Obviously there's no sign anything like this is going to get made ever again, but what did you like about your favourite Metroid game(s)? What didn't you like about your least favourite ones?

One feature that's never been in a Metroid game that would be awesome would be a boss rush mode. My favourite thing about all Metroid games (especially Metroid Prime 2) are the boss fights. It would be cool to have a mode where you can pick how many missiles and energy tanks, and having rank schemes and leaderboards.

It would be so cool to try and beat the worldwide best time to kill Ridley with 5 missiles and no energy tanks. It would add shitloads of competitiveness and replay value to the next Metroid game.

What suggestions would you make?

The next Metroid game needs to get developed.

Tangential narrative and expressive ludology.

No, that's what the next Zelda game needs

Naked Samus getting fisted by a Space Pirate. Followed by a drenching of  "Plasma".

Spoken like a true Halo fan.

Zero Suit Samus. That is all.

"Spoken like a true Halo fan."

It was a joke. Sorry, I don't do emoticons. I should find an alternate way of expressing emotion. Maybe I'll do what that weird-elephant-looking race from Mass Effect does from now on.

Apologetically: Didn't mean to offend you, Parappateh

"It was a joke. Sorry, I don't do emoticons. I should find an alternate way of expressing emotion. Maybe I'll do what that weird-elephant-looking race from Mass Effect does from now on.Apologetically: Didn't mean to offend you, Parappateh"

Online Multiplayer utilizing the Wii Speak, and not just in matches where you exchanged friend codes but, in all matches.

The next game needs to be playable. Seriously, that game was terrible. If you're going to do first person, at least let me turn the fuck around when something is shooting me in the back.

Existence. More exploration.

"The next game needs to be playable. Seriously, that game was terrible. If you're going to do first person, at least let me turn the fuck around when something is shooting me in the back."

2d is what it needs as far as i liked metroid prime series i still prefered the 2d ones over the 3d.

"HandsomeDead said:

"The next game needs to be playable. Seriously, that game was terrible. If you're going to do first person, at least let me turn the fuck around when something is shooting me in the back."

Ever thought how Samus is wearing a huge armor suit? Turning around quickly wouldn't feel right."

I feel like the Metroid Prime series is one of those that could really be better with good graphics.  The appeal of a Metroid game SHOULD be exploration, and part of what makes exploration in games fun to me is graphics.  I feel like Metroid Prime 1 wasn't far off from being an excellent Metroid game.  Enough good backtracking and non-linear enough.

They already have good graphics though. More than good even. Some of the areas in Prime 3 are insane, like something out of Stargate's portals that lead to unknown territories. Incredible texture work and architecture characterises most of the areas, even when they go for organic looks.

That said, I can't wait for Retro's next game knowing it's not another Prime. It should be pretty special and I'm glad it's not another Prime just to see what else they can achieve. Great bunch of developers, I bet Valve banged their head on a wall for letting them go after seeing the first Prime.

It needs to go back to its 2D roots even though I wouldn't begrudge Nintendo if they stayed with the Prime formula.  Basically I want something similar to Super Metroid but larger in size, more bosses, more weapons, more of everything that made Super Metroid amazing.

Well Finally decided to sign-up on Giant-Bomb cause I couldn't resist making a reply to this 'Metroid' related thread. Metroid is too awesome for me to not add in my two cents...

I think with the creation of any new Metroid, an emphasis should be placed on the in-game atmosphere. Somehow tap into what Super Metroid succeeded sooo well in. I'm speaking of that total unknown feeling you would get in the 2D-Metroid games. Go back to that creepy tone Super Metroid had going for it at parts (Maridia great example). That was accomplished with a combinations of well-designed levels, beautifully composed music that fit on every occasion, and those unforgettable boss battles. The Next Metroid definantly needs bigger, badder, gruesomer bosses.

All the areas, in w/e new planet the game sets in, need to feel fresh and distinct. Me personally, I would do away with having too many technologically developed areas and tone it down and go for more natural looking environments. I bring this up cause it was something I didn't particularly like from M-Prime 3. I hated the mother-ship level in the beginning; felt out of place, like something out of Halo... There were some other areas that I also felt were overly techy. Not a big issue for many but I think going for something more natural like Zebes, with of course a fair-share of alien-tech in certain areas, will help in the atmosphere department greatly. The key is having everything blend well.
But maybe what MP3 needed was just that classic Metroid feel/atmosphere and maybe I would have been more tolerant...... lol Hope I make sense. XP

Anyways, something that absolutely must come back to Metroid is EXPLORATION! Make it less linear than the Prime series. I loved the Prime series but... :(
I also think the game should progress only by exploration as well. No more entities giving you straight-forward missions, none of that. At the beginning of the game you're given an idea of what you must accomplish to see the game through to the end and thus with exploration the story expands for you.

