Metroid: Other M

[Da_Lycan]

only link is forbidden from 'speaking.'

Shigeru says thats to keep Link from having a defined personality. Every Zelda game is a new retelling instead of a sequel. So Link starts off as a blank slate every game and is the player's way of playing the game how they want to instead of just going through Link's story.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Definitely a sweet move.

I've been meaning to make this for a few days

 

[Nathan]

Haha! Nice.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

I really hope the soundtrack will be as awesome as Prime's.

 

[Silver Spider]

I just heard about this game yesterday and I'm psyched. I can't wait to see more of Samus' origin in video game form.

 

[CWP]

Dang, love the trailer. Haven't seen such a cool game preview from Nintendo since Twilight Princess, although the final game ended up sucking.

But Metroid's going back to it's roots, it is! Samus's suit differs from the style that the Prime series gave her for some time and Ridley is classic purple again (goodbye, Meta Ridley and Omega Ridley!). Best thing I have to say about the 2-minute preview is the terrific graphics and visuals. Worst is that Samus Aran seems to look anime this time, and that's not a direction I'd like to see the series go in. I even mistook her for Cloud Strife for a moment. Compare:

I'm most excited to play this game to see how it stands up to Metroid Prime, which is one of my favorite games and the best Metroid title for me.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Cloud looks more like a girl than Samus does.

 

[AnorexicBatman]

Doesn't this go against Miyamato's vision of keeping the console games First Person Adventures?

Then again,
Miyamato: Hey bank account? Feeling a little empty are we?
Bank account: woof woof!!

Also, Team Ninja? As in Team "GIRLS-HAVE-BOOBIES-OMG-LOLOLOLOLOL!" ?
Ya... I bet the Justin Bailey code is available at the start in this one...

 

[terry78]

That's Team Ninja for you..ambiguous gender hotness for everyone.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/24/metroid-other-m-june-27-release-date/

June 27th is the date.

Here's some story details:

http://kotaku.com/5479442/new-metroid-other-m-screens-story-details-excitement

Nintendo has released all new media of Metroid: Other M, the Team Ninja and Nintendo developed Wii game that tells a more "revealing, personal story" than previous Metroid games, including Other M's chronological predecessor, Super Metroid. What Nintendo calls a "dramatic new direction for a legendary franchise and a bold new blend between cinematics, storytelling and the best in interactive entertainment" is what we'll call simply Metroid: Other M, a sequel dated earlier today for a June 27 release in North America. All-new screen shots of Samus Aran's latest adventure highlight Team Ninja's trademark cinematic prowess and showcase the game's blend of 2D and 3D gameplay.
Featuring a control scheme that uses Wii Remote-only controls (held sideways) for side-scrolling adventure and battle moments, with pointer control for first-person exploration and shooting, Other M certainly sounds like a fine compromise for the longtime Metroid fan. We'll find out later when our hands-on impressions from today's summit go live.
Nintendo promises voice acting—will we hear Samus speak, not just scream?—and a rich, "engaging" backstory set on the decommissioned Bottle Ship, plus plenty of action and exploration. Until you get to experience it yourself, enjoy new Metroid: Other M screens that run at a resolution worthy of a Wii HD. (Nintendo warns "screen captures are taken from a version of the game still in development and are provided at a higher resolution than what is available in game.")

 

[Spidey-Bat]

"All-new screen shots of Samus Aran's latest adventure highlight Team Ninja's trademark cinematic prowess and showcase the game's blend of 2D and 3D gameplay.

Featuring a control scheme that uses Wii Remote-only controls (held sideways) for side-scrolling adventure and battle moments, with pointer control for first-person exploration and shooting, Other M certainly sounds like a fine compromise for the longtime Metroid fan."


If a good chunk of the game is 2D or you can play it 2D, I'm definitely in.

 

[Tron Bonne]

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/25/hands-on-metroid-other-m/

Hands-on from Joystiq

There's a lot I want to tell you about the 45-minute demo of Metroid: Other M that I played today, but I know what everyone is wondering and will just get it out of the way: The game is reallyimpressive; it's really fun; it's totally Metroid. It was only the beginning sequences of the game, but if everything Nintendo and Team Ninja have managed to deliver in this short span holds up for the entirety of the game, it's going to be really good. (Also: This is in no way a re-skinned Ninja Gaiden -- just making sure that's said.)

