Topic: INTERVIEWS: NST Discusses Metroid Prime: Hunters

[Bloodworth]

PGC speaks with two of the lead members of the NST team about the development and evolution of Metroid Prime Hunters.

Earlier this week at NOA Headquarters, we had the opportunity to learn more details about the development of Metroid Prime Hunters from Director Masamichi Abe (pronounced "ah-bay") and Lead Technical Engineer Colin Reed from NST. Bill Trinen served as translator for Mr. Abe.

PGC: I understand both of you also worked on Pikmin as well?

Reed: Yeah, we worked on Pikmin together and 1080° on the N64 together. So we've worked together a lot.

PGC: How large was the development team on Metroid Prime Hunters?

Reed: I think the largest sized team got up to maybe thirty people.

PGC: Is that quite a bit larger than other DS games?

Abe: I think so. (laughter)

PGC: What led to the decision early on to make Metroid Prime Hunters a multiplayer game? Was it influenced by Metroid Prime 2?

Abe: Actually, when we first started the project, one of the main focuses of the DS hardware at that point in time was the wireless functionality and being able to play with other people wirelessly. Because of that, we felt that the multiplayer aspects of Metroid Prime Hunters were going to be very important and that was kind of our starting point.

Then as an idea of introducing a new element to the Metroid series - really bringing in something that we haven't seen before - was this idea of the different bounty hunters. We had this idea early on and thought that would be a good way to introduce this new content and this new element to the gameplay and take advantage of that in the multiplayer.

PGC: Do you think that this new element is going to influence the future of Metroid games, such as Metroid Prime 3 on Revolution? Or is it going to be something that's self-contained, and if it's in a sequel, it would be a "Hunters" kind of sequel?

Abe: I think there's definitely a possibility for it to influence the series. Personally, I don't know what's going on with Metroid Prime 3, but I think that because we've been able to use this opportunity to introduce these new bounty hunters, then I think that just opens up more opportunities to continue to flesh them out and explore different avenues with them in future Metroid games.

PGC: At what point was it decided to go online? I think that earlier they mentioned the feedback from E3 last year.

Reed: Definitely. After last year's E3, we got a whole load of feedback. There was a certain amount of disappointment that we weren't intending to go online at that point. The schedule for when the Wi-Fi stuff was starting didn't really match up with our schedule for finishing. So, that's why at that point we decided to go into those issues.

PGC: Voice chat: was that just a natural extension? At about what point did that come in?

Reed: I have no idea when that got implemented. It's a fairly new technology, and it's just something that came up just as we were finishing up when we decided, "Yeah, why not? Let's put it in."

PGC: So it was pretty easy to put in there then?"

Reed: Oh yeah. It was really easy to put in actually.

PGC: Great. That shows that there may be a chance that it will show up in a lot more games.

Reed: I believe so.

PGC: With the DS online capability, most of the games that we've seen have been four players. Is that a technical maximum or do you think that in future games or simpler games that maybe more players will be able to join-in online?

Reed: An online game is always a trade-off between beauty and number of players. So we've tried to take a nice compromise. The thing with the more players is that the more players you have, the larger arenas you have to have. There are always these technical trade-offs that you have to make. I think that we've made a nice balance with this game, but it's not by any means a technical limitation to stop at four.

PGC: That also influences the voice chat functionality? It would be too much information transferring to try to talk and play at the same time?

Reed: It's always a balance that you have to take, yeah.

PGC: What other kinds of elements were added in addition to the online and the voice chat once you knew that you had more time to work on the game?

Reed: I think that it was mostly a case that it gave us the extra time to be able to polish the game. We got the chance to make so many more optimizations, and to get the framerate running at a solid state and to try all these new shiny material kind of effects. It gave us that time to just step it up a notch. So we're actually pretty thankful!

PGC: Yeah, the reflectivity on the morph ball looks really nice.

Reed: It was one artist just hammering away in the middle of the night. He comes to show us what he did, and we were like, "Oh that's cool, let's use that." (laughter) Then the effect just spreads off and starts getting used all over the place. Then we have to reel them back in and say, "Ok. No, he's using it too much."

