13 Video Game Sequels Better Than Their 'Classic' Originals
11. Metroid Prime 2: Echoes > Metroid Prime
After seeing off Mother Brain and watching Planet Zebes blown into a billion gooey pieces in Super Metroid, Samus Aran took a well-deserved hiatus. Who could blame her?
The bounty hunter completely bypassed the N64 (save for a welcome cameo in Smash Bros.), as Nintendo were entirely uncomfortable even attempting to follow the SNES' sublime space-farer in the relatively uncharted 3D waters.
It was down to Austin-based Nintendo allies Retro Studios to test that dangerous ocean - and its pressure nearly proved too much for the company. With expectations inflated bigger than a blimp, the crew began working punishing 100-hour weeks in order to meet the Nintendo imposed deadline. All the while, the gaming press remained skeptical about the American studio's ability to recall the earlier Metroid-magic.
Apparently never sleeping has its benefits; the game wasn't just a worthy successor to Super Metroid, but one of the finest games ever pressed to disc. So much more than a straight-up FPS, the GameCube's Metroid Prime presented a fully-3D adventure entirely faithful to the Metroid formula, and one which fomented the previously doubtful media into a frothy fervour.
I drooled over the game just as scaturiently. Yet the game's tenebrous sequel has the edge for me; there's just something more captivating about the caliginous world of Aether.
Like many successful video game sequels, it's pure refinement of a winning formula. Yet it's easy to appear as 'more of the same', and unfortunately, the shadowy second stands in that of its bigger brother.