Gamecube + Metroid Prime = $99

[Anaxagoras]

In keeping with my theme of "way, way behind the times", I just now discovered the joys of Metroid Prime. Dear Lord, this game is amazingly good... I haven't been this immersed in a game since I was, like, 15. Beautiful graphics, but more importantly, they perfectly captured the feel of the original metroid, while doing away with the tedious repeated backgrounds of the original.

Anyways, I'm sure everyone on the board has already discovered this hidden gem. (Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not at all hidden. Allow me my delusions.) But just in case there's someone who hasn't, the game alone is almost worth the price tag.

Oh... I found this at Best Buy, but it looked like a generic box, (i.e. not Best Buy specific) so I'm guessing you can find it at other stores too.

[svenr]

Metroid Prime is one of my favourite games. Sometimes it loses momentum as you're looking for a place to go in order to advance, and those Chozo Ghosts were getting to me after a while, but the game manages to make up for it. Beautiful, colourful visuals, a nice soundtrack and a couple of great (but hard) boss fights.

[Silverlight]

In keeping with my theme of "way, way behind the times", I just now discovered the joys of Metroid Prime. Dear Lord, this game is amazingly good... I haven't been this immersed in a game since I was, like, 15. Beautiful graphics, but more importantly, they perfectly captured the feel of the original metroid, while doing away with the tedious repeated backgrounds of the original.

And in eight days you can buy the sequel. Yes, you are indeed a few years behind the times. :)

The one thing I really liked about the game is that it kept the exploration focus of previous Metroid games and did an excellent job of translating that gameplay into three dimensions in a sensible way. One thing that I really wish PC FPSes would do similar to Metroid-type games is give you less in the way of weaponry and more in the way of useful tools that let you explore and go places.

[RickH]

This is still one of the most beautiful games I've ever played, even after a year (or is it two?). But, it's also one of two console games that I've ever had lock up on me (just once, though). The other Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild, locks up consistently.

My point? There isn't one. I just felt blabby.

[Doug Erickson]

Anax makes Doug cry. A Gamecube?? Metroid Prime?? Your elitist privileges are revoked!

YOU ARE NOT MY SON

[Jason McCullough]

THE KIDDIE GAMING SYSTEM IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE FORUM

[Thrrrpptt!]

By the way, if there's one near you Fry's is doing a "3 for $40" sale on 20 different GC/GBA titles. It seems to be mainly their older first-party GC stuff and most of the Classic NES titles for the GBA. They had GC stuff like Mario Golf, Metroid Prime, Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion F-Zero, Star Fox Adventures, Animal Crossing, Super Monkey Ball, Wario World, and a few others. For around $13 each, it's a heck of a deal if you're new to the platform.

[jafd]

but more importantly, they perfectly captured the feel of the original metroid,
Oh really? Try a little sequence breaking and get back to us on how well that works out for you.

[Silverlight]

but more importantly, they perfectly captured the feel of the original metroid,
Oh really? Try a little sequence breaking and get back to us on how well that works out for you.
Er, what's your point? Metroid Prime has sequence breaks as well, albeit somewhat harder to do. (The only thing that bugs me is that they fixed some of the sequence breaks for the PAL version of the game.)

[jafd]

I demand that you share with us information about these sequence breaks in Metroid Prime.

Don't bother if you're talking about changing the order in which you get energy tanks or missile upgrades, though. My point is, real sequence breaking was a defining characteristic of all Metroid games until Prime and Fusion, and those two titles gutted a great deal of the exploratory fun that the franchise had previously offered.

Prime is a fine game, but it is no Metroid, in my opinion.

[Silverlight]

I demand that you share with us information about these sequence breaks in Metroid Prime.

Don't bother if you're talking about changing the order in which you get energy tanks or missile upgrades, though.

That's an incredibly bizzare comment, considering that there isn't any strictly-defined order about missile upgrades.

The three really big sequence breaks. First, you can get the Space Jump without any other item in the game. Second, you can get the Ice Beam without the Spider Ball (you only need the Wave Beam and the Boost Ball, along with the prior items). Third, you can get the Plasma Beam without either the Spider Ball or the Grappling Beam. I won't bother with the details, since you can get them from GameFAQs and it'd take too much space to put down.

A fourth sequence break of sorts, which I threw in just to make fun of your "missile order" comment: it is possible to complete the entire game without ever fighting the boss that guards the first missile expansion. I don't think you even need to enter that room.

My point is, real sequence breaking was a defining characteristic of all Metroid games until Prime and Fusion, and those two titles gutted a great deal of the exploratory fun that the franchise had previously offered.

IMHO Metroid Prime kept the exploration feel, and in fact my first run through MP felt a whole lot like my first run through Super Metroid. I only got the game a year ago, so on subsequent runs I could sequence-break with all the tricks people had discovered for doing so, so my sense of linearity for MP isn't much different than my sense of it for SM, because in each case actually doing sequence breaks can get fairly hard.

