What an Overrated Concept

On 10/13/2017 at 01:26 PM by Super Step

I accidentally deleted all of my messages from everyone. I had two pages, and figure the big red X would only get rid of page two. I was wrong.

My favorite, yet also most overrated video games of all time are:

Life is Strange: This is possibly my current favorite game ever, because it's one of the only games I've ever had a real emotional reaction to, and I like that there's exploration and puzzle-solving and not JUST choices, as I feel Telltale games really overdo it on the choice part.

But I am also aware of, and will agree with, every issue people have with the game. Some of the characters really aren't as likeable as the game wants them to be. Didn't bother me. The ending is kind of a non-choice that negates everything before. I saw that coming and thought it worked for the message they were trying to convey. Didn't really bother me. It's one of those games that's more story than game. Didn't really bother me.

There are other criticisms, and I probably agree with them all to an extent. My only response. however, is "yeah, that really didn't bother me." But for as critically acclaimed as this game is, if you're playing it thinking "what the fuck is the big deal?" Well, it's my favorite game, but I understand you completely. It's overrated. People like me have overhyped it for you. I still love it though.

2D Indie games in general: Again, I love me some Shovel Knight, Cuphead makes me want an XBOX One or at least to see if Steam will run it, and Strider was a ton of fun (not sure that one counts as "indie," but you all know I generally mean non-AAA titles that feature outdated graphics), and Hotline Miami ... kinda sucked and I'll fight you. But there ARE better games in the years these games came out. There are NEW experiences that I don't believe are always so deserving of being overshadowed by certain gamer communities because of nostalgic 2D trappings found elsewhere.

I love these games, don't get me wrong, but at the end of the day I like my new experiences and think the gaming community is a bit too reverent of the phrase "back in my day."

Super Metroid: I talked with Julian about this, and while I can appreciate why people would call it the best game of all time, saying stuff like that automatically makes something overrated in my eyes.

I dig 2D Metroid. I have no issues with Super Metroid being a masterpiece. But when Julian told me I was confusing "not liking something as much" with something being "overrated," that kind of spells out the problem I have with "best of all time" anything: it adds an undeserved level of objectivity to a subjective medium.

Yes, games and movies are technical productions that have objective components. Yes, you can say something is rated correctly because it nails what it's going for. But frankly, I don't feel the same emotions others do when traveling through Zebes. I probably wouldn't cry at Mother Brain being assaulted by a baby Metroid even if that wasn't spoiled for me. To me, Super Metroid is a really cool action game with tight controls that stands the test of time, but isn't going to be everyone's thing.

I can understand how "not everyone's thing" and "overrated" are two separate things in the context of a genre, but for a medium as a whole? Citizen Kane is a great movie. It may be the most important movie of all time. Calling it the "best movie ever" automatically makes it overrated, because it may not give you what you're looking for in a movie. For me, I appreciate the visual effects more than I care about the story. I'd rather read about Randolph-Hearst than be subjected to Kane's opera-singing wife subplot. It's rated where it is becuase of how much other movies drew from it (and Birth of a Nation, which used a lot of similar techniques, but which we don't talk about as reverently for good reason: Trumpism), but I want an emotional connection in my movies. And I just don't have one for the characters in Citzen Kane. Other people genuinely do, because they can relate more than I can. That's fine. But best ever is not a phrase belonging in such a subjective medium. Personally, I thought How Green Was My Valley was a more engaging movie.

How this applies to Super Metroid is that while you can argue it's the best Metroidvania of all time, you could do the same for Symphony of the Night and have a solid argument. They're both just as tight gameplay-wise and have somewhat spooky atmospheres. But which one you think is the best may depend on your art style preference or how many and what kinds of enemies you prefer to see on-screen. The "best ever" discussion just doesn't make sense unless you're trying to pass opinion off as fact. Something about that just gets under my skin.

But I still want to play Super Metroid on SNES Mini, so whatever. I'm a hypocrite.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

10/13/2017 at 02:14 PM

Those big red X's are not to be fucked with.

Good blog. I agree, and am also a hyprocrite.

Super Step Contributing Writer

10/14/2017 at 08:31 PM

I'm not qualified to handle the big red x.

Machocruz

10/13/2017 at 09:46 PM

SotN is what's way overrated. The upside castle is superfluous, and the leveling leads to unbalanced difficulty over the length of the game; it especially undermines boss fights. The map design isn't nearly as intricate Super Metroid's. SM never slacks in any area the way SotN does.

Yeah there is way too much emulation of childhood's games in the indie sphere, but I'd say that's also where most of the new(ish) ideas are, if not 2D. Factorio, Dwarf Fortress, The Escapists, RimWorld, Gunpoint, Invisible Inc etc. AAA is largely derivative as well, and limited in genre representation compared to the indie space. Everyone is still trying to make the next Deus Ex or RE4

My idea is everything that gets praise in this hobby is overrated. A lot of people act like games are the most important thing in the world, especially the games they love, so they can't help to be overrated. Hyperbolic reactions is what I'm getting at. Like they'd murder their parents or give up a limb for a game.

Imo just about every Metroid game drags in a few places and has too much backtracking. But that's basically me agreeing with your last paragraph, so ...

KnightDriver

10/13/2017 at 09:58 PM

I think it's interesting when a whole generation feels nostalgia for the games of their youth. Right now it's those 2D Metroidvanias. Tomorrow might be the early 3D world games. Bad graphics are COOL! Wha?
For me, I'm not all that nostalgic for my childhood games, but I guess it might have been a thing around the 20 year mark from it, like say in the early aughts when Xbox did Game Room to experience the arcades again. What is it about that 20 year mark? Someone hits their 30s and they yern for their youth. It's kind of weird to me. I've never yearned like that.

