Metroid Prime Remastered Review With Ex Retro Studios Developer(Jack Mathews)

[@thalesn]

First video I've watched from this channel. It was really great. The resume of the person being interviewed speaks for itself, but the interviewer himself also was incredibly well prepared. Great stuff.

[@KIWITALKZ]

NOTE: Jack had some audio issues for the first minute which disappear after that. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 - Intro 01:14 - Metroid Prime Remastered Is How You Remember It 03:01 - Updates To The Audio/Gameplay Holding Up 04:15 - UI Fixes 05:12 - Trilogy Code Being Used For Remaster 05:52 - Mirror Reflection Removal/Physically Based Rendering 12:45 - Updated Artwork/Lights On The Orpheon 15:38 - Animation Rig For Metroid Prime Form 1 Boss 17:14 - Metroid Prime Hasn’t Been Replicated/Games Copying Metroid Primes Visors 19:00 - Jack & Kiwi Joke About Pitching An FPS With The Morph Ball Mechanic 20:00 - Space Pirate Morph Ball Lore/Morph Ball Makes No Sense Logically 21:20 - Original Team Being Puzzled Trying To Animate The Morph Ball 23:10 - Complexity Of Making The Morph Ball 25:00 - Why The Original Team SHOULD Be Credited 31:15 - Why The Thermal Visor In MPR Is Worse Than The Original Game 37:00 - Why Your Beams Don’t Light Up Rooms In MPR 44:20 - It Would’ve Been A Herculean Effort To Make The Game Run At 60FPS 47:00 - MPR Was Retro Proving They Have Still Got It/Setting The Stage For Metroid Prime 4 51:00 - Jack Falling For The Gravity Suit Trap 54:04 - Ramping Of Difficulty In The Phazon Mines Gauntlet 57:50 - Jack Wanted Checkpoints 59:30 - What Constitutes An HD Port, Remaster And Remake. 1:04:35 - Controller Options & Issues For MPR 1:09:33 - Hot Light Sticks In Phendrana Drifts 1:10:10 - Particle Effects Upgrades/Magmoor Caverns Looks Amazing Now 1:11:45 - Metroid Prime Biomes 1:14:45 - Patches Jack Wants Added To The Game 1:18:38 - Samus Character Model In The End Cutscene 1:22:35 - Why Samus’ Character Model Changed In Subsequent Games 1:23:40 - Jack Is Proud Of Everyone That Worked On The Game 1:25:00 - The Weirdness Of Not Marketing MPR/Repeat Of History Of Retro Being Underdogs Again 1:27:57 - We Are In A Renaissance Of Metroid Series 1:28:50 - Dread Vs Prime Remastered/Older 2D Metroids Have Aged 1:32:30 - Jack Plugs His Wifes New Cook Book

[@faisalcsat3301]

Time Ranger. Thank You

[@mathewhaight]

This was an amazing interview. The explanations for the thermal visor and dynamic lighting in particular really made me appreciate what they did in the original and what the new team had to do for the remaster. I also love that they addressed the Samus model and even addressed the Sakamoto games retconning her height. I really hope they stick to this model if they ever get to remastering Echoes.

[@Training_Wheels]

Echoes.

[@mathewhaight]

@@Training_Wheels What?

[@Training_Wheels]

@@mathewhaight Door cannot be opened with that weapon. 🦞

[@RCL89]

GameCube vs. Switch: Yes, they kept Samus' ship clipping trough tree branches in the overworld landing sequence. Yes, they added a little hop to the animation before Samus jumps down a level during the final boss fight.

[@Nobody-sp7ug]

Hey Jack, don't know if you just forgot, or your code went places you never expected, but the reflection effect was in many more places than the mirror plates in the chozo ruins. It was also on every chunk of smooth ice and metal tunnel wall, with an embm distortion over it for the shape of the surface. It really stood out, not just because the reflections were cool, but because the model used was not animated, it was in that T pose just hilariously boppin around.... Until the player went into morph ball, the animation into, out of, and morph ball itself, any time the camera went 3rd person, were completely animated by the reflection model. This of course, goes out to every single person who worked on Metroid prime, but it's rare to really get to put a face and voice to something like this. Your code really wowed my socks off back in the day. I spent way way way too much time in front of every surface that could possibly be reflective to see if it showed up, and even longer when it did.

[@X1stence]

I loved this interview. This guy rules. He's such a seemingly great guy. That plug for his wife was the sweetest thing

[@Wymizer]

Glad to hear I wasn't the only person who struggled with the new control scheme because of muscle memory. I know the new version is great, but those of us forged in the single joystick fire will never forget.

[@lmeza1983]

Single joystick movement and fire is extremely archaic, it feels like driving a tank in s video game. I'm old enough to have played prime on release year and I was like 19 years old already. I played Doom back in the day using only 4 keys for movement and the shift key to strafe. I can say dual joystick or keyboard/mouse movement and aiming is 100 times better, just stop locking down targets that was needed because of the lack of the second joystick.

[@Wymizer]

@@lmeza1983 I don't disagree, I was only saying that I'd played it so much with the old control scheme that it was hard even with a better control scheme

[@CptJistuce]

​@@lmeza1983 The funny thing is the 'Cube had dual analog nubs. Lock-on wasn't because no one had the ability to do dual-nub controls or because the concept wasn't invented. It was an intentional design decision, and one I've always felt works really well in the context of Prime.

[@Knorv]

These interviews are just so good. Keep 'em coming!

