I love this game (though I prefer Prime 2), I just think there are one or two things the Remaster could have done to make it a bit better, like giving us the ability to skip all cutscenes, especially the ones that play multiple times in boss fights like Flaahgra.
The whole portion from 1:09:00 to 1:14:00 is well vocalized, and the points you make are things I had thought about as well. It may be a tough pill for some to swallow but it's valid to point out how the environment many times was designed to be "gamey" instead of realistic. There's nothing really wrong with that, it's just how it is.
You can argue that happens in absolutely every single video game ever. Hey look, the realistic looking area has these convenient ledges for the player to grab on, or the platforms are set in a way to accommodate its gamey aspect. Upon other thousands of examples I could give. It's such a huge and inconsequential nitpick.
@@samy29987 He admitted as much. He literally said himself that he only brought it up because of how much people tout about Prime being a supposed masterclass in immersive world design. If people weren't so hellbent on saying that he wouldn't have cared or brought it up.
I’m so happy you included the randomizer. Metroid Prime feels like a playground to me. I only know a few sequence breaks, like a couple L-jump tricks and one or two morph ball double jumps over things, so I mainly play glitchless with combat and knowledge at beginner, with doors randomized and two-way elevators changed. It’s so fun to take an evening off and spend a few hours resolving my personal Rubik’s cube.
Same with that one Artifact in Magmoor in the stone pillar. Oddly enough, that one pillar takes 4 missiles on Hard Mode but only 2 on Normal. Some oddity likely resulting from the fact that enemies have more health, almost like that destructible pillar has a life bar.
Some key counter arguments about your Immersion segment: -Space Pirates are able to move and leap way further than normal human capabilities. It would help explain why their rooms tended to have odd platforming segments. It also helps that they have jetpack equipment for navigation. -There were a few scannable "doors" in the Space Pirate areas that explicitly mention in their scan logs: Space Pirate genetic code required for entry. There was also another Space Pirate log mentioning that Samus was infiltrating their base through vents and hatches. This helps explain why Samus enters some rooms through awkward tunnels or segments. Other than these two noteworthy points, I do agree that Tallon IV didn't seem like a place going into "biological extinction". Admittedly though, this would be hard to visualize, since we would need context on how the world looked before the impact of the leviathan, but that would have likely been beyond the scope of the development limitations. It was probably easier and still "good enough" to mention it only in the scan logs.
I usually see the pirates jump high in the observatory, and while that does indicate that they’re capable of moving around gaps and distances, I don’t think that therefore justifies much of anything for me personally. Humans can fairly easily climb ledges around chest high, and yet we do not make stairs anywhere near that high because that would be awful. Not to mention that so many of these areas are meant to serve specific functions, such as transporting mining equipment, Phazon deposits, lab equipment, ect. It’s not at all believable to me that Pirates are just supposed to leap around everywhere, even if they are shown to be able to leap pretty far. Especially considering the rooms like Elite Research access, a vertical shaft with spinning electrical hazards leading directly to where they supposedly need to do their research, I’m doubtful that jumping high makes that anywhere near practical. Rooms like the Mine Security Station and Research entrance do have doors that only open for space pirates according to their genetic code, and that’s neat, but I hardly think that addresses any of my criticisms with Prime’s constant disregard for contextual cohesion. It doesn’t help explain why Samus enters certain rooms through awkward tunnels and segments because only a couple rooms across the entire game have these doors in them. Perhaps if they placed these doors in the rooms I talked about in the video, then I’d be more forgiving. But that’s just me, feel free to disagree. I also don’t agree that we’d need to see the world before its decimation to get a good enough sense of how it’s changed. I think it’d be fine to show us scorched surfaces, withered life, signs of the force of the impact, signs of a displaced civilization, Phazon-infused creatures, or Phazon growing. I think both Prime 2 and especially Prime 3 do this well.
@@FlatulentFetus It's very hard to judge the space pirate areas, given that we aren't shown the whole context for their traversal methods, only that they have doors we can't access. The only context we are given is that Samus is breaking into space pirate areas using tunnels, vents, and hacking vulnerable technologies (one of the logs mentions their frustration in trying to keep Samus out, and her bypassing their security). But I see where you're coming from. I just finished playing Metroid Prime again (this time on Prime Hack for the first time ever), and the whole time I was in the Chozo Ruins, I didn't understand what the purpose of many rooms were, or seemingly perplexed by the room names. We see how tall the chozo ghost are in relation to many of the rooms, and it felt like they had many of the same issues the space pirates would have. Like for example, there is no way to cross the room "Crossway" without seemingly using the morph ball boost (unless you took a lengthy detour through "Hall of the Elders"). "Reflecting Pool" has an upper and a lower area, with seemingly no way of going to the upper area without the boost ball (or again, lengthy detour). And yeah, MP2 & 3 do a much better job of explaining the world building. I think we just have to accept that this world was built for gameplay first, and lore secondary. Just like how the 2D Metroid games might shows background areas we can't access.
Funny, but I think the fundamental elements of Prime's design, less the Artifact Quest, one back-tracking segment, one false hint, and unlocking colored doors constantly, still work incredibly well in 2024. Still my fave game of all time.
Prime 1 was the first metorid game i played. When i bought a GameCube from a retro store in Demeber 2020. They bought out a stack of GCN games. I had no idea which game to pick. I saw Metorid Prime 1, i heard good things about metorid online, I like the part of Sub Space with Samus & Pikachu, and it was only $30. I brought it home and started playing it. Took me about 3 months to get use to the controls. After that i was hooked on the game. Took me a good 18 hours to finish with 60%. I think it was the first game i had no previous knowledge of that I beat on my own with no guides. Just pure exploration and puzzle solving. I loved it so much. After that, I've played pretty much every metroid game. I just need to finish up Prime Hunters, Metroid II, and i guess other M. I couldn't believe it took me so long to try out a metorid game. Now i try to convince my friends to play metorid too. I also couldn't believe it took Nintendo so long to get Prime 1 on Switch. Then, when i played Echoes, i was constantly going, "Why the hell is this not on Switch??". Prime 1 still holds up today and is still being emulated in modern games today. It definitely deserves its praise and needs to be on every gamers list
Atmosphere, aesthetic, capturing the “Metroid feel”, transitioning into a first person game that is still metroidvania so spectacularly, the soundtrack, the scan system. All of that is perfect in my opinion. I haven’t watched the video, but before watching, my main complaint is lack of difficulty. This is why I enjoy Dread so much (among a trillion other reasons). It’s gonna be interesting to see your criticism. Great Metroid videos my friend. I also want to add that your video on Fusion gave life to the game again for me. I plan on replaying it. It was my first Metroid game.
FYI, in Prime 3, it is shown that destroying a Leviathan seed destroys the phazon created by it, as it’s almost like a hivemind. Though like you said it isn’t explained until that game anyways.
If I remember correctly, it also contradicts that by saying that Phazon remained on Aether after the destruction of that planet’s leviathan on Dark Aether. I think it was some Pirate Log describing how Dark Samus re-materialized inside of leftover Phazon on Aether.
@@t0xicrunnerlet's be real. The whole phazon dies with its leviathan gimmick was really only a thing because the devs needed Prime 3 to end neatly. It wasn't really a thing until the very end
i played prime as part of the prime trilogy on the wii back around 2010. that was a while ago, but hearing your review i was impressed at how it all came back to me. i remember the game fondly, but hearing about stuff like the artifact hunt felt like rediscovering a repressed memory or something. with that in mind it was cool that you touched on the artificial padding of the game, makes more sense now! can't wait to hear your take on corruption, i think that's my favorite
Just finished this game for the first time yesterday. Great timing Definitely agree with the backtracking part. I wanted to get all the items but I somehow missed 2 missiles and couldn't find them after running through the whole map with a guide open
Randomly stumbled upon your channel, and these are some of the best video essays I've ever listened to full stop. You absolutely deserve to start blowing up. I'm playing through Prime 2 (and eventually 3) for the first time rn to prep for 4, and it's super cool to see Retro find solutions to the issues you mention in real time. Super excited for the reviews of the rest of the trilogy as well as the inevitable Dread review as that's easily the best game in the series imo
i just came across ur stuff and have been binging it and i can't get over how high quality and in depth these analysis' are when ur name is pipi dafeces and the thumbnails look like how they do, and it is also literally ur only content. bro just bursted into the room with this and refused to elaborate and i fw that
By the end of Prime 1 Samus accomplished exactly what she set out to do in the first place -- hunt down and kill Meta Ridley. Stopping the pirates and fulfilling the chozo's prophecy by killing the source of the phazon were pretty much bonus points.
The game clearly attempts to do more with its story than just that. As discussed in the video, I think that many of the elements of the story are not cohesively concluded in a very satisfying way.
@@FlatulentFetus The sequels definitely did a better job in a fully-realized narrative arc within their own games, as well as tying up those left by the end of Prime 1; I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that the ending of the first story in a trilogy is incomplete or unsatisfying because of what we would come to know in the games that followed. Yes, we eventually learn that Project Helix and the Metroid Prime survived, but there was no reason to assume those things at the time (barring the teaser foreshadowing Dark Samus.) In a vacuum the simple plot of Prime 1 concludes exactly as one could expect from the onset: the newest incarnation of Ridley dead, several pirate strongholds in flames and the ghosts of long-dead chozo given peace at last. The discovery of phazon presents a sinister new threat, but those who would exploit its power for evil have been thwarted for the time being. None of the key elements presented within the game are without their resolution except the ones left intentionally as cliff-hangers. As for the question "What did she even accomplish?" Well, Samus couldn't save the chozo of Tallon IV, but she did realize their wish for the Entrusted One to terminate the creature implied to be largely responsible for the phazon plague. Corruption tells us in no uncertain terms that killing the leviathan core does exactly that, stops the spread and allows infected planets to begin healing, and even if we didn't know what a phazon seed was at the time, the act of destroying it was still significant. While the pirates didn't need the crater itself for their means, preventing them from breaching the seal and harnessing the phazon within, and more importantly the power of the Metroid Prime, was paramount and a heavy blow to their ongoing arms race -- if her scorched-earth campaign throughout their facilities wasn't enough of one already. In the end Samus departs from Tallon IV not having remedied the damages of phazon or Project Helix altogether, but preventing the chance for further tragedy to arise from them...or so she thought, anyway. Edit: Damn, this reply was much longer than I intended. In any case I loved the video, and it's awesome to watch such a thoughtful, thorough analysis by someone who's as fanatical about this game as I am. Can't wait for Prime 2 🙂
I think what you’re saying is fair, but I still can’t fully agree personally. You’re exactly right about Samus fulfilling the will of the Chozo, that’s a great point. But I still don’t think the actual events of the game seem to amount to much if not for Prime 3 going back to fill in the blanks. I think accounting for Prime 3’s additions, it’s a satisfying story. I wish they set it up better so that the first game didn’t depend on the third to explain things like leviathans and the fate of Tallon IV. I wish the game had some more information about what exactly made the impact crater paramount to the success of the Space Pirates. If they included lines about the Pirates emphasizing the importance of the crater, or perhaps lines about the Pirates lamenting their failure to meet their ambitions due to the inability to access the crater, then that would have strengthened the narrative. In the logs we did get, they show interest in the crater, but they never really get specific about why other than it just seems to be a lot of Phazon and some huge creature. The dots are all there and it’s not that big of a stretch for players to connect the pieces, but I still wish Prime went further with this.
