Support NeoGAF

[Dremark]

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.

I wonder if they will ever actually do that. They've seemed to go as far out of their way as possible to avoid doing anything after Metroid 4 that I feel like they really don't want to go that route.

Although on the other hand it's completely possible the series is dead at thidls point and will never received any sort of follow up anyway.

 

[Dremark]

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'.

To be fair it was a legitimate question rather than a counter argument. I don't know all the intimate details of the game's development, but I know he was the one who made the decisions that mattered at least. Being listed as co-director/producer at least implies he didn't have 100% freedom with the project, although it also doesn't obsolve him from blame if others give him his way.

Your second point I think is completely reasonable. I can understand people being concerned about whether he's still suited to head the project rather than insisting he should be backlist from it permanently.

 

[StreetsAhead]

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.

Game & Wario was clearly a bit of a rushed patchwork of different tech demos SPD had developed for the console.

As for Rhythm Heaven +, I thought it had some new content (like 1/3 new music/stage & story mode).

 

[Alex_Mexico]

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.

I'd rather not think too much about that but its definitely a possibility that the 2002-2010 streak of the Metroid franchise might have been murdered by Other M in exchange for an even longer hiatus than the Super Metroid - Prime 8 year absence. And that horrifies me.

 

[CaviarMeths]

I'd rather not think too much about that but its definitely a possibility that the 2002-2010 streak of the Metroid franchise might have been murdered by Other M in exchange for an even longer hiatus than the Super Metroid - Prime 8 year absence. And that horrifies me.

Other M was just the tail end of a downward trend of sales. 2002-2010 was Nintendo trying their damnedest to make Metroid as big as Zelda, but it just didn't happen.

I want a new Metroid as much as the next guy, but fans have to quit this fantasy where it's one of Nintendo's biggest and most important franchises and that Other M single-handedly killed it off.

 

[Red Hood]

METROID 5 OR BUST

 

[Red Hood]

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.

In a positive or negative way? I for one would be disappointed, I'm not a huge fan of the Prime games, they feel too slow and sluggish for me compared to the 2D entries.

 

[Madao]

i just want a final game after fusion. then they can reboot it or end it forever. just end the thing (that endgame has been untouched for 13 years+ by now)

 

[Alex_Mexico]

Other M was just the tail end of a downward trend of sales. 2002-2010 was Nintendo trying their damnedest to make Metroid as big as Zelda, but it just didn't happen.

I want a new Metroid as much as the next guy, but fans have to quit this fantasy where it's one of Nintendo's biggest and most important franchises and that Other M single-handedly killed it off.

Youre exaggerating. The only Metroid game in the last 15 years that I saw Nintendo giving it's darnest to make it as big as Zelda was Prime 1 and it paid off. It was a multimillion seller, the biggest GC game for that holiday season and still to this day the best selling Metroid game ever.

Prime 2 was a convoluted and difficult as shit game that launched at the same time as GTA San Andreas and Halo 2 in a failing Gamecube. And Prime 3 launched with little to no fanfare from Nintendo smack dab in the middle of the casual Wii Sports craze where if you weren't going to sell a minimum of 7 million copies, Nintendo wouldn't give you the time of day.

I tell you, Yoshi's Wooly World and the newest Kirby wish they'd sell as much as Metroid Prime 1 did on Gamecube alone.

I do not think its a franchise as big as Zelda. Popularity wise it's in the Top 10 Nintendo franchises, but certainly not in the Top 5. But to say Nintendo gave its all to make Metroid a big deal is overblown.

Other M was the final, and biggest, mistake Nintendo did with Metroid. But this time it wasn't because of lack of marketing, bad timing or wrong audience. It was because the game sucked for new players and sucked for Metroid fans so bad that the franchise has still yet to recover.

 

[DICKS AHOY]

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.

I loathe Other M but I feel is unfair to compare him to George Lucas; Sakamoto still does excellent work after the one-off misfire M:OM was whereas basically anything George touched from Phantom Menace on wards turned to shit. One is somebody just (horribly mind you) misinterpreting what people liked about their creation with a one-off sequel, the other strikes me more as someone just not giving a shit anymore and taking it out on their older creations.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Thank you for making this thread Shikamaru Ninja!