My demo began with the game's opening cinematic, which is fully CGI and recounts the ending of Super Metroid, to which Other M serves as a direct sequel. It sees Samus in a showdown with Mother Brain (realized by Team Ninja as a mammoth bipedal monstrosity with one huge eye) before the bounty hunter awakes in a medical bay wearing her Zero Suit. It's narrated entirely by Samus (as promised, Other M is the first time we hear her voice -- and it's, well, just all right) and leads directly into a tutorial disguised as a "diagnostic" of her armor and recollection of how to kick ass.

The twists on "classic" Metroid gameplay that Team Ninja andseries co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto are bringing into play began surfacing the moment I picked up the controller; there's no Nunchuk, just the Wiimote turned sideways, as if playing a Virtual Console game. Standing in a training room, controlling Samus from a third-person perspective, I was instructed by a scientist (situated safely behind a very thick window) to perform various moves.

For starters, the charge shot, performed by holding down 1 and releasing it when fully charged (as you can see in the latest screens, there's now a "charge gauge" underneath Samus' life bar). Simply tapping 1 is for basic shooting, and Samus auto-locked onto enemies around her as long as I made her face in their general direction. This goes for enemies on the ground, in the air, on walls or hanging from the ceiling. Since the movement control is digital, there were times when I felt like the lock-on needed to be a little more pronounced -- I asked if this is possibly going to be tweaked before release, but didn't get a definite answer.

Hitting A (very quickly) switches to Morph Ball mode, while the 1 button drops bombs in this state. Holding 1 charges up a power bomb; I released the button and the entire room filled with a white-hot explosion.

The game is primarily third-person, although as the training session taught me, there are times you'll need to see through Samus' eyes -- to fire missiles, for instance. The switch from third- to first-person is handled wonderfully; I simply pointed the Wiimote at the screen and the transition was near-instant. In this view, holding down B let me freely look around the environment (the context here was that I was trying to find "an old friend" -- a hologram enemy -- hidden somewhere in then room). Moving the reticule over the partially cloaked foe automatically locked on, and pressing A fired off a missile. When not locked on, A fires a basic shot.

With the enemy dislodged, it was time to learn some more basics. Dodging in third-person is contextual; I just needed to press the d-pad in any direction the moment an enemy attacked. Pulling this off resulted in Samus performing a cool-looking evade, aided by her back-mounted boosters. There's also wall-jumping, and it's simplified. I only had to hold towards one wall on the d-pad and repeatedly press 2 to make my way up.

After completing my training, a cinematic began showing Samus tearing across space in her ship. She received a distress signal and decided to investigate. The signal's origin: A supposedly decommissioned space station called the "Bottle Ship." during the landing sequence, the CG seamlessly transition into in-engine graphics, her ship touched down and in moments I was on the ground running -- the running animation looking perfectly true to character and the series.

After being prompted to enter first-person and check out another ship in the landing bay, I learned that Samus was not alone. Making my way down corridors -- both side-scrolling and away from / towards the camera -- I took out some minor (but familiar) enemies before a very cinematic in-engine cinematic kicked in, showing Samus encountering a squad of Galactic Federation Army troopers. Turns out Samus knows a couple of them, and that she'd actually been in the military herself before an "incident" forced her out and into the bounty hunting business.

They couldn't get through a door so, naturally, I got to blow it off its hinges using one of Samus' missiles. The squad proceeded ahead, while I took another route -- blasting more enemies and encountering an interesting yet simple puzzle. In order to exit one of the rooms, I had to go into first-person and lock onto a gate control, shooting it until it was fully "energized." Doing so only opened the gate high enough to slip under it in Morph Ball mode.