Now for some small notes I think a new Metroid game would need/not need:
1] New gameplay mechanics like (Ex: Space jump, super speed, grapple hook, etc)
2] Metroid does not need to become some epic, cinematic, action title. Go for the epic experience rather.
3] Metroid of old can be accomplished in 3D. A matter of fact, I would like to see the next great expansion of Metroid done in 3D instead of 2D. Same with it being an FPS again.
4] Samus & the World he enters. Thats what all Metroid games should consist of. That unforgetable solitaire feel from 2D-Metroid. Adding in other interactive personnel is a waste cause Samus is enough in a
    game like this. Lone Samus, once again, doing what Space Bounty Hounters do.... INFILTRATE AND KILL THE ALIEN SCUM!

So yeah, a little long-winded sorry. Thats how I get when talking about the Metroid Series. I proudly proclaim Super Metroid the greatest game of all time without hesitation, IMO. ;)

"Post with actual thought behind it"

Well the word "Prime" won't appear in the title for the next game, Retro said that Metroid Prime 3 is the last of the Prime series.

To not be bad.

The next game needs to be a 3d side scroller, none of this first person crap. Yes I enjoyed the first Metriod Prime but I couldn't have cared less for Prime 2 and 3.

I'm totally due for some 2D-Metroid right now.... maybe some 2.5D stuff. Sounds like it could work.


....But afterwards I MUST have the metroid game specified in my above comment. :D
Or w/e other cool ideas they think up of.  They won't let metroid die....

*remembers the baby metroid*

:O             :(

"Well Finally decided to sign-up on Giant-Bomb cause I couldn't resist making a reply to this 'Metroid' related thread. Metroid is too awesome for me to not add in my two cents...I think with the creation of any new Metroid, an emphasis should be placed on the in-game atmosphere. Somehow tap into what Super Metroid succeeded sooo well in. I'm speaking of that total unknown feeling you would get in the 2D-Metroid games. Go back to that creepy tone Super Metroid had going for it at parts (Maridia great example). That was accomplished with a combinations of well-designed levels, beautifully composed music that fit on every occasion, and those unforgettable boss battles. The Next Metroid definantly needs bigger, badder, gruesomer bosses.All the areas, in w/e new planet the game sets in, need to feel fresh and distinct. Me personally, I would do away with having too many technologically developed areas and tone it down and go for more natural looking environments. I bring this up cause it was something I didn't particularly like from M-Prime 3. I hated the mother-ship level in the beginning; felt out of place, like something out of Halo... There were some other areas that I also felt were overly techy. Not a big issue for many but I think going for something more natural like Zebes, with of course a fair-share of alien-tech in certain areas, will help in the atmosphere department greatly. The key is having everything blend well. But maybe what MP3 needed was just that classic Metroid feel/atmosphere and maybe I would have been more tolerant...... lol Hope I make sense. XPAnyways, something that absolutely must come back to Metroid is EXPLORATION! Make it less linear than the Prime series. I loved the Prime series but... :(I also think the game should progress only by exploration as well. No more entities giving you straight-forward missions, none of that. At the beginning of the game you're given an idea of what you must accomplish to see the game through to the end and thus with exploration the story expands for you.Now for some small notes I think a new Metroid game would need/not need:1] New gameplay mechanics like (Ex: Space jump, super speed, grapple hook, etc)2] Metroid does not need to become some epic, cinematic, action title. Go for the epic experience rather.3] Metroid of old can be accomplished in 3D. A matter of fact, I would like to see the next great expansion of Metroid done in 3D instead of 2D. Same with it being an FPS again.4] Samus & the World he enters. Thats what all Metroid games should consist of. That unforgetable solitaire feel from 2D-Metroid. Adding in other interactive personnel is a waste cause Samus is enough in a     game like this. Lone Samus, once again, doing what Space Bounty Hounters do.... INFILTRATE AND KILL THE ALIEN SCUM!So yeah, a little long-winded sorry. Thats how I get when talking about the Metroid Series. I proudly proclaim Super Metroid the greatest game of all time without hesitation, IMO. ;)"

You know, reading GnaTSol's post, I thought about how awesome it would be if they gave the Metroid series some light horror elements. Thinking back to the past 2D metroid games, there were plenty of areas that sent chills down my spine. I can't think of one 2D entry that didn't succeed in that. This was present in Prime 1 and 2, but not nearly as much. Also, there needs to be a little more emptiness like in the old games. So far, the original Prime has been the most successful of the 3D entries, and it was extremely successful, so I have no doubt they can do it again.

