Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (GC, 2004)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7 Challenge-7.5 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
See Prime 1
Some new moves (screw attack is back and lets you jump forward 7 times in a row+wall jump in side view at certain points with two adjacent walls with a special surface (couldn't do it in Prime 1), gravity boost=gravity suit+rise to surface while underwater (works like a temporary jetpack underwater though it's not used that much), boost ball+spider ball can be used to jump in ball form from certain magnetic rail surfaces (spring ball), ) and tools/weapons (dark beam - opens portals to dark world+opens dark doors+"freezes" groups enemies if charged (no ice beam here)+activate certain crystal gates/switches, light beam - opens portals to light world+opens light doors+more damage vs dark world enemies+multiple homing beams when charged+energize beacons to damage dark world enemies+activate certain crystal gates/switches, upgraded dark and light beam shots=similar to BFG in Doom, seeker launcher=shoot 5 missiles simultaneously (opens multi-lock doors), annihilator beam=light+dark energy (opens portals) and auto-homing+stun enemies with charged beam and draw enemies into powered up beacon lights)
Some interesting new level gimmicks (safe zones in the dark world - shoot beacons to create temporary ones in preplaced spots) - creates a good sense of vulnerability, ) and enemies (quad/spider robot - two phases, rezbit - can't be locked onto while not using its frontal shield and has an attack that forces a button combo "system reboot" of Samus's suit to be able to move again, infant tallon metroids can quickly become adult by touching phazon)
Parallel worlds theme (Zelda 3; some switches open up paths in the other or both worlds though this is a bit underused and you never gain the ability to travel between them where you want to, different enemies in each world and partially different layouts)
Optional hint system (text tutorial messages here and there (doesn't pause gameplay but is a bit too obvious at times), sub objective markers on the map - these show the goal room to get the next ability but not the route to it)
Compass added to the map screen
Some good bosses (boost guardian except for the part where it reforms and samus automatically goes out of ball form (seems there's some unavoidable damage here based on luck) - uses boost ball against you, spider guardian except for the last phase - fought in ball form and has a minor puzzle element to it) and some decent ones (bomb guardian, dark samus first encounter - destroys parts of the environment, adult Chykka except it's kinda drawn out (immune to missiles+often dodges charge shots), second dark samus fight, main research boss except for the small hit box on the weak spot, quadraxis/giant spider robot - three phases but the "locking on to the knees" part is a bit tedious, emperor ing besides his third phase)
Some scripted non-cutscene scenes which add to immersion (seeing the pirates interacting with objects and metroids carrying newly consumed ones later on, fight between pirates and dark samus, etc.)
Adds a teleportation ability via the light suit though you get it very late. Can teleport to restored temples (one per area in these areas - Agon, Torvus, Sanctuary, Great Temple). Some shortcuts
Some neutral creatures that help you in a way (lightbringers - moving safe zone beacons in the dark world, herd of small drones which can be killed for item drops in the fortress area, flying maintenance bots in the fortress, watchdrone)
Various new enemies are added to previous areas when you backtrack through them (generally not ones you've never seen before though)
Can stand on some frozen/encapsulated enemies (not sure if it's useful though)
Some sequence breaking opportunities but no major ones (bypass getting the keys to the Hive Temple with bomb jump+screw attack, enter torvus before dark suit with slope jump/ghetto jump, more minor skips with scan dashing/side hopping while locked on+slope jumping+standing on unintended surfaces in the environment; more and more major ones using glitches)
Environmental gameplay effects (various mechanisms being activated or deactivated, some manipulation of larger objects via switches or breaking walls, dark samus taking out a bridge at one point, sand mound drainage in one room, water draining (gathering hall)) - somewhat fewer large scale ones than in the prequel (no collapsing towers/rooms suddenly becoming dark/roof raising)
