Metroid Prime Remastered - DF Tech Review - An Essential Buy For Nintendo Switch
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- Опубліковано 16 тра 2024
- The recent release of Metroid Prime Remastered on Nintendo Switch is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. The quality of the remastering work could well be described as a remake owing to the night and day differences and improvement delivered by the new version of the game, seemingly based on an enhanced version of Retro Studios' internal engine. Either way, this is an essential buy for Switch users.
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00:00 Overview
01:13 Visual features and upgrades
06:16 Animation and control changes
09:41 Image quality and performance
11:57 Analysis and conclusion - Ігри
This shadow drop was a breath of fresh air. For someone who hasn’t played the original, I’m really enjoying this game.
Im so glad people can enjoy this game for the first time. I loved this and Resident Evil 4 so much on the Gamecube. And now I get to play both remastered versions in the same year!
I've never played it either and can't wait to pick up my physical copy on the 22nd! 😃
@@vgnvideogameninja2930 I've got mine pre ordered.
Have fun getting the 2nd and 3rd games
I am so glad you are enjoying this game. I am seeing so many new people trying out Prime and absolutely loving it. The Metroid series is something everyone should play. I am waiting for a physical copy but have Trilogy to hold me off until then.
I’m playing it right now for the first time, you can tell how it inspired future games! It’s a must play for anyone into shooters esp. sci-fi.
Yoooo karl rock here?!?!? Great to see you’re enjoying the game!!!
When I played DOOM 2016 for the first time I couldn't stop thinking about Metroid Prime.
@@BatataKarambas he’s always commenting on digital
Foundry vids
@@jcnba28 SAME
Wish I could play this for the first time again. I was blown away when it came out. One of my favorite games of all time.
For me personally, Metroid Prime came out during a time of extreme turmoil in my life. Words cannot express the solace i found exploring the planet Tallon IV. It was a rare escape for a very troubled young man. To the developers of this game: Thank you.
Hope you’re in a better place pal.
How are you today? Hope you're well?
Heck yeah. 🥰💜💜
Bioshock did that for me
Well Jesus man it was like 22 years ago, of course he isn’t doing the same as he was back then…
seeing them side by side makes me realize how genius the original was
"original was"
Still is. The Gamecube was a beast console and an anomaly for Nintendo's history. Not only Metroid Prime original blows my mind, but Resident Evil 4, Twilight Princess, F-Zero GX, Star Fox Adventures...
My childhood.
you just now realized it??
@@graalcloud moreso reminded me
@@saricubra2867 I'll just throw in Eternal Darkness and Beyond Good And Evil loved those games.
@@saricubra2867 I've been replaying gc games from my childhood on my Steam Deck, and god they hold up sooo well. The gamecube is such a great gen of games.
Look at what an in-house engine can deliver, and on a Tegra x1! This ties in perfectly to what John and Alex were talking about in the most recent DF Direct: Unreal may be the most accessible engine for developers, but in-house engines (like the RUDE engine here) deliver some of the best performance and visuals on their respective platforms. UE5.1+ is certainly an improvement from UE4, but we can't let these great in-house engines go extinct.
True, as well when a developer has only one device to develop for it allows them to understand and utilize resources far more efficiently
I'll take this over Unreal Engine any day
They're nice, but mostly they make me think of companies like Square Enix throwing tens or hundreds of millions of dollars at one (Luminous) and then being forced to drop it after it turns out to run poorly, scale for other game types poorly, and be difficult to work with. 99% of game companies should be using off the shelf engines, and we need more widely-supported options for that than just Unreal and Unity. (And if Unreal can fix their stuttering mess and Unity can fix... Everything bad about Unity, that would be great too)
@@bobrocks95 I think Square Enix has a lot of personal issues exclusive to themselves, and having a bad engine is only one of them
@@graalcloud yeah I often see a lot of old Nintendo games getting fan remade on unreal and there a lot of comments gushing over how great it looks
....
And I honestly hate it.... looks like it moves like a snail and nothing like what Nintendo would EVER make
You see this, Rockstar? This is how you remaster a game.
U sleep, gta 5
@@michaelmayers3622 we are talking about the Trilogy rerelease which was horrendous
@The Aki War true but they doing fine currently with gta so it prob would be diff with current Rockstar . Those was in the past
Don’t forget the super mario 3D all star collection.
@@michaelmayers3622 lol you act like the company is so different now and that it was acceptable to release the trilogy in that state 2 years ago. Too often these types of remasters release with too many issues that need to be patched. The only game that released fully polished like MPR is Shadow of the Collosus on ps4
One of my all time, favorite games, after 21 years, still holds up today.
are you me ?
Do you prefer the GC or Wii version? I prefer using the Wii remote.
@@Metroid24abd Indeed lol
@@PhrygianPhrog I prefer regular controller, although the Wii version is also good.
Holds up? It SHINES today as brightly, maybe even brighter, than it did at release. I feel like we used to take these games for granted, but holding them next to what we’re getting now, if this was a brand new game it would probably win game of the year this year
So much in my life has changed since I played this game as a 13 year old boy. I finished school, went to college, made new friends, married, and now have children myself. This may sound strange to some, but coming back to this game and having so much fun, really made me think about life. I feel like I haven't changed much. But in the end so much has changed. How will it look like in 21 years? Thank you, Retro Studios for remaking this beautiful game. Let them remain a constant provider of these timeless pieces of art in our lives.
My story almost exactly mirrors that of yours. I spent my early teenage years playing games like this. I too sometimes feel as though not much has changed in my life, but when I stop to think about things, a lot has changed. I guess we feel that way because deep down, people tend to remain the same. Nostalgia is such a powerful and beautiful emotion.
