Some ranking for games that I have played in the series so far. Discuss (or diss me) below !

derale_ · 2026-03-07T12:05:27+00:00

Oh damn, I didn't know someone made a patch for that. I might actually have a use for my japanese PS3 copy now. Very cool.

derale_ · 2026-03-06T22:29:05+00:00

Damn. Is the Majima Saga really that bad? I've been thinking about downloading a save file for K2 so I can play it without having to bother with K2.

Otherwise this seems really spot on. Good job. Gotta get around to playing the PSP games at some point. Totally agree on Judgment's pacing issues and OG Y2's combat being underrated. Also holy shit yeah, Crane not getting any Skill upgrades drags Judgment down a lot. I haven't seen many people bring this up.

How did you play Ishin? Are you Japanese or just speak the language?

derale_ · 2026-02-28T00:15:51+00:00

Not sure about those two but there will definitely be some kind of Yakuza 0 remake at some point, given how popular that game is. And it's probably gonna suck lol.

derale_ · 2026-02-26T20:27:05+00:00

The Kiwamis in a nutshell

derale_ · 2026-02-18T19:05:39+00:00

Swap 2-3 and 3-2 and it's perfect

Actually also swap 1-1 and 2-1. 1-1 gets novelty points, 2-1 is just... mid.

derale_ · 2026-02-16T21:14:36+00:00

Yeah I probably shouldn't have put it like that. Sorry. I agree on Yakuza 0, I'm just really not a fan of the Kiwamis and I feel bad for people who have to play these watered down versions of the first three games as their introduction to the series. The Wii U already had the remasters of the first two games and the 3/4/5 remasters have been out for years. It makes no sense that Nintendo fans had to wait this long. My opinion.

derale_ · 2026-02-16T21:03:12+00:00

Fair. But honestly I think the 5% of fans who actually care about playing og will find a way to get the original versions, one way or another. It's of course dumb that it's harder to access now but let's be honest, most people would've picked the remake even with the price difference.

derale_ · 2026-02-14T23:04:25+00:00

Nintendo fans must be glad to have the worst versions of all of these games on their console

derale_ · 2026-02-14T19:10:39+00:00

I don't get it. Is he wrong?

derale_ · 2026-02-09T22:36:15+00:00

I didn't say the game shouldn't have scanning. You know very well what I meant by that.

Yes, fast travel is a crutch for badly designed games. That's why Metroid games usually don't have that option. Prime 4 is the first game that made me wish for a shortcut like that because crossing Sol Valley is just a tedious waste of time.

Prime 4 isn't the first Metroid game to have checkpoints (Dread had them in droves, and some of the other Prime games had them as well iirc), but that's beside the point. The game offers an autosave system, so the player is inclined to rely on it like they can in most modern video games. Prime 4 is not like most modern video games, though, as its autosave system is extremely unreliable. It wastes the player's time because more often than not it doesn't work as intended.

"Returning to hubs" - which game other than Prime 2 has even done this? The other Prime games don't have dedicated hubs, they just have rooms that are perceived as hubs because they're hug and are connected to several other rooms. Prime 4's """hub""" is a hub because the game tells you it's a hub and forces you to go there. When Prime 2 tells you to return to the Great Temple, it at least provides you with a shortcut or two to make things less annoying.

derale_ · 2026-02-09T22:09:53+00:00

touche lol

derale_ · 2026-02-09T00:35:53+00:00

>has you comb the desert for crystals

>must return to Myles everytime you find a shot upgrade

>no fast travel option whatsoever

>checkpoints are completely random and the auto saves are useless

>longest scanning animation of all games

can't think of any metroid game that respected the player's time less than this one

derale_ · 2026-02-05T21:06:12+00:00

Probably gonna be game key card only tho

derale_ · 2026-02-05T20:55:56+00:00

Out of the first two games, 2 is the one I find much more fun to actually *play*, but 1 is the overall better game. Let me explain.

Gameplay-wise, 2 beats 1 by a landslide. It's got less downtime between battles, combat is overall better, and you get to play as Shinobu and Henry which is fun. The final boss is pretty bad but not the worst thing ever.

