Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes in Japan and Korea) is the second Prime game in the Prime trilogy. It is a direct sequel to Metroid Prime, although chronologically, it occurs after Metroid Prime Hunters. It was developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube. It is the first Metroid game to have a multiplayer feature.

Story
The story begins as Samus' Gunship travels towards planet Aether in the Dasha Region. Samus' mission is to find out what happened to and assist the GFMC Task Force Herakles, a group of Galactic Federation troopers with whom the Galactic Federation has lost contact. As she enters the atmosphere, her ship flies through turbulent purple storm clouds and is struck by lightning. Badly damaged, the Gunship is sent hurtling towards the planet below but regains enough power just in time to land safely after crashing through the roof of a cave. As in Metroid Prime, Samus begins the game with many of her abilities. While exploring the GF troopers' abandoned base of operations, she discovers a portal to Dark Aether after an encounter with a strange blue being that is wearing something very like her Power Suit. Following the being through the portal, she finds it absorbing Phazon; upon detecting Samus' arrival, the being destroys a nearby crystal. The barrier this crystal generates shrinks away to nothing, and Samus begins to be affected by the poisonous atmosphere. After the barrier fades, vicious creatures unknown to Samus at the time attack her. She escapes, but all of her upgrades besides her Morph Ball, Charge Beam, Power Beam, and Combat Visor are stolen by the creatures.

Despite this, she continues her search of the GF trooper base, eventually finding their landing site where their damaged and burning ship, the G.F.S. Tyr, is located. After watching the commanding officer's last entry log, Samus learns that all the troopers were brutally murdered by Dark Splinters. She moves on to investigate their deaths, but soon realizes she has reached the end of the line: the room that might let her move onwards is blocked by some form of shielding that is impervious to her weapons systems. However, she finds a missile launcher near the landing site and, after a short battle with some Dark Splinters, continues to explore the Temple Grounds.

Samus eventually makes it to the Great Temple, where she battles more Dark Splinters, an Alpha Splinter, and its dark form, the Dark Alpha Splinter. After the battle, she recovers a mysterious "alien upgrade". Though it has no negative impact on her suit's performance, it does raise questions as to its use. She travels up the Temple elevator and discovers a device which contains a bright, glowing light. There she encounters a Luminoth called U-Mos, who tells her the true name of the dark beings she encountered: the Ing. He explains how the Luminoth fought the Ing over their planetary energy. The Ing have stolen all but the energy in the temple, and so U-Mos implores her to help them, as she took back from the Ing an Energy Transfer Module, which is key to the Luminoth's victory over the Ing. Stranded at the moment and with nothing better to do, Samus agrees. U-Mos then sends her to Agon Sector, where she must recover the first of the four Dark Aether energies.

Samus does so, exploring Agon and Dark Agon, and begins to recover her abilities, such as the Bomb. After finding a Dark Temple Key and recovering her Space Jump Boots, Aran infiltrates the Pirate Base, coming face to face with Dark Samus. Aran gains the Dark and Light Beams soon afterward, going once again to Dark Aether to recover the two remaining Dark Temple Keys. After doing so, she battles and destroys the Amorbis and restores the energy of Dark Agon to the Agon Temple.

Once she returns to the Great Temple, U-Mos sends her to Torvus Sector to recover the lost energy there. Samus complies and explores Torvus, which has a lesser (but still prominent) degree of Space Pirate activity. This time, Samus faces the Boost Guardian to get the Boost Ball, the Grapple Guardian to get the Grapple Beam, and before facing the Alpha Blogg, she obtains the Gravity Boost and the three Dark Temple Keys needed to access Dark Torvus Temple. There, she fights the Chykka, obtaining the Dark Visor and the energy lost to Dark Torvus.

Upon her return to U-Mos, the Luminoth Sentinel tells her she has one more task: to go to Sanctuary Sector, a fortress high in the cliffs, where the last Energy Controller lies. There, Samus gains the last of her missing abilities, the Spider Ball, as well as the Power Bomb, which she must return to Torvus to re-obtain. She then re-fights Dark Samus, acquiring the Echo Visor. Once she finds the Dark Temple keys, Samus faces Quadraxis, a Luminoth unit gone rogue. After defeating Quadraxis, Samus acquires the Annihilator Beam and finds the third energy controller - that of the Ing Hive.