Loved reading this. Thank you both for sharing
It does the same for me to man. I'm almost 30, but every time I play this game, I'm taken back to that hardcore seven year old Super Metroid fan, seeing Samus being rendered in full 3d, with that amazing soundtrack, and being absolutely floored.
That's a great comment and hits home with me.
Played it when I was 13 as well. Mom had gotten it for me for Christmas the year it came out... This game blew my mind as a child, and while everyone was gushing over Halo at the time I was sucked into the Metroid Prime universe.
been playing this game all weekend. holy moly is it amazing. fluid framerate, spot on controls, gorgeous art direction and geometry. and the fact that this all runs on the switch just goes to show how beautiful switch games can be.
it also really makes me wonder just what they're cooking up for Metroid Prime 4 with fully modern tech
I wouldn’t be mad if MP4 looks like the remaster. Considering the constraints of the switch, this looks and runs amazing
Yeah, I think for Metroid titles, Nintendo is focusing on getting 60 fps first, fidelity second
Art direction is much more important than polygon count or texture size anyway, and Retro Studios has always excelled at that. I'm sure it will be 60 FPS like all other Prime games
I mean, considering the hardware for the switch, how much better looking could MP4 look? This remaster feels like it couldn’t get better on the switch.
@@raineheartily3875 This is the correct way to make action games imo
It's a stunning piece of work. Arguably the new gold standard in remasters.
This and dead space
@@k00patr00pa1 Dead Space is a remake, not the same thing.
Residents evil 4. Enough said.
@@hasan1980hb That's a remake.
It is just such an incredible remaster. The core aspects of the original game are still intact but, the graphics overhaul is so stunning. It's how my childhood mind remembered the game.
Stunning and brave.
@@adriantrusca1245 courageous
@Adrian Trusca I think it's VERY brave of them for not reviewing HL. I love their support for the Rainbow people, also their outburst on tweeter saying HP is childish, DF is very stunning & Brave
@@lovelorn88nick Catering to woke ideologists/bullies isn't brave, it's sad.
@@currywurst2434 I was being sarcastic
A couple corrections: you can have the camera tilt down when you jump - it’s in the options, defaulted to off. There is also gyro aim available in the dual stick mode as well as the pointer and hybrid. Again, in the options menu.
They need to read this comment and own up to their false dialogue.
@@deciduousoutdoors436 calm down buddy
@@DeesBees76 fuck that, I'm enraged!!
@@deciduousoutdoors436 dud that kind of anger does no one any good especially your argument that you are trying to achieve
@@wierdtromebonekid lol it's a joke dude which you took too literal
Still my favorite videogame of all-time. This remaster is incredible! Can't wait for the rest of the trilogy and of course, Metroid Prime 4.
Yep, totally agree, best game of all time here too 👌
@@SpouTSmemS i wouldnt call it that, fuck those artifacts lmao, but it still incredible and one of the best ever made
@@fazeslasher7927 Hahaha yeah I'd hate to disagree, those needed a lot of avoidable back tracking. But the OST, puzzles, and environment made up for it so much ❤
Probably a Metroid Prime remaster every 6-9 months until MP4 comes out to complete it. Will also likely be one of the current gen Switch’s last batch of first party games before the next gen console is announced/revealed.
@@fazeslasher7927 I just played it for the first time, and honestly it was too bad to backtrack for all the artifacts. If anything now that I know where they are I can more easily get them as I go in my Hard playthrough. Getting all the missiles and log book entries was far more daunting lol.
What an amazing Remaster. It really looks amazing with the new lighting system and models. If anyone misses the look down while jumping mechanic like I did you can turn it on in options => controls => jump foot checking.
I love the stability of baked graphic effects.They may lack dynamism but they don't have the glitches of realtime solutions, specially when used on aging hardware.
Explain to me please how baked lighting works. The artists pre-calculated what the lighting in each room/ area would look like based on light sources they put and then render the results as environmental textures, color saturations, shadows etc., right? Its all kinda like one big texture thats applied? If thats so, how come the characters and enemies in the environements still adapted and react in real-time to these pre-calculated set-ups? Samus' arm canon for instance reacts to the shadows and lights in each room.
@@The_Ostrich It's pretty much what you said. The artists build the maps in the game editor, they put all the meshes and the lights, and then tell the engine to calculate the shadows and store that data in texture maps (AFAIK, Quake 3 Arena used raytracing to calculate it's lightning, for example). Light data is also stored in another format, so the game engine knows how to light models depending on their position in the scene. The downsides of this approach is that if you modify the level geometry you have to bake the lightning again to reflect the changes, and also that you are limited by texture size (shadow maps can´t have infinite resolution), so imagine what happens if you try to put a lot of detail in a image that's low resolution, it ends up looking blurry.
That's how I understand it works, I'm pretty sure someone way smarter than me can give you a better explanation.
@@ghost085
Very interesting. So basically every game that doesn't have a day and night cycle and the light sources don't move uses baked lighting. Mario Odyssey, Metroid Prime and Splatoon use baked lighting, Breath of the Wild and the Xenoblade games use real-time lighting. Never considered these things before, even though I obviously was aware of the open world games with day and night cycles ran at half the framerate.
@@The_OstrichNot exactly. Most games use dynamic lighting even if they don't have a day-night cycle as there are advantages to it with regards to lighting fidelity and accuracy. Instead, they have various effects that are precalculated, like indirect lighting simulation. A lot of games from the PS4 and Xbone would do this too, a combination of baked and real time lighting.
On the Switch, Odyssey and Xenoblade use a mixed system, Splatoon is only dynamic as far as I'm aware, as is Breath of the Wild. Prime uses a lot of precalculated or baked lighting but does still have dynamic lighting as well. Which is why dynamic objects and characters cast shadows. So it is still a blended system. But by using precalculated and baked effects, they can have an approximation of global illumination at a fraction of the performance cost
I never played the original, and I am absolutely loving Remaster. I know this can't happen nearly all the time, but this is the perfect way to experience legacy content.
