is a
video game released on
November 15,
2002, developed by
Nintendo-owned
Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the
Nintendo GameCube. It is 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 component to 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'').
[1]
''Metroid Prime'' is the first of the three part ''Prime'' storyline, which takes place between the original ''
Metroid'' and ''. The title was later bundled with the GameCube in 2004. Like in previous games in the series, ''Metroid Prime'' has a
science fiction setting, in which players play as the
bounty hunter Samus Aran. The story follows Samus battling the
Space Pirates and their biological experiments on planet Tallon IV.
The game was first announced at
E3 2001 and was revealed shortly after to be played from a first-person perspective. Following the announcement and subsequent release of the first screenshots, the nature of the game aroused the ire of fans who perceived it as a disgraceful transition into 3D.
[2] In addition, due to frequent layoffs and corporate reorganization at Retro Studios during development, the game was often feverishly considered a
debacle throughout gaming related
message boards, publications, and magazines until near the point of retail release when it attained widespread critical acclaim from various publications.
[3] The game has proven to be a commercial success, selling over 1 million units in North America alone.
29
Gameplay
As in previous ''Metroid'' games, ''Metroid Prime'' takes place in a large,
open-ended world with
different regions connected by elevators. Each region has an entire set of rooms separated by doors, that can be opened with a shot from the correct beam. The game is different from previous games in the series because of its use of first-person view as opposed to side-scrolling, being the first in the series to do so.
22
The protagonist Samus must travel through the world searching for
power-ups that enable her to reach previously inaccessible areas — such as the Varia Suit, that takes away damage caused by heat — and twelve Chozo Artifacts that will open the path to the Phazon meteor
impact crater; the Chozo had scattered and hidden these artifacts to prevent the way from being accidentally opened. A few of the artifacts were found before the start of the game's events by the Space Pirates, who have residence over most of the planet. It is the first ''Metroid'' game to address the absence of the previous game's power-ups. Samus starts with them, but they are all lost during an explosion in the Space Pirate's Frigate Orpheon ship.
''Metroid Prime'' also introduces a " System" that provides the player with a general idea of where to go, such as indicating "Seismic activity" in a certain room.
[4] It can however be turned off via the options menu.
Items
Morph Ball mode
Throughout the game, the player must find and collect many different items, ranging 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.
4 Most of the items from previous ''Metroid'' games make appearances here; however, the functions of many of them have been altered. Manipulation of the game's physics can allow knowledgeable players to receive items much earlier than intended, or to bypass collecting them altogether, a challenge known as
sequence breaking.
Bonuses
With the use of a
Nintendo GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable, players of the game can gain two additional features. If ''
Metroid Fusion'' is completed, the
original ''Metroid'' game can be unlocked for use within the game, and also use the
memory card to save progress. If ''Metroid Prime'' is completed, the Fusion Suit which Samus wears in ''Fusion'' will become available for display while playing ''Prime''.
The connection need only be performed once in order to gain the extra features.
[5]
Plot
''Metroid Prime'' was considered different from previous ''Metroid'' games by making extensive use of storyline.
20 Short
cutscenes appear before important battles, and the Scan Visor can be used to read text related to the Chozo and Space Pirates.
The game starts as Samus receives a distress signal from the Space Pirate
Frigate ''Orpheon'', whose crew has been decimated by the Pirates' own genetically modified aliens. Upon arriving at the ship's core, she battles with the Parasite Queen, after which it falls into the reactor, causing it to explode. While making her escape, an electrical surge destroys all of her Power Suit's upgrades. After watching
Ridley fly towards Tallon IV, Samus gives chase in
her gunship.
View overlooking the Phendrana Shorelines, located in the Phendrana Drifts.
