It is amazing how much atmosphere they managed to pack in a SNES title.
Super Metroid starts up with a cut-scene showing hom Samus beat Mother Brain and entirely extinguished the population of metroids... Well, almost. You see, one of the metroids seemed to think Samus was its mama, so it started following her (remember when your parrents told you not to pet the wild cat because you might confuse it?). Samus decides to take the metroid lava to be examined at the space station over Zebes. As the game starts of, Samus receives an emergency signal from the station - so you can safely assume something is seriously wrong.
Super Metroid plays as a 2D platform shooter, and after the prologue at the space station, the rest of the game takes place on the various areas of planet Zebes. The game does not have an overworld, and although there are several areas it is almost like the whole game is one large dungeon with several bosses and mini-bosses. The game doesn't leave many hints where you are to go, but focuses heavily on exploration. The biggest success factor here is also the most important for an exploration-based game: The planet is well-worth exploring.
The atmosphere is beyond impressive to me when you consider that it's a SNES game. Though the sound quality isn't much compared to today, the soundtracks are really well-done, and when combined with some of the best graphics and art-work on the console, it leaves a brilliant result. The game makes me feel like I'm actually a bounty hunter exploring the depths of a planet with frightneingly hostile life-forms. It does this better than most games that come after it (not in the series perhaps, but over-all).
You aren't free to explore everything from the moment you land with your ship though. To get to new areas you need the required upgrades. The game is full of them. From upgrades that are neccessary to complete the game like the spazma beam, the morph ball and the different weapons to upgrades like energy tank and Missile expanison that makes it easier to complete the game by giving you more missiles and more energy.
If you look at the actual gameplay, there are some controler issues. I have always thought that the controls should be easy and the game hard, but when it comes to wall-jumping it is very difficult until you get some upgrades for it. The most tortourus part is that the first time you need the wall jump, you first have to do two normal wall jumps, then you need to take a triple wall-jump. It took me ten minutes to master that on the first try. I wonder if it was that hard in the original too, or if it is harder with the GC controller.
That problem only happens twice though, so it doesn't ruin much, and mostly the controlls work well. You walk with the joystick or the gray +, jump with A, fire with X and hold down L and R to fire straight up, L to fire down vertically and R for up vertically. B is the dash button and Z is used to change shots. I really prefer this system over platformers where you can only shoot straight forwards. It really makes the battles more intense and fun. The only flaw of the battle system is... Well, that Samus is quite big. Avoiding shots can be a pain, and it would be better if Samus was the size of Mario, Sonic or Megaman. Still, despite that, the battle system is brilliant.
Now, if the atmosphere is not enough for you, then perhaps the boss fights will do the trick, cause they are downright amazing. Don't expect them to be very puzzle-based, but they are hectic and they are challenging. For me the difficulty is perfect. It is harder than most games from the later generations, but not as torturous as NES games like Zelda I and II or Kid Icarus. Now, bosses that I struggle with, but beat on the fifth try, those are the ones I like to play. How many hours can you expect? Well, it is possible to beat it in less than 3 (and you get a special ending for doing so). I beat it in 8 hours, meaning I got the second best ending (but I did have some memories from an earlier attempt when I got stuck, so it probably went faster because of that). If you use more than ten hours you get the easiest ending. In any case, it is 800 wii points well spent).
The final boss might not be the best in the bunch, but one thing I can promise you is that it is going to be memorable. Atmosphere and gameplay go hand in hand in that battle, just like in the rest of the game, and it is a suitable finish, leaving me with a sense of awe that no other SNES game has given me. Now I'm unable to wait for Other M which is announced to be a sequel to Super Metroid. If you are hyped for Other M you should really play this game. If you already have it, play through it again. I'm sure it'll be worth it.
See you next mission!