Brinstar, part of the planet Zebes, as explored by Samus Aran in Super Metroid, revolutionary video game for the SNES.
Brinstar can be accessed very early on in the game. It is here that Samus finds the Morphing Ball, but in doing so an ancient alarm system is set off, which awakens the Space Pirates. Up to now, Samus had been exploring a completely lifeless planet, but all of a sudden it began to crawl with hostile organisms...
Brinstar contains one of those trademark throw-controller-at-screen moments - which effectively locks you into the nether regions of planet Zebes. The device is a door, which can be shot open from one side, but once Samus walks through and goes into the next area, the door shuts. It cannot then be reopened until the player acquires the Wave Beam, which can be very difficult to pick up (even if you use the trick which allows you get it without the grappling beam). The wave beam, once acquired, will shoot through the door to open it from either side, but until the player can acquire the wave beam, or find a more complicated route out of the labyrinth, they are stuck. Although this was pretty annoying at first, it doesn't really impact the game too much, it just pushes the player a little more firmly than usual into exploring the environment.
The main boss of Brinstar (and one of the big four bosses who must be killed to progress to Tourian) is a returning face from Metroid original. He's a lot bigger, and a lot harder to kill, and this time even finding him is a bit of a toughy. You'll also need the Hi-Jump Boots from Norfair to be able to enter his lair...
Although many important items can be found in Brinstar, the most powerful items, and the most challenging bosses are found elsewhere.
For the map labels, see the pipe links.
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There are two areas of Brinstar map, which are separated by a small section in Maridia. While at first there is simply a glass tunnel connecting the two Brinstar areas, Samus can find a weapon which is powerful enough to smash the glass, allowing her access to the watery world of Maridia.
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Part of the Super Metroid map project. Many thanks to Servo5678 for his help and encouragement with this project.
Maps made from editing a Super Metroid map found on GameFAQs.com (the map is copyrighted to "Khoro", 2000) with MSPaint, and turned into ASCII with BG ASCII 1.32.
If you spot any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me.
See also - Crateria - Norfair - Wrecked Ship - Maridia - Tourian