Quarantine Control #78: Playing with Super Power

DC Staff | September 30, 2021 | Features, Videogames | No Comments

Since starting the Quarantine Control series about — if you can believe it — a year-and-a-half ago, the Damage Control staff has used the ongoing feature to discuss content we’ve watched, played, read, or listened to over the course of a week. We’re doing something a little different for this entry.

The blog is commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System this week, and this week’s Quarantine Control entry is another step in the celebration. Most of the staffers contributing this week either picked an SNES title to play and discuss, using platforms like the SNES Classic Edition or another device like the Retron 5, or listened to something SNES related. It’s a heck of a lot more fun than the usual entry.

We even have a first-time contributor to the series this week. That’s how special it is!

Geoffrey Barnes

Super Metroid (1994)
Source: SNES Classic Edition
Episodes: 1 (The third game in the 2D series)

It’s always a good time to play or replay Super Metroid, one of the most influential non-linear 2D games in the history of the medium. It was one of the key titles that inspired a slew of developers to create games like it, especially indie developers in the years since smaller games released digitally rose to prominence, alongside Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. The game’s excellent and detailed world and level design, alongside the pretty sprite-based graphics and art style, helped give it a timeless presentation.

But I won’t mislead anyone here: Part of my experience with replaying it involved readjusting to its controls and exploration style, not an easy process thanks to my reflexes being acclimated to more modern Metroid games and other Metroidvania titles that have come with serious quality-of-life enhancements.

Upon restarting the game, which includes a short prologue with voice acting that I somehow totally forgot about and thought was cool again, I couldn’t stop talking about how good this game still looks. From the lab at the game’s start to… hell, all the other areas, along with Samus’ sprite, the enemy sprites, and the backgrounds, the game is still a sight to behold. It took me back to a time when I wished many 2D games I was playing were more non-linear and open for exploration. Super Metroid was the game where I, in so many words, said “wow, these games already exist!?” (I sure wish I remember precisely what I said as I first played it in 1994, but it was something like that.) This was my first Metroid game, but the previous titles, both of which have since been remade, were thankfully not required to play through this one.

There are times when a person doesn’t appreciate the quality-of-life enhancements developers make for newer games, but oh man did I do that upon replaying this one, at least initially. It took too much time for me to remember that holding a button is required to sprint, useful for running through early obstacles before the Speed Booster is acquired. I will not go into detail into precisely how much time it took to figure this out. Wall jumping here is also a pain and a half thanks to the extremely tight window it has to be performed in compared to the more lenient one in newer games. The map itself is not as clear with information as I’d like, though I still appreciate how it encourages experimentation to discover new locations and secrets.

These are all minor issues that don’t come close to preventing the game’s brightest aspects from shining through. I mentioned above that the environmental design remains timeless, but that’s putting it lightly. It’s easy to underappreciate just how great it is to discover and wander from one interconnected area to another when so many games do that these days (again, especially indie titles), but this was still among the earliest titles that did it exquisitely. It’s similarly one of the earliest examples that remains playable these days. The overall controls remain tight following an adjustment, as they do for several older Nintendo titles released for earlier platforms, and the non0linear design didn’t stop the development team from inserting platforming obstacles that maintain a good challenge level that doesn’t step into unfair territory.

Another point of remarkability that stuck out to me is how wordless the experience is. Samus discovers plenty of locations and fights a number of bosses, some returning from the previous two games. But Super Metroid has always been a key game — and perhaps the best game — to excel at telling its story by simply having the player observe what’s happening. It undoubtedly made the localization team’s job easier, but it worked as a simple-yet-effective way to relay events to the player without the need to babble.

There’s a good reason why Nintendo has rereleased Super Metroid so many times over the years, primarily through the Virtual Consoles and their variants. There’s a reason why the game still graces so many lists that rank the best games ever, though it’s bound to drop as more younger people participate in them. The hurdles it has early on for anyone far too adjusted to the newer Metroid games are real, but not enough to prevent the qualities of the core experience from shining through. This will remain the case for as long as humans can still access old video games.

Now, if only Nintendo can get around to making the other Metroid games available on their current platforms. Fusion and Zero Mission should be easier to experience outside emulation, alongside other Game Boy Advance games, but ROMs are viable way to play them when the publisher is somehow incapable of rereleasing them on their own. But that’s getting off topic about this SNES celebration, so I’ll hush. Enjoy Super Metroid.

