Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime is a first-person adventure/shooter video game developed by Nintendo-owned Retro Studios and released by Nintendo in 2002 for the GameCube (and later bundled with GameCube in 2004). It was the first 3D Metroid game and is officially classified by Nintendo as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter due to the large exploration element in the game. It was also the first Metroid game to be released since Super Metroid, which was released nearly eight years earlier (This applies to North America only; in all other markets, it was released after Metroid Fusion). The storyline, however, comes in between the original Metroid and Return of Samus. Metroid Prime is now available as a Player's Choice title.

The game was first announced in 2001 E3 and was shortly revealed soon after to be played from a first-person perspective. Following the announcement and subsequent release of first screenshots, aroused the ire of many Metroid fans who perceived it as a disgraceful transition into 3D. The game was widely believed to be an inevitable train wreck, and it was the biggest running joke since Daikatana throughout gaming related boards, publications, and magazines until near the point of retail release where various publications quietly claimed it as possibly one of the greatest video games of all time.Metroid Prime at Rotten Tomatoes

Gameplay

Items

Related article: Items in the Metroid series

Throughout the game, the player will find and collect many different items, which range from weapons, to upgrades of Samus's Power Suit, and to various other items that grant additional abilities (such as the Morph Ball). Most of the items from previous Metroid games make appearances here; however, the functions of many of them have been altered to suit the 3D environment. For example, the space jump only allows the player to perform a double jump, as opposed to jumping continuously as in previous games, to prevent the player from getting stuck or unwittingly triggering a glitch. Glitches can allow knowledgeable players to receive items much earlier than intended, or to bypass collecting them altogether. The current world record for lowest item pickup percentage at the end of the game is 22%.

Locations

Space Pirate Frigate:

Orbiting the planet Tallon IV, this is where Samus begins the game. The frigate's name is Orpheon. The Space Pirates conducted numerous experiments on this frigate on parasitic lifeforms. However many of these experiments went catastrophically wrong, as the gargantuan parasitic creatures escaped from their labs and wreaked havoc; destroying everything in their sight and leaving a trail of injured Space Pirates behind them. After Samus' visit, the frigate goes into critical meltdown and explodes. A large chunk of debris from the frigate plummets towards Tallon IV and crashes on the planet. Samus later explores the sunken piece of the frigate after she acquires the Gravity Suit.

Tallon Overworld:

A rainforest-like area, this is where Samus initially makes planetfall and is where Samus' gunship stays for the duration of the game. It is where Samus can travel around Tallon IV using elevators and houses the Artifact Temple. Poisonous mushrooms, spiked beetles, and giant venomous plants are just some of the different forms of wildlife in the area. Tallon Overworld also encompasses the sunken Orpheon.

Chozo Ruins:

This ancient structure was once a center of the thriving Chozo civilization on Tallon IV that was brought to an end by the dangerous meteor that hit many years ago. The walls display intricate carvings which foretell the history of the Chozo on Tallon IV and their peril concerning the arrival of that meteor. When Samus arrives at the ruins the water supply is infested with poison, and she has to find a way of purifying it.

Magmoor Caverns:

A kind of subway system for the game—its magma-filled tunnels connect all the areas together with the exception of the Impact Crater. The Space Pirates use the caverns as a source of geothermal power. The area is extremely hazardous due to fire-breathing serpents, mechanical drone guns, and organisms which release toxic gas into the air. This cold, mountainous location consists of three main parts: an ancient Chozo ruin, some Space Pirate research labs (since the subzero temperatures make specimen containment easier), and the ice caves and valleys at the edge aptly called Phendrana's Edge. It is home to many creatures of electrical origins (Pulse Bombu, Scatter Bombu) and ice based creatures (Sheegoth, Ice Shriekbats).

Phazon Mines:

The Phazon Mines are the center of the Space Pirates' Tallon IV operations. The scenery here alternates between the Space Pirates' mining and research facilities and dark caves illuminated only by the glowing Phazon substance. Enemies in this area include multiple species of Metroid as well as the result of "Project Helix" (a recent Space Pirate experiment).

