10 Awesome Video Game Mechanics (That Are Impossible To Pull Off)
4. Shinespark - Super Metroid
A staple of the Metroid series is Samus equipping herself with all her classic sidearms throughout her journey until she’s all kitted up and ready to take on the final boss. It’s a feeling of power every time to have a new ability on your side, as well as opening up new traversal options to delve deeper into the game’s world.
Super Metroid introduced the shinespark. After equipping the Speed Booster, Samus can store the energy it creates by crouching. Following this, if players quickly get into position, they can unleash the shinespark by propelling Samus' body like a rocket.
Thankfully, this ability is optional and unless you’re going for 100% completion you never need to use it to beat the game’s story. Why? Because it’s incredibly difficult. The timing is a kicker, not just on storing the energy but getting in the right place to make it worthwhile. On top of this, Samus can shinespark horizontally, vertically or even diagonally - if you can pull it off right.
Largely the shinespark is used to grab hard to reach items and speedrunners make excellent use of the technique in getting through the game as safe and as unharmed as possible. For us regular scrubs however, it’s something that has eluded a great number of us no matter how many times we’ve played this classic title.