As for Fusion...yes, they made the game much more controlled, and I'm not even vaguely going to defend it as an exploratory game.

[Anaxagoras]

My point is, real sequence breaking was a defining characteristic of all Metroid games until Prime and Fusion, and those two titles gutted a great deal of the exploratory fun that the franchise had previously offered.

Eh? I'd never even heard of sequence breaking before this thread, and after googling it, I have to say: it most definitely isn't a defining characteristic of all Metroid games. At least, not for me. From my quick perusal of the net, many people disagree with me. But as far as I'm concerned, Metroid Prime feels very exploratory, has the right art direction, correctly translated the feel of the original 2d Metroid combat system, and has the same cracked out but very interesting boss fights.

If sequence breaks are super important to you, then yeah, I guess Metroid Prime is no Metroid original. But I never even noticed that sequence breaks were possible in the original... nor did I particularly care. So yeah... Metroid Prime perfectly captures the feel of the original.

[Rimbo]

I just realized that I have a piggy bank full of coins, and there might just be $100 worth of coins in it.

If so, my wife can't object if I go buy it with that money. She knows the coins are for Rimbo's toys only.

[Squirrel Killer]

Heh, I think I've got about $500 of coins in my piggy bank, more if I was willing to spend the state quarter collection, but after saving for so long, I don't know if anything is worth spending it on.

[Shadarr]

I have over $100 in pennies alone. But I already have a Gamecube.

[Dave Long]

That sequence break stuff is pure sour grapes idiocy. Does anyone play games just to enjoy them anymore? My god...

--Dave

[nixon66]

These sequence breakers have to love the game to play it through time after time and exploring every nook and cranny available. It's just like the people who got bored and got over 200% in Symphony of the Night, it can be done, but you have to be obsessive about the game to do so. Not a bad thing, but I'm not playing to sequence break, though I did get the double jump early in Metroid Prime.

[Andrew Mayer]

If so, my wife can't object if I go buy it with that money. She knows the coins are for Rimbo's toys only.

Does she know that her husband likes to refer to himself in the 3rd person?

[Dave Long]

These sequence breakers have to love the game to play it through time after time and exploring every nook and cranny available. It's just like the people who got bored and got over 200% in Symphony of the Night, it can be done, but you have to be obsessive about the game to do so. Not a bad thing, but I'm not playing to sequence break, though I did get the double jump early in Metroid Prime.

The problem is, the vitriol people like this spew looks a lot more like hatred of the game, the series and anyone that enjoys it. It's asinine.

--Dave

[Traumahound]

I demand that you share with us information about these sequence breaks in Metroid Prime.

Don't bother if you're talking about changing the order in which you get energy tanks or missile upgrades, though. My point is, real sequence breaking was a defining characteristic of all Metroid games until Prime and Fusion, and those two titles gutted a great deal of the exploratory fun that the franchise had previously offered.

Prime is a fine game, but it is no Metroid, in my opinion.

Are you for real? Try this site: http://www.metroid2002.com/sequence_breaking.php for instructions and http://www.planetquake.com/sda/other/MetroidPrime.html for videos.

[Rimbo]

If so, my wife can't object if I go buy it with that money. She knows the coins are for Rimbo's toys only.

Does she know that her husband likes to refer to himself in the 3rd person?

Actually, she posted that. She suffers from a schizophrenic displacement syndrome.

Not really.

[Terrence]

I'm not buggered about this "sequence breaking" stuff. I'm bugged about the series' lame attempts at making the experience linear, while hyping exploration.

Super Metroid was a lame side-scroller until Meridia, and that was more than midway through the game. What little I played of Metroid Prime gave you a tutorial/prologue, then stripped you of your weapons.

I don't mind Metroid 1 and 2, but there I was bothered by the excessive amount of time I spent backtracking and jumping on tiny platforms just to reach another door. How much fun is that?

[Paxton]

i sprained my left index finger playing MP obsessively with the nintendo branded torture device they call a controller. the swelling took a week to subside after i'd finished the game. hope the new one doesn't require you to hold down that lock-on button all the time, or i could be in for another injury.

[Rimbo]

i sprained my left index finger playing MP obsessively with the nintendo branded torture device they call a controller. the swelling took a week to subside after i'd finished the game. hope the new one doesn't require you to hold down that lock-on button all the time, or i could be in for another injury.

can't be worse than playing on a dreamcast

[Anaxagoras]

i sprained my left index finger playing MP obsessively with the nintendo branded torture device they call a controller. the swelling took a week to subside after i'd finished the game. hope the new one doesn't require you to hold down that lock-on button all the time, or i could be in for another injury.

Is this a testament to how great Metroid is that you'll play it despite the pain, or is it a testament to your stubbornness to finish any game you start..... no matter what. Unfortunately, I know that I fall into the second category.