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Metroid Prime

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This article is about the game. For the creature, see Metroid Prime (creature).
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime box art
Developer(s)Retro Studios
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Platform(s)Nintendo GameCube
Release


Genre(s)First-person shooter
First-person adventure
Mode(s)Single player

Metroid Prime (メトロイドプライム Metoroido Puraimu) is a first-person adventure/shooter video game developed by Nintendo-owned Retro Studios and released by Nintendo in 2002 for the GameCube (and later bundled with GameCube in 2004). It was the first 3D Metroid game and is officially classified by Nintendo as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter due to the large exploration element in the game. It was also the first Metroid game to be released since Super Metroid, which was released nearly eight years earlier (This applies to North America only; in all other markets, it was released after Metroid Fusion). The storyline, however, comes in between the original Metroid and Metroid Prime Hunters . Metroid Prime is now available as a Player's Choice title.

The game was first announced in 2001 E3 and was shortly revealed soon after to be played from a first-person perspective. Following the announcement and subsequent release of first screenshots, the nature of the game aroused the ire of Metroid fans who perceived it as a disgraceful transition into 3D.[1] The announced nature of the game was considered a huge joke throughout gaming related boards, publications, and magazines until near the point of retail release where various publications claimed it as possibly the greatest video game of all time.[2]

Gameplay

Items

Related article: Items in the Metroid series

Throughout the game, the player will find and collect many different items, which range from weapons, to upgrades of Samus's Power Suit, to various other items that grant additional abilities (such as the Morph Ball and Grapple Beam). Most of the items from previous Metroid games make appearances here; however, the functions of many of them have been altered to suit the 3D environment. For example, the space jump only allows the player to perform a double jump, as opposed to jumping continuously as in previous games, to prevent the player from getting stuck or unwittingly triggering a glitch. Glitches can allow knowledgeable players to receive items much earlier than intended, or to bypass collecting them altogether. The current world record for lowest item pickup percentage at the end of the game is 22%.

Hint System

Metroid Prime had an option in the settings, which is turned on by default, to provide the player with a general idea of where to go (for instance, indicating "Seismic activity" in a certain room). This was very contrary to the previous games in the series, which features no hints or direction whatsoever. However, it remained in the sequel, and was, as mentioned, optional so that Metroid purists could continue to play without any type of direction.

Locations

Space Pirate Frigate Orpheon

Orbiting the planet Tallon IV, this is where Samus begins the game. The Space Pirates conducted numerous experiments aboard this frigate on parasitic lifeforms. However many of these experiments went catastrophically wrong, as the gargantuan parasitic creatures escaped from their labs and wreaked havoc, destroying everything in their sight and leaving a trail of injured Space Pirates behind them. After Samus' visit (and a fight with a Parasite Queen), the frigate goes into critical meltdown and explodes. A large chunk of debris from the frigate plummets towards Tallon IV and crashes on the planet. Samus later explores the sunken piece of the frigate after she acquires the Gravity Suit.

Tallon Overworld

A rainforest-like area, this is where Samus initially makes planetfall and is where Samus' gunship stays for the duration of the game. It houses the Artifact Temple and the elevators that Samus uses to travel around Tallon IV. Poisonous mushrooms, spiked beetles, and giant venomous plants are just some of the different forms of wildlife in the area. Tallon Overworld also encompasses the sunken Orpheon.

Chozo Ruins

This ancient structure was once a center of the thriving Chozo civilization on Tallon IV that was brought to an end by the dangerous meteor that hit 20 years ago. The walls display intricate carvings which foretell the history of the Chozo on Tallon IV and their peril concerning the arrival of that meteor. When Samus arrives at the ruins the water supply is infested with poison, and she has to find a way of purifying it.

Magmoor Caverns

A kind of subway system for the game—its magma-filled tunnels connect all the areas together with the exception of the Impact Crater. The Space Pirates use the caverns as a source of geothermal power. The area is extremely hazardous due to the fire-breathing serpents that name the caverns, the Magmoor, and to mechanical drone guns, and organisms which release toxic gas into the air.

Phendrana Drifts
View overlooking the Phendrana Shorelines, located in the Phendrana Drifts.

This cold, mountainous location consists of three main parts: an ancient Chozo ruin, some Space Pirate research labs (since the subzero temperatures make specimen containment easier), and the ice caves and valleys at the edge aptly called Phendrana's Edge. It is home to many creatures of electrical origins (Pulse Bombu, Scatter Bombu) and ice based creatures (Sheegoth, Ice Shriekbats). It is also the setting for the game's first appearance of a Metroid.

Phazon Mines

The Phazon Mines are the center of the Space Pirates' Tallon IV operations. The scenery here alternates between the Space Pirates' mining and research facilities and dark caves illuminated only by the glowing Phazon substance. Enemies in this area include multiple species of Metroid as well as the result of "Project Helix" (a recent Space Pirate experiment).