PGC: Was there ever a point during development when you thought that maybe with this new control scheme and all these other characters that it might be better as a different franchise?

Abe: No, not so much. From early on, one of our key focuses was really creating this as an extension of the Metroid universe while at the same time upholding the traditions of the Metroid franchise, everything from the continuity of the story to the graphics. In that sense, I think it's really always been a part of the Metroid series.

PGC: Who was responsible for working on the designs of the new characters and how difficult was it to try to get them to fit in to the Metroid universe?

Abe: Actually from the very initial stages of game development, our art team worked in collaboration with the lead designer at Retro Studios, who is in charge of the design of the Metroid franchise, the Prime franchise in particular. We had a lot of discussions with them to not only talk about the design of this game, but also in creating the new characters, working with them to make sure that these characters fit into the overall Metroid Prime series.

PGC: Hunters takes place between Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2. How does that work out with continuity? Is it not really influenced by either game?

Reed: It's not really influenced at all by either of the stories. It's just a side story, really. It's a separate mission.

Abe: As Richard [Vorodi] was saying earlier, the ship that you see in the game is the ship from Metroid Prime, whereas the suit Samus is wearing is the suit from Metroid Prime 2. So, where the character is, in terms of development, fits somewhere between the two. Maybe there are some events that happen on either side, but that's kind of the general flow of where it would fit.

PGC: Other than the different morph forms, what are some of the gameplay differences between the different hunters?

Abe: In addition to the morph forms, the effectiveness of the weapons can change, depending on which hunter is using the weapon. The simplest example is the charge missiles. When Samus uses the charge missiles, the homing is very effective, and they are able to home-in on targeted enemies very easily. Whereas, other hunters, when using the homing missiles, the homing may not be as effective for them as it is for Samus. In that sense, there's a balance between how effective different weapons are with different hunters.

PGC: How was the single player mode first conceived and how did it change throughout development? We didn't see much single player for a very long time, so it's almost as if it's just been revealed.

Abe: Actually for both modes, development started at the same time. The thing about multiplayer mode is that you've got a variety of different modes. People can pick it up and play it very easily and quickly understand what's appealing about it. Whereas, with the single player mode, you really need to spend a good half-hour or more to really understand what's appealing about it, what's interesting, what makes it different. In that sense, the single player mode was just something that was harder to show to people. We really wanted to show it off earlier, but we felt that we'd rather create demos using the multiplayer mode and show people the appeal of the multiplayer Metroid and save the single player mode for later.

PGC: How did the control layout influence the level design and the enemy design?

Abe: It wasn't really a driving direction in terms of changing level design based on the control scheme, but because we've gone from a control stick to the stylus/touch-screen control, our real focus in designing the levels was just to make sure that the actual gameplay didn't get more difficult or the actual control didn't get more difficult. In that sense, we just took our standard process for designing levels and fine-tuned the level design more for the stylus control. But to say that we had to shift the way we designed the levels wouldn't be very accurate.

PGC: During the presentation, [Richard Vorodi] said that the length of the game is maybe just a little bit shorter than the first Metroid Prime. What kinds of incentives are there for replaying the game – bonuses or harder difficulties, etc.?

Abe: It's pretty standard in terms of what you would expect from a Metroid game, having an unlock system to encourage people to go back through and play the game. But at the same time, just doing a speed run is going to be a lot of fun for people, and I think that people will enjoy the challenge of trying to beat it faster than everyone else.

Reed: There's a couple of other things. When you finish the game, we do actually show the time that you took to get through the game. Also, we keep track of the total enemies killed through the whole life of the game. So each time you play, it keeps adding up and adding up and adding up, and I'm sure there's gonna be forums where there's like, "Ah, I got a million kills. I got two million kills." (laughter) There's all that online competition that I think that will be going on. It's always interesting to see what ways people find to play your game.

PGC: Before, people were pretty comfortable with there being 3D Metroid on consoles and 2D Metroid on handhelds over the past couple of years. Now that Hunters has kind of broken that barrier by putting 3D on a handheld, do you think we'll still see some 2D sequels in the future?

