I did, too. This was the first video that popped up on my news feed after I got off work. Thought they must have announced a port without any sort of remaster.
Prime 2 is my favorite of the trilogy. - It have the darkest atmosphere, the closest of Super Metroid. - First time that Samus got true new armor upgrades with Dark and Light Suits. - Best boss battles of the trilogy, Quadraxis is my favorite. - Great use of Morph Ball. - Maps are better designed to reduce backtracking. - We got Screw Attack in 3D. - The final scene is Samus at her finnest! I really want a remaster with the same treatment of Prime 1!
Can't agree more! Prime 2 was my first introduction to the series (which was a bit of a mistake, to be honest. 8 year old me was terrified of Dark Aether and the toxic atmosphere hurting you constantly). It didn't just reiterate on the exact same formula from the first and actually had interesting and good mechanical and thematic tweaks. My biggest (and maybe my only serious) gripe about the game is that the first areas are rather... bland visually. Everything in Temple Grounds and Agon is done in shades of brown and gray, and that only becomes more exacerbated when you jump over to Dark Agon, and that section lasts hours on a first playthrough. Even the interesting decorative patterns of the Luminoth architecture doesn't really help much compared to the rest of the scenery. Torvus Bog and the Sanctuary Fortress both have vivid identities, both in the light and dark versions.
I agree with a lot of what you said. My main issue with Prime 2 though that prevents it from being my favorite is how freaking slow and tedious the early game is. Also the Spider Guardian.
The maps are _objectively_ not better in Prime 2. In fact, they're really quite _bad,_ even on an absolute scale. They weren't designed to reduce "backtracking" (which is such a nonsense and myopic term that communicates a lot about your level of understanding), they were designed to stop sequence-breaking. As such, the game _hard locks_ you in a small area until that area is complete, rarely requiring you to venture outside of that area to do anything. Exploration really doesn't exist; each area is mostly a self-contained "level" that must be completed before you can move on. And to "compensate" for this, the levels design is more convoluted, more maze-like and filled with gimmicky hoops that the game repeatedly forced you to jump through in order to navigate the level just to pad out the game's length and disguise how restrictive it is. I _love_ being forced to watch animations for switching worlds over and over for no reason, just because the level design requires it just for simple navigation that you do over and over. And then there is the endgame fetch-quest that you can't even start work on until you've done everything else, which brings the pacing of the game to a grinding halt. And then you have to go through the overly linear and hallway-like level design with limited ways to access different areas like crawling through a winding, convoluted mess of tubes to find all of them, because everything is so disconnected that you basically have to play through the whole game again just to reach them all. I love Echoes, but that is an absolutely _bullshit_ claim that is very obviously false if you take an even remotely critical look at the game's level design.
I love Prime 2 so much and I think a LOT of that comes down to the fact that they really solidified what worked from Prime 1 *and* weren't afraid to introduce entirely new core upgrades to the series. Seriously, think about it, what other Metroid game doesn't involve you getting the Ice, Wave, or Plasma beams? All I can think of is Prime Hunters. Yes, the Dark Beam is adjacent to the Ice Beam and the Light Beam is adjacent to the Plasma beam, but the point is that, for one of the only times in the entire franchise, they are NOT those old beams. Not to mention how much they improved the Spider and Boost ball mechanics, and the fact that you get entirely new suits with totally unique designs from the typical Varia suit and its recolors. Oh, and that they introduced the Screw Attack/Space Jump into 3D for the first time.
Prime 2 is the one I respect most because it’s such an incredibly ballsy game. They took some genuine risks and had a real vision. Some of the decisions were inevitably going to be divisive but I think that’s what makes it so special. I hope it eventually gets the same treatment Prime 1 got.
@@jaretco6423 I don't think I'd be that interested in a prime 3 remaster tbh. It had some really fatal issues that made it not feel that fun, specifically as a metroid prime person. If they remade it into something more like what Prime 1 and 2 was I'd buy that. It's kind of asking for an Other M remaster. Like, its not a bad game, its just not what I want from metroid.
@@Mallchad I understand. But I like Prime 3 and still think it's a great game. It's just more on the easy side than the other two Prime 2 games because of the Hypermode.
@@jaretco6423 Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it as well. It just doesn't feel as good. I don't think hypermode made it easier... They actually made the default mode an easier mode than usual. Usually the difficult on Prime games is like "hard" and "harder". But in Prime 3 for the first time it was "easy" and "hard". Mislabelled, of course Hypermode/beam doesn't entirely make the game easier because it also meant missing damage would cost an entire energy tank, not just time. But the default difficulty made it easy.
What stands out to me about Prime 2 compared to 1 and 3 is how effed up the planet is. Prime 1 and 3 had some corrupted or dark areas of their own (especially in 3 with the GFS Valhalla), but a lot of the time you sorta had to take their word for it that the planets were slowly getting poisoned/dying. In Prime 2, it's abundantly clear how dire Planet Aether's situation is, from the bleaker environments to the numerous dead Luminoth bodies you can find throughout the journey. That and the Luminoth Lore made me feel bad for them for the suffering they endured in their war of attrition against the Ing. When you as Samus finally destroy the Ing and Dark Aether forever, there's tragically few Luminoth left. And yet it still feels like one of Samus's most heroic moments as they bow to you for saving them and their race from total extinction. All of that, more than the gameplay itself, gives this the edge over Prime 1 for me.
I think 3 had the potential to sell the corruption but couldn't due to the way the story progressed. It was barely a month since the leviathans hit the planets so a lot of the corrupting influence isn't as drastic yet as the dimension-warping leviathan turned Ing in 2. It relied too heavily on backstory to sell the urgency of destroying the leviathans, which works great as a narrative device but not if that's your only reference.
The Ing’s attack to get the last planetary energy was just about to happen when Samus arrived and got the Energy Transfer Module. The hero always arrives late couldn’t be more true.
I still remember how shocked I was as a kid at how desperate the war had gotten to the point that the Luminoth were sending pregnant females and young children to the frontlines in hopeless offensives, Prime 2 goes hard with how dark it can get, and that's a big part as to why Echoes is my favorite Metroid.
@@GFMarine Alot to read but here are some logs. Scans Father Luminoth "Bioscan complete. Luminoth subject expired 1.12 centicycles ago. Target Luminoth shares DNA code with other dead Luminoth in area. He is the father of that Luminoth. Scans indicate they died within moments of one another, most likely from exposure to Ingstorm particles." Daughter Luminoth "Bioscan complete. Luminoth subject expired 1.12 centicycles ago. Target Luminoth shares DNA code with other dead Luminoth in area. She is the daughter of that Luminoth. Scans indicate she died from exposure to Ingstorm particles."
Prime 2 is actually my favorite in the Prime series. Love the atmosphere, love her body language in this with the soldiers, and I love the design of the Luminoth.
Prime 2 was my first game in the series. My siblings and I struggled but it made the progress and victories feel that much better. Also got a lot of mileage out of that multiplayer. I don’t think it’s the best of the trilogy but it’s certainly my favorite. Thanks for giving it a shoutout Daniel
I'm on a similar boat, Echoes was my first 3D Metroid game and I'll be real, Spider Guardian made me drop the game, I was frustrated but after some time picked it up again and managed to defeat that boss, then I finished the game ended up loving Echoes. Each new playthrough just made things "click more" and it's now one of my favorites.
Holy based. It was my first Metroid game. I remember seeing that game case in a Wallmart-esque store... No idea how I convinced my parents to buy the game for me right there and then, we were out just for groceries. But that game case... It was memorizing. I knew Samus from Smash of course. And then... The rest is history, I fell in love with the franchise. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is EXCELLENT. And it also had fun deathmatch multiplayer!
I love Prime 2. Never understood why it doesn't get more love. Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress are awesome, and the dark world added alot of cool vibes for me. Prime 2 delivered
If the game design and technology would allow for it, it would be a great improvement to have (near) instant loading between Light and Dark World in a potential remaster.
I don't know why, but when I played Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as a kid I had a whole bunch of caramels that I was snacking on as I played. Even now, I can faintly taste the caramel flavor every time I see gameplay footage.
Hahaha similar thing but with music, I was really into Electric 6 (embarrassingly) at the time so whenever I boot up Prime 2 I get a few bars from that album in my head, really jars with the horror aesthetic!
I have this experience but it was goldfish with Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story lol. That's such a unique experience I haven't really thought about until now
For me, the best prime game. The atmosphere, the terror of dark aether and the triumph of overcoming it all... simply legendary. I love prime 1, don't really care for 3... but Echoes was something special imo.
