back to Super Metroid and knew exactly what I needed to be on the lookout for

Story Time: Super Metroid is the first game I ever experienced "true horror" in a video game. I had seen horror adjacent kiddy films like "Ernest Scared Stupid" or "Gremlins" and while those would get a jump out of little 8-year-old me, the fact it was on the TV meant I could simply look away at any scenes that were a bit too much for me. However, after descending into the depths of the strangely quiet Planet Zebes, there's a moment that breaks how video games are "supposed" to work in a way I had never experienced before. After collecting the morph ball and missiles, you make your way back towards the surface and crawl into a small crevice. After going a couple screens over you find the Morph Bombs. I turn to leave... and the door closes. "Strange... It's locked? Did I take too long? How am I supposed to get out?" I run back and forth shooting the door and the ceiling to no effect. Randomly I mash inputs for a few seconds in confusion before suddenly- The Choso Statue comes to life and begins attacking me?! I panic. I fire my remaining missiles but miss. I realize I'm gripping the controller so hard I'm accidentally pressing the R button and launching my shots diagonally. I try and fail to avoid it's attacks, I don't know when to jump. I'm taking hit after hit. The game starts to beep the low health warning at me! I don't know what to do! But... BUT I CAN'T LOOK AWAY because I need to see what's happening to react! WHY DID THE STATUE COME TO LIFE?! THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!" I take that final fatal hit and I see the death animation for the first time. I turn off the game and decide I want to play something else. I have nightmares later that night of the statue coming to life and chasing me. The emersion of the original Super Metroid is the first time I felt that barrier of the screen between me and the character in the game melt away. That wasn't Samus trapped in that room with the Choso Statue come to life: That was me in there fighting for survival. Years later, obviously I now recognize how silly that seems as the statue is barely a challenge. I've long since gone back and beaten Super Metroid several times over, even achieving the Sub-3 hour 100% completion run. But that moment lives rent free in my head as the most impactful moment of the game and is probably the reason I love horror games so much now as a means to try and recapture that feeling.

I think "invisible locks" are the secret sauce that make this game so good. compared to contemporary metroidvanias, there's a lot of moments in this game where you kind of have to stumble around and discover what to do, even though you already have all the tools needed. makes the world truly feel mysterious and alive.

Footnote: A truly bizarre commercial for Super Metroid featured a quick shot of Samus Power Bombing the glass tube. I decided against including it in the video because that would have been a separate marketing team that made the commercial and not the original developers. Also: Some people claim that breaking the tube is featured in the eye-catch mode on the title screen but I couldn’t get it to play. Maybe it is and it just didn’t trigger for me; after 20 minutes I called it quits. The clip could still be in there, though. Watching from the shadows. Laughing.

And interesting one to add where super metroid breaks it's own rules is the bosses, pretty much every one the normal rules/damage values don't apply. The Ridley fight in particular is interesting though. On top of super missiles actually doing double damage to him, Ridley doesn't die when you damage him enough to deplete his HP, he can actually keep attacking indefinitely at 0 hp if you dodge his swoops with the intent being for him to die while about to either kill or severely damage the player (and you CAN die when he's technically already dead). It makes the fight a bit more "dramatic" and tense as it's not just a clearcut "ok, i did 18k damage and he blew up". Other fights like golden torizo with his missile catching, the the croc/draygon ones mentioned in the video just kept the bosses all feeling fresh in the game, something you don't often see, they basically all had SOME gimmick.

The fake wall at the end of Lower Norfair that doesn't appear on the X-Ray visor is probably my favourite prank in the game. It deliberately punishes players who rely on the X-Ray visor to find secrets. If you rely on vibes, it's clear there is a secret in that room and there has to be because there's no other way out of Lower Norfair, but if you stubbornly follow the rigid logic of whether the visor can see it you will get tripped up. I love the irony that a less completionistic player who never got or used the visor is more likely to sus out the fake wall.

There was a 4chan thread long time ago about this same glass tube. One half talked about how obvious it was. The other half talked about how was anybody supposed to know by themselves without a guide.

