Despite the first playthrough Metroid Prime over 20 years ago, parts of it were still as clear as day as I played through its excellent Switch remaster. I can still remember the exact moment I experienced my first Metroid, as it emerges from its test tube and starts frantically dashing around. I remember every shot of the camera leading the battle against Thardus. I’m even able to find some of his most hidden collectibles with a bit of muscle memory I didn’t even know I had.
Even with so much of the first-person adventure game etched into my brain, there’s one aspect I can always remember with particular clarity: its soundtrack. Metroid PrimeThe original soundtrack is one of the brightest highlights in a game full of them, offering players plenty of atmospheric sci-fi tracks to scan and play. Each composition bursts with personality, from its own The X-Files-as the opening theme to Chozo Ruins’ almost West Coast hip-hop synths.
Metroid PrimeHowever, his soundtrack is more than a collection of memorable tunes — it’s a full character. You may not understand the entire backstory of Tallon IV, but the music ensures that you’re always emotionally attuned to the narrative beats. It’s one example of why the GameCube title remains an enduring classic, showing us the unique ways video games can deliver stories without a word being spoken.
Ecological disaster
If you rush through Metroid Prime casually, you might be tempted to say there isn’t much of a story. After Samus responds to a distress call on an abandoned space frigate and loses her powers due to her troubles, she lands on an alien planet called Tallon IV in search of her nemesis, Ridley. That’s about the only explicit narrative beat we get as the game dives into traditional Metroid exploration. Space pirates are destroyed, obscure artifacts are collected, and Mecha Ridley gets what’s coming to him.
There’s a deep sci-fi backstory to all of this, though, locked away in hidden historical data gleaned from scans of Chozo lore and Space Pirate records. If you take the time to look them up, you’ll learn that Tallon IV was once a thriving home for the Chozo race—that is, until a meteor struck the planet and flooded the world with the “Great Poison.” An environmental disaster attracts the attention of space pirates who settle on the ravaged planet and turn it into their personal biological weapons laboratory.
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If you read every piece of knowledge, Metroid Prime turns into a tragic story. It is the story of a peaceful race struggling to survive the apocalypse and the vultures who have come to profit from their misfortune. Tallon IV is one giant graveyard for the Chozo people, who wrote their own eulogy and left it for Samus to find.
The beauty of the experience, however, is that you can go through the entire game without knowing any of it. There’s not a word of spoken dialogue and no NPCs hanging around to deliver exposition. Players can choose to play the role of an anthropologist or treat Samus as a cold and calculating bounty hunter whose only goal is to exterminate her longtime rival; the adventure works through both lenses.
Even if you embrace the mercenary mindset, developer Retro Studios still wants to make sure you feel the weight of the world around you. That’s where music comes in.
Pain and trouble
Every piece of music in Metroid Prime it communicates something to the player, from increasing the stakes in a tense scene to creating a sense of isolation. Take, for example, the game’s legendary intro. We begin with a shot of an abandoned frigate lying peacefully in space. A bit of text tells us that it emits a mysterious distress signal, but that’s all we have to go on. As the camera pans across a debris-filled sky, synthetic textures begin to rise and fall beneath a layer of sci-fi echoes. Each chord in the sequence grows more ominous as the piece progresses, moving from strange wonder to dread as the frigate creeps into the frame. This uneasiness is accentuated by discordant cymbals and low brass as the entire ship comes into focus.
Metroid Prime Intro Cutscene – 1080p HD textures
You don’t need an NPC to tell you that you’re about to enter a disaster scene; the music lets you know that danger is imminent.
That ominous music intensifies as Samus’ ship flies into frame and we realize that the bounty hunter is about to dive into that danger headfirst. At first it’s just a looming threat, but Samus’ appearance raises the tension as it becomes clear that we’re walking into that danger. The anxiety builds to a crescendo as the digitized wires rise to glow as Samus leaps from her ship onto the loading dock. A moment of silence follows as she stands and observes her surroundings. And then it hits: Samus’ iconic theme blares triumphantly for a few moments before giving players control. She has this.
