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Metroid Prime Hunters is a first-person shooter / adventure game for the Nintendo DS. In the Metroid series, Hunters is the third first-person game, the second multiplayer game, and the first online multiplayer game in the series. On Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, it is the first game to feature (VOIP) voice chat. It is the fifth game for the DS to use the Wi-Fi Connection.

Developed by NST, a Redmond-based first-party developer for Nintendo, it was released on March 20 (USA), March 21 (Canada), and May 5 (Britain) 2006.

Overview

Metroid Prime Hunters is an adventure game in the first-person perspective, the graphical style and level design of which emulates Metroid Prime. Although the game engine takes the Metroid Prime series nearer to conventional first-person shooters, the single player campaign is still almost as detailed and puzzle-centric as prior Metroid Prime games for Nintendo Gamecube. Movement is much like a PC FPS, using the stylus or thumb strap in place of a mouse; though aiming can also be controlled using the A/B/X/Y buttons. Supported features include wireless multiplayer, Nintendo WiFi online play with voice, and rumble via the DS Rumble Pak. Metroid Prime: Hunters is the first game in the Metroid series where players can control a character other than Samus Aran, though this is only in multiplayer mode. Numerous new creatures are introduced to the series, including the genetically engineered "Quadtroid," which does not fly but attacks in a way similar to a Metroid.

First person adventure vs. first person shooter

The Metroid Prime series is often grouped into the first person shooter genre, and this is not literally incorrect. Nintendo prefers to describe these games in the more specific sub-genre first person adventure, to illustrate the uncommon focus on navigation and discovery, rather than survival of life-threatening danger, though that element is regularly present as well. Metroid Prime Hunters made this distinction much narrower, with the removal of assisted aiming, gameplay being more action oriented, and the inclusion of popularized multiplayer modes from mainstream FPS games.

Story

Metroid Prime Hunters place in the Metroid series chronology is after Metroid Prime and before Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.

The Alimbics

The Alimbics were a peaceful, spiritual, highly evolved society. When first attacked, the Alimbics developed weapons of war, which they successfully employed toward peace.

Having mastered the elements of the harsh homeworlds they lived on, the Alimbics built huge thriving cities. They developed huge outposts in space, including the Celestial Archives and the Vesper Defense Outpost. Before their extinction, the Alimbics were known throughout the universe, and their legacy continues. Alimbic Lore warns not to pursue the mystery of their disappearance.

Eventually, the Alimbic utopia was shattered, and their civilization destroyed. The Alimbics tracked a meteoroid heading for one of their homeworlds, but judging it not to be a significant threat, let it come. Once the meteor struck, out of it came a dark black smoke that solidified into a monstrous creature the Alimbics would name Gorea. Gorea copied the cellular structure of the Alimbics, and physically mimicing them and their weapons, destroyed the Alimbic civilization. The wrath of Gorea was the downfall of the Alimbic species.

The dying act of the Alimbics was to seal Gorea away until another could destroy it. Led by the eight elders of the Alimbic order, the entire race transformed themselves into focused telepathic energy, then confined Gorea into a "Seal Sphere," which they hid in a dimensional rift, to be released only when eight keys called "Octoliths" were assembled. Each Octolith was left in the care of an artificially engineered guardian (increasingly powerful variants of machines called Cretaphid and Slench), which were in turn also protected by locked portals with scattered sets of keys.

Present Day

But eventually the energy of the Seal Sphere ran out because Gorea managed to awaken itself. It sent out a psychic message to seven bounty hunters throughout the galaxy, telling them that the secret to ultimate power lies in the Alimbic Cluster. They began to fight the Alimbic guardians and each other for possession of eight Octoliths. Eventually Samus Aran gained all eight of them and activated the Alimbic Cannon, a machine that broke a barrier between dimensions to open the Infinity Void and allow access to the Oubliette.

Each of the hunters rushed to the ancient ship, Samus entering last to find the other six had broken open the Seal Sphere with the combinations of their weapons. They were severely wounded by Gorea, who absorbed their DNA and gave itself a new form. It then attacked Samus using the Hunter's weapons.

