Email: Zelda Breath of the Metroid

Being a badass and slaughtering lynels and hinox at the end of Zelda BOTW got me thinking about what you were saying about Metroid. One of the joys of a true Metroid game is the end when you have everything and are blasting through previous formidable areas like Swiss cheese. Zipping from large beast to large beast on the map, this part of Zelda feels very much like that.

I think Nintendo may have pulled a fast one on us gamers. We didn’t get a great Zelda game, we got a great Metroid game disguised as a great Zelda game. I wonder if you polled all the younger developers, from Fujibayashi on down, what would each say their most influential games are from a design standpoint?
I might be going out on a limb by making that claim, but a whole lot of the abilities in Zelda feel ripped from a Metroid game, such using your magnetic and stasis as scan modes like in Metroid Prime, the bombs and ice making abilities, and Revali’s Gale mimicking super jump abilities.

This is kind of a thing with Nintendo through the years: not giving the games to the fans they want, but taking the great game design and mechanics from a beloved series, and putting them into a more popular game instead.

When new Metroid comes, how much of it’s game play design will have already been seen. Will it feel fresh? Will Metroid Prime 4 feel watered down and unoriginal like NSMB Wii?
Not complaining at all though. I love it. I just wonder where Aonuma style will seep to next within the company. It has to go somewhere. My guess is it will rear it’s ugly head in the next Zelda game or within Metroid Prime 4. The destruction of the franchise is almost certain if we get a Metroid Prime: Secret of Aonuma’s Ooze game.

Since we are swapping so much lately, can we get a Castlevania game disguised as Metroid now please too? If I ever played a true Castlevania game again, I would be the happiest guy. I know that’s never going to happen, but maybe we can get a Castlevania in Metroid’s clothing instead.

I don’t think BoW “Wow!” is Metroid inspired, but I think it is important to highlight the physics systems are interestingly similar. Metroid had its ‘physics’ such as bombs, space jumps, and all that. Zelda BoW “Wow!” is largely based on ‘physics’ systems such as bombs, gliding, and all that. Zelda uses different types of arrows instead of missiles.

I don’t think we should say Zelda = Metroid but rather point out how important the ‘physics’ systems (or how the player can have multiple ways to interact with them) are to the game. In other words, what is more important to Metroid: the physic system of space jumping, bombing, bouncing around as a ball, or dialogue, story, and flashy ninja moves?

Sakamoto LOVES dialogue, story, and flashy ninja moves because HE GETS TO MAKE THEM. I, being the lowly player, do not get to make dialogue, story, or flashy ninja moves. I endure whatever the hell Sakamoto comes up with. What it should be is that I get to write the narrative of the game based off of my actions (Samus tries space jumping through spike infested area…. ooops!) which creates a different and unique game experience. Sakamoto’s job is to prop up the stage for all those encounters that I GET TO WRITE.

Gamers are the script writers for their experience, not the game makers. It is time for game makers to realize this.

They understood in Zelda BoW “Wow!” to make many different ways to play.

Why does this matter? It is because everyone is different! Not everyone plays the same way! So why write a game that can be played only one way? It wouldn’t be much of a fun game. And the more ways the game can be played, the more markets it unlocks.