I can’t remember others off hand but I swear there were a couple. I seem to recall at least one instance of a game having enemies that would start as the background layer and then charge/attack in the front layer… unless this wasn’t an SNES game – so many games afterwards used similar sprite styles (some PSX, GBA, DS, etc – especially when it comes to Konami & Capcom stuff) that it all kind of blends together after awhile 😛

But this means the Screw Attack is off-limits to you, unless you can pull off the glitch that allows you to open a Super Missile gate from the wrong side, and it’s probably easier to get into Lower Norfair without the Space Jump than it is to do that.

It’s really strange that they accounted for not having the Space Jump in this way. Not having it doesn’t affect the Screw Attack in any way, that I’m aware of, but they consciously decided to lock it off from you (barring the green gate glitch of course) if you pull off the tricky maneuver necessary to get into Lower Norfair without the Space Jump. It’s quite strange.

As for how to get into Lower Norfair without it, there’s several methods. The one I finally managed to do on an old playthrough involved abusing the water physics. Stand under the high ledge, spin jump and immediately press start to open the inventory and deactivate the Gravity Suit. Samus will then, for some reason, rocket upward. She’ll be unable to break the surface of the acid, though, so right before you get to the ledge you reactivate the Gravity Suit. Then you have to wall-jump off the one-block ledge to actually make it out of the lava. It is very tough to pull off, and according to Nintendo your reward is no Screw Attack. Power Bombing your way through the rising lava room and anywhere else you’d breeze through otherwise was a challenge in itself.

*more important than super metroid? Forgive me for i have sinned~!