[@ourfamilyaccount]

Still absorbed in this coverage but wanted to comment my thoughts real quick. I was sad by the reflection removal because to me it added personally to the game. We as the player saw Samus in front of us, it was truly something I won't ever forget. It gave me a reminder, 'oh yeah I'm playing as Samus' and not a floating arm canon in front of the camera etc. I'm actually suprised in the dev community y'all thought it was an error to begin with. To me and many others it was something small but very memorable. I'm excited to keep watching this video. Thanks so much.

[@novustalks7525]

Speaking on the ball. One of my favourite animations is if you transform mid air after a boost she somersaults before landing. I love it so much

[@FelipeRicardo]

Oh I was really hoping for a follow up on the lighting system and how it could work on Metroid prime 2 since it's so heavenly based on lighting.

[@docdordof5063]

it's evident and awesome jack mathews knows his stuff here. theres a level of knowledge, confidence and respect for the craft that a lot of these ex developers usually don't have. Both outside and inside the scope of the game and the gaming landscape as a whole

[@BlueHarvey]

Legendary interview with a legendary person.

[@novustaIks7525]

Great video as usual, I love listening to these Retro guys talk!

[@kdvtea]

Found this channel a couple of months ago searching for metroid prime, has been a real goldmine. Almost all uploads have impeccable audio. The interviewer genuinely understands what he's doing. Now on to my opinion regarding the hypothetical competition between Metroid Dread and Metroid Prime: Metroid Prime resides in an entirely different realm of far superior games. Metroid Dread is a good game - which are not exactly the norm either. But I can only recall a total of five games with a similar awe inspiring gaming experience for me (including Metroid Prime).

[@mac0285]

What are the other games that gave you an awe inspiring experience?

[@kdvtea]

​@@mac0285 omf2097, wc3 tft custom maps, Mass effect, CrossCode obviously super subjective with the varying degrees of nostalgia, but not the slightest hint of "I remember it differently"

[@mac0285]

@@kdvtea Thanks for the reply, it's always fun to learn of cool games I've never heard of!

[@rayblaak4915]

I have played them all, Metroid Prime 1 was my first, and will always be special. But playing Metroid Dread was a revelation, I really do think it is the best Metroid game of all time, beating even Super Metroid. It just *flows* in such a magical way. It just totally redeems Samus' dignity from the disrespect from Other M. I play Metroid Prime now for almost therapy: calm reassuring nostalgia with spikes of combat excitement, especially the Meta Ridley fight. I know what to do, and it is still great immersive fun. But fuck those fission metroids, still! They still make me work.

[@wrosebrock]

​@@rayblaak4915Super Metroid has much better music than Dread, and more interconnected worlds, and a deeper feeling of isolation. IMO

[@Akimbo711]

I don't ever leave KZbin comments, but I just wanted to say that the Metroid Prime series was a huge part of my childhood. I'm grateful for these interviews you've done with these incredible developers - it's just made me appreciate them more, so much to the point that I'm emulating Prime 1 with PrimeHack and it looks and feels fantastic 20 years later. Thanks again.

[@exactspace]

In the control options, I swapped the button combo control for visor vs beams. I found it's usually more critical to have the various beams to your disposal quickly than visors.

[@ZumaZoom07]

Didn’t know that was possible… and i just got to impact crater with my Phazon suit 🥲😅

[@doc.sk8erdie286]

20:39 I remember that space pirate lore! It said something like the subjects became horribly disfigured will trying to emulate the morph ball, that made me laugh, I loved it!😂👍

[@jimphilidor9031]

It seems he has worked on the Shadow Of The Colossus remaster too. It's amazing: I wonder if they credited the original devs.

[@VideoOfMike]

What a amazing interview, very cool you got to interview him and contains a lot of goodies. Thanks and you got a sub!

[@TheRavenArchon]

There are still some dynamic lights, but they're selective. Like the Morphball casts dynamic lights most of the time, but there are a few areas where if you're paying attention you realize the Morphball no longer is casting a light. So the engine could clearly handle them, but they're strictly controlled and so having the ability to spam dynamic light sources all over the room with the blaster was a hard no go apparently. Especially with the need to preserve the sacred 60 fps. I had a feeling the change in geometry and mapping complexity was why they had to be cut, so it's nice to have that more or less confirmed by someone in the know. It's a loss certainly, but I'll take the gorgeous visuals and rock solid FPS over one more shiny effect, so I agree this was the right choice. Edit: The leaves in front of the tunnel in the Chozo ruins never vanished in the original, even in Xray as far as I recall. That little tunnel was the very last secret I found in the game and the only one I had to use a walkthrough to find, because I kept walking past the leaves with Xray and thermal on and never saw it. It's actually easier to see the tunnel in the remaster. Also, Super Metroid still controls immaculately, and I play it like once a year. It's tied with Prime for my favorite Metroid of all time.

[@Abner_Aharoni]

Great video as usual, and a big thanks for Jack Mattews for being so open and insightful. I watched your previous two interviews with him numerous time cause its just fun listening to him talk. Hopefully Mike Wikan will do a second video too to share his thoughts, I keep watching his first interview every now and then as well.

[@KIWITALKZ]

I constantly get requests to get Mike Wikan back on. It may happen at some point.

[@EnigmaHood]

Crazy that it's been over 20 years since the original. It doesn't feel like it's been that long.

[@JIKS-ro2yi]

"Can you imagine a FPS where you turn into a ball and a bomb comes from your insides?" Overwatch: Hammond pitch meeting... 2016

[@Monafide3305]

Wow, what an awesome video! It's not often we get this kind of insight, this is something really special. Reminds me of Digital Foundry's Demon's Souls remake video with Bluepoint.

