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Game Boy Advance SP

The Game Boy Advance SP (GBA SP), released in Japan on February 14, 2003, is a foldable handheld game console developed, released, and marketed by Nintendo that served as an upgraded version of the original Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in the name stands for "Special". It is the penultimate console in the Game Boy Advance product line before the Game Boy Micro, which was released in September 2005.

History
The Game Boy Advance SP was championed by Satoru Okada, who led the development of the original Game Boy Advance. When Okada first pitched to Nintendo leadership the idea of a small and thin Game Boy Advance that used a rechargeable battery, the feedback was almost entirely negative. Not deterred, Okada told one of his hardware engineers to build a conceptual model as small and thin as possible without regard to the feasibility of manufacturing the device. What resulted was the clamshell design of the Game Boy Advance SP. When Okada took this conceptual model to the same leadership group that rejected his initial pitch, they were quickly won over.

In addition to being smaller and using a rechargeable battery, the Game Boy Advance SP also addressed a key shortcoming of the original Game Boy Advance: the reflective color display that was hard to see in dark conditions.

The first Game Boy Advance SP had a frontlight that illuminated the front of the display and a reflective surface behind the screen that sent light back through the liquid crystal pixel elements to the viewer. A later revision replaced the frontlight and reflective surface with a backlight that also illuminated the liquid crystal pixel elements.

Headphone jack
Nintendo removed the 3.5 mm headphone jack from the SP, which had been included on all previous Game Boy models. Headphones designed specifically for the GBA SP can be purchased, or standard headphones can be attached with an optional adapter that plugs into the same port as the AC adapter. As both the AC adapter and headphones use the same port, it is not possible to charge the SP and listen to headphones at the same time with the Nintendo-brand adapter. There are, however, third-party adapters that "split" into two different cords: the power jack on one side and a headphone jack on the other.

Backlit model (AGS-101)
In 2005, Nintendo released an improved version of the Game Boy Advance SP in North America, featuring a brighter backlit screen instead of the previous version's frontlit screen. This GBA SP was Nintendo's first internationally-released handheld system to feature an integrated backlight. (However, there had already been a backlit system years earlier with the Japan-only Game Boy Light, which was essentially a Game Boy Pocket with an electroluminescent backlit display.) The AGS-101 was never officially released in Japan, however, and the frontlit AGS-001 models were still available on the market until the end of production.

The new model can be distinguished by the following features:

 * The box states "Now with a BRIGHTER backlit screen!" to distinguish the new model from the older, frontlit models.
 * The model number of the backlit SP is AGS-101, whereas the model number of the original frontlit SP is AGS-001. This can be found on the label at the bottom of the unit.
 * The mini button at the top center of the console's lower face is now referred to in the manual as the "Brightness Switch" and selects between two levels of brightness, "Normal" (Low) and "Bright" (High) with no off setting. On the frontlit models this button turned the frontlight on or off only. With the backlight set to "Normal" (Low) the brightness still surpasses the original AGS-001 with the frontlight on.
 * When powered off, the backlit model's screen is completely black, but the frontlit model's screen is noticeably lighter.

The North American backlit version comes in three standard colors: "Pearl Blue", "Pearl Pink" and "Graphite" (a greyer version of Onyx Black). There were also two Toys "R" Us exclusive backlit models; a "SpongeBob SquarePants" model and a "Limited Edition Pikachu" model.

In 2006, the AGS-101 backlit model also saw a very limited release in Europe. Few models made it to market, likely due to the release of the Game Boy Advance-compatible Nintendo DS one year prior. The European version was released in "Surf Blue" as well as re-issued in "Pink" and "Tribal" editions.

Unlike the North American release, the European box does not feature any prominent text to distinguish the backlit models from the older frontlit models. In addition, only the "Surf Blue" color was unique to the AGS-101, the other two colors "Pink" and "Tribal" had already been released as frontlit models – for these reasons it can be very difficult to identify a European backlit SP. Apart from the AGS-101 model number on the base of the unit, the only other obvious distinguishing feature of the European backlit model is the large picture of the Game Boy Advance SP featured on the front of the box. (The European frontlit models of "Pink" and "Tribal" only feature small pictures of the Game Boy Advance SP on the sides of the box and Flower/Tattoo patterns on the front respectively.)

The AGS-101 Game Boy Advance SP was the final Nintendo handheld to have backward compatibility with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games in North America and Europe.

Unit colors
The GBA SP launched in Platinum Silver and Cobalt Blue, with the addition of Onyx in Europe and Japan. Later colors include: Flame Red, Pearl Pink, Pearl Blue, Graphite, Midnight Blue, Charizard Fire Red, Torchic Orange, Venusaur Leaf Green, Groudon Red, Kyogre Blue, Rayquaza Green, NES classic design, and Pikachu Yellow. A limited gold edition with a Triforce and the Hyrule Royal Family crest was available in Europe which included a copy of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. In 2003, Toys "R" Us sold an exclusive gold edition (without any Zelda symbols) in the US starting on Black Friday of that year, initially with a Super Mario Advance 4 game.

In Japan, it was released in a variety of standard colors and special packages. In most other regions it was released in Platinum Silver and Charcoal Black. Later, a Flame Red version was released. Six special editions have also been released: an NES Classics model with the same color scheme as a classic NES controller (and designed to resemble an NES deck when closed), a SpongeBob SquarePants model, a Pikachu model, and a silver model with a tattoo design printed on it, known as the 'Tribal Edition'. In other regions, such as Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, additional colors have been released, such as Pearl Green and Starlight Gold.

The Game Boy Advance SP had other limited editions:

 * All Blacks (New Zealand only)
 * Green & Orange (Limited Edition)
 * Kingdom Silver (Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Edition)
 * Mario
 * Pearl Blue
 * Pearl Green
 * Pearl White (Limited Edition)
 * Snow White
 * Spice & Lime
 * Surf Blue (UK only)
 * Tribal
 * White Rip Curl special edition (Australia only)
 * "Who Are You?" (Black with "Who Are You?" printed on the top)

Reception
M. Wiley of IGN called the Game Boy Advance SP "a step in the right direction for Nintendo", praising the system's new redesign over the original GBA and highlighting its inclusion of a backlit screen and rechargeable battery, although minor criticism went towards the system's omission of a headphone jack. Engadget gave it a global score of 84 out of 100, also praising the new features of the redesign while noting the system's lack of a headphone jack. Lawson Wong of Fresh Gear called it "darn close to perfection" aside from the missing headphone jack. Matthew D. Sarrel of PC Magazine suggested it to consumers as an improvement over the original model, praising the backlight and integration of a charger as well as improved visual quality, though he noted that players with larger hands may find difficulty with the system's design.

