I started this because of the new poll at forums.nintendo.com about Metroid on the REV. They have some really pointed answers. I voted all of the above because all of them rock. Imagine playing a level with Samus out side of the suit. I feel these surveys give us a glimpse of what they are thinking about.
Here are some of my ideas for Metroid REV the game and the movie.
I'll start by describing the first new alien. Their noses are more like a lizards so they have cibernetic noses implanted, sometimes resembling human noses because of their cultural obsession with humanity. Their skin is a pale blue or green and there is only one sex that has no hair and has oblonged breasts. The characters would seem to act eccentricly homosexual and at the same time in love with if not obsessed with their own sexuality and bodies as well as humans (all played by very tall men in the movie). Their leather like suits are composed of trillions of nano bots that are resistant to heat, cold, radiation, the vacum of space, and small arms fire. The nano bots can engulf the alien's entire body for full protection from space, and above their bulbous eyes are a pair of mechanical eye pieces. The pieces would move down to cover the eyes before the metal domes would unfold exposing black tinted glass bubbles allowing the user to use all kinds of visors in the game. For propulsion and melee combat the species would use built in gravity technology throughout the suit.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/alien.jpgThat is just one sketch I drew, because I think each new incarnation needs to introduce new alien species and also make allusions to previous species from past games. I think the game could follow the movie, with Samus having to team up with a vile alien she hates in order to survive. Four player cooperative play in the next Metroid would be something new for the puzzles and being able to use different character's visors and weapons that new alien species has developed would be refreshing. Other alien ideas I have are for another humanoid sentient to use a mech type centaur suit, perhaps as an enemy since platforming as a cybernetic centaur would be difficult. I was thinking the alien with his lower parts inside of what would look like a mechanical horse. The creature could also use a lance shaped weapon that fires shots as well as spins like a drill. Just an idea for a first boss.
I was thinking the movie and game would open like an Indiana Jones movie, in fact the entire film would be more like Indiana Jones than it would be Aliens. The tone would be set by style similar to Kubrick's 2001 movie with sweeping cinematography and operatic score. In space there is no sound, so you use music. Also in space it is dark, why is everything always so lit up in sci fi movies, there should only be light if something is lit by a light on the ship or if the ship is facing a star. Like Indiana Jones we would get to see what the character is like before we see who is under the mask. Spielberg opened Raiders of the Lost Ark with the camera to Jones' back. It is just plain genius directing. In The Last Crusade Spielberg shows a flashback showing Jone's first real competition/enemy before jumping to his adult life where he is still fighting that enemy. If you combine those aspects of the beginnings of those two movies to the Metroid movie we would get a proper introduction to Samus and where she is coming from. Of course like the first boss of any game she would defeat this lifelong enemy she has seeked out since her childhood. The enemy could be the centaur and we could see how that enemy played into her finding the suit. Maybe on her home planet people rode on robotic horses so the centaur thing would fit. The pirates in the game would be like the Nazis in Indiana Jones or the company in Aliens. Another reason I wanted to use the bald alien design of mine was so I could inject religion into the story. Their race of aliens could be extremist authoritarian christians also like the Nazis or Spanish Inquisition and want to clense the galaxy of herectics. Putting mysticism into Metroid makes it more science fantasy like Star Wars than science fiction like Star Trek.
I would imagine Samus's story to be like Joan of Ark. Perhaps she was called to the suit hidden on her world in the wilderness through emopathic signals only she could feel. She could become a vigilante, a mercenary, and bounty hunter. Her missions into alien cities and space stations could be similar to Indiana Jones or another popular Ford movie, Blade Runner. There must be a love interest in the movie for Samus, and it would be cool if that was another woman. I don't know if Samus' motivations in the movie would be love, the bounty she originally accepted which brought her to her present adventure, or some artifact of great religious value to civilizations across the galaxy. The movie could come to a climax with Samus leading armies against the enemies like Joan of Ark. In the end I picture her being betrayed by the bald headed alien or even her own gov't. She would be turned over to his supperiors and he would testify against her before she was publicly stripped and executed through crucification and slow burning. She would become a martr as the full execution is broadcasted across the galaxy.
The movie would have sex and violence, and it would be rated R. I would suggest Naomi Watts or Uma Thurman for the lead roll.
I've tried to think of ideas for coop and came up with some characters that would be unique from Samus. One could have four arms allowing for quadruple (no time to spell check) wielding. Another could feature a rocket pack. I would take away Samus' ability to drop bombs while in ball mode making it so that she can bounce in ball form giving the player more accuracy when wanting to plow through someone or something. I would make it so that the missle launcher would become another beam, and so would the grappling beam. I don't know right now if I can find a picture, but I think she should have two arm canons that work like the new Iron Man's (the comic book). The sides of his arm canons are open allowing him to remove his hands from the canons which then tilt outward. Each arm canon could have a set number of beams, and the beams would be the only weapons we would have to worry about with Samus. You could use the grappling beam to electrocute enemies, energize dead batteries, disable working machines, grab enemies or objects and throw them, and swing over large gaps. She could also use some Chozoa cibernetic wings that unfold from her suit allowing her to take flight and glide. We shouldn't spend the game looking for the same double jumps and spider ball upgrades we have already collected too many times. We should start off with certain things and keep those things throughout the entire game. In other words we should spend our time searching for new upgrades for Samus. And all characters should be able to pick up any weapon an enemy drops just like in Halo, GTA, and Zelda.
We could start off with combat visor, green night vision, red night vision, heat vision, and echoe vision that would be used by making any sound in the game such as yelling into a dark corridor or an enemy's footsteps. Visors that we could gain through upgrades could include an xray visor that allows you to see around corners and through walls.
Beams could include the missle beam, power beam, grapple beam, a beam whose shots are like plasma or laser shotgun blasts that spread out and cause a lot of damage up close. Other beams could include one that richochets off walls, a beam that fires ice, a beam that fires paralizing sound, a gravity beam, a minigun type beam, and a beam whose artilary is target seaking. Most beams could work with a sniper mode, but all would work with the target button.
And perhaps some more alien designs,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/swampthing2white.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/space.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/ships.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/alienbot.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/threeheads.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v695/nemo_83/spaceships.jpg