When she goes back to U-Mos, he, using the power Aether now has thanks to her, gives her the Light Suit, a suit that actually has the Light of Aether within it. Then, he gives her the most dangerous mission she'd have to complete on Aether: reach the final Energy Controller, hidden within the Ing Sky Temple. To enter the Sky Temple, though, she must find nine keys, two in Dark Agon, two in Dark Torvus, two in the Ing Hive, and three within the Sky Temple Grounds. With much difficulty and complex strategy, Samus finds these keys and enters the Sky Temple.

Within the Sky Temple, Samus faces the Emperor Ing, a mighty behemoth that rules the Ing Horde. Though she is almost defeated, Samus prevails and drains the stolen energy from the final energy controller. With the last of its energy gone, Dark Aether begins to crumble; with only eight minutes to spare, Samus races down to the Sky Temple gateway and prepares to leave the destabilizing shadow of Aether. However, Phazon quickly covers the entrance from which she came. Samus realizes that her arch-nemesis is directly behind her and turns to confront Dark Samus.

Dark Samus and our heroine duel to the death, but Samus exploits the Metroid Prime's fatal weakness -- an overload of Phazon. Sometimes, Dark Samus launches small Phazon blasts which Samus can collect with her Charge Beam and fire back at her. Using this strategy while continuously watching out for the fiend's other attacks, Samus prevails. After her defeat, Dark Samus tries to touch Samus, but she disintegrates into Phazon particles at the last second. Though she is victorious, Samus realizes that her way out is still blocked, and she is quickly surrounded by Warrior Ing intending to avenge their fallen leader. Suddenly, the Phazon once covering the portal leading from the Hall of Honored Dead vanishes. Samus then jumps out of the encircling group of Ing, activates the portal, and spin jumps through it.

She arrives safely back in Aether, and turns around in time to see the Ing attempt to escape through the portal, only to perish in Aether's blazing light. Samus then returns to the Main Energy Controller after the Luminoth have been revived from their hibernation. The Luminoth, glad to have their planet back, rejoice and thank Samus. Samus gives them back the equipment she borrowed from them (the Light, Dark, and Annihilator Beams, the Dark and Echo Visors, and the Light and Dark Suits) and returns the last of Aether's planetary energy. She walks out of the room amidst a number of bowing Luminoth and returns to her gunship, flying off the planet and into the vast darkness of space.

However, after Samus leaves, Dark Samus reforms out of Phazon energy in space near Aether, so as to take revenge on Samus in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Gameplay
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes retains many gameplay elements from the original Metroid Prime, a game that initially had met with mixed reactions from fans and critics alike when it was announced for the first time that it would use a first-person perspective; however, the original Metroid Prime was found to stay true to the traditional gameplay of the Metroid series, focusing primarily on non-linear exploration, with occasional bouts of combat. Likewise, Metroid Prime 2 encourages players to explore huge areas, solve numerous puzzles, and defeat enemies when they're present. Weapons, tools, and expansions can be obtained during the adventure, and progress is based on usage of those items and defeat of bosses.

However, Metroid Prime 2 also features new additions, including the exploration of an alternate world, new items, and a multiplayer mode. Below is a brief explanation of those distinctions.

Light and Dark concept
Because Aether experienced a severe impact from a Phazon meteor, it suffered a dimensional division resulting in the creation of a darker, more sinister version of itself, appropriately called Dark Aether. During the events of the game, Samus has to explore both worlds in order to recover the Light energy Aether needs to subsist, which was stolen by the inhabitants of the dark version of the planet, the Ing. While she can safely travel around Light Aether, she experiences harsher conditions on Dark Aether due to its highly corrosive atmosphere; she can only survive there if she navigates among spots of light known as Safe Zones, where she will slowly recover energy. Samus can travel between Light and Dark Aether with the help of dimensional portals, activated by using certain weapons or by scanning a nearby console.