Samus initially makes planetfall on the ''Tallon Overworld'', a rainy, rainforest-like area. She discovers the ''
Chozo Ruins'', the remains of the Chozo civilization on Tallon IV that was destroyed with the crash of the Phazon meteor. After defeating that area's boss, a giant, mantis-like plant called Flaaghra, she obtains the Varia Suit upgrade and is able to enter ''Magmoor Caverns'', an underground area with
magma-filled tunnels that connect all the areas together. The Space Pirates use the caverns as a source of
geothermal power, and Magmoor is the only area in the game without a
boss or miniboss to fight. Samus then journeys to the ''Phendrana Drifts'', a cold, mountainous location divided into an ancient Chozo ruin, some Space Pirate research labs that feature the first
Metroids, and ice caves and valleys that are home to many electrical and ice based creatures. Finally, Samus infiltrates the ''Phazon Mines'', a mining and research complex that is the center of the Space Pirates' Tallon IV operations, and obtains the Phazon Suit and the last of the Chozo Artifacts, allowing her to enter the ''Impact Crater'', where the Chozo have sealed off
Metroid Prime.
4 During the final cutscene, a dying Metroid Prime steals Samus's Phazon Suit, and, unbeknownst to her, becomes
Dark Samus.
Some sources, like
Gradiente, Brazil's then-distributor of Nintendo, and the
Nintendo Power comics adaptation of ''Metroid Prime'',
[6] set the game as happening after ''Super Metroid''. The Brazilian publicity even says that the Phazon meteor is a piece of Zebes,
[7] destroyed after ''SM''.
Development
After ''Super Metroid'', many ''Metroid'' fans were eagerly awaiting a sequel. It was supposedly slated for the
Nintendo 64 or its ill-fated accessory,
the 64DD, but while the game was referenced several times,
[8] it never entered production, because "they couldn't come out with any concrete ideas".
10
The game was developed as a collaboration between Retro Studios and important
Nintendo EAD and
R&D1 members. Retro Studios was created in
1998, by an alliance between Nintendo and former
Iguana Entertainment founder,
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''.
[9] Nintendo members, such as
Shigeru Miyamoto, Kensuke Tanabe and Kenji Miki, as well as ''Metroid'' designer
Yoshio Sakamoto, communicated with the Texas-based studio through emails, monthly phone conferences and several personal gatherings. Originally envisioned as having third-person perspective gameplay, this was changed to a first-person perspective after Miyamoto intervened, causing almost everything already developed to be scrapped.
[10]
In
2000, three games were canceled in order to establish focus on ''Metroid Prime'', and in
2001, the last project (an RPG called ''
Raven Blade'') was canceled, so that ''Metroid Prime'' would be the only game in development.
[11] 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 change from 2D sidescrolling to 3D first person.
[Kenji Yamamoto, assisted by Kouichi Kyuma composed the music for ''Metroid Prime''. The soundtrack contains some remixes of tracks from previous games in the series:[12] the initial Tallon Overworld theme 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 remix of the Ridley boss music first featured in ''Super Metroid''; it has been remixed 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.[13] However, time constraints prevented it from being included in the final version of the game. Though the beta model displays him inside Phazon Mines, Kohler says he was not replaced by the Omega Pirate.
Versions
Three versions of the game were released: the original North America one, a second one with some fixed problems (such as a freezing glitch causing occasionally by using elevators connecting to Chozo Ruins), released in North America and Japan, and the European version, which changed some elements of the gameplay to prevent sequence breaking and fixed some glitches. During the European translation, some of the logs were removed or changed, resulting in a different storyline and log book.[14][15][16] Also added was a narrator in the opening and closing scenes; This version was also in the NTSC region's Player's Choice re-release.[17] Before the release of '' in 2004, Nintendo released a platinum-colored GameCube bundled with a copy of ''Metroid Prime'' containing a special second disc, featuring both a preview trailer and a demo for ''Echoes'', a timeline of ''Metroid'' games and an art gallery.[18]
Reception
''Metroid Prime'' received a positive reception and met with positive sales. The game became one of the best-selling games on the GameCube, with about 1.49 million copies sold in the United States alone.[29] It is also the 8th best-selling GameCube game in Australia [30] and sold over 250,000 copies in Europe, thus entering the Player's Choice line.[31]
Critical response
After its release, the game has received much critical acclaim, including a perfect review score from ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'',[32] and Nintendo Power.[32] IGN rated it high for its "very impressive graphics,[34] amazing, innovative gameplay – yet still true to the classic ''Metroid'' formula –,[ ''Entertainment Gaming Monthly'' reviews ] and excellent soundtrack."20 Criticisms were also made, mostly for the unusual control scheme[35] and .[36]
Currently on Game Rankings, ''Metroid Prime'' stands as the third greatest game of all time and also the greatest game of the 21st century, with an average score of 96.3%. [37] 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.
