27th December 2009, 12:45 PM
I have to say, if you are wondering if it's worth getting it if you already have all three games, skip out on this one.
If you never played any of them, this is probably the only way to get all 3 nice and cheap that you'll find, and they are still great games.
What I've noticed so far:
The original game's title screens are completely gone. There's a new title screen, a rather uninspired "metal" theme which isn't too bad I suppose, but doesn't match ANY of the Prime game's scenes. That's where you make your save file and start each game. When you start each game, it just goes straight there. So, no internals of a Metroid, or that awe inspiring photo-realistic microscopic look at a tiny fictional creature from MP3. No neat shifting of perspective as you dance around the menu interface, that's all gone. The games still appear to be the same, but it's a rather disappointing detraction. Further, the 3 game's title screens had very nice music, especially the first one, that really fit what the title screen was showing. In this version, the only way to listen to those 3 tracks is to unlock the song in the sound test menu. At least the music is still in the game.
Metroid Prime 1 is missing the Fusion Suit mode at first, or any way to link up to Metroid 4 to unlock it. I checked GameFAQs though so it is in the game, but you have to beat MP1 first to unlock it. For that matter, the NES Metroid isn't in here either. Though in that case, Nintendo may just want to make a little more money selling it in the Wii store, it's still a removal of a nice feature.
MP1, as I had found out before, is missing a number of special effects related to your gun and water, including some visor effects. These sorts of things aren't game breakers, but I loved all those minor touches the first time through. I haven't noticed that in MP2 though. MP3 doesn't seem to be missing any either, but that's not even a port so that's certainly expected. Really though, missing graphical effects are hard to excuse when this game is being "ported" to what is basically archetectually identical to a Gamecube except with faster processing and more RAM. I THINK they solved the extremely rare locking up glitch in MP1 involving going to a door too fast before the room behind it has finished loading.
They also don't allow you to use a Gamecube or Classic controller to play MP1 and MP2. I can appreciate the Wii-makes of all these old Gamecube games, but outright removal of the old control schemes is simply annoying, especially for those ports who control worse with the new scheme than the old one. I think this is a case in point. I never really liked the controls of MP3 that much. They felt much "tighter" in the first two games.
Now for what they added. The first two games now have full wide screen support. A few elements are "stretched" but for the most part everything's in true wide screen without distortion.
The first two games had achievements added. I have never really cared for achievements myself. I know I've done everything when I see a full scan log and my item score at 100% on hard mode, that's all I need to know. Seeing little messages telling me I did what I just did get annoying, especially in those games where they insist on making achievements have clever little names. Not really very epic when you kill that bastard that murdered your father and you get some achievement banner saying "You shot my pa" or whatever DURING an emotional cutscene. However, you can shut off those messages if you like, so it's still something for those who enjoy that kind of thing. These achievements get badges just like in 3 to "buy" bonuses like all those concept art panels you could unlock in MP1.
Hard Mode has been renamed to Hyper Mode just like in 3, but it's pretty much the same thing, unlocked when you beat one of the games.
Lastly, the big one is the new control scheme added to the first two. It's nearly identical to the scheme used in MP3. If you liked it, you'll like it here. If you didn't like it, you probably will get annoyed they did this. I honestly don't mind that they opted to add in this control scheme to the game myself, but as I noted above, deciding to out and out remove any way to use the old control scheme is simply a poor choice.
This is an aside on this whole Gamecube-to-Wii porting business. --At least with the various Resident Evil ports from Gamecube to Wii, they still all allow the use of both classic and gamecube control schemes if someone doesn't want to play with the Wii remote. In fact, overall I find the various "wiimakes" annoying for this very lack. For the most part, the games don't really control any better, and sometimes a bit worse, for using the new scheme. Donkey Konga, for example, was MADE to use those bongo drums. Using the wii remote and pretending you are using the bongo accessory just seems sad. That said, Pikmin is one game that I imagine controls FAR better with the Wii remote, and it's the one game in the whole "New Controls" series that I think I may actually buy again just for the new controls (not sure if Pikmin 2 got the same treatment yet). Even so, in principle they should still keep Gamecube controller support even in Pikmin. It would at least make it easier for me to contrast and compare, and really considering the games already have that coded in, just having a toggle option shouldn't be any difficult prospect.
