The implication strongly seems to be that Prime inherited more than just an engine from its untitled predecessor perhaps even as much as level design, as well. In an interesting twist, the ex Retro staffer appears to have confirmed that there was a connection between Action Adventure and Metroid Prime in more ways than previously understood. That’s why the “monkey upper” etc room names in Tallon IV.” “ BloodMonkey was the name of a character in the game before it became a Metroid game. What’s perhaps even stranger is that the filename designated to its music theme in the game is ‘ rui_monkeylower’.Īn anonymous contributor formerly of Retro Studios candidly explained: Examples of this include the ‘ Incinerator Drone’ boss, which is tentatively dubbed ‘ monkeyFlamethrower’. In one set of environment sketches, for instance, there is an inexplicable, recurring use of the word “monkey” to label rooms and features. In some of the earliest concepts created for Prime, dating all the way back to its inception, you may notice a certain number of documents carry an unusual quirk about them. Thanks to the diligent research efforts of Mama Robotnik, The Cutting Room Floor, Parax, Bearborg and many others, the amount of assets preserved is in no short supply. Tallon IV: The Early Yearsĭelving into the vast world of concepts and other materials created early on for Prime bears tremendous fruit for those with a taste for the unseen. In the end, very little of the original Action Adventure proposal survived the transition to the realm of space dragons and brightly coloured battle armour. In the months that followed, Retro would do just that – modify the engine to accommodate for what was, at the time, going to be a Metroid third person shooter. It was later during his stateside trip, in a hotel lobby, that he would realise the potential for its “mature looking” engine to be repurposed for such a game and suggest it be so. Miyamoto, in actuality, first suggested Retro work on a new Metroid in a separate discussion from ‘Action Adventure’. It is commonly thought that the game was, at this juncture, ‘reworked’ into a Metroid game although, this is not entirely accurate. “There was only one main story really, three hot chicks kicking butt!” – Former Retro Studios developer (via IGN) It was set to be a sci-fi themed first person shooter and featured three intently sexualised female protagonists in tight-fitting space suits, fighting an onslaught of insect-like aliens and a neo nazi villain. Details on the project are sparsely available, though we have managed to recover some materials from it over the years. ‘ Action Adventure’ was the lone exception to this. The specifics of what Miyamoto disliked about the former three presentations are unclear to this day, but he reportedly wrote each of them off with little hesitance. test animations, drawings, incomplete engine work etc.) as full prototyping had yet to begin. When NCL’s juggernauts descended, each game was submitted as a 3 page design document with early material (e.g. There was NFL Retro Football, an RPG named Raven Blade, Car Combat/Thunder Rally, and an enigmatic, untitled action/adventure game. Up until this point, Retro had been engaged with conceptualisation on their several projects in the works. Despite this, Nintendo’s first impressions of their efforts were less than complimentary.Ī few months into 2000, Shigeru Miyamoto, a pre-presidency Satoru Iwata and Nintendo of America’s then senior director of production, Tom Prada, paid the Texas studio a visit to check on their progress and cast a critical eye over proceedings. Retro had originally been founded under the mission statement of complimenting the big N’s line-up with more adult-oriented contented and as such, was attempting to deliver on this promise to the best of their ability. Retro Studios was an all but unknown entity and the series had lain dormant for six years with no sign of a revival in its imminent future, but all hope was not lost.Īlmost immediately following its establishment in 1998, the company’s workforce had been split into 4 teams to work on pitches to be delivered to Nintendo’s management. The origins of Metroid Prime date back to the year 2000. From starting life as the foundation for an original IP, gaining the Metroid license, to being scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up taking a peek behind the curtains of its development proves to be hugely of interest. Its road to becoming a jewel in the Cube’s crown, however, was a bumpy one. Critically lauded and held in high esteem by many, the game is widely regarded as one of the platform’s stand-out titles. Metroid Prime is a first person action adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo in 2002 on the Gamecube.
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