Metroid Prime Remastered recently hit the Nintendo Switch, giving players another chance to step back into one of Samus Aran's most celebrated adventures.
Retro Studios has done an utterly wonderful job of tidying up its magnum opus, giving the groundbreaking FPS a new lick of paint for its Switch outing. It's so good, in fact, that our pals over at Nintendo Life awarded it a 10/10 score, and playing it over the weekend got us thinking about Metroid Prime's ultimate impact on gaming – and if it is indeed the greatest transition from 2D to 3D for any gaming franchise.
You might argue that Super Mario 64 has a stronger claim to that crown; the N64 3D platformer laid down the foundations convincingly, triggering a wave of copycat titles (just as Mario's 2D adventures had done, in fact). However, there are elements of Mario 64 which feel a little rough when played today, while Metroid Prime, you could argue, still feels refined and polished in (almost) every respect.
Series like Sonic the Hedgehog have arguably struggled to find their groove in the realm of 3D (although it should be noted that the character's 3D adventures do have plenty of fans), and we'd stop short of including the likes of Zelda and Metal Gear in this conversation, as those titles took place in a top-down environment even in their 2D days, often giving the player the chance to move along the X, Y and Z axis lines. Perhaps you disagree and feel that these titles should be considered 2D in nature.
So, is Metroid Prime the most assured shift from 2D to 3D in gaming history? Let us know by voting in the poll below.
Is Metroid Prime the greatest transition from 2D to 3D any gaming series has seen? (1,004 votes)
- Yes
- No, it's... (tell us your answer in a comment below)
Comments 74
I'm still going to have to give it to Mario 64. The game was peerless when it released.
Edit: It in no way, shape or form undermines how perfect a job Retro did embodying the 2D gameplay of Super Metroid into 3D.
It is excellent, as is Ocarina of Time! But I voted no, I’d say Super Mario 64. Mario was such a game-changer at the time, inspired so much of 3D gaming, it’s hard not to give Mario 64 the crown…but it’s a ruddy close call!
Mario 64, Zelda 64 and Metroid Prime are amazing examples of how it was done right. Some game series could not pull it off but these three were masterpieces!
Metroid Prime was amazing, but it wasn't a perfect transition in my opinion. Compared to earlier Metroids, it felt a little too linear to me.
I probably don't have a popular opinion when I say I never really liked Mario64 that much and thought Super Mario Sunshine was a much more polished experience overall.
Ocarina of Time was a much better transition to 3D and Metroid Prime was definitely a great leap forwards, so that's where my vote goes.
I’m giving this one to Ocarina of Time - it beat Metroid to the 3D Metroidvania genre. Metal Gear Solid is a great shout, though, as is Resident Evil if you include something like Sweet Home as a spiritual predecessor.
No, Mario and Ocarina are better, but Prime is still very good.
Not full blown 3D per se, but for me it was going from Duke Nukem 2 to Duke Nukem 3D. Second best was GTA2 to 3
It's not really a transition in the sense that the original gameplay was successfully migrated to 3D. Prime is a great series, but it's a wholly different take on Metroid. The same can't be said for Mario or Zelda who preserved the spirit of each game well. Zelda wins by having the benefit of Mario going first, there were more years of knowing how to utilize the console by the time OoT dropped. But overall, Final Fantasy's leap into the future is what I was most impressed by.
It's certainly one of the very best but I would put Mario 64 at the top as they had nothing really to compare it to, that and it was head and shoulders above everything else at the time
"However, there are elements of Mario 64 which feel a little rough when played today, while Metroid Prime, you could argue, still feels refined and polished in (almost) every respect."
That comparison is a little unfair isn‘t it? The hardware leap from N64 to GC was huge. Also, the 3D game-camera basically had to be invented for Mario 64 so I‘d say there would be no polished MPP without Mario 64.
Sonic had the least-rough transition to 3D of all time.
Also, no it's Mario but there's no new Mario game to market atm.
Metroid Prime was certainly an amazing transition for the series from 2D to 3D but nothing will ever amaze me more then when Mario went 3D in Mario 64. Zelda OoT not far behind that.
I guess by the time Metroid Prime came out 3D games, particularly 1st person style shooters, we're fairly common whereas when Mario 64 hit, 3D platformers were unique.