[@Shaki123]

This is how you do interviews about games. Deeply detailed and technical as well.

[@UberNoodle]

@1:06:56 With the dual analogue stick controls, I did make the one change in the options to switch the missile button to Y instead of the R shoulder button. that also makes the visor shift button the shoulder button. It works so much better especially for doing super missiles.

[@esmooth919]

To each their own. I was fine with the original.

[@UberNoodle]

Actually, Y being missiles IS the original button configuration. On the GameCube controller it was very easy to do super missiles because of this rather than needing two fingers on to move to the trigger and shoulder button, which is the default for the Switch Remaster.

[@holdenlindsay1664]

Thank you for this awesome interview. This is the first video Ive watched from this channel. This was such a pleasure to watch and I main monitored the video the whole time. This game series was such an influence on my life growing up.

[@cozyflannel]

I already loved the remaster but this made me appreciate the work so much more. Thanks for being on the show and teaching players about these things.

[@esmooth919]

1:04:35 As someone who got used to gyro aiming via Splatoon, I'm so very glad that they gave us this option under twinstick controls. Unfortunately, it was *_so_* well hidden, that I thought it didn't exist. Somebody had to tell me about it.

[@StiffAftermath]

Yesss! Been waiting for this. Got my coffee! And ready to indulge. BTW, the reflection thing is weird because it reflects the room, but not Samus at all. And some of the old geometrical hit boxes are still in the game where you'd hit an invisible objects in mid air or can't jump over a small ledge under water. Weird stuff. Beam lights being shot down hallways was taken out of the wii version, not just on switch.

[@smackyocracky]

Most of those sorts of changes on the Wii version were for seizure avoidance

[@nicolabellumat]

Many thanks to Jack Mathews for giving this interview and providing specific comments on the technical aspects of the original game and the remaster. Not less importantly, massive kudos to Kiwi Talkz for reaching Mathews, organizing the interview and posing competent questions. Nowadays game journalism websites and most of the gaming channels provide only opinions and biased pseudo-news that just speaking with a developer about actual design and technical knowledge they accumulated and employed is a rarity.

[@DougUnfunny]

wow this was interesting and informative. Its always hard to get anything info from game devs that work on nintendo games.

[@novustalks7525]

I was impressed when I first saw it but i was blown away when I saw how the original actually looked again by comparison. It's truly a remake

[@MatthewdangeR]

They should have just ported the original trilogy instead, it made NO sense to remake just Metroid Prime.

[@novustalks7525]

@@MatthewdangeR yeah but it was awesome

[@michaelcollard2764]

The cookbook ui design looks amazing.

[@edwardhofer2429]

Thank you Jack for making the best video game ever.

[@wishonpleiades6288]

Excellent interview, I learned tons about Prime. Shame that Nintendo didn't credit the original staff for the Remaster...

[@Hysteria98]

They've just done the exact same thing for Paper Mario 2, as well,

[@Daeyrat]

If you keep interviewing these guys I guess I'll keep coming back here Good stuff!

[@davidpicard5376]

What a privilege to have a former engineer from this remarkable game share his thoughts. Much appreciated 👍

[@lordrikudouzero9119]

Excellent video! Metroid Prime was the first Metroid game I fully beat. Love the game and series. It’s my second fav game of all time. Thanks for all of the hard work you and Retro Studios placed in the series👍🏾

[@charlescirio]

I am curious, what is your favorite game of all time ?

[@Vode1234]

Hey thanks for the interviews. Really fascinating stuff. Hope we get more 3d metroid-vanias one day

[@robertkenny1201]

Hope they Remaster the other 2 prime games someday.

[@Domi39]

Yes. The metroid prime boss room transition cutscene animation was updated. And is one of the few changes that looks great. Many of the animations were changed.

[@Deepestdrip]

Speaking of patches that need to be added, I hope Retro gives us input buffering since the original game had it but this one does not. That is why it takes so long to charge up multiple super missiles - having to fire 3 single power beam shots before every charge shot is a bad oversight. In the original game, you could buffer another charge shot right after firing one by just holding A again. It would make the entire combat system much cleaner.

[@Fuk99999]

I think someone actually proved this wrong tho? Like either the fire rate was faster on the burst shot or the charge speed was increased to account for it. Either way, I know I saw a video where the speed to hit full charge up between both old and new was about the same.

[@Deepestdrip]

@@Fuk99999 No, they didn't change the fire rate or speed of charge. Literally everything is the same except that you now fire three power beam shots before every charge shot. Terrible decision by Retro to remove the ability to buffer, whether they did it knowingly or not.

[@RichoRosai]

@@Deepestdrip One wonders if it might be another example of insistence on questionable ideas by trans-pacific producers...

[@Hysteria98]

@@Deepestdrip I've seen a side-by-side comparison which shows that the charge speed for some of the beams is unchanged, but the Wave beam for example I think was even slower.

[@Deepestdrip]

@@Hysteria98 I can believe it. I hope we get charge buffering back in prime 4!

[@Geneolgia]

Im glad they mention Nintendo's distrust with this game and Retro, it's so strange because people have been begging for ports or remasters of the whole Trilogy almost from the start of the Switch's lifetime, and then when they finally do it they reveal it like it was a 3rd party game without any bells and whistles, barely with any advertising, it's llike they were ashamed of it almost, but at the end people know better because they have on their hands one of the most acclaimed games ever and sales charts will show that.

[@NYYanks2003040506]

We'll never know what Nintendo was thinking because the company keeps a tight lid on things but I don't necessarily agree that they were ashamed of this game. People love shadow drops and sometimes they help sales. It certainly worked for this game and it's heightened the hype for MP 4.