Some good puzzles (seeker launcher circular tiles sliding puzzle, some platforming/disappearing block puzzles in ball form, ) and some decent ones (staircase blocks in pirate base, sacred bridge gate, some spatial reasoning ones, some ball form platforming, some timing puzzles such as in transit tunnel east, echo note puzzles (basic musical note sequence puzzles))
Color coded scannable objects (makes it easy to tell what is important for progression to scan)
Can perform a roll jump similar to Metroid 2 or DKC (while holding R in ball form, unmorph+jump at the right time as you fall off a ledge+hold L right after unmorphing to keep your speed) however it's tricky to pull off consistently. Can also perform a double jump after a bomb jump by doing it with your back against a wall, going forward a bit then pressing back while doing it - tricky
Don't have to refind the morph ball (could've let you either keep one or two more abilities like the missiles or bombs after the intro gameplay or let you grab them in any order though)
Some memorable locations (fortress, ship wreck area, parts of the dark world)
4-player MP mode (death match and bounty modes (find and steal coins), 6 arenas, didn't try it)
Three endings ("bad"=less than 75% completion, good=75% or more, "best"=100% (not really the best since it shows dark samus surviving))
+/-
Mostly linear structure (completely linear with various temporary points of no return up until after the first mini-boss (about 1h30m in), nearly linear path up until you get the bombs back and you can only access the first temple in the dark world after that - if you try to go to torvus via the great temple you're met with a purple crystal gate and if you sidetrack to other parts of the dark world or explore more of the light world you run into other gates, the three main areas and the final one are reached in a set order and you get your abilities in a set order as well, can do part of the underwater sub area of torvus in either order, keys can sometimes be found in any order and various optional upgrades can be gotten in any order once you have the right ability, might be possible to go into the super toxic dark world wastes area for an upgrade early (without the light suit) but it's very hard, )
Frequent save points which also heal you (singe save slot per game), Some ammo stations
Map stations that reveal most of the current area when found
Temple sanctuary is a minor hub connecting to three parts of the temple grounds area which in itself is a hub for the other areas
Quite a lot to scan during the intro gameplay
Collectathon element (3 keys per dark world sub area, 9 keys to get to the sky temple)
Story has more of a System Shock/RE influence with logs detailing how human crew turn into a form of zombies
Vertical aiming auto-tilts back to default position when letting go of the stick - can't be turned off (not having this but instead a button to reset your aim would've been preferable)
The map key/legend for doors shown on the map screen is useful but could've been revealed bit by bit so as not to spoil what you're gonna find later in the game
Automatic ball cannons to reach certain platforms early on - could've been manually aimed
Introduces some NPCs (the alien race Luminoth though you can only interact with one of them (the others are dead and communicate via hologram messages they've left for you) and dialogue is passive/non-interactive w/ a silent Samus)
Bomb jumping more than twice is different than in Super Metroid (have to lay one, wait until you fall back down then tap at a certain rhythm to cancel the cooldown that would prevent you from doing it like in Super) - seems you also can't do it as consistently since in some spots you won't go straight up
Some enemies and bosses can cancel your lock-on by quickly moving past you or jumping to higher or lower platforms - weird since the fast flying small enemies early on and some other quick movements like dark samus's dive attack don't
Can dash/side jump in normal form while locking onto an enemy (press B+left or right) but not otherwise - can't dash forwards or backwards
Have to be aiming fairly close to an enemy or object to lock onto it
Slow rate of fire for missiles and much slower "ice" beam/charged dark beam and super missiles
12+ seconds of loading when moving between areas
Slow regeneration while in safe zones in the dark world - a bit too slow
Can't do a charge/cluster bomb attack here (charge the beam then go into ball form to release a cluster of bombs)?