Sales
As of June 30, 2009, the Game Boy Advance series has sold 81.48 million units worldwide, of which 43.52 million are Game Boy Advance SP units.

title: Game Boy Advance SP


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English Bay

English Bay may refer to:

 * English Bay (Vancouver), British Columbia, Canada
 * English Bay (neighbourhood)
 * English Bay, Alaska, United States
 * English Bay, Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada (Baie-Sainte-Catherine)
 * Anse aux Anglais, or English Bay, Rodrigues Island, Mauritius

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: English Bay


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5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards

The 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards was the 5th edition of the Interactive Achievement Awards, an annual awards event that honored the best games in the video game industry during 2001. The awards were arranged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), and were held at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 28, 2002. It was also held as part of the Academy's first annual D.I.C.E. Summit. It was hosted by stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt, and featured presenters included Cliff Bleszinski, Richard Garriott, Richard Hilleman, Don James, American McGee, Lorne Lanning, Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto, Ray Muzyka, Natalie Raitano, Lucia Rijker, Jason Rubin, Jez San, George Sanger, and Steve Schirripa.

The award for "Hand-Held Game of the Year" was introduced this year as a console award. The console and computer awards for "Family Title of the Year" have been renamed as "Children's Title of the Year". This would be the final year the award for "PC Educational Title of the Year" would be offered. This was the first year nominees were limited to just one genre award for either console/PC.

Halo: Combat Evolved won the most awards, including "Game of the Year", and was tied with Ico for having the most nominations. Electronic Arts had the most nominations publishing the most nominated games. Microsoft Game Studios had won the most awards and tied with Nintendo for having the most award-winning games. Baldur's Gate won both console and PC awards for "Role-Playing Game of the Year", with Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for console and the Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal expansion for PC.

Will Wright, the creator of SimCity and The Sims, was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

Winners and Nominees
Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface, and indicated with a double dagger (‡).

Hall of Fame Award

 * Will Wright


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Ferndale

Ferndale is the name of several places:

In Canada:

 * Ferndale, British Columbia
 * Ferndale, Newfoundland and Labrador
 * Ferndale, Bruce County, Ontario
 * Ferndale, Muskoka District Municipality, Ontario
 * Ferndale, Peel Regional Municipality, Ontario

In the United States:

 * Ferndale, California
 * Ferndale, Florida
 * Ferndale, Indiana
 * Ferndale, Kentucky
 * Ferndale, Maryland
 * Ferndale (Baltimore Light Rail station), Baltimore, Maryland
 * Ferndale, Michigan
 * Ferndale, New York
 * Ferndale, Oregon
 * Ferndale, Pennsylvania
 * Ferndale, Washington

In Australia:

 * Ferndale, Western Australia
 * Ferndale, New South Wales
 * Ferndale, Victoria (small rural locality in Strezlecki Ranges south of Warragul)
 * Ferndale Park, New South Wales
 * Ferndale Park, Victoria

In New Zealand:
 * Ferndale House, a historic home in Mount Albert, Auckland
 * Ferndale, Taranaki, a suburb of New Plymouth
 * A fictitious Auckland suburb in which the TVNZ soap opera Shortland Street takes place

In other countries:

 * Ferndale (Lambeth ward), an electoral ward in Brixton and Clapham, London, England
 * Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, United Kingdom
 * Ferndale, Western Cape, Brackenfell, South Africa
 * Ferndale, South Africa, Randburg, South Africa

title: Ferndale


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Phantasy Star Online

Phantasy Star Online is an online role-playing game (RPG) developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega in 2000 for the Dreamcast. It was the first successful online RPG for game consoles; players adventure with up to three others over the internet to complete quests, collect items and fight enemies in real-time action RPG combat. The story is unrelated to previous games in the Phantasy Star series.

Before Phantasy Star Online, online gaming was limited to western PC games, particularly RPGs such as Diablo, Ultima Online, and EverQuest. Believing online play was the future, Sega chairman Isao Okawa instructed Sonic Team to develop an online game for the Dreamcast, produced by Yuji Naka. Sonic Team's experiments led to the development of ChuChu Rocket!, the first online Dreamcast game. Using what they learned from the project, and taking significant inspiration from Diablo, Sonic Team built Phantasy Star Online. As Japanese internet service providers charged for dial-up access per minute, and high-speed connections were not yet widely available, Okawa personally paid for free internet access bundled with Japanese Dreamcasts.

Phantasy Star Online was highly anticipated and launched to positive reviews and commercial success; critics praised the online gameplay as addictive but criticized the single-player mode. It received the Japan Game Award for "Game of the Year" and is recognized as a landmark console game, influencing multiplayer dungeon crawlers such as the Monster Hunter series.

Phantasy Star Online was ported to Windows and rereleased on the Dreamcast as Ver. 2 with expanded content. Following Sega's exit from the console business in 2001, the game was ported to GameCube and Xbox as Episode I & II, featuring new characters, environments and other features. Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution, released for GameCube in 2003, was a turn-based card game. The online series continued with Phantasy Star Universe (2006) and Phantasy Star Online 2 (2012). Sega decommissioned the last official servers in 2010; Phantasy Star Online is still played on private servers.

Gameplay
Phantasy Star Online is an action role-playing game primarily played with other players cooperatively over the internet. Players take on the role of adventurers sent to explore Ragol, an uncharted planet. To create their character, they choose between a handful of races and classes, which define their abilities and statistics; for example, some types are better with "techniques" (magic spells) while others are more skilled with ranged or melee weapons.

Players can play either online or offline. Online, players are brought to a lobby where they can chat and organize teams of up to four. Team members can communicate by typing using a physical or onscreen keyboard, even when in different environments. Preset phrases are automatically translated between languages, and custom emoticons are also supported. Players can also exchange "guild cards" to exchange private messages and see when the other is online.

After organizing a team, players are transported to their own instance of the hub spaceship Pioneer 2, where they can buy and sell items, store money and items, heal, and browse quests. At any time, they can transport to Ragol, where combat and exploration take place. The four environments – forests, caves, mines, or ruins – comprise winding passages and large areas where enemies spawn. Players fight enemies in real time, using weapons and techniques and collecting items. Attacks can be chained for more accuracy and speed. Typically, all the monsters in a room must be defeated to advance. Each environment ends in a boss battle, which rewards the team with a large sum of experience points. Quests, taken on Pioneer 2, task players with specific challenges; once completed, the team returns to Pioneer 2 to collect their reward. Higher difficulties reward players with more experience points and better items. Some items can be used to feed the player's mag, a small creature that follows the player character and aids them in battle.