I'm praying constantly we get a shadow drop of echoes remastered and it looks as good as prime 1 remaster. This game deserves so much more love and it's one I look forward to eventually talking about as well 🙏
I love MP2, the beam system with munitions and the dark world. The level-design is also so good. It also has the best are of any Metroid Prime game (sanctuary fortress).
Great video! I love seeing Prime 2 get the attention it deserves. It really is a bleak, stressful game, and if you play it with that in mind as the intended experience, it's really special. I really like mastering the ammo system too, where you're constantly switching between beams, strategically switching beams to finish off an enemy to get some extra ammo, it makes a fast-paced sense of combat. Plus the draining atmosphere of Dark Aether also makes you want to finish fighting as fast as possible. And I think the story of the Luminoth is so good. I feel so bad for what happened to them and seeing truly how hopeless this war was for them. That makes it all the better when Samus saves them at the end :) I always thought it was strange we never saw Dark Luminoth, but after learning so much about them and how they felt about their world getting corrupted, I'm glad they didn't have to go through that... And that music though...Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress are such a bop, I love Dark Samus' theme with the guitar shredding, and it has my favorite final boss theme in the Prime series. Emperor Ing's theme is so epic...it really feels like a final showdown. I also respect all the different stuff they did in this game. No Ridley, Chozo, ice beam, plasma beam, just a new race on a planet with an art style never seen before in the series, and they nailed it. It shows that Metroid can have so many things be different but still keep that strong gameplay loop, atmosphere, horror, and dark themes. Are there many other series out there that can change this much, but still keep that original identity like Metroid can? Also Quadraxis is the greatest boss ever. The atmosphere, the build up, the music, the fact that it takes like 20 mins to beat, and the amazing reward at the end of the final dungeon: Sanctuary Fortress. I love this area, an utterly unique design, bopping ass tunes, crazy enemies, beautiful vistas...chefs kiss. I love this game.
Echoes is literally my favorite game of all time. It’s hard to quantify in a few words. The vibes are simply immaculate and its boss fights and puzzles represent the best the series has to offer.
As one man who discovered video games late in life said "Why do you always fight over whether a game is better or not than its sequel? They are all better than each other, no need to compare them", God he is so right! I love Metroid Prime as much as 2 and 3.
On one hand I want to play it on the Switch now but on the other ... I can only imagine a remake on Switch 2 with ray traced reflections on the suit and Sanctuary Fortress' surfaces. Oh and true real-time lighting, which would make for a much more interesting Dark World especially with how you can alter crystals.
Getting the Annihilator beam near the end was so damn satisfying, I swear the whole gameplay structure of Prime 3 was based on how satisfying it was to mow down EVERYTHING with the Annihilator beam in Prime 2
Prime 2 made me feel isolated and depressed and, strangely enough, I see this as something hugely comforting; Dark Aether is one the most oppressive gaming environments I've ever seen. It's my all-time favourite game and would love to see it on Switch.
Honestly to me I find Prime 2 far more memorable a game than Prime 1 and I'm not sure why. I think there's just something about the visual design of the game that's distinct, and the level design is just peak in ways I can't put my finger on. The Dark Aether damage, to me, really only makes the game feel unfair at a single point (the goddamn Boost Guardian), and while the Beam Ammo system puts just enough tension on you to feel scary, but the replenishment is generous enough that it never gets more than just putting me on edge a bit early on. I actually always loved the aesthetic of the Dark Suit, I love the Varia Suit design just fine but this suit feels like a genuine new direction that a game like this needed. The Light Suit, on the other hand, always looked kinda weird to me, but not bad exactly. And the other big complaint I see people have about Echoes, the late-game fetch quest, honestly never bothered me and felt like people who play FPSs more than Metroidvanias just not understanding the genre. Because the late game "sweep through everything to find all the stuff you missed" is just part and parcel of the Metroidvania experience, and it's one I genuinely enjoy regardless of the effect on the pacing. I love all three Prime games, but Echoes is the one that always defined the trilogy to me, and I'd love to see it get the respect it deserves with a full remaster. All they need to change in terms of gameplay is the Boost Guardian and that's a perfect game in my book. If you read all that, want a memory of this game? I was in high school, wanna say... 2010 or so? I'd never actually beaten the game before (in my youth I always had "get bored of a game right at the final boss-itis", and would replay the main body of a game a lot but never cross the finish line. So I'd just gotten home from a long day of marching band practice, finally reach the final boss, and during the last phase I got excited and jumped up from my chair... and got a massive charlie horse from doing so. Somehow I managed to pause the game, turn off the Wavebird I was using, and turn off the TV before hitting the floor, and gave myself time to recover. But that night I did beat the game for the first time. It sucked in the moment, but it's a funny memory for me now, at least.
@Hanz_Haze I don't care for the ammo system either but it's not hard to refill so it doesn't bother me much, the positives outweigh ammo inconvenience. I'm one of those that dislikes Majora's Mask though, but it's mainly due to it only having 4 dungeons, dungeons are a major part of Zelda to me and when there are too little or none at all like Breath of the Wild I end up disliking them.
@@ChrisMS0815The only reason Majora's Mask only has 4 dungeons is because of the story/plot involving 4 gods protecting the land of Termina from fallen moon. But even so, Majora's Mask does have some of the best dungeon design in the series and if we wonna count the mini ones like Ikaunua Castle & Pirates Chamber, than there's like 6 or 7 dungeons.
I played Echoes first, the lack of an Ammo system in Prime 1 (meaning your basic beam is almost entirely irrelevant after getting the "upgrades") really bothered me 😂 It just felt very plain, like something essential was missing.
@@MLWJ1993 I didn't play Prime 2 first but I did beat Prime 2 first, back when Prime 1 launched I played it and somehow got lost as soon as I got to Phendrana Drifts and I just stopped playing it. Then when Prime 2 came out I was able to beat it to completion which gave me motivation to go back and beat Prime 1. I did feel more overpowered not having to worry about beam ammo especially with the Ice Beam and Plasma Beam but that is how Metroid has always been with those beams so I can see people not liking the ammo system. In the 2D games beams stacked and completely overwrote your basic Power Beam, they brought this back in Prime 3 but I didn't like beam stacking there like in 2D Metroid.
When I first got to subterranean torvus bog the music hit me with train of nostalgia lol. Even though it’s under water and slow to move around at first, it’s probably in my top 3 favorite prime locations. The bosses were a ton of fun even with some of them having a really sharp difficulty spike (boost boss and the shark for me at least).
I just remember the anticipation leading up to November in 2004. I was 14 at the time. I played the demo disc 50 times in the months before it released and when it finally came out it was everything I’d hoped for. Great exploration, great boss battles, and fun upgrades that weren’t just rehashes of the first game. I still have mine on the GC but I’ve been waiting patiently for a remaster because I want to see it in its full glory.
This was my first and favorite Metroid Prime game! The vibes were fantastic, and the title theme has lived in my head rent free for many years. This'll almost certainly be a day one purchase if it gets remastered and comes to Switch!
My opinion on 2 changed a lot over the years, especially after watching several retrospectives on the series (totally watch the videos by Game Maker's toolkit, KingK and the Geek Critique!). Prime 2 truly is like a fine wine. It has so many intricacies. And even though i personally prefer 1, I do believe 2 is actually the better designed game.
I still think about this game several times a week. I adored this game and its worlds the most as well out of the 3 Prime games. It was so creative and mysterious and thick with atmosphere.
_"I don't know who shares this opinion with me?"_ You're not alone, I absolutely love Metroid Prime 2. I even defend the ammo system as well, I think Echoes has one of the best combat systems in the series and making the different beam weapons unlimited would have made the game too easy, heck I also think Dark Aether is more manageable once you get the Dark Suit (which is very early) and learn how to use the light crystals and beacons to destroy the Ing instantly. But yeah, to me, Echoes does everything I love in a sequel: to be very different than its predecessors while still keeping the soul, to add more challenge and demanding a bit more from the player. That's why it's one of my favorite games ever, plus the soundtrack, the boss battles, Sanctuary Fortress, Dark Samus encounters, etc. I really hope it gets the Remastered treatment, Echoes deserves it, maybe with the positive reaction towards MPR and if MP4 Beyond makes it big they'll consider it. Btw, happy late 20th anniversary to Metroid Prime 2 Echoes!
I love each prime game for different reasons. The first was Super Metroid 3D, the second was dark and suffocating, the third brought to earth the best fps motion control ever done and never matched since !