I didn't know the first Wario Ware wasn't developed by Sakamoto & co.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

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.

You really think he'd go back to the ancient greatness after Other M? It's George Lucas all right.

Just cause he had one bad game doesn't mean the whole series would be shit under him.

Considering how he turned it to shit, yes, yes it would. It wasn't just a single one-off mistake.

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.

Yup. Ewww.

 

[CaviarMeths]

In a positive or negative way? I for one would be disappointed, I'm not a huge fan of the Prime games, they feel too slow and sluggish for me compared to the 2D entries.

I don't necessarily mean Prime when I say 3D.

I think Other M had interesting gameplay ideas. I like the idea of 3rd person more than 1st person. Peripheral view, satisfying character animations, etc. Melee skills were also long overdue in the series. Level design was inconsistent, targeting systems were a mess, and controls options were inadequate, but I'm not ready to rule out that style of gameplay on principle.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

I don't necessarily mean Prime when I say 3D.

I think Other M had interesting gameplay ideas. I like the idea of 3rd person more than 1st person. Peripheral view, satisfying character animations, etc. Melee skills were also long overdue in the series. Level design was inconsistent, targeting systems were a mess, and controls options were inadequate, but I'm not ready to rule out that style of gameplay on principle.

It boggles my mind how in the name of fuck did he think Wiimote-solo would be a good idea. By adding support even only for the Nunchuk you'd at the very least have:

A) proper analog movement for this 3D game

and most importantly

B) you'd always have the Wiimote pointing towards the TV making missile not a fucking disorienting chore every time you had to flip the damn thing to the TV. Hell, we might've been able to even move while aiming the missiles!

The list of Sakamoto boneheaded decisions for Other M doesn't cease to amaze me.

Also; pixel hunting. Fuck pixel hunting.

And this isn't even touching my issues with the script, acting and Samus' character assassination.

 

[PtM]

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.

Ew…
More like, people never understood his character and made her out much cooler than she actually was.

 

[Datschge]

At least Sakamoto is still there and going strong. I wish the same could be said about all the other former R&D1 staff.

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

You really think he'd go back to the ancient greatness after Other M? It's George Lucas all right.

An inane comparison which was refuted two posts earlier:

Sakamoto still does excellent work after the one-off misfire M:OM was whereas basically anything George touched from Phantom Menace on wards turned to shit.

Considering how he turned it to shit, yes, yes it would. It wasn't just a single one-off mistake.

How wasn't Metroid Other M a single one-off mistake? How many misogynistic distasterpieces do you think the man's been responsible for since Other M?

 

[Glowsquid]

I didn't know the first Wario Ware wasn't developed by Sakamoto & co.

The first WarioWare was entirely developed at Nintendo R&D1 and has most of the core staff of the series on it. Sakamoto just isn't credited on it : p.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

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.

From a story perspective, yes. Not to say he wasn't involved in the gameplay, but in pretty much every interview he mentioned Team Ninja taking the reigns on game design, and the gameplay was just as meh as the story was.

 

[ArchedThunder]

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.

What the hell are you on about, I said they'd be stupid to keep Samus the way she was in Other M, I said nothing of a reboot...

 

[Refreshment.01]

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.

In accordance to that type of thinking Super Metroid was so bad it put the series into stasis.

No, the reason that the series is been rested for some time is because it was putting decreasing sales numbers. Prime 2 sold less than Prime 1, Prime 3 less than Prime 2 and Other M less than Prime 3.

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.

The Prime games also gradually felt out of touch of why people like Metroid games, it was turning more and more into an FPS. Yet Other M gets all the hate.

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.

But the creator is telling you that's his true vision of the character, it's a bit too egocentric to think otherwise.

The reason people got another image of Samus was because the series started in systems that were very limited in ways to express a story, so the emphasis was put on other aspects of the game and in this case for the better. When it was considered a good time to focus more on the plot aspects of the game we got the real envision of the character, that was with Other M. The previous attempt to expand heavily on story was with Fusion on the more limited GBA. The Prime games didn't focus as heavily in characters and more on world building and again this was for the better.

