Topic: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

The demo Kiosks are actually in random big chains (e.g. Walmart), not in Nintendo-related stores. But yeah, sadly they aren't in most countries or regions. I wish they would have more eshop demos.

Less than 24

@FishyS Twenty years ago or so, we did have those in-store demo kiosks in multimedia stores, I remember that. But Nintendo stopped supplying them to Scandinavia at some point, and now there's not even physical multimedia stores left anywhere anyway.

A small tangent but the only place in my city that has physical games is a big independent store that also carries manga, Lego, boardgames, western comics, Japanese food imports, and a tiny selection of physical Switch games — no other consoles. Strange times.

@Matt_Barber I think you have a very solid lead (2 points off the mark) at this point, with @kkslider5552000 and I following on 85 (4 points off).

I’m (somewhat arbitrarily) calling the cut off point for this competition to be a week after release, but I have a feeling you might take it!

Still, if a couple of high scoring stragglers drag it up a point to 82, then we’ll be tied: both of us 3 points away but on different sides.

I've watched quite a lot of comparisons now between Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions and both versions seem utterly brilliant for their respective consoles. It looks a phenomenal game and a must have purchase to me but putting that aside the Switch 1 version seems fantastic providing the same game experience as the Switch 2 version. However of course there are some compromises but those appear to be simply resolution and texture quality. Frame rates are consistent across all modes it seems. Of course the Switch 2 provides a 120Hz mode in addition to the 60hz modes and those seem rock solid too. However when you select performance mode on Switch 2 portable mode you can see a big downgrade in resolution and to be honest with the consoles side by side allowing for their screen size it really doesn't look that much different from the videos I've watched. I can imagine the Switch OLED and Switch Lite looking as good as Switch 2 portable performance mode allowing for their smaller screens with the lite just looking sharper and of course the OLED colours popping like they do. It seems an amazing swansong for the original Switch and likely the last fully optimised game to go on Switch 1 from a very competent development house. You will likely get better battery runtime from the original Switches too and of course they are more portable systems. It doesn't feel like you are missing out too much with regard Switch 1. I guess if you have a basic original Switch 1 especially the early model with the less than stellar screen and shorter battery life not such a good experience. However that is all from the portable side. It's a bit of a massacre on the docked side with the true visual fidelity of the Switch 2 coming out much more. Yes you have the full fat experience on original Switch but visually obviously a generational difference. Here the Switch 2 looks amazing where as the Switch 1 still amazing but so clearly older technology. It's like the difference between PS4 and PS3 versions of the same game except here at least the frame rate is consistent across both versions.

Even if you buy the Switch 1 cartridge for portable use and emulate docked mode on PC the textures will look much inferior, I can't see the emulated game looking anywhere near as good as the Switch 2 version. Often Switch 1 games on Switch 2 look massively inferior to the same games emulated but that isn't going to be the case here because the texture work is so much better. You just can't see the detail in the textures on the Switch 1 version to scale up with emulated higher resolutions.

I've seen some analysis of Switch 2 graphics where they are stating 1440p action area of the screen but 4K HUD so mixed resolution but it seems to work well but I guess when emulated you will get a true 4K 60fps from the Switch 1 so its possible it will look better in resolution to make up some of the difference in textures but personally I don't think that will help much as the textures will look so bland in comparison.

It looks like the Switch 2 cartridge still includes the original Switch game and the upgrade pack together so I'm hoping I can buy the Switch 2 version and still run it on my Switch 1 until I get a Switch 2. Yes there is a price premium to buy it over the Switch 1 version but to be honest I'd rather have both versions on the cartridge. I'll make sure this is confirmed before buying though. Just in case despite teh evidence I don't like the game I have the ability to resell it without issues.

@FishyS 100% they need more eshop demo's! I can understand not wanting to do for games like Pokemon cuz of datamining but no reason other games can't. Especially given how pricey SW2 games are.

@BonzoBanana the switch 2 cart 100% includes both the switch 1 and 2 version

There will be a lot of stragglers I think since some reviews tend to come out after the game releases. That said, the score dropped to 80 today.

Here in Germany at a large electronics retailer the game is sold out for both versions (Switch and Switch 2) online. I doubt they'll get units in store. (Luckily I pre ordered a while back with a pre order bonus. The MP4 desk mat that Nintendo sells on MyNintendo).
Either they didn't order many units, or it's popular even here.

