• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Reliving the party: Metroid Prime

A

Ark-AMN

Banned
Its been a while since I played this game and I wanted to go back and relive the memories, and boy, it still is an amazing piece of art (yes, I think its art). Gameplay aside, as an artist and designer, I'm floored by the amount of detail that was put into this game by Retro.

Even looking at the first section in the Frigate (which most people don't like for some reason) I'm amazed at all the modeling details placed here and there, the wires and pipes sticking out every which way and of course, the texture work is nothing short of impressive, especially considering that they didn't have access to the fancy techniques being used today like normal or displacement maps. Nope, they acheived "fake" depth in the walls with textures alone and thats a special thing indeed. All the animated textures are also incredibly well done and detailed too, and it makes me jealous because I want to know how to make animated textures like they did. :D

Not to mention of course they got it all running at a consistent 60fps. Even if the Revolution is underpowered than 360 or PS3, I have faith that Retro will be able to pull off some amazing stuff on it, makes me so very eager for E3.
 
whatever the snow level was called in metroid prime (i forget the name now) was the most memorable moment of videogaming for me this generation. made my jaw drop when i first walked out into that part and saw it and heard the music.
 
One of the greatest surprises this gen. And this is coming from a previous "NO METROID SHOULD STAY 2D FU ALL" standpoint. It's amazing in everyway*. And no matter how many times I replay it, it still wows me.

*It's not widescreen. Which makes me sad.
 
Great experience.

I don't want to use the term "game" when talking about MP because it feels like a cheap means of describing something that, for a few weeks of my life, was one fantastic experience.


It is in rare (no pun) company this gen..only a few like MGS2/3, Ico, and RE4 have approached it IMO.
 
Metroid Prime provided just about everything I could have asked for in a videogame.

Immersion, challenge, fun, polish, and artistic (as well as visual) spledour. Very few games get all these key elements right, yet Metroid Prime scored big in each one every one of them, and that created an experience which happens to be the best one I've ever had when playing a videogame.

What makes and what will make Metroid Prime age so well compared to many other titles this gen is the artistic direction and the attention to detail, every room, every corridor, ever locale has something to tell, it creates a sense of awe and wonder few games can match. (Ico SOTC and Zelda OOT seem to be a few others capable of the same effect)

Metroid Prime isn't the biggest technical marvel this gen, but based on its art style alone, i believe it belongs in the top 5 best looking games this gen despite it being released just a year into the GC's lifespan. Simply incredible.
 
Game of the Generation :) (although Twilight Princess...)

Metroid Prime is an absolute masterpiece. I love everything about it from the stunning playability and beautiful visuals to the amazing soundtrack.

The atmosphere the game creates of this cold, hostile, once filled with life, planet is stunning. I also loved the transition from 2d Metroid to 3d, it was perfect. The story not being rammed down your throat was another brilliant aspect of the game. So many games these days force you to live through mind numbingly tedious amounts of narrative it's a relief some developers allow the player to get on with the most important thing, playing the game.

Retro and Nintendo should be commended for creating a truly stellar game!

Roll on Metroid Prime 3 :D
 
I was so so close to not playing this game. I first played the game and decided, for some reason, that the controller set up was a load of bollox. Thankfully, my friend (radioheadrule83 here on gaf) made me play it again, and I loved every second of the game.

Ned Flanders said:
Great experience.

I don't want to use the term "game" when talking about MP because it feels like a cheap means of describing something that, for a few weeks of my life, was one fantastic experience.

It is in rare (no pun) company this gen..only a few like MGS2/3, Ico, and RE4 have approached it IMO.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. I am not a regular console gamer but every once in a while a console (usually nintendo) game will draw me in and consume numerous weeks of my life. Before Metroid, Half Life & Zelda where the only franchise I would obsese over and could turn me in to a Hermit.


Also, its well worth playing Metroid Prime for the music alone, in particular the Frigate section of the game.
 
GOTG!

(Game of the Gamecube!)

Wonderful experience as Nerd Flanders said.

Phendrana Drifts for the motherfucking win.

Meta Ridley, Omega Pirate, Thardus, Metroid Prime, Flaghraa.

Unbelievably good game.
 
Metroid Prime >>>> Metroid Prime 2.

Just recently I have returned to play Metroid Prime 2 (after beating Metroid Prime for second time, I love to replay my games with months of distance) and in the general game design the second game is worse experience than the first.
 
