10 Most Unforgiving Checkpoints In Gaming History
8. Phazon Mines - Metroid Prime
Phazon Mines is the last major area of Metroid Prime and is the base on Tallon IV for the villainous Space Pirates. The first save station for the mines is right at the start, and the area is a long slog through 25 minutes of winding rooms filled with enemies and morph-ball traversal puzzles so it’s a must to use. Especially because that’s all you get before facing the Cloaked Drone.
This boss is one of the most hated enemies in the Prime series: an invisible sentry that throws out a lot of what the player has grown used to. The game has expressly told players to scan every new enemy and artefact to shoot for that 100%, but the Cloaked Drone can’t be scanned at all, so players who get here for the first time might wind up dying before even firing off a shot. Furthermore, the Drone’s invisibility means it can’t be locked onto by Samus’ gun like every other enemy in the title.
And if you do die? Well, have fun navigating the entire mine again.
Metroid Prime’s lack of checkpoints is definitely a “your mileage may vary” affair based on your difficulty preference, but at the very least, 2021’s Dread gave players an auto-save before bosses so they could jump right back in. This feature really should’ve been added to Metroid Prime Remastered, but instead, this sequence sets many Samus Aran veterans' nerves back on edge.