The first Metroid definitely lay the groundwork for some of the most innovative and progressive level designs in history, but it was with Super Metroid that Nintendo married an already great sense of exploration with some stupidly fun combat. Almost every side-scrolling blaster from Shadow Complex to Axiom Verge owes its life to Metroid, and it was with Super's refining of tantalising weapons, abilities that opened up the map even further, eight-way directional shooting and far more robust animation that all gave it a sublime feel, simply just to control. Touched up from the last two games were the map system and amount of bosses, giving the whole thing a great sense of isolation and advancement as you looked back on everywhere you'd been and everything you'd acquired. Super Metroid has one of the best character progressions in gaming history, and although Nintendo has thoroughly abused the Metroid moniker to create ghastly first-person shooters, this 1994 followup nailed everything its past instalments were going for and then some.
