Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Encyclopedia
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, known as in Japan, is a first-person
, action-adventure
video game developed by Retro Studios
and published by Nintendo
for the GameCube
video game console
. It is the seventh game in the Metroid
series, a direct sequel to Metroid Prime
, and the first game in the series with a multiplayer feature. Echoes was released in North America, Europe, and Australia in 2004, and in Japan in 2005.
Chronologically, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes takes place fourth in the Metroid fictional universe. The story follows bounty hunter
Samus Aran
after she is sent to rescue Galactic Federation Marines
from a ship near Aether, a planet inhabited by a race known as the Luminoth. There, she discovers that the troops were slaughtered by the Ing, an evil race that came from an alternate dimension
of Aether. Samus must travel to three temples to ensure the destruction of the Ing, while battling Space Pirates and her mysterious doppelgänger
called Dark Samus.
Retro decided to make the game different from its predecessor by adding more focus on storyline and including new gameplay elements. Nintendo launched a viral marketing
campaign to promote the game that included several websites written as if taking place in the Metroid universe. Echoes single player mode and graphics were praised by critics, while its steep difficulty level and multiplayer components were met less positively. Since its release, Echoes has received several video game industry awards, as well as spots on "top games" lists by Nintendo Power and IGN. Over 800,000 copies of the game were sold worldwide. In 2009, an enhanced version was released for Wii
as a standalone game in Japan and as part of Metroid Prime: Trilogy
internationally.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a first-person
action-adventure game
that takes place in an open-ended world with interconnected regions. Gameplay revolves around solving puzzles to uncover secrets, platform jumping
, and shooting enemies. Echoes features two parallel dimensions
, Light Aether and Dark Aether, where changes in either dimension often reflect changes in the other. Although the maps in both dimensions have the same general layout, rooms often vary in their designs, creatures, and objects. Progress through the game requires both dimensions to be explored, using power-up
s that Samus acquires over time. Equipment players collect include the Screw Attack, which allows Samus to somersault in midair and off of certain surfaces
, and new beam weapons
that have limited ammunition.
Dark Aether's atmosphere is caustic and damages Samus' Power Suit
, requiring the player to move between designated "safe zones" that allow Samus' health to be regained slowly. Safe zones are either permanent, or need to be activated by firing certain beam weapons at force field generators. Power Suit upgrades can reduce or nullify damage caused by the atmosphere.
The game's head-up display
simulates the inside of Samus' helmet and features a radar, map, missile ammunition meter, health meter, and statistics on bosses. Several visors are available, and each performs a different function. One, also seen in the previous game, is a scanner that searches for enemy weaknesses, interfaces with mechanisms such as force fields and elevators and retrieves text entries from certain sources. The others reveal and highlight interdimensional objects or cloaked enemies, and create a visual representation of sound
.
Echoes also features a multiplayer mode that allows up to four players to engage in combat using a split screen
. It has six arenas and two modes: Deathmatch
, in which players attempt to kill their opponents as many times as possible within a set amount of time; and Bounty, which focuses on collecting coins that injured characters drop. Multiplayer in Echoes features the same control scheme as the single-player mode, including the lock-on system for circle strafing while targeting.
. Eventually, the Ing and the Luminoth engage in a war over the planet's energy—whichever race controls it is capable of destroying the other.
Around this time, Space Pirates set up a base on Aether after detecting the mutagenic substance Phazon on the planet. A Galactic Federation Marine Corps patrol ship encounters one of the Pirates' supply ships leaving the planet and an altercation follows. Both ships suffer heavy damage, and after the Federation loses contact with the Marines, it calls the bounty hunter Samus Aran
to investigate.
