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Yeah, I can't hold any grudges against Team Ninja. I've done a no-cutscene playthrough of Other M, and it is not a bad game. A bit repetitive, sure, and a pale shadow of a Metroid game, but in its own right it's an entirely decent shooty space game.

Only the script and characterisation of that game would get punched in the nose by me. Oh, and the no-backtracking guy would get locked in a closet for the entirety of the next game.

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If Team Ninja made it, it'd probably be about a serial rapist chasing her around and her bawling about it the entire damn time.

And the rapist turns out to be Ridley's black cousin Antoine.

...Jokes aside, here's a video disecting Other M's failure and Prime's success. What do you think of it?

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And the rapist turns out to be Ridley's black cousin Antoine.

...Jokes aside, here's a video disecting Other M's failure and Prime's success. What do you think of it?

(video)

Everything that guy says is pretty much an exact representation of how I feel about Other M in comparison to the other games.

I personally wonder what the result would be if they made a game with the story levels of Prime 3 (characters with personality and voice acting), only gave Samus some lines as well. If Retro did it, I bet they would pull of Samus' character just fine. Hell, she showed more believable emotion through her expressions and body language in MP3 than she did in the entirety of Other M.

This video is also a very intelligent dissection of what went wrong in Other M, and how games could learn from its mistakes. This video series in general is probably the smartest gaming-related show on the net.

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I had almost forgotten about the other hunters in Prime 3. Man, did they look stupid as hell - 90s action figure design at its finest. I mean, I appreciate the attempt at building up the lore of the series but ugh, wasn't sad to see them go.

The Federation stuff is useful to provide a reason for the setting, and that's it. Metroid atmosphere works better when you're exploring alone as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps why Prime 1 is my personal pick of the trilogy.

If Team Ninja made it, it'd probably be about a serial rapist chasing her around and her bawling about it the entire damn time.

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On the other hand, it was really nice seeing that the world of bounty hunting and heroism was not focused on Samus, from a story standpoint. Having three other hunters do essentially the same thing makes the universe seem more complete, in a way.

I would welcome more hunters like Rundas, Ghor, and Anthony in future installments, if only to show that Samus, in a way, isn't alone.

"Don't worry. We're the good guys. Justice will prevail, and all that stuff." - Rundas

Edited by Bobbyjosh
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I thought the Hunters were cool. They did kinda remove some of the loneliness that the series is known for, but I at least found them very likable. Rundas was awesome, Ghor was cool, Gandrayda...was kinda annoying, but her shapeshifting powers were neat. And when you got further into the game, that sense of loneliness started to come back despite their addition.

Plus, good voice acting. Holy crap.

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I don't see how the hunters detracted from the feeling of loneliness. I mean yeah they're out there somewhere on the planets that you're on but after you fight Rundas and see that he's been Corrupted then you can easily see that the other 2 must have been corrupted as well. So now essentially, they're an enemy just like any of the numerous space pirates, but stronger.

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I'm still made they didn't get Jennifer Hale to voice Samus in Other M, granted it wouldn't have made her character any better, but still...

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I thought "Metroid Zeta" would be a cool name for a Metroid game until I read up on the enemies from Metroid II.

I hope the next game has a two-word title again though. The less words there are, the more lonely the game sounds. Super Metroid, Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion sound much more foreboding and deep than MP2: Echoes and MP3: Hunters and M:OM. So as long as the next game keeps the words to a minimum, it's fine by me.

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Kraid needs to come back. That is all.

He's weak as piss, but I still agree.

I'm not sure how they'd get him to work in 3D though.

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I'm sure they could make him work in 3D somehow. Might be a bit tricky in first-person, since the fight generally involves platforming up to Kraid's mouth-level. In third-person I bet they could make it really cool, as long as they polish the 3D jumping controls.

I find it kinda weird how with all the re-hashing of old enemies Other M had, they didn't re-hash the one people actually WANTED to see again.

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I'm not sure how they'd get him to work in 3D though.

Going by the concept art

MP_Kraid.jpg

I always imagined that if he's in a Prime like game, you'd have either stand on a ledge/ledges and shoot at him while dodging his claws and other projectiles he throws at you.

Going by Other M however, I'd imagine it to be similar to Phase 1 of Nightmare's fight.

Instead Kraid would be on a platform that can rise up and down in the middle, and you have to go up or down a level or two to hit his weak points and kill him.

