'Metroid Prime Remastered' looks wonderful on the Switch.

Back in 2002, many of us old school Metroid fans were wary of the series moving into 3D with Metroid Prime. However, when the game finally came out, it nailed the 3D approach entirely. So to have that game remastered and still feel as fresh is rather remarkable.

Set between the first Metroid game and Metroid II, Metroid Prime introduces us to the strange and very dangerous substance known as Phazon. Highly radioactive and mutative as a result, it’s also more than a little bit sentient.

Drawn to the planet Tallon IV, Samus comes across her old enemy the Space Pirates trying to leverage Phazon for a new weapons program. The previous Chozo colony was seemingly wiped out by the Phazon infection and now Samus is caught in the middle trying to make things right.

Metroid Prime’s setting was almost as important as how the game played, not least in terms of how the narrative was delivered, although I will get onto that in a bit.

The gameplay is what set Metroid Prime apart though and to understand why, I need to explain a bit about the prior 2D games in the series.

Metroid games previously had a lot of involved platforming sections and complex level design. So when it was announced that this time of gameplay was being shifted into 3D, many gamers were skeptical that it would work.

This was because platforming in first-person had previously been nightmarish in other games. Judging distances and where you needed to go was made much harder when in first-person.

The world of Tallon IV has never looked so good.

Metroid Prime fixed all of that by making the gaps you had to jump a lot less strict and kept the level design more compact and simple. That meant you could not only navigate an area without getting lost but also not pull your hair out trying to jump between platforms.

This was the first thing that Metroid Prime solved but what really made all of this gel together was how the game added in different visors and split out its weapon types.

There are a total of four visors and four weapon types in the game. For the visors you had combat, scan, thermal and x-ray. For the weapons, you had power, wave, ice and plasma.

Doors, as per previous Metroid games, required different weapons to open but it was the combat that switched all this up a few notches.

Certain enemies didn’t operate in the visible spectrum, so switching to different visors helped you track them. On top of that enemies also required differing weapons to takedown. When you mixed this all together, you had to switch visors and weapons on a case by case basis often in the same room to track what was going on.

It was an amazing setup and mastering it was entirely necessary to proceed. Admittedly this kind of visor/weapon switching didn’t occur until later in the game, but it’s a good example of how Metroid Prime re-examined the core of what a Metroid game should be and came up with something new.

The visors also helped with navigation and puzzle solving, with the scan visor telling you about points of interest in each area and how certain enemies should be dealt with.

Switching between visors not only helps you track certain enemies but also navigate various ... [+] hazardous environments.

The scan visor was also the main means by which much of the game’s story and backstory were told. That made the whole aspect of Metroid Prime’s story tied into the game’s inherent structure of exploration. You discovered the story as you went along, with each area adding geographical context to what had happened.

This is where I get onto this new Remastered version and why it is really quite remarkable. All of the above is still very much true, but now the game looks utterly astounding.

Metroid Prime was already a good looking game, but this Remastered update is a massive improvement visually. It’s also insanely faithful to the original game, not only in terms of a multitude of tiny aesthetic improvements but also even more luscious looking environments.

The game also plays identically to how it did on the GameCube and later on the Wii, although the motion controls are a little bit off on the Switch.

You also have a new dual analogue setup for the controls but I would recommend sticking to the GameCube setup.

This is because in the original game, visors switching was mapped to the D-pad and the weapons were on the C-button. That meant you had two independent controls for visors and weapons. On the new dual analogue setup for the Switch, both the visors and weapons switching is mapped to the D-pad, with the weapons accessed by holding the X button.

The scan visor imparts a great deal of the game's narrative.

It sounds like a small change, but when combat kicks off later in the game, that extra layer of control input to access a different weapon does get in the way.

However, there is a definite learning curve with the original GameCube controls and many may find the dual analogue setup more familiar.

One other visual change that’s been noted online is that the doors in the Remastered version look a lot simpler compared to the GameCube original. However, I get why this decision was made.

In the original GameCube game, the environments were lovely to look at but quite simple in terms of texture detail. So to have the doors stand-out more, they were visually more intricate. Conversely in this Remastered version, the environments are far more detailed, so in order for the doors to be clearly visible they have been simplified down in terms of their texturing.

While some may want to have the old doors back, being able to track your way through an area in a clean and direct way is something the original game championed and this implementation is definitely true to that.

One final point, although a minor one, is that both Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion were originally released at the same time and consequently had shared functionality. In that, you could connect your Game Boy Advance to the GameCube and share data, such as unlocking the Fusion Suit in Metroid Prime.

It seems that this functionality is no longer present, at least not currently, but I suppose that’s made up for with a far more extensive Extras sections with more galleries.

Overall, Metroid Prime Remastered is an astonishingly accurate remake of a definitive gaming classic. Not only in terms of its excellent visuals but also how it plays nearly identically to the original. Even for a game that’s now over two decades old, Metroid Prime still feels as fresh and as functionally relevant as ever. If only more modern first-person games had level design as good as this.

Disclosure: I purchased this game with my own money and finished it with 100% item completion.

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