Back with the soldiers, I came across what looked like a dead scientist, and a cinematic showed a small pink bug scurry out of his body. Before I knew it, the things were everywhere, climbing the walls and forming a "body" around a giant eyeball. It was time to fight a mini-boss! While the soldiers took shots at the creature, I ran around it (this was a large room) and was able to quickly pop into first-person and shoot its eyeball with a missile. After a couple of hits like this, the soldiers switched to freeze guns and directed me to fire at any spot they managed to ice over. This, again, was first-person, and after a few good hits the monster was finished. Now, this sequence was fun, but showed a potential problem with the third/first-person switching: It's impossible to move, or even dodge, in first-person. The enemy managed to whack me pretty good while I was locking on to it.

Next I learned that, at least for this portion of the game, the abilities and weapons Samus can use are unlocked by a commanding officer -- he actually has to "authorize use of bombs," and so on. No idea if this will extend further into the game, but it's definitely ... different. Speaking of different, so is the map. It's now an overhead "radar" showing the corridors, rooms and the status of doors (unlocked green or locked red). Oh, and the doors ... I didn't have to shoot them to open them; just walk up and they let me pass.

The final portion of the demo had me backtracking in order to get power back online in the station. Along the way, I noted that Samus can hang from ledges, can't seem to walk off of them accidentally and can slide down walls. On my way to the systems room, I happened across what turned out to be a bathroom. I have no idea why it was there, but it showed off another camera trick in the game. In cramped quarters, the camera pulls in over Samus' shoulder and the game controls a bit like Resident Evil 4. Yep. But that was the extent of it. (I also found that, in this view, tilting the Wiimote forward and backwards raised and lowered the camera perspective. I asked, and no one at Nintendo had noticed it yet, so its purpose remains a mystery.)

Once I made it to my destination -- I was told the full-screen map is a work-in-progress, so my only indication of where to head was a yellow arrow that moved along the radar's periphery -- I flipped on the power, only to find out, when the lights came on, that the machinery was blocked by enemy hives. In between shooting flying bugs, I'd switch to first-person and nail the hives with missiles. They eventually stopped spitting out enemies and I got the power on.

Running back to rejoin the commanding officer, I crossed a walkway which gave out beneath me. Dropping 30 or so feet, I ended up in a large room with familiar two-legged enemies. Here I really wished there was some way to lock-on and strafe in third-person. They managed to get my health down pretty low, which is the point at which I realized I hadn't seen a single power pick-up yet. It turns out that, when Samus' health is low, I had to "focus" by holding the Wiimote vertically and holding down A. No idea if this is the only way to regain health. Anyway, having dealt with the enemies, I headed for the end of the room where it looked like I could wall jump back up and continue on. up I went, but quickly realized there was a hatch at the top of the vertical chute. So, standing on the ground, I flicked into first-person view, looked up at the hatch and blasted it off using a missile.

Back on track, I blasted a few more enemies, activated power terminals (which was actual kind of tricky given the d-pad control and how picky the game was about standing in just the right spot) and stood on a save game platform (yep, it still recharges Samus' shields and is pretty quick). Entering the "command room" ended the demo.

So -- whew! How'd it look? Really good and really Metroid. It sounded the part, too, mixing familiar sound effects with a more orchestral score than I'm used to from the series. Most of all, the demo left me wanting to play more, like now. I'd even be fine playing the demo again. A few times. It also had everyone at the event talking: This could be big.

 

[Silver Spider]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttx3hZkeKbw

I'm so glad we're finally getting more info on this game.

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

I have to say I must given Nintendo props on this. Handing over one of their more action oriented franchises to Team Ninja was a pretty brilliant move.

Metroid is adventure-oriented


Still, looking forward to this. I doubt that this is going to be as good as Metroid Prime, seeing as the exploration part is the best part of Metroid and Prime did it almost perfectly. But going with that mind, I'm open to them going in a new direction, and I'm sure it'll still be a great game.


Although I gotta say, as much as everyone seem to really be excited about the story, I'm a little worried, given that the feeling of isolation has been a staple of the series. But who knows, maybe all the video clips will be in flashbacks or something

 

[Tron Bonne]

Metroid is adventure-oriented

True, I guess in hindsight kind of a dumb comment.