Abe: I guess. I'm sure that they'll probably put out some more 2D Metroid games.

PGC: Just a couple of fun questions. Some of our staff wanted to know what some of your favorite characters and weapons are in the game as well as how you two stack up against the other players in the office.

(laughter)

Abe: I prefer Kanden, and I'm really not very good. (laughter)

Reed: I think my favorite character is Weavel. I like his affinity gun. I love his HUD. I did all the HUDs as well, so that's probably my favorite. And I… don't ever play multiplayer so I'm pretty terrible. (laughter) I'm looking forward to playing once the game comes out. It's just that, obviously, I've been very busy.

There's always a group of guys every day. They're always like down at the end of the office battling away. (laughter) I think that's one of the reasons why all the characters are so balanced. It's just because we've played it so much. Not me personally, but everyone's played it so much. (laughter) Sometimes you’re like, "John, you gotta get back to work you know?" but they're just playing it, and it's all for the good of the game. That's one of the beautiful things about it. All the characters are totally balanced. We don't think there are any broken, too-strong characters.

One of the things that's really interesting to me - when you start playing team games – is how your combination of characters can influence the way that a match goes because your abilities can help each other. It's going to be very interesting to see how people end up playing the game.

Thanks again to Mr. Abe and Mr. Reed for taking the time to speak with us.    

[UncleBob]

Voice Chat easy to impliment?

Wonder if Tetris DS will have it.

I want Tetris DS.

[Strell]

I think the best thing I read in the interview was that the game is balanced.  I was hugely worried about that simply because the morph techniques of the other characters seem to outshine Samus's.  But perhaps that is not the case.

I cannot wait for this and Tetris.  The DS has occuppied the majority of my gameplay time, and with killer titles like this, I'm having a difficult time excising myself from its iron grasp.

[Louieturkey]

Well if they ever get a Fire Emblem game for the system, I will definitely get one at that point.  Actually, I may end up getting one or two(for the wife) when the Lite is released in the States.  That thing looks sweet.

I loved Prime and Prime 2, but I can't seem to get into the controls on this one(at least from the First Hunt demo).  Maybe it's a bit better now, but multiplayer sounds like a lot of fun.

[Nephilim]

proberly one of the better interviews if read online in ages, well done

[Bloodworth]

Thanks for the compliment, but please be aware that it was a team effort.  Jonathan Lindemann, Jonathan Metts and David Trammell actually wrote most of the questions before I went up to NOA.

[Smash_Brother]

Yeah, the bit about balance is encouraging (and it had better be correct).

Nothing more wasteful than when a game has a variety of characters to chose from and then 1-3 characters stand head and shoulders above the rest.

[Bloodworth]

UncleBob, I wouldn't hold your breath for voice chat in Tetris DS.  Easy as it may be to put in, I get the impression that the Tetris team is very small.  I did find out that the same guy that programmed Tetris on Game Boy is working on this version.

[Svevan]

Quote
From early on, one of our key focuses was really creating this as an extension of the Metroid universe while at the same time upholding the traditions of the Metroid franchise, everything from the continuity of the story to the graphics. In that sense, I think it's really always been a part of the Metroid series.

Am I foolish for trusting Nintendo 100% on this?

-Evan T. Burchfield

[Smash_Brother]

From what I've heard, Samus goes to planets looking for these crystals which can be used as weapons to procure them before they fall into the wrong hands, but there are other bounty hunters who have been paid to retrieve them for other purposes. Combat with these hunters is inevitable.

Finally, Samus might actually do some, you know, bounty hunting.

[UncleBob]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bloodworth
UncleBob, I wouldn't hold your breath for voice chat in Tetris DS.  Easy as it may be to put in, I get the impression that the Tetris team is very small.  I did find out that the same guy that programmed Tetris on Game Boy is working on this version.

Sweet, that's the kind of thing that needs to be sung from the roof tops!

