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[Shikamaru Ninja]

The man, the myth, the legend. Like most other positions in the public field, you are only as good as your last endeavor. For several rabid internet posters, Sakamoto can not be forgiven for his involvement in the polarizing Metroid: Other M. Regardless of slighting opinions on the matter, Sakamoto has spanned a twenty year career as a pixel artist and game designer for Nintendo, and most recently concentrated on being a senior producer and team manager cultivating and supervising his younger developers.

Sakamoto, The Developer (1982-2004)
- Sakamoto's illustrious career begins in the historic and yet overshadowed R&D1 Department of Nintendo. It was the first game division of Nintendo, and largely comprised of older artists who previously worked on board games and toys. The group would foray into the earliest game development at the company, which could be described as crude basic games released on the Game & Watch. While Sakamoto primarily worked under his mentors Gunpei Yokoi and Satoru Okada, he did briefly assist Miyamoto on Donkey Kong Jr. Former company president Hiroshi Yamauchi, initially pitted all the R&D departments to compete against each other. This was something resoundingly evident decades later, when Sakamoto revealed he still views his older colleague (Miyamoto) as a rival.

The current president of Nintendo Company Limited, Satoru Iwata, strikes that Sakamoto is a unique developer within Nintendo because of his range in creating products that represent a polar end spectrum of each other. This covers Sakamoto's creation and involvement of light-hearted games like Balloon Kid and Snoopy, to darker sci-fi and detective mysteries in Metroid and Detective Club. Unfortunately, much of Sakamoto's portfolio has remained largely shrouded in domestic territory, to a rather esoteric audience. Contemporary gamers only know Sakamoto from his work on Metroid, rather than his role playing and text adventure games.

1982 - Donkey Kong (Game&Watch): Pixel Artist
1982 - Donkey Kong. Jr (Arcade): Pixel Artist
1983 - Snoopy (Game&Watch): Pixel Artist
1984 - Balloon Fight (Famicom / Arcade): Pixel Artist
1985 - Wrecking Crew (Famicom): Pixel Artist, Game Designer
1986 - Gumshoe (NES): Director
1986 - Metroid (Famicom): Game Designer
1987 - Miho Nakayama's Heartbeat High School (Famicom Disk): Director / Coordinator
1988 - Detective Club: The Missing Heir (Famicom Disk): Director
1989 - Detective Club 2: The Girl Who Stands Behind (Famicom Disk): Scenario Designer
1990 - Balloon Kid (Game Boy): Director
1992 - For the Frog the Bell Tolls (Game Boy): Scenario Designer
1992 - X (Game Boy): Director
1994 - Super Metroid (Super NES): Director
1995 - Teleroboxer (Virtual Boy): DIrector
1997 - BS Detective Club: Memories Lost in the Snow (BS-X): Producer
1998 - Detective Club 2: The Girl Who Stands Behind (Super Famicom): Director
1999 - Trotting Hamtaro: The Great Friendship Plan (Game Boy Color): Director
2000 - Trade & Battle: Card Hero (Game Boy Color): Director
2002 - Metroid Fusion (Game Boy Advance): Director
2004 - Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance) Director
2009 - Birds & Beans (Nintendo DSi) Producer
2009 - Paper Airplane Chase (Nintendo DSi) Producer

Sakamoto, The Producer/Manager/Team Sakamoto (2004-2014)
- Sakamoto's outstanding tenure as a graphic artist, scenario writer, and game designer under the R&D1 department for prior bosses Gunpei Yokoi, Satoru Okada, and Takehiro Izushi; ended in 2004. Sakamoto became the heir of the R&D1 legacy, and new producer and manager of his own production group. Team Sakamoto of SPD Production has been a rather unorganized and mysterious bunch of internal developers, operating in a division that primarily externally produces software with partner or contracted developers. Team Sakamoto has functioned as a small group of developers (about 1/10th the size of the EAD staff) that usually split up into three project teams.

2004 - WarioWare: Twisted! (Game Boy Advance) - Producer
2004 - WarioWare: Touched! (Nintendo DS) - Producer
2005 - Play-Yan (Game Boy Advance) - Producer
2006 - Rhythm Tengoku (Game Boy Advance) - Producer
2006 - WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii) - Producer
2007 - High Speed Card Battle: Card Hero (Nintendo DS) - Producer
2007 - Nintendo DS Digital TV Tuner (Nintendo DS) - Producer
2008 - Rhythm Tengoku Gold (Nintendo DS) - Producer
2009 - WarioWare: D.I.Y. (Nintendo DS) - Producer
2009 - Card Hero: Speed Battle Custom (Nintendo DSi) - Producer
2009 - Tomodachi Collection (Nintendo DS) - Producer
2010 - Metroid: Other M (Wii) - Co-Producer, Co-Director
2011 - Rhytm Tengoku Fever (Wii) - Producer
2012 - Kiki Trick (Wii) - Producer
2013 - Game & Wario (Wii U) - Producer
2013 - Tomodachi Collection 2 (Nintendo 3DS) - Producer

Sakamoto, The Producer/Manager/Team Sakamoto (2015-Beyond)
- The future of Team Sakamoto lies in a cloud of nebulous considering the recent restructure of the company. The commercial failure of Kiki Trick and the commercial and critical failure of Metroid: Other M and Game & Wario don't exactly bode well either. Fortunately, Team Sakamoto's ability to create the Rhythm Tengoku and Tomodachi Collection IPs with such limited resources, outweigh any misgivings towards dissolving the production group. Sakamoto's unit currently has only one upcoming game announced, with a certainty of 1-2 more games secretly being in development at the moment.

2015 - Rhythm Tengoku: The Best + (Nintendo 3DS) - Producer

Perhaps E3 will reveal what Team Sakamoto has in the works? WarioWare? 2D Metroid? RPG?

 

[Hugstable]

New 2D metroid please!

Also a real new Balloon Fight and not just the Nintondo Land Minigame

 

[Busaiku]

I mean if they were just doing Rhythm Heaven The Best, I doubt they'd have anything else to show for a while.

 

[Glowsquid]

Is it really confirmed he's working on Rythm Tengoku Best +? Apparently the "funny games" people responsibile for WW and Rythm Heaven were transfered to a separate department before the restructure.

Metroid Other M is a bad game and I won't try to make excuses for it, but it's a shame it has overshadowed the rest of Mr. Sakamoto's illustrious career

New 2D metroid please!

Also a real new Balloon Fight and not just the Nintondo Land Minigame

Yeah, about that...

 

[Beth Cyra]

The man is a great producer and creative mind.

Other M's story was horrific, but I don't want the man hung because of one mistake.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

His biggest sin is that I'm afraid Nintendo will keep Samus' depiction and personality of Other M as canon forever and this I could never forgive.

I hope if he ever touched Metroid again it is for a light in story 2D Metroid which seems it's what he does best.

My other big hope is Nintendo writing Other M out of canon or just rebooting the franchise.

What I do know is he should never write the script of another story heavy Metroid ever again.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Is it really confirmed he's working on Rythm Tengoku Best +? Apparently the "funny games" people responsibile for WW and Rythm Heaven were transfered to a separate department before the restructure.

Several senior developers have been transferred from SPD / Team Sakamoto over to Nintendo EAD.However, then some younger EAD staff were transferred over to Team Sakamoto very recently.

A few guys from Sakamoto's camp were transferred over to SPD Production Group No. 4 and have been working on those mini-game collections like Wii Play Motion and Street Pass Games.

That may well be why we got Game & Wario and simply getting a "Rhythm Tengoku Best of Edition". However, that Tomodachi Collection 3 team is definitely getting big.

Yeah, about that...

The response itself is actually very ambiguous when you read further. I think Sakamoto will eventually make a 2D Metroid game for the 3DS? but kind of distance his name initially for PR reasons. If the game is good, then he will be like "haha i was just playing, I helped make the game."