[@ProsecutorValentine]

@@NYYanks2003040506 Nowadays, things such as NDAs are very transparent because the facts lines up as predictable paterns. Nintendo definitly is not the same as it was when Iwata was still around for example, the executives in the businesses from west to east are absolutly out of touch because they don't have to know a single thing about gaming itself to drive its business nature. Especially when the only thing they understand is sales record and when they look at the past made products, they only see outdated tech, limitations, missuse of budget costs that doesn't align with how their methods work in the modern days, ""technological debts""... It does not matter that they are factually wrong, they can't understand the truth or what this all means, they only understand numbers. So when one does have the impression that Nintendo were ashamed, their guess couldn't be more close to the truth, because the executive despite the demand on the market where having doubt on the profit a remaster could bring from the storefront.

[@captainthunderbolt7541]

I thought the surprise announcement worked very well. It was like a small bomb had gone off within my circle of friends. It was a very exciting day. It wouldn't have been that exciting if we had known that it was coming for months.

[@CatzyCatzy]

Good thing...I never asked Nintendo for a remaster...just extra time to make Metroid Prime 4 real good...like it has to be the 2nd one...like kinda of good. If Dread is good...I expect the 1st person shooter to be great...

[@superbeta1716]

Because there ain't a lot of people asking for it, Metroid has such a small fanbase but since you are a part if it you feel like Nintendo is constantly getting bombarded about remasters/remakes when it's not actually the case, Metroid has never sold well and it's even worse in japan, even Metroid Prime remaster didn't knock it out of the park, selling a over a million is good but we are talking about Metroid prime 1 which is one of the better games out there and it just sold around 1/3 of what Dread sold and it's 20 bucks cheaper

[@riflemanm16a2]

1:14:28 I just compared two longplays of the original and the remastered versions, and both do indeed have show leaves clipping through the ship! It's less noticeable in the remastered version however.

[@aktchungrabanio6467]

I don't care if the developer says it's ok to remove the reflections form the game. Lots of us miss them a lot

[@Thorny_Fox]

I agree with the patches he would like to see (checkpoints & more generous hint system), I would also add a fast travel option between save stations, I've seen many people point it out and came to agree with them. All modern Metroidvanias have some sort of fast travel and its hard going back to one where you literally have to walk through the entire world, it can be very tedious. Let the player decide if he wants to backtrack and explore old areas or just get to the next destination quickly.

[@KIWITALKZ]

I think fast travel wouldn't be possible without a lot of new scripting.

[@novustaIks7525]

I agree, I played the original Prime on Gamecube countless times, but as I get older I can't help but asking for a quicker way to get around.

[@esmooth919]

​@@novustaIks7525 especially since u have to travel thru Magmoor Caverns to get to a lot of places. It's nuts!

[@elrond7887]

I think teleporters would make more sense than fast travel for Metroid prime

[@jonathanherrera4900]

No. Leave the way it is. This new handholding system of modern games is ridiculous.

[@boredmonkee]

Great interview but I am fixated on that wall behind Jack.

[@kevinr.9733]

I am so glad that I played Super Metroid before the GBA games and Dread. The game holds up very well, but it can be hard to return to after the control adjustments and improvements made in later titles. Which is why I'd recommend starting with it if you want to get into 2D Metroid in 2023.

[@RichoRosai]

I agree with your recommendation in principle, but I have no problem going back and forth personally--except for Samus Returns after Dread, because it's basically like a practice run for Dread by the same developer, plus AM2R is a more compelling version of the same events.

[@Ray-dl5mp]

I disagree completely. If you want people to get into the series Dread and Fusion are amazing games with great controls. Zero Mission too just not as impressive overall to me as the other 2. Then Super Metroid can be fully appreciated as a modern player once you love 2D Metroid and you appreciate how that game is different and what it’s doing. I think starting with it for a modern gamer is going to be really hard to not get bored or lose interest with the pace of the movement/game. But yes ideally you would start old and work your way to newer games, but the controls of the other 3 Metroid games are so good I think that’s the way to attract new players. At least it worked for me when I didn’t have patience for Super Metroid before. But now I am finally loving it.

[@Manoffire97]

Thanks for this awesome video, wow ❤️

[@emmaberry5178]

Loving these interviews! Grew up playing this game as a kid, and these shed so much light on the design decisions that went into making it. ❤

[@Clefargle]

Wow what a legend thanks for everything Jack!

[@Sparkleandre1591]

Great video! 1st time seeing this now. I’ll say this, the split joy-con pointer controls is secretly the best way to play this game (though I’d like to see a patch where it won’t start to lose its calibration so frequently after using the control style for more than an hour). Swapping between beams and super missiles are a breeze. I’d like to see an option on the dual stick controller option where when you swap the beam/scan visor button to the R button it allows you then to swap beams with the right analog stick. Other than that and the credits, it’s the best looking Metroid/switch game still by a country mile!