that prevented the Marines from communicating with the Federation. Samus finds the troops dead and surrounded by hive creatures called Splinters. Deceased Marines suddenly rise and attack her, apparently possessed, and she fights them off. Samus then encounters her evil doppelgänger
, Dark Samus, for the first time, and Dark Samus jumps through a portal. Samus decides to follow her through it and into Dark Aether, where Samus is attacked by a group of dark creatures called Ing, who steal the weapons from Samus' suit before pushing her back through the portal. Upon returning to Aether, Samus learns that the Marines were attacked by Ing-possessed Splinters, and decides to enter a nearby alien temple structure to look for clues. When she reaches the structure, she meets U-Mos, the last remaining sentinel of the Luminoth, an alien race that have fought against the Ing. He tells Samus that after a meteor struck Aether, a strange energy emanating from it created another image of Aether called Dark Aether, which hosted a deadly and aggressive species called Ing. He also tells Samus that the Ing have taken the Light of Aether, an energy source for Aether that keeps the planet alive, and begs her to retrieve it.
Samus goes to three regions—the Agon Wastes, a parched, rocky, desert wasteland region; Torvus Bog, a drenched swamp area that houses a partially-submerged hydrosubstation; and the Sanctuary Fortress, a highly advanced cliffside fortress built by the Luminoth filled with haywire robots that serves as the Ing hive in Dark Aether—to retrieve the Light of Aether and return it to the Luminoth temples. Samus fights Space Pirates, Dark Samus, and monstrous Ing guardians on her mission.
After Samus has retrieved three pieces of the Light of Aether, she enters the Ing's Sky Temple and faces the Emperor Ing, the strongest Ing who guards the remaining Light of Aether in the Dark Aether. Samus defeats the creature and retrieves the last remaining energy as Dark Aether collapses; however, her path out of the temple is blocked by a horribly altered and unstable Dark Samus. After defeating her foe, Samus escapes as the world disappears around her. Returning to U-Mos, she finds that the Luminoth were in a frozen state but have now awakened. After a brief celebration Samus leaves Aether in her repaired gunship. If the player has collected 100 percent of the power-ups, a post-credits scene
shows Dark Samus reforming herself in deep space.
ing features seen in previous Metroid games, which were not incorporated in the first Prime due to time constraints. Another element considered for the previous game was the multiplayer component. Since the game was a first-person adventure and its deathmatch mode could not easily replicate other shooters in the market, Retro just tried to "make a multiplayer experience that fans of Metroid games would instantly know and recognise".
The staff opted for a more immersive storyline, with increased use of cut scenes and a plot that focused less on the Space Pirates and Metroids that permeate the rest of the series. Retro decided that the game would follow a theme of light and dark, which originated from "something that everyone understands: the conflict between good and evil". Mike Wikan, the game's senior designer, elaborated on the theme: "We wanted a push and pull, the whole game is pushing and pulling you back and forth between the dark and the light. It ended up being that we wanted something that would feed into that dichotomy, that conflict between the two, and how the player's basic abilities reflect that." The developers asked the producers of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
, another Nintendo game, for advice because the game also used the theme of parallel worlds.
In developing Dark Samus, Retro wanted to create a character that was similar to Samus and be the same size, as opposed to the enormous monsters of Metroid Prime. One of the inspirations for the character was a boss battle in Metroid: Zero Mission
, where Samus fights a mirror image of herself. The developers considered Dark Samus a "natural choice" for the game because it fit in well with the "dramatic feel of dark and light".
Retro decided to make the game more challenging than Metroid Prime—which was supposed to familiarize players with the control scheme—and felt that "with the second Prime, we had the ability or the freedom" to do so. They wanted Echoes to be focused towards a hardcore audience by making the player "always worried about his health", so more mini-bosses
were added to provide unique boss fights. After the game's release, the developers admitted that it was more difficult to develop than they first imagined, and Michael Kelbaugh, Retro Studios' president, commented: "We wanted to expand and add to the title, and not just slam out a sequel. Nintendo doesn't do things that way." Retro tried to include some extras, such as a hidden version of Super Metroid
, but were halted by the short development time. Producer Kensuke Tanabe later revealed in an interview that the game was just about thirty percent complete three months before the strict deadline Nintendo had set for a release in the 2004 holiday season.