Characters

  • Samus Aran: Renowned bounty hunter and protagonist of the Metroid series. Orphaned wielder of the Chozo Power Suit, favored agent of the Galactic Federation. Samus's most famous exploits are her clashes with the Space Pirates over their weapon of choice, the deadly Metroids. Alternate form: Morph Ball - a compact sphere capable of dropping energy Bombs, with which she can execute Bomb Jumps, and 'boosting'- a technique in which the Morph Ball gains a small burst of speed, which can damage enemies. Weapon of choice: Missile Launcher.
  • Noxus: This Vhozon bounty hunter is something of an overzealous "law enforcer". He seeks the Alimbics' ultimate power in service of justice, and intends to keep it safe from evil hands and the unworthy. Alternate form: Vhoscythe - A top with an extendable blade that can be used to damage adversaries. Weapon of choice: Judicator.
  • Sylux: Little is know about Sylux. It is only known that he hates the Federation, and Samus Aran by association. Alternate form: Lockjaw - a small hover craft that deploys bombs with electric tripwires. Weapon of choice: Shock Coil.
  • Spire: The last of the Diamonts, a silicon based species. He believes finding the power of the Alimbics will help him solve the mystery of what happened to his own race. Spire, naturally, is immune to lava. Alternate form: Dialanche - a slow boulder-like form covered in spikes, with the ability to climb walls and extend a pair of stone battering rams. Weapon of choice: Magmaul.
  • Trace: A Kriken of the despised Kriken Empire, undergoing his rite of passage into adulthood, he searches for a planet that the Krikens can invade. Alternate form: Triskelion - a three-legged insectoid creature that attacks viciously by lunging forward and slashing anyone in his path with his razor sharp claws. Weapon of choice: Imperialist.
  • Kanden: A lab experiment gone awry. Insane and power-hungry, he searches for the secrets of the Alimbics to prove himself the strongest bounty hunter. Alternate form: Stinglarva - a worm-like creature with the ability to leave its tail behind as a target-seeking bomb. Weapon of choice: Volt Driver.
  • Weavel: A Space Pirate assassin, who Samus left for dead after a battle at Brinstar. Only his brain and spinal cord remained intact, which the Space Pirates effectively attached to a life support system, and Weavel was reborn as a cyborg. It is unknown where his loyalties lie, though he remains with the Space Pirates as long as it suits his interests. Alternate form: Halfturret - The upper body moves freely, walking on its hands, attacking with a jumping, slashing movement. The lower body remains stationary, acting as a self-sufficient gun turret. When in Halfturret mode, each part has 50% of Weavel's health. If the upper unit is destroyed, Weavel dies. If the lower unit is destroyed, the upper half survives, but with only 1 health. Weapon of choice: Battlehammer.

Gameplay

The top screen displays the view from the character's visor, including ammo for the current weapon and health. The bottom (touch) screen displays radar, and buttons to switch between available functions. Using the default control scheme, movement over land is controlled using the D-pad, and aiming is controlled by dragging the stylus along the touch screen. The L button fires the weapon, and double-tapping the touch screen executes a jump as does pressing A, B, X or Y. Buttons on the touch screen are used to switch between weapons, visors and alt-modes. In most Metroid games, the functions of Samus' Power Suit must be obtained one at a time over the course of the game, but most such functions in Hunters are available from the start, with the exception of alternate beam weapons.

Areas

Celestial Archives
This space station was badly damaged by an unknown object and is currently in very unstable condition. This space station directly above Alinos in orbit holds all of the Alimbic scholars', scientists', and historians' knowledge. It is the first area that you explore and houses the Volt Driver and the Shock Coil, both electric weapons.
Alinos
A once-beatuiful planet home to Alimbic Elders, the planet's core had exploded and all of the surface was drenched with lava. In the ruins, visible remainders of their civilization can still be seen. Most of it's surface is covered with lava, with cities dotted around it. This planet is the one that houses the Alimbic Cannon and the Magmaul. It's also the only known home of the Lava Spawn, a giant monster that lives in a pool of lava.
Vesper Defense Outpost
This small base far off in the Alimbic Cluster once operated as a refueling station. Subzero temperatures were used to prevent overheating, but structural failure left the station frozen with toxic fuel. It has been abandoned for a long time. It was the Alimbic's defense and weapons facility. Many inactive bioweaponry mechanisms can be seen in it. This planet is where you discover the Battlehammer weapon.
Arcterra
This planet is located at the farthest reaches of the Tetra Galaxy. Arcterra is a barren and frozen world with caves and undergound catacombs. It's home to a giant creature called an Artic Spawn which burrows beneath the ice, and also houses the Imperialist and Judicator.
Stronghold Void
Each Stronghold Void holds an Octolith, and the biomechanical creature that guards it. These areas can only be reached by using the Stronghold Portal, and in order to use it, you have to find the 3 artifacts scattered around the planet/space station
Oubliette
A ship made by the Alimbics to hold the Seal Sphere with Gorea inside it. It explodes at the end of the game.

