Longtime listeners of the old podcast might remember that Metroid Prime is my number one game of all time. While it isn’t a title I’ve had a lot of occasion to talk about publicly, Prime was actually what made me start to approach videogames as something more than toys, and it ultimately led to me finding GameCritics.
Now that it is about to release Donkey Kong Country Returns, Nintendo goes out and trademarks a catchphrase that no one says anymore. Just like a corporation to be so far behind the times. Stephen Colbert and his writers took notice though and came up with their own. Not the best skit, but the catchphrase for Kirby is the best.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c |
| Stephen Trademarks Dated Catchphrases | |
After an extended trek through the bloated and tedious middle of the Metroid Prime trilogy, the execrable Echoes, I was more than a little hesitant to start another session with the usually-enjoyable Samus Aran. After the last installment, I felt certain that Retro Studios had run out of ideas and lost the touch that originally brought this famously 2D series into the third dimension with such grace. After biting the bullet and giving it a try, I found that the end result was better than I had expected… though a bit too familiar.
Being a game critic is sometimes a difficult task. Some games are a joy to play and review, whereas a bad game turns reviewing into a voluntary form of torture, like sitting through a Britney Spears "comeback" performance. Where does Corruption sit on the scale?
This morning I awoke to my Wii's disc tray pulsing with that seductive blue glow that implies internet activity is going on. I was curious as to what might be updating. Most recently that glow brought news of a Wii system update. (Incidentally, the new Wii store shopping experience is an improvement for Virtual Console perusal.)
On the subject of Echoes, however, Andrew and I couldn't have more diverging opinions. Where he has appreciation and tolerance, I have nothing but impatience and scorn. Simply put, Metroid Prime: Echoes was far and away the most tedious and inspiration-free game that I actually bothered to finish in 2005.
That little has changed in two years is a testament to how excellent the core ingredients of Prime were in the first place. The map is still flawless, as is the first-person platforming, as are the camera transitions, etc.
I agree with Matt when he says Nintendo's franchise updates have been ahead of the curve. As noted, keeping the good parts and reinventing what doesn't work really is the "secret" to making it happen. Nintendo's not the only company to successfully pull off revamping a classic, but they certainly have a higher rate of success than most. However, I fully expected their winning streak to end in a big way when it came to Metroid.
I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about how Nintendo updates their classic series into 3D. We agreed that games like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time are light-years beyond most other games in terms of how well they are able to retain the ambiance and personality of their 2D predecessors while providing a radically new gaming experience.
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