The SNES also had more room to include helpful features like a map system and save options so you wouldn't have to leave the game on or use a generic password.
This is true for Super Metroid. Though Metroid II did have a save feature as well, but lacked a map, but at the same time the levels were designed in a way that they didn't need a map, so that was never a problem. The original Metroid was never designed with a password system in mind, as it was made for the Famicom Disk System in Japan. Unfortunately it was released in North America at a time when battery back-up didn't exist. so they had no choice but to release it with a password system. Though interestingly enough Zelda 1 was released on the same month and year as Metroid in North America and was the first cartridge game to have a battery back up.
The game still required critical thinking. Which is lost on 90 percent of the games today.
It's easy because you LEARNED how to get past the obstacles and you remember them.
That is sort of the problem with Super Metroid, once you memorize everything, it becomes a bit too easy on future playthroughs. Now, even if you did memorize the entire map layout in the original Metroid and knew where to go at all times, the game still feels like it has a legitimate challenge because it doesn't pad the player with health/ weapon recharges, power weapons or lots of health and reserve health. In the original game, there was more of an extra layer of twitch gaming skills required to get through it. You really did feel vulnerable at all times, even after you found every item.
That extra layer of twitch game play in Super Metroid got filtered out a bit to make it easier for people who are not familiar with the series. It's not something they took away entirely as there were still areas that requires the player to navigate through them with some precision and skill. But I always feel there were more safety nets put in place to allow a player to stumble their way through those areas as well if they weren't particular good at it.
But yeah, it does go back to what you were saying about SNES games having more room to include extra safety net features.
Even navigating using a map is lost on this generation.
When was the last time you NEEDED a map in a game that wasn't open world
Backtracking is considered lazy design so we gotta make sure you only move forward :/
It depends on what type of games you are talking about, older non open world PC games much more commonly needed a map than non open world console games. But yeah, that is something you see less and less in games today. The last partially non open world game i played was dead island on the PC which does have a map screen, but also points everything out with way points and direct paths.
Since this is mostly a Metroid thread, there is always one thing I can credit the series for doing right. The game doesn't really have backtracking, despite the fact that you revisit locations over and over again. Most times you come back to a previous location, it is through a different previous unexplored path you have never seen before and the game is always progressively moving you forward.