Impact Crater

This is the final area of the game. It is much smaller than the other areas, serving as a build-up to the game's finale. This location is completely corrupted by Phazon radiation. Samus finds orange substance more toxic than Phazon which is strong enough to damage her even through the Phazon Suit. The Metroids here have been mutated by the Phazon to become Fission Metroids (Metroids with the ability to split into two when shot at). Infested with these Metroids, this area is extremely dangerous. According to the Chozo scriptures, this area is also home to "The Unholy Worm".

Bonuses

With the use of a Nintendo GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable, players of the game can gain two additional features. If Metroid Fusion was completed, the original Metroid game would be unlocked for use within the game (also using the memory card to save progress). If Metroid Prime was completed, the Fusion Suit which Samus wears in Fusion would become available for display while playing Prime. The connection need only be performed once in order to gain the extra features.

Plot

Some time after Samus Aran's mission of destroying the Metroid being raised by the Space Pirates as biological weapons, the bounty hunter capts a distress code that leads her to a Space Pirate vessel orbiting the planet Tallon IV. Inside, Samus discovers some biological experiments, including the Parasite Queen, that after being killed triggers the ship's self destruction. After escaping, Samus arrives in the planet, where she discovers that the Chozo made a colony in the place and the Pirates are using a mutagen called Phazon to create a super army and take over the universe.

Bosses

Minor bosses

Major bosses

Development

After Super Metroid, many Metroid fans were eagerly awaiting a sequel. It was suposedly slated for the Nintendo 64 (or the ill-fated accessory, the 64DD), but while the game was referenced several times[3], it never entered production, because "they couldn't come out with any concrete ideas".

Retro Studios was created in 1998, by an alliance between Nintendo and former Iguana Studios Jeff Spangenberg. After establishing their offices in Austin, Texas in 1999, Retro received five game ideas for the future GameCube, among them a new Metroid.

The game was developed as a collaboration between Retro Studios and important Nintendo EAD and R&D1 members, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, Kensuke Tanabe and Kenji Miki, that communicated with Texas through e-mails, monthly phone conferences and several personal gatherings. First it was a third-person shooter, but Miyamoto made them change the perspective to first-person, causing almost everything already developed to be scrapped.

In 2000, three games were canned in order to establish focus on Metroid Prime, and in 2001, the last project, an RPG called Raven Blade was cancelled, so Metroid Prime would be the only game in the works.

The first public appearance of the game was a 10-second video at SpaceWorld 2000. In November of the same year, Retro Studios confirmed in the "job application" part of its website its involvement with the game, and at E3 2001, Metroid Prime was officially announced by Nintendo, receiving mixed reactions due to the 2D-platformer to 3D-FPA change.

The music was composed by "Hip" Tanaka, that also composed the previous Metroid scores. Entirely made of MIDI, the soundtrack also contains some remixes of previous songs: the Tallon Overworld theme (after Samus's arrival) is a remix of the Brinstar theme, the music in Magmoor Caverns is a remix of Super Metroid's Lower Norfair area, and the music during the fight with Meta-Ridley is a re-mix of the Ridley boss music first featured in Super Metroid; it has been re-mixed and featured in most Metroid games since.

Allegedly, Kraid was intended to make an appearance in Metroid Prime as a boss, and was modeled and skinned by Gene Kohler for that purpose. [4] However, time constraints prevented it from being included in the final version of the game. Though the beta model displays him inside Phazon Mines, he was not in fact replaced by the Omega Pirate (according to Kohler).

Reception

Reviews and awards
Publication Score Comment
Famitsu
33 of 40
IGN
9.8 of 10[5]
Editor's Choice
GameSpot
9.7 of 10[6]
Editor's Choice,

2002 Game of the Year[7]

GameSpy
96 out of 100
2002 Game of the Year[8]
Electronic Gaming Monthly
30 of 30
Platinum Award, Game of the Year (2002)
Nintendo Power
10 of 10
Game of the Year (2002)
Edge magazine
9 of 10[9]
Editor's Choice,

2002 Game of the Year[10]

Compilations of multiple reviews
Game Rankings
96 of 100 (based on 96 reviews)[11]
Metacritic
97 of 100 (based on 69 reviews)[12]
Awards
6nd Annual Interactive
Achievement Awards
Console First-Person Action
2003 Game Developers Conference
Game of the Year,
Excellence in Level Design

After its release, the game has received much critical acclaim (including a perfect review score from Electronic Gaming Monthly and a 9.8/10 from IGN) for its "very impressive graphics, amazing, innovative gameplay (yet still true to the classic Metroid formula), and excellent soundtrack." Currently on Game Rankings, it stands as the third greatest game of all time, with an average score of 96.3%. The video game countdown show Filter named Metroid Prime as having the Best Graphics of all time. It also won many 2002 game of the year awards from major publications and gaming sites.

The game also became one of the best-selling games on the GameCube, with nearly 3 million copies sold worldwide, and 1.3 million in North America alone.[13].

Metroid Prime was also included in several lists of best games: 24th in IGN's Top 100[14], 29th in a 100-game list chosen by GameFAQs users[15], and 10th in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever"[16].

