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Metroid Prime is a Story Arc offshoot of the Metroid series. It currently contains the following games:
Metroid Prime Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Metroid Prime Hunters Metroid Prime Pinball Metroid Prime Trilogy
These games are currently the only 3D Metroid games. Additionally, apart from Pinball, they all have First Person Shooter perspectives.
The Prime sub-series was developed by Texas,-USA-based Retro Studios, and has proven rather critically and commercially successful.
The sub-series plot involves a radioactive mutagen named 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 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's Chozo guardians had a second home, and have since vanished into thin air from. 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 Final Boss levels of danger that they can't control. This boss survives the player's attack at game's end, and regenerates itself into Dark Samus, a Phazon clone of Samus who continues to attack the player throughout the rest of the sub-series. Prime 2 sees a comet landing on a world named Aether, which is split into two worlds as a result of the crash. Prime 3 concludes the arc by having Dark Samus manipulate the Space Pirates into finding the source of Phazon, and assaulting the Galactic Federation with a multi-pronged attack, with only Samus having a chance at stopping the clone by using the power of Phazon herself.
Hunters is a Gaiden Game that takes place between Prime 1 and 2, detailing a call from another galaxy about an incredible power available to the strongest warrior who comes to take it. Samus and six other Bounty Hunters step up to the plate, all for different reasons. Hunters' seven playable characters provided some multiplayer opportunities, but the game was criticized by longtime series fans as a pandering attempt to win over Halo-style gamers, with limited success at best.
Pinball is basically a retelling of Prime 1's story via multiple stages of a pinball table. If you're into that kind of thing, it can be fun, but no-one really takes this game seriously.
Trilogy is, quite simply, the three main Prime games together in one package. Prime 1 and 2 have been reprogrammed to benefit from the move from GameCube to Wii; they now have widescreen, bloom lighting, higher quality textures, and Prime 3's innovative new controls and token reward system.
In addition to all tropes at the main page, the Metroid Prime sub-series provides examples of:
- Another Dimension (Aether in Echoes)
- Apocalyptic Log (Various lore scans in the Prime games. In the latter halves of Prime and Prime 3, the apocalypse described by the Pirate logs is Samus herself, as she rips through their forces and bases.)
- The Artifact (Shooting doors to open them was breaking the lock/door. The visuals not only contradict the handwave, but Prime 3 has the oddity of doing it on a friendly base.)
- The current explanation is an energy shield that drops when shot, preventing pests from getting in. Then it became standard for everybody.
- Back From The Brink (The Ing were terrifyingly close to causing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes to be over before it even started. Like, two rooms close.)
- Batman Can Breathe In Space (Ridley in Prime 1. He actually manages to one-up this by flying directly from an orbiting space frigate to Tallon IV, surviving re-entry in the process.)
- One ups himself again given that scans put Samus's ship at 72 times lightspeed without warpspeed and he outran and outmaneuvered said ship before going to Tallon IV.
- The Battle Didnt Count (Dark Samus, the Hunters, Ridley in Prime 3)
- Bee People (the Ing, that even come from an hive)
- Blackout Basement (Removing some power sources or upgrades releases captured Metroids and shuts off the lights. Prime 1's Space Pirate Base in Phendrana is an excellent example.)
- It's so dark in Prime 1, in fact, that it's pretty much a necessity to leave a specific visor on at all times.
- Body Horror (Phazon and the Ing, particularly in logs of victims)
- Bowdlerize (The version of Corruption in Metroid Prime Trilogy removes a single usage of "Damn!," for no readily apparent reason. After all, it's already a T-rated franchise, and there are other instances of "damned" and "hell" in the games. One wonders if the Moral Guardians really cared that much...)
- This may have something to do with Trilogy using the PAL releases instead of the NTSC ones, but that just brings into question why the single curse was removed when crossing shores in the first place; the game has a 12+ rating there.
- Breath Weapon (besides Ridley, since he is a Space Dragon, Metroid Prime)
- Bullfight Boss (Plated beetle, Alpha Blogg, and others.)
