It’s been over a decade since Metroid Prime last blessed our Wiis with its appearance. And while it wasn’t a bad rendition of the GameCube’s classic title by any means, a lot of time has passed since then. Technology has advanced considerably, and so has Metroid Prime Remastered.
But there are still a few changes that could have made Metroid Prime Remastered even better. It’s always difficult remastering games and making sure to do the originals proud, and while we’re still enjoying the revamped version of the game, these changes could take it to the next level.
7 Introducing An Autosave Feature
While more and more games are utilizing autosaves, it has never really been a feature of Metroidvania games. Metroidvanias usually only let you save when you reach certain rooms on the map that act as checkpoints in the game.
While introducing autosaves to the Metroid series would be a deviation from the traditional format, it would undoubtedly make the experience easier. It's always appreciated when autosaves cover you if your game were to crash, or you need to turn it off for whatever reason before you find the next save point.
6 Allowing You To Pick Your Save File
While autosaves would be a big change to the classic Metroidvania experience, being able to choose what file you would like to save to wouldn’t be too much of an alteration. The game does allow you to have up to three save files, but each acts as a different playthrough, and you can't have several save files for the same run.
Having the chance to have multiple save files for your game could be an awesome feature for those of us that like the peace of mind that having a backup gives you. You know what they say, never put all your eggs in one basket.
5 Having More Control Over The Hint System
Metroid games are known for being more on the difficult side. It is incredibly easy to get lost or turned around, and the series has never been known for hand-holding. Metroid Prime Remastered has heard the desperate cries of many a frustrated gamer and introduced a hint system that is designed to help out those who might be feeling a little stuck.
This is an awesome feature, but it doesn’t happen on command. When you’re playing a Metroid game from start to finish, it is a very intuitive experience: you unlock something new, and you can remember the places you need to go back to explore further. But if you have put your game down for a couple of weeks or so and pick it back up again, it is incredibly hard to remember where you were meant to go next.
This is where a help system that you could command yourself would be a handy feature, something akin to the recap of a show that you get at the beginning of a new season. More control over when you get hints would be more helpful to players rather than just aimlessly trying to remember where you had to go next until the game’s help system triggers on its own.
4 Fast Travel
Fast travel is so commonplace in games these days that you don’t really miss it until it’s gone. The convenience of simply teleporting to the other side of the map is easy to take for granted, but it is something that you sorely miss once you realize you accidentally made your way to the other side of the map and have to trek all the way back again.
Going the wrong way is extremely easy to do in a Metroid game, and fast travel could make things a whole lot easier for players, especially if they are new to the series.
3 Hard Mode Being Available From The Start
Metroid may be more than enough of a challenge for many gamers. But others thrive on the challenge of a good Metroid experience. And what’s more challenging than playing the game on the hardest mode?
Hard mode is available in Metroid Prime Remastered, but is only unlocked once you’ve completed it. Having hard mode available from the get-go could save veteran players from having to complete an entire play-through before being able to finally play the mode they want. The fact that Metroid Prime has been remastered more than once is even more reason why this would be an awesome feature. Many gamers may have already played through the game more than one time and just want to get to the hardest difficulty straight away.
2 Having An Optional Camera Angle
Samus looks incredible, as always, in her flash remastered suit, but you don’t often get the chance to see her in her full glory as she goes about her adventures. Metroid Prime games are always played from a first-person perspective, but having the option for an over-the-shoulder view would be awesome and put a whole new spin on the game.
While we do love the first-person perspective of the Metroid Prime series, we also love seeing Samus do her thing, and sometimes it's nice to shake things up a bit.
1 Including The Other Two Games In The Series
We’re all thinking it, so we might as well say it: the number one way that Metroid Prime Remastered could be better is if it was the Metroid Prime Trilogy Remastered. The Wii got the other two games in a trilogy, so why didn’t the Switch version?
Don’t get us wrong, we are grateful to have the beautiful Metroid Prime Remastered, and it's certainly better than nothing. But part of us can't help but think back to the trilogy and miss the other two games. They will undoubtedly come to the Switch eventually, but alas, we will have to purchase them separately.