I made the mistake of going to the Ice Place early and the game loads going through a set of doors, up an elevator, and then a cargo lift. The game at least is good about rewarding players with expansion items for most early dead ends but I still have to go back through those loading screens.

Also I'm playing the Switch 2 version which supposedly loads faster, but why does every facility have like 2-3 loading screens just to travel to get to the one map!

And heaven forbid if you go to a place too early and have to turn back around through the same loading prompts!

And then the few times where I DID get lost, (maybe I was turned around in a facility and couldn't figure out the map) I'd think "I should use the Radio to get back on track" and actively WANT them to talk - then the Soldiers would be quiet and there'd be no communication!

There is way too much talking; characters would reiterate what I just learned through a Scan or a direct point of the map.

[Console is offline - restore power to generator to operate]

"Looks like the power is out, maybe if you restore power to the generator we can get this thing working"

Metroid Prime 4 feels like a game that was developed within the last 5 years. That really shouldn't have been an issue but Nintendo/Retro Studios have been hyping up Metroid Prime 4 since before the 2010's that its weird to play a game that was clearly made by a new generation of game developers.

I would pick up a Prime 2 remaster though, probably Prime 3 as well (though I admit, I've never actually played through Prime 3 - the abundance of Federation Soldiers in a Metroid Game has always been kind of a turn off from playing those games, and have never played the spin off titles).

Metroid Prime 4 - not a better game than Prime 2, but I think was marginally less frustrating than 2. I was never satisfied with the boss fights in 4 though, it felt like they were either too battle spongey and wasting time, OR I never really learned the optimized way of taking them down.

I'm not even sure how much I LIKE Metroid Prime 2; it's one thing to backtrack in a Metroid game, it's another to backtrack into a different reality of the same map (that kills you) just to backtrack into that space you're not even sure is the way to progress!

Also the early bosses kick my ass

Like, the existence of Dark Samus in Metroid Prime 2 (appropriately called Echoes) didn't need the post credit scene of Prime 1 to build hype for her, the relatively simple design behind a Dark Reflection of the Player was enough to build interest.

Also helps to see her more than like 4 times.

Maybe if like every other boss in Metroid Prime 4 Sylux became fused with a Metroid it could justify a more organic and dynamic design (and parallels the post Fusion timeline of games with Samus fighting a "Bounty Hunter who is part Metroid" that Samus herself will eventually become).

Ridley and Dark Samus have a nostalgic bias in their favor I'll grant you. But Raven Beak, a new character with lore ties to Samus has no prior game to build hype from, HAS a distinct design, and would make an impact on his potential return (no one stays dead in Metroid) in a way Sylux can't.

I think it's a tall order to ask me to nominally enjoy how much this new character HATES Samus when it takes very little convincing (for me) to hunt down an evil Dinosaur that Samus has decided "I will blow up planets if it means atomizing your corpse"