@Anand
Yep, but that's not the hardest mode. So no, the hardest mode isn't available from the start if that's what you mean, which sucks. It means I've never played any of these games in that mode. One playthrough is long enough. I don't think I could jump into a second playthrough after finishing these any time soon. I'd always unlock these and think "well that's great, I just put in like 20 hrs into this game, playing it again is the last thing on my mind". Kind of a shame. It's sort of useless to me.

Yeah my backlog is big too but my burning desire for these games came hard and fast. Fed Force, Metroid's 30th, excitement over a possible Prime 4, and remembering just how damn good these games are really spurred it on.

Wait, I thought you didn't like the Prime games? Aren't you famous for that around these parts? Or do you just have a beef with scanning?

I love the scanning! Honestly one of the coolest things about Prime. As I recall, no game did it like Prime 1. The art in the scans really made it. 2 and 3's were less interesting IIRC, as they recycled more stuff, used 3D models, etc. Prime 1 really nailed it. It also had the best logs and such from what I can remember.

So at 15:50 I am just heading to the Impact Crater to fight Ridley with 230 Missiles, all Power Bomb upgrades (I think), all Energy Tanks, and every Beam Special. I have 92% logbook and 95% items. IIRC the Impact Crater adds some more to the log but there's no missiles there right? Where the HELL are the last missiles?? They must be ones I've never found before (I've definitely never 100%ed this game before, I always got pretty close to where I am now though)! Even this playthrough I believe I've gotten the highest rating yet. But I am scratching my head thinking where the last 4 are! Speaking of scratching my head, I was (and generally am) good at remembering the whole world map and how the game connects, but man it can get confusing. And there's a lot more rooms and hidden shit in the game than is easier to remember! This is also the Metroid game with one of the easier to remember maps! Probably the easiest! I fear getting stuck in MP2 now (and I already possibly broke the game last time!). Which brings me to another scary revelation! I definitely never finished MP2 with Wii controls!!!! So now I MUST do it!! And I will! After I finish this I'm sooooooooo jumping into MP2!

I guess I can consult a guide for the last few upgrades because at this point I don't have any idea of where to look. Maybe I bookmarked some places in my head earlier but that's gone now. Curse this brain.

The game could have used some abilities more. The X Ray feels sort of useless, even storywise, as you only really need it for like 1 or 2 little sections in the game. Grappling hook sort of feels the same. So basically, I guess ALL very late game items and upgrades feel sort of useless. The ice and fire beam upgrades also feel underused. The Ice Spreader is seriously only really useful in like 2 situations in the whole game. And it eats up 10 missiles! Why so many?? The Flamethrower thing is really good, but it's close to the last thing you get in the game. You hardly get a chance to use it!

Finished at 16:25 with 95% and now I saved over my game. Looks like I'll never get those last 4 missiles. Hmm, guess I'll look em up online just to see where they were. And how in fuck do you get 100% scan data? I scanned everything in the game! Like, every damn thing!!!

Oh and I beat Metroid Prime with 69 health left! Geez, like a hit or two more and I'd have been dead! And it's a long boss fight! He was pretty tough! Took awhile to remember what the trick is.

Started Echoes already and just saved at the beginning. Time to dig in further! I love how dark it is from the getgo!
The scanning in Echoes looks uglier. I was never a fan of the big globs of color everywhere. Plus, the art is gone :(

100% scan data sucks because there's a handful of scans that only occur once in the game and if you miss them you're screwed

@mrbiggsly
Oh I know, I tried to scan EVERY thing in the game. And you can't even tell what your scan data is upon finishing cuz the damn game doesn't tell you! It just said 95% and made no mention of the scans!

Do you know of any in particular? I've always heard about this but never knew which scans these were. The best I can think of are enemies that show up once or twice in the whole game, or the whole Frigate Orpheon thing.

Best I can get in Metroid Prime seems to be 95%, and it's a game I've played like 6 or 7 times, with the easiest to remember world in the series.

I'm not getting anywhere near that in MP2. No way I won't get lost. And last time I may have broken the damn game so I really gotta watch out this time!

@carlosrox

I don't remember all of them, but Flagghra's Tentacle is one, Ice Shriekbat is another. The former can only be gotten by scanning the short tentacle during the Flagghra fight (the one that blocks the tube). The latter is annoying because it shows up ONE TIME in Phendrana Drifts and is easy to miss. It immediately dive-bombs you and disappears from the game forever.

