With Metroid Prime 3: Corruption being released in August 2007, Nintendo decided to go back in time to 1994 on the Virtual Console. After the events of the Prime series of games, Samus returned to Zebes to track down Ridley, who had stolen the Metroid hatchling from Metroid II: Return of Samus. Via the direction of a small voice over, Super Metroid throws the player on to the surface of Zebes, and allows them to figure out what to do.

Almost a genre of its own and mimicked by franchises such as Castlevania and Scurge, Super Metroid does not allow players to rely on blinking markers, arrows pointing which way to go, or a guiding voice. The game is 100% experimentation. If you can't get through a door with your normal weapon, try a missile. If Samus empties her entire ammo on that door, it's not meant to be open and she'll have to find a different route. Through exploring, you'll have to fight off the life forms of Zebes, various sub-bosses, screen-filling enemies, and the elements of lava, sand, and water that restricts your abilities.

For a Super Nintendo game, all these effects come off superbly well. However, thirteen years later, and played with the classic controller instead of an SNES pad, they seem dated. Special effects on an HDTV come off as a pixilated mess, and while Samus has a wide range of animations, the basic fact that she doesn't move a pixel when either standing still or firing a barrage of missiles tends to stands out more. Despite these visual flaws, the audio is superb, making one miss the days of digitized soundtracks and music. Each section of Zebes has its own feel, from subtle isolation drips of water, to the dangerously faster music invoked by being surrounded by lava.

Overall, Super Metroid still holds up well today.

Aiding Samus on her journey are various weapons and modifiers. Starting off with the most basic of armor and blaster, you soon gain classic abilities such as the Morph Ball and Missiles. As you advance further into the depths of planet Zebes, you will discover new, more powerful weapons. The ice beam will freeze enemies into floating platforms, the grappling beam is required to jump over spikes, the varia suit lets you survive in the volcano-like temperatures of Norfair, and the speed booster lets Samus gain enough speed to bust through bricks.

The classic controller does well enough to replace the SNES pad. While, for the most part, Samus controls smoothly, advanced techniques such as the Space Jump and Wall Jump are annoyingly difficult due to Samus' propensity for pausing and aiming while changing directions. This is a minor issue, and while it's not the fault of the controller, in the latter parts of the game it can still become annoying.

Ultimately, do not expect anything new to be added to the formula, as Virtual Console releases are effectively the original games played on an emulator. You'll find no new weapons, no new enemies, and no minor fixes or new graphics. Still, for the 800 Wii Points, those interested in a classic Metroid adventure should definitely check out this game.