GTP Video Game Cool Wall: Metroid Prime

[Cowboy]

Metroid Prime, nominated by @SPhilli911

Release date - November 17, 2002
Platform(s) released on – Nintendo Gamecube
Game developer – Retro Studios / Nintendo
Genre - First Person Shooter / Adventure

Spoiler: Information

Metroid Prime is the fifth main installment in the Metroid series, and the first Metroidgame to use 3D computer graphics. Because exploration takes precedence over combat, Nintendo classifies the game as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter.[4] On the same day as its North American release, Nintendo also released the Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion, marking the return of the Metroid series after an eight-year hiatus following Super Metroid(1994).[5][6]

Metroid Prime is the first of the three-part Prime storyline, which takes place between the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus.[7][8] Like previous games in the series, Metroid Prime has a science fiction setting in which players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran. The story follows Samus as she battles the Space Pirates and their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV. The game was a collaboration between Retro's staff in Austin, Texas, and Japanese Nintendo employees, including producer Shigeru Miyamoto, who suggested the project after visiting Retro's headquarters in 2000.

Despite initial backlash against the game's first-person perspective,[9] the game garnered critical praise and commercial success, selling more than a million units in North America alone.[10]It won a number of Game of the Year awards, and it is considered by many critics and gamers to be one of the greatest video games ever made, remaining one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic.[11] In 2009, an enhanced version was released for the Wii as a standalone game in Japan, and as part of the Metroid Prime Trilogycompilation internationally.[12]

 

[Wolfe]

Not the Metroid game we expected, not the Metroid game we would have asked for. Which makes it incredible what a triumph it was despite charting a new direction for a franchise that had left fans waiting eight years for a follow-up to Super Metroid (and Fusion also wasn't it, as it was also anything but conventional).

I wish it had been something else, and yet I still love it. Even better with the Trilogy controls, which make it the best "FPS" experience I've ever had.

But seriously, Nintendo, you're way, way past overdue for a proper 2D Metroid on a home console, or whatever you want to call the Switch. Samus Returns is kind of a kick in the nuts for someone like me who can't play action games very effectively on a handheld because the device is too small.

 

[SPhilli911]

Very cool game. It was exactly how I envisioned a 3D, FPS Metroid game to be like. Isolated on an alien planet, strange creatures, boss battles, backtracking, item hunting. Not to mention the eerie, but perfectly suiting music. The attention to detail in a Gamecube game always blew my mind, like the condensation on the visor when you walk through a steam cloud, or the rain drops that hit the visor when you look up. The Gamecube version was a little difficult with the lock-on aim system, but the Wii version with the motion controls was perfect. I still consider this first Prime to be the best of the trilogy. It was pure Metroid, just in 3D.

I'm looking forward to the 4th game in the series, something I never expected to happen.

 

[Terronium-12]

Echoes may be my favorite entry in the series but I love the original as well. A drastic departure from what a Metroid game was previously, this somehow worked to the point where it became the measuring stick for future titles. Prime 4 has quite the shoes to fill...

Of course we're completely ignoring that one entry that shall remain unnamed.

 

[SPhilli911]

Of course we're completely ignoring that one entry that shall remain unnamed.

I remember being so thrilled when that game came out. I had the highest expectations since this was after the Prime trilogy and it was the first new Metroid in years. I never completed it back then, it was just bad.

But you know what? I recently got it again and played it. And it was just as horrible as I remembered.

 

[MisterWaffles]

The first time I played this when I was younger, I crapped my pants in fear for some reason. I thought it was a scary game. Now I know that the game is really just atmospheric. I picked it up again later for the Wii in that great metal collector's tin with the art book.

As for the game itself, it's a great formula turned on it's head. This makes the game one-of-a-kind and very interesting because of the first person perspective. What made this game so great is that it makes you feel like you are Samus Aran. Other M sucked so much because it gave her a voice and ruined that illusion. This game is so immersive with the atmosphere, logbooks, visor effects and music. Easily the best soundtrack on the Gamecube, alien and mysterious as it should be exploring a strange planet.

The game is deceptively challenging, you're dropped off in the planet with no abilities and weak enemies to start, but it gets hard as balls by the time you reach the phason mines and fight the Chozo ghosts.

I'd recommend playing the Wii version with motion controlled aiming, it makes the game that much more immersive, where Samus' arm follows your every move.

Easily an A, this is my favourite exploration/fps games of all time.

 

[MisterWaffles]

But seriously, Nintendo, you're way, way past overdue for a proper 2D Metroid on a home console, or whatever you want to call the Switch. Samus Returns is kind of a kick in the nuts for someone like me who can't play action games very effectively on a handheld because the device is too small.

Sorry for the double post, but have you ever considered downloading AM2R for the PC, buddy?

 

[SPhilli911]

Sorry for the double post, but have you ever considered downloading AM2R for the PC, buddy?

I've sorta been ignoring AM2R since it's just a fan thing, but I am curious. I may just download it, assuming I can still. Even with the official Nintendo Samus Returns coming out soon, AM2R looks more like the style of the GBA Metroids, which is more appealing to me than Nintendo's remake. Not that Samus Returns doesn't look good, but Nintendo should really make another proper side scrolling Metroid again.

Really itching to play the trilogy again, too. Gonna have to dust off the old Wii. Does anyone know if the Wii U version of the Trilogy looks any better at all? I'd like to get a Wii U for that so I can also download Fusion and Zero Mission.

 

[Wolfe]

@MrWaflz55 -- I had kept an eye on AM2R every once in a while for a long time, so I was on top of it when it released. 👍

@SPhilli911 -- AM2R is almost indistinguishable from the real deal, painstakingly adjusted to have the same tight gameplay of the GBA games (I read DoctorM64 studied them frame-by-frame to copy the jumping physics and all). Whether or not the map, new bosses, new story stuff, etc. are authentic enough and up to par is a matter of opinion, but I think it did a remarkable job shouldering those expectations and respecting the source material while possessing an identity of its own.

I have a physical copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy, but I'm almost certain the Virtual Console version is no different from playing your existing copy through the Wii U's virtual Wii menu, which already upscales a clean image via HDMI. The Wii U did turn out to be a good Metroid box, covering almost every game in the series, even Prime: Hunters.

 

[SPhilli911]

AM2R is almost indistinguishable from the real deal, painstakingly adjusted to have the same tight gameplay of the GBA games (I read DoctorM64 studied them frame-by-frame to copy the jumping physics and all). Whether or not the map, new bosses, new story stuff, etc. are authentic enough and up to par is a matter of opinion, but I think it did a remarkable job shouldering those expectations and respecting the source material while possessing an identity of its own.

I have a physical copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy, but I'm almost certain the Virtual Console version is no different from playing your existing copy through the Wii U's virtual Wii menu, which already upscales a clean image via HDMI. The Wii U did turn out to be a good Metroid box, covering almost every game in the series, even Prime: Hunters.

I'll definitely check out AM2R. It would be great to play a classic style 2D Metroid again.

I do have all the Metroids (although the GBA ones I only have with an emulator) but for some reason I thought the Prime Trilogy would look significantly better on Wii U and that doesn't seem to be the case. It would be nice to have them all in one place, though. And playing Hunters on anything besides the DS would be nice, that game is physically painful to play with the stylus.