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[Creamium]

The counters are so well-implemented that I can see those being a mainstay for future games (hopefully). It already looks satisfying as hell to pull of against normal enemies and it's just plain badass against bosses.

I also love the addition of teleporting and map markers. Already sure I'm going for 100% map/items, but this just makes that easier.

Love the treehouse format for this because it sells the game like no other. From the trailer alone you could still doubt if they'd nail every aspect, but watching the full demo should give you confidence enough.

Now all I need is a look at that trailer in 3D. If you're European and have a twitter account, please tweet NOE account. It probably won't matter, but we can try. I want to watch that vid because a lot of people say it looks great in 3D.

 

[Ezalc]

So I have a question here. In today's stream when they're changing the save files to show later areas, we got to see kind of how far along it is when they reach the zeta metroid. If the game starts you off having to kill I believe it's around 40 metroids, by the time we reach the zeta it's at 16. At that point according to the time on the screen that was shown briefly on the screen, the game has been "played" for about an hour?

That seems way too short.

 

[Opa-Pa]

So I have a question here. In today's stream when they're changing the save files to show later areas, we got to see kind of how far along it is when they reach the zeta metroid. If the game starts you off having to kill I believe it's around 40 metroids, by the time we reach the zeta it's at 16. At that point according to the time on the screen that was shown briefly on the screen, the game has been "played" for about an hour?

That seems way too short.

I wouldn't take those save times so seriously since they're just edited to have progress up to different parts of the game. They showed what's basically what's the second to last area of the game the first day and I believe it only had an hour too.

I imagine they're making this somewhat longer than the original game, and I don't think you can reach the Zetas before 3 or 4 hours.

 

[Neiteio]

The counters are so well-implemented that I can see those being a mainstay for future games (hopefully). It already looks satisfying as hell to pull of against normal enemies and it's just plain badass against bosses.

I also love the addition of teleporting and map markers. Already sure I'm going for 100% map/items, but this just makes that easier.

Love the treehouse format for this because it sells the game like no other. From the trailer alone you could still doubt if they'd nail every aspect, but watching the full demo should give you confidence enough.

Now all I need is a look at that trailer in 3D. If you're European and have a twitter account, please tweet NOE account. It probably won't matter, but we can try. I want to watch that vid because a lot of people say it looks great in 3D.

The trailer is nice but looks a bit compressed just by virtue of being pre-recorded footage. I'm eager to get the actual game in my hands. All of the hands-on impressions say it looks great in person.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Those games were good in spite of the narrative elements. Those were the stand out weak points that prevented the games from being recognized as peers to the previous titles.

That depends who you ask. Fusion and Prime 3 are my favorites in the series, 2D and 3D respectively. And this is from someone who played Metroid 1 and 2 as a five year old.

 

[walking fiend]

One thing that bothers me *GREATLY* from the footage we've seen from the game so far, is that when Samus goes through a door, the entire screen fades to black, including the door, and then the new area fades in entirely.

THIS IS NOT METROID!!

Everything except the door is supposed to fade out, then the door slides across the screen to the other side, and the new area fades in. Door transitions are a staple of the Metroid series! Why are they missing here?? This is the kind of attention to detail that, I don't know why, I'm so not surprised to see that a non-Japanese developer fails to grasp. Maybe it's because the game is still far off and it's somewhere on their to-do list, but something makes me very sceptical that they're going to fix in time.

Tweet it to them; I don't have a twitter, or I would

 

[Jaymageck]

Does anyone have any link to any footage where we can hear the OST without people talking over it? I'm glad both Yamamoto and Hamano are back. As far as I know the only 2 games they were both on in the past are Super Metroid and Zero Mission (Yamamoto did the Prime games, where as Hamano worked on Fusion. Neither worked on Other M, for some ungodly reason).

Btw, for those who are happy about Takehiko Hosokawa's involvement - just FYI he was one of the directors on Other M. I really hope both he and Sakamoto have acknowledged fan feedback on the story of Other M.

 

[Rambler]

If zeta metroids are doing 100+ damage with a single hit then what the hell are omegas going to be like?

 

[Ridley327]

If zeta metroids are doing 100+ damage with a single hit then what the hell are omegas going to be like?

Can't wait to see what horror awaits us!

 

[Astral Dog]

Its really weird seeing Sakamoto as the face of Samus Returns in the dev diary. Lol he doesn't even count Other M just ZeroMission as the last Metroid.

I hope he eventually reedems himself and helps put the series back on track.

 

[SomeRandomWeirdGuy]

Can't wait to see what horror awaits us!

Omegas were pretty scary in AM2R, and with how fast everything seems to be in Samus Returns, I wonder if they'll end up being harder.

