Metroid: Other M for “hardcore Nintendo fans”, no longer an oxymoron

The trailer for Metroid: Other M (working title) shows off what looks to be one of the best playing sidescrolling shooter games since the original Super Metroid!  Watching through, there are a few important things that jump to mind.  First is the fact that the game really seems to have taken a darker turn, much like the Zelda franchise.  Sure, the Prime series had a darker overtone, but the violence was distanced; Watching Samus beat the shit out what looks like Ridley and blasting, punching and kicking at close range has e a far more visceral feel than the longer range 3d shooting of Prime.  After years of shovelware, and even the “core” franchises being  toned down in difficulty to appeal to more casual gamers, this is looking to be a very refreshing title.  And with a studio like Team Ninja behind it, of action masterpiece Ninja Gaiden fame, there is very little that can go wrong, based on what we have seen thus far.

 

Another aspect is having the main exploring stage set in one dimension, with sequences of epic boss battles set in third person.  This seems to borrow from games like (one of my favorites) Shadow of the Colossus.  The main difference is that while other games simply use it to switch between different angles, this completely changes the dimension the game is played in.  Hopefully, this makes for some memorable boss battles, and the potential is there for doing away with would have in past games been linear cutscenes, and replacing them with truly interactive but satisfyingly cinematic 3rd person sequences.

 

Finally, the best part, at least for me, is the fact that this finally lends story to the Super Metroid/Metroid Fusion timeline.  Super Metroid had very little story to speak of, and though Fusion added a lot, the limitations of the GBA (Fusion was only a 16 megabyte game, with only 14mb in the ROM actually used) did not allow for nearly as grand as a tale the series deserves.  Hints were given about Samus’s old CO, Adam Malkovich, and how he was implanted into her ship’s AI after his death.  This was a very intriguing prospect, a new twist on possibilities in a franchise that has recently been a bit stale and “sticking to the books”.  Ever since Metroid Fusion, I had hoped for a new, worthy entry into the Super Metroid timeline.

 

As I heard the words “Any objections, My Lady?” roll from the trailer past my ears, I could not help but know that it would finally come to pass.