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See How Metroid Prime Remastered Stacks Up Visually To The Original

Developer Retro Studios did more than a simple upscale for the classic GameCube game.

32 Comments

After years of rumors, Nintendo finally revealed Metroid Prime Remastered for Switch yesterday. But this updated version of the GameCube title isn't just a simple HD upscale of the original. Developer Retro Studios reworked the visuals, even creating new models for Samus Aran and boss characters.

You can see the improvements for yourself with our graphics comparison video below. The differences are apparent almost immediately with Metroid Prime's intro on the Frigate Opheon, which is orbiting Tallon IV. The ship sports more details and better lighting, with the planet in the background getting an upgrade too.

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Now Playing: Metroid Prime Remastered vs Original Graphics Comparison

Samus looks dramatically better. The bounty hunter's suit shows off more colors and reflections, and maybe most notably, her arm cannon features pulsating yellow lights. Her gunship received a nice facelift as well.

The first Metroid Prime boss is the Parasite Queen within the frigate. And Retro clearly spruced up the enemy's model, with scales on the stomach and horns protruding from the back. Ridley also was touched up by the developer.

Metroid Prime Remastered was surprise-dropped yesterday for Switch. It's available digitally for $40 and will be released physically February 22. For more, check out all the big Nintendo Direct February announcements.

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clockworkengine

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The game really looks great. Atmospheric effects are through the roof. Going through the crashed frigate was an awesome experience on my 4k OLED tv.

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Abdulrahman1981

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GC port still looks amazing, this game is the reason I like First Person Shooters nowadays.

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Cybuster_88

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Nice port.

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gatsbythepig

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Edited By gatsbythepig

Wow! It really does look a tiny bit better. I bet on the little screen it'll look really, very decent. I'm so moderately impressed!

This remaster is EASILY worth almost $10

Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces was remastered by Ruppertle, and included new levels. It took 3 whole entire years. He sold it for uhh...

So, um, like... yeah. Right? O K

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Utnayan

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Edited By Utnayan

Watch the video comparison and then think the one on the left was over 20 years ago. This is a pitiful display of what Nintendo is best at. And also remember all their other terrible remasters. Quit giving these people money.

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Saint2077

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I very much look forward to this, I really do. The last time I had a GameCube was over 10 years ago. Metroid Prime was one the first games I had for it. I remember actually being afraid of playing it but, proceeded to play it anyways. Even though it's not a horror game, it still spooked me a times. Moving from a Gameboy to this, it was rough. What got me the most and this is very much hilarious to me now. What scared me the most, was Samus's own reflection. "What, why would you have been spooked?". Well on Tallon IV, after you've shot all the buttons and scanned the panel to deactivate the zero gravity. You have to blow past the debris, well I was pretty close to it. When I had her charge her cannon and fire it, the debris cleared yes but, I saw eyes.. It's obvious, it's her reflection but, at the time I couldn't wrap my young smooth brain around it. So, I would spend so much time, aiming at the ground, charging then firing. This was the first time, I experienced reflection in a video game. There was another time, it wasn't really a spook but, it interested the hell outta me!! You know in the Chozo Ruins, that one area where you have the War Wasps and behind them you got the save station? Well, after dealing with them, I saw this thing on the wall. It was just a ways before turning left, jumping to the next platform, walk a bit, turn right , shoot the door, proceed on. I didn't do that, instead, my goofy butt, had been jumping around trying to get a feel of the game. So, I find the thing on the wall and I walk up to it. There was something in it but, I had no idea what it was. So, I tried to scan it, it was nothing of interest. I backed away from it and walked back up to it. Still, sitting there trying to figure out what the hell it was. I paused the game to go do something and came back, you have Samus standing on display in the middle of the screen. Then it hit me, I resumed the game, looked at the reflection and paused the game again. Doing my comparison and came to realization, it was her reflection. "IT'S HER REFLECTION, OH MY DOOOOOD!!". Then, I proceeded to do goofy things infront of it. I had been trying to see, if it would capture everything I had this poor woman doing. Sure enough, it captured just about everything. Primarily walking up to the artifact, walking away from it, casually passing it. Jumping into the air and landing right infront of it, just standing in front of it and jumping up, trying to see if it would capture her boots. Then, I proceeded BACK to Tallon Overworld and began playing around in the water. I enjoyed this game so much, aside from school, doing homework, I played day in and out. Exploring more and more of what the game had to offer.

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MysticalDonut

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Does this work with the Switch Pro controller?

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gatsbythepig

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@mysticaldonut: AFAIK- all Switch games do.

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MysticalDonut

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@gatsbythepig: Let's Go Pikachu does not

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gatsbythepig

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@mysticaldonut: OK, I didn't know that.

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HAWK9600

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Western devs would call this a "Full, top to bottom remake."

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Tiwill44

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The developer of this game is based in Austin, Texas...

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HAWK9600

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@Tiwill44: Ah, I'll rephrase. Western 'Publishers' would call this a "Full, top to bottom remake."

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nintendians

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looks impressive, but "metroid prime trilogy" on the wii could of have the dual joystick control scheme with the wii classic controller.

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knifebeater

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Looks impressive, but after playing the fan-modded trilogy on PC with high frame rate, 4K textures, and keyboard/mouse, I don't know if I can go back to the lower frame rate and controller of the Switch (and this is assuming they've modernized the controls).

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blaznwiipspman1

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Edited By blaznwiipspman1

ok nintendo, you win. Take my money.

