When the trilogy ended 9 years ago but you're so hungry for content that you watch reviews and then someone comes along and uploads an HOUR analysis yayayayayay lol
In-fucking-deed! This is the one franchise I could hear people talk about for hours on end. Prime 4 will be the one game that'll make me buy a Nintendo Switch, just like how all those years ago it made me buy my GameCube.
Of course there are other games on my wish-list for the Switch: - Super Smash Bros Ultimate - Octopath Traveler - Zelda, Breath of the Wild - Super Mario Odyssey - Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee - The main-series Pokémon game that has yet to be announced And many more if possible. Metroid is just 1 of a few reasons for me to buy a console but I was mainly waiting for the price of the console to drop. The announcement of MP4 has given me reason to wait some more.
Cool! Hope I didn't sound rude or anything, its just that I always hear 'I'm waiting for Metroid before I get a Switch' and I never get if they mean its just for the one game or not. You have a nice list there, and from my experience I can tell you that BOTW, Odyssey and Octopath Traveller are super awesome games, especially BOTW, probably one of my favorite games of all time, alongside the original prime of course!
A lot of people talks about Metroid Prime, but only a few of them really understands why this game is so legendary. This was an interesting and well made analysis. Thank you.
I discovered this video when someone posted on his Zelda BotW video hoping he'd cover Metroid Prime, only for a comment to point them to this video. I was curious so I checked this out and wow, this video is incredibly well-done!
"Excessive Backtracking" after the Boost Ball is actually not an issue; when you leave Phendrana, you can either go back all the way on the path you came through Magmoor and the Ruins, or go out the other ground-level floor in the Magmoor Workstation and through a tunnel to a new elevator which takes you straight back to the Tallon Overworld via the Root Tunnel, which empties into the room where you're expected to use the Boost Ball and acquire the Space Jump Boots. All you have to do in the sequence is keep going through Magmoor. Incidentally that's the fastest way back too.
Excellent work! Your videos are always very impressive and and well produced. I was worried at first when I noticed you were covering the game's events chronologically, I've noticed a lot of people have trouble doing that properly. It seems like an easy format for a review or analysis, inheriting the structure of the game to tack on an easily understandable structure to the video, and it's the go-to method for most folks, but it's very hard to get right. You nailed it though man. 53 minutes flew by. The casual progression through the game's various events mixed in with the critiques and discussions of particular mechanics that were presented as they were encountered felt very natural. You've got a superb presentation man, really enjoyed it. With limited experience with Metroid Prime (only Corruption for me...), I was still able to follow and it was cool to see how different the pacing of the first game was when compared to the last. Man, good job!
The linear structure was a concern for me, and I realised about half way through the project that it was a very impractical way to review something. Definitely going to work on the structure next time, but I'm happy to hear that you didn't mind the linear pace of the review. Really glad to hear you enjoyed the video! Thank you for your kind words :)
I wouldn't mind seeing a proper remaster of this as a Switch launch title as a way of reintroducing old players with the game style and the universe, as well as drawing new players in.
Metroid Prime is my favourite game of all time, I've played it more times than I can count at this point. However, I never noticed that Samus' hand position matches the Beam Icons when you're using the Xray Visor. It's embarrassing but also awesome to still be able to discover something new about this game after all these years.
That's what makes this game so wonderful in my opinion. I didn't notice the hand positions until a second playthrough, and it was a great little surprise that added a bit more flavour to the game. Goes to show that even if you have a 100% complete file, there are still little things hiding in the nooks and crannies of the game.
I totally agree! It's the small details that really resonate that make the game so enjoyable! Maybe one day you'll do a review for Echoes and Corruption (it would be cool to hear your thoughts) :D
There's an entry at the beginning of this game that explains how the hunter took down the main research outpost on Zebes and how after it was destroyed, three research ships escaped. I always thought that there were two of these ships. the tutorial at the beginning and the one that sank into the lake on the over world. it never occurred to me that they would be the same ship.
Excellently written. I think you meant Miyamoto said that no morph ball, no Metroid. Other than that, very vivid and descriptive details. Did you know that you can bomb jump up the rails in the giant room of Magmoor Caverns spider rail puzzles? It saves quite a bit of time. There's all sorts of little sequence breaking tricks like that in the game.
