Board 8 > That wall jumping pit in Super Metroid: awesome or awful?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Is the non-verbal communication swell? The way the game forces you to learn an advance move you never learned about but always had access to pretty neat?

Or is it a frustrating bad game design portion of the game? A part of the game that forces you to use a difficult to execute technique that you'll never be required to use again for no good reason?

I'd like to hear whatever thoughts you have on this.

Necessary evil imo.

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I remember getting stuck in a Power Rangers game because I had no idea I can wall jump... and even do it with just one wall to climb higher.

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I never wall-jumped because I couldn't do it/figure it out. I just went to the other room, stood on the edge, ran back, jumped, and morph balled at the peak and managed to get it.

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I first played Super Metroid about a year ago. I spent probably thirty or forty minutes trying to wall jump out of there, the timing is just so wonky. I definitely like the whole idea behind how it's hidden from you and then presented, though. And if the maneuver was easier to pull off, most people would discover it way before then, allowing them to sequence break some stuff probably. And once you figure it out, it's not that hard to do.

So all in all I'd say the whole thing is a positive, But man, during those thirty or forty minutes I was absolutely livid.

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once you learn how to wall jump there is no going back

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I played it for the first time in close to a decade during the summer and I was stuck in that pit for about an hour.

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It's funny how it's so hard to get it right the first time but once you do it once it becomes super easy.

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Best LPer ever, Gix ! : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt5YKmP7ecY

Yeah, wall jumping is actually incredibly easy, it's just that it's not explained at all, so it's so damn awkward understanding how it works.

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Probably the only outright bad thing about the game.

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I remember having a save file that I ended up quitting entirely because I saved in the area you had to wall jump to get out of back when I was like 7 years old. These days I can't help but wall jump all over the place.

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it's definitely one of the most memorable moments of the 16 bit era, yeah?

Yeah, it's not bad design to have that pit necessarily, but the controls on wall jump are silly. Specifically the part where you need to hold away from the wall for a few frames before the jump will register, not something intuitive like "press away and jump at the same time".

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Only bad part of the game tbqh.

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Joyrock
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awesome

I like it, it's clever and explains a game mechanic without some long text, more games should use active tutorials like this

the pit is a positive, but the actual technique is a pain and could have controlled better. definitely the right approach for 'teaching' though.

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I think I've made my opinion on Super Metroid pretty clear over the years. I'm just glad Zero Mission and Fusion did wall-jumping better

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Here's how I see it...
The skill is absolutely awesome and makes the game way more fun, even if it's not necessary to beat the game.
To teach the skill... it's tricky. I played Zero Mission before SM, and I figured out how to wall jump/shinespark there already, so it wasn't a problem for me. That's the thing with Metroid. Even when not trying to, you will accidentally wall jump here and there. That should be enough of an introduction. If the player is curious enough, he will explore this phenomenon and figure it out himself on his own time. That's how I learned it in Zero Mission. Forcing him into a pit like that is not ideal, imo, but it was the first time the devs introduced this feature, so you can't fault them for not knowing the best way to do this.

Compared to just a tutorial or text screen explaining it, it is way better, and fits with the atmosphere of the game very well. It's quite impressive in that sense. I still think the natural self-discovery of the technique is way better though, and I think the devs realized that with Zero Mission and Fusion.

The shinespark bird thing is kinda helpful tough, because unlike the wall jump, it's rare to accidentally shinespark... I know I never did it until I read about it online.

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_foolmo_
mobile computer

ViviffTheMobile posted...
I never wall-jumped because I couldn't do it/figure it out. I just went to the other room, stood on the edge, ran back, jumped, and morph balled at the peak and managed to get it.

This. But this was after trying to bomb my way up the entire pit for hours. Granted, that was only the first couple of times I played the game, which was like 16-17 years ago. I just didn't understand that they were trying to teach you to wall jump. That said, I love that pit. And everything about Super Metroid. See: My quote.

The perfect game.

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The shinespark bird thing is kinda helpful tough, because unlike the wall jump, it's rare to accidentally shinespark... I know I never did it until I read about it online.

I learned how to do it by watching the videos after the title screen.

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Well aren't you a genius

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_foolmo_
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foolmor0n posted...
The shinespark bird thing is kinda helpful tough, because unlike the wall jump, it's rare to accidentally shinespark... I know I never did it until I read about it online.

Yeah. Add to that, it's much easier to figure out what to do just by watching Dachola shinespark than it is watching the Etecoons wall jump. You can tell that you need to press down because you can see Dachola crouch.

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Cats land on their feet. Toast lands peanut butter side down. A cat with toast strapped to its back will hover above the ground in a state of quantum indecision