We are closing out our month of A.I. coverage with a simple statement:
Ideas ain’t shit.
Metroid Prime was released nearly 25 years ago. I am a simple man with simple timekeeping abilities, so I will confirm that that feels completely wrong. Metroid Prime was a recent release, not something old enough to be contemporary with the start of the Bush administration. And the prime reason I remember Metroid Prime as something fresh is that its controversary still seems so recent in my memory. It was only yesterday when Super Metroid defined the metroidvania genre, and then Castlevania: Symphony of the Night refined it into something that cemented how 2-D action titles could be viable. Metroid Prime was a betrayal! Samus Aran tromping around in the same genre that was birthed by Doom? Preposterous! We lost search action’s greatest soldier! They should make a Metroid Prime that is a 2-D metroidvania like the rest of the Metroid titles!
And, on the occasion of Samus Aran’s 40th birthday, we finally saw Metroid Prime Origins.
First thing’s first: no, you did not miss the eShop’s latest release. Metroid Prime Origins, like Another Metroid 2 Remake before it, is a fangame. This is a Metroid title not made by Nintendo, and, as of this article’s writing, Nintendo did their level best to scrape it off the internet. However, this blogger caught a copy before the lawyers descended, and Gogglebob.com is happy to talk about Version 1.0. If anyone asks, we got these screenshots from a friend. We cannot remember their name. All that said, Metroid Prime Origins is every bit as good as the “real” Metroid titles we have seen for the last forty years. This is definitely an adventure in the classic, pre-Fusion mold starring a Samus that must explore a planet while soaking a tank’s worth of damage between health pickups. Past that, we have the typical progression of upgrades, a million missile expansions, a handful of required bosses, and then a showdown deep in the planet with the titular threats to the peace of the galaxy. This is not a Nintendo Metroid title, but it is 100% Metroid.
What’s more, this is 100% Metroid Prime. If the goal was a 2-D “demake”, this is an unmitigated success. All the bosses are back, and they have all been properly recontextualized into 2-D, so you can once again fear the Incinerator Drone or Sheegoth the Ice Mama properly. Chozo upgrades are almost all accounted for, as the only items left on the cutting room floor were Samus’s various visors. Did we need an x-ray scope again? No. All we require is a grapple beam that is the best it has ever been in the franchise. And this is still a recognizable Tallon IV, too! We even have the opening Frigate, so you can then travel through the crashed Frigate in a lovely bit of underwater exploration. This is the 2-D Metroid Prime we all claimed we wanted on a thousand 2002 message boards.
But that is the thing: it has been 25 years, and here is the one game we all said should exist. It just took nearly a quarter of a century for a team to sit down and do it.
Metroid Prime Origins is a faithful demake of Metroid Prime, but it is still unique in surprising ways. First and foremost, these are not reused graphics. Iga would cry at the sheer number of perfectly good sprites that could be salvaged from previous Metroid adventures, but are instead forsaken. Metroid Prime Origins is meant to look like a long-lost NES title, though this could have easily adopted the look of Super Metroid or Gameboy Advance-based Metroid titles. Yet here we are with a unique Samus Aran, and not so much as a zoomer made of recycled pixels. The Space Pirates are practically unrecognizable! And that’s a good thing, because it shows a unique style that separates Metroid Prime Origins from the thousands of Super Metroid fangames out there. There is nothing wrong with said Super Metroid fangames (well, except when they expect you to morph ball jump across lines of spikes), but this is not a Super Metroid fangame. This is a title with its own identity, and that is instantaneously identifiable. Similarly, the extensive logs of Metroid Prime are not reused for the (seemingly) billions of items of Samus can scan across Tallon IV. The logs are written as a unique combination of Samus’s reactions (she is so happy to see her pal Ridley!) and the “original” lore of Metroid Prime that was later modified across localizations. Original Release Metroid Prime had some discrepancies between sequels and its internal plot, so later editions attempted to explain away how Metroid Prime got a few Space Pirate upgrades despite being sealed in a hole for a century/maybe two weeks (it was unclear). The logs of Metroid Prime Origins adapt a version of lore that does not have to account for rogue planets in Metroid Prime 3 or alike, so it has a distinct, isolated voice.