Very in-depth video. I like how you explored the lore, and didn't just shrug the game off as having no story, like a lot of people do. Although I've heard the lore was actually changed for the Wii U version, which was the version I played. I also heard the veteran difficulty in that was the same as normal on the GameCube. But I don't know if that's definitive. I didn't think the combat was as competent as you did, and was too reliant on lock on, but it did offer improvements over the 2D instalments, and served its purpose adequately.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the video. Yeah, the Prime Trilogy edition had quite a few changes made to it mainly because there were a few big changes between the PAL and NTSC versions of the GameCube game where the lore was concerned. I think the Trilogy version uses the lore found in the PAL version of the gamecube game, although I'm not 100% certain on that. The difficulty choices in the Wii version are slightly misleading as you said. "Normal" is actually an entirely new difficulty that is easier than the GameCube release. Veteran is the regular difficulty and then Hard is the Gamecube's hard mode. Bit of a strange decision in my opinion, haha. I think the reliance on lock-on is a side-effect of the way movement in Prime is handled. Since the left analogue stick controls all directions (as opposed to the right+left configuration that's now standard FPS fare) there's a lot of accuracy lost. You can't aim up or down unless you're standing still and holding the right shoulder button, so the lock-on provides a way to reliably hit enemies whilst keeping the flow of movement if you're rushing through an area. Definitely isn't the smoothest combat system out there, but I think it really makes the most out of the control scheme. Thanks for taking the time to watch the review. Glad you found it interesting :)
PointZ3RO That actually does make sense. I heard the lore of the PAL version was more based around religion than science, which some people didn't like. But I wouldn't know, as I've only played that version. I replayed the game on veteran after already playing it on normal, just so I could experience a more definitive version of its difficulty. It wasn't really much harder. But some bosses did soak up a lot more damage. I'm not sure if I'd prefer the GameCube control scheme over the Wii. Maybe the GC version's is better, as it doesn't seem designed for free aim at all. Thanks for responding in an in-depth manner.
I can speak to this. Having played through both versions of the game multiple times (it being in my top 5 games of all time) I would say that the Wii controls greatly enhance the experience. While I understood, and didn't have a problem with, the original control scheme, it can certainly be frustrating. The Wii controls do nothing but add to the experience, while still keeping in place the fantastic lock on mechanic that makes those bee/bird type creatures (forgive me I forgot what they're called) such a joy to take out. This game is such an epic masterpiece. I've got a buddy who recently bought a Wii-U to play the new Zelda and am trying to convince him to drop $20 on the trilogy. He somehow never played this. He's hesitant due to how old it is, and while I think he's an idiot, I do also believe this needs an HD remake. This game would look quite blurry on a 4K set, even with the widescreen enhancement it was given for the Wii.
Thank you. Glad that you enjoyed. I've been watching your videos for a little while now and your content is awesome, surprised to see that you commented here haha. I appreciate the kind words :)
I've watched your videos several times now and something I noticed recently is that the Thardus fight uses the piano keys of Phendrana as its core melody. However it's much more frantic, fitting the atmosphere of the fight. In addition the melody continuously gets drowned out by the harsh synths. Maybe I'm reaching but this could be telling a story of the Phazon (the synths) corrupting the docile wildlife of Phendrana (the piano keys). Regardless, I hope you find the time and or effort to return to this channel someday. Your work hasn't gone unnoticed.
Nicely written. This game consumed many hours of my childhood. I never did beat it until I was an adult but I always had fun fighting until I couldn't find the artifacts. It's cool to see someone review Metroid Prime as thoroughly as I remember each part of it. I thought for sure no one on earth elaborate this game more than I, but I was wrong. The groundbreaking (at the time) visuals of each unique area are forever ingrained in my head. I still play that game from time to time, for the nostalgia and because it's just flat-out addicting for some reason. I watched this video a while back, but now that I have an account, I figured you deserved an extra thumbs-up. Keep it up.
I watched the whole thing, it's a good and detailed review. Metroid Prime is by far my favorite game of all times and I would love to have Retro Studios making a 4th or even a new trilogy. This type of game is rare to come by and when they do, they become part of our lives that we proudly like to to go back to and remember. I was the two types of players you described, back when I was only a teenager playing this game for the first time it was a rental and I didn't speak english, so I just appreciated the exploration style and enjoying the cut-scenes and the challenges some parts offered. A few years later when I bought this game I could speak/understand english and I enjoyed thoroughly to scan everything and feed off this extensive lore, carefully paying attention to every little detail, every bit of information I could get. Metroid Prime is a masterpiece, a game that was ahead of its time when it came out.
I agree, a good Metroid-type game is a rarity. The kind of exploration-driven gameplay is becoming a lot more common in 2D platformers now (Ori & The Blind Forest, Guacamelee, Outland etc.), but I'm always holding out for a truly great first-person adaption. I think the first person perspective adds so much to the immersion. A 4th entry in the trilogy would be perfect. Thanks for watching :)
Great review. However you are wrong about one important point: difficulty is at the core of Metroid. This is what made the first one so popular: challenge. Not just the challenge in exploration, but in arcade-like action skills.
I'm currently writing the script for Echoes, so expect that to drop in a few months or so. I plan on covering the Trilogy, so it's good to hear you're interested :)
Hearing the voice over in the intro is really strange and jarring. Since we didn't have this in the American version. I definitely prefer the no voice over version
Are you going to do the same thing for Metroid Prime 2, 3 and maybe Other M? I would love to hear your opinion the Other M since the game is always criticized... Anyway, amazing video!