The music for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was composed by Kenji Yamamoto. The themes used for areas on Dark Aether are dark variations of the themes used for the same areas on Light Aether. Some remix
es of music from the previous Metroid games were also used, with the escape theme being a remix of Metroid
s "Escape" theme, the "Hunters" multiplayer theme taking on Super Metroids "Upper Brinstar" theme, and the theme for the underwater Torvus region, the "Lower Brinstar" theme from the same game.
campaign for Echoes, with inspiration drawn from Halo 2
s alternate reality game
I Love Bees. The websites included Luminoth Temple, an Internet forum
; Channel 51, a conspiracy theory
website that featured grainy
QuickTime
videos of Metroid Prime 2 as if it were footage of extraterrestrials; Orbis Labs, which sold a "self-contained armored machine" called "Battle Sphere", similar to the Morph Ball; and Athena Astronautics, which advertised sending women into space, featured a blog
, and offered job positions for bounty hunter
s on Monster.com. Athena Astronautics gave a random selection of 25 people who replied to the offer an "interactive training manual", which was in fact a free copy of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
A Metroid-related spoof of "I Love Bees" appeared online in October 2004, to which Nintendo reacted by stating that it was not involved with it. The campaign featured similarly named domain names such as ilovebeams.com, which each had an image of Samus with the caption: "All your bees are belong to us
. Never send a man to do a woman's job."
as part of the New Play Control series. It has revamped controls that use the Wii Remote
's pointing functionality, similar to those of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
. The credit system from Prime 3 is also included to unlock the original bonus content, as well as the ability to take snapshots of gameplay.
Metroid Prime
, Prime 2, and Prime 3 were bundled together on a single disc as Metroid Prime: Trilogy
, released in North America on August 24, 2009. Both Prime and Prime 2 contain all of the enhancements found in their Japanese New Play Control! counterparts.
's Brad Shoemaker said that Echoes was as good as its predecessor, and delivered everything he expected. IGN
's Matt Casamassina
called the gameplay "superb" and "nearly flawless", and Vicious Sid of GamePro
praised Echoes as "an extraordinary return to form". Echoes was considered one of the best single-player experiences on the GameCube by Kristan Reed of Eurogamer
, who also considered the story to be "intricately designed and elaborately constructed into a coherent environment". GameSpot and IGN praised the campaign as a lengthy and rewarding adventure and appreciated the minimum 20 hours required to complete the game. The game was considered suitable for players of any age by Computer and Video Games
, which called Echoes essential for anyone who owned a GameCube. The theme's dynamics between dark and light was lauded by GamePro, along with the "simple, quirky, and ridiculously addictive" multiplayer mode.
Echoess graphics and design received significant praise; GameSpot considered it some of the best on the GameCube, and IGN called it "gorgeous" and "one of the prettiest GameCube titles". The Guardian
s Nick Gillett found the game entertaining and stated that its maps, terrain, and bestiary made the game an amazing epic space adventure. Bryn Williams from GameSpy
complimented the game's controls and level design, commenting that the game was challenging but fair.
A major criticism of Echoes focused on the game's high difficulty, with Game Informer
declaring that "not only are the boss fights unforgiving, the environment is sometimes difficult to follow". Some reviewers found it difficult to search for the Sky Temple keys. GameSpot criticized this mechanism and called it "a scavenger hunt
much tougher than the rest of the game", and 1UP.com
said that the only purpose it served was to artificially extend the game's length. The game's multiplayer mode was also considered unsatisfying. GameSpy called it a "secondary feature", The Age
s Jason Hill called it "bland and dull" and Eurogamer said that the single-player features did not translate well to that mode. Game Informer criticized the multiplayer mode because of its inclusion of the lock-on mechanism, considering it a feature that made multiplayer too simple.
IGN was critical of Echoes graphics and noted that the textures sometimes blurred when viewed up close, and the frame rate
occasionally decreased. Publications including IGN and The Independent considered the gameplay too similar to Metroid Prime, while GamePro was unhappy that the game did not have a customizable control scheme. Computer and Video Games and The Age were disappointed that Echoes was not as innovative in terms of gameplay as Metroid Prime. The Age review also found the control scheme "unwieldy" and the difficulty "unforgiving". Serge Pennings of The Observer
noted there were too few opportunities to save the game while playing, an aspect X-Play
also criticized by saying that most of the game's difficulty was "because the save system is poorly implemented and downright cheap".
