Metroid Prime (GC, 2002)
Graphics-8 Sound-8 Control-7.5/6.5* Challenge-7.5 Story-6.5
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5/8* Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7.5
*Ridley's last phase
+
Lock-on aiming w/ circle strafing (much like Z-Targeting in Zelda the camera will focus on the enemy) and regular strafing (hold L without locking onto anything and then l/r with the left stick - for some reason this didn't work for me in Dolphin)
Scanning mechanic (the game highlights points of interest while it's active and the "crosshair" which makes up about 20% of the screen is covering them (crucial ones (well most of them are crucial) are colored red) - later used in Deus Ex: HR, lets you find and read snippets of lore on various things at your own pace - similar to System Shock, gives some insight into what the pirates are thinking and doing which is cool, everything scanned is stored in a log book, can scan certain points to disable defensive turrets - similar to hacking in System Shock)
Nice lighting and environmental effects (water vapor/water and face reflection on the visor), Good art direction overall (slick menus and HUD, some nice enemy and environment designs)
Pretty satisfying sfx and overall ambience design
Rotatable and zoomable 3D map on the map screen (The Divide, Star Wars: Dark Forces 2)
Enemy radar
Visor displays a warning meter for environmental hazards like heat
Named rooms on the map screen
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 but not the route to it)
Various sequence breaking possibilities (bomb jump over the arboretum runic gate - unintended and fixed in later versions, advanced dashing/side jumping for early space jump and faster boost ball (have to let go of the buttons in a specific order to go further, unintended and was mostly fixed in later versions of the game), early power bomb at phendrana's edge with tricky jumping (can go here after getting the ice beam), early nature artifact (magmoor) if you jump at the platform it's on from the right direction, can get a missile ammo upgrade in the grove room by jumping into the big tree's branches and around the tree, etc.; more with glitches)
Nice ball movement/physics
Some new moves and tools/weapons (boost ball - lets you roll faster and is used in some halfpipe segments, dash/side jump while locking onto something, space jump/double jump replaces high jump; wave beam=electric (stuns some enemies and activates some devices) and doesn't go through walls here+homing, thermal visor (infrared vision, spot shadow pirates and power conduits you can energize with a charge beam+ one boss's weak spot, harder to see enemies that don't emit heat and it can be overloaded by phazon or explosions), charge combos (charge beam+missile=super missile, ice beam=ice spread missile, etc.; only the super missile is required and all others are for combat use), phazon suit (protects against the blue phazon element/mutagen+half damage) and beam (hurt the metroid prime), )
More mini-bosses
Some neutral creatures (stone toad, glider)
Some good puzzles (magnet rail tower in the phazon mines, timing puzzles with bomb locks, some parts are designed for a double bomb jump) and platforming puzzles using the ball form
Some good bosses (incinerator drone, thardus/rock giant - a bit drawn out though, omega pirate, ridley until his last phase, metroid prime - a bit drawn out as well; they're more like Zelda bosses in that they tend to make you use your newly gained abilities and have a minor puzzle aspect to them, most have several phases, set pieces during the last two which are destructible by the the bosses)
Some new enemies are added to previous areas when you backtrack through them (not really enough though) and some new music as well
Some technical options (Dolby surround, rumble, reverse Y-axis, visor and helmet opacity)
Environmental gameplay effects (water draining and purifying, collapsing towers, rooms suddenly becoming dark requiring the thermal visor, raise the roof of a cave at one point, etc)
Enemy drop magnet via the charge beam (SM)
Minor stealth aspect in the phazon mines where you can use the ball to move past some turrets and disable them instead of destroying them (however you can't not trigger them)
Three endings ("bad"=less than 75% completion, good=75% or more, "best"=100%)
Can release some metroids on the space pirates at one point
+/-
Mostly linear structure (linear ability upgrade and area progression besides the x-ray visor and the grapple beam, can collect most of the 12 chozo artifacts in any order however most of them are only accessible in the late game (4 of them require the plasma beam which is the second to last upgrade), optional sidetracking and backtracking for e-tanks/missiles/bombs) - less so with sequence breaking but it's unintended here
Frequent save points which also heal you
Map stations that reveal most of the current area when found
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
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
FP View/TP View Hybrid (TP in ball mode, can't move normally in TP View though, camera is also pretty close to Samus in ball form which has a big effect on exploration and some combat since you can't really see behind her except for the mini-map - there are a few 2.5D segments where the camera becomes side view while in ball form though which is a good throwback to previous games)
