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[Jisgsaw]

So, I just finished the first Metroid Prime. Felt like playing Super Metroid in 3D.
That was great!

On the very few complaints poitns: near the end, I felt I had to do a lot more running around to previous locations than I'd have liked, with ennemies repoping every time. The problem I see isthat if you're in one location and want to go to another location and are unlucky, you're in for a good 15 minutes or more. A few more shortcuts would have been welcomed.
A couple of the last bosses (

Spoiler

that elite elite soldier and Metroid Prime

) were somewhat hard, but well I was playing Veteran. Though for the life of me, I still can't kill the

Spoiler

Fission Metroids

efficiently, I usualy just super-bombed them or ran away.
And finaly, the grappling controls were somewhat off for me, I had a hard time landing were I wanted.

So I heard some mixed opinions from friends about Metroid Prime 2, I'm considering jumping directly on 3... Some advice?

After I got the

Spoiler

ice beam

I got totally lost. I ended up going through the

Spoiler

crashed ship before I got the gravity suit

, which was just totally annoying and painful. But I finally got the

Spoiler

gravity suit

and proceeded into the mines.

So I wasn't the only one, good to know.

 

[Jisgsaw]

I'll admit that MP2 has its flaws and it's not as good as MP1, but it is still a fantastic game. Don't you dare skip it! You'd be missing out on a great game.

What are these flaws like?
But duly noted.

 

[Toxi]

What are these flaws like?
But duly noted.

• Slower pace in general
• Less shortcuts between areas than Prime, at least until later in the game
• Beam ammo for some reason
• An even worse fetch quest than the artifact hunt in Prime
• Some enemies that are like the Chozo Ghosts except ten times more annoying

But despite these flaws, Echoes is a much more complex game than its predecessor and has some of the most ingeniously designed puzzles and areas in the series. It also has, bar none, the greatest Metroid area of all time near the end of the game. I would highly recommend playing it.

 

[Risgroo]

I don't have my Wii U at the moment, but I just had to join you guys! Fired up the Gamecube version of Prime 1 this morning, just beat Flaahgra. This fucking game, man.

 

[Jisgsaw]

• Slower pace in general
• Less shortcuts between areas than Prime, at least until later in the game
• Beam ammo for some reason
• An even worse fetch quest than the artifact hunt in Prime
• Some enemies that are like the Chozo Ghosts except ten times more annoying

Brr, that's what I hated the most in Metroid Prime towards the end. If the whole of MP2 is like that...

But despite these flaws, Echoes is a much more complex game than its predecessor and has some of the most ingeniously designed puzzles and areas in the series. It also has, bar none, the greatest Metroid area of all time near the end of the game. I would highly recommend playing it.

But that does sound good.
Hum, I'll just spontanly decide next time I start up my WiiU.

 

[FloweryMarston]

Just finished prime with 100% items. Such a great game. Really liked reading through the logs of the space pirates at phazon mines. They are scared as hell of samus lol. Oh and i reaplayed through super too before starting the trilogy on wii u and it's cool to see the similarities between prime 1 and super.

Now onto prime 2, which i didn't have the opportunity to play much before. Can't wait to play it!

 

[CrichtonKicks]

Brr, that's what I hated the most in Metroid Prime towards the end. If the whole of MP2 is like that...



But that does sound good.
Hum, I'll just spontanly decide next time I start up my WiiU.

While there are probably technically less shortcuts between areas, I feel like getting from area to area is more direct than in MP1. There is a central hub of sorts that you can use that to bypass most of the overworld and the routes to elevators in each of the sub areas are usually only a couple of screens. I'm finding world traversal in MP2 much less tedious than in MP1.

 

[K' Dash]

• Slower pace in general
• Less shortcuts between areas than Prime, at least until later in the game
• Beam ammo for some reason
• An even worse fetch quest than the artifact hunt in Prime
• Some enemies that are like the Chozo Ghosts except ten times more annoying

But despite these flaws, Echoes is a much more complex game than its predecessor and has some of the most ingeniously designed puzzles and areas in the series. It also has, bar none, the greatest Metroid area of all time near the end of the game. I would highly recommend playing it.

