Remembering Metroid Prime - Happy 10th Birthday!!

[Retro_Link]

So Metroid Prime is 10 years old!

 

I absolutely love this game! I don't think I've played it since I origainally did back on the Gamecube (that's often how I am with games), but everytime I see a video of it I feel like doing so again, and I'm constantly thinking about finding and buying the Trilogy. But I for one am seriously hoping they do an HD Trilogy remake for the Wii U! That would be a day 1 for me!!

 

I remember I came to this game about a year or so late. I wasn't really sure whether it was for me at the time having never played a Metroid game before But I remember some time later watching Eddage play a bit of his version and whilst he liked it I don't think he was raving about it. But still somewhat undecided I thought I'd give the game a go anyway! And OMG am I glad I did!

 

I think this makes it into my Top 3 GC games alongside SSBM and Resi 4. It's one of my favourite games of all time! The final battle against Ridley is also one of my favourite Boss battles of all time! Such an experience and so many great memories from the game!

 

I loved everything about this game, the atmosphere, the graphics, the special effects like the condensation and reflections in Samus' visor, the way everything upgrades and unlocks throughout the game, the sense of progression, the level design, the way the worlds are brought to life, character design, bosses, and the music!! Oh my the Music!!

 

This is one of the best title screens and pieces of music ever! And one of those video game tunes that [along with the likes of Zelda themes and F-Zero's Mute City/Big Blue] I'll often just find myself whistling! And it does such an incredible job of setting the tone for the rest of the game!

 

 

---

 

IGN have done a great video of them playing the game on Wii U for the 10th Birthday.

They talk about it's design and development, throughout which you learn and hear lots about how the game came to be and about Retro Studios themselves!...

 

 

These are the video's they mention just for reference of our first glimpse at 3D Metroid.

 

 

 

 

So yeah, Incredible game!

 

Be great to hear everyone else's thoughts!

Edited December 8, 2012 by Retro_Link

[Shorty]

I just finally got Halo 4 today, and I have to say waking up on that ship, with my helmet on screen, wandering around pressing buttons and displaying readouts, immediately I thought of Metroid Prime and got the urge to play it again. If they bring out a new one of these for the Wii U, I'll grab that console just for it.

 

Prime was an amazing game. To some people it wasn't the natural progression for the series to go first-person, but to me it did everything right. Amazing atmosphere, fun gameplay, outstanding music and tonnes of content. Some of the bits you mentioned, such as seeing your own face reflected on the glass, that attention to detail made it for me. It was as Super Mario 64 was to Super Mario World, as Ocarina of Time was to Link to the Past.

 

I loved Echoes, too.

[Cube]

There is absolutely no way that Metroid Prime is 10 years old.

[Jonnas]

10 years, hard to believe, ain't it?

 

The game is divine. Super Metroid is amazing, but so is this. Metroid at its finest, Metroid at its core. The way the areas are interconnected, the hidden collectibles, the well designed progression, and the tiny details, like the rain in your visor, or the bones in your hand... Such a vivid world!

 

But the scanner was what made it brilliant. No dialogue whatsoever, the whole plot and backstory are told via scans and the player drawing their own conclusions. Furthermore, the scanner really helped make the "Metroid-y" elements of gameplay possible in 3D in the most natural way possible.

 

And have I mentioned I love the available power-ups? The Thermal visor for living things, the X-ray Visor for the room's layout. So simple, but works so well. Wave Beam tracks paralyses enemies, Freeze Beam is more effective, but slower, and the Plasma Beam is a late-game power-up, but Missile combinations are still quite useful, though, for various occasions (except for the Flamethrower). Even the Morph Ball power ups are fun to use.

This kind of well designed power also enhances the exploration aspect, too. They're worthy rewards/treasures.

 

And the bosses weren't slouches, either. Each battle, even those with minibosses, required skill and decent strategies. Just like how I like them.

 

Metroid Prime is truly a gem, and one of the best of all time. Everything it wanted to do, it did right and spectacularly. The sequels lost much of what made it great, but they made up for it in other areas (though they're still nothing compared to the first game).

 

Oh, and fun fact, I'm listening to Harmony of a Hunter 101% as I type this. Sheer coincidence, I swear

[Grazza]

Metroid Prime represents one of the most unusual relationships I've had with a game.

 

I did not follow its development, had no hype for it at all and generally wasn't "into" gaming at the time (I'd been on approximately a three-year "hiatus"). When I bought my GameCube though, I became aware that Metroid Prime was considered one of the very best games. Truth be told, I had hardly heard of the Metroid series, as the SNES game had passed me by (probably something to do with it being late in the cycle) and, as we know, there wasn't one on N64. The 1st-person screenshots actually quite confused me - I don't know why, as I'd played a couple of FPSes, but I couldn't get my head around this one. However, I wanted to play the GameCube's best games, so I made my purchase.

