History VideoGame / MetroidPrime

* PALBonus: In the first game, some bonus, some not: Samus' suit has additional dialog, and there are larger missile pickups and some interface and gameplay tweaks, one of which is a slower map loader that prevents crashes suffered by the original North American version. On the other hand, the previously easy Security Drone enemies are upgraded to full-on GoddamnedBats with tripled energy, and the plot is somewhat mutilated due to fears that the series would be poorly recieved; the PAL version removes references to Samus' previous life with the Chozo, along with, for no clear reason, references to the Space Pirates entering Metroid Prime's lair and building its armour. Later games don't have much in the way of bonuses.
** The Space Pirates failing to enter Prime's lair is due to it contradicting the entire purpose of needing the Artifacts to open up Prime's lair. The Chozo sealed Prime, and no amount of tunneling or digging on the Pirate's part is meant to breach that seal without the Artifacts.
** Many sequence breaks are also removed in the PAL version, though not as many as in the ironically-titled North American Player's Choice version. Scandashing is impossible, a lot of areas have Bendezium rubble that can only be removed with Power Bombs added, and geometry in some rooms was removed or made insubstantial to prevent it being used. The Player's Choice version even goes so far as to add locked doors that only go away when you've picked up things you're supposed to have, though it doesn't include any of the actual PALBonus content. Apparently Retro [[StopHavingFunGuys really, really want you to play the game "properly"]]. ''Echoes'' had a few similar changes made for the EU release which just require different speedrunning tricks, and one in the Japanese version that stops a no boost ball speedrun cold in the room "Crypt" in Dark Torvus.
*** In ''Prime'', Meta Ridley also has more attacks and isn't as easily beaten (oversights in the NTSC were sorted out), making it pretty hard (though it's hard anyway). Flaahgra's boss theme looped incorrectly in the original NTSC version as well, playing only the first part over and over, which is rectified in the PAL version.
** Most, but not all, of these changes were included in ''Metroid Prime: Trilogy''.

* YouFailNuclearPhysicsForever: Phazon, a highly radioactive, uncontrollable EldritchAbomination [[spoiler:with a GeniusLoci ''planet'']] that is attempting to spread everywhere, and it's supposedly stable. ''[[FlatWhat Yeah]]''...

[[spoiler: "Data log entry 2467.3. This will be the last communication of the G.F.S. Valhalla. Our efforts to repel the Space Pirate boarding force have failed. They have successfully removed the primary mounting structure around our stasis tank. It is obvious now that they intend to extract us from the Valhalla. It is vital that the Federation receive this transmission. ...Severing main power... A large bioform is creating a wormhole... ...Implant into... Sentient planet which is the source of all Phazon. ...Darkness coming."]]
The ship shakes a bit afterwards. Good freaking lord.

* BackFromTheBrink: The Ing were terrifyingly close to causing ''Echoes'' to be over before it even started. Like, ''two rooms'' close.

* {{Backtracking}}: As the exploration element is as strong as in any 2D Metroid title, the Prime series will make you backtrack to find keys to the final boss (though there are hints provided). ''Corruption'' lessened the problem by making more than half the keys optional and allowing you to find them through normal play.

* DeaderThanDead: You can scan [[MarathonBoss Chykka's]] corpse after the battle is over (nearly every other boss either fades away or explodes) which basically goes to ensure you in no uncertain terms than the creature is finally dead: "''Bioscan complete. Target Chykka has been terminated. Lifesigns are at flatline. No regenerative ability in effect. No evidence of symbiotic corpse possession. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Resurrection does not appear likely.]]''"

* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Well, who do everything other than be pirates. "Space Pirate" seems to just be the species name.
** The pirates do undertake some pillaging and rampaging but it usually ends up with them setting up shop on the planet they plundered and using it to conduct biological and weapons research. Their main goal is to gain ground and resources to expand their research rather than simply take from their victims.

* EnemyScan: Extended to ''everything'' else as well.

* LostForever: Certain scans in the Prime series.

** Also, Samus fights a rock monster, Thardus, in a desolate arena, similar to Gorignak from ''GalaxyQuest''.

* LetsPlay: A truly excellent one, done by {{Slowbeef}} himself.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Samus Aran is about to shoot you]]--now in 3D.]]

*** The Flamethrower can actually be useful during the Omega Pirate boss. If you have enough missiles, you can bring its health down in a few moments. This is mostly because Omega Pirate doesn't move around so much after you removed its armor, and you can do this at point-blank range, making it more efficient than the Super Missile. In fact, [[FridgeLogic not too many bosses move around so fast]].