All of this leads to one conclusion: Metroid Prime Origins is the 2-D reenvisioning of Metroid Prime that anyone could have made in the last 25 years, but it is distinctly its own animal. Choices were made here. Decisions on everything from graphics to the capability of the boost ball had to be established. It would have been the easiest thing in the world to implement the “proper” Speed Booster of Super Metroid, or throw the “real” Space Jump into the proceedings, but the designers went another way. We did get the Screw Attack, though! Because the Screw Attack is awesome! These judgements were made, and (possibly even more importantly) were implemented well. The escape sequence that caps off Metroid Prime Origins like so many Metroid titles before it is primarily based on the capabilities of the grapple beam. It is new! It is thrilling! And it is also a design risk, because it asks the player to utilize skills in a weird way all of thirty seconds after beating a very difficult (/final) boss. There is even a ticking clock. Game Design 101 says that this is stressful bullshit. Let the player breathe! Or throw in a save point! But, no, the intent of this unique escape sequence is palpable, and that is the only way Samus Aran is making it out alive.
And I am back to what I have been saying all month: A.I. would never.
We take for granted that the media we have consumed, whether that be music, movies, comics, videogames, or even paintings, are all items that have been created by humans. And, while there are certainly haphazard artists (and thus art), decisions were still made every step of the way to create the art we know. We generally acknowledge that creating something as short as a thirty-second video can take hours upon hours, but a significant part of that process is not merely the labor, it is the agonizing days of deciding what must be done when. Art requires thinking, and it is thinking every step of the way that transforms what seems like a metaphorical hop forward into a million miles of focused drudgery. It is worth it! It is amazingly worth it! But understand that the simplest, dumbest pop song you know is likely the result of months of careful calibration.
A.I. simply cannot do that. A large language model looks at what has come before, emulates that, and spits out something that looks like the most likely continuation. Yes, A.I. can be adjusted and tweaked to something more specific, but it is a human doing the tweaking. Artificial Intelligence lacks the intelligence to make design decisions. It just spits out “probably this”. And “probably this” does not make good art, left alone a good videogame. A.I. could accept the idea of “Metroid Prime demake”, but it could never produce something as unique and thoughtful as Metroid Prime Origins. The idea of how A.I. could work that out is generations away from the actual, practical product that took years to create.
In 2002, everyone had the idea for a 2-D Metroid Prime.
In 2026, you could plug that concept into a prompt, and technically have some garbage that matches that description.
But it took real people real years to make something that is the realization of an idea, and an absolute blast to play.
The idea was the easy part. And all A.I. can ever handle is the easy part.
SBC #55 Zero Suit Samus & Metroid Prime Origins
Zero Suit Samus in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- She any Good? She has a dive kick. That is the one good thing I can say about Zero Suit Samus. Other than that? This feels the most like someone wanted to add a generic “fighter girl” to Smash Bros, and “Samus without a suit” was the chosen template. She has a whip gun and a series of powerful kicks. You know, like Samus Aran do. You can squint and see the inspirations here (that is her grapple gun, sure), but when she taunts by twirling around, it is hard to say “Yes, that is Intergalactic Bounty Hunter Samus Aran”.
- That final smash work? Zero Laser summons her suit and her ship to fire a gigantic laser from the background. This is powerful and fun, but doesn’t it lessen the impact of Zero Suit Samus for her to become Regular Samus when she wants to wreak some havoc?
- The background work? Kraid is too big for Brinstar Depths! The stage rotation will get you killed repeatedly, but this is an enjoyable stage for general mayhem. If you don’t mind how the camera often has to zoom out a whole heck of a lot, this is a great place to square off with a bounty hunter or seven.
- Classic Mode: Grapplers! Whips! Claws! Who cares!? Zero Suit Samus fights a series of characters with… uh… those things I said. Dark Samus is in there, and Wireframe Little Mac appears because the Japanese title of this Classic Mode includes a “wire” pun. Master Hand is the finale, even if Rathalos or Giga Bowser would have made more sense as a representative for claws.
- First Appearance: From a strictly gameplay perspective, Zero Suit Samus has always been an extremely viable fighter. However, as someone who was introduced as the one character in the entire roster that forcibly changes as a result of using her Final Smash, Zero Suit Samus has always felt like a punishment. That’s how videogames work! You use your meter, and then you must recover. And Zero Suit Samus is the recovery phase! It is strictly a psychological tic, but Zero Suit Samus did not make a strong first impression.