After delivering a GDC panel on his cinematic inspiration, we met with Metroid: Other M producer Yoshio Sakamoto to ask him about everything from collaborating with Team Ninja, lessons learned from Metroid Prime, the newfound focus on story in the Metroid universe, and whether or not he played Chair's Super Metroid love letter, Shadow Complex. Read on!

Can you tell us about the process of working with Team Ninja. Who does what design-wise and technology-wise?

Yoshio Sakamoto: The original design concept came from me, but then we went and assembled a team that could pull this off. And in this case it was people from Team Ninja, who we really thought was the best fit. But they've also provided a lot of core ideas that have influenced the direction of the game, particularly the director, Mr. Hayashi. So, as I mentioned in the speech today, it's not so much that we're dividing up tasks but collaborating as equals.

After E3 and the initial announcement a lot of people were making comments like, "Oh, it seems like they've dumped Retro for this series and they want to go with another developer," as if it was a big switch-off. But, in actuality, that is far from the case; rather, we just wanted to put together the best team that we could to make this project, which turns out to be Project M.

Retro obviously produced the Metroid Prime series; very successful, very influential. Do you consider this a reboot of the series after Metroid Prime? Is this the direction for future Metroids or just another direction?

The games that I've been involved with in the Metroid series have been on the NES, GameBoy, Super NES and the GBA. I actually didn't have a lot of input on the Prime series. But when they're doing with Other M here, it's not so much a different universe, it's just a different part of the story. You can't say that there's no relation here; it's probably best to think of them as being in parallel in this world.

What, if anything, has the team learned from Prime?

I've been working on 2D Metroid games all the way up until now, so when we had a chance to see the Prime games, which suddenly take the series to the 3D space, we realized people found it to have a really good visual impact, and they really did want that kind of enhanced visual experience. And so, I have to say I'm certainly influenced by people's desires in that direction.

There are some points in Other M that are going to feel a bit like the Prime series in terms of the visual experience they offer. But what we're really trying to do is bring the ease of play you found in the 2D series forward. But certainly Prime was a very cool series and we've taken some notes there.

Seeing as how Prime had a very Western focus,is Other M intended to revitalize the Metroid franchise in Japan?

I have to say we're definitely thinking globally. We want to drive the elements that people have really attached fondness to in the Metroid series. And so we're actively working to find out what people want, but we're not just thinking about the ideas of gamers in Japan. We're definitley thinking about everyone.

Will there be any online component to Other M? And, if not, why isn't online a priority?

There's no online functionality in this title, and the reason for that is that Other M does not rely on that as one of the core design ideas. They're thinking more about the single-player style that you've seen in all Metroid games up until this point. And one of the specific goals here is to convey the charm of Samus as a character and to bring forth several perspectives on what kind of personality she has and how she reacts to situations. So online wouldn't really factor into that kind of character development as a core idea. If they were going to design a Metroid game with an online functionality it really would've had to have come in at the ground floor, when they come up with the design of the game.

The understanding of the Metroid world is not something you can really take for granted among every single gamer out there. There are some people who are new to this series and some people who've been with it for a long time. So one of the first tasks is to bring everyone up to the same level of understanding in the Metroid universe. And this game focuses as a really good intro, as well as a really good new challenge to that world. Once you raise the level of awareness of what the Metroid universe is like, then you can start to think about bringing completely new gameplay ideas that haven't been present before.

This is the first Metroid game that really has a robust story, outside of scanning in Metroid Prime. Why such an emphasis on storyline in this game, especially with the collaboration of Team Ninja, which is better known for action than story?

The main reason for the story emphasis, as I noted earlier, is that one of our big goals here is to educate the audience about the Metroid universe -- and Samus in particular. So you need to get into quite a bit of detailed storyline to be able to do that.
And of course, this game does have a deep, long storyline. But we wanted to put a lot of effort into the action sequences as well.

One of the reasons for having this game be mostly two-dimensional is because people are more comfortable with 2D play overall across the entire audience; you don't have the same distractions when you want to give them story sequences, as well. So, you can give those story elements a lot more impact, and that's really where the design emphasis came from.