Some pits however you lose only a bit of health from falling into one and get respawned on the last platform you stood on
No plasma beam/flamethrower or wavebuster and no phazon suit or beam
Still can't grab onto nor climb ledges (Fusion)
More hard rock-oriented OST at times
Can't hit NPCs (the luminoth survivor has a shield and doesn't react to you shooting him)
Some controllable turrets however the aiming is really slow
Unlockable hard mode but it's kind of boring (enemies have twice the usual health and their attacks do 1.5x the normal amount of damage)
Some forced enemy encounters to open doors - Zelda, SM
Scanning a boss (or enemy) lets you find out its weakness however using it to "unlock" being able to lock on to a boss's weak point feels simplistic and doesn't flow as well as observing and fighting the boss in real-time
Have to tap jump quickly to not jump when trying to side hop (takes getting used to)
Silent protagonist unlike in Fusion
Kind of short range on the power bomb compared to the 2D games
Can't use the gravity boost to rise to the surface and onto a platform - used once for a platforming puzzle but might as well not have been considering how it would've improved flow overall
Enemies don't keep dropping items which you already have a full stock of here however some enemies don't drop light and dark beam ammo at all
Can't lock onto enemies while in ball form (boost ball is used as an attack against some enemies here)
Can't double jump after using the grapple beam even if you didn't do it before latching on (can screw attack though)
Timed final boss (the escape itself is mostly shown in a cutscene)
Can't release metroids on the space pirates here (Prime 1)
No stealth aspect here (Prime 1 turret segment, Metroid: ZM)
Very short build up to the emperor ing fight after getting the sky temple keys (basically just a wall jump room)
-
Some control/interface issues (odd "floating icons in 3D space"-style menus - just makes selecting sub menus take longer, still no right stick aiming, can't lock onto enemies nor see the mini-map while in ball form, still no full control config, unskippable cutscenes+staff roll besides when saving/reloading ammo/opening energy controller room gates in ball form, map screen still doesn't save chosen zoom level, mini-map is a bit too zoomed out/small and doesn't display while scanning, having to be aiming fairly close to an enemy or object to lock onto it, can't add your own notes/markers to the map - several ability gates early on and unlike SM a room with an item in it isn't marked by a dot plus the purple crystal gate statues+sonic security gates+dimensional flux gates aren't shown on the map, no quick turn/behind samus camera adjustment button, somewhat slow turning and aiming, manual aiming/looking around is quite slow at its most extreme angles - basically at a snail's pace when near the upper or lower limit+you can't look straight up/down, no jump height control, somewhat easy to get stuck on objects while walking around, some walls and objects within rooms aren't shown on the map, no color coding of the T gates (translator key gates) on the map, sometimes sloppy hit detection when trying to revert from ball form back to normal near walls - it looks like you can transform but you still get an error sound, some other gates aren't marked on the map (red ball/pipe gate near beginning, grates in the mining plaza room, ), generally can't lock onto an enemy if it's partially behind cover/on a high platform - also annoying since you can't side hop out of cover while firing at an enemy unless you were already locked on, can't lock onto wasp nests or item containers, switching targets while locking on doesn't work that well at times - they have to be close *and* at roughly the same distance from you and there's no actual function for it other than the lock-on prioritizing the closest enemy so often you have to release the button and aim manually before locking on again, side dashing while locking on is delayed from holding the jump button, some delay during get item pop-ups and some other repeating messages, kind of slippery and overly sensitive movement in ball form, sometimes can't lock onto the grapple guardian boss for seemingly no reason, the camera sometimes turns around when switching into or out of ball form, annoying how you bounce off of walls during the screw attack move and how large your hit box is while using it, sometimes overly tricky to hit the tentacles during the first emperor ing phase)