- Cast From Hit Points (Hypermode in Prime 3, which uses one energy tank for a limited amount of powerful Phazon-based attacks. Ending it early can let you keep some of the energy.)
- Charged Attack (Phazon Beam)
- Chasing Your Tail (Parasite Queen)
- Continuity Nod (The remixed music found throughout the Prime games)
- A particularly hilarious Continuity Nod is in two of the GF Troopers' Logs. The first one complains about another Trooper raving on about how Samus destroyed an entire planet of Space Pirates, claiming it to be lies. You can later read the log of the Trooper who was praising Samus' feats, saying Samus would be in the thick of the fight.
- Cool Starship (Samus's gunship was already cool enough on its own, but the updated version in Prime 3 gains missiles, a multi-ton grapple beam, and a remote guidance system that allows it to perform automated airstrikes or come to the player's location at the press of a button)
- Critical Annoyance (Dua-dua-dua-dua-dua-dua - few things are better motivation to search for energy. The Prime games up the annoyance factor a notch by adding a large, orange "Energy Low" warning to Samus' HUD in conjunction with the alarm.)
- It also plays an alarm when you get too close to a potential hazard (such as fire or Phazon), complete with a threat meter. Thankfully, it only plays the noise once.
- Crowning Moment Of Awesome (Among others, the beginning of the third game has Samus dueling Ridley in freefall, and firing her blaster down his throat. And it's all playable.)
- Crowning Moment Of Funny (Some of the Pirate Logs, particularly about the attempts to domesticate Metroids, or replicate the Morph Ball)
- Or when Samus gets beaned by a rock when she defeats Thardus.
- Cut And Paste Environments: Some of the later dark areas of Prime 2 are pretty transparently Palette Swaps of their light counterparts, occasionally with a platform or two added or removed.
- More or less, though some rooms have more notable differences (for instance, the room where you fight the Boost Guardian in Prime 2; it has an arena you can access in the Dark World, but it doesn't seem to exist in the Light World). Prime 1 is more guilty of this: so many of the corridors in the Chozo Ruins look alike.
- To be fair, you're entering a dark version of the regular world. Wouldn't it make sense?
- Cybernetics Eat Your Soul (For the most part averted, as most characters get along just fine with their cybernetically-enhanced Powered Armor... and then there's Ghor. While a robotic Gentle Giant most of the time, when he "cybernetically fuses," he becomes cold, unfeeling, and aggressive. He's only 6% biological to begin with, but if that amount goes down farther, he gets nasty quick.)
- Cyber Punk (Sanctuary Fortress/Ing Hive)
- Dark World (Dark Aether)
- Damn You Muscle Memory (Many people dislike the control scheme in Prime 1 and 2 because the other analog stick is not used to aim, like in Halo or many other FPS's.)
- This may be the reason why we've gotten a 'New Play Control' version of the Metroid Prime Trilogy: all 3 games now play like Prime 3 on the Wii. As a bonus, all 3 games are packaged together as well at retail.
- Doom Magnet: It seems Samus cannot escape the cold hand of destruction, whether it be a large base or the entire planet. So far, her "kill count" includes Dark Aether, Phaaze, Zebes and SR388, the third of which wasn't even her fault. Granted, the others were of her own doing, Phaaze because it kept popping out Phazon Leviathans to infect other planets, Dark Aether because it was just evil, and SR388 so she could wipe out the X Parasites, but still. Not even space stations are safe, since the Biologic Research Labs orbital station dies with SR388.
- In addition, very few characters with personal connections to Samus ever survive. Ridley doesn't count.
- Down The Drain (The crashed frigate, the reactor in Torvus Bog)
- Dummied Out: Like Zero Mission's removal of Crocomire, Prime 1 would have had a battle with an old boss... Meta-Kraid, which would have marked his first official 3-D appearance. A picture of what he would have looked like was shown by one of the modelers.