1.The pace is NOT slower, you need to be in your toes and take your time to explore the areas, Dark Aether keeps you paying attention to your health bar and the enemies there pose a VERY real threat, the upgrades to make moving into areas easier are given to you faster than Prime and you get to keep your Varia Suit and Charge Beam from the begining, also, the there is a boss for every upgrade wich makes the pacing even better than Prime IMO.

2.There are shotcuts EVERYWHERE if you CHECK YOUR MAP and manage the portals, besides there are elevators everywhere to take you to previous areas you've been..

3. Balance and challenge, you'll think twice before getting trigger happy, anyway, I barely ran out of ammo, there's one charge station in every area and it is always in the easiest to reach place of that area.

4.The fetch quest is easier than Prime, if you pay attention you'll know the keys will be where the KEY BEARERS died, shocking right? even if you lack that common sense, if you read their scan you'll see the EXACT room where the key is, how? because the text is marked in red.

5.Those pirates are easily killed with the light beam, once you get the dark visor you can see where they teleport and keep a lock on, a couple of charged shots and they're dead.

Brr, that's what I hated the most in Metroid Prime towards the end. If the whole of MP2 is like that...

But that does sound good.
Hum, I'll just spontanly decide next time I start up my WiiU.

Dude, don't skip Echoes, seriously, if you're coming hot from Prime you'll notice the jump in almost every aspect compared to it, I guarantee it.

 

[Solid SOAP]

I started a new game on my friend's Wii U. I love it. I've played the first, like, 20-40% like a million times on the GCN when I was younger, but I've never gotten so into it as I have now. It's such an immersive, incredible world to explore.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

So you want them to release a game with an uncertain sales-potential on a system whose best-selling titles are just a couple of million and are big names like Smash/Mario Kart?

Yes, because the Wii U is their current console and will be for a couple years at the least and no console is going to sell better by having games people want not release on it. Do other consoles suddenly stop selling after their biggest games are released on it? Do Xbox consoles go downhill from the point Halo games are released? Or Playstation after Uncharted?

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

After I got the

Spoiler

ice beam

I got totally lost. I ended up going through the

Spoiler

crashed ship before I got the gravity suit

, which was just totally annoying and painful. But I finally got the

Spoiler

gravity suit

and proceeded into the mines.

Lol, I remember doing the same thing on my first playthrough over 12 years ago.

 

[Christine]

Lol, I remember doing the same thing on my first playthrough over 12 years ago.

Almost everybody does. I think it's the fact that they show you two new elevators, you totally forget why you were looking for the ice beam in the first place.


Also, I was looking through my old posts and found something I'd forgot:

You know what's awesome? In the art galleries for Echoes, there's an alphabet for the Luminoth holograms. The holograms in the three doors in the great temple actually spell out AGON, TORVUS and SANCTUARY.

 

[K' Dash]

umm, why is Corruption showing Overscan? when I played the Wii version it was widescreen :/

 

[Christine]

umm, why is Corruption showing Overscan? when I played the Wii version it was widescreen :/

You played it on an actual Wii. Trilogy and Corruption display identically, but they'll both show lots of underscan when played on a Wii U displaying over HDMI. This was to avoid overscan on the Wii's component video out.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

Finally beat the first Prime! I wish the last ~20% of the game wasn't so weak (annoying color-coded enemies and bosses), but it's still the best shooter I've ever played on a console.

Onto the second one!

 

[ErrorMacro]

Just got to Torvus Bog on Prime 2. It's been ages since I'e played, so I only remember certain parts of it. The level design is incredible, certainly a step up from Prime, but some of its flaws are already quite apparent.