Plot
The story of Phantasy Star Online is unrelated to the original Phantasy Star series, and is less substantial. Threatened by the imminent destruction of their home planet, thousands of refugees arrive at planet Ragol aboard the spaceship Pioneer 2. As they establish contact with colonists sent ahead on Pioneer 1, an enormous explosion shakes the planet. Adventurers from Pioneer 2 land to investigate the explosion and search for Rico Tyrell, daughter of the head of Pioneer 2. They discover the planet overrun by monsters, and follow messages left by Rico leading to an ancient evil, Dark Falz.

Development
By the late 1990s, the popularity of online gaming on personal computers had grown substantially in the west, but was almost nonexistent in Japan, where consoles were more popular. Sega chairman Isao Okawa believed the internet was the future of gaming and wanted a flagship online game for Sega's Dreamcast console. None of Sega's development studios wanted the project, as they were occupied with their own ventures, such as Jet Set Radio (2000) and the Sakura Wars series. Okawa gave the responsibility to Sonic Team, led by Yuji Naka. Sonic Team was not particularly receptive to the decision, but continued with development. After Okawa became ill, Naka sent reports to the hospital to update him on progress.

Concept
Sonic Team began experimenting with the Dreamcast's network capabilities after completing Sonic Adventure in 1998. They saw the creation of an online game for Japan, a nation of console gamers, as a serious challenge, akin to creating a new genre. Much of their time was spent learning the basic elements of online gaming; they wanted to make sure the network functionality worked before developing the gameplay, setting, and story. Their network experiments became ChuChu Rocket!, released in 1999 as the first online game for the Dreamcast. Sonic Team used the lessons learned from ChuChu Rocket! to implement network technology in the larger project.

Because of the lack of Japanese online games, and the developers' experience with the genre, Naka looked to western games for inspiration, and studied three online RPGs popular at the time: Diablo (1996), Ultima Online (1997), and EverQuest (1999). Diablo in particular impressed him on a gameplay and technical level; he enjoyed how smooth the graphics and action were despite requiring significant system memory. Diablo was a 2D game, however, and Sonic Team wanted to develop a 3D game with the same degree of smoothness and gameplay. This concerned Naka, as he did not want his game to use the cheap and bland graphics associated with online games.

Naka decided against creating a massively multiplayer game similar to Ultima Online and EverQuest, which would handle many players simultaneously in a persistent world; the necessary servers would have required two years of programming, and the Dreamcast did not have a hard disk drive to support continuous online patches. Naka was also more interested in working on new projects instead of continuously updating the same game for years, and doubted Sonic Team would be able to keep the game interesting. The team therefore adopted Diablo as their main inspiration, determined to outclass it.

Art and setting
Sonic Team built a science fiction-fantasy game under the working title Third World. The art style was "comic-like" at first, but became more realistic. One of artist Satoshi Sakai's early concept drawings of a dragon reminded Naka of Sega's Phantasy Star series; which had been dormant since Phantasy Star IV (1993) for the Genesis. Naka had served as main programmer on Phantasy Star (1987) and Phantasy Star II (1989). He had always wanted to develop a multiplayer Phantasy Star game, but previous hardware did not allow for it.

With the Phantasy Star series chosen as the setting, Sonic Team continued developing the gameplay and story. The team was given freedom not to adhere strictly to elements from earlier Phantasy Star games. The game would not continue the story from the previous Phantasy Star games, something that made Naka feel liberated. Since few of the Phantasy Star IV staff still worked at Sega, the art team felt little obligation to adhere to the previous games' style, retaining only the science fiction look and some enemy and item names. Naka and Sakai believed factors such as the change in graphical fidelity and genre were enough to differentiate it from previous Phantasy Star games.

Music
The soundtrack was composed by Hideaki Kobayashi using a Roland JV-2080 synthesizer, with live orchestration on some tracks, including the theme song. Kobayashi composed ambient music for calm scenes, and incorporated more rhythm and melody for battles. He composed short four-bar melodies that are sequenced depending on gameplay; for example, when an enemy appears, the system plays music associated with that enemy. The process was a drain on the Dreamcast hardware, and gained the nickname "the crasher" among staff for how often it would crash the game during development.

Online functionality
Sonic Team had conceived their 1998 Saturn game Burning Rangers as an online game for four players, but abandoned the idea due to insurmountable network problems. They used the ChuChu Rocket! networking system as a template for the online functions for Phantasy Star Online. This presented new challenges, as the new network would connect players between different countries. Sonic Team ran experiments with different internet service providers, dial-up modems, cable modems, and other networking configurations to ensure the game would work for all players. In Japan, Sonic Team gave beta versions to 10,000 users who pre-ordered the game, so they could work with a variety of equipment and internet services to eliminate problems. They wanted to run a worldwide test but did not have time. 90% of the testers were able to play online. Despite technical success, Sega was concerned that the high cost of internet access in Japan would be prohibitive for gamers and reduce sales. Japanese internet service providers charged per-minute fees for dial-up access, and high-speed options such as broadband were not yet widely available. To combat this, chairman Okawa personally paid for free internet access for one year to be bundled with each Dreamcast.

One of the biggest challenges was bridging the language barrier between global players. Sonic Team felt that developing a universal language system would be the largest barrier to a global gaming network. The team started by developing the word select system, which allows players to select predefined expressions to be translated to other players. The system had about 2000 words near the end of development, and Naka found it difficult to add more words to satisfy all player needs. Sonic Team built support for five languages: Japanese, English, Spanish, German, and French. They omitted Italian and Portuguese due to time constraints. Korean was also considered because of the internet boom in Korea at the time. Japanese and English were easier to implement because the only concern is the word location in the sentence, whereas Spanish and French have grammatical gender. The language system had to be fully redesigned at least once.

Each server could accommodate one thousand players. Sega initially prepared 20 network servers to accommodate 20,000 online users for game's launch, with room to add more servers as necessary. This was increased to support up to 36,000 players right before launch. Sonic Team partnered with Swatch to use Swatch Internet time (or "beat time") as a universal clock for the game. The clock was implemented so players could coordinate with those in other countries on when to play online. The clock system divides each 24 hours into 1000 beats, with one beat equaling one minute and 26.4 seconds. The time was maintained directly on the server and not based on the user's clock on their system. Sonic Team decided not to add jumping to keep the levels simple and simplify the network code.

Naka joked that future gamers would laugh at the word "Online" in the title, as he believed that online gaming would become standard; it was included as the concept was new and so important to communicate.

End of production
Phantasy Star Online was planned for release in March 2000, but was delayed so more features could be added. The team planned 18 character types, and had male and female sketches for each, but settled on nine. A player-versus-player mode was included in beta versions given to journalists, but this was omitted in the final version because it distracted players from the cooperative focus and introduced game balance issues; additionally, as the console-playing audience was younger than the PC audience, Naka did not want to evoke competitive behavior. The development team had more ideas for features to implement as development came to a close, with Naka wishing he had six additional months to add more features. Phantasy Star Online took two years to develop. Naka found it difficult to make a networked game for consoles, and developed an appreciation for Microsoft for supporting online games so well.