Impact Crater:

This is the final area of the game. This location is completely corrupted by Phazon radiation. Samus finds orange Phazon which is strong enough to damage her even through the Phazon Suit. The Metroids here have been mutated by the Phazon to become Fission Metroids (Metroids with the ability to split into two when shot at). Infested with these Metroids, this area is extremely dangerous. According to the Chozo scriptures, this area is also home to "The Unholy Worm".

Bonuses

With the use of a Nintendo GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable, players of the game can gain two additional features. If Metroid Fusion was completed, the original Metroid game would be unlocked for use within the game (also using the memory card to save progress). If Metroid Prime was completed, the Fusion Suit which Samus wears in Fusion would become available for display while playing Prime. The connection need only be performed once in order to gain the extra features.

Bosses

Parasite Queen -Fought In Space Pirate Frigate
Hive Totem -Fought In Chozo Ruins
Plated Beetle -Fought In Chozo Ruins (Comes back as regular enemy)
Incinerator Drone -Fought In Chozo Ruins
Flaahgra -Fought In Chozo Ruins
Sheegoth -Fought In Phendrana Drifts (Comes back as a regular enemy)
Thardus -Fought In Phendrana Drifts
Chozo Ghost -Fought In Chozo Ruins (Comes back as a regular enemy)
Elite Pirate -Fought In Phazon Mines (Fought 3 or 4 Times)
Shadow Drone -Fought In Phazon Mines
Phazon Elite -Fought In Phazon Mines
Omega Pirate -Fought In Phazon Mines
Meta Ridley -Fought In Tallon Overworld
Metroid Prime (creature) -Fought In Impact Crater

Story

Phazon

An important part of the Metroid Prime storyline is a highly mutagenic radioactive substance of unknown origin known as Phazon. Direct exposure to this electric blue-coloured plant-like substance results in either a violent death or the rapid addition of new abilities and/or organs, depending on the amount of the substance that the organism is exposed to. Another, more powerful, form of Phazon is bright orange and is only found in the core of the impact crater of the meteorite that brought Phazon to the planet. It seems to exist naturally as a solid and sometimes as a liquid, but its solid form may be considered more common—and possibly a metal—as many Space Pirate log entries call for mining of Phazon ore.

According to the North American release, the Space Pirates discovered the powerful creature that fed upon Phazon, and captured it, naming it Metroid Prime.

Storyline differences

The version released in North America has several storyline differences with the one released in Europe. The European storyline, among other things, says that:

The Space Pirates never captured Metroid Prime because the twelve artifacts sealed the crater.
The meteor that brought the radioactive substance Phazon did not come to Tallon IV twenty years before the game starts; it came at an indeterminable time before the game began.
In the game's logbook, the Chozo Lore entries paint a somewhat different picture of the relationship between Samus and the Tallon IV Chozo.

The versions released in Japan, Europe, and the North American Player's Choice versions have also had a number of gameplay modifications implemented to prevent players from using certain tricks to play the game out of sequence. Certain aspects of difficulty have also been increased.

Furthermore, when the game was being prepared for translation by a European team, the team decided to remove specific logs from the game which could be originally scanned, finding them to be confusing for someone trying to understand the plot. The edit not only occurred in the translated versions of the game, but also in the PAL English release. Some players sided with the NTSC version of the game, while others decided that since the PAL version was most recent it should be used to determine the specifics of the plot. Eventually Retro Studios released that the removal was never intended by them, and that the official version of the game was the NTSC version. They also promised that nothing like this would happen during the translation of Echoes, although there were still some version differences.

PAL version storyline

Many years ago, the Chozo were prosperously living on Tallon IV, then a beautiful planet full of life. The Chozo had colonised Tallon IV in hopes to become one with nature. Eventually, the Chozo left their mortal bodies to explore the universe. The Chozo discovered the power to see into the future and prophecised the coming of "the Worm", which would destroy their way of life. Sure enough, a meteorite harbouring the radioactive substance "Phazon" crashed into Tallon IV, mutating and destroying the life of the planet. This caused the Chozo to return to Tallon IV in spirit to try to stop the spread of the Phazon. However, the Phazon began mutating and corrupting the Chozo spirits, causing the Chozo to become Chozo ghosts; these entities would attack intruders that tread on Chozo holy ground, but are extremely violent. However, the Chozo sealed off the source of the Phazon, the Impact Crater, using their technology with twelve artifacts hidden around the planet. The Chozo spirits then waited for the prophecised Newborn (Samus) to destroy the Worm and cut short the poison that destroyed Tallon IV.