 

[Eolz]

The Prime games also gradually felt out of touch of why people like Metroid games, it was turning more and more into an FPS. Yet Other M gets all the hate.

I agree with the other points, but not for part of this one.
It was also following the trend of putting a bigger focus on story/characters, and was a bit too much streamlined (wanted to attract a bigger audience). However, everyone recognizes its flaws. It doesn't get any (noticeable) hate, because mechanically and thematically, this was still a great game, and still a Metroid Prime.
Other M doesn't get hate only for its horrible character "development", but also for its gameplay flaws. The concept was good (people were excited at first for a reason), but the execution was bad: extremely linear, poor controls, invincibility frames, poor progression and pacing, no backtracking, etc.

Metroid seems to be in good hands now, and they won't kill this franchise (unlike some other games that they can replace for a time), but it's also understandable, that they are trying to find a good way to bring it back, while seeing if there's a possibility to expand its audience.
Despite all its good points and fanbase love, this is still not a really big-selling IP for Nintendo.

On-topic, I'm sure that even if Sakamoto don't have the right/will/whatever to work on Metroid again, the new teams might still ask him for some advices/clarifications about this universe, obviously.

 

[Mak]

Here's a list of relevant interviews with Yoshio Sakamoto.

Metroid Database Developer Profile : Yoshio Sakamoto
http://www.metroid-database.com/features/profile_Sakamoto.php

Yoshio Sakamoto's GDC 2010 Keynote -
“From Metroid to Tomodachi Collection to WarioWare: Different Approaches for Different Audiences”
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-As...tor-Yoshio-Sakamoto/Page-1/Page-1-203794.html

Many of the other games I’ve worked on have been more unique, subtler or quirkier.
And because of that…
They don’t make it out of Japan as much. Please don’t interpret this as meaning the games are boring…

In Japan, METROID games are known as niche titles as well, so over there, I might be considered “a guy who only makes niche games.” In other words, rather than making games with global appeal, my true identity might be as a game designer with a "strong tendency towards niche games."I think this might upset the company but I actually really like being in the position that I'm in.

Q&A: Metroid Creator's Early 8-Bit Days at Nintendo - Wired April 2010
http://www.wired.com/2010/04/sakamoto/

Memories of Making Metroid - 2003
Famicom days to GBA
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/26/memories-of-making-metroid/

Famicom Disk System interview - Nintendo Dream 2004
http://www.metroid-database.com/m1/fds-interview-p0.php

Super Metroid Guide Book staff interview - 1994
http://www.metroid-database.com/sm/interview.php

The Making of Super Metroid - Retro Gamer 2014
http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games90/the-making-of-super-metroid/

The Elegance of Metroid - Gamasutra 2010
Working with different partners, the impression the games leave behind, maintaining story elements
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/132721/the_elegance_of_metroid_yoshio_.php

Metroid Fusion & Prime Dev interview - 2003
What is Metroid to Sakamoto?
http://www.metroid-database.com/features/mp&mf_int3.php

Metroid Fusion interview - NOM 2003
http://www.metroid-database.com/features/nomsakamoto.php

Metroid (Zero Mission) Q&A with Sakamoto - 2004
http://www.metroid-database.com/features/faq.php

Metroid Zero Mission Director Roundtable - IGN 2004
http://www.ign.com/articles/2004/01/30/metroid-zero-mission-director-roundtable?page=1

Iwata Asks Yoshio Sakamoto (Metroid: Other M) and Hironobu Sakaguchi (The Last Story)
https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-As...ection/1-A-23-year-old-Connection-218000.html

Iwata Asks Game & Wario
http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wiiu/gameandwario/0/0

Iwata Asks Metroid: Other M
http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wii/metroid-other-m/0/0

Q&A 'Metroid: Other M' - USA Today - Sept 9, 2010
http://content.usatoday.com/communi...her-m-director-yoshio-sakamoto/1#.VT1aMCFVhBc

Q: Talk about why you decided to return to Samus' story after the events of Super Metroid.
Sakamoto: Metroid: Other M is an episode which fills in the blanks of the overall Metroid storyline between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. We couldn't just leave this part of the storyline untouched. It's so critical that without addressing it, we wouldn't be able to make new games that show Samus' adventures that take place after the events of Metroid Fusion.

