Glad that MIO finally has a release date - anyway, pretty nice selection of games in general (looking forward to some of them also personally like the abovementioned MIO, Starsand Island etc.)!
The thing I want fixed: every time I start a two player session with my daughter, the second player control always defaults to auto-steering. It’s tiresome turning it off, every single time. Please fix, Mario
I’ve only played 1-2 hours yet. Just left Myles. I actually enjoyed having him around. But yeah, the game is a bit lame in the writing and directing department. Nintendo isn’t Naughty dog or Guerilla games for sure. The overall production values are a bit lower than many games that have come in the last 10 years. But I enjoy the game for what it is. Samus bad assyness, all the cool lore, new creatures, beautiful surroundings and music and hopefully later on some fun exploration. I would never have wanted to miss this game even if some reviewer says they don’t mike some aspects of it. I just wanna see for myself whats on offer.
@Edwicket Hunters is an extremely good title, and amazing for a DS title. It is one of the most technically accomplished DS games. Of course the OG controls now aren't great, but I mean for the time Hunters was amazing
I haven't played them all, but Metroid Dread was one of my favourite games of the whole Switch generation. The weekend after I bought it, ai came down with COVID so unusually (for me) I was able to blast through a good chunk of it in one sitting.
I think SkillUp had the most insightful review on Beyond whether you agree with the conclusion or not. Beyond would probably have been considered on-par with previous MP games had it come out 15 years ago. It didn't though and in the decades since the first agme the design for Metroidvanias has evolved significantly. Hence I think one's ranking strongly depends on where you are coming from:
If you come from the OG MP games or Remastered, you probably want more-of-the-same in a fresh coat of paint. Beyond does that, albeit with some making-it-worse additions.
If you come from modern Metroidvanias or even Dread though it probably feels stale at best and backwards at worst.
I wish Retro had settled on what they wanted to do with it. The troubled development clearly shows. I'm super burned out on anything "open-world", but even I can see that a proper BotW'esque MP game could have been seminal. That is not the path they went with though. Then they should have stuck with their guns and give us MP Remastered 2.0. That they also did not abide by.
Not surprising. I bet people are doing their holiday shopping right about now as well and Mario is just more popular than Kirby. I'm a bit saddened by the sales numbers for Age of Imprisonment. I'm currently at 57% completion of TotK, so by the time I finally 100% it, it'll probably be on a big sale. Which is sadly what happens fast with Warriors type games, but a blessing to my wallet.
@Qwiff I watched Abdallah's stream and the core gameplay is just shooting, rolling and scanning.
For me personally, it's way too monotone for me and I like a bit more variety in gameplay. I would get bored very quickly with a game as this, so I won't be picking it up.
Yeah, as others have already mentioned I also can't help but feel that aggregate scores are lower nowadays compared to back in the day in general and potentially just for the sake of increased views etc. (or at the very least questionable ways of rating games, just look at Metro giving Air Riders a 4/10 score although at least for now the lowest score for Prime 4 on Metacritic is 60 so not as ridiculously low) - that said, I'm glad that the majority of reviews still recognizes that most of the Metroid games are overall great if not better... and even more so that so many people all over the world keep on enjoying such games as shown by their sales, while of course we don't know about Prime 4 yet just look at Dread selling 2.9 million and 4.99 for the Metroid series in general on Switch!
Having played it for 4 hours yesterday evening, I find myself agreeing with the 60-80 range reviews that I've read. They all mention the linearity, the fact that the biomes are separate and the desert area acting mostly as padding. I.e. the "Prime" parts are very good, but the new elements bring it down. I think that's a fair assessment. There's still much to enjoy here.
@wishmylove And where are the high quality comments these days? I read more and more of the same …
And it seems more and more game scores reflect the need of "content creators" to engage certain narratives for farming clicks and engagement, instead of objectively looking at the games themselves.
The quality on display in this game is off the charts.
So thank you, I think you're on the cutting edge of the interwebs. Please enjoy yourself, you fit right in.
I returned my copy of Beyond to Amazon (unopened), due to the reviews, but also that I have a big backlog. Zero Mission and Samus Returns are my favourites btw.