After Samus defeated the Space Pirates on Planet Zebes at the end of the first game, a Space Pirate colony discovered high radioactive levels on the surface of the barren planet Tallon IV. Investigating the radiation, they set up a new base to conduct research. They soon discovered the radioactive material and named it Phazon. They researched its potential and developed a new race of Elite Pirates that were over-powered by Phazon. They also discovered that the Metroids were attracted to the Phazon because of the enormous energy emitting from it but had not managed to create any new weapons out of them.

The Space Pirates traced the source of the Phazon to the Impact Crater and found bio-signs within but they could not access it because the Chozo had sealed it with the twelve artifacts. They searched for the artifacts but were hindered by the Chozo Ghosts who were guarding the artifacts until the phrophecised hero would come to take them and destroy Metroid Prime. When Samus picked up a distress signal from an unknown space vessel flying over Tallon IV, she discovered that it belonged to the Space Pirates but had been overrun by small parasites. While escaping the ship, she came across the metallic re-incarnation of Ridley, one of the leaders of the Space Pirates who also escaped.

Back on Tallon IV, Samus infiltrated the Space Pirate bases, destroying the Metroid population along with the Elite Pirate specimens in containment. Upon defeating the newly developed Omega Pirate, Samus' Power Suit became contaminated with Phazon. After collecting the twelve artifacts, Samus returned to the Artifact Temple to access the Impact Crater and defeat the Worm. However, Meta-Ridley arrived and attempted to finish off Samus, but was defeated once again. The Chozo statues on the Temple finished off Meta Ridley, and then the few remaining Chozo spirits emerged and allowed access to the Impact Crater. There, Samus defeated Metroid Prime, whose only remaining instinct was to absorb all the nearby Phazon that existed in the crater and Samus' Power Suit. The crater collapsed but Samus was able to escape. Meanwhile, Metroid Prime (now a simple pool of Phazon) began to reform itself in the form of Samus' Power Suit. Now a creature of pure Phazon, Metroid Prime (now Dark Samus) searches the galaxy for more Phazon to rebuild its weakened form....

Development

After Super Metroid, most Metroid fans waited for the sequel. It was suposedly slated for the Nintendo 64 (or the ill-fated accessory, the 64DD), but while the game was referenced several timesMetroid Database, 1996-1999, it never entered production, because "they couldn't come out with any concrete ideas".

Retro Studios was created in 1998, by an alliance between Nintendo and former Iguana Studios Jeff Spangenberg. After establishing their offices in Austin, Texas in 1999, Retro received five game ideas for the future GameCube, among them a new Metroid.

The game was developed as a collaboration between Retro Studios and important Nintendo EAD and R&D1 members, such as Shigeru Miyamoto, Kensuke Tanabe and Kenji Miki, that communicated with Texas through e-mails, monthly phone conferences and several personal gatherings. First it was a third-person shooter, but Miyamoto made them change the perspective to first-person, causing almost everything already developed to be scrapped.

In 2000, three games were canned in order to establish focus on Metroid Prime, and in 2001, the last project, an RPG called Raven Blade was cancelled, so Metroid Prime would be the only game in the works.

The first public appearance of the game was a 10-second video at SpaceWorld 2000. In November of the same year, Retro Studios confirmed in the "job application" part of its website its involvement with the game, and at E3 2001, Metroid Prime was officially announced by Nintendo, receiving mixed reactions due to the 2D-platformer to 3D-FPS change.

Reception

After its release, the game has received much critical acclaim (including a perfect review score from Electronic Gaming Monthly and a 9.7/10 from GameSpotMetroid Prime review, GameSpot) for its "very impressive graphics, amazing, innovative gameplay (yet still true to the classic Metroid formula), and excellent soundtrack." The video game countdown show Filter named Metroid Prime as having the Best Graphics of all time. It also won many 2002 game of the year awards from major publications and gaming sites. Most Metroid fans believe that Prime was a great transition into 3-D for the series; however, some question the choice on having it made as a first-person game. On a negative note, many fans familiar with conventional first-person shooter games have questioned the unusual control scheme and wished it were more like a typical first-person shooter.

