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- This article is about the Wii compilation of the first three main Metroid Prime games. For the original trilogy, see Metroid Prime (series)#Prime trilogy.
Metroid Prime Trilogy (sometimes spelled as Metroid Prime: Trilogy) is an enhanced compilation of Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption released on August 24, 2009 for the Wii in North America. It was released in America, Europe and Australia in lieu of the New Play Control! versions of the former two released in Japan. In 2013, American retailer GameStop obtained additional, unshrinkwrapped copies of the game for release as one of its vintage titles selections.[1]
A port of Metroid Prime Trilogy to the Wii U eShop was released on January 29th, 2015. Sales of Trilogy on Wii U increased following the announcement of Metroid Dread in June 2021, making it the fifth Best Selling game on the eShop that month.[2] It was the seventh best selling game on the eShop for the week of Dread's release.[3]
Additions and changes[]
Metroid Prime Trilogy includes many of the changes introduced in New Play Control! Metroid Prime and New Play Control! Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes, as well as the PAL and Japanese versions of each individual game. The entire compilation was created by a team of four staff at Retro Studios.[4]
Additional changes include:
- Three difficulty settings: Normal Mode, Veteran Mode, and Hypermode, the latter replacing Hard. Veteran Mode is equivalent to the Normal difficulty in the first two Primes. Normal Mode is an entirely new "easy" difficulty, and Hypermode is the Hard difficulty from both games. All Corruption difficulties remain unaltered.
- Customizable control options similar to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, which carry over to all three games, but not to multiplayer.
- A Bonus Credits system similar to the one introduced in Corruption, allowing the player to unlock extras such as music or image galleries. This is also how the Fusion Suit is obtained in Prime. The player receives Orange Credits and Purple Credits for defeating bosses in Prime and Echoes, respectively, and Silver Credits for completing certain tasks, like escaping the Frigate Orpheon or collecting a Dark Temple Key.
- A reworked menu interface with a stylized Arm Cannon interior background, Mii system for game files, files that include all three games (as well as details on location and current power-up status), and connected control options between games on a single Mii file. Individual title screens are removed in favor of this.
- A reworked HUD in Prime and Echoes, it now only displays the current beam/visor in use rather than all obtained, as in the New Play Control! titles. Also, all gauges, the radar, map window, and beam/visor icons become transparent when the cursor passes over them. The Scan Visor has an altered Sight Window as well, although Scan Points are still present in Prime.
- Many of the glitches which enable Sequence Breaking have been removed. Although Retro Studios recognized the speedrunning community, this change was done at the suggestion of Kensuke Tanabe.[5]
- Attempting to press the Home Button during a cutscene in Prime or Echoes will not bring up the Home Menu. However, this can be done in every cutscene in Corruption.
- New credits for the Trilogy versions of each game are displayed before the game's original credits. The new credits can be viewed here.
- Due to the change of certain logs in this version, the Logbook was mildly shifted out of order, resulting in certain scans recorded as other things.
- 8 Chozo Lore entries are slightly altered again. Notably, the Chozo describe the Phazon corrupting the planet at a much quicker pace, which is more consistent with the rapid effects seen in Corruption. The 12 Chozo Artifacts are also mentioned more prominently.
- Three of the Galactic Federation Data locations were changed.
- The Bryyo cliffside and Boss Reptilian themes are altered.[2] The first few seconds of the Space Pirate battle theme played when fighting them at the Temple of Bryyo are also louder. In addition, a new version of Meta Ridley's theme from the trailer was put in the Soundtrack Gallery, and the Metroid Battle Theme and Bryyo Thorn Jungle themes are replaced with the Berserker Lord and Aurora Unit 313 themes.
- In the Trilogy version of Corruption, the Piston Hall no longer contains Sky Puffers (seen in the PAL version), and the rotating gate obstruction (seen in the original NTSC version) is replaced by an energy field. This is due to a Secret World in the original game.
- In Corruption, there is a data room on the way to Generator B (the only generator Samus does not visit during her first trip to Norion), which has a panel that reveals a code when scanned. Each column provides a hidden message when typed in the Transmission console on Samus's Gunship. The messages were present in the first version of Corruption, but the terminal in the data storage was inactive, and no hints to the messages existed.
- 28413
- 73636
- 55184
- 14758
According to Mike Wikan, "probably 50-60%" of the changes to the Trilogy version were adjustments to scan files. Nintendo had requested "hundreds" of changes to scans and lore across the three games to establish consistency.[6]
Packaging[]
The packaging of the Trilogy varies between the regions it was released in. In North America, the product came with a metal SteelBook packaging and transparent sleeve. However, in Europe and Australia, the Trilogy instead was packaged in a normal Wii case, but with no text, inside a cardboard sleeve which reproduced the effect of the transparent sleeve and the SteelBook cover and back.
Trilogy also came with a 5 double-sided panel art booklet, featuring concept art from the Prime series, some of which was previously unreleased, along with a history of Samus' adventures through the games. Unfolded, the booklet was just under 36 inches in length.
Content[]
File select screen with tunnel background.
