“Through the development of Metroid: Samus Returns, I was able to really grasp the possibility and fun of a 2D Metroid. Like when I finished the first game, if there is another opportunity to make another Metroid, that is something that I would love to do. Of course, that really depends on how much people really want to buy a 2D Metroid.”
Yeah, right. Let us recall what this selfish asshole said back when Metroid: Maternal Instincts was releasing in 2010:
“So for all of these people saying that they really want a 2D Metroid, what I’d really like to say to them is I think this is your game. I’d like to see these people play it, and if they still want a purely 2D Metroid game after they’ve had this experience, then they should certainly let me know, then we’ll have to think about what to do next.”
This guy is like a broken record. All he does is try to re-write the history of the series to match his “vision” (like a George Lucas, on crack), then he keeps dangling the carrot in front of unsuspecting Metroid fans in the hopes that he will lure them into buying more Sakamoto-ized remakes and shit sequels (Metroid Fusion, Other M).
He doesn’t want to make a new 2D Metroid. He just wants to make Metroid Other M: The Director’s Cut in 2020.
I’d prefer that he just be banned from the series altogether. But apparently, that’s too logical a solution for Nintendo to implement. An outside team just made a better Sonic game than everything the “Sonic Team” had made in the past 20 years. And outside team can make something far better than Sakamoto Metroid.
Here is my take on Sakamoto. He has ‘Game God jealousy’ (I think Aonuma does too), and he thinks he is a misunderstood Shigeru Miyamoto. This guy’s ego is out of bounds, has no idea of the franchise or how players consume it (Sakamoto directed, produced, and wrote Metroid: Other M).
Sakamoto wants to be the ‘keeper of the Metroid flame’. He wildly exaggerates his influence with classic Metroid. Those were Gunpei games. Sakamoto also didn’t have anything to do with Metroid II: Return of Samus. And Super Metroid was a remake of the first Metroid game.
The reason why the first Metroid and now, Metroid II, are completely remade into Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid II 3DS is because they had no Sakamoto influence. It would be like Aonuma remaking the original Legend of Zelda because he had no input on how ‘the game ought to be’. Metroid 1 and 2 (and even Super Metroid) largely contradict what Sakamoto envisions is the definition of Metroid.
“But Malstrom,” asks the plucky reader, “what is that vision?”
You’ve played Other M, right? That is it.
“But we are talking 2d Metroid now.”
OK, then go play Metroid Fusion. The game is so terrible that it prevents any future Metroid games to be made past it in the story line. The gameplay was also terrible as well as that new suit. Sakamoto has no talent for this. Absolutely none.
Sakamoto is not interested in the Metroid franchise. He is interested in the Sakamoto Franchise. Metroid: Other M was his way to re-define 3d Metroid to be his way, so 3d Metroid would be Sakamoto Franchise too. But Other M was such a colossal disaster, Sakamoto Franchise got reduced to just 2d Metroid. But not all 2d Metroid is Sakamoto influenced. The last hold out is Metroid 2. The 3DS game is intended to erase the Gameboy version from history. It is to ensure that all 2d Metroid is Sakamoto Franchise now.
Sakamoto scares me with his insanity.
Solution: have Retro make a proper 2d Metroid. Retro can do is as they made the 2d Donkey Kong games, and Retro can make 3d Metroid.
“But why won’t they do something so sensible, Master Malstrom?”
It is because this is nothing is about Metroid anymore, it is all about Sakamoto. There is no more Metroid franchise. It is Sakamoto Franchise.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Metroid Prime game was intentionally designed badly so Sakamoto Franchise reigns. This would keep Metroid IP entirely in Nintendo of Japan’s hands as well by destroying 3d Metroid.
“That’s crazy,” says the reader.
Is it? Look at how Nintendo treats 2d Mario which is what truly launched Modern Nintendo as we know it. Nintendo is not incompetent. 2d Mario is treated so poorly because Nintendo intends for it to be treated poorly. Nintendo wants it to die. This is why they didn’t make a new 2d Mario game from 16-20 years depending on the platform line you look at. In Mario’s case, the issue is wanting it all 3d.
In Metroid’s case, it is wanting it all Sakamoto.
If people believed Metroid Pinball and Metroid Prime Hunters were definitive Metroid games, Sakamoto would be ‘remaking’ them too in his image.
Sakamoto cannot create anything original. Even Super Metroid wasn’t original (it was the first Metroid remake). When Sakamoto tries to do something original, such as Metroid Fusion or Other M, he is revealed as the hack he truly is.
Sakamoto’s Metroid 2 is a hack. It is a hack of someone else’s game. Sakamoto will hack it, place his name on it, and declare the entire work was his.
We don’t need a Metroid 1 or 2 remake. What we need is a Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M remake by someone else.
The problem with Metroid is not Metroid 1 or 2.
The problem with Metroid is Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Other M.
The problem with Metroid is Sakamoto.
People say with Sonic Mania that we need Mario Mania.
No.
We need Metroid Mania. And we needed it five years ago.