But seriously, where are the legendarily high-quality Nintendo games these days? Looking at the numbers, it seems like the quality is dropping while the prices keep going up.
Nice little extra (pretty cool that it's fan-designed) - looking forward to it along with finally playing this game in general when the Switch 2 Edition upgrade comes out and of course I have the time for it!
@SuntannedDuck2 No absolutely, it’s good that they are distinct games for different tastes. I’m just very much a Zelda person, old-school Zelda to be precise - I like the handcrafted odd worlds more than the “procedural” open worlds of BOTW and TOTK. Back to Metroid, I’ll go into it open minded, if there’s NPC’s and story sequences that’s something I like, cause shooting into the screen for hours is not my favourite thing. Or scanning artifacts.
@Mana_Knight There was for the DS yes. It's surprisingly pretty good too. The tables are designed around certain environments from Metroid Prime and it's surprising just how enjoyable playing Pinball can be when you have the OST and sound effects from Metroid Prime playing in the background.
@LikelySatan "straight up lies" is a bit harsh. He immediately clarified what he meant by that in that "it feels like you are fighting the same two enemies over and over again" because there are literally 2 types of enemy that pose any sort of a threat and their variations feel very similar, and then there are fodder creatures that hardly qualify as combat.
What's with all the misinformation in the comments!?
From the top:
If you buy the Switch 2 Edition (red box, red cartridge), it contains the Switch 2 Edition on the cartridge. You can also put it in a Switch 1 to play the Switch 1 version. I'm pretty sure it is a Switch 2 cartridge, as it has the additional pins on the back.
If you buy the Switch 1 version (clear box, grey cartridge) and put it in a Switch 2, the day one patch adds a menu entry telling you there is a paid update to the Switch 2 Edition.
There was a Metroid Pinball? Haha. I know Nintendo like to occasionally dip into a pinball game, with Kirby and Pokemon being notable examples, but I would never have thought about Metroid as a candiate for one.
@Monik3r I thought Hunters looked superb on the DS at the time and I still think it holds up rather well today given the underpowered hardware it's running on.
@LazyDaisy Agree, a lot of the gameplay in Prime Remastered felt rather dated and I suspect the scores of the original, the status of the game as being a landmark title as well as a cult classic, but also a heavy dose of rose tinted nostalgia went into that rating.
Prime 4 now had this clickbait snowball crashing into it beforehand as well as people expecting a complete rehash and total genre fealty.
I'm about six hours in and imo it deserves to be nowhere new as low as it is on this list. Just one point above the pinball game!? Come off it … Also, Dread on 7? Please …
I don't take Metacritic seriously most of the time. This being said Federation Force was one of the worst 3DS games I have ever played. It was just a boring FPS using the Metroid Prime name and nothing else so it definitely deserves to be at the bottom.
@Edwicket Couldn’t agree more. So far this game seems criminally underrated, even if the aggregate is still a solid score. And I’m playing on OG Switch! Hunters was so visually horrible I couldn’t even play past the first half hour. Moving from MP1 was just too rough. Can’t believe this game is scoring lower.
I think this list is also a good reason why you shouldn't take it seriously.
Having a pretty great time so far! I need at least two runs before I start to compare it to the other prime games but the first two hours have been fantastic.
Just for fun, here's my ranking for the mainline games:
Super Dread Zero Mission Fusion Samus Returns 2 1 Other M
@Scapetti Are you even playing the same game as everybody else? not well made? it's one of the best racers in years. In Mario Kart World you're just driving in a straight line most of the time it's so boring. I'm sorry but your analogy is just utterly bizarre to put it mildly.
@KoopaTheGamer Different time. It was a technical showpiece for the DS and just having Prime gameplay on a handheld was amazing for 2006. Plus an online FPS for a handheld was a novelty (and it did it very well). I imagine most of the reviews at the time amounted to “the single player is OK but it’s the online you should really buy it for.”
Nowadays taken for what it is, yeah it definitely shouldn’t score so highly but I loved it at the time and can see why it was reviewed favorably.