Echoes sold 470,000 copies in North America in 2004, and a total of 70,000 copies in Japan. By August 2009, the game had sold 800,000 copies worldwide. Echoes won an award in almost every category it was nominated for at the 2004 Nintendo Power
Awards, and won awards for Best GameCube Game of 2004 from IGN, Electronic Gaming Monthly
and GameSpy. It was rated the 174th best game made on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list, the 74th best game by GameFAQs
users, the 15th best GameCube game by IGN, and the 13th best by GameSpy.
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
, action-adventure
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game developed by Retro Studios
Retro Studios
Retro Studios is an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in October 1998 by the video game veteran Jeff Spangenberg after leaving Acclaim Entertainment, as an independent studio making games exclusively for Nintendo Company, Ltd.On May 2, 2002, Nintendo...
and published by Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
for the GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. It is the seventh game in the Metroid
Metroid
is an action-adventure video game, and the first entry in the Metroid series. It was co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 division and Intelligent Systems, and was released in Japan in August 1986, in North America in August 1987, and in Europe in January 1988...
series, a direct sequel to Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America on November 17, 2002...
, and the first game in the series with a multiplayer feature. Echoes was released in North America, Europe, and Australia in 2004, and in Japan in 2005.
Chronologically, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes takes place fourth in the Metroid fictional universe. The story follows bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
Samus Aran
Samus Aran
is the protagonist of the Metroid video game series. Introduced in the 1986 video game Metroid, Samus is a female ex-army soldier bounty hunter usually fitted with a powered armor suit with weapons that include beams and missiles...
after she is sent to rescue Galactic Federation Marines
Space marine
The space marine, an archetype of science fiction, is a soldier that operates in outer space or on alien worlds. Historical marines fulfill amphibious roles: ship defence, landing parties, and general high-mobility deployments...
from a ship near Aether, a planet inhabited by a race known as the Luminoth. There, she discovers that the troops were slaughtered by the Ing, an evil race that came from an alternate dimension
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
of Aether. Samus must travel to three temples to ensure the destruction of the Ing, while battling Space Pirates and her mysterious doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
called Dark Samus.
Retro decided to make the game different from its predecessor by adding more focus on storyline and including new gameplay elements. Nintendo launched a viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
campaign to promote the game that included several websites written as if taking place in the Metroid universe. Echoes single player mode and graphics were praised by critics, while its steep difficulty level and multiplayer components were met less positively. Since its release, Echoes has received several video game industry awards, as well as spots on "top games" lists by Nintendo Power and IGN. Over 800,000 copies of the game were sold worldwide. In 2009, an enhanced version was released for Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
as a standalone game in Japan and as part of Metroid Prime: Trilogy
Metroid Prime: Trilogy
Metroid Prime: Trilogy is an action-adventure video game compilation developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The compilation features three games from the Metroid series: Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption...
internationally.
Gameplay
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is a first-person
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
action-adventure game
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
that takes place in an open-ended world with interconnected regions. Gameplay revolves around solving puzzles to uncover secrets, platform jumping
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
, and shooting enemies. Echoes features two parallel dimensions
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
, Light Aether and Dark Aether, where changes in either dimension often reflect changes in the other. Although the maps in both dimensions have the same general layout, rooms often vary in their designs, creatures, and objects. Progress through the game requires both dimensions to be explored, using power-up
Power-up
In computer and video games, power-ups are objects that instantly benefit or add extra abilities to the game character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a benefit and can be used at a time chosen by the player...
s that Samus acquires over time. Equipment players collect include the Screw Attack, which allows Samus to somersault in midair and off of certain surfaces
Wall jump
This article is about the video game move. For its real-world counterpart, see wall flip.A wall jump is a technique players can execute in several video games.-Technique:...