[@Nobody-sp7ug]

The dynamic beam projectile lights are still in the game, they are just different, not as obvious as a huge slow moving vertex light sphere. The weird thing is when you go into dark areas, they put up this dark screen filter

[@nostalgicaboots6576]

@KIWI TALKZ Thank you very much for these great videos and for interviewing developers.❤❤❤ I love Metroid Prime so much and it is and always will be one of my favourite games of all time.😍❤ Love and Kudos to Retro Studios that they pulled off an impossible task to the this awesome franchise. I still love them for the whole game and all games afterwards and all the details. They blew my mind and they still do.❤ One question is on my mind though: How came the Game Over sequence in particular Metroid Prime 1 and 2 to life? What were in their minds to make these so creepy? I love them, don't get me wrong, but I always wanted to know how these came to be. Greetings from Max from Germany.😍❤❤❤😍😍😍

[@generalcjg]

20:00 Fun fact: Metroid does have other humanoid life forms that can transform into different small alternate forms akin to Samus's Morph Ball, meaning that it ain't exclusive to Samus to transform into unrealistic small alternate forms. Look no further than Metroid Prime Hunters. In Hunters, all the other 6 hunters use alternate forms akin to Samus's morph ball, with the one being just as unrealistic and physically impossible as Samus's Morph Ball being Sylux's Lockjaw. So I guess this means that yeah, Metroid's lore makes it apparent that some super combat suits and weird alien life forms got their small alternate forms ready for use. 51:00 That Gravity Suit trap I actually didn't fall for it the first time I played the game back on the GameCube, because I was reluctant and a bit afraid to enter the crashed Frigate Orpheon, so instead I went back to the Gunship, and later I received the Hint System notification to get the Gravity Suit. Once I got the Gravity Suit, now it told me to get through the Frigate Orpheon, which I eventually did, and it ended up being not as scary as I assumed it would be. I did one time in a future playthrough go through the Frigate Orpheon without the Gravity Suit just to see what would happen, and did get to the part that told me that I was missing the Gravity Suit. 54:04 I think that problem of people dying and redoing a lot of the Tallon Overworld/Phazon Mines playthrough happens because the Hint System does not tell you that there's a Save Station in the beginning of Phazon Mines (even in the original GameCube version this didn't happen). Normally when entering a new area you'd get the Hint System telling you that there's a Save Station near the beginning of the area, but in Phazon Mines that actually doesn't happen, the Hint System just tells you to immediately go to get the Power Bombs, which is probably why people skip the Save Station in the entrance of the Phazon Mines and end up dying and restarting all the way back to Tallon Overworld. 57:50 If Retro eventually adds a checkpoint system for the Metroid Prime remasters, I hope it is an optional toggle button in the Main Menu so that way newcomers can be relieved in not having to redo lots of progress that was lost after death, while purists can keep the games how they were (with no checkpoint system, just manual saves); cause me being a manual saves purist for the Metroid franchise means I don't want a checkpoint system in the Metroid games as having it would remove all the tension and urgency the games give you in only having manual save rooms to save the game, which was also the case with old school Resident Evil and Silent Hill games (the only Metroid game I allow checkpoints in is Metroid Dread because of that game being the hardest Metroid game ever made, so not having them in there would indeed be a bad design decision through and through). 1:28:50 The only 2D Metroid games I say have aged like milk and don't hold up at all in this day and age are Metroid (NES) and Metroid II: Return of Samus (Game Boy), which is why both games got remakes that massively fix and improve all the dated and archaic design elements of those two games. Super Metroid I say only needs a bit of tweaking with the controls to better make it stand the test of time, and that's it.

[@Oni64]

kameo and majoras mask had morph ball like mechanics as well.

[@CptJistuce]

Awww, heck naw. You dissin' Return of Samus? I love Metroid 2, and think it needs only small tweaks. I also think the 3DS remake is hot garbage. Not only does it miss the entire point of the original, it's also just a bad game. People tend to approach the Metroids before Super Metroid as though they are playing Super Metroid, and it is... unfortunate.

[@generalcjg]

@@CptJistuce Well, it is unfortunately true that Metroid II in its original form has not aged well. The game itself (as in its ideas, premise, and design) is solid, but the Game Boy hardware did not allow its full potential to be reached. It handicapped it with limited movement, graphics that are a mixed bag even by og Game Boy standards, at times repetitive and annoying as hell music, no proper map screen (meaning it is easy to get lost), Metroid boss battles being easy but tedious to do, etc. Comparing Metroid II to later entries, it is very easy to tell how dated Metroid II is by comparison (Super Metroid alone makes both Metroid 1 and 2 look and feel dated by a long shot), with the only Metroid game that Metroid II beats in replayability and test of time being Metroid (NES). Also, I agree that Metroid: Samus Returns, while a solid Metroid game, it is not a good remake of Metroid II as it tries more to reimagine the game in order to setup Metroid Dread rather than be a faithful remake of Metroid II, which is why the best Metroid II remake ever is AM2R (or Another Metroid 2 Remake). Metroid Zero Mission and AM2R are the best Metroid remakes ever made, no questions asked there.

[@CptJistuce]

@@generalcjg AM2R misses the point as well, but less spectacularly. Metroid 2 tells two stories. One is SHOWING that thing the manuals say about a handful of metroids wiping out all life on a planet. The deeper into SR-388 you get, non-metroid life gets rarer and much sturdier. The other story it tells is the metroids learning fear. As the game progresses, they stop nesting in open halls on the main route, and start hiding in little out-of-the-way nooks, awkward pipes, and holes in cliff faces hundreds of feet up in the air. Like prey. One of the omega metroids spawns weirdly, pressed against the far wall of its chamber and facing away from you(this is unique to it). I think it was actually intended to imply it was running away from Samus. Metroid 2 is a horror game where you play the monster. Ultimately, the message it sends is that maybe the metroids do need to be genocided, but it isn't a clean mission that one should enjoy. It's a dark spot on Samus's career. And in the end, she doesn't finish it. AM2R and Samus Returns both make the mistake of trying to make Metroid 2 more like Super Metroid, a celebration of violence. I won't argue your list of the game's technical failings, as we disagree on a fundamental level. I mean, you think Metroid 2 needs a map for pete's sake.

