Metroid Database.com

Hugo Bille, game designer for The Working Parts, has written up a fantastic analysis of the level design to Super Metroid! Bille does a clear job of illustrating how the game leads players along through the first portion without making them feel like they are being led, and how it teaches players lessons about the game with each new item collected. It is also great to see the differences between Super Metroid and later titles in the series, particularly how the game lets players explore a large portion of the world soon after collecting the Power Bombs. And in case you were wondering why the Lower Norfair theme in Super is so much more potent than in Metroid Prime, Bille tells us that, too:

What really makes Ridley's home genuinely haunting is instead a series of nasty surprises. To even get here, you had to swim through a sea of lava - did you think your Gravity Suit protected against anything? Not against this lava. You can fly, and the world is an open book to you - and yet here you find creatures that you cannot even inflict a scratch upon. You are deeper down than you've ever been, but your path leads ever downwards. Add to this enemies that are at once more aggressive and more resilient than anything else on the planet, and the artstyle once again veers towards that creepy retro style. It is around that kind of background that the music can wrap its magic.

Let's not also forget that you are heading towards your nemesis from the opening.

You can check out "The Invisible Hand of Super Metroid" here on Gamasutra. It is well worth the read.

Until next time...
Captain Commando