Low% speed run of Metroid Prime in 18 segments, collecting only the minimum 22% items, completed on October 27 2004. Available in three versions: low quality, normal quality, and 60 fps high quality.

Author's comments:
After my 23% run I did a while back, I thought I would be done with speed running Metroid Prime. That still proved to be the case when the 22% game was finally nailed down. I personally confirmed 22%, though it didn't really need it; everything worked. Within a few weeks, I found myself wanting more. I told myself, "anyone that will speed run a 22% game is insane." That soon turned into wandering thoughts of actually doing it myself. Because people were so interested in doing 23% runs, I figured, "why not run 22%?" and got to work. This was late December '03.

I'm sure there's a date on this somewhere, but just in case, it's November '04 (I actually finished October 27th). That's 10 months of my life dedicated to this game (some months more than others; in fact, it took me 2 months to get the Geo Core segment alone). I know some of you are asking, "why put yourself through that?" That's easy; I knew I could do it. I didn't know if I could get a good time, but I knew I could at least finish it (I had done one before, but I wanted to get it on tape). In fact, I joked around with kip that I would get a 1:19. I honestly had no clue I would come even close. As you can see, I beat the guess by a solid minute.

Now, for the beatability (a word? I think not) of this time. While I'm sure my judgement is biased, this is a solid run. It can definitely be beaten, but not a lot has changed route-wise or strat-wise since I started. I see 1:17 as a good possibility, and probably even 1:16. Not sure about anything lower, but feel free to prove me wrong.

If you don't have a lot of experience with 22%, the hardest parts about the game are not the lack of life, as would be expected. The Geothermal Core segment (segment 8) has the nastiest trick in the game, which you will see. The timing has to be so precise. If it's off just a little, the segment is botched and you have to try again. Right behind Geo Core follows Vent Shaft and Life Grove, the other members of the 'big three.' Vent Shaft requires a nasty bomb jump, and Life Grove requires some tricky spinner manipulation. Aside from the three above examples, there are other difficult segments not directly related to tricks. The segment that involves the Artifact of Warrior (Segment 11) is an ass-kicking waiting to happen. There are so many ways to die in that segment it isn't even funny. There are more examples, but why should I ruin it?

It's no coincidence this run was finished near the release of Metroid Prime 2. The original intent wasn't to take this long, but that was an implied goal I've always had; at all costs, finish before then. I realized this run was in jeopardy on August 29, about 2 months before I finished. I had been working on Geo Core for 2 months and going nowhere. I woke up that morning and looked at the calendar; I had to knock out 11 segments in a little under 3 months. I then made a decision: quit complaining because the game is screwing me over (in all fairness, it was). From that point on, I put all emotion beside and let a higher power take over. All I simply had to do was get up each day and try. If I was supposed to finish, I would finish; no worries if I didn't make it. Well, we all know what happened. In fact, I did the rest of the segments so fast, I had time to take breaks and play other games. A little food for thought, you might say.

Now, for the vids you are about to download. There was a problem with a couple segments. Because I recorded to a VHS tape, there was always the possibility of recording over a previous segment. I am obviously not above this, because I did it during the Flaahgra segment (segment 4). Nate and Radix have worked their asses off to fix this, and I want to thank them for it. See, I captured the segment before I recorded over it just so I could show my progress (the capture had no audio to conserve file size). Those two have replaced the corrupted video with a 'patch' of the previously captured video. I'm sure you'll notice this in the run because of the lack of audio, but do not fret, nothing fishy went on during those few seconds. Of little consequence is the fact that I recorded over the save cutscene of segment 10. This was fixed rather seemless, as I had that same cutscene from the previous attempt at the segment.

Well, I know I've gone on too long. In fact, I'm pretty sure most of you either didn't read this at all, or stopped after the first paragraph or so. Therefore, I'll stop holding you up with my rambling. I hope you like the run; I worked my ass off for it.

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews