Proto:Metroid Prime Hunters

The demo version of Metroid Prime Hunters, with the subtitle First Hunt, was released by Nintendo in 2004 as a pack-in bonus with the original Nintendo DS. It has a great many things which were removed from the final, such as an entire control scheme!

Weapons
While the weapons are the same, the way they are used is not: for one thing, the Power Beam and Missiles share a single ammo pool, which results in a much slower beam should the ammo run out.

In addition, the Volt Driver is called the Electro Lob and can only be found in a single multiplayer map. The only difference is that it is green in the demo and yellow in the final.

Touch Shoot Mode
A basic control type for Samus, with a Touch Shoot Mirror Mode for left-handed players. The Top Screen and Touch Screen show the map and gameplay, respectively.

Samus is moved with the D-Pad. L jumps, while X, Y, and A change between the Power Beam, Missiles, and Electro Lob. B toggles the Morph Ball.

Tapping the Touch Screen will shoot the equipped weapon at the location the player tapped, which makes it easier to shoot enemies. However, in order to move the camera, you have to touch the Touch Screen and move the stylus around on it; this, along with it being somewhat clumsy to use the stylus and A-B-X-Y, is probably why the control scheme was left out of the final.

Cutscene
e2N1SXoVOp8 After completing every mode in the demo, a cutscene plays with some possible early design silhouettes for the antagonists. The URL displayed at the end. now redirects to Nintendo of America's website rather than displaying the official website like it used to.

Title Screen
In the US version, the word "METROID" in front of an insignia is colored in red, whereas the outline for the word "HUNTERS" is colored white. The colors were swapped in the European version, with "METROID" in white and "HUNTERS" in a red outline. The copyright date was also amended.

Main Menu
The text strings "ARM CANNON" and "VISOR: sight-enhancing apparatus_" were removed from the European verison.

Multiplayer Menu
The text "Connecting to database..." was also removed from the European version.

Name Entry
Several changes were made for the European version: "Del" was changed to an arrow pointing left, while the three buttons marked as "Upper", "Lower" and "Char." were changed to "ABC", "abc", and "123".

Text Box
The text box was widened for the European version to allow for the somewhat wordier translations of this string used in non-English languages.