[KDR_11k]

UncleBob, I wouldn't hold your breath for voice chat in Tetris DS. Easy as it may be to put in, I get the impression that the Tetris team is very small. I did find out that the same guy that programmed Tetris on Game Boy is working on this version.

Does Nintendo provide a voicechat library? If so it might be easy enough even for a single dev to implement that.

[Ian Sane]

"Am I foolish for trusting Nintendo 100% on this?"

I'd say so.  Retro didn't even know about this game until Nintendo revealed it to the public.  A bunch of losers bash Metroid Prime because it doesn't play like a first person shooter and then Nintendo has a different team make a Metroid first person shooter behind Retro's back?  The way that action blatantly panders to the "I don't like Metroid Prime because I'm a moron" crowd is a little to obvious for this to be anything but a cash-in.  It will probably be a good game because Nintendo typically makes good games but as a Metroid title this game has no credibility at all.  It's nice that they're trying to make it not screw up the continuity though.

[Rize]

I think this is appropriate.  It's a sort of bounty hunting side story to the Metroid Series.  I like the idea of franchises staying in character (morph ball etc.) yet with altered gameplay.  As long as the Prime and 2D threads stay alive, I don't mind having a third piller in the Metroid series as it were.  I don't think Hunters, regardless of it's success, can replace Prime and neither can Prime replace the 2D Metroids.  There is some cross-over, but there are also people who only like Prime, many die-hards who only like 2D Metroid and now we'll probably get a few degenerates ( )that only like Hunters.

[UncleBob]

Metroid Prime Pinball was a masterpiece.

[Ian Sane]

"It's a sort of bounty hunting side story to the Metroid Series."

I like how they're trying to tie in the story.  But it seems to me that the story is a later addition.  There was no trace of such a story in the original demo and I think Nintendo just went "let's make a Metroid FPS like all those rubes want us to" and got NST to make it.  But there wasn't really a plan and it was just a typical cash-in where an unrelated game is given a franchise to attract sales.  The storyline and everything seems to have come about due to backlash from fans.  Afterall the game was supposed to come out a while ago now.  That suggests to me that Nintendo was just planning on making a quick 'n' dirty cash-in, saw the reaction from the fans, and then realized they better work a little harder on it and delayed it.

Nintendo tried to make Star Fox Adventures fit in with the Star Fox storyline as well but that didn't change the fact that it was an obvious cash-in.

[ShyGuy]

Holy cow, that's a lot of inferring there ian.

I've got 3 words: Doki Doki Panic

[Ian Sane]

"I've got 3 words: Doki Doki Panic"

At least Doki Doki Panic was the same genre as Super Mario Bros and there wasn't a bunch of jerks that didn't like Super Mario Bros complaining that Mario should be able to pick up and throw his enemies.  The fact that Metroid Prime Hunters is exactly what idiots who don't like Metroid have been asking for makes it easy to assume it's just a blatant cash-in.

Edit: I thought of a good comparison.  When Ocarina of Time came out a bunch of idiots complained that it had no jump button.  It was a 3D game and looked kind of like Super Mario 64 so it MUST be a platformer and thus should play like one.  It didn't and it didn't have to because of the way the game was designed and it was brilliant.  Metroid Prime did the same thing.  Now imagine that Nintendo, behind EAD's back, made a Zelda shortly afterwards that had a jump button and played like a platformer.  Would you think that that was a natural extension of the series or just a cheap cash-in for a quick buck?  Metroid Prime Hunters is a Zelda platformer.

[PaLaDiN]

Except that they worked on the single-player from the beginning but didn't show it in the demo because simple multiplayer is a lot easier to show off. It's in PGC's interview.

[Edit: It's actually in this interview. The one this thread is based on. Now I'm confused as to whether you didn't read it or just ignored it.]

Make no mistake, if that was just a bunch of words and the single-player ends up sucking you will all feel my wrath for all the inane babbling about online multiplayer, because I've been worrying about this happening for years now, and it happening to my favorite series is worse than even I imagined. Be forewarned, it will be a Paladin-Ian Sane tag team match of epic proportions.  

