Same here. My MP2 is under the x-mas tree. Free, and it gives me time to finish Mario and Luigi.

I think Metroid Prime 2 is definitely a larger/longer game than the first overall. My second play of Metroid Prime I blazed through it in about 7-8 hours game time with 100% items (and scans?). I'm on my second run of Prime 2 and my clock reads 9 hours and I still have the third world boss to defeat and then the joy of finding those last few missile expansions I'm missing.

Yeah, in the new EGM the developers said the purposely designed it to make it longer and not make it possible to skip areas and what not. They didn't like that the challenge of the first game came in trying to get through it as fast as possible with as low a percentage as possible.

They wanted finishing with 100% to be the main goal for gamers.

I don't think that necessarily had a whole lot to do with it. My second run of the original Prime did not use any of the item or area skips. I think the point of the interview is that they purposely designed it so that it was less likely to be taken apart by taking advantage of any glitches that may be found. Unlike previous Metroid games, almost all of the "sequence breaking" in Metroid Prime is only accomplished by exposing glitches in the game system. As such, I've never been interested in it and just accepted that Prime was a fairly linear game.

While Prime 2 certainly follows the same linearity, it does put a much heavier emphasis on exploration and thinking. Each area requires you to find 3 keys to reach the boss, and usually there are multiple exploratory items acquired, some requiring you to go to the previous worlds to get the next item to open up a path in the current one. There was a degree of this in the first game, but it's much better integrated and much more apparent this time around. There's also more puzzle elements and MANY more bosses to fight. These are the element I personally feel attribute to Prime 2 being a larger game, and not Retro's tightening of the game's sequence.

Finally started on this last night. Put in about an hour and a half. Beat the first boss, and went a little further.

I'm loving it so far. Very atmopsheric and immersing just like the first one, with slightly better graphics and more interesting environments. Lots of neat story bits you can get by scanning things (seem more interesting that the stuff in the first one). I like that there's a few cutscenes here and there as well.

Can't wait to delve deeper into it. No time to play tonight tough.

My girlfriend got me this game for Christmas. After some frustration with parts, like getting killed by some random enemy a few rooms from where I just beat a boss, I made it off of Aether.

I think my final tally was 27:54 with 99% completion

Not sure where that last 1% is. I can't imagine what items could be left. After scanning all the enemies after the last save point, the only thing missing in my logbook was some Luminoth Lore

Excellent game though. Now I have to decide if I want to start on Hard Mode just yet.

I don't want it spoiled but how much better is the 90%+ ending then the regular ending? Im almost to 90% now. The regular ending was pretty short but it was funny.

I need to pull myself off of Maple Story at some point this weekend and hunt down the rest of the items on my second run. I think I'm at 90% and just got the Light Suit, it's time to turn the music down and listen for those last 10 items.

That was the first time I beat it, so I don't know what the ending you got was like to compare.

Puzznic,

According to one of the FAQs at GameFAQs, there are 3 endings. <75%, 75-99%, and 100%. So it sounds like you don't really have incentive to go for just 90%.

Finally started playing this the past few days. This game sometimes drives me nuts trying to find items and where to go next, but I love every minute of it! And I also love investigating the enviroment and past history by scanning stuff, it's a great storytelling device.

I got my 2 DVD Metroid in Motion fan set last night.

Help! I can't do the bomb jump thing! You know, that thing where you're supposed to stay in one spot, and just lay bombs at the right time to get to higher places...

I could do it in the original metroid, and super metroid, but I was never able to get it in the first Prime (and missed out on all sorts of stash), and now it looks like I'm starting to miss out on cool stuff again in Prime2, all because I can't do this stupid maneuver!

Can someone give me some pointers?

It's hard to help you over the internet as it's a certain rhythm to pushing the bomb button. Count 1-2-3-4 in your head or outloud.... on the 1st count, push the button, and on the 3rd count, you push it twice really fast. If you do it right, you should see a bomb planted in the air while a bomb is exploding underneath you. The bomb in the air explodes as you are in the air, pushing you up even higher. Maybe somebody else can explain it better. The rhythm has been ingrained in me since the days of the first Metroid. I remember trying to do it for the first time and it taking forever to master.

Lay the first bomb, then right before the bomb detonates, lay the second and third bombs. The second should be on the ground, and the third at the apex of your first jump.

1. Drop a bomb.
2. Wait and just before the bomb explodes, drop another bomb.
3. The first bomb will explode and you'll jump upwards. At the very top of your jump, drop a third bomb.

Watch this video over and over until you've got the timing memorized:
Bomb Jumping (from IGN's Metroid Prime guide)

wait...what's this?

Just finished the game at 98% DUH!!! I'll have to go back....Is it 100% items or 100% scans or both to get the 100% ending?

100% items, but 100% scans opens a new gallery I think.

A 2 DVD set featuring speed runs from every Metroid game, every commercial ever (US and Japan) for the series, trailers, secret world and glitch videos.. lots and lots of random stuff.

I can't believe how tough some of the boss battles are. Even if you know how to kill them, it still takes a long time, like 15-20 minutes. My fingers were killing me last night after the Dark <forgot the name> Bog Temple battle.

I finally dare to peak my head in here since I am at the final boss. With no real spoilers left. It is a tough one at that. I only died once at the I'll try again later.

Where did you get the DVD pixy?

tanman, a message concerning the final boss (you may already know):

What the heck? I tried saying yes just to make sure that they didn't do just that and really thought that it started at the last save, before the final boss. Hmm....Oh well, I'm pretty good at beating him now and I did figure out the "trick"

I just started playing this over the weekend. I don't remember the first one being as hard. The game is great, but I was getting kind of pissed on the first boss. Luckily it only took me a few tries. It could also be that I'm getting used to the controls again.