I definitely want to cover the trilogy in the future. It's my favourite game series, and I'd love to share my thoughts on it all. As for Other M, I haven't actually played it. I own the game, but the waves of terrible things said about it always put me off playing it. I need to be in the right mindset to assess Other M and try not to let the extremely negative bias sway my opinion of it. Cheers for watching. Happy you enjoyed :)
It's probably worth playing when you finish the Prime videos just to give a proper assessment of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Loved the video, by the way, and I'd love if you followed it up with the other two games.
If you do cover Metroid Prime 2 then I hope you cover the idea that the game was rushed THREE MONTHS when it was only THIRTY PERCENT completed...even I can't believe the game, despite it's flaws, is still a solid game.
Other M is a serious contender for worst game that is abjectly broken, but it looks like Final Fantasy XV will usurp it from that position in a few days.
The narrator guy always surprises me. Not only is he absent from the NA release but it makes the scenes he narrates a bit worse, in my opinion. As for beams, I don't find the ice beam or wave beam very helpful at all besides the forced use of them on Beam Troopers. Echoes makes this a bit better because the Dark and Light beams are superior to the Power beam but use ammo. And Corruption just does away with switching beams altogether since each new beam is a straight upgrade. Overall this was a really good video and I look forward to the Corruption one.
This narrator is messing with my head. I've always known the game to have a narrator at the beginning (and announcing the Impact Crater). I've looked into the mysterious absence of the narrator in other versions of the game extensively and I cannot find a concrete answer as to why he's missing. My only guess is that he's present in some PAL versions but not all, and completely absent in all NTSC versions. Not sure why, but there we are. The differences between the PAL and NTSC versions of Metroid Prime are worth a video all on its own. The narrator is just one of many omissions in the NTSC version. The Metroid wikia has a list of all the differences and it's an interesting read; highly recommend you check it out.
first of all, excellent video, something tells me you may have seen matthewmatosis's stuff. a very well written, narrated and edited video on all counts. one question: how did you rapid fire the missiles?
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :) The missile rapid fire is something I learnt watching speedruns of the game, and it's something of an exploit. If you hold the C-stick up whilst you're firing the missiles, it resets the arm canon so you can fire another missile pretty much immediately. It makes a few boss fights much easier, but I like to use it when backtracking to get rid of enemies faster. No idea if it's an intentional hidden technique, but it's a neat trick nonetheless.
I was surprised to find out it was cut from other versions. Couldn't seem to find a reason for it either, it's just... not there. Strange decision, really. I really think it adds to the experience. 4 or 5 minutes of mysterious narration do wonders to make the game feel like a story that we're experiencing.
I thought I was the only one who knew about breaking the Metriods tubes and attacking Space Pirates :P thats awesome lol, keep up the great work man this video was awesome.
how do I get my hands on the Prime Trilogy without buying some old crappy console? You think it will be released on Switch? I really loved the first Prime but I never played 2 or 3 and I really want to. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated! :)
If you own a Wii U, it's available on the eShop for a very reasonable price. You can also buy a physical copy of the Trilogy since the Wii U runs Wii games but it goes for some crazy prices these days.
12:10 Shingeru Miyamoto didn't say the morph ball would have to be scrapped, he said the whole game would have to be scrapped, you can't have a Metroid Game without the Morph Ball. That's like a Legend of Zelda game without the Bow or Boomerang. 46:21 do you know why the Temple delivers the final blow? It says in the lore. Something to the effect of "those who honor our relics shall know our blessing. Those who deface our relics shall know our wrath". Ridley spent a lot of that fight wrecking the totems.
I always regarded it as a one-off (and the 2D Metroid games before it mere influences upon it). It's Alice in Wonderland. It's Banjo Kazooie. You can do sequels if you must but they're too late to the party, just like Samus is late to the Chozo civilisation party. it's about setting up an elegantly mysterious blend of level design, incidental effects, a subtle blend of the arcadey and the adventure genre and the platform genre. Sequels, even when trying not to go stereotypically 'bigger and better' always specialise in something e.g. light and dark world- it kills the organic feel of the original. Also , the huge scale and heavy atmosphere of subsequent games such as Half Life 2, Bioshock, Uncharted, The Last Guardian means that it isn't as easy now to convey a sense of quiet architectural majesty. Metroid Prime was actually very well DIRECTED in terms of when and where things appear, colour scheme, details , use of level design. It cannot be easily replicated in the Metroid series itself, particularly when it isn't taken in to account that the novelty of MP is partly that a game set in space could be treat like a game set on earth - moving, scary, historical. It had an environmental , atmospheric, elegance that subsequent Metroid games don't and maybe now can't because it was something of the time - 2002. It was close enough in year of release to Perfect Dark for some people to even enjoy it as a kind of Joanna Dark Archeology Adventure. Metroid Prime is such a great game that, to me, it's also it's own full stop. I wish that Retro had become a bit more like Team Ico and tried making other games with other mechanics.
I originally played this on the GameCube...then I got the Trilogy on the Wii and have played it several times on the Wii. I'm gonna have to go back and play the GC version again. Great reviews, btw...any more coming in the future?