Can examine a lot of objects in the environment with a scanner (perhaps too much at times such as in the beginning area)
Having to be aiming fairly close to an enemy or object to lock onto it
The first area's gameplay basically mirrors Super Metroid except you don't get to fight Ridley (you do fight a giant parasite instead though and similar to Wonder Boy 3 and SotN you start out with various abilities that are lost as you escape)
X-ray vision lets you see invisible enemies here but is also monochrome and lowers visibility range
Without the gravity suit you also can't see very far underwater here (besides moving slower and not jumping as well)
Spider Ball from M2 returns however you can only use it at pre-placed magnetic railings here
Vertical aiming auto-tilts back to default position when letting go of the stick
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
The scanner is a bit too helpful at times though this info is optional ("you can't reach this platform from this room", the game uses rain drops to hint at invisible platforms though there's also a scan point on it so it's kinda spoiled as a puzzle, )
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
Wave beam mostly takes the super missile's place as there are a bunch of locked doors throughout the early-mid game that only it can open (there are also "white doors" for the ice beam - meh)
Magmoor Caverns/the lava area is basically the hub area of the game as it connects to 4 other areas
Can't grab onto nor climb ledges here (Fusion)
Some cheesy music (one of the phendrana drifts tracks kinda sounds like a porno)
The "shoot several power conduits to open a door" gimmick could've been more developed - not interesting after the first one
Can't do a charge/cluster bomb attack here (charge the beam then go into ball form to release a cluster of bombs)
Can't double jump after using the grapple beam even if you didn't do it before latching on and you can't be falling towards a hook and latch onto it
Slow rate of fire for missiles and the ice beam
12+ seconds of loading when moving between areas
Weird how plasma can melt some ice structures but then not identical ones elsewhere
Can't see upgrade items with x-ray here?
Automatic escape sequence after the final boss here
The metroid prime doesn't die in any of the endings according to later canon
Silent protagonist unlike in Fusion
-
Random invincibility frames during Ridley's last phase (trying to shoot him in the mouth as he's pulling backwards before tackling, seems more reliable to dash until he screams or shoots but then that doesn't even work 100% of the time unless you use the trick to dash further)
Some control/camera/interface issues (can't adjust the camera to behind your avatar while rolling on certain narrow platform paths, can't aim manually on the y-axis without standing still - C-stick seems like a better option as it isn't used for camera control (only to switch beams which is wasteful), no full control config, can't run however the ball is faster here and you can gain a boost move for it, somewhat slow turning, manual aiming/looking around is slow at its most extreme angles - basically at a snail's pace when near the upper or lower limit, somewhat easy to get stuck on objects while walking around, the mini-map is a bit too zoomed out and doesn't display while scanning, some regular doors have very small hit boxes and/or lag a bit before opening, your chosen zoom level on the map screen isn't saved when going out of and back into it - reverts to default which is kinda close, can't skip cutscenes until you beat the game once, no jump height control, can't lock on to a few enemies like the Eyons/eye turrets and certain destructible objects, can't add your own notes/markers to the map - several ability gates early on which can't be opened until much later here, a room/sub area is marked as visited as soon as you enter it - a minor issue since "rooms" are actually made up several rooms in a small sub area, missile doors (and other special beam doors) aren't marked unless you are viewing the room/sub area it's in, some walls within rooms aren't shown (can't see many of the ball only paths for example and some them have upgrade items which also aren't shown (Super Metroid did show items as dots in rooms though not exactly where they were which was a good system), the busier graphics make it easier to miss certain paths unless you explore more thoroughly), can't see the mini-map while in ball form, 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, 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 (sometimes they just don't let you transform if you're on a platform intended for the ball only), the map screen doesn't show cardinal directions and there's no compass on the visor - some directions from scanning objects mention cardinal directions for directions but you can only find out about them from elevator rooms and only indirectly (for example an elevator room might say that it leads to the southern chozo ruins but the room it leads to doesn't say that so you'd have to take the elevator from the other side and memorize the other room to know, also the areas aren't positioned logically on the world map screen but instead side by side), sometimes can't lock onto an enemy if it's partially behind cover)