Metroid Prime Music – Tallon Overworld
The score is full of these moments, and they all communicate how the players should feel about the space they are entering. When Samus lands in the grass biome of the Tallon Overworld, the music has an adventurous quality. It’s a light, airy song that almost mirrors the tone and instrumentation from Samus’ theme. There’s a sense of confidence about it, inviting players to explore an opening that doesn’t pose a threat to someone like Samus. But listen carefully and you’ll hear something ominous far in the background of the mix. There is a low howl that continues through the music, like a gust of wind carrying grass through an abandoned city. At this point in the game, we don’t know that Tallon IV is a ghost town, but there’s an eerie undertone to the music that teases what’s to come.
Compare that song with the Magmoor Caverns main theme. The Fire World is the third biome that Samus travels through, and this is where she actually starts to experience some friction. Compared to the previously alluring Chozo ruins, the space is downright oppressive. It consists of mostly claustrophobic tunnels filled with lava pools and fire traps that can melt Samus’ energy if she doesn’t walk carefully. The confidence we felt in the Tallon Overworld theme is completely gone here. It was replaced by a menacing composition that plays with historical anxiety. Observant Metroid fans will recognize the song as a remix of the Ridley’s Lair theme from Super Metroid. That alone should be enough to put seasoned players on edge.
Metroid Prime Music – Magmoor Caverns
Even if you don’t know that detail, the track still evokes a lot of emotion and gives players room to imagine the backstory of the caves. The steady back-and-forth percussion almost sounds like pickaxes poking through rocks. The music also makes extensive use of digitized voices, almost singing the tunes of the song. Whenever I revisit the area, I always imagine that it was once a dangerous mine where alien workers worked for the resources. That suspicion has never been confirmed through lore, but the lingering thought makes the space feel oppressive every time I walk through it.
Each of Metroid PrimeThe best songs evoke that feeling, acting as an invisible tour guide. I don’t need someone in my ear to explain the backstory of each biome; I already have all the necessary information.
Funeral eulogy
The best example of this comes from the game’s fourth area: Phendrana Drifts. After passing through the Magmoor caves, the elevator takes Samus to completely opposite conditions. She enters an ice biome where every surface is covered in a thick layer of snow. The music here has a complete tonal shift that we haven’t heard before. The sci-fi synths are replaced by a quiet piano line built around a series of twinkling high notes. Deeper into the song, it leans into another song by the same voices we heard in Magmoor Caverns. This tune is different though; it’s almost sad.
Metroid Prime Music – Phendrana Drifts
Phendrana Drifts is something of a turning point in the narrative Metroid Prime. It’s the moment where you finally feel the weight of death hanging over Tallon IV. The site is littered with Choz ruins, many of which appear to be spiritual sites built in honor of the race – a lost lineage that is literally buried under snow. Here we meet our first Chozo, but there is no living organism to impart its wisdom; it is the spirit that haunts, or perhaps guards, the massive statue of Choz. Whether she knew it or not until that moment, Samus had just stepped into the tomb of the race.
The rest of the story also comes together in Phendrana Drifts. As Samus goes deeper, she will finally come face to face with the space pirates as she discovers that half of the area has been turned into a research base. That contrast between the cold weapons lab run by the scavengers and the temple honoring the elders of the Chozo tribe is striking and lays bare the conflict of the entire game. Phendrana Drifts is where bodies lie and vultures peck at bones.
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Listen again to the main theme of the area with this knowledge in mind and the true function of the song becomes clear: it is a funeral hymn. The Tallon Overworld theme encourages us to explore, Magmoor Caverns encourages us to be cautious. Phendrana Drifts asks us to slow down and pay tribute to a lost culture. You don’t need to read a single word of teaching to get that feeling emotionally.
The main strength Metroid Prime Remastered is not to interfere in it. All the music and sound is faithfully preserved here, and every song appears exactly as I remember it. While the gorgeous visual cleanup of the remaster is the center of attention right now, make sure to turn up the volume when you revisit Tallon IV. You may feel completely isolated during your adventure, but you are never truly alone. The score is your companion, a vessel through which lost Chozo souls can speak their last words.
Metroid Prime Remastered is now available on Nintendo Switch.
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Categories: GAMING
Source: newstars.edu.vn