 

[Hugstable]

The man is a great producer and creative mind.

Other M's story was horrific, but I don't want the man hung because of one mistake.

Seriously so many acted as if he should never touch another Metroid game after Other M without realizing just what other Metroid games he's responsible for. Just cause he had one bad game doesn't mean the whole series would be shit under him.

 

[Akai__]

Yo, get on that Metroid Fusion sequel!

 

[Boney]

It's a shame Kiki Trick never made it stateside and that it bombed hard in Japan. Seems like a game that needed to be tried out in a party setting to click and the Wii was pretty much dead everywhere at that point.

Still super excited in what him and his team and conjur up, both the light hearted humorous games and the more story oriented games are a great contrast to other Nintendo development teams.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

That's where people who are calling for his head are objectively wrong. The man has been involved in dozens of incredible games, directing some of the greatest of all time. He is up easily up there with Aonuma, Koizumi, and Sakurai.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

That's where people who are calling for his head are objectively wrong. The man has been involved in dozens of incredible games, directing some of the greatest of all time. He is up easily up there with Aonuma, Koizumi, and Sakurai.

In all fairness I never called for his head, and many others didn't either. Can't speak for everyone but many of us were calling for Sakamoto to stay away from story driven AAA 3D Metroids. He could still be a supervisor like he was for Prime and if there's ever another 2D Metroid light on story he could, even should, direct that. He just never should get as much control and authority for another big Metroid as he did for Other M. Certainly not in the story and script department! He even called Samus "her daughter" which sounds creepy and disturbing.

Other than that he's obviously a capable man who more often than not brings big bucks to the company when he has little resources and is forced to get creative.

 

[Ushojax]

I don't mind him making another Metroid as long as he reacts to the massive problems with Other M. My concern is that he doesn't understand why people rightly despise it. I don't really think a Japanese-developed Metroid can work as a 'cinematic' game, the writing is just too painful to any Western player. A Sakamoto-led Metroid can work as long as it's restricted to the same scale as Metroid Fusion. Let Retro handle the expansive Metroid titles.

He basically did a George Lucas, Other M is his Attack of the Clones. He can still come up with story ideas but he just can't write or direct.

 

[GenG3000]

He seems to have lost the strength to develop game changing titles. I enjoyed Other M but I felt his vision for Metroid has grown stale. His time has passed and the Metroid series is due for a new cycle, a fresh beginning.

He is also responsible for the decline of the SPD team, once one of the best in the world, now trapped developing insubstantial games and supervising third party titles.

After the Other M fiasco he seemed to stop caring about his fans and go for the casual fanbase.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I don't mind him making another Metroid as long as he reacts to the massive problems with Other M. My concern is that he doesn't understand why people rightly despise it. I don't really think a Japanese-developed Metroid can work as a 'cinematic' game, the writing is just too painful to any Western player. A Sakamoto-led Metroid can work as long as it's restricted to the same scale as Metroid Fusion. Let Retro handle the expansive Metroid titles.

He basically did a George Lucas, Other M is his Attack of the Clones.

That's my biggest concern too but I think you're being unfair by saying a japanese developed game couldn't possibly give Metroid the cinematic treatment it deserves. There's precedence in that working before for other franchises. However, it is true that:

A) it's more likely for a cinematic/story heavy Metroid to work with a western developer and writers rather than japanese and

B) I DO think a cinematic/story heavy Metroid game can never work again if Sakamoto is given the same control he was given with Other M. This one I'm sure about.

In my opinion the best course of action for Metroid is a reboot. Start fresh. And give Samus' character the respect she deserves.

 

[PtM]

Yeah, about that...

he wants to work on something "completely different and that brings new emotions."

That doesn't bode well. So he has been mainly the producer lately, and the only time he got his hands dirtier was for Other M. He better stay producer than doing another "emotions" shtick.

