THE EVOLUTION OF METROID PRIME

A FLAWLESS REIMAGINING OF NINTENDO'S 2D SERIES IN 3D, METROID PRIME WAS MET WITH UNANIMOUS ACCLAIM AND RECEIVED TWO POPULAR SEQUELS. PRIME TRILOGY CREATIVES JASON BEHR, KYNAN PEARSON AND VINCE JOLY EXPLAIN HOW THE SERIES EVOLVED

- WORDS BY RORY MILNE

After 16-bit gaming faded, there were many failed attempts to adapt popular sprite-based games into polygon-powered follow-ups.

Some 2D concepts simply didn't work in 3D, while others were unsuccessfully translated by developers struggling to adapt to thinking in three dimensions. The developers of Metroid Prime avoided these and other pitfalls while transitioning their inspiration into 3D. This was all the more impressive given Metroid's eclectic gameplay. Not only was the NES classic a nonlinear adventure, but it also encompassed platforming and shoot-'em-up elements.

Level designer Jason Behr joined the Prime team at Retro Studios having previously worked under its project director Mark Pacini. Jason then took his lead from preliminary designs that had been produced by Prime's senior designers. "I'd previously worked for Mark as a junior level designer at Acclaim Studios Austin. Afterwards, I heard about an open position on his new mystery project at Retro," Jason recalls. "By the time I joined, a rough high-level Metroidvania world and ability pickup flow influenced by classic Metroid experiences had already been drafted. There had also been some paper planning and artwork for level ideas, which I modified and translated into three-dimensional, more vertically layered spaces for platforming. I also made sure that opportunities for classic side-scrolling Morph Ball sequences weren't overlooked."

But far from being simply an exercise in adapting 2D Metroid mechanics for a three-dimensional space, Prime was also intended to stand in its own right as an innovative and exciting exemplar of 3D gaming. Nevertheless, the cutting-edge design imagined for