- Does this game bring Samus' story to an end or leave room for future adventures?
Sakamoto: Since chronologically, Metroid: Other M is followed by Metroid Fusion, it is certainly not the end for Samus. However, it was important for us to address the storyline of Metroid: Other M before looking at events that happen later in her life.

Metroid: Other M Yoshio Sakamoto interview - GameSpot Sept 20, 2010
https://youtu.be/up8GLJ0aVVo

"I'm really looking forward to listening to any opinions from fans, as well as any new players who have Other M as their first Metroid game. So I'm really looking forward to recieving many opinions - either good or bad.
I'm not necessarily saying that we will try to incorporate any all the opinions of fans, but we do want to hear their feedback, and depending on them we might want to make some significant change to the to future direction of the Metroid franchise. Or we might want to go ahead with the direction set forth from Other M."

Metroid: Other M - " The Challenge of Project M"
Behind the scenes video with Yoshio Sakamoto (Nintendo) Yosuke Hayashi (Team Ninja) and Ryuji Kitaura (D-Rockets) discussing the challenge of making the game and discussions they had during their collaboration.
The essence of 2D Metroid in 3D, Samus' Zero Suit, NES button reactions, making the game simple enough for anyone from the NES era to play
Part 1 - https://youtu.be/DHPZSrG4AXY
Part 2 - https://youtu.be/6zPkFzMR_9k

 

[Neff]

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.

lmao

But the creator is telling you that's his true vision of the character, it's a bit too egocentric to think otherwise.

The Lucas comparisons are apt. This really is "he's not being faithful to my Star Wars" albeit on a smaller scale.

 

[Neiteio]

I want a 2D Metroid on 3DS with emergent, nonintrusive storytelling. A cool gameplay gimmick might be to borrow a page from DKCR and Kirby Triple Deluxe and give most rooms a foreground and background layer. Sometimes what happens in the foreground affects the background, and vice-versa, and sometimes you travel between the two. Would look amazing in stereoscopic 3D. And with a persistent map on the touchscreen, they could go all-out with the complex world design. Also could be an icon to scan the surroundings for in-game lore. Completely optional, though, with nothing missable, and no rewards tied to it. The reward would be the lore itself.

 

[Sammy Samusu]

He will never touch Metroid, like, ever again.

And that's for the better, give us more Tomodachi Life!

 

[Beth Cyra]

He will never touch Metroid, like, ever again.

And that's for the better, give us more Tomodachi Life!

You do realize that as long as Iwata, a former Dev and friend is president he would never lay this mandate on Sakamoto.

 

[Nintendojitsu]

Joke thread? Or are we forgetting this horrible monster of a person (singlehandedly mind you) destroyed the Metroid series with that abomination that is Other M.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Joke thread? Or are we forgetting this horrible monster of a person (singlehandedly mind you) destroyed the Metroid series with that abomination that is Other M.

Without this "monster" Metroid would have not been the revered series it was that even had the clout to have Nintendo want to bring it back and give it to Retro.

 

[Nintendojitsu]

Without this "monster" Metroid would have not been the revered series it was that even had the clout to have Nintendo want to bring it back and give it to Retro.

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

Gunpei was an amazingly brilliant man. However all do respect to Gunpei, the majority of the respect outside of the female reveal comes from Super Metroid which was Sakamoto's game.

 

[Astral/H3X]

Honestly? If there's another Metroid game that takes place after Fusion (or Other M), I hope there's a line in it, SOMEWHERE, where Samus basically laughs Other M off as "Holy hell was I having a bad day" or something. Acknowledge it was terrible, have a small joke with it, and move on.

 

[foxuzamaki]

I dont have much respect to people who actually insults this guy who has probably been making some of their favorite games for over 20 years and saying they dont want him to even touch a series he created with gunpei.

 

[Shikamaru Ninja]

I didn't know the first Wario Ware wasn't developed by Sakamoto & co.

Sakamoto was a manager/supervisor and uncredited in the first WW game. But it was an entirely R&D1 / Team Sakamoto game.

