Okay, so facing the fact that I've not been able to fulfil my planned full playthrough of Echoes due to various reasons and factors in my life at the moment, I have to settle for only
Aether Allegiance for this event.
I also want to talk a while about the Prime games, and Echoes, and why that game in particular means so much to me, and why it has such a huge place both in my heart as well as in my Top 10. I first played it when it came out, if memory recalls correctly, it was christmas of 2004. I played and loved Prime 1 back when it released - how could I not? It was a game unlike any other. Atmospheric and elegant, ingeniously designed, engaging and consistently challenging, a game that drew you in, kept you in its firm hand and the let you go, and you came out all the better for it.
What gets me so much with the Metroid series, the Prime games in particular, is how they manage to say so much with so little. Convey such a wide array of emotions with such small methods. I played these games in a period where I also played many games loaded with story - Final Fantasy VII and IX, Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2 and The Wind Waker. Games that made me feel things, strong things, with loads of text and exposition. But playing Prime, it just hit me how this game conveys feelings, conveys emotion, with miniscule amounts of obligatory story segments and dialogue. The story is there, the exposition is there - loads of it, in fact. But it's optional, completely optional. If you don't care about insect facts, or intricate Chozo lore, go ignore it. You're completely free to skip it. If you choose to do so, these games offer insignificant amounts of what is traditionally considered "story".
And yet, the feelings were there. Not at all the feelings I felt at the time in other games, like the bittersweet melancholy of The Wind Waker, or the batshit shenanigans of MGS. But feelings of foreboding, of anxiety and pressure as the many dangers of Tallon IV closed in on me. Feelings of stress and panic during tense boss battles, and feelings of comfort as I slowly started to familiarise myself with the world and its hazards. And, what I remember the most, feelings of calmness, peace and tranquility: such as when the snow of Phendrana Drifts fell all around me for the first time, or when the small sea creatures in the Sunken Frigate Ship swam past me, accompanied by gorgeous, gorgeous music. Or, the most famous example, raindrops on my visor as I graced Tallon IV for the first time, knowing that from now on, it was only me and solitude, and nothing, absolutely nothing else.
These are the moments I remember the most from Prime, and what defines the series for me. Once you get through the dread, the stress, you're greeted with these beautiful places and sections, like air after a deep dive, making what meets you taste all the more sweet. This, then, is what evokes emotion in me, enough to match the aforementioned more story-heavy experiences. True beauty.
That's Prime, then. But Prime 2 is Prime, but in my eyes more amazing, more satisfying, just more, more and more in every single facet. As Cliffy B puts it - this is "bigger, better, more badass". Now, in the wake of the imminent approach of Tears of the Kingdom, I'm going to take this opportunity to say that in my world, and my opinion, Echoes might just be the best direct sequel I've ever played. It does take a huge gamble with the introduction of Dark Aether and the strict, sometimes frustrating gameplay limitations it brings. But if you vibe with that concept - and I certainly do - Echoes is just pure, magical triumph in terms of a sequel. The areas are more interesting, the gameplay progression more satisfying, the items more cool and unique, the bosses more intense, everything feels like such a natural evolution, yet it is still - again due to Dark Aether - wholly unique in context of the whole series.
While Prime 1 could at times feel a bit safe, like "Super Metroid 3D", what with a fiery underground area, Varia Suit after the first boss, a sunken ship, etc, Echoes feels like Retro growing out of it, finding their own footing, and making the Prime format completely their own. The addition of Dark Aether really adds more than it subtracts for me, it increases the stakes and tension, and truly makes the world feel hostile in a suffocating, foreboding way. There's this push-pull to game design at times, where the harder and harsher aspects of the game is honed on, all the sweeter will the following breathing spaces taste. For every sweaty and tense battle against any Ing enemy or boss, for every time the last Energy Tank beeps, the game reassures you that it will all be worth it, for this is also a game that contains moments of pure awe, the ascent into Temple Grounds, into Sanctuary Fortress, or, for that matter, the feeling you get as you dip your toes into the water of lower Torvus Bog as the game graces you with a remix of a Super Metroid song that sends shivers across your entire spine.
The aforementioned moments are there, and they are many, but in a game that is indeed bigger, better and more badass, there's so much more to unpack. For all of it's ethereal, abstract appeal and the way that the game taps into that unique sense of Metroid emotion, it still pulls no stops when it comes to the level design, the item progression and the boss encounters. A core appeal of Metroid isn't just its quiet moments, it's the context in which these moments graces you as part of the overall feeling you get as you explore a Metroid world. There's this immense feeling of relief and satisfaction when you play through Metroid and its unique item progression structure - you're stranded on this hostile, alien world, but 15 hours later, you know it like the back of your hand, zipping across areas here and there via shortcuts, blasting through enemies like they're nothing. Echoes pulls this feeling off with bravado - not only by traditionally gating off areas until you get the correct item, but also by making the items themselves just so dang cool. The Spider Ball and the various suits are all here, at this point series mainstays - the Gravity Suit is even improved into the Gravity Booster here, further proving that this is indeed bigger, better, more badass. Getting things like the Echo visor, the Screw Attack and the Annihilator Beam late in the game in the game's by far coolest area feels like a crescendo of sorts, neatly tailoring together everything that makes Metroid Metroid into a sequence of moments that for me will always be remembered as peak gaming.
Dang, I could go on and on. My TLDR is that Echoes is lit, and says so much with so little, and is in all its ingenuity a stellar feat in design, and for me it's just the greatest sequel ever.