Terrific, terrific review. My only problem with the game is the backtracking. I loved collecting all the upgrades but the lack of fast travel points took away from the gaming experience. I never wanna feel like I'm waisting my time gaming(some people would say you are ALWAYS waisting your time gaming 😂😂😂😂 :p )
Well all the Metroid games is an action adventure genre that's focus on non-linear & there will be at times that u need to backtrack. But in a good execution or an good reason to backtrack & as long as it's fun and not having something irritating or annoying or even optional that doesn't make it fun. Prime 1 is a example of an good backtrack for it's execution & an reasons and it's still fun. I don't have am issue in Prime 1 because mostly I just really enjoying the game cause it compelled & constructed really well.
As a kid I really didn't follow any of the story at all so I would lose interest in exploring this game...it gets repetitive after a while and I would almost rather watch someone play it because of how cool it looks without taking responsibility for completing it myself. It is quite a peculiar type of game for me personally. I enjoyed it for the first five or six hours or so that I played it...and then I suddenly wasn't enjoying it anymore and I couldn't go back.... I think that once I needed a break from the game the whole experience was over for me...no story I was following...wasn't keeping track of where I needed to go anymore and where I needed to go back to...everything about the combat becoming easy...I don't know. Not remembering where I needed to go next or where I should go back to was a real deal breaker...made the game suddenly boring.
It's a bit frustrating to read and watch reviews of Metroid Prime, because it seems it either goes overboard with praising the game for ambiguous qualities such as ''atmosphere'', or harshly critiquing the game for not playing like a contemporary FPS. So, it's nice to see something closer to objectivity. I think you did a good job going through the game and giving opinions on events, designs and mechanics. In particular, bringing up the story told through logbook entries and how it's up to the player whether or not to view it was great. It's such an underrated feature of the game, in my opinion and really, really makes replaying the game more enjoyable than it would have been with more cutscenes. Being a Metroid game, it obviously encourages replays by giving you a % and time rating at the end, but this is a more subtle way to do it. Though I wish there was some more critique where I think it's due. For example, I think the platforming is one of the weakest parts of the game, being very basic in terms of challenge, but occasionally frustrating due to the first-person perspective. It can be hard to judge where you are in relation to the platform you're trying to get up on and having to stop, aim down and lock your aim to get a more favourable perspective breaks the flow. Retro Studios probably knew that first-person platforming wouldn't work well with the pace and control scheme of Prime, and that's why they made it so basic. There is also a problem with combat that's caused with the perspective. Most notable during the fight against Meta Ridley and the Omega Pirate. It can be really hard to keep track of hazards, projectiles and enemies while locked onto the boss and in the case of Meta Ridley, who bombards the player with explosives covering a fairly large area, it's nearly impossible to dodge this while staying locked, but locking onto him is the only way to use the dodge ability. You mentioned that he doesn't do much damage, and I'm sure this is the reason why. You are at such a disadvantage that the enemy has to hold back or risk frustrating the player. I'm bringing this up because Metroid Prime is probably my favourite game so far, but I think it would be interesting to speculate how the game would have played had it been in third-person instead. Not only would it be closer to the 3 games preceding it, but it would mediate the issues with platforming and combat and could potentially allow for both areas to offer more interesting challenges. However, this could bring up other issues with the camera, especially in smaller areas. Just an idea.
Metroid Prime would be a lot scarier if it came straight at you and did a ton of its damage to you by getting right on top of you forcing you to run away and dodge it....that would make it a scary fight.
When the trilogy ended 9 years ago but you're so hungry for content that you watch reviews
and then someone comes along and uploads an HOUR analysis
yayayayayay lol
lol stumbled upon my own comment
PRIME 4 BABY
In-fucking-deed! This is the one franchise I could hear people talk about for hours on end.
Prime 4 will be the one game that'll make me buy a Nintendo Switch, just like how all those years ago it made me buy my GameCube.
Are there no other games your interested in? Or are you just fine with buying a 300 dollar console and 60 dollars for the game just for metroid?
Of course there are other games on my wish-list for the Switch:
- Super Smash Bros Ultimate
- Octopath Traveler
- Zelda, Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee
- The main-series Pokémon game that has yet to be announced
And many more if possible.
Metroid is just 1 of a few reasons for me to buy a console but I was mainly waiting for the price of the console to drop. The announcement of MP4 has given me reason to wait some more.
Cool! Hope I didn't sound rude or anything, its just that I always hear 'I'm waiting for Metroid before I get a Switch' and I never get if they mean its just for the one game or not. You have a nice list there, and from my experience I can tell you that BOTW, Odyssey and Octopath Traveller are super awesome games, especially BOTW, probably one of my favorite games of all time, alongside the original prime of course!
A lot of people talks about Metroid Prime, but only a few of them really understands why this game is so legendary.
This was an interesting and well made analysis. Thank you.
Matthewmatosis would be proud of you.
Austin Grider My sentiments exactly.