Promotion
Sega unveiled Phantasy Star Online at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show with a gameplay demonstration. Naka called it the "killer app" for the Dreamcast as it used all aspects of the system, most importantly the modem.

As the first online RPG for consoles, Phantasy Star Online was highly anticipated. Journalists saw it as the next evolutionary step in console-based role-playing games. Francesca Reyes of Official Dreamcast Magazine proposed that it would be an "industry-changing title", a landmark in the history of console gaming. Computer and Video Games wrote that the Dreamcast was quickly becoming the platform for innovative games, and wrote that Phantasy Star Online was "arguably the most revolutionary - not the mention most ambitious - console game ever". GameSpot believed it would "change the way we think of RPGs" and could possibly be "the most exciting console RPG ever created". Edge wrote that the multiplayer mechanics "would lay the foundations for a new era of console gaming". Video Gamer called it the "Dreamcast's most ambitious project yet". Some journalists had concerns about the viability of the online modes, and saw the single-player option as a fail-safe should it not function correctly.

To promote the game, Sega bought a star on the International Star Registry and named it "Ragol". The first 100,000 people to pre-order the game in Japan received Phantasy Star Online branded dog tags. A limited edition in Japan including a branded memory card was canceled and the memory card sold separately on Sega's website. Early copies of the game included a demo for Sonic Adventure 2.

Launch
Phantasy Star Online was released in Japan on December 21, 2000. The language could be changed to English or any of the other supported chat languages, making it "import-friendly". Naka had hoped for a simultaneous global release, but the western release was delayed for beta testing and marketing reasons. While subscriptions would be free in North America, in Japan the game included a 30-day free trial, after which Japanese players were required to purchase 30-day or 90-day subscriptions. Immediately after the Japanese release, Sonic Team began maintaining the overworked servers and investigated network problems in Hiroshima and Okayama.

Sonic Team hoped that Phantasy Star Online would be successful in Japan; international sales were seen as a bonus. In North America, which Naka believed would be the biggest market, Phantasy Star Online was released on January 30, 2001. It sold 75,000 copies there on the first day and was the bestselling game that week. Sega's North American online gaming service SegaNet was not required for online play. While the Japanese version supported the modem and broadband adapters, the North American release did not support the broadband adapter, but IGN explained how to use it by swapping discs with an import copy.

Phantasy Star Online sold 500,000 copies in Japan and one million worldwide, meeting Sega's expectations almost exactly. Naka had hoped to sell more, but believed the servers may not have carried the load. Before its western launch, nearly 100,000 players had registered. By April 2001, over 235,000 players had registered worldwide: 130,000 in Japan, 70,000 in North America, and 35,000 in Europe. By May, over 270,000 had registered. The peak number of users connected simultaneously was 26,000.

Phantasy Star Online suffered problems common with other online games, with players cheating and selling rare items online. Several weeks after launch, Japanese players began exploiting bugs to duplicate items, enhance their stats, and kill other players. Sonic Team announced they would ban players found cheating or disrupting other players, starting in May 2001. According to IGN, cheating was prevalent because Phantasy Star Online used a peer-to-peer communication system. Blizzard Entertainment had similar problems with Diablo, but after moving to a client-server system for Diablo II, cheating became more difficult.

Sonic Team added more quests for players to download, translated into the five languages used in the game. In Japan, a special "Fan Cup" quest was held from March 23 to April 6, developed with the game magazine Famitsu. In the event, over 70,000 players competed for the fastest time; the winner received a cash prize and a rare game item. As he had with ChuChu Rocket!, Naka played online and was happy to see American and Japanese players playing together using the communication system.

Ver. 2
In April 2001, Sega announced Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2, an updated version of the original game with new content and improved features,  including an increased level cap (to 200), a new difficulty mode for players over level 80, a battle mode that pits players in one-on-one or team battles, a soccer minigame with balls shaped like characters from ChuChu Rocket!, new weapons and monsters, gameplay balance alterations, day and night effects, an improved user interface, and two new areas exclusive to online quests. Ver. 2 also adds a challenge mode, which places teams in a stage with starting equipment and stats; if a teammate dies, the mission ends. Players could import their character from the original game or create a new one; characters registered for Ver. 2 could not be used in the original game. Any illegal items were also deleted during the upgrade.

Sonic Team worked a tough schedule to develop Ver. 2 in under six months, releasing it on June 7, 2001, in Japan and September 25, 2001, in North America. Unlike the original North American release, Ver. 2 required subscription fees to play. Three months of unlimited gameplay could be purchased at a time. The game still had no dependencies on SegaNet, however. In Europe, DreamKey 3.0 was required. Ver. 2 was ported to Windows in Japan and released on December 20, 2001.

Episode I & II
On January 31, 2001, following years of losses, Sega announced it would discontinue the Dreamcast and restructure as a third-party developer. In May, Sega announced an expanded GameCube port of Phantasy Star Online, which became Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II. Sega chose the GameCube because it had similar architecture to the Dreamcast and supported dial-up, which Sega believed was important despite the approach of broadband internet. Sonic Team created a GameCube demo of Phantasy Star Online within a month.

To make the game more viable for Nintendo's family-oriented consumers, Sonic Team added a split-screen multiplayer mode. Since the GameCube had no out-of-the-box network capabilities, Nintendo developed a modem and broadband adapter and sold them separately. The servers were maintained by Sega. GameCube players could not play with Dreamcast players.

Phantasy Star Online: Episode I & II comprises two "episodes": Episode I is a port of Ver 2 with improved graphics, whereas Episode II comprises entirely new content, which Naka described as a true sequel. The game adds characters, environments, quests, a split-screen mode, and updated graphics and interfaces. Some quests reward players with minigames based on Sonic Team games Puyo Pop and Nights into Dreams, which can be played on a Game Boy Advance connected to the GameCube. A Chao resembling Tails, a character from the Sonic games, can be imported into Sonic Advance and Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Sonic Team ran a beta trial for some players who had pre-ordered Episode I & II, starting on May 31, 2002. The game sold 70,000 copies within the first month in Japan, and by October had sold over 100,000. It was released in North America in October, and in Europe on March 7, 2003. Like Ver. 2, Episode I & II required a paid monthly subscription. ASCII Corporation developed a keyboard controller for the game, released only in Japan, though plans were announced for a keyboard controller to be released in America. Some players resorted to importing the controller from Japan. An enhanced version of the game, Episode I & II Plus, was released for the GameCube later. This version included many quests originally distributed exclusively online, a new challenge mode, and new items.

