Metroid Prime 2: Echoes - Development

Development

After the critical and commercial success of Metroid Prime, Nintendo asked Retro Studios to produce a sequel. The developers decided against recycling the features of the first game, and instead used new sound models, weapon effects, and art designs. They also implemented the Screw Attack and wall jumping features seen in previous Metroid games, which were not incorporated in the first Prime due to time constraints. Another element considered for the previous game was the multiplayer component. Since the game was a first-person adventure and its deathmatch mode could not easily replicate other shooters in the market, Retro just tried to "make a multiplayer experience that fans of Metroid games would instantly know and recognise".

The staff opted for a more immersive storyline, with increased use of cut scenes and a plot that focused less on the Space Pirates and Metroids that permeate the rest of the series. Retro decided that the game would follow a theme of light and dark, which originated from "something that everyone understands: the conflict between good and evil". Mike Wikan, the game's senior designer, elaborated on the theme: "We wanted a push and pull, the whole game is pushing and pulling you back and forth between the dark and the light. It ended up being that we wanted something that would feed into that dichotomy, that conflict between the two, and how the player's basic abilities reflect that." The developers asked the producers of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, another Nintendo game, for advice because the game also used the theme of parallel worlds.

In developing Dark Samus, Retro wanted to create a character that was similar to Samus and be the same size, as opposed to the enormous monsters of Metroid Prime. One of the inspirations for the character was a boss battle in Metroid: Zero Mission, where Samus fights a mirror image of herself. The developers considered Dark Samus a "natural choice" for the game because it fit in well with the "dramatic feel of dark and light".

Retro decided to make the game more challenging than Metroid Prime—which was supposed to familiarize players with the control scheme—and felt that "with the second Prime, we had the ability or the freedom" to do so. They wanted Echoes to be focused towards a hardcore audience by making the player "always worried about his health", so more mini-bosses were added to provide unique boss fights. After the game's release, the developers admitted that it was more difficult to develop than they first imagined, and Michael Kelbaugh, Retro Studios' president, commented: "We wanted to expand and add to the title, and not just slam out a sequel. Nintendo doesn't do things that way." Retro tried to include some extras, such as a hidden version of Super Metroid, but were halted by the short development time. Producer Kensuke Tanabe later revealed that the game was just about thirty percent complete three months before the strict deadline Nintendo had set for a release in the 2004 holiday season.

The music for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes was composed by Kenji Yamamoto. The themes used for areas on Dark Aether are dark variations of the themes used for the same areas on Light Aether. Some remixes of music from the previous Metroid games were also used, with the escape theme being a remix of Metroid's "Escape" theme, the "Hunters" multiplayer theme taking on Super Metroid's "Upper Brinstar" theme, and the theme for the underwater Torvus region, the "Lower Brinstar" theme from the same game.