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

Yokoi was a brilliant engineer and a man with great ideas. However, when it came to game development, he fully entrusted his designers with encouragement and freedom to make their games. The only game I can say Yokoi was really attached to, was Dr. Mario.

At least Sakamoto is still there and going strong. I wish the same could be said about all the other former R&D1 staff.

It really is a shame that core unit broke up. Miyamoto/Tezuka/Nakago/Kondo have remained attached since 1984! While Sakamoto/Kiyotake/Osawa/Matsuoka/Tanaka were not able to stay together.

 

[Eolz]

It really is a shame that core unit broke up. Miyamoto/Tezuka/Nakago/Kondo have remained attached since 1984! While Sakamoto/Kiyotake/Osawa/Matsuoka/Tanaka were not able to stay together.

What did happen to them? From what I'm reading on your website, it seems only Kiyotake (not counting Sakamoto) has a somewhat important role nowadays.
Edit: nevermind, after searching a bit, seems he's only supervisor when there's a Wario game coming out...

 

[Glowsquid]

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

I dont have much respect to people who actually insults this guy who has probably been making some of their favorite games for over 20 years and saying they dont want him to even touch a series he created with gunpei.

Fun fax: Gunpei Yokoi was always more of an engineer/manager type of guy and didn't really design software "in the trenches", acting more as a producer/supervisor. He's credited in a bunch of games by default due to being head of the R&D1 department, but the "oh yeah he's totally the creator of metroid/Wario/Kid Icarus" meme is due to bad reporting by places like IGN, as he's the only well-known personality of the R&D1 department.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

In accordance to that type of thinking Super Metroid was so bad it put the series into stasis.

No, the reason that the series is been rested for some time is because it was putting decreasing sales numbers. Prime 2 sold less than Prime 1, Prime 3 less than Prime 2 and Other M less than Prime 3.

The Prime games also gradually felt out of touch of why people like Metroid games, it was turning more and more into an FPS. Yet Other M gets all the hate.

But the creator is telling you that's his true vision of the character, it's a bit too egocentric to think otherwise.

The reason people got another image of Samus was because the series started in systems that were very limited in ways to express a story, so the emphasis was put on other aspects of the game and in this case for the better. When it was considered a good time to focus more on the plot aspects of the game we got the real envision of the character, that was with Other M. The previous attempt to expand heavily on story was with Fusion on the more limited GBA. The Prime games didn't focus as heavily in characters and more on world building and again this was for the better.

That is factually incorrect. Prime 3 sold more than Prime 2, you know? It's backed by official Nintendo sales numbers you can see in their site.

It's true the Prime trilogy never recaptured the brilliance of Prime 1 but Prime 3 in my opinion was a better game than Prime 2 and a step in a better direction.

 

[Mak]

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

Gunpei Yokoi was responisble for Game Boy among other things and was the section chief of R&D1 that managed the team under him. Yokoi was the boss of the Metroid team that made sure things got done.

Metroid started development with Hiroji Kyotake and Hirofumi Matsuoka. The basic animations of the character and actions were done and the release date for the sci-fi action game was already set even though the game wasn't finished. When the rest of R&D1 joined the project, Sakamoto instructed them to make the game about exploring a dungeon and collecting powerups since they couldn't give it a major design change at this point.

http://www.metroid-database.com/m1/fds-interview-p4.php

In those days, that was the usual method of making games?

Kiyotake: In summary, somebody would think of the foundation for part of the game and everyone would give it a try, and I think this was the general flow of development. Therefore, you could show anyone the prototype you'd made, but when the release date was fixed, at that time, you weren't allowed to take it out.

Sakamoto: Although a release date had been fixed, in that space [before release date], there was a reasonable gray zone.

http://www.metroid-database.com/features/nomsakamoto.php

With regards to the story, what was the concept behind making the Famicom Disk version of Metroid?

Sakamoto: To tell the truth, Metroid wasn't a game I came up with. At that time, R&D1 was also making new titles for the Disk System. Therefore, production was entrusted to two new guys, and I was making a different game [Wrecking Crew -ed.]. However, I came back to the studio, and there was just an image of a character with incredible physical abilities firing a gun in space-themed level, but it wasn't a finished game. So, all the surrounding staff, including me, began working on it. Although I say this now, since the release date had been decided, I couldn't afford to add any new technical specifications. However, regarding the nature of the game, we had no options other than "jump, run, and shoot". I thought, "With these abilities, what would be best?" and I had everyone design a game about exploring a dungeon looking for power-ups.