Episode I & II was ported to Xbox on April 15, 2003. Servers were hosted through Xbox Live and did not interface with the GameCube or Dreamcast servers. Because of its Xbox Live foundation, the Xbox version supports voice chat but did not connect players across regions. The game required an Xbox Live account to play online or offline; as the game was packaged with Xbox Live in Japan, to localize the game quickly, Microsoft did not remove the limitation. In addition to Xbox Live fees, Sega charged players an extra subscription fee to play online.

Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution
In 2003, Sega announced Episode III: C.A.R.D. Revolution. The game is a sequel to the story presented in Episode I & II, but replaces the action RPG gameplay with a turn-based strategy card game; after developing Episode I & II, Sonic Team thought that players may want a new experience. Players of Episode I & II and Episode III can chat and interact in common lobbies, but cannot enter game instances together. The online servers for the game shut down at the same time as the GameCube Servers for Episode I & II.

Blue Burst
A new version for Windows, Phantasy Star Online Blue Burst, was released in Japan on July 15, 2004, following an open beta that began on May 22. It is a port of Episode I & II with another episode of new content. It features enhancements including a system allowing players to communicate across different servers; the most significant change is that the game is online-only, with user data stored on the servers, reducing cheating. In January 2005, Blue Burst was released in China, Sega's first online game there. It was released in beta in North America in May 2005, and fully in June.

Server closure
The North American Dreamcast servers operated until September 30, 2003. The North American and Japanese GameCube servers as well as the Japanese Dreamcast servers were shut down on March 30, 2007, following a month of free service. The Japanese Xbox servers were shut down on January 31, 2007, and the North American servers followed on April 22, a week earlier than the announced date of April 30. The North American and European Blue Burst servers were shut down following a free period lasting from January 12, 2008, until the server's closing on March 31, 2008. This was followed by the shutdown of the Japanese Blue Burst servers on December 27, 2010, the last official Sega servers. Hobbyists have developed private servers, and so the game retains a cult following and can still be played online.

Reception
Phantasy Star Online received "generally favorable" reviews per ratings aggregator Metacritic. Dreamcast Magazine (Japan) wrote that the cooperative play was an interesting shift from a trend in multiplayer games being mostly competitive. Edge agreed, writing that the variety of gameplay experiences shared with other players kept the game fresh. Spanish magazine Dream Planet and GameSpot praised how the players can take on different roles in the teams, such as a supporting healer or ranged attacker. IGN commended the extensive amount of equipment and items for eliciting friendly competition to collect them. The chat system was also praised for making communication easy, especially between players speaking different languages.

Critics agreed that the single-player mode was boring compared to the addictive online multiplayer. GameSpot and GameSpy wrote that it lacked life and became tedious and repetitive when played alone, and GameSpot advised players not to try the game unless they were planning to play online. Other common complaints included poor camera control,  the lack of map and quest variety,   and poor storyline. Despite the concerns, critics agreed that the fun had in online multiplayer overshadowed these problems. Edge wrote that the changes in gameplay experiences with different players replaced the variety that normally be expected in the quest design. Critics also praised the freedom for players to design and equip characters and develop their own playing style. Computer and Video Games wrote that "PSO marks a step in a new direction for console adventures and there's so much right with the game that to even mention these faults doesn't quite feel in the spirit of what PSO represents".

Reviewing Ver. 2, Dreamcast Magazine (UK) felt that it would renew interest in the game for those that enjoyed it, but would not convert new players. GameSpot and IGN agreed, saying that the core gameplay remained the same, but the new features may be worthwhile for dedicated players, even with the new subscription costs. Reviewing Episode I & II, critics praised the split-screen mode, Game Boy Advance downloads, graphics improvements, and gameplay tweaks. GameSpot wrote that the new material in Episode II was not significant enough for veteran players to return, and criticized some practical issues with how split-screen multiplayer was handled. Eurogamer criticized the cost for a network adapter, subscription fees, and the "almost obligatory" keyboard. Several critics complained about the lack of a keyboard available in the Americas.

GameSpot named Phantasy Star Online the best Dreamcast game and eighth-best console game of 2001. It was a nominee for the publication's "Best Role-Playing Game" prize among console games, but lost to Final Fantasy X. During the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Phantasy Star Online for the "Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World" award, which was ultimately given to Dark Age of Camelot. Episode I & II was a runner-up for GameSpot's 2002 "Best Role-Playing Game on GameCube" award, which ultimately went to Animal Crossing.

Legacy
As the first online role-playing game for home consoles, Phantasy Star Online is considered a landmark game. It won several awards, including Japan Game Award for "Game of the Year", awarded three days after the death of Sega chairman Okawa, over the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Dragon Quest VII, and Kōkidō Gensō Gunparade March. VentureBeat dubbed it "one of the most important games in console gaming evolution". IGN named it one of the best RPGs of all time for being the first online experience for many gamers.

1UP.com called Phantasy Star Online one of the most revolutionary games of the 2000s, crediting it for creating "an entire pantheon of multiplayer dungeon crawlers that continue to dominate the Japanese sales charts" and making "both online gaming and the concept of fee-based services a reality for consoles". Hiroshi Matsuyama, president of CyberConnect2 and developer of the .hack series, cited the game as an influence. It is also believed to be a major influence on Capcom's Monster Hunter series.

According to GamesTM, the Phantasy Star series has struggled to live up to the legacy of Phantasy Star Online. Sega has been slow to localize Phantasy Star games, and the PSP entries in the series did not capture the attention of the west. Concurrently, Monster Hunter had a similar formula to Phantasy Star Online and became successful. Later Phantasy Star games, such as Phantasy Star Universe (2006), share similar gameplay with Phantasy Star Online but failed to reach the same critical and commercial success in the West. In Japan, Phantasy Star Universe became the best selling game in the franchise. Phantasy Star Online 2 was released in Japan in 2012, and localized for the west in 2020. Phantasy Star Online 2 made over 900 million dollars since its release.

title: Phantasy Star Online


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Charlottetown Conference

The Charlottetown Conference (A Conference to discuss the Confederation of Canada) was held in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, for representatives from colonies of British North America to discuss Canadian Confederation. The conference took place between September 1 through 9, 1864. The conference had been planned as a meeting of representatives from the Maritime colonies; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Britain encouraged a Maritime Union between these colonies, hoping that they would then become less economically and politically dependent on the Crown, and provide for greater economic and military power for the region in light of the American Civil War. However, another colony, the Province of Canada, comprising present-day Ontario and Quebec, heard news of the planned conference and asked that the agenda be expanded to discuss a union that would also include them.