 ◊ Also, Prime 2 was to feature a battle with an Ing-possessed Ridley, as seen here◊.
- Earth Shattering Kaboom ( Phaaze, the source of all Phazon, in Metroid Prime 3. On the other hand, Dark Aether merely seems to fizzle out of existence rather than exploding grandly, though if it did, normal Aether would probably eat it as well.)
- Eight Point Eight (In Gamespot's review of Metroid Prime 3, points were deducted because the control scheme was so good that it made the game too easy, and that it wasn't Halo)
- Emergency Weapon (The "charged single shot" for ammo-dependent beam weapons in Prime 2)
- Enemy Scan (extended to everything else as well)
- Eternal Engine (Phazon Mines, Pirate Homeworld)
- Evil Twin (Dark Samus)
- Eye Open (Metroid Prime)
- Final Exam Boss (The Metroid Prime itself. Also, Gandrayda assumes the forms of several bosses you've fought before, but is fought only about two thirds of the way through Metroid Prime 3.)
- The final boss of Prime 1 is quite literally the final exam, because certain Pirate Logs actually clue you in to how the boss fights, giving you a huge advantage before you even enter the room. However, these very logs were, due to a minor plot retcon, removed from the Trilogy version.
- You get subtly clued in on how to deal with the Metroid Prime anyway, since, like the Plasma/Power/Ice Pirates, its colour indicates which weapon it is currently vulnerable to.
- Fungus Humongous (Phazon Mines in Prime.)
- Gentle Giant (Ghor in Prime 3, just so long as he isn't cybernetically fused with anything. Or corrupted by Phazon.)
- Genre Savvy (One of the Pirate Logs in Research Lab Aether notes that the Metroid transportation protocols also apply to sedated and dead Metroids. Too bad for the pirates, this seems as close as they get)
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff (Much of the Japanese series' fanbase is based in America, which might be why the 3D revival of the series was given to an American development studio.)
- Ghost Ship: The GFS Valhalla.
- Gimmick Level (usually with the Spider Ball)
- The Spider Guardian in Prime 2 has you fighting it entirely in Morph Ball form.
- Goddamned Bats (The titular entities certainly fall into this category, particularly in their last appearance in Metroid Prime before the final boss.)
- It's not just the Metroids. Prime 2 is FULL of them, bordering on Demonic Spider territory.
- It adds a feeling of power to obtaining the Wave Beam super attack that turrets. Young Sheegoth and Pulse Bombus take a significant effort to avoid/kill with Missiles/Power Beam, while the Wave Beam stuns the first two, and can actually kill the otherwise invincible 3rd.
- Gravity Barrier
-
Green Rocks Crystalline Fibrous Biological Gooey Blue... Stuff: Phazon. (Just that awkward description alone ought to be an indicator of how multipurpose this particular bit of Phlebotinum is.)
- Heroic RROD (part of the reason the third Prime game is called Corruption)
- He Was Right There All Along (Thardus)
- Hey Its That Voice: Jennifer Hale voices Samus in the Prime series; she also voiced, among other game characters, Alexandra Roivas, another blond Nintendo Action Girl.
- Christopher Sabat as our friendly neighborhood Rundas. Mayhaps you know him better as Vegeta or Piccolo.
- An Ice Person (Noxus, Rundas, their respective species, and Samus, considering all the ice power-ups)
- Internet Backdraft (Metroid's transition to 3D and to first person, and Metroid Prime 2's inclusion of multiplayer. Also brewed up flame wars over whether the Prime series are a first person shooter or a adventure.)
- Krem Quay (Torvus Bog, and a good part of the Tallon Overworld.)
- Last Of His Kind (Spire in Metroid Prime Hunters is looking for the remains of his people.)
- U-Mos in Prime 2 may also count, but the rest of his kind were in stasis instead of dead.