@@FlatulentFetusThat's fair, what's satisfying narratively is ultimately subjective. Personally, I think leaving the nature and origin of the phazon vague and mysterious was more interesting than if they had laid it out for the player upfront. There's a subtle bit of foreshadowing wherein the chozo speculate on the existence of a planet like Phaaze, so it seems to me like Retro had that plot point in mind from the very beginning but wanted to leave room for the player's imagination. Until that reveal Prime 1 is essentially just another "Samus finds some sus pirate activity and puts the torch to it" episode, and to me that's just fine
This is my first video from your channel, and I'm very impressed with your objective analysis! Can't wait for your Prime 2 video! If I were to offer a guess on how you'll feel about the game, it certainly seems to fix a few of the issues you had with Prime 1. Particularly with the improved combat, and environments. So my guess is your opinion is generally higher for the game
@@FlatulentFetus Just came from your Zero Mission video, and in the comments you said you really liked Other M, and now I read this, that Prime 2 is your favorite. Absolutely based.
Imma just confess, i played prime 2 first and prime when the remaster came out because I had a goofy ah ah childhood. I think prime is great and all but prime 2 definitely takes what prime did and improves in most aspects. I know people like the world more but i find Aether more accessible and fun to explore because i dont need to go through magmoor every 3 seconds you know?
I feel ya, but that's like saying DS3 was better than DS1 because you can teleport everywhere. While it's a convenience, it took away something huge from the core gameplay loop where distance actually used to matter.
@@ABurntMuffin i wouldnt call traveling through magmor a good gameplay loop, prime 2 still had you going through areas for backtracking. You just had an elevator at the end
@@Aegisdex that's just a series of linear hallways. magmoor was a hub. the first "difficult" area that spread out to the others that eventually had shortcuts back to areas 1 and 2 in the end.
@ABurntMuffin I feel like comparing DS1/3 to MP1/2 is actually very reasonable. MP1 and DS1 both have better worlds, but MP2 and DS3 have better combat. Which is better is down to your preference because all of the games are bogged down with their own issues. The combat being very slow in DS1 can be an active frustration for many including myself. Enough of one that I often find myself not very interested in replaying DS1. Compared to DS3 where I have 1.5k+ hours, most of which are dedicated to invasions as I enjoy the combat so much. I have very similar sentiments for MP1 and 2
@@zackonark2658 Right, and it's no secret that DS3 is definitely the most polished of the souls series' combat. If you wanna say DS3 is the best BECAUSE of all of that stuff, cool, solid arguments. I just don't think "you can teleport everywhere" is a positive in this kind of setting. Is teleporting to levels jarring in a tactical rts with isolated maps? Not at all. Is it a bit jarring in what is (supposed to be) an interconnected and living world? I'd argue yes.
Now this is a take I can 100% get behind. The whole plasma and x-ray room thing is so bad I made a mental note to remember this while replaying next time.
I enjoy watching your videos. I agree with very little in any of them, but I love them. After all, there is a difference between someone stating observations like yourself and an actual bad actor. So yeah, don't worry about being seen as "negative". Nothing you say is out of hand or even remotely close to malicious in my eyes. Everything you say is the truth as you see it; that's as objective as any reviewer could ever hope to be, so keep up the good work.
Dude you put DK64 and a rush of memories came back about my first run in MP. It's my most replayed game and my favorite game of all time. I value your critique. And now my experience feels like a shared experience 😂
The New Tetris is my mom’s favorite video game because she loved making those huge solid blocks and she’s really good at it. That and Mean Bean Machine I’d always watch her play through. My favorite soundtrack goes to Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy’s Kong Quest. I especially like Hot Head Bop and In a Snow Bound Land.
@@FlatulentFetusDonkey Kong Country 2 is one of my absolute top favorite soundtracks, although Chrono Trigger takes the cake for me. Both pushed the limits of the SNES in interesting ways.
If you like to know more about the music of the Prime series, take a look at the Korg MS2000 Synthesizer. It was used for the majority of the first games soundtrack.
Phendrana Battle sounds like a track from Ratchet & Clank 1, 2 or 3. Not a bad thing, but it's UNCANNY. R&C gameplay just floods my brain when I hear it.
Just getting started, mentions fond memories and an enduring deep love for the game, followed by basically "I'm going to criticize this with no punches pulled" I can already tell this is going to be good. Anyone who deeply loves a video game, not just riding some hype train, will be the first to absolutely rip every problem it has to shreds, even if it is their undisputed favorite. That's how you can tell that they are extremely familiar with what they're talking about, and not afraid to be honest about it. It's like me with Morrowind. Or many Metroid games. These are the kinds of retrospectives I love. Basically, this is gonna be good.
MP1 is probably my favorite game of all time. That said, the only thing that annoys me the most is the space pirates (and other enemies) reappearing over and over every time I come back to an old area. This bothers me the most when I'm looking for the artifacts. It feels more like an excuse to make us use all the arsenal we got throughout the game, but it doesn’t matter because we already faced all these enemies with less stuff. At the end of the game, I feel more like exploring peacefully, enjoying the world I saved, and not beating the same enemies over and over. Things I disagree with: Cut scenes: Actually, I never thought about this. It’s definitely not a problem for me because the game can get so calm sometimes that a cutscene comes to break this ‘monotony’. This 'issue' has more to do with the fact that you have beaten the game so many times that you’re tired of seeing the same thing all over again. Immersiveness: What does immersive have to do with believable? One thing doesn’t depend on the other. I don’t think DK is an example of a believable world. Backtracking: In a game where exploration is key, backtracking makes a lot of sense. I’m not saying it’s fun to go back many times, just that it makes sense. In a perfect world, we’d get a new place to explore with every new item, without having to go through the same corridors. Just keep in mind this is a 2002 game! Bosses: Ridley battle is boring? The second phase of Metroid Prime is one of the worst? My god! You start by saying this is your favorite game of all time and end the video saying this isn’t even the best Metroid. Maybe it’s the first time I heard someone change something so good into something so bad. If you have found this amount of bad things in a nearly perfect game, I don’t want to know what you think about Metroid Other M. lol "If you look for a reason to be unhappy, you will find it." You’ve been looking for 20 years. You have found it!
You don't see any force field on the impact crater because they never show it. It's below the flying temple, not inside it. The temple is a teleporter for the inside. But I agree that near the mines would have been a better place for the impact crater.
I believe that the grunts and death scream were done by Jennifer Hale. She was supposed to do an opening monologue as Samus so I would believe Nintendo would have her do the grunts too. I could be wrong though.
I greatly appreciate your willingness to look honestly and objectively at the parts of a game you love in a critical way. I felt Prime 1 was a truly great game, I could forgive most of the tediousness and poorly routed backtracking... until the artifact hunt. I absolutely hate the artifact hunt. It's poorly implemented and incredibly boring and tedious. I never played Prime 1 a second time for 20 years because that damn Artifact hunt was the only thing about the game I remembered. It completely ruined the entire game for me personally. With the remaster, I played it again and I loved most of the game again... however, that awful artifact hunt is still terrible and still ruins my opinion overall. This single aspect of the game rubbed me SO much the wrong way back on the Gamecube original that I have never played Prime 2 or 3 to this day.
Hi there big fan of these videos cuz I love me some Metroid. I currently don't have anything to play Prime on so I looked up a full play through and came across one that said " Long play" so I figured I could see all the lore and scans and scenery, however instead I got a video of someone sequence breaking like crazy. Jumping on the exact right parts to get to places they shouldn't and using the Spider Ball track glitch to slowly ascend to areas early. It upset me cuz I was looking for nostalgia not a weird speed run, they did a bunch of things you didn't mention in this video. So I'm guessing they played a V1.0 disc or rom. Anyway it's not what I wanted but you should search for it so you can use their trick yourself. Have a good one and keep up the good work. 🤘
Theme song is definitely top tier, I was frustrated that the trilogy removed it. I own a 1.0 disc, the trilogy for Wii and the remaster. I would spend so much time messing around with glitches jumping around on geometry, a fun time! Great review, look forward to your further Metroid thoughts!
I think the biggest thing I want to see in prime 4 are more advanced movement options. It can be anything, but you mentioning the wall jump really made me want that or some sort of wall run. Something that wouldn't break platforming, but could allow for more tech and maybe even some sequence breaking. A dash could easily implement and allow for some momentum based jumping. I know it's first person so these might need to be toned down. but I think there is some room there. A shine spark that when you charge it up and aim, it fires you in that direction would be rad.
One thing I found missing is that the gameplay has an entirely different feel when using the nun-chunk input. The most significant difference is that you walk, rotate, and aim simultaneously when you run around. While using the controller input, I often only performed two tasks simultaneously (such as walking and rotating or walking and aiming). Although the controller input is far more precise, the fluency of the nun-chunk is a better match for the level design. With only a few exceptions, most areas’ paths are curved and don't contain hard 90-degree corners. As such, you were always aiming your gun at your next destination, which might or might not include a threat. When an enemy did come into view, you could choose to lock on, allowing you to orbit (useful in open areas), or use the manual aim to use the tank controls to move back and forth. From what I recall, the Switch’s nun-chunk input does differ from that of the Wii U version.
Excellent video. I grew up with this game and it really is boundary breaking, but as a got older I knew it wasn't nearly as perfect as people love to say it is. It's a flawed gem, all your issues you touched on are exactly mine. I don't really see many people brave enough to even critique this game since so many will just waive away complaints. Can't wait for your Prime 2 & 3 reviews!
Imma be honest,i bought and played the metroid prime trilogy. Played the games in order. Got stuck on the artifact hunt in one. Moved on to the other games, both of which i liked more. I wasshocked to hear that people actually think 1 is the best of the series.
> 5th birthday > Gets game from parents that's rated T Despite the advantages the sequels have, I think I prefer the first game the most. Prime 2 has more annoying enemies and slows you down a lot to replenish your ammo or regenerate health. Prime 3 makes health your ammo, so if you're low on health, which now is more an obnoxious gimmick that prolongs a fight. And I feel certainly more comfortable in Prime 1 which gives each region a clear colour, even if that makes it look more video gamey. As much as I enjoyed Prime 1, these games feel shockingly slow, which makes backtracking feel quite tedious despite the still realtively short playtime. That might be the reason why I only managed to complete the first game, while in Prime 2 I stopped after the Boost Guardian. No, not because I was frustrated by the boss. I kinda liked it despite dying several times. But more so the shitload of stuff I'd have to do after that to "only" get the third temple key...
I think Magmoor Cavern's theme doesn't fit well bc the Lower Norfair theme in Super Metroid was building up to Ridley's boss fight, which was something being built up to since Ceres at the beginning. Magmoor is a glorified hallway that doesn't need such a dramatic track
I just recently replayed the remaster on hard mode (which isn't actually very hard, as the normal mode is pretty much trivial). It's still my favorite Prime game, though I've never liked the artifact hunt or its equivalents in the later Prime games. MP1 is actually the least offensive, as I could collect all but 1 of the artifacts before getting the phazon suit so I didn't have to do so much backtracking right at the end. I find it funny, though, that between clearing the game on normal and hard I had already forgotten where some items were located and had to check out a guide for the last 5 missile tanks I was missing but despite only briefly having played the game between its original release and the remaster I could get 100 % of the scans without a guide on my first time playing the remaster. The location of all the one-time scans has been permanently burned into my mind whether I want it or not. I'll probably remember to my dying days that ice shriekbats and ice parasites must be scanned when you first encounter them because for some reason these random enemies never spawn again.