Honestly I'm not sure how I feel about the redesigned Metroid life cycle. AM2R did such a faithful update to Metroid 2's Metroids, that these are just feeling kinda off to me. They look good, don't get me wrong, but AM2R's synced up perfectly with Fusion, so it just sorta sat in my head as canon.

 

[TheDinoman]

Its really weird seeing Sakamoto as the face of Samus Returns in the dev diary. Lol he doesn't even count Other M just ZeroMission as the last Metroid.

I hope he eventually reedems himself and helps put the series back on track.

I mean, to be fair, Other M isn't a 2D game. It was going to be at some point, but the end product was a 3D character action game. Just with limited 2D controls.

 

[Astral Dog]

That depends who you ask. Fusion and Prime 3 are my favorites in the series, 2D and 3D respectively. And this is from someone who played Metroid 1 and 2 as a five year old.

Yeah i enjoyed the story in Fusion. One of the best 2D games ever made. Unfortunately Other M took what was good in it and ruined it so fans are anxious as hell.

I still believe story can work in a Metroid game in moderate doses

 

[@MUWANdo]

Does anyone have any link to any footage where we can hear the OST without people talking over it? I'm glad both Yamamoto and Hamano are back. As far as I know the only 2 games they were both on in the past are Super Metroid and Zero Mission (Yamamoto did the Prime games, where as Hamano worked on Fusion. Neither worked on Other M, for some ungodly reason). .

I'm sure Hamano worked on one of the Prime games (3, I think). I'm pretty sure they worked together on Retro's DK games as well.

 

[BY2K]

Apparently people from the original team of Metroid 2 are working on this?

 

[Neiteio]

Apparently people from the original team of Metroid 2 are working on this?

I think someone here said that one of the original designers is personally updating the map, but we need a source on this claim (I'm guessing the Treehouse, but a timestamp would be appreciated; haven't had a chance to go through the second showing).

 

[TheDinoman]

Apparently people from the original team of Metroid 2 are working on this?

I think someone here said that one of the original designers is personally updating the map, but we need a source on this claim (I'm guessing the Treehouse, but a timestamp would be appreciated; haven't had a chance to go through the second showing).

As far as we know, there's four important Metroid people involved with this game.

Yoshio Sakamoto (producer)
Takehiko Hosokawa (director)
Kenji Yamamoto (composer)
Minako Hamano (composer)

Hosokawa was previously a graphics designer for Metroid II, was the system director and a game designer for Metroid Fusion, and was one of the level designers for Zero Mission. He's directing this game and doing the level design.

One interesting thought: This is the first 2D/"mainline" Metroid game not to be directed by Sakamoto since...the original Metroid II. Though this time he actually has some involvement in it, considering he's producing it.

 

[MrSaturn99]

A friend of mine at GameSpot held an interview with Sakamoto/MercurySteam's Jose Luis Márquez. Sakamoto takes the helm for most of the interview, but I think people will appreciate the selected comments below:

Did Nintendo seek MercurySteam out for this project or was it the other way around?

There was a very fateful meeting, so we'll tell you that to start off with.

I just wanted to start out by saying I've been wanting to make a 2D Metroid game with today's technology for quite a long time. It wasn't only my personal desire, but also because I know there are a lot of people out there in the world who have been clamoring for a 2D Metroid game.

For myself, I've been wanting to revisit that fundamental, basic, core essence of Metroid, that 2D gameplay, and I was considering ways to go about taking on that challenge. That was more than two years ago.

Then I heard of MercurySteam and they were looking to take on the challenge of remaking a Metroid game. It wasn't Metroid II, but again I'd heard about this desire from the MercurySteam team.

I knew MercurySteam from their development work on Castelvania. I thought, "We've got to meet with these guys," and so we flew out to Spain [where MercurySteam is located]. Over the course of that meeting, obviously we had a great time. It seemed like, wow, there's a lot of potential here, and basically that's really how it got started.

What would you like to say for the people who've been really looking forward to a new 2D Metroid for so long?

Thank you for waiting. (laughs)

I have a lot of confidence in saying that we've come out with something that will go above and beyond their expectations, so we really hope that they will look forward to getting their hands on this title.

There's a little bit more time for us to work on this before it's ready to launch, but again, we hope that people wait patiently for it. We really want people to be surprised by like, wow, look what Nintendo and MercurySteam have done with this collaboration.

Also, the melee counter move was brought up by MercurySteam, as opposed to being carried over from Other M.

The melee ability's obviously new for 2D Metroid, but it reminded me a lot of Metroid: Other M and how that was more combat-oriented. Was it directly inspired by that game?

