Nintendo's Yoshio Sakamoto, who's been involved with every 2D
Metroid game since co-creating the original,
tells Game Life that the latest in the series --
Metroid Other M -- will (in addition to looking
awesome) help flesh out the character of
Samus Aran. Bridging the gap between
Super Metroid and
Metroid Fusion in series canon, the game's plot goal is to depict the legendary bounty hunter as "an appealing human character," according to Sakamoto, and the joint Nintendo / Team Ninja production team will be "explaining a little bit about what happened in her past as well as the characters that influenced her."
The
Metroid Prime games haven't been devoid of story, but we get the sense from Sakamoto's comments -- "The story will play a big part," he said -- that
Other M will offer something meatier, perhaps through more cinematics ... and
no scanning. In fact, we hear that any planned instances of scanning in
Other M have been replaced with
badass.
[Via
1UP]
{ Jun 17th 2009 at 7:30PM } 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
ronEbear @ Jun 17th 2009 7:33PM
Why is she pile-driving the dino-monster? Does the M stand for martial as in martial arts?
Jrod @ Jun 17th 2009 7:51PM
That's a bulldog take-down sir.
God.....EVERYONE knows that.
NoughtSoClever @ Jun 18th 2009 12:48AM
It's a bullSHIT take down. Downvote me if you must. I don't really like this new direction. To much flash. I like it when characters have vulnerabilities. It makes the game more compelling. If Samus can bull dog or pile drive or charge'n' blast a 2 story boss in the face, it's gonna make it feel really lame when one of the spiny crawler guys kill you for stepping on it.
babel @ Jun 19th 2009 11:34AM
exactly! this is going to be some damn ugly fighting game! DAMN YOU TEAM NINJA!!!
MaliceMajorE15 @ Jun 17th 2009 7:38PM
"Story will 'play a big part' in Metroid Other M"
well i should hope so. action/adventures probably should revolved around a story.
I really hope this means its going to be riveting with plot twists and suprises. what if its not samus? what if the other blonde woman at the end of the trailer is samus and this is sum new chick
MaliceMajorE15 @ Jun 17th 2009 7:39PM
just speculation it requires no comment.
Hafkie @ Jun 17th 2009 7:46PM
I don't hope so. The reason why I loved the old Metroid games so much was the lack of story. You felt "alone" and you had to find your own way. You had no computer to give you a destination, you had to find it yourself. I didn't like Prime as much because it didn't have the same "feel" as the older games.
CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 17th 2009 7:51PM
@Hafkie:
You don't need other people/sentient computers to drive a story.
tyetheczar @ Jun 18th 2009 8:04PM
I hope story plays a part as in not making the mortal sins that Fusion & Zero Mission made in making both of them linear and shorter. And they had better have a Ninja Gaiden-tough difficulty in it too.
CH3BURASHKA @ Jun 17th 2009 7:39PM
The Gametrailers Retrospective made me respect the story a lot more, and this is a good direction for the game. Then again, Team Ninja is making it, and they aren't known for the cohesive stories.
Kindrik @ Jun 17th 2009 7:48PM
But the guys at Nintendo are still producing it so I figure they'd be the ones leading the story's direction and getting the final say.
devilsei @ Jun 17th 2009 7:49PM
Huh...? What? Sorry... was busy watching the new breast physics engine they implemented for each of Samus's breast....
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2009 9:13PM
I'm tellin' yah, when it comes to matters of canonical control, Nintendo is going to be completely in the driver's seat. Team Ninja's expertise will come in for the gameplay mechanics, and not much else.
Silent @ Jun 17th 2009 7:40PM
So in other words, it will be a convoluted mess that will be a chore to sit through.
Amoveo @ Jun 18th 2009 2:09AM
No, its Team Ninja. It will be a cliched mess that makes you want to run to a bookstore and find a story that doesn't sound like it was written by a five year old.
Haohmaru (PSN - DimmuBurgerKing XBL - A Real Puppet ) @ Jun 18th 2009 9:54AM
Considering how protective Nintendo is of its properties, I'm pretty sure Team Ninja's influence on story direction will be minimal at best. :P I wonder why everyone seems so convinced that Team Ninja's *storytelling* ability is what Nintendo was interested in when they decided to collaborate with them. That's not exactly their forte, guys. Combat design and breast physics - that's Team Ninja.