My game of the generation. Seems Retro managed to suck most of the fun out of MP2E though. And coupled with the Revmote which might steer the gameplay towards an even greater emphasis on shooting and most likely less than impressive graphics (compared to PS3/X360), I don't know if I should be excited about MP3. Of course we all doubted Retro before, but still.

Anyway I made a new video of my fight against Metroid Prime on Hard with minimum items (only 99 energy, 5 rockets etc.) two weeks ago. Get it here (60FPS @ full res so it weighs in at 250MB, 14m38s long). It's not perfect but hey it's been a long time since I played the game. I remember Omega Pirate on Hard/minimum being muuuch harder for me though, god that was a nightmare. Meta Ridley fight (but not hard/minimum) is also in that folder.
 
Loved it. that final boss fight was wicked hard though. I persevered and got an ok ending
where she wasn't wearing her helmet or something
 
If I am being honest, which I am, I really did not like MP at all. The production values were fantastic, but I found the exploration boring and the interface/control scheme rather clunky. I respect the game for what it is, and the popular opinion is that it was a masterpiece. But for myself personally, it is not a game that I will ever touch again.
 
It's a fantastic game that will be mentioned in every credible list done of the best last gen had to offer. Easily the single best title released in 2002. Just a shame that Echoes did a really poor job of following up. Hopefully with MP3 we get back to a world as compelling as Talon 4 was.
 
2001 GOTY - Halo.

Bungie reinvented the FPS genre with Halo. Taking an old style of game, giving it shiny new physics, combined with great multiplayer and single player....it made it one of the best games of all time and an amazing expierence. I played FPS before but nothing like this.

Apparently developers didn't catch on to Halo and crap like Turok was released by 3rd party.

2002 GOTY - Metroid Prime.

Leading up to this my brain was on "Its going to be like Halo / Cannot be Super Metroid good". While it would have been cool to play a game like Halo again, Metroid has never been one of those type of games and was kind of afraid.

Simply put...Retro created possibly a game better than Super Metroid in most opinions by taking everything good about Metroid and keeping it intact. The game is simply beautiful to watch someone play as well. Never before have I been sucked into an expierence like this and reminded me how good a great game can make you feel.

Basically put, these two years for gaming were some of the best thanks to these two games.
 
Metroid Prime is my favourite Gamecube game.

I wasn't even a proper Metroid fan before this game; but since playing it I've gone back to play all the others and I love it almost as much as Zelda.
 
SanjuroTsubaki said:
2001 GOTY - Halo.

Bungie reinvented the FPS genre with Halo. Taking an old style of game, giving it shiny new physics, combined with great multiplayer and single player....it made it one of the best games of all time and an amazing expierence. I played FPS before but nothing like this.
Click to expand...

You mean the FPS genre for consoles right?
 
Easily the best game I've played this gen, one of my favorite games of all time. Great to see the good taste preceding me in this thread.
 
I agree with the OP, MP rocks your socks!

That said let's give some love to MP2. While the world design left a little to be desired....

the bosses man the bosses!!! So many inventive and cool boss fights using every ability that Samus had! I can't believe nobody ever brings this up!

Not only that, but some of the morph ball puzzles to get items were devious and quite fun. A great diversion from the rest of the game!

If you loved MP, and avoided or stopped playing MP2 for whatever reason, you owe it to yourself to slog thru the tedious parts to fight some of the best bosses of this gen.
 
Metroid Prime has the best leveldesign this generation.


Waiting for the halo fanboys to thrash talk the controls in prime.( IT'S NOT DUALANALOGUE = IT'S NOT PLAYABLE.)
 
Wonderfully fantastic game, from the music to the boss fights the entire game was extremely polished. You could tell from the beginning to the end that a lot of love went into the making of the game.


On a side note I really don't understand all the hate surrounding Echoes. With the exception of the music, the game was on par with Prime in every facet. There weren't as many memorable boss fights, but overall I thought the level design was actually better than Prime. I especially loved the implmentation of the gravity boots.
 
LegendofJoe said:
Wonderfully fantastic game, from the music to the boss fights the entire game was extremely polished. You could tell from the beginning to the end that a lot of love went into the making of the game.