In relation to the melee counter, that's a MercurySteam idea, so it's good to ask them where the inspiration for the melee counter came from.

Márquez: In our previous title Mirror of Fate we introduced these mechanics to parry enemy attacks at the same time you are going to be attacked. We thought that this could work quite well in this game, so we tried and it worked really well and it led to the feeling of exhilaration when you fight enemies.

 

[Dunnymeister]

Here you go

That's not the European/Australian version...

 

[MoonFrog]

I love Metroid music so much. Glad the composers are back.

 

[Ashodin]

It's quite obvious the parry move was cribbed from Castlevania.

 

[Neiteio]

As far as we know, there's four important Metroid people involved with this game.

Yoshio Sakamoto (producer)
Takehiko Hosokawa (director)
Kenji Yamamoto (composer)
Minako Hamano (composer)

Hosokawa was previously a graphics designer for Metroid II, was the system director and a game designer for Metroid Fusion, and was one of the level designers for Zero Mission. He's directing this game and doing the level design.

One interesting thought: This is the first 2D/"mainline" Metroid game not to be directed by Sakamoto since...the original Metroid II. Though this time he actually has some involvement in it, considering he's producing it.

The director is encouraging. Good stuff!

 

[Doorman]

Whether taken from their Castlevania experience or not, I think the addition of the melee counter looks like it works extremely well in this game and is a very sensible addition to Samus' moveset. The ability for her to do more than simply jump and shoot in combat was one of the few things conceptually that I think Other M took as a step in the right direction. Not only does it give Samus more options, but it allows enemies to be designed to play more aggressively. Previously all you could do against these charging types was just jump, avoid, and try to re-establish some distance, well now there's another riskier but rewarding option to throw in.

The last time I felt this excited about a Metroid product was probably Zero Mission, outside maybe of the hype of Other M's very first reveal. For the way they've talked about it, it feels like there're going to be some pretty substantial changes and additions beyond what the original Return of Samus covered.

 

[MoonFrog]

Yeah I'm curious about the melee counter. I didn't like how cinematic it was watching it. Perhaps that feels better in the flow of playing the fights though. Also hope it isn't OP/takes some finesse.

 

[JusDoIt]

Yeah I'm curious about the melee counter. I didn't like how cinematic it was watching it. Perhaps that feels better in the flow of playing the fights though. Also hope it isn't OP/takes some finesse.

I wonder what the speedrunners think about the unskippable melee animations.

 

[Neiteio]

Another reason I'm excited for this game is because I always liked the idea of Metroid II's story (encountering increasingly evolved forms of the metroid on their home planet), but didn't feel like going through the GB original or the unofficial fan remake. Now I have a officially modernized installment to look forward to on my 3DS, a system that may look antiquated compared to my Switch but is still a perfectly fun portable that's provided me plenty of quality entertainment over the years.

 

[Neiteio]

I wonder what the speedrunners think about the unskippable melee animations.

I imagine it will add another layer of strategy in terms of where and when it's most efficient to use them.

 

[MoonFrog]

And only 92 days away?

 

[13ruce]

Looks like you can choose between hard and normal mode and possibly easy mode (based on the second segment on day 3 of the treehouse stream).

Nice will play on hard right away.

 

[Servbot24]

That depends who you ask. Fusion and Prime 3 are my favorites in the series, 2D and 3D respectively. And this is from someone who played Metroid 1 and 2 as a five year old.

What do you like about them? (I like them both too, just want to hear your perspective)

 

[Neiteio]

Looks like you can choose between hard and normal mode and possibly easy mode (based on the second segment on day 3 of the treehouse stream).

Nice will play on hard right away.

Oh wow, I didn't watch the second stream yet. So you saw selectable difficulty levels?

 

[FrostuTheNinja]

As far as we know, there's four important Metroid people involved with this game.

Yoshio Sakamoto (producer)
Takehiko Hosokawa (director)
Kenji Yamamoto (composer)
Minako Hamano (composer)

Hosokawa was previously a graphics designer for Metroid II, was the system director and a game designer for Metroid Fusion, and was one of the level designers for Zero Mission. He's directing this game and doing the level design.

One interesting thought: This is the first 2D/"mainline" Metroid game not to be directed by Sakamoto since...the original Metroid II. Though this time he actually has some involvement in it, considering he's producing it.

Worry is starting to melt away...

 

[Neiteio]

Worry is starting to melt away...

Yep. You got a Metroid vet from Nintendo directing and handling level design, and the new mechanics added by MercurySteam already look top-notch, not to mention the game's general speed, feel, production values, etc. This game already looks good enough to release. Maybe they're just polishing at this point and the fall release is more a matter of strategy than logistics.