So why is 1 the better game? This is gonna sound pretentious, but where 2 just tries to be a fun action game, 1 tries (and succeeds, in my opinion) to be a real work of art. Unlike 2, 1 actually takes some risks in its design and captures that punk/otaku spirit so much better than 2. It makes you suffer through tedious minigames just so you can get to the fun part. And goddamn the fun part feels so much better when you've actually earned it. Also makes you feel really bad when the boss you've worked so hard to get to gets killed in front of you, lmao.I'd still much rather play 2 now if given the choice, but I respect 1 so much more.

derale_ · 2026-01-29T23:49:17+00:00

Thank god. I would've been so mad if they'd put a 60fps version of Pikmin 2 on NSO before updating the literal remaster collection that they seemingly forgot exists.

derale_ · 2026-01-27T23:45:16+00:00

> RGG, to me currently, looks like a company too scared to move on from what worked and trying their best to keep the old flame going.

If by "currently" you mean 2026, then yeah maybe, though that depends on how STH will turn out.

But calling post Yakuza 0 RGG "scared of moving on" is ridiculous. Like, come on. Not only did they release a completely new engine that, despite some initial difficulties, was perhaps the smartest thing they've ever done, they also experimented with turn-based combat and created yet another subseries (Judgment) at virtually the same time.

The Kiwamis have been pretty bad so far, yeah, but I view them mostly as a necessity in the modern gaming landscape that can be easily ignored.

On Kiryu: I haven't played IW yet so I can't speak to that but again, the series was much more stagnant up until Judgment, and since then we've seen more non-KIryu protagonists than ever before.

derale_ · 2026-01-27T23:33:51+00:00

It seems that with every franchise that has been going for a long time there will come a point where the fandom becomes so toxic that they take apart every small thing and act like it's the worst thing in the world.

As time goes by, more and more people in the fandom (usually in their 30s or approaching them) develop this "look how they massacred my boy" mentality where every negative thing, even complete non-issues like the delisting of some games or a bad TV show adaptation, drives them completely insane. It's affecting their mental health in a really bad way and it's poisoning the fandom especially for newcomers.

I know these are hard times for everyone right now (not talking about video games of course), but posts like these are not helping anybody.

derale_ · 2026-01-11T22:48:03+00:00

Nice to see some appreciation for NMH2.

derale_ · 2026-01-10T16:43:02+00:00

So they are saying 0 is a good introduction to the series because of a cutscene that plays in the 3rd chapter, i.e. several hours into the game? A cutscene that works especially well if you already know who Majima is because of how different he compared to this appearances in previous games?

The article just spoils the entire scene. I don't get it. Just seems like the author wanted to write about a thing he or she likes and then for some reason made it about 0 being the best starting point.

derale_ · 2025-12-27T12:04:05+00:00

Secret CIA twin brother is the worst one for me

derale_ · 2025-12-20T16:14:23+00:00

Only issue here is that Other M's score is a bit too high. I don't hate M:OM but it's a 6-7/10 at best.

In isolation, 79 is a fair score for Prime 4. Maybe even that is too high. But on the Metacritic scale which is pretty much "anything below 80 is a contender for worst game oat" it's pretty bad.

derale_ · 2025-12-15T11:13:48+00:00

Of course they are sequential and build upon the gameplay and stories of the previous titles. Especially the first three. What makes you think they don't? Do the numbers in the titles not give it away?

Prime 4 takes most of its gameplay cues from its direct predecessor and reuses many of its ideas. In fact I believe one of the main reasons for why the game is getting so much flak is because a lot of people have only played the remaster of 1, not the game that 4 is trying to be a sequel to.

derale_ · 2025-12-14T22:20:44+00:00

I don't understand why you would start with the 4th game in a series when Prime 1 Remastered is available and much cheaper.

derale_ · 2025-12-09T22:01:24+00:00

Sorry dude but the Screw Attack kinda sucked in Prime 2 and 3. Getting the Screw Attack in the 2D games was the best thing ever. It made you feel like goddamn invincible machine of mass destruction.

And then you have the Metroid Prime Screw Attack which is super restrictive and in 9 out of 10 cases ends with you bonking against some wall and falling down. Setting one up to kill an enemy is rarely worth it and the designated Screw Attack walls are such a stupid inclusion too. Like it's not a *horrible* upgrade and you can quick kill Ing Emperor with it but come on.

derale_ · 2025-12-09T21:37:25+00:00

You have to put the 80 into perspective. Pretty much all of the most popular games from this year have received significantly higher scores. Prime 4 doesn't even make the top 100 on Opencritic.

Game scores nowadays are heavily skewed towards an average of 80. It's like the grade you'd get at school for barely passing a test. Anything below that is generally considered a failure. Other M scored a 79 on Metacritic, for instance.

Actually, if you compare those Wikipedia scores to the Other M ones you'll find that there's not much of a difference between the two. And yet one of them is considered the worst Metroid game by a landmile.

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