This concept of light and darkness is also reflected in the type of items found during the game. Replacing the traditional Ice, Wave and Plasma Beams are the Dark, Light and Annihilator Beams respective, able to damage different types of enemies according to the world they come from. The Dark and Echo Visors allow Samus to see invisible materials and imperceptible sounds, respectively. The Dark and Light Suits help her to survive on Dark Aether for longer periods of time, as they greatly reduce (and even nullify, in the Light Suit's case) the damaging effects of Dark Aether.

The enemies also come into two versions: light and dark forms, the latter being called Darklings. They are vulnerable to weapons of the opposing nature, a very important detail to remember. The Light and Dark Beams also have limited ammo, something never seen before in previous Metroid games, so Samus has to find expansions to increase their capacities and, meanwhile, use her new weapons wisely (although she can recover ammo with the help of her gunship or an Ammo Station).

Multiplayer
Main article: Metroid Prime 2: Echoes multiplayer

Game style
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is commonly identified as a darker and more challenging game than its predecessor, the former due to its main plot device. With the story regarding Aether and the tragic past of the Luminoth, as well as the introduction of a dark and devilish dimension, the game features a certain concept of fear, death and corruption never seen previously in the series, an aspect that would later be extended in Metroid Prime 3. Samus, having never before faced an evil force like the Ing or Dark Samus (which are able to corrupt anyone and anything to force them to fight on their side), learns the hard way that the Space Pirates are not the only bad guys in the galaxy, and that evil can both be present in many other forms and be so devastating as to nearly extinguish innocent civilizations. In fact, she notices that even the Pirates are vulnerable to the darkness the Ing bring with them, as even a Pirate can be turned into a Darkling in seconds.

The game also has a higher difficulty level than that of the first Metroid Prime. One of the reasons is the elements from Dark Aether: not only its dark atmosphere is damaging, for when it reaches a regular enemy, it becomes corrupted. The new version of the enemy, often referred to as a "Darkling", is more powerful and resilient, meaning its attacks are more devastating and it takes more shots to be defeated. For example, when a Splinter is corrupted by the dark atmosphere, it becomes a Dark Splinter, and its movements are more agile and accurate. Save Stations are comparatively rare throughout Dark Aether, forcing the player to play for longer stretches between saves. This becomes a severe problem in later levels, most notably when the player is looking for bosses like Alpha Blogg and Spider Guardian; if one of these defeats Samus, she will restart from a very distant point in the game, forcing her to redo many things that couldn't be recorded prior to the boss battle. Another challenge comes from backtracking, which plays a major role in this game and occasionally forces the player (after collecting a new item) to completely exit the area he or she is in so that a new part of a previous zone can be explored, another new item collected, and normal progress resumed. Finally, fulfilling the requirements to enter the final area of the game requires a much more extensive bout of exploration than was needed to enter the final area of the first Metroid Prime.

While most fans have enjoyed this new challenge (which becomes even greater on Hard difficulty), they also agreed that it becomes occasionally abusive, particularly when the time comes to find the nine Sky Temple Keys. Because of this and the aforementioned facts, Retro Studios concluded that the game was too difficult for casual players and therefore decided to moderate this aspect for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption by allowing players to choose a difficulty setting from the beginning (Normal and Veteran are available at first, and Hypermode is unlocked by accomplishing certain conditions).

"Revolution" Demo
When Nintendo first demoed the tentatively named "Revolution" (later named "Wii") remote at the Tokyo Game Show on September 15, 2005, and in America at a New York hotel on December 8, they allowed select press to try eight tech-demos in private. Most demonstrated simple concepts to introduce the capabilities of the new device. In order of showing, the demos were: a block shooting-range, the fishing game that ended up in Wii Play, an electric maze with a baton, air hockey, shooting baskets, a game where a Pokémon had to be found hidden among others, and flying a paper plane in Super Mario Sunshine's Delfino Island. 