Latest Comments
Re: Round Up: Every Switch And Switch 2 Announcement From The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025
My God ! Blood: Refreshed Supply on Switch in 2026 is like me playing on Doom on my intel pentium in 1993
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Ah, Metacritic, poor credibility...
Re: Round Up: Every Switch And Switch 2 Announcement From The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025
Glad that MIO finally has a release date - anyway, pretty nice selection of games in general (looking forward to some of them also personally like the abovementioned MIO, Starsand Island etc.)!
Re: Hands On: Espresso Pro 15 - A Portable 4K Monitor For Switch 2, But With A Catch
I think at that size a 1440p 120hz display would be a much better fit for Switch 2.
Edit: 650!? And you need another pricey accessory? Dead on arrival, really.
Re: Nintendo Download: 4th December (North America)
Getting:
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I’m 6 hours in and almost all new ideas they came up with feel like a miss. I’m not surprised it ranks substantially lower than the original trilogy.
Re: Mario Kart World Has Been Updated To Version 1.4.0, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
The thing I want fixed: every time I start a two player session with my daughter, the second player control always defaults to auto-steering. It’s tiresome turning it off, every single time. Please fix, Mario
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I’ve only played 1-2 hours yet. Just left Myles. I actually enjoyed having him around. But yeah, the game is a bit lame in the writing and directing department. Nintendo isn’t Naughty dog or Guerilla games for sure. The overall production values are a bit lower than many games that have come in the last 10 years. But I enjoy the game for what it is. Samus bad assyness, all the cool lore, new creatures, beautiful surroundings and music and hopefully later on some fun exploration. I would never have wanted to miss this game even if some reviewer says they don’t mike some aspects of it. I just wanna see for myself whats on offer.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@Edwicket Hunters is an extremely good title, and amazing for a DS title. It is one of the most technically accomplished DS games. Of course the OG controls now aren't great, but I mean for the time Hunters was amazing
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I haven't played them all, but Metroid Dread was one of my favourite games of the whole Switch generation. The weekend after I bought it, ai came down with COVID so unusually (for me) I was able to blast through a good chunk of it in one sitting.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I think SkillUp had the most insightful review on Beyond whether you agree with the conclusion or not. Beyond would probably have been considered on-par with previous MP games had it come out 15 years ago. It didn't though and in the decades since the first agme the design for Metroidvanias has evolved significantly. Hence I think one's ranking strongly depends on where you are coming from:
If you come from the OG MP games or Remastered, you probably want more-of-the-same in a fresh coat of paint. Beyond does that, albeit with some making-it-worse additions.
If you come from modern Metroidvanias or even Dread though it probably feels stale at best and backwards at worst.
I wish Retro had settled on what they wanted to do with it. The troubled development clearly shows. I'm super burned out on anything "open-world", but even I can see that a proper BotW'esque MP game could have been seminal. That is not the path they went with though. Then they should have stuck with their guns and give us MP Remastered 2.0. That they also did not abide by.
Re: Japanese Charts: Well, Look At Who's Snuck Back Into First Place
Not surprising. I bet people are doing their holiday shopping right about now as well and Mario is just more popular than Kirby. I'm a bit saddened by the sales numbers for Age of Imprisonment. I'm currently at 57% completion of TotK, so by the time I finally 100% it, it'll probably be on a big sale. Which is sadly what happens fast with Warriors type games, but a blessing to my wallet.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@Qwiff I watched Abdallah's stream and the core gameplay is just shooting, rolling and scanning.
For me personally, it's way too monotone for me and I like a bit more variety in gameplay. I would get bored very quickly with a game as this, so I won't be picking it up.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Yeah, that's all great, but the omissions make the list useless to everyone. I'd rather stick with the NintendoLife lists curated by the users.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
So far, I'm still in linear status.
Enjoying it some, but clearly not designed for twin stick gameplay.