It’s Mario 64, not even close.
Haven't gotten my hands on prime yet, but ppkemon xy and oot are very good transition
Metroid prime transition to 3D is really great but mario 64 is groundbreaking since the game become the template of 3D platformer, also there's zelda ocarina of time. I think metroid prime is number 3 compared to both n64 games, which is still really great btw.
first of all, this whole article is another marketing gimmick to keep us talking about Metroid prime 🙄
second, prime was an entire generation after Mario 64, after almost every other major franchise had "jumped" to 3d already. it's not a real comparison at all.
third, Fzero X is probably the best transition to 3d of all time.
the "biggest" one for me was FFVII though.
@Coalescence
I'm interested: how is prime less like Metroid than Mario 64 like Mario, or ocarina like Zelda? I really don't see that it is further removed, at all but I'd like to hear your take ☺️
ah, NVM it's Bubsy.
I feel that Metroid's place in shifting from 2D to 3D is that it's one of gaming history's most surprisingly, shockingly, successful transitions. So many people were doubting that Metroid Prime was going to be any good at all back then and everyone was blown away, supporter or naysayer. I'll never forget when I first played it, I couldn't believe how well it just clicked-- But it did.
All three have been special. Mario,Zelda and Metroid
Neither. Both Ocarina and Prime, whilst being stone cold classics are their predecessors with an extra axis to navigate; they don’t do much to reinvent themselves.
Step forward Legacy of Kain. Blood Omen is a combat focused 2D RPG with few puzzles set in a Warhammer-lite world.
Soul Reaver is a gothic Zelda for sure but the streaming technology used to mask the loading means the whole game has an open world from one end to the other. The plane-shifting mechanics for puzzle solving are ingenious and the world build around them actually quite original.
Mario 64 closely followed by Ocarina (only because it came out later) for me because while Metroid Prime is an incredible game and I can't wait to give it a fair shot thanks to the remaster I have to say that the jump from not only 2D to 3D, but also from third to first person is the reason why I've barely played it so far.
Coming from FPSs like Unreal on PC, I remember feeling very underwhelmed by Metroid Prime's GC controls. I did play through it on the Wii sometime the past 6 years and aside from tedium kicking in from backtracking and scanning everything, it was enjoyable enough.
To have a better comparison I'd like to look at what other games did the 2d to 3d leap succesfully:
Donkey Kong 64
F-Zero X
Fall Out 3
Grand Theft Auto III
Mario Kart 64
Metal Gear Solid
Ninja Gaiden
Rayman 2
The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time
Wolfenstein 3D
I see many people comment about RPGs like Final Fantasy that went 3D. Personally I think their transitions to 3D had very little impact on their actual gameplay, much like 2D figthers (Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat) and real-time strategy games (Warcraft, StarCraft, C&Q).
So the greatest transition IMO is tied between Mario 64 and Wolfenstein 3D because they really polished and popularized those new genres, even if they weren't technically the first of their kind.
Super Mario 64 hands down. Prime is awesome but it came in the second 3D generation and the fps genre already existed. SM64 had to invent what Mario in 3D means.
I'm going say yes, there are a lot arguments for Mario 64, but I would argue that, while Mario 64 defined 3D platformers going forward. It fundamentally changed the game. In Mario 2D the object of every level was to get to the end of the level. Each level had a clear start and clear end. However, Mario 64 started, this collects a thon goal. Levels had multiple objectives, and you had some freedom in what order you wanted to go.
Metroid, in my opinion, took the essence of Metroid, the exploration, finding new tools to explore further a section of the map previously cut off, and brought it into 3D. While I think Mario 64 did more to define gaming in 3D, I think Metroid did a better job of holding to it's DNA and successfully transitioning it into 3D.
Mario 64 not only pioneered, but defined the way games should transition from 2D to 3D. Prime is also an excellent example, but it does come with many design flaws that potentially lead to an unfocused and frustrating adventure. Watching newcomers play it on stream highlights some of it’s poor design choices.
@-wc- iT’s A mArKeTiNg GiMmIcK
I see the trolls from NL are slowly making their way here.
