Topic: Metroid Other M

[King of Twitch]

The controller would've been a blast to use, but Other M with N64 graphics sound? Meh.

I did find it interesting, though, how he criticized the N64 controller.  I've occasionally read about Miyamoto and Sakamoto not being fond of each other, and the N64 controller was created for a Miyamoto game, so this does seem to back that up.

It sounds more like Nintendo laziness than criticism of the controller:

"When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around"

Hey guy, I think you could've used the analogue stick.....or the d-pad.

[MegaByte]

Well, this was the guy who thought 3D still couldn't work until Team Ninja showed him a way.

[Chozo Ghost]

http://www.n-europe.com/news.php?nid=14325
 
http://www.gamestm.co.uk/interviews/yoshio-sakamoto-discusses-metroid-64-metroid-dread-and-the-unwritten-future-of-the-warioware-series/
 

I was actually thinking about the possibility of making a Metroid game for N64 but I felt that I shouldn’t be the one making the game. When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around. So for me it was just too early to personally make a 3D Metroid at that time. Also, I know this is isn’t a direct answer to your question but Nintendo at that time approached another company and asked them if they would make an N64 version of Metroid and their response was that no, they could not. They turned it down, saying that unfortunately they didn’t have the confidence to create an N64 Metroid game that could compare favourably with Super Metroid. That’s something I take as a complement to what we achieved with Super Metroid.

They mention Metroid Dread as well.

What a shock: Sakamoto "modestly" saying that one of the main reasons they didn't make an N64 Metroid was because they didn't think they could make a better Metroid than what he had made.   
 
Can we please get this guy off of Metroid?

It seems like this guy is to the Metroid franchise what Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were to the Star Trek franchise. Gunpei Yokoi was the equivalent of Gene Roddenberry. It was a dark day for both respective franchises when those men died and usurpers took over and steered them into ruin.

[Halbred]

I'm hoping that the game's poor critical reception, particularly regarding the story and characterizations, will motivate Nintendo to take the franchise away from Sakamoto.

[Mop it up]

It sounds more like Nintendo laziness than criticism of the controller:

"When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around"

Hey guy, I think you could've used the analogue stick.....or the d-pad.

It's funny, but I think the Nintendo 64 controller could have worked well for Metroid Other M. You would use the D-pad to move and dodge, the A button to jump, the B button to shoot, and either C, L, or R for morph ball. To switch to first-person, you would move your hand to the middle prong and hold in the Z button, then use the analogue stick to move the cursor. In this mode, since you can't reach the D-pad, the C-buttons would be used to dodge. This seems like it could work rather well.

[TJ Spyke]

http://www.n-europe.com/news.php?nid=14325
 
http://www.gamestm.co.uk/interviews/yoshio-sakamoto-discusses-metroid-64-metroid-dread-and-the-unwritten-future-of-the-warioware-series/
 

I was actually thinking about the possibility of making a Metroid game for N64 but I felt that I shouldn’t be the one making the game. When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around. So for me it was just too early to personally make a 3D Metroid at that time. Also, I know this is isn’t a direct answer to your question but Nintendo at that time approached another company and asked them if they would make an N64 version of Metroid and their response was that no, they could not. They turned it down, saying that unfortunately they didn’t have the confidence to create an N64 Metroid game that could compare favourably with Super Metroid. That’s something I take as a complement to what we achieved with Super Metroid.

They mention Metroid Dread as well.

What a shock: Sakamoto "modestly" saying that one of the main reasons they didn't make an N64 Metroid was because they didn't think they could make a better Metroid than what he had made.   
 
Can we please get this guy off of Metroid?

It seems like this guy is to the Metroid franchise what Rick Berman and Brannon Braga were to the Star Trek franchise. Gunpei Yokoi was the equivalent of Gene Roddenberry. It was a dark day for both respective franchises when those men died and usurpers took over and steered them into ruin.

I couldn't disagree more. For one, everyone who actually knew Roddenberry say he would have been been happy and proud of DS9 and VOY, and ENT went back to the series roots. DS9, which started production after he died, is arguably the best Trek series. They have also improved on some stuff. For example, when asked about a canon reason for TOS era Klingons looking so radically different from the ones that made their debut in the movies (the actual reason is because makeup in the 60s was too expensive to have the look they eventually got), Roddenberry said to just pretend they did have ridges. They acknowledged the differences when the USS Defiant went back in time in the DS9 episode "Trials and Tribble-ations", and finally explained in canon the reason in the episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence" (basically, Klingons tried to use human Augment DNA to create Klingon Augments, but it mutated with the flu that a test subject had and became airborne. It worked at first, but then would kill the subject, eventually Dr. Phlox created a cure that would stop in the early phases, but the first phase cause Klingon's ridges to disappear and their personality to change. Since the augment gene changed their DNA, it was heridtary and Phlox said it would take about 150 years for it to go away). If anything, I think Trek got better after he died (not that he had been involved that much in the last few years due to his health).