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I like how they're trying to tie in the story.  But it seems to me that the story is a later addition.  There was no trace of such a story in the original demo and I think Nintendo just went "let's make a Metroid FPS like all those rubes want us to" and got NST to make it.  But there wasn't really a plan and it was just a typical cash-in where an unrelated game is given a franchise to attract sales.  The storyline and everything seems to have come about due to backlash from fans.  Afterall the game was supposed to come out a while ago now.  That suggests to me that Nintendo was just planning on making a quick 'n' dirty cash-in, saw the reaction from the fans, and then realized they better work a little harder on it and delayed it.

1. They did the smart thing with the GC primes because aiming with a control stick is a goddamn chore so they used the lock on system.

2. The DS has the necessary tools to aim as though you were using a mouse, so they used it. You think MP3 won't be using the Revmote to aim instead of the lock on system?

3. I could just as easily argue that TP is clearly an "afterthought" to the Zelda storyline because it was simply pandering to all of the rubes who wanted a realistic Zelda and the storyline doesn't fit anywhere.

4. Did you even READ the interview? It was delayed for so long because the game can only be done true justice online, making it what I predict will be a killer app in the process.

5. What's wrong with a story arc which happens between MP 1 and 2? You think Samus sat in her ship, staring at the wall until she got the contract to investigate the lost marines on Aether? Contractors get contracts (or bounties). Frankly, it's a colossal breath of fresh air for us to see some OTHER bounty hunters instead of just Samus so we actually have a comparison to make.

Nintendo wanted a SOLID multiplayer FPS on the DS which ties in to a good franchise. The Metroid series is perfect for this, given that Metroid is currently one of Nintendo's most respected franchises and actually has a reason to tote multiplayer to boot. "Quick and dirty buck", this is NOT. Read the preview? The graphics are the best they've seen on the DS yet because of the extra time the game spent in development. This game has been in development for a good long time and it sounds like one of the best titles we'll see on any platform this year.

Voice chat? Selectable games? A variety of different characters with different weapon styles and forms? Multiplayer online browsing to find the game of your choice? Team battles where you want to pick combos which work well together? Any DS gamer worth their salt would be happier than a pig in sh*t about that list of features.

Ian, sometimes you make good points and sometimes you go off on a tangent. Right now, you're on a tangent. This game will sell like crazy and push the DS even further in the US where players eat up FPS games.

There's no reason to be negative about this.

[Ian Sane]

"The DS has the necessary tools to aim as though you were using a mouse, so they used it. You think MP3 won't be using the Revmote to aim instead of the lock on system?"

The lock-on in Metroid Prime was not just there because mouse controls couldn't be done.  It was there because it eliminated aiming and the need to have FPS skills to do well in a game that isn't an FPS and was never meant to be.  In the 2D Metroid games aiming isn't an issue so they added the lock-on to make sure it wasn't an issue here and thus the game could concentrate on the important elements of Metroid like exploration.  They remove the lock-on for Metroid Prime 3 and now I have to be good at a different genre of game entirely when originally I just had to be good at Metroid.  Longtime Metroid fans could potentially suck at the game because they suck at a type of game they have no interest in.

This is clearly a well made game and I'm glad Nintendo to putting in a lot of effort into it.  It probably will sell really well and sell DS systems.  But I don't care.  I want Metroid to sell well for being Metroid.  I don't want Metroid to achieve success by compromising what it really is.  If anything it would be bad for this game to sell well because then there would be a bunch of new Metroid "fans" who in fact aren't fans at all that could influence the franchise to go more in this direction.  That I think is a damn good reason to be negative about this.

"I could just as easily argue that TP is clearly an 'afterthought' to the Zelda storyline because it was simply pandering to all of the rubes who wanted a realistic Zelda and the storyline doesn't fit anywhere."