The sub-series plot takes place between the original ''Metroid''/''Zero Mission'' and ''Metroid II'', and involves a radioactive mutagen named [[ToxicPhlebotinum Phazon]] that arrives on mysterious comets and wreaks havoc on planetary environments. Samus spends most of the sub-series trying to stop the Phazon from turning various planets into dead husks, while at the same time, her [[SpacePirates Space Pirate]] enemies are trying to exploit the mutagen for their own evil plans, much like they did the Metroids in the original games. In ''Prime'', the planet hit happens to be Tallon IV, where Samus' [[{{Precursors}} Chozo guardians]] had a second home, and from which they have since vanished. The Pirates' attempts to control both Phazon and Metroids combine to bite them in the behind in this game, when a Phazon-enhanced Metroid grows to FinalBoss levels of danger that they can't control. This boss survives the player's attack at game's end, and regenerates itself into [[EvilTwin Dark Samus]], a Phazon clone of Samus who continues to attack the player throughout the rest of the sub-series. ''Echoes'' sees a comet landing on a world named Aether, which is split into [[DarkWorld two worlds]] as a result of the crash. ''Corruption'' concludes the arc by having Dark Samus manipulate the Space Pirates into finding the source of Phazon, and assaulting the [[TheFederation Galactic Federation]] with a multi-pronged attack, with only Samus having a chance at stopping the clone by [[TheCorruption using the power of Phazon herself]].

* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Blogg's from Prime 2 and a few of the unidentified creatures at Phaaze in Corruption.

* NotCompletelyUseless / ReviveKillsZombie: The Screw Attack is an unlikely tool against Emperor Ing ([[HitboxDissonance due to a glitch]]), Dark Samus (use it [[TimedMission right before]] she TurnsRed), Gandraya ([[ForMassiveDamage kills her in 6 hits]]), and Omega Ridley (forces him to [[ArtificialStupidity switch attacks saving time and health]]).

* PhlebotinumMuncher: The eponymous beastie of ''Prime'', and its descendant Dark Samus in ''Echoes'' and ''Corruption''.

** The Luminoth have shades of this themselves. Due to the Ing, though, they ''had'' to be.

*** Also, the battle against Ridley in the beginning of ''Corruption''. You're both falling 18,000 kilometers at a pace saying 100 kilometers a second. That means you have 3 minutes to shoot the ever-loving crap out of Ridley or plummet into the planet's core alongside him. Note that no matter how long you take, Rundas is still not going to save your ass until you're right above the planet's particularly non-glowing, not-so-warm core. It's actually a miracle that life can exist on the planet with a core like that. After that, the planet is scheduled to die by meteor.

** Also, the Pirate Logs from ''Corruption''. At first, they're scared shitless of Dark Samus. Then they suddenly become her "first disciples." And it only goes downhill from there.

* SceneryGorn: Crashed Frigate in ''Prime'', any of the Dark Aether environments in ''Echoes'', and the GFS Valhalla in ''Corruption'' is probably the most destitute locale you pay a visit to.

* SequelDifficultyDrop: ''Corruption'' compared to the first two. The first two games are also significantly easier in ''Trilogy'' than they were alone, due to the switch in controls.
** ''Trilogy'' also includes a manual difficulty drop for the first two games: Veteran difficulty is their original Normal difficulty (now renamed to make it clear it's, well, [[CaptainObvious for the veterans to the series]]), while the new Normal is slightly easier for newcomers.

*** ''Prime'': The hand from Samus' Phazon Suit (absorbed by the eponymous villain) pops out of a puddle of phazon with an eye on the back.
*** ''Echoes'': The scene cuts to outer space, where a billion tiny bits of phazon converge on one-another to reform into Dark Samus.
*** ''Corruption'': Samus rides off into space, only for a strange ship to follow her.

* TheSwarm: Ingstorm. It's like not having the Dark Suit all over again, except the Ingstorm does considerably more damage.

** Meanwhile in ''Corruption'', on the Olympus, each turret you destroy as a result of being [[WhatTheHellHero less-than-nice]] with your blaster summons a more powerful turret. [[spoiler:The third turret is an ''instant kill, no matter what''.]]

