---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

Wrapped up the remainder of items; the last missile expansion I was missing turned out to be the most obvious one "hidden" under the bridge in Transport Tunnel B. I've probably walked across that bridge almost a dozen times during my playthrough yet I never thought to check under it. But with that I'd collected 100% of items and was prepared for the final confrontation(s).

Meta Ridley was visually cool and I liked how he flew around the arena and swooped in to bombard you with missiles. However, the way the boss is paced felt unbalanced with the last 10% of his HP taking up the back 2/3s of the fight. I get it's supposed to be a "You think this is over? The REAL fight starts now" kind of thing but Ripley only has 3 different attacks and once you've got the telegraphs down it quickly becomes monotonous as you follow the procedure of: [stun -> shoot -> repeat]. It's possible to hit their weak point with a super missile but the timing is very tight and I'd already exhausted my supplies earlier in the fight so I was stuck using regular missiles which took SO long. Overall, kind of lacklustre for all the build up it received throughout the game.

The area leading up to the battle with Metroid Prime seemed unnecessary to me. It wasn't long enough for the atmosphere to sink in (the constant swarm of Metroids don't help either) and at the same time it just interrupted the pacing to have me do some basic platforming.

As for Metroid Prime themselves I'll say the boss suffers from a lack of phases to spice things up much like the other bosses in this game. It was nice how the 1st form made use of the morph ball and that you had to keep switching visors during its 2nd to keep track of it. Though despite being one of the better bosses of Prime it still felt underwhelming.

This marks the end of my 1st playthrough of this game; if I do return to Prime I'll most certainly be playing on hard. I died a total of 6 times with half of those attributed to getting stuck in a hazardous substance and just dying to reset. I had to rely on an online guide for a few of the items I was missing but otherwise this was entirely blind.

---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

Beat the Omega Pirate on my first (re)try today with relative ease so perhaps I was just having an 'off day'. The biggest change from my last runs was focusing more on the enemies that spawn while the boss is cloaked and only checking once I hear them laugh. Some RNG is involved because thermal & ice troopers are easier to deal with than the others. Emerging victorious with the 'Phazon Suit' they introduce Fission Metroids; the last variant on the log. They behave like regular Metroids except upon taking enough damage they split into two, each with a specific beam weakness similar to the troopers (yay...).

With this; I've reached the notorious endgame fetch-quest; something that I was aware of years before playing as it's frequently brought up in discussion. Thankfully, I'd already collected majority of the artifacts during my scenic ventures (I was lost) so finding the last remaining 4 was relatively easy.

However, considering I'm nearing the end of the game I figured "Might as well find ALL the items!". This proved to be significantly more frustrating as there is no means of tracking individual area completion on the map, and previously found items aren't even marked. I would scour the entire map only to give up and search for answers online to then be greeted with the realization that there wasn't anything left to find in the area I was. I adopted a rule that if nothing was found in 40 minutes I would go and look up where the items were because personally at that point it just isn't fun. I'm not asking for Samus to start talking to herself like "Hmm... maybe a super missile could break that pillar" but a simple percentage for single areas would've been welcome QoL.

To end on a more funny and embarrassing note. At some point after obtaining the power bombs I had come to the logic that they only destroyed wreckages and boulders not connecting that 'Bendezium' indicated which structures could be blown up. This means that I've unknowingly walked past several items that I assumed weren't obtainable yet.

---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

Took a detour through Magmoor Caverns over to Phendrana Drifts to make use of my thermal beam on some of the ice walls seen last time I was there; collected a few artifacts along the away. One found by dumb luck while switching to the x-ray visor; and the rest through legitimate means.

Out of all the beams, thermal is definitely my favourite. It hits hard, fast and can even stunlock certain enemies. The other beam types have situational uses but thermal is my immediate choice for general usage.

After my long exploration session I returned to the Phazon Mines and arrived at the Omega Pirate which is proving to be a challenge. First encounter that's caused me this much trouble; dodging the boss' attacks is simple enough although they have a fair amount of range. However, what makes this fight truly agonising are the troopers; I complained on the previous log my annoyances with the enemy, but there even more infuriating here. I spent a considerable amount of effort trying to destroy the weapons on the pirates back but to no avail. Either they have unfathomably high health or can't be destroyed at all.

I'll take another swing at it next time.

---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

Initially I was going to complain about the excessive backtracking to get the Gravity Suit, but I then realized that I ended up taking the long way around through the Space Pirate Laboratory instead of the convenient shortcut behind the South Phendrana Drift transporter. I just didn't notice the unassuming (cope) ice beam locked door, but I managed to snag a missile expansion along the way so not a complete waste of time. Gave me more of an opportunity to use the ice beam which is really fun, and I especially love freezing the flying pirate and shattering them with a missile; good stuff.