Actually, a better example, Mysterio from Spider-man 1 (Skip to 5:50)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxFtKDWwq9Y

That's one way it could work.

Btw, while I'm on the random topic of Spider-man, I hope that in the next 2D Metroid (It's been 10 years Nintendo, 10 YEARS) instead of the usual "Self destruct sequence, escape in 3 minutes" thing, how about having a chase boss or something? Like Samus runs and tries to find a way out, while the boss is slowly (or quickly) chasing her, and Samus can shoot missiles to stun it for a few seconds.

Kinda like that boss from Skyward Sword.

I find it kinda weird how with all the re-hashing of old enemies Other M had, they didn't re-hash the one people actually WANTED to see again.

Oh god, I know people are sick of bashing Other M but, I did hate that in the game. The cool thing about most Metroid games is the new sci-fi enemies you face like the Parasite-X, or the Omega Metroid. I have no problem with series staples like Ridley and Space Pirates returning, but most of the time in Other M it felt like this:

"Hey, remember that boss fight from Metroid Fusion!?!?"

"Hey remember the bad guys from Super Metroid!?!?"

"Hey remember that huge thing from Metroid!?!?"

"Hey Samus why are you crying?"

Edited by Nintendoga
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I'm gonna be one of the odd ones out and say I have no problem with Jessica Martin. I don't think she was a bad actress but it was the whole monotone direction for most of the game. I like how the voice itself sounds, it's just boring when it drones on for 15 minutes.

And yeah, I miss Kraid too. I want them to do a Kraid and Ridley at the same time deal, like how Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin has you fight Death and Dracula at the same time. That would be amazing as hell.

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Heheheh. You're right, Jessica Martin did a fantastic job reading a script with a director standing over her shoulder going "No, no, no! You need to sound a lot more monotone than that. You should sound like you're recovering from mind-altering drugs, reading a fourteen year old girl's diary, and having no, AND I MEAN ABSOLUTELY ZERO, emotional attachment to anything! Okay, a little less emotional attachment than that... Perfect"

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The Metroid series is something of a weird franchise for me to talk openly about. Most of the time I find it so easy to beam my thoughts about games into detailed essays about how much I love them and why, but with this one I've had such unfathomable experiences incomparable to anything else that I keep forgetting to put any of the games I love into a top 10 list because of how I just can't figure out where I stand on them. They're games that have so much in them, but attempting to detail what I love about them would take me so long that I'd rather just talk about specific things at once - or just be put on the spot so I could babble without much thought about what I like.

Super Metroid is a game I really enjoy but one I haven't gotten around to finishing in most of it's capacity. It's a game I've played the most of the beginning and seen most of the ending to know how it plays out, and what I've experienced I've really enjoyed. It's a fantastic game, but frankly I'm astounded by it when I

and find out how much there actually is in the game, along with the impressive feat of people managing to dust the entire game up with 100% completion within 3 hours. It's a game I've meaning to get into proper for a long time and I have a feeling I'll do that in the near future.

My heart lies sorely with the Metroid Prime trilogy however. The three games do the fantastic thing of bringing such a fantastic experience with each installment to the table that every new game innovates in it's immersion, game play and design, all for different reasons. It's one of the greatest trilogies of any medium because of how it's properly paced and how they're all so similar yet everyone has their favorites for the subtle changes. That's the masterful thing about Prime; everyone will have their favorite installment and one that they really don't like, but the games are undeniably of graceful quality that focuses on a method of game play with a different spin of presentation and design, and the question is whichever you'd prefer above the others.

As an example it is a relatively vocal occurrence you'll find people say they think Prime 2 is the weakest of the trilogy despite being a great game, but I've seen a good many people sing it's praise for being perhaps one of the better installments for a different reason, and that's mainly built around the aspect of Prime 2 being the installment most focused on theming. You know, that thing that

Almost from the start of the game you're given a clear goal about what you're supposed to do, and with the inclusion of Dark Samus you're given a narrative and empowering motivator that runs the plot. Prime 2 had to sacrifice a slight tad of the original Prime's practically flawless design but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing in and of it's own because it meant that not only could Prime 2 focus on adding a narrative to the Prime games, which was really well done but mostly executed the best in Prime 3, but it also meant that the Prime series could forge it's own path and create new interesting worlds, lore, architecture and life. We'd already been re-introduced to all the elements that made the Metroid games what they were in the previous ones, and because of this the sequel felt fresh. It didn't bank on Metroids as a plot device despite the title (setting aside that Dark Samus technically is a Metroid), and why should it really? The franchise name is one thing but we know Samus is a renown bounty hunter known throughout the galaxy and she most certainly has some equally big fish to fry that doesn't necessarily involve Space Pirates.