Mario 64 set the standard for pretty much all 3D games moving forwards. Even just stopping and looking around (C-up) was ground breaking at the time. “You mean I can look around as if I’m actually in the game?!” No longer were we looking at games on the TV we were in them!! Nothing will ever beat that feeling for the first time
It’s fairly comical how at odds the comments and the poll results are.
OoT is one of the best games ever made, but it is in many ways just a smaller ALttP with a behind-the-back camera. MGS is also like this, except it is a better version of Metal Gear 2 for the MSX2. Resident Evil is not Sweet Home.
Super Mario 64 was such a fantastic game, and was a more impressive transition than Prime upon release, and I say that as someone who was around to see both releases. You just never saw anything like it before. That said, I can’t say it really feels like it shares much of the DNA of the 2D Marios that came before it, save for the Bowser levels.
Prime, benefiting from coming a generation later, had the luxury of time to refine the transition more than the aforementioned titles and to learn from other 3D titles, and so I believe is technically the better transition by still feeling like the series it emerged from, while also bringing it forward in an innovative way.
It is a little bit unfair to compare given the time difference, but also Nintendo had plenty of time on Mario’s second 3D outing and ended up making the worst mainline Mario game ever made, so time is no guarantee of quality. I know that last comment will make some especially irate, but hey, what are these comments for if not for civilly airing opinions. SMS isn’t a terrible game, it’s just the worst of the mainline Mario games (Not counting Lost Levels).
It's hard to state that because Prime is a perfect mix: it retained the awesome atmosphere, the variety of environments, awesome soundtrack, weapons and elements, seriously expanded the lore but it's also a reinvention in the sense of offering something more linear (albeit still a metroidvania), guiding the player (even though some consider that to be "little" guidance by today's standards) and using FPS mechanics
Answering yes or no will always come down to opinions, but the fact is that it's one of the greatest games ever. Highly regarded by all publications, critics, etc, always on top of lists after 20 years
I was shocked when I first played it on the GC and many years later it's still a wonderful experience. Even better now with dual stick controls. And I'm not into FPS, but a huge fan of the Metroid series
@SonOfDracula
lol there's that "optimism" again!
it is in (del)fact(del) my opinion a marketing gimmick but you are entitled to your opinion. if you think I'm the troll and you aren't specifically targeting and trolling me on these boards I feel sorry for you.
smash that ignore button, fam! you aren't obligated to read or even see my posts. 👍
edit - made a slight change, in all fairness.
edit - I can't make strike through work 🤔
Definitely gotta say Ocarina of Time, mario 64 is a close second... but when oot came out there was nothing like it ever before it felt like what elden ring feels like today... The possibilities felt endless and just filled with exploration and mystery and the feeling you can almost do anything, by the time Metroid Prime came out 3d games have been around for many years, I also remember being like 8 years old and seeing my cousin play Mario64 i was blown away with what i was watching...mario on a 3 dimensional plane ... The analog stick felt so futuristic to my little brain
Mm, I don't know. Prime is amazing, but if we're going by historical importance, the late 90s are where it's at. Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, and MGS were all so persuasive in their transition to 3D, they set the template for prestige third-person games moving forward. Ocarina of Time, especially. Grand Theft Auto 3 was similarly influential a while later. I feel like Prime is a masterpiece from what I've played thus far, but I'm not sure it was that influential. It's like its own weird niche. Metroid-likes typically look at Super for inspiration more than Prime. And First Person Shooters take after either Half-Life or Halo (or both).
@krzysztof81 oh yea i forgot about that... I remember in the little booklet for gta2 it had a screenshot for gta3 i couldn't wrap my mind around it but figured it would look something like Driver, and man oh man was that like the biggest game ever when it did drop...gta3 ate many hours of mine and my brothers life and again later with vice city and san Andreas...being a middle schooler I was able to log 14 hour days in the summer haha
As someone else said, GTA 3 has to be the winner. It basically created modern gaming.
I would like to add that while not affiliated, Dark Souls is an amazing 3D Castlevania game.
@zgillet
GTA 3 is influential, like I mentioned above, but saying it created modern gaming seems like a stretch. Besides popularizing open worlds, which is no small feat, I'm not sure what else it did that wasn't already introduced in the late 90s. When I play Control, Death Stranding, or God of War, I'm seeing more Ocarina of Time and MGS than GTA 3, for example.