- Late To The Party (All three console Prime titles)
- Lethal Lava Land (Magmoor. "Bryyo Fire" from Prime 3 is an interesting case; it does have a "firey" theme and appropriate colors, but the oozy stuff throughout the level is not lava, but a highly volatile chemical that is both corrosive and flammable. It still "behaves" like lava does in most games, though.)
- Lost Forever (scans in the Prime series)
- Lowered Monster Difficulty (The titular creatures are the scourge of the universe in Metroid and Super Metroid, needing to be frozen and pelted with missiles to kill. Through the Prime series, they become progressively less of an actual threat. In Prime 2, they can be beaten with enough firepower from any of your weapons, and in Prime 3, you eventually get the ability to kill them in one shot. Until then, though...)
- Possibly justified; the Metroids in the Prime games are a different strain (Tallon Metroids) that have been horribly mutated by massive, repeated exposure to Phazon. The SR388 and Zebes strains, on the other hand, are only vulnerable to cold. (Fusion's Omega Metroid was cloned from the last SR388 Metroid, hence only the Ice Beam damages it.)
- The Magic Versus Technology War (This is what shattered the civilisation of Bryyo... and yes, that means there is magic in the Metroid universe)
- Also note that Magic won.
- And why not? The series already has ghosts.
- Although by the time the Science of Bryyo lost, the barbarians had already forgotten magic, leaving only the ability to teleport and use some electricity like energy.
- Mauve Shirt (The GF troopers in Prime 3; since they're already dead by the time you get there in Prime 2, they still count as Red Shirts)
- Mirror Match (Prime 2 multiplayer)
- Monochromatic Eyes (Samus, in the last stages of Phazon corruption.)
- Nightmare Fuel: Spend a night on the Valhalla. And that's just a start.
- Samus's slow progression of Phazon corruption in Prime 3. Starts off as just a nifty new suit, and by the end of the game, her ship doesn't even recognize her.
- Plus her reflection in her visor...
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot (Ridley started as a dragon space pirate, and adds more to this title in the Prime games, culminating in him being a mutant zombie cyborg dragon space pirate.)
- Nonstandard Game Over (Corruption)
- Oh Crap (The Pirate Logs tend to become this when they start talking about Samus; especially in the second game when they realize Samus and Dark Samus are two different beings. "Surely, we are cursed.")
- Played straight then subverted in Prime 3, where an opening Pirate Log curses the arrival of Dark Samus... and then subsequent logs begin to praise her as their savior.
- Ominous Latin Chanting (menu of Prime, title/menu of Echoes, Lower Norfair/Magmoor, and too many to count in Prime 3... and they're all awesome)
- One Winged Angel (Metroid Prime and Emperor Ing. They become less disfigured in each change...)
- Or Is It (The 100% endings of all the Metroid Prime games)
- Palette Swap (see most of the enemies from Metroid Prime)
- Phlebotinum Muncher (the titular beastie of Metroid Prime, and its descendant Dark Samus in Prime 2 and Prime 3)
- Phlebotinum Overdose: In Corruption, too much exposure to Phazon or spending too much time in Hypermode causes Samus to go into Corrupt Hypermode, and the energy bar for it fills rapidly. The only way to get out is to dump all of the energy or prevent the bar from filling for half a minute. Fail, and Samus turns into another Dark Samus.
- Point Of No Return: Phaaze in Corruption is explicitly referred to as this.
- Porting Disaster: Not a "disaster" by any stretch of the imagination, but there are a number of missing-but-not-crippling visual effects left out of the Trilogy version of Metroid Prime, such as the heat shimmering from your gun when you rapid fire for a few seconds straight. Supposedly there's no such problem with the Trilogy versions of Prime 2 and 3.
- Power Crystal (The Lensman-like hand crystal on the back of her left hand. Originally just a visual effect, Zero Mission made it integral to use of the Power Grip, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has it as the source of the Grapple Beam)
- Proud Warrior Race Guy (Ice-themed people, of which we have seen two: Noxus (from planet Vho) and Rundas (from planet Phrygis). Noxus is fairly low-key, but Rundas definitely fits. Samus herself is also an example: modern Chozo are/were a peaceful people, but had a strong warrior tradition in the past.)
