# *Metroid Prime: Hunters* Notes A game designed with two purposes: bring the *Metroid Prime* experience on the go and create a multiplayer first-person online shooter for a handheld console. I'd say it succeeded at both of those, but not necessarily excelled at them. It was well designed for the hardware. > [!warning] > Spoilers below! ![[Metroid Prime Hunters Notes.pdf]] ### Stats - Started Playing: 1/12/25 - Beat: 4/26/25 - Total Playtime: 5h 44m ### Legacy - This game truly was concept to full blown game on the DS. It proved FPS could work on the console, brought a super popular version of IP to the device, and marked a major multiplayer offering for the system. Wi-Fi was all the rage then. - I remember multiplayer, multiplayer, and multiplayer as a kid. I did 100% the game back then. I was in. ### Overall - Game is definitely going for PRIME ON THE GO. And so far the aesthetics match. - Okay. We modded the 3DS for analog control, gyro control, and widescreen support. Save me hacked 3DS - I don’t remember hand cramps when I was a kid. - Really tired to expand the Metroid lore and galaxy with these hunters and spieces. ### Story - “Mission File 79109: Journey to the TETRA GALAXY to uncover the source of a mysterious message.” - Olithics and ambilic power? - If these bases kept blowing up why can I return to them? - There is an ultimate power in this system. Bounty Hunters are looking for it. Ancient cybernetic race hide it. - All backstory is told through invisible markers to scan. Little in the environment indicates there is something to scan. Not the right way to go about world building. BUT the texture detail is so low, it is likely difficult for environmental 3D storytelling on DS. - This race imprisoned a being called Gorea. They use this mega cannon to rip open a fissure between dimensions where Gorea’s prison is hidden away. - There is a hidden/true ending that you unlock by hitting these colored discs in a certain order at the start of the Gorea fight. I wonder how the player learns that in-game? ### Gameplay - There’s aim assist, but it is enemies stand still so you can aim with face buttons assist. - First Hunter fight is Kaden and boy oh boy is there Halo energy with “HEADSHOT” flashing at the top of the UI. - The lack of using a shoulder button to jump is a huge oversight. I guess one-handed though, there would be no way to hit that second shoulder. - Definitely lots of “kill all enemies in room before advancing” gates, - Really, lots of gates because backtracking isn’t really possible in portable-ly designed levels. Have to succeed in one go type mentality. - A to B level design, mid boss that is a hunter, then a final boss with an evacuation moment. Distilled Metroid highlights that feels like a cookie cutter recipe for imitation. How do we get Prime on DS? This was the answer. - Even the iconic 3D map is a shell of its original incarnation - I feel like the map should have been on the touch screen, but maybe that was just too much power. - You use the touch screen to rotate the map. Doh - Checkpoints upon death! - If you die to a hunter, you have to beat them and reclaim the stolen artifact. Neat. - Little map now shows Hunter icons of who is where. Neat. - Rehash bosses. Should have remembered. - Super lame there are only two bosses that get incrementally stronger with each encounter. There’s no figuring out how to beat them after the first encounter - So instead of losing your suit’s powers and collecting new abilities, you collect new guns/ammo. These have a very Mega Man-style, rock/paper/scissors approach to them, with each Hunter having a weakness. Cool idea and shakes up the same "lose all powers" at the start of the game. - Also, without a guide, you’d have to explore and find weapons on various planets. Then those unlock doors on other planets. That’s the Metroidvania-ism logic. - I was thinking about how the touch-screen UI is entirely designed around being all the buttons AND right-analog stick. Double tap to jump, move/drag for aiming. Tap icon for scan visor, the weapon wheel, morph ball. All accessible on touch screen. This is the only way to adapt FPS to DS. I am just too old for this scheme now. - I wish we could play multiplayer. So vital to the game and its release. ### Music/Sound Design - These techo beats have awoken a deep vibe within my brain. - VS. Kanden has a grooving bass line - You hear the escape theme *a lot*. ### Graphics - Surprisingly legible on a tiny screen and in 3D. - The split screen cutscenes are cool and very of the time/hardware. Two views, one scene. Cool moments with match cuts that sync the imagery though. - Yo dawg. I heard you like frame drops and screen tears. - When you are ambushed by three Guardians, you can feel the frame rate rise as you defeat them one by one. - Modding the game to run widescreen and with analog control on New 3DS XL is a game changer in presentation and functionality. ### World - Some archival space station is the first level. - Celestial Archives - Alinos - Once beautiful home to the elders now lava cause the planet’s core exploded. - Weapons Dev Place - Arcterra - Frozen planet - The planets are split into two chunks/halves. New weapons after getting half the Octoliths are the key to entering the second halves it seems. That’s a smidge of Metroid design. Still so linear though. Made clear by the escape sequences.