Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Revisited

It's been a while, since I've revisited Metroid Prime on the Wii U, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes actually followed right after, in November 2017. I've completed the "Veteran Mode" at the time, but since I've set the goal to finish all Metroid Prime Trilogy games in both the Veteran and Hypermode difficulties, I wasn't done yet.

But I couldn't muster up enough motivation to play through the game again right away and then Breath of the Wild happened, where I returned to the game for its DLC. It wasn't before now, half a year later, that I'm finally done revisiting the planet Aether.

So, this took me quite a while, which in all honesty doesn't speak for the game. Of all my replays and revisits in the last years, this one probably covered the longest time span due to the circumstances. The actual game time wasn't that long, though it took me a couple of hours longer than for Metroid Prime. So, mainly this was because I lacked the motivation.

It doesn't mean that I don't like the game, for the most part I even like it more than Metroid Prime, because it fixed so many issues that I had with the previous game. The first person platforming was toned down heavily, the visors are more fun to use and the ammo-based beam system really has some strategy to it, instead of simply matching the right color.

(Though you still do this with doors, where I would have preferred it, if these doors went normal after the first time, similar to the red doors that you have to open once with Missiles. Ideally, when you've explore everything, all doors should be normal for the sake of convenience and ammo savings. But that's nitpicking...)

Overall I still prefer it, when beam stacks like in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and I don't have to worry much about ammo consumption. I would even argue that Other M did things best, where you can regenerate Missiles on your own and Hard Mode doesn't have any pick-ups at all, but the game still works fine. Metroid for me is the most fun, if I reach a point, where I run through the world blasting. Super Metroid has that, Other M has that and Samus Returns has that as well, which for me immensely adds to the replay value of these games.

But Metroid Prime 2: Echoes never really reaches this point. In fact you always feel kind of weak and enemies usually take much time and resources to be defeated. In Torvus Bog I keep running by the Grenchlers, because they are so annoying to deal with, even at the end. At least in Metroid Prime, where you had a similar enemy with the (Baby) Sheegoths, you could later one-shot them with the Plasma Beam, which is hugely satisfying. That's the kind of ingame development that I'm seeking from Metroid.

Echoes doesn't offer this, however. The Power Beam is the only thing that doesn't waste ammo and it feels too weak for the job from the start. Ammo stations would have been more important than ever, but they are scarce, so you often have to take the time to shoot stuff in the environment with your Dark and Light Beams to produce the opposite ammo.

And the Annihilator Beam at the end then feels like a massive disappointment, where it completely betrays all expectations created by its name and it's just not worth the high ammo waste. The only thing it annihilates are the Ing, when you use it on a light beacon or crystal, which draws them into suicide. But that only works on them and otherwise you're better off still swapping between Dark and Light Beam, which you both get early.

That's a good point, actually, because what the game lacks in endgame power, it makes up for a great beginning. I love Agon Wastes. For me it's the best and most satisfying part of the game. The atmosphere is great and it got the whole dark world feeling right, mostly because it's still the part, where Dark Aether hurts you badly and really feels claustrophobic. You also get many useful power-ups in this part, including Space Jumps, the Dark Beam, the Light Beam and the cool-looking Dark Armor. You have a nice face-off with Dark Samus and engaging the Space Pirates is a lot of fun here, while I always hated the Space Pirate parts in Metroid Prime.

I love the beginning of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Federation Force really should have followed this and Corruption for its design, instead of going into the ridiculous chibi optic. Then it might have sold some copies after all. Echoes even has the giant turrets that you can use to blast things in the environment and Space Pirates coming out of giant dropships. It just doesn't look as cute, which certainly helps, and if Federation Force was any cool, it would have stuck to the Trilogy aesthetics.

Anyway, it goes downhill from there. Torvus Bog has some really nice music, probably the best in the game, but that's as much as I'm willing to praise the area. Traversing it is not much fun and often even needlessly convoluted (especially in the Submerged Temple), you get the worst power-ups in the game and the enemies can be super annoying, mainly the aquatic Alpha Bloggs and the aforementioned Grenchlers. This goes so far that I prefer exploring Dark Torvus, because Dark Aether here actually feels much less threatening and even like a place, where I can rest and relax from the annoying swamps. And that's probably not how it should be...

The game also has some confusing back-tracking here, where I was stuck for quite a while, when I replayed the game last November in Veteran Mode. Overall the game is much more structured than it predecessors, which I've previously analyzed in my Worlds of Metroid article. Agon Wastes establishes the division into the three temple areas, where in one area you need to find entrances to Dark Aether, collect all three Dark Temple keys and fight the giant boss at the end of the temple in Dark Aether. It's as close to Zelda as Metroid probably will ever get. Thing is that you completely stayed within Agon Wastes and its dark counterpart for the whole time. And the areas in Dark Aether aren't connected at all, so you're really focusing on the one area at a time.

Now I thought that the same would apply to the Torvus Bog, but after acquiring the Boost Ball you actually have to leave the area and get the Seeker Missiles in the Temple Grounds. This isn't unusual for a Metroid game, but I simply didn't expect that during this moment and was stuck for a while, because I had the hint system deactivated and the game doesn't really leave any ingame hints for this. You have to remember that one half-pipe in the Temple Grounds and consider this as the way to proceed... Metroid Prime had also some parts, where it's not entirely clear how to move forward, but Metroid Prime 2: Echoes used back-tracking in a very obscure way.

The same happens during the Sanctuary Fortress, again after defeating a Morph Ball ability mini boss - the Spider Guardian. Now you have to remember that on bottom of the Submerged Temple there were still some magnetic rails that take you to a portal, which then leads to the Power Bomb Guardian. By studying the map there, it looks like the whole part is closed off by yellow doors, which need Power Bombs, and because I didn't remember it all too well, I was stuck again, wandering around the Sanctuary Fortress without any real clues what to do next...

And while I know that the Sanctuary Fortress has many fans, I'm not one of them. It's similar to Torvus Bog, where the music is certainly great, but it's not as much fun to play. Again it feels like the Ing Hive, the Dark Aether counterpart, is actually nicer and less threatening than the light world, where you're attacked by Ing Smashers one too many times. Those guys usually close all doors and take a lot of ammo to be defeated, which stops being fun after a while...

Other enemies in the area like the Quads or the Rezbits are also not to be underestimated and need exactly the right strategy, so that they are not completely annoying. The Quads want two Super Missiles to the head and then be destroyed with your Boost Ball or else they will annoy the hell out of you. The Rezbits want to be frozen with dark energy and then smashed with a missile or else they will annoy the hell out of you.

But the enemies that really take out the momentum of the game are the bosses. The temple bosses are all impressive, but they overstay their welcome far too long with their multiple phases. The Armobis fight was quite difficult in Hypermode, where it just keeps going and at the end you have three worms jumping around from all directions, which can cost you a lot of health. Luckily, there is usually a save station not too far away from the main bosses, which can't be said about all the Guardians.

The Spider Guardian is especially frustrating in that sense, because if you have to repeat the fight, you have keep going through the whole temple and Energy Controller part again, before you can do the fight again. Here I really prefer the system of Other M and Samus Returns, where you can start over from the beginning of a boss fight, in case you die there. The motivation to try again is a lot higher, if you don't have to go through the same set of rooms again and again and again, taking you out of the action and needlessly wasting a lot of time.

With the Spider Guardian this is even worse, because the whole fight takes a while with its puzzle nature and the real difficult part comes at the end. Whoever had the idea that making you jump right between two upward slopes in Morph Ball mode hopefully isn't working for Retro or Nintendo any longer. Problem is that the Morph Ball doesn't offer the necessary precision. You need to accelerate to go up the slopes and then stop right on top, but the ball usually keeps some momentum and then rolls down again. It's very tricky and frustrating. It's like playing Rollgoal from Twilight Princess in a boss fight situation. A good game never creates challenges based on its flawed controls, it should always hide the flaws as much as possible, which Echoes absolutely doesn't do during this part.

Curiously, I didn't have as many problems during my Hypermode run, I did it on first try there. And I mean trying the fight once without dying, since the last part still took me many attempts to get right. But once you figured it out, you can keep trying without taking (much) damage.

I can't say the same about the Boost Ball Guardian, however. It's kind of the opposite, where I barely managed him on my first try during my Veteran run and then took about two dozens of attempts in Hypermode. This fight just doesn't feel balanced at all and he used to be even more difficult in the GameCube version, imagine that! But my main problem was that I treated it like a Morph Ball fight, while you're better off jumping and shooting things, until the stalker soup appears that want to be attacked with Bombs... Anyway, at least you don't have to repeat half of Torvus Bog, in case you fail.

The Spider Guardian is also an example for another phenomenon in the game: Morph Ball platforming. What the game luckily lacks in first person platforming, it makes up for with its Morph Ball sequences, where some items might take a while to get. There's lots of jumping involved, where the Wii version's Spring Ball comes in handy, but the momentum of the Morph Ball doesn't only make the Spider Guardian tricky, but also some of the platforming sequences.

Anyway, after you're done with all bosses sans the final one, the fun will finally return. I really enjoy these scavenger hunts at the end of games, where you return to most parts of the world, which seemed to be a common thing among GameCube titles. The Wind Waker did with the Triforce Shards, Metroid Prime did it with the Chozo Artifacts and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes did it with the Sky Temple Keys. It's a great incentive to re-explore everything at the end with all your powers, though sadly in Echoes you don't grow too powerful, as already mentioned.

The back-tracking can also be quite some fun, because there are many items to discover, where Agon Wastes seems again like the most satisfying part. Lots to find there. By the way, I completely forgot about the teleportation between Energy Controllers with the Light Suit... It's not that useful, however, you might be using it once or twice for shortcuts during the final back-tracking part and that's it. But it's essentially the series' first attempt at Teleportation Stations.

It's also curious, how even the darkest parts of Dark Aether, where you find Dark Tallon Metroids, Phazon and Ingstorms, don't scare me as much as the Phazon Mines or the Impact Crater in Metroid Prime. It never has this uneasy feeling and I actually enjoy exploring the depths of darkness. But it's mostly because the enemies are not as annoying. For example the (Dark) Tallon Metroid are dealt with easily, unlike those nasty Fission Metroids.

There are also some parallels to Breath of the Wild in the game, mainly between the corruptions caused by the Ing and Calamity Ganon. In both cases you have some tentacle eye monsters, which seems to be a common theme in Nintendo games, because Phantom Hourglass did the same thing with Bellum. And you have guardian robots being corrupted by some dark goo, shooting lasers at you...

That's mostly it for the game and I probably won't be touching this ever again, until there's some HD remaster. But I'm looking forward to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, where its Hypermode ability seems to be the right thing for me. Get blastin'!