The terms used for some of these come from METROID PRIME. I
have retained them, mostly because it would seem repetitive to call all
sandstone and bendezium blocks just 'blastable blocks' or some such (and they
are not given an official name in the literature).
- Sandstone blocks
Can be destroyed by any of your weapons EXCEPT the Screw Attack.
Some reappear right away; others do not reappear until you
reenter the room. They appear as cracked blocks with the X-Ray
Scope.
- Crumble blocks
These evil, evil blocks crumble instantly when you step on top of them,
and they cannot be destroyed by ANY other means, not even the Screw
Attack. They can, however, be jumped off of; your timing has to
be JUST right, jumping a fraction of a second after the block crumbles.
Like sandstone, some crumble blocks reappear right away; others
do not reappear until you reenter the room. They appear
as… well, crumbly blocks after reappearing or with the X-Ray
Scope.
- Bendezium blocks
Can only be destroyed by Bombs, Power Bombs, the Speed Booster, and the
Screw Attack, and do not reappear until you reenter the room.
These appear as a brick-like material with the X-Ray Scope.
- Super Missile blocks
Can only be destroyed with a Super Missile, and seldom reappear until
you reenter the room. (I know of at least one that reappears,
outside the upper Wrecked Ship.) These have a Super Missile
symbol on them viewed under X-Ray.
- Speed Booster blocks
AKA Booster blocks, these can only be destroyed by using the
Speed Booster (this includes Super-Jumping); some reappear right away;
others do not reappear until you reenter the room. These have a
Speed Booster symbol on them when viewed under X-Ray.
- Power Bomb blocks
Can only be destroyed with a Power Bomb, and do not reappear until you
reenter the room. These have a Power Bomb symbol on them when
viewed under X-Ray.
- Grappling Beam blocks
AKA grapple blocks, these are a special kind of block with a
plus-shaped [+] hole in the middle, that you can latch onto with
the Grappling Beam and swing around on.
- Crumble Grappling Beam blocks
These grapple blocks are visibly cracked. If you latch onto them
with the Grappling Beam, you will only be able to hang on for a few
seconds before they crumble. They do not always reappear until
you reenter the room.
- Invisible blocks
Solid but invisible blocks, found in only one room (Brinstar); use the
X-Ray Scope to find them.
Most rooms in SUPER METROID are separated by doors, and some are further
separated by gates.
- Doors
There are five major types of doors on Zebes; automatic doors
are only found on Ceres Station.
- Blue Doors
The most common type of door; simply shoot them with your Beam
to open them. (Bombs also work, but Missiles and Power
Bombs do not.) After you blast a red, green, yellow, or
Eye door with the correct weapon, it becomes a blue door.
- Red Doors
These can be opened with 5 Missiles or 1 Super Missile.
- Green Doors
These can only be opened with a Super Missile.
- Yellow Doors
These can only be opened with a Power Bomb.
- Eye Doors
Eyeball that covers the door leading to a boss. There are 5 in the game (one for each of the bosses); shoot the eye when
it's open with 3 Missiles or one Super Missile to destroy it.
- Metal Doors
These special doors can only be opened by completing a scripted
event in the game, such as destroying all enemies in the room
or defeating a boss. They flash blue when they have been
unlocked. Note that some metal doors can never be opened
(and thus are one-way).
- Gates
Invariably called shutters or poles in this guide (but called gates in
the Player's Guide), these are metal poles, sometimes with a
colored button on one side, that bar Samus's way or act as one-way
doors.
- Blue Gates
Gates with a blue button can be opened with your Beam (and if
you have the Wave Beam, you can open them from either side).
- Green Gates
Gates with a green button can only be opened with a Super
Missile, and only from the side the button is on. (Unless
you use a glitch, which I've never been able to manage, and
won't go into here.)
- Shutters
These are the special gates that you can shoot or bomb to make
them rise up, allowing you to pass (often with the Morphing
Ball). There are also some automatic shutters in various
places.
- Speed-Shutters
These are the name I give to the gates that start to close the
moment you enter the room. As the name implies, passing
under them requires the Speed Booster. (Unless you use a
glitch, which I've never done, and do not cover in this guide.)
Some general obstacles and hazards on Zebes:
- Water
Does no damage, but significantly hinders your movement unless you have
the Gravity Suit. (For example, you can't jump very far out of
the water, even if it's only ankle-deep.)
- Lava
Does gradual damage; has the same movement-hindering properties as
water. There are two types of lava on Zebes:
- Weak
Mostly opaque, orange-colored, garden variety molten lava.
(Actually, most people don't have that in their
gardens…) The Gravity Suit can protect you from
this kind of lava.
- Boiling
More of a clear yellow color than weak lava, much hotter, and
does damage much faster. The lava in Tourian that looks
like weak lava is of this strength, so be careful.
- Spikes
Do a fixed amount of damage every time you come in contact.
Area-specific hazards can be found in SECTION
5.
Being a METROID game, there are lots of enemies; there are 62
ordinary enemies, 2 friendly creatures, 1 semi-friendly creature, 5 mini-boss
enemies, and 5 boss enemies. The majority of enemies can be destroyed by
at least one of your weapons, though there are a handful of enemies that are
indestructible. The complete list of minor enemy creatures is given in
SECTION 5 (arranged by zone).
Mini-boss and boss characters are given special treatment in the
walkthrough; when they're encountered, I list the data for each one, like
so:
BOSS NAME
HP: Number of hit points the boss has.
Attacks: Amount of damage the boss's attacks do to
Samus.
Weapons – Amount of damage your weapons do to the
boss, followed by a number in parentheses (the number of
hits required by each weapon to defeat the boss).
The boss data comes courtesy of Foxhound, because for whatever reason, the
data for bosses and most of the mini-bosses isn't in the Player's
Guide.
There are several types of special rooms on Zebes that are marked on the map
when you visit them (or download data from a Map Computer):
- Save Rooms
These consist of a Save Pod where you can save your progress; this is
stored in the battery-backed RAM in the game cartridge.
Insectoid's Tip:
- Map Rooms
Visiting one of these and hooking up with the Map Computer will
download map data for the area you're in. Note that it does NOT
show EVERYTHING; there are secret areas you have to find on your own
(or with the help of this guide!).
- Energy Recharge Rooms
These contain Energy Charge Units which restore your energy to maximum
(not including Reserve Tanks).
- Missile Recharge Rooms
These contain Missile Charge Units which reload your Missile supply to
maximum. Note that this only fills your MISSILE supply—NOT
Super Missiles!
- Dual Recharge Rooms
These contain an Energy Charge Unit AND a Missile Charge Unit.
There are only two of these on Zebes; one in Kraid's Lair, and
one in Tourian.
Locations of the special rooms in each area are provided in
SECTION 5.
When you destroy enemies and defeat bosses, they usually drop power-ups.
You get one power-up from most enemies, but several from strong enemies
and lots from bosses. These are collectively known as "power-ups" or
"refills" in the walkthrough.
- Energy Ball – Gives 5 units of energy.
- Big Energy Ball – Gives 20 units of energy.
- Missile – Gives 2 Missiles.
- Super Missile – Gives 1 Super Missile.
- Power Bomb – Gives 1 Power Bomb.
Index
"Nintendo", "Super Nintendo" /
"SNES", "Nintendo 64" / "N64", "Donkey
Kong", "Legend of Zelda", "Super Mario World",
"Super Mario 64", "Metroid", and all related content, names,
etc., are trademarked and/or copyright ™ / © Nintendo.
–