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Metroid Prime 2: Echoes Launches

Posted by Zonk on from the my-first-video-game-crush dept.

The sequel to Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes has been released to consumers. Details on the sequel can be found via a Gamespy hands on look or a Gamespot review. A snip from the review: "If you've played Metroid Prime, you've essentially played Metroid Prime 2. Retro hasn't mucked with the original, winning formula, so veterans of the first game will feel quite at home resuming their position behind Samus' computer-enhanced visor."

7 of 277 comments (clear)

  1. JUSTIN BAILEY by Breakfast+Pants · · Score: 5, Funny

    Still no JUSTIN BAILEY leotard code? Dissappointing.

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    WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
    1. Re:JUSTIN BAILEY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      For the record, the JUSTIN BAILEY password (and its many variants) is almost certainly a complete coincidence. I spent hours reverse-engineering Metroid's password system, and it just so happens that the number of possible passwords (many of which will give the same results, and some of which will do unexpeced things such as locking up the game) is so vast that there are many, many passwords that spell interesting and novel things. In fact, you can put in any password at all, minus the last 2 characters (which encode a checksum) and calculate the final characters to make it valid.

      There is one password that is hard-coded into the game, and this can be verified with a string dump[1] of the ROM. The password is "NARPASSWORD" (speculation is that this stands for North American Release Password). Enter this while leaving the remaining characters blank (or equivalently filling them with 0s[2]) to get what I assume is some kind of debugging mode. There are a few notable things about it: 1) Samus is invincible, and has infinite missiles. 2) Samus has both the Wave Beam and the Ice Beam equipped, which results in a beam that behaves just like the Ice Beam, but the projectile appears to be a blue Wave Beam projectile. 3) Destroying metroids has a tendancy to freeze the game.

      Footnotes:

      [1] The strings are not ASCII. IIRC, the character set is laid out exactly as it is on the password screen, so the value 0 corresponds to the character '0', etc. Obviously, strings are not 0-terminated.

      [2] Unfilled spaces on the password screen are equivalent to 0s. The space character that you can enter is something different. In the case of the NARPASSWORD password, only so many of the characters are actually significant, so the last 8 or so characters can be anything. I've forgotten exactly how many are ignored.

  2. WTF? by oGMo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why is it in every review they make the point to emphasize "this is not full of revolutionary new gameplay"? If I get a Metroid game, I don't want revolutionary new gameplay: I want Metroid. Metroid Prime was good despite the new 3D stuff, because it was still essentially Metroid.

    What we should be asking is "is this game a new Metroid game with good story, level design, secrets, etc.", and it sounds like it is. After all, the first thing we asked about MP1 was not "does this have revolutionary new gameplay", rather "is this still the Metroid we love?"

    Anyhow, point made. I hope this one has more secrets and stuff than the last. Sounds like it does, but that's one of the few things I thought the original (Prime) lacked.

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    Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage

  3. Re:Nintendo by JohnFromCanada · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Isn't rooting for a big, monopolistic company thats against free software kind of anti-slashdot?"

    Making a game like this for free is just not feasible. Games are often far too complex and involve too much maintenance and work to be free. It also takes a lot more than just programmers to put together a good game by today's standards. There are some free games out there that are very good such as (ie. America's Army, Nethack, Wolfenstein Enemy Territory) however it is just not possible to expect all games to be free software.

  4. Re:Well by Justin205 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Metroid is NOT about the graphics, or the innovative new ways to play it... Metroid is about the story, mainly.

    The philosophy behind this is really "If it isn't broken, don't fix it." The original MP engine worked wonderfully. It is visually impressive, even now, a few years later. Just add a few minor enhancements, and leave it. Concentrate most development on the multiplayer execution and the heart of every Metroid game - the story.

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    "Your effort to remain what you are is what limits you."
  5. Behind Samus... by Ghostgate · · Score: 5, Funny

    resuming their position behind Samus

    I'm sorry, but that just puts all sorts of naughty ideas into my head!

  6. Re:Oh grrreat by tgibbs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wow, so it wasn't enough that they ruined one of my favourite game series by turning it into a crappy FPS, but they did nothing to rectify their transgressions in the sequel?

    I thought Metroid Prime did a wonderful job of translating everything I loved about the original game into 3D. Even my initial reservations about the first-person format were dispelled. I'm no fan of FPS games, but then MP isn't really a FPS. Indeed, I basically bought the GC for Metroid Prime, and found it well worth the cost. And for 2D purists, Nintendo is still turning out Metroid titles for GameBoy.