You could though I think it's a little different.  Zelda's gameplay isn't being compromised and a lot of the people who complained about Wind Waker's graphics are Zelda fans.  They've played all the Zeldas and love the series and enjoyed Wind Waker and recognize that it's a great game.  They just don't like the style much.  The Zelda fanbase is somewhat split about the issue.  This is different because the people who complained that Metroid Prime didn't play like Halo aren't Metroid fans and don't want a real Metroid game.  What they really want is Halo.  Most of those people are ignorant of the real Metroid series.  They tried a game out assuming it was something else and then got mad and complained that it should be changed into what they want it to be without any regard to the franchise's history or what the game is even trying to accomplish.  It's just "it's in first person so it must play like a first person shooter".

Why don't we change Super Smash Bros to play like Street Fighter II?  It's a fighting game so I guess it has to play that way.  Would a SSB fan be happy if this change was made and suddenly he had to memorize button combinations to play an SSB game?

[Smash_Brother]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
The lock-on in Metroid Prime was not just there because mouse controls couldn't be done.  It was there because it eliminated aiming and the need to have FPS skills to do well in a game that isn't an FPS and was never meant to be.  In the 2D Metroid games aiming isn't an issue so they added the lock-on to make sure it wasn't an issue here and thus the game could concentrate on the important elements of Metroid like exploration.  They remove the lock-on for Metroid Prime 3 and now I have to be good at a different genre of game entirely when originally I just had to be good at Metroid.  Longtime Metroid fans could potentially suck at the game because they suck at a type of game they have no interest in.

First of all, strafing, jumping and dodging in 3D are all characteristics of a FPS. The only aspect of MP which doesn't follow the traditional aspect of a FPS is the aiming and I feel that was done because Retro and Nintendo agreed that aiming on a console is a bad idea because a control stick is not an adequate device for doing so.

But aiming manually still exists in the game: whenever I want to shoot boxes, pods, etc., I need  to aim manually with the control stick. All the lock-on does is allow the enemies to move around a lot more without having to worry about whether or not the player will be able to shoot them.

This was a design issue, not a gameplay issue, and the MP2 demo using the controller to aim was already available at last E3. Expect it to be used in full in MP3.

Quote
This is clearly a well made game and I'm glad Nintendo to putting in a lot of effort into it.  It probably will sell really well and sell DS systems.  But I don't care.  I want Metroid to sell well for being Metroid.  I don't want Metroid to achieve success by compromising what it really is.  If anything it would be bad for this game to sell well because then there would be a bunch of new Metroid "fans" who in fact aren't fans at all that could influence the franchise to go more in this direction.  That I think is a damn good reason to be negative about this.

How has Metroid been compromised?

-Samus is back in full 3D glory.
-New enemies to fight, but instead of phazon-mutated space pirates, they're rival bounty hunters being paid to horn in on Samus' bounties. If Samus doesn't bring in the crystals, she doesn't get paid. Unlike her recent "charity mission", this is a vastly more realistic scenario.
-Aiming is now possible with mouse-like precision via the touchscreen.
-Multiplayer won't suck like it did in MP2.

What about this is compromising the game? I know more than enough people bitched up a storm about Metroid going to 3D and it turned out just fine. I've played the game with the touchscreen with the demo and I very much enjoy the gameplay with the touchpad and I don't think it raises the difficulty to a point where it's out of the "league" of any gamer.

Also, why is auto-lock integral to the game? In the 2D Mertroid games, could you stand above an enemy from across a room, hold down the L button (SNES) and Samus would automatically aim for it? Hell no. You had to point your gun at it and shoot the bugger. Why should this be any different in 3D?

Quote
You could though I think it's a little different.  Zelda's gameplay isn't being compromised and a lot of the people who complained about Wind Waker's graphics are Zelda fans.  They've played all the Zeldas and love the series and enjoyed Wind Waker and recognize that it's a great game.  They just don't like the style much.  The Zelda fanbase is somewhat split about the issue.  This is different because the people who complained that Metroid Prime didn't play like Halo aren't Metroid fans and don't want a real Metroid game.  What they really want is Halo.  Most of those people are ignorant of the real Metroid series.  They tried a game out assuming it was something else and then got mad and complained that it should be changed into what they want it to be without any regard to the franchise's history or what the game is even trying to accomplish.  It's just "it's in first person so it must play like a first person shooter".