I discovered this video when someone posted on his Zelda BotW video hoping he'd cover Metroid Prime, only for a comment to point them to this video. I was curious so I checked this out and wow, this video is incredibly well-done!
"Excessive Backtracking" after the Boost Ball is actually not an issue; when you leave Phendrana, you can either go back all the way on the path you came through Magmoor and the Ruins, or go out the other ground-level floor in the Magmoor Workstation and through a tunnel to a new elevator which takes you straight back to the Tallon Overworld via the Root Tunnel, which empties into the room where you're expected to use the Boost Ball and acquire the Space Jump Boots. All you have to do in the sequence is keep going through Magmoor. Incidentally that's the fastest way back too.
Excellent work! Your videos are always very impressive and and well produced. I was worried at first when I noticed you were covering the game's events chronologically, I've noticed a lot of people have trouble doing that properly. It seems like an easy format for a review or analysis, inheriting the structure of the game to tack on an easily understandable structure to the video, and it's the go-to method for most folks, but it's very hard to get right. You nailed it though man. 53 minutes flew by. The casual progression through the game's various events mixed in with the critiques and discussions of particular mechanics that were presented as they were encountered felt very natural.
You've got a superb presentation man, really enjoyed it. With limited experience with Metroid Prime (only Corruption for me...), I was still able to follow and it was cool to see how different the pacing of the first game was when compared to the last. Man, good job!
The linear structure was a concern for me, and I realised about half way through the project that it was a very impractical way to review something. Definitely going to work on the structure next time, but I'm happy to hear that you didn't mind the linear pace of the review. Really glad to hear you enjoyed the video! Thank you for your kind words :)
I wouldn't mind seeing a proper remaster of this as a Switch launch title as a way of reintroducing old players with the game style and the universe, as well as drawing new players in.
Bump
Metroid Prime is my favourite game of all time, I've played it more times than I can count at this point. However, I never noticed that Samus' hand position matches the Beam Icons when you're using the Xray Visor. It's embarrassing but also awesome to still be able to discover something new about this game after all these years.
That's what makes this game so wonderful in my opinion. I didn't notice the hand positions until a second playthrough, and it was a great little surprise that added a bit more flavour to the game. Goes to show that even if you have a 100% complete file, there are still little things hiding in the nooks and crannies of the game.
I totally agree! It's the small details that really resonate that make the game so enjoyable!
Maybe one day you'll do a review for Echoes and Corruption (it would be cool to hear your thoughts) :D
There's an entry at the beginning of this game that explains how the hunter took down the main research outpost on Zebes and how after it was destroyed, three research ships escaped. I always thought that there were two of these ships. the tutorial at the beginning and the one that sank into the lake on the over world. it never occurred to me that they would be the same ship.
Excellently written. I think you meant Miyamoto said that no morph ball, no Metroid. Other than that, very vivid and descriptive details.
Did you know that you can bomb jump up the rails in the giant room of Magmoor Caverns spider rail puzzles? It saves quite a bit of time. There's all sorts of little sequence breaking tricks like that in the game.
Apparently they were removed in the trilogy version.... Which is what I have. Rip
Very in-depth video. I like how you explored the lore, and didn't just shrug the game off as having no story, like a lot of people do. Although I've heard the lore was actually changed for the Wii U version, which was the version I played. I also heard the veteran difficulty in that was the same as normal on the GameCube. But I don't know if that's definitive.
I didn't think the combat was as competent as you did, and was too reliant on lock on, but it did offer improvements over the 2D instalments, and served its purpose adequately.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the video. Yeah, the Prime Trilogy edition had quite a few changes made to it mainly because there were a few big changes between the PAL and NTSC versions of the GameCube game where the lore was concerned. I think the Trilogy version uses the lore found in the PAL version of the gamecube game, although I'm not 100% certain on that.
The difficulty choices in the Wii version are slightly misleading as you said. "Normal" is actually an entirely new difficulty that is easier than the GameCube release. Veteran is the regular difficulty and then Hard is the Gamecube's hard mode. Bit of a strange decision in my opinion, haha.
I think the reliance on lock-on is a side-effect of the way movement in Prime is handled. Since the left analogue stick controls all directions (as opposed to the right+left configuration that's now standard FPS fare) there's a lot of accuracy lost. You can't aim up or down unless you're standing still and holding the right shoulder button, so the lock-on provides a way to reliably hit enemies whilst keeping the flow of movement if you're rushing through an area. Definitely isn't the smoothest combat system out there, but I think it really makes the most out of the control scheme.
Thanks for taking the time to watch the review. Glad you found it interesting :)
PointZ3RO That actually does make sense. I heard the lore of the PAL version was more based around religion than science, which some people didn't like. But I wouldn't know, as I've only played that version.
I replayed the game on veteran after already playing it on normal, just so I could experience a more definitive version of its difficulty. It wasn't really much harder. But some bosses did soak up a lot more damage.
I'm not sure if I'd prefer the GameCube control scheme over the Wii. Maybe the GC version's is better, as it doesn't seem designed for free aim at all.