24:14 100% agreed with this entire segment on cutscenes, its so annoying getting interrupted to be shown a door thats already in your field of view being opened, or a mechanism moving. the only ones I don't mind are the area and boss introduction cutscenes, since finding a new area or boss feels noteworthy enough to be shown off that way
1:30:01 on release, there was a potential sequence break for early space jump, but was patched out for player's choice release. Sadly that what i had. But those that bought on launch could get early space jump
They definitely could have had Samus lose her abilities in a better way. It makes no sense that she lost them because she got booped. I wish Meta Ridley would have somehow had the capability to do it in a cutscene with some sort of charged up attack and then another cutscene at the end where Ridley tries to do it again but this time Samus takes it out before he can get the shot off. Samus learning her lesson and acting quickly would have fit her character perfectly…..unlike Other M where she’s a scared little baby for some reason.
I actually have a plan to make a 2D demake of Other M that takes that away and has a Prototype EMMI (to tie in with Dread) take away Samus’ gear. I essentially want to resolve my issues with the story myself and figured it’d be a fun project.
@@nathanmullan71 Wow dude. If you have the capability to make that, I bet it just pops off with fans. That sounds dope as hell. I’m sure Nintendo would cry about it but it’d kinda be their own fault for allowing such an abomination of a game to release in the first place. If you did a good job of it, thats the kind of game that could add some serious name recognition for you in the industry, if you wanted that sort of thing. I hope you crush it.
@paularized1 Thanks! It's just a little passion project and I'm sure will take ages to complete but I'm slowly chipping away at it. And hey if it turns out any good maybe I'll show it off one day!
the scan visor is about as optional as the xray visor. edit: (which isn't optional) The x ray is actually required for like, 4 things. One of which you can actually figure out if you see the water droplets hitting the invisible platforms. The other 3 I can think of are 2 chozo artifacts, one of which can be found simply by blasting rocks (which players were doing before getting the xray so its likely you've found it) and I swear there's a 3rd required usage of the xray visor.
The only thing that actually requires x-ray is Omega Pirate iirc. Cuz like you said, everything else can be seen and interracted with theough other means. But Omega is actually invicible when regenerating his armor unless you have x-ray. But you do actually need scan visor to trigger/activate things throughout the game, so I can't say I agree they're about equally as optional. Sure ig they are equally optional in that you absolutely need both to complete the game, but scan is need for far more
@@zackonark2658 My argument is that the scan visor ISN'T optional. You're right that the omega pirate is the other instance I was thinking of and the actual only required usage of the x-ray visor, and nobody considers that visor optional in a playthrough, be it normal, expert, speedrun, etc.
My theory on the metroid prime is that it isn't a traditional metroid. Since metroid is a chozo word for hunter or ultimate hunter, the prime could be a different creature that got the name from the chozo
Hiya. As this is my first comment on this channel, I may as well establish a point that I have a preference for refined combat systems that reward healthy analysis, and I do especially welcome close range incentive that keeps that in mind as it promotes risk assessment. That's naturally an important point for why I'm writing this comment, and I'll write at least one more for your video series, though right now, I'm wondering if you'd eventually do something involving Kid Icarus Uprising, just to show how a remaster of that game could improve its messy balancing. With that in mind, some time ago, I think a decade, I personally looked through MP1's bosses to see how much moving close to the boss was promoted. And from what I'm reading about Adult Sheegoth because my memory about them is a joke, they apparently use attraction magnetism, which if you hit your target before you hit the cause of the attraction magnetism, that's not a problem, and yes, I'll get to that as the big reason I'm making this comment. And then there's Thardus, who I definitely remember involving a fog effect that would limit the range of your vision at a certain point, so you're easily ambushed then if you fight from too far away. Naturally, I'm here to talk about the protective orb of the Elite Pirates and the Omega Pirate. What that orb is doing is involving attraction magnetism. I was distinctly remembering being able to damage both of them when the orb was up, to the point where I've been wanting to involve a similar concept in a game I've been wanting to make, and even your own footage (2:07:02 especially shows curving Plasma Beam shots) shows that the attraction magnetism point is the case. I feel what was going on was that you tend to strafe anticlockwise, when Elite Pirates and the Omega Pirate are using the protective orb with their left hands. That's why you would be stuck on the orb. I will say that there are indications of terrain compromising moving clockwise around those guys in the moments of footage that you used, but in that case, I have to wonder how you end up dealing with that in the first place, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could have opted to set up the ability to strafe clockwise around your target without too much issue. Oh yeah, and did you know that Omega Pirate can EMP bomb you if you try to get cute with long range combat? Granted, that's assuming you can in the first place. Even then, that shows how storywise these guys can be a threat to galactic peace especially when they get their auxiliary support from the other Space Pirates--it's being up against Samus Aran that causes the way their gameplay design goes. I will say that regardless, I do still recognize MP1's bosses in general to be blatantly experimentalist. I'm just making a point worth mentioning.
I’ll have to try it out myself to be completely certain, but I do know that the Omega Pirate’s orb becomes active even before the animation finishes. If you’re shooing at the Omega on, like, frame 1 of it beginning to raise the orb, your shots will consistently get absorbed. I’ve been playing this game constantly for nearly 20 years and I’m certain I’ve tried strafing both directions. Getting close to the Omega will trigger him to use his melee on him, so there’s a balance of staying close but not too close. His grenade launcher is his highest damaging attack, and as you said he only uses that attack at long range. I’ve spent hours on the Omega in particular because he is easily the hardest boss on low% hard mode runs. Despite my confidence, I still would like to continue to experiment so that I can be certain. The Wii version already lets you use Power Bombs to bypass the orb, but it’d be neat if you could also just take advantage of a sweet spot. I think the Ice Beam, Dark Beam, and Fed Force Super Missiles are all great for reasons very similar to what you’re describing. You gotta get as close as you can without making contact with your foe to maximize your accuracy. I really like that about those weapons. I’ve never played Kid Icarus on the 3DS, but I’ve been meaning to. I played a good amount of the Game Boy one as a kid, and a friend gave me their 3DS copy a few years ago.
@@FlatulentFetus I decided to look at videos of Omega Pirate on a Low Percent Run. I do note that jump strafing is made use of in both directions to be able to get the weak points between Samus and the attraction orb. So yeah, the attraction does have limitations. As for the Ice Beam and Echoes' Dark Beam (I wouldn't know about Federation Force's Super Missiles having not played that game), yeah, they are involving low shot velocity to demand distance closure, as lower shot velocity is innately amplified by distance. The funny thing, they can still hit at higher ranges, just that evasive maneuvers will absolutely complicate things but a few tricks here and there can allow for overcoming that. I've made use of dropping lock-on in Battalion Wars, which itself has lock-on like the Metroid Prime series has, to have manual aiming capability for some usefulness here and there against the potential evasion. Kid Icarus Uprising even gives Clubs' Shots low velocity to have their projectile usage involve trapping utility more actively. Speaking of Kid Icarus Uprising, I brought it up in general because I did note that you are able to talk about different types of skills when providing your analysis about things like level design, and I'd be interested in seeing that sort of analysis applied to Kid Icarus Uprising's single player level and enemy design. As you haven't played it, I'll tell you that I've been determining that 6.0 is the most fair challenging difficulty level, reasonably possible to complete without Powers or modifiers as I recorded with 3 weapon types thus far (First Blade, Skyscraper Club, and Paw Pad Orbitars), while having challenge that avoids too many blatantly asinine things beyond tongue-in-cheek stuff for the nostalgia angle. Higher difficulties involve blatantly inflated enemy durability, the same problem with Metroid Prime's own hard difficulty by inviting the bajeezus out of flowchart behavior, on top of other things that...yeah, long story short, only bother with higher difficulties than 6.0 when using weapon modifiers or you'll be in for a miserable experience. At any rate, I'd be happy to answer Qs if you get around to KIU, especially if it means I get to understand better what sort of skills it likes to test.
1:32:00 Yeah, this is THE sole reason I still prefer and even suggest Prime 1 v1.00 on Gamecube to this day. The simple fact that Retro limited the game's potential in future releases makes the game far less enjoyable on subsequent playthroughs. And that's especially aggravating because the few most important ones are just physics bugs that you could reasonably believe Samus could TECHNICALLY pull off due to jet thrusters or morph ball bombs already bouncing her up. So it's not even like it breaks real logic or consistency with the universe. We're talking about the same Samus that can infinitely spin jump in earlier titles with a core ability. But somehow it's game breaking and unrealistic that she could possibly boost herself a bit of extra distance with her visible back thrusters? That's just bad form on Retro's part.
As someone who was 4 when the original Metroid came out and I could parallelyidentify with the experience you had with prime(a game that me and my roommates were playing the crap out of while you were watching your brother, and I’ve since also beaten many many times), I’m excited to get past the first 3 minutes of your video. Is parallely a word? Doubt it?
I disagree about the spread of phazon being poorly handled. Radioactivity is a creeping, lingering thing. Chernobyl just looks like a forest with dilapidated, decaying ruins scattered throughout. You can't see the radiation, but the very earth is corrupted, and the water is poisoned. As far as Chozo lore relying too heavily on the scan visor goes, how much detailed history would you glean just by walking through an Incan ruin without a text book? Looking at ancient places on the earth doesn't magically fill us with exacting knowledge of the site's history. We gather clues and can piece together snippets of ancient cultures, but we don't truly understand them unless their history was recorded for us to find later. Enjoying the video so far, just figured I'd add to the discussion
To explain my opinion a little more, Phazon simply isn’t real-world radiation. Prime 3 especially sets expectations about Phazon and the way it envelops an environment. Prime’s scans are wildly disconnected from the environments, especially in lines like the Phazon encompassing the planet in a single night. My big criticism of Prime is that it doesn’t leave those little pieces in the environment that you’re talking about. If that’s the kind of idea they were going for, then it’d make sense to leave some kind of actual evidence of that beyond the impact crater itself. Maybe show hazmat suits or radiation handling equipment in the Chozo Ruins. Show that the Phazon actually did have some kind of effect on the Chozo through the environments. Even an abandoned actual home would have communicated an idea that people had to leave their houses suddenly. Maybe show emergency shelters, equipment for measuring radiation, show a displaced civilization. I know that the Chozo were already ghosts before the Leviathan struck, but that’s something that is also not in the environment. The type of story that Prime is trying to tell with its scans is difficult to communicate just through the environments, but it’s also actively contradicted by those environments. Lines about Phazon killing life by the thousands, but also showing plantlife thriving just a few rooms away from the impact crater, even showing trees growing out of the crater, I can’t help but find that contradictory. I challenge Prime’s reputation as a master-class of environmental storytelling because I think the environment fails to tell us much of any of the actual happenings with the Chozo.
@@FlatulentFetus the creatures we see in prime are the ones who are resilient enough to survive in a now hostile environment. Weaker creatures either died due to the creeping radiation, or to predation by the now much more aggressive creatures. If the entire earth were corrupted by dangerous levels of radiation, it wouldn't just become a barren wasteland devoid of all life. Again, the area surrounding Chernobyl is a forest that looks normal at a glance despite the lingering poison. Plants are incredibly resilient and would take a much greater dose of radiation to completely kill off. On top of that, the game very clearly expresses that the Chozo were quickly working to contain the spread. That's why we don't see phazon pooling on the surface while we're exploring. Had they not fought it, Talon IV would be fully corrupted by the time we arrived, but their shield proved effective at slowing the spread. It wasn't a permanent solution as we know the Phazon is still creeping out into the planet, but the degree that they managed to contain it shows just how powerful this tribe of Chozo were. They're mastery over the metaphysical allowed them to fight, even if they ultimately lost without the intervention of Samus. They're technology is so fundamentally different from the humans and the space pirates that I feel it makes sense that we wouldn't simply perceive the field they errected with mere sight. This doesn't extend to all Chozo, of course. Some tribes were obviously far more tech focused than spiritual (Ravenbeak's Mawkin for example), but the holistic blend of technology and spirit is unique to the tribe on Talon IV. I don't know, maybe I think too much about this stuff
@@FlatulentFetus I disagree (I came to those thoughts because of what was presented in the game, after all), but that's the cool thing about art: it's up to interpretation. My thoughts would be easier to express with my actual voice rather than with my thumb in a UA-cam comment, so maybe I'm not properly expressing why I think the game presents what I said very well. Other than the barrier being beyond human vision, that was more conjecture than anything based on the spiritual nature of this tribe of Chozo Either way, this was a very enjoyable video. looking forward to your next Metroid analysis
Great analysis. I picked up the remastered version after playing doom eternal and expected more engaging combat, and when it came to the scanning I mostly ignored it, which made it confusing. I dropped the game after Chozo Ruins, but now Ive started a new playthrough after reading why people enjoyed the game. Its given me different expectations and a much more enjoyable experience.
