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Pro Tip: Super Metroid

Yes you read the title right. This week is a blast from the past. I received a copy of Super Metroid as a gift a couple of weeks ago and finally got around to popping it into my Super Nintendo Entertainment System. I have never actually finished a Metroid game, and never played Super Metroid until this week.

After switching the controls to something logical, instead of the crazy setup they start you with, I was dropped into a situation that had me, as Samus, returning to the planet Zebus to... do stuff. I think I'm trying to find a baby metroid but like many games from this era, the game is not exactly story driven. Anyway, I'm dropped onto a world and have to go exploring.

Pro Tip: Trust your gut when you explore.

Like the first Metroid before it, Super Metroid has the kind of layout where you can go up and down and all over the place. With no direction, no arrow over your head and something I would hardly call a map, you just kind of have to feel your way through. I haven't played the game too, too long, but I haven't gotten lost yet and I appear to be going in the right direction.

I definitely have to thank my game playing instincts. That is to say, I go in every door and go down every weird hole. I blow up every rock with my butt bombs, and I generally make sure an area is clear. The last thing I want to do is leave an area and not get the new weapon that will open the next color door. I only got stuck once, hence this very special two for one edition of Pro Tip.

Pro Tip: The pink door takes 5 missiles to open it.

I actually had to go onto GameFaqs to figure out how to open the pink door. I'm not proud. I didn't think emptying my ammunition into a door would get it to open. I held missiles in such high regard and I thought certainly one would do the job. Well it doesn't. You need all 5 that you start with. It seems like overkill but the developers thought it was just the right amount of kill.

Learning that tidbit has changed the way I think about doors in Super Metroid. Will green doors require me to use 2 missiles and a bomb? Will yellow doors require 4 missiles a laser and the spread shot from Contra? The possibilities are endless now.

I'm really excited to play more of this game. Tune in next week, when Pro Tip goes over my favorite tip, for my favorite game of all time! Let the guessing begin...

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