Various tedious aspects (can't be grabbing most of the 9 sky temple keys over the course of the game since you need the dark visor to see them+the light suit to get to 5 of them meaning you have to backtrack for most of them in the late-game before entering the final area (part of the problem is not being able to go underwater in the dark world without the light suit since you can't enter hazardous liquid without it here unlike in the 2D games), activated world portals don't stay active - have to rescan them each time, opened dark beam and light beam doors don't stay opened or switched to blue doors - ammo-based beams+it's annoying to switch beams all the time, frequently using the scanner to activate things like elevators is a bit much considering you let go of the left stick to activate it and scanning pauses gameplay+the hit box of it makes up about 20% of the screen for some reason+you have to touch the small center crosshair within that box or it doesn't register, logs are text only so you can't play while listening to them like in system shock, additional purple crystal gate beyond the torvus gate at the temple hub makes it pointless to go back there after getting the yellow translator key (similar thing happens when opening the purple crystal gate near your ship w/ super missile and energy pod gates and again with the two new dark world areas you can access after double jump where you just walk into suit gates after entering the dark world (high toxicity levels and no beacons), happens again at plain of dark worship), a few too many cutscenes (various scripted surprise attack scenes didn't need to start with a short cutscene to be impactful), various minor temporary dead ends early on, various power bomb gates for almost 2/3 of the game, invisible wall where it looks like you'd be able to bomb jump up to a platform in the communication area room, amorbis/3 worms boss fight is kinda drawn out without becoming more challenging as it goes on - good homage to Metroid 2 though, some super missile gates are pointless since you can reach to where they lead without super missiles, backtracking (to restore temples and back to the temple grounds after dark suit - the former would've felt more rewarding if teleporting was made available sooner, back to near your ship after getting the grappling hook, to the underwater part of torvus if you go to the dark temple before getting the power bomb, from the fortress to torvus via the temple grounds for the power bomb (an elevator between these could've been available sooner), from the dw fortress entrance if you go there before getting screw attack, etc.), item containers that leave a temporary poison cloud after destroying them in Torvus - breaks flow, various enemies that phase in and out in the dark world such as hunter ings (less of a problem once you have more light beam ammo), can't open the duelling range/mining plaza grates after reaching the other side for fast travel in that part of the wastes, some slow moving platforms (ball elevators), the armored fishes in torvus - sometimes they just won't attack (the armored fish boss is also annoyingly easy to miss even if you shoot as it charges towards you), harder to hit some enemies with charge shots, some enemies like the dark world metroids are pretty spongy unless using the right weapon but ammo for these tends to run out pretty quickly, last two parts of the power bomb guardian fight - magnetic rails where you'll have to redo longer segments from one mistake and where you suddenly need to be great at a new gimmick that you've just gotten accustomed to the controls of, ammo capacity for power bombs is pretty limited at 10 max and each expansion only increases it by one (starting capacity is only 2) - less of a problem after finding a few though, some tougher enemies might not drop anything when killed, overly drawn out couple of rooms before you get the screw attack - feels like you switch worlds and hit switches just for its own sake here, the stacked dark+light beam (annihilator beam) doesn't open dark and light doors (does open dark and light portals between the worlds so why not?), the game could've opened up a shortcut to the sky temple entrance after getting all the keys, drawn out third phase of the emperor ing fight due to the overly unforgiving hit detection and frequent invincibility periods)
Constant beeping sfx while near death
Overly limited screw attack movement - can only go forward and not climb vertically while using it
Some trial & error (having to use the annihilator beam to open the alternate echo gates - you use the regular shot right after getting the echo visor to progress and the game isn't specific about what to use at the gate in the main gyro chamber for example, one missile tank in a save room - have to be looking down to notice it, some bosses (several have arbitrary invincibility periods that you need to learn), some enemy placements near grappling hook points, surprise boss fight at main research+no healing afterwards, a couple of cases of scanner info from objects is a bit misleading, the part of the third dark samus fight where you have to absorb her shots)
Some enemies don't react if shot from afar and without locking onto them
The Ing race are a one dimensional villain ("filled with hate and terrible power") and the luminoth a pretty much one dimensional good guy/victim
Still no shinespark or speed booster for faster movement while not in ball form
The light beam is introduced in a pretty mundane way compared to the dark beam
The echo visor is kinda lame besides the second version of the echo gates (detects certain things that the dark visor can't) - pretty cool visual effect though