Coincidentally there was a circus in Charlottetown during the conference, and it was much more interesting to the majority of the population. At the very least, the circus made making accommodations for all the delegates difficult, since there had not been a circus in Prince Edward Island in over 20 years. There was no one working at the public wharf at the foot of Great George Street when the Canadian delegates arrived on the steamship SS Victoria, so Prince Edward Island representative William Henry Pope had to handle receptions by himself, including rowing out to greet the new arrivals. Owing to the unexpectedly large number of visitors in the city, a sizeable proportion of the Canadian delegates remained aboard the Queen Victoria while others found accommodations at the Franklin. Meanwhile, circus-goers and the Maritime delegates had taken up the accommodations in town.

Conference
Unfortunately, there is no formal record of what was said during the Charlottetown meetings. What we know has been gathered from private sources, such as letters written home by delegates. We do know that there was agreement on the need for a detailed discussion of a potential union. It is known that the Maritime delegates put aside their idea of Maritime Union, while the Canadians could see solutions to their own problems in a larger union.

The majority of the conference took place at the colony's legislative building, Province House, although some social functions such as dinners and banquets were held at other venues including Government House and Inkerman House, the home of the colony's Lieutenant Governor.

The conference had begun on Thursday September 1 with a banquet for the delegates. Parties and banquets were held each night after the day's discussions had ended, except for Sunday September 4, when they did not meet. The representatives from the Province of Canada dominated the conference, overshadowing the concerns of the Maritimes, and laying out foundations for the union that benefited them the most. Four of the first five days were spent outlining the Canadian position, and the Maritime representatives did not discuss their own plans until September 6 and 7. One Canadian delegate, George Brown, spent two days discussing the details of the proposed constitution, which would keep Canada within the British Empire.

Most of the Maritimes were convinced that a wider union including the Province of Canada would also be beneficial to them; Prince Edward Island was unsure, however, and very much against confederation. The delegates also believed that union could be achieved within a few years, rather than in an undefined period in the future as they had originally planned. The initial intentions of the conference was for the Maritimes to discuss the possibility of a union within provinces. The Province of Canada (consisting of present-day Ontario and Quebec) requested one of their own delegates to attend the conference. If not for the inclusion of 8 Canadian delegates from the province of Canada, the constitution would not have been proposed within federal union.

The conference concluded on Wednesday September 7, but the representatives agreed to meet again the next month in both Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Quebec City (see Quebec Conference). A ball was also held on September 8, after which the delegates returned home. In addition to political meetings, the delegates participated in social activities like special lunches, small boating trips, and a ball, which gave delegates the opportunity to bond. The delegates from the respective provinces met again on September 10 and 12, 1864 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where further discussions arose regarding the union and idea of the constitution. Following meetings in Halifax, representatives met in Quebec city, on October 10 to 27, 1864. The Quebec Conference fostered a draft constitution for the proposed federal union.

Confederation
Canada was created on July 1, 1867 through negotiation at the aforementioned conferences above. To the south, during the Civil War, the United States Army grew dramatically in size. Some historians believe that Confederation was a pre-emptive action to reduce the chances that territories to the north and west of Canada would be annexed by the United States.

New Brunswick

 * Edward Barron Chandler
 * John Hamilton Gray
 * John Mercer Johnson
 * Albert James Smith
 * William H. Steeves
 * Samuel Leonard Tilley

Nova Scotia

 * Adams George Archibald
 * Robert B. Dickey
 * William Alexander Henry
 * Jonathan McCully
 * Charles Tupper

Prince Edward Island

 * George Coles
 * Andrew Archibald Macdonald
 * Edward Palmer
 * William Henry Pope
 * John Hamilton Gray

Province of Canada

 * George Brown
 * Alexander Campbell
 * George-Étienne Cartier
 * Alexander Tilloch Galt
 * Hector-Louis Langevin
 * John A. Macdonald
 * William McDougall
 * Thomas D'Arcy McGee
 * John Ross

title: Charlottetown Conference


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Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime is a 2002 action-adventure game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. Metroid Prime is the fifth main Metroid game and the first to use 3D computer graphics and a first-person perspective. It was released in North America in November 2002, and in Japan and Europe the following year. Along with the Game Boy Advance game Metroid Fusion, Prime marked the return of the Metroid series after an eight-year hiatus following Super Metroid (1994).

Metroid Prime takes place between the original Metroid and Metroid II: Return of Samus. Players control the bounty hunter Samus Aran as she battles the Space Pirates and their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV. Metroid Prime was a collaboration between Retro in Austin, Texas, and Japanese Nintendo employees, including producers Shigeru Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe. Miyamoto suggested the project after visiting Retro's headquarters in 2000. Since exploration takes precedence over combat, Nintendo described the game as a "first-person adventure" rather than a first-person shooter.

Metroid Prime sold more than 2.8 million copies worldwide. It won a number of Game of the Year awards and is regarded by many as among the greatest video games of all time, remaining one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic.

Metroid Prime was followed by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007), with Metroid Prime 4: Beyond scheduled for 2025. In 2009, an enhanced version of Metroid Prime was released for the Wii in Japan and as part of the Metroid Prime: Trilogy compilation internationally. A remastered version was released on the Nintendo Switch in 2023.

Gameplay

Metroid Prime is an action-adventure game in which players control protagonist Samus Aran from a first-person perspective, unlike previous games in the Metroid series, with third-person elements used for Morph Ball mode. The gameplay involves solving puzzles to reveal secrets, platform jumping, and shooting foes with the help of a "lock-on" mechanism that allows circle strafing while staying aimed at the enemy.

Samus must travel through the world of Tallon IV searching for twelve Chozo Artifacts that will open the path to the Phazon meteor impact crater, while collecting power-ups that let her reach new areas. The Varia Suit, for example, protects Samus' armor against high temperatures, allowing her to enter volcanic regions. Some items are obtained after boss fights. Items must be collected in a specific order; for example, players cannot access certain areas until they find a certain Beam to open doors, or discover new ordnance with which to beat bosses. Players are incentivized to explore to find upgrades that increase Samus' maximum ammunition and health.

The heads-up display, which simulates the inside of Samus' helmet, features a radar display, a map, ammunition for missiles, a health meter, a danger meter for negotiating hazardous landscape or materials, and a health bar and name display for bosses. The display can be altered by exchanging visors; one uses thermal imaging, another has x-ray vision, and another features a scanner that searches for enemy weaknesses and interfaces with mechanisms such as force fields and elevators. The game introduces a hint system that provides the player with clues about ways to progress through the game.

Players can gain two features by connecting Prime with Metroid Fusion using a GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable: cosmetic use of the Fusion Suit that Samus wears in Fusion and the ability to play the original Metroid game.