On a side note I really don't understand all the hate surrounding Echoes. With the exception of the music, the game was on par with Prime in every facet. There weren't as many memorable boss fights, but overall I thought the level design was actually better than Prime. I especially loved the implmentation of the gravity boots.
Click to expand...


The only real fault with Echoes, IMO, was that shifting back and forth between Light and Dark worlds were a little tedious. I guess the way you're required to tread carefully in the Dark world was largely to blame for the tedium. If not for that, Echoes would've easily been preferrable to Prime for me. As of now, when I want to play 3D Metroid, I have to choose between "nature walk with sprinkled shootouts" and "boss attack with added salt."
 
I'm replaying Echoes right now, and I'm actually going to beat the last boss this time. It's awesome stuff. The first time I played it, I went through the entire game in three days to meet a review deadline. It's nice to be able to take my time on it now.
 
tied for GOTG with RE4 imo

simply amazing, one of the most atmospheric game I've ever play the introduction is amazing it was like being in a Alien movie or something like that, then Phendrana, the bosses, the music I could keep going on and on... that's how good this game is.
 
Tip: check your local TRU. I knew that MP2: Echoes was $10, but I didn't know that the stores were absolutely loaded down with black-label copies of MP1 for $10.
 
Pretty much everything about MP has been said already. The graphics, the art, the music, the design, everything is just so well done in this game that it was impossible for me to give it anything less than game of the generation. Hell I think it's the greatest game ever made. Echoes, while a great game in its own right, paled in comparison to its predecessor. I can't quite describe why, but it just didn't grab me as much as MP did although the Sanctuary Fortress is the greatest level ever made along with one of the best bosses, Quadraxis.
 
junkster said:
the bosses man the bosses!!! So many inventive and cool boss fights using every ability that Samus had! I can't believe nobody ever brings this up!

Not only that, but some of the morph ball puzzles to get items were devious and quite fun. A great diversion from the rest of the game!

If you loved MP, and avoided or stopped playing MP2 for whatever reason, you owe it to yourself to slog thru the tedious parts to fight some of the best bosses of this gen.
Click to expand...

QFT.

MP2 was a step back in level design (even though it balanced the morph ball mechanics much better... bet it in design or boss battles) but I thought it packed an even more old school metroid atmosphere than MP did. And fighting Chykka Adult was the best bosss batlte I experienced all gen, simply incredible. Echoes isn't as bad as some people make it seem. I loved it, my 2004 GOTY infact.

Systems_id said:
Hell I think it's the greatest game ever made.
Click to expand...

You and me, man. :D
 
No Halo dual analog am cry! No, I kid, I kid. The control was a bit difficult, having played a number of dual analogs and not touched a Goldeneye style control scheme in a while, but I got over it in time.

The Drifts: badass. The puzzles were fantastic. That first little hub world in the rain when you land on the planet, like a subtle nod to SuperMetroid: gaming brilliance. Boss battles: fucking hard at first, but still memorable. How the managed the ball mechanics and the first person mechanics and the consistancy is insane...I'm jealous of them.

Great game. I second it for Game of the Gamecube.
 
Metroid Prime = Easily one of the best games this generation.

Echoes = I'm about 10% away from finishing the game, and some things before getting the light suit was cumbersome and frustrating for nothing.

Some examples:

- It happened to me TWICE that I couldn't get out of a room because it required the light/dark beam. Of course, I ran out of ammo for those particular doors, there was one plant/enemy left to get that ammo, but it didn't give me one. Couldn't get out and got stuck, so I had to reset the game.

- I found that the lock-on isn't working as well as the first MP for some reasons, it might be me, but sometimes I would hold the button for a specific enemy but it would switch to another one.

- After defeating Quadraxis, didn't have much energy after the battle so the dark world was draining my energy. Went to the wrong door, had to backtrack to the other one but it was too late, and died in the process so I had to replay from the last save (and fight the boss again).

So yeah, pretty much the big flaw of MP2 is the light/dark worlds, without it the game would be much, much better.
 
LegendofJoe said:
On a side note I really don't understand all the hate surrounding Echoes. With the exception of the music, the game was on par with Prime in every facet. There weren't as many memorable boss fights, but overall I thought the level design was actually better than Prime. I especially loved the implmentation of the gravity boots.
Click to expand...
I thought the boss fights were even more memorable than in the first game. And anything having to do with the Morph Ball blew MP1 out of the water.
It's just that the world was far more tedious to trek through because of less interconnected elevators and because of the existence of Dark Aether, there was less variety in enemies (there are, what, maybe all of five or six different enemies in all the time you spend in Dark Aether?), some enemies had stupidly inflated health (the invisible Space Pirates, those blob things in Dark Aether with the tentacles), and having to watch that world-switching animation for the forty-sixth time got mind-numbing.
 
The Main Event said:
- It happened to me TWICE that I couldn't get out of a room because it required the light/dark beam. Of course, I ran out of ammo for those particular doors, there was one plant/enemy left to get that ammo, but it didn't give me one. Couldn't get out and got stuck, so I had to reset the game.
Click to expand...
:lol You can always squeeze out a shot by charging, even when you have no ammo :)
 
The Main Event said:
Some examples:

- It happened to me TWICE that I couldn't get out of a room because it required the light/dark beam. Of course, I ran out of ammo for those particular doors, there was one plant/enemy left to get that ammo, but it didn't give me one. Couldn't get out and got stuck, so I had to reset the game.
Click to expand...

Try charging up the light/dark beam when you run out of ammo to fire a single shot. ;)

Edit: beaten.
 
The Main Event said:
- It happened to me TWICE that I couldn't get out of a room because it required the light/dark beam. Of course, I ran out of ammo for those particular doors, there was one plant/enemy left to get that ammo, but it didn't give me one. Couldn't get out and got stuck, so I had to reset the game.
Click to expand...

Should have read the instruction manual dude. You would have known that you can't run out of ammo. When you run down to 0, all of you have to do is charge the gun! You'll get a regular weak blast so you can get thru the doors even if you're empty.

EDIT: You guys all suck because you beat me to it lol
 
Echoes was also a great game, but there were problems.

The level design was not as great. With the exception of Sanctuary Fortress, the other areas (swamp, desert) were pretty bland and uninteresting, and of course, the dark world really didn't add anything design wise and the art was mainly re-textured geometry with some minor alterations to the levels.

Again, the lack of areas was a problem since there were only four distinct areas with corresponding dark worlds.

Again, one thing I'm looking foward to Metroid Prime 3 is the return of diverse and interesting areas, especially if the teaser is hinting at what I think its hinting and you'll be able to explore multiple worlds.
 
Incredible game. Maybe/probably the best level design ever. Detail unparalleled (well the sequel). Just. Fucking. Awesome.
 
Man, I just got back up to Phendrana and remembered what was so great about it. The environment is so serene and yet so dangerous too, and the music in the background really brings the sense of isolation home.

Again, I'm so jealous of the modelers and texture artists who helped make this game. Their skills are to be praised for their work in making the game look so damn good for its time and it still holds up well today again despite the lack of the "flashy" effects that are being used now (normal, parallax, displacement mapping).
 
Ark-AMN said:
Man, I just got back up to Phendrana and remembered what was so great about it. The environment is so serene and yet so dangerous too, and the music in the background really brings the sense of isolation home.
Click to expand...

Yup that sums up my thoughts on the game. It just oozes so much atmosphere it's not even funny.
 
Great game... horrible, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE battle music. The first few times the battle music kicks in once enemies are in the near vicinity, it's cool. The next hundred times, not so much.
 
Good game that I have no desire to ever play again, unlike the 2D Metroids. It started great, tailed off, but ended very well.
 
One thing I enjoyed that a lot of people didn't was the scanning. I dunno, but I always enjoy reading about items or details within the game that most other games don't even give a hoot about (like, why is there a geo-thermal base in Magmoor Caverns? Its because the Space Pirates' main Dynamo was becoming unstable, or all the information in the Frigate about the Parasite Queen's escape and the events that led to the ship's evacuation pre-Samus' arrival).

I sure hope they continue this in MP3, even if for some reason, people don't care for it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Metroid Prime 4 disappointment
Opinion  2 3
129
4K
cinnamonandgravy replied
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond The Launch Streams
25
945
Buggy Loop replied
Metroid Prime 4 Cross Gen
2
62
1K
daninthemix replied
  • Poll
The Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Metacritic/Opencritic prediction score thread
2
96
3K
Moses85 replied
Metroid Prime 4 is an Embarrassment to the Human Race (Synthetic Man Warning)
2
83
1K
March Climber replied
Top Bottom