Thanks for responding in an in-depth manner.
I can speak to this. Having played through both versions of the game multiple times (it being in my top 5 games of all time) I would say that the Wii controls greatly enhance the experience. While I understood, and didn't have a problem with, the original control scheme, it can certainly be frustrating. The Wii controls do nothing but add to the experience, while still keeping in place the fantastic lock on mechanic that makes those bee/bird type creatures (forgive me I forgot what they're called) such a joy to take out.
This game is such an epic masterpiece. I've got a buddy who recently bought a Wii-U to play the new Zelda and am trying to convince him to drop $20 on the trilogy. He somehow never played this. He's hesitant due to how old it is, and while I think he's an idiot, I do also believe this needs an HD remake. This game would look quite blurry on a 4K set, even with the widescreen enhancement it was given for the Wii.
+Jackson Schaecher In the meantime, just emulate it in PC. Look gorgeous when upscaled. ;~D
Awesome stuff man. I'm extremely impressed that you sustained such a high level of quality for near an hour.
Thank you. Glad that you enjoyed. I've been watching your videos for a little while now and your content is awesome, surprised to see that you commented here haha. I appreciate the kind words :)
I have the original NTSC Gamecube version of MP and find the cutscene voiceovers that were added in later versions to be very silly.
I've watched your videos several times now and something I noticed recently is that the Thardus fight uses the piano keys of Phendrana as its core melody. However it's much more frantic, fitting the atmosphere of the fight. In addition the melody continuously gets drowned out by the harsh synths. Maybe I'm reaching but this could be telling a story of the Phazon (the synths) corrupting the docile wildlife of Phendrana (the piano keys).
Regardless, I hope you find the time and or effort to return to this channel someday. Your work hasn't gone unnoticed.
I love that these in-depth game analysis videos have become a trend
Loved it. Definitely felt some nostalgia watching this. The Metroid Trilogy will always have a special place in my mind.
Nicely written. This game consumed many hours of my childhood. I never did beat it until I was an adult but I always had fun fighting until I couldn't find the artifacts. It's cool to see someone review Metroid Prime as thoroughly as I remember each part of it. I thought for sure no one on earth elaborate this game more than I, but I was wrong. The groundbreaking (at the time) visuals of each unique area are forever ingrained in my head. I still play that game from time to time, for the nostalgia and because it's just flat-out addicting for some reason. I watched this video a while back, but now that I have an account, I figured you deserved an extra thumbs-up. Keep it up.
I watched the whole thing, it's a good and detailed review. Metroid Prime is by far my favorite game of all times and I would love to have Retro Studios making a 4th or even a new trilogy. This type of game is rare to come by and when they do, they become part of our lives that we proudly like to to go back to and remember.
I was the two types of players you described, back when I was only a teenager playing this game for the first time it was a rental and I didn't speak english, so I just appreciated the exploration style and enjoying the cut-scenes and the challenges some parts offered. A few years later when I bought this game I could speak/understand english and I enjoyed thoroughly to scan everything and feed off this extensive lore, carefully paying attention to every little detail, every bit of information I could get.
Metroid Prime is a masterpiece, a game that was ahead of its time when it came out.
I agree, a good Metroid-type game is a rarity. The kind of exploration-driven gameplay is becoming a lot more common in 2D platformers now (Ori & The Blind Forest, Guacamelee, Outland etc.), but I'm always holding out for a truly great first-person adaption. I think the first person perspective adds so much to the immersion. A 4th entry in the trilogy would be perfect.
Thanks for watching :)
I am glad you found something to enjoy in the key hunt at the end and decided to share your views on it. It is a refreshing perspective.
All I can say is that was by far the most analytically comprehensive game review I've ever had the pleasure of watching! Thank you 👏👏👏
Sick video dude loved the essay and detailed analysis!
Great review. However you are wrong about one important point: difficulty is at the core of Metroid. This is what made the first one so popular: challenge. Not just the challenge in exploration, but in arcade-like action skills.
Metroid Prime 3D for 3DS would be sick. Best. Game. Ever. X2
42:30 - Hey! Where is Samus' badass pose that she strikes?
Please make one for Echoes and Corruption, I promise I will watch it at least 20 times each, I think I'm on the 24th on this one.
I'm currently writing the script for Echoes, so expect that to drop in a few months or so. I plan on covering the Trilogy, so it's good to hear you're interested :)
What the fuck? Why does this man only have 500 subs?!
Hearing the voice over in the intro is really strange and jarring. Since we didn't have this in the American version. I definitely prefer the no voice over version
Are you going to do the same thing for Metroid Prime 2, 3 and maybe Other M? I would love to hear your opinion the Other M since the game is always criticized... Anyway, amazing video!
I definitely want to cover the trilogy in the future. It's my favourite game series, and I'd love to share my thoughts on it all. As for Other M, I haven't actually played it. I own the game, but the waves of terrible things said about it always put me off playing it. I need to be in the right mindset to assess Other M and try not to let the extremely negative bias sway my opinion of it.
