Topic: Metroid: Samus Returns Announced For 3DS

[Shaymin]

A reimagining of Metroid II.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/44815/metroid-samus-returns-announced-for-3ds

Metroid Prime 4 was not the day's only Metroid announcement.

Metroid: Samus Returns has been announced for 3DS on Treehouse Live. Pitched as a reimagining of Metroid II: Return of Samus, the game features new abilities such as melee counters and "Scan Pulse" plus a bottom-screen map.

In addition to working with the existing Metroid Amiibo from the Smash Bros series, two new Amiibo (Metroid II Samus and a "squishy" Metroid) will be available, with functionality to be announced. A special edition with a "Samus Archives" CD will also be available.

Samus Returns is being developed by MercurySteam, who pitched a Metroid concept to Nintendo in early 2015. The release date for the game is September 15.

[Mop it up]

While I'd rather a new game (who wouldn't?), Metroid II is the kind of game that could really benefit from a remake, so I'll probably still check this out.

[Khushrenada]

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

Wonder how long this has been in development. No wonder Nintendo was upset about the fan remake released last year.

At the same time, Zero Mission has set the bar for a Metroid remake. Hope this can live up to that standard.

[Kairon]

While I'd rather a new game (who wouldn't?), Metroid II is the kind of game that could really benefit from a remake, so I'll probably still check this out.

Yeah, I agree, I've always loved the different Metroid forms from Metroid II but been really hesitant to play it since it has a reputation for difficulty, and of course that tiny GB screen space.

[KeyBilly]

The AM2R remake is highly rated and free.

I feel sorry for MercurySteam.  Imagine pitching a new Metroid game and being told to make a remake of a game that was already being remade and near completion.  Still, Metroid II was so basic that they could take a lot of artistic license.  It may still be a great game with a lot to differentiate it.  From the trailer, it looks like they are pushing the combat more into the vania portion of Metroidvania.

[Stratos]

This looks fun, and the squishy Metroid amiibo looks awesome!

[nickmitch]

Now everyone can stop being mad about that fan-made Metroid II remake Nintendo shut down.

[Luigi Dude]

The gameplay from Treehouse looked awesome.  I love that Sakamoto is involved with the game since it'll be his way to finally say **** you to all the haters.  Now the Metroid fanbase can stop acting like the man personally murdered their families and embarrassing themselves more then they already have these last 7 years.

[Ian Sane]

With these new 3DS releases (not to be confused with New 3DS releases,  ) Nintendo is doing a great job of making me feel like I can wait a bit before making a Switch purchase.  That shouldn't matter in the long run since the Switch is selling great but if it was struggling like the Wii U this would steal the console Metroid's thunder and provide less incentive for a Nintendo console purchase.  Nintendo did that all the time with the Wii U and it's odd, though not unexpected, that they're still doing that.

What I find very odd is that the Switch should be able to function as a replacement for the 3DS.  So why is Nintendo still propping the 3DS up?  Shouldn't they want us to "switch" to the new system?  Again this shouldn't matter since the Switch is selling well but if it wasn't these new 3DS releases would be counter-intuitive if Nintendo had to do a hard sell to get us to buy a Switch.

I'm mostly excited about this, though the dev's track record isn't impressive enough for me to be completely confident.  I really wish this used 2D sprites.  This game's graphic design with the 3D models sadly is boring to me - like NSMB and A Link Between Worlds.

[Adrock]

While I like sprites in 2D games, 3D graphics inherently don't bother me; it's what a developer does with the graphics. Had Link Between Worlds (to use your example) employed Wind Waker's art style, it would have looked great (Tri-Force Heroes didn't quite commit to it). A better art style could have hid 3DS's limitations better. In any case, I trust MercurySteam. Mirror of Fate was baller.

3DS is showing its age and has been for years. The resolution is so low and the textures are so muddy. It's hard to go back to after playing Switch. As much as this scratches that Metroid itch, I'm really hoping for a Switch version. Fire Emblem Warriors is getting a 3DS and Switch release. Why not Zoidberg Metroid?

And if Switch wasn't selling well, I think the point is for these games to keep 3DS relevant enough to carry Nintendo until it figured out what to do.

[Joe Green]

The gameplay from Treehouse looked awesome.  I love that Sakamoto is involved with the game since it'll be his way to finally say **** you to all the haters.  Now the Metroid fanbase can stop acting like the man personally murdered their families and embarrassing themselves more then they already have these last 7 years.

I don't know who these haters are but you make them sound like they murdered your family.

Please seek help.