, and new beam weapons
Directed-energy weapon
A directed-energy weapon emits energy in an aimed direction without the means of a projectile. It transfers energy to a target for a desired effect. Intended effects may be non-lethal or lethal...
that have limited ammunition.
Dark Aether's atmosphere is caustic and damages Samus' Power Suit
Powered exoskeleton
A powered exoskeleton, also known as powered armor, or exoframe, is a powered mobile machine consisting primarily of an exoskeleton-like framework worn by a person and a power supply that supplies at least part of the activation-energy for limb movement.Powered exoskeletons are designed to assist...
, requiring the player to move between designated "safe zones" that allow Samus' health to be regained slowly. Safe zones are either permanent, or need to be activated by firing certain beam weapons at force field generators. Power Suit upgrades can reduce or nullify damage caused by the atmosphere.
The game's head-up display
Head-Up Display
A head-up display or heads-up display is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints...
simulates the inside of Samus' helmet and features a radar, map, missile ammunition meter, health meter, and statistics on bosses. Several visors are available, and each performs a different function. One, also seen in the previous game, is a scanner that searches for enemy weaknesses, interfaces with mechanisms such as force fields and elevators and retrieves text entries from certain sources. The others reveal and highlight interdimensional objects or cloaked enemies, and create a visual representation of sound
Sonar
Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...
.
Echoes also features a multiplayer mode that allows up to four players to engage in combat using a split screen
Split screen (computer graphics)
Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into non-movable adjacent parts, typically two or four rectangular areas. This is done in order to allow the simultaneous presentation of related graphical and textual information on a computer...
. It has six arenas and two modes: Deathmatch
Deathmatch (gaming)
Deathmatch or Player vs All is a widely-used gameplay mode integrated into many shooter and real-time strategy computer games...
, in which players attempt to kill their opponents as many times as possible within a set amount of time; and Bounty, which focuses on collecting coins that injured characters drop. Multiplayer in Echoes features the same control scheme as the single-player mode, including the lock-on system for circle strafing while targeting.
Setting
Echoes takes place on planet Aether, inhabited by a race known as the Luminoth. The Luminoth live peacefully, protecting the planet's pure natural energy, which they call the "Light of Aether". Five decades before the game's events, a Phazon meteor collides into the planet and leaves a scar causing environmental damage and splitting the planetary energy. The split creates an alternate dimension, Dark Aether, a mirror version of Aether that is dark, arid, and has a poisonous atmosphere. Dark Aether becomes home to the Ing, cruel shapeshifting creatures who intend to destroy the Luminoth, and are able to possess bodies of the living, the dead, and the artificially intelligentArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
. Eventually, the Ing and the Luminoth engage in a war over the planet's energy—whichever race controls it is capable of destroying the other.
Around this time, Space Pirates set up a base on Aether after detecting the mutagenic substance Phazon on the planet. A Galactic Federation Marine Corps patrol ship encounters one of the Pirates' supply ships leaving the planet and an altercation follows. Both ships suffer heavy damage, and after the Federation loses contact with the Marines, it calls the bounty hunter Samus Aran
Samus Aran
is the protagonist of the Metroid video game series. Introduced in the 1986 video game Metroid, Samus is a female ex-army soldier bounty hunter usually fitted with a powered armor suit with weapons that include beams and missiles...
to investigate.
Plot
While looking for the Marines near Aether, Samus' ship is damaged by severe lightning storms from the planet. Said storms have caused electromagnetic interferenceElectromagnetic interference
Electromagnetic interference is disturbance that affects an electrical circuit due to either electromagnetic induction or electromagnetic radiation emitted from an external source. The disturbance may interrupt, obstruct, or otherwise degrade or limit the effective performance of the circuit...
that prevented the Marines from communicating with the Federation. Samus finds the troops dead and surrounded by hive creatures called Splinters. Deceased Marines suddenly rise and attack her, apparently possessed, and she fights them off. Samus then encounters her evil doppelgänger
Doppelgänger
In fiction and folklore, a doppelgänger is a paranormal double of a living person, typically representing evil or misfortune...