Levi @ Jun 18th 2009 7:34PM
yeah because everything that has an involving story is nothing more than a convoluted mess.
God I hate story.
hector88 @ Jun 17th 2009 7:41PM
I hope that "feature" that lets the game play itself when you decide it's too challenging for you is not included...
Dr. Stabbingworth @ Jun 17th 2009 7:48PM
What do you care if it's included. Just don't use it if it's such a big deal.
Apollo @ Jun 17th 2009 7:43PM
PLEASE LET ME RELIVE THE EPIC FIGHT AGAINST MOTHER BRAIN IN SUPER METROID!
K? Thanx! :P
Ravnos @ Jun 17th 2009 7:45PM
I'm trying to be optimistic, but this isn't really helping. I liked that scanning revealed most of the backstory. The first Prime didn't spend its whole time spoonfeeding you everything and I felt more wrapped up in what was going on than in, say, Gears of War where essentially all you do is move from cut scene to cut scene. I guess I should save judgement until I actually play it, but I'd rather not see one of my favourite series ruined by becoming too much like everything else out there.
Cody @ Jun 17th 2009 7:47PM
The difference here being that Gears of War is the spitting image of just about 95% of EVERY 360 game out.
NaeemTHM @ Jun 17th 2009 8:02PM
@Cody
I take it you've never played a 360 game. But I can't say I blame you. I took a look at your comment history and I'm pretty sure Microsoft raped your mother. That'll scar a dude for life.
goboColossus (LIVE, PSN - gobopop) @ Jun 17th 2009 8:04PM
To follow up with more gross generalizations: WiiSports is the spitting image of about 95% of all Wii games
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2009 9:16PM
I really liked the lore in Metroid Prime, also. I would hate to see it replaced, and would prefer if they added more story in addition to some extensive in-game lore.
Sam406 @ Jun 17th 2009 9:17PM
I know what you mean, collecting audio diaries in Bioshock gave a real feeling of what happened to Rapture and gave a lot to the atmosphere of the game.
@ The difference here being that Gears of War is the spitting image of just about 95% of EVERY 360 game out.
Buddy, pretty much every game tells it's story through cutscenes (or worse, quick-time events).
In fact, Gears of War 2 had collectible diaries that told the story of planet Sera. (The games Earth)
You just hate the 360, admit it, we can see your posting story.
goldeneyesoldier ( noble prophet of rant and ownage ) @ Jun 18th 2009 5:53AM
I hear you....The topic says that they would replace scanning with 'badass' but scanning WAS badass...One of the most unique ways of storytelling i ever saw in a game.
Not that Other M wouldn't be cool because of this,its gonna pwn just like the prime trilogy.
DNAtheHelix @ Jun 18th 2009 3:32PM
@Sam406
The Half-Life Series didn't have any cutscenes. It didn't even have something that you had to discover to find the back story. In fact it never told the back story. How did that game manage to be one of the best FPS ever?
P.S. I love the series don't get me wrong.
Also Other M would be perfect if it had HD cutscenes and ragdoll physics. I don't see why any Wii game can't have ragdoll physics when Geist for GameCube had ragdoll physics.
Ravnos @ Jun 18th 2009 5:34PM
I'd just like to point out that Gears was just an example. Most games tell their stories through cutscenes and it's kind of disappointing. I think it was John Carmack who compared the storytelling in video games to the storytelling in porn. You go through the action for however long it takes and then sit passively through some story before some more action, then sit passively through some story, etc. It takes you out of the mindset of the game, which is played as an active participant and turns you into a passive one. That's what I liked about Metroid Prime and Half-Life 1&2, the story was revealed through the gameplay for the most part, and I'm looking forward to seeing that in more games. I'm a little concerned that this will be a step backwards for Metroid, but we'll see when it comes out.
phinnvr6 @ Jun 17th 2009 7:47PM
Says Nintendo
Jrod @ Jun 17th 2009 7:52PM
They still need to include
- At least one chick with huge tits.
- Power Range esque enemies.
