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Concept art of the deleted Kraid boss-battle in Metroid Prime

[Nintex]

Member
It's here http://cghub.com/images/view/95042/ too and branded as Ishimura, probably some personal work or based on Dead Space(I believe the ship in Dead Space is called the Ishimura)

Kohler is currently working for Edge of Reality, just like Retro Studios it was established by some former Iguana Entertainment guys. They're working on a new undisclosed game for EA. I wonder if they're working together with Armature Studios and Kohler is reunited with his old Retro Studios 'buddies' by pure coincidence :p

http://www.edgeofreality.com/games.html
 
Mama Robotnik said:
Another find in the last few minutes though a bit of an oddity. Its from the site of Rick Kohler who used to work at Retro Studios. I'm not a hundred percent sure its meant to be Metroid or not, but the visor style, mist on the visor and weapon-cross in the bottom-left corner sure do look like it.



HD and very detailed, clearly not a Wii or Gamecube game. Bit of a mystery that one.

New iPad wallpaper. I love the prime series - Prime 1 was instrumental to me falling in love with gaming while i was in college.

I finally managed to track down a used copy of Prime Trilogy last week. I had to drive three towns over for it. It was $59.99 used. Sounds like a lot, but its usually $100+ on ebay for a new copy.

I highly recommend tracking it down if you're on the fence about it. Very few copies of this game were made. It comes with a cool accordian-style foldout of some concept art which is really nice - And the steelbook and slip-case are awesome too.

MetroidPrimeTrilogy3.jpg
 
A pretty insignificant find - just a look at some of the detail that went into Metroid Prime 3's Skyworld.

lLmNnCke.jpg


evJ4yHQz.jpg



[Nintex] said:
It's here http://cghub.com/images/view/95042/ too and branded as Ishimura, probably some personal work or based on Dead Space(I believe the ship in Dead Space is called the Ishimura)

I've not played Dead Space, does its HUD look that similar to Metroid? The energy bar at the top, and weapon-cross in the bottom-left are telltale signs of Metroid Prime's HUD.

It could be the artist creating a personal concept for a HD Prime game, with inspiration from Dead Space. Or it could be a personal concept for a Dead Space game, with inspiration from Metroid!

Still, to find such a HD Metroid Prime style-image in one of the developer's portfolios stunned me for a moment!
 
Couple more finds from the portfolio of Elben Schafers. I think they're all from Metroid Prime 3. The first is an awesome render of a swamp-area.

Greatbridge.jpg


A sketch of the inside of one of the living Leviathans.

Leviathon.jpg


A Space Pirate Destroyer. I don't remember ever seeing such a clear picture of one before.

MP3_destroyer.jpg


This last image was actually buried in the site, I found it in an opendir. It looks like a concept for the living world Phaaze.

MP3sketch06.jpg
 
Mama Robotnik said:
Couple more finds from the portfolio of Elben Schafers. I think they're all from Metroid Prime 3. The first is an awesome render of a swamp-area.

Greatbridge.jpg


Pretty sure this is Torvus Bog.

The atmosphere for the Prime games is so under appreciated.

edit - Damn, beaten.
 

Maxrunner

Member
So all of these guys leaved Retro? I though Andrew Jones still work there as freelancer concept artist for metroid prime 2 and 3. He was there full time on the first one i think. As for the Kohler he leaved when? also who were the big three who leaved not so long ago?
 

[Nintex]

Member
Maxrunner said:
So all of these guys leaved Retro? I though Andrew Jones still work there as freelancer concept artist for metroid prime 2 and 3. He was there full time on the first one i think. As for the Kohler he leaved when? also who were the big three who leaved not so long ago?
Kohler and a couple of other guys left sometime after the first Metroid Prime was finished. The 'big three' who left later on were Mark Pacini, Jack Mathews and Todd Keller. Andrew Jones was at Retro untill his work for Metroid Prime 3 was done.

Retro lost a bunch of people between all their releases and sometimes during development. It was pretty stunning how others who joined in later managed to pick up the iconic Metroid Prime style.
 