Metroid Prime 2 multiplayer was one of my friend groups go to multiplayer modes! We still go back to it every now and then. It's very nostalgic for me lol
Man, the atmosphere of this game is so great. I have not felt more alone on a planet than Prime 2, and by margin, so powerful when you start getting the big later upgrades and being able to take on everything the game throws at you.
My first Prime was 2 and subsequently 3. And even as I have played Prime 1, I still like 2 alot more. Nostalgia is certainly there. But there are aspects of Prime 1 that I enjoy on their own merits. Prime 2 just hits the perfect middle-ground between isolation and interaction with the great unknown. Beam Ammo never really bothered me. Though all things considered, it probably isn’t super necessary given the context of their usage. I think a good middle ground is having the amount you can shoot limited, but the beam regenerates like Mana. That way you never have to go out of your way for ammo, and the context of saving your fire for the right time is relevant still.
I used to be very conservative when using the Dark and Light beams in MP2, afraid I'd run out of them, and that made combat far more boring than it should have been. When I realized I could just use the opposing beam on crates and ammo storages to get the ammo for the beam I wanted, I started going nuts with the beams and combat became much more fun! Thing is, the game does tell you about this mechanic, I just ignored it for the longest time for no reason! But if you use your beams and missiles, the game is much more fun and and you restock plenty across the maps, so no need to be stingy with them!
Unlike all the Zelda locations, the radiation drains your suits energy. They should make a Zelda location where something like that happens (no I don’t mean hot and cold areas). The comparisons you made were valid but (especially the Twilight Realm), none of them really feel like a threat. Like I get that gloom is hurtful so I’ll give that a pass, but in Twilight Princess, nothing changes in the work when it gets shrouded. Even the people are unfazed, going about their daily lives without any interference.
Idk the Twilight realm felt awful to navigate in the beginning, especially since you're playing as a wolf early on. Kinda felt like learning to walk so it definitely felt similarly to MP2 in that regard imo.
I remember playing metroid fusion as a kid and I was terrified of SA-X but some years later dark Samus comes along and man. I loved this dark atmosphere, the constant tension of the possibility of running into a fight with either the dark hunter or a group of space pirates. Dark atmospheres just catch me, just like in twilight princess some years later. They don't really do dark games anymore do they? :(
I remember kids saying this game was “way too hard” compared to the first one, something about the dark world. I’ve never played it and I’ve been holding off to see if Nintendo finally ports or remasters it. Love the intro btw.
12:50 I think every mechanism in this game, especially the ones they changed, aids the feel of “survival” whether it was intended to or not. For that reason, I appreciate the ammo system for the beams, as much as I would like to have them unlimited. I think the purpose it serves for immersion into surviving the harshness of the luminoth’s plight is what I appreciate about it
Playing the multiplayer at my cousin's house was actually what made me want to start playing metroid games! I only played 2 in the last few years but after all this time of people I know telling me how difficult the dark world was due to the damage mechanic I was surprised... that it wasn't actually that bad lol. I also didn't mind the ammo thing, maybe mildly tedious but I don't even remember a time it caused frustration. Even if you run out it will still give more shots just slower so you don't need to worry about finding ammo for puzzles.
The ability to full charge to shoot an empty dark or light shot, I think was so that you can still always open a door or otherwise solve a puzzle. Keeping some ammo is generally not so hard after you realize you can influence the drops by using the opposite weapon.
Echoes was my favorite Metroid, until Dread released I also enjoy the extra complexity of both the damage over time from just being on Dark Aether, as well as the ammo system for the beams
21:05 there's a theory that the suit and Samus go deeper then just a peice of advanced technology she wears. The suit. Is essentially a living organic 'supernatural' artifact. As the chozo technology was SO advanced. That in order to weild it properly. You needed a spiritual connection and understanding to use it. And sense the entire game is 1st person. When Samus goes into a ball. What you see in 3rd person IS WHAT SHE SEES. It's like an advanced form of Astral projection. It also explains the 200 missles she can carry. And also explains why the pirates were unable to reverse engineer her suit in prime 1. Do when she goes ball. She isn't physically really doing it. She straight just turns into energy itself.. TLTR. Yes. Bird magic.
What happened to the GF Troopers really hit hard when you read their personal logs. This was the first time you really got a taste of what regular people in the Metroid series' world thought about Samus, as one of the women in the squad mentioned how she looks up to Samus.
Fun thing about Dark Samus, the light beam is ineffective on her, but the dark beam shreds her health. I was confused, but then i realized that the light beam is only effective on dark world creatures. Guess who was technically born in the light world.
prime 2 is easily my favorite of the trilogy and probably my favorite metroid game as a whole so far. the music and dark tone of being in a true alien world is unmatched on it
Echoes is easily my favourite of the trilogy. The map layout is so brilliantly done, and the environment, difficulty, and ammo restrictions really amp up the atmosphere. It's also a game that quickly becomes much easier with mastery. Using the correct weapon (including bombs, boost ball and supers), taking advantage of the glut of crates, and exploiting vulnerabilities all drastically simplify combat. I really recommend people try playing a couple of runs randomized through Randovania. Once you start to master the map layout, it's so much fun.
Prime 2 was actually my entry into the Prime series, and I still enjoyed it. Granted, I had a guide, but I still enjoyed my time with Prime 2. I played Prime 1 shortly after. And then Prime 3, then the Trilogy and I will admit the Wii interface overhaul certainly made Prime 2 a little easier. But still fun.
This was my introduction to the Metroid series. It was hard. It took me a while to get a groove, but once i figured out how it worked i loved it. Its in my top 10 games. Didnt know there was a dislike for it in the community
Metroid prime 2 is best metroid game and best ost. I dont get and respect the complains, metroid prime 1 was piss easy even on hard mode, even MP2 didn't leave any lasting memories about its difficulty and I was only 14yo, I only realised people saw it that way years later when they were talking about it on the internet and when I learned they nerfed it in Trilogy😢. Sure, I restarted some bosses a few times, but bosses only leave lasting memories when they actually gatekeep you and force you to lock in. All i remembered is that it was the most immersive world I had ever played, even to this day, the music and atmosphere of dark aether is like a warm hug, the city you can from afar in sanctuary fortress is a memory from from my early childhood i dont even know where it comes from, but it feels like paradise. I never had any problems with the limited ammo, you get them from destructibles in litterally every rooms and enemies you kill and you get ammo expention upgrades just like missiles. If you like fighting the air and shoot emptiness its your fault😂😂😂 Its not a problem in any other FPS and MP2 gives you WAY more. Plus these beams are OP, especially dark beam charge shot. My most painfull memory if this game is trying to get 100%scan and ending with 99% only to find out it was the dawn spawns from the chykkra moth that I forgot 😢 that one time super quick encounter... If they make a remaster, I wont be truly satisfied unless they make it the same difficulty as the GC version and have hardmode available from the get go.
Prime 2 is amazing, its my absolute favorite of the trilogy, but its ONE drawback is the endgame key hunt, Prime 1 you can find a good portion of the Chozo Artifacts as you progress the game, but the Keys in Prime 2 are essentially locked off until you have the Light Suit, there might be one or two you can get before then, but most locations they are hidden in are hidden away by endgame items
I've been there for the whole Prime series, and when Prime 2 first came out I loved it but still considered Prime 1 to be my favourite. But after many, many, many more playthroughs of both games Prime 2 is definitely my preferred outing now. It's funny, I thought Prime 3 was super cool the first time, but now I don't think it's even remotely close to 1 and 2. (Still fun though)
Kinda baffling there hasn´t been a Smash Bros Stage based on this game yet. Like a level that transitions from a Lightrealm to the schadowrealm with the later damaging the players constantly, unless you are in one of this Safebubbles, like the gimmick is right there!
I played a bit of Prime 2 when I borrowed a friend's copy. Prime 3 is my favourite in the trilogy. Echoes was quite daring in its approach, though, for the reasons you outlined. I like that Retro decided not to rely too much on classic Metroid upgrades with Prime 2 and 3 (and hopefully 4), and came up with original suits, weapons and characters. I'd love to see the Luminoth return in some capacity since they add to the series' lore.
Metroid Prime 2 is my favorite of the trilogy. It took years of me playing it to reach that point, as the game was very hard for me to play, but now its definitely one of my top 5 favorite games ever made
Prime 2’s my favorite 3D Metroid, 2nd favorite Metroid period after Zero Mission. It had such a great atmosphere and the level design was perfect at making each area connect in a fun way.
