Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is an action-adventure game created by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube in 2004. It is the sixth main game in the Metroid series and follows Metroid Prime (2002). The game was released in North America, Europe, and Australia in 2004. In Japan, it was released in May 2005 under the name Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes.
The story follows bounty hunter Samus Aran as she is sent to rescue Galactic Federation Marines from a ship near Aether, a planet home to the Luminoth, a peaceful race. Samus discovers the Marines were killed by the Ing, a dangerous group from another dimension of Aether. To stop the Ing, Samus must visit four temples, fight enemies, and battle Space Pirates and a mysterious copy of herself named Dark Samus.
Retro Studios aimed to make Echoes different by adding more focus on storytelling, new ways to play, and a multiplayer feature. Nintendo used a marketing campaign that included websites pretending to be part of the Metroid universe. The single-player mode was praised for its graphics, atmosphere, and music, but the game’s difficulty and multiplayer mode were criticized.
Echoes won several awards and was listed on "top games" lists by Nintendo Power and IGN. Over 1.1 million copies were sold worldwide. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released in 2007. In 2009, an improved version of Echoes was released for the Wii in Japan and included in Metroid Prime: Trilogy.
Gameplay
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is an adventure game with heavy action elements and complex puzzles. The player controls Samus Aran from a first-person view. The game has an open world with connected areas. Players solve puzzles, jump between platforms, and shoot enemies. To progress, both dimensions must be explored using power-ups Samus gains. Equipment includes the Screw Attack, which lets Samus somersault midair, and new beam weapons with limited ammo.
The head-up display shows the inside of Samus' helmet with a radar, map, missile ammo, and health. Different visors help in various ways. One, from the previous game, scans enemies, interacts with mechanisms, and finds text. Others show interdimensional objects, cloaked enemies, and visualize sound.
The game has two dimensions, Light Aether and Dark Aether. Changes in one affect the other. Maps have the same layout but different rooms, creatures, and objects. Dark Aether's atmosphere harms Samus, so players must move to safe zones to heal. Safe zones are permanent or activated by shooting beam weapons at generators. Upgrades can reduce or stop damage from the atmosphere.
The game has a multiplayer mode for up to four players on split screen. There are six arenas and two modes: Deathmatch, where players try to kill others in a time limit, and Bounty, where players collect coins from injured opponents. Multiplayer uses the same controls as single-player, including the lock-on system for targeting and moving.
Synopsis
The story Echoes takes place on a planet called Aether, which is home to a peaceful race known as the Luminoth. The Luminoth protect the planet’s natural energy, which they call the “Light of Aether.” Many years before the game begins, a meteor made of a powerful substance called Phazon crashes into Aether. This causes serious damage to the planet and splits its energy, creating a new world called Dark Aether. Dark Aether is a dark, dry, and dangerous version of Aether, and it becomes the home of creatures called the Ing. The Ing are cruel, shape-shifting beings that want to destroy the Luminoth. They can take control of living beings, dead bodies, and even artificial intelligence. A war breaks out between the Ing and the Luminoth because whoever controls all of Aether’s energy can destroy the other.
Around this time, a group of space pirates sets up a base on Aether after discovering Phazon on the planet. The pirates had tried to use Phazon as a weapon on another planet called Tallon IV, but their plans were stopped by a bounty hunter named Samus Aran. A Galactic Federation patrol ship encounters a pirate supply ship near Aether and a fight happens. Both ships are badly damaged, and after losing contact with the Marines, the Federation sends Samus to investigate.
While searching for the Marines near Aether, Samus’s ship is damaged by strong lightning storms. These storms cause interference that stops the Marines from communicating with the Federation. Samus finds the Marines dead and surrounded by creatures called Splinters. The dead Marines suddenly attack her, as if they are possessed, and she fights them off. Samus then meets a dark version of herself, called Dark Samus, for the first time. After a short battle, Dark Samus escapes through a portal. Samus follows her through the portal and arrives on Dark Aether, where she is attacked by dark creatures called Ing. The Ing take weapons from Samus’s suit and throw her back through the portal.
