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DF Retro: Metroid Prime - Nintendo's first-person masterpiece

It's insane how well the visuals of this game hold up today

Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, and Mario Sunshine are the only games that made it out of that generation still looking great today

Okami still looks spectacular.

Great video as always, DF. A masterpiece that deserves a remaster (cmon Switch!)
 
Woah, I had no idea about this new Iishiruka or whatever version for Dolphin.....can I use my XB1 controller? Have no experience with dolphin.
 
Another great video. I actually got Metroid Prime back when it was released in 2002, but for whatever reason it just didn't click with me at the time. After seeing this video though I'm definitely gonna give it another shot.
 
Great video, but they said that the Wii version of MP is identical graphically to the GCN version despite several videos such as this one showing all the little graphical effects dropped from/changed in the Wii version.
Yeah, I wanted to go into more detail there but I ran out of time (just before leaving on holiday) and simply wasn't able to go into great detail on the Wii version.
 
Finally, someone recognized how awesome Turok feels when moving and it's subtle connection with Prime. Also, you noticed the dense geometry as well. DF Retro, you guys know what you are talking about.
 
That was a great write up. Still get them feels watching that into where Samus lands on the abandoned spaceship.

They perfectly nailed so much with this:

- environmental effects (rain/smoke on visor)
- controls/exploration
- music/sounds
- difficulty
- menu system
- in game map
- scanning system
- morph ball
- save animations
- shooting the asteroids
- charged shot graphical effects

I could go on, and on. It's a shame the wii version dropped so many of the graphical effects as it could have been the definitive version.
 
I was talking with someone recently about how I rarely replay games, however Metroid Prime is a game I've gone through 3 times which says a lot. What a great game. So much fun, so beautiful, detailed and that music gives me chills everytime.
 
Weren't there some visual differences between the original and the Wii Trilogy versions? Something about the visors not looking as good on the Trilogy version?
 
sigh... what happened to nintendo, how have you ended like this...
Considering how poor Echoes, Corruption and Trilogy sold, even on Wii's huge install base, I don't blame Nintendo for killing off the Prime series. It wasn't ever expected to be a success in Japan, but even outside Japan the sales numbers must have been less than stellar. Soon Star Fox will join Samus and the only games you'll be seeing on Nintendo Consoles are Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Donkey Kong and Animal Crossing.
 
While that video was really solid work once again and I love learning new details like the Dolphin build that runs the game that well, I would have really liked for it to dive more into the development of the game.
AFAIK it was a 3rd person game for a rather long time? Never seen more than a screen, but I heard that it was a pretty late change for the game. The technical details about effects like Samus' face being shown as a reflection in your visor when the lighting fits or you hit something close to your face with a rocket would have also been nice, or even the GCN TEVs in general in comparison to the tech movement of the time, but I guess that's a lot of information and research for a video with a rather short production turnaround and run time.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'd love to see a feature length 'Making of' documentary on Metroid Prime :P
 
Weren't there some visual differences between the original and the Wii Trilogy versions? Something about the visors not looking as good on the Trilogy version?

If I remember correctly, the only changes were the charge beam animations which were changed due to the fact that on GC they were 2d sprites. Since the arm moves with the wiimote in the trilogy edition, they needed a 3d replacement.

The only other change I know of was a water ripple effect. Why? I dont know. The wii can technically do the effect: it appears when you run the GC game in Nintendont (homebrew that allows you to run Gamecube games in Wii-mode)
 
It's insane how well the visuals of this game hold up today

Metroid Prime, Wind Waker, and Mario Sunshine are the only games that made it out of that generation still looking great today
There are plenty of games from that generation that still look great today. Jak 3, MGS2/MGS3 for example.
 
I never knew about the voice acting. I remember seeing the kiosk demo for the first time. That was the closest any game came to Mario 64 in terms of blowing my mind. I still can't put my finger on why the follow ups just weren't as exciting.
 
I played this game two years ago, for the first time!