Angela Moseley

For this week’s column, I had the pleasure of unpacking my SNES Classic and booting it up. Unfortunately, I might have gone wrong in not choosing what game I wanted to play for myself. Weird things happen when I let Drew decide for me.

Kirby’s Dream Course (1994)
Source: Super Nintendo (SNES Classic)
Episodes: 1 video game

Growing up the SNES was a large gap in my childhood. Sure, I had my NES and Gameboy, but my Sega Genesis formed the bulk of my formative gaming years as a child. Plus, my ability to acquire games (i.e. what my single mother could afford) was limited to weekly rentals and Christmas/birthday gifts. Back in the day, I remember seeing a commercial for Kirby’s Dream Land and never getting the opportunity to play. In fact, I never got into the Kirby series. Then as a challenge for our ongoing SNES week on Damage Control, Drew asked me to play Kirby’s Dream Course when I mentioned I was looking for a short game.

I didn’t finish the game, but it sure was an experience. The experience brought me to tears because I injured my right hand in a fit of gamer rage. After missing what should have been a sure-fire hole-in-one after struggling to line up the perfect shot, I pounded my hand on the couch repeatedly. On one strike I missed the cushion and struck the solid wood armrest. The pain in my hand has greatly subsided, but there’s still a slight knot under my skin. And… Oh wait, I was supposed to be talking about video games.

Kirby’s Dream Course is an isometric golf game with hills and sharp cliffs that strongly remind me of Marble Madness design-wise. From the previews of the game I thought I was getting more Marble Madness with Kirby, but this is a golf game. Use a cursor guided by the D-pad to line Kirby up with enemies on the field, select a horizontal spin, select how much power to put behind the shot, and putt him around the level. Occasionally lakes, gaps, high hills, and flying enemies will require the use of a top-spin shot that will also make him bounce. For that shot you select the vertical top-spin strength, adjust the power meter, and watch Kirby take to the air. On every level a hole opens after all of the enemies are cleared—the last enemy on the field becomes the hole. Kirby must be navigated into the hole to clear the level and ultimately the course. The game also includes power-ups that make it easier to navigate the field. For example, the umbrella can be used to gently float down from ledges onto the next part of a level or into a hole. The tire can be used to roll over sand traps, and there was a lightning spell I never got to try.

Navigating Kirby to the hole in a level isn’t the only thing that makes Kirby’s Dream Course a golf game. You are limited to four strokes per level and two lives total. So you have to line those shots up with enemies and where the hole will open, while doing it with as few strokes as possible. Good players can line Kirby up and use the geometry of the level and the bumpers to take out all of the enemies with a single shot and perhaps roll him into the hole. Later courses start to become more difficult as obstacles like turning tiles, warp tiles, trees, spike pits, and spikey enemies are placed in the way. Hit one of those spikey enemies and they’ll remove a stroke from you. Things start to become insane as you have to rely on lining up vertical top-spins in order to reach flying enemies and the levels become increasingly elaborate. I didn’t make it past the second course.

The 2D, isometrical nature of the game had me wishing this was a 3D game with analog sticks and a rotating camera that could be easily moved. Having to line up everything in a flat space even with the help of tiled floors can be troublesome. Of course this game is meant to be played repeatedly as you get a feel for the course and learn how to take better shots. You can also try to beat the game’s best scores and set your own as you learn to cut down on strokes.

I’m not a big fan of golf or sports in general, so this isn’t my type of game. I’m not saying Kirby’s Dream Course is bad in any way, though. In fact, if I were younger and played with friends, I would have enjoyed myself a lot more. As an adult with a full-time job, a spouse, and a list of other games I could be playing, struggling to guide Kirby into holes is a challenge I’m not feeling—at least not now.

Drew Young

Super Adventure Island II
Source: Wii Virtual Console (SNES)
Episodes: 1 video game

Super Adventure Island II is one of many, many video games I only know about because I read about them in “Nintendo Power.” I bought it and a few other Virtual Console games years ago when Nintendo announced the Wii’s eShop would be shutting down.

Super Adventure Island II is a game out of place, both in its own series and in its era of gaming. It follows a well-trod but long-abandoned NES trope of the second game in a series needing to stand out from its predecessor; Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest is probably the closest comparison.

But it’s also the first game in the Adventure Island series to branch out in the same way Wonder Boy (for the uninitiated, the original Adventure Island was a port of the original Wonder Boy that launched an independent series of sequels). The only other one to do so being Adventure Island IV for the NES, which never left Japan.

