Metroid - Zero Mission Previewed

Thanks to Nintendojo for posting a preview of the forthcoming GBA title, Metroid: Zero Mission. This game, which the site says is rumored to be either a prequel, or more likely, a partial remake of the NES Metroid, was shown only in video form at E3. The Metroid Database comes to similar conclusions about the game, saying "..it looks as though we will be taken back to Zebes for Samus' first encounter with Mother Brain, but this time our girl will have all the abilities and weapons she's gained in all her adventures since then."

Comments

The switch

[Snowspinner]

The move from ignoring Metroid for almost a decade to massive support of it on Nintendo's part is a strange one, particularly since Metroid Prime, though acclaimed, didn't do all that well for them in sales.

Still, I can't say I mind. =)

Re:The switch

[edwdig]

Metroid Prime didn't do too bad. Just under a million sales last I heard. Yes, for a major Nintendo title, that is on the low side. But for most publishers, that's a huge success.

They ignored Metroid for so long because Japan doesn't care for it much. But every time Miyamoto came to the US, he kept getting asked about a new Metroid. So he realized that the US likes Metroid, and that's what caused Nintendo to bring it back.

Re:The switch

[Guppy06]

"The move from ignoring Metroid for almost a decade to massive support of it on Nintendo's part is a strange one, particularly since Metroid Prime, though acclaimed,"

Metroid gets a luke-warm reception in Japan but is incredibly popular here in North America. If they learned nothing else with the N64, it's that the North American market is very important to Nintendo, enough even to keep the company's head above water in the worst of times. They're simply working to pander to us some more by giving us what we want (and giving it to us before it comes to anybody else at that).

Re:The switch

[PainKilleR-CE]

All I have to say is that I have the current GBA and Gamecube Metroid titles (because I got really good prices on them), and don't have either platform yet (planning on the GBA next paycheck and the Gamecube after they start bundling the GBPlayer with it near the end of the month). Metroid and Zelda are simply the clearest memories of the NES I have (well, good memories anyway), and good titles for both are enough to sell the platform for me.

I really hope..

[Inoshiro]

that it's just a remake, and not a prequel. Up until Metroid 4 (Fusion), the Metroid timeline was fairly easy to take seriously. Samus killed Space pirates, then killed the rest of the Metroids, then killed the last of the Metroids.

Then they added Prime and Fusion. Oh, look, more Metroids secretly bred by the scientists. Oh, look, the Space Pirates have more metroids in between 1 and 2.

Kinda like how in Mega Man 3, the robots "went evil" by themselves -- but it turned out to be Dr. Wily. Then in MM4, the evil Dr. Cossak was causing trouble -- because of Dr. Wily. And so on until Mega Man 8. Wily was a cool foe, but then he became overused and became a parody of himself.

Re:I really hope..

[fredrikj]

Metroid Prime is indeed redundant, the setting is so predictably boring and unimaginative that it hurts. The space pirates are mining a mysterious energy source on a new planet. Right, never heard anything like that before.

Fusion, on the other hand, is a fresh addition to the Metroid universe. The story jumps off the space-pirates-with-Metroids train and heads for something entirely new instead, while also introducing a new kind of gameplay and featuring fantastic interactive storytelling.

Personally, I certainly do like Metroid Fusion better than Metroid Prime.

Re:I really hope..

[nicksthings]

Admittedly, the story is getting a bit convoluted, but come on - you're hoping for another remake and not an entirely new adventure? I wouldn't complain about a remake since it's been some 10+ since I played through Metroid, but I'd definitely take a brand new adventure, no matter how many kinks it throws into the Metroid/Samus universe, anyday.

Re:I really hope..

[Guppy06]

First off, yes, I have no life.

"Then they added Prime and Fusion. Oh, look, more Metroids secretly bred by the scientists. Oh, look, the Space Pirates have more metroids in between 1 and 2."

Actually, when you look at it, the two new games cover up a lot of plot holes and inconsistencies left in the first three games, the kind that most gamers are used to by now and don't even notice any more.

For example, how come in each new game you have to re-collect everything you collected in the previous game? Why do you need to get the Varia in each of the games? Didn't you already do that in the first game? The opening sequences to both Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion explain in clear terms why Samus is starting from scratch yet again.

And let's look at the timeline you think you're able to take seriously. In the first game, Samus lays waste to everything she finds on Zebes and blows the whole thing sky high. You can see the destruction in Super Metroid. Good old-fashioned slash-and-burn. So where did the uber-fortress in Super Metroid come from? Didn't Samus essentially wipe out their main base? The only way the pirates would be able to rebuild that quickly and completely is if they, say, have a second base of operations elsewhere in the star system from which to rebuild.

And in Super Metroid, there are metroids all over the place again. But if Samus truly had the last metroid, that wouldn't be possible. The intro suggests that Samus was in hot pursuit of Ridley and his prize, and the back story is pretty clear that you need at least 24 hours for a metroid to reproduce. So either the pirates still have their own samples in their secondary base, or they still have information on how to speed up the process (something that simply wouldn't have survived Samus' gutting of the first Zebes base). Hell, the pirates even had some forays into metroid cloning, referred to as "mochtroids" (those cheesy metroid rip-offs near the boss of the water zone) in my Super Metroid guide book. If the sample Ridley stole was really all the pirates had on metroids, you'd have to say that they move pretty damned fast.

And how exactly was Ridley able to get that "last" metroid so easily, anyway? You'd figure that, other than Samus herself, only some Federation REMF higher-ups knew she was transporting the "last" metroid to a Feddie research base. So isn't it interesting the way that Ridley was able to attack exactly the right base at exactly the right time, right after Samus had left the base for points unknown? And in the Ceres base, it's interesting to note that the only room that actually looks like it saw action was the laboratory itself. It reeks of a surgical strike. Where exactly would Ridley get this kind of information if not from a Federation tip? Metroid Fusion has shown us that not everything is peachy-keen in the Federation heierarchy and I don't think we could put it beyond them to let the pirates capture this "last" metroid for ulterior motives (Why do your own research when you can just let the pirates do it and steal their information back? And wouldn't it be nice to still have a viable outside threat in order to keep the Federation unified?). But, of course, they wouldn't really let their absolute last metroid sample fall into pirate hands...

Metroid Prime was also kind enough to explain how critters like Ridley and Kraid could appear in Super Metroid after being gutted in the original game.

The games also go a long way into explaining just why Samus is able to