A thread about Metroid Prime (GameCube) using its own memory for visual effects | Hacker News Reader

A thread about Metroid Prime (GameCube) using its own memory for visual effects

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39 pointssn0opy12 comments

Prime was my favorite game as a kid and I still play it every so often to this day. Something about the style of gameplay - the slow & methodical exploration, the cool futuristic environments, the attention to detail required to solve the puzzles, the rewards for thinking creatively - I swear it set me on a life path that ended up with me becoming a Software Engineer and loving my job. Thank you Metroid Prime & development team. I just feel bad for the kids of today that no comparable modern games really exist.

They're not metroidvanias but in a wired way I found the Dead Space series to scratch the same itch.

I found Alien Isolation elicited this feeling in me too. I suppose Metroid copied many motifs from sci-fi movies over the years.

Was that the game that monitored your kinetic/microphone to make sure you were hiding quietly?

I never played it but that's got to be an innovative way to stress out gamers!

Agreed, Isolation is one of my favorite games of all time. It's sad to see what the suits have done to the developers of that game, instead of a sequel we're now getting some shitty co-op shooter that nobody asked for.

Yeah I've been meaning to check out this series. I plan to try out the remake once it comes out next year.

Fantastic game and really immersed the player at that time. I got terribly nauseated from this game but amazing nonetheless. Scorn reminds me of it for some reason. In any event, it's always inspiring to hear the ideas from teams of greatness.

Everything old is new again. IIRC the same technique was used for the flak in Bee-17 Baumber[0] for the Mattel Intellivision. Lacking additional memory for the graphics, the flak was drawn by grabbing sprite data from the code area of the ROM.

[0] B-17 Bomber uses the Intellivoice speech synth add-on to announce the game's title in a distinctive bit-crushed southern drawl.

Yar's Revenge also used game code as a source for a "random looking" graphic detail.

I'm playing through this series on GameCube via dolphin right now.

Never completed any of the games back in the day.

I think I saw this tidbit mentioned someone before but never the damn engineers name! What a shame.

Possibly it was a group effort, or organically developed. But it would have been nice to know who it was.

The best exploration game of it's era. I can still remember christmas morning when I played this 20 years ago. Hooked me right from the title screen with that ominous music.

One of the best games I’ve played.

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