Kind of generic backstory on the Chozo/Samus/Tallon IV in the manual (kinda short and vague/rushed feeling, phazon element=corruption! (it's more like a tumour or virus and is sometimes described as a mutagen instead) - also kinda weird how the space pirates could handle it when the advanced Chozo couldn't, sealed away evil, Samus was apparently raised by the Chozo+was infused with their blood (!) and got her power suit from them, space pirates are stereotypically evil)
Constant beeping sfx while near death (the x-ray visor beeping is also kind of grating after a while)
Some tedious aspects (no teleporters - at save points or elevators would've been fine, indestructible vines blocking one of the paths into the sunchamber room, 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 completely cover a point of interest with that box or it doesn't register, can't speed up the first boss battle with charge shots or missiles, losing even the ball form and the missiles after the intro area was a bit unnecessary, first main boss is a bit drawn out with minor cutscenes during it, the respawning chozo ghosts encounters when backtracking for artifacts in the ruins, more grapple hook points to let you pull yourself upwards with would've been useful when backtracking in the large vertical rooms (phazon processing center for example) as falling down when you're near the top gets really annoying, using missiles on regular doors doesn't work (worked in previous games and it's supposed to be an upgrade, backtracking to a couple of remote locations for artifacts because they require using the plasma beam as a key - phendrana towers and chozo ruins hall of the elders, can't use a power bomb in a regular bomb's stead - seems they did this only to lock you out of getting one of the artifacts before getting the phazon suit so you have to backtrack for it later, the parts of the last boss's final phase where you're just waiting for it to spawn another pool of phazon with which to damage it)
Backtracking (for the gravity suit and some other abilities, not enough interconnections between some areas (phendrana drifts only connects to magmoor caverns - have to backtrack through the caverns at least 5 times in a normal playthrough however some gained tools make traversal faster and different), fairly long dead end path if you go into tallon via magmoor before getting boost ball, for missiles if you run out at the tower of light - would've been fine if the wasps at the main plaza respawned properly)
Several invisible walls where it looks like you can stand (ruins entrance area, parts of magmoor and phendrana drifts, etc.)
No wall jumping
Some trial & error (spirit artifact location - usually you can scan to see that you need a power bomb but not here and the positioning is also kind of anal (I actually used one near the spot but it didn't register so I ruled it out and eventually had to look up a guide since the clue says it's at the top when it's a few platforms lower), sudden gas trap before the save point on level 2 of the phazon mines followed by a difficulty spike (hard to spot the path to the fan activator switch while there's gas and you're taking constant damage, you have to do the electric trap maze to access the save point here plus if you take out the cloaked robot but move on into the metroid area instead of getting the power bombs then it and the obstacle before the maze respawns), some boss patterns, can't stand or roll on ropes, frost cave missile tank - why can you not use the plasma beam here?, the last boss's final phase is harder if you didn't save any power bombs for it)
Collectathon segment in the late game (12 chozo artifacts - basically key parts, can find some of them earlier (more if you used sequence breaks) but generally have to have a late game ability to get to them) - leads to more backtracking and there's often no new enemies/hazards encountered when going back for them)
Enemies keep dropping items which you already have a full stock of (ammo stations only refill missiles and power bomb drops are somewhat uncommon - ammo capacity for power bombs is very limited and each expansion only increases it by one so you can only carry 5 in total, at one point I had to look for power bomb ammo for 25+ minutes)
Somewhat lacking feedback from missiles and power bombs
The regular metroids are too easy here (nerfed so you can simply stand still and shoot them with charged wave beam shots) and the jellyfish ones are also easy, the elite pirates are pretty easy as well, the space pirates are sometimes stupid (a nearby one might not react when shooting his ally from afar, kinda useless near doors if you stand on the other side)
Can't stand on frozen enemies without sliding off here - a Metroid staple! (the ice spreader could also have been used to create bridges across water surfaces)
Kind of annoying chozo ghost fight music
Weird how some obstacles like the box and the explosive thingy attached to the phendrana tower can only be destroyed by missiles when you needed the plasma beam to destroy the ice next to them
A toggle for beam stacking would've been useful to speed up opening of different kinds of doors
Putting a short and easy magnet trail segment right before the final boss was unnecessary (slows the pace and doesn't fit the environment)
No friendly creatures
No shinespark
Notes:
-Hold B on boot up to activate progressive scan mode (higher res, widescreen on some TVs)
-Version differences: https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_version_differences
-GC version differences (faster loading, sequence break "fixes", bug fixes): https://tcrf.net/Metroid_Prime/Version_Differences#Version_Number