The final and most advanced demo was a version of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes that had been retooled by Retro Studios for a few weeks to incorporate pointer controls. This demo was the only one to use (and thus introduced) the Nunchuk. The buttons were mapped to: A:Jump, B:Fire, Z1:Switch Visors, Z2:Lock-on/Scan, and Select:Morph Ball. The last three buttons were eventually renamed "C", "Z", and "-", respectively.

When imagining how various genres would work with this control systems, IGN stated:

"Using Nintendo's controller to navigate first-person shooters is going to be an amazingly empowering, freeing experience. We know this because Nintendo demoed a modified version of Metroid Prime 2 Echoes using the new peripheral, and the potential is undeniably jaw-dropping. In the demo, players could move Samus through the environments with the attached analog trigger. The need to lock-on to enemies, however, was been eliminated, thanks to a new level of precision aiming made possible with the pointer. In a level of accuracy rivaled only by a PC mouse configuration, gamers could simply use the device to point and shoot."

IGN interviewed Retro Studios in 2009 and learned: ''"Corruption's innovative Wii remote control scheme was born out of a technical demo at the Tokyo Game Show and a single talented programmer, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson. Nintendo needed a project to showcase at TGS that would successfully demonstrate to journalists the power of its new controller with regard to first-person games. Of course, it turned to Retro Studios to create the demo. About two months before TGS, a Revolution prototype arrived at the developer's Austin offices -- "the thing was a circuit board with wires hanging off it; it was funny," says Walker -- and it went immediately behind Hutchinson's locked door. "Mark locked himself literally in his office because he was not even allowed to show anybody else in the studio what he was working on at the time. And he was able to work his magic."

''I ask how long it took him. "It was about two solid months and that was two hard months and a lot of late nights for him, but he loved every minute of it. He was such a dedicated and passionate developer. And when we first got our hands on what he had been doing, we were ecstatic because we knew, one, that we had a great demo for the Tokyo Game Show, but that the potential of the Wii controller for Metroid Prime 3 really was illuminated at that point," he says. The TGS demo was not an early build of Prime 3, but rather Prime 2. "We retrofitted -- no pun intended -- Echoes," elaborates Walker."

New Play Control
New Play Control! Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was revealed at Nintendo's Fall Press Conference in Japan, along with a similar remake of  Metroid Prime, as part of the New Play Control! series. The games have new motion-based controls and slightly improved graphics.

Metroid Prime Trilogy
Metroid Prime Trilogy was announced on May 22, 2009 for release in North America on August 24 of the same year for $49.99. The disc includes Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption with Wii controls, as well as new content, menus, and unlockable media.

Trivia

 * Prior to Echoes' release, a preview of the game was given out by Nintendo to some players in the form of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Bonus Disc, which had trailers, a history of the Metroid series, and a demo which featured about 20 rooms from Temple Grounds, Agon Wastes, and Dark Agon in a remixed order. It was later bundled with Metroid Prime and the Nintendo GameCube.
 * Echoes is the first game in the series to have a multiplayer mode (though Metroid claimed to on its box art) and to have ammunition for its new Beam weaponry.
 * Although Echoes is the sequel to Metroid Prime, chronologically, it occurs after Metroid Prime Hunters.
 * The multiplayer track titled "Hunters" is a remix of Super Metroid's green Brinstar music. The theme of the lower floor of Torvus, Torvus Catacombs, is a remix of the theme in red Brinstar, also in Super Metroid. Also, the escape theme in Echoes is a remix of the original Metroid's Escape! theme.
 * There is a microgame based on the game in WarioWare: Smooth Moves.
 * It should be noted that the beams in are the same "formations" as in Metroid Prime, though the coloration varied from before. The Annihilator Beam is a recolor of the Plasma Beam, the Dark Beam is a recolor of the Ice Beam, and the Light Beam is a recolor of the Wave Beam. Similarly, the Plasma Beam and the Annihilator Beam are both the most powerful beams in their games aside from the Phazon Beam. Both the Dark and Ice Beams freeze enemies, and the Wave and Light Beams both have continuous effects after a charged shot.
 * Retro Studios discussed having Super Metroid as an unlockable hidden extra much like Metroid was in Prime, but it did not happen due to time constraints.