, Dark Samus, for the first time, and Dark Samus jumps through a portal. Samus decides to follow her through it and into Dark Aether, where Samus is attacked by a group of dark creatures called Ing, who steal the weapons from Samus' suit before pushing her back through the portal. Upon returning to Aether, Samus learns that the Marines were attacked by Ing-possessed Splinters, and decides to enter a nearby alien temple structure to look for clues. When she reaches the structure, she meets U-Mos, the last remaining sentinel of the Luminoth, an alien race that have fought against the Ing. He tells Samus that after a meteor struck Aether, a strange energy emanating from it created another image of Aether called Dark Aether, which hosted a deadly and aggressive species called Ing. He also tells Samus that the Ing have taken the Light of Aether, an energy source for Aether that keeps the planet alive, and begs her to retrieve it.
Samus goes to three regions—the Agon Wastes, a parched, rocky, desert wasteland region; Torvus Bog, a drenched swamp area that houses a partially-submerged hydrosubstation; and the Sanctuary Fortress, a highly advanced cliffside fortress built by the Luminoth filled with haywire robots that serves as the Ing hive in Dark Aether—to retrieve the Light of Aether and return it to the Luminoth temples. Samus fights Space Pirates, Dark Samus, and monstrous Ing guardians on her mission.
After Samus has retrieved three pieces of the Light of Aether, she enters the Ing's Sky Temple and faces the Emperor Ing, the strongest Ing who guards the remaining Light of Aether in the Dark Aether. Samus defeats the creature and retrieves the last remaining energy as Dark Aether collapses; however, her path out of the temple is blocked by a horribly altered and unstable Dark Samus. After defeating her foe, Samus escapes as the world disappears around her. Returning to U-Mos, she finds that the Luminoth were in a frozen state but have now awakened. After a brief celebration Samus leaves Aether in her repaired gunship. If the player has collected 100 percent of the power-ups, a post-credits scene
Post-credits scene
A post-credits scene is a short clip that appears after some or all of the closing credits of a film have run...
shows Dark Samus reforming herself in deep space.
Development
After the critical and commercial success of Metroid Prime, Nintendo asked Retro Studios to produce a sequel. The developers decided against recycling the features of the first game, and instead used new sound models, weapon effects, and art designs. They also implemented the Screw Attack and wall jumpWall jump
This article is about the video game move. For its real-world counterpart, see wall flip.A wall jump is a technique players can execute in several video games.-Technique:...
ing features seen in previous Metroid games, which were not incorporated in the first Prime due to time constraints. Another element considered for the previous game was the multiplayer component. Since the game was a first-person adventure and its deathmatch mode could not easily replicate other shooters in the market, Retro just tried to "make a multiplayer experience that fans of Metroid games would instantly know and recognise".
The staff opted for a more immersive storyline, with increased use of cut scenes and a plot that focused less on the Space Pirates and Metroids that permeate the rest of the series. Retro decided that the game would follow a theme of light and dark, which originated from "something that everyone understands: the conflict between good and evil". Mike Wikan, the game's senior designer, elaborated on the theme: "We wanted a push and pull, the whole game is pushing and pulling you back and forth between the dark and the light. It ended up being that we wanted something that would feed into that dichotomy, that conflict between the two, and how the player's basic abilities reflect that." The developers asked the producers of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, known as in Japan, is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console, and the third installment in The Legend of Zelda series. It was first released in Japan in 1991, and was...
, another Nintendo game, for advice because the game also used the theme of parallel worlds.
In developing Dark Samus, Retro wanted to create a character that was similar to Samus and be the same size, as opposed to the enormous monsters of Metroid Prime. One of the inspirations for the character was a boss battle in Metroid: Zero Mission
Metroid: Zero Mission
is an action-adventure video game developed by Nintendo R&D1 for the Game Boy Advance handheld console. It was published by Nintendo in North America in February 2004, in Australia in March 2004, in Europe in April 2004, and in Japan in May 2004. It is the sixth installment of the Metroid series,...