Weapons

As noted, each character has an "affinity" for a particular weapon. These weapons take on special properties in the hands of the right character.
  • Power Beam Standard weapon for all characters. Unlimited ammo, fast rate of fire, weak per-hit strength. Compatible with the Charge Beam function.
  • Missile Launcher: Features "splash damage" - Samus's affinity: Can charge to gain homing capability
  • Judicator: Ice projectile with ricochet - Noxus's affinity: Freezes enemies when charged
  • Magmaul: Magma grenade launcher with large splash radius- Spire's affinity: Sets enemies on fire when charged and has a larger splash radius
  • Volt Driver: Strong electrical projectile with spray capability - Kanden's affinity: Disrupts vision and bends trajectory toward nearby targets when charged
  • Imperialist: Sniper beam with zoom scope capabilities (percentage increase of zoom not defined) - Trace's affinity: Becomes cloaked when stationary with Imperialist equipped, half-cloaked when aiming while standing in place.
  • Shock Coil: Short-range continuous electricity blast, seeks nearest target after being held for a moment, does increased damage if held for long enough. Similar to wavebuster from Metroid Prime- Sylux's affinity: Absorbs health from enemy. For the most part is considered a short range weapon, but can reach quite far, about almost as far as halfway across the map Combat Hall.
  • Battlehammer: Arcing rapid-fire mortar - Weavel's affinity: Knocks enemies back and has a larger spash radius
  • Omega Cannon: Instant-kill shot with extremely large blast radius. - No affinity (Only used in the battle against Gorea 2 and on the multiplayer field "Oubliette")

Multiplayer

For up to four players, Metroid Prime Hunters features single-card play, multi-card play and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection online play. Unlike Mario Kart DS, Hunters online mode does not have any restrictions on maps, modes, or options (when playing against friends and rivals). All above mentioned characters are selectable for multiplayer, but only Samus, Kanden, and Spire are available from the start. To unlock other characters, they must be defeated in single-player or multi-player mode. Many game styles are available such as Battle, Survival, Capture-the-Flag, and King of the Hill. (players downloading can only play as Samus)

Wi-Fi play shows numerous improvements over prior Nintendo Wi-Fi games, including voice chat (in lobby only *) and online stat tracking, with a stat representing how often the player remains in a game rather than disconnecting before a loss.

A passive link function called "Rival Radar" is available, similar to "Bark Mode" in Nintendogs and "Tag Mode" ("Contact" in European versions) in Wild World. A player can set their copy of Hunters to "Rival Radar," then shut the DS, and carry it with them as they go about their day. If they pass near another player with Rival Radar activated, both players will automatically be registered in each-other's multiplayer rival lists, but only 3 rivals can be added at a time.

On the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection website, anyone can view a leader board of the top ten scores in many different catagories like number of headshots, number of kills in alt form, in biped form, etc. The player can also view their own stats on their Hunter License, as well as anyone on their friends list. Other tracked stats are most used weapon, favorite character, mode and arena.

A recent modification to Nintendo WiFi with this game called "NAB" also allows you to, assuming you're moving fast enough, and you have enough distance, shoot an Imperialist shot, and headshot someone, even though you missed them by a mile. Contrary to popular belief, this is not LAG, and looks like a miss on both ends. It is believed to stem from "Headshot Assist", which allowed you to hit someone, and get a headshot, even if you didn't hit their head. It worked on the same priciple, but it only worked if your shot connected with your opponent on their end of the game.

Glitches

After what seemed like only a few weeks, players of Metroid Prime Hunters found a variety of glitches. The majority allowed the player to escape the maps they were playing in, whereas others could possibly ruin the game card's save file. Many people think using glitches is a part of "cheating".

Name Glitch

An unusual glitch in the game, the name glitch inserts seemingly random numbers into a Hunter License. This glitch is probably caused by the printf command. It is achieved by entering the % sign followed by a lowercase letter. It can cause an output of anything from 0 to a constantly shifting array of letters and numbers. Interestingly, It will simply show the original name while playing a multiplayer game , or in the "edit friends and rivals" section of the main menu. However, use of this glitch can also crash the game, requiring a reboot, and debatably causing erasure of game data. After finding the results of the glitch, Nintendo Software Technology decided that if a Hunter's Licence contains the "%" sign, it will not be allowed to connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, giving a message requesting the player to change the name.