That tangent aside, at the end of the day I really don't find the few things they added to put much value in at all. Widescreen is overrated compared to HD, and the original games already had progressive scan support anyway, so that's really not a big deal to me. Achievements don't tell you anything you don't already know you accomplished. The new control scheme is a mixed bag at best, and the first two games already controlled very well. None of it makes up for the stuff they took out. I really don't get why they would have to remove anything from these games.
If they had the opportunity to mix this all up again, I'd say fix the missing graphical effects in MP1, and make it so selecting a game from the "top menu" loaded the entire starting screen experience from all 3 games, as they are all well done, with the only change once in these menus being an added option to "quit" back to the top game selection menu. Make the Fusion Suit unlocked from the start, and keep the NES game in (these options could be accessed both in the top menu and in MP1's menu). Lastly, allow the option in the first two games to select between the new Wii Remote interface and the old Gamecube interface, or Classic Controller if one wanted (should be pretty easy to do a full mapping). In the case of MP3, I'd even ask them to add in Gamecube controller support to that game just to have it there. It'd take some extra work as there are a number of places that use wiggle and waggle to push various buttons and pull various levers, but nothing that couldn't be done using a control stick and the A button. It'd mainly just be there as a fall back in case someone just didn't like shooting things with the Wii remote.
That's the package that could be called "ultimate definitive collection". As it stands, it's still a collection of 3 awesome games, and there's barely anything for me to complain about, especially if you happen to like the new control schemes. Nothing I complained about should shy away newcomers to it, but for those wondering if they can replace their 3 games with one definitive version, I'd just enjoy what you have and skip out on the collection.
If you never played any of them, this is probably the only way to get all 3 nice and cheap that you'll find, and they are still great games.
What I've noticed so far:
The original game's title screens are completely gone. There's a new title screen, a rather uninspired "metal" theme which isn't too bad I suppose, but doesn't match ANY of the Prime game's scenes. That's where you make your save file and start each game. When you start each game, it just goes straight there. So, no internals of a Metroid, or that awe inspiring photo-realistic microscopic look at a tiny fictional creature from MP3. No neat shifting of perspective as you dance around the menu interface, that's all gone. The games still appear to be the same, but it's a rather disappointing detraction. Further, the 3 game's title screens had very nice music, especially the first one, that really fit what the title screen was showing. In this version, the only way to listen to those 3 tracks is to unlock the song in the sound test menu. At least the music is still in the game.
Metroid Prime 1 is missing the Fusion Suit mode at first, or any way to link up to Metroid 4 to unlock it. I checked GameFAQs though so it is in the game, but you have to beat MP1 first to unlock it. For that matter, the NES Metroid isn't in here either. Though in that case, Nintendo may just want to make a little more money selling it in the Wii store, it's still a removal of a nice feature.
MP1, as I had found out before, is missing a number of special effects related to your gun and water, including some visor effects. These sorts of things aren't game breakers, but I loved all those minor touches the first time through. I haven't noticed that in MP2 though. MP3 doesn't seem to be missing any either, but that's not even a port so that's certainly expected. Really though, missing graphical effects are hard to excuse when this game is being "ported" to what is basically archetectually identical to a Gamecube except with faster processing and more RAM. I THINK they solved the extremely rare locking up glitch in MP1 involving going to a door too fast before the room behind it has finished loading.
