Nazulu said:
I'm aware Super Metroid had a story but so little it could have been replaced with some awesome action scenes or something abstract, and I probably would enjoy the game more if it was something really clever.
SSB Melee is a special case, it's something very different taking fighting to a really interesting direction. There is a lot of depth in that game just adjusting to the game play. It's one of those games you have to experience for yourself. Besides, you can draw anyone in with atmosphere and fun challenges. I played the game for 7 years straight alone and with friends so it's done wonders for me.
To say it's impossible to make a great game without a story is just a lack of creativity to me, same with movies with no story and music with no lyrics (as someone said before).
Back story, like the text scrawl at the beginning of Super Metroid which sets up motivation and information relevant to the plot, is a narrative element but it is not in and of itself narrative.
The narrative in SM is all the events the player participates which describe how the plot/story takes place. The plot is the exact structure that the players actions create. The plot is still part of the narrative but so are all the times you jumped from one platform to another, fired your gun, fell into an acid pit, died to a boss or any other enemy and basically anything else in the game.
The plot of SM is the Hero's (Samus's) journey to rejoin a friend (Metroid baby). To complete this journey several tests of strength are required. And, in the end, the friend is found to be corrupted and he betrays the Hero only to later sacrifice himself in order to find redemption and help the Hero defeat the corrupting influence (Mother Brain). This plot is basic but resonant and it is clearly visible in the events of the game.
For a moment let's imagine Super Metroid with no narrative structure (and thus no plot) at all: For starters there could be no text scrawl at the beginning and so there would be no back story to the game, the events of SM would therefore have to stand on their own without support from other stories. This is not a deathtouch in and of itself but it does mean there are challenges for characterization. Without back story we don't know what the significance of the Metroid Baby is so it simply becomes a monster which attacks us and then helps us later.
Locations are concessions to narrative so we would have to remove all the settings from the game. No Space stations or planets, all events would take place in one large featureless room (even that might have narrative implications but if that is the case then I can think of no setting without narrative). In this room your featureless insert character would spend all their game time endlessly fighting waves of enemies and bosses with no discernible pattern or cause. And then the game would end abruptly and with no explanation.
Actually that game concept still has a rather large amount of narrative structure, in order to truly strip out all narrative architecture we'd have to remove every element of gameplay until nothing was left. After all: a man shoots a monster is still a very basic story. I could go into this in more detail but a post on why cognizance implies narration could grow out of hand quickly.
Regardless, I hope we can now clearly see the difference and overlaps between narrative (which includes most aspects of gameplay as well as narrative architectures such as back story) and story itself.
Briefly on SBros. You might have been particularly drawn to SSBM but I doubt this was the case for most people. My friends and I only ever played the games at parties or if we were hanging out with nothing to do. I honestly could not see any reason to play the game beyond that point, my friends and I were all pretty evenly matched so no one needed to practice and hone their skills. I suspect that you will find this to be the prevailing opinion on the game considering how small tournament communities are.
Perhaps in my drive to be witty my original comment may not have been substantive enough. A more accurate view of gaming would state that narrative and plot are intricately linked to all games and you ignore them at your peril. You might be able to make a game with strong narrative gameplay elements but without a resonant plot it will quickly become tiresome and forgettable. Likewise a game with a rich plot but underdeveloped gameplay will not be able to hold many people's attention. In games, as in many parts of life, balance is the most important aspect.
The most important thing to take away though is that while a game that embraces one or two elements of narrative, plot or character may be successful a game which embraces and innovates in all these areas will definitely be a successful and well remembered game because it will have the most to offer the most people.
As a point of interest, here is a game with plot but no gameplay [http://progressquest.com]. Tetris has already been described as a game with significant gameplay and extremely limited amounts of plot. And I would hold up this game [http://armorgames.com/play/5355/immortall] as one which manages to hit all the right notes with fair skill and accuracy.