 

[toadsworth]

I'm about halfway through Prime 2 and I'm just so conflicted on it. It has some of the best first person level design I've ever seen, and it is a dream controlling samus around. The puzzles are genius and flow extremely well. However, the enemy design is very frustrating. I understand the thought behind some of them but they are just very annoying. I just beat the

Spoiler

Grapple Guardian

and I didn't even know how to damage it. Once I figured it out it wasn't fun or even very difficult, it was just annoying trying to hit his weak spot. There are simply too many enemies that aren't challenging and fun, they're usually just frustrating.

That said, I am really enjoying it and it is definitely a serious improvement over Prime 1

Spoiler

I think

.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

I'm at the end game in prime 1. I have 1 energy tank, and 5 missile expansions left to find. I wonder if it's worth it to try to track them down for 100%, or if I should just head on to the final boss battles.

 

[The Xtortionist]

I'm at the end game in prime 1. I have 1 energy tank, and 5 missile expansions left to find. I wonder if it's worth it to try to track them down for 100%, or if I should just head on to the final boss battles.

It's probably not worth it unless you use a guide. You'd have to crank your sound system up and sweep every room in the game, most likely.

 

[K' Dash]

I'm at the end game in prime 1. I have 1 energy tank, and 5 missile expansions left to find. I wonder if it's worth it to try to track them down for 100%, or if I should just head on to the final boss battles.

Track that last Energy Tank, it will come in handy in the last boss, if you don't want to sweep the rooms then you could youtube the locations and I'm sure you'll recognize the one you're missing

 

[FloweryMarston]

Got to torvus bog on prime 2. Really liking the game right now. The dark world mechanic is cool and the dark suit greatly improves navigating through it too. Agon wastes was a cool place and i really liked how i got a ton of upgrades really quickly. Torvus bog's music is amazing too.

 

[mstevens]

Alright... Finally booting this up for the first time. What do I want to set all my control options as to get the best experience?

 

[evilromero]

What are these flaws like?
But duly noted.

The game requires you to collect quite a few artifacts before tacking the final route. It was a bit much upon release but they've actually simplified the process in Trilogy. Corruption substantially streamlines the last part of the game in that regard. You can get the items needed your first time through rather than going back to the areas.

 

[gdt]

The thought of people skipping Echoes is painful.

 

[FloweryMarston]

Alright... Finally booting this up for the first time. What do I want to set all my control options as to get the best experience?

I put the sensitivity to advanced. The veteran difficulty is actually the "normal" of the original games, so if you want a challenge play on this difficulty. The "normal" is the equivalent of "easy". Apart from that i used all of the default options. You can test changing the fire/jump buttons and the lock on without free aim options. I didn't really like them compared to the default options though.

Good luck playing the games! I loved prime 1 and 3 but never really had the chance to play prime 2, so playing it now is really cool.

 

[Astral Dog]

Echoes is better than Corruption, i think, but i would need to replay it

although Corruption had the wiimote controls, rival battles and less artifact collection going for it,

 

[Magnet_Man]

I'm at the end game in prime 1. I have 1 energy tank, and 5 missile expansions left to find. I wonder if it's worth it to try to track them down for 100%, or if I should just head on to the final boss battles.

If you decide to finish the game without 100%, youtube the 100% ending as it is the teaser / tie in for Prime 2.

 

[Verger]

I'm at the end game in prime 1. I have 1 energy tank, and 5 missile expansions left to find. I wonder if it's worth it to try to track them down for 100%, or if I should just head on to the final boss battles.

There are maps that I used to help me try to track down the Items. Check the usual spots (Watering Hole, Training Chamber Access) in Chozo ruins:
http://metroid.retropixel.net/games/mprime/maps.php


I'm also in Torvus Bog in Echoes and I think I'm enjoying the place much more than I remembered. The layout is pretty badass. Whoever said there's not enough connectivity between areas is nuts. There's so much connections that it's easy to plot your way through.

Also the Boost Ball guardian was easier than I remembered. Who said it was difficult? The only thing that I could see people not know what to do was to go into morph ball mode and bomb his liquid form to get him to return to solid form.