10/14/2017 at 08:32 PM

I feel nostalgic for my childhood cause there seemed to be a lot more emotion there in general than I experience in adulthood.

Cary Woodham

10/14/2017 at 12:39 AM

You folks must just have way smarter brains than I do. I just don't think of complicated stuff like that. I'm just like, "Duh, I like Super Metroid, it's awesome."

10/14/2017 at 08:33 PM

SM is cool, but I definitely don't share the reverence for Metroid as a whole many do.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

10/20/2017 at 05:07 AM

Dark Souls is the best game of all time. The last third is garbage, but eh.

Bloodborne second.

Super Metroid 4th. Read my new blog to find out what's third.

No, you can't say that about SoTN. While I love that game, reviewing it these days I'd have to give it a 6 or 7/10. It's so flawed, half the systems are broken as shit, and the game fluctuates difficulty all over the place. It has the difficulty curve of an ex Ecstacy abuser's spine.

Aria of Sorrow would be a better pick, or any of the 3DS ones. Super Metroid is the best because its such a consistently surprising yet cohesive game. Although... Hollow Knight might be the new king of the genre.

I honestly feel like Life is Strange has passed the point of being overrated and swung back into underrated. People hate on the dialogue, but have they forgotten how stupid they sounded as teens? Warren was basically me as a teenager, and I want to kill myself every time I see his awkward attempts at flirting.

Look at teens. They don't talk exactly like this because they've made up their own stupid as fuck jargain like every generation does.

10/20/2017 at 12:18 PM

Alright, so SotN may not have been the best example, but I honestly get about the same amount of pleasure from Metroid games I do from Metroid-like Castlevania games; it just depends what mood I'm in. To me, it's just a subjective rating that automatically overrates it when you say "best of all time."

Oh, trust me. I know there are people who don't like Life is Strange because cognitive dissonance won't allow them to see themselves in it. But there are still things about it that aren't great. I love it anyway.

I think Warren is every awkward nerd teen. Sure, he is cringey, but I get annoyed when the Internet says he comes off "rapey." I don't see any indication of anything like that.

10/20/2017 at 08:47 PM

He's a straight white male. He's a rapist. And no it's far from perfect (last ep is almost entirely a write-off) but it doesn't deserve anywhere the negativity it cops these days.

10/23/2017 at 12:29 PM

I like episode 5, but that's me. I kinda saw that ending coming, so I wasn't really disappointed in it. They were basically saying "hey you have time powers, but you really shouldn't fuck with them" since episode 1.

10/23/2017 at 09:04 PM

The ending is fine, it's everything else in the ep.

10/24/2017 at 01:36 PM

Interesting. I can see that.

Julian Titus Senior Editor

10/20/2017 at 03:41 PM

I REALLY think you don't understand what I'm saying about Super Metroid. And honestly, it makes me feel like I'm bad at communicating. I'm not saying that it's the "best of all time". It's my favorite game. I'm not saying that you, or anyone, should feel emotions from the game. The death of that metroid never made me cry, and I'm the biggest crybaby I know.

I can TOTALLY understand why people wouldn't like Super Metroid. Maybe they don't like the exploration aspect of it. Maybe they don't like the pacing. Maybe they don't like the way Samus jumps. I respect that, and I can see those arguments. All I'm saying is, I'd take exception with anyone who can't look at it and see the craft that goes into it. The sprite work is some of the best of the time, and I'd argue that most sprite art games of today can't equal what Super Metroid did. The incidental animations. The way the game teaches you how to play it without using tutorials (see: the aliens that teach you how to wall jump). The level design. These are all things that, even if you hate the game, I would think you could see and say "It's a well-crafted game, just not for me."

I think we've talked about Egoraptor's Sequelitis series on YouTube before. The way he breaks down Mega Man X (a game I love, but wouldn't even put in my top 50 games of all time) is the way I can break down Super Metroid. That's all I'm trying to say.

10/20/2017 at 06:09 PM

I never argued that it wasn't a well crafted game though. Just that its ranking among similar titles is subjective.

I think people are getting the impression I'm shitting on SM or something, when I'm just saying, as a fan, I think people overhype it with the "best game ever" talk.

Honestly, my issue is with any one piece of art being rated as "best ever _____" and Super Metroid just happens to be a thing people do that with. I love Super Metroid. I just think basically nothing should be ranked in that way, hence overrated in my eyes.

Don't worry, I'm probably the one not communicating this properly. But now I'm hungry.

10/23/2017 at 09:12 PM

No game is perfect. Super Metroid's MB fight did make me tear up a little as it was so unexpected for a game of its time.

My favourite game is Dark Souls, but I definitely understand why people would hate that game. It is ridiculously obtuse, the last quarter of the game is rushed to the point that an entire important area of the game is unfinished, and it doesn't explain its mechanics so it can just feel like trial and error.

However, a piece of media doesn't resonate with you for no reason. Maybe you found some meaning in it that no one else has. Maybe it helped you through a hard time. There are so many reasons why a game could be your personal favourite, and so called "best game of all time" is only a fleeting title, as something better will always come out.

Phantasystar77

10/26/2017 at 09:49 AM

Great games there. Cuphead is really amazing. The difficulty is way up there, but it always feels fair.

PixlBit