Yoshio Sakamoto, Past, Present and Future of Metroid - Revogamers - Sept 1, 2010
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/translation/23982/yoshio-sakamoto-interview

Regarding Metroid's gameplay system, these are things people don't know about. It wasn't by chance that we came up with the system like that; the case was that when we started development on Metroid we were asked to create a game with gameplay unlike anything else seen before, something completely new in the world of videogames. It was also a decade in which very few games were released, so things were very different back then.

We created an interesting game concept, and before we even knew how the final product would turn out a release date was decided. A time came in which the release date was quickly approaching and the game was unplayable. The original Metroid team was composed of people that had very little experience with game development, and I was one of the few members of the team with experience thanks to working on games like Balloon Fight. We then called for an emergency meeting and we debated how we could solve our problems without adding more to the game; we looked for a way to make it playable.

The decisions made during that emergency meeting were what made Metroid the game it is today, using a labyrinth-like system, upgrades, secret doors, and abilities that would open up new areas. This made the game playable.

http://www.siliconera.com/2011/12/26/memories-of-making-metroid/

The original Metroid first came into being as our desire to create a game that took place in a gloopy, alien-like world. In early development, there were only rows of blocks, and the backgrounds didn’t give you the sense that they were alive. The Chozo were also something that resulted from this process. The game was headed up by then-newcomers Hirofumi Matsuoka and Hiroji Kiyotake, but when it came to representing the civilization of an undiscovered planet, I’d hand what I’d written to Matsuoka and tell him "Put this in," and he would. [Laughs]

Super Metroid was assigned to Yoshio Sakamoto by Makoto Kanoh, who reported to Gunpei Yokoi.

http://www.nowgamer.com/the-making-of-super-metroid/

“My boss [producer Makoto Kanoh] told me that Metroid was really popular in North America, so he encouraged me to produce a new Metroid game with the high-quality graphics that were becoming possible thanks to the Super Famicom. Of course I said, ‘Yes, I’d like to try doing that.’

Gunpei Yokoi. In his early 50s at the time of Super Metroid’s production, Yokoi was the game’s general project manager but did not exercise any hands-on control. Sakamoto remembers how his superior viewed Super Metroid: “Yokoi-san, who at the time was my section chief and who always had fresh ideas, was always angry when he saw us all completely absorbed and working crazy overtime on Super Metroid. He came in and said, ‘Are you lot trying to produce a work of art or something?’”

“But this was an epic and we were already way past our deadline, and it seemed we were getting progressively further from our objectives – Yokoi-san was becoming angrier with us day by day during that period. We weren’t aware of it, but Kanoh was given a warning by Yokoi-san. Although he was really unhappy with us, and even though he wasn’t the type to dish out praise, Yokoi-san was constantly playing Super Metroid once we’d finished it – he was hooked. He was playing it so much that I wondered what he was up to.”

“When other developers brought their action games to Nintendo, he’d always compare them with Super Metroid and invariably ended up recommending the third-party developer to ‘go away and play Super Metroid’. That’s how fond he was of our game. I suppose this is a better memory than the smelly nap room anecdote,” Sakamoto laughs.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

Joke thread? Or are we forgetting this horrible monster of a person (singlehandedly mind you) destroyed the Metroid series with that abomination that is Other M.

One of the most pathetic posts I've ever seen on GAF.

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

You do know he had very little to do with the actual design of the games?

 

[Refreshment.01]

That is factually incorrect. Prime 3 sold more than Prime 2, you know? It's backed by official Nintendo sales numbers you can see in their site.

It's true the Prime trilogy never recaptured the brilliance of Prime 1 but Prime 3 in my opinion was a better game than Prime 2 and a step in a better direction.