Cheers for watching. Happy you enjoyed :)
It's probably worth playing when you finish the Prime videos just to give a proper assessment of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Loved the video, by the way, and I'd love if you followed it up with the other two games.
If you do cover Metroid Prime 2 then I hope you cover the idea that the game was rushed THREE MONTHS when it was only THIRTY PERCENT completed...even I can't believe the game, despite it's flaws, is still a solid game.
Other M is a serious contender for worst game that is abjectly broken, but it looks like Final Fantasy XV will usurp it from that position in a few days.
The narrator guy always surprises me. Not only is he absent from the NA release but it makes the scenes he narrates a bit worse, in my opinion. As for beams, I don't find the ice beam or wave beam very helpful at all besides the forced use of them on Beam Troopers. Echoes makes this a bit better because the Dark and Light beams are superior to the Power beam but use ammo. And Corruption just does away with switching beams altogether since each new beam is a straight upgrade. Overall this was a really good video and I look forward to the Corruption one.
Great job, man. This is easily my favorite Metroid game and one of my favorite games of all time.
As an owner of the EU PAL version of this game on the Gamecube, that narrator does not exist. I dunno what the heck version you have.
This narrator is messing with my head. I've always known the game to have a narrator at the beginning (and announcing the Impact Crater). I've looked into the mysterious absence of the narrator in other versions of the game extensively and I cannot find a concrete answer as to why he's missing. My only guess is that he's present in some PAL versions but not all, and completely absent in all NTSC versions. Not sure why, but there we are.
The differences between the PAL and NTSC versions of Metroid Prime are worth a video all on its own. The narrator is just one of many omissions in the NTSC version. The Metroid wikia has a list of all the differences and it's an interesting read; highly recommend you check it out.
first of all, excellent video, something tells me you may have seen matthewmatosis's stuff. a very well written, narrated and edited video on all counts. one question: how did you rapid fire the missiles?
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed :) The missile rapid fire is something I learnt watching speedruns of the game, and it's something of an exploit. If you hold the C-stick up whilst you're firing the missiles, it resets the arm canon so you can fire another missile pretty much immediately. It makes a few boss fights much easier, but I like to use it when backtracking to get rid of enemies faster. No idea if it's an intentional hidden technique, but it's a neat trick nonetheless.
Huh. I didn't realize there was narration for the intro in the PAL version.
I was surprised to find out it was cut from other versions. Couldn't seem to find a reason for it either, it's just... not there. Strange decision, really. I really think it adds to the experience. 4 or 5 minutes of mysterious narration do wonders to make the game feel like a story that we're experiencing.
Dude you killed it in this video. Fantastic watch.
I thought I was the only one who knew about breaking the Metriods tubes and attacking Space Pirates :P thats awesome lol, keep up the great work man this video was awesome.
how do I get my hands on the Prime Trilogy without buying some old crappy console? You think it will be released on Switch? I really loved the first Prime but I never played 2 or 3 and I really want to. Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated! :)
If you own a Wii U, it's available on the eShop for a very reasonable price. You can also buy a physical copy of the Trilogy since the Wii U runs Wii games but it goes for some crazy prices these days.
12:10 Shingeru Miyamoto didn't say the morph ball would have to be scrapped, he said the whole game would have to be scrapped, you can't have a Metroid Game without the Morph Ball. That's like a Legend of Zelda game without the Bow or Boomerang.
46:21 do you know why the Temple delivers the final blow? It says in the lore. Something to the effect of "those who honor our relics shall know our blessing. Those who deface our relics shall know our wrath". Ridley spent a lot of that fight wrecking the totems.
That and samus is part chozo eo they were aiding there kin
I haven't watched your material yet, but I'm subbing anyway because, based on your influences, I know I'm going to enjoy your work.
I always regarded it as a one-off (and the 2D Metroid games before it mere influences upon it). It's Alice in Wonderland. It's Banjo Kazooie. You can do sequels if you must but they're too late to the party, just like Samus is late to the Chozo civilisation party. it's about setting up an elegantly mysterious blend of level design, incidental effects, a subtle blend of the arcadey and the adventure genre and the platform genre. Sequels, even when trying not to go stereotypically 'bigger and better' always specialise in something e.g. light and dark world- it kills the organic feel of the original. Also , the huge scale and heavy atmosphere of subsequent games such as Half Life 2, Bioshock, Uncharted, The Last Guardian means that it isn't as easy now to convey a sense of quiet architectural majesty. Metroid Prime was actually very well DIRECTED in terms of when and where things appear, colour scheme, details , use of level design. It cannot be easily replicated in the Metroid series itself, particularly when it isn't taken in to account that the novelty of MP is partly that a game set in space could be treat like a game set on earth - moving, scary, historical. It had an environmental , atmospheric, elegance that subsequent Metroid games don't and maybe now can't because it was something of the time - 2002. It was close enough in year of release to Perfect Dark for some people to even enjoy it as a kind of Joanna Dark Archeology Adventure. Metroid Prime is such a great game that, to me, it's also it's own full stop. I wish that Retro had become a bit more like Team Ico and tried making other games with other mechanics.
