Silverspoon Fridays #4: Super Metroid or Metroid Prime

[SilverspoonGaming | 330]

Situation: Youre stranded in a log cabin far from anyone with no lines of communication available.  You have electricity, a tv, and a video game console,  and the choice of one of two video games to pass the weekend before Monday hits and you can go back to civilization.  Which of the following two games do you choose to spend your next two days playing?

[SilverspoonGaming | 330]

I have spent less than 10 minutes with either of them because it just wasnt in my wheelhouse back then and I havent gotten around to playing them yet, but I would go with Super Metroid because of its platforming roots over what I feel is a Nintendo version of Quake, which I just cant get in to.

[RH | 4,894]

I chose Super Metroid before reading your first post. I forgot you create special scenarios around one-game only weekends. In this context, I'd really pick Prime over Super.

Super is amazing. I played it twice through and could potentially see myself some day doing it again.

Prime I've not had the option to play much. I've enjoy it enough but from quick 10-20 minute plat sessions, I've yet to really be gripped by the game like any other game in the series. I want to give it a better chance but I've just not had any motivation.

A week in a cabin with this game would be great motivation to give it a solid try. I think it deserves that.

[AstralSoul | 502]

Super Metroid although it's neck and neck for me as they're both amazing. I think Super Metroid is more replayable though.

[Sumez | 2,929]

Prime is fun and all, but come on now...

[cj_robot | 540]

Metroid Prime.

Both games are amazing but, even though I grew up with 2D games, I just love exploring 3D environments so much more, especially when they look as great as Prime does. Much more immersive to me.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

Metroid Prime.

I prefer Super in general (although Prime is great too) but:

1. I’ve played Super Metroid a large number of times already.

2. Metroid Prime’s length is much more appropriate to actually filling up the weekend. Still beat it with time to spare? Time to finally try out Hard mode. Whereas depending on when the “weekend” starts, with Super Metroid I could have the credits rolling like Saturday morning - if not Friday night. I could play it again and beat it faster/less-equipped/whatever, and another time after that and it’ll still be great because it’s Super Metroid but...well, how many times am I playing Super Metroid consecutively here?

[OptOut | 8,880]

They are both obviously top tier games, but I have to say I prefer Metroid Prime, if I'm honest.

I prefer exploration in a 3D environment than 2D, I love just simply how beautiful the game is and the fantastic, atmospheric soundtrack. The shooting is great, I love the scanning and lock-on system, and all the lore you can find in the game.

Both are great games, don't get me wrong, but I mean let me put it like this: Metroid Prime is my favourite GameCube game, Super Metroid is NOT my favourite SNES game.

[spacepup | 2,404]

Overall, I think Super Metroid is fantastic.  However, due to the way the question is phrased, I'm going with Metroid Prime also.  I've played Super Metroid many many times, and while I love the game, at this stage I'd prefer to play Metroid Prime again.  It's been a while since I beat it long long ago, and I had a ton of fun with the game - I agree with many of the comments above. 

This was briefly discussed in the other thread, but I think Metroid Prime was an excellent foray into 3rd for the Metroid series and I like it way more than I ever thought I would.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Super Metroid. Can always dust off those speed strats. 

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

Super Metroid

That was the easiest pole I've ever completed on this site.  

[MegaMan52 | 2,439]

Metroid Prime (the original GameCube version). Like several other SNES games, Super Metroid is a bit on the overrated side.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,506]

Metroid Prime since I've only played through it once, and not to 100% completion.

Not so sure most people are reading the OP

[phart010 | 1,705]

I chose Super Metroid. I think you’ll find that Metroid Prime has more mass appeal and therefore many more people prefer it.

Super Metroid is not as popular, but the fans that do appreciate it are much more hardcore. 
 

The results of this poll will not be representative of the general population due to a biased population sample. Too many hardcore gamers on this forum. If they did a random sampling, you’d likely see more love for Prime

[MegaMan52 | 2,439]

28 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I chose Super Metroid. I think you’ll find that Metroid Prime has more mass appeal and therefore many more people prefer it.

Super Metroid is not as popular, but the fans that do appreciate it are much more hardcore. 
 

The results of this poll will not be representative of the general population due to a biased population sample. Too many hardcore gamers on this forum. If they did a random sampling, you’d likely see more love for Prime

Not from what I've noticed in polls and discussions over the years. The SNES's entrees in whatever franchises are favored by many, and Super Metroid is no exception.