Bought as it was announced. Didn't even hesitate. One of the best Games of All Time
I’m more of a physical guy so I’ll grab it asap once release 🙌🏽
@@Simulati0n I'm having a hard time waiting for the physical release. I wanna buy both. 😂
@@unhappytoyman8767 I hear that, I’m itching to see this on my inky black oled switch. What a time to be alive and see it in all its restored glory
why did you capitalize Game, All and Time?
@@MegaLPlover shhhh let it simmer
I had no idea this was even a thing! This has to he one of my favorite games of all time. The atmosphere and soundtrack were ahead of its time. I'm so happy it's a great remaster!
They released it minutes after announcing it. That's why. 😅
>ahead of it's time
yeah... lots of games on par with this quality level came after... like uhhhh well I can't think of any
Congratulations to Retro Studios and Iron Galaxy. Superb work. Its a remaster that borders on remake. VERY thankful to experience Metroid Prime for the first time in 2023. Feels fresh and nostalgic both at the same time.
I dunno why they called it a remaster, this is a remake by definition. I'm excited to play!
@@SleepyFawn It's not a full remake, it's a full asset remake. It's remade at 50% but they didn't touch game design at all(level design, physics, puzzles, exploration, combat, etc...). It was important for Nintendo that people knew it wasn't a remake because if fans heard remake they would have freaked out at the idea of Metroid Prime's level design and physics being altered and possibly ruined.
@@SleepyFawn i mean no matter how you call it its a Masterpiece.
Iron Galaxy is only one of many studios that collaborated with Retro, all the auxiliary devs did more or less the same amount of work as IG.
@@FuzzyDlop all the assets were remade, so its a remake. Nobody was calling shadow of the collosus or demons souls a remaster.
Thanks for the in-depth analysis, Oliver! Some notes below:
3:09 While I initially thought this effect was missing altogether in Remastered, later in my playthrough I noticed that the effect seems to be there in a really subtle form - it starts off further than the player character and is way smaller, but it can be seen e.g. in most of Chozo Ruins if you stand in a darker corner and shoot somewhere close to the wall and ceiling. To be honest I prefer this implementation.
4:56 Not only does the visor fog up, but the fogging-up effect is now animated and also directional - e.g. if you stand close to a steam plume, the fog-up droplets will subtly move in a direction away from it depending on where the plume is in relation to the viewpoint. This impressed me quite a bit!
5:02 I remember showing the Gamecube version to a friend who owned an Xbox; he was impressed with the 60fps, but absolutely floored when he saw the face reflection!
8:45 The camera tilting can actually be used with the dual-stick controls, but you need to have turned off the dual-stick & gyro aiming options - then you will have the option to turn on jump-tilting, as well as to turn on resetting vertical tilt when walking, but you need to look for those by scrolling down. In general, the in-game options and especially the control options are shown in a bit of an awkward way, due to the developers keeping the menu design of the original game, i.e. you have options activating or deactivating depending on other options, but they appear off-screen and you need to scroll down to them, something not immediately apparent. Also, those options do not seem to appear at all in the start screen options menu.
Some additional notes:
I noticed some more animations that seem to be missing, e.g. in the Gamecube version, when you left the game idle for a bit, Samus would occasionally press some buttons on the side of her weapon, but I have yet to see this in Remastered.
Like the already-mentioned "issue" with doors being too blue (due to alpha-channel), the entering-morph-ball animation seems to have an overly bright alpha that hides the last part of the animation a bit.
When using dual-stick controls and you activate any of the options to adjust target while free aiming, sometimes you seem to lock-on to a spot above and to the left of the actual spot you want. In some cases this caused me to miss shots while locked-on and not adjusting. This does not happen if you turn off the adjustment options - then the game behaves like the original and always locks you to the intended target.
There are some bugs in the start menu options - specifically, when selecting an option that can be toggled with left-right, the arrows actually get muted instead of lighting up i.e. they should be red when not selected and white when selected, just like the option text between them, but they are reversed (yes I realize this is peak nitpicking).
In general I am quite amazed by the work put into this Remastered version and very happy that Metroid Prime can now be used as a hardware showcase on two different generations! I sincerely hope Nintendo and Retro Studios bring us Remastered versions of MP2 Echoes and MP3 Corruption as well - that would make for a great lead-in to Metroid Prime 4!
Never played the original but it looks amazing gameplay wise, and visually gorgeous! Massive credit to Retro Studios
You should play it if you have the chance. Its one of the best games of all time. Top 10 game for sure.
Amazing gameplay? You must be blind dud 🙄
Play it, you will not be disappointed!
@@user-gc9zy4te7d Dude you're playing Red Dead Redemption 2. Dead stands for braindead gameplay.
You're in for a real treat. it was ahead of it's time on its initial GameCube release.
You can enable the tilt down on jump on the modern controls if you want. It's not missing.
Oh really? Thats cool if it's true.
This is correct. Once you start a game and within the gameplay, you get the Footing options if you press - and navigate to the Controls menu.
The video break down really shows how technically advanced this game was 20 years ago. One of the best game I played to date. Still have the original game with the gamecube box its a classic.
I have the K-Mart exclusive edition. I'm not kidding that was a thing.
The work they put into this is absolutely incredible. I've been playing on my Switch OLED and I'm constantly surprised by how good it looks.
Not only is this an outstanding remake but the game itself is unbelievable. It's my first time playing and it's one of the best fps I've ever played. It's just so fun and well designed. Plus the story is really cool IMO even with only very basic storytelling
You learn a lot through scanning and reading, a lot of interesting stuff.
Now imagine playing this for the first time as a preteen and how blown your mind was.
Not a remake.