Prime 2 is my least favorite of the trilogy because of the flaws you mentioned, but it’s still a 9/10 in the consistently incredible 10/10 trilogy. The darker tone is awesome and the main menu theme as well as the lower Brinstar remix are some of my favorite songs in the entire trilogy. Beautiful game that deserves to be played on Switch like the first one
I've always loved Prime 2 the most out of the trilogy, but I couldn't quite explain why. You put those thoughts into words very well, great video as always!
Prime 2 was the first prime game I played as a kid and I was obsessed with it, I even played the multiplayer a lot lol. I remember it took me a while to finish, I got filtered by some of the sections (like that fucking boost guardian) but the game seemed like the coolest thing ever to me. Didn't realise it was meant to be 'the hard one', but it makes sense, I played prime 1 afterwards and I was surprised at how easy it was in comparison.
I stumbled upon the original Prime after having played super Metroid when I was a really little kid. I loved it. But when I played Echoes I was totally blown away. Corruption was great too. But if you ask real Metroid fans what their favorite of the 3 is, I bet Echoes gets a lot of love. -The tragic fate of the Luminoth -The creepiness of the Ing (not the pirates, the Metroids, the federation or dark Samus can tame them) - The element of survival horror with the crashed ship. - The incredible multilayer bosses (Chykka and Quadraxis come to mind) - The levels (Sanctuary Fortress and Underground Torvus Bog) - The music (Agon Wastes slow and creepy music) - The story Such a forgotten gem of a game. It is punishing though
Prime 2 is my favorite Prime as well. It has a lot of aspects that jive with me (the light-dark juxtaposition, the damn-near horror intro, along with the subtle but impactful display of Samus' character), and it has some of my favorite music in the series. Yes, one of those tracks is the Lower Brinstar remix in Torvus Bog, but there's also the main Torvus Bog theme, Dark Samus' boss theme (duh), the Adult Chykka theme, and the title theme. The latter two especially have such an ALIEN quality to them that I almost always go back to listen to them when the mood for Metroid music hits me because that's what draws me to the music the most. I will admit it's not a perfect game - the ammo system was interesting, unique, and understandable as to why it was implemented, but I think there could have been a better way to do so (maybe meters that recharge after a period of disuse) and I get why it rubbed people the wrong way, and while I enjoyed the difficulty of the the original Gamecube release it was perhaps a touch too difficult (especially in regards to the boost guardian). But despite its flaws it's still my favorite of the current trio and I want to see it remastered like Prime 1 so badly.
Happy 20th Anniversary Metroid Prime 2! I feel the same way, this game is the best Metroid Prime game, and honestly might be my favourite Metroid game ever. I love coming to it even today. I'm assuming you're aware, but KIWI TALKZ recently did a bunch of interviews with former Retro Studio staff going deep on the development of the game, and they're a fantastic watch! One thing all the developers seem to agree on is Quadraxis is the best boss fight they ever made, and I have to agree. One of the best Nintendo boss fights ever.
I love Prime 2 so much! At first it was really intimidating and I mostly kept playing because it was the only new game I would have for a while haha. But it grew on me, and as you said Dark Aether gets somewhat friendlier as you upgrade. The bosses in this game are so good! Some of the hardest in the series but ultimately so satisfying.
i was 5 years old when corruption came out and would only get into metroid 4 year later mid-drought. i still cannot believe im sitting here with the knowledge that a new one is coming 😭
I really want a remaster for this game; it was my favorite of the trilogy. I remember being hesitant to jump in due to all of the criticisms I had heard about, namely the thing about the ammo. As a result, Prime 2 wound up being the last one I played. But when I did finally play, I loved it to death. The ammo thing wasn't nearly as intrusive as I expected it to be, though that's probably I defaulted to the Power Beam anyway, much like I did the first game. My favorite Metroid game is between this and Dread.
This might be a hot take but I think Echoes is the best game in the Metroid series. Yes better than Prime, yes better than Super. I've been really itching to replay it but I was waiting for a remaster/rerelease. Hopefully soon
Prime 2 is really fun but the navigation (figuring out where to go) is very confusing and the bossfights are the not-fun kind of hard. It has so many cool ideas and i even don't mind the light/dark ammo count or swapping to the dark world; but my afformentioned criticisms hold it back from being AMAZING in my eyes.
I would absolutely love a Prime 2 remaster! Really, the main thing I want is the dual analog controls with gyro aiming that Prime Remastered got, but graphical upgrades could be absolutely amazing in the dark world. I even like the ammo system. It just fits in this harsher, more survival focused, Metroid game. Except that I wish there was a little more guidance towards a couple of the ammo upgrades. On my very first playthrough, I found none of them, and 50 ammo in the endgame is pretty bad. It's so much more fun when you gradually unlock the flexibility of 250
Honestly i completely missed Metroid prime 1, i started on 2 and then played 3, but never made it through 1 (i have the remaster on switch). i quite liked 2
MP2 is certainly less generally palatable than MP1. I'm more than willing to give it another try, but currently it's in my mental Hate drawer. I generally dislike time pressure and being constantly chased by an enemy, and as a mechanic the perma-damage on Dark Aether is similar in nature. I particularly despise it since you can die after beating a boss, which is just hostile game design.
Prime 2 is my favourite game in the series. It is criminally underrated and fixed many of Prime’s issues yet it almost never gets the credit it deserves. The story was better, the tone was darker, the areas were far more creative and original and the bosses were far superior (with the exception of the boost and spider guardians. Those bosses are god awful)
what if story time: samus never receives the distress signal from the gfed troopers thus never landing on aether. umos has no choice but to make contact with the space pirates since they're the only light creatures left that can use technology, the pirates agree in exchange for luminoth tech so they set out. rules: pirates clone any luminoth technology they come across so every pirate trooper gains access to it except the light suit which would be limited to pirate commandos only. with the added knowledge of the ing and how they work. no area will be inaccessible to them as they have shown to get to areas long before samus (like sanctuary fortress) and worst case scenario they'll drill or blow through areas they can't access. how far do the pirates make it?
Prime 2 has always been my favorite of the trilogy, the opening hours with the zombie Federation soldiers shocked me, and I loved how spooky and actually dangerous Dark Aether was. I'm hoping that it gets a remaster as well on Switch. I would play the crap out of it.
Metroid prime 2 ate my cat. And also I really just couldn't finish prime 2 it was so tedious; much to the chagrin of my friend who really wanted to play fed force together before the release of 4. I told him I'd binge the entire metroid prime series over again once prime 4 actually has a release date because I just couldn't be bothered to finish 2 and I wanted to play the remaster (also I was secretly holding out hope for a remaster of all the prime games even though one of the original devs said it was really difficult)
Metroid Prime 2 is my favorite Metroid game in the series and the best implementation of the light/dark world in all of gaming. The puzzles across the light/dark world are so well implemented.
My heart skipped a beat thinking it was official news for the remaster of Prime 2.
What made you think it was news?
Yeah we are just so starved for new that regular casual videos are seemingly news. Thats kinda nintendos fault.
I wish it was on the switch
I did, too. This was the first video that popped up on my news feed after I got off work. Thought they must have announced a port without any sort of remaster.
Prime 2 is my favorite of the trilogy.
- It have the darkest atmosphere, the closest of Super Metroid.
- First time that Samus got true new armor upgrades with Dark and Light Suits.
- Best boss battles of the trilogy, Quadraxis is my favorite.
- Great use of Morph Ball.
- Maps are better designed to reduce backtracking.
- We got Screw Attack in 3D.
- The final scene is Samus at her finnest!
I really want a remaster with the same treatment of Prime 1!
Can't agree more! Prime 2 was my first introduction to the series (which was a bit of a mistake, to be honest. 8 year old me was terrified of Dark Aether and the toxic atmosphere hurting you constantly). It didn't just reiterate on the exact same formula from the first and actually had interesting and good mechanical and thematic tweaks.
My biggest (and maybe my only serious) gripe about the game is that the first areas are rather... bland visually. Everything in Temple Grounds and Agon is done in shades of brown and gray, and that only becomes more exacerbated when you jump over to Dark Agon, and that section lasts hours on a first playthrough. Even the interesting decorative patterns of the Luminoth architecture doesn't really help much compared to the rest of the scenery. Torvus Bog and the Sanctuary Fortress both have vivid identities, both in the light and dark versions.
I agree with a lot of what you said. My main issue with Prime 2 though that prevents it from being my favorite is how freaking slow and tedious the early game is. Also the Spider Guardian.