I dont know what happened with nintendo in this period of time but padding was a PRIME issue in their game, the triforce fetch quest in wind waker was another shitty idea and paper Mario TTYD had some stretches here and there too, and dont get me started on sunshine's blue coins
We’re connected in a weird sort of way, i also received metriod (but not prime, it was fusion however both games came out on the same day) and tmnt mutant nightmare and also feel down the rabbit hole of missing out on a bunch of games due to replaying all my ps1 ps2 gba and ds games.
a note on Metroid Prime (the creature) - "metroid" is a Chozo word that roughly translates to "ultimate warrior". using this definition, one could argue that Samus had long since achieved the title of "metroid" even before fusion. by this same logic, the phazon leviathans may also be considered "metroids" of a kind - regardless of their genetic origins.
I specifically have a problem with MP3's and, subsequently, Trilogy's attempts to redefine Metroid Prime as a unique creature from Phaaze because Prime spawns Tallon Metroids. It's one of a couple examples of why I disagree with the notion that the remasters' lore was improved over the original, because it simply wasn't. The lore was made more confusing
@@zackonark2658 The idea I've gathered from reading other people's takeaways is that the Metroid Prime is a Metroid that became a phasing Metroid like in MP3, phased inside the impact crater, got stuck as a hopping Metroid, and ate the leviathan. Maybe that's why it has two parts -- its shell creates phazon, while its essence eats it.
52:15 if I were to make a guess at why I would say it shows the Chozo were able to contain it pretty well then; cut off from the leviathan there could be no more rapid production of phazon. What phazon that remains is left to grow so slowly that the rest of the plant life recovered
I’m a newcomer to Metroid games and I have finally got into Metroid Prime. I think the scan visor constantly breaks immersion and it makes it hard to get into the game. I would like it if you only had to use a special weapon once (wave, ice, plasma) to open a door the first time rather than to have to constantly use the correct weapon each time. One other gripe is the constant respawning of enemies and turrets, but that’s not really unique to Prime in the Metroid series. Having said all that, I can see why people love the game so much.
Well your opinion about the scan Visor is wrong. Sorry.😅 It's one of the most immersive tools for world building and it is up to the player how much they use it, aside from the very obvious terminal.
@trashaigamer7822 the scan visor is less of an issue for me now, but I found it distracting at the beginning of my playthrough and it made it hard for me to get into the game initially.
A few things: 1. Prime is not the best Metroid game of all time. Nope. No sir. Super Metroid holds that distinction and my mind won't be swayed. With that being said, I have a Metroid Prime tattoo that covers the entire inside of my right arm. I love Metroid Prime, but Super just does it for me so nicely. 2. You put a top three: Prime, Super, and DREAD? Nah. Dread is not better than Fusion. 3. I like your criticism of this game and I respect them.
I don’t think those are the top 3 golden games, I was trying to say that’s what the general consensus seems to be. For me personally, the 3 favorites are always changing depending on when you ask. I constantly rearrange the ordering of my favorites but Echoes and/or Super are always in the top 2.
Is it weird to say that I kind of prefer the GameCube version's tank controls over the dual analog controls because the ladder control scheme gives me headaches? It's partially why I don't usually play most FPS games TBH.
Ive been doing my first run of the remaster and your grievances have been something very prominent for me. I don't get that same satisfying flow that I do with the 2d games, the hint system is basically carrying me since my exploration seems to almost always just be wrong and Im pretty sick of magmoor lmao. I havent even reached the chozo artifacts yet and the game feels like a mixed bag to me.
1:44:12 Sonic Boom fire and ice is a good game though. It Definitely could’ve done more with its fire and ice concept but for what it is, it is a genuinely fun game and people don’t really give it the credit It deserves because it’s a boom game. I’m not saying the game is a masterpiece or anything but it’s a good game
I just got the 2 Sonic Boom games on 3DS so they were on my mind. I only put that game there as a little gag just because it’s known for having mechanics of ice melting fire. I’ve never actually played it myself but I’m a huge Sonic fan. I’ve never gotten around to playing any of the Boom games but I do want to at some point. I’ve heard Fire and Ice is actually pretty good so I’m interested to try it out. I actually really like the Boom redesigns as their own take on the Sonic cast. As a weird little Sonic related aside, I’ve been playing Sonic ‘06 for the first time and I’ve actually been kind of enjoying it? Maybe it’s because I have super low expectations from its reputation but it’s been surprisingly fun. Massively flawed but kinda fun game, I’d even say I enjoy it more than Forces already.
@@FlatulentFetus bro I genuinely like the boom designs more than the regular ones. It really sucks how Sega completely fucked over boom. Rise of lyric was going to be amazing and then Sega ruined it and that basically sunk the entire boom franchise. The TV show and 3DS games are good at least. Or at least they mostly are. Shattered crystal would be good, but it has one really annoying fatal flaw. It basically requires that you get Every collectible to proceed and it’s very annoying. So unless you really like getting collectibles, the best way to play the game is to play it used so you don’t have to do that shit. On the bright side Fire and Ice fixes basically every problem with shattered crystal. Fire and Ice is a very fun time. Nothing that’s gonna melt your face off with amazingness but it’s fun for what it is. My only real complaint with it is that the final boss is pretty anti-climactic. It’s not terrible, but it just feels like any other boss. Something that I find humorous is that the 3DS games are actually Canon to the TV show but the Wii U game isn’t. I haven’t played rise of lyric but I do have it and I’m gonna play it eventually. I know it’s bad but I’m pretty curious to see what it’s gonna be like
I’ll make sure to give all of them at least a try eventually. But yeah it really is tragic because I think both 06 and Rise of Lyric looked like they could have been peak Sonic if they just gave the developers the time and support they needed.
Would you (anyone who is reading/had played) think that a over-the-shoulder camera would be better for playing and platforming? (Ps: I never played any of these 1st person Metroid, but have played the old ones)
I think a 3rd-person camera could work really well for something like Metroid Prime, but I’m glad we got the 1st-person perspective because it lends its own benefits like the immersive visor effects and diegetic HUD. Games like Dead Space have found ways to make a diegetic HUD work in 3rd-person, but there’s something unique about the many strengths Prime offers with its 1st-person view that more than warrants its focus. Other M is the only 3rd-person Metroid game, and I can discuss that game in more detail in its eventual video, but I firmly believe even Other M has great unique merits as its own thing. For gameplay and platforming specifically, I think the 3rd-person camera has great potential to realize that tight mechanical design from the 2D games. It’s easier to make things like a dodge move and it’s easier to design platforming around a 3rd-person camera, I imagine.
On the topic of your critique of the scan visor being a necessary tool for progression; I'm of the opinion that it's simply the design of the game to use the scan visor and trying to avoid it is an unwise way to try and play the game. Your main critique is that this design de-emphasizes player agency, which is fair, but the way the game designs its visuals, they seem to have intentionally gone the route of not giving any visual indications of places where you would use various items and instead have the player rely on the scan visor. An explodable morph ball tunnel entrance, for instance, may just look like any other texture until you use the scan visor. Like it or not, I think the whole point of these parts of the game are that you need to use the scan visor, otherwise it would've been simple enough to put some kind of visual indicator there as to what to do instead. So while you seem to believe that the design is a puzzle you're meant to figure out on your own with the scan visor only being a hint system if you're lost, I think the design is a straightforward discovery of a new path or secret that's not meant to be a puzzle as a puzzle isn't meant to give you the answer whereas Prime simply does. Looking at these bits of the design through that lens I think makes me more forgiving of them. I mean, it's not all too exciting or interesting to simply be told that you can access a new thing when it could instead be a more interesting puzzle, but my point is that it seems to me to be intentionally not a puzzle. Meaning they executed their idea just fine, it's simply not a design choice that everyone likes, which is valid
I think what you’re saying is completely valid. The design around secrets has fundamentally changed so much between 2D and 3D Metroid that I wouldn’t even call them that similar at all. This difference and me challenging the Scan Visor’s reputation as an optional hint and lore tool are both things about Prime that feel misrepresented in a lot of the discourse surrounding this game.
I don't understand how you can consistently win the thumbnail game with such flying colors.
Most of my thumbnails are drawn by my friends. I come up with the ideas and tell them what to draw and they work hard to make these excellent pieces.
@@FlatulentFetus It's a wonderful collaboration.
The Omega Pirate eating phazon mushrooms is surely eyecatching.
Dude, thank you SO MUCH for the lengthy analysis of the Metroid series. I'm absolutely loving it and can't wait for your Echoes analysis!
I love this game (though I prefer Prime 2), I just think there are one or two things the Remaster could have done to make it a bit better, like giving us the ability to skip all cutscenes, especially the ones that play multiple times in boss fights like Flaahgra.
The whole portion from 1:09:00 to 1:14:00 is well vocalized, and the points you make are things I had thought about as well. It may be a tough pill for some to swallow but it's valid to point out how the environment many times was designed to be "gamey" instead of realistic. There's nothing really wrong with that, it's just how it is.
You can argue that happens in absolutely every single video game ever. Hey look, the realistic looking area has these convenient ledges for the player to grab on, or the platforms are set in a way to accommodate its gamey aspect. Upon other thousands of examples I could give.
It's such a huge and inconsequential nitpick.
@@samy29987 He admitted as much. He literally said himself that he only brought it up because of how much people tout about Prime being a supposed masterclass in immersive world design. If people weren't so hellbent on saying that he wouldn't have cared or brought it up.
The charged plasma beam does not have infinite range - it just has longer range.
NGL: I played Echoes wayyyy more than Prime 1. This makes me want to experience Prime 1 again - I barely remember it.
Metroid Prime 1 lets go, Prime 2 next please!
Yes please
I’m so happy you included the randomizer. Metroid Prime feels like a playground to me. I only know a few sequence breaks, like a couple L-jump tricks and one or two morph ball double jumps over things, so I mainly play glitchless with combat and knowledge at beginner, with doors randomized and two-way elevators changed. It’s so fun to take an evening off and spend a few hours resolving my personal Rubik’s cube.
been bingeing all your metroid vids, some of the most well written essays ive seen in a while
My first Metroid experience. Excited to watch this one
WAIT, YOU CAN DO THE WAVEBUSTER "PUZZLE" WITH NORMAL MISSILES?! I thought you needed to use Super Missiles to collapse the pillars!
Same with that one Artifact in Magmoor in the stone pillar. Oddly enough, that one pillar takes 4 missiles on Hard Mode but only 2 on Normal. Some oddity likely resulting from the fact that enemies have more health, almost like that destructible pillar has a life bar.
@@FlatulentFetus Yea most programmers would rather re-used systems like that instead of making a sperate HP system.
Some key counter arguments about your Immersion segment:
-Space Pirates are able to move and leap way further than normal human capabilities. It would help explain why their rooms tended to have odd platforming segments. It also helps that they have jetpack equipment for navigation.
