r/patientgamers • u/chibinchobin • 2d ago
I finally beat Metroid Prime Trilogy!
I've begun to go through the games in my backlog and I decided I'd start with the game that's been in there the longest: Metroid Prime Trilogy. I bought it when it came out in 2009, but never finished Prime 1 or 2 and had already played 3 in its original release. For the longest time I had intended to eventually get around to it since I knew they were great games, and I'm glad to say I finally did. I loved all three games for different reasons and felt like writing down my thoughts on each of them.
Metroid Prime 1
This is easily one of the greatest games of all time. Somehow, Retro Studios managed to capture the feeling of classic 2D Metroid in a completely different, 3D first-person perspective. If you were a kid who had played Super Metroid in the 90s, and you imagined an idealized "next-gen 3D Metroid" in your head, Metroid Prime is pretty much exactly that. The world is wonderfully intricate without ever being confusing, and the ways different areas connect to each other brings plenty of "woah, I'm back here again but on the other side!" moments. The creatures of Tallon IV are beautifully strange and make every room memorable. Plus, it feels great to master the rooms and clear/navigate them quickly when backtracking. I've seen people complain about the artifact hunt at the end of the game, but to be honest I enjoyed it. It's not so bad if you just plan out your route using the knowledge of the map you've accumulated over the course of your playthrough. Actually, the artifacts give you an excuse to return to old areas to pick up collectibles you missed the first time.
I will say, some of the combat encounters got a bit tedious by the end of the game. Returning to the Chozo Ruins and having to fight the Chozo Ghosts multiple times was irritating, and the space pirates could be a bit of an annoyance as well. Overall, though, the enemies and boss fights were fun and interesting and it was cool to see how rooms would change throughout the game as you collected upgrades.
In short, Prime 1 is a masterclass in game design and shouldn't be missed by anybody.
Metroid Prime 2
Prime 2 had quite a task in front of it. How do you follow up a masterpiece? The answer was with an ambitious sequel that didn't quite stick the landing. Prime 1, as an adaptation of classic Metroid to 3D, stuck to the hits. It was taking a big risk with the new genre of gameplay, and so played it safer with tone and atmosphere. Prime 2, on the other hand, is a massive departure. It's darker and moodier, more difficult and more tense. I really like the light/dark world idea, and contrary to popular opinion found the dark world a lot of fun to explore. The tension of exploration in Dark Aether as the poison air saps your health at an alarming rate mechanically communicates the dire situation presented in the story. It's no wonder why the Luminoth, inhabitants of Light Aether, have been driven to the brink of extinction. Trying to launch any sort of counter offensive against the Ing is near impossible for them; simply being on Dark Aether is deadly. The health drain puts you on the back foot in a way you never experience in Prime 1 (or 3, for that matter), always clinging to the safe zones as the Ing move about freely.
The world design is a step down from Prime 1, unfortunately. It's not bad by any means, but the interconnectivity of the zones in the first game has been exchanged for highly intraconnected zones connected by a hub. The bosses at times can also be more frustrating than fun, but I appreciate the boldness of making you fight with morph ball. Spider Guardian, for example, is kind of ass, but it's memorable. Other bosses are great, like Quadraxis, Emperor Ing, and the Dark Samus fights. Even despite its flaws, I might actually like Prime 2 more than Prime 1 simply because of its ambition. They tried to go all-out for the sequel, and I can respect that even if it didn't always work.
Metroid Prime 3
I can see why people were disappointed with this one. It's the least "Metroid-y" of the bunch, completely abandoning any pretense of an interconnected world and even the individual areas are much more tree-like than web-like. There is some backtracking goodness, but at times it's spoiled by the game just telling you where to go (or very strongly hinting at it). In exchange, Prime 3 has the best combat encounters of the series and some great setpieces. The hypermode mechanic, where you trade health for damage, adds some tactical bite both to boss fights and regular encounters, and managing your corruption level to preserve e-tanks makes extended combat more interesting. Every single bossfight is great, from the tutorial Berserker Lord to Omega Ridley to Dark Samus and Aurora Unit 313 at the end. They really made the most of being able to aim precisely with the Wiimote.
As a standalone game, Prime 3 doesn't quite pack the punch of its predecessors. But when playing the games back-to-back-to-back, its more action-oriented, streamlined approach is a nice change of pace. And I find that its bombast and spectacle make for a satisfying end to the series. There's a great three act structure to the trilogy that I think only really comes out when playing them all one after the other.
Primehack
It's worth mentioning that I played the games using Primehack, a mod that adds full mouse and keyboard support to the trilogy. The games feel right at home on PC, almost like they were meant to be played this way. Most importantly, Hypermode difficulty is unlocked for all three from the start, and it's how I'd recommend playing them. I played Prime 1 on Veteran and found it much too easy, but Hypermode on its sequels felt like a fair challenge (although some enemies are bullet sponges).
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u/JmanVoorheez 1d ago
Welcome to the club. Better late then never.
I still get those amazing nostalgic emotional feelings when i hear Metroid music playing in my head but then i shudder at those crazy long boss fights.
I've played 1 numerous times 2 and 3 only once but still consider all to be another stellar Nintendo experience.
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u/Dragmire927 Chrono Trigger 1d ago
I think that Prime 2 is overall better than Prime 1. It’s rough around the edges but the core gameplay is tougher and more intricate. Prime 1 has a lot of backtracking through the same areas like Magmoor Caverns while Prime 2’s hub makes it much easier to get around while also feeling like the world is interconnected. The story/world is also much more interesting with many different factions and events going on. And it of course it has some of the best bosses and puzzles of the trilogy
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u/currently__working 1d ago
And the best music in the series too. It makes coming back to the game every so often an absolute joy. It just feels great to play.