A few invisible walls where it looks like you can stand
The ball platforming segment in the fortress just for a missile tank doesn't feel worth it (same with the gathering hall one though at least it's a decent puzzle with a cool environmental effect)
The first two areas look a bit too similar and torvus looks pretty similar to the first area in the prequel
A few items are neither hidden nor challenging to get to
The light beam pillars placed within some areas could've been additional teleporters instead of just flashy elevators accessed with the light suit
Bugs:
-Some delay on certain doors before they open after shooting them - sometimes shooting twice works but other times they take 2-3 seconds to open (fixed in the "new play control" wii version)
-Automatic damage at one point vs the boost guardian
-The wasp nests on the way to Torvus don't spawn more wasps after beating the first batch - have to exit and re-enter the sub area
-Sometimes can't activate a light beacon with the light beam
-At one point I did no damage when bombing the head of Quadraxis
Notes:
-Version differences: https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_version_differences
-Got 80% completion in about 21h
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5 Fun-7 Originality-6
Overall Score-7
+
See Prime 1
Some new moves (screw attack is back and lets you jump forward 7 times in a row+wall jump in side view at certain points with two adjacent walls with a special surface (couldn't do it in Prime 1), gravity boost=gravity suit+rise to surface while underwater (works like a temporary jetpack underwater though it's not used that much), boost ball+spider ball can be used to jump in ball form from certain magnetic rail surfaces (spring ball), ) and tools/weapons (dark beam - opens portals to dark world+opens dark doors+"freezes" groups enemies if charged (no ice beam here)+activate certain crystal gates/switches, light beam - opens portals to light world+opens light doors+more damage vs dark world enemies+multiple homing beams when charged+energize beacons to damage dark world enemies+activate certain crystal gates/switches, upgraded dark and light beam shots=similar to BFG in Doom, seeker launcher=shoot 5 missiles simultaneously (opens multi-lock doors), annihilator beam=light+dark energy (opens portals) and auto-homing+stun enemies with charged beam and draw enemies into powered up beacon lights)
Some interesting new level gimmicks (safe zones in the dark world - shoot beacons to create temporary ones in preplaced spots) - creates a good sense of vulnerability, ) and enemies (quad/spider robot - two phases, rezbit - can't be locked onto while not using its frontal shield and has an attack that forces a button combo "system reboot" of Samus's suit to be able to move again, infant tallon metroids can quickly become adult by touching phazon)
Parallel worlds theme (Zelda 3; some switches open up paths in the other or both worlds though this is a bit underused and you never gain the ability to travel between them where you want to, different enemies in each world and partially different layouts)
Optional hint system (text tutorial messages here and there (doesn't pause gameplay but is a bit too obvious at times), sub objective markers on the map - these show the goal room to get the next ability but not the route to it)
Compass added to the map screen
Some good bosses (boost guardian except for the part where it reforms and samus automatically goes out of ball form (seems there's some unavoidable damage here based on luck) - uses boost ball against you, spider guardian except for the last phase - fought in ball form and has a minor puzzle element to it) and some decent ones (bomb guardian, dark samus first encounter - destroys parts of the environment, adult Chykka except it's kinda drawn out (immune to missiles+often dodges charge shots), second dark samus fight, main research boss except for the small hit box on the weak spot, quadraxis/giant spider robot - three phases but the "locking on to the knees" part is a bit tedious, emperor ing besides his third phase)
Some scripted non-cutscene scenes which add to immersion (seeing the pirates interacting with objects and metroids carrying newly consumed ones later on, fight between pirates and dark samus, etc.)
Adds a teleportation ability via the light suit though you get it very late. Can teleport to restored temples (one per area in these areas - Agon, Torvus, Sanctuary, Great Temple). Some shortcuts
Some neutral creatures that help you in a way (lightbringers - moving safe zone beacons in the dark world, herd of small drones which can be killed for item drops in the fortress area, flying maintenance bots in the fortress, watchdrone)
Various new enemies are added to previous areas when you backtrack through them (generally not ones you've never seen before though)
Can stand on some frozen/encapsulated enemies (not sure if it's useful though)