Granted, a few of the things Prime 2 wanted to execute in it's theming did come at the sacrifice of a few game play design quirks but in the cases of some people that didn't really come as a hindrance, only as an obstacle they wanted to overcome all the more.

Prime 3 is pretty much the perfect middleground in that regard what with spending the first act almost exclusively on that front and as earlier mentioned finds that narrative sweetspot by making Samus just another observer of the cutscenes, then spending the rest of the game exploring the galaxy. This was one of my favorite things to do in the game, being able to traverse multiple planets with so much focus on their own individual detail. It made it possible for the entire game to structure it's worlds as if each was their own being. This was the game I felt that finally connected the entire Metroid series' cohesive universe, and let me tell you, I'd be hard pressed to find a more moment filled of revelation than finally arriving at the Space Pirates' home planet and seeing how exactly they thrived.

And Prime? Well what is there to say, impeccable design, perfect structure, so much to discover, the feeling of desolation but everlasting discovery, I could go on. It's hard to make mention of what hasn't been said already but this was a masterpiece of a game.

You may be surprised I've not made mention of Other M in this massive post, and my status update a few days ago definitely hinted on me posting here mostly because of it. Suffice it to say that chances are if you know me on here in any capacity I've made my opinion perfectly clear about what I think of this mishandled heap of regurgitated garbage but I've spent so much time lambasting it in so many posts that I've really not had the chance to give the other games the praise they deserve. It'd also take me even more paragraphs than this entire post to detail every single thing that's wrong with this disaster but thankfully Nintendoga saved me all that trouble.

and everyone should watch this.

Oh and

I mentioned Prime so much in this entire essay and this one is spent comparing Prime to Other M almost exclusively, and why the Prime series succeeds in conveying so much of it's design and narrative.
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I absolutely love the (over)analysis of why Other M fails on so many levels, particularly of note to me (and should be to other Sonic fans) is the problem of retro-pandering. Retro was never afraid to bring back the occasional boss but they never let it get in the way of doing entirely new things for the majority of a game. But yes, I am in the crowd that was really hoping Kraid would be brought back for Other M, and if Other M had brought back just ONE previous non-Ridley boss, it wouldn't have seemed nearly as cheap and annoying. But whyever they would pick Phantoon over Kraid as the "bonus boss" is extremely confusing to me...Kraid (apparently) has some level of rank within the Space Pirate organization, therefore could serve as relevent to the plot.

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Is it bad if I say that I actually felt bad when you had to kill Rundas in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption?

Like, he saved your arse mroe than once, and seeing him corrupted... It made me sad, Rundas shouldn't have died.

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Is it bad if I say that I actually felt bad when you had to kill Rundas in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption?

Like, he saved your arse mroe than once, and seeing him corrupted... It made me sad, Rundas shouldn't have died.

Hell, I felt bad about killing all three of them. They were all pretty awesome in their own way, and I'm glad you got to spend a level getting to know them and seeing them in action before they're corrupted. The fact that Retro Studios made a point of showing Samus remembering them at the very end of the game was very nice.

I would totally understand if the next game after Prime 3 had Samus being a little more hesitant than usual, since she was essentially forced to mercy-kill three people she clearly respected professionally, and possibly even saw as friends. Fortunately, in Other M, she's completely forgotten about that awesome trio so she could instead focus on feeling bad about letting a bioweapon acting on pure instinct die.

Back when I learned that Other M was ignoring the Prime Trilogy I couldn't believe Nintendo would be stupid enough to de-canon the most popular and money-generating portion of the franchise in the last decade, but seeing how that game turned out, I'm kinda glad Other M doesn't exist in the same universe as the Prime Trilogy...

...because somewhere in the universe, there's a Samus Aran fresh from the Phazon Crisis who will never go to a space station shaped like a baby bottle, never cower before a disturbing aedipus complex figure, never break down helplessly in front of a nemesis she's already defeated on a regular basis, never drone like a zombie talking to herself, and above all else, never break from a character with two decades of development.

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I will be honest when I say that I didn't feel bad when I kill Gandandrya

She was such a slut.

But Rundas, MAN, I really dropped a tear when I had to kill him. I was like, "RUNDAS NO." as he got impaled by the stalactite.

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