 

[Mael]

He's way more successful and his games are way more interesting when he's doing experimental stuffs than when he does traditional games anyway.
Let someone else do Metroid, maybe we'll get something other than the same powerups in the same locales for a change.
Heck Metroid Blast is way better than anything Metroid done by former SPD in more than a decade, at least it's challenging there's nothing to explore but it's a theme park anyway.

And seriously Ballon Fight? It was always the kind of stuffs you would usually get in arcades or G&W games.
I mean do we really need a mature gritty reboot of Balloon Fight?

In my opinion the best course of action for Metroid is a reboot. Start fresh. And give Samus' character the respect she deserves.

It wasn't needed in 2009, doing so now would be tantamount to saying that anything done since Fusion was a huge mistake that needs to be wiped clean.
I feel like a better course of action would be making a proper Metroid V and totally disregarding anything that happened in Metroid Other M or pull a Days of Future past and making Other M unhappen.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

He is also responsible for the decline of the SPD team, once one of the best in the world, now trapped developing insubstantial games and supervising third party titles.

That's not true at all. The truth is that Miyamoto/Tezuka/Nakago (EAD) had a huge hit with Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda in the 80's. While Sakamoto/Kiyotake/Osawa had Metroid and Kid Icarus.

EAD created franchises that resonated with a mass audience, while R&D1 created franchises that resonated exclusively with the more dedicated enthusiasts. Unfortunately, Nintendo R&D has slowly increased and hasn't been able to compensate Sakamoto's groups, when a 3D Mario/Zelda/Animal Crossing/Mario Kart need hundreds of developers each.

Recently, Sakamoto's Rhythm Tengoku and Tomodachi Collection are a change from the cool but underselling properties he was involved with before. Still Iwata actually was the head of all these restructures since 2002.

 

[Eolz]

As long as he isn't near story/character development (in a serious way), I think he's really good.
Looking forward to what he might lead, especially if it's on the bizarre/creative side.

Great thread as usual, lots of info.

 

[Golnei]

That doesn't bode well. So he has been mainly the producer lately, and the only time he got his hands dirtier was for Other M. He better stay producer than doing another "emotions" shtick.

Other M provoked an impressively strong emotional reaction from the public, especially considering Nintendo usually prefers to keep narratives light. Sakamoto is truly a master at creating unforgettable experiences which can change the perception of a series in a single stroke - if he created a cultural phenomenon that still is discussed constantly to this day through the paradigm of the relatively niche Metroid series, imagine how much his unique narrative style could bring to other Nintendo IPs. I can't wait for him to bare his soul to us again.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Other M provoked an impressively strong emotional reaction from the public, especially considering Nintendo usually prefers to keep narratives light. Sakamoto is truly a master at creating unforgettable experiences which can change the perception of a series in a single stroke - if he created a cultural phenomenon that still is discussed constantly to this day through the paradigm of the relatively niche Metroid series, imagine how much his unique narrative style could bring to other Nintendo IPs. I can't wait for him to bare his soul to us again.

You speak as if this strong emotional reaction was a positive thing.

Sure, Sakamoto made with Other M an "unforgettable" experience, I'll give him that. But it's an unforgettable one in the same way The Room is one too: because of the train wreck effect.

If Metroid ain't getting a reboot I really wish Other M would be written off canon.

 

[GhostTrick]

DETECTIVE CLUB 3 !!! Pleeeeease !!!

 

[PtM]

Other M provoked an impressively strong emotional reaction from the public, especially considering Nintendo usually prefers to keep narratives light. Sakamoto is truly a master at creating unforgettable experiences which can change the perception of a series in a single stroke - if he created a cultural phenomenon that still is discussed constantly to this day through the paradigm of the relatively niche Metroid series, imagine how much his unique narrative style could bring to other Nintendo IPs. I can't wait for him to bare his soul to us again.

That's a good troll. Else I'm with Alex_Mexico.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Thanks for taking the time to put this up b(^_-)d

Think Sakamoto is far more creative individual than Miyamoto and a more interesting artist.