But yeah, Aether is incredibly complex yet there's so much to it. Once you get the Dark Suit the Dark world becomes easier to tolerate as well. Also, if you're worried about beam ammo just remember to blast away those Caches in each room with the opposing beam to get lots of ammo that you shouldn't run out.

Echoes definitely feels like it has more polish and refinement than Prime. The Lore itself again is a major step up. Where as Prime's Lore felt kind of disjointed since you tended to get Lore in bits and pieces in non-chronological order. Here you can piece together the Lore of Aether pretty nicely and the writing is much better. The plight of the Luminoth feels real and you definitely get a sense of how long they've been at war with the Ing and that they were for all intents and purposes pretty much dead had Samus not arrived (the Ing no doubt had the Energy Controller at the Great Temple to take its power once they dealt with U-Mos, no doubt with the Alpha Splinter they were hatching there)

 

[FloweryMarston]

There are maps that I used to help me try to track down the Items. Check the usual spots (Watering Hole, Training Chamber Access) in Chozo ruins:
http://metroid.retropixel.net/games/mprime/maps.php


I'm also in Torvus Bog in Echoes and I think I'm enjoying the place much more than I remembered. The layout is pretty badass. Whoever said there's not enough connectivity between areas is nuts. There's so much connections that it's easy to plot your way through.

Also the Boost Ball guardian was easier than I remembered. Who said it was difficult? The only thing that I could see people not know what to do was to go into morph ball mode and bomb his liquid form to get him to return to solid form.

But yeah, Aether is incredibly complex yet there's so much to it. Once you get the Dark Suit the Dark world becomes easier to tolerate as well. Also, if you're worried about beam ammo just remember to blast away those Caches in each room with the opposing beam to get lots of ammo that you shouldn't run out.

Echoes definitely feels like it has more polish and refinement than Prime. The Lore itself again is a major step up. Where as Prime's Lore felt kind of disjointed since you tended to get Lore in bits and pieces in non-chronological order. Here you can piece together the Lore of Aether pretty nicely and the writing is much better. The plight of the Luminoth feels real and you definitely get a sense of how long they've been at war with the Ing and that they were for all intents and purposes pretty much dead had Samus not arrived (the Ing no doubt had the Energy Controller at the Great Temple to take its power once they dealt with U-Mos, no doubt with the Alpha Splinter they were hatching there)

Oh yeah, i love the luminoth and the game manages to make me really determined to save them. This is a thing that i am liking more than in prime. I never had the opportunity to save the chozo in tallon IV unfortunately, so having the chance to save an entire species that are as awesome as the bird people is really exciting.

I really hope we see more species in the future of the franchise, or even give a visit to the luminoth to ask for some badass tech.

 

[Verger]

Also I kind of almost feel bad for the Space Pirates in Echoes. When you read their Lore you get the impression that these guys are just utterly clueless in this scenario and have fallen really really hard since Prime. I mean their setup on Aether is such a shambles compared to their installations on Tallon.

They are so desperate for Phazon that they came to this planet and pretty much have come under fire on three fronts from the Ing, Dark Samus and then Samus. I like how their Lore gives the feeling of them going through privation of sorts since they're undermanned and under near constant attack with energy reserves failing and lots of their base jury-rigged together from spare parts, just like the Galactic Federation troopers' plight. Even going so far as to use those poor Tallon Metroids as a means of energy. (gotta love the scans which show that some Metroids were being kept as pets or being fed things which didn't agree with them)

Of course then you encounter the Pirate Commanders and their Dark counterparts and all pity goes out the window

 

[The Xtortionist]

Echoes is better than Corruption, i think, but i would need to replay it

although Corruption had the wiimote controls, rival battles and less artifact collection going for it,

I actually think Corruption has the strongest lineup of bosses in the series. Its best boss fights just don't top Echoes' very best.

 

[Verger]

I actually think Corruption has the strongest lineup of bosses in the series. Its best boss fights just don't top Echoes' very best.

Agreed. Corruption has the better lineup of Bosses. Echoes only has

Spoiler

Three "Bosses" and the Final Boss with several minibosses, and three Dark Samus fights

Echoes' Quadraxis however is the best boss in the series.

