link ‘em up, samus

in the hours i couldn’t play metroid prime, i did the next best thing: dug up metroid links. here are a few i came across:

- www.metroid2002.com: a site devoted to sequence breaking, etc. of the metroid games. also has links to speed runs, and videos of all sorts of useless but cool minutiae.

- metroid-eu.com: someone’s typed out all the creatures, chozo lore, and pirate log entries if you’re interested. also has maps.

- metroid manga: screencapped and translated from the official nintendo of japan site. haven’t read it yet, but it looks cool.

- metroid database: tip and tricks: lists the critical scans (ones you can only get a limited time) all in one place. also has a nice walkthrough.

metroid primed

i finished metroid prime last thursday. last time i wrote i was fending off space pirates in what in retrospect was one of the hardest parts of the games. the rest of the game was pretty straightforward, although still enjoyable. i finished at 83% and didn’t bother trying to finish at 100%. next time i play (and there def. will be a next time) i plan on finishing it at 100% and maybe in hard mode as well, although i don’t know how much it would increase enjoyment of the game w/out also increasing possible frustration. i thought about using a guide to locate the rest of the missiles (i was up to 180 which means i was about 14 missile expansions short), but i think i’m going to save that for next time through. i did find all the extra charge boosters (ice, plasma, and wave beam) and found the 4 power bomb expansions. i’m curious about how much harder hard mode is; i’d found a page that went through some of the specifics but i misplaced the link. in any case, i can def. say this is prob. the best gamecube game i’ve played so far, and prob. one of the best i’ve played ever. the controls have a bit of a learning curve, but feel great once you get used to them. more importantly, as i mentioned, the design is just top notch. i’m looking forward to playing the others in the series, although i’m prob. going to skip over metroid prime 2 for now; i previewed the demo and it does look like IGN is right when they say that although enjoyable it doesn’t really add much beyond the first game. i have the GBA games, so i’ll prob. go w/ metroid fusion next (eventually). and now i’m newly inspired to play w/ samus in super smash bros. melee.

some metroid-related links:

- two pretty good wallpapers at gamecubicle.com, along w/ a pretty good pikmin wallpaper

- ign’s guide

- and if you want less info about how to get missile expansions, etc., this page just lists the room name (unlike the ign guide)

picking pikmin

because i have no attention span, i took a break from the still pretty awesome metroid prime and went back to pikmin, another game that i’d started months ago and abandoned not b/c it was boring but just b/c there was something else i wanted to play just a bit more. part of the reason i dropped pikmin and came back to it is b/c for whatever reason i was incredibly slow and knew i wasn’t going to get all the parts within 30 days. maybe it just took me a while to get used to the controls, or maybe it was b/c of my usual habit of refusing to read the instruction book until after i’ve finished the game b/c i’d rather find things out on my own. in any case, i got to the end of 30 days and lost. i’ve set a pretty good pace the second time through and haven’t been compelled to save bad days, so i think this time through i’ll finish in fairly good time.

i wasn’t quite done w/ pikmin but i’d started repeating things i’d done recently the first time through, so i have to admit i started pikmin 2 out of curiosity. i got fairly well into it and my first reaction was that though the 30 day time limit of the first game can be frustrating, it makes the game much more tense and thus fun. the caves in pikmin 2, in which you’re restricted to the pikmin you take in with you, aren’t that much of a challenge (so far). and collecting treasure for cash just inherently isn’t as exciting as the life-and-death task of collecting parts to your space ship. pikmin 2 has had more of a connect-the-dots feel than the first, although i guess i’ll have to reserve my final judgement until i finish both.

anyway, back to metroid prime, i’m past 1/3 of the way through. maybe it’s just that i’m still not that used to first person adventures, but i’ve been surprised at how much i suck at this game. maybe it’s just that most other modern games are so easy that i’ve never really had to conserve energy and be cautious at any point, but i’ve had to redo quite a few sections b/c i’ve gotten samus killed off. a bit frustrating, but otherwise the pace of the game has been pretty good, with new items acquired leading to new areas opening up and shorter paths between areas. so far there’s been a tad bit too much travelling the same paths between areas to get to the new sections, but the graphics and smooth gameplay keep it entertaining. it’s kind of amazing to me how claustrophobic some of the areas feel and how nice it is to get back into open areas. looking forward to getting the next items and opening up the rest of the game.