Hello, is it me you’re Tallon IV?
Intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran receives a distress signal from a wrecked frigate in orbit around planet Tallon IV. Upon investigation, the frigate reveals itself to be a Space Pirate research vessel home to terrifying genetic experiments using the mysterious Phazon substance. There, Samus encounters her nemesis, Meta Ridley, whom she pursues to the surface of Tallon IV. It’s up to her alone to explore the planet’s interconnected regions, investigate its dark secrets, and end the intergalactic threat posed by Phazon. Experience this critically acclaimed first-person adventure like never before with remastered visuals, audio, controls, and more.
Metroid Prime is one of my favourite games of all time. It was also incidentally my first entry into the Metroid series. I was hooked from the Space Frigate at the beginning all the way to fighting Metroid Prime itself, the game has some incredible boss fights that are still memorable to this day and the environments of Tallon IV are vast and well varied. The last time I played the original was in the Wii compilation of the Metroid Prime Trilogy which gave the game motion controls like in Prime 3 Corruption and while it was fun playing this way, I often wondered what the game would be like if it played like a standard FPS like Halo.
I’ve held off replaying the games over the past few years as I always hoped the rumours of a HD remaster might be true. With Prime 4 taking an ice age to emerge, I had hoped it would be sooner rather than later that this might become reality. Then out of the blue, Nintendo shadow dropped the game in their recent Nintendo Direct, much to my amazement which made me shout out in joy so loud that it woke up my 9 year old son. Oops!
The remastered version is everything I had dreamt of with more natural controls than the original and Wii versions, though you can switch these to a more classic feel if you so desire. It’s not a simple upscale of the original either but you can tell every detail has been recreated from the ground up. It’s a smoother experience overall and classic areas like Magmoor Caverns and Phendrana Drifts look incredible with their new visual upgrades.
A criticism of the original game was the backtracking and scanning, but I never had an issue with this. I even dug out my old Prime guide with a checklist so I didn’t miss out on a thing. Revisiting an area with a new ability to get to previously unreachable upgrades or areas is the essence of Metroid since the original NES game and even after all these years, nabbing each upgrade in these games is still a treat. It was always a risk back in the day when a small studio like Retro Studios was approached to make a first-person Metroid game but it was one that paid off immensely and still holds up massively to this day.
The Verdict
Metroid Prime Remastered is a reminder of just how great the Metroid Prime games were and I really hope we get to see Prime 2 Echoes and Prime 3 Corruption hit the Switch before Prime 4 does. Metroid Prime Remastered is a masterpiece and the definitive version of the game with more control options, better visuals and brings the series to a new generation. This flawless game needs to be in your Switch library now!