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While Nintendo is best known for its fantasy adventures and monkeys riding go-carts, when the Japanese developer turned its attention to science-fiction in the Metroid series the results were just as impressive. Largely following the same template established by earlier titles in the series, Super Metroid was famous for eking every last drop of processing power from the Super NES, creating an adventure with Hollywood-style aspirations that were beyond most 16-bit games, and pointing to a bright future where movies and videogames would grow ever closer.

Memorable for...
Dying in the East. The game was an unexpected failure in Japan as it arrived at the same time as the newfangled PlayStation and Sega Saturn. But thanks to a monumental marketing campaign by Nintendo, its fortunes were revived in the US and Europe, making it a huge hit in the West.

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