Metroid Prime has made a surprise arrival on Nintendo Switch, but it’s like it never left. A great game for which it seems that the years do not pass.

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It was one of the worst kept secrets in the video game industry, but no one expected its announcement to take place in the way it finally did in the first Nintendo Direct of 2023. Metroid Prime Remastered is already a reality on Nintendo Switch and not only that, but it is fully available for all those users of the hybrid console who want to re-enter the adventure of Samus who revolutionized the universe of the franchise in 2002considered as one of the best games in all history.

But, if you don’t know what to do about it and you think that Metroid Prime Remastered doesn’t have enough ingredients to start buying it, we have already explored it thoroughly so that you can solve all your doubts before embarking on a new adventure at the controls of Samus Aran. Inside Metroid Prime Remastered analysis on Nintendo Switch.

+ Pros

One of the best Nintendo Switch remasters. Playable is still a spectacle. Its adaptability in controls. Outstanding performance at 60fps. It is enjoyed from start to finish.

– Contras

There are certain specific problems with the sound. The lack of the rest of the game to make up the trilogy.

Metroid Prime Remastered: price, release date, platforms and where to buy

Metroid Prime RemasteredPlatformNintendo SwitchRelease DateFebruary 9, 2023DeveloperRetro StudiosGenreAdventure and shooterLanguageVoice in English and text in Spanish

Metroid Prime Remastered es the return of the GameCube classic from Retro Studioswho are also developing Metroid Prime 4. With its surprise release on February 9, 2023 on Nintendo Switchthis great space adventure with shooter overtones offers completely revamped graphics 20 years later from its original release and features a great English dub and Spanish in-text translations.

Nostalgia as Samus’ best weapon

It was the year 2002 when Nintendo presented Metroid Prime, a completely different proposal to anything that had been done previously in the saga and that it didn’t take long to break and demolish all possible molds. His proposal, which drank directly from the classic installments and, at the same time, revolutionized them with a 3D mapping, first-person camera and shooter overtones, left everyone impressed. So much so, that even today, it is considered one of the best video games of all time.

And it is not for less, because although his proposal might seem simple, inviting Samus Aran to enter a planet full of dangers to recover all her abilities and weapons, fighting the threats of the place, its depth went much further. It has some of the most spectacular and original level design the genre has ever seenplus a sistema de backtracking maravilloso and that was a breath of fresh air at the time. In fact, even today it’s still impressive that such a great job could be done on a GameCube.

Es a really fun, entertaining, original and colossal game I didn’t care in the slightest about replaying, because jewels of this type can be enjoyed countless times. What I didn’t expect to find was an immense job and one of the most polished I’ve ever played on a Nintendo Switchsomething that just makes me salivate in relation to what this team can do in the future with Metroid Prime 4.

A remastering with remake overtones

The remodeled textures of Metrod Prime Remastered have little to envy to today’s games.

Nintendo has taken pains to clarify and emphasize that Metroid Prime Remastered is a remastering and not a remake, as its own name indicates. However, it has been endowed with such powerful elements that it has a certain dose of remake, making it the best relaunch that has been seen to date on a Nintendo Switch. And it is that the work on the modeling of the characters, enemies, environments and everything that appears on the screen is an audiovisual marvel that has nothing to envy to many other video games that are currently being released on the market.

Special mention deserves the illumination of the title, completely redesigned to give a new dimension to the Metroid Prime that we remembered. And what if he succeeds! All the changes that have been made to the textures, in provide a greater degree of detail to the environments and the small changes in all the visual aspects, make Metroid Prime Remastered not only look like a remake, but rather looks like one of the best games in the entire Nintendo Switch catalogsomething that may be big words, but it makes clear the exceptional work and care that has been put into bringing back a title that is legendary.

So what is the main reason not to consider it a remake? so what in certain playable aspects it is noted that it is a drawing traced on the original canvas. There are some somewhat cruder and poorly cared mechanics, showing that the game has not been completely redone, but has been modified on the basis that already existed. This contributes a fantastic result on a visual level, but it leaves small seams in a gameplay for which 20 years have already passed. Of course, it is worth it in order to enjoy that totally stable movement at 60fps and with much lower loading times to what Nintendo Switch titles are used to today.

In the variety is the taste of control

The controls have been completely adapted to the virtues of Nintendo Switch.

If the technical facelift is the great incentive of Metroid Prime Remastered, what Retro Studios has done with the controls is not far behind. One of the great virtues of the original game was the console on which it was launched, which had one of the best controllers in videogame history, adapting its controls to perfection and making it a game that flowed through each of its playable aspects. Of course, the team did not want to lose this feeling and they have included an option through which you can keep these classic controls fully adaptable to what GameCube offered.

However, the development team is aware that times have changed and they do not offer a new control option, but two more so that each player can choose the one that best suits their style. The first of them is called “Dual Lever” and it is the interpretation of any current shooter video game: that is, with the left joystick you move Samus, while with the right you control the camera at all times, thus allowing to effectively adjust the sight when it comes to dealing with enemies. However, as I say, there are even more options.

The second is somewhat more bizarre and less comfortable, since it proposes a hybrid system with which to take advantage of the Joy-Con and its movement system. In this way, you can aim and move the camera with the movement control of the controls, while the rest of the actions are carried out with the classic button mapping. An option that has not convinced me too much, but it is there for those virtuosos who enjoy this type of control.

What is clear is that the development team wanted to offer options for all tastes, satisfying the most purists with the classic controls and doing a phenomenal job adapting them to the times. All of this, added to the an interface redesign that allows a glimpse of all the elements in a clearer and sharper way than what happened in the original game.

Metroid Prime Remastered Final Rating

I will not comment on the rest of the virtues that elevate Metroid Prime, since at a playable level the title is practically intact and it is the best thing that could have happened to it, since we are facing one of the most complete video games that has ever been created. His self-confidence when it comes to taking risks, offering different mechanics from time to time, keep you in suspense during the 15-20 hours that the adventure laststhat feeling that you are always doing something new and discovering different places… A perfect conjunction of what should be a great game that, for much that 20 years have passed since its original release, it continues to impress for all that it entailsboth at a playable level and in the revolution that it meant for the saga.

The wait is getting especially long to play Metroid Prime 4 once and for all, but seeing what Retro Studios has achieved with this Metroid Prime Remastered, personally they have carte blanche to take the time necessary if they are going to be able to give us a title that can go straight to the Olympus of the Nintendo video games. The affection with which they have treated the original work, the care that has been given to all its visual aspects to give it the appearance it deserves, this timeless jewel is everything a treasure for any player who has a Nintendo Switch.

The best? That this is just the beginning. There are still two deliveries to come, which surely will, to take the final step to the fourth and new proposal of this twist to Metroid and, when that moment arrives, I only hope that this Metroid Prime Remastered seems like child’s play compared to what we will experience together with Samus Aran in her new adventure.

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