I was surprised how great it was, a masterpiece.

The game is even far better than many games nowadays.
 
Imo one of the greatest games of all time and in many ways there has never been an actual or spiritual successor to match it on any platform.
 
Considering how poor Echoes, Corruption and Trilogy sold, even on Wii's huge install base, I don't blame Nintendo for killing off the Prime series. It wasn't ever expected to be a success in Japan, but even outside Japan the sales numbers must have been less than stellar. Soon Star Fox will join Samus and the only games you'll be seeing on Nintendo Consoles are Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Donkey Kong and Animal Crossing.

Metroid has every chance at becoming a hit again - but Prime was a visual showcase as well as a great game, and those are the dual needs the series has to serve. On the Wii a kinda drab-looking SD game, however well-designed, wasn't going to be a killer-app first person action game. We've yet to see an HD Metroid, but when that day comes the mainstream appeal will be there again.
 
I was kind of hoping we'd hear a little more about the Jeff Spangenberg controversy at the time. All I remember reading on Fatbabies back in '99 was that Retro was incredibly far behind schedule, morale was extremely low, whilst Spangenberg was having coke-fuelled pool parties. Fatbabies even had photos as proof.
 
While that video was really solid work once again and I love learning new details like the Dolphin build that runs the game that well, I would have really liked for it to dive more into the development of the game.
AFAIK it was a 3rd person game for a rather long time? Never seen more than a screen, but I heard that it was a pretty late change for the game. The technical details about effects like Samus' face being shown as a reflection in your visor when the lighting fits or you hit something close to your face with a rocket would have also been nice, or even the GCN TEVs in general in comparison to the tech movement of the time, but I guess that's a lot of information and research for a video with a rather short production turnaround and run time.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'd love to see a feature length 'Making of' documentary on Metroid Prime :P
EDGE magazine delved a bit in its troubled development in its Equip GameCube special. I believe they even interviewed the staff and received unused concept art.

And of course there's Mama Robotnik's research thread.
 
Metroid has every chance at becoming a hit again - but Prime was a visual showcase as well as a great game, and those are the dual needs the series has to serve. On the Wii a kinda drab-looking SD game, however well-designed, wasn't going to be a killer-app first person action game. We've yet to see an HD Metroid, but when that day comes the mainstream appeal will be there again.

I think the mainstream appeal is there more today than ever. Exploration as a selling point seems more powerful than ever.
 
If I remember correctly, the only changes were the charge beam animations which were changed due to the fact that on GC they were 2d sprites. Since the arm moves with the wiimote in the trilogy edition, they needed a 3d replacement.

The only other change I know of was a water ripple effect. Why? I dont know. The wii can technically do the effect: it appears when you run the GC game in Nintendont (homebrew that allows you to run Gamecube games in Wii-mode)
The magnifying effect of the scan visor is also missing.
 
nice video! one of my favorite games of all time, I imported it and played it with the freeloader boot disc, because the release in germany was half a year later or so than in US. such a perfect game... I miss metroid. :( am2r for the rescue tho!
 
Gorgeous game (still is today), excellent gameplay, exploration, music, lore, and all @ 60 fps!! Easily one of the top best games ever and arguable GOAT.
 
Woah, I had no idea about this new Iishiruka or whatever version for Dolphin.....can I use my XB1 controller? Have no experience with dolphin.
Dolphin has support for many controllers including X360 and Wiimote. Not sure about XB1, but I assume if you can't use it now, you will be able to in a future update.
 
I hope the Switch allows for a GC Virtual Console so I can play this game(as well as Prime 2 and 3) on the go. I'd take a remaster too.
 
Masterpiece without a doubt, and a painful void after so many years without another game in the series.

Not only did the game so many things right, but it also filled the need of a harder adventure game that Zelda did never achieve (level of dificulty).
 