Some sequence breaking opportunities but no major ones (bypass getting the keys to the Hive Temple with bomb jump+screw attack, enter torvus before dark suit with slope jump/ghetto jump, more minor skips with scan dashing/side hopping while locked on+slope jumping+standing on unintended surfaces in the environment; more and more major ones using glitches)
Environmental gameplay effects (various mechanisms being activated or deactivated, some manipulation of larger objects via switches or breaking walls, dark samus taking out a bridge at one point, sand mound drainage in one room, water draining (gathering hall)) - somewhat fewer large scale ones than in the prequel (no collapsing towers/rooms suddenly becoming dark/roof raising)
Some good puzzles (seeker launcher circular tiles sliding puzzle, some platforming/disappearing block puzzles in ball form, ) and some decent ones (staircase blocks in pirate base, sacred bridge gate, some spatial reasoning ones, some ball form platforming, some timing puzzles such as in transit tunnel east, echo note puzzles (basic musical note sequence puzzles))
Color coded scannable objects (makes it easy to tell what is important for progression to scan)
Can perform a roll jump similar to Metroid 2 or DKC (while holding R in ball form, unmorph+jump at the right time as you fall off a ledge+hold L right after unmorphing to keep your speed) however it's tricky to pull off consistently. Can also perform a double jump after a bomb jump by doing it with your back against a wall, going forward a bit then pressing back while doing it - tricky
Don't have to refind the morph ball (could've let you either keep one or two more abilities like the missiles or bombs after the intro gameplay or let you grab them in any order though)
Some memorable locations (fortress, ship wreck area, parts of the dark world)
4-player MP mode (death match and bounty modes (find and steal coins), 6 arenas, didn't try it)
Three endings ("bad"=less than 75% completion, good=75% or more, "best"=100% (not really the best since it shows dark samus surviving))
+/-
Mostly linear structure (completely linear with various temporary points of no return up until after the first mini-boss (about 1h30m in), nearly linear path up until you get the bombs back and you can only access the first temple in the dark world after that - if you try to go to torvus via the great temple you're met with a purple crystal gate and if you sidetrack to other parts of the dark world or explore more of the light world you run into other gates, the three main areas and the final one are reached in a set order and you get your abilities in a set order as well, can do part of the underwater sub area of torvus in either order, keys can sometimes be found in any order and various optional upgrades can be gotten in any order once you have the right ability, might be possible to go into the super toxic dark world wastes area for an upgrade early (without the light suit) but it's very hard, )
Frequent save points which also heal you (singe save slot per game), Some ammo stations
Map stations that reveal most of the current area when found
Temple sanctuary is a minor hub connecting to three parts of the temple grounds area which in itself is a hub for the other areas
Quite a lot to scan during the intro gameplay
Collectathon element (3 keys per dark world sub area, 9 keys to get to the sky temple)
Story has more of a System Shock/RE influence with logs detailing how human crew turn into a form of zombies
Vertical aiming auto-tilts back to default position when letting go of the stick - can't be turned off (not having this but instead a button to reset your aim would've been preferable)
The map key/legend for doors shown on the map screen is useful but could've been revealed bit by bit so as not to spoil what you're gonna find later in the game
Automatic ball cannons to reach certain platforms early on - could've been manually aimed
Introduces some NPCs (the alien race Luminoth though you can only interact with one of them (the others are dead and communicate via hologram messages they've left for you) and dialogue is passive/non-interactive w/ a silent Samus)
Bomb jumping more than twice is different than in Super Metroid (have to lay one, wait until you fall back down then tap at a certain rhythm to cancel the cooldown that would prevent you from doing it like in Super) - seems you also can't do it as consistently since in some spots you won't go straight up
Some enemies and bosses can cancel your lock-on by quickly moving past you or jumping to higher or lower platforms - weird since the fast flying small enemies early on and some other quick movements like dark samus's dive attack don't
Can dash/side jump in normal form while locking onto an enemy (press B+left or right) but not otherwise - can't dash forwards or backwards
Have to be aiming fairly close to an enemy or object to lock onto it
Slow rate of fire for missiles and much slower "ice" beam/charged dark beam and super missiles
12+ seconds of loading when moving between areas
Slow regeneration while in safe zones in the dark world - a bit too slow
Can't do a charge/cluster bomb attack here (charge the beam then go into ball form to release a cluster of bombs)?