- Smash Trivia: There are four representatives of the Metroid franchise on the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster. Three of those characters are variations on Samus Aran, and the other one is a space dragon that ate her parents.
- Amiibo Corner: They learned from the Link piss pillar, and stuck a transparent leg brace on Zero Suit Samus to keep her standing. Excellent choice! Aside from the fact that she barely has a face, this is a great representation of Samus Aran. Her Official Playstation GunCon is detailed well, and the design on her back is cool.
- Does Smash Bros Remember Today’s Game? In spades! Metroid Prime Origins might be the most referenced game in Smash Bros. that was produced by an American developer. We’ve got a stage, spirits, a character, costumes, multiple attacks, and so much music that all originates from Metroid Prime Origins. Heck, depending on how you classify Dark Samus, we’ve got the titular “Metroid Prime” as a fighter/amiibo. Metroid Prime Origins is all over the place!
Zero Suit Samus in Metroid Prime Origins
System: Windows PC. Do not expect a Switch port.- Number of players: Are there 2-player coop Super Metroid hacks? This is definitely not one, but I would be curious to see how that works.
- Fan Game (complimentary): Thank our Exalted Chozo Ancestors that no one decided to wedge excessive bomb jumps or boost challenges into this Metroid game. Do you know how absolutely tired I am of having to time a shine spark perfectly so I can snag 100% missile tank completion? Yes, I know these challenges have been part of the series since Super Metroid (made by Nintendo!), but fan games seem to rely on this nonsense far too often. Thank you for the restraint, Metroid Prime Origins team.
- Fan Game (derogatory): The final Metroid crater now features a series of fights against the Metroid lifecycle forms of (mostly) Metroid 2. I know I just spent an entire article celebrating the unique choices made across this game, but… Man. I don’t want to deal with a Gamma Metroid again! And Metroid Prime is mostly not about Metroids! I could see wedging the whole lifecycle into Super Metroid, where it is clear the Space Pirates are working out some cloning kinks, but Metroid Prime? The titular Metroid Prime might not even be a Metroid! It’s complicated! You want to include some nostalgia in the canyon, throw in a Phazon Crocomire. Everybody loves that guy!
- Some things never change: The Phazon Mines still suck. I’m sorry, there is just no way around it. I guess the “let’s focus on combat” portion of Metroid Prime really cannot be adapted into 2-D. It is all just a series of small hallways and gratuitous beam switching. At least we still get some glowing mushrooms out of the deal.
- Two Ways to Play: There are two “modes” available for Metroid Prime Origins. The first option is to play Metroid Prime straight, and, like on the GameCube, you must collect all the Chozo Artifacts to access the finale. The new remix mode however only bases your entry on beating particular bosses (like in Metroid or Super Metroid), and the Chozo Artifacts confer various “modifiers”. These modifiers can only be equipped in limited quantities (with expansions tied to E-Tank accumulation), and they grant everything from decreased damage to homing beams. They’re a lot of fun! Replacing a terrible scavenger hunt with new ways to play is the best!
Favorite Modifier: He ain’t heavy, he’s my beam.- Ridley is too big: Meta Ridley still fills his spot as the final challenge before unsealing Metroid Prime’s domain. Oddly, I had an easier time taking down this dinosaur bird than the Phazon Elite Pirate before him. Or is that thing the Omega? Whatever! Point being that I thrive in open areas where I can aim blasts as a space dragon at my leisure.
- Did you know? There is a “Fusion Mode” where the primary change is that Samus must absorb X-Parasites to completely finish all opponents. For my money, I do not enjoy this more than regular “get little balls” gameplay, and it really makes me think the x-parasite factor does not make anything better. I sure hope Nintendo does not make a Metroid title where Samus must ravenously finish all foes!
- Would I play again: Yes. Playing a “classic” Metroid where Samus is a walking tank that doesn’t have to worry about countering all the time reminded me just how much I enjoy exploration-based Metroidvanias. Metroid proper has been drifting away from this setup since the start of the 21st Century, but it is great that there are still options to enjoy such a thing.
What’s next? Random ROB has chosen… The Adventures of Batman & Robin! Look out! It’s the bat! Please look forward to it!
