Most of my favorite games are from the 2000-2007 period, which makes sense given those are my most formative years, but I readily admit that a lot of them I only have fond feelings for because they codified what games could be in my brain. I suppose Metroid Prime is that for me because it was both my first Metroid and the first single player only game I ever beat entirely on my own, but every time I've tried to go back to it, it's seemed so gargantuan and unwieldy and intimidating that I feel jealous of my 13 old self for being able to do it.

The funny thing is, I didn't even actually finish the other two Prime games until 2013 or so, and those both seemed much smaller to me than the Metroid Prime that exists in my memory. Maybe someday (like when they finally put out that trilogy for the Switch) I'll get to hop back in and see how it holds up, but until then, the Omega Pirate and Mecha Ridley and the eponymous Metroid itself all loom in my memories like nightmares from my youth: unconquerable and 40 feet tall.