Edited June 18, 2021 by MegaMan52

[DefaultGen | 5,395]

They're both super strong 10/10s for me, but Metroid Prime is my favorite. If the scenario was to pick one game to play for the rest of my life, I'd go Super Metroid since it looks more fun to speed run and get good at replaying.

[Strange | 1,700]

The one where Samus chokes on the puzzle piece

(Super)

[phart010 | 1,705]

2 hours ago, MegaMan52 said:

Not from what I've noticed in polls and discussions over the years. The SNES's entrees in whatever franchises are favored by many, and Super Metroid is no exception.

Polls are one way gauging how favorable a game is. But another way is looking at how many copies of a game sold compared to how large the user base was. This is known as attach rate.

The Gamecube launched in Nov 2001 and sold 21.75M consoles. Wii came out Nov 2006. Metroid Prime came out out Nov 2002, and based on the fact that the copyright date on the Metroid Prime/Windwaker combo is 2005, we can reasonably say that Prime was at least selling as late as 2005. Prime sold 2.82M copies according to VGChartz.

So if we assume that 4/5ths of Gamecube systems had sold (80%) by the time Metroid Prime ceased sales, it has 16.2% attach rate. Also Metroid Prime was the number 7 best selling Gamecube game.

Thats not even mentioning Prime 2, which we’ll assume kept selling until the end of Gamecube lifespan. It sold 1.33M copies for an attach rate of 6%.
 

On the other history of Metroid series thread, I went through this same exercise for Super Metroid and came up with a 3% attach rate. So even Metroid Prime 2 was more popular than Super Metroid.

I know how painful that is to hear. I am a die hard Super Metroid fan. But no matter how much you love a game, that doesn’t affect its mass appeal.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,506]

Metroid Prime was also a pack in game.

 

I dunno, I feel like looking at attach rates is just torturing statistics.  It was two very different times in gaming with two very different landscapes.

[phart010 | 1,705]

12 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Metroid Prime was also a pack in game.

 

I dunno, I feel like looking at attach rates is just torturing statistics.  It was two very different times in gaming with two very different landscapes.

I don’t know how many bundles sold, but the disparity between 3% and 16% is so big that I’d assume Prime would still be ahead even if you took all the bundled consoles out of the equation. 
 

Your right the stats don’t really tell you how people truly feel, or account for circumstances that may have thrown things off. But if you want to at things objectively, this is probably the best set of numbers you have to analyze.

But again, we’re not measuring how good one game was compared to the other. We’re measuring how much popularity/mass appeal each game had. Attach rate generally goes hand in hand with popularity.
 

Edited June 18, 2021 by phart010

[TDIRunner | 2,721]

You definitely can't compare attach rates when one of the games was a pack in.  It's simply not a fair comparison.  Likewise, it's also unfair to exclude the sales numbers of the titles that were sold as a pack in because the individual game sales are obviously going to be lower since many people didn't have to buy the individual game since it came with the system.  

At the end of the day, if you are comparing only two games and one was a pack in and the other wasn't attach rate simply goes out the window.

Edited June 18, 2021 by TDIRunner

[RH | 4,894]

15 minutes ago, phart010 said:

Polls are one way gauging how favorable a game is. But another way is looking at how many copies of a game sold compared to how large the user base was. This is known as attach rate.

The Gamecube launched in Nov 2001 and sold 21.75M consoles. Wii came out Nov 2006. Metroid Prime came out out Nov 2002, and based on the fact that the copyright date on the Metroid Prime/Windwaker combo is 2005, we can reasonably say that Prime was at least selling as late as 2005. Prime sold 2.82M copies according to VGChartz.

So if we assume that 4/5ths of Gamecube systems had sold (80%) by the time Metroid Prime ceased sales, it has 16.2% attach rate. Also Metroid Prime was the number 7 best selling Gamecube game.

Thats not even mentioning Prime 2, which we’ll assume kept selling until the end of Gamecube lifespan. It sold 1.33M copies for an attach rate of 6%.
 

On the other history of Metroid series thread, I went through this same exercise for Super Metroid and came up with a 3% attach rate. So even Metroid Prime 2 was more popular than Super Metroid.

I know how painful that is to hear. I am a die hard Super Metroid fan. But no matter how much you love a game, that doesn’t affect its mass appeal.

Ah, but with statistics, the devil can be in the details.