It is no FPS though ;) It is a full 3D ego Action Adventure.
Yep, played this on gamecube when it came out and was mesmerized! Such a fantastic game👍
I'm also quite glad that they incorporated gyro aiming into the dual stick controls, something that I thought was missing, but was buried under the camera options. So much so, that somebody had to tell me about it when I complained it was missing.
It's interesting how few reviewers seem to have noticed this, I've been playing with this control scheme since I started and it's incredible (though it does trivialize some of the difficulty when Samus can just snipe things from across the room rather than need to get close enough to lock on)
This is exactly the info I was looking for, thank you! I don't have the game yet, so I was a bit worried when they did not mention gyro + dual stick combo in the video.
@@kilencnad but they do mention it in the video
@@mikkokoponen8464 No, they mention the original tank control + gyro combo, but not dual stick + gyro.
@@kilencnad ok, my mistake
The camera tilt when jumping is still available in the Remastered version. Check the visual options in the game. You can enable or disable the tilt with any control configuration.
FYI - You can use gyro aiming simultaneous with dual stick controls too, it's a bit buried in the dual stick menu but it made it feel a little closer to the aiming I had gotten used to in Splatoon: big aim with right stick + fine aim with gyro.
Also, I would love if they could speed up the morph ball transitions and beam change animations too. Nitpicking here obviously, but a few small tweaks would make it all feel a little snappier.
Amazing remastering effort though!
Metroid Prime is my favorite campaign of all time. Prime made you feel like you were actually on a planet far away. The feeling of isolation and aloneness was something I had never experienced before in a video game. Everything about this game was amazing. The level design, the music, the atmosphere. Few games have wowed me like Prime did. Can't wait to play this remaster!
Have you played Prime 2? They even take the sense of isolation up a notch in that game.
@@jcnba28 yeah, Prime 2 take it to the next level, another masterpice of the Gamecube 👏
@@jcnba28 Prime 2 was so good. How was the 3rd? I never got the chance to play that since it was on the Wii
Have you played Prey 2017? It's set on a space station but the feeling of isolation is also one its strong suits
I remember this game being the first game that made me feel isolated when I played it back in middle school. It was such a unique and interesting experience. Especially that level in the research lab when all the lights shut off and you need to use the thermal visor to fight your way out. I would always dread that part lol.
One of my favorite games of all time, first played it in 2002 wow. They did a great job with the remaster, looks and plays great
I literally couldn't stop myself buying this immediately.
Honestly this felt like a remake than remastered
With the dual stick controls you can go into the camera options and add gyro aiming on top of the dual stick controls, that allows for generalized movements with the right stick and simultaneous precise movements with the gyro, it feels great and works exactly as you'd expect, it's how I prefer to play
For anyone on the fence, turn the gyro sensitivity all the way to max, you'd think it would be less precise but when you only need to make micro adjustments with your hand muscles it's incredibly accurate
I can't play any game that has shooting anymore without gyro.
@@jarlwhiterun7478 me either, it's pretty much ruined any game without dual stick plus high precision gyro for me, thank the lard for Steam Input
My preferred input aswell. Feels the most modern and refined.
Same, it's nearly mouse and keyboard precision when tuned correctly.
This should be a gold standard for a remaster.
Should be the gold standard for optimizing Switch games in general
This type of re-release needs it's own name - A visual remake.
It still has the same music, same level design and same cutscenes.
Basically like The Last of Us Part 1 on PS5.
It's always down to available scope, time and budget!
no
Ya it's called a remake. Reboot is a what you're thinking of. Refresh is what you're not thinking of. Recapitalization is what's next.
Keep up.
I also want to mention the sound- it's in full 5.1 if your sound system supports it, docked, which is also a step up from the Pro Logic 2 encoding of the original! It sounds amazing!
The thing is not many people will have access to 5.1 as it is using the licence free lpcm rather than Dolby format
@@hermankatnip True, but if you have the ability, it’s a great option to have! Too many Switch games ignore this feature. Glad Prime didn’t! :)
Great review. I didn't realise how much of a visual upgrade it had received until this video - IN MY HEAD it looked exactly as I recall from my original GameCube play through. amazing how that happens and great work from Retro to get such fidelity while rebuilding everything.
I was literally telling my friends how this remaster reminded me of the halo remakes in mcc. The quality and visuals are so rich and colorful. Textures are so smooth too.
Man, I’m having such a tough time accepting Metroid Prime came out 21 years ago. This remaster looks great, having come off of primehack steam deck play-through.
I feel so old. 🥲
I observe passing of time related to how much video game graphics have advanced. Therefore Metroid Prime was released just a few years ago and I am not too old yet.
I just realized, this game came out when I was 17 years old!
Pleaseeee dont pirate this gameeee
Dont be the filthy Ridley!
Same here man. I was 15!
One thing I like about this remaster is that it didn't look this good when I was a kid, but my imagination coupled with how good it did look back then makes it seems like it was always like this.
That's a sign of a fantastic job 😌👌
There is something about this lighting solution that I just adore far more than what we currently have. I'm rarely taken out of the game like I am when seeing weird SSR issues or noisy reflections and shadow edges. It just looks so clean, even if it isn't perfectly representative of the light in the scene. I'll take this over ray tracing any day of the week.
reminds me of Elden Ring, people often say that Elden Ring looks far worse than the Demon Souls remake but the way the lighting works gives both Elden Ring and Metroid Prime Remastered a very pleasing look (ER nails atmospheric perspective IMO). Everything just looks specifically tailored to the game.
@@crazyLink92 its funny because both games were done by ex retro studios people (bluepoint was made from the studio's engineers)
Baked lighting should be the solution to every game honestly unless it has a heavy reliance on dynamic lighting/time of day. It'll always look better and run far better.