File:Radix137.jpg
Nolan “Radix” Pflug's famous Metroid Prime speedrun, finished in 1:37

Speedrunning

Unlike its predecessors, Metroid Prime is not designed to be run quickly, illustrated by the fact that the ending one gets is determined solely by the percentage of items one collects, rather than by how quickly one finishes the game (as was the case in earlier Metroid games). However, the current world record is one hour and four minutes, done using the first North American (NTSC) version of the game. Speedruns are possible by taking shortcuts that allow the player to collect items in a different — and faster — order from the one intended (known as sequence breaking). Speedrunning is popular among hardcore fans of Metroid Prime and can significantly increase the replayability of the game. Fast finishes in this game are somewhat complicated by the loading system: the game loads as it is played, with no loading screens, and original NTSC versions of the game will sometimes freeze.

After Nolan Pflug released his 100% speedrun of Metroid Prime, in which he finished the entire game in 1:37, it was featured in the games section of Slashdot and gained widespread attention.[17] Publications in numerous different languages ran stories on the run, and topics about the run were made on gaming message boards around the world. The first segment of his run was being downloaded over five thousand times a day at the peak of its popularity. Pflug's record got beaten in 2004 by Paul 'Bartendorsparky' Evans : 1:28.[18]. See Speedrun for more information.

(Please note that because the game was released later in Japan and the PAL territories, changes were made to prevent sequence breaks. The Japanese, PAL and North American Player's Choice versions are therefore undesirable for speedrunning compared to the original North American (NTSC) version.)

Sequels

  • Metroid Prime: Hunters is a similar game to Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes which takes place between the two titles. The game was released on March 20, 2006 (USA), March 21, 2006 (Canada) and May 5, 2006 (Europe) for the Nintendo DS. A demo of the game was released with purchase of a Nintendo DS titled, Metroid Prime: Hunters - First Hunt.
  • Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the actual sequel to Metroid Prime, even though Metroid Prime: Hunters did technically happen in between. It was released in North America on November 15, 2004, and in Europe on November 26 2004.
  • Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is due to be released sometime in 2007 for Nintendo's next generation console, Wii. Footage of this game was shown at E³ 2005 and E³ 2006, though the 2005 footage was later determined to have been running on GameCube hardware which would account for the choppy framerate of the footage. New hunters and characters will be introduced in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, such as Rundus, another bounty hunter from the Galactic Federation. There have been videos featuring a shape-shifting boss/hunter that has been shown in trailers resembling a Space Pirate and also as some kind of purple-colored female, possibly corrupted by Phazon.

Spinoffs

  • Metroid Prime Pinball is a virtual pinball game for the Nintendo DS based on the first Metroid Prime with all of the same bosses and major locations. This game also has a lot of the same music.

Trivia

  • One of the space frigates mentioned in the Space Pirates' logs is named Aether, as is a Space Pirate lab in Phendrana; this is the same name as the planet that Metroid Prime 2: Echoes takes place on.
  • Some sources, like Gradiente, Brazil's then-distributor of Nintendo, and the Nintendo Power comics adaptation of Metroid Prime[1], incorrectly set the game as happening after Super Metroid. The Brazilian publicity even says that the Phazon meteor is a piece of Zebes[2], destroyed after SM.
  • Before the release of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes in 2004, Nintendo released a platinum-colored Gamecube with a copy of Metroid Prime with a special second disc containing a preview trailer and demo for Echoes, a timeline of Metroid games and an art gallery.
  • For a brief period of time, Metroid Prime was considered the most popular First Person Shooter in the world, according to GameStop.com.
  • It is the first Metroid game to address the absence of the previous game's power-ups. You start with them, but they are all lost in an explosion.

See also

References

  1. ^ "No Metroid For You". N-sider. February 19, 2001.
  2. ^ Metroid Prime at Rotten Tomatoes
  3. ^ Metroid Database, 1996-1999
  4. ^ Interview with Gene Kohler, Generation N
  5. ^ Mirabella, Fran (November 11, 2002). "Metroid Prime review". ign.com. Retrieved 2006-09-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  6. ^ Kasavin, Greg (November 15, 2002). "Metroid Prime review". gamespot.com. Retrieved 2006-01-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  7. ^ Best and Worst of 2002, GameSpot]
  8. ^ Game of the Year 2002, GameSpy
  9. ^ "Metroid Prime review". Edge magazine. November 15, 2002. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
  10. ^ []]
  11. ^ "Metroid Prime Reviews". Game Rankings. Retrieved 2006-09-08.
  12. ^ "Metroid Prime eviews". metacritic.com. Retrieved 2006-09-08.
  13. ^ "US Platinum Videogame Chart". The Magic Box. Retrieved August 13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "IGN's top 100 games of all time". IGN. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ "GameFAQs: 10-Year Anniversary Contest - The 10 Best Games Ever". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2006-10-04. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  16. ^ ">Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever. Nintendo Power. February, 2006. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ Metroid Prime Done Even Quicker, SlashDot
  18. ^ Metroid Prime at the Speed Demos Archive
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