i dont hold metroid prime nearly as high as super metroid, but the first prime is definitely one for the ages. i played it a while back, along with echoes, and they really do still hold up today (at least, the originals do; my experience isnt from the trilogy collection thing)
the gameplay felt great and progression was a bunch of fun, but when comparing it to prime 2 and 3, i feel like the world building and atmosphere are the big things prime 1 executed flawlessly above all others. being subjected to a deluge of lore in prime 3 really makes me appreciate the subtle yet immensely effective world building you got in prime in the form of scanning and logs, and you got a lot of that feeling of being somewhere you shouldnt be. the qualm i had with prime 1 is that i never really got that tactile feeling of going so deep into an alien world; it was a beautiful world and it was made pretty well, but it felt weirdly 2-dimensional to me. i also thought the upgrades left a bit to be desired; i.e. youd get new weapons, but each one was just better than the last. i cant overstate how fun the game is, though, and its a really exciting ride
echoes did a lot better on the issues that i had with prime, and it still had a reasonably fascinating atmosphere. the game world felt far more in-depth and maze-like, and a lot more work went into the unique upgrades. its world building wasnt as cool as prime, though. my big issue with echoes is that some things youd need to do that are mandatory for progression are indistinguishable from puzzles that youd return to later to get a simple missile upgrade. i would run around an area confused until the game threw me a bone and told me that i was expected to go to this random power bomb door on the other side of the entire game. i ran into this a couple times
i just beat prime 3 and it skimps out a lot on the atmosphere and world building, but from a core gameplay standpoint, it felt the most like super metroid out of the entire trilogy. the areas appear linear at first but are very intricate and cleverly designed, the game world is HUGE and youre constantly going from place to place, there are tons of secrets and new puzzles to solve for upgrades, and they ditched the idea of having a loadout of weapons and instead have your upgrades stack onto each other (it makes way more sense, and all your abilities are always available without having to switch weapons). the added dialogue-ey twist of corruption also gives it a weird halflife feel that i think serves the game well. i just didnt like how much the focus on phazon downplayed its significance in prime and the significance of every other element; it was everywhere and on everything and its all the game was. you also step into essentially 3 impact craters for like a couple minutes and beat a p simple boss for each and the world is saved. theres also a full on phazon-themed docking station in each of them and its just a bit absurd
prime 3 might be my favorite if subtle world building wasnt thrown out the window in favor of LORE, LORE, MORE LORE. scanning will only get you hints, lore bits, and useless information; not like in prime, where you could scan pirate computers and see them talking about you, their crazy research, or vapor brains. you could probably also go through like 90% of the game without ever scanning anything once, seldom is it mandatory for progression in prime 3
that concludes my report on the metroid prime trilogy, i dont know which one i like the most tbh