* UndergroundMonkey: ''Echoes'' recycled a ''lot'' of enemies from ''Prime'' with new models. Some were barely changed (like the recoloured Triclops) while others were given a complete overhaul, the Beetle becoming the much smaller Splinter, the Elite Pirate the Ingsmasher, Baby Sheegoths becoming Grenchlers, Chozo Ghosts becoming Pirate Commandos, etc. There's also a few examples in the games themselves, like the normal / ice / plate Parasites in ''Prime'' and the light / dark creatures in ''Echoes''.

* UnreadablyFastText: The corrupted data at the beginning of ''Corruption''; it includes the words "Wii Format", and some German text with the word "Kaempfen (to fight)".

* VillainBasedFranchise: Though it stars Samus... Whose name is in the title? That's right. [[spoiler:Who's the final boss of all three games?]] That's right. Interestingly, the Metroid Prime doesn't reach BigBad status until the third installment; spending the first game sealed up in a cave, and the second gorging on Phazon and taking pot shots at Samus.

* WombLevel: The Leviathans are Womb Boss Chambers, Phaaze is a living planet, and the final part of the final battle in the first game is presumably in part of a Leviathan (The rest of the Impact Crater seems to be [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin just that]]; the crater around the Leviathan).

* AmbiguousRobots: To a certain extent, Meta Ridley qualifies, as there's nothing to indicate how much of him is still living and how much is robotic.

* AntagonistTitle
* AnticlimaxBoss: The last Metroid Hatcher in ''Corruption'' cannot be fought until you have the Nova Beam, which enables a one-hit-kill on all Metroids. You'll also have the X-Ray Visor by this point, which enables a OneHitKill ''on the Metroid Hatcher itself''. [[hottip:*: Granted, it is ThatOneBoss, and the fact that if you're willing to wait, ''all three'' can be killed this way is [[CatharsisFactor pure sweet justice.]]]]

* ApocalypticLog: Various lore scans. At various parts in all three games, the apocalypse described by the Pirate logs is [[MookHorrorShow Samus herself]], as she rips through their forces, and generally leaves a wake of destruction and death.

* ArtifactTitle: Only the first game mentions "Metroid Prime" by name. You do encounter and battle with Dark Samus in the second and third games, but neither of those games mentions that Dark Samus is Metroid Prime (or indeed, anything else about Metroid Prime).

** ''Prime'': The Super Missile was useful most of the time. The Wavebuster was good for robots and parts of the Ridley fight. The Ice Spreader was effective when the FinalBoss had it's ice barrier active and was weak to it. The Flamethrower was almost completely useless.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Ridley in ''Prime''. He actually manages to one-up this by flying directly from an orbiting space frigate to Tallon IV [[hottip:*: an impossible feat, considering that space has no air molecules to push against in flight]], surviving re-entry in the process.

* BattleTops: ''Echoes'' has the Quad drones as well as the Quadraxis boss battle, which can curl up into spinning top shapes. The former can only be stopped by bashing into them using the Boost Ball.
* BeePeople: The Ing. They even come from a hive.

* BigBad: Metroid Prime/Dark Samus.

* ChekhovsGun: In ''Echoes'' there is an active portal in the Hall of Honored Dead. You can't reach it, and scans say it is unstable anyway. [[spoiler: After the showdown in the Sky Temple Gateway (the Darth Aether version of this), a wall of Phazon collapses revealing the still active portal. This is the portal that Samus then uses to escape.]]

* DeaderThanDead: You can scan Chykka's corpse after the battle is over (nearly every other boss either fades away or explodes) which basically goes to ensure you in no uncertain terms than the creature is finally dead: "''Bioscan complete. Target Chykka has been terminated. Lifesigns are at flatline. No regenerative ability in effect. No evidence of symbiotic corpse possession. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Resurrection does not appear likely.]]''"

* EternalEngine: Phazon Mines, Sanctuary Fortress, and [[spoiler:the Pirate Homeworld]]. Also Bryyo, to an extent.

* FireballEyeballs: Ridley in the third game.

* FungusHumongous: Phazon Mines in ''Prime''.

* HailfirePeaks: Most zones are EternalEngine meets X (Sanctuary Fortress is an industrial TempleOfDoom, Magmoor is an industrial LethalLavaLand, etc.).

** In ''Echoes'', if you energize a Light Crystal/Beacon, any Ing nearby will be attracted to it and incinerate themselves.

* ''Metroid Prime''\\
* ''Metroid Prime 2: Echoes''\\
* ''Metroid Prime 3: Corruption''\\
* ''Metroid Prime Hunters''\\
* ''[[OddballInTheSeries Metroid Prime Pinball]]''\\