Think that the reaction to Other M was excesive and fueled by a sheep heard mentality more than a genuine dislike for the game.

 

[Toxi]

Super Metroid was over two decades ago. Zero Mission was over a decade ago.

The reason why people are so wary of letting Yoshio Sakamoto near Metroid is that his most recent (and only recent) Metroid effort was mind-numbingly terrible, not just in execution but in concept. It's hard to believe the guy who made a game with two hours of cutscenes filled with wretched dialogue could make a game like Super Metroid today, just as it's difficult to imagine the George Lucas of today directing another movie like Star Wars. And that's fine, as long as people stop seriously expecting him to make another Super Metroid or Zero Mission.

By all accounts, most of his recent non-Metroid work is fine (bar Game & Wario), and nobody has a problem with him working on those games. They just don't want him anywhere near Metroid without a leash in the near future.

Think that the reaction to Other M was excesive and fueled by a sheep heard mentality more than a genuine dislike for the game.

Oh fuck off with that. The game bombed for a reason.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

Sakamoto is great, but his weird complex about Super Metroid prevents him from making common sense decisions about where to take the series. Other M was just a weird venture all around, but it had some redeeming qualities and isn't nearly as bad as it's often painted in spite of a fair amount of jank and a horrible story. I'd personally like ton see him take on another console Metroid with more internal involvement than get another FPS from Retro honestly.

The types of projects he's worked on since are interesting too, but they're in a completely different vein. It'd be nice to see him take another stab at a deeper adventure game like Metroid, or play a hand in a new Wario platformer. Regardless, he's a great designer and it always bothers me when people treat him like a leper because of one awkward collaboration where he was cutting his teeth on 3D gaming.

 

[Mak]

Nice summary of Sakamoto.

You left out Kid Icarus in the list where he's credited with "Game Design".
http://www.metroid-database.com/m1/fds-interview-p7.php
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/kid-icarus/credits

1986 - Kid Icarus (Famicom): Game Design

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

Nice summary of Sakamoto.

You left out Kid Icarus in the list where he's credited with "Game Design".
http://www.metroid-database.com/m1/fds-interview-p7.php
http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/kid-icarus/credits

1986 - Kid Icarus (Famicom): Game Design

Right. Sakamoto, Kiyotake and others from the Metroid team helped finish the game. That was from the awesome Nintendo Dream interview.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Oh fuck off with that. The game bombed for a reason.

i was talking in terms of how people think the Samus character was mistreated in the plot aspect of the game. The gameplay aspect of the game continued the streamlining path that Fusion initiated. The game isn't as bad as people made up to be.

A game "bombing" in retail doesn't paint the hole picture. Some of the greatest action games of all time came from Director Hideki Kamiya, games that had a tendency to "bomb" in retail.

i really hope that Nintendo is working on new input systems for their handheld and console succesors. Sakamoto is amazing coming with game concepts build around the input method of a system.

 

[hatchx]

Great post Shikamaru Ninja. I guess Wario Ware has been a joint franchise between Intelligent Systems and Team Sakamoto of SPD. I look at Sakamoto as an artist and creative visionary. As much as I dislike the direction he took with the story in Metroid Other M, I have to applaud him for some of his bold design choices in the game. I was always pretty impressed that you could do so much with just the wii-remote. I'd be open to him trying to redeem himself on a 2D Metroid or proper WiiU Wario Ware, and I really hope we get Rythm Tendoku (3DS) in the west.

 

[Bass260]

Sakamoto is a legend. I appreciate his zany side of Nintendo.

He should surely have a go at Metroid again.

 

[MilkBeard]

The reason why people are so wary of letting Yoshio Sakamoto near Metroid is that his most recent (and only recent) Metroid effort was mind-numbingly terrible,

I feel like this is such a huge exaggeration. Of course the topic is very heated but in all honesty, I can't see how people could be that repelled by the game.
--
On the other hand, it does seem like his focus is non story-driven games, so it's probably best he keeps working on those types. I wouldn't mind him overseeing a new Metroid though, personally.