I voted yes. Prime was a shockingly good transition. They even managed a way to include the space jump in a way that made sense in 3D. I also thought they nailed the feel of Metroid, both in terms of gameplay and atmosphere. The controls were also amazing for me on the Gamecube. The reviews for Metroid were stellar and I mention that because when I played it, the game went way beyond living up to that hype. It's still among my favorite games, and probably the top 3D game for me.
Mario 64 was an important game. That can't be denied. Simply put, I chose Metroid Prime in this poll because I hate Mario 64. It seemed amazing when I first played it, but it is littered with most of the same issues that plagued 3D games of the time. I'm talking about things that I had issues with at the time. I don't like the camera. I find the controls annoyingly clunky. I didn't like the level design of repeating the same areas to find different things. I found the races irritating. My enjoyment with the game basically peaked in the first few areas and then went on a steady downward trajectory when Mario had to do more than just run around.
I would say yes. It takes Metroid into 3D better than Mario and Zelda's attempts in my opinion. While I love the 3D Mario games, I also can't deny that taking a platforming game into 3D makes for a much less precise experience. There are countless times when judging depth and distance causes problems in 3D platformers, which just doesn't happen in Metroid Prime. Zelda did a better job than Mario, but I still think Prime is a significantly better game than the 3D Zelda games.
@-wc- You aren't obligated to read articles you deem to be marketing tactics. If you truly thought so, you wouldn't click the article and reply 3 times with edits. There are articles I don't like and I simply don't click them. It's the best feedback you can give, better than your misguided opinion. If you reply, you're just giving the article another click for the sake of getting the last word in a conversation.
Mario 64 was a whole new world being opened for me. Remember seeing the trailer where mario jumped into a painting. I was never as hyped as that moment.
It's great that they choose to go the first person route on Metroid Prime, had the game go third person like it was originally suppose to be, I'm not sure if it will be well receive like it did. The good thing is the game is made by the Turok team who are familiar with Nintendo's hardware at the time. They then became their own studio, Retro Studio after Iguana Entertainment closed its doors. After Retro Studio was acquired by Nintendo, some members of the team went on to found Free Radical Design with some of the members from Rare (who quit after the Microsoft Rareware acquisition) who work on the GoldenEye and Perfect Dark games to create the TimeSplitter series. The rest is history.
@SonOfDracula
good point! there must be something wrong with me. good thing you are here to police my behavior. 👍
edit - "You aren't obligated to read comments you deem to be trolling."
FTFY
edit2 - I wanted to point out, I don't post here out of a sense of obligation.
do you? that would explain a lot.
@Serpenterror
wow! I'm a big fan of most of the games you mentioned but I wasn't away of the history all the way back to iguana! very cool!
@-wc- I think you are half right. The article is a marketing gimmick, but not get us talking about Prime, but because of Prime. TE want's those clicks, so making articles around Prime, get's them those clicks
@Jeremazing
I think that's fair. it's a bit of a snake eating its own tail, or a distinction without a difference. 👍
@Jeremazing You make a compelling arguement to be fair
@zgillet I didn't get on wityh GTA3 when it released. If I wanted to play a driving game, there were better ones out there. Same with third person games. To say it created modern gaming is a tad auspicious I fear.
Prime is a really fantastic game, but I gotta be honest I don't understand the extreme hype it gets. it's still just a nice little complimentary spin-off series that doesn't replace or replicate the whole appeal of the original. Every other franchise that went 3D stuck to it and its 2D entries became the spin-offs, Dread is literally Metroid 5, nobody's ever gonna call A Link Between Worlds "Zelda 4"
Although Metroid Prime and Zelda OoT were both masterpieces and genre defining, Mario 64 still holds this crown.
@-wc- Trolls always gotta gaslight, it's their way lol. Like you said, you think it's a marketing tactic, which is strange conspiracy theory mumbo-jumbo...yet you still have to come back to try and get the final say in a comment. Strange behavior, but entertaining, to say the least.