- Psycho Serum (Phazon in the Prime series)
- Puzzle Boss (many, including Flaahgra and Spider Guardian)
- Save Point (Much like the main series, the second type of save point is a common sight. However, unlike the main series, every save point in the Prime games refills health. Samus's gunship continues to act as a save point on its own, and Prime 3's ability to remotely fly the ship to various locations adds a useful portable save system to that game, although it's limited to designated landing zones.)
- Scenery Porn (Sanctuary Fortress in Prime 2 and Skytown Elysia in Prime 3 are both exceptionally beautiful. Though for Skytown, just try not to accidentally fall off an edge while staring at the scenery. Sanctuary Fortress is less dangerous on the "falling to your doom" end.)
- Schematized Prop: Many of the more recent games have taken up this trope, most notably using a Power Suit schematic as the item/weapon status screen (Zero Mission, Prime, Prime 3, Super, Fusion; the schematized suit was also seen in the instruction manual for Metroid II). Other examples include the model of the FS-176 solar system in Metroid Prime (who knew Zebes and Tallon IV were in the same star system?) and the detailed descriptions of items, ships and upgrades throughout the Prime games.
- Sci Fi Writers Have No Sense Of Scale (Metroid Prime: Hunters provides some very interesting numbers on the weapons of the Metroid universe. The Volt Driver apparently has enough juice to power countries, the Judicator approaches Absolute Zero, the Battlehammer contains a nuclear reactor, and the Magmaul utilizes hydrogen the same way stars do. If that isn't enough, Metroid Prime 2s Annihilator Beam combines matter and antimatter, the Dark/Sunbursts are a portal to hell and miniature star, respectively, and the Sonic Boom's description says it breaks reality. At this rate, it'll be able to compete with 40K in over-the-top weaponry.
- Scrapbook Story (the Lore/Data scans)
- Scrappy Level: Phendrana Drifts in Prime and Torvus Bog in Prime 2 count for some. The lowest level in Phazon Mines in Prime may count as well; it depends on the player's skill and how quickly it occurs to them to turn on the Thermal Visor. All three really just come down to the player's skill, as others have no problem with any of the three. Metroid Prime Trilogy making the first two games a bit easier fixes the problem all around.
- Sean Connery Is About To Shoot You - The covers for Hunters and Trilogy; the picture at the top of the page comes from Hunters.
- Sequel Difficulty Spike (Prime 2 compared to the original.)
- Sequel Hook (see Or Is It above)
- Also, scanning a certain monitor in Prime 3 gives you the message "Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing final stages of completion". In real life, Metroid Dread, was rumored to be in development for an incredibly long time—but never saw release. It was hotly anticipated, mostly because it was suspected that it would return to the franchise's side-scrolling roots. Word Of God is that it hasn't been officially cancelled and may still come out someday, hence the nod in Corruption.
- Sequence Breaking (It's a Metroid game, so this is in effect, though much of it requires the exploitation of glitches and tiny little ledges in the scenery.)
- Shape Shifter Baggage (In Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, no attempt is made to explain where all that extra mass comes from when Gandrayda turns into Ghor in his ginormous powered armor)
- Somewhat lampshaded in the Federation logbook entry for "Hunter Gandrayda" that says, "Can assume the form and abilities of most living things, including bioforms considerable larger than the subject." As if the Federation itself was surprised.
- Shape Shifter Swan Song (Gandrayda again)
- Shoulders Of Doom (The PED Suit in Metroid Prime 3 makes the normal Varia Suit versions slightly smaller, but the Hazard Shield add-on bumps them back up to Varia size)
- The Dark Suit in Prime 2 has ridiculous looking shoulders. The Light Suit actually makes them... normalish.
- Shout Out (Several to the Film/Alien franchise. Ridley the pirate is named after director Ridley Scott, and the opening shot of Prime is almost identical to that of the first film.)