It's not fair to clasify the entire post as factually incorrect because i had 1 sales figure incorrect, as of march 2014 it was Prime 2 1.10 to Prime's 3 1.41 on the 100 million sales console. The point still stands, the Metroid series was in a sales decline after the first Prime. The longest hibernation the series entered was after Super which is the most critically acclaimed game of the entire series.

I agree with the other points, but not for part of this one.
It was also following the trend of putting a bigger focus on story/characters, and was a bit too much streamlined (wanted to attract a bigger audience). However, everyone recognizes its flaws. It doesn't get any (noticeable) hate, because mechanically and thematically, this was still a great game, and still a Metroid Prime.
Other M doesn't get hate only for its horrible character "development", but also for its gameplay flaws. The concept was good (people were excited at first for a reason), but the execution was bad: extremely linear, poor controls, invincibility frames, poor progression and pacing, no backtracking, etc.

The Lucas comparisons are apt. This really is "he's not being faithful to my Star Wars" albeit on a smaller scale.

i'll leave it at that guys, this is not yet another throw dirt in to Other M thread. Maybe we could continue the disscussion at other time in a proper topic. It's not respectful to taint Shikamaru's thread with so much off topic debate XD

Gunpei Yokoi is rolling in his grave.

Well Yokoi had it's Other M with the Virtual Boy (even if he was under preasure) but i wouldn't dare to ever tarnish his outstanding legacy because he had a low point in his resume.

But it's good that Sakamoto recently had a hand making a hit with Tomodachi life, he calls himself a niche developer but that game seems to have a very universal appeal.

 

[Mael]

There's data on Nintendo's million sellers
Metroid and Metroid II both sold better than Super Metroid.
Considering the timeframe of Super Metroid's release, it's no wonder there was no big push for more Metroid and 3 sequels to Donkey Kong Country for example.
We have Metroid Prime Corruption at 100k under Super Metroid, which really isn't that bad considering it's more than Other M & Zero Mission and was released in the dead of Summer (because Mario Galaxy was the xmas game of 2007).
Nintendo was clearly moving away from the GC strategy and Prime games were firmly rooted in that era so there wasn't going to be more.

There is no excuse one can bring to Other M, nothing to mitigate the unmistakable disaster it was.
there was nothing that warranted the game to be released in the state it was.
there was nothing interesting in the story that the devs wanted to show, the gameplay was between pointless and insulting.
The whole point was probably to make Metroid more successful in Japan (its weakest territory) but the end result was something the Japanese market rejected and that the Western market despised.
It's pretty much what would have happened if they did something closer to WindWaker for Twilight Princess.
As for the rest of Sakamoto's work, he seems happier and more successful doing other things, no need to bring him back to Metroid.

 

[Coffee Dog]

I don't view him as anything other than a lead on a dogshit game. If he stops being involved with dogshit then I'll be interested in his output again.

I still like warioware a lot and he seems to be involved with tomodachi life, so I wont say he's a an outright shit developer, but he very clearly has no idea what to do with metroid anymore. People love to cite that he was behind super, but that was 20 years ago and as of now he's behind the worst metroid game in the series, and I would imagine his future metroid output would be more similar to a game released 5 years ago than 20.

 

[a harpy]

I don't view him as anything other than a lead on a dogshit game. If he stops being involved with dogshit then I'll be interested in his output again.

Yeah, I'm pretty surprised that people act like there might be no way for him to make a good game again, or that what he did was some unforgivable gaming sin. He just made a bad game. It happens. I think he could easily make another great Metroid game if he looks at the series and tries to make a game the fans will want. Projects he has been a part of both pre and post Other M have been absolutely excellent.

 

[Dremark]

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.

It looks like this was added after I replied. Perhaps this is the way Samus' personality was supposed to be, she never got much as far as characterization in earlier games.

 

[Ushojax]

In accordance to that type of thinking Super Metroid was so bad it put the series into stasis.

Super Metroid is one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time.

By Metroid standards Other M was received extremely poorly. Between 2002 and 2010 we got Fusion, Prime, Zero Mission, Prime 2, Hunters, Prime Pinball, Prime 3 and Other M. Yet for the last 5 years we've had nothing, that's how badly the last game was received.

But the creator is telling you that's his true vision of the character, it's a bit too egocentric to think otherwise.