, where Samus fights a mirror image of herself. The developers considered Dark Samus a "natural choice" for the game because it fit in well with the "dramatic feel of dark and light".
Retro decided to make the game more challenging than Metroid Prime—which was supposed to familiarize players with the control scheme—and felt that "with the second Prime, we had the ability or the freedom" to do so. They wanted Echoes to be focused towards a hardcore audience by making the player "always worried about his health", so more mini-bosses
Boss (video games)
A boss is an enemy-based challenge which is found in video games. A fight with a boss character is commonly referred to as a boss battle or boss fight...
were added to provide unique boss fights. After the game's release, the developers admitted that it was more difficult to develop than they first imagined, and Michael Kelbaugh, Retro Studios' president, commented: "We wanted to expand and add to the title, and not just slam out a sequel. Nintendo doesn't do things that way." Retro tried to include some extras, such as a hidden version of Super Metroid
Super Metroid
, also known as Metroid 3, is an action-adventure video game and the third game in the Metroid series. It was designed by Nintendo Research & Development 1, programmed by Intelligent Systems, and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console...
, but were halted by the short development time. Producer Kensuke Tanabe later revealed in an interview that the game was just about thirty percent complete three months before the strict deadline Nintendo had set for a release in the 2004 holiday season.
The music for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was composed by Kenji Yamamoto. The themes used for areas on Dark Aether are dark variations of the themes used for the same areas on Light Aether. Some remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es of music from the previous Metroid games were also used, with the escape theme being a remix of Metroid
Metroid
is an action-adventure video game, and the first entry in the Metroid series. It was co-developed by Nintendo's Research and Development 1 division and Intelligent Systems, and was released in Japan in August 1986, in North America in August 1987, and in Europe in January 1988...
s "Escape" theme, the "Hunters" multiplayer theme taking on Super Metroids "Upper Brinstar" theme, and the theme for the underwater Torvus region, the "Lower Brinstar" theme from the same game.
Marketing
Nintendo launched several websites to initiate a viral marketingViral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...
campaign for Echoes, with inspiration drawn from Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved...
s alternate reality game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
I Love Bees. The websites included Luminoth Temple, an Internet forum
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
; Channel 51, a conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
website that featured grainy
Film grain
Film grain or granularity is the random optical texture of processed photographic film due to the presence of small particles of a metallic silver, or dye clouds, developed from silver halide that have received enough photons. While film grain is a function of such particles it is not the same...
QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
videos of Metroid Prime 2 as if it were footage of extraterrestrials; Orbis Labs, which sold a "self-contained armored machine" called "Battle Sphere", similar to the Morph Ball; and Athena Astronautics, which advertised sending women into space, featured a blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
, and offered job positions for bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
s on Monster.com. Athena Astronautics gave a random selection of 25 people who replied to the offer an "interactive training manual", which was in fact a free copy of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes.
A Metroid-related spoof of "I Love Bees" appeared online in October 2004, to which Nintendo reacted by stating that it was not involved with it. The campaign featured similarly named domain names such as ilovebeams.com, which each had an image of Samus with the caption: "All your bees are belong to us
All your base are belong to us
"All your base are belong to us" is a broken English phrase that became an Internet phenomenon or meme in 2000–2002...
. Never send a man to do a woman's job."
New Play Control
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was re-released in Japan in 2009 for WiiWii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
as part of the New Play Control series. It has revamped controls that use the Wii Remote
Wii Remote
The , also known as the Wiimote, is the primary controller for Nintendo's Wii console. A main feature of the Wii Remote is its motion sensing capability, which allows the user to interact with and manipulate items on screen via gesture recognition and pointing through the use of accelerometer and...
's pointing functionality, similar to those of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is a first-person action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. It is the tenth game in the Metroid series, and the final entry in the Metroid Prime trilogy—excluding two spin-off titles. It was released in...
. The credit system from Prime 3 is also included to unlock the original bonus content, as well as the ability to take snapshots of gameplay.
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America on November 17, 2002...