- A blink-and-you'll-miss-it example is the name of the planet that houses one Federation shipyard, where the GFS Olympus and Samus' gunship (The one used in Metroid Prime 2. She goes through gunships like other people go through tissues.) were built: Aliehs III.
- Slippy Slidey Ice World (Phendrana Drifts, Bryyo Ice, Arcterra)
- Sprint Shoes (Boost Ball)
- Steam Punk (Elysia in Prime 3)
- Stop Helping Me (If you have hints turned on, expect to see a reminder about where you should go next appear every few minutes if you ding around too much.)
- Fortunately they can be turned off.
- The worst part? The endgame artifact hunt no-one likes and would acctually not mind being told exactly where they are? It doesn't help with it, sticking to the hint "collect all artifacts" without telling their locations.
- Sucking In Lines (most of the beams in the Prime series, while charging)
- Superweapon Surprise (Don't mess with Chozo statues... just, don't: "Those who defile [our statues] shall know our wrath, unfettered and raw.")
- Sword And Gun (Energy Scythe and Blaster, rather, for the Prime-series Pirates.)
- Sorting Algorithm Of Evil (Justified in the first game, a pirate log notes that the weak enemies in the first part of the game was the result of an attempt to avoid detection by a federation battle cruiser. Now that the cruiser is gone, they can appear out in the open and fight Samus with full force.)
- Take My Hand (Rundas literally snatching Samus out of Ridley's jaws in Corruption)
- Techno Wreckage (The crashed frigate in Prime... and the GFS Valhalla.)
- Technology Porn (Especially in the cutscenes.)
- Temple Of Doom (Sanctuary Fortress)
- That One Boss (Boost Guardian, Spider Guardian, Mogenar... And Ridley is hardly a fair fight, in any game.)
- The Boost and Spider Guardians thankfully got nerfed in the Trilogy version of the game. The Boost Guardian's puddle form no longer takes off over 100 energy units of damage a hit, and the Spider Guardian's damage got cut in half (this is on the "Normal" mode, mind you, Veteran and Hypermode put the damage numbers a bit closer to their originals).
- Many people also have a lot of trouble with Prime 1's last three boss fights (Omega Pirate, Meta-Ridley, and the titular creature).
- That One Sidequest (The energy tank in Magmoor in first game requires many precise double bomb jumps that missing a single one dumps Samus in lava and has to start over again. This is made much easier in the Trilogy version where the jumpball is included and can be activated by flicking the wiimote, eliminating much of the difficulty in the jumps)
- The Corruption (as the subtitle of Prime 3 attests, Phazon)
- Toxic Phlebotinum (Phazon)
- Underground Monkey (Beam Pirates)
- Updated Rerelease (Metroid Prime Trilogy is just that: Prime, Echoes, and Corruption on a single Wii Disc, with Prime and Echoes getting Corruption's control system and achievement-like unlocking system. This can also be considered a PAL Bonus, as the Trilogy collection is only getting released in western countries with the extra content, the Japanese market having received the two older wii-makes as separate games earlier in the year.)
- Unwinnable (A couple of glitches in the original games can cause this; if you leave a room before collecting an important item for triggering all the switches in a single go, then save, consider your game screwed. Thankfully, later releases fixed these problems.)
- Visual Effects Of Awesome: Two major ones in Prime; bright lights actually reflecting Samus face in her suit visor, and the fact that when you turn on the X-Ray visor, you can actually see the bones in Samus' arms.
- Not only can you see Samus' hand in Prime 1, but you can clearly see that her hand takes the shape depicted for each Beam mode; a clever addition.
- Warp Whistle (Echoes enables travelling in temple Pillars of Light, and Corruption allows landing on certain areas with the gunship)
- What The Hell, Player? (Attacking GF troopers in Prime 3.)
- Womb Level (Pretty much any Final Dungeon in the Prime series - Impact Crater, Sky Temple and Phaaze all had this.)
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