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| Nintendo's galactic bounty hunter gets her first 3D debut. |
Hello and welcome to our second retrospective and today were looking back at the acclaimed hit, Metroid Prime, which released back in November 11, 2002 for Nintendo GameCube. Prime was a big step forward for the series mainly because of two factors.First, it was developed by a western developer, Retro Studios. Second, it was the first 3D game in the series. Also, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda series, serves as one of the game's producers. Note: Metroid Prime is a 13 year-old game, so expect some spoilers!
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| Super Metroid. |
The Metroid series went into hibernation after the SNES classic, Super Metroid, in 1994. In the Nintendo 64 era, Samus only made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. as a playable character... and that's basically it. However, Samus finally returned from her slumber on the new-then Nintendo GameCube in November 2002 with Metroid Prime. Also, Metroid Fusion, a Game Boy Advance title that also received critical acclaim, was released on the same day as Prime.You can check Metroid Fusion's review here.
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| Samus made her first 3D debut, and she looked great. |
After the success of Super Metroid, many fans were eager for what's in store for the series when the Nintendo 64 made its debut.However, Mr. Miyamoto stated that they "couldn't come out with any concrete ideas". Furthermore, it was until June 1999 that work on a Metroid title had began.
Prime was a collaboration between Retro Studios in Austin, Texas and several Nintendo staff from Japan. In 2000, Mr. Miyamoto visited Retro Studios and suggested that they work on a Metroid game after seeing their first-person shooter engine that they created.
Originally, Retro had worked on four GameCube projects. Three games were canceled and Raven Blade, a full 3D RPG game that had players as a knight in a post-apocalyptic setting was terminated. In the end, the only option was the Metroid game.In E3 2001, the game was officially announced as Metroid Prime. However, fan reactions were mixed due to the change from simple 2D side-scrolling to a large 3D first-person view.
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| Metroid Prime featured many gameplay innovations. |
Prime take place between the events of the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus.
Samus is once again on an adventure in space, this time its serious with many story-related features. Cutscenes play-out before boss battles, hacking and examining the Space Pirate's records for plot-information as well as interacting with various objects was a major change compared to its predecessors.
Previously in Metroid: Galactic bounty hunter, Samus Aran landed on planet Zebes, defeated the notorious Space Pirates and her archenemy, Ridley, exterminated the life-sucking organisms known as "Metroids", and finally wiped-out the Space Pirate leader, Mother Brain, who well...looks like a brain.
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Samus defeating Mother Brain
in the original Metroid. |
After the events of Metroid, Samus has received a distress signal from a space station and realizes that its a Space Pirate Warcraft. Upon investigation, however, most Space Pirates were either found dead or in weak physical condition. Further exploration lead Samus into the core of the ship, where she meets the Parasite Queen (which met its end, thanks to Samus). After the battle, the Queen Parasite falls into the ship's core and resulted in self-destruct sequence. During her escape, however, an exploration causes Samus to lose all upgrades. Eventually, Samus escape the ship and follows what seems to be Ridley to planet Tallon IV, where the real game starts...
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| Samus lost her powers... again. |
Unlike previous installments, it was an all-out 3D first-person game. Since Prime focuses more on exploration than combat, Nintendo has classified Prime as first-person adventure rather than shooter. The gameplay involves exploration and puzzle solving, two features that makes the series unique. Similarly, Prime improves upon those features with its first-person feature. For instance, you can scan multiple objects such as organisms, enemies, and even your power-ups, and its all stored in your logbook. This feature adds to the sense of wonder presented in Prime. I scanned a lot of things on my journey and never wanted to stop scanning for more.Also, puzzles in Prime are neat. Most are well-hidden and will require you return with a suitable upgrade or weapon for that puzzle, just like old times.
Speaking of upgrades, many of Samus's items and weapons return from previous games. The standard Power beam makes a return, as well as the Ice and Wave Beams. Also, returning is the classic Morph Ball and Grapple Beam, which both help a lot when getting energy tanks and missile expansions. Also, there are three endings (which aren't drastically different from each other) depending on the percentage of items and logs collected throughout your journey.
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| Samus in Morph Ball form. |
What makes a Metroid game? In a discussion with IGN, Steve Barcia, executive producer of Retro Studios, has stated that "A lot of it is mood.Its got to feel creepy and eerie." Retro definitely nailed it with the "creepy and eerie" part.There are some creepy parts of the game, one was meeting Chozo ghosts, which was tense at first, and the other was, well... meeting life-sucking Metroids for the first time. Also, sound design is excellent and fits well with the atmosphere. In the same discussion with IGN, Mr. Miyamoto stated that "We put a lot of time and energy into creating a lot of good atmospheric sounds and background noises. A lot of time was spent trying to create an immersive environment." tracks like the Tallon Overworld theme is the most memorable one for me, it represents just how Prime is filled with areas and enemies to be explored, absolutely of the best sounds to come out of the GameCube.
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| Tallon IV is full of secrets and places to be explored. |
Metroid Prime met high critical acclaim from critics and fans alike, earned many perfect scores and 'Game of The Year' awards. A sequel, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was released for the GameCube in 2004, which expanded and improved over the first. A third sequel, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which featured motion controls was released for Nintendo Wii in 2008.
A pinball game and DS entry, Metroid Prime Pinball and Metroid Prime Hunters were released in 2005 and 2006, respectively. In 2009, a Metroid Prime Trilogy was released on Nintendo Wii.The trilogy featured the first three games, from Prime to Corruption, in one disc. Also, Prime and Echoes had visual and control enhancements similar to Corruption. Many years--even months-- the prices of the trilogy grew was outrageous. From its standard $60 price to even $250 and up from online retailers such as Amazon and eBay. It was basically a collector's item.
Fortunately, In January 29, 2015, the trilogy was re-released in North America on Nintendo's Wii U eShop for $20 ($10 in its first week of release). I recommenced this option because of two reasons: 1- It'll save you a lot of money 2- $250 can basically buy you a Wii U system. In the end, though, its your choice.
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| Metroid Prime is... outstanding. |
Metroid Prime was a revolutionary game for its time. At first many though the GameCube was lacking a must-buy exclusive game compared to its competitors, but Prime was a reason to own one. The atmospheric environments, innovative gameplay, amounts of places to visit are all done well and personally, Prime is one of my all-time favorite games.
With the trilogy at an end, Retro moved to work on the Donkey Kong Country series. However, many fans are still waiting for a possible fourth entry in the Prime series, especially on Nintendo's HD console, the Wii U. That's it for this retrospective and thanks again for bearing with me in this long look-back at one of gaming's most unique 3D games, Metroid Prime.
-- Sources --
IGN: "Metroid Prime Roundtable QA"
"Raven Blade Killed, Retro lays off 26 "
Metroid (Nintendo eShop release)
Metroid Prime (Metroid Prime Trilogy edition)
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