, Prime 2, and Prime 3 were bundled together on a single disc as Metroid Prime: Trilogy
Metroid Prime: Trilogy
Metroid Prime: Trilogy is an action-adventure video game compilation developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Wii video game console. The compilation features three games from the Metroid series: Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption...
, released in North America on August 24, 2009. Both Prime and Prime 2 contain all of the enhancements found in their Japanese New Play Control! counterparts.
Reception
The critical reception for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was very positive. When comparing it to its predecessor, Metroid Prime, GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
's Brad Shoemaker said that Echoes was as good as its predecessor, and delivered everything he expected. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Matt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina
Matt Casamassina is a video game journalist who worked for IGN until April 23, 2010. In his time at the site, he was the author of many reviews and previews of Nintendo games. He resides in Los Angeles, California, is married and has two daughters, Zoe and Fiona Jade, and a son named Rocco Archer...
called the gameplay "superb" and "nearly flawless", and Vicious Sid of GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
praised Echoes as "an extraordinary return to form". Echoes was considered one of the best single-player experiences on the GameCube by Kristan Reed of Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
, who also considered the story to be "intricately designed and elaborately constructed into a coherent environment". GameSpot and IGN praised the campaign as a lengthy and rewarding adventure and appreciated the minimum 20 hours required to complete the game. The game was considered suitable for players of any age by Computer and Video Games
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
, which called Echoes essential for anyone who owned a GameCube. The theme's dynamics between dark and light was lauded by GamePro, along with the "simple, quirky, and ridiculously addictive" multiplayer mode.
Echoess graphics and design received significant praise; GameSpot considered it some of the best on the GameCube, and IGN called it "gorgeous" and "one of the prettiest GameCube titles". The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
s Nick Gillett found the game entertaining and stated that its maps, terrain, and bestiary made the game an amazing epic space adventure. Bryn Williams from GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
complimented the game's controls and level design, commenting that the game was challenging but fair.
A major criticism of Echoes focused on the game's high difficulty, with Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
declaring that "not only are the boss fights unforgiving, the environment is sometimes difficult to follow". Some reviewers found it difficult to search for the Sky Temple keys. GameSpot criticized this mechanism and called it "a scavenger hunt
Scavenger hunt
A scavenger hunt is a game in which the organizers prepare a list defining specific items, using which the participants — individuals or teams — seek to gather all items on the list — usually without purchasing them — or perform tasks or take photographs of the items, as specified...
much tougher than the rest of the game", and 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
said that the only purpose it served was to artificially extend the game's length. The game's multiplayer mode was also considered unsatisfying. GameSpy called it a "secondary feature", The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
s Jason Hill called it "bland and dull" and Eurogamer said that the single-player features did not translate well to that mode. Game Informer criticized the multiplayer mode because of its inclusion of the lock-on mechanism, considering it a feature that made multiplayer too simple.
IGN was critical of Echoes graphics and noted that the textures sometimes blurred when viewed up close, and the frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
occasionally decreased. Publications including IGN and The Independent considered the gameplay too similar to Metroid Prime, while GamePro was unhappy that the game did not have a customizable control scheme. Computer and Video Games and The Age were disappointed that Echoes was not as innovative in terms of gameplay as Metroid Prime. The Age review also found the control scheme "unwieldy" and the difficulty "unforgiving". Serge Pennings of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
noted there were too few opportunities to save the game while playing, an aspect X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
also criticized by saying that most of the game's difficulty was "because the save system is poorly implemented and downright cheap".
Echoes sold 470,000 copies in North America in 2004, and a total of 70,000 copies in Japan. By August 2009, the game had sold 800,000 copies worldwide. Echoes won an award in almost every category it was nominated for at the 2004 Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
Awards, and won awards for Best GameCube Game of 2004 from IGN, Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...
and GameSpy. It was rated the 174th best game made on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Powers Top 200 Games list, the 74th best game by GameFAQs
GameFAQs
GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
users, the 15th best GameCube game by IGN, and the 13th best by GameSpy.
External links
- Channel 51, Orbis Labs and Athena Astronautics websites at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
- Metroid Prime 2: Echoes at the Metroid Database