After that it was on my way to the Phazon Mines where I missed the Save Station and had to survive up until acquiring the 'Power Bombs' which was a little stressful. This is also where they introduce a slew of new enemy types including the various beam troopers and of course the Elite Pirate(s). I don't really like the troopers and found it a very contrived means of forcing the player to use different weapons, and it made those encounters boring since you had no real freedom in how you approached them. Although the concept of enemies reverse-engineering your tech to use against you is rather cool, I enjoyed how the game even pointed at the absurdity of Samus' morph ball and the countless deaths in attempting to recreate it.

As for the Elite Pirate; honestly quite underwhelming. His bulky but slow, I was able to avoid all of his attacks by just hiding behind cover and firing super missiles until they died. Hopefully the "Omega Pirates" prove to be a stronger foe. The rest of the Phazon Mines was fun though, lots of small puzzles between the action. You also obtain the grapple beam here and while admittedly I'm not sure of an alternative; having it be set on the same button as 'Lock-On' caused me to fall a couple times because it would prioritise the enemy across from me as oppose to my only means of not falling into lava.

I got turned around a few times by the games 'navigator' as well. I'd get an item and then assume: "OK, so now I should be able to progress" then get told to backtrack to get another item: "OK! Now I can progress" then return only then to be told to go over to Magmoor Caverns to receive the next item. The method of guiding the player via a map instruction is already somewhat frustrating but when that instruction is delayed it just becomes so much worse. The map is designed in a way that you can make shortcuts from the current objective to the next but if you decide to venture off that path it's really easy to lose sight of where you're supposed to go.

Keeping up with my negative streak; these chozo ghosts are really annoying. Thankfully you can just ignore them (most of the time) but the enemy respawns are overtuned.

---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

Took another shot at the Space Pirate Laboratory and this time played with more caution. Got through with most of my health and actually obtained the thermal visor this time. I've heard complaints that the thermal vision is too blurry and while I kind of concur with that assessment, in some ways it provides an extra layer of challenge. The player(s) must acclimate in order to handle to the Shadow Pirate who can go invisible and hide in the corner ceilings of rooms. Though what killed me on my last run were the sentry drones, but I was more prepared this time and managed a get passed just fine. This area felt sluggish in parts because the amount of scannable objects; understandably to flesh out more of world and give the player insight into the pirates goals but when you end up stopping mid-fight to go and scan computers the pacing grinds to a halt.

After escaping the Space Pirate Laboratory comes the Thardus boss. They've got some pretty cool attacks but man... it just drags on and not enough new attacks are introduced throughout to keep the fight interesting and certainly not enough to justify the excessive length. Though perhaps this is partially attributed to me not using the charge combo which may have been key to destroying his body parts quickly (It was only recently provided to you so making it a key component would make sense). Alas, I defeated Thardus anyway and acquired the spider ball.

Routing a new path through Magmoor Caverns its back to Chozo Ruins where in you receive the ice beam, I found the Chozo Ghosts to be more annoying than hard constantly teleporting and just take far too many shots to kill (though again charge combos are probably the solution; you're even placed next to a missile recharge station). I'm supposed to go over to Phendrana Drifts to presumably collect the Gravity Suit but I got sidetracked and explored the underwater station on Tallon Overworld. Obviously I'm gated off from exploring past a certain point without the gravity suit but at least I found an energy tank. Well worth the travel I'd say.

---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

Progressed through Magmoor Caverns and reached the Phendrana Drifts; obtained the boost ball then backtracked back to the ship to acquire the Space Jump. I imagine backtracking will become a more common occurrence, but going back did allow me to explore the Artifact Temple and I collected another Chozo Artifact on my return trip through Magmoor.

I got stumped for a bit until I realized I had blow up the Shaman Chozo head with a missile. The ensuing boss fight (?) wasn't tough and got the Wave Beam. Though my feelings of dominance were subsequently tarnished upon arriving at the Space Pirate Laboratory. Difficulty just raised up a notch and I even died after getting the Thermal Visor so next time I'll need to repeat that entire section again.

Unsurprisingly the Space Pirates are infusing Metroids & even themselves with Phazon; I don't see how anything could go wrong here!

I did a little research as to find out if I missed anything thus far and in turns I didn't scan the 'Hive Mecha' so a 2nd playthrough already seems likely.

---------------------[Playing on 'Normal Mode']--------------------

I've committed the grave sin of buying a Nintendo Switch game digitally; breaking my streak of purchased physical copies. I just couldn't help myself and wait until it released over where I live. Now, the 6.8GB will forever remind me of my shame and lack of self-control over my own desires...

That aside the game so far is pretty good, featuring an updated control scheme from the original GameCube release. The game is still built around the 'lock-on' with mechanics like 'dashing' tied to it; so the ease of free-aim shouldn't affect the gameplay in any negative capacity.

The opening sequence was tight and action packed and gives you a taste of power before stripping it from you. It somewhat betrays the slower feeling of roaming across Tallon IV but nonetheless a great opening. If I had to bring up one issue so far its that the scanning does get a bit annoying given you'll practically be discovering new things in every next room disrupting the pacing slightly.

Interestingly after beating Flaahgra and leaving the Chozo Ruins the frequency of scanning decreases whenever this marks the end of the tutorial or that this specific area is devoid of scannable objects remains to be seen.