The love of video games was born in me as soon as I held a Game Boy in my hands for the first time. Nintendo consoles and video games had a huge impact on my childhood and are practically responsible for the fact that I devote my time to writing in this medium to this day. Nintendo 64, GB, GBA, DS… throughout my life I have enjoyed wonderful works on their original platforms, but one of my biggest earrings was GameCube. and for this reason I haven’t been able to discover gems like Metroid Prime…until now.
I missed its 2002 debut and haven’t played its Wii remaster either, so as they say, third time was the charm. The surprise announcement of Metroid Prime Remastered for Nintendo Switch, it was the opportunity that was long overdue. No more excuses. I had barely had contact with the Samus Aran saga and that had to change. NOW Time to tell you about my experience with this Retro Studios classic.
Discover Metroid Prime
I don’t consider myself a big fan of the metroidvania genre, and in fact throughout my life, it’s not like I’ve played many games in that style. I confess to having greatly appreciated works as acclaimed as Dead Cells or Hollow Knight, but I think that neither was successful impresses me with its level design as much as Metroid Prime Remastered did.
Rollback is a very useful resource that can work against you if you don’t know how to use it properly. There are titles in which the fact of revisiting areas over and over again eventually gets tedious, but that doesn’t happen in Metroid Prime. During the 14 hours The time it took me to complete the adventure never bored me, on the contrary, each time I returned to a scene that I had gone through 20 times, I ended up finding something new or things I had forgotten.
This video game works like a Swiss watch. All the pieces are placed in the right place and their execution is perfect. Despite the fact that Samus carries a laser cannon with no bullet limit, I never progressed calmly through the different areas of Tallon IV. Enemy types vary over time and even change position as you collect pieces of gear to upgrade your suit. Over time you get stronger and almost memorize most of the levels but even so you still don’t understand this feeling restless when exploring the map.
Maybe this comparison is somewhat unfair because they are games that belong to very different genres, but from my point of view, Dead Space and Metroid Prime share this kind of haunting atmosphere that manages to completely immerse you in the game.
This is all good, but there is one question that many of you have surely asked yourself at some point. Are there any news in the playable section? And the answer is yes. Metroid Prime can be enjoyed on GameCube, Wii, Wii U and Nintendo Switch, four platforms with different controllers that change the way you approach gameplay.
That’s why Retro Studios offers a total of four configurations in this remaster, so that everyone can play the way they find most comfortable. This addition is fantastic and knows how to take advantage of Switch’s versatility. Below I detail different types of controls:
- Double lever: the most standard of all and the one I used the most (use the joysticks to move the character and the camera)
- Needle: system based on Joy-Con movement control that works wonderfully (for playing like on Wii)
- Classic: the configuration that the GameCube version presented
- Hybrid: classic control + aiming with motion control (GameCube + Wii)
A stunning remaster
By now you will all have seen comparative and all kinds of video analysis to check what kind of graphical improvements this version of Metroid Prime includes, so I’ll be very on point. We’re not dealing with a simple remaster or remake, but this is one of those cases that falls in the middle.
Retro Studios and Nintendo have outdone themselves when it comes to renewing the graphic part of this book. beyond their rockos 60fps and its obvious increase in resolution, the developers presented a huge list of improvements that concern textures, physics and other technical sections. But without a doubt I would stand out above all the great job they did with the lighting systemwhich is totally new and looks luxurious for the game. No matter where you are in Tallon IV, everything looks really good on the console’s OLED screen.
And what about the sound part? Because of course I want to say something about it. It is very visible that those responsible had a lot of care when designing the audio of Metroid Prime, because by combining the sound effects with the fantastic soundtrack of the game, you will immerse yourself in the game and feel like you are not in control of any character. You Samus Aran and this is your adventure.
Metroid Prime Remastered
- A revival of a classic adventure, the ever efficient and calm Samus sets out on a solo mission though she will soon find companionship. Navigate the winding paths and interconnected environments of a fascinating yet dangerous alien planet in first-person perspective.
- Use various abilities, such as the famous grappling hook and the famous Morphball, to access hard-to-reach areas and blast your way through the adventure.
- Travel through different biomes, uncover the grim experiments of space pirates, and gather information about the toxic substance that devastated the planet. From the silent calm of the frozen plains of Phendrana to the magma geysers of the Magmoor caverns, this alien world offers landscapes and labyrinths as beautiful as they are deadly.
- Upgrade your arsenal to face alien horrors. Use Samus’ cannon and face otherworldly beings, dangerous space pirates and metroids, who will try to absorb your energy.
- Revisit previously inaccessible areas and pay close attention to the environment to solve puzzles and earn more upgrades.
conclusion
Metroid Prime Remastered is one video game I can’t say anything bad about. Retro Studios and Nintendo have done a great job bringing back one of the great gems of the GameCube catalog, and now that I’ve finished it, I can assure you that It’s one of the best Metroidvania games I’ve ever played.
No matter how many years pass, Tallon IV’s setting, puzzles, level design, and flashbacks are things that remain excellent to this day. The only thing Metroid Prime needed was an update to its graphics, and we pretty much got a remake that stood out as one of the video games that Switch that you should have in your house.