Metroid Prime 2 - Echoes Shows Multiplayer Action For GameCube

Thanks to Nintendo.com for its new info page officially revealing Metroid Prime 2: Echoes for GameCube, showing several impressive screenshots of "this highly anticipated sequel to Metroid Prime", as the first hints of setting are discussed: "Hunted by a mysterious entity and a warring race called the Ing, Samus Aran must explore the light and dark worlds of this doomed planet." The previously rumored multiplayer mode is also confirmed: "Up to four players can battle each other as they search for weapons, grapple across ceilings, and turn into Morph Balls to make their escapes."

Comments

Metroid Prime and multiplayer

[BigHungryJoe]

I loved Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime and Windwaker alone made the Gamecube worth the money.
Unfortunately, this is the kind of "multiplayer" I was hoping for.

Why is Nintendo so averse to doing providing a real online multiplayer service? I have a blast on XBox Live and I think that being "Live Enabled" drives the sale of many games.

It just seems like they're ignoring a potentially lucrative part of the market.

-BHJ

Re:Metroid Prime and multiplayer

[clu76]

I'd personally rather have LAN play for Metroid Prime 2. Games are much more fun when the people are sitting in the same room. I have XBox live. Don't like it.

Re:Metroid Prime and multiplayer

[CuBeFReNZy]

Metroid Prime was an excellent game... and 2 will be even better. I'm so glad to see Nintendo bring back this franchise after so long.

As for the online... I think Nintendo doesn't see it as profitable yet. Because it really isn't. Out of the estimated 14 million + Xbox users, only 750,000 are subscribed to Live. So Live really isn't pulling that much for Xbox when you look at the general numbers. I love playing games online, and I think it would be great if Nintendo made more of their games online for the GameCube, but I think it's too late in the Cube's life for them to start something.

The Warp Pipe project is great It makes me look forward to LAN games alot more. I hope Nintendo realizes they can do that instead of having to start their own online service.

Re:Metroid Prime and multiplayer

[Anonymous Coward]

Fine, but did you read the other AC's post closely enough?

According to that post, Mario Party 4 - a single-console (offline) multiplayer game - has performed better in the market than any Xbox Live game. And that is the point - that the sales of online multiplayer console games is nowhere near the perceived hype, not when compared to offline multiplayer games or (especially) single-player games.

Personally, I don't play online multiplayer games (other than slashdot). That's not because I have any sort of agenda, that's because the idea has never appealed to me, and every time I've tried it, the experience matches my low expectations. So, I specifically avoid games where the focus is mostly on online multiplayer. If a game's focus is on single-player mode and/or an offline multiplayer mode for playing with friends who are hanging out together, but it also features online multiplayer, then I don't mind. That's why I will readily buy games like this upcoming Metroid Prime sequel, but never an MMORPG or your typical modern FPS.

The breaking point for me will be when I can have the same experience playing a game against a friend online as I can playing against him or her in the same room. The Xbox Live and Sony SOCOM headsets don't cut it (I've played using both). I'm talking about natural conversation-style stuff, like being able to physically point at my screen and having my friends see and understand, seeing my friends' faces when I whoop on them, getting into foodfights while one person scrambles for the pause button, intangible things like that. Best solution I can think of for online multiplayer games is LAN-play in the same room, with multiple TVs and multiple consoles, but that's so impractical that impromptu multiplayer games become inconvenient, because it's a chore to set up.

In the meantime, my friends and I are good to go with offline games, and I think we'll be playing them for a long time while technology tries to catch up with what would be the most fun for us.

What?!?

[jonbboy]

Slow? it can be beat in less than 2 hours!

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/02/2 9/ 2136259&mode=nested&tid=127&tid=186&tid=207&tid=21 3

"It is best described as "walk through hallway. Shoot door.
Walk through door. Shoot enemy. Repeat."

Bullsh1t!

Metroid Prime is filled with diverse puzzles and many enemies that require different battle tactics.

What specifically would you add/change to make it better? (besides add multiplayer). I would just add more of what it already has.

New Icons? New stuff?

[FroBugg]

The icons on the HUD look different from those in Prime, if I'm remembering correctly. Does this mean it's going to have different beams and visors?

Re:New Icons? New stuff?

[MMaestro]

True the icons on the HUD are different, but if you really think about it they can pretty much all be justified as 'revamped.' Chances are they're all the same thing (with a change or two) since, after all; if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Judging from the first screenshot where you can get the best view :

Energy bars? Different but its pretty clear what they're trying to do.
The two verticle bars under the missle count? Again, pretty clear (Dark Blue shows max, Teal shows remaining.)
Left verticle bar? Danger meter, almost no change there. (Though I wonder why its not spiking with that enemy right in front of Samus... maybe an alpha version screen shot?)
Map? Again, basic change nothing special.

Now for the (presumably) Visors and Beam selection :

Red beam? Energy beam, no brainer if you've played Metroid Prime.
Blue beam? Cold? Ice? Ice beam? It flipped with the Wave Beam but that could always be changed.
Green beam? Now admittedly this is reaching a bit but maybe a Plasma Beam? No way to tell until we get more info or until we play it.

As for the visors, some are pretty self-explanatory..

Red : Combat visor, check. Blue : Scan visor, check. Yellow : Thermal visor, maybe? The icon is obviously not the same, but it looks even less similar to the X-Ray visor. Green : Who knows? Could be a motion sensor visor, a sound based visor, maybe the new look for the X-Ray visor or even a Radiation/Phazon visor (though I doubt we'll see Phazon again since it was a localized element).

Re:New Icons? New stuff?

[Guppy06]

"Energy bars? Different but its pretty clear what they're trying to do."

But it's definitely different from the way energy has been displayed since the first game. There might be something else involved in there (another try at the Reserve Tank concept?), especially considering the way everything else seems to be revised to get less clutter on the HUD, not more.

"The two verticle bars under the missle count? Again, pretty clear (Dark Blue shows max, Teal shows remaining.)"

Or there's two flavors of missiles again. Fusion and Prime had interesting ideas for variety in missiles, but it seemz Zero Mission has gone back to two flavors again. I don't think we'll know either way until we get to play the game ourselves.

"(Though I wonder why its not spiking with that enemy right in front of Samus... maybe an alpha version screen shot?)"

Because the "danger meter" was the environmental danger meter. It only goes off if you're about to step in lava/toxic water/Phazon/hot rooms/etc.

"Map? Again, basic change nothing special."

I hope the map screen will tell you what rooms you've already colleted items from...

"Green beam? Now admittedly this is reaching a bit but maybe a Plasma Beam?"

The icon is swirly. I'd guess Wave.

Now my question is: If the HUD is so different from Prime, does thsi mean she's in a new/different/modified suit?

Re:metroid + multiplayer

[C0rinthian]

Metroid 2 was better. :)

It's amazing how much tension you can build in a B/W gameboy game. Heh, the less enemies there were, the more dangerous it was.

"Oh look, a metroid husk. F--k."