 

Initially, I didn't have much problem with Metroid Prime. I did the training mission first time and all was going OK. As I made my way through the first areas, though, I became dismayed at how difficult even the mini-bosses were. The first real boss was even harder. Alarm bells were beginning to ring.

 

I slogged my way through the game. Every journey from one save point to another was arduous. Every boss and mini-boss seemed like a vertical difficulty spike. Sheegoth, Thardus... crazy. Omega Pirate, Meta Ridley... insane. Nonetheless I fought my way through and got up to the Metroid Prime itself. Well, if I thought the previous bosses were hard, this was on a whole different level. Time and time again, I could only get up to the 2nd part of the battle (if you consider it 3-stage) - the one where it charges at you and you can hide in the trench. Didn't have enough missiles, didn't have enough health... it seemed impossible.

 

Frustrated at its difficulty, Metroid Prime became my most-disliked game. Looking back, I am embarrassed at how I just didn't "get" it. Even so, I thought there might be more to Metroid than that, so I played (and loved) the GBA installments.

 

Then one day, a few years ago, I said to myself "I'm going to re-buy Metroid Prime, obtain every Energy Tank and Missile Pack, and I'm going to beat that sucker!!" I didn't use a walkthrough, I just played it at my own pace, only looking at a guide if I'd missed something or needed reminding how to beat a boss. This time it felt different. I could strafe and dodge with ease. It was as though the movement and controls were now built into my instinct. None of the bosses or mini-bosses stopped me for long at all. As for difficult journeys? Pah! There is probably only one in the game (when you first enter the Mining Facility).

 

Eventually I reached my rematch with the Metroid Prime. This time the 2nd phase seemed like a piece of cake. The 3rd phase needs all your beam-switching, visor-changing skills, but it didn't matter. This time it was built into my head! I defeated the Metroid Prime with very little trouble, and finally had closure!

 

From then on, I played Metroid Prime 2 with relatively little trouble (apart from the Spider Guardian, which I think was ridiculously frustrating in the GameCube original) and Metroid Prime 3, which just required a bit of getting used to the pointer controls.

 

My favourite is still Metroid Prime though, on the GameCube. Out of all the games I've played, it is the one that developed my gaming muscles the most.

[Rummy]

The only reason I ever got Prime was to get two platinum games so that I might procure the Zelda CE disc for Gamecube; second best accidental purchase I ever made, ironically second to Link to the Past on SNES. This was my first 'proper' metroid game, and it was a fantastic experience.

[The Peeps]

I can't do the game justice with words, it was just an incredible experience and I'm glad to have been part of the excitement, hype and fun when the game was originally released.

[mcj metroid]

Metroid Prime isn't for everyone. It is a game that demands your every bit of attention. If you stop playing metroid for a few weeks or months you are fucked.

 

Prime is my favourite gamecube game, but yet I would consider resident evil 4 to be the best. I would hesitate to recommend prime to some gamers, especially these days to the average "call of duty" player and so on. It's an experience all about isolation, the controls are tailor made for the game, there is no plot, etc.

 

I'm actually surprised how well this sold actually considering all this. It is in the top 10 gamecube sales.

 

There simply isn't anything out there like the metroid prime games.

[Grazza]

All this talk is making me want a game like this on Wii U. There's a lot of talk about Nintendo needing "mature" (violent) games, but for my money, something like Metroid Prime brings them 100x the respect. Whatever people say about the GameCube, it was respected among gamers - very much so.

[pratty]

Metroid Prime is simply brilliant, there are some real geniuses at Retro Studios.

 

For some reasons I just didn't fancy the game when it first came out, (never played a Metroid game before). But the high review scores made me curious and eventually I was after a new game and decided to give Metroid Prime a chance, and I was so glad I did.

 

It was one of those games I just didn't want to end, I just loved discovering new powerups and acessing new areas, it was very addicting. I've probably played and re-played the game about 5 times.

[Retro_Link]

Seems like a lot of us were in the same boat with regards to not having played a Metroid gaame before/not knowing what the series was about/unsure about the game, but ultimately some time later decided to give it a go, whereby our minds were blown!

[Jonnas]

I knew nothing about Metroid either, only what I had seen on Smash Bros. Melee.

 

However, Metroid Prime was a game that interested me from the start, due to the scanner (unusually so, since I tended to hate games that looked so serious and realistic). Seeing info about how an enemy was killed made my jaw drop (when playing the game, it became clear the corpse was a prop, not actually killed by me. Only a slight disappointment though, the Chozo Ruins won me over)

[Jimbob]

I was in the same boat as everyone else, Prime was my first proper Metroid game as well. Boy it was something else thats for sure. Environments looked epic, soundtrack was excellent and the story/plot was great. Loved the scanning and learning of different species and items.

 

If only a HD remake was made for the WiiU, then the console would be a cert for me. Who knows with Ninty.