What was the EGM quote about the game again? That it was like playing the best game of 2012 back in 2002? That always summed this game up for me, since it was so clearly ahead of its time on all fronts, and I'm really glad they touched upon how advanced it was from a technological standpoint, which is why it has aged so gracefully.
 
Man, it's hard to not get jazzed for spending the rest of the day prepping to play this after watching that. 17 minutes just flew by. I still think the original version looks great and then the Dolphin version popped. Jaw dropping.

It's such a pity Retro can't give us a new one :(
 
What controller did you use on the Dolphin release, John? The Wii version just doesn't feel right to me and I don't know why. The shooting is obviously great with the pointer, but the jumping feels rigid to me, like there's less control on the timing and the mid-air adjustment.

air control in the Wii version is worse than on GC. you actually have better control of Samus in the air on GC because they removed some movement aspects when making the Wii controls. the most notable thing is that jump distance is less.

I posted this in the other thread but didn't Metroid Prime run on a modified version of Unreal Engine 2? Didn't hear John mention it

oh no. not this again.

let's set the record straight right now. none of the prime games use any sort of unreal engine 2 parts at all. this was a rumor that came around years ago and refuses to go away. the engine is fully custom made for these games.
they never used actual UE2 here and there's proof around from people who actually reverse engineered the game when hacking it to see how various file formats worked and to create a world editor to view every area in the game. they never found anything resembling UE2 in the game's code anywhere.

again, i repeat:

UE2 was never used on the prime games. it was a made up rumor form an unknown place.

please stop spreading that misinformation bit.
 
While that video was really solid work once again and I love learning new details like the Dolphin build that runs the game that well, I would have really liked for it to dive more into the development of the game.
AFAIK it was a 3rd person game for a rather long time? Never seen more than a screen, but I heard that it was a pretty late change for the game. The technical details about effects like Samus' face being shown as a reflection in your visor when the lighting fits or you hit something close to your face with a rocket would have also been nice, or even the GCN TEVs in general in comparison to the tech movement of the time, but I guess that's a lot of information and research for a video with a rather short production turnaround and run time.

I guess what I'm saying is, I'd love to see a feature length 'Making of' documentary on Metroid Prime :P
Truth be told, that would be my dream here. I'd love to be able to 1) actually go back and talk with developers on these older games and 2) spent more time on each episode.

Making some headway with point 1 - I should be able to do something cool with Oddworld, for instance. If any other devs of a classic retro game (or anything retro) are willing to talk with me, that would make for an exciting episode!!

Production time is interesting, though - I did this Metroid video from scratch within a 24 hour window! Had to slam hard on it during that period, of course.
 
Quick question.

If I want to play Prime on my PC using Dolphin, what would be the best way to controll the game? Get an Xbox controller or use the GC controller with some sort of USB-adapter?
 
Quick question.

If I want to play Prime on my PC using Dolphin, what would be the best way to controll the game? Get an Xbox controller or use the GC controller with some sort of USB-adapter?
That is up to you but I used an Xbox One controller here and it works quite well. I do love using a GC controller but, really, it plays well on standard pads today!
 
Does it run well with Dolphin?

Runs sooooooooooooo sweet
Quick question.

If I want to play Prime on my PC using Dolphin, what would be the best way to controll the game? Get an Xbox controller or use the GC controller with some sort of USB-adapter?

More a design of you. Metroid was created to work with the Game Cube controller because the A is huge and it's the mostly pressed button, the B is little and works for the jump, the X is soft for the morphball, the Y is just ahead to the missiles, the Z is for the Map, the L and R can be locked on and the C-stick can also be locked into a position. It's soft like butter, but you can play with whatever actual controller you want
 
That is up to you but I used an Xbox One controller here and it works quite well. I do love using a GC controller but, really, it plays well on standard pads today!

Thanks. I guess getting an Xbox One controller would be much less of a hassle(plus it would work directly with Windows as well)
 
Hrm still getting some stutters here and there (especially when you load a new area) in the Ishiiruka build but I guess it's better than before.
 
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