Speedrunning

Unlike its predecessors, Metroid Prime is not designed to be run quickly, illustrated by the fact that the ending one gets is determined solely by the percentage of items one collects, rather than by how quickly one finishes the game (as was the case in earlier Metroid games). However, the current world record is one hour and four minutes, done using the first North American (NTSC) version of the game. Speedruns are possible by taking shortcuts that allow the player to collect items in a different — and faster — order from the one intended (known as sequence breaking). Speedrunning is popular among hardcore fans of Metroid Prime and can significantly increase the replayability of the game. Fast finishes in this game are somewhat complicated by the loading system: the game loads as it is played, with no loading screens, and original NTSC versions of the game will sometimes freeze.

(Please note that because the game was released later in Japan and the PAL territories, changes were made to prevent sequence breaks. The Japanese, PAL and North American Player's Choice versions are therefore undesirable for speedrunning compared to the original North American (NTSC) version.)

Sequels

Echoes is a direct sequel to Metroid Prime. It was released in North America on November 15, 2004, and in Europe on November 26 2004.
Hunters is a similar game to Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes which takes place between the two titles. The game was released on March 20 2006 (USA), March 21 2006 (Canada) and May 5 2006 (Europe) for the Nintendo DS. A demo of the game was released with purchase of a Nintendo DS titled, Metroid Prime: Hunters - First Hunt.
Metroid Prime Pinball is a virtual pinball game based on the first Metroid Prime.
Corruption is due to be released as a launch title for Nintendo's next generation console, Wii. This was recently confirmed by an interview with IGN Wii from Retro Studios. Footage of this game was shown at E³ 2005 and E³ 2006. It was later determined that the footage at E³2005 was run on the GameCube hardware which would account for the choppy framerate of the footage.

Trivia

Allegedly, Kraid was intended to make an appearance in Metroid Prime as a boss, and was modeled and skinned by Gene Kohler for that purpose. Interview with Gene Kohler, Generation N However, time constraints prevented it from being included in the final version of the game. Though the beta model displays him inside Phazon Mines, he was not in fact replaced by the Omega Pirate (according to Kohler). Kraid is referenced, however, in Metroid Prime: one of the tanks in the pirate's base suggests that one of the pirate's experiments is re-making the creature. Body parts in the vat appear to be Kraid's.
Some sources, like Gradiente, Brazil's then-distributor of Nintendo, and the Nintendo Power comics adaptation of Metroid Primeincorrectly set the game as happening after Super Metroid. The Brazilian publicity even says that the Phazon meteor is a piece of Zebes[http://www.submarino.com.br/games_productdetails.asp?Query=ProductPage&ProdTypeId=12&ProdId=185415&ST=SE, destroyed after SM.
Metroid Prime has now sold over 2.7 million copies worldwide, and approximately 1.5 million copies in the United States alone.
After Nolan Pflug released his 100% speedrun of Metroid Prime, in which he finished the entire game in 1:37, it was featured in the games section of Slashdot and gained widespread attention.Metroid Prime Done Even Quicker, SlashDot Publications in numerous different languages ran stories on the run, and topics about the run were made on gaming message boards around the world. The first segment of his run was being downloaded over five thousand times a day at the peak of its popularity. See Speedrun for more information.
Before the release of Echoes in 2004, Nintendo released a platinum-colored Gamecube with a copy of Metroid Prime with a special second disc containing a preview trailer and demo for Echoes, a timeline of Metroid games and an art gallery.
For a brief period of time, Metroid Prime was considered the most popular First Person Shooter in the world, according to GameStop.com The success of the Metroid Prime series, led Nintendo to create Hunters, a "true" First Person Shooter, set in the Metroid universe.
It is the first Metroid game to address the absence of the previous game's power-ups. You start with them, but they are all lost in an explosion.
The music in Magmoor Caverns is a remix of Super Nintendo's Super Metroid Lower Norfair area.
The music in Tallon Overworld is a remix of the Brinstar theme.

References

Developer info for Metroid Prime, Nintendo.com
History of Retro Studios, N-sider
Metroid Prime at N-sider
Metroid Primed An article on Metroid Prime's development in The Escapist

External links

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