Some pits however you lose only a bit of health from falling into one and get respawned on the last platform you stood on
No plasma beam/flamethrower or wavebuster and no phazon suit or beam
Still can't grab onto nor climb ledges (Fusion)
More hard rock-oriented OST at times
Can't hit NPCs (the luminoth survivor has a shield and doesn't react to you shooting him)
Some controllable turrets however the aiming is really slow
Unlockable hard mode but it's kind of boring (enemies have twice the usual health and their attacks do 1.5x the normal amount of damage)
Some forced enemy encounters to open doors - Zelda, SM
Scanning a boss (or enemy) lets you find out its weakness however using it to "unlock" being able to lock on to a boss's weak point feels simplistic and doesn't flow as well as observing and fighting the boss in real-time
Have to tap jump quickly to not jump when trying to side hop (takes getting used to)
Silent protagonist unlike in Fusion
Kind of short range on the power bomb compared to the 2D games
Can't use the gravity boost to rise to the surface and onto a platform - used once for a platforming puzzle but might as well not have been considering how it would've improved flow overall
Enemies don't keep dropping items which you already have a full stock of here however some enemies don't drop light and dark beam ammo at all
Can't lock onto enemies while in ball form (boost ball is used as an attack against some enemies here)
Can't double jump after using the grapple beam even if you didn't do it before latching on (can screw attack though)
Timed final boss (the escape itself is mostly shown in a cutscene)
Can't release metroids on the space pirates here (Prime 1)
No stealth aspect here (Prime 1 turret segment, Metroid: ZM)
Very short build up to the emperor ing fight after getting the sky temple keys (basically just a wall jump room)
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Some control/interface issues (odd "floating icons in 3D space"-style menus - just makes selecting sub menus take longer, still no right stick aiming, can't lock onto enemies nor see the mini-map while in ball form, still no full control config, unskippable cutscenes+staff roll besides when saving/reloading ammo/opening energy controller room gates in ball form, map screen still doesn't save chosen zoom level, mini-map is a bit too zoomed out/small and doesn't display while scanning, having to be aiming fairly close to an enemy or object to lock onto it, can't add your own notes/markers to the map - several ability gates early on and unlike SM a room with an item in it isn't marked by a dot plus the purple crystal gate statues+sonic security gates+dimensional flux gates aren't shown on the map, no quick turn/behind samus camera adjustment button, somewhat slow turning and aiming, manual aiming/looking around is quite slow at its most extreme angles - basically at a snail's pace when near the upper or lower limit+you can't look straight up/down, no jump height control, somewhat easy to get stuck on objects while walking around, some walls and objects within rooms aren't shown on the map, no color coding of the T gates (translator key gates) on the map, sometimes sloppy hit detection when trying to revert from ball form back to normal near walls - it looks like you can transform but you still get an error sound, some other gates aren't marked on the map (red ball/pipe gate near beginning, grates in the mining plaza room, ), generally can't lock onto an enemy if it's partially behind cover/on a high platform - also annoying since you can't side hop out of cover while firing at an enemy unless you were already locked on, can't lock onto wasp nests or item containers, switching targets while locking on doesn't work that well at times - they have to be close *and* at roughly the same distance from you and there's no actual function for it other than the lock-on prioritizing the closest enemy so often you have to release the button and aim manually before locking on again, side dashing while locking on is delayed from holding the jump button, some delay during get item pop-ups and some other repeating messages, kind of slippery and overly sensitive movement in ball form, sometimes can't lock onto the grapple guardian boss for seemingly no reason, the camera sometimes turns around when switching into or out of ball form, annoying how you bounce off of walls during the screw attack move and how large your hit box is while using it, sometimes overly tricky to hit the tentacles during the first emperor ing phase)
Various tedious aspects (can't be grabbing most of the 9 sky temple keys over the course of the game since you need the dark visor to see them+the light suit to get to 5 of them meaning you have to backtrack for most of them in the late-game before entering the final area (part of the problem is not being able to go underwater in the dark world without the light suit since you can't enter hazardous liquid without it here unlike in the 2D games), activated world portals don't stay active - have to rescan them each time, opened dark beam and light beam doors don't stay opened or switched to blue doors - ammo-based beams+it's annoying to switch beams all the time, frequently using the scanner to activate things like elevators is a bit much considering you let go of the left stick to activate it and scanning pauses gameplay+the hit box of it makes up about 20% of the screen for some reason+you have to touch the small center crosshair within that box or it doesn't register, logs are text only so you can't play while listening to them like in system shock, additional purple crystal gate beyond the torvus gate at the temple hub makes it pointless to go back there