 

[a harpy]

I feel like this is such a huge exaggeration. Of course the topic is very heated but in all honesty, I can't see how people could be that repelled by the game.
--
On the other hand, it does seem like his focus is non story-driven games, so it's probably best he keeps working on those types. I wouldn't mind him overseeing a new Metroid though, personally.

The game played okay when it worked. It could be a lot of fun sometimes but had some frustrating design decisions concerning exploration/progress and some aspects of combat. The rest of the game was exactly mediocre or worse. Graphics, design, story, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and so on and so forth. Even when I put the obviously cried-about aspects of the game behind me, it was a drag to play through. Not in a way that made me want to go tell someone how bad it is, but in a way that just made me want to play a different game. You can see a lot of promise in it, though. There is a lot of could-be and what-if buried all over the game. The game was good enough that if a spiritual successor to Other M was pushed out, I'd be willing to give it a try in hopes that my misgivings were abated.

But I do not think Other M was a good game, Metroid or otherwise.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

The game played okay when it worked. It could be a lot of fun sometimes but had some frustrating design decisions concerning exploration/progress and some aspects of combat. The rest of the game was exactly mediocre or worse. Graphics, design, story, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and so on and so forth. Even when I put the obviously cried-about aspects of the game behind me, it was a drag to play through. Not in a way that made me want to go tell someone how bad it is, but in a way that just made me want to play a different game. You can see a lot of promise in it, though. There is a lot of could-be and what-if buried all over the game. The game was good enough that if a spiritual successor to Other M was pushed out, I'd be willing to give it a try in hopes that my misgivings were abated.

But I do not think Other M was a good game, Metroid or otherwise.

All of that should not be put on Sakamoto though. There were like a handful of Nintendo people on the game along with a huge chunk of Team Ninja, who clearly displayed that they know very little about Metroid.

 

[Dremark]

Seriously so many acted as if he should never touch another Metroid game after Other M without realizing just what other Metroid games he's responsible for. Just cause he had one bad game doesn't mean the whole series would be shit under him.

Yeah, I'm not going to comment on the quality of Other M but it's pretty obvious it was poorly received and sold terrible (The game was $20 a week after release, unthinkable for a game Nintendo released) but the way people are so dismissive of him at this point over literally one game is pretty ridiculous.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

New Metroid Fusion taking advantage of the power of n3DS. You gotta believe. I know I do.

 

[BIONIC-ARRRMMM!!]

Hopefully he'll grace us with Metroid Another M.

 

[SalvaPot]

 

[Madao]

while others already came to shit the thread with other m stuff, i came here for the Rhythm Tengoku the Best hype. i'm importing that game day 1 because i think it won't be localized after how bad the previous 2 bombed outside japan. it's the reason i went and imported a New3DS (even though it was announced later. i just had a feeling some JP-only game that i really wanted was gonna come out in the late 3DS years)

 

[ArchedThunder]

His biggest sin is that I'm afraid Nintendo will keep Samus' depiction and personality of Other M as canon forever and this I could never forgive.

I hope if he ever touched Metroid again it is for a light in story 2D Metroid which seems it's what he does best.

My other big hope is Nintendo writing Other M out of canon or just rebooting the franchise.

What I do know is he should never write the script of another story heavy Metroid ever again.

Nintendo would have to be brain dead to do that.

 

[CaviarMeths]

Nintendo would have to be brain dead to do that.

Not really.

This modern concept of rebooting an entire franchise because of one wrong step is ridiculous. They can just continue on and nobody will care about or remember Other M. If they announced a 3D Metroid at E3 set after Fusion starring fugitive Samus, fans would go nuts.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Hahahaha!

 

[Ushojax]

All of that should not be put on Sakamoto though. There were like a handful of Nintendo people on the game along with a huge chunk of Team Ninja, who clearly displayed that they know very little about Metroid.