[@generalcjg]

@@CptJistuce Um, AM2R follows very well the entire story and premise of Metroid II, including the first story you said (the one from the manual). If you played the game, non Metroid life forms do indeed get less prevalent the more you go deeper into SR388, especially when going to the last area (the Metroid lab) where the Larva Metroids and the Queen Metroid reside, and AM2R also does very well with leaving the same gray area message of whether the Metroids needed to be exterminated or not, it has the exact same ending of Metroid II replicated very well; Samus Returns though definitely missed the point on this and did indeed go with just making the thought provoking ending into a 100% item cleanup and a bombastic action fest against a new final boss. As for the other story, that is very subjective, it very easily could have just been the game designers designing the Metroid placements to be far away from the main path just to extend the gameplay and the exploration. Until you find a dev diary or interview that says this story of yours about fear was their intention, then your story is just you looking too deep into this. If you legit think Metroid 2 having a map screen is a bad idea, then you must be in the camp that every Metroidvania type game should have no map screen at all; if so... then you must really love to get lost and be unable to figure out where to go, since Metroid II definitely needs a map screen because of how easily it is to get lost in that game.

[@chaosangel42]

23:50 the way the morph ball self rights was always fascinating to me and I always wanted to know more about it

[@mazzvidz]

I’m curious as to why Jack left Retro and why he hasn’t returned for Prime4. My biggest concern with P4 has always been that so much of the staff from the original development is no longer with Retro.

[@mazzvidz]

Also… you can charge your power beam with the B button and this avoids doing the “Crab Finger” to fire Super Missiles. Nintendo has also marketed this Metroid more than any Metroid game I’ve ever seen. I’m still seeing adds for it. I think Nintendo has finally figured out the value of this franchise.

[@KIWITALKZ]

Jack left because he was unhappy with the Wii hardware. He mentioned this in a previous interview I did with him. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lafOlK2ped6NppY He is no longer in the game industry and helps his wife produce fantastic best selling cook books now

[@mazzvidz]

@@KIWITALKZ Thanks… I’ll check that out.

[@Matanumi]

@@mazzvidz I've set and swapped R and X buttons easier

[@Dante02000]

The man approved of the remaster and said their capabilities shouldn’t be doubted. I liked the analogy of hd wind waker being done before the next zelda. They got their feet wet with this remaster and proved they can handle it.

[@jakedill1304]

I will say that the second riddick game definitely takes the story beats to heart from this game.. which is just kind of made me appreciate both even more.

[@flightlesschicken7769]

I actually like the right trigger and right bumper for super missiles. It makes it very easy to use once you accept that your fingers will be in a “non standard” position on the controller. Not to mention, it makes missile spamming soooo much easier; in the original it actually required some skill, now it’s as simple as pressing the right trigger and right bumper one after the other in quick succession

[@afbanjagjafdbxcvbrtjwsasdg2825]

He's right, the ship still clips into the leaf in the early cutscene of the ship landing.

[@anticat867]

1:05:00 As far as I know the OG GameCube controller works using the Smash GC to USB Adapter. Have you tried it? kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWPbnGCJna-YoZI

[@mystraunt2705]

Gamecube controller has less buttons so it doesn’t really work. I tried

[@senorsnipey1595]

I dont know... When it comes to this reflection I actually prefer what they did. You instead get a beautiful reflection of the surrounding room. Instead of a few places in the game, it is apparent in so many more locations in the game. The lighting and water physics are definitely different but the overall game looks insane. Totally comparable to even current gen experiences. I feel like Bioshock is the only game to take real inspiration from Metroid Prime.

[@SynaMax]

It must be a weird yet cool feeling having worked on a remaster like Shadow of the Colossus and then seeing one of your games that you helped create get the same treatment. Incredible insight from Jack, as always!

[@StiffAftermath]

I think that the "first person shooter" controls is having the unintended effect of emphasizing the wrong mentality about this game, whereas the original gamecube controls promoted the moniker "first person adventure" more than this version. It is suppose to have a slower, more methodical pace. So many people call this a first person shooter now. And they just wont "get" the focus on scanning, investigation and exploring. They just run past everything.

[@AICW]

I wanna cry watching Let's Plays of Remaster. Literally nobody is scanning anything unless they absolutely have to. Runebee's playthrough was unwatchable thanks to this, she was more interested in making dumb jokes and seeing chat laugh.

[@UberNoodle]

That's why I still use the z targeting when playing the game on Switch even with dual analogue controls, because really, even though Metroid Prime is in first person, it's like a Zelda game.

[@StiffAftermath]

@@UberNoodle it is. Well said. Too bad most people dont get that.

[@CptJistuce]

People have always called it a first-person shooter. That isn't new. There were huge flame wars back in the day comparing Prime to Halo by people more concerned with standing up for their console than actually enjoying games. Changing the control scheme drastically does change how people approach the game, almost inherently.

[@SanjiGenial]

About the controls schemes, I think the original one is better because overall the game was built with it in mind. There is the lock of course. I didn't use the dual stick controls.

[@esmooth919]

I disagree. I tried to use the original GC control scheme, but I could not get used to it for the life of me. Plus, I've been familiar with Twin Stick FPS controls since the PS2. Couple that with gyro camera (think Splatoon), and you have a control scheme that is just perfect for shooters on consoles.