When Samus returns to Aether, she learns that the Marines were killed by Splinters that had been taken over by the Ing. She decides to explore a nearby alien temple to find clues. Inside the temple, she meets U-Mos, the last remaining guardian of the Luminoth. U-Mos explains that the Phazon meteor created Dark Aether, which is where the Ing came from. He also tells Samus that the Ing have taken most of the “Light of Aether,” the planet’s energy, and asks her to help restore it. If one world controls all of Aether’s energy, the other will be destroyed. To retrieve the energy, Samus uses a special device that was taken from the Ing by the Splinter she fought earlier.
Samus travels to three areas: the Agon Wastes, a dry and rocky desert; the Torvus Bog, a wet swamp with a partially flooded power station; and the Sanctuary Fortress, a high-tech cliffside structure built by the Luminoth that is now the Ing’s base. In these places, Samus fights Space Pirates, Dark Samus, and dangerous Ing guardians. After collecting three pieces of the Light of Aether, Samus enters the Ing’s Sky Temple and battles the Emperor Ing, the strongest Ing. She defeats him and retrieves the last piece of the Light, causing Dark Aether to become unstable and begin to collapse. However, her escape is blocked by a greatly changed and unstable Dark Samus. After defeating her, Samus is surrounded by Ing warriors trying to save their world. She escapes through a new portal just before Dark Aether and the Ing disappear.
When Samus returns to U-Mos, she finds that the Luminoth have awakened from a long sleep. After a short celebration, Samus leaves Aether in her repaired ship. If the player completes the game with all items collected, Dark Samus is shown reforming above Aether.
Development
After the success of Metroid Prime, Nintendo asked Retro Studios to create a sequel. Instead of reusing features from the first game, they introduced new sound effects, weapon designs, and artwork. They also added the Screw Attack and wall jumping, which were not included in Metroid Prime due to time limits. A multiplayer mode was considered for the first game, but because Metroid Prime was a first-person adventure, its deathmatch mode could not easily copy other shooting games. Retro aimed to create a multiplayer experience that fans of Metroid games would easily recognize.
The team focused on a more detailed storyline with more cut scenes and a plot that centered less on the Space Pirates and Metroids from earlier games. The theme of light and dark was inspired by the idea of good versus evil. Senior designer Mike Wikan explained that the game’s design pushed players between light and dark, reflecting the conflict between the two. The developers also sought advice from the creators of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which used the idea of parallel worlds.
For Dark Samus, Retro wanted a character similar in size to Samus, unlike the large monsters in Metroid Prime. They were inspired by a boss battle in Metroid: Zero Mission, where Samus fights a mirror image of herself. The developers called Dark Samus a natural choice because it fit the theme of light and dark.
While Metroid Prime focused on teaching players how to use the controls, Echoes was designed to be more challenging. Retro aimed to appeal to players who enjoy difficult games, making health management more stressful and adding unique boss battles. Two bosses were made harder near the end of development after producer Kensuke Tanabe requested the game to be "tighter." However, Retro president Michael Kelbaugh later said the team wanted to improve the game, not just rush a sequel. Some features, like a hidden version of Super Metroid, were canceled due to time limits. Tanabe noted that Echoes was only about 30% complete three months before Nintendo’s 2004 holiday release deadline.
The music was composed by Kenji Yamamoto. Themes for areas on Dark Aether are darker versions of the same areas on Light Aether. Some music from earlier Metroid games was reused, such as the escape theme, which is a remix of Metroid’s "Escape" theme, and the "Hunters" multiplayer theme, which uses Super Metroid’s "Upper Brinstar" theme. The underwater Torvus region’s theme is a remix of Super Metroid’s "Lower Brinstar" theme.
Release
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was released for the GameCube in North America on November 15, 2004, in Europe on November 26, and in Australia on December 2. The PAL version of the game did not support the standard 50 Hz display mode and only offered a 60 Hz mode. In Japan, the game was released on May 26, 2005, under the title Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes.
Nintendo created several websites to promote Echoes as part of a marketing campaign inspired by Halo 2’s alternate reality game I Love Bees. These websites included Luminoth Temple, an online forum; Channel 51, a conspiracy theory site with grainy QuickTime videos of Metroid Prime 2 that appeared to show extraterrestrial footage; Orbis Labs, which sold a "self-contained armored machine" called "Battle Sphere," similar to the game’s Morph Ball; and Athena Astronautics, which advertised sending women into space, featured a blog, and listed job opportunities for bounty hunters on Monster.com. Athena Astronautics gave 25 randomly chosen people who responded to the job offer an "interactive training manual," which was actually a free copy of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. A promotional game disc was also released before the game’s launch. It included a short demo, trailers, and an interactive timeline about the Metroid series.