-Can boost ball into Ridley to do massive damage in the GC version
Level Design-7 Frustration-7.5/8* Fun-7 Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7.5
*Ridley's last phase
+
Lock-on aiming w/ circle strafing (much like Z-Targeting in Zelda the camera will focus on the enemy) and regular strafing (hold L without locking onto anything and then l/r with the left stick - for some reason this didn't work for me in Dolphin)
Scanning mechanic (the game highlights points of interest while it's active and the "crosshair" which makes up about 20% of the screen is covering them (crucial ones (well most of them are crucial) are colored red) - later used in Deus Ex: HR, lets you find and read snippets of lore on various things at your own pace - similar to System Shock, gives some insight into what the pirates are thinking and doing which is cool, everything scanned is stored in a log book, can scan certain points to disable defensive turrets - similar to hacking in System Shock)
Nice lighting and environmental effects (water vapor/water and face reflection on the visor), Good art direction overall (slick menus and HUD, some nice enemy and environment designs)
Pretty satisfying sfx and overall ambience design
Rotatable and zoomable 3D map on the map screen (The Divide, Star Wars: Dark Forces 2)
Enemy radar
Visor displays a warning meter for environmental hazards like heat
Named rooms on the map screen
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 but not the route to it)
Various sequence breaking possibilities (bomb jump over the arboretum runic gate - unintended and fixed in later versions, advanced dashing/side jumping for early space jump and faster boost ball (have to let go of the buttons in a specific order to go further, unintended and was mostly fixed in later versions of the game), early power bomb at phendrana's edge with tricky jumping (can go here after getting the ice beam), early nature artifact (magmoor) if you jump at the platform it's on from the right direction, can get a missile ammo upgrade in the grove room by jumping into the big tree's branches and around the tree, etc.; more with glitches)
Nice ball movement/physics
Some new moves and tools/weapons (boost ball - lets you roll faster and is used in some halfpipe segments, dash/side jump while locking onto something, space jump/double jump replaces high jump; wave beam=electric (stuns some enemies and activates some devices) and doesn't go through walls here+homing, thermal visor (infrared vision, spot shadow pirates and power conduits you can energize with a charge beam+ one boss's weak spot, harder to see enemies that don't emit heat and it can be overloaded by phazon or explosions), charge combos (charge beam+missile=super missile, ice beam=ice spread missile, etc.; only the super missile is required and all others are for combat use), phazon suit (protects against the blue phazon element/mutagen+half damage) and beam (hurt the metroid prime), )
More mini-bosses
Some neutral creatures (stone toad, glider)
Some good puzzles (magnet rail tower in the phazon mines, timing puzzles with bomb locks, some parts are designed for a double bomb jump) and platforming puzzles using the ball form
Some good bosses (incinerator drone, thardus/rock giant - a bit drawn out though, omega pirate, ridley until his last phase, metroid prime - a bit drawn out as well; they're more like Zelda bosses in that they tend to make you use your newly gained abilities and have a minor puzzle aspect to them, most have several phases, set pieces during the last two which are destructible by the the bosses)
Some new enemies are added to previous areas when you backtrack through them (not really enough though) and some new music as well
Some technical options (Dolby surround, rumble, reverse Y-axis, visor and helmet opacity)
Environmental gameplay effects (water draining and purifying, collapsing towers, rooms suddenly becoming dark requiring the thermal visor, raise the roof of a cave at one point, etc)
Enemy drop magnet via the charge beam (SM)
Minor stealth aspect in the phazon mines where you can use the ball to move past some turrets and disable them instead of destroying them (however you can't not trigger them)
Three endings ("bad"=less than 75% completion, good=75% or more, "best"=100%)
Can release some metroids on the space pirates at one point
+/-
Mostly linear structure (linear ability upgrade and area progression besides the x-ray visor and the grapple beam, can collect most of the 12 chozo artifacts in any order however most of them are only accessible in the late game (4 of them require the plasma beam which is the second to last upgrade), optional sidetracking and backtracking for e-tanks/missiles/bombs) - less so with sequence breaking but it's unintended here
Frequent save points which also heal you
Map stations that reveal most of the current area when found
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
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
FP View/TP View Hybrid (TP in ball mode, can't move normally in TP View though, camera is also pretty close to Samus in ball form which has a big effect on exploration and some combat since you can't really see behind her except for the mini-map - there are a few 2.5D segments where the camera becomes side view while in ball form though which is a good throwback to previous games)
Can examine a lot of objects in the environment with a scanner (perhaps too much at times such as in the beginning area)