They also don't allow you to use a Gamecube or Classic controller to play MP1 and MP2. I can appreciate the Wii-makes of all these old Gamecube games, but outright removal of the old control schemes is simply annoying, especially for those ports who control worse with the new scheme than the old one. I think this is a case in point. I never really liked the controls of MP3 that much. They felt much "tighter" in the first two games.
Now for what they added. The first two games now have full wide screen support. A few elements are "stretched" but for the most part everything's in true wide screen without distortion.
The first two games had achievements added. I have never really cared for achievements myself. I know I've done everything when I see a full scan log and my item score at 100% on hard mode, that's all I need to know. Seeing little messages telling me I did what I just did get annoying, especially in those games where they insist on making achievements have clever little names. Not really very epic when you kill that bastard that murdered your father and you get some achievement banner saying "You shot my pa" or whatever DURING an emotional cutscene. However, you can shut off those messages if you like, so it's still something for those who enjoy that kind of thing. These achievements get badges just like in 3 to "buy" bonuses like all those concept art panels you could unlock in MP1.
Hard Mode has been renamed to Hyper Mode just like in 3, but it's pretty much the same thing, unlocked when you beat one of the games.
Lastly, the big one is the new control scheme added to the first two. It's nearly identical to the scheme used in MP3. If you liked it, you'll like it here. If you didn't like it, you probably will get annoyed they did this. I honestly don't mind that they opted to add in this control scheme to the game myself, but as I noted above, deciding to out and out remove any way to use the old control scheme is simply a poor choice.
This is an aside on this whole Gamecube-to-Wii porting business. --At least with the various Resident Evil ports from Gamecube to Wii, they still all allow the use of both classic and gamecube control schemes if someone doesn't want to play with the Wii remote. In fact, overall I find the various "wiimakes" annoying for this very lack. For the most part, the games don't really control any better, and sometimes a bit worse, for using the new scheme. Donkey Konga, for example, was MADE to use those bongo drums. Using the wii remote and pretending you are using the bongo accessory just seems sad. That said, Pikmin is one game that I imagine controls FAR better with the Wii remote, and it's the one game in the whole "New Controls" series that I think I may actually buy again just for the new controls (not sure if Pikmin 2 got the same treatment yet). Even so, in principle they should still keep Gamecube controller support even in Pikmin. It would at least make it easier for me to contrast and compare, and really considering the games already have that coded in, just having a toggle option shouldn't be any difficult prospect.
That tangent aside, at the end of the day I really don't find the few things they added to put much value in at all. Widescreen is overrated compared to HD, and the original games already had progressive scan support anyway, so that's really not a big deal to me. Achievements don't tell you anything you don't already know you accomplished. The new control scheme is a mixed bag at best, and the first two games already controlled very well. None of it makes up for the stuff they took out. I really don't get why they would have to remove anything from these games.
If they had the opportunity to mix this all up again, I'd say fix the missing graphical effects in MP1, and make it so selecting a game from the "top menu" loaded the entire starting screen experience from all 3 games, as they are all well done, with the only change once in these menus being an added option to "quit" back to the top game selection menu. Make the Fusion Suit unlocked from the start, and keep the NES game in (these options could be accessed both in the top menu and in MP1's menu). Lastly, allow the option in the first two games to select between the new Wii Remote interface and the old Gamecube interface, or Classic Controller if one wanted (should be pretty easy to do a full mapping). In the case of MP3, I'd even ask them to add in Gamecube controller support to that game just to have it there. It'd take some extra work as there are a number of places that use wiggle and waggle to push various buttons and pull various levers, but nothing that couldn't be done using a control stick and the A button. It'd mainly just be there as a fall back in case someone just didn't like shooting things with the Wii remote.
That's the package that could be called "ultimate definitive collection". As it stands, it's still a collection of 3 awesome games, and there's barely anything for me to complain about, especially if you happen to like the new control schemes. Nothing I complained about should shy away newcomers to it, but for those wondering if they can replace their 3 games with one definitive version, I'd just enjoy what you have and skip out on the collection.