Current Events > "20 years later, I can finally beat Metroid Prime"

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.nintendolife.com/features/soapbox-as-a-colour-blind-gamer-i-can-now-finally-beat-metroid-prime

Its always felt a little bit weird to say Metroid Prime is one of my favourite games of all time, because Ive technically never been able to beat it.

The games eponymous final boss requires you to switch beams depending on which colour is emanating from within the boss exoskeleton. If youre not able to match the colour, youre not able to dish out the necessary damage a fact I didnt even realise until I unleashed a playground rant about my game being gliiiiitched, man.

Metroid Prime is no slouch of a fight especially when youre the kind of player whos too impatient to seek out additional Energy and Missile Tanks so toss in that colour-switching mechanic, and it spelt the death knell for me.

I was around 12 years old when I first tackled the original, so, sure, you could argue it was partly a skill issue, bro. But in truth, the main barrier for me was something I had absolutely no control over. And that sucked.

Thankfully, with the release of Metroid Prime Remastered on Switch, Retro Studios has made history by implementing to the best of my knowledge the first ever colour blind accessibility options in a first-party Nintendo title.

You know, it's never really occurred to me just how inaccessible most video games are simply due to how many of them rely on color distinction for enemies and puzzles and such. It can render many game unbeatable if you can't tell certain colors apart.

Years ago, Breath of Fire 3 required the player to count the ticks of a clock in one section. My first reaction was, "What about Deaf gamers?"

I'll assume that the final phase of the Emperor Ing in Prime 2 also posed a similar blockade.

tbh that fight has other cues you can use to tell the colour. definitely more difficult and sort of annoying but there are probably much better examples of games that aren't really playable with colourblindness out there

nintendo loves making their games difficult/impossible to play for colorblind people but go out of their way to make "accessibility" options that play the game for you in case you just fucking suck and don't want to get better

I honestly wonder how he even got that far since the doors are also color-coded

Probably just used every weapon until it opened, not too hard to figure out I guess

edit: oh yeah, I forgot the original game says "door cannot be opened with that weapon" or something when you shoot it

First ever Nintendo game to have color-blind options is nuts.

Punished_Blinx posted...

First ever Nintendo game to have color-blind options is nuts.

to be fair i think splatoon lets you pick possible color combinations