I know there are two wasp-type enemies that show up early in the game in mini-bosses, and stalactites/stalagmites in the drifts... those are the only things I can remember it's been a while

@TriforceBun
Definitely never knew about scanning the damn tentacle, but I may have gotten the Ice ShriekBat.
It doesn't spawn ever again??

Ugh the overwriting save thing is dumb and I already regret doing it. Now I can't even look over the game at all. The only reason I did it this time was because Metroid Prime was a slog, and I almost died at the very end! Fuck, I woulda liked to look over the logs again and maybe figure out what I missed. Fuck was I thinking? Well, at least I got Hyper Mode unlocked now. Does anyone know how hard that mode is? Aside from Metroid Prime I walked through the game. It's super easy.

Is it just me or does MP1 look better graphically than MP2? Or is that just due to art style?

@carlosrox

Hyper Mode on 1 and 2 IS the hard mode from the GC release

Normal= Super Easy
Veteran/Hard= GC Normal
Hypermode= CG Hard

So yeah you were kinda playing on easy mode

I believe your logbook from the previous game should still be there on your save though. When you go into Hypermode it will have everything you already scanned. You'll have to get powerups again though.

@Shadowlink
What? Oh fuck that.

@carlosrox

Eh? You can't expect to start off fully armed. It'd break the game

@Shadowlink
I mean the difficulty thing. What a gyp.

And I've already gotten lost in MP2. I need the morph ball bomb? I just got to Agon wastes and teached a dead end. And I really don't remember how Temple Grounds is laid out. Ooh, this is gonna be a tough one. Already wandered around for a bit.

A bunch of the paths are closed off now, too. Wtf.
Yeah I have no idea where to go. Hint system isn't doing anything either...

Edit: SON OF A.....! I had to go to an IGN guide to tell me to basically "jump up on the obvious ledge your dumbass confused for another ledge". Yeah I just got lost in an open room with a clear as day path for me. To be fair, geeze this game's map is difficult to remember. I did feel terribly lost. I have little idea what leads where. And some areas look way way too alike. The beginning area is so terribly confusing confusing. I remember that area always bugging me. I suppose this is the hardest Prime game for a reason! But yeah that was embarrassing I missed that. But still, why's everything gotta look alike!!!

@carlosrox
It sure doesn't sound like you love scanning from your 100% woes~!

I don't really hate Prime, although it's amusing to pretend that I do! I don't love it, either, though. There are some things it does very well (first-person platforming, morph ball, bosses, world design) and other things that I don't care for (scanning, combat, slow pace, scanning, art style (it's not bad, but it feels too terrestrial), scanning).

It does drive me a bit crazy that people say that it's Super Metroid in 3D, though, 'cause it ain't! To me, it kind of loses the arcade action half of the Metroid formula.

Like, I said, though, I might jump back into the trilogy. I liked what I played of Echoes. Especially once I turned off the HUD.

I'm crying because Kris's Scan-Orr picture is no longer available.

Anand said:

Why won't you die, SCAN-ORR!!

Stupid TinyPic. Anand gets his wish.

@Shadowlink
At last!!

@Anand

He lives on in our hearts.

(And with any luck, somewhere in the nether regions of Kris's hard drive.)

For those that completed it (or came close) would you say going for 100% scanning is easier or harder than completing the Nintendo gallery in Wind Waker?

@Hero_Of_Hyrule
I'm not even aware of what the Wind Waker thing but I'm gonna say Metroid Prime is probably the easier thing to do. The world is big, but it's only so big, and I got pretttty close to doing it.

But I'm curious what the Wind Waker thing is. I only vaguely recall what you're even talking about (I think).

@Hero_Of_Hyrule

Easier I would say. Both of them have elements of 'If you miss it it's gone', so they're the same in that respect. But apart from that, every difference favours Prime:

- It doesn't require a separate sidequest to access. If you don't have the Deluxe Pictograph Box, you can't even begin to work on the Gallery. This guarantees a second playthrough is required on the original game.

- Everything is recorded to the Log Book then and there. There's no equivalent of tromping of back to the Gallery to hand in Pictographs. And you don't have to wait a day of ingame time.

- The data is organized and available at your fingertips via the menu at any time. You can get a pretty good idea of what you may be missing based on the categories and subcategories. For the Gallery, you again have to go back there physically and figure out what's left.

- No 'Legendary' scans

- No scanning limits. (Pictograph box has a capacity issue)

- No 'failed' scans. (A serious problem with the original Wind Waker- You never knew if a given photo was of the required quality.)


Basically as long as you're thorough enough, you can basically get this done whilst playing through the main game. Wind Waker required far more effort.

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