I don't think otherwise. This is the 'official' version of Samus now and she sucks, just like the new version Lara Croft.

In principle nobody had a problem with fleshing out Samus' character. They just didn't expect her to be a repressed wimp who is bullied by her horrible commanding officer.

 

[Diffense]

I thought I responded to this thread but I can't find my post.

I would buy a new Sakametroid.
I can't lie and say I wouldn't play it.

Yeah, Other M had it's disappointing aspects but I'm willing to accept that the unconventional collaboration had something to do with it. I'm not blaming Team Ninja as some of the negatives were clearly Sakamoto's decisions but maybe the circumstances were not ideal.

I played my first Wario Ware game when they gave it away as a 3DS ambassador title. It was really quirky, fun and addictive. Rhythm Heaven was great too as were the previous Metroids.

 

[Madao]

didn't Sakamoto say in one of his most recent interviews that he had no desire to come back to Metroid any time soon?

i don't think he'll be involved even if Nintendo does greenlight a new Metroid game. especially if they give it to Retro.

 

[Neff]

didn't Sakamoto say in one of his most recent interviews that he had no desire to come back to Metroid any time soon?

i don't think he'll be involved even if Nintendo does greenlight a new Metroid game. especially if they give it to Retro.

He said he was more interested in creating novelty experiences than the typical action titles he's always been associated with.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/me...-to-return-to-traditional-games/1100-6419020/

Honestly, despite some of Other M's questionable design/narrative choices, I still think he's the best man for Metroid, and that it would be safer in his hands than anyone else's, even Retro's.

 

[Opinionatedfish]

This isn't going to be a popular opinion, but I want them to port Metroid: Other M to the New Nintendo 3DS as an exclusive.

Why?

A few reasons.

• They could re-evaluate the control scheme of the game and make it work better with the New Nintendo 3DS buttons.
• They could also do a touch screen mode where the primary control is through touch controls. This might be an interesting mode.
• The added time would mean that they could flesh out the story more and fix plot holes or fairly awkward dialogue. I'm sure that adding some staff to work on story would be okay.
• Some of the issues with pacing and general design could be re-addressed and tightened up.
• They would have to do this without Team Ninja, so a team like Monster Games or Retro could be brought in to polish the game.
• The budget would be lower than doing a Wii U game and this would be a port, which means that this game could be used to build hype for a new, original Metroid game in 2016.

I think that a port could also help Sakamoto. I love Majora's Mask dearly. It is my second favorite Legend of Zelda game. But it did have some issues that the 3DS port tidied up and addressed in a positive way. Going back and looking at Metroid: Other M now, could only help.

That said, I like Sakamoto, although when I interviewed the people at Team Ninja, they blamed him entirely for the story of Other M. I still want to see what he's working on after the "new" Rhythm Heaven.

 

[Madao]

This isn't going to be a popular opinion, but I want them to port Metroid: Other M to the New Nintendo 3DS as an exclusive.

Why?

A few reasons.

• They could re-evaluate the control scheme of the game and make it work better with the New Nintendo 3DS buttons.
• They could also do a touch screen mode where the primary control is through touch controls. This might be an interesting mode.
• The added time would mean that they could flesh out the story more and fix plot holes or fairly awkward dialogue. I'm sure that adding some staff to work on story would be okay.
• Some of the issues with pacing and general design could be re-addressed and tightened up.
• They would have to do this without Team Ninja, so a team like Monster Games or Retro could be brought in to polish the game.
• The budget would be lower than doing a Wii U game and this would be a port, which means that this game could be used to build hype for a new, original Metroid game in 2016.

I think that a port could also help Sakamoto. I love Majora's Mask dearly. It is my second favorite Legend of Zelda game. But it did have some issues that the 3DS port tidied up and addressed in a positive way. Going back and looking at Metroid: Other M now, could only help.

That said, I like Sakamoto, although when I interviewed the people at Team Ninja, they blamed him entirely for the story of Other M. I still want to see what he's working on after the "new" Rhythm Heaven.

and have it sell 2 copies? no. they won't bother.

that game is too poisonous to even be re-released. i bet the effort to get it on the eShop on Wii U is not even worth it.