Metroid Wii U: Prime Meets Other M

Zelda Informer tries to imagine how Metroid might work on Wii U. Should it carry on the popular legacy of Prime? Or should it try to improve upon the third-person elements of Other M?

[PopRocks359]

I say ditch Other M entirely and revisit it later. I know a lot of people liked it, but even more people hated it. So let Retro Studios do their thing with the franchise, or have Nintendo do some classic 2D stuff. Maybe in three or four years, revisit the Other M gameplay style.

But for the love of ALL that is decent in this universe; KEEP SAKAMOTO AWAY FROM THE SCRIPT.

[Gen0ne]

"Decent" and just. Might I add.

[ChickeyCantor]

" but even more people hated it"

That doesn't make it absolute.
Gameplay wise the game was solid. IMO.
Story-telling was flawed in some way. But it wasn't a bad game overall.

Whether Sakamoto is working on the script or not. Samus has always been intended as she was explained in other m.

People can hate it, but filling in the blanks yourself doesn't justify the "hate" that's spurred towards Sakamoto.

Gameplay-wise; it was a great addition to the original SUPER metroid. The only major downside was that it took the exact same "bottle ship" concept as they did in Fusion.

Yeah Samus "was" emo. But she pulled trough, kicked Ridley with the best aranged theme and blew up another spacestation!

[PopRocks359]

I'm gonna go on a long winded and very harsh rant on this one, so I'd like to start off by saying that you're completely entitled to your opinion and power to you for picking what you like/feel.

"Whether Sakamoto is working on the script or not. Samus has always been intended as she was explained in other m."

So she was to be weak, scared little kid at her fourth canonical confrontation with Ridley? I'm sorry, I call weak as hell writing on that one.

There are far more effective ways to convey emotion and vulnerability than the sexist tripe that Sakamoto put out. That Tomb Raider reboot they're making? I have no idea if the game will be good or bad, but the trailer they put out was more of what Other M should have been; a young female heroin put into a situation of great peril and has little change of survival and how she deals with it. Not daddy issues (for a grown woman, no less) and getting scared of an enemy she killed a handful of times already (without ANY problems I might add).

The concept of "Wah-wah Adam" (who was such a douchebag character by the way) and Samus freezing after seeing Ridley despite killing him at least THREE TIMES prior are completely shitty plot developments and just poor examples of writing quality that I downright refuse to accept as a Metroid fan.

The sooner they retcon the crap out of that horse shit, the better. Believe me, I'm not a hater; I'm a massive Metroid fan. Loved the games since Super Metroid. Other M looked so good as a concept, but the way they executed it, in my opinion, was downright despicable. Samus can and SHOULD have been more likeable. Instead she was needy, weak and boring just like about 90% of the rest of the cast.

You might be willing to accept this change for the franchise, but I see it as something that could pull it straight into the same obscurity that plagued the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise for almost a decade. I'm glad there's so much hatred toward it because it will hopefully entice Nintendo to seriously change the way they approach Metroid should they ever do something this story driven again.

And while I do agree, the gameplay was solid for the most part, it had its moments of suck. For example, I hate moving in a 3D space with a D-pad and for another, shifting how you hold the Wiimote to go into first person for missiles was downright obnoxious. The fact that shooting missiles is more intuitive in Metroid Prime says a thing or two about that functionality.

Anyway, sorry for the length of the rant (and the apparent frustration behind it) but those are pretty much my thoughts on the game. Again, all due respect to you and anyone else who likes or at least appreciates Other M.

[ChickeyCantor]

"So she was to be weak, scared little kid at her fourth canonical confrontation with Ridley? I'm sorry, I call weak as hell writing on that one. "

Her reaction to Ridley was simply the effect of her past. Sakamoto simply wanted to express what Ridley is to Samus. Also to those who aren't familiar with the franchise.

It's the very reason why she is such a mess. Ridley killed her parents.
Those Ridleys she fought were super enhanced "clones". This could have effected her PSTD.