I originally played this on the GameCube...then I got the Trilogy on the Wii and have played it several times on the Wii. I'm gonna have to go back and play the GC version again.
Great reviews, btw...any more coming in the future?
Retro was a new studio, but definitely not a rookie one.
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You haven't even taken the safety off, rookie.
🟥
Terrific, terrific review. My only problem with the game is the backtracking. I loved collecting all the upgrades but the lack of fast travel points took away from the gaming experience. I never wanna feel like I'm waisting my time gaming(some people would say you are ALWAYS waisting your time gaming 😂😂😂😂 :p )
Well all the Metroid games is an action adventure genre that's focus on non-linear & there will be at times that u need to backtrack. But in a good execution or an good reason to backtrack & as long as it's fun and not having something irritating or annoying or even optional that doesn't make it fun. Prime 1 is a example of an good backtrack for it's execution & an reasons and it's still fun. I don't have am issue in Prime 1 because mostly I just really enjoying the game cause it compelled & constructed really well.
good job on my favorite game. you should do the trilogy.
I can’t wait for you to do 4.
Absolutely AMAZING video. You just gained another subscriber 🙋🏻♂️
Your videos are really good, are you working on anything new?
I've never played a version of this game with voiceover. That's so out of place.
It's in the PAL version the one I have.
late to the party, though, this review really does prime justice
great vid, looking forward to more of your stuff
As a kid I really didn't follow any of the story at all so I would lose interest in exploring this game...it gets repetitive after a while and I would almost rather watch someone play it because of how cool it looks without taking responsibility for completing it myself. It is quite a peculiar type of game for me personally. I enjoyed it for the first five or six hours or so that I played it...and then I suddenly wasn't enjoying it anymore and I couldn't go back....
I think that once I needed a break from the game the whole experience was over for me...no story I was following...wasn't keeping track of where I needed to go anymore and where I needed to go back to...everything about the combat becoming easy...I don't know. Not remembering where I needed to go next or where I should go back to was a real deal breaker...made the game suddenly boring.
It's a bit frustrating to read and watch reviews of Metroid Prime, because it seems it either goes overboard with praising the game for ambiguous qualities such as ''atmosphere'', or harshly critiquing the game for not playing like a contemporary FPS.
So, it's nice to see something closer to objectivity. I think you did a good job going through the game and giving opinions on events, designs and mechanics.
In particular, bringing up the story told through logbook entries and how it's up to the player whether or not to view it was great. It's such an underrated feature of the game, in my opinion and really, really makes replaying the game more enjoyable than it would have been with more cutscenes. Being a Metroid game, it obviously encourages replays by giving you a % and time rating at the end, but this is a more subtle way to do it.
Though I wish there was some more critique where I think it's due. For example, I think the platforming is one of the weakest parts of the game, being very basic in terms of challenge, but occasionally frustrating due to the first-person perspective. It can be hard to judge where you are in relation to the platform you're trying to get up on and having to stop, aim down and lock your aim to get a more favourable perspective breaks the flow. Retro Studios probably knew that first-person platforming wouldn't work well with the pace and control scheme of Prime, and that's why they made it so basic.
There is also a problem with combat that's caused with the perspective. Most notable during the fight against Meta Ridley and the Omega Pirate. It can be really hard to keep track of hazards, projectiles and enemies while locked onto the boss and in the case of Meta Ridley, who bombards the player with explosives covering a fairly large area, it's nearly impossible to dodge this while staying locked, but locking onto him is the only way to use the dodge ability. You mentioned that he doesn't do much damage, and I'm sure this is the reason why. You are at such a disadvantage that the enemy has to hold back or risk frustrating the player.
I'm bringing this up because Metroid Prime is probably my favourite game so far, but I think it would be interesting to speculate how the game would have played had it been in third-person instead. Not only would it be closer to the 3 games preceding it, but it would mediate the issues with platforming and combat and could potentially allow for both areas to offer more interesting challenges. However, this could bring up other issues with the camera, especially in smaller areas. Just an idea.
Good thing these issues are a lot less prevalent in the trilogy version
this whole video is fantastic.
This was really good! Glad I clicked on the reddit post.
Need More content like this
nice video... i love Metroid Prime.... my favorite game of all time next to OOT and SM64!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH
Excellent work :)
Really great critique
Metroid Prime would be a lot scarier if it came straight at you and did a ton of its damage to you by getting right on top of you forcing you to run away and dodge it....that would make it a scary fight.
SUPER MISSILES???!!!???!
YOU CAN USE SUPER MISSILES ON THE CHOZO GHOSTS???!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
My life has been a lie...
Wait... the european version has NARRATION!?!?!?!?!
Awesome review! Sub +1
This rocks
What a great movie! ;)
Metroid Prime is just not that good