I mean, its reveal was just amazing. When you go through

Spoiler

the Light Aether Sanctuary Fortress you see its parts lying around the Temple and were never assembled. And then of course you eventually get to the Dark Temple and you see first-hand that the Ing built their own

 

[Solid SOAP]

I'm in Phendrana Drifts right now, searching for the

Spoiler

gravity suit

. This is the furthest I've ever gotten, and I absolutely love it. The world is so absolutely detailed, more than almost any game I've ever played. I'm not just talking visually (Although to this day it looks incredible), but the scanning function in this gsme... is so cool. I love learning about every minute detail I can, they let you scan more than just lore and enemies too, it's so impressive to find what you can about the world. I caught myself scanning FLOWERS today, and there was a whole description on how they're edible to certain bugs but harmful to people, among other things. I dunno, it's just great to play something with so much detail. You can really get lost in Tallon IV.

 

[Toxi]

Also the Boost Ball guardian was easier than I remembered. Who said it was difficult? The only thing that I could see people not know what to do was to go into morph ball mode and bomb his liquid form to get him to return to solid form.

Boost Guardian got significantly nerfed in trilogy. It really was a massive bitch in Echoes, especially in hard mode. Spider Guardian was also harder in the original game.

 

[K' Dash]

Boost Guardian got significantly nerfed in trilogy. It really was a massive bitch in Echoes, especially in hard mode. Spider Guardian was also harder in the original game.

Nerfed and all and the bastard killed me once, I finished this game 4 or 5 times on GC and don't remember having problems with any boss.

 

[Astral Dog]

One thing i remember not liking on Echoes bosses was that some of them were bigger versions of common enemies, its a minor complaint but i noticed.

 

[Dusk Soldier]

It's probably not worth it unless you use a guide. You'd have to crank your sound system up and sweep every room in the game, most likely.

Track that last Energy Tank, it will come in handy in the last boss, if you don't want to sweep the rooms then you could youtube the locations and I'm sure you'll recognize the one you're missing

If you decide to finish the game without 100%, youtube the 100% ending as it is the teaser / tie in for Prime 2.

There are maps that I used to help me try to track down the Items. Check the usual spots (Watering Hole, Training Chamber Access) in Chozo ruins:
http://metroid.retropixel.net/games/mprime/maps.php

Yeah, I decided to just use a guide. 100% achieved. I always felt that metroid prime Samus looked better than zero zuit Samus. I kind've wished that they had kept this look.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Also the Boost Ball guardian was easier than I remembered. Who said it was difficult? The only thing that I could see people not know what to do was to go into morph ball mode and bomb his liquid form to get him to return to solid form.

As was said, BBG's difficulty was nerfed, as was

Spoiler

Spider Ball Guardian's.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Agreed. Corruption has the better lineup of Bosses. Echoes only has

Spoiler

Three "Bosses" and the Final Boss with several minibosses, and three Dark Samus fights

Echoes' Quadraxis however is the best boss in the series.

I mean, its reveal was just amazing. When you go through

Spoiler

the Light Aether Sanctuary Fortress you see its parts lying around the Temple and were never assembled. And then of course you eventually get to the Dark Temple and you see first-hand that the Ing built their own

Echoes and Corruption are actually structured VERY similarly, including bosses and mini bosses

Spoiler

There are three giant areas with 2 sub bosses per area and one huge main boss.

. I feel it's the opposite though, Echoes has the better lineup while Corruption has the best individual ones. The first Prime had by far the weakest bosses.

Top five bosses in the series anyone?

Spoiler

1. Gandrayda
2. Quadraxis
3. Rundas
4. Meta Ridley (Corruption)
5. Spider Ball Guardian

 

[FloweryMarston]

Yeah, I decided to just use a guide. 100% achieved. I always felt that metroid prime Samus looked better than zero zuit Samus. I kind've wished that they had kept this look.

