Super Metroid Killed Metroid 64

[Logan Westbrook]

Super Metroid Killed Metroid 64

Super Metroid was always going to be a hard act to follow, and during the time of the N64, it turned out to be too hard.

There's been a Metroid game on every one of Nintendo's home consoles, except for one: the N64. The console was passed over in the eight year gap between Super Metroid on the SNES, and Metroid Prime on the GameCube, and according to series co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto that's because Super Metroid was just too good.

Sakamoto said that at the time, he didn't feel like he was the right person to make a 3D Metroid, as he couldn't wrap his head around how to make Samus move with the N64 controller. Instead, he approached another developer - who he couldn't name - to make the game, but unfortunately, the developer turned the offer down, saying that it wasn't confident that it could follow Super Metroid. Sakamoto said that he took that as a compliment to what Nintendo had achieved with Super Metroid, but it meant that Metroid 64 never got off the ground.

Sakamoto said that he still didn't fully understand 3D gaming, but that working alongside Team Ninja on Metroid: Other M had expanded his vocabulary so that he could communicate his ideas to people who did.

Source: GamesTM [http://www.gamestm.co.uk/interviews/yoshio-sakamoto-discusses-metroid-64-metroid-dread-and-the-unwritten-future-of-the-warioware-series/]



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[WanderingFool]

Well, that explains why I felt my N64 was wasted...

 

[Sennz0r]

Too bad, but I guess it's better to not make a game at all than trying but failing miserably. Especially when you're not even convinced of your own skill in 3D developing.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Indeed. Super Metroid is a very hard act to follow. It's hard to beat perfection, after all.

I feel that Prime made it all worth it in the end, though.

 

[Worgen]

well they certainly got the gameplay portion right in metroid the other M, too bad the story was utter shit, it wasnt even well told utter shit

 

[Tireseas_v1legacy]

And look! By being lazy and unsure of himself, he's solidified Metroid as a "high quality" franchise.

Let's be honest, Metroid on the N64 would have sucked in the same way that Castlevania game on the N64 sucked (which is appropriate considering the similarities between the two games).

 

[Cynical skeptic]

...

Pretty much every 3D console game from that era was utterly terrible. Goldeneye being something of an exception, but not really, if you at the time had more than one definition of the word "mouse."

It wasn't so much that super metroid was a hard act to follow in a 3D format, its that the original metroid was a hard act to follow in the practically virgin territory that was the 3D format of the time. The absolute best metroid 64 could've been was one step forward from the original metroid, and one step back.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

And look! By being lazy and unsure of himself, he's solidified Metroid as a "high quality" franchise.

Let's be honest, Metroid on the N64 would have sucked in the same way that Castlevania game on the N64 sucked (which is appropriate considering the similarities between the two games).

The similarities didn't start until Symphony of the Night, which was on the PS1. That's what kicked off the "Metroidvania" craze.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

And look! By being lazy and unsure of himself, he's solidified Metroid as a "high quality" franchise.

Let's be honest, Metroid on the N64 would have sucked in the same way that Castlevania game on the N64 sucked (which is appropriate considering the similarities between the two games).

The similarities didn't start until Symphony of the Night, which was on the PS1. That's what kicked off the "Metroidvania" craze.

Eh, not exactly true. Thats just the first one that had a map screen.

 

[FightThePower]

If only Other M had been killed as well.

*Sigh*

 

[JediMB]

Indeed. Super Metroid is a very hard act to follow. It's hard to beat perfection, after all.

I'd say that your statement is arguably right as far as game design goes, but that the game would benefit greatly from having its control scheme updated to a variant of what was used in Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission.

 

[RobThePrezodent]

Well, that explains why I felt my N64 was wasted...

but I thought everyone had goldeneye for the n64...

anyway I only got into metroid when prime came out so I didn't mind so much.

 

[Bloodeye]

I'm a little skeptical about this. Sounds like Sakamoto trying to spin it.

Simple fact is that Super Metroid sales weren't that big. If they had been then there would have been a 64 game.

 

[JediMB]

If only Other M had been killed as well.

*Sigh*

If only Sakamoto hadn't been trying too hard to create parallels between Other M and Fusion. That did little more than undermine the major plot points of Fusion. The Proto-Nightmare boss battle was cool, though.

Also, Samus is in desperate need of a better non-Jennifer Hale voice actress. One that can actually act. And less poetry in the monologues would be good, although that was also present in Fusion.

EDIT: I'd love some sort of hybrid between 16-bit style Metroid and Other M's gameplay and engine. Make it so for Metroid V!

 

[theaceplaya]

Super Metroid is in fact the greatest game ever (it's in your textbook, look it up). I can respect the difficulty of trying to follow it up. I think Other M did a great job, from the gameplay angle anyway.

For the record, I didn't dislike the story of Other M, but I'm like a lot of other Metroid fans who wish it wasn't so overly-melodramatic and also wish they had found a different way of 'authorizing' power-ups. I still enjoyed the snot out of the game though.

 

[Cynical skeptic]

Indeed. Super Metroid is a very hard act to follow. It's hard to beat perfection, after all.

I'd say that your statement is arguably right as far as game design goes, but that the game would benefit greatly from having its control scheme updated to a variant of what was used in Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission.

The GBA is actually a more powerful platform than the snes. The sluggishness of the controls of super metroid was mostly to prevent processor lag.

 

[FightThePower]

If only Other M had been killed as well.

*Sigh*

If only Sakamoto hadn't been trying too hard to create parallels between Other M and Fusion. That did little more than undermine the major plot points of Fusion. The Proto-Nightmare boss battle was cool, though.

Also, Samus is in desperate need of a better non-Jennifer Hale voice actress. One that can actually act. And less poetry in the monologues would be good, although that was also present in Fusion.

Agreed, the fact they just completely ripped most of the story from Metroid Fusion (and F.E.A.R. as well) was a joke. Voice actress is all wrong, yes, but I think what really gets my blood boiling about that game is that Samus is just a pathetic, whiny doormat. Despite saving the galaxy multiple times she still doubts her own judgement, mopes and freezes in the middle of combat.

Urgh...I had to play through Metroid Prime again twice over to compensate for playing Other M.

 

[ecoho]

Super Metroid is in fact the greatest game ever (it's in your textbook, look it up). I can respect the difficulty of trying to follow it up. I think Other M did a great job, from the gameplay angle anyway.

For the record, I didn't dislike the story of Other M, but I'm like a lot of other Metroid fans who wish it wasn't so overly-melodramatic and also wish they had found a different way of 'authorizing' power-ups. I still enjoyed the snot out of the game though.

Ok i can sit through some bad story for good game play but while most of the game play was good the fact that i couldnt flawlessly switch between first and third person was kinda the deal breaker for me i mean it was such a problem that i pulled out my gamecube controler, memery card, and my metroid prime so i could play a good 3D metroid

 

[Drakulla]

Super Metroid was and still is awesome, but why did it have to be in 3D. They could have made another 2D Metroid game.