Dread below Zero Mission is a sin.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Yeah, as others have already mentioned I also can't help but feel that aggregate scores are lower nowadays compared to back in the day in general and potentially just for the sake of increased views etc. (or at the very least questionable ways of rating games, just look at Metro giving Air Riders a 4/10 score although at least for now the lowest score for Prime 4 on Metacritic is 60 so not as ridiculously low) - that said, I'm glad that the majority of reviews still recognizes that most of the Metroid games are overall great if not better... and even more so that so many people all over the world keep on enjoying such games as shown by their sales, while of course we don't know about Prime 4 yet just look at Dread selling 2.9 million and 4.99 for the Metroid series in general on Switch!
Re: Digital Foundry Delivers A Tech Analysis Of Assassin's Creed Shadows On Switch 2
@wizzgamer I'm honestly surprised there are people expecting a portable PS5 at under $500
Re: Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! Brings A "New Retro FPS" Experience To Switch 2 Next Year
Finally an opportunity to shout "RASCZAKS ROUGHNECKS!" while gaming.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
The terrible writing alone warrants such a bad rank. Nintendo hired quacks and the game is a lame duck.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Having played it for 4 hours yesterday evening, I find myself agreeing with the 60-80 range reviews that I've read. They all mention the linearity, the fact that the biomes are separate and the desert area acting mostly as padding. I.e. the "Prime" parts are very good, but the new elements bring it down. I think that's a fair assessment. There's still much to enjoy here.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@wishmylove And where are the high quality comments these days? I read more and more of the same …
And it seems more and more game scores reflect the need of "content creators" to engage certain narratives for farming clicks and engagement, instead of objectively looking at the games themselves.
The quality on display in this game is off the charts.
So thank you, I think you're on the cutting edge of the interwebs. Please enjoy yourself, you fit right in.
I'll return to the game now …
Re: Round Up: Every Switch And Switch 2 Announcement From The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted 2025
Omg ... Dungeons of Dusk looks amazing and brings me right back to one of my favourite NDS games of all time: Orcs & Elves!
@Lucami We need a collection of Doom RPG, Wolfenstein RPG, Orcs & Elves I + II so badly, would be perfect for Switch as well!
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I returned my copy of Beyond to Amazon (unopened), due to the reviews, but also that I have a big backlog. Zero Mission and Samus Returns are my favourites btw.
Re: Switch Indie Title 'Crypt Of The NecroDancer' Receives A Switch 2 Fix
Great news! I was waiting for a Switch 2 fix, to give the multiplayer DLC a try
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
But seriously, where are the legendarily high-quality Nintendo games these days? Looking at the numbers, it seems like the quality is dropping while the prices keep going up.
Re: Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP Adding Free Fan-Designed Costume "Mid-December"
Nice little extra (pretty cool that it's fan-designed) - looking forward to it along with finally playing this game in general when the Switch 2 Edition upgrade comes out and of course I have the time for it!
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Lol some stiff competition down at the bottom
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@Scrubelicious It's apparently also got pacing issues and questionable writing (or more so, acting)
Still seems solid, but go in with caution
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Well - it’s 1 point better than Other M, which I liked! So I’m good
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
There’s no way Hunters is better than Prime 4!
Re: Poll: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Is Out On Switch 2 And Switch This Week, Will You Be Getting It?
@SuntannedDuck2 No absolutely, it’s good that they are distinct games for different tastes. I’m just very much a Zelda person, old-school Zelda to be precise - I like the handcrafted odd worlds more than the “procedural” open worlds of BOTW and TOTK.
Back to Metroid, I’ll go into it open minded, if there’s NPC’s and story sequences that’s something I like, cause shooting into the screen for hours is not my favourite thing. Or scanning artifacts.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@Mana_Knight There was for the DS yes. It's surprisingly pretty good too. The tables are designed around certain environments from Metroid Prime and it's surprising just how enjoyable playing Pinball can be when you have the OST and sound effects from Metroid Prime playing in the background.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@LikelySatan "straight up lies" is a bit harsh. He immediately clarified what he meant by that in that "it feels like you are fighting the same two enemies over and over again" because there are literally 2 types of enemy that pose any sort of a threat and their variations feel very similar, and then there are fodder creatures that hardly qualify as combat.
Re: Switch Indie Title 'Crypt Of The NecroDancer' Receives A Switch 2 Fix
I ought to pick this game up again. And the Zelda one too. Ben a while since I played them.