I like prime 1 samus too. prime 2 samus is strange, and i like prime 3 samus and think it's the best iteration of zss right now.

 

[mstevens]

Okay, just finished the first section of Prime 1. You guys were right. This trilogy is going to be amazing.

 

[The Xtortionist]

Top five bosses in the series anyone?

Spoiler

1. Gandrayda
2. Quadraxis
3. Rundas
4. Meta Ridley (Corruption)
5. Spider Ball Guardian

Why the hell not.

Spoiler

1. Quadraxis
2. Gandrayda
3. Dark Samus (Corruption)
4. Spider Ball Guardian
5. Chykka

I like prime 1 samus too. prime 2 samus is strange, and i like prime 3 samus and think it's the best iteration of zss right now.

Prime 1 Samus is the GOAT. She actually looks like she's been through some shit...which she has, with the whole "parents killed/raised by hippy bird people and infused with their DNA" thing. The supermodel look of Echoes/Zero Mission and later seems disingenuous to me given the character's backstory.

 

[Astral Dog]

All the Primes Samus look off, except on Hunters i suppose.

 

[chris3116]

Today, I replay my MP1 on my Metroid Prime Trilogy disk just to be with you. This game is still glorious. I still like better the wiimote controls over the GameCube controls.

 

[FloweryMarston]

wow boost guardian is giving me a hard time

EDIT: finished him off. Wow that was intense. And the GC version was even harder?

 

[K' Dash]

Prime 1 Samus is the GOAT. She actually looks like she's been through some shit...which she has, with the whole "parents killed/raised by hippy bird people and infused with their DNA" thing. The supermodel look of Echoes/Zero Mission and later seems disingenuous to me given the character's backstory.

I don't like barbie Samus, but it could be worse, the look in Prime is in line with Super Metroid, do we know who asked Retro to change her appearance?

 

[Ahnez]

wow boost guardian is giving me a hard time

EDIT: finished him off. Wow that was intense. And the GC version was even harder?

Yes, it was noticeable harder.

 

[Azure J]

Echoes and Corruption are actually structured VERY similarly, including bosses and mini bosses

Spoiler

There are three giant areas with 2 sub bosses per area and one huge main boss.

. I feel it's the opposite though, Echoes has the better lineup while Corruption has the best individual ones. The first Prime had by far the weakest bosses.

Top five bosses in the series anyone?

Spoiler

1. Gandrayda
2. Quadraxis
3. Rundas
4. Meta Ridley (Corruption)
5. Spider Ball Guardian

Spoiler

1. Emperor Ing: This boss (and I'm including his two phases) pretty much acted as the truest final exam to the Echoes experience possible. Each segment had you utilizing a different acquired functionality or tech from the arsenal. The fight even re-introduces the tension that was originally Dark Aether's goal via the second form (Chrysalis) through a mix of phazon enhanced dark aether climate/poison gas emitted from itself and changes the shape of the fight to another ingenious use of the morph ball. The final form gives us a fight full of athletics and a faster pace with the Mutated Emperor Ing's unstable heart polarity requiring a good sense of management to disable before harming it and its larger and more lithe form requiring more spacing and movement to overcome and suppress.

2. Quadraxis: To be honest, this was almost number one but I felt like the little thematic influences behind the Emperor Ing battle really pushed it over the top despite Quadraxis being a similar test of every ability you acquired up until that point. This fight is made even more tense considering that there is no Light Suit to defend you from Dark Aether's environment for the entirety of the fight. It is still one of my GOAT encounters in a game in all 20+ years of me playing games though, with the way that you just enter the arena to the scene of the figure in the near distance and have the elevator lower you to ground level so you get a sense of its scale relative to Samus' line of vision.

Then you get to be the kid who takes the Lego set apart piece by piece. It's fucking brilliant.