Not a second later she pulled trough and kicked his ass. Didn't she? How is that weak?

" than the sexist tripe that Sakamoto put out. "

Sexist? What. People really need to drop that sh/t.
You didn't see a little child crying because she is a woman. You saw a little girl because that little girl is the effect of an event that traumatized her. The PAST still lingers within her.
Samus tells to the audience how her squad mates were always being coy with her because she is a female. Then continues to explain that Adam is coy with her because he knows the sh/t she has been trough. Not because she is a woman.

"a young female heroin put into a situation of great peril and has little change of survival and how she deals with it."

So how is Lara Croft comparable to Samus who has an awful past? What does Laras survival have anything to do with Samus being a human with feelings?

Strong and Independant doesn't mean the past can't be hard to swollow.

And Samus did deal with it. Yes she has daddy issues. But she clearly explains that she RESPECTS Adams authority because she is a third party on the mission. Samus only got the distress call from inside the bottle-ship. NOT from Adam. Originally she had no reason to be there in the first place.

" Samus freezing after seeing Ridley despite killing him at least THREE TIMES prior "
Sakamoto just expressing stuff.

"You might be willing to accept this change for the franchise, "

What change? The narrative? Yeah screw them for trying something different right?

No scratch that. Metroid Fusion wasn't any different. She kept talking about Adam constantly. Yet no one complaint.

My opinion on this matter got nothing to do with "accepting" a change. It's purely the fact that people dramatize this to such an end that it becomes idiotic.

" Instead she was needy, weak and boring"

Weak?
Ow you mean the fact she was under a mans command? A man who works for the federation, a federation that is ABOVE bounty hunters like Samus?
Seriously. The only weakness she had is the fact that she explains that her past brought her to be a mess. Always wanted to proof something.
Yeah so she is Emo(Batman?)? So what of it. If you read the manga that was published in the early 2000 the first 2 pages clearly show how she is crying on her own bed.

I do believe people missed the point on this game. Samus NEVER had any good backstory unless you read the manga.
This game was not to make Samus look weak. It was suppose to explain her past and how she overcomes every bit of it. Hell the narrative could be mediocre at best.
But in no way is it as dramatically bad as most try to put it.

Now it doesn't matter if people like it or not. But it seems like people really missed the focus on this game.
The whole sexist card is stupid. It's only sexist because you want it to be. Samus still fought like a machine. I didn't see Samus get degraded at all. The only thing that went downhill was JAPANESE story telling translated for the Western audience.

[PopRocks359]

Okay, so why didn't she show fear of Ridley the second, third, fourth or fifth time she confronted him after the fact? It wasn't until the sixth time that she freezes? And there's no explanation for it! I again call weak writing. There's no excuse for that piece of shit plot device.

Had the game been a prequel to the first Metroid (which is what it SHOULD have been) and went along with these half-assed concepts for Samus' character, then it would be far more believable because she is younger, less sure of herself and less independent. By now it's the opposite and Sakamoto's vision for this game did not make sense at all from a mature standpoint. No self-respecting human being in Samus' position would have done anything she did in that game.

I'm expected to believe that that whiny little crybaby blew up countless monsters, aliens and space pirate bases? No way in hell. Also her getting scared caused issues for the GFED soldiers in the game helping her. So it put her stupid ass as well as others in danger. I'm not saying she can't be scared, but the fact that she froze up at all was just downright out of character.

It's incredibly sexist. Adam is a demanding, douchey and ABUSIVE commander. He fucking shoots her and somehow Samus still thinks HE'S the good guy! No again. I've seen more acceptable drama come from excerpts of the Twilight books.

Yeah? So what? Samus was how old when all of that shit happened? Hard to swallow or not, she's been trained to be able to defend herself. If she's going to freak out then 1. it would be off the battlefield and 2. it would be in isolation from other people. That's a key thing there; isolation. Something dreadfully lacking in Other M.