There are two dynamics we must consider.  First, the nature of the person wanting these games as of time of release.  Metroid 2 is a SNES game and at that time, consoles were mostly  seen as a kids toy.  This meant that kids largely had to scrape together their allowances to buy games or they had to ask for a game at  Christmas or for birthdays.  The net effect was that for most "owners", if you wanted a game you either had to really want it, or hope to luck out on the bargain bin and get a good, overlooked game for $10.    We can ignore most of this but the bottom line is, for the lifespan of the SNES, I'd assume the average console owner owned somewhere between 5-10 games.  This is important because gamers had to be more choosy of what they bought, plus, Metroid 2 game out 4 years after the release of the SNES and that was it's prime of life.  Gamers had a lot of games to choose from when asking for a game or two on birthdays or Christmas. 

Gamecube gamers comprised mostly of kids plus the diehard Nintendo market.  Remember, the Gamecube was a bit of a flop.  We know it had great games and that's part of the reason why Gamecube games are skyrocketing, but it grossly undersold compared to the competition.  This meant that dev studios didn't spend as much time making games so the library is thin, especially when compared to the SNES.  So, an older, fanbase market with likely more expendable cash could buy more games, from a smaller subset of games.

It's not surprising that a game like Metroid Prime captured a high percent of the market.  Compared to the SNES, there weren't as many blockbuster games at the time of release.  Compound it with the fact that Prime was an early GC release, many early adopters made it a must-purchase title.  It was a classic, which is why it continued to sell well as a bundled title.

In the end, the comparison isn't apples to apples.  The details are different when you look at them.  It's hard to really gauge which game is more popular because to many specifics need to be considered and many of the details are simply unknowable.

[phart010 | 1,705]

8 minutes ago, RH said:

Ah, but with statistics, the devil can be in the details.

There are two dynamics we must consider.  First, the nature of the person wanting these games as of time of release.  Metroid 2 is a SNES game and at that time, consoles were mostly  seen as a kids toy.  This meant that kids largely had to scrape together their allowances to buy games or they had to ask for a game at  Christmas or for birthdays.  The net effect was that for most "owners", if you wanted a game you either had to really want it, or hope to luck out on the bargain bin and get a good, overlooked game for $10.    We can ignore most of this but the bottom line is, for the lifespan of the SNES, I'd assume the average console owner owned somewhere between 5-10 games.  This is important because gamers had to be more choosy of what they bought, plus, Metroid 2 game out 4 years after the release of the SNES and that was it's prime of life.  Gamers had a lot of games to choose from when asking for a game or two on birthdays or Christmas. 

Gamecube gamers comprised mostly of kids plus the diehard Nintendo market.  Remember, the Gamecube was a bit of a flop.  We know it had great games and that's part of the reason why Gamecube games are skyrocketing, but it grossly undersold compared to the competition.  This meant that dev studios didn't spend as much time making games so the library is thin, especially when compared to the SNES.  So, an older, fanbase market with likely more expendable cash could buy more games, from a smaller subset of games.

It's not surprising that a game like Metroid Prime captured a high percent of the market.  Compared to the SNES, there weren't as many blockbuster games at the time of release.  Compound it with the fact that Prime was an early GC release, many early adopters made it a must-purchase title.  It was a classic, which is why it continued to sell well as a bundled title.

In the end, the comparison isn't apples to apples.  The details are different when you look at them.  It's hard to really gauge which game is more popular because to many specifics need to be considered and many of the details are simply unknowable.

I think we will know apples to apples which one is more popular pretty soon when Nintendo releases both a 2D Metroid and a 3D Metroid within 1 year of each other on a 4+ year old console that has 85M user base.

I think it is reasonable to assume that the Super Metroid fanbase will buy Metroid Dread at launch and the Metroid Prime fans will buy Metroid Prime at launch.

Edited June 18, 2021 by phart010

[MagusSmurf | 577]

nah, very little that anyone’s heard of really even tries to play like Metroid Prime so taking another go at that sub -franchise sounds more interesting to me even if Super’s the best. If I felt like trying something that’s likely to be “Super Metroid but not” and also really good, I’d go download AM2R or something.

[MegaMan52 | 2,439]

3 hours ago, phart010 said:

Polls are one way gauging how favorable a game is. But another way is looking at how many copies of a game sold compared to how large the user base was. This is known as attach rate.

i think the vast majority of people here are adults, and know what an attach rate is. No need to educate, sir. Also, as someone who's been gaming since 1990 and collects imports in addition to American releases, I obviously know when the GameCube came out (even in Japan) and when it's support (officially) ended.

Edited June 18, 2021 by MegaMan52