Giant Bomb Video Game News

Whether you've already seen it or not, what I want to ask you about the following trailer is, "At what point while watching this did you realize it was a Metroid game?" But I shouldn't bother; the majority of you saw the trailer online, plastered with headlines or promotional graphics, fully aware of exactly what game it is. Your answer would be "Duh. Before I hit play."

My experience was more confusing. I saw the trailer at the Nintendo E3 press briefing with no preamble indicating what exactly the trailer was for, so it wasn't until I saw the blonde girl suddenly clad in the iconic Zero suit and red helmet that I realized, holy crap, this is Metroid! I bring up this context only to convey the brief but intense confusion I felt when that recognition kicked in. (Those of you watching the live stream of the press conference at home can identify.)

Who are these people, anyway?

That this is a Metroid game shocked me because the first third of the video focuses on cinematic scenes, characters and dialogue--dramatic elements that are foreign (if not directly opposed) to the Metroid series' traditional focus on the lonely exploration of hostile alien worlds. I never came to a Metroid game looking for character development, unless those characters were Ridley and Kraid, and I was developing their nonexistence with my wave beam. Seeing multiple characters--with speaking roles!--in a game with the "Metroid" name still throws me for a loop.

This shift in focus for Other M is by design, of course. Wired's Chris Kohler did a good interview with Nintendo's Yoshio Sakamoto--director of the very first Metroid and the franchise's longtime steward--and newly anointed Team Ninja head Yousuke Hayashi about their strategy for making a new Metroid that diehard fans will accept. The most interesting part to me regards the presence of the storyline such as we've seen it so far.

Wired.com: So, then, what is your vision of the ultimate Metroid game?
Sakamoto: Within the greater Metroid series, the Other M story will tie together the stories that took place in Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. One of my goals is to present Samus as an appealing human character, and that involves explaining a little bit about what happened in her past as well as the characters that influenced her. The story will play a big part.

I wouldn't want to be in Mr. Hayashi's shoes, shouldered with the dual burden of reviving Team Ninja and satisfying the fickle hardcore Nintendo fanbase. But he does seem to have both duties in mind.

Wired.com: Team Ninja’s games are really hard, but Metroid games have a gentler difficulty curve. Can Team Ninja make a game that doesn’t just kick you in the face with difficulty at every minute?
Hayashi: It’s not our goal to make a Team Ninja version of Metroid. We’re working as part of this larger group, and so as Mr. Sakamoto said earlier, it’s our goal not just to make a game that appeals to Metroid fans or fans of Team Ninja games. It should be a game for everyone.

The full interview goes into some more depth about the size of the respective teams working on the game, and who's doing what. Give it a read if you're looking forward to Other M; information on the game is likely to be scarce for a good long while as its 2010 release date approaches.

Now you're talking my language.

In general, is Other M the sort of thing you're looking for in a new Metroid game? If not, where do you think the series ought to be going instead?

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Xbox Live To Drop Original Xbox Support This April Better get those last few games of MechAssault out of the way now...
The Top Characters of January 2010 Hey, curious to know who the most popular characters of January were? I was, so I went digging.
EA Reveals Lineup For Fiscal 2011 "Fiscal 2011" means "From This April Until Next April."
LucasArts Announces LEGO Star Wars III Clone Wars cartoon series gets done up in block form for release later this year.

	BioShock 2
	No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
	MAG
	Mass Effect 2
	Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
	Dark Void
	Trajectile
	Army of Two: The 40th Day
	Darksiders
	Bayonetta (PS3)

Dante's Inferno (Divine Edition) PS3 \| X360 - Feb. 9, 2010
BioShock 2 PS3 \| X360 \| PC - Feb. 9, 2010
Star Ocean: The Last Hope - International PS3 - Feb. 9, 2010
Darwinia Plus XBLM - Feb. 10, 2010
Two Worlds: The Temptation X360 - Feb. 10, 2010
Windchaser PC - Feb. 10, 2010
Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll WII - Feb. 9, 2010
Shiren the Wanderer WII - Feb. 9, 2010
Scene It? Twilight DS - Feb. 9, 2010
World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars X360 - Feb. 12, 2010

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