Topic: Metroid Prime 4: The Long(er) Wait

Never mind, I was at 13% health and there were no recovery items nearby, so I got one-shotted in the next room. A save station would've been helpful. I really don't remember having this much difficulty with the Phazon Mines. It's literally wave after wave of beefed up Pirates, unless I'm missing something...

@Haru17 I always hated that in games. I still dislike Pikmin 2 for all those elemental spiders. That's lazy enemy design 101.

@Octane Had you got the power bomb? If so you missed a save station.

Getting through Pirate encounters in Prime 1 is all about taking it slow, engaging as few as possible at one time and from safe locations. Also helps to know where the ambush locations are. Single Pirates can generally be stun-locked to death (Wave, Ice), or at least dispatched quickly (Power aka Super Missile, Plasma). This includes Elites, especially when targeting their shoulder cannons with your Thermal Visor.

Basically, treat it like Final Fight or Streets of Rage where you advance slowly to trigger as few enemies as possible.

@Grumblevolcano I died in the room before the power bomb...

It is rather brutal between those 2 save stations (the one when you enter the mines and the one once you've obtained the power bomb). On my most recent playthrough I was at the point where touching electricity once in the power bomb maze would've killed Samus.

I didn't mind them so much. It was their larger cousin that gave me seizures and was probably the most difficult boss for me in the game (barring Metroid Prime).

@Tyranexx He wasn't really hard, just tedious to damage and most of the difficulty came from the summoned backup. But oh, the first major Guardian of Prime 3 puts him to shame for sure.

@meleebrawler: Fair point. That's probably the boss that took the most tries for me in Prime 1. The backup definitely didn't help. At least there's a sweet reward waiting after that fight.

Your reply forecasts fun times ahead in Prime 3....

@DarthNocturnal Space Pirates are the cause of the Pokemon GO legendary glitch

@Tyranexx You're playing these all in the Trilogy with the motion controls, right? Prime 3 is hard if you set it up that way, but it's very doable on typical difficulties because of how the aiming interacts with enemy hitboxes.

@MegaTen They're available on GameCube, Wii and Wii U. Digital (VC) release is fine IMO, we don't need them re-released again.

We could do with a proper uprezzed collection for Switch at some point. They're too perfect for the console, although I'm not sure how you would play Corruption in handheld mode. I guess it could switch to gyro? I'm not sure that game would even work with dual analogue sticks.

@MegaTen To put your mind at ease and assuming you haven't played the other games at all, I don't think Prime 4 will be connected to the trilogy plot-wise. Seems like playing Hunters (and watching the secret endings of Corruption and Federation Force after that) will be more important. Continuity shouldn't be the focus, this will be the first mainline Prime game in more than a decade.

@MegaTen What happens if the Switch 2.0 gets Prime 5? Do we need another collection with the first four games? Do we need a Pikmin collection for the fourth game? If they continue like that, we'll be getting more collections and re-releases than new games. The only downside of consoles is that it takes a looong time for older titles to appear on the system, whereas they're always available on PC. I think that a digital release is fine for these games.

And like @MarcelRguez said, it's been ten years since the last Prime game, I don't think you need to worry about the first three if you haven't played them. Nintendo can't expect everyone to play the trilogy before Prime 4. I'm sure the game is made with that in mind; perfectly playable on its own.

For what's worth, Tanabe said they are planning to replicate Prime 1 (in terms of narrative and atmosphere, I'm assuming) with this game. I'd say them "going back to the roots" hints at an entirely new scenario, just like Prime was its own thing back in the day.

Qft. Book get reprints, films and albums get new editions and re-releases. It shouldn't be any different with games, preservation is important.

As a side note, I don't understand why Capcom gets so much flak for this. I wish other publishers realized the benefits of re-releases.

I'm happy with the 'previously in the series' issue to be solved via the virtual console. Every iteration seems to be adding new features to old games (Wii U with save states, Switch with online functionality). Heck, wonder if it's possible to add HD rumble or upscale to HD at some point!

@GrailUK That's a very slow turn-wheel though. Since the Wii's VC iteration, Nintendo has only added two platforms to the catalog (Game Boy/Color, GBA) while losing others (Sega's stuff, mainly). Hell, we still don't even have GameCube games, and who know if the VC of old is actually coming to the Switch at all.

@MarcelRguez I hear ya! However, with plenty of folk jumping the gun and releasing retro games outside of the VC label, I think the Switch is going to be just fine with a virtual back catalogue. 6 months in and my Neo Geo library is amazing! Namco museum better get a sequel or 5, and Arcade Archives is genius.

The Elite Pirates never really gave me much trouble thanks to having an abundant supply of Super Missiles, but Phazon Mines in general is kind of brutal with how long and gauntlet-esque it is. Am I the only one who really hates those kinds of levels? They have the tendency to make the last level in the game extremely long and linear and not put a lot of powerups in them. Prime did it, the last Dark Aether half of Prime 2 sort of did it, hell even Super did that with Maridia. I know they're trying to make the games a challenge but can they not kill the Metroidvania gameplay in the process?

Speaking of Prime, I've also been replaying Prime 1 and one thing I like is how the game reuses old bosses as regular enemies. The Plated Beetle shows up to replace some of the Beetle nests in Chozo Ruins and adult Sheegoths replace the babies in some areas of Phendrana Drifts. Really makes the exploration more challenging and shows you just how powerful you've become when you can one shot them with stronger abilities later in the game (any charged shot can instantly kill the Plated Beetle, a regular Plasma Beam shot can kill it if you let the extra burn damage kick in, and the adult Sheegoth can be killed by Power Bombs or a charged Plasma shot). I wish they'd do that more, really fits the Metroidvania formula.

As for making the original trilogy available on the Switch, they should do an HD remaster. Would make for great filler in between now and 4's release.

Im glad this series gets a fresh take with a new dev.... look at how Samus Returns turned out. I have so much hope for the return of Metroid.