Anyone know if Prime 4 has that inside the ship thing like in corruption where where you can fiddle with the controls and radio before you fly to your next destination? I liked that.

Corruption was probably my favorite of the original three games!

I guess my Metascore guess was... off, to say the least 🤣

Oh, true. Hell, the metroid wiki page itself mentions that no one knows if the Cosmic Calendar year is supposed to actually be 365 days, or something like the various "cosmic years" where it refers to larger scale galactic cycles. That would certainly be the easiest way to retcon things.

That said, I didn't realize there was a date attached to Federation Force. That would actually make things even more unambiguous, since regardless of what the Cosmic Calendar actually is, 20X9 is clearly well after 20X6. Even if it is single Earth years, and the Phazon War is supposed to still be crammed in a single year, that would have Prime 4 set well later.

Just 12 hours now. It almost doesn't feel real.

Takes me back to being a kid. And today would be Christmas Eve. Tomorrow is Christmas. But as with tradition, we open gifts the night before. And so it is with Metroid Prime 4.

Hell yea! Waiting patiently for my copy to arrive

The metacritic stuff is fascinating to me. In a sort of grotesque way. Kind of a reminder to reeeeeally try and get a feel for a reviewer before giving any kind of credence to their reviews.

Some of these reviews sure make it seem like they’re docking whole points because of… some dialogue?

I just don’t even know where we’re at anymore lol

@rallydefault, and that's why I watch a little bit of gameplay footage to see if the gameplay is interesting / not too difficult (or sometimes go in blind if its a series I'm familiar with), and not really pay attention to review scores that much 😛.

Heck, my favorite video game of all time, Pokémon Violet, has the worst Metascore out of any mainline Pokémon game.

This game is straight 🔥

Oh my gosh. I don't have the right words to express this feeling I'm experiencing while playing. You'll find out for yourselves soon enough. I'm only a few hours in, but already I can say this is the best Metroid Prime I've played since MP2. And if it continues on it's current trajectory, it wouldn't surprise me if Beyond even surpasses Echoes.

And Idc what anyone says- Myles is MVP all day every day. This character is phenomenal. My only regret thus far is how little screen time he gets. Before launch everyone was barking mad about him being there all the time. 2 hours in, and he was with me a whopping 15 minutes, 10 of which were silently following behind where I wouldn't even know he was there otherwise. Ya, he does communicate here and there, so maybe he'll get enough spotlight but, I really do feel a character of such high caliber deserves more screen time than what they gave him. I don't wanna judge prematurely, but I don't see any of the other federation soldiers outdoing Myles. He's just perfect. So well written, super likeable- clumsy but also brilliant and a very handy person to have in your pocket when it comes to solving Lamorn and Galactic Federation tech issues.

The scan/psychic visor is insanely smooth. No d-pad, just press X to go in and out. Once you acquire psychic bombs you can hold the button to lay a psychic bomb, transition out of morph ball mode, go into psychic visor and force pull the bomb to your hand, then aim and release to power a device.

Between that and the psychic time shot to hit multiple targets simultaneously, the puzzles are already surprisingly complex. I got stumped several times already before I had that lightbulb moment.

Just got Viola in Lightning Forge or whatever it's called. This game never lets up. It's just constant addiction from the moment you turn it on. I have legitimately been craving experiencing this feeling again for over 15 years.

The entire Wii U era I dreamed of Metroid Prime 4... but it never came. Then in 2017, at e3, they showed that "4" and I went ballistic. 2 years later, learning they were starting over was so bittersweet. That meant another 6+ years in addition to the 2 already waited, but, development was going home to Retro. That made it worthwhile to me. Cause I don't really want a Metroid Prime from Bandai Namco (granted, as long as Sakamoto is at the helm, who knows, after all he did wonders with Mercury Steam). It ended up being 9 freaking years from the original announcement until the game actually released. But boy oh boy was it worth every last day of that wait.

I can already say now, I can tell this game is gonna end up making my all time faves list. The Jaxon's All-Star Stamp of Approval list, seated amongst giants like Portal 2, Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, Monster Hunter Rise, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Fire Emblem Three Houses.

I could write another 5 paragraphs radiantly glowing about how good this game is, but I actually want to get back to it and play.

@JaxonH Sounds like you're really enjoying it. I won't be able to play until I get home from work this evening. It's almost 3am now here in Ireland and work for me starts at 7am and finishes at 6pm. It's going to be a long boring day I know that much. If I had my way I wouldn't be going to work at all today and instead I'd be spending the day playing Metroid Prime 4.

I'm not gonna get it for at least a couple of days, maybe more, but I can't even remember the last time I played a game within a week or so and the last one within a month was...I think World of Goo 2 (a game that deserved way more attention than it got btw). So like, highest priority game possible.

Like its amazing that any real Metroid fan would've been dissuaded from getting it just from some cringy dialogue shown weeks ahead of time, for a game that was announced 8 years ago, as a sequel to a game from 18 years ago. (and I genuinely hate the term "real fan", so that should tell you how serious I am about this) I bought Other M, I bought Sticker Star, I bought Star Fox Zero, I have regrets about none of these purchases (and for at least 2 of them its not because I disagree with the criticisms!) and I can't imagine this won't be notably better than those games.

If this was like Other M 2, or Color Splash or Mario game number 800 in general, sure, yeah, I'd get it. I need to be disappointed by this game first in order to doubt buying these games. Like if you were passionate about these games like me, and you don't have a good excuse for why every single game you buy needs to be guaranteed peak or whatever, still, fine, whatever. But its just silly. I can agree with the wider issues of "why is game trying to be like more popular games", in a wider game industry issue sort of way, that's cool, in a "these trends are bad and should go away from being obligatory in games that don't need it" way, I get it, but like, cmon, I'm not getting another new Metroid Prime anytime soon, or at best, I will in a few years with some asset re-use because this game does well. No one else is gonna make one, as proven by the lack of anyone making anything like it in 18 years.

This is aimed at probably no one btw, just broadly at the internet trying to tell me what not to buy. Weird, annoying behavior.

@LightSpirit
I visited Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales back when I was a teenager. Loved the Ring of Kerry. Beautiful.

I used to plan vacation days for releases such as this. In any case, the game will be officially released in 45 min. You're in for a ride my friend.

@kkslider5552000
The hate toward Nintendo since the launch of NSW2 has been next level.

Understandably, some of it was fair criticism at first. No one wants to see an $80 game. The accessory prices were each about $5-10 overpriced, and key carts are a legit issue for many.

But the haters took those very real, very fair criticisms and leveraged them to spin a narrative that the sky was falling. You'd have thought Mario Kart was gonna be $200, with no $50 option in a bundle, and not just it but every game, and that the system was gonna be digital only with no account-free cartridges that could be shared and resold. People were FREAKING. THE HECK. OUT. Like guys, I get it, I agree with you, but talk about an over-reaction... my goodness...

And ever since, a segment of the internet has made it their mission to slam EVERY game possible. Mario Kart World, for example. I have it. I played it. And it's fantastic! But you'd have thought it was downright terrible the way some slandered it. Pokemon releases and yes, it had embarrassingly cheap building models which absolutely deserved derision, but people were FREAKING. THE HECK. OUT. Like guys, I get it, I agree with you... but it's just flat building textures. It's not the end of the world!

And then comes Metroid. As expected, a segment of the internet starts FREAKING. THE HECK OUT. First it's the desert area. Then it's characters actually speaking dialog. But this time I thought no, I don't agree with you. This looks fire, and I adore the inclusion of characters and I think the dialog is fantastic. But even if you don't, it's just a few side characters. It's not a big deal.

And notice, all that unjustified uproar results in reviewers vowing to "dock it at least one point just for that" before they even got review copies. And they succeeded in slandering the game's critical response, after which, notice how suddenly everyone who was acting like the sky was falling got quiet? It's cause now they don't feel as threatened and jealous. They never really cared. Just pretended to. They wanted to thwart the game's critical response and deter as many from playing as possible. And now that they succeeded, they lost all interest and will move on to the next thing to hate and make picket signs to protest against.

But the real gamers (and I don't use that term much either but I will use it in this case) who are invested for the fun of the game, like us, aren't deterred by such ridiculous nonsense. People been hating on the games I love for half my life. It's nothing new. And as long as Nintendo keeps dropping bangers on the best system ever designed, there will continue to be those who manufacture outrage at every given opportunity. But they'll never steal our love of great video games. You can weaponize whatever silly opinions you want and shoot them at me like firey darts. My shield is, and has always been, "this game is absolute 🔥 kiddo, keep hatin".