If you were to tell me in 2002 before Metroid Prime was released that in 2009 we would be celebrating the re-release of one of the greatest videogame trilogies of all time in the form of Metroid Prime Trilogy, I couldn’t even be able to put into words how dumb I would think you were. The fact that Metroid Prime was good, let alone the masterpiece that it is, defies any and all kinds of logic. The game was being made by Retro Studios, who prior to the games release was the laughing stock of the industry. This was a all-star development studio made up of hand picked members from Texas’s finest development houses (id, Gearbox, Ion Storm, etc.), who since their inception in 1998 had canceled four separate titles, and hadn’t released a single one.
Then, it was later discovered that the head honcho of the company, Jeff Spangenberg, was running a porno site (with content starring himself) and hosting it on company servers. All their eggs were in the basket of Metroid Prime, which Nintendo fans worldwide had already written off as a blasphemous insult to a once great franchise. Not only did Nintendo hand over development to a bunch of unproven westerners, but they were turning one of gaming’s premiere side scrolling franchises into a first person shooter, of all things. Anyone with a brain could see this as the recipe for disaster that it was surely going to be.
Then it came out, and everyone seemed to shut up pretty quickly. Seemingly overnight, Retro Studios went from running gag to the toast of the town, and suddenly a franchise that had been dormant for almost a decade was once again thrust into the spotlight. It was, as the great [ed: and sexy] Jeremy Parish put it, a miracle. Seven years and two stellar sequels later, we have yet another franchise reboot on the way with Metroid: Other M, which makes it a great time to go back and bask in the glory of the Prime trilogy, and Nintendo has decided to give these games a proper send off with this fantastic collection.
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Wii. $50. 9 Worlds. Wiimote & Nunchuck supported. 1-4 Player (offline only). No Button Customization or Classic/GC support.