I think it needs tactical espionage action.

I'll tell you what it doesn't need: The space Pirate's point of view xD

Seriously though, the next game should combine both 2D and 3D gameplay, but done right, not like Super Paper Mario. A boss challenge mode, and of course, more Zero Suit Samus. 

"GnaTSoL said:

"Well Finally decided to sign-up on Giant-Bomb cause I couldn't resist making a reply to this 'Metroid' related thread. Metroid is too awesome for me to not add in my two cents...I think with the creation of any new Metroid, an emphasis should be placed on the in-game atmosphere. Somehow tap into what Super Metroid succeeded sooo well in. I'm speaking of that total unknown feeling you would get in the 2D-Metroid games. Go back to that creepy tone Super Metroid had going for it at parts (Maridia great example). That was accomplished with a combinations of well-designed levels, beautifully composed music that fit on every occasion, and those unforgettable boss battles. The Next Metroid definantly needs bigger, badder, gruesomer bosses.All the areas, in w/e new planet the game sets in, need to feel fresh and distinct. Me personally, I would do away with having too many technologically developed areas and tone it down and go for more natural looking environments. I bring this up cause it was something I didn't particularly like from M-Prime 3. I hated the mother-ship level in the beginning; felt out of place, like something out of Halo... There were some other areas that I also felt were overly techy. Not a big issue for many but I think going for something more natural like Zebes, with of course a fair-share of alien-tech in certain areas, will help in the atmosphere department greatly. The key is having everything blend well. But maybe what MP3 needed was just that classic Metroid feel/atmosphere and maybe I would have been more tolerant...... lol Hope I make sense. XPAnyways, something that absolutely must come back to Metroid is EXPLORATION! Make it less linear than the Prime series. I loved the Prime series but... :(I also think the game should progress only by exploration as well. No more entities giving you straight-forward missions, none of that. At the beginning of the game you're given an idea of what you must accomplish to see the game through to the end and thus with exploration the story expands for you.Now for some small notes I think a new Metroid game would need/not need:1] New gameplay mechanics like (Ex: Space jump, super speed, grapple hook, etc)2] Metroid does not need to become some epic, cinematic, action title. Go for the epic experience rather.3] Metroid of old can be accomplished in 3D. A matter of fact, I would like to see the next great expansion of Metroid done in 3D instead of 2D. Same with it being an FPS again.4] Samus & the World he enters. Thats what all Metroid games should consist of. That unforgetable solitaire feel from 2D-Metroid. Adding in other interactive personnel is a waste cause Samus is enough in a     game like this. Lone Samus, once again, doing what Space Bounty Hounters do.... INFILTRATE AND KILL THE ALIEN SCUM!So yeah, a little long-winded sorry. Thats how I get when talking about the Metroid Series. I proudly proclaim Super Metroid the greatest game of all time without hesitation, IMO. ;)"

Great post over all, but...... 'he'?! How could you be so in-tune with the Metroid universe and not know Samus is a chick?! Please tell me that's a typo.Assuming that it is, you had some great ideas in there. Non-linearity is what makes Super Metroid game, a looser level design would allow for sequence breaking even more than that which was discovered in Metroids Prime 1 and 2. But the other aspect of the Metroid games that makes them awesome are speed runs, if they had a leaderboard and high score system for the game and for boss battles and maybe even the more challenging puzzles I think that would be cool too. What do you think of that, GnaTSoL?"

Yes, I think 3D for consoles is the way to go (although a downloadable 2D Metroid with the features I suggested would be great too!)

But the other important question you raise is when.

I agree, I really liked the direction the story seemed to be heading toward the end of Metroid Fusion, seeing Samus part ways with the Galactic Federation would be cool, a rogue bounty hunter and all that jazz.

Although I disagree with what you have to say about the Prime games, I really liked the presentation and concepts behind it. A super space element that is powerful yet devestating is a neat concept to explore and the angles they took on it were relatively unique and fresh.

1.  BoG changed his avatar.  This is heresy.

Hmmm...

First post here. It's been a while since I've posted on a gaming forum.

In terms of Metroid, Retro need to find what made the original Prime so good, (and the prior 2D releases. And concentrate on that formula), as opposed to going in, what could be considered a tangential direction. So lets talk about what worked in the 3D games.