The light suit transformation was epic
The maps are _objectively_ not better in Prime 2. In fact, they're really quite _bad,_ even on an absolute scale. They weren't designed to reduce "backtracking" (which is such a nonsense and myopic term that communicates a lot about your level of understanding), they were designed to stop sequence-breaking.
As such, the game _hard locks_ you in a small area until that area is complete, rarely requiring you to venture outside of that area to do anything. Exploration really doesn't exist; each area is mostly a self-contained "level" that must be completed before you can move on. And to "compensate" for this, the levels design is more convoluted, more maze-like and filled with gimmicky hoops that the game repeatedly forced you to jump through in order to navigate the level just to pad out the game's length and disguise how restrictive it is. I _love_ being forced to watch animations for switching worlds over and over for no reason, just because the level design requires it just for simple navigation that you do over and over.
And then there is the endgame fetch-quest that you can't even start work on until you've done everything else, which brings the pacing of the game to a grinding halt. And then you have to go through the overly linear and hallway-like level design with limited ways to access different areas like crawling through a winding, convoluted mess of tubes to find all of them, because everything is so disconnected that you basically have to play through the whole game again just to reach them all.
I love Echoes, but that is an absolutely _bullshit_ claim that is very obviously false if you take an even remotely critical look at the game's level design.
Don't forget the most epic intro screen.
I love Prime 2 so much and I think a LOT of that comes down to the fact that they really solidified what worked from Prime 1 *and* weren't afraid to introduce entirely new core upgrades to the series. Seriously, think about it, what other Metroid game doesn't involve you getting the Ice, Wave, or Plasma beams? All I can think of is Prime Hunters. Yes, the Dark Beam is adjacent to the Ice Beam and the Light Beam is adjacent to the Plasma beam, but the point is that, for one of the only times in the entire franchise, they are NOT those old beams. Not to mention how much they improved the Spider and Boost ball mechanics, and the fact that you get entirely new suits with totally unique designs from the typical Varia suit and its recolors. Oh, and that they introduced the Screw Attack/Space Jump into 3D for the first time.
Exactly, those differences over Prime 1 is what made me love Echoes so much
Prime 2 is dark and I love it.
Prime 2 is the majoras mask for metroid series
Ina good way
Prime 2 is the one I respect most because it’s such an incredibly ballsy game. They took some genuine risks and had a real vision. Some of the decisions were inevitably going to be divisive but I think that’s what makes it so special. I hope it eventually gets the same treatment Prime 1 got.
Same here. Same with Prime 3. I wonder how they'll handle that.
Well said
@@jaretco6423 I don't think I'd be that interested in a prime 3 remaster tbh. It had some really fatal issues that made it not feel that fun, specifically as a metroid prime person.
If they remade it into something more like what Prime 1 and 2 was I'd buy that. It's kind of asking for an Other M remaster. Like, its not a bad game, its just not what I want from metroid.
@@Mallchad I understand. But I like Prime 3 and still think it's a great game. It's just more on the easy side than the other two Prime 2 games because of the Hypermode.
@@jaretco6423 Don't get me wrong I enjoyed it as well. It just doesn't feel as good.
I don't think hypermode made it easier... They actually made the default mode an easier mode than usual. Usually the difficult on Prime games is like "hard" and "harder". But in Prime 3 for the first time it was "easy" and "hard". Mislabelled, of course
Hypermode/beam doesn't entirely make the game easier because it also meant missing damage would cost an entire energy tank, not just time. But the default difficulty made it easy.
Prime 2 is the best of the trilogy. Absolutely peak Metroid. Hoping for a remaster on switch
What stands out to me about Prime 2 compared to 1 and 3 is how effed up the planet is. Prime 1 and 3 had some corrupted or dark areas of their own (especially in 3 with the GFS Valhalla), but a lot of the time you sorta had to take their word for it that the planets were slowly getting poisoned/dying. In Prime 2, it's abundantly clear how dire Planet Aether's situation is, from the bleaker environments to the numerous dead Luminoth bodies you can find throughout the journey. That and the Luminoth Lore made me feel bad for them for the suffering they endured in their war of attrition against the Ing. When you as Samus finally destroy the Ing and Dark Aether forever, there's tragically few Luminoth left. And yet it still feels like one of Samus's most heroic moments as they bow to you for saving them and their race from total extinction.
All of that, more than the gameplay itself, gives this the edge over Prime 1 for me.
I think 3 had the potential to sell the corruption but couldn't due to the way the story progressed. It was barely a month since the leviathans hit the planets so a lot of the corrupting influence isn't as drastic yet as the dimension-warping leviathan turned Ing in 2. It relied too heavily on backstory to sell the urgency of destroying the leviathans, which works great as a narrative device but not if that's your only reference.
@@GaussianEntity I think Prime 3 makes up for for the insanely fucked up designs that phazon causes. The inside of the leviathan seeds are truly alien
The Ing’s attack to get the last planetary energy was just about to happen when Samus arrived and got the Energy Transfer Module. The hero always arrives late couldn’t be more true.
I still remember how shocked I was as a kid at how desperate the war had gotten to the point that the Luminoth were sending pregnant females and young children to the frontlines in hopeless offensives, Prime 2 goes hard with how dark it can get, and that's a big part as to why Echoes is my favorite Metroid.
@@GFMarine Alot to read but here are some logs.
Scans
Father Luminoth
"Bioscan complete. Luminoth subject expired 1.12 centicycles ago. Target Luminoth shares DNA code with other dead Luminoth in area. He is the father of that Luminoth. Scans indicate they died within moments of one another, most likely from exposure to Ingstorm particles."
Daughter Luminoth
"Bioscan complete. Luminoth subject expired 1.12 centicycles ago. Target Luminoth shares DNA code with other dead Luminoth in area. She is the daughter of that Luminoth. Scans indicate she died from exposure to Ingstorm particles."
I ain't gonna lie: Metroid prime 2 hold a special place in my heart because it's how I got into the Metroid series🤩
Prime 2 is actually my favorite in the Prime series. Love the atmosphere, love her body language in this with the soldiers, and I love the design of the Luminoth.
Prime 2 was my first game in the series. My siblings and I struggled but it made the progress and victories feel that much better. Also got a lot of mileage out of that multiplayer. I don’t think it’s the best of the trilogy but it’s certainly my favorite. Thanks for giving it a shoutout Daniel
I'm on a similar boat, Echoes was my first 3D Metroid game and I'll be real, Spider Guardian made me drop the game, I was frustrated but after some time picked it up again and managed to defeat that boss, then I finished the game ended up loving Echoes. Each new playthrough just made things "click more" and it's now one of my favorites.
I among my friends was the lone Metroid Prime 2 enjoyer in the fall of 2004. San Andreas and Halo 2. MGS3. It was a wild year.
Holy based. It was my first Metroid game. I remember seeing that game case in a Wallmart-esque store... No idea how I convinced my parents to buy the game for me right there and then, we were out just for groceries. But that game case... It was memorizing. I knew Samus from Smash of course. And then... The rest is history, I fell in love with the franchise. Metroid Prime 2 Echoes is EXCELLENT. And it also had fun deathmatch multiplayer!
I love Prime 2. Never understood why it doesn't get more love. Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress are awesome, and the dark world added alot of cool vibes for me. Prime 2 delivered
If the game design and technology would allow for it, it would be a great improvement to have (near) instant loading between Light and Dark World in a potential remaster.
I don't know why, but when I played Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as a kid I had a whole bunch of caramels that I was snacking on as I played.
Even now, I can faintly taste the caramel flavor every time I see gameplay footage.
I had the same experience with Skittles and Super Mario Sunshine!
Hahaha similar thing but with music, I was really into Electric 6 (embarrassingly) at the time so whenever I boot up Prime 2 I get a few bars from that album in my head, really jars with the horror aesthetic!
I have this experience but it was goldfish with Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story lol. That's such a unique experience I haven't really thought about until now
Prime 2 is my favorite Prime game. It definitely doesn’t get enough love.
I beat all 3 prime games for the first time early last year, and with no childhood nostalgia for them I gotta say, Prime 2 is my favorite
For me, the best prime game. The atmosphere, the terror of dark aether and the triumph of overcoming it all... simply legendary. I love prime 1, don't really care for 3... but Echoes was something special imo.
metroid prime 2 is like my favorite game,,,
I'm praying constantly we get a shadow drop of echoes remastered and it looks as good as prime 1 remaster. This game deserves so much more love and it's one I look forward to eventually talking about as well 🙏
I love MP2, the beam system with munitions and the dark world. The level-design is also so good. It also has the best are of any Metroid Prime game (sanctuary fortress).
