This is an excellent remaster of a classic Gamecube title that I think improved on the experience enough I'd recommend it over the original. The new lighting engine and material-based rendering really transforms the game's environment and enemy design and brings everything much closer to the concept art. There are a handful of small details the Gamecube/Wii version sell a little better but overall the visuals are noticeably better. If you are playing officially, I'd say this has replaced the Wii version as my recommendation for new players of this game.
The new control schemes really sell this version above all the others. I have yet to try with a Pro Controller (I'm interested in how it handles the motion aim) but with a USB controller and joycons, I found dual stick was transformative in how much better the combat feels when you challenge yourself not to lock on. Plus a free camera means you can jump more confidently, and the general feel is much better, helping the endless backtracking of this game feel a bit more varied. Playing the game like this, I was more easily able to see the influence of the PC first person shooters and immersive sims this game took influence from as well. This first game was so fascinatingly varied in its influences!
I noticed the difficulty was a bit re-balanced compared to the Gamecube version, but also different from the changes already made to the Trilogy updated Wii version. No spoilers on where, but at the end of the game they introduced difficult enemies originally only in one or two rooms in a few more places after some major bosses have died. More scan opportunities thankfully, but there are still scans you can miss. And unfortunately, we're back to the "square somewhere on the thing" style of targets? Metroid Prime 2's "highlight the whole object" targets were sort of already in Prime 1 thanks to Trilogy's backport, though I can imagine they probably didn't use that version as the base of this project.
My biggest complaint about Metroid Prime is that it's a huge game with slow movement that asks you to repeatedly go to the same places over and over. But if you get to the end and you don't know which missile containers you are missing, you have to waste hours of your life checking every single possible spot of 50 to figure out which ones you've missed. I've played this game over a dozen times, but the only times I ever complete it 100% is when I write my own item tracker. Metroid Prime 3 had a solution for this! At the very end of the campaign, if you choose to backtrack for item cleanup, there are dots wherever there are any pickups you've missed. They served not as direct answers to where to go, but clues of where to look in the room to find the path or puzzle to them. A great inclusion, but sorely missing in this game considering the problem is worse here than Prime 2 or 3.
At this point I'm nitpicking pretty hard I understand, so take this all as a frustrated fan. This is definitely the best way to play this game, and I'm amazed at the work of the new Retro Studios. I even actually have hope that Prime 4 might possibly be a good game maybe? Not so sure still.
The new control schemes really sell this version above all the others. I have yet to try with a Pro Controller (I'm interested in how it handles the motion aim) but with a USB controller and joycons, I found dual stick was transformative in how much better the combat feels when you challenge yourself not to lock on. Plus a free camera means you can jump more confidently, and the general feel is much better, helping the endless backtracking of this game feel a bit more varied. Playing the game like this, I was more easily able to see the influence of the PC first person shooters and immersive sims this game took influence from as well. This first game was so fascinatingly varied in its influences!
I noticed the difficulty was a bit re-balanced compared to the Gamecube version, but also different from the changes already made to the Trilogy updated Wii version. No spoilers on where, but at the end of the game they introduced difficult enemies originally only in one or two rooms in a few more places after some major bosses have died. More scan opportunities thankfully, but there are still scans you can miss. And unfortunately, we're back to the "square somewhere on the thing" style of targets? Metroid Prime 2's "highlight the whole object" targets were sort of already in Prime 1 thanks to Trilogy's backport, though I can imagine they probably didn't use that version as the base of this project.
My biggest complaint about Metroid Prime is that it's a huge game with slow movement that asks you to repeatedly go to the same places over and over. But if you get to the end and you don't know which missile containers you are missing, you have to waste hours of your life checking every single possible spot of 50 to figure out which ones you've missed. I've played this game over a dozen times, but the only times I ever complete it 100% is when I write my own item tracker. Metroid Prime 3 had a solution for this! At the very end of the campaign, if you choose to backtrack for item cleanup, there are dots wherever there are any pickups you've missed. They served not as direct answers to where to go, but clues of where to look in the room to find the path or puzzle to them. A great inclusion, but sorely missing in this game considering the problem is worse here than Prime 2 or 3.
At this point I'm nitpicking pretty hard I understand, so take this all as a frustrated fan. This is definitely the best way to play this game, and I'm amazed at the work of the new Retro Studios. I even actually have hope that Prime 4 might possibly be a good game maybe? Not so sure still.