Okay, I've been playing Metroid Fusion on my 3DS as of late and the bits about Adam are far and few in between, so that point is completely moot. Not to mention so far Samus has just said that the AI is like Adam in voice and commands. It also helps that the computer isn't a fucking douchebag who activates your equipment AFTER you could have used it (Varia suit much?). Also there was no shit voice acting. And yes, I wanted voice acting. That was good. Like in Metroid Prime 3.

Why the bloody hell would Samus want to prove something when she saved the galaxy about SIX TIMES prior? I think she's proven herself more than plenty at that point.

That's just it; the narrative was extremely mediocre IMO. The way they conveyed it made next to know sense! Why is it that only a minority of fans are not watching these cutscenes and going "What the fuck is going on? Why are these characters so stupid?"

It chalks up to bad writing overall and I see very little that anyone can do to convince me otherwise. If they can't get the fans to understand the story they wanted to tell, then they clearly did something very wrong, and the backlash and lackluster sales show it.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex has a very strong lead female character who is also put into perilous situations. And it's written by a Japanese writer. And it was translated very well into English. I fail to see how translation is the issue and not the actual writing or story itself.

[fossilfern]

The hate for other M is unbelievable, some people rate it worse than Prime Hunters! And that game was rubbish! I think Other M would be more suited to the 3DS but as it was the game was fantastic! Yes there were issues that did stick out but I personally wouldnt mind seeing this style of metroid game on a handheld.

The moment I saw the WiiU the first thing I thought of was Metroid in HD! Metroid would benefit greatly from processor power, just imagine the sick and twisted world they could create for Metroid on the WiiU! I cant wait.

[PopRocks359]

I disagree. Prime Hunters actually controlled well (it just made your hand hurt). Other M had some shoddy controls and a completely awful story to boot. Whether or not it's a truly "bad" game is irrelevant. In the eyes of many fans, it did not not hold up even closely to the standards of the average Metroid game.

EDIT: @fossilfern

I hear you. To each their own, you know? I see it the other way because I thought Other M was just that bad. XD Believe me, I'm aware of the problems in Hunters. There's far less exploration for example and the design is finnicky. That said, the online multiplayer was quite good and I wish they had expanded on it with a console based sequel of some sort.

[fossilfern]

@ Poprocks359. Im not saying OtherM had no problems but for me personally being a huge Metroid fan and playing the games for 17 years now and having had every single Metroid Game from Super Metroid + getting the two Previous games, Metroid and Metroid 2 not long after getting Super Metroid back in the day, Other M stands above Hunters.

But we could argue this forever I just felt that the game isnt as bad as everyone makes it out to be just because Samus has been inject with more personality that we never really seen before, I finished Hunters once and never went back to it I just remember it being a stripped down game.

[Rrobba]

Leave it to Retro. They'll make Metroid work great without the need to borrow ideas from previous games in the series.

Can't wait for the potential of a Metroid Wii U, though!

[Gen0ne]

Yup, best way to do it is: take everything from Metroid Prime and NOTHING from Other M, mix neither of them together and you'll have a great Metroid game. Team Ninja and Sakamoto... you guys can sit this one out. See how its done.

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

What I would want done differently with the Metroid-

1) For once augment the Puzzle world element and use it more in a Splinter Cell fashion. Like instead or roaming through a dead city. You have to find a way in to complex (inside of a inhabited metropolis). Sneak, cunning, and blast you way through (Zero and Suit).

2) I want experience the Space culture. I would like to see what a Big inhabited city in Metroid-verse runs like.

3)I would like (for once) some villians I could understand.

4) And Dialouge Trees to get information or intelligence.

5) Bring back the hack ability from Prime 2 multiplayer.

I loved the original and the 2-D's; Loved the Primes- I liked Other M - But I just want a little change, (not as much as Obama) but a little.

[Titanz]

Too Linear
Accused of sexism
Lack of exploration
Limited controlled experience

Other M had everything the so called, "hardcore" wanted in a game (FMVs with voice overs, impressively detailed visuals). It slowly reached the million mark, so the gamble paid off for Nintendo.