@DarkNinja There's no way to have baked reflections, though. Basically every single reflective technique used in modern games is distractingly innacurate in some regard. Cubemaps are cheap and decent, but easily fall out of alignment when used on a large surface and can't reflect dynamic things like moving objects. Screen space reflections are cheap and have the potential to look incredibly accurate, but also exhibit severe occlusion artefacts when things that should be reflected aren't shown on-screen. Environment maps can look great, but are prohibitively expensive in modern games, and are limited to flat planes.
Really, ray-tracing is the only solution to accurate reflections. Completely omitting any reflective surfaces shouldn't be a solution, either.
@@alfo2804 there is kind of a way to have baked reflections, and that's by rendering the things that need to be reflected again on the other side of the surface. a lot of older games use this trick (see mario 64). of course that takes a good amount of power away as well, but for smaller rooms and smaller reflections it can work. you could even render them at much lower polygon counts if they are behind a more obscured surface like a dirty mirror or water.
that's probably a lot more work than just slapping on SSR is, though, and could be more performance heavy.
personally, i usually turn SSR off in games because i really do not like the way it looks. it often completely ruins my immersion.
My hype for Prime 4 was already high, after Dread. But now, following MPR, I really have to contain my excitement. I'm craving anything for Prime 4. Hopefully we get something soon!
Currently having a blast with it, so many memories…
Retro and Iron Galaxy have done a great Job.
Bring on the sequels Nintendo, bring em on fast!
Worth mentioning is that you can turn on the option for Samus to look down when jumping in each control scheme. I prefer it on. In general there’s some great customization in the settings, allowing for a control scheme that suits each individual player, that I think is great!
There’s also an option for gyro aiming combined with dual stick that also works really well!
The note about no antialiasing is super impressive to me. I assumed that there was some sort of AA in place because of how little shimmering there is. The fact that they managed to get this level of fidelity on the Switch with no AA is some true artistic wizardry to me and I am all for it!
This is beyond tech wizard or "black Magic". What Retro made here with Switch is something out of this universe, even with these visuals would be impressive for a 30 fps game but they managed to get these AMAZING visuals while having it at rock solid 900/60fps.
Switch has lot of visual masterpieces like Mario Oddysey, Luigis Mansion 3, Smash Bros Ultimate, Astral Chain, DQXI, but this game is now top 1.
Surreal what they did here.
I'm not sure I'd call it black magic or anything. Prime is relatively small environments with carefully designed fields of view to keep performance stable. The graphics look great for Switch but for the most part the game is rendering a single room at a time, most of the time.
@@Fina1Ragnarok I dont care how is achieved, but the fact that it is achievable. That just speaks volumes on game design from Retro. i love them.
@@Fina1Ragnarok nah, dont go that way to try to underestimate the work here.
Even if it was a literal corridor, that isnt because the game has big areas, it doesnt devaluate the visuals.
In Switch there are LOT of games that are literal corridors at 30 fps and they dont even come close to the visuals of this remake.
Comments like yours shouldnt exist in this particular case, the game is fucking amazing and the work they made here is beyond "black magic".
@@LeocaprioDinardo It's not that magical though. I'd say that it's on par with Halo 2 Anniversary relative to the hardware it's on; XB1 is more powerful but H2A is much larger scale play areas. Prime remastered is excellent but not black magic.
The original ran at 60. It would have been a disgrace to have the remaster at 30 fps, no matter how it looked.
On the direct I thought it looked good but not a major upgrade. But the side by sides really show how much different it looks. The original art direction is intact and that’s probably why the initial reveal didn’t wow me. Thats something that’s lost in a lot of remasters like fable and demo souls.
The original back then looked so good it burned into our minds
That's really a testament to how good the Gamecube version's graphics were.
This is exactly what john said, on low spec hardware you should not go for state of the art features at ultra low quality and low res.
Baked lightmaps were the norm back in the day and you can see here what it can deliver.
This looks very nice even on a big screen and even at 30 fps i would not have believed it is running on switch if you were to show me a screenshot from it. Absolute masterclass in art and tech.
Nice video, although one could mention that the different control options are merely different presets, and things like camera tilt when jumping, along with the various HUD tweaks or the option to use gyro, can all be set up individually for each control scheme.
The Wii controls are still my favourite but you /have/ to use the joycons separately for this and use your right hand as the pointer. Using a controller that's all in one just feels super weird tilting the whole thing!
He laughed at us but yes sir I'm into that sort of thing. I like having to actually aim where I'm shooting and have the freedom to point the arm cannon where ever I want!
@@haughtygarbage5848 yep, for me it's the closest to mouse+keyboard without actual mouse+keyboard! And you get arm bobbing and looking down while jumping if you want!
This game genuinely blows me away, it looks so good. Hands down the best looking switch game! Wish I had bought an OLED model to see how it looks on that screen.
If your phone has an OLED screen you're in luck!
It's worth noting that the Wii-style control scheme works with the Joycons as well so that you can move one hand around like the Wii remote as if it's your arm canon. Though since it's gyro based and not pointer/light/camera based like the original Wii remote + sensor bar, you have to keep re-centering it which is a bit of a nuisance but easy enough.
They did great updating the game to match how people remember it. I remember the first day people saying all they did was update the textures. Meaning they remember the game looking this good. But a simple side by side comparison reveals it was a lot more work than that. This has been so fun to play through again. Really highlights that era of game versus today with all the DLC and bugs. It's so nice to have a polished complete game right out of the box.
This is a breathtaking remaster. I recently replayed Prime via emulation, but I'm more than an happy to dive in and play it again.
I was waiting for this one, this is the gold standard for how to do a remaster Retro Studios and Iron Galaxy nailed it, what an incredible game :)
There’s a separate setting in the options menu that lets you have the camera tilting downward when you jump even when using the dual analog controls. I think it feels fine with dual analog but I can see why they disabled it by default.
