Other M got a vote in the poll?! Ok, show yourself, troll. Or at least confess your sin if it truly is your favorite Metroid game. Stand and be counted, hero!

I will be closing the poll at the end of this week and putting up a new poll. If you want to be counted get in here and make your voice heard.

I like the Prime games, overall, better than any of the 2D. I don't think the 2D games' gameplay aged as well and that most of the gameplay mechanics of 2D sidescrollers in general are antiquated. Not to say that they can't be good in the modern era, but it's definitely difficult, and I believe that the games require a degree of nostalgia to appreciate.

For instance, I didn't play much of any of the 2D Metroids, outside of about half of Fusion, before the Prime games. I didn't play Castlevania at all. I DID grow up playing Commander Keen, which to a degree shares some similar gameplay mechanics. To this day, I don't really enjoy Castlevania, I can tolerate the 2D Metroids, but I love replaying Commander Keen. It's a nostalgia thing.

I love the Prime games though, and I personally prefer Prime 3 above the others. I do like Prime more than Prime 2, though. I think Prime 3 had easily the best polished gameplay, the best visuals, and the best puzzles - it just needed a traditional control scheme to be available for those that didn't want Wiimote motion.

I'm pretty confident that the Switch port, when we eventually get it, will have that, though, and many of its detractors will learn of its superiority.

Dang, that's a bold claim.  My main issue with Prime 3 isn't the motion controls.  My main issue is that the worlds aren't connected in the same way so your ability to stay "in the game" lessens.  The animation in particular when you travel in your ship is jarring.  You can actually see the seams in the outer space shots that show you it is a stitched together image.  It also isn't as satisfying to travel via Samus' gunship as it is to take a random tunnel into an area you once were.  The first Prime did this especially well and it makes you feel like you are playing in a cohesive world. I really hope they ditch the travelling mechanic in MP4 and focus on one interconnected planet.

Haha. That's fair. Most people I know didn't like it because they wanted classic control options, though. I haven't played ANY of the Prime games in a very long time, and really need to. I'd have already dug out my Trilogy disc and replayed it had it not been that I really do believe there will be a Trilogy re-release on Switch that I want to play instead.

But since I haven't played in a while, I don't remember clearly what you describe. But I do remember enjoying 3 far more than 2, and reasonably more than 1.

Voted for Super Metroid, but could have voted for Prime. Close call. It's SO odd I never played Prime 2 on the GC.

Really? That's your issue? I loved that there were multiple planets. Made it feel like she was in a galaxy full of life, like each planet she was on was part of a much larger universe. The animation could be fixed in a remaster. For MP4, why not just have really big planets like Prime, with regions connected by elevators like Prime, but just...more than one of them? Like, you know, multiple Prime 1 and Prime 2 sized planets?

It's just not as cohesive.  It makes it feel like different levels as opposed to one organic whole.  It's the difference between a Mario game and a Metroid game.  Now if a Mario game would have interconnected worlds (not warp zones) then that would be super awesome.

Sooo...why not multiple organic wholes? It just seems like an unnecessary distinction here. If Prime and Prime 2 were one game, and you went to one planet after the other, would you hate it because there were two planets? 

First, I don't hate Metroid Prime 3.  I very much look forward to playing it on the Switch one day.

Second, it was the graphical stitching issue that bothered me more than anything.  It really broke the immersion every time I left the planet.  And such an unnecesary error that I'll never understand.

Finally, to your question: That seems like a wholly different idea that you are presenting there.  And yeah, probably not going to like what you've presented as much.  That appears episodic.  What I'm saying is that there are parts of Prime where you are in some ruins for instance.  You find a save spot, see a hole behind it, travel through it and find yourself back in the opening area.  Mind blown.  Totally not expected.  And for speedrunners this is one more tool to put on their belt.  The same is true for Super Metroid.  It's that shock and wow factor.  When you travel to exact points on a map it just doesn't have the same feeling.