And then a lot of the core Metroid series team at Nintendo, they've been working most recently on the GBA Metroid series. These are all handheld. So it's a very different kind of feel when you're developing for a console. And they wanted to make sure they brought in some people who had more recent experience on console action games. Having that 2D environment that's comfortable to play means they had a lot easier time connecting up the storyline and driving home those storyline points for impact.

Team Ninja were a very good fit here because they're so well-versed in action and had some more recent console experience than the core Metroid team at Nintendo.

I definitely had a really good experience with Team Ninja. They absolutely know how to make an action game that's easy to play. Every step along the way they would question the most basic design concepts, thinking about whether an idea would stand or whether they should challenge themselves to go in a new direction. And having that sort of active presence in the design and construction of a game going forward; finding them challenging themselves constantly felt really good to be a part of. So this entire collaboration has been a very positive experience.

Speaking of the core Metroid development team that last worked on the GBA games: There have been rumors of a game known as 'Metroid Dread' -- purportedly a 2D Metroid game for DS. Was 'Dread' a real project?

It seems we get a lot of questions about Metroid Dread, especially at interviews following E3 for example. But nothing's ever been announced about this game; it's all just been rumors so far, so we never know exactly how to respond to questions like this.

Then where does 2D Metroid development stand on DS?

While there actually was a point where some teams were meeting to discuss if it was possible to create a 2D Metroid for DS using a relatively small team size, it's not something that we ever really announced or thought of as "Metroid Dread." But whenever people bring out that idea, we recognize that the basic concept is something that we can't say never existed. But at the same time, we can't of course make any official comment about a Metroid Dread–like project coming out.

Our main goal here is to, as I said earlier, first raise knowledge about the Metroid universe, and the Samus character, before we start to introduce different elements like online, or even going back to another handheld game for the next in the series. So there's nothing coming immediately. We want to think about these new challenges first.

But, of course, we never say never.

Last year there was a "Metroidvania" game called Shadow Complex for Xbox Live Arcade that was very popular. Many people saw it as a surrogate for a new 2D Metroid game. Have you had a chance to play it, and, if so, what do you think about it?

I haven't had a chance to play it, but I have seen movies of it and think they certainly do share a lot of similar features.
There certainly were some Metroid staff members that early on told me that there was a similar game out there, but once I started to look at it ,I realized there were similarities, but this is not really something we created. It's not quite an equal in our eyes. But the idea of having 3D visuals with a 2D play-style is certainly very attractive. And if people really want some more 2D Metroid, then I would love to suggest that they play Other M.

Not sure why that went to smaller print... I think this is the first time I've been really and truly excited for a Nintendo title in quite awhile. I'm so interested to see how this goes

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

As much as I'm looking forward to a few 360 games (Crackdown 2, Just Cause 2, Red Dead Redemption) Nintendo will own this year for me. Metroid, Mario and if not the game, a ton of Zelda info. The big 3 all at once.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Gameplay footage has been revealed. It will blow your mind

 

[CantThinkOfAName]

Well that is sex right there.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

Jeez, that is awesome.

 

[terry78]

Now that is fun. Tranferring from 2D to 3rd person to FPS seamlessly.....all Wii needs is decent devlopers and they can bring the best out of it.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Now that is fun. Tranferring from 2D to 3rd person to FPS seamlessly.....all Wii needs is decent devlopers and they can bring the best out of it.

It's just easier for everyone to blame Nintendo though.

 

[Alastor]

It both action and adventure. Looks awesome!

 

[Spidey-Bat]

This has been delayed. Sin & Punishment 2, which was going to come out June 6, is now coming out June 27th (when Other M would). Other M is now TBD. Some online stores have it listed August and September.

 

[WolfCypher]

No... Really? Whodathunk a 1st party Nintendo title would get delayed?

They do this all the time! Reveal a release date very prematurely and can't stick to it. They need to stop.

 

[GoblinWhirlwind]

^^^ No kidding... and it's not just Nintendo, it seems like that happens with every big game. As much as I'd love for the new Zelda to be out by the end of the year, I'm planning on 4th quarter 2011