I'd assume that the samus reflection was done using some texture to surface trickery like what was done for games like mario sunshine with its water, since it was a special function built into the gamecube hardware.
i prefer this game's visual identity far more than comparable projects like the master chief collection, despite the hardware its on. what a massive achievement from retro. this gets me even more hyped for what they can do when building with more modern graphics technology from the ground up.
@CJ P. Sucks that 343 didn't do justice to CE: Anniversary while Halo 2 did it right due to the music and the Blur cutscenes.
Hoping for maybe one day we get Halo 3 Anniversary like in 2027.
I’m genuinely pleased with how well the pointer controls work!
Definitely not perfect but really brings me back to the Wii days with minimal input error.
I think it has unique value with being able to aim at any point on a “screen” without shifting the whole image as well. So I’m glad they preserved it even if it’s not used by majority. If they remaster Corruption I think that’s the way I’d replay it
Yeah I've been playing with pointer on TV because the Wii motion control really grew on me over time.
It's not as good here but its damn close! And a reset can be done with the R/Zr button so that's nice touches.
I don't know how prime 3 will translate well though
Pointer control is meant to emulate the Wii mote nunchuck setup of the Wii with the right and left joycon serving as each controller respectively. Don’t try to use that mode with a pro controller… you will have a bad time.
PSA: you can turn on the camera tilting down when jumping by itself!! Controls: scroll down to “jump footing check” to use w/ dual stick
When Johnny L said he couldn't cover due to PSVR2 I got worried. Thanks for covering this Oliver! Really love your work on DF!
Now John probably wishes he was playing this instead.
@@masterquake7 haha yup, once that physical cart comes out. I'm trying to patiently wait it out....but
@@troyevanthompson same here, i'm focusing really hard every day to not simply go and buy the digital copy. 😂
@@caiomarastoni1031 had to give an update after the physical copy sell out zaniness. picking up my copy next thur. here in WA, USA. Hope you found one also and are enjoying the game. no spoilers...oh wait beat it on gamecube, but can't remember much. stoked. let's bagel!
@@troyevanthompson Hey i was thinking about your comment yesterday 😂.
I have found some copies for almost double the price (I live in Brasil, so it is what it is). I'm still considering if i should pay the extra price or not, but probably will.
Metroid Prime is one of the best FPSs ever made. If you have a Switch and haven't played it yet, I highly recommend
I'm what's called an old school gamer, so I've played games since the 70's. Metroid was a wonderful game back in the day and when Prime was shown, I was really skeptical. However, after playing the original Prime, I was blown away. I picked up this remastered version on launch day and it's just an incredible game. It came out of nowhere and and I'm really glad Nintendo released this game again.
I remember being very skeptical of Prime when it was first shown too. It was in the peak era of FPS copycatting. Super Metroid was 2D platforming/exploring gaming perfection, and I was nervous about Metroid Prime following the FPS fad/trend, instead of staying true to its roots. Boy was I wrong. Metroid Prime turned out better than I ever could've hoped for and worked sooo well in an FPS format.
@@CallsignJoNay Completely agree. When I first started playing the original Metroid, it was so weird, but I couldn't stop playing it. It was like Kid Icarus but 100 times better. I remember the kicker, of Samus being not only human, but female, that had me like whooooaaaa. I've purchased every iteration of Metroid because it's such a beloved franchise. I still have my GBA carts. I also loved Prime 3, which not a lot of people did, but I felt like the Wii remote was an awesome way to play Metroid.
By the way: Metroid Prime Remastered Physical edition is No. 1 in sales on Amazon US, as well as being sold out in Amazon Mexico and Amazon Spain.
Games like this and Halo 1-2 were so ahead of their time that it makes sense to be re-released with just a graphical refurnish while keeping the gameplay intact (the dual stick is welcomed here for Prime). That's what makes a masterpiece a masterpiece. 20 years later and still being as much enjoyable as a modern game release
i dont see how halo was ahead of its time, unless you didn't mean it by visuals because holy moly the classic xbox halos were fugly
@@mrdoggo3569 you've been spoiled with newer games before playing Halo 1st hand?
@@mrdoggo3569 out of curiosity, have you been around the time it got released?
I wished Prime would have remastered on a better hardware with ray tracing. Even this remastered missing point lightings from shots fired and explosions which the original had.
@@cocobos true, it's not unreal engine 5 or something, but even this effort to update the visuals is something unusual for Nintendo, lol. We should be extremely happy, knowing Nintendo who charges us 60 euros for Skyward Sword HD 🤣 Even the 40 euro price tag is fantastic!
I honestly thought it was just going to be a barebones port with hd textures, but this looks closer to a full remake than a standard 'remaster'. I'm impressed. And the price seems very reasonable too, compared to the Skyward Sword port, for example!
One of the reasons why I don't understand the shadow drop. I mean, people were waiting for this. And it couldn't be a more beautiful end product for the Switch. Why drop it like this without any hype building? I don't get it
@@chimnino because it was on a NIntendo direct that gives it massive amounts of free marketing...
Metroid Prime 1/2 was the most advanced GC game
Metroid Prime 3 was the most advanced game on the Wii
And now the Prime Remastered is by far the best looking Switch game
Retro Studios surely knows how to handle the best of every Nintendo hardware
I still have my original, love the game. This is an incredible remaster! It looks so much better, but so similar at the same time. That's how you know they really paid attention to the art direction. I played with the classic controls, the new ones feel like sacrilege to me for some reason lol. (There's more inertia applied to Samus this time, but it's no big deal) Anyway, this is a badass release, I recommend it whether you've played Prime before or not.
Man, I thought the original still looks good but i'm surprised how many time I said "damn, that looks good" when seeing the remaster. What a powerhouse of presentation!