[Order.RSS]

What I find very odd is that the Switch should be able to function as a replacement for the 3DS.  So why is Nintendo still propping the 3DS up?  Shouldn't they want us to "switch" to the new system?  Again this shouldn't matter since the Switch is selling well but if it wasn't these new 3DS releases would be counter-intuitive if Nintendo had to do a hard sell to get us to buy a Switch.

Yeah I see what you mean. My guess would be that either these projects are too far in to cancel at this point, and/or that they weren't 100% sure Switch would be a slamdunk and they were hedging their bet by keeping 3DS alive another year or two... I'm still a little skeptical that Nintendo will move towards a single hardware line of Switch-related products. It makes sense since it allows them to focus all development on one system, but if the next one is a dud they'll be glad to have kept up a separate successful handheld division.

Sure you could resurrect a DS-esque line in case the Switch 2 flops, but having all those infrastructure & development teams already in place means a course correction is done much faster. Could see their future dedicated handhelds stepping away from premium components like dual screens, gyro, camera & 3D tech though. Have a much lower priced GBA-ish product line instead.

[Stratos]

What I find very odd is that the Switch should be able to function as a replacement for the 3DS.  So why is Nintendo still propping the 3DS up?  Shouldn't they want us to "switch" to the new system?  Again this shouldn't matter since the Switch is selling well but if it wasn't these new 3DS releases would be counter-intuitive if Nintendo had to do a hard sell to get us to buy a Switch.

Yeah I see what you mean. My guess would be that either these projects are too far in to cancel at this point, and/or that they weren't 100% sure Switch would be a slamdunk and they were hedging their bet by keeping 3DS alive another year or two.

This was proposed to Nintendo by the developer back in 2015, so I'm sure that production timeline is a large part of the the reason this is on 3DS.

[ejamer]

Ugh... Mixed feelings on this.


I don't like anything Mercury Steam has done, and the trailer looks very much like one of their games. This leaves me quite concerned.


But a (mostly) 2D Metroid is exactly what I want to be playing, and the recent fan remake of Metroid 2 - which I don't have proper equipment to play - was absolutely tantalizing to see screenshots and video from. With Nintendo overseeing development, surely this will exceed my low expectations?


I'm not making any judgement on Sakamoto. He's been involved in some good Metroid games, and some bad ones. Hopefully this falls into the first category.

[Adrock]

This was proposed to Nintendo by the developer back in 2015, so I'm sure that production timeline is a large part of the the reason this is on 3DS.

At the same time, Nintendo was developing Switch back in 2015. Metroid: Samus Returns could have easily been a Switch title.

I don't like anything Mercury Steam has done, and the trailer looks very much like one of their games. This leaves me quite concerned.

I feel the exact opposite way. MercurySteam's involvement gives me more confidence in this game.

I'm not making any judgement on Sakamoto. He's been involved in some good Metroid games, and some bad ones. Hopefully this falls into the first category.

Ehh, he made one bad one. Personally, Other M was merely bad for a Metroid game. Comparatively, it doesn't hold a candle to the other ones. Only the story was truly unredeemable. How hard could it have been for Sakamoto to ask a psychologist how PTSD actually is?

[ThePerm]

With these new 3DS releases (not to be confused with New 3DS releases,  ) Nintendo is doing a great job of making me feel like I can wait a bit before making a Switch purchase.  That shouldn't matter in the long run since the Switch is selling great but if it was struggling like the Wii U this would steal the console Metroid's thunder and provide less incentive for a Nintendo console purchase.  Nintendo did that all the time with the Wii U and it's odd, though not unexpected, that they're still doing that.

What I find very odd is that the Switch should be able to function as a replacement for the 3DS.  So why is Nintendo still propping the 3DS up?  Shouldn't they want us to "switch" to the new system?  Again this shouldn't matter since the Switch is selling well but if it wasn't these new 3DS releases would be counter-intuitive if Nintendo had to do a hard sell to get us to buy a Switch.

I'm mostly excited about this, though the dev's track record isn't impressive enough for me to be completely confident.  I really wish this used 2D sprites.  This game's graphic design with the 3D models sadly is boring to me - like NSMB and A Link Between Worlds.

The answer is userbase. It's going to take a while for Switch to catch up to 3ds in userbase. While Switch is going strong in its first year I predict a big drought because as always they were not prepared for the future. On the other hand things are still smooth for 3ds in the future. When they have a userbase of 20 million Switches the price will go down and then 3ds development will switch to the Switch.

[Luigi Dude]

I don't know who these haters are but you make them sound like they murdered your family.

Please seek help.

Oh give me a break.  After Other M was released you could barely even read a Metroid thread without it being filled with nothing but ass-hats saying Metroid is dead ever other post.  This type of hyperbole lead to a harmless spinoff like Federation Force being treated like a personal insult, resulting in people outright harassing and sending death threats to the developers at NLG.

Seriously, this type of behavior is not acceptable.  For the last 7 years the Metriod fanbase has represented the most toxic aspects of the videogame community.  Everyone who acted this way should be ashamed of themselves so next time we go a few years without a new Metriod they don't lose their **** again.

[Adrock]

Federation Force wasn't a harmless spinoff. It certainly did no favors to a brand reeling from the mixed reviews of its previous game. Still, death threats are inappropriate. I responded by not buying the game and gently mocking it on NWR.

[Soren]

I find the whole "well you got 2 new Metroid games so now you have to play FF" guilt trip pretty amusing. As if the existence of two new games will suddenly make the last one any better.

[ejamer]

Let's look back for a minute:

• Metroid Fusion has a pretty shitty story, even though gameplay was mostly solid.
• Metroid Other M showed that things could be much worse so I shouldn't complain about Fusion.
• Metroid Federation Force I haven't even tried, and don't intend to because no reviews or trailers have suggested it will offer anything that I want in a Metroid game.
• The Prime series has been good, but I generally dislike first-person shooters even when I can recognize that they are well made and doing some cool stuff.

Frankly, for a series that I proclaim to love there hasn't been much good news for a long time. Anyone who gets defensive about this game before we see some details should back off, because I'm not part of a "toxic culture" but I do have very valid reasons for doubt and concern.

What I want from a Metroid game: a well-crafted world to explore that is heavily interconnected and provides limited (preferably, optional) hand-holding and guidance for players; a narrative that doesn't suck and makes Samus seem like a compelling, independent, and capable hero; and gorgeous 2D graphics. Fingers crossed that this game hits on at least some of those points instead of being a miss across the board.

[Ian Sane]

I seem to be a oddball in that my main beef with Other M is the gameplay.  I truly found the game an utter chore to play and it lacked the very elements that make Metroid enjoyable to me in the first place.  The storyline is stupid but I enjoy Metal Gear Solid games so a bad story isn't enough to turn me off.

Federation Force was raked over the coals by reviewers and I don't try out games that have been almost universally **** on.  There are tons of games I've heard great things about but I've never played so why would I spend my limited time or money on games with poor reputations?  If anything reviewers tend to overrate games so Federation Force's average score being around 64% suggests that it's really bad.  If it was the same game but wasn't made by Nintendo, wasn't Metroid, and was on the Vita would it have any notoriety at all?

I think having some concerns about these new Metroid games is justified because of another Nintendo franchise that never recovered once it had a few duds: Star Fox.  I haven't given a damn about a Star Fox game in 20 years.  Star Fox Adventures reviewed well at the time but it is a really meh game and it is really only Star Fox in name.  Star Fox Command got okay reviews but never sounded like anything that would interest me.  The other two games, the ones with the most "proper" gameplay, are generally regarded as trash.  So if we have an example of a franchise that Nintendo seemingly lost interest in and farmed out for some lousy games that has never returned to the level it was.  If it can happen to Star Fox why can't it happen to Metroid?  We've got two dud games in a row, long absences between releases, third party devs with no previous experience with the series getting the work - it's all the same cues so I think it's worth being cautious about.

[TrueNerd]

HELL YES TWO NEW METROIDS

I initially was skeptical cuz Mercury Steam but the Treehouse playthrough looked like what I've been waiting for for 13 years. AM2R was great, hopefully this will be at least just as good.

[UncleBob]

I'm a bad Metroid fan.  I enjoyed both Other M and the original Metroid II as-is.

Watching this trailer has made me want to re-play Metroid II again.  That's a good thing.

[azeke]

While I'd rather a new game (who wouldn't?), Metroid II is the kind of game that could really benefit from a remake, so I'll probably still check this out.

Yeah, I agree, I've always loved the different Metroid forms from Metroid II but been really hesitant to play it since it has a reputation for difficulty, and of course that tiny GB screen space.

As a person who actually played the game for the first time recently it's a more playable game than say Metroid 1 and that game gets recommended all the time.

[KeyBilly]

That's interesting, Azeke.  I played this as a kid and remember it being more combat focused than the first, but also easy with big attractive sprites.  It seemed much more straightforward than the maze of exploration from the original.  At the time, I liked it for that as a portable game and something a small person could beat with no help, but it also never made sense to me that people wanted a remake of a basic portable title that minimized some of what made the Metroid series so unique.  I guess the reason may be tied to the story, which had a memorable ending.