[CaptainN]

*May contain spoilers*

Other M was not a bad story at all. Too many people criticize it because they had Smaus show emotions. They have always seen her as this silent warrior.....but never actually looked at her as a human woman. Is she not allowed to have emotions because she is a Galactic Bounty Hunter? And its not like Samus showing emotions is new. Did she not show a motherly instinct when the baby hatched and she spaired its life in Metroid 2? Did she also not show emotion at the death of the Baby in Metroid 3? In Metroid Fusion she is constantly thinking back to times working under Adam.

So now because she showed fear and shock with the re-appearance of Ridley, this became bad thing? Is it because she had flashbacks of her childhood when Ridley murdered her parents in front of her that's the problem? Wouldnt any human have fear and shock if they saw their parents killer in front of them, especially since you thought you destroyed them on previous encounters only for him to re-appear out of nowhere. Yea she fought Ridley a few times prior in other previous missions, but we also weren't able to see her reactions in those appearances. She was also alone in those mission where she was able to contain her emotions.

In this game, her emotions are brought out as soon as it starts. Seeing Adam and the rest of her old buddies brings her emotions out. She follows Adams orders out of respect, not only because he was her former leader, but because he was like a father figure and best friend. She tells how she left because of a decision he made that she didn't agree with. That was her emotions getting in the way of what was a logical decision made by Adam to protect his ship even at the cost of losing his own brother in the process.

[CaptainN]

As for her not being allowed to use all her weapons from the start and having to follow when Adam said to use them, this was done to change up how to limit Samus from the begining. All Metroid games strip Samus of her powers in the begining. This was that way of "stripping" her while keeping the "follow the leader structure in place". People say Adam was messed up and treated her badly etc.....hello, he is a military leader. Have you ever seen military leaders who aren't strict and hard on their soldiers. It pushes them to work harder. And it teaches them discipline and respect. And that was what Samus had a hard time with learning as a young woman. The point was Adam should not change, Samus should. She had to be taught to grow up,and not let her emotions get in the way of the mission.

Even in the end when Adam takes the "Ice Metroids" off the station, she is fighting his decision because of her emotions. In his last effort, he was trying to teach her that the mission comes first. He even tells her, he's not a Galactic Hero, she is. He tells her he can't save the world but he can save her. That's what a "father" would do for his kid. A parent may be strict and hard on their kid, but they would also sacrifice themselves to protect their "kid"!!

People judged this game way to hard and really didn't look at the bigger picture. Every hero has their weaknesses. Just because she doesn't always start crying before battle doesn't mean she isn't always afraid. Just because she frooze up in one fight doesn't mean she isn't a bad a$$......did she still not mess Ridley up in that fight? This game shown that when Samus put her emotions first, bad things happen. Be it in the Ridley fight or fighting with Adam and eventually leaving the Galactic Federation.

Even in the secret ending she goes back to get Adams helmet....out of respect for everything he taught her and did for her. Fans seem to forget that she is a young female and expect her to be like a robot with no emotions whatsoever. This game was made for one reason...character development. People wanted to know why she works alone, why she is usually quiet,why Ridley is her main nemesis. This game helps explain all that. Maybe people should take the message from the game and not put their emotions first. Enjoy the game for what it was.

[Devinchi33]

I agree with most of what you're saying here. I'm fine with Samus being upset about losing Adam, because she has very good reason to as you clearly pointed out. She is human after all.

My only complaint is her switching to crybaby mode when Ridley comes out. I get it, he killed her parents. However, given that this game takes place after Super Metroid, she should be mostly over it by now. I would understand why she would be terrified had it been her first or second encounter with him. But if I can recall from memory correctly, she has slain him 6 times prior to meeting him in Other M. Samus has put down hordes of Space Pirates, destroyed entire planets, and drove all Metroids to extinction, but she breaks down in fear at the sight of her nemesis despite 6 prior victories.

To put it simply, you can't blame Samus for having emotional attachments to other people; that's just being human. But at this point in the series, she should have no fear for any enemy thrown at her. At least, that's how I see it.