Metroid Prime 2 Echoes
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, as confirmed at the E3, is the direct sequel to Metroid Prime. It will be released for the Nintendo GameCube.
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.
The game takes place on the planet Aether, where a brooding race of mosquito-like creatures, the Luminoths, are living off of large generators in the core of the planet. A Phazon meteor strikes the planet, dividing the energy into light and dark dimensions. The Space Pirates invade the planet, hoping to reap phazon lost in Tallon IV. Samus Aran is sent into investigate as well. She meets and forms an alliance with the Luminoths. Samus is given a container that will allow her to harvest all the energy from the reactors on the dark side of the planet. By bringing the energy back, Samus can dissolve the Dark world into the Light world. However, a dark-feeding race, the Ing, have grown on the dark side (but cannot leave). There, Dark Samus, Samus's counterpart, plans to harvest all of the light world's energy and bring it to the dark world, dissolving the light world in the process.
The game features both a comprehensive single-player and multiplayer mode. Single-player will differ from previous Metroid games, for example the existence of light and dark beams (which give damage if Samus is in the side of the world that is opposite of the beam, and which will have limited ammunition), multiple lock-ons for missiles, and the ability to switch between the light and dark worlds at will (the dark world, however, damages Samus when she is not protected in by a large bubble object that appears throughout the world). The screw attack from Metroid/Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, and Metroid Fusion, is also returning with a third-person wall-jumping mode. The new Echoes Visor, which allows Samus to see sound, will also be featured. A new character, Dark Samus, is also being introduced in one-player mode.
Very little is known about multiplayer mode, but it has been confirmed that it will feature the morph ball and a lock-on system. In the multiplayer, the game makers decided to make things harder by being able to get people that are locked on to you to lose their lock by transforming into a morphball.
The game is slated for release in the USA on November 15, 2004, and the European release has been confirmed for November 26, 2004.
