It's been a little over two decades since Super Metroid debuted on the Super Nintendo, and it's lost none of its power in the intervening years. <\/p>\n
What really distinguishes this game is its storytelling Super Metroid is cinematic in its approach, using a combination of textual, audio, and visual cues to tell its story. And the game's opening sequence part non-interactive cutscene, part player-controlled exploration is a mini-masterpiece unto itself. It establishes sympathy for Samus, sets the overall tone of the game, and tells us everything, plotwise, that we need to know all in under eight minutes. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The last Metroid is in captivity. The galaxy is at peace... <\/p>\n
Dan Owsen, a Nintendo employee who worked on the English translation of the game, delivers these lines in a flat, monotone voice whilst they appear on the screen white font against a black background. It's an understated minimalism that carries over into the next scene as well: <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Again, the black background, as Samus, herself concealed in black shadow, types the game's backstory. This is humanizing; you hear tapping keyboard keys as the letters process across the screen in green font. There is no way to speed up the typing or skip past it, and thus, it feels 'real,' like a person is typing these lines rather than a computer. <\/p>\n
From this log, you learn a bit about Samus' personality just enough to fill in the rest. She has a forthright, practical attitude about her work. She has a moral conscience, beyond the 'soldier-for-hire' concerns of a bounty hunter. But most importantly, Samus humanizes the Metroid hatchling, comparing its actions to those of a \"confused child.\" This extra layer of mother\/child subtext makes Samus' fight personal it's a mother figure rescuing her kidnapped child. Samus is later juxtaposed with an abusive mother figure, who exploits her 'child' for her own end the Mother Brain is a terrifying perversion of femininity and maternity. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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The Opening Sequence to Super Metroid is a Masterpiece<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It's been a little over two decades since Super Metroid debuted on the Super Nintendo, and it's lost none of its power in the intervening years. What really distinguishes this game is its storytelling Super Metroid is cinematic in its approach, using a combination of textual, audio, and visual cues to tell its story. Continue reading