I don't see how it's different at all.

Zelda purists who follow Miyamoto's vision feel this is pandering to the graphic-whores who aren't true Zelda fans by betraying his original vision for something with more widespread "mature" appeal.

Metroid purists, the same ones who kicked and screamed when Metroid went 3D, have now apparently latched onto the auto-aim feature and consider it pandering to the FPS fans by removing it.

Do you know how foolish this sounds in context?

Quote
Why don't we change Super Smash Bros to play like Street Fighter II?  It's a fighting game so I guess it has to play that way.  Would a SSB fan be happy if this change was made and suddenly he had to memorize button combinations to play an SSB game?

Because not having those combos is the entire purpose of the game. The entire purpose of Metroid is the puzzle solving, upgrades and combat, not using a lazy auto-aim system in lieu of actual aiming.

[Ian Sane]

"How has Metroid been compromised?"

The game is level based and lacks the permanent upgrades.  That's what Metroid is about: exploring an inter-connected world to find items that gives you new abilities to explore new areas.  This game is about finding crystals in a level based environment and shooting at rival characters.  It sounds like a cool game but it ain't Metroid.

"Also, why is auto-lock integral to the game? In the 2D Mertroid games, could you stand above an enemy from across a room, hold down the L button (SNES) and Samus would automatically aim for it? Hell no. You had to point your gun at it and shoot the bugger. Why should this be any different in 3D?"

Aiming in 2D is way WAY easier than in 3D.  It's like Zelda.  In A Link to the Past I have to aim with my bow.  My target has to be in front of me.  But they added targeting to the 3D games because aiming became harder with the extra dimension and they needed to make it simpler so that the game still felt like a Zelda game instead of an arrow shooting game.  It was important that the combat in Zelda remained as easy to execute as it did in 2D so that the focus of the game could remain on the adventure elements of the series.  Metroid isn't about shooting so the shooting in the game should be streamlined.  Metroid is an adventure game.  Hunters is an action game.  Metroid should remain an adventure game.  If you add too much action the game becomes more about reflexes and twitch gaming when it's supposed to be about puzzle solving and exploration.

One thing that has to be taken into account is the fanbase and what they're accustomed to.  Action fans and adventure fans aren't always the same people because those types of games require different skills.  You add too many puzzles to an action game and the fans get stuck because they lack those types of skills.  You add too many action elements to an adventure game and the fans get stuck because they lack those types of skills.

They're probably going to have manual aiming in Metroid Prime 3 but the game might be hurt because of it.  It's not so much about the aiming but the balance between action and adventure elements.  If they get the balance right it will be okay.  But I think the auto-aim was added specifically to create this balance and removing it will make the game too much like Doom.

"Zelda purists who follow Miyamoto's vision feel this is pandering to the graphic-whores who aren't true Zelda fans by betraying his original vision for something with more widespread 'mature' appeal."

I personally see Wind Waker as the oddball that breaks away from the Zelda style but whatever.  Twilight Princess still looks like Zelda and plays like Zelda.  If Wind Waker didn't exist no one would complain about it.  However if Metroid Prime had turned out like Metroid Prime Hunters fans probably would have complained about it.  I think a game's looks and how a game plays are big differences.  I don't really like how Wind Waker looks.  Well actually I do, I just don't like that look for Zelda.  But I still bought Wind Waker and loved it because it still played like Zelda.  The feel was still right and that's the most important thing.  The Hunters demo sure as hell doesn't feel like Metroid.

[PaLaDiN]

Ian, you're basing your opinion on the Hunters demo which pretty much just features the multiplayer. Of course it doesn't feel like Metroid, just like Metroid Echoes wouldn't have felt like Metroid if all they showed was the multiplayer.

If the single player turns out to suck, I'm with you. But don't extend the demo to the full game, because the component you seem to be judging by the demo isn't featured in the demo.

[Artimus]

Can I also add that you can change some aspects of a game and still maintain the spirit. Yoshi's Island changed a ton of basic Mario stuff yet is still definitely a Mario game.