-There were a few scannable "doors" in the Space Pirate areas that explicitly mention in their scan logs: Space Pirate genetic code required for entry. There was also another Space Pirate log mentioning that Samus was infiltrating their base through vents and hatches. This helps explain why Samus enters some rooms through awkward tunnels or segments.
Other than these two noteworthy points, I do agree that Tallon IV didn't seem like a place going into "biological extinction". Admittedly though, this would be hard to visualize, since we would need context on how the world looked before the impact of the leviathan, but that would have likely been beyond the scope of the development limitations. It was probably easier and still "good enough" to mention it only in the scan logs.
I usually see the pirates jump high in the observatory, and while that does indicate that they’re capable of moving around gaps and distances, I don’t think that therefore justifies much of anything for me personally. Humans can fairly easily climb ledges around chest high, and yet we do not make stairs anywhere near that high because that would be awful. Not to mention that so many of these areas are meant to serve specific functions, such as transporting mining equipment, Phazon deposits, lab equipment, ect. It’s not at all believable to me that Pirates are just supposed to leap around everywhere, even if they are shown to be able to leap pretty far. Especially considering the rooms like Elite Research access, a vertical shaft with spinning electrical hazards leading directly to where they supposedly need to do their research, I’m doubtful that jumping high makes that anywhere near practical.
Rooms like the Mine Security Station and Research entrance do have doors that only open for space pirates according to their genetic code, and that’s neat, but I hardly think that addresses any of my criticisms with Prime’s constant disregard for contextual cohesion. It doesn’t help explain why Samus enters certain rooms through awkward tunnels and segments because only a couple rooms across the entire game have these doors in them. Perhaps if they placed these doors in the rooms I talked about in the video, then I’d be more forgiving. But that’s just me, feel free to disagree.
I also don’t agree that we’d need to see the world before its decimation to get a good enough sense of how it’s changed. I think it’d be fine to show us scorched surfaces, withered life, signs of the force of the impact, signs of a displaced civilization, Phazon-infused creatures, or Phazon growing. I think both Prime 2 and especially Prime 3 do this well.
@@FlatulentFetus It's very hard to judge the space pirate areas, given that we aren't shown the whole context for their traversal methods, only that they have doors we can't access. The only context we are given is that Samus is breaking into space pirate areas using tunnels, vents, and hacking vulnerable technologies (one of the logs mentions their frustration in trying to keep Samus out, and her bypassing their security).
But I see where you're coming from. I just finished playing Metroid Prime again (this time on Prime Hack for the first time ever), and the whole time I was in the Chozo Ruins, I didn't understand what the purpose of many rooms were, or seemingly perplexed by the room names. We see how tall the chozo ghost are in relation to many of the rooms, and it felt like they had many of the same issues the space pirates would have. Like for example, there is no way to cross the room "Crossway" without seemingly using the morph ball boost (unless you took a lengthy detour through "Hall of the Elders"). "Reflecting Pool" has an upper and a lower area, with seemingly no way of going to the upper area without the boost ball (or again, lengthy detour).
And yeah, MP2 & 3 do a much better job of explaining the world building. I think we just have to accept that this world was built for gameplay first, and lore secondary. Just like how the 2D Metroid games might shows background areas we can't access.
No lie in prime 1, pirates do be eating pretty good.
Funny, but I think the fundamental elements of Prime's design, less the Artifact Quest, one back-tracking segment, one false hint, and unlocking colored doors constantly, still work incredibly well in 2024. Still my fave game of all time.
I think Prime 1 is still a great game even in 2024, I just also think it’s plenty flawed as well.
Prime 1 was the first metorid game i played. When i bought a GameCube from a retro store in Demeber 2020. They bought out a stack of GCN games. I had no idea which game to pick. I saw Metorid Prime 1, i heard good things about metorid online, I like the part of Sub Space with Samus & Pikachu, and it was only $30. I brought it home and started playing it. Took me about 3 months to get use to the controls. After that i was hooked on the game. Took me a good 18 hours to finish with 60%. I think it was the first game i had no previous knowledge of that I beat on my own with no guides. Just pure exploration and puzzle solving.
I loved it so much. After that, I've played pretty much every metroid game. I just need to finish up Prime Hunters, Metroid II, and i guess other M. I couldn't believe it took me so long to try out a metorid game. Now i try to convince my friends to play metorid too. I also couldn't believe it took Nintendo so long to get Prime 1 on Switch. Then, when i played Echoes, i was constantly going, "Why the hell is this not on Switch??". Prime 1 still holds up today and is still being emulated in modern games today. It definitely deserves its praise and needs to be on every gamers list
Atmosphere, aesthetic, capturing the “Metroid feel”, transitioning into a first person game that is still metroidvania so spectacularly, the soundtrack, the scan system. All of that is perfect in my opinion. I haven’t watched the video, but before watching, my main complaint is lack of difficulty. This is why I enjoy Dread so much (among a trillion other reasons). It’s gonna be interesting to see your criticism. Great Metroid videos my friend. I also want to add that your video on Fusion gave life to the game again for me. I plan on replaying it. It was my first Metroid game.
I love this video. This goes out to everyone who gives Prime 2 a bad wrap for the SAME reasons that make Prime 1 actually annoying.
You can read the logs from prime 3 describing the tallon 4 event, how the planet is starting to recover from the effects of phazon
You can also read up about Aether
What a great video dude. Your subs are definitely going to climb.
FYI, in Prime 3, it is shown that destroying a Leviathan seed destroys the phazon created by it, as it’s almost like a hivemind. Though like you said it isn’t explained until that game anyways.
If I remember correctly, it also contradicts that by saying that Phazon remained on Aether after the destruction of that planet’s leviathan on Dark Aether. I think it was some Pirate Log describing how Dark Samus re-materialized inside of leftover Phazon on Aether.
@@FlatulentFetus maybe it takes longer to decay when just a single Leviathan seed dies, as opposed to Phaaze itself. I’d have to read that log though
@@t0xicrunnerlet's be real. The whole phazon dies with its leviathan gimmick was really only a thing because the devs needed Prime 3 to end neatly. It wasn't really a thing until the very end
i played prime as part of the prime trilogy on the wii back around 2010. that was a while ago, but hearing your review i was impressed at how it all came back to me. i remember the game fondly, but hearing about stuff like the artifact hunt felt like rediscovering a repressed memory or something. with that in mind it was cool that you touched on the artificial padding of the game, makes more sense now!
can't wait to hear your take on corruption, i think that's my favorite
Can't wait for a video on Corruption. I only beat the first Prime recently, and it's good to see your take on this game
Just finished this game for the first time yesterday. Great timing
Definitely agree with the backtracking part. I wanted to get all the items but I somehow missed 2 missiles and couldn't find them after running through the whole map with a guide open
I love your work and want to thank you for reigniting my passion for the Metroid series.
Randomly stumbled upon your channel, and these are some of the best video essays I've ever listened to full stop. You absolutely deserve to start blowing up. I'm playing through Prime 2 (and eventually 3) for the first time rn to prep for 4, and it's super cool to see Retro find solutions to the issues you mention in real time. Super excited for the reviews of the rest of the trilogy as well as the inevitable Dread review as that's easily the best game in the series imo
i just came across ur stuff and have been binging it and i can't get over how high quality and in depth these analysis' are when ur name is pipi dafeces and the thumbnails look like how they do, and it is also literally ur only content. bro just bursted into the room with this and refused to elaborate and i fw that
Oh yeah! New video! Lets gooooo
Never forget that Tallon IV Chozo were hippies.
By the end of Prime 1 Samus accomplished exactly what she set out to do in the first place -- hunt down and kill Meta Ridley. Stopping the pirates and fulfilling the chozo's prophecy by killing the source of the phazon were pretty much bonus points.
The game clearly attempts to do more with its story than just that. As discussed in the video, I think that many of the elements of the story are not cohesively concluded in a very satisfying way.
@@FlatulentFetus The sequels definitely did a better job in a fully-realized narrative arc within their own games, as well as tying up those left by the end of Prime 1; I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that the ending of the first story in a trilogy is incomplete or unsatisfying because of what we would come to know in the games that followed. Yes, we eventually learn that Project Helix and the Metroid Prime survived, but there was no reason to assume those things at the time (barring the teaser foreshadowing Dark Samus.) In a vacuum the simple plot of Prime 1 concludes exactly as one could expect from the onset: the newest incarnation of Ridley dead, several pirate strongholds in flames and the ghosts of long-dead chozo given peace at last. The discovery of phazon presents a sinister new threat, but those who would exploit its power for evil have been thwarted for the time being. None of the key elements presented within the game are without their resolution except the ones left intentionally as cliff-hangers.
As for the question "What did she even accomplish?" Well, Samus couldn't save the chozo of Tallon IV, but she did realize their wish for the Entrusted One to terminate the creature implied to be largely responsible for the phazon plague. Corruption tells us in no uncertain terms that killing the leviathan core does exactly that, stops the spread and allows infected planets to begin healing, and even if we didn't know what a phazon seed was at the time, the act of destroying it was still significant. While the pirates didn't need the crater itself for their means, preventing them from breaching the seal and harnessing the phazon within, and more importantly the power of the Metroid Prime, was paramount and a heavy blow to their ongoing arms race -- if her scorched-earth campaign throughout their facilities wasn't enough of one already. In the end Samus departs from Tallon IV not having remedied the damages of phazon or Project Helix altogether, but preventing the chance for further tragedy to arise from them...or so she thought, anyway.
Edit: Damn, this reply was much longer than I intended. In any case I loved the video, and it's awesome to watch such a thoughtful, thorough analysis by someone who's as fanatical about this game as I am. Can't wait for Prime 2 🙂
I think what you’re saying is fair, but I still can’t fully agree personally. You’re exactly right about Samus fulfilling the will of the Chozo, that’s a great point. But I still don’t think the actual events of the game seem to amount to much if not for Prime 3 going back to fill in the blanks. I think accounting for Prime 3’s additions, it’s a satisfying story. I wish they set it up better so that the first game didn’t depend on the third to explain things like leviathans and the fate of Tallon IV. I wish the game had some more information about what exactly made the impact crater paramount to the success of the Space Pirates. If they included lines about the Pirates emphasizing the importance of the crater, or perhaps lines about the Pirates lamenting their failure to meet their ambitions due to the inability to access the crater, then that would have strengthened the narrative. In the logs we did get, they show interest in the crater, but they never really get specific about why other than it just seems to be a lot of Phazon and some huge creature. The dots are all there and it’s not that big of a stretch for players to connect the pieces, but I still wish Prime went further with this.
@@FlatulentFetusThat's fair, what's satisfying narratively is ultimately subjective. Personally, I think leaving the nature and origin of the phazon vague and mysterious was more interesting than if they had laid it out for the player upfront. There's a subtle bit of foreshadowing wherein the chozo speculate on the existence of a planet like Phaaze, so it seems to me like Retro had that plot point in mind from the very beginning but wanted to leave room for the player's imagination. Until that reveal Prime 1 is essentially just another "Samus finds some sus pirate activity and puts the torch to it" episode, and to me that's just fine
Personally, Chozo Ruins is my favorite area and Soundtrack. And there is a boss in Magmoor Caverns! The level design D:
Just binged a bunch of your vids this series is great
You deserve much love for your video essays.
This is my first video from your channel, and I'm very impressed with your objective analysis! Can't wait for your Prime 2 video!
