Though there were a few tentative attempts at making a Metroid 64 for the Nintendo 64, nothing concrete ever fully materialised, leading many to wonder if Super Metroid would ever receive a proper follow up. The silence was finally broken many years later on the GameCube with the release of Metroid Prime, Samus' first 3D adventure. Though many were hesitant to believe that a brand new studio could do the game justice (from a first person perspective, no less), but the final product was one of the most well received games in the series.
While the trilogy was a great success in its own right, there was also the side game, Metroid Prime Hunters, released on the DS. The only game in the series not developed by Retro, Hunters differentiated itself by the popular online mode and more action focused gameplay, while taking some criticism for its unconventional control scheme. And now, Nintendo has revealed that the game will be making its Virtual Console debut in North America for this week's eShop update. Unfortunately, this release won't come with the online mode from the original, but at least the substantial single player campaign will still be intact.
What do you think? Did you enjoy Metroid Prime Hunters? What other games would you like to see on the Virtual Console? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
[source nintendo.com]
Comments 44
still have my ds copy. even if i didnt most of these ds releases on wii u are just not so fun to play on a home console.
I already have the physical DS copy but I enjoy the Metroid franchise enough I will probably double dip on this. Besides the gold My Nintendo points are kind of appealing.
I loved this game way back when, it had some genuinely fun multiplayer. Too bad that won't be available on this release, but you can't on the original either now anyways.
Man, it was hype all around for the multiplayer when this game launched. This was the first Metroid game that I didn't finish the campaign for, but I built up a nice profile record online.
Argh why not in europe ? i don't know why they don't just give the same VC games to Europe and the US each week, saves the frustration of one region having to wait longer for the same games that the other gets, hope we get it soon.
@Toadie youre so right. that and region locking is very annoying.
Other M would have been better.
I might actually be tempted to pick this up with my next paycheck...
Man, wish you could do local wireless with other DSs or online.. Multiplayer was so fun
Again, this game needs multiplayer to really be worth anything. Passing.
I'd like to play this on the gamepad but it's twice what I'd like to pay for that experience. I'll see if the eshop page can tempt me or not
They could bring local multiplayer with another DS systems. Nintendo is so lazy.
They could bring local multiplayer with another DS systems. Nintendo is so lazy.
These DS games are gimped without multiplayer. Doesn't stop them asking for full VC price though.
I remember loving the character design, but hating the gameplay. I might pick it up to prepare myself for Federation Force.
I bought this and tried liking it, but none of the control schemes were very good imo. Since I couldn't play multiplayer I got bored with it pretty fast.
One of the few Metroid games I don't care for.
Probably the prettiest 3D DS game.
@Toadie How do you think us American gamers feel? You guys get VC games way more often than we do, and nowadays when one comes out in your region, we begrudgingly expect to wait half a year at best before we can enjoy it as well. I do agree that Nintendo should just try to bring the VC games to as many regions simultaneously as possible.
@allav866 That's what my comment is all about, it's frustrating on both sides lol Being a huge Metroid fan this one is particularly annoying for me personally, but i do accept you guys across the pond have it worse in general in having to wait for VC games. The silver lining i guess is i can find out now whether it has control options for the right stick or not, rather than having to buy it myself to find out !
I could check that with another DS game after work, but if I remember correctly, the DS VC doesn't let you change the button controls; ABXY can't be mapped to D-Pad.
I find it interesting that people seem to like Hunters, while Federation Force only gets hate.
@allav866 #19. This is the main reason I'm not annoyed, EU fans have been treated so well over the current generation while NoA treated their fans so bad that certain VC releases are even approaching 1 year later than EU (e.g. Shadow Dragon). The annoying thing instead is the no VC releases approach NoE has started very recently.
@hiptanaka Timing is extremely important. Prime Hunters came out in early 2006 of which Prime 3 was already known about from E3 2005 and Prime 2 had come out in late 2004. Meanwhile for Federation Force, no main Metroid game has been announced and the last loved one released in 2007 (Prime 3).