Having to be aiming fairly close to an enemy or object to lock onto it
The first area's gameplay basically mirrors Super Metroid except you don't get to fight Ridley (you do fight a giant parasite instead though and similar to Wonder Boy 3 and SotN you start out with various abilities that are lost as you escape)
X-ray vision lets you see invisible enemies here but is also monochrome and lowers visibility range
Without the gravity suit you also can't see very far underwater here (besides moving slower and not jumping as well)
Spider Ball from M2 returns however you can only use it at pre-placed magnetic railings here
Vertical aiming auto-tilts back to default position when letting go of the stick
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
The scanner is a bit too helpful at times though this info is optional ("you can't reach this platform from this room", the game uses rain drops to hint at invisible platforms though there's also a scan point on it so it's kinda spoiled as a puzzle, )
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
Wave beam mostly takes the super missile's place as there are a bunch of locked doors throughout the early-mid game that only it can open (there are also "white doors" for the ice beam - meh)
Magmoor Caverns/the lava area is basically the hub area of the game as it connects to 4 other areas
Can't grab onto nor climb ledges here (Fusion)
Some cheesy music (one of the phendrana drifts tracks kinda sounds like a porno)
The "shoot several power conduits to open a door" gimmick could've been more developed - not interesting after the first one
Can't do a charge/cluster bomb attack here (charge the beam then go into ball form to release a cluster of bombs)
Can't double jump after using the grapple beam even if you didn't do it before latching on and you can't be falling towards a hook and latch onto it
Slow rate of fire for missiles and the ice beam
12+ seconds of loading when moving between areas
Weird how plasma can melt some ice structures but then not identical ones elsewhere
Can't see upgrade items with x-ray here?
Automatic escape sequence after the final boss here
The metroid prime doesn't die in any of the endings according to later canon
Silent protagonist unlike in Fusion
-
Random invincibility frames during Ridley's last phase (trying to shoot him in the mouth as he's pulling backwards before tackling, seems more reliable to dash until he screams or shoots but then that doesn't even work 100% of the time unless you use the trick to dash further)
Some control/camera/interface issues (can't adjust the camera to behind your avatar while rolling on certain narrow platform paths, can't aim manually on the y-axis without standing still - C-stick seems like a better option as it isn't used for camera control (only to switch beams which is wasteful), no full control config, can't run however the ball is faster here and you can gain a boost move for it, somewhat slow turning, manual aiming/looking around is slow at its most extreme angles - basically at a snail's pace when near the upper or lower limit, somewhat easy to get stuck on objects while walking around, the mini-map is a bit too zoomed out and doesn't display while scanning, some regular doors have very small hit boxes and/or lag a bit before opening, your chosen zoom level on the map screen isn't saved when going out of and back into it - reverts to default which is kinda close, can't skip cutscenes until you beat the game once, no jump height control, can't lock on to a few enemies like the Eyons/eye turrets and certain destructible objects, can't add your own notes/markers to the map - several ability gates early on which can't be opened until much later here, a room/sub area is marked as visited as soon as you enter it - a minor issue since "rooms" are actually made up several rooms in a small sub area, missile doors (and other special beam doors) aren't marked unless you are viewing the room/sub area it's in, some walls within rooms aren't shown (can't see many of the ball only paths for example and some them have upgrade items which also aren't shown (Super Metroid did show items as dots in rooms though not exactly where they were which was a good system), the busier graphics make it easier to miss certain paths unless you explore more thoroughly), can't see the mini-map while in ball form, 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, 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 (sometimes they just don't let you transform if you're on a platform intended for the ball only), the map screen doesn't show cardinal directions and there's no compass on the visor - some directions from scanning objects mention cardinal directions for directions but you can only find out about them from elevator rooms and only indirectly (for example an elevator room might say that it leads to the southern chozo ruins but the room it leads to doesn't say that so you'd have to take the elevator from the other side and memorize the other room to know, also the areas aren't positioned logically on the world map screen but instead side by side), sometimes can't lock onto an enemy if it's partially behind cover)
Kind of generic backstory on the Chozo/Samus/Tallon IV in the manual (kinda short and vague/rushed feeling, phazon element=corruption! (it's more like a tumour or virus and is sometimes described as a mutagen instead) - also kinda weird how the space pirates could handle it when the advanced Chozo couldn't, sealed away evil, Samus was apparently raised by the Chozo+was infused with their blood (!) and got her power suit from them, space pirates are stereotypically evil)