If I were to offer a guess on how you'll feel about the game, it certainly seems to fix a few of the issues you had with Prime 1. Particularly with the improved combat, and environments. So my guess is your opinion is generally higher for the game
It’s my favorite game of all time. But I’m going to be doing a Zero Mission video first
@@FlatulentFetus Just came from your Zero Mission video, and in the comments you said you really liked Other M, and now I read this, that Prime 2 is your favorite. Absolutely based.
Imma just confess, i played prime 2 first and prime when the remaster came out because I had a goofy ah ah childhood. I think prime is great and all but prime 2 definitely takes what prime did and improves in most aspects. I know people like the world more but i find Aether more accessible and fun to explore because i dont need to go through magmoor every 3 seconds you know?
I feel ya, but that's like saying DS3 was better than DS1 because you can teleport everywhere. While it's a convenience, it took away something huge from the core gameplay loop where distance actually used to matter.
@@ABurntMuffin i wouldnt call traveling through magmor a good gameplay loop, prime 2 still had you going through areas for backtracking. You just had an elevator at the end
@@Aegisdex that's just a series of linear hallways. magmoor was a hub. the first "difficult" area that spread out to the others that eventually had shortcuts back to areas 1 and 2 in the end.
@ABurntMuffin I feel like comparing DS1/3 to MP1/2 is actually very reasonable. MP1 and DS1 both have better worlds, but MP2 and DS3 have better combat. Which is better is down to your preference because all of the games are bogged down with their own issues. The combat being very slow in DS1 can be an active frustration for many including myself. Enough of one that I often find myself not very interested in replaying DS1. Compared to DS3 where I have 1.5k+ hours, most of which are dedicated to invasions as I enjoy the combat so much.
I have very similar sentiments for MP1 and 2
@@zackonark2658 Right, and it's no secret that DS3 is definitely the most polished of the souls series' combat. If you wanna say DS3 is the best BECAUSE of all of that stuff, cool, solid arguments. I just don't think "you can teleport everywhere" is a positive in this kind of setting. Is teleporting to levels jarring in a tactical rts with isolated maps? Not at all. Is it a bit jarring in what is (supposed to be) an interconnected and living world? I'd argue yes.
Now this is a take I can 100% get behind. The whole plasma and x-ray room thing is so bad I made a mental note to remember this while replaying next time.
When I was a kid, the reflection in the visor spooked me, so I played most of the game with the Thermal Visor on.
I enjoy watching your videos. I agree with very little in any of them, but I love them. After all, there is a difference between someone stating observations like yourself and an actual bad actor. So yeah, don't worry about being seen as "negative". Nothing you say is out of hand or even remotely close to malicious in my eyes. Everything you say is the truth as you see it; that's as objective as any reviewer could ever hope to be, so keep up the good work.
Dude you put DK64 and a rush of memories came back about my first run in MP. It's my most replayed game and my favorite game of all time. I value your critique. And now my experience feels like a shared experience 😂
This Metroid has the best soundtrack! (With N64 New Teris as a close 2nd)
The New Tetris is my mom’s favorite video game because she loved making those huge solid blocks and she’s really good at it. That and Mean Bean Machine I’d always watch her play through. My favorite soundtrack goes to Donkey Kong Country 2 Diddy’s Kong Quest. I especially like Hot Head Bop and In a Snow Bound Land.
@@FlatulentFetusDonkey Kong Country 2 is one of my absolute top favorite soundtracks, although Chrono Trigger takes the cake for me. Both pushed the limits of the SNES in interesting ways.
If you like to know more about the music of the Prime series, take a look at the Korg MS2000 Synthesizer. It was used for the majority of the first games soundtrack.
Found your channel with the Fusion video an binge watched every metroid video you've made, you're inspiring and cool as fuck
Phendrana Battle sounds like a track from Ratchet & Clank 1, 2 or 3. Not a bad thing, but it's UNCANNY.
R&C gameplay just floods my brain when I hear it.
You're one of the good ones. Subscribed.
This video is great man I agree with a lot of the stuff you said but I still love this game. Can’t wait for a video on prime 2
I got banned from a discord server because I said I thought Metroid prime was just ok💀
I hope it wasn't the AM2R server. We generally encourage alternate perspectives there at least back when I moderated it
I doubt that was the only reason.
Prime 2 was better in just about every way so it makes atleast
You deserve it
Such an amazing platformer. Definitely somewhere in my top 5 platformer list.
Just getting started, mentions fond memories and an enduring deep love for the game, followed by basically "I'm going to criticize this with no punches pulled"
I can already tell this is going to be good. Anyone who deeply loves a video game, not just riding some hype train, will be the first to absolutely rip every problem it has to shreds, even if it is their undisputed favorite. That's how you can tell that they are extremely familiar with what they're talking about, and not afraid to be honest about it. It's like me with Morrowind. Or many Metroid games. These are the kinds of retrospectives I love.
Basically, this is gonna be good.
MP1 is probably my favorite game of all time. That said, the only thing that annoys me the most is the space pirates (and other enemies) reappearing over and over every time I come back to an old area. This bothers me the most when I'm looking for the artifacts. It feels more like an excuse to make us use all the arsenal we got throughout the game, but it doesn’t matter because we already faced all these enemies with less stuff. At the end of the game, I feel more like exploring peacefully, enjoying the world I saved, and not beating the same enemies over and over.
Things I disagree with:
Cut scenes: Actually, I never thought about this. It’s definitely not a problem for me because the game can get so calm sometimes that a cutscene comes to break this ‘monotony’. This 'issue' has more to do with the fact that you have beaten the game so many times that you’re tired of seeing the same thing all over again.
Immersiveness: What does immersive have to do with believable? One thing doesn’t depend on the other. I don’t think DK is an example of a believable world.
Backtracking: In a game where exploration is key, backtracking makes a lot of sense. I’m not saying it’s fun to go back many times, just that it makes sense. In a perfect world, we’d get a new place to explore with every new item, without having to go through the same corridors. Just keep in mind this is a 2002 game!
Bosses: Ridley battle is boring? The second phase of Metroid Prime is one of the worst? My god!
You start by saying this is your favorite game of all time and end the video saying this isn’t even the best Metroid. Maybe it’s the first time I heard someone change something so good into something so bad. If you have found this amount of bad things in a nearly perfect game, I don’t want to know what you think about Metroid Other M. lol
"If you look for a reason to be unhappy, you will find it." You’ve been looking for 20 years. You have found it!
how do you get these videos out so quickly?? love your stuff man! i hope this video pops off!
I started only this script over 2 years ago. I was going to start my channel with a video on Prime 1, but ended up deciding against that.
@@FlatulentFetus ahh that makes a lot of sense. Keep it up man!
You don't see any force field on the impact crater because they never show it.
It's below the flying temple, not inside it.
The temple is a teleporter for the inside.
But I agree that near the mines would have been a better place for the impact crater.
I believe that the grunts and death scream were done by Jennifer Hale. She was supposed to do an opening monologue as Samus so I would believe Nintendo would have her do the grunts too. I could be wrong though.
I greatly appreciate your willingness to look honestly and objectively at the parts of a game you love in a critical way. I felt Prime 1 was a truly great game, I could forgive most of the tediousness and poorly routed backtracking... until the artifact hunt. I absolutely hate the artifact hunt. It's poorly implemented and incredibly boring and tedious. I never played Prime 1 a second time for 20 years because that damn Artifact hunt was the only thing about the game I remembered. It completely ruined the entire game for me personally. With the remaster, I played it again and I loved most of the game again... however, that awful artifact hunt is still terrible and still ruins my opinion overall. This single aspect of the game rubbed me SO much the wrong way back on the Gamecube original that I have never played Prime 2 or 3 to this day.
33:34: it's probably also meant to evoke the very weird sounds that can be heard through ice, though it's way higher pitched and harmonized here
Hi there big fan of these videos cuz I love me some Metroid. I currently don't have anything to play Prime on so I looked up a full play through and came across one that said " Long play" so I figured I could see all the lore and scans and scenery, however instead I got a video of someone sequence breaking like crazy. Jumping on the exact right parts to get to places they shouldn't and using the Spider Ball track glitch to slowly ascend to areas early. It upset me cuz I was looking for nostalgia not a weird speed run, they did a bunch of things you didn't mention in this video. So I'm guessing they played a V1.0 disc or rom. Anyway it's not what I wanted but you should search for it so you can use their trick yourself. Have a good one and keep up the good work. 🤘
22:27 this part makes me excited to see your take on Prime 2's aesthetic, if you ever get around to it
Its my favorite in the trilogy by a landslide
Just what I needed for my insomnia
Theme song is definitely top tier, I was frustrated that the trilogy removed it. I own a 1.0 disc, the trilogy for Wii and the remaster. I would spend so much time messing around with glitches jumping around on geometry, a fun time! Great review, look forward to your further Metroid thoughts!
Just discovering this channel today. Very based and epic content thanks.
I think the biggest thing I want to see in prime 4 are more advanced movement options. It can be anything, but you mentioning the wall jump really made me want that or some sort of wall run. Something that wouldn't break platforming, but could allow for more tech and maybe even some sequence breaking. A dash could easily implement and allow for some momentum based jumping. I know it's first person so these might need to be toned down. but I think there is some room there. A shine spark that when you charge it up and aim, it fires you in that direction would be rad.
One thing I found missing is that the gameplay has an entirely different feel when using the nun-chunk input. The most significant difference is that you walk, rotate, and aim simultaneously when you run around. While using the controller input, I often only performed two tasks simultaneously (such as walking and rotating or walking and aiming). Although the controller input is far more precise, the fluency of the nun-chunk is a better match for the level design. With only a few exceptions, most areas’ paths are curved and don't contain hard 90-degree corners. As such, you were always aiming your gun at your next destination, which might or might not include a threat. When an enemy did come into view, you could choose to lock on, allowing you to orbit (useful in open areas), or use the manual aim to use the tank controls to move back and forth.
From what I recall, the Switch’s nun-chunk input does differ from that of the Wii U version.
Excellent video. I grew up with this game and it really is boundary breaking, but as a got older I knew it wasn't nearly as perfect as people love to say it is. It's a flawed gem, all your issues you touched on are exactly mine. I don't really see many people brave enough to even critique this game since so many will just waive away complaints.
Can't wait for your Prime 2 & 3 reviews!
i can’t wait for you to cover dread
Prime was so scary as a kid. It made it even more fun to play tho
Idky you dont have more views, you have great and honest critiques
Imma be honest,i bought and played the metroid prime trilogy. Played the games in order. Got stuck on the artifact hunt in one. Moved on to the other games, both of which i liked more. I wasshocked to hear that people actually think 1 is the best of the series.
> 5th birthday
> Gets game from parents that's rated T
Despite the advantages the sequels have, I think I prefer the first game the most. Prime 2 has more annoying enemies and slows you down a lot to replenish your ammo or regenerate health. Prime 3 makes health your ammo, so if you're low on health, which now is more an obnoxious gimmick that prolongs a fight. And I feel certainly more comfortable in Prime 1 which gives each region a clear colour, even if that makes it look more video gamey.
As much as I enjoyed Prime 1, these games feel shockingly slow, which makes backtracking feel quite tedious despite the still realtively short playtime. That might be the reason why I only managed to complete the first game, while in Prime 2 I stopped after the Boost Guardian. No, not because I was frustrated by the boss. I kinda liked it despite dying several times. But more so the shitload of stuff I'd have to do after that to "only" get the third temple key...
I think Magmoor Cavern's theme doesn't fit well bc the Lower Norfair theme in Super Metroid was building up to Ridley's boss fight, which was something being built up to since Ceres at the beginning. Magmoor is a glorified hallway that doesn't need such a dramatic track
I think I completely agree. I don’t really care for its use anywhere outside of its original context.