 

[Astral Dog]

I just realized if this does well there is a chance of Metroid 5 on the future

Combining the talents of MS environmental artwork and the original designers including Sakamoto.

Hope left

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Alright that's a really good group of members to go with for this.

 

[TheDinoman]

Sometimes I wonder if Sakamoto even really knows what else to do with Metroid's story after Fusion. He kinda wrote himself into a corner with stuff like Ridley and the Metroids being dead, Samus' iconic suit being gone forever in favor of the tacky Fusion Suit, Samus now being a wanted fugitive, Adam being reunited with her, etc. This is probably why he has had to rely on remakes and one interquel over the years.

 

[Neiteio]

Sometimes I wonder if Sakamoto even really knows what else to do with Metroid's story after Fusion. He kinda wrote himself into a corner with stuff like Ridley and the Metroids being dead, Samus' iconic suit being gone forever in favor of the tacky Fusion Suit, Samus now being a wanted fugitive, Adam being reunited with her, etc. This is probably why he has had to rely on remakes and one interquel over the years.

Maybe Samus could just find some previously undiscovered Choco ruins with a backup suit ripe for the taking?

 

[Giolon]

Sometimes I wonder if Sakamoto even really knows what else to do with Metroid's story after Fusion. He kinda wrote himself into a corner with stuff like Ridley and the Metroids being dead, Samus' iconic suit being gone forever in favor of the tacky Fusion Suit, Samus now being a wanted fugitive, Adam being reunited with her, etc. This is probably why he has had to rely on remakes and one interquel over the years.

I think the final Fusion suit in Orange that you get at the very end of the game after absorbing SA-X doesn't look too bad. Besides, it's not like they couldn't devise a reason for Samus to get a new suit. All they have to do is have her find some Chozo artifact on the next game, a la the upgraded Power Suit in Zero Mission post-game.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Looks like you can choose between hard and normal mode and possibly easy mode (based on the second segment on day 3 of the treehouse stream).

Nice will play on hard right away.

Holy shit, hard mode from the start? Game changer.

 

[Neiteio]

I legit can't remember: Did past 2D Metroid titles have different difficulty levels? I only remember that from the Prime titles.

 

[KingBroly]

I legit can't remember: Did past 2D Metroid titles have different difficulty levels? I only remember that from the Prime titles.

Zero Mission did

Fusion did in Japan

 

[RareFantasy64]

I freaking love Metroid games. Prime 1, Super and Fusion have been some of my fondest gaming moments

Prime 3 had some awesome highs but I felt beginning to end it wasn't as memorable as Prime. I only played through Zero Mission once. I need to play through it again to see how I feel about it better

 

[HYDE]

So excited for this game! Always felt like my 3DS library needed just one more great game. Same thing happened with DS and I got Order of Ecclesia.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Tweet it to them; I don't have a twitter, or I would

You'd tweet to them that it's not Metroid because it doesn't do something the original Metroid 2 didn't do?

 

[TheMoon]

Worry is starting to melt away...

Because the quote conveniently left out he also co-directed Other M. (which I really like so no dig here from me)

Really, you could so easily unsell people on this if you started it with "from the two creative minds behind Metroid: Other M.... and the team who brought you the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series" and all the Metroid fans run for the hills.

The reception this is getting is kinda mind-blowing in a good way. Had this been a fully original game, I think it would have been met with more skepticism.

Man, am I hyped for this.

 

[Vampirolol]

The more I look at this game, the more I like it. It seems like they are pulling a Zero Mission here, wich is what I always wanted.

 

[Lutherian]

Because the quote conveniently left out he also co-directed Other M. (which I really like so no dig here from me)

Really, you could so easily unsell people on this if you started it with "from the two creative minds behind Metroid: Other M.... and the team who brought you the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series" and all the Metroid fans run for the hills.

The reception this is getting is kinda mind-blowing in a good way. Had this been a fully original game, I think it would have been met with more skepticism.

Man, am I hyped for this.

Sakamoto also worked on Metroid 1, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission. So... I'm absolutly fine with him back on tracks.

 

[Mister Wolf]

They might as well remake Super Metroid while they're at it.

 

[TheMoon]

Sakamoto also worked on Metroid 1, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission. So... I'm absolutly fine with him back on tracks.

I was talking about Hosokawa.

The Sakamoto bashing was always complete bullshit spewed by bitter fanbabies anyway.

They might as well remake Super Metroid while they're at it.

Well, what if Super Metroid is the post-game they've alluded to.

It would only make perfect sense (but be a waste of a perfectly good standalone product).

 

[Toxi]

Watching the Treehouse footage, I wish we could listen more clearly to the remix for the Tunnel. It sounds pretty good.