[NWR_insanolord]

TNG got better when Roddenberry got less involved with it.

[MegaByte]

finally explained in canon the reason in the episodes "Affliction" and "Divergence" (basically, Klingons tried to use human Augment DNA to create Klingon Augments, but it mutated with the flu that a test subject had and became airborne. It worked at first, but then would kill the subject, eventually Dr. Phlox created a cure that would stop in the early phases, but the first phase cause Klingon's ridges to disappear and their personality to change. Since the augment gene changed their DNA, it was heridtary and Phlox said it would take about 150 years for it to go away). If anything, I think Trek got better after he died (not that he had been involved that much in the last few years due to his health).

I'd credit those stories (the especially good final season of Enterprise) to the Reeves-Stevenses, who also had to come up with a lot of creative ways to combine book and movie discrepancies when writing Kirk back into the series of books they co-wrote with William Shatner.

[TJ Spyke]

The first two seasons of TNG were pretty terrible IMO (season 1 especially). The show really kicked into gear in season 4. But maybe this can continue in a separate topic.

I wonder how Nintendo will react if Other M fails to sell as well as past games, will they allow Sakamoto to do another? If they let him do another, will they force him to fix the complaints that basically everyone has?

[NWR_insanolord]

I stand by my prediction that this is the last console Metroid we're going to see for a while.

[Mop it up]

That seems likely. There's no way another will be on the Wii, Retro wants to move onto other things, Metroid usually comes at the midpoint of a console cycle, Other M kind of felt like a wrap-up, I don't know of any interested developers, etc. It's probably going to be a while.

[Chozo Ghost]

I stand by my prediction that this is the last console Metroid we're going to see for a while.

Well, it depends a lot on the sales figures, but we won't know that until a month from now when the sales chart for September gets released. If it sells great then a sequel is assured at some point.. then again, even if it sells poorly that won't kill the franchise off. Frankly, it may be better if it does sell poorly so that the next time around this game's failings are addressed... not that its a terrible game by any means, but it does have room for improvement and poor sales would give it the kick in the pants it probably needs.

That seems likely. There's no way another will be on the Wii, Retro wants to move onto other things, Metroid usually comes at the midpoint of a console cycle, Other M kind of felt like a wrap-up, I don't know of any interested developers, etc. It's probably going to be a while.

Well, its possible another Metroid game is in development as we speak. As soon as a studio wraps up development of one game they immediately begin development on another game. Of course, we don't hear anything but rumors about what studios are working on until they are well into development, so for all we know another Metroid game is in the early stages as we speak, but it might be a year or two before we hear anything.

Of course, by then the game would probably make more sense to be released on Nintendo's next console... so even then Other M might be the last Metroid we see on the Wii console, and of course that makes sense because that is in line with how Nintendo has operated in the past with Metroid on the GC which only had two games, and also with the Zelda franchise which had two per console since the NES days. The GC had Prime 1&2, the Wii has Prime 3 and Other M.

[Sundoulos]

I stand by my prediction that this is the last console Metroid we're going to see for a while.

I'd tend to agree, but, then, I thought Prime 3 would be the last one after it was sort of unceremoniously released.  Not much buzz in the months leading up to release, not much in the way of advertisement except for that dumb airport commercial, etc...   

I think the next entry will probably be on the 3DS; I just hope it's not in the form of a remake of Prime or Other M.  I'd have to admit that Prime would probably work very well as a 3D game, though.

[Chozo Ghost]

If you think about it, Other M would have worked just as well on the DS as on the Wii. The pixel hunting and missile locking could have been done just as well (perhaps even better) with the touchscreen and stylus, and the fact Other M didn't even use an analog stick anyway meant that it wouldn't have been missing anything had it been on the DS. Plus its not like Other M really pushed the limits of what the Wii is graphically capable of anyway, so it may as well have just been a DS title. Granted, the graphics wouldn't have been as good, but they would have been adequate.

I suppose that is something for Nintendo to consider if they are thinking about a sequel to Other M. Really, why couldn't it have been done on the DS?

[Mop it up]

This is something I meant to ask earlier: Do we have any people playing this game who prefers to hold the Wiimote in their left hand?

That's what I like to do, but I found that, given how the sideways Wiimote demands using the D-pad with my left hand, it is awkward to flip it into my left hand quickly. It didn't take too long to get accustomed to switching it into my right hand, but it still isn't my preferred method. A left-handed option would have been nice.

[Sundoulos]

I don't, but I've heard other people say the same thing.   

[BwrJim!]

hmm, left handed playing with this game.    let me do some experiments..

.. after test...
  Okay, so if your left handed and have the nature to keep the wiimote in the left when you break apart, yes.. the controls break..  and i though this controller was supposed to eliminate the need for rightys and leftys.   next time nin, just put to ir sensors in (if you even use that again) the bottom too. 

so mop, when you play First Person Shooter (cant write fps, it stands for another more greater value) do you hold the nunchuck in the right?   I found, while playing these type of games, I end up crossing my wrist in order to maintain lastability (who really only games in small sessions?) and stability, but after i do this, the pointer is on my left even though its in my right hand.   i wonder what it would be like to just switch..

hmmmm

oh btw,

Metroid other M..  really fun game when its all laid out on the table.  I am enjoying this game, it is fun and while a little unknown at first as far as the metroid game feel is concerned, it grows into its own.   I suggest though, that everyone play the game with headphones.   

[MegaByte]

That's what I like to do, but I found that, given how the sideways Wiimote demands using the D-pad with my left hand, it is awkward to flip it into my left hand quickly. It didn't take too long to get accustomed to switching it into my right hand, but it still isn't my preferred method. A left-handed option would have been nice.

Seems like it would actually be easier to use your left hand -- just pivot on the D-pad, using your right hand as the lever... you could even keep your right hand on the buttons ready to switch again.  When playing right-handed, you have to reposition your whole right hand.

[Armak88]

I just picked this game up and I've played up until sector 2... There are some serious flaws in this game. They are impressively bad. I can suffer through the agonizingly bad cut scenes, but when I get trapped in first person view and have to find something that the game gives me nearly no indication at all as to what it might be I get seriously frustrated. At least two times I've been stuck at one of these parts for 5-10 minutes. Even if you see something that looks suspicious the icon doesn't always come up unless you are in just the right spot. At the end of the biosphere there are several of these forced first person parts interspersed among the almost as annoying over the shoulder parts. I thought I was looking for something during the over the shoulder parts, but no, you just have to walk down a long hallway really slowly. Why couldn't it have put me in over the shoulder view once it got me into the room where it actually wanted me to see something? Far and away the best thing about the game is the combat,  but it has more or less come down to dodge, shoot, jump on head, shoot, melee attack, rinse repeat. If you want you could cut most of that out and just dodge and shoot over and over, but if you're not going for style points it would be boring. I'm not having a terrible time with this game, I actually look forward to playing it, but there are glaring flaws in the design of this game.

[gbuell]

The pixel hunting is really crappy but I really don't think it happens often enough to have a major impact on my opinion of the game.

[Armak88]

I guess I was just at a point in the game where it had happened 3 times in an hour, and as I said 2 of those time took me ten minutes to find something that I had been looking at the whole time. In my opinion those sections shouldn't be in the game at all. The game feels an awful lot like the very limited amount of ninja gaiden that I've played and I'm not crazy about that. It just feels like it's all flash.

[gbuell]

The only pixel hunting portion that really stumped me was when I had to look at the green blood following the proto-Ridley attack. I had to go online to look up the answer. That was the worst.

[Chozo Ghost]

I actually was able to get the green blood one. The one I had the most trouble with was the very first one where you have to find the tiny emblem on the federation ship. The trick to solving those puzzles is to look for something that just doesn't belong and then focus on that. Other times you will hear strange sounds like rustling of leaves and you need to use that as a clue for what to look for. If leaves are rustling then obviously what you're looking for has something to do with leaves. It reminds me a lot of a CSI video game, where you investigate crime scenes and collect evidence. Since I have experience with that sort of game that's probably what helped me get through those pixel hunts.

But yes, this is the sort of stuff that doesn't belong in a Metroid game. Other M messes too much with the classic Metroid formula, and I for one am not happy with that.. still the action and combat is pretty good. As far as Metroid games go, I guess I would rate this one a C. In my book Super Metroid would get an A and the Prime games would get a B, so Other M isn't as good as Prime, but I wouldn't give it a failing grade. Its still as good or better than 90% of games out there, but it fails to meet the quality standards set by other games in the Metroid series.

[gbuell]

At least it's better than Hunters.

[Halbred]

Metroid Prime: Hunters is a Metroid game in name only.