after getting the yellow translator key (similar thing happens when opening the purple crystal gate near your ship w/ super missile and energy pod gates and again with the two new dark world areas you can access after double jump where you just walk into suit gates after entering the dark world (high toxicity levels and no beacons), happens again at plain of dark worship), a few too many cutscenes (various scripted surprise attack scenes didn't need to start with a short cutscene to be impactful), various minor temporary dead ends early on, various power bomb gates for almost 2/3 of the game, invisible wall where it looks like you'd be able to bomb jump up to a platform in the communication area room, amorbis/3 worms boss fight is kinda drawn out without becoming more challenging as it goes on - good homage to Metroid 2 though, some super missile gates are pointless since you can reach to where they lead without super missiles, backtracking (to restore temples and back to the temple grounds after dark suit - the former would've felt more rewarding if teleporting was made available sooner, back to near your ship after getting the grappling hook, to the underwater part of torvus if you go to the dark temple before getting the power bomb, from the fortress to torvus via the temple grounds for the power bomb (an elevator between these could've been available sooner), from the dw fortress entrance if you go there before getting screw attack, etc.), item containers that leave a temporary poison cloud after destroying them in Torvus - breaks flow, various enemies that phase in and out in the dark world such as hunter ings (less of a problem once you have more light beam ammo), can't open the duelling range/mining plaza grates after reaching the other side for fast travel in that part of the wastes, some slow moving platforms (ball elevators), the armored fishes in torvus - sometimes they just won't attack (the armored fish boss is also annoyingly easy to miss even if you shoot as it charges towards you), harder to hit some enemies with charge shots, some enemies like the dark world metroids are pretty spongy unless using the right weapon but ammo for these tends to run out pretty quickly, last two parts of the power bomb guardian fight - magnetic rails where you'll have to redo longer segments from one mistake and where you suddenly need to be great at a new gimmick that you've just gotten accustomed to the controls of, ammo capacity for power bombs is pretty limited at 10 max and each expansion only increases it by one (starting capacity is only 2) - less of a problem after finding a few though, some tougher enemies might not drop anything when killed, overly drawn out couple of rooms before you get the screw attack - feels like you switch worlds and hit switches just for its own sake here, the stacked dark+light beam (annihilator beam) doesn't open dark and light doors (does open dark and light portals between the worlds so why not?), the game could've opened up a shortcut to the sky temple entrance after getting all the keys, drawn out third phase of the emperor ing fight due to the overly unforgiving hit detection and frequent invincibility periods)
Constant beeping sfx while near death
Overly limited screw attack movement - can only go forward and not climb vertically while using it
Some trial & error (having to use the annihilator beam to open the alternate echo gates - you use the regular shot right after getting the echo visor to progress and the game isn't specific about what to use at the gate in the main gyro chamber for example, one missile tank in a save room - have to be looking down to notice it, some bosses (several have arbitrary invincibility periods that you need to learn), some enemy placements near grappling hook points, surprise boss fight at main research+no healing afterwards, a couple of cases of scanner info from objects is a bit misleading, the part of the third dark samus fight where you have to absorb her shots)
Some enemies don't react if shot from afar and without locking onto them
The Ing race are a one dimensional villain ("filled with hate and terrible power") and the luminoth a pretty much one dimensional good guy/victim
Still no shinespark or speed booster for faster movement while not in ball form
The light beam is introduced in a pretty mundane way compared to the dark beam
The echo visor is kinda lame besides the second version of the echo gates (detects certain things that the dark visor can't) - pretty cool visual effect though
A few invisible walls where it looks like you can stand
The ball platforming segment in the fortress just for a missile tank doesn't feel worth it (same with the gathering hall one though at least it's a decent puzzle with a cool environmental effect)
The first two areas look a bit too similar and torvus looks pretty similar to the first area in the prequel
A few items are neither hidden nor challenging to get to
The light beam pillars placed within some areas could've been additional teleporters instead of just flashy elevators accessed with the light suit
Bugs:
-Some delay on certain doors before they open after shooting them - sometimes shooting twice works but other times they take 2-3 seconds to open (fixed in the "new play control" wii version)
-Automatic damage at one point vs the boost guardian
-The wasp nests on the way to Torvus don't spawn more wasps after beating the first batch - have to exit and re-enter the sub area
-Sometimes can't activate a light beacon with the light beam
-At one point I did no damage when bombing the head of Quadraxis
Notes:
-Version differences: https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_version_differences
-Got 80% completion in about 21h