I remember importing the US-version and playing that before the European release. The boxart alone was really fantastic. Seems like ages ago, my son was 2 years old. I loved the game then, and still do. It really feels surreal playing this game so much years later.
I feel ya ;)
Was 21 on release. And imported it too!
08:52 You laugh derisively at the pointer control option here but it's a perfectly good way to play the game. I mainly ended up using the dual stick controls, but the pointer controls were fine and are a good match for the Wii controls which were popular. It's also nice that this mode frees up the right-stick for changing beams.
Also worth noting that they are made more in mind with the joycons, with the right joycon acting as the 'pointer'. You were showing off the controls with the pro controller but they don't feel as natural with the pad.
Oliver once again delivering a great video. I do wish we got the full John Linneman DF Retro treatment. Hearing him gush over this remaster and it’s history for an hour or more would be fantastic.
Not really that great, he made some mistakes
@@rangokfunkazuul8344 Such as?
@@Console_Gaming_Vids he said "I didn't notice any AA" but others noticed 2x MSAA. Or the pixel count being 612p and not 600p. And that's only the ones I am aware of, so who knows what else
@@rangokfunkazuul8344 How do you know he’s wrong? Also, 12P difference in resolution…not a single person could spot that unless literally pixel counting. He did a great job, but thanks for clarifying.
@@Console_Gaming_Vids I mean DF invented the whole precise pixel counting videos, now being not precise is kind of odd. In general Oliver's work lacks the standard DF quality/polish. This is not the first time I noticed his videos are kind of lackluster. It's not John/Tom level of videos
One thing I noticed was that firing missiles still dynamically lights the environment.
I think it was somewhere around the second time I went to the Chozo Ruins that I got a real feeling of Doom, moving around tight corridors and fighting enemies. and then I came across a giant morph ball puzzle and I smiled knowing I'd have to come back and explore the world more later, and I booked it back there when I got the appropriate upgrade. The whole presentation and gameplay loop feels really good, and I know I'm gonna have a great time going back in if I don't naturally 100% my first playthru (which I doubt I will, but I'm giving it my best)
I originally played this on Wii so I'm quite fond of the motion controls. They worked much better on Wii because the gyro loses sync after about a minute. Before you know it left is up and up is right. Wii used the IR pointer so it didn't have this issue.
Apart from that this is an incredible version of Prime. It may end up being one of the best looking games of 2023. The sheer attention to detail in every aspect of its visual design really makes it stand out. Even 20 years later there are few games that can match it in that regard imo.
You touched on what can be done with the hardware when extra effort is put forth. This is something I think about a lot with how Nintendo has handled the Switch. I look at games like Smash, Mario Party Superstars, and now this and it's truly impressive how they handle certain things like models, objects and textures. Cloud in Smash, that boulder rolling mini game in MPS, and now this super slick remaster all make me wish Nintendo would make these bright spots standard. Or that third party support would put more effort into making actual Switch versions and not lazy ports. It takes a ton of extra time and budget but the effort would surely be rewarded. Imagine a build of FFVII for Switch (if it weren't locked to Sony). You'd think it's impossible but all the elements are there for a Switch-specific build, just in different places. Or instead of blurry, scaled down messes like Outer Worlds we could have ports built for the hardware that turn out like this remaster. Again, too much time and budget. I just wish we could have that.
Never finished this on GC or Wii... Looks good and I definitely will be buying this to my Switch. Excellent!
Had to backtrack in the map to get an upgrade I needed to progress. 😅having a hair of trouble getting back to where I need to be. Bloody love it! What a thrill
There’s a setting in options to activate camera tilting when jumping when playing with dual stick.
oh my god!
this looks so incredible!! I didn't know about the graphical overhaul!
and what an amazing trial run for Retro this must've been.
them getting to know the hardware, and reliving Prime 1 again, makes me very hopeful for Prime 4.
No antialiasing? I feel like I'd be seeing a lot more shimmering in this footage if that were the case. (Maybe DF is using a smart upscaler of some sort.)
No it means that the native resolution is already sharp from its self and hardly uses dynamic resolution.
You can still see some shimmering if you look well enough but it shows that 900p is still pretty sharp.
When I was playing the Remastered version, I didn't notice much of a change at all. But when looking at the side-by-side comparisons, then I see the difference is night and day. This is both the most faithful recreation and the most successful overhaul at the same time.
The HD Rumble implementation really caught me off guard! It's amazing!
This truly proves how well the game has aged, the fact that only a graphical lift was needed for it to feel like it could have been made brand new today
Wonderful breakdown! Going to get the game on pay day and can't wait to dive back into it! Haven't played it since the GameCube, and I didn't have a TV back then so I connected the GC to my laptop via some DVI capture link and played this with visual artefacts and scanlines. Going to be transformative for me!
The weapon bobbing is still there when you use pointer controls.
Also, there is a setting to make the camera look down when jumping. You just have to turn it on. When I say that, I mean you can turn it on when using dual stick controls.
I look at beautiful games like this and think, damn, I can't wait to see what Nintendo can put out on Switch 2!
Metriod Prime 4 Switch 2 launch exclusive in 2024 😉
I really like Oliver's and Tom's videos - No BS, no drama just straight to the point while presenting all valuable informations.
Good stuff!
Man, I JUST replayed the Wii version via PrimeHack on my Steam Deck not that long ago, so replaying the game yet again so soon seems a bit redundant. But it's my all time favorite game and this remaster is top tier work so I'm probably just gonna have to go ahead and do it.
This remaster gives me a ton of hope for Metroid Prime 4. Retro still has the magic touch!
I wonder what Retro Studios thinks of the cut dynamic lighting from gun shots, hopefully they can find a way to get that back, even if it's just vertex lighting, it's really needed, it really makes a huge difference.
i doubt they will patch it, just a cash grab project
@@Healcraft This kind of care is not put in to cash grab projects. You don't know what you're talking about.
