Metroid Musing: Should Metroid Prime 4 Do Away With “Missable” Scans?

One of the joys in each entry of the Metroid Prime trilogy is using your Scan Visor to acquire information about the game’s world, enemies, environments, and more. The amount of detail packed in each game is seemingly endless, and the Scan Visor is the perfect tool to reveal the trilogy’s story in a very “Metroid” way.

Still, as great as using the Scan Visor can be, one of the downfalls in this aspect of any Metroid Prime game is the amount of limited-time or “missable” scans there are in a playthrough.

We’ve all been there before; desperately looking for that last enemy scan to get your logbook up to 100%, only to realize you missed Flaahgra’s tentacle and are now unable to achieve full completion (good thing we have a guide for that!). While the missable scans encourage players to replay the game more, they can also act as a point of frustration.

On the other hand, for certain enemies like major bosses who only make a single appearance in the game, how would you handle scans for those enemies not being limited? How would you be able to get the scan for a boss that you’ve already defeated if you haven’t gotten it already? Of course, later games like Remastered do have a bit of a solution by allowing you to play through on the same file to acquire missed items and scans. But is it a good enough solution?

Assuming Metroid Prime 4 brings back the trusty Scan Visor – and does anybody really think it won’t? – should that game do away with missable scans? Or should it keep them as a nice challenge? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Andy Spiteri

Andy Spiteri is the Webmaster of Omega Metroid and Host of the Omega Metroid Podcast, The Zelda Cast, and Virtual Theater. Probably drinking a Tim Horton’s Double Double as you read this.