A Metroid-related parody of I Love Bees appeared online in October 2004. Nintendo stated it was not involved with the parody. The campaign used domain names like ilovebeams.com, which displayed images of Samus with the caption: "All your bees are belong to us. Never send a man to do a woman’s job."
Echoes was re-released in Japan in 2009 for the Wii console as part of the New Play Control! series. The game’s controls were updated to use the Wii Remote’s pointing feature, similar to Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The credit system from Corruption was also included to unlock bonus content and take gameplay snapshots. The difficulty of boss battles in Echoes was reduced. The Wii version of Echoes was released in North America and Europe on August 24, 2009, as part of the compilation Metroid Prime: Trilogy, which also included Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Both Prime and Echoes included all the improvements from their Japanese New Play Control! versions. Trilogy was later released on the Wii U’s Nintendo eShop on January 29, 2015.
Reception
In December 2019, a website that collects reviews called GameRankings ranked Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as the ninth best GameCube game and the 281st best game of all time. Comparing it to Metroid Prime, GameSpot’s Brad Shoemaker said Echoes was as good as its predecessor and met all expectations. IGN’s Matt Casamassina called the gameplay "superb" and "nearly flawless," and Vicious Sid of GamePro praised Echoes as "an extraordinary return to form." Kristan Reed of Eurogamer said it was one of the best single-player experiences on the GameCube and described the story as "carefully planned and organized into a clear environment." GameSpot and IGN praised the campaign as long and rewarding, noting it required at least 20 hours to complete. Computer and Video Games called Echoes essential for GameCube owners and said it was suitable for all ages. GamePro praised the game’s dark-and-light theme and its "simple, quirky, and very addictive" multiplayer mode.
Reviewers praised Echoes’ graphics and design. GameSpot said they were among the best on the GameCube, and IGN called the game "beautiful" and "one of the prettiest GameCube titles." The Guardian’s Nick Gillett found the game entertaining and said its maps, terrain, and creatures made for an exciting space adventure. Bryn Williams from GameSpy complimented the controls and level design, saying the game was challenging but fair.
A major criticism of Echoes was its high difficulty. Game Informer said boss fights were unforgiving and the environment was sometimes hard to follow. Some reviewers found it difficult to find the Sky Temple keys. GameSpot criticized this feature, calling it "a scavenger hunt much harder than the rest of the game," and 1UP.com said it only extended the game’s length artificially. Some reviewers also found the multiplayer mode unsatisfying. GameSpy called it a "secondary feature," The Age’s Jason Hill called it "bland and dull," and Eurogamer said the single-player features did not translate well to multiplayer. Game Informer criticized the multiplayer mode for including a lock-on mechanism, which made the mode too simple.
IGN noted that Echoes’ graphics sometimes had blurry textures when viewed up close and that the frame rate occasionally slowed. Publications like IGN and The Independent said the gameplay was too similar to Metroid Prime. GamePro was unhappy that the game did not allow players to customize controls. Computer and Video Games and The Age said Echoes was not as innovative in gameplay as Metroid Prime. The Age’s review also called the control scheme "unwieldy" and the difficulty "unforgiving." Serge Pennings of The Observer noted there were too few save points, a problem X-Play also criticized, saying the game’s difficulty was partly due to a poorly designed save system.
Echoes won awards in nearly every category it was nominated for at the 2004 Nintendo Power Awards. It won the Best GameCube Game of 2004 from IGN, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and GameSpy. The game was a finalist in GameSpot’s 2004 "Best Action Adventure Game" category across all platforms. At the 8th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, Echoes was nominated for "Console First-Person Action Game of the Year" and for outstanding achievement in "Art Direction" and "Visual Engineering." It was ranked the 174th best game on a Nintendo system in Nintendo Power’s Top 200 Games list, the 74th best game by GameFAQs users, the 15th best GameCube game by IGN, and the 13th best by GameSpy.
In December 2004, Echoes sold 470,000 copies in North America. It was the ninth-best-selling game in its debut month in Japan, with 16,105 copies sold, ranking behind Yu Yu Hakusho Forever and Hanjuku Hero 4: 7-Jin no Hanjuku Hero. By August 2009, 800,000 copies had sold worldwide. The game ultimately sold more than 1.1 million copies worldwide.