@hardwenzen how does it feel to get proven wrong again and again?? This is a massive improvement, over the og.

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hardwenzen

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@blaznwiipspman1 said:

ok nintendo, you win. Take my money.

@hardwenzen how does it feel to get proven wrong again and again?? This is a massive improvement, over the og.

If you call this massive, you're clearly conditioned to the bottom of the barrel Nintendo has been offering for a long time. FF7R, Demon's remake, RE4R, RE2R, Dead Space remake, now those are MASSIVE improvements. Metroid is the bare minimum to be considered as a remaster.

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HAWK9600

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@hardwenzen: Dude's pulling in entire, overhyped remakes of already existing video games to argue against a remaster of a classic. Cope.

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timemasheen

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@HAWK9600: I don't understand your reply. Isn't Metroid Prime an "already existing game" as well?

There is nothing over hyped about Resident Evil 2 Remake or Final Fantasy 7 Remake.

I haven't played the new Dead Space and Resident Evil 4 Remake Isn't out yet.

Anyway, all 4 of those original games are considered classics.

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HAWK9600

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Edited By HAWK9600

@timemasheen: Final Fantasy Remake is a botch job, a complete, boring, convoluted mess stuffed with pointless time wasting filler. Resident Evil 2 remake is a diluted remake of a game with more style and atmosphere, and the latter half of the game falls off in quality. Seriously overhyped.

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drdavewatford

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@timemasheen: Agreed, but it won't matter - there's no reasoning with some people when you're discussing the Switch. Just remember - any kind of criticism of Nintendo is verboten.

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blaznwiipspman1

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@hardwenzen said:
@blaznwiipspman1 said:

ok nintendo, you win. Take my money.

@hardwenzen how does it feel to get proven wrong again and again?? This is a massive improvement, over the og.

If you call this massive, you're clearly conditioned to the bottom of the barrel Nintendo has been offering for a long time. FF7R, Demon's remake, RE4R, RE2R, Dead Space remake, now those are MASSIVE improvements. Metroid is the bare minimum to be considered as a remaster.

your butt hurt is showing, this is possibly the biggest improvement in visuals for any remaster. The og is incredibly dated. Absolutely fantastic job by retro studios.

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cboye18

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@blaznwiipspman1: Looks the same to me on Dolphin emulator with upscaling and shader FX enabled. Except not getting ripped off for some small additions.

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NilsDoen

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damnit. do i need to buy a switch now?

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HAWK9600

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@nilsdoen: The switch is amazing. But it's been six years. Might have missed the window to enjoy it at its peak.

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BlackVen0m13

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@nilsdoen: probably if you have any interest in other Switch games as well… It’s pretty late in the lifecycle to dive in but knowing Nintendo the chances are extremely high that the Switch 2 or whatever their next console is called will not be backwards compatible so they can just sell us the same game again for $70 and say it’s the “Deluxe” version. 🤦‍♂️

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ghostspartan

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@blackven0m13: eh, nintendo has been the one company where backwards compatibility has always been a strong suit with even old controllers working on new console. switch has been the odd one but obviously because wii u flopped so hard they had to change everything. of course recently nintendo has started to do scammy mobile games like other companies started long ago so maybe shit decisions will continue but you definitely cant use nintendo as an example of worst offender.

its a bit reduntant remaster but i fully agree with nintendos sentiment that graphics are graphics and they dont matter. at least they dont spend years remaking an old game and pretending its new

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NilsDoen

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Edited By NilsDoen

@blackven0m13: yeah... i mean this and zelda should be worth it maybe?

edit: lol ok it was about 200 more than i thought it was. ill reconsider

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gatsbythepig

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Edited By gatsbythepig

@nilsdoen: It's still worth it. I poke fun at a lot of the stuff here, but I bought the OLED right when it was released; it was the first and only Switch I purchased. I bought Metroid Dread and really enjoyed it. I got Zelda and played it for 3 months straight. It's not my favorite Zelda, but it's a great game. I went back to Dread for another run through, which is not common for me. Then I replayed Zelda on Master Quest mode.The next Zelda is being released soon too. For both Zeldas, Metroid, Mario and whatever else you may like, you'll get 6 months, likely a year or more of fun out of it. In total, we're talking somewhere around the $500 mark. $500 for a year of fun... and obviously, if you travel, you can take it with you.

I have been playing games since the Atari. Buying a Nintendo towards the end of its lifecycle is, without a doubt, the way to go. You would be getting it at the right time. Just resist buying the next console too soon and you'll have the same enjoyable experience. You're not actually missing anything by buying later. There are more good games now.

I have my PC and my Xbox. I am currently playing GTA again. I have access to almost 1000(you read that right). I end up going back to the games I chill with.

I'd say for Zelda alone it's worth it. Just my opinion.

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NilsDoen

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@gatsbythepig: What about the lite version? Wont ever hook up to tv anyways…

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gatsbythepig

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@nilsdoen: I chose not to buy the lite because once the sticks drift or break, it's over. I bought the OLED and a pro controller.

I have tried using the joy-cons attached and also not attached. I did not enjoy the experience.

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NilsDoen

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@gatsbythepig: hm true… but if I buy a switch it’s for inbed and commute only. I already have a ps5 for proper games (and xbx s in closet). A lite controller should last 2 Zelda’s and 2 metroids without drifting… right?? :)

I mean if I get hooked on switches, I do wanna wait until next year when proper console update hits

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