@@KEVBOYMUSIC I guess only time will tell who's right! But I'm a little afraid it won't get patched in time for the physical release :(
@@KEVBOYMUSIC looks like a 2007 pc game or worse graphically
No antialiasing? Are you sure? MVG says it has 2x MSAA
This Remaster truly is a blessing.
I highly recommend this game even if it’s your first time playing Prime. It still feels modern
Some clarifications: the weapon bopping mostly if only happened with the Wii version and happens when using the Gyro controls only. There was very little of that in the Gamecube version. As you mentioned, yes: the downward shift when holding the jump button only happens when using the Classic controls and was, indeed, in the Gamecube version.
Good review, showed the improvements well. I would have liked some information on the enhanced audio that was touted by the selling points though.
I was lucky enough to grow up on the Metroid Prime Trilogy in 2009. The first Metroid Prime will always be really special to me. The sense of adventure and uncertainty, the atmosphere that the music brings, everything about the game was absolutely amazing to me. I am unbelievably so happy that this remaster now exists, it feels as good to play as it did in 2009. It's a remaster that I can say with confidence, is loyal to the original
Awesome, have been looking forward to your coverage! I've been playing Prime for the first time on Switch and it's fascinating how much it feels like Doom 2016's older, more exploratory cousin. Looks the part too!
I used the hybrid controls, dual stick with additional motion aiming. Holding down the left trigger actually turns off the motion aiming for when you don't want it tweaking your camera.
Edit: I had a couple instances of door loading, but it was few and far between.
"but, but...niNteNdO sWiTch HaRdWaRe LiMiTations!!!" -GameFreak probably
Dude, this is a remaster of a 2002 game. Not a brand new 2023 open world for the platform with very high rendering distances and a lot of pokémon that can show up at once.
Metroid Prime's world basically doesn't have creatures, it makes sense because of the lore.
So, stop being a Gamefreak hater and get a sense of reality.
By the way, Crysis Remastered is indeed based on a 2007 open world game that is still far more technically advanced than your Breath of The Wild from 2017.
@@saricubra2867
The year a game releases has absolutely nothing to do with its codebase and efficiency. If anything, modern game development is largely less efficient than older titles since the hardware is far more flexible, so the necessity to optimise is diminished. That being said, the Nintendo Switch is a platform that demands fine-tuning your game, and the reality is that GameFreak simply hasn't optimised their games since the DS era. The issue is that we've collectively proven as consumers that they don't really have to since we'll buy it anyway. Why Pokemon fans don't ask for more, I'll never understand. GameFreak is a high-earning company as a part of a 200 billion dollar franchise, so they're more than capable of fixing these issues if they cared.
Pokemon fans are so patient and tolerant that they'll take lower resolution textures than that of games from 15 years ago, aggressive draw distance culling, Pokemon that pop out of existence and reset when you move 10 meters away from them, low frame-rate animation at a short distance, regular drops below 20fps, crashes (on a platform usually devoid of them), and abhorrent third person camera implementation. None of this is even to mention the bugs, copy-pasted assets, complete and utter lack of combat animations for most attacks and the exact same character poses and animations since the 3DS games that started 9 years ago.
But remember, let's defend the mistakes of a 200 billion dollar franchise that doesn't care about you or your opinion, because they couldn't possibly afford real engineers or artist teams. They're only the highest grossing media franchise on the planet, what are they to do about the issue?
Don't misunderstand, this is in no way an attack on your opinion or right to enjoy the games your enjoy; quite the opposite. I mean it with full sincerity when I say that I truly want a great, high-effort Pokemon game. Pokemon fans are endlessly loyal and patient, and that patience deserves to be rewarded with actual care and commitment by the devs. If GameFreak were to start staggering their release dates and commit to a super high quality title, everybody benefits from it, and I'd be thrilled to support it.
If you made it this far through my ramblings, I unironically appreciate you and hope you have a great day ❤
@@SmallerSoul But the draw distance problem is explained by the crappy perfomance of the Switch's CPU.
Every single OPEN WORLD Switch game is a stuttery mess with high input lag.
And big TLDR, because animations on Scarlet & Violet while not top tier or the best, are way better than Sword & Shield and GAMEPLAY is far better, so don't believe on copium. Art direction is better.
Texture quality?
Dude, we are talking about a MASSIVE open world game. 3.5GBs of the Switch's RAM IS NOT ENOUGH in 2023.
It's also NINTENDO's fault for not making a single CPU, RAM or GPU upgrade for their dinosaur console. THEY DON'T CARE because the Switch is their best selling console since the DS lineup.
@@SmallerSoul You are also wrong dude for modern games. GAMING HAS EVOLVED and modern games are far more complex than stuff from 20 years ago, with game complexity means more powerful hardware to execute, i don't think you are truly THAT clueless.
I haven't bought a Switch either, i refuse to give Nintendo my money for their overpriced and dinosaur production value garbage for the most part. Read Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077 took YEARS of development crunch, have top notch graphics and their gameplay isn't as good as your average Nintendo game, let's be real.
@@saricubra2867 idk you're on digital foundry's channel, why not watch their video on Scarlet and Violet while you're here?
We can get games like this, Mario Odyssey, and Smash Ultimate at 60fps looking gorgeous, yet Pokemon Scarlet Violet are 20fps with a plethora of glitches and software crashes.
That’s the difference between effort and time and no effort and no time. Coupled with the fact that Retro Studios is one of the best Nintendo studios and GameFreak is pretty shit at even developing side non Pokemon games
@@theakiwar9118 The new Pokémon games have some effort put into them, but they didn't have time to iron out the issues. Especially on the technical front.