Metroid Prime 2 has always been better than Metroid Prime 1, I cannot wait for the updated look of some of the stages of MP2.
Cannot believe I passed this as a kid without the Internet
My favorite of the Metroid Prime games. They nailed the scifi horror aspects with this one and that makes it stand out compared to the other games
The best prime game
Great video! I love seeing Prime 2 get the attention it deserves. It really is a bleak, stressful game, and if you play it with that in mind as the intended experience, it's really special. I really like mastering the ammo system too, where you're constantly switching between beams, strategically switching beams to finish off an enemy to get some extra ammo, it makes a fast-paced sense of combat. Plus the draining atmosphere of Dark Aether also makes you want to finish fighting as fast as possible. And I think the story of the Luminoth is so good. I feel so bad for what happened to them and seeing truly how hopeless this war was for them. That makes it all the better when Samus saves them at the end :) I always thought it was strange we never saw Dark Luminoth, but after learning so much about them and how they felt about their world getting corrupted, I'm glad they didn't have to go through that... And that music though...Torvus Bog and Sanctuary Fortress are such a bop, I love Dark Samus' theme with the guitar shredding, and it has my favorite final boss theme in the Prime series. Emperor Ing's theme is so epic...it really feels like a final showdown. I also respect all the different stuff they did in this game. No Ridley, Chozo, ice beam, plasma beam, just a new race on a planet with an art style never seen before in the series, and they nailed it. It shows that Metroid can have so many things be different but still keep that strong gameplay loop, atmosphere, horror, and dark themes. Are there many other series out there that can change this much, but still keep that original identity like Metroid can? Also Quadraxis is the greatest boss ever. The atmosphere, the build up, the music, the fact that it takes like 20 mins to beat, and the amazing reward at the end of the final dungeon: Sanctuary Fortress. I love this area, an utterly unique design, bopping ass tunes, crazy enemies, beautiful vistas...chefs kiss. I love this game.
Echoes is literally my favorite game of all time. It’s hard to quantify in a few words. The vibes are simply immaculate and its boss fights and puzzles represent the best the series has to offer.
I want a full remaster of 2 in the same way as the first Prime game SO bad. It's one of my fav games of all time.
As one man who discovered video games late in life said "Why do you always fight over whether a game is better or not than its sequel? They are all better than each other, no need to compare them", God he is so right! I love Metroid Prime as much as 2 and 3.
On one hand I want to play it on the Switch now but on the other ... I can only imagine a remake on Switch 2 with ray traced reflections on the suit and Sanctuary Fortress' surfaces. Oh and true real-time lighting, which would make for a much more interesting Dark World especially with how you can alter crystals.
Getting the Annihilator beam near the end was so damn satisfying, I swear the whole gameplay structure of Prime 3 was based on how satisfying it was to mow down EVERYTHING with the Annihilator beam in Prime 2
Prime 2 made me feel isolated and depressed and, strangely enough, I see this as something hugely comforting; Dark Aether is one the most oppressive gaming environments I've ever seen.
It's my all-time favourite game and would love to see it on Switch.
Honestly to me I find Prime 2 far more memorable a game than Prime 1 and I'm not sure why. I think there's just something about the visual design of the game that's distinct, and the level design is just peak in ways I can't put my finger on. The Dark Aether damage, to me, really only makes the game feel unfair at a single point (the goddamn Boost Guardian), and while the Beam Ammo system puts just enough tension on you to feel scary, but the replenishment is generous enough that it never gets more than just putting me on edge a bit early on. I actually always loved the aesthetic of the Dark Suit, I love the Varia Suit design just fine but this suit feels like a genuine new direction that a game like this needed. The Light Suit, on the other hand, always looked kinda weird to me, but not bad exactly. And the other big complaint I see people have about Echoes, the late-game fetch quest, honestly never bothered me and felt like people who play FPSs more than Metroidvanias just not understanding the genre. Because the late game "sweep through everything to find all the stuff you missed" is just part and parcel of the Metroidvania experience, and it's one I genuinely enjoy regardless of the effect on the pacing. I love all three Prime games, but Echoes is the one that always defined the trilogy to me, and I'd love to see it get the respect it deserves with a full remaster. All they need to change in terms of gameplay is the Boost Guardian and that's a perfect game in my book.
If you read all that, want a memory of this game? I was in high school, wanna say... 2010 or so? I'd never actually beaten the game before (in my youth I always had "get bored of a game right at the final boss-itis", and would replay the main body of a game a lot but never cross the finish line. So I'd just gotten home from a long day of marching band practice, finally reach the final boss, and during the last phase I got excited and jumped up from my chair... and got a massive charlie horse from doing so. Somehow I managed to pause the game, turn off the Wavebird I was using, and turn off the TV before hitting the floor, and gave myself time to recover. But that night I did beat the game for the first time. It sucked in the moment, but it's a funny memory for me now, at least.
Great video Daniel. The quality of your videos has improved hugely even in just the past year. Keep up the awesome work.
Thank so much!
I definitely enjoyed Metroid Prime 2 sometimes more or as much as Metroid Prime 1. I don't get why alot of the fanbase treats it as "the bad one".
I really think it's the ammo system... same with why ppl hate on majora's mask cause there is a "time limit". It's too bad...
@Hanz_Haze I don't care for the ammo system either but it's not hard to refill so it doesn't bother me much, the positives outweigh ammo inconvenience. I'm one of those that dislikes Majora's Mask though, but it's mainly due to it only having 4 dungeons, dungeons are a major part of Zelda to me and when there are too little or none at all like Breath of the Wild I end up disliking them.
@@ChrisMS0815The only reason Majora's Mask only has 4 dungeons is because of the story/plot involving 4 gods protecting the land of Termina from fallen moon. But even so, Majora's Mask does have some of the best dungeon design in the series and if we wonna count the mini ones like Ikaunua Castle & Pirates Chamber, than there's like 6 or 7 dungeons.
I played Echoes first, the lack of an Ammo system in Prime 1 (meaning your basic beam is almost entirely irrelevant after getting the "upgrades") really bothered me 😂
It just felt very plain, like something essential was missing.
@@MLWJ1993 I didn't play Prime 2 first but I did beat Prime 2 first, back when Prime 1 launched I played it and somehow got lost as soon as I got to Phendrana Drifts and I just stopped playing it. Then when Prime 2 came out I was able to beat it to completion which gave me motivation to go back and beat Prime 1. I did feel more overpowered not having to worry about beam ammo especially with the Ice Beam and Plasma Beam but that is how Metroid has always been with those beams so I can see people not liking the ammo system. In the 2D games beams stacked and completely overwrote your basic Power Beam, they brought this back in Prime 3 but I didn't like beam stacking there like in 2D Metroid.
Prime 2 was not only the 1st metroid prime game I completed, but I introduced the prime series to my cousin at the time with this game.
The ammunition system is my only hangup with this game. Some of the locations in this game are my favorites, too.
When I first got to subterranean torvus bog the music hit me with train of nostalgia lol. Even though it’s under water and slow to move around at first, it’s probably in my top 3 favorite prime locations.
The bosses were a ton of fun even with some of them having a really sharp difficulty spike (boost boss and the shark for me at least).
I just remember the anticipation leading up to November in 2004. I was 14 at the time. I played the demo disc 50 times in the months before it released and when it finally came out it was everything I’d hoped for. Great exploration, great boss battles, and fun upgrades that weren’t just rehashes of the first game.
I still have mine on the GC but I’ve been waiting patiently for a remaster because I want to see it in its full glory.
This was my first and favorite Metroid Prime game! The vibes were fantastic, and the title theme has lived in my head rent free for many years.
This'll almost certainly be a day one purchase if it gets remastered and comes to Switch!
My opinion on 2 changed a lot over the years, especially after watching several retrospectives on the series (totally watch the videos by Game Maker's toolkit, KingK and the Geek Critique!). Prime 2 truly is like a fine wine. It has so many intricacies. And even though i personally prefer 1, I do believe 2 is actually the better designed game.
I still think about this game several times a week. I adored this game and its worlds the most as well out of the 3 Prime games. It was so creative and mysterious and thick with atmosphere.
_"I don't know who shares this opinion with me?"_
You're not alone, I absolutely love Metroid Prime 2. I even defend the ammo system as well, I think Echoes has one of the best combat systems in the series and making the different beam weapons unlimited would have made the game too easy, heck I also think Dark Aether is more manageable once you get the Dark Suit (which is very early) and learn how to use the light crystals and beacons to destroy the Ing instantly.