This is actually a very good observation. As much as I love Magmoor Caverns' remix, I have to agree whole heartedly
I just recently replayed the remaster on hard mode (which isn't actually very hard, as the normal mode is pretty much trivial). It's still my favorite Prime game, though I've never liked the artifact hunt or its equivalents in the later Prime games. MP1 is actually the least offensive, as I could collect all but 1 of the artifacts before getting the phazon suit so I didn't have to do so much backtracking right at the end.
I find it funny, though, that between clearing the game on normal and hard I had already forgotten where some items were located and had to check out a guide for the last 5 missile tanks I was missing but despite only briefly having played the game between its original release and the remaster I could get 100 % of the scans without a guide on my first time playing the remaster. The location of all the one-time scans has been permanently burned into my mind whether I want it or not. I'll probably remember to my dying days that ice shriekbats and ice parasites must be scanned when you first encounter them because for some reason these random enemies never spawn again.
24:14 100% agreed with this entire segment on cutscenes, its so annoying getting interrupted to be shown a door thats already in your field of view being opened, or a mechanism moving. the only ones I don't mind are the area and boss introduction cutscenes, since finding a new area or boss feels noteworthy enough to be shown off that way
1:30:01 on release, there was a potential sequence break for early space jump, but was patched out for player's choice release. Sadly that what i had. But those that bought on launch could get early space jump
They definitely could have had Samus lose her abilities in a better way. It makes no sense that she lost them because she got booped. I wish Meta Ridley would have somehow had the capability to do it in a cutscene with some sort of charged up attack and then another cutscene at the end where Ridley tries to do it again but this time Samus takes it out before he can get the shot off. Samus learning her lesson and acting quickly would have fit her character perfectly…..unlike Other M where she’s a scared little baby for some reason.
I actually have a plan to make a 2D demake of Other M that takes that away and has a Prototype EMMI (to tie in with Dread) take away Samus’ gear. I essentially want to resolve my issues with the story myself and figured it’d be a fun project.
@@nathanmullan71 Wow dude. If you have the capability to make that, I bet it just pops off with fans. That sounds dope as hell. I’m sure Nintendo would cry about it but it’d kinda be their own fault for allowing such an abomination of a game to release in the first place. If you did a good job of it, thats the kind of game that could add some serious name recognition for you in the industry, if you wanted that sort of thing. I hope you crush it.
@paularized1 Thanks! It's just a little passion project and I'm sure will take ages to complete but I'm slowly chipping away at it. And hey if it turns out any good maybe I'll show it off one day!
@@nathanmullan71 I’ll be first in line to play it.
4:10 I appreciate the more critical analysis
the scan visor is about as optional as the xray visor. edit: (which isn't optional) The x ray is actually required for like, 4 things. One of which you can actually figure out if you see the water droplets hitting the invisible platforms. The other 3 I can think of are 2 chozo artifacts, one of which can be found simply by blasting rocks (which players were doing before getting the xray so its likely you've found it) and I swear there's a 3rd required usage of the xray visor.
The only thing that actually requires x-ray is Omega Pirate iirc. Cuz like you said, everything else can be seen and interracted with theough other means. But Omega is actually invicible when regenerating his armor unless you have x-ray.
But you do actually need scan visor to trigger/activate things throughout the game, so I can't say I agree they're about equally as optional. Sure ig they are equally optional in that you absolutely need both to complete the game, but scan is need for far more
@@zackonark2658 My argument is that the scan visor ISN'T optional. You're right that the omega pirate is the other instance I was thinking of and the actual only required usage of the x-ray visor, and nobody considers that visor optional in a playthrough, be it normal, expert, speedrun, etc.
@@ABurntMuffin oh my bad. probably misread your point
@@zackonark2658 lmao we're talking now in two different comments threads. I thought your name looked familiar xD
@@ABurntMuffin XD
My theory on the metroid prime is that it isn't a traditional metroid. Since metroid is a chozo word for hunter or ultimate hunter, the prime could be a different creature that got the name from the chozo
Hiya. As this is my first comment on this channel, I may as well establish a point that I have a preference for refined combat systems that reward healthy analysis, and I do especially welcome close range incentive that keeps that in mind as it promotes risk assessment. That's naturally an important point for why I'm writing this comment, and I'll write at least one more for your video series, though right now, I'm wondering if you'd eventually do something involving Kid Icarus Uprising, just to show how a remaster of that game could improve its messy balancing.
With that in mind, some time ago, I think a decade, I personally looked through MP1's bosses to see how much moving close to the boss was promoted. And from what I'm reading about Adult Sheegoth because my memory about them is a joke, they apparently use attraction magnetism, which if you hit your target before you hit the cause of the attraction magnetism, that's not a problem, and yes, I'll get to that as the big reason I'm making this comment. And then there's Thardus, who I definitely remember involving a fog effect that would limit the range of your vision at a certain point, so you're easily ambushed then if you fight from too far away.
Naturally, I'm here to talk about the protective orb of the Elite Pirates and the Omega Pirate. What that orb is doing is involving attraction magnetism. I was distinctly remembering being able to damage both of them when the orb was up, to the point where I've been wanting to involve a similar concept in a game I've been wanting to make, and even your own footage (2:07:02 especially shows curving Plasma Beam shots) shows that the attraction magnetism point is the case. I feel what was going on was that you tend to strafe anticlockwise, when Elite Pirates and the Omega Pirate are using the protective orb with their left hands. That's why you would be stuck on the orb. I will say that there are indications of terrain compromising moving clockwise around those guys in the moments of footage that you used, but in that case, I have to wonder how you end up dealing with that in the first place, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could have opted to set up the ability to strafe clockwise around your target without too much issue.
Oh yeah, and did you know that Omega Pirate can EMP bomb you if you try to get cute with long range combat? Granted, that's assuming you can in the first place. Even then, that shows how storywise these guys can be a threat to galactic peace especially when they get their auxiliary support from the other Space Pirates--it's being up against Samus Aran that causes the way their gameplay design goes.
I will say that regardless, I do still recognize MP1's bosses in general to be blatantly experimentalist. I'm just making a point worth mentioning.
I’ll have to try it out myself to be completely certain, but I do know that the Omega Pirate’s orb becomes active even before the animation finishes. If you’re shooing at the Omega on, like, frame 1 of it beginning to raise the orb, your shots will consistently get absorbed. I’ve been playing this game constantly for nearly 20 years and I’m certain I’ve tried strafing both directions. Getting close to the Omega will trigger him to use his melee on him, so there’s a balance of staying close but not too close. His grenade launcher is his highest damaging attack, and as you said he only uses that attack at long range. I’ve spent hours on the Omega in particular because he is easily the hardest boss on low% hard mode runs. Despite my confidence, I still would like to continue to experiment so that I can be certain. The Wii version already lets you use Power Bombs to bypass the orb, but it’d be neat if you could also just take advantage of a sweet spot.
I think the Ice Beam, Dark Beam, and Fed Force Super Missiles are all great for reasons very similar to what you’re describing. You gotta get as close as you can without making contact with your foe to maximize your accuracy. I really like that about those weapons.
I’ve never played Kid Icarus on the 3DS, but I’ve been meaning to. I played a good amount of the Game Boy one as a kid, and a friend gave me their 3DS copy a few years ago.
@@FlatulentFetus I decided to look at videos of Omega Pirate on a Low Percent Run. I do note that jump strafing is made use of in both directions to be able to get the weak points between Samus and the attraction orb. So yeah, the attraction does have limitations.
As for the Ice Beam and Echoes' Dark Beam (I wouldn't know about Federation Force's Super Missiles having not played that game), yeah, they are involving low shot velocity to demand distance closure, as lower shot velocity is innately amplified by distance. The funny thing, they can still hit at higher ranges, just that evasive maneuvers will absolutely complicate things but a few tricks here and there can allow for overcoming that. I've made use of dropping lock-on in Battalion Wars, which itself has lock-on like the Metroid Prime series has, to have manual aiming capability for some usefulness here and there against the potential evasion. Kid Icarus Uprising even gives Clubs' Shots low velocity to have their projectile usage involve trapping utility more actively.
Speaking of Kid Icarus Uprising, I brought it up in general because I did note that you are able to talk about different types of skills when providing your analysis about things like level design, and I'd be interested in seeing that sort of analysis applied to Kid Icarus Uprising's single player level and enemy design. As you haven't played it, I'll tell you that I've been determining that 6.0 is the most fair challenging difficulty level, reasonably possible to complete without Powers or modifiers as I recorded with 3 weapon types thus far (First Blade, Skyscraper Club, and Paw Pad Orbitars), while having challenge that avoids too many blatantly asinine things beyond tongue-in-cheek stuff for the nostalgia angle. Higher difficulties involve blatantly inflated enemy durability, the same problem with Metroid Prime's own hard difficulty by inviting the bajeezus out of flowchart behavior, on top of other things that...yeah, long story short, only bother with higher difficulties than 6.0 when using weapon modifiers or you'll be in for a miserable experience. At any rate, I'd be happy to answer Qs if you get around to KIU, especially if it means I get to understand better what sort of skills it likes to test.
The Artifact hunt would have been improved tremendously if it just rewarded you with one or two powerups afterwards
1:32:00 Yeah, this is THE sole reason I still prefer and even suggest Prime 1 v1.00 on Gamecube to this day. The simple fact that Retro limited the game's potential in future releases makes the game far less enjoyable on subsequent playthroughs. And that's especially aggravating because the few most important ones are just physics bugs that you could reasonably believe Samus could TECHNICALLY pull off due to jet thrusters or morph ball bombs already bouncing her up. So it's not even like it breaks real logic or consistency with the universe. We're talking about the same Samus that can infinitely spin jump in earlier titles with a core ability. But somehow it's game breaking and unrealistic that she could possibly boost herself a bit of extra distance with her visible back thrusters? That's just bad form on Retro's part.
1:08:00 😨
As someone who was 4 when the original Metroid came out and I could parallelyidentify with the experience you had with prime(a game that me and my roommates were playing the crap out of while you were watching your brother, and I’ve since also beaten many many times), I’m excited to get past the first 3 minutes of your video.
Is parallely a word? Doubt it?
_March of 2005_
Lol, LMAO,
The first time I played Prime was July of 2024. The Prime Trilogy was so hard to find.
> Calls himself peepee the poopoo
> Drops the most in depth, engaging Metroid analysis on YT
> Explains nothing
> Leaves
I disagree about the spread of phazon being poorly handled. Radioactivity is a creeping, lingering thing. Chernobyl just looks like a forest with dilapidated, decaying ruins scattered throughout. You can't see the radiation, but the very earth is corrupted, and the water is poisoned.
As far as Chozo lore relying too heavily on the scan visor goes, how much detailed history would you glean just by walking through an Incan ruin without a text book? Looking at ancient places on the earth doesn't magically fill us with exacting knowledge of the site's history. We gather clues and can piece together snippets of ancient cultures, but we don't truly understand them unless their history was recorded for us to find later.
Enjoying the video so far, just figured I'd add to the discussion
To explain my opinion a little more, Phazon simply isn’t real-world radiation. Prime 3 especially sets expectations about Phazon and the way it envelops an environment. Prime’s scans are wildly disconnected from the environments, especially in lines like the Phazon encompassing the planet in a single night.
My big criticism of Prime is that it doesn’t leave those little pieces in the environment that you’re talking about. If that’s the kind of idea they were going for, then it’d make sense to leave some kind of actual evidence of that beyond the impact crater itself. Maybe show hazmat suits or radiation handling equipment in the Chozo Ruins. Show that the Phazon actually did have some kind of effect on the Chozo through the environments. Even an abandoned actual home would have communicated an idea that people had to leave their houses suddenly. Maybe show emergency shelters, equipment for measuring radiation, show a displaced civilization.