Items

Throughout the game, players must find and collect items that improve Samus' arsenal and suit, including weapons, armor upgrades for Samus' Power Suit and items that grant abilities—including the Morph Ball, which allows Samus to compress herself into a ball in order to roll into narrow passages and drop energy bombs, and the Grapple Beam, which works by latching onto special hooks called grapple points, allowing Samus to swing across gaps. Unlike those in earlier games in the series, the beam weapons in Metroid Prime have no stacking ability, in which the traits of each beam merge. Instead, the player must cycle the four beam weapons; there are charge combos with radically different effects for each. Other upgrades include boots that allow Samus to double-jump and a Spider Ball upgrade that allows her to climb magnetic rails.

Items from previous Metroid games appear with altered functions. Art galleries and different endings are unlockable if the player collects a high percentage of items and Scan Visor logs. Prime is one of the first Metroid games to address the reason Samus does not start with power-ups acquired in previous games; she begins the game with some upgrades, including the Varia Suit, Missiles and Grapple Beam, but they are lost during an explosion on the Space Pirate frigate Orpheon. The producers stated that starting with some power-ups was a way to give the player "different things to do" and to learn the functions of these items before settling into the core gameplay.

Setting
Retro Studios wrote an extensive storyline for Metroid Prime, which was considered a major difference from previous Metroid games. Short cutscenes appear before important battles, and a scanner in the heads-up display extracts backstory-related information from objects. The Prime trilogy is set between the events of Metroid and Metroid II.

The game takes place on the planet Tallon IV, formerly inhabited by the Chozo race. Five decades ago, the Chozo race fell after a meteor impacted on Tallon IV. The meteor contaminated the planet with a corruptive, mutagenic substance that the Space Pirates later named Phazon, and also brought with it a creature known to the Chozo as "The Worm". A large containment field emitter of the Artifact Temple in the Tallon Overworld area was built as a seal to the meteor's energies and influence within the crater where it landed, which the Space Pirates attempt to disable or bypass in order to gain better access to extract the Phazon. The containment field is controlled by twelve Chozo artifacts that are scattered around the planet.

Story
Samus Aran intercepts a distress signal from the Space Pirate frigate Orpheon, whose crew have been slaughtered by the Pirates' own genetically modified, experimental subjects, using a mysterious radioactive substance called Phazon. At the ship's core, she battles with the Parasite Queen, a giant version of the tiny parasites aboard the ship. The Parasite Queen is defeated and falls into the ship's reactor core, initiating the destruction of the ship. While Samus is escaping from the frigate, she encounters a cybernetic version of Ridley called Meta Ridley, who also escapes. During her escape, an explosion damages Samus' suit, causing some of her abilities to malfunction. Samus escapes the frigate and chases Ridley in her gunship towards the nearby planet Tallon IV.

After landing in the Tallon Overworld, Samus explores nearby areas of Tallon IV and discovers ruins of an ancient Chozo settlement. As she explores the ruins, she learns that the Chozo on the planet had been killed off by the Phazon infesting the planet, which originated from a meteor that impacted on the planet many years ago. After regaining her lost abilities in the ruins, as well as defeating a mutated plant creature that was poisoning the local water supply, Samus finds her way to the Magmoor Caverns, a series of magma-filled tunnels, which are used by the Space Pirates as a source of geothermal power. Following the tunnels, Samus travels to the Phendrana Drifts, a cold, mountainous region which is home to another ancient Chozo ruin and a Space Pirate research laboratory used to study the Metroids. After obtaining new abilities, Samus explores the wreckage of the crashed Orpheon and then infiltrates the Phazon Mines, where she learns the outcome of the Phazon experimentation project, including the Metroid Prime, a creature that had come to Tallon IV with the meteor. Advancing deeper into the mines, Samus fights her way through the Phazon-enhanced Space Pirates and obtains the Phazon Suit after defeating the monstrous Omega Pirate.

At some point, Samus discovers the Artifact Temple that the Chozo built to contain the Metroid Prime and to stop the Phazon from spreading over the planet. To gain access to the meteor's Impact Crater, Samus must collect and unite the twelve Chozo artifacts. As Samus returns to the temple with the artifacts, Meta Ridley appears and attacks her. Samus defeats Ridley and enters the Impact Crater, where she finds the Metroid Prime. After she defeats it, the Metroid Prime absorbs Samus' Phazon Suit and explodes. Samus escapes the collapsing crater and leaves Tallon IV in her ship.

If the player completes the game with all of the items obtained, Metroid Prime reconstructs itself into a body resembling Samus.

Development

According to producer Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo did not develop a Metroid game for the Nintendo 64 as the company "couldn't come out with any concrete ideas". Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto said he could not imagine how the Nintendo 64 controller could be used to control Samus. Nintendo approached another company to make Metroid for Nintendo 64, but the offer was declined, supposedly because the developers thought they could not equal Super Metroid.

Metroid Prime was a collaboration between Nintendo EAD and R&D1 and the American company Retro Studios. Retro was created in 1998 by an alliance between Nintendo and Iguana Entertainment founder Jeff Spangenberg. The studio would create games for the forthcoming GameCube targeted at a mature demographic. After establishing its offices in Austin, Texas in 1999, Retro worked on four GameCube projects. When Miyamoto visited Retro in 2000, he suggested a new Metroid game after seeing their prototype first-person shooter engine. In 2000 and early 2001, four games in development at Retro were canceled, including an RPG, Raven Blade, leaving Prime the only game in development. During the last nine months of development, Retro's staff worked 80- to 100-hour weeks to reach Nintendo's deadline. According to senior artist James Dargie, it took them almost six months to do the first level that Nintendo approved, and then they had less than a year to do the rest of the game. Concept artist Android Jones, a lifelong fan of the series whose work included Samus's Varia Suit and most of the art in the Scan Visor, would sleep in the office and resume working when he woke up.

Nintendo created the music, Retro handled art and engineering, and both teams worked on the overall design. The Japanese crew, which included producers Miyamoto, Kensuke Tanabe, Kenji Miki, and designer and Metroid co-creator Sakamoto, communicated with Retro through e-mails, telephone conferences and personal gatherings. The game was planned to use a third-person perspective, but after Miyamoto intervened this was changed to first-person perspective and almost everything already developed was scrapped. The change was prompted by camera problems experienced by Rare, which was developing the Nintendo 64 game Jet Force Gemini. According to director Mark Pacini, Miyamoto believed that "shooting in third person was not very intuitive"; Pacini also said that exploration is easier using first-person. Pacini said that after picking that perspective, the crew decided not to make a traditional first-person shooter, instead they had to break down the stereotypes of what a first-person game is and make a fun Metroid game.

Pacini said that Retro tried to design the game so that the only difficult parts would be boss battles and players would not be afraid to explore because "the challenge of the game was finding your way around". Senior designer Mike Wikan said that the focus on exploration led the team to spend time making the platform jumping "approachable to the player", and to ensure the gameplay had "shooting [as] a very important, though secondary, consideration". Retro developed the storyline under the supervision of Yoshio Sakamoto, who verified that the ideas were consistent with the earlier games. The developers intended that Kraid, a boss from Metroid and Super Metroid, would appear in Metroid Prime, and designer Gene Kohler modeled and skinned him for that purpose, but he was cut for time reasons. The team considered implementing the Speed Booster power-up from Super Metroid but concluded it would not work well because of the first-person perspective and the limitations imposed by the scale of game's environment.

