Metroid Prime 2 - Part 1

Question for Metroid Prime fans: What are some qualities that make a Metroid Prime game a Metroid Prime game?

So with Metroid Prime 4 coming out soon, I decided to playthrough Prime 2 and 3 beforehand so I can better experience (and critique Prime 4).

I'm playing the Prime Hack version on the Steam Deck with some upgraded graphics and texture packs so I won't be commenting on graphics and controls and things of that nature. What I hope to do with these playthroughs is to distill the qualities that make a Metroid Prim game, and more broadly a Metroid game.

I meant to post this earlier this week, but for some of these modded games you basically need to know programming witchcraft to get them to work properly. Also out of all the Prime games I've played Prime 1 the most and most recently with the remaster so I've decided to skip that one.