Further, the game was the first of a paltry three Metroidvanias on the Super Nintendo, beating Super Metroid itself by two years and the Great Cave Offensive section of Kirby Super Star by 4 (Metroidvania.com domain registrant Jeremy Parish counts The Great Cave Offensive , so I do, too).

As such, I can forgive Super Adventure Island II for only partially delivering on the Platonian ideal of a Metroidvania (even though it somehow does a better job of it than Shantae: Half-Genie Hero ). The areas are connected in a similar vein to Metroid Fusion ; you initially visit them from a hub and only discover their connections late in the game. You will be revisiting old areas with new abilities solely to acquire treasures, but in doing so you’ll also do find new paths within the levels.

Granted, there will also be a lot of backtracking for hit switches and figuring out where to go, but the game is trim enough to easily knock out a blind run in less than 10 hours… so long as you pay very close attention to boss patterns. They will wreck you and make it look easy if you don’t fight them as intended.

While the game design itself was probably much more amazing in its own day, one aspect that hasn’t aged a day is the soundtrack. The themes of all the islands are a particular delight to listen to.

Overall, the game has been a fun enough diversion, but dropping $130 on eBay for a copy would require this to be MUCH more a game for the ages than it is. I’d argue for all the reasons above that it has a noteworthy place in gaming history, but history has long since passed it by. But for $8 on the Virtual Console? I think it was worth it.

Joseph Daniels

What would you consider the golden age of gaming? Was it the SNES era, when developers had figured out what makes a game fun and what doesn’t, and were able to start focusing more on the elements of gameplay that people enjoyed? Was it the PlayStation era, when storage space allowed for video games to have a grander scope? Was it the PlayStation 2 era, when developers were able to be a lot more experimental due to the sheer number of consoles sold, knowing that there was a good chance someone, somewhere would buy their game?

I’d say the golden age of gaming absolutely started with the release of the Super Famicom in Japan and the SNES in the rest of the world, and didn’t end until the final PlayStation 2 game came out.

Here on Damage Control, we talk about the PlayStations a lot, but the SNES doesn’t get quite enough love from us.

The SNES does get a lot of love from others, though.

SNEScapades (2019)
Source: Spotify/other podcast site
Episodes: Ongoing

I think one of my favourite genres of podcast are the ones where a pair of friends discuss video games. No One Can Know About This is still my favourite because it’s just so entertaining hearing the reactions of Jeff Eckman and Ryan Kasmiskie as they confront the ridiculous and incomprehensible side of the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy II (NES) nearly broke them, and then part way through, their cartridge lost their save file and they didn’t want to have to start all the way from the beginning again. Final Fantasy VIII has been incredibly fun to listen to because it’s just such a bonkers game. Today is the season six finale, where Jeff and Ryan receive answers to questions that have been lingering all game, and I’m looking forward to listening to them go mad from the revelation.

SNEScapades features SteampunkLink and Emmy Zero, who have set out to play and rank every SNES title ever released in North America. They’ll play the games for a short period of time (which might or might not be a good thing when you consider the length of some of the RPGs on the system) and judge them based on their short time playing them. Obviously, games that they’ve played a lot already in the past have a greater advantage when deciding where to rank them on the list, but games on the SNES didn’t always last for thirty or more hours, and you could theoretically complete a lot of them (or see enough to judge them fairly) in one afternoon. The days of games like Okami were still a ways off. Yes, RPGs typically last for quite a while (my timer at the end of Lufia & the Fortress of Doom said 31 hours and 15 minutes this time), but other games are easier to judge. The console saw versions of Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, for example.

As of right now, they’ve ranked 197 different games, and they’re usually in agreement about where to rank each one. I say usually, but one of my favourite moments in the series was when they had to end on a cliffhanger so that they could think some more about where to put Final Fantasy II (SNES) on their list.

Some of my favourite RPGs on the system have yet to be ranked and I’m looking forward to where they put them. They’ve also yet to rank Lufia & the Fortress of Doom and I’m very curious where they put it on the list.

That we’ve been able to make so many lists and posts about a number of Super Nintendo topics over the last few days (and years, in some cases) is a testament to how many great games were released on the system in the early-to-mid 1990s. Our anniversary celebration here is happening a bit late (the system launched in late-August of 1991 in North America), but certainly not too late. Not to mention how it’s always a good time to commemorate the anniversary of a great system that so many of us grew up with. Not talking about COVID-19 was similarly sublime, which should happen more often even if it continues to ravage largely-unvaccinated portions of the world. We’ll see.

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