Metroid Prime Remastered review – the best version of an all-time classic
Metroid Prime Remastered came out of nowhere. It was a surprise launch during a Nintendo Direct with very little fanfare; it was just another headline in the middle of the show. It was as if it was just dropped out as a quick, easy port to get it out of the way. Thankfully, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Metroid Prime Remastered for the comes courtesy of Retro Studios – the original developer of the game – and a group of support studios. Now, the term ‘remastered’ typically brings to mind lazy ports that simply up-res the graphics, and call it a day. Metroid Prime Remastered is more in line with 2022’s , which saw the original game running in the background, but with completely reworked graphics and new models.
Plus, unlike The Last of Us Part 1’s extortionate price point of £69.99 / $69.99 / AU124.95, Metroid Prime Remastered is only £34.99 / $39.99 / Au$59.95, so you get a far better game for half the price!
Super Metroid
Metroid Prime starts the way most Metroid games do:. galactic bounty hunter Samus Aran answers a distress signal, this time from a space station outside of orbit of the planet Tallon 4, former home of the Chozo race, who raised Samus. Right from the moment you land on that space station – even in the original GameCube release – the atmosphere is unmatched. Retro Studios has recreated it flawlessly from the original 2D Metroid trilogy over to 3D. And it's only amplified by the updated graphics.
Suddenly, the space pirate leader, Ridley, attacks the station, destroying it. Samus loses all of her powers and evacuates to Tallon 4’s surface. You now have to explore the planet in search of new and old abilities to find, and use, to defeat the space pirate leader. Along the way you’ll explore seven distinct areas, each gorgeously rendered in this remaster.
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It’s the classic Metroid layout and one so satisfying it spawned its own genre: metroidvania. The only downsides to Prime's interpretation of it is the 12 artifacts that you need to collect to face the final boss. I never felt like it was stated clearly that collecting the artifacts was the ultimate goal, so the end of my playtime culminated in a bit of a fetch quest (which was far less daunting than it seemed, to be fair).
Samus has never looked better. (Nintendo)Graphically, Metroid Prime Remastered is one of the best looking games on the Nintendo Switch; you really wouldn’t be able to tell you're playing a 20-year-old Nintendo GameCube game. It rivals some of the best-looking games on the system, like Capcom’s , all while running at a silky smooth 60 fps.
In its prime
The gameplay of Metroid Prime is the main event, however. Retro Studios manages to make Metroid’s jump to 3D one of the most elegant transitions I've ever seen, and it's up there with Super Mario 64. While the game is played in first-person, it feels far more like an adventure game than a standard FPS. You don’t have to worry about precision aiming thanks to the generous lock-on feature, and most boss fights feel more like puzzles than a straight FPS duel.
New to the remaster is the introduction of dual stick controls, which – as someone who recently played the original game – is a godsend. Metroid Prime came out in an era where FPS games on consoles were still being figured out, so turn and forward movement were mapped to the left stick, with strafing stuck to the lock-on. But now you can play the game with modern FPS controls.
For you sickos who like the original controls, you have the option to use them, as well as a control scheme emulating the pointer controls in the port of the game, in addition to a hybrid control scheme with GameCube controls and gyro aiming. The cream-of-the-crop however is using the dual stick controls with gyro aiming, which is hidden away in the camera options for whatever reason.
Metroid and I never used to get along. I found the games confusing and hard. After was announced, I blasted through the 2D entries and adored them. I held out hope that the Prime Trilogy would get ported to Nintendo Switch so I could play those. After nothing came of the games 20th anniversary in November 2022, I figured it was time to give up hope, and I played the game for the first time ever last month. Still fresh in my mind, I decided to give the remaster a go.
With games that are considered among the best ever made, it’s hard to say anything that hasn’t been said before. What speaks to the quality of Metroid Prime Remastered more than anything is that – despite the fact that I played the game for the first time only a month ago – I couldn’t put it down.
Metroid Prime Remastered verdict – 5/5
Any future remaster should take notes from Metroid Prime Remastered. This isn’t some lazy cash-grab; you can feel the care and passion to deliver the definitive version of an all-time classic throughout every part of this package. Retro Studios has left it alone, not adding any unnecessary fluff you see in other remasters like Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The developer only improved upon the things that really needed it, like the controls and graphics.
Metroid fans are truly eating good these days – first Dread, and now this fantastic remaster. While Metroid Prime 4 seems to have a troubled development, Metroid Prime Remastered gives me faith that the fourth entry is in the right hands. Let’s just hope we get remasters of this quality for Echoes and Corruption next, please!
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