Sakamoto was behind all the major design decisions though. Other M was his baby, and it was so bad that it put the Metroid series into stasis for half a decade. I don't think Nintendo will take the risk of him directing another entry on that scale, if it produces another bad game it could kill the franchise.

They just have to ignore it and never refer to it again.

 

[Zalman]

I'd like to see a new 2D Metroid from him. I'm sure he could make a great game.

 

[Wreck-It Ralph]

I can appreciate what he did earlier in his career.

I can appreciate his wacky games like Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven.

But I cannot forgive him for what he did to Metroid with Other M. It's clear that he George Lucas'd. He fell out of touch with the people who actually play his games and forgot why people like them in the first place. When he was given full control over the development of the game without anyone around to veto his decisions, we wound up with Other M.

I hope he continues to make wacky mini-game games, but I also hope he never touches the Metroid series again.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Sakamoto was behind all the major design decisions though. Other M was his baby, and it was so bad that it put the Metroid series into stasis for half a decade. I don't think Nintendo will take the risk of him directing another entry on that scale, if it produces another bad game it could kill the franchise.

They just have to ignore it and never refer to it again.

Half a decade and counting. We're close to pass the exact 5 year span since Other M launched and I see no new Metroid in sight. Even if they'd announce one this E3 I don't think there's any way it's coming in 2015. Other M will have put Metroid in at least a 6 years hiatus,,, the longest Metroid has ever been since Prime/Fusion revived the franchise in 2002.after an 8 year absence.

 

[Madao]

Half a decade and counting. We're close to pass the exact 5 year span since Other M launched and I see no new Metroid in sight. Even if they'd announce one this E3 I don't think there's any way it's coming in 2015. Other M will have put Metroid in at least a 6 years hiatus,,, the longest Metroid has ever been since Prime/Fusion revived the franchise in 2002.after an 8 year absence.

people need to brace themselves for a new record.

at this point i think they'll just wait for next gen to bring back the series.

 

[Dremark]

I can appreciate what he did earlier in his career.

I can appreciate his wacky games like Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven.

But I cannot forgive him for what he did to Metroid with Other M. It's clear that he George Lucas'd. He fell out of touch with the people who actually play his games and forgot why people like them in the first place. When he was given full control over the development of the game without anyone around to veto his decisions, we wound up with Other M.

If he had full control over everything, why is he only listed as co-producer/director in the OP post listing for Other M?

Also I'll reiterate that acting like his entire track record prior is irrelevant because he made one poorly received game is ridiculous. It's possible for people to make mistakes or bad choices without being incompetent.

 

[Madao]

If he had full control over everything, why is he only listed as co-producer/director in the OP post listing for Other M?

Also I'll reiterate that acting like his entire track record prior is irrelevant because he made one poorly received game is ridiculous. It's possible for people to make mistakes or bad choices without being incompetent.

people get harsh like that when it happens to something they care about.

Miyamoto's biggest recent dud (Wii Music) was on a series not many people were fond of so it gets swept under the rug easily.
if Sakamoto had made Wii Music the exact same way, it'd be the same story. same if Miyamoto was the one that made Other M.

 

[Ushojax]

If he had full control over everything, why is he only listed as co-producer/director in the OP post listing for Other M?

Also I'll reiterate that acting like his entire track record prior is irrelevant because he made one poorly received game is ridiculous. It's possible for people to make mistakes or bad choices without being incompetent.

If you read about the development of the game you will understand why Sakamoto is responsible for the game. He insisted they use D-pad only control, he insisted that the script be translated as literally as possible, he insisted on the specific characterization of Samus right down to her beauty spot. They might be listed as co-directors but Hayashi and Hosokawa were more like sub-directors. Sakamoto designed the game.

I think all Metroid fans are open to Sakamoto returning but only if he demonstrates an understanding of Other M's flaws. The concern is that he thinks people 'didn't get it' rather than 'I made a terrible game'. He kept saying Other M was the 'true' version of Samus, that this is what he always had in mind for her character. That's what has people worried, he doesn't understand his own character.