Re: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Has Been Updated To Ver. 1.1.0, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
What's with all the misinformation in the comments!?
From the top:
If you buy the Switch 2 Edition (red box, red cartridge), it contains the Switch 2 Edition on the cartridge. You can also put it in a Switch 1 to play the Switch 1 version. I'm pretty sure it is a Switch 2 cartridge, as it has the additional pins on the back.
If you buy the Switch 1 version (clear box, grey cartridge) and put it in a Switch 2, the day one patch adds a menu entry telling you there is a paid update to the Switch 2 Edition.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
There was a Metroid Pinball? Haha. I know Nintendo like to occasionally dip into a pinball game, with Kirby and Pokemon being notable examples, but I would never have thought about Metroid as a candiate for one.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@Monik3r I thought Hunters looked superb on the DS at the time and I still think it holds up rather well today given the underpowered hardware it's running on.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@LazyDaisy Agree, a lot of the gameplay in Prime Remastered felt rather dated and I suspect the scores of the original, the status of the game as being a landmark title as well as a cult classic, but also a heavy dose of rose tinted nostalgia went into that rating.
Prime 4 now had this clickbait snowball crashing into it beforehand as well as people expecting a complete rehash and total genre fealty.
I'm about six hours in and imo it deserves to be nowhere new as low as it is on this list. Just one point above the pinball game!? Come off it … Also, Dread on 7? Please …
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I don't take Metacritic seriously most of the time. This being said Federation Force was one of the worst 3DS games I have ever played. It was just a boring FPS using the Metroid Prime name and nothing else so it definitely deserves to be at the bottom.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@Edwicket Couldn’t agree more. So far this game seems criminally underrated, even if the aggregate is still a solid score. And I’m playing on OG Switch!
Hunters was so visually horrible I couldn’t even play past the first half hour. Moving from MP1 was just too rough. Can’t believe this game is scoring lower.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
I think this list is also a good reason why you shouldn't take it seriously.
Having a pretty great time so far! I need at least two runs before I start to compare it to the other prime games but the first two hours have been fantastic.
Just for fun, here's my ranking for the mainline games:
Super
Dread
Zero Mission
Fusion
Samus Returns
2
1
Other M
I love them all, though (except for Other M).
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@JohntheRaptor the exploration and secrets of discovery are one of a kind in Metroid Prime 1.
Re: Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! Brings A "New Retro FPS" Experience To Switch 2 Next Year
@LikelySatan oh? How amusing.
Re: Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP Adding Free Fan-Designed Costume "Mid-December"
I've had this game in my Steam Library since launch and I haven't played it at all. I really need to do something about that.
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Switch 2 Edition Out Today, Includes Paid Upgrade Path For Switch Players
@Scapetti Are you even playing the same game as everybody else? not well made? it's one of the best racers in years. In Mario Kart World you're just driving in a straight line most of the time it's so boring. I'm sorry but your analogy is just utterly bizarre to put it mildly.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
Really not an FPS fan so I'll leave those out of it but of the ones I have really dug into I'd personally rank them best to worst...
Fusion
Super
Dread
Samus Returns
Zero Mission
Other M
2
1
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@KoopaTheGamer Different time. It was a technical showpiece for the DS and just having Prime gameplay on a handheld was amazing for 2006. Plus an online FPS for a handheld was a novelty (and it did it very well). I imagine most of the reviews at the time amounted to “the single player is OK but it’s the online you should really buy it for.”
Nowadays taken for what it is, yeah it definitely shouldn’t score so highly but I loved it at the time and can see why it was reviewed favorably.
Re: Metacritic Shares Updated List Of "Every Metroid Game, Ranked"
@flighty he straight up lies in his review, though. And I am a subscriber. "Only two enemy types." Huh?
Re: Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Switch 2 Edition Out Today, Includes Paid Upgrade Path For Switch Players
@Jayenkai WH Smiths? sheesh that brings me back to a simpler happier time.
Re: Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! Brings A "New Retro FPS" To Switch 2 Next Year
@Elektrogeist1287 there exists a sequel.