[@SanjiGenial]

@@esmooth919 I mean, it's not about being agree or not, just play as you like. The original way to play MP is just better for me, maybe because I'm used to it, I don't know, but it just feels right in my hands. But for you maybe dual sticks is better because you are used to play first person games like this. But anyway, they added more options so everyone can play the game as they want. :)

[@CptJistuce]

​@@esmooth919 I was familiar with dual analog nub controls when I first got Prime, but I felt Prime's controls worked really well. I would like to note, however, that the GameCube controller is a little odd. A lot of control schemes that work really well on a 'Cube controller simply don't on PlayStation-derived controller designs.

[@flightlesschicken7769]

18:50 DOOM 2016 does feel similar to Metroid Prime in the platforming and movement. I would love if Metroid Prime 4 takes some notes from DOOM as DOOM seems to from Metroid Prime

[@mikaelrivacov5705]

so that reflection in the chozo ruins mirror thing wasn't supposed to be there in the first place😆 It was kinda of mind blowing spot as I still remember it even after all this years🙃

[@SD_simma]

Honestly I wish the original creators would come together independently and make an original IP (indie, crowd funded). They truly are genius in terms of knowing what they know and explaining what and how they do game design and gameplay mechanics.

[@SpeedfreakUK]

They did, ReCore. It sucked.

[@SD_simma]

@@SpeedfreakUK It doesn't matter. They made Metroid Prime!

[@jalcomics]

Gyro aiming mixed with dual stick is amazing.

[@lDrAcOsTl]

Hey Kiwi Talks, this is amazing. One advice though. It would be much more enjoyable and would get many more views of you out more footage into the video. I know it’s a lot of work but for example he put specific examples and there is no reference. I think if you improve that production value you would hugely increase the size of the channel.

[@The_Ostrich]

I have no idea why people have such a problem with the new thermal visor, I found that to be one of the coolest changes, cause it looks exactly like a real world infrared camera and its a lot more realistic that way. Its very reminiscent to the POV shots from the old Predator movies.

[@KrypXern]

Yeah I feel the same way. I understand why people have an issue with it, but I think having it look like a real thermal camera is a very cool compromise.

[@daniellyle9504]

I agree it looks a lot more real, but shouldn't it look a lot more futuristic and clean, cause it takes place in the future. Just a thought that I had.

[@Garupan]

Probably because it's blurry as hell. It actually strained my eyes.

[@The_Ostrich]

@@daniellyle9504 No it shouldn't, cause when you create art you always use real life references to make them believable. Infrared cameras don't look clean.

[@AICW]

The big problem is you're using a thermal vision while making rapid movements and quickly turning back and forth in a snappy fashion. That is causing all kinds of issues like motion sickness and dizziness on people's eyes. I watched a streamer who complained his eyes started tearing up and burning as he was using the thermal to get out of the Pirate labs. In real life, you don't do that with a thermal camera. You use it to be slow and methodical. Which ironically is also how the Predator's vision works in those movies.

[@TehSenate]

I hope the fusion suit gets added back in

[@docArr666]

I knew they were using PBR materials, few games use it on switch, I know the Witcher 3 and Warframe use it as well.

[@mikeclark4480]

Metroid Prime is master class in game design and the remaster done exactly what it needed.

[@lupolinar]

I hope Echoes gets the same treatment. I can live without Corruption.

[@Hysteria98]

To be fair, shit as it is, Corruption wouldn't need it anyway. It holds up marvellously, even in 576i. Recently played it again on the Wii and it's visually superb compared to the predecessors.

[@garoozies914]

@@Hysteria98A corruption remaster could really shift people’s opinions on the game if they made any balancing tweaks to hypermode and without the terrible load times both with doors and traveling between planets. I think with minimal effort all of Corruptions biggest criticisms could be largely fixed. I however would still love a Corruption remaster even if they left it as is.

[@MrNightLifeLover]

Haha just got out of the gravity suit trap!

[@Archivist42]

I found the explanation of the thermal visor quite interesting, because I did find that initial run in the dark to be one of the weaker parts of the remaster. The thermal vision blurs up the game quite a lot so using it for extended periods isn't that fun

[@bigdave7648]

1:18:00 Yep, I remember this. The leaves did go away.

[@linktotq7431]

Will give this a listen later cheers.

[@no1guy825]

The string lights on the Orpheon: These didn't communicate as bulbs or string lights AT ALL...to me. They just seem like futuristic nodes or components I don't understand. The original and the remaster depict a vessel beyond our imagining....why would anyone even THINK bulbs on a string in space for no reason? They might be sensors, energy cables, nodes, who knows? Their presence has the same logic as a basic glowy line except they now seem like there's more to them and they're more tech-organic...perfect Space Pirate tech design. The Morph Ball's logic (now/before/acquisition): The Power Suit has always been a magic tech suit - technology so beyond it's practically magic. The beam and bomb weapons alone.....she's a walking energy conversion unit. The design of the Morph Ball in Prime...more thany any other...communicates that she is changed in the state. She's not rolling up, she's not shifting limbs or pulling a Sonic...she's converted into some form of energy. Think Star Trek transporters. As a kid who zoomed in on the ball often in the menu and saw the swirling energy sphere in there this idea seemed as natural as "ice freezes Metroid." The Power Suit has been tied to Samus' state of mind and her biology....since Super I think - the series has established it uses technology on theoretical physics level of sci-fi for a while now. Once she is converted to a form of energy, or even matter, that can be displaced in a far smaller arrangement...then there's the mystery of the suit around it! All the plating reduces to a nearly hollow sphere! Mystery 2: the old Transformers mystery. Once you've achieved mystery 1, however, mystery 2 is a cake walk. Thermal Visor: Never understood the issue with this. I think the blur and low frames serve it fine. I never had a problem with it...you look at the gloweys....that's the point and that works fine. X-ray leaves: Tiny detail is right, but....the leaves shouldn't disappear because they're really there and then we'd have to vanish all leaves. The X-ray puzzle in that room calls out the platform, and the sound design and the gaps in the leaf wall takes care of the rest. Samus' look: Jack is right....every game since Fusion has made Samus a bleach-blonde Barbie doll. Prime 1 was the last game where she had more natural beauty and maturity to her. Dread toned down the pumps on her feet (there should be....none. see Zero Mission boots) and gave her some actual muscle, but the Barbie look remains.