I think Ocarina of Time is a slightly better transition than both Mario 64 and Metroid Prime. I don't think a game being a top down game should remove it from the discussion as games transitioning in the mid to late 90s from sprite based games to ones using polygons struggled and many took a few attempts to get it right. It was often the games of that period that had high expectations from third parties that didn't have the right direction.
@SonOfDracula
"SonOfDracula Sun, 12:42am
@-wc- PS2 has literally zero games worth noting"
hey now, I'm not the one pointing fingers or name calling. calling me a gaslighter is pretty heavy when you can't seem to leave me alone on these boards, but it costs me nothing to point out to you how wrong you are in your criticisms of me in kind.
believe me, stop responding, I'll never talk to you again. keep pestering me on here, I will.
and, again, the ignore button is there for a reason. you are more than welcome to use it if you don't like my opinions. how's that for trolling? 😎 have a nice life.
I'm a huge Rayman fan, so I'm just going to say that.
@arnoldfranklin
DOOD Rayman 2 on Dreamcast was for a second the most impressive 3d platformer I'd ever seen. what a game!
(there's never been a jump like there was to Dreamcast, in my opinion. every game I played blew my mind, every Dreamcast port was easily by far the best version of whatever game. it was a really cool year or so to be into games, if you got a DC at launch.)
@Jeremazing
I've thought about this some more. your explanation is more likely, I appreciate you pointing that out. and, there is a difference: your take is less negative and paints our favorite Nintendo website in a better light. 👍
@Serpenterror Iguana actually stayed around for several years (under the name Acclaim Studios Austin) after Retro Studios was founded. While Retro was working on Metroid Prime, Iguana released Turok 3 (2000), Turok Evolution (2002), and Vexx (2003), as well as several sports titles.
But yeah, Retro was largely made up of former Iguana staff, like you said, and more ex-Iguana guys moved over to Retro and worked on the Prime series when Acclaim went bankrupt.
It's interesting to follow a game's DNA, and see the expertise and influences that the various members of the team brought to the table!
@RadioHedgeFund I completely agree!! The transition from Legacy of Kain to Soul Reaver was MASSIVE. Especially with this series so steeped in it's lore, it just felt like the world opened up even more.
@-wc- as a co-owner of this site, in conversation with @damo after playing Prime Remastered the other day, I asked him if he could think of a better 2D to 3D transition. It was an interesting conversation because personally, I think it is the best I’ve played.
Time Extension exists because of these kind of conversations we have in the office and is exactly the type of content we want to produce here — discussing those same topics but with a bigger community of people. Looking at the amount of poll votes and comments here and on social it’s been an interesting discussion to see where people land — there isn’t a ‘correct’ answer to the question as it’s subjective.
I think perhaps you’re being overly cynical about the origins of a piece like this and there will be lots more to come based on office chat.
@-wc- @antdickens has already said it better than I could - this was a feature which sprang from a conversation in the office which we found interesting - but I do find it slightly amusing that you're offended that a website would talk about a topical game/series in order to generate interest, like that's some kind of dark art!
(Oh, and in reply to your first post, F-Zero on the SNES wasn't technically a 2D game, so it doesn't count.)
It's certainly up there! As others have said Mario 64, Zelda 64 and Metroid Prime all obviously great examples.
I was about to type out a list of other games but I think @Bomberman64 post covers it well. GTA III, MGS, Fallout 3 in particular stand out to me, though that last was isometric so might be considered quasi-fake 3D? (or 2D-120degree-3D as Square Enix would probably brand it.) and Doom was always cheapfake-3D, but 3D all the same.
Of course MOST series weren't around in the 2D era, and many that were haven't stood the test of time.
TotalHenshin wrote:
That's because the way the poll is delivered is biased, leading the voter to vote for Yes. It's a real life problem, usually on far more serious issues, you can basically make a poll say anything depending HOW you ask the question.
Thankfully it's not that deep here, it's just a device to get us all engaged and chatting about this hobby we all love. Win for us, win for ReedPop, @antdickens et al in engagement.
Happy gaming
@Damo Love the discussion here. Lots of good memories.
It got me thinking
What game STILL needs a great 2D->3D conversion?
For me Castlevania has never quite worked as well in 3D (though I have a soft spot for Lords of Shadow, don't tell the die hards). Maybe the next poll?