The first public appearance of the game was a ten-second video at Space World 2000. In November of the same year, Retro Studios confirmed its involvement with the game in the "job application" part of its website. In February 2001, the game was confirmed by Nintendo, which also announced that because of its emphasis on exploration and despite the first-person perspective, Metroid Prime would be a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter. The game was showcased at E3 2001 in May, with its title confirmed as Metroid Prime.

Audio
Kenji Yamamoto, assisted by Kouichi Kyuma, composed the music for Prime. The soundtrack contains arrangements of tracks from previous games in the series because Yamamoto wanted to satisfy old Metroid fans. The initial Tallon Overworld theme is a reinterpretation of Metroids Brinstar theme, the music heard in Magmoor Caverns is a new version of the music from Super Metroids Lower Norfair area, and the music heard during the fight with Meta Ridley is a fast-paced reimagining of the Ridley boss music first featured in Super Metroid—which has reappeared in most Metroid games since. Early in development, English electronic duo Autechre were reportedly asked by Retro Studios to compose the soundtrack, but were intercepted by Nintendo. Tommy Tallarico Studios initially provided sound effects, but Miyamoto deemed them not good enough for an extended presentation at Space World 2001. The game supports Dolby Pro Logic II setups and can be played in surround sound. A soundtrack album, Metroid Prime & Fusion Original Soundtracks, was published by Scitron on June 18, 2003.

Release
Metroid Prime was released for the GameCube in North America on November 18, 2002. In 2003, the game arrived in Japan on February 28, and Europe on March 21. In 2004, Nintendo released a Metroid Prime GameCube bundle, including a second disc featuring a trailer and a demo for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, a timeline of Metroid games, and an art gallery.

Metroid Prime was re-released in Japan in 2009 for the Wii as part of the New Play Control! series. It has improved controls that use the Wii Remote's pointing functionality, bonus content and the ability to take screenshots of gameplay. In other countries, this version was released in the Wii compilation Metroid Prime: Trilogy. The compilation became available for download from the Wii U's Nintendo eShop in January 2015.

Metroid Prime Remastered
In a Nintendo Direct presentation on February 8, 2023, Nintendo announced Metroid Prime Remastered, a high-definition remaster for the Nintendo Switch. It was released digitally later that day, with a physical release on February 22 in North America and March 3 in Europe and Japan. The remaster was developed by Retro Studios with assistance from developers including Iron Galaxy Studios. It features new visuals, updated control schemes (including an option for dual-stick controls) and unlockable art.

Metroid Prime Remastered was acclaimed. Samuel Claiborn of IGN described it as "a perfect example of how to both honor a lauded classic and bring it up to code". It was criticized for not crediting the developers of previous versions of Metroid Prime by name, instead crediting them as "original Nintendo GameCube and Wii version development staff". As of March 2023, Metroid Prime Remastered had sold 1.09 million copies.

Reception
Metroid Prime became one of the best-selling games on the GameCube. It was the second-best-selling game of November 2002 in North America, behind Grand Theft Auto: Vice City; 250,000 units were sold in the first week of its release. As of July 2006, the game had sold more than 1.49 million copies in the U.S. alone, and had earned more than US$50 million. It was also the eighth-bestselling GameCube game in Australia. More than 78,000 copies were sold in Japan, and Nintendo added the game to its Player's Choice line in the PAL region. It sold 2.84 million copies worldwide and was the best-selling Metroid game until Metroid Dread (2021).

Metroid Prime received "universal acclaim", according to Metacritic. Electronic Gaming Monthly awarded it a perfect score. It won numerous Game of the Year awards and was praised for its detailed graphics, special effects, varied environments, moody soundtrack and sound effects, level design, immersive atmosphere and innovative gameplay centered on exploration in contrast with action games such as Halo, while staying faithful to the Metroid formula. Criticisms included the unusual control scheme, lack of focus on the story, and repetitive backtracking. Game Informer considered the control scheme awkward, Entertainment Weekly compared the game to a "1990s arcade game, filled with over the top battle sequences, spectacular visual effects—and a pretty weak plot", and GamePro wrote that inexperienced players "might find it exhausting to keep revisiting the same old places over and over and over". In 2004, the video game countdown show Filter said Metroid Prime had the best graphics of all time.

During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences awarded Metroid Prime with "Console First-Person Action Game of the Year"; it also received nominations for "Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", "Outstanding Innovation in Console Gaming", and outstanding achievement in "Art Direction", "Game Design", "Gameplay Engineering", "Original Music Composition", "Sound Design", and "Visual Engineering". It was the most nominated game at the awards ceremony.

Metroid Prime appeared on several lists of best games; it was ranked 23rd in IGNs Top 100, 29th in a 100-game list chosen by GameFAQs users, 18th in Official Nintendo Magazines 2009 list of greatest Nintendo games and 10th in Nintendo Power's "Top 200 Nintendo Games Ever". IGN named Metroid Prime the best GameCube game, while GameSpy ranked it third in a similar list, behind The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Resident Evil 4. Nintendo Power also ranked Metroid Prime as the sixth-best game of the 2000s. Wired ranked the game 10th in its list of "The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade" for popularizing "exploration, puzzle-solving, platforming and story" among first-person shooters, saying that the game was "breaking the genre free from the clutches of Doom". Wired's writer continued that Metroid Prime took a massive stride forward for first-person games. Metroid Prime also became popular among players for speedrunning; specialized communities were formed to share these speed runs.

Legacy
Metroid Prime was followed by Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (2004) on the GameCube and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (2007) on the Wii. The first two games were re-released on Wii as part of the New Play Control! series in Japan, and as part of the Wii compilation Metroid Prime: Trilogy (2009). A pinball game, Metroid Prime Pinball (2005), and the action spin-offs Metroid Prime Hunters (2006) were released for the handheld Nintendo DS console, and Metroid Prime: Federation Force (2016) for the Nintendo 3DS. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is planned for release in 2025 for the Nintendo Switch.

Characters and stages from Metroid Prime have frequently appeared in other Nintendo games such as the Super Smash Bros series, in which the Frigate Orpheon is a playable stage, with the Parasite Queen in the background and music from Metroid Prime. Metroid Prime's gameplay and HUD have influenced other first-person shooters such as Geist and Star Wars: Republic Commando. A demo of a 2D fangame version of Metroid Prime was released in April 2021. The development was forced to end by that August.

title: Metroid Prime