@Toadie NoA and NoE are different companies in different markets. They release games depending on market demands and trends.
So NoA got Devilish Brain training, we didn't.
NoE got the new3DS with face plates, NoA didn't (for 6-7 months)
NoE got DKC Trilogy on eShop, NoA had to wait 5 months.
NoE translated and funded Xenoblade Chronicles when NoA wouldn't.
Please let us know if this works well on the WiiU, I really couldn't get into the controls on the DS
@JHDK I was going through my DS games the other day and noticed the mixture of US and EU games. Region locking was one of the biggest mistakes Nintendo made with the 3DS!
Regarding DS games on the Wii U Gamepad - meh. They'd be much better on 3DS.
@SensationalSean Have to disagree with the final sentence, they'd be much better on both systems with crossbuy involved.
@Grumblevolcano Oh yes, that would be ideal ... but it's not like we have precedent for that!
I wonder why Nintendo don't follow Sony's lead in that regard! Maybe we need to stop rebuying these old games in an effort to recapture our youths?!
The single player's good, but I would have killed for the awesome multiplayer mode to return!
With the release if the NX hopefully they will implement cross-buy on VC games we have already purchased and have some form of single international release date like pretty much all games on other consoles these days.
Well played US on finally getting a VC game before us Europeans. Hopefully we won't have a ridiculously long wait before it comes here though.
''Substantial'', as in a campaign that can be hundred percent cleared within 6 hours at best and 2 at worst.
This game is nearly nothing without the online component. Releasing it this way on the VC still seems like a poor joke to me. Otherwise, it'd be tens of hours of fun and good nostalgia indulgence.
I loved Prime Hunters on DS. The multiplayer sadly is likely the biggest draw here, good news is you can go into local multiplayer and play against computer controlled characters, they only use the power beam but if set to higher difficulties get more accurate. Not sure as its been so long but I think one can also watch an all CPU match. Single player campaign is alright, the coolest part was that the enemy hunters could be hiding on a planet you wanted to go to and you had to risk fighting them or trying to land elsewhere and hope when you looked again they were gone.
I agree with those that say DS games are not fun nor easy to play on Wii U, they should be released for 3DS instead (or for both consoles with cross-buy, as @Grumblevolcano said). People should be playing Metroid Trilogy on Wii U if they have not yet (as Metroid Other M is not really worth your time and money).
I just got the DS version last week. Still the better version though!
I really liked how Star Fox Command translated to Wii U, but it was a shame to not have that multiplayer. Gonna have to stew on getting this, as I have a cartridge with all the multiplayer features unlocked.
I really liked the control method on this game, a similar style worked perfect on kid Icarus. And I was hoping they would have tried it with the wiiu controller, but those kind of ideas have been a bit few and far between.
Never played this game. Is the single player campaign worth the price of admission here?
Wonder if I'll be able to use the analogue sticks to control instead of using the stylus to aim.
@bezerker99 The single player campaign is pretty poor. There's only 2 or 3 distinct bosses (which are repeated) and it's incredibly short. You can always just play against bots but it would probably get boring pretty quickly.
last time u asked what game we would like to see on VC, my answer was PM Hunters... ;D
now, i'm just hoping for good controls as i'm gonna get this day 1 for sure since i couldn't finish the original cuz the controls were breaking my hands!!
My first Metroid game. It was too complicated for me when I first got it, and then I kind of forgot about it. I should replay this one...
I'd be way more interested with Wiimote controls...
Loved the online made on this back in the day.
oh man, i was hyped until i saw the pricing today DansGame
@Dakt as someone who's played both, this is super false. The multiplayer was good, like really good, and SHOULD be in this release-- but the campaign is really good too. A proper short little Nervous Prime campaign with some damn cool environments. It's a gimped release without multiplayer, but the campaign is NOT worthless, it's pretty good.
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