3. Meta Ridley (Corruption): BEST. RIDLEY. FIGHT. EVER. Stylish as all hell (you are falling down a generator shaft 30K meters above solid ground or whatever else [I should fall the whole distance down one time and see what's down there] fighting the returning Prime Ridley Gandalf v Balrog style all while avoiding Ridley's crafty ways of snacting you up and toying with you the whole ride down. He knows he can leave at any time thanks to him having wings and you know that you have to put him down immediately to prevent this. It leads to an interesting situation where Ridley is just trolling and you're just trying to put a stop to that. Also has what is my second favorite boss defeat animation in the series (behind the original GCN version of Samus getting the Phazon Suit out of the Omega Pirate's corpse in Prime 1). This fight was an early taste of what one of the GoAT controller options [r.i.p pointer controls] could do for games all while being a complete rush from start to finish.

The only thing I have to criticize it for was for making the later Ridley fight seem so boring. If only there could have been a switch between the two so this fight, now sequenced as the latter fight, would require more firepower/involved tactics/lasted longer. :lol

4. Dark Samus 2: In a similar vein to the above, Dark Samus 2 in Sanctuary Fortress was another one of those thrill ride fights where half the experience was in the scenario. Having a battle with yourself (no wait, that's wrong; this is more like it) up an elevator shaft in this crazy Blade Runner meets Tomorrowland environment as Dark Samus goes in for the kill with a far more matured combat repertoire?

There there's all the little nods to future (both by game date and position in the story line) Samus abilities rampant in Dark Samus' move set in this fight which include the Shinespark, Mockball, and Ice Missiles/Diffusion Missiles.

Did I also mention that the arena is a destructible environment that almost gives out completely during Dark Samus' assault?

Did I also forget to mention the immensely memorable introduction to this fight where you enter the base floor of a totally different area of Sanctuary Fortress somewhat isolated from the other zones and watch immediately as Ing possessed Dark Pirate Troopers fire at a figure that is seemingly offscreen before being completely #rekt by a piercing laser of Phazon which then cues Dark Samus into the screen, chuckling at their effort before going for chow time on the Phazon reserves?

Yep, this was a pretty awesome moment for that gen of gaming.

5. Rundas: DAT. MUSIC.

Despite being setup for the fall, I always felt like the Hunters that assisted Samus in Prime 3 were all very unique designs with really interesting lore behind themselves and as such, it kinda sucks that you knew pretty early on that you'd wind up murdering every one of them. Rundas' fight in particular is this awesome audio-visual festival though. The theme speaks to his documented pride and the sad fate about to be bestowed upon him despite the brilliance of the fight at hand. The actual fight is all about being nimble and trying to peg a guy zipping around hurling anything from annoying Lucy aiming at Charlie Brown accuracy speed shot snowballs to Antarctic sized glaciers at you all at a moment's notice. This fight was also really cool for showing that some of the game's designers still came from that Echoes state of mind with how you had to manage stunning him, running towards him to pull off his icicle battle armor them shoot at his exposed body. It would have been neat if you had a segment where you had to rappel off him or haul him off an ice floe as he traveled around the stage, but that's just me and my desire to see the technicality/complexity of the fight increased.

Runner Up: Spider Ball Guardian/Harmony Class Drone

Yeah, I know some call foul on this one because he does stupid damage in the GCN version and the high damage glare effect was kind of rough leading to situations where you'd lose stupid amounts of health and even die without realizing it, but the overall idea of a boss battle like this is nothing short of inspired.

On the other hand, the Harmony Class Drone is an exciting fight done from an entirely different angle while still adhering to the "innards of a pinball machine turned death trap" design. The way the fight ramps up with each ascension upward is so cool and I will never get tired of boost ball launching off spider ball tracks.

 

[Solid SOAP]

All the Primes Samus look off, except on Hunters i suppose.

I'm partial to her look in Prime 1 at the end. Strong, determined, not overly sexualized for no reason. Perfect.

 

[dLMN8R]

Just beat prime 1! Meta Ridley in Prime 1 is so annoying. Not difficult at all, it's just not consistent when you can hurt him and when you can't. So it just dragged on forever.

Onto Echoes! As soon as I finish episode 5 of The Wolf Among Us at least