But yeah, to me, Echoes does everything I love in a sequel: to be very different than its predecessors while still keeping the soul, to add more challenge and demanding a bit more from the player. That's why it's one of my favorite games ever, plus the soundtrack, the boss battles, Sanctuary Fortress, Dark Samus encounters, etc. I really hope it gets the Remastered treatment, Echoes deserves it, maybe with the positive reaction towards MPR and if MP4 Beyond makes it big they'll consider it.
Btw, happy late 20th anniversary to Metroid Prime 2 Echoes!
I love each prime game for different reasons. The first was Super Metroid 3D, the second was dark and suffocating, the third brought to earth the best fps motion control ever done and never matched since !
Metroid Prime 2 multiplayer was one of my friend groups go to multiplayer modes! We still go back to it every now and then. It's very nostalgic for me lol
This was my first Metroid Prime game actually, I remember loving the atmosphere but I never beat it
Man, the atmosphere of this game is so great. I have not felt more alone on a planet than Prime 2, and by margin, so powerful when you start getting the big later upgrades and being able to take on everything the game throws at you.
My first Prime was 2 and subsequently 3. And even as I have played Prime 1, I still like 2 alot more.
Nostalgia is certainly there. But there are aspects of Prime 1 that I enjoy on their own merits. Prime 2 just hits the perfect middle-ground between isolation and interaction with the great unknown.
Beam Ammo never really bothered me. Though all things considered, it probably isn’t super necessary given the context of their usage.
I think a good middle ground is having the amount you can shoot limited, but the beam regenerates like Mana. That way you never have to go out of your way for ammo, and the context of saving your fire for the right time is relevant still.
I used to be very conservative when using the Dark and Light beams in MP2, afraid I'd run out of them, and that made combat far more boring than it should have been.
When I realized I could just use the opposing beam on crates and ammo storages to get the ammo for the beam I wanted, I started going nuts with the beams and combat became much more fun!
Thing is, the game does tell you about this mechanic, I just ignored it for the longest time for no reason! But if you use your beams and missiles, the game is much more fun and and you restock plenty across the maps, so no need to be stingy with them!
Unlike all the Zelda locations, the radiation drains your suits energy. They should make a Zelda location where something like that happens (no I don’t mean hot and cold areas).
The comparisons you made were valid but (especially the Twilight Realm), none of them really feel like a threat. Like I get that gloom is hurtful so I’ll give that a pass, but in Twilight Princess, nothing changes in the work when it gets shrouded. Even the people are unfazed, going about their daily lives without any interference.
Idk the Twilight realm felt awful to navigate in the beginning, especially since you're playing as a wolf early on. Kinda felt like learning to walk so it definitely felt similarly to MP2 in that regard imo.
I remember playing metroid fusion as a kid and I was terrified of SA-X but some years later dark Samus comes along and man. I loved this dark atmosphere, the constant tension of the possibility of running into a fight with either the dark hunter or a group of space pirates. Dark atmospheres just catch me, just like in twilight princess some years later. They don't really do dark games anymore do they? :(
The Dark Shot being the ice cannon freezes more than just the metroids, it's the best way to deal with pirates, freeze and fire a missile.
I remember kids saying this game was “way too hard” compared to the first one, something about the dark world. I’ve never played it and I’ve been holding off to see if Nintendo finally ports or remasters it.
Love the intro btw.
12:50 I think every mechanism in this game, especially the ones they changed, aids the feel of “survival” whether it was intended to or not. For that reason, I appreciate the ammo system for the beams, as much as I would like to have them unlimited. I think the purpose it serves for immersion into surviving the harshness of the luminoth’s plight is what I appreciate about it
Playing the multiplayer at my cousin's house was actually what made me want to start playing metroid games! I only played 2 in the last few years but after all this time of people I know telling me how difficult the dark world was due to the damage mechanic I was surprised... that it wasn't actually that bad lol. I also didn't mind the ammo thing, maybe mildly tedious but I don't even remember a time it caused frustration. Even if you run out it will still give more shots just slower so you don't need to worry about finding ammo for puzzles.
I'm the odd one out that thinks Prime 3 is the best of them all, but I also think 2 is cooler than 1
I am with you. 3 is my favorite Prime game, and 1 is my least favorite.
The ability to full charge to shoot an empty dark or light shot, I think was so that you can still always open a door or otherwise solve a puzzle. Keeping some ammo is generally not so hard after you realize you can influence the drops by using the opposite weapon.
Echoes was always the best in the entire Metroid series
I'm inclined to believe that prime 2 heavily inspired world of light in Smash Ultimate.
Echoes was my favorite Metroid, until Dread released
I also enjoy the extra complexity of both the damage over time from just being on Dark Aether, as well as the ammo system for the beams
14:50 ingworms!
21:05 there's a theory that the suit and Samus go deeper then just a peice of advanced technology she wears. The suit. Is essentially a living organic 'supernatural' artifact. As the chozo technology was SO advanced. That in order to weild it properly. You needed a spiritual connection and understanding to use it. And sense the entire game is 1st person. When Samus goes into a ball. What you see in 3rd person IS WHAT SHE SEES. It's like an advanced form of Astral projection. It also explains the 200 missles she can carry. And also explains why the pirates were unable to reverse engineer her suit in prime 1. Do when she goes ball. She isn't physically really doing it. She straight just turns into energy itself..
TLTR. Yes. Bird magic.
What happened to the GF Troopers really hit hard when you read their personal logs.
This was the first time you really got a taste of what regular people in the Metroid series' world thought about Samus, as one of the women in the squad mentioned how she looks up to Samus.
Fun thing about Dark Samus, the light beam is ineffective on her, but the dark beam shreds her health. I was confused, but then i realized that the light beam is only effective on dark world creatures. Guess who was technically born in the light world.
prime 2 is easily my favorite of the trilogy and probably my favorite metroid game as a whole so far. the music and dark tone of being in a true alien world is unmatched on it
Echoes is easily my favourite of the trilogy. The map layout is so brilliantly done, and the environment, difficulty, and ammo restrictions really amp up the atmosphere.
It's also a game that quickly becomes much easier with mastery. Using the correct weapon (including bombs, boost ball and supers), taking advantage of the glut of crates, and exploiting vulnerabilities all drastically simplify combat.
I really recommend people try playing a couple of runs randomized through Randovania. Once you start to master the map layout, it's so much fun.
Prime 2 was actually my entry into the Prime series, and I still enjoyed it. Granted, I had a guide, but I still enjoyed my time with Prime 2. I played Prime 1 shortly after. And then Prime 3, then the Trilogy and I will admit the Wii interface overhaul certainly made Prime 2 a little easier. But still fun.
I'll fucking remaster it myself if i have to
22:27 I was expecting a kraid of phantom to make an entrance here, but I think the giant mecha boss work as a phantom
This was my introduction to the Metroid series. It was hard. It took me a while to get a groove, but once i figured out how it worked i loved it. Its in my top 10 games. Didnt know there was a dislike for it in the community
Metroid prime 2 is best metroid game and best ost.
I dont get and respect the complains, metroid prime 1 was piss easy even on hard mode, even MP2 didn't leave any lasting memories about its difficulty and I was only 14yo, I only realised people saw it that way years later when they were talking about it on the internet and when I learned they nerfed it in Trilogy😢. Sure, I restarted some bosses a few times, but bosses only leave lasting memories when they actually gatekeep you and force you to lock in.
All i remembered is that it was the most immersive world I had ever played, even to this day, the music and atmosphere of dark aether is like a warm hug, the city you can from afar in sanctuary fortress is a memory from from my early childhood i dont even know where it comes from, but it feels like paradise.
I never had any problems with the limited ammo, you get them from destructibles in litterally every rooms and enemies you kill and you get ammo expention upgrades just like missiles. If you like fighting the air and shoot emptiness its your fault😂😂😂 Its not a problem in any other FPS and MP2 gives you WAY more. Plus these beams are OP, especially dark beam charge shot.
My most painfull memory if this game is trying to get 100%scan and ending with 99% only to find out it was the dawn spawns from the chykkra moth that I forgot 😢 that one time super quick encounter...
If they make a remaster, I wont be truly satisfied unless they make it the same difficulty as the GC version and have hardmode available from the get go.