[@cank2111]

I had the same problem with gravity suit, tho i was too dumb to open the first door you need the thermal visor for. So i got back out and ran clueless around till i got the hint 😅

[@shofarsogood7504]

“ it looks good how I remember even though it wasn’t that good before” bingo just my thoughts.

[@daserfomalhaut9809]

Only thing about Prime R that I noticed (And the Wii Trilogy release) is the cutscene after you defeat the Omega Pirate. I'm not sure why, but the trilogy and now this remaster have a duller, less dramatic Phazon Suit acquisition scene that doesn't really make any sense. Never understood it.

[@DGFTardin]

Why is it only showing up to me now? Anyway, I could listen to those guys every week

[@Training_Wheels]

Yes, because you have a crush on them. 🥹

[@lucasbosco3473]

11:27 Something about taking code from Unreal and putting into RUDE that people should keep in mind: The end user agreement for Unreal says that you can't copy the code from UE and put on your own Engine as it's copyrighted, This was Exactly the reason Silicon Knights lost in court with Too Human if anyone remembers that case. I Also need to mention that Most of these tech advancements like PBR are made by companhies like Disney(Pixar) or universities, then open sourced or divulged without any copyright after their research is done(just like scientific papers), that's why so many companhies can use and implement PBR today on their softwares and also why it's a standard in the industry.

[@av3nger3]

I don't think there was a reason to be worried about the quality of Metroid Prime 4 when they handed it to Retro haha. I guess some people aren't initiated in how ridiculously picky Nintendo is. After all, they removed Bandai Namco from the project because it didn't meet those standards. I know what Jack is saying, and he's right that there are people who have been worried, but really they've been obsessing over a fantasy reality that doesn't exist: a reality where Nintendo has low standards. The Super Mario remasters are an exception and absolutely not the Nintendo norm in my experience of their games for the last, more than 20 years.

[@thecianinator]

1:07:00 that's when I actually customized the controls to put missiles on X, I found the game played a lot better that way 1:17:09 Dammit man it's right there in the menu!

[@esmooth919]

Elaborate @ menu

[@thecianinator]

@@esmooth919 you press select and then you press L and then you go to the controls section and then there's an option to switch the button for missiles to something else

[@tylerjung5824]

Does he mention why they added the burst fire before the charge beam starts charging? It's the only thing i hate

[@RukiHyena]

idea: flash shift would go crazy in a 3d Metroid (prime 4), i wonder how fun that would be? only thing is about that is it may inhance combat, but at the same time im worried it might make ppl sick

[@DigitalIP]

I thought they were like LIGHT BARS or Fiber optic type lighting for the original. Cant say i like or dislike adding bulbs

[@JediMB]

As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter if the game is a remaster or a ground up remake: There should still be an Original Game Credits section.

[@JediMB]

Also glad to hear Jack's thoughts on Samus' human model. I always thought Prime 1 built really well on her appearance from Super Metroid, and the remaster did a fantastic job updating that. I've personally kinda abhorred the Zero Suit design, which is is DEFINITELY a stereotypical Blonde Anime Girl kind of thing. As far as I'm concerned, that design never looked good before Metroid Dread. Dread's dev team actually improved it significantly, so for the first time in 17 years it didn't bother me. The dream would still be that Nintendo went back and looked at her design from Super Metroid and Metroid Prime and tried to build something modern from there.

[@Hysteria98]

It actually butchered the credits too, because before they were perfectly paced for the incredible theme music to end, but now the music awkwardly repeats 3 times over, lol. And then after 10 minutes of credits, "oh yeah, also thanks to the people that did most of the actual work in the first place"

[@SD_simma]

Can we get a video where they talk about how to get in game designing indie or how to start learning game design for hobbyists?

[@rsnbrgjrdn]

3:26 is there a clanging sound in the background which syncs up to what you're saying? or am i losing it

[@NANA-dd4fl]

running remaster emulated at 4k fixes the thermal visor because higher resolution. lol this guys is great. shame nintendont respect past talent.

[@chuganoga1908]

The thermal visor is actually more aligned with real thermal vision. It’s not supposed to be crisp 4K, it’s a system that detects heat signatures so it tend to be less sharp and much more blurry I thought it was a nice detail personally.

[@emanuelnobre2241]

i liked it too!! much more realistic

[@Training_Wheels]

I fxkking hate it. I gotta turn the color sensitivity to red and low if I'm gonna use it for more than a minute. I get they're trying to make it more real or whatever, but GD - it's like staring at the sun or something 🪰

[@Hysteria98]

The easy solution for this was an Accessibility menu option to reduce the blur to the original static view. Problem solved, everyone's happy.

[@Oni64]

🔥

[@KindKraken]

removing the reflection was not okay but see i exeprenced it as a 13 year old when it came out and it seemed like grown breaking tech

[@AmaroqStarwind]

I’d love to see the Metroid Prime devs go on to make a new IP, if they haven’t already.

[@C--A]

Hopefully after Metriod Prime 4 releases in 2024 on the Switch 2!

[@AmaroqStarwind]

@@C--A I meant the original devs, not the MPR/MP4 devs