The recent guy complaining about your criticism of Metroid Other M that is. He needs to learn to deal with different opinions.
The way how I say things tends to draw strong emotions of both love and hate. The only real crime is to be boring.
But I’m realizing that the readers of this site span many various age groups and have gotten into gaming at a very different point. There was a saying among science fiction writers that the ages of 10-13 are ‘the Golden Age’ for science fiction. Any sci-fi books that are read in that age range are considered ‘magical’ by those readers.
It is becoming clear to me that the “Golden Age of Gaming” has to be more akin to a certain window in the age group or a time right after the person gets into gaming. Children who grew up on the Gamecube will eventually find their way to the Internet and will argue that Super Mario Sunshine is the best Mario game ever made. Are they wrong? Well, not in their case. When observing how 2d Mario’s decline and end in the 16-bit generation, I criticized Super Mario World for something. I got an email from someone who was apparently very hurt that I was criticizing a game that was very central to his childhood. It was his very first Mario game.
So I’m not criticizing people’s experiences with the games. I am just curious at why some games do their sales while other games do not. Why did Super Mario Brothers sell so much and created a phenomenon when Super Mario World and Super Mario 64 did not?
I keep using the Mario games as an example not because I am so obsessed with Mario but because everyone can associate with Mario. This viewpoint can be applied to any game. Why did that Castlevania game sell while that one didn’t? You get the idea.
So I’ve become aware that I have been unintentionally hurting some gamers’ feelings in my detective work on the trends of gaming. Yoshi’s Island, for example, is a very well made game. Yet, looking at the long term trend, it was the last real 2d Mario game. This means perhaps something happened in that game that did not resonate with the Mario Madness crowd. What is it? And if Yoshi’s Island is one’s favorite game, well, they get very angry if something is said like “Yoshi’s Island killed off what was left of the Mario Madness that began with Super Mario Brothers.”
But the only way to not accidently hurt anyone’s feelings is to say and do nothing. If you aren’t being criticized, then you aren’t doing anything.
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Unfortunately, I can be classified as a “hardcore” gamer in almost every respect. But I can also belong to the “expanded audience” because I love games like Wii Sports Resort and I even see some magic in Wii Fit Plus.
You would be called a ‘betrayer’ by your hardcore brethren. “Going casual? My God!”
Expanded Audience refers to new customers that did not exist during the Gamecube or previous generation era. Current gamers who like Wii Fit or Wii Sports wouldn’t be ‘expanded market’ (since you were already part of the market) but more like something as ‘converted core’. The conversion would be accepting new interface as the value of gaming instead of more graphics.
This is why it is going to be so much fun to watch Sony blow away millions of dollars of MORE money by tailoring marketing to ‘target’ Wii owners (i.e. the expanded market). They aren’t going to get people to buy their console by advertising their graphics because the Expanded Audience doesn’t care about graphics. Grandma is not going to buy a PS3 to play God of War 3 based solely that it is in HD.
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But moving along, I share your criticism of Other M. First of all, what the hell is with the title? I thought it was stupid from day one.
Yeah, the title is odd.
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Second, I am scared of Team Ninja developing it because I see too much of their own artistic style imposed upon the series. I like what Retro Studios did with the Metroid Prime series. I own every Metroid Prime game and have owned them since their individual release dates. Retro proved itself to be a capable developer as far as Metroid goes. Team Ninja still has to prove that.
I could always understand Metroid fans who were not fans of Metroid Prime. It is a big radical change of a game series moving to 3d. I wasn’t too hot over Zelda and Mario changing to 3d. In 3d, Zelda ended up selling more while Mario ended up selling less. So I understand when someone thinks the change to 3d “changed the series”.
But with Other M, there is no reason whatsoever to make this game. There already is Metroid on the Wii with Prime 3 and even Trilogy. Metroid has never been a big seller anyway. People who love Metroid already have a Wii. Other M isn’t going to increase Wii sales.
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I also don’t like that Team Ninja has this entire attitude of “we don’t care what Retro did” and “if Retro wants to make another Prime game, that’s up to them.”
But most importantly, I was instantly disgusted with all the cutscenes and background shown for Samus in the E3 teaser video. I thought the same thing as you. Who the hell wants all this emotional backstory crap about Samus? I don’t play the game for that, and it ruins the mystique presented by the series, as well as the lone adventurer style.
I had never heard of Sakamoto before Other M. Metroid was always said to be Gunpei Yokoi’s baby. It was assumed that the reason why there were no Metroid games after Super Metroid was due to Yokoi’s departure and death.
I don’t buy Nintendo trying to parade Sakamoto as to Metroid as Miyamoto is to Mario. The main reason is Sakamoto’s absence during Metroid II which wasn’t a handheld spin-off but a direct sequel. Reading and listening to everything Sakamoto has said suggests to me that he doesn’t understand Metroid at all. He is the resident Metroid ‘lore expert’, but he doesn’t talk about Metroid in the way how customers experience it.
Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime were released in North America at the same time in November 2002. Looking back at this moment is very interesting.
Metroid Fusion was called Metroid 4. Metroid Prime was going to be the ‘crazy’ spin-off. You can tell that Nintendo thought Metroid Fusion to sell so well and to be the main pillar of the series (aside from naming it Metroid 4) because of the unlockables. Nintendo assumed most people would buy Fusion and gave Prime ‘unlockables’ so all the Fusion fans might buy some Metroid Prime.
After completing Metroid Prime, they can use the Fusion suit in Metroid Prime. (I guess Nintendo thought the Fusion suit would have been so popular to Metroid fans that they would DEMAND to use it in Prime. It ended up that everyone hated the Fusion suit.)
And if the consumer completes Fusion, they can play the original Metroid on the Gamecube. (More incentive for Fusion buyers to get some Prime.)
Looking back in time like this, it clearly shows that Retro proved to be an upstart. Metroid Fusion became seen as the ‘black sheep’ of Metroid whose linear manner and cutscenes were said to be not very Metroid. Metroid Prime ended up as one of the best selling Gamecube games and the best selling Metroid game ever made.
Even worse is that the install base for the GBA was MUCH vaster than the Gamecube install base. It must have been humiliating to have the ‘crazy’ Metroid spin-off outsell Metroid 4, the REAL sequel.
I recall Miyamoto being peeved at Donkey Kong Country’s massive success. While Yoshi’s Island has certainly aged better than DKC, I have a hunch that these Japanese developers who participated in the birth of the ip must get annoyed when western developers make that ip outsell anything they’ve previously done.
What you described as Team Ninja being dismissive of what Retro did I don’t think is really coming from Team Ninja so much as it is coming from Sakamoto.
Your skepticism and my skepticism aren’t anomalies. It seems to be common among the older Metroid fans. Parish seems entirely skeptical about Other M and his questions seem as if in shock at Sakamoto’s answers in the 1up interview with him.
I’ve been baffled by Sakamoto’s refusal to turn Other M into a 2d or 3d game. He just says stuff like “It’s both! Let’s talk about how awesome my Metroid story will be. It will be SO awesome!”
In 2003, Sakamoto said,
With Fusion you proved that, despite technical limitations, two-dimensional games can be every bit as involving and entertaining as 3D games. Although 3D is very much in fashion, do you think that 2D gaming will make a serious comeback?
Sakamoto: Originally Metroid was a 2D game, but Metroid Prime was a very good game even though it was 3D. Maybe we need to make something like a 2.5D in the future [laughs]; people have expectations, but I really do not want to determine the future of Metroid strictly through 2D or 3D.
The point is it’s about what people are expecting and what kind of Metroid game we really want to make, and that’s not something that can be defined by 2D or 3D.
At least Sakamoto is being consistent in his craziness for at least six years of entertaining this idea. The problem with blurring 2d and 3d is that it destroys any type of consistent large world to explore. The only way to do a blurred 2d/3d mode is to have a linear and narrative orientated game. Is this what Metroid fans want? I don’t think so.
You can tell Reggie either doesn’t play Metroid or lies through his teeth (or both) because in that Gamespot interview (which I think is the worst of his career), he gives wrong sales impressions for Super Metroid and says that Other M is a ‘return to traditional Metroid’. And what ‘traditional’ Metroid is Other M like, Reggie? Other M is NOTHING like Metroid I, II, and Super Metroid. It isn’t like anything in Prime. It is only like Fusion which Metroid fans aren’t too crazy about anyway.
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With regards to what you said about Yoshi’s Island not really having any memorable characters (well, you didn’t say that it didn’t have any at all, just in general), I would have to cite the baseball boys. Now those guys are hilarious! They always stuck out in my mind.
In fact, when Miyamoto was interviewed by Nintendo Power during Yoshi’s Island’s release, the magazine asked what his favorite characters were. Miyamoto cited the baseball boys (I can get a direct quote from the magazine if you want). I just wonder if they had much of an impact on the gaming audience as a whole.
Looking at the video above, it reminds me of what pushes me away from Yoshi’s Island. The stage is way too big! When you think it is over, it keeps going. I prefer the shorter stages that appeared in something like Super Mario Brothers 3. Even Super Mario World’s stages were a little too long to me. If a stage needs a ‘midway mark point’, then the stage is too long! I’d rather have many short stages than fewer long ones.
The item scavenger hunt drove me crazy in Yoshi’s Island. It is good for replay purposes however, especially if you want 100%. But I prefer just running to the flagpole.
The Yoshi-Turn-Into-Mole-Or-Helicopter I found atrocious. It made no sense and felt like a bad gimmick.
But speaking of the baseball guys, they seem to me to just be shy guys with bats. Even looking at them I cannot remember them. Maybe I am the only on on that.
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