I know that the Chozo were already ghosts before the Leviathan struck, but that’s something that is also not in the environment. The type of story that Prime is trying to tell with its scans is difficult to communicate just through the environments, but it’s also actively contradicted by those environments. Lines about Phazon killing life by the thousands, but also showing plantlife thriving just a few rooms away from the impact crater, even showing trees growing out of the crater, I can’t help but find that contradictory. I challenge Prime’s reputation as a master-class of environmental storytelling because I think the environment fails to tell us much of any of the actual happenings with the Chozo.
@@FlatulentFetus the creatures we see in prime are the ones who are resilient enough to survive in a now hostile environment. Weaker creatures either died due to the creeping radiation, or to predation by the now much more aggressive creatures. If the entire earth were corrupted by dangerous levels of radiation, it wouldn't just become a barren wasteland devoid of all life. Again, the area surrounding Chernobyl is a forest that looks normal at a glance despite the lingering poison. Plants are incredibly resilient and would take a much greater dose of radiation to completely kill off. On top of that, the game very clearly expresses that the Chozo were quickly working to contain the spread. That's why we don't see phazon pooling on the surface while we're exploring. Had they not fought it, Talon IV would be fully corrupted by the time we arrived, but their shield proved effective at slowing the spread. It wasn't a permanent solution as we know the Phazon is still creeping out into the planet, but the degree that they managed to contain it shows just how powerful this tribe of Chozo were. They're mastery over the metaphysical allowed them to fight, even if they ultimately lost without the intervention of Samus. They're technology is so fundamentally different from the humans and the space pirates that I feel it makes sense that we wouldn't simply perceive the field they errected with mere sight. This doesn't extend to all Chozo, of course. Some tribes were obviously far more tech focused than spiritual (Ravenbeak's Mawkin for example), but the holistic blend of technology and spirit is unique to the tribe on Talon IV. I don't know, maybe I think too much about this stuff
@@Stout936 I think that’s a fine viewpoint to have, but almost none of that is really communicated through the environments or even the scans.
@@FlatulentFetus I disagree (I came to those thoughts because of what was presented in the game, after all), but that's the cool thing about art: it's up to interpretation. My thoughts would be easier to express with my actual voice rather than with my thumb in a UA-cam comment, so maybe I'm not properly expressing why I think the game presents what I said very well. Other than the barrier being beyond human vision, that was more conjecture than anything based on the spiritual nature of this tribe of Chozo
Either way, this was a very enjoyable video. looking forward to your next Metroid analysis
Great analysis. I picked up the remastered version after playing doom eternal and expected more engaging combat, and when it came to the scanning I mostly ignored it, which made it confusing. I dropped the game after Chozo Ruins, but now Ive started a new playthrough after reading why people enjoyed the game. Its given me different expectations and a much more enjoyable experience.
I dont know what happened with nintendo in this period of time but padding was a PRIME issue in their game, the triforce fetch quest in wind waker was another shitty idea and paper Mario TTYD had some stretches here and there too, and dont get me started on sunshine's blue coins
Oh you're not alone, I hate the music in Magmoor Caverns with a passion
I must profess my sins: I've played like three times as much of Prime 2 compared to Prime 1. Still love both quite a bit though!!!
We’re connected in a weird sort of way, i also received metriod (but not prime, it was fusion however both games came out on the same day) and tmnt mutant nightmare and also feel down the rabbit hole of missing out on a bunch of games due to replaying all my ps1 ps2 gba and ds games.
Ah man my last playthrough on prime I turned the music off too man, that's wild, convergent evolution or somethin' man... 🤙
a note on Metroid Prime (the creature) - "metroid" is a Chozo word that roughly translates to "ultimate warrior". using this definition, one could argue that Samus had long since achieved the title of "metroid" even before fusion. by this same logic, the phazon leviathans may also be considered "metroids" of a kind - regardless of their genetic origins.
I do still believe it's an actual metroid though. mostly because that's cooler.
I specifically have a problem with MP3's and, subsequently, Trilogy's attempts to redefine Metroid Prime as a unique creature from Phaaze because Prime spawns Tallon Metroids. It's one of a couple examples of why I disagree with the notion that the remasters' lore was improved over the original, because it simply wasn't. The lore was made more confusing
@@zackonark2658 The idea I've gathered from reading other people's takeaways is that the Metroid Prime is a Metroid that became a phasing Metroid like in MP3, phased inside the impact crater, got stuck as a hopping Metroid, and ate the leviathan. Maybe that's why it has two parts -- its shell creates phazon, while its essence eats it.
52:15 if I were to make a guess at why I would say it shows the Chozo were able to contain it pretty well then; cut off from the leviathan there could be no more rapid production of phazon. What phazon that remains is left to grow so slowly that the rest of the plant life recovered
I’m a newcomer to Metroid games and I have finally got into Metroid Prime. I think the scan visor constantly breaks immersion and it makes it hard to get into the game. I would like it if you only had to use a special weapon once (wave, ice, plasma) to open a door the first time rather than to have to constantly use the correct weapon each time. One other gripe is the constant respawning of enemies and turrets, but that’s not really unique to Prime in the Metroid series. Having said all that, I can see why people love the game so much.
Well your opinion about the scan Visor is wrong. Sorry.😅 It's one of the most immersive tools for world building and it is up to the player how much they use it, aside from the very obvious terminal.
@trashaigamer7822 the scan visor is less of an issue for me now, but I found it distracting at the beginning of my playthrough and it made it hard for me to get into the game initially.
A few things:
1. Prime is not the best Metroid game of all time. Nope. No sir. Super Metroid holds that distinction and my mind won't be swayed. With that being said, I have a Metroid Prime tattoo that covers the entire inside of my right arm. I love Metroid Prime, but Super just does it for me so nicely.
2. You put a top three: Prime, Super, and DREAD? Nah. Dread is not better than Fusion.
3. I like your criticism of this game and I respect them.
I don’t think those are the top 3 golden games, I was trying to say that’s what the general consensus seems to be. For me personally, the 3 favorites are always changing depending on when you ask. I constantly rearrange the ordering of my favorites but Echoes and/or Super are always in the top 2.
Is it weird to say that I kind of prefer the GameCube version's tank controls over the dual analog controls because the ladder control scheme gives me headaches? It's partially why I don't usually play most FPS games TBH.
I’ve been playing this game. For 20 years. And never knew you could kill triclops with bombs. Are you kidding me
I cannot fathom your suffering.
18:06 I think Xenoblade deserves a look if you haven’t, if we’re talking unparalleled environmental design and world-building in general.
I'm fifty minutes in and about to go insane and scribble "epistolary" on all the walls in my house 😂
Ive been doing my first run of the remaster and your grievances have been something very prominent for me. I don't get that same satisfying flow that I do with the 2d games, the hint system is basically carrying me since my exploration seems to almost always just be wrong and Im pretty sick of magmoor lmao. I havent even reached the chozo artifacts yet and the game feels like a mixed bag to me.
1:44:12 Sonic Boom fire and ice is a good game though. It Definitely could’ve done more with its fire and ice concept but for what it is, it is a genuinely fun game and people don’t really give it the credit It deserves because it’s a boom game. I’m not saying the game is a masterpiece or anything but it’s a good game
I just got the 2 Sonic Boom games on 3DS so they were on my mind. I only put that game there as a little gag just because it’s known for having mechanics of ice melting fire. I’ve never actually played it myself but I’m a huge Sonic fan. I’ve never gotten around to playing any of the Boom games but I do want to at some point. I’ve heard Fire and Ice is actually pretty good so I’m interested to try it out. I actually really like the Boom redesigns as their own take on the Sonic cast.
As a weird little Sonic related aside, I’ve been playing Sonic ‘06 for the first time and I’ve actually been kind of enjoying it? Maybe it’s because I have super low expectations from its reputation but it’s been surprisingly fun. Massively flawed but kinda fun game, I’d even say I enjoy it more than Forces already.
@@FlatulentFetus bro I genuinely like the boom designs more than the regular ones. It really sucks how Sega completely fucked over boom. Rise of lyric was going to be amazing and then Sega ruined it and that basically sunk the entire boom franchise. The TV show and 3DS games are good at least. Or at least they mostly are. Shattered crystal would be good, but it has one really annoying fatal flaw. It basically requires that you get Every collectible to proceed and it’s very annoying. So unless you really like getting collectibles, the best way to play the game is to play it used so you don’t have to do that shit. On the bright side Fire and Ice fixes basically every problem with shattered crystal. Fire and Ice is a very fun time. Nothing that’s gonna melt your face off with amazingness but it’s fun for what it is. My only real complaint with it is that the final boss is pretty anti-climactic. It’s not terrible, but it just feels like any other boss. Something that I find humorous is that the 3DS games are actually Canon to the TV show but the Wii U game isn’t. I haven’t played rise of lyric but I do have it and I’m gonna play it eventually. I know it’s bad but I’m pretty curious to see what it’s gonna be like
I’ll make sure to give all of them at least a try eventually. But yeah it really is tragic because I think both 06 and Rise of Lyric looked like they could have been peak Sonic if they just gave the developers the time and support they needed.
Would you (anyone who is reading/had played) think that a over-the-shoulder camera would be better for playing and platforming? (Ps: I never played any of these 1st person Metroid, but have played the old ones)
I think a 3rd-person camera could work really well for something like Metroid Prime, but I’m glad we got the 1st-person perspective because it lends its own benefits like the immersive visor effects and diegetic HUD. Games like Dead Space have found ways to make a diegetic HUD work in 3rd-person, but there’s something unique about the many strengths Prime offers with its 1st-person view that more than warrants its focus. Other M is the only 3rd-person Metroid game, and I can discuss that game in more detail in its eventual video, but I firmly believe even Other M has great unique merits as its own thing. For gameplay and platforming specifically, I think the 3rd-person camera has great potential to realize that tight mechanical design from the 2D games. It’s easier to make things like a dodge move and it’s easier to design platforming around a 3rd-person camera, I imagine.
On the topic of your critique of the scan visor being a necessary tool for progression; I'm of the opinion that it's simply the design of the game to use the scan visor and trying to avoid it is an unwise way to try and play the game. Your main critique is that this design de-emphasizes player agency, which is fair, but the way the game designs its visuals, they seem to have intentionally gone the route of not giving any visual indications of places where you would use various items and instead have the player rely on the scan visor.
An explodable morph ball tunnel entrance, for instance, may just look like any other texture until you use the scan visor. Like it or not, I think the whole point of these parts of the game are that you need to use the scan visor, otherwise it would've been simple enough to put some kind of visual indicator there as to what to do instead.
So while you seem to believe that the design is a puzzle you're meant to figure out on your own with the scan visor only being a hint system if you're lost, I think the design is a straightforward discovery of a new path or secret that's not meant to be a puzzle as a puzzle isn't meant to give you the answer whereas Prime simply does.
Looking at these bits of the design through that lens I think makes me more forgiving of them. I mean, it's not all too exciting or interesting to simply be told that you can access a new thing when it could instead be a more interesting puzzle, but my point is that it seems to me to be intentionally not a puzzle. Meaning they executed their idea just fine, it's simply not a design choice that everyone likes, which is valid
I think what you’re saying is completely valid. The design around secrets has fundamentally changed so much between 2D and 3D Metroid that I wouldn’t even call them that similar at all. This difference and me challenging the Scan Visor’s reputation as an optional hint and lore tool are both things about Prime that feel misrepresented in a lot of the discourse surrounding this game.