Metroid Prime Trilogy uses a single dual-layered disc to contain the three games of the series. Dual-layering was also used on the discs for Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Metroid: Other M. It allows discs to contain much more content than would be normally available on a standard Wii disc.
The three games are accessed from a special menu that is unique to Metroid Prime Trilogy. The menu has a rotating, mechanical-tunnel background, showing what appears to be the interior of Samus' Arm Cannon. As the player selects the various options and so on, the camera pulls out to various parts of the tunnel. Upon selecting a game file to play, the view pulls back quickly to reveal the outside of Samus' Arm Cannon. A similar tunnel effect can be seen in the intro cutscene in Metroid: Other M. The menu music for Trilogy also combines sounds and tunes from the title themes of all three games.
Trilogy also features several loading screens that play when a certain game is selected by the player. These loading screens feature Samus using the Charge Beam, before turning around and firing a move strikingly similar to the Zero Laser in Brawl. Samus' suit will differ in appearance depending on the progress of the game. In Metroid Prime, the loading screens feature Samus in her Power Suit, Varia Suit, Gravity Suit, Gravity Suit with Grapple Beam and Phazon Suit. Worthy of note is that the Phazon Suit no longer has the Grapple Beam, and the Phazon Beam appears to be configured, as blue veins can be seen running up Samus' right arm. In Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, the loading screens feature Samus in her Varia Suit, Dark Suit, Dark Suit with Gravity Boost and Light Suit. Worthy of note is that there is no Dark Suit with Grapple Beam cutscene. In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, the loading screens feature Samus in her Varia Suit, Varia Suit with Grapple Lasso and the PED Suit in all of its stages of corruption (with a loading screen for 50% corrupted and Hazard Shield). There is also a separate loading screen for the Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Multiplayer, which shows the four players jumping apart from one another, with the normal Samus firing at the screen. There is no set of loading screens for the Fusion Suit.
Developer comments[]
| “ | Metroid Prime Trilogy is to Retro Studios an almost unheard of opportunity to take something you had already released and make it better. | „ |
| “ | The Metroid Prime Trilogy idea came from our producer Bryan Walker, and Michael Kelbaugh, our president, and it would be an opportunity for us to package the product together in one package for the fans who may not have had an opportunity to enjoy the first two games and who are just now coming to the Wii and the franchise. | „ |
—Mike Wikan[7] | ||
| “ | Prime 1 and Prime 2 are significantly better games with the Wii controller. There are little issues here and there that we addressed, little fixes, little tweaks and balances. It is the director's cut of all director's cuts as far as games go in my mind. | „ |
—Bryan Walker[7] | ||
Reception[]
Metroid Prime Trilogy has been mostly well received. However, the aforementioned removal of graphical effects in the original Prime, as well as Admiral Dane's "Damn!" exclamation in Corruption, received minor fan criticism.[8] Voice actor Timothy Patrick Miller recalled on a minor dialogue alteration for his voice work:
| “ | I realize that video games even more than film is a Director[']s medium. The Director will take any actor[']s performance, edit it, cut it and in general mold it to fit his vision of the overall project. Not only do I not have a problem with that, I don’t see how it can be any other way. Should they find it not to work I expect the voice will be dropped. | „ |
—Timothy Patrick Miller[9] | ||
The graphical effects would later be restored in Metroid Prime Remastered.
Nintendo Switch port rumors[]
Since it was announced that Metroid Prime 4 was in development, there have been persistent rumors of a port of Trilogy to Nintendo Switch. Industry insider Imran Khan indicated on January 25, 2019 (the day Nintendo announced that development of Prime 4 would restart) that the Trilogy port had been done for a long time, and was meant to be announced in December 2018.[10]
In comments on the Shinesparkers Facebook page, former developer Mike Wikan expressed skepticism that this would be realized. He explained that while converting Prime and Echoes to using Wii controls was straightforward, it would be difficult - but not impossible - to adapt Corruption to use non-motion controls due to the way it was engineered.[11] Because Retro no longer has the editor tools to work with the code base of the Prime series, Corruption would have to be entirely rebuilt from scratch, and would likely require a year of development time and a four or five person team working full time to achieve it.[12] After Wikan's comments went viral, he received harassing messages from some members of the Metroid fan community.
Jennifer Hale expressed interest in returning for a potential Switch port of Trilogy.[13]
In 2023, Metroid Prime Remastered was released separately from its sequels, likely putting rumors of a port of Trilogy to rest.
Trivia[]
This copy of Trilogy signed by numerous Retro Studios artists was auctioned off on Amazon, with all proceeds being donated to relief efforts for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
- "Echoes" was misspelled "Echos" on images released of the box art.[14] This was fixed for the final printing.
- Interestingly, the trailer shows the final bosses in all three games. Also in the trailer, the music that plays while showing clips from each of the games is the respective main theme of the game. The exception are the Corruption scenes, which have the Rundas battle music.