The glass tube is the exact moment I was thinking of. A shattering of convention

shoutouts for saving the animals at 14:33🙏

Hold on, the key to breaking the Maridia tube is using a power bomb, and then standing up? Because, that would explain a lot. I vividly remember, as a kid, seeing the already broken tube up above and thinking, "I wonder if the other tube is breakable," and then trying to break that tube. This included using a power bomb, but I think there's a good chance that, after using said bomb and waiting, I left the room while still in ball form. Because of that, I "knew" that power bombs did NOT break the tube, so I didn't try using power bombs again. Despite this, I still had an inkling that tube was important somehow. Eventually, on Christmas Eve 2001, the day before we got our Gamecube, my brother power bombed the tube, and then apparently stood up, because he broke the tube. We finished the game that night in a lengthy session. To this day, on Christmas Eve, as a tradition, I'd boot up a save file and complete the last leg of the game, just doing Lower Norfair and Tourian. Can someone confirm that power bombing the tube and then NOT standing up does nothing? Because I could never understand why the tube didn't break all those years ago when I'm sure I power bombed it, but then it did break on that one Christmas Eve.

I'm gonna be 100% real, as someone who played this game on the SNES in the 90s without internet or nintendo power, my 5 year old mind found this Tube Puzzle to be intuitive to try Power bombing the tube. it was probably one of the first things i did after obtaining power bombs. i know i blew it up before getting the Gravity Suit cuz i saved down below and it was difficult to get back up as a kid lol. years later, i hear everyone says this is a cryptic puzzle, but idk, the invisible left wall at the very end of Lower Norfair was the one that got me as a kid. i always walked backwards out of norfair because of it. its the only wall that didnt go invisible when you use the X-Ray Scope.

Oh my fucking god it IS the tube. I was thinking there's no way it's the glass tube to Meridia but that's literally my favorite moment and so memorable.

The importance of not telling the player explicit information, made manifest.

I think this is a difference in the language of how games communicate things between then and now. when I first played the game back when it came out, the very first thing I did when I got the power bombs was bee line straight to that tube to try and blow it up. It was 1 part intuitive and 1 part rule of cool. My younger brother also had the same reaction. In fact, of several friends who played through the game at that time, I think only one of them had to have it explained to them. I don't think any of us were particularly good at games. It's a fundimental change in the way people expect games to communicate with them. there tended to be a lot more obtuse puzzles in games that you just had to figure out. I think that's part of it. But the other part is that similar games these days are expected to have proper signage to TELL you what power to use and to break the rules like that could be considered frustrating and possibly even bad game design. A certain level of detatchment is expected. viewing it as a game instead of an adventure. Looking at it as a game, it doesn't make sense. it's a set piece. nothing like it in the game is distructable. it's just part of the background. But if you let yourself be absorbed into the game, it's a giant glass tube! Of COURSE you're going to try blowing it up with the giant explosives you just got? Why would you not?! It's gonna be sooo cool!

Clicked for Metroid, stayed for a good little video essay.

That’s fair, it’s a really cool moment. This is tangentially related, but I’d like to share what I think is the best moment in metroid zero mission (spoilers for endgame). After you beat mother brain and crash land the game really drives home how powerless you are in the situation, having to hide from all the zebesians and only being able to stun them is a lovely stealth section. But killing the ruins test and gaining your power suit feels so good, the music turns from dreadful to bombastic and the once deadly zebesians are pathetic. It’s great.

I love this moment too just because of how much the world opens up to you once you actually figure it out, the devs clearly picture is a big reveal on the entire underwater the section of the game really feels like a oh s*** just got real moment. The fact that it's possible to clear the entire underwater section without the gravity suit too makes it all the more cool to me, like you're exploring uncharted dangerous territory early by choice on repeat playthroughs. What I love about this game all the little things, the little bugs that's got her away from you, the beautiful music, and a real sense of atmosphere, I think this one moment is the things that take out to me the most about this game, it really establishes the fact that this game tells a beautiful and personal narrative without even a single line of dialogue that's always stuck with me

I'm so glad you made this video and captured this moment. I read the title and my mind immediately went to this glass tube moment as my 17 year old self was super proud when I figured this puzzle element on my own way before the internet existed. I recall at one point, getting stuck and had no other way to go; looking at the other room with the exploding tube is what guided me to use a bomb but I did it out of sheer "I ran out of every single idea I can think of" when it exploded it felt so grand and alive just as you describe it. Thanks again for making me relive the moment.

Fab. Another well written and well presented breakdown of one of the greatest games of all time. Can't get enough of these - well done!