@themightyant that's fair. There probably is some yes-bias in the poll question, but that is more to do with where the original spark of the conversation came from, as we were discussing Metroid.
Glad you are enjoying the conversation though, it was such a transformative time for gaming, something we'll never see again really and so many interesting experiments. Some which worked great and some ultimately failed.
@antdickens It wasn't a criticism, just an observation. I've seen the training and levels of testing a poll has to go through to be free of bias. I wouldn't expect that, nor would I want that on a gaming site, not least they end up DRY and unengaging!
Totally agreed it was a transformative time. I'm hopeful that VR, with a new play space, smaller budgets and more niche audiences, can do something similar.
Also loving the experiments modern developers are doing when they limit themselves to roughly 8-bit or 16-bit constraints but see what they can make today with all the accumulated game design learnings inbetween.
It's in those spaces that there is more fun experimentation than in most of the AAA space right now sadly, which to my taste is MOSTLY heading in the wrong direction.
@antdickens @Damo
not so much offended, but in another post (#56, in response to @Jeremazing's comment) I kind of backed off that position as well. I guess I was in a mood! 😬👍
I really didn't expect my offhanded comment (and really just a fraction of one of my comments here) to be taken very seriously but it does seem to have bothered a few people here so I do apologize!
I appreciate you both taking the time, and I do acknowledge that I owe you the benefit of the doubt! this is a harmless discussion, afterall.
I think maybe the Costanza is wearing off on me a bit! Ever since changing my avatar I've felt a bit spicy!
@themightyant I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on PSVR2 next week, I felt the original offered some really new experiences and was great. I have to say though, looking at all the launch games for PSVR2, I'm not sensing many 'new' experiences over PSVR1, which feels a little disappointing. I wonder if we've already seen almost all of the 'types' of games that lend themselves to VR... I'm hopeful we'll still get some truly new things though. Hype!
@-wc- "You're Giving Me The 'It's Not You, It's Me' Routine? I Invented 'It's Not You, It's Me.'"
No harm, no foul. Just glad to see the engagement! It's all good!
@antdickens
I had the same feeling about the PS2 launch way back. I didn't see any new experiences right away, especially hot off the DC's big year which blew my little mind every other day.
I think some launches are just like that. PS2 ended up taking me places even the Dreamcast couldn't, but not right away!
have fun with it!
@antdickens I'm still not quite committed to PSVR2 yet, though my wallet is half way out. I have the cash, just not sure there is the lineup of games yet for ME.
As you said the launch line up, while impressively large, doesn't currently have the 'new' experiences vibe, and there are a lot of ports, it's one of the reasons i'm holding off for NOW.
I think part of this is just down to budgets, it's a (relatively) new medium and devs probably need to iterate quickly and throw out a lot of ideas, this is time consuming/expensive, which is at odds with a niche device with a small following.
While I'm keen and want it to be a success, I'm also waiting to see what the impressions are in 6-12 months time once the hype/hysteria has died down and we see if Sony and third parties are going to keep supporting it. Or if it will be a PS Vita - great bit of tech, mostly terrible support.
Enjoy it! Not long now!
My answer is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
Personally I'd go with Metal Gear Solid myself. The first 3D game that quite literally blew me away as a kid. Mario 64 is very close though. As for Metroid Prime...I don't see what others see in that game but to each their own.
Fallout 1 & 2 to Fallout 3 transition was the best one for me. The world, the atmosphere, the story, the combat system and skills all translated well into 3D.
@Korgon That's interesting how you enjoyed MGS and Mario 64, but not Metroid Prime. I ended up with the opposite conclusion. When I think back to that period, it was around then that I started to notice that reviews were no longer as helpful as they used to be as reviewers would gush about a game and it wouldn't do anything for me. I guess the possibilities of 3D were such to allow games to go in more directions and you'd get that kind of difference of opinion more often than in the past.
Graphically the most impressive 3D upgrade in N64 generation was Pokemon to Pokemon Stadium, too bad gameplay sucked. Pokemon X/Y were the first Pokemon 3D handheld games, and were kinda impressive still didn't offer much to gameplay.
Metroid Hunters sucked though was near unplayable with the stylus
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