Constant beeping sfx while near death (the x-ray visor beeping is also kind of grating after a while)
Some tedious aspects (no teleporters - at save points or elevators would've been fine, indestructible vines blocking one of the paths into the sunchamber room, 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 completely cover a point of interest with that box or it doesn't register, can't speed up the first boss battle with charge shots or missiles, losing even the ball form and the missiles after the intro area was a bit unnecessary, first main boss is a bit drawn out with minor cutscenes during it, the respawning chozo ghosts encounters when backtracking for artifacts in the ruins, more grapple hook points to let you pull yourself upwards with would've been useful when backtracking in the large vertical rooms (phazon processing center for example) as falling down when you're near the top gets really annoying, using missiles on regular doors doesn't work (worked in previous games and it's supposed to be an upgrade, backtracking to a couple of remote locations for artifacts because they require using the plasma beam as a key - phendrana towers and chozo ruins hall of the elders, can't use a power bomb in a regular bomb's stead - seems they did this only to lock you out of getting one of the artifacts before getting the phazon suit so you have to backtrack for it later, the parts of the last boss's final phase where you're just waiting for it to spawn another pool of phazon with which to damage it)
Backtracking (for the gravity suit and some other abilities, not enough interconnections between some areas (phendrana drifts only connects to magmoor caverns - have to backtrack through the caverns at least 5 times in a normal playthrough however some gained tools make traversal faster and different), fairly long dead end path if you go into tallon via magmoor before getting boost ball, for missiles if you run out at the tower of light - would've been fine if the wasps at the main plaza respawned properly)
Several invisible walls where it looks like you can stand (ruins entrance area, parts of magmoor and phendrana drifts, etc.)
No wall jumping
Some trial & error (spirit artifact location - usually you can scan to see that you need a power bomb but not here and the positioning is also kind of anal (I actually used one near the spot but it didn't register so I ruled it out and eventually had to look up a guide since the clue says it's at the top when it's a few platforms lower), sudden gas trap before the save point on level 2 of the phazon mines followed by a difficulty spike (hard to spot the path to the fan activator switch while there's gas and you're taking constant damage, you have to do the electric trap maze to access the save point here plus if you take out the cloaked robot but move on into the metroid area instead of getting the power bombs then it and the obstacle before the maze respawns), some boss patterns, can't stand or roll on ropes, frost cave missile tank - why can you not use the plasma beam here?, the last boss's final phase is harder if you didn't save any power bombs for it)
Collectathon segment in the late game (12 chozo artifacts - basically key parts, can find some of them earlier (more if you used sequence breaks) but generally have to have a late game ability to get to them) - leads to more backtracking and there's often no new enemies/hazards encountered when going back for them)
Enemies keep dropping items which you already have a full stock of (ammo stations only refill missiles and power bomb drops are somewhat uncommon - ammo capacity for power bombs is very limited and each expansion only increases it by one so you can only carry 5 in total, at one point I had to look for power bomb ammo for 25+ minutes)
Somewhat lacking feedback from missiles and power bombs
The regular metroids are too easy here (nerfed so you can simply stand still and shoot them with charged wave beam shots) and the jellyfish ones are also easy, the elite pirates are pretty easy as well, the space pirates are sometimes stupid (a nearby one might not react when shooting his ally from afar, kinda useless near doors if you stand on the other side)
Can't stand on frozen enemies without sliding off here - a Metroid staple! (the ice spreader could also have been used to create bridges across water surfaces)
Kind of annoying chozo ghost fight music
Weird how some obstacles like the box and the explosive thingy attached to the phendrana tower can only be destroyed by missiles when you needed the plasma beam to destroy the ice next to them
A toggle for beam stacking would've been useful to speed up opening of different kinds of doors
Putting a short and easy magnet trail segment right before the final boss was unnecessary (slows the pace and doesn't fit the environment)
No friendly creatures
No shinespark
Notes:
-Hold B on boot up to activate progressive scan mode (higher res, widescreen on some TVs)
-Version differences: https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_version_differences
-GC version differences (faster loading, sequence break "fixes", bug fixes): https://tcrf.net/Metroid_Prime/Version_Differences#Version_Number
-Can boost ball into Ridley to do massive damage in the GC version