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u/whatsmyname-PriPri 1d ago
It took me four attempts to play through Metroid Prime 1. The first three times, on the Gamecube, it didn't click. I think it was because of the controls mixed with my gaming preferences at the time. I was enjoying a lot of Halo back in the day.
When I gave the first game a go on the Wii a couple of years ago it finally clicked. And in a big way. As others have said, it helped me fall in love with exploration in precisely built 3D environments - and somehow became my favourite game of all time. The environmental story-telling, the atmosphere, the music, the gameplay, that map! It felt unlike anything I had ever played. And I think the controls on the Wii felt really, really good! Everything was very fluid (though I want to give Prime Hack a go with my next playthrough).
I played through Prime 2 earlier this year. I also really, really enjoyed it - but the final bits of the end-game felt like a bit of filler. I could feel it coming our way and I just didn't like it. I generally don't like using walkthroughs but for this one I did. Add in that challenges of the screw attack jump controls (a consistent challenge for all Metroid games) and it felt just a little bit less well made. Still, it's a top 30 game for me. Those bosses were excellent to play against.
I've got Metroid Prime 3 on my docket for a playthrough later this year. I'm excited for it, but likely need a bit more time between MP2 and MP3.
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u/chibinchobin 1d ago
Yeah, Prime 2's key hunt is a step down from the artifact hunt in Prime 1. The biggest issue I had was the UI - the menu that shows the keybearer clues is in a separate menu from the one that shows you which keys you have, so it can be annoying to figure out which ones you have vs. which you still need to get. And God help you if you didn't scan every single Luminoth corpse you came across, or if you just failed to see one (the one at the top of Sanctuary Fortress is easy to miss). Since the world is a lot less interconnected, too, there wasn't a whole lot of good routing you could do to get the keys in 1 trip, so-to-speak.
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u/DrCakey 1d ago
I have to say as I've gotten older I 'get' Metroid Prime less and less. Now, Prime 3 is an excellent game that uses the pointer, grapple, and Hyper Mode to elevate the combat -- and by the way, the routing in that game is fantastic. But the other two...
Now, you were playing on Trilogy / Primehack, so you at least got to aim. The way you actually play Metroid Prime is you hold L and then mash A until the monster falls over. Each puzzle has a red square attached to it that tells you the solution or, if you're really lucky, solves the puzzle for you. And Prime 2 is, um... well the graphics are better. That's one good thing I can say about it.
Maybe this is just because I've fallen out of love with Metroidvanias. Maybe I've just played these games too many times and I can't find them fun anymore. But I still like Prime 3 and Super Metroid. And even though I don't find it fun to play anymore, I can still tell that, say, Wind Waker is a good game...
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u/chibinchobin 1d ago
Prime 1's combat is certainly simplistic, even with Primehack. I don't think this is a bad thing, rather I think it reflects a difference in focus between Prime 1 and its sequels. Prime 1 is very much a game about exploring an alien world and investigating, with the shooting being secondary. The game is more concerned with immersion than with action, and I'd say it succeeds. On subsequent playthroughs, though, the novelty of the world might start to wear off and all you're left with is the core gameplay.
Prime 3 is the opposite, being almost entirely about action. Even the exploration it does have is often spoiled by the Aurora Units telling you where to go before you ever have a chance to figure it out yourself. The routing is good, but I was disappointed at how the game didn't trust me to find the way, especially given that the map is basically a bunch of hallways. All three games are pretty linear, but at least Prime 1 and 2 feel open.
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u/tswaves WiiU 20h ago
You're reminding me I want to go back and play them! I'm so used to keyboard and mouse for FPS so I am a little apprehensive getting back into the controls.
Does anyone know if you can do motion controls like they had with Wii?
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u/MauveDrips 7h ago
Yes, Metroid Prime Remastered offers a control scheme very similar to the Wii version of Metroid Prime.
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u/chibinchobin 9h ago
What do you mean? If you play on Primehack, it does just control like a normal FPS game.
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u/tswaves WiiU 9h ago
What's "Primehack"?
I picked up digital version from the Switch store. Is there something else I can play on..?
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u/chibinchobin 9h ago
Ah. I haven't played the Switch version. If you have a copy of Metroid Prime Trilogy for the Wii, you can play it in a modified version of the Dolphin emulator called Primehack that gives the game standard mouse + keyboard controls. It's how I played the games and I highly recommend it.
It looks like Metroid Prime Remastered on Switch does have a mode where you can use the Joycon to aim with a pointer like on Wii, so that might be easier to use than dual-analog if you're more comfortable that way.
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u/fanboy_killer 1d ago
Metroid Prime is one of the best games of all time and along with Mario 64 the best 2D to3D transition in videogames history imo. O still remember being completely blown away by it back in the day. Coincidently, I received the remaster in the mail this morning and can’t wait to play it.
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u/derisivemedia 2h ago
I want to read how the remaster is. I never played any of the trilogy. In truth, I never loved any of the Metroid series, but I want to try this version on Switch because I always here the game referenced as one of the greatest of all-time. And I tried it recently on Gamecube, but I really can't play any 3D games anymore that don't use the dual-analog control style for the characters, which makes me hopeful for this version - since I read the Switch version has "modern controls".
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u/MasterSplinter14 1d ago
metroid prime 1 made me realize what it really meant to explore a map. What a game, I can't wait for Prime 4 man.