I myself have no qualms about the first person view, (myself being raised on FPS shooters), but Retro needs to be more obvious about the direction the game is intended to take. I first tried playing the original Prime upon release, and promptly put it back down again. From an outsiders perspective, (as I was at that point), I was expecting a First Person Shooter through and through, and it did my head in something chronic that the lock-on system worked the way it did. It took a second attempt to get into it, at which point it became one of my favourites. But I know of others that have had the same problem I had, and couldn't work around it. It isn't a 1st Person Shooter, but the shooting elements can flavour your opinion unless you're capable.

Now, as has been pointed out, exploration is one of the keystones of the Metroid formula. Something it has been ever so slightly been tearing away from since Prime. The subsequent games, 2 and 3, made it significantly harder to explore. they ramped up the difficulty of the enemies, as so that you'd find yourself fighting battles, often unnecessarily, to go to even the most basic of areas. Come to think of it, the first examples of that I remember are in Prime, the chozo ghosts, who would haunt you at any room of the ruins, were immune to all but the weakest firearm, and took longer to kill than often the patience of the player would endure.

Upon mentioning this, the problems with exploration are linked to an overall shift in direction by Retro. The game spawned enemies that were difficult, time costly, or even just a pain in the arse to kill. The game wouldn't let you bypass these fights the first time through in a lot of places, and the enemies could always annoy the hell out of you, (war wasp I'm looking at you.)  This outlook is significantly different to the original concept, with which enemies were more of a "thing to avoid", (unless you went to a spawn pipe for health.)

All in all, the conclusion is fairly obvious at this point. The Prime games went for a more action-y feel, more so with the sequals (2 had that blasted ammo system and 3 was, well, 3). This is something that needs to be rectified, should the game wish to stick to it's own formula. If it doesn't, we're ending up with Metroid Prime: hunters.

The only problem with the last metroid game was that it looked like a gamecube game. And the whole battle strategy was basically to circle strafe everything. In other words, the game should look and play less like Quake 3.

If the next Metroid does turn out to be an FPS once again, I hope they revamp the shooting mechanics. When shooting your energy attacks in prime, it never really felt impactful. It felt like some really weak weapon. I say revamp that by changing the look of the energy shots to something more powerful looking and adding more controller feedback (rumble).

Something I would really like to see is a redesign to Samus's Power Suit. Not a total redesign, like keep the color and basic structure but add more detail to the suit. Though, I think the arm-cannon totally needs to be redesigned. Given that Samus's right arm is on-screen so much, a new arm-cannon design would be nicely refreshing.

Both just small nit-picks I guess.

laser/plasma/energy weapons don't (exist, but if they did they would not) have recoil ;o

I loved the weapons and how they combined with stuff like the xray visor and the picture-in-picture views of the weak points you hit for MASSIVE DAMAGE. That felt powerful in its own way and you made such short work of the standard enemies that could give you trouble prior to that power up. Charging your shot did have rumble. Also, grapple beam.

I also liked the way the fights were all about moving around and positioning and jumping and twisting and turning and whatever, and having the lockon made it more intuitive, so it was just like the 2D games, as opposed to trying something like adding a cover system and iron sights.

I played the first two Prime games ans enjoyed them. Why are some people are so down on the 3D games? they weren't terrible like the 3D CastleVanina games.

Yeah, I guess there wasn't really anything wrong with the shooting mechanics, now that I think about it. I'll have to play Prime 3 again and check out the shooting cause I remember something bugging me at the time.

"You know, reading GnaTSol's post, I thought about how awesome it would be if they gave the Metroid series some light horror elements. Thinking back to the past 2D metroid games, there were plenty of areas that sent chills down my spine. I can't think of one 2D entry that didn't succeed in that. This was present in Prime 1 and 2, but not nearly as much. Also, there needs to be a little more emptiness like in the old games. So far, the original Prime has been the most successful of the 3D entries, and it was extremely successful, so I have no doubt they can do it again."

"I think it needs tactical espionage action."

Hands-down, 2D. If they take a look at what SFIV did, with a 2D game with 3D graphics, it would be amazing. There's no reason they can't do that on the Wii. Do that, and I'll buy it.

I'd like a 2D Metroid too, maybe they could have you aim with the remote so you don't need those "fire diagonally up/down" buttons and to give a faster paced combat. But I hope they also continue making FP games :)

I'm not sure about using 3D visuals for a new retro Metroid though, I think I'd prefer good 2D art instead, with a few particle and lighting effects here and there.

"Tangential narrative and expressive ludology."

online multiplayer please

No backtracking.

No backtracking.

It was bound to be this type of post anyway.