- The first 5,000 Europeans that have previously registered one of the three Prime console titles to also register this game would receive a free download of the original Metroid from the Virtual Console.[15]
- In early 2011, the Metroid Database auctioned off a copy of Trilogy signed by Michael Kelbaugh, Kensuke Tanabe, Bryan Walker, Ryan Powell, Chris Voellmann, Will Bate and Aaron Walker, with 100% of proceeds to be donated to the relief efforts for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
- After reports that Trilogy was no longer being printed, Nintendo released this statement:
| “ | Nintendo’s Metroid Prime: Trilogy is the ultimate collector’s edition experience for fans of the Metroid Prime series, combining all three critically acclaimed games on one disc with Wii motion controls. Copies of the game are currently available at major retailers nationwide. The next highly anticipated offering in the Metroid franchise is Metroid: Other M, which will be available this year. | „ |
—Nintendo[16] | ||
See also[]
- Developer's Voice
- Metroid Prime Trilogy UK microsite trailers
- Metroid Prime Trilogy - Trailer
- Metroid Prime Trilogy: Prima Official Game Guide
- PrimeHack (unofficial)
Gallery[]
![[1]Metroid.com](/wiki/File:Metroid_logo.png.png "Metroid logo.png.png (114 KB)"){kind=logo}
(Metroid Prime)
(Metroid Prime)
(Metroid Prime)
(Metroid Prime 2: Echoes)
Print media[]
External links[]
- Press release
- Kotaku preview
- IGN preview
- Trailer
- IGN Unboxing
- Spanish Trailer
- GamesRadar Review
- Nintendo Channel trailer
- Nintendo Channel Developer's Voice in HD
- Gallery of merchandise
References[]
- ^ http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2013/08/metroid_prime_trilogy_now_available_at_gamestop_for_usd8499
- ^ Darren. Shinesparkers. "Metroid tops Wii U eShop best sellers." June 25, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2021. https://shinesparkers.net/metroid-tops-wii-u-eshop-best-sellers/
- ^ Shinesparkers (Shinesparkers). "An update from the eShop sales chart in the United Kingdom as it stands, on 11th October 2021. ¶ SWITCH: #1 Metroid Dread ¶ WII U: #1 Metroid Fusion #2 Metroid Zero Mission #7 Metroid Prime Trilogy #9 Super Metroid ¶ 3DS: #3 Metroid: Samus Returns" 11 October 2021 8:02 a.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/Shinesparkers/status/1447533111408041987
- ^ KIWI TALKZ - #105 - Mike Wikan Interview (Metroid Prime Trilogy, Game Design, Crunch, Booz Allen Hamilton etc.) September 6, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021. Heard at 12:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlbeRLmfCHk
- ^ Retro Studios at GDC: We love our speedrunners!
- ^ "To tell you the seriousness that Nintendo takes with, they had gone through all of our text, all of our scans from all three games, and done a complete spreadsheet analysis on how it all fit together with the Metroid Prime universe in its current state. Every word. They sent us hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of edits and changes for all the text to make sure everything harmonized and worked in the Metroid universe. That’s the level of detail that they put into it. Probably 50-60% of the work we did on the Trilogy was changing those scan files." KIWI TALKZ - #105 - Mike Wikan Interview (Metroid Prime Trilogy, Game Design, Crunch, Booz Allen Hamilton etc.) September 6, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlbeRLmfCHk
- ^ a b c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a962z4jmDs
- ^ http://kotaku.com/5349809/metroid-prime-trilogy-lost-its-damn
- ^ https://shinesparkers.net/interviews/timothy-miller/
- ^ Khan, Imran (imranzomg). "It's been long done. Initial announcement was supposed to be last month." 25 January 2019 11:51 a.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/imranzomg/status/1088841795453169664
- ^ "That would take a lot of effort, so I am pretty skeptical it will happen. It was straightforward to update MP1 and 2 to Motion controls, but converting MP3 to normal controls would be a herculean effort, as it is scripted very specifically using volumetric triggers to detect the motion in precise manners to do specific switches, and the bosses are tuned to take into account the ease of gestural aiming." 14 April 2021 2:16 p.m. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/shinesparkers/posts/245201186983249?comment_id=245230423646992
- ^ "i was a lead designer on all 3 original games, ran the Trilogy compilation project, was a lead designer on Donkey Kong Country Returns. The biggest issue is Retro no longer has functional editor tools to work with the Prime code base, so everything has to be "brute force" hard coded. Rebuilding the hundreds of interaction sets in MP3 alone, not to mention retuning the game play to take in the slower engagement pacing of conventional controls would probably take a year with a 4-5 person team full time by itself." 14 April 2021 2:26 p.m. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/shinesparkers/posts/245201186983249?comment_id=245230423646992
- ^ Hale, Jennifer (jhaletweets). "ok, when do we start? ¶ #SamusAran #Metroid" 18 July 2021 7:49 p.m. Tweet. https://twitter.com/jhaletweets/status/1416908122061361156
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20090812003305/http://uk.media.wii.ign.com:80/articles/101/1012308/imgs_1.html
- ^ http://www.wiinintendo.net/2009/08/13/nintendo-free-metroid-for-vc
- ^ Kohler, C. (2010, January 12). Nintendo Says Metroid: Other M Still Coming 2010. Wired. Retrieved December 7, 2019. https://www.wired.com/2010/01/metroid-other-m-release-date/