Missile Push

Dedicated Glitch Hunters stumbled upon the Missile Push technique, which could be used to propel the character through a nearby wall or to push a Biped character into an Alt Form tunnel. This "technique" has been proven to work with a variety of maps with varying success. Other maps such as Arcterra Gateway have very little leverage outside of the playing area and more often than not, result in the player falling into darkness and causing a self-kill.

The Missile Push also allows users to blast themselves through alt-form tunnels in their bi-ped form, although sometimes they require Missile Pushes to navigate, which can dangerously deplete a user's health.

Inevitably, this "technique" has been used by some players on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and some may consider it cheating. As of yet, Nintendo and Nintendo Software Technology have no plans to solve the issue.

The Missile Push has also been used in the Adventure mode to achieve minor speed tricks.

Pre-release

The first details of the game emerged at the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo (E³) show in 2004.

A highly prototypical demo, titled Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, was included as a pack-in (now discontinued) with the DS launch on November 21, 2004 in North America, Australia and Europe. This demo was not released in Japan.

In August 2005, Nintendo announced that Metroid Prime: Hunters would be delayed, to implement WiFi support. *

Just before launch, an updated demo version, derived from the final version of the game, was released for in-store demo units. In it, players can play through adventure mode until they encounter rival hunter "Kanden."

Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt

Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt had a different layout to the lower screen, and a slightly different weapon system. There was a different default control method, in which the screens were transposed, and targets could be fired upon by tapping them with the stylus, regardless of whether they were centered in view. The control schemes found in the final version were also available. Power Beam had no charge function, and it had an ammo system. When Power Beam ammo was exhausted, the rate of fire slowed greatly. There was also a "Double Damage" pickup that caused Samus to cause twice as much damage with each shot (which reappeared in the multiplayer battles of the final version of the game) and only two sub-weapons, missiles and the "Electro Lob" (similar to the Volt Driver and Battlehammer, it lobs and explodes on impact but also can impair vision). Three training scenarios were present, as well as a multi-card multiplayer mode.

There is no story per-se, since the game consists of training scenarios. There are only four types of enemies, namely traditional Metroids and Zoomers, smaller less aggressive "Xenomorphs," and a green Samus doppelgänger.

After obtaining a high score in each single-player scenario, a video is unlocked. In this video, Samus is about to be ambushed by a Space Pirate hanging above her, but someone else shoots it first. Now in slow motion and accompanied by the Space Pirate theme from Metroid Prime, Samus spins to see the silhouettes of three other hunters, none of which particularly match the cast of the final version of the game, though one has a forearm scythe like Weavel and other space pirates. The camera then zooms in down the barrel of Samus' arm cannon as she fires. The video finishes with the tagline "The Real Hunt Begins", then the URL http://www.metroidhunters.com/firsthunt/. In later versions of the demo cartridge, the three armored figures and the URL do not appear. Instead, Samus herself fires the shot. After being unlocked, the video can be watched any time by tapping a glowing dot on the main screen.

Single player criticism

Metroid Prime Hunters has received mostly good reviews; however, the game's Adventure Mode has drawn criticism. The main complaints are that the Adventure mode is too simple, has "annoying" enemies that sometimes regenerate, and has repeating bosses that are based upon two designs, with minor changes in each iteration. The game's differences from the rest of the Metroid series has also been criticized; a complete lack of Metroids in the game (whereas Metroids have appeared in all other games in the series), simple and infrequent puzzles or secrets that lead to important items, and a focus on combat skills are some obvious differences.

Screenshots

Image:Metroid-prime-hunters-20060227003814031.jpg|Multiplayer Mode Menu Image:920760 20060228 screen005.jpg|Multiplayer Mode as Kanden Image:920760 20060228 screen002.jpg|Multiplayer Mode as Samus Image:920760 20060228 screen001.jpg|Morph Ball Mode in the Piston Cave on Alinos

Reviews

Several players reacted negatively to what they perceived to be low review scores.

Awards

  • IGN: Editors' Choice Award

External links

References

First-person shooters | Metroid games | Nintendo Wi-Fi games | Nintendo DS games | 2006 computer and video games

Metroid Prime: Hunters | Metroid Prime Hunters | Metroid Prime: Hunters

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Metroid Prime Hunters".

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