Azure J

Member
_Alkaline_ said:
Best Metroid game next to Super? I think so!

Fixed. I'd kill for a chance to play through the game again with Wii controls, but I can't find a copy of Prime Trilogy for sensible prices.
 
Love this thread. Concept art is always so great. I will forever be saddened at the fact that the game development process never allows for the full realization of concept works.
 

blamite

Member
Mama Robotnik said:
Another find in the last few minutes though a bit of an oddity. Its from the site of Rick Kohler who used to work at Retro Studios. I'm not a hundred percent sure its meant to be Metroid or not, but the visor style, mist on the visor and weapon-cross in the bottom-left corner sure do look like it.

kohler.jpg


HD and very detailed, clearly not a Wii or Gamecube game. Bit of a mystery that one.
Hmm... The design of the hud, and the bar at the top actually look just like Halo 3's hud design. Compare:
halo-3-20070816054325865.jpg
 

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
SalsaShark said:
Why would they need to draw Metroid fans in if its already a Metroid game ?
The FPS approach turned a lot of people completely off the concept. (I have no desire at all to play any of the Primes for example.)

Besides Kraid would be great for Other M2. Samus can see him, turn off her armor, scream and piss herself shortly before she faints and needs a team of space Marines to extract her before Kraid stomps her to jelly. It'll be a great moment in character development for her.
 

KevinCow

Banned
Mama Robotnik said:
Kenjitake over at Shinesparkers found something pretty cool, the in-development model for the Phendara Baboon Brute* shown in the concept image on page one (same image as Kraid).

4870143657_3898e67144.jpg


*name made up by me just then.

If I had to guess, I'd bet that this thing probably became the Sheegoth. Remove the four arms and that's pretty much what you're left with.
 

Red

Member
Freshmaker said:
The FPS approach turned a lot of people completely off the concept. (I have no desire at all to play any of the Primes for example.)

Besides Kraid would be great for Other M2. Samus can see him, turn off her armor, scream and piss herself shortly before she faints and needs a team of space Marines to extract her before Kraid stomps her to jelly. It'll be a great moment in character development for her.
But MP 1 + 2 don't take an FPS approach. Only Corruption does.
 
Freshmaker said:
They have a first person view. That's enough.

To call the Prime series first-person shooters does a huge disservice to the array of platforming, exploration and puzzle-solving found in those games.

It's like calling Zelda action games. Sure they feature swordplay, but they're far from the focus of those games.
 

Neki

Member
[Nintex] said:
Kohler and a couple of other guys left sometime after the first Metroid Prime was finished. The 'big three' who left later on were Mark Pacini, Jack Mathews and Todd Keller. Andrew Jones was at Retro untill his work for Metroid Prime 3 was done.

Retro lost a bunch of people between all their releases and sometimes during development. It was pretty stunning how others who joined in later managed to pick up the iconic Metroid Prime style.

Why do the guys usually leave anyways? The job seems cushy and nice. ;o
 
Freshmaker said:
They have a first person view. That's enough.

Metroid Prime is the best Metroid Game. Some people will say that its Super Metroid, which is an equally fair opinion, but Metroid Prime wins it for me.

In fact, Metroid Prime maybe the most beautiful, intimate and immersive Nintendo experience ever made. The first-person view was a wise decision and goes to show once again that when it comes to game-design choices, Miyamoto and his supervising team know their shit.

To have not played it because of the first-person view is insanity. Hell, to have not played it for any reason is insanity as its the gaming-equivalent of required reading.
 
Mama Robotnik said:
Metroid Prime is the best Metroid Game. Some people will say that its Super Metroid, which is an equally fair opinion, but Metroid Prime wins it for me.

In fact, Metroid Prime maybe the most beautiful, intimate and immersive Nintendo experience ever made. The first-person view was a wise decision and goes to show once again that when it comes to game-design choices, Miyamoto and his supervising team know their shit.

To have not played it because of the first-person view is insanity. Hell, to have not played it for any reason is insanity as its the gaming-equivalent of required reading.