''Metroid Prime'' was also included in several lists of best games: 24th in IGN's Top 100, [38], and later first in the "Top Gamecube Games of all time" list from the same site. 29th in a 100-game list chosen by GameFAQs users,[39]
and 10th in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever".[40] ''Metroid Prime'' also became popular among hardcore gamers for speedrunning, with specialized communities being formed to share these speedruns (see speedrun for more information).
Legacy
''Metroid Prime'' was followed by two direct sequels in the same first-person shooter style and a pinball spin-off. The first was '', for the GameCube and released in November 2004, in which Samus travels to planet Aether and discovers that a Phazon meteor crash in the planet created an alternate reality, while being pursued by a mysterious enemy called Dark Samus. It was then followed by ''Metroid Prime Pinball'', a spin-off game developed by Fuse Games and released in 2005 for the Nintendo DS.[41] It is a virtual pinball game that features some of the locations and bosses of ''Prime''.
The next game was ''Metroid Prime Hunters'', for the Nintendo DS, with a storyline that takes place between the events of ''Metroid Prime'' and ''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''; a demo of the game was released with purchase of a Nintendo DS titled ''Metroid Prime Hunters - First Hunt'', and the full game was released on March 20, 2006 in North America, and May 5, 2006 in Europe. The storyline follows Samus trying to discover an "ultimate power", while facing six rival bounty hunters. ''Hunters'' was not developed by Retro Studios, but by Redmond-based subsidiary NST.
The second sequel is '', released on August 27, 2007 for Nintendo's next generation console, Wii. ''Corruption'' was revealed to close the ''Prime'' series,[42] and introduces new hunters and characters, such as Rundas, Gandrayda, and Ghor, other bounty hunters hired by the Galactic Federation.
See also
★ Gunpei Yokoi, producer of the original ''Metroid'' games.
★ Shigeru Miyamoto, associate producer of ''Metroid Prime'' and Nintendo's most well known designer.
★ ''
★ ''
References
1. Metroid Fusion release dates
2. No Metroid For You
3. ''Metroid Prime'' reviews
4. Metroid Prime Instruction Booklet, Nintendo, , , Nintendo of America, Inc., 2002,
5.
6. Metroid Prime downloads (includes the comic books)
7. ''Metroid Prime'' on a large Brazilian e-shop
8. News Archives: 1996-1999
9. Metroid Primed
10. Developer info for ''Metroid Prime''
11. History of Retro Studios
12.
13. Did You Know? Classic Metroid enemy Kraid was planned to be in Metroid Prime
14. Chozo Lore FAQ and Pirate Data FAQ (NTSC version)
15. PAL Chozo Lores
16. PAL Pirate Data
17. Version differences: version number
18.
19. Metroid Prime articles and reviews
20. Metroid Prime review Mirabella, Fran
21.
22. Metroid Prime review Kasavin, Greg
23. GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002: Game of the Year
24. Metroid Prime review Williams, Bryan
25. Game of the Year 2002
26. Metroid Prime review, , , , Edge magazine,
27. Metroid Prime Reviews
28. Metroid Prime reviews
29. US Platinum Videogame Chart
30. Australia's Choice
31. New Player's Choice titles!
32. Metroid Prime Reviews
33. Metroid Prime Reviews
34. The Top Ten Best-Looking GameCube Games Castro, Juan
35. Metroid Prime review
36.
37. Game Rankings' top games
38. IGN's top 100 games of all time
39. GameFAQs: 10-Year Anniversary Contest - The 10 Best Games Ever
40. Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever, , , , Nintendo Power, 2006
41. Metroid Prime Pinball
42. Metroid Prime 3 Details Emerge
External links
★ ''Metroid Prime's'' official website
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