The difference between 2D and 3D (Metroid Prime in review)

     In the year 1994, Super Metroid came out and was met with critical and commercial success almost right away, and in the years to come, Metroid as a franchise laid completely dormant aside from Samus appearing in Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo 64. There wouldn't be a true return to form until 2002, where two Metroid games arrived to the market on the same day. Metroid Fusion on the Game Boy Advance and Metroid Prime on the Gamecube both hit the market in November 2002, and though they both represented the beloved space-exploration series, they were two very different games to say the least. Metroid Fusion was the continuation of the Metroid series as it had come so far, even being called "Metroid 4" as soon as you booted it up. This was the 2D Platformer that we all expected from the franchise, while the other game was something new and experimental that Retro Studios brought to the table. Today I'd like to talk about this different take on the Metroid formula, and just how well it was translated into a completely new dimension and gameplay style. Get your Varia suits on, because we're going out to see the galaxy through the eyes of the bounty hunter herself, Samus Aran.

A Change in Perspective

    Metroid Prime was almost undoubtedly met with a lot of hate when it first came out just because it was incredibly different from everything that had come before for the Metroid franchise. Every game up to this point was a 2D Platformer with a greater emphasis on vertical momentum as opposed to Mario's vertical level structure, but this title was closer to a First Person Shooter. This was obviously a huge shift in terms of tone and atmosphere, as the games had been moody and quiet for the most part, with some areas being almost scary in tone (like the Wrecked Ship in Super Metroid). Would the worlds explored in this new game be able to have the same impact when the player is actually trapped inside the helmet of Samus at all times? In a word, yes. Never before had players been able to face off head to head against the Space Pirates and giant creatures that roam the planet, and there are many moments in this game where it feels almost hopeless. The ranged nature of Samus versus her foes which tend to fight up close more often than not makes for an interesting change of pace, especially with the ability to change between different types of beams at will. This has been done several times since then (most recently in Metroid: Samus Returns), but at this time was a very new concept. The puzzles in this game involved a plethora of tweaks and changes as well, as the previous way of hiding things wouldn't work in this new dimension. To get inspiration, I assume the team looked at the X-Ray Visor from Super Metroid, which let you locate hidden things or secret blocks that could only be destroyed with certain weapons. Metroid Prime introduces the Scan Visor, which allows Samus to not only interact with certain panels to activate elevators or platforms, but also to receive some lore about the plans of the Space Pirates, getting more insight than players had gotten before. While you do get the X-Ray Visor later in this game, I would argue that the Scan Visor is a bigger stand out here. Another standout addition to this game is the Thermal Visor, which lets you see in the dark and locate invisible enemies by detecting their body heat. The First-Person perspective makes so much sense for these changes that the visors are almost as important as the various Arm Cannon beams that Samus gets throughout her quest. These are all really helpful tools, and they contribute even more time into this game than most as you travel through the massive different terrains of Tallon IV.

New World, Similar Environments!

    Most Metroid games have a similar set of environments to traverse through, as many games in general have. Grass world, Ice world, Desert/Volcano world, etc. all appear in Metroid Prime, though they all have slight tweaks. Metroid Prime's obvious technological future world being considered, it's not going to be the same as an environment that you would find in a Mario game. Tallon IV is very similar in style to Zebes, though we've never seen that planet in a 3D space, mainly because it blew up in the finale to Super Metroid. It's clear that Tallon IV is a similar space to Zebes, and it's in the same solar system as the planet that Metroid and most of Super Metroid took place in, though this planet is decidedly more... floaty. There are actual floating islands over this planet, and I'm not positive that this phenomenon is ever explained. I have finally completed the first game, but there is a lot of lore hidden in places that you wouldn't expect, so it's entirely possible that I just missed scanning a certain "Lorestone," so I don't know that part of the story. There are honestly a lot of things that I don't really understand about the layout of this planet, who knows why there are these elevators built in that take Samus from one terrain to another, but I'm going to assume it has to do with the Chozo, as there are some pretty large Chozo Ruins on the surface of the planet. 

A Little Added Context to the Universe

    For those not in the know, the Chozo are the alien tribe that raised Samus as a child, and also built her power suit as well as her various suit upgrades. We don't know the real extent of their power or influence on the universe of this game series, but their various statues and temples spread throughout make them seem almost like the gods of this universe. What led to them saving Samus? What powers do they possess that allow Samus to blow the Space Pirates away time and time again? I don't personally know, but I'm certain that the lore is out there to explain it all. There's a whole portion in the Space Pirates headquarters on Tallon IV where they've put out different Public Service Announcements telling each other that "The Hunter" (Samus) has arrived and everyone needs to be on high alert to take her down. I just thought it was pretty neat to get to read what the Space Pirates think of her, considering her a major threat and someone to be feared, instead of just an adversary. It makes sense, as she has single handedly taken down so many of their plans over the years, but it takes it a step farther to see it in writing. There was one log that I found to be particularly hilarious, and I just have to talk about it here for a second. You find this research lab where the Space Pirates are working on reverse engineering all of Samus's weapons, resulting in certain enemy types that will only be able to be hurt with that particular weapon, and you find logs detailing all of those experiments. There is one other log which details them trying to replicate Samus's Morph Ball ability, which allows her to turn into a little ball and drop bombs. The debates on how she does this have raged on for years in Metroid fan communities, as it seems like she would really hurt herself if she did this move, and yet it doesn't. The Space Pirate trials, however, did result in pretty severe injuries which led to the researchers shutting that whole program down. I actually had to stop and laugh at this little detail, as it seemed to be the developers even acknowledging how weird this power-up is, and that clearly only Samus's connection with the Chozo allows her to pull it off. 

    This game is really interesting, and ends with the classic boss fight that you'd expect, which is really in every Metroid game at least once, Ridley. However, this game ends with yet another boss after everyone's favorite space dragon, what would you expect the final boss of Metroid Prime to be named though? That's right, Metroid Prime is the final boss of Metroid Prime, which honestly made me laugh a lot. The main threat which was responsible for Phazon, a substance that is extremely dangerous and prevalent throughout the Metroid Prime Trilogy so far was right on the box, and I just love how silly that is.

    One interesting thing about traditional 2D Metroid games is that there's always some special reward for beating them in a certain amount of time, a tradition started in the original game where you would discover that Samus was a woman if you beat it in under a certain amount of time. This game actually ties the secret ending to your completion percentage instead of the time you took completing it, which is good news for me, because I'm extremely slow at beating all of the games that I've played so far. I've enjoyed my time a lot with this game, and it's funny that I just haven't had the time or patience to play it until now, as I really enjoyed it as I continue along. I should mention that I've been playing the version on the Metroid Prime Trilogy collection for Wii, which came out probably over ten years ago, I've just never gotten around to finishing any of them other than 3 until now. The first and third games are both a lot of fun and I'm currently working on getting through Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. It really says a lot about the series as a whole that I've jumped right back in to play more of it!

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends! It took me a long time to beat this game, I had a loop of coming in and playing the beginning and then putting it down once I got stuck, but I'm glad that I finally finished it. It's a great game, and while I don't share the sentiment that it's one of the greatest games of all time, I do think that it's a really well made title, and an extremely well polished reinvention of the franchise. I would be remiss to say that The Game Awards were last night, and Metroid Dread took home Best Action/Adventure game, which is pretty convenient as I am putting this post up today! Congratulations to all the winners and nominees and I may talk about some of the reveals in my next post! Until next time, I've been Jonathan, your Self-Proclaimed Bounty Hunter, and I'll talk to you next week!