Valve was inspired by Super Metroid when creating Portal 2

Did You Know Gaming has released a new video today, and it focuses on the Portal franchise. In particular, we get to hear all about the development of both Portal and Portal 2, and it turns out Valve kept Nintendo in mind when crafting the award-winning sequel.

According to the dev team, Super Metroid paved the way to a solution for a Portal 2 problem Valve was trying to solve. Valve wanted to make sure newcomers in Portal 2 were taught the game’s mechanics, but they didn’t want to have fans of the first game feeling bored. This is when the team looked to Super Metroid for inspiration.

One of the dev team members recalled the opening moments of Super Metroid, in which we find Samus in a derelict space colony. As you might remember, Samus makes her way through the colony while all is well, and then she has to run back through it to escape before the colony explodes. Valve took this idea and ran with it in Portal 2, bringing players back to the Aperture test facility from the first game, but in a much worse state.