Don't let me down now.
megapenguinx @ Jun 18th 2009 12:09AM
Have you seen Samus dude?
lmac @ Jun 17th 2009 7:56PM
Probably will introduce Adam. The commanding officer that the computer in Fusion emulates.
I'm guess the dude who said "Remember me" in the trailer is him.
theory.
WiiNinja @ Jun 17th 2009 8:07PM
Adam is the general in the trailer that said "Any objections, lady?" not the dude that said "Remember me?" Here's a picture of him.
http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/Commander_Adam_Malkovich
James @ Jun 17th 2009 8:07PM
Adam is in the game, he says "Any objections lady" just like he does in Fusion.
Interesting that it's after Super Metroid, which would make it 2nd to last.. I figured it was a prequel considering Adam is still alive and Samus looks much younger.
That being said I'm very worried about this game and how they will put the story in without screwing gameplay up, I hope it's not linear like Fusion.
lmac @ Jun 17th 2009 8:13PM
Oh, my bad. Not as knowledgeable about the metroid universe as I'd like to be.
thanks for the clarification
Rentaro @ Jun 17th 2009 8:33PM
Adam is in the trailer. He was the one who called her "Lady"
Rentaro @ Jun 17th 2009 8:34PM
Curse my slow typing. There wasn't any replies when I started writing it
harusame @ Jun 17th 2009 8:55PM
It took you 25 minutes to type that?
kaneda @ Jun 18th 2009 12:57AM
I don't know If I'm alone here, but I thought the Adam thing was really stupid and cheesy in Fusion. It totally ruined the lone-wolf bad ass vibe I always got from Samus and made her seem like somebodies littler sister. I always imagined Samus as a cunning and ruthless bounty hunter, not tracking down the space pirates as some sense of duty but either for the cash or the challenge. I can do without the Adam crap entirely.
tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 17th 2009 7:59PM
Story in a nintendo game? I'll believe it when I see it.
NaeemTHM @ Jun 17th 2009 8:05PM
What do you mean? Wind Waker and Twilight Princess had great stories.
Also, was I the only one that liked the way Metroid Prime told it's story? Isolation has always played a key role in the Metroid franchise. If there's a bunch of people yapping through out Other M, I'm afraid it will take us out of the element of being isolated.
tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 17th 2009 8:09PM
I have to go all the way back to the SNES era for me to remember the last time I played a nintendo game with a meaningful story, and even then it was made by someone like Square Enix.
Nintendo just doesn't do stories.
Foetoid @ Jun 17th 2009 8:10PM
Disaster: Day of Crisis has a storyline, it's just a little bit generic and all over the place. Good game tho.
SEVENim @ Jun 17th 2009 8:32PM
The more of your comments i read, the more i believe that Miyamoto and Reggie are actually in the mafia and they killed off most of your family; and exacting hatred for everything related to nintendo is your way of getting revenge. I like that you dont try to sell your opinions as hard boiled fact like most people here do (I hope i dont do it eaither) but yikes man, yikes.
samfish @ Jun 17th 2009 8:44PM
What's that you say, troll? "Derp de derp derp"?
Oh ho ho hoho! I love it!
tmacairjordan87 @ Jun 17th 2009 8:47PM
Nintendo fanboys disagree with something bad about nintendo, there's a shocker. It's a pretty well known and accepted fact that Nintendo doesn't do stories. There's no trolling there, because it's 100% fact.
Jinsenken @ Jun 17th 2009 9:11PM
Probably gonna get downvoted for this, but I agree with tmac.
The majority of Nintendo games have either very little story in them, or a relatively simple plot.
That's not necessarily a bad thing tho.
harusame @ Jun 17th 2009 9:11PM
tmacairjordan87:
There are other ways to tell a story than 15 hours of cutscenes. Even Super Mario Bros has a story, it just doesn't play a big part in the game. Most Nintendo games don't have much character development but the worlds are well designed and written. Few games have a more interesting milieu than Majora's Mask and Metroid Prime.
I think you meant to say "Most Nintendo games are not story driven"
By the way, did you know that Donkey Kong was one of the first (if not the first) games to have a backstory?
Mr Khan @ Jun 17th 2009 9:23PM
They never force-feed their story, or very few of their games do, but its definitely there if you're willing to look
It's similar to your beloved WRPGs, tmac. You should appreciate it.