Prime 2 is amazing, its my absolute favorite of the trilogy, but its ONE drawback is the endgame key hunt, Prime 1 you can find a good portion of the Chozo Artifacts as you progress the game, but the Keys in Prime 2 are essentially locked off until you have the Light Suit, there might be one or two you can get before then, but most locations they are hidden in are hidden away by endgame items
I've been there for the whole Prime series, and when Prime 2 first came out I loved it but still considered Prime 1 to be my favourite. But after many, many, many more playthroughs of both games Prime 2 is definitely my preferred outing now.
It's funny, I thought Prime 3 was super cool the first time, but now I don't think it's even remotely close to 1 and 2. (Still fun though)
Kinda baffling there hasn´t been a Smash Bros Stage based on this game yet. Like a level that transitions from a Lightrealm to the schadowrealm with the later damaging the players constantly, unless you are in one of this Safebubbles, like the gimmick is right there!
I once spent an entire summer holiday playing this game as a kid. Best holidays ever :D
I played a bit of Prime 2 when I borrowed a friend's copy. Prime 3 is my favourite in the trilogy. Echoes was quite daring in its approach, though, for the reasons you outlined. I like that Retro decided not to rely too much on classic Metroid upgrades with Prime 2 and 3 (and hopefully 4), and came up with original suits, weapons and characters. I'd love to see the Luminoth return in some capacity since they add to the series' lore.
I hope they fix how fast you can charge in the dark zone or whatever. It felt like I spent more time standing around than playing the game.
Metroid Prime 2 is my favorite of the trilogy. It took years of me playing it to reach that point, as the game was very hard for me to play, but now its definitely one of my top 5 favorite games ever made
Prime 2’s my favorite 3D Metroid, 2nd favorite Metroid period after Zero Mission. It had such a great atmosphere and the level design was perfect at making each area connect in a fun way.
Prime 2 is my least favorite of the trilogy because of the flaws you mentioned, but it’s still a 9/10 in the consistently incredible 10/10 trilogy. The darker tone is awesome and the main menu theme as well as the lower Brinstar remix are some of my favorite songs in the entire trilogy. Beautiful game that deserves to be played on Switch like the first one
I've always loved Prime 2 the most out of the trilogy, but I couldn't quite explain why. You put those thoughts into words very well, great video as always!
Prime 2 was the first prime game I played as a kid and I was obsessed with it, I even played the multiplayer a lot lol. I remember it took me a while to finish, I got filtered by some of the sections (like that fucking boost guardian) but the game seemed like the coolest thing ever to me. Didn't realise it was meant to be 'the hard one', but it makes sense, I played prime 1 afterwards and I was surprised at how easy it was in comparison.
Prime 2 is my favorite metroid prime.
I stumbled upon the original Prime after having played super Metroid when I was a really little kid. I loved it. But when I played Echoes I was totally blown away. Corruption was great too. But if you ask real Metroid fans what their favorite of the 3 is, I bet Echoes gets a lot of love.
-The tragic fate of the Luminoth
-The creepiness of the Ing (not the pirates, the Metroids, the federation or dark Samus can tame them)
- The element of survival horror with the crashed ship.
- The incredible multilayer bosses (Chykka and Quadraxis come to mind)
- The levels (Sanctuary Fortress and Underground Torvus Bog)
- The music (Agon Wastes slow and creepy music)
- The story
Such a forgotten gem of a game. It is punishing though
Prime 2 is my favorite Prime as well. It has a lot of aspects that jive with me (the light-dark juxtaposition, the damn-near horror intro, along with the subtle but impactful display of Samus' character), and it has some of my favorite music in the series. Yes, one of those tracks is the Lower Brinstar remix in Torvus Bog, but there's also the main Torvus Bog theme, Dark Samus' boss theme (duh), the Adult Chykka theme, and the title theme. The latter two especially have such an ALIEN quality to them that I almost always go back to listen to them when the mood for Metroid music hits me because that's what draws me to the music the most.
I will admit it's not a perfect game - the ammo system was interesting, unique, and understandable as to why it was implemented, but I think there could have been a better way to do so (maybe meters that recharge after a period of disuse) and I get why it rubbed people the wrong way, and while I enjoyed the difficulty of the the original Gamecube release it was perhaps a touch too difficult (especially in regards to the boost guardian). But despite its flaws it's still my favorite of the current trio and I want to see it remastered like Prime 1 so badly.
Happy 20th Anniversary Metroid Prime 2! I feel the same way, this game is the best Metroid Prime game, and honestly might be my favourite Metroid game ever. I love coming to it even today.
I'm assuming you're aware, but KIWI TALKZ recently did a bunch of interviews with former Retro Studio staff going deep on the development of the game, and they're a fantastic watch! One thing all the developers seem to agree on is Quadraxis is the best boss fight they ever made, and I have to agree. One of the best Nintendo boss fights ever.
I love Prime 2 so much! At first it was really intimidating and I mostly kept playing because it was the only new game I would have for a while haha. But it grew on me, and as you said Dark Aether gets somewhat friendlier as you upgrade. The bosses in this game are so good! Some of the hardest in the series but ultimately so satisfying.
i was 5 years old when corruption came out and would only get into metroid 4 year later mid-drought. i still cannot believe im sitting here with the knowledge that a new one is coming 😭
I really want a remaster for this game; it was my favorite of the trilogy.
I remember being hesitant to jump in due to all of the criticisms I had heard about, namely the thing about the ammo. As a result, Prime 2 wound up being the last one I played. But when I did finally play, I loved it to death. The ammo thing wasn't nearly as intrusive as I expected it to be, though that's probably I defaulted to the Power Beam anyway, much like I did the first game. My favorite Metroid game is between this and Dread.
This might be a hot take but I think Echoes is the best game in the Metroid series. Yes better than Prime, yes better than Super. I've been really itching to replay it but I was waiting for a remaster/rerelease. Hopefully soon
Prime 2 is really fun but the navigation (figuring out where to go) is very confusing and the bossfights are the not-fun kind of hard. It has so many cool ideas and i even don't mind the light/dark ammo count or swapping to the dark world; but my afformentioned criticisms hold it back from being AMAZING in my eyes.
I would absolutely love a Prime 2 remaster! Really, the main thing I want is the dual analog controls with gyro aiming that Prime Remastered got, but graphical upgrades could be absolutely amazing in the dark world.
I even like the ammo system. It just fits in this harsher, more survival focused, Metroid game. Except that I wish there was a little more guidance towards a couple of the ammo upgrades. On my very first playthrough, I found none of them, and 50 ammo in the endgame is pretty bad. It's so much more fun when you gradually unlock the flexibility of 250
Honestly i completely missed Metroid prime 1, i started on 2 and then played 3, but never made it through 1 (i have the remaster on switch). i quite liked 2
MP2 is certainly less generally palatable than MP1. I'm more than willing to give it another try, but currently it's in my mental Hate drawer. I generally dislike time pressure and being constantly chased by an enemy, and as a mechanic the perma-damage on Dark Aether is similar in nature. I particularly despise it since you can die after beating a boss, which is just hostile game design.
Prime 2 is my favourite game in the series. It is criminally underrated and fixed many of Prime’s issues yet it almost never gets the credit it deserves. The story was better, the tone was darker, the areas were far more creative and original and the bosses were far superior (with the exception of the boost and spider guardians. Those bosses are god awful)
what if story time: samus never receives the distress signal from the gfed troopers thus never landing on aether. umos has no choice but to make contact with the space pirates since they're the only light creatures left that can use technology, the pirates agree in exchange for luminoth tech so they set out. rules: pirates clone any luminoth technology they come across so every pirate trooper gains access to it except the light suit which would be limited to pirate commandos only. with the added knowledge of the ing and how they work. no area will be inaccessible to them as they have shown to get to areas long before samus (like sanctuary fortress) and worst case scenario they'll drill or blow through areas they can't access. how far do the pirates make it?
Prime 2 has always been my favorite of the trilogy, the opening hours with the zombie Federation soldiers shocked me, and I loved how spooky and actually dangerous Dark Aether was. I'm hoping that it gets a remaster as well on Switch. I would play the crap out of it.
Metroid prime 2 ate my cat. And also I really just couldn't finish prime 2 it was so tedious; much to the chagrin of my friend who really wanted to play fed force together before the release of 4. I told him I'd binge the entire metroid prime series over again once prime 4 actually has a release date because I just couldn't be bothered to finish 2 and I wanted to play the remaster (also I was secretly holding out hope for a remaster of all the prime games even though one of the original devs said it was really difficult)
Metroid Prime 2 is my favorite Metroid game in the series and the best implementation of the light/dark world in all of gaming. The puzzles across the light/dark world are so well implemented.
Feeling right at home in this Metroid Prime 2 Echo Chamber