Metroid Prime Remastered Brings Samus’s Best Adventure to Modern Consoles
Nintendo
Nintendo
During Nintendo’s surprise Direct presentation earlier this month, the company showed off a first look at the new Metroid Prime Remastered. In a shocking twist, the company also announced that the game would release digitally later that day.
After a few weeks of patiently waiting, the physical edition of Metroid Prime remastered is on store shelves. Obviously, players are ecstatic. Prime is one of the best video games ever made, and it’s exciting to finally see it ported to modern hardware. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, here’s what you’ve been missing.
The Metroid franchise has never been heavy on story. Instead, it’s better known for its atmospheric storytelling. Metroid is a master at setting the mood with some liberal application of environmental details, ambient sounds, and enemy designs. In Prime, this atmospheric moodiness is on full display. Samus is equipped with a visor that allows her to scan her surroundings, providing the player with plenty of information.
Sometimes, you can scan enemies to find out more ways to defeat them. These blurbs also include interesting information about each creature’s habitat, behavior, and morphology. Samus is painted as somewhat more curious than your average mercenary.
Prime sets its protagonist loose on a hostile alien planet that is crawling with dangerous wildlife and scheming space pirates. Samus is equipped with a blaster, missiles, and numerous other tools to explore the planet and discover new paths forward.
The crux of Prime, like any Metroid game, is finding new power-ups and then back-tracking to areas where you can use them to plunge deeper into the maze-like planet. It’s a quiet, meditative experience. Players must memorize where they’ve seen locked doors and areas small enough for Samus to use her Morph Ball upgrade.
Prime is now over 20 years old, but it holds up beautifully. The remaster gives the game a massive visual overhaul. The changes bring it up to the level you’d expect of a modern Nintendo game. Enemies are crisp and well-defined. Samus’s armor glints in the light and the numerous liquid and water effects are downright gorgeous.
Whether you played Prime religious when it hit the GameCube back in 2002 or you’re a newcomer eager to learn about the storied sci-fi franchise, Prime Remastered is well worth its $40 price tag. Do yourself a favor and pick up a physical copy so you can admire that sleek box art!