And then you have Echoes which is even better. ;)

Nah, they're all fantastic games. Even Corruption.
 
_Alkaline_ said:
And then you have Echoes which is even better.

This is another opinion I respect but don't necessarily hold myself. Echoes is amazing, challenging and still one of the best Metroid games.

But I still prefer the first one myself, I feel its diversity (of environment, colour, music and implied story) pushes it over the edge.
 
Mama Robotnik said:
This is another opinion I respect but don't necessarily hold myself. Echoes is amazing, challenging and still one of the best Metroid games.

But I still prefer the first one myself, I feel its diversity (of environment, colour, music and implied story) pushes it over the edge.

Honestly the whole debate of which one is better is something I always enjoy doing simply because everyone wins. Both games are so damn good.

Even as someone who prefers Echoes myself, I can still point out things that I feel the first does better. Not only that it was such an incredible achievement in itself (as opposed to Echoes in which Retro already had something to build off) but I do feel it lacks some of the more tedious moments found in Echoes. It's still a little padded at times but those long moments of backtracking are definitely briefer.

But then I think back to Echoes and its myriad of outstanding creative design, multi-layered boss fights, incredible atmosphere of dread and oppression, and almost unrivalled attention to detail that makes the environmental design in Prime look rather basic at times.

What a fantastic series.
 

maeda

Member
Will there ever be a day when i will behold Kraid in all his glory in full 3D? Considering that Prime had 2 sequels the fact that Retro did not include Kraid in any of those is criminal. I mean it was awesome meeting Ridley for the first time in 3D in MP1, but why the hell did he get chosen over Kraid in MP3??? It makes no sense.
P.S.: I want to see the Retro's cancelled Zelda concept arts. I wonder how they imagined Sheik...
 

Red

Member
_Alkaline_ said:
Honestly the whole debate of which one is better is something I always enjoy doing simply because everyone wins. Both games are so damn good.

Even as someone who prefers Echoes myself, I can still point out things that I feel the first does better. Not only that it was such an incredible achievement in itself (as opposed to Echoes in which Retro already had something to build off) but I do feel it lacks some of the more tedious moments found in Echoes. It's still a little padded at times but those long moments of backtracking are definitely briefer.

But then I think back to Echoes and its myriad of outstanding creative design, multi-layered boss fights, incredible atmosphere of dread and oppression, and almost unrivalled attention to detail that makes the environmental design in Prime look rather basic at times.

What a fantastic series.
Thinking about how brilliant the bosses of Echoes were rubs in the fact that nearly all of them in Corruption were total shit. I prefer the first game, still love the second, abhor the third.

Super Metroid and Metroid Prime could very well be my two favorite games ever.
 
Crunched said:
Thinking about how brilliant the bosses of Echoes were rubs in the fact that nearly all of them in Corruption were total shit. I prefer the first game, still love the second, abhor the third.

Super Metroid and Metroid Prime could very well be my two favorite games ever.

Corruption's boss battles start well enough with the fantastic Ridley fight. Most of them definitely lack the depth of Echoes' (and even Prime's) boss fights. Instead of utilising all corners of your arsenal (ie Quadraxis), most of them could be broken down into 'stun, grapple, pull, shoot, repeat.' I also didn't really like how each major boss took place in similar environments. Omega Ridley had its moments (zooming in with the x-ray scope) but it still felt samey and the location wasn't nearly as good as the rain-soaked Chozo temple in Prime.

On the other hand I thought the Hunter battles were pretty good. Rundas was pretty memorable and Gandrayda's premise was neat and executed quite well. Ghor, despite the excellent lead-up, was underwhelming. Honestly though, as good as these battles were designed, most of them were easy to abuse through Hypermode. I was never a huge fan of that mechanic and I felt it hurt some of the boss battles by making them too easy.

As for the rest of the game, I still loved it. The pacing was sublime, the visuals were outstanding given the hardware, it controlled like a dream and it was incredible fun. It didn't have the complexity of the first two games but boy was it still a ride. Probably the most 'fun' game out of the three even if it wasn't as satisfying. I'm not on the Corruption hate train.
 
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