Despite first playing Metroid Prime over 20 years ago, parts of it still came back as clear as day to me as I played through its excellent Switch remaster. I could still recall the exact moment when I experienced my first Metroid, as it bursts out of its test tube and starts wildly zipping around. I remember every camera shot leading into the Thardus battle. I’m even able to find some of its most hidden collectibles with a bit of muscle memory I never even knew I retained.
Ecological disaster If you’re zipping through Metroid Prime casually, you may be tempted to say that it doesn’t have much of a story. After Samus answers a distress beacon on an abandoned space frigate and loses her powers for her troubles, she lands on an alien planet called Tallon IV in pursuit of her nemesis, Ridley. That’s about the only explicit narrative beat we get as the game opens up into traditional Metroid exploration.
The beauty of the experience, though, is that you can go through the entire game without knowing any of that. There’s not a word of spoken dialogue and there are no NPCs milling around to spout exposition. Players can either choose to play the role of an anthropologist or treat Samus as a cold and calculated bounty hunter whose only goal is to exterminate her longtime rival; the adventure functions through either lens.
You don’t need an NPC to tell you that you’re about to walk into a disaster scene; the music lets you know there’s danger ahead. Contrast that track with the main Magmoor Caverns theme. The fire world is the third biome Samus treks through, and it’s where she actually begins to experience some friction. Compared to the previously inviting Chozo Ruins, the space is downright oppressive. It’s made up of largely claustrophobic tunnels filled with lava pools and fire traps that can melt Samus’ energy if she doesn’t trek carefully. The confidence we felt in Tallon Overworld’s theme is entirely gone here.
Funeral hymn The finest example of that comes from the game’s fourth area: Phendrana Drifts. After braving Magmoor Caverns, an elevator takes Samus into polar opposite conditions. She enters into an icy biome where every surface is covered in a thick layer of snow. The music takes a complete tonal shift here that we have not heard up to this point. Sci-fi synths are replaced with a quiet piano line built around a progression of twinkling high notes.
Truth.