Allen VarneyAfter an early string games for each of their console systems, Nintendo's Metroid franchise went dormant. Allen Varney details the troubled history of this classic's ressurection with 2002's Metroid Prime.
Issue 39 - Metroid Primed
- Thread starter The Escapist Staff
- Start date
Original Comment by: Brian Easton
I hate to pick nits but there weren't any polygons in the first three Metroid games. Also, classically Metroid has been a far more popular series here in the US than it has been in Japan which explains why it took a 2nd party developer in Texas to make a new Metroid after all those years.
I hate to pick nits but there weren't any polygons in the first three Metroid games. Also, classically Metroid has been a far more popular series here in the US than it has been in Japan which explains why it took a 2nd party developer in Texas to make a new Metroid after all those years.
Original Comment by: Allen Varney
http://www.allenvarney.com
Okay, "polygons" wasn't technically the right term for sprite graphics. But onscreen they looked like squares and rectangles, which are in mathematical terms polygons, so there!
http://www.allenvarney.com
Okay, "polygons" wasn't technically the right term for sprite graphics. But onscreen they looked like squares and rectangles, which are in mathematical terms polygons, so there!
Original Comment by: neven
The story of Retro is just like Daikatana...if fans had loved Daikatana.
The story of Retro is just like Daikatana...if fans had loved Daikatana.
Original Comment by: Brian Easton
Good god no. Retro wasn't working on a much delayed over-hyped piece of junk. If Ion Storm had cancelled Daikatana to concentrate on Deus Ex and Anachronox then I would have seen the parallels, but the important thing is that Metroid Prime is a good game and Daikatana isn't. There are similarities, but the fact of the matter is that the story of Retro isn't "just like" Ion Storm at all.
Good god no. Retro wasn't working on a much delayed over-hyped piece of junk. If Ion Storm had cancelled Daikatana to concentrate on Deus Ex and Anachronox then I would have seen the parallels, but the important thing is that Metroid Prime is a good game and Daikatana isn't. There are similarities, but the fact of the matter is that the story of Retro isn't "just like" Ion Storm at all.
Original Comment by: Troy Gilbert
http://troygilbert.com/
In an otherwise informative, great (as usual) article, Allen, I was a bit thrown by the one paragraph jab thrown at EA/Origin. I would completely agree with the sentiment, but to label it as a contrast to Retro is being a bit disingenous. Nintendo cancelled four titles at Retro and laid off quite a few people. There were heavy management changes, from the original owners through a successful designer to the final insider that runs it today. Arguably, the only difference is that Metroid Prime survived it all and was successful, but under the tutelage of Miyamoto, and with an IP as critical to Nintendo as Metroid, it's hard to believe that anything else would be tolerated. While EA/Origin is hardly a shining example of a successful publisher/developer relationship, I wouldn't exactly hold out Retro as your counter-example.
At the end of the day, the scenarios were significantly different that the minor sidestep to attempt and make a comparison simply reeked (to me) of easy EA bashing.
http://troygilbert.com/
In an otherwise informative, great (as usual) article, Allen, I was a bit thrown by the one paragraph jab thrown at EA/Origin. I would completely agree with the sentiment, but to label it as a contrast to Retro is being a bit disingenous. Nintendo cancelled four titles at Retro and laid off quite a few people. There were heavy management changes, from the original owners through a successful designer to the final insider that runs it today. Arguably, the only difference is that Metroid Prime survived it all and was successful, but under the tutelage of Miyamoto, and with an IP as critical to Nintendo as Metroid, it's hard to believe that anything else would be tolerated. While EA/Origin is hardly a shining example of a successful publisher/developer relationship, I wouldn't exactly hold out Retro as your counter-example.
At the end of the day, the scenarios were significantly different that the minor sidestep to attempt and make a comparison simply reeked (to me) of easy EA bashing.
Original Comment by: Allen Varney
http://www.allenvarney.com
On the contrary, the Retro/Origin parallel was central to my article. Like Retro, Origin had gone through a period of mismanagement after EA acquired it, owing to EA's hands-off policy in the first year or two after the acquisition. So EA moved in, hard, and systematically, with malice aforethought, drove Origin into the ground.
When Nintendo moved in on Retro, it used the same tools as EA used at Origin (cancellations and layoffs), but with the key difference that Nintendo actively wanted to see product shipped and successful. The evidence shows in that once Retro got working right, Nintendo backed off -- a key contrast to the continual, pointless EA sandblasting at Origin.
http://www.allenvarney.com
On the contrary, the Retro/Origin parallel was central to my article. Like Retro, Origin had gone through a period of mismanagement after EA acquired it, owing to EA's hands-off policy in the first year or two after the acquisition. So EA moved in, hard, and systematically, with malice aforethought, drove Origin into the ground.
When Nintendo moved in on Retro, it used the same tools as EA used at Origin (cancellations and layoffs), but with the key difference that Nintendo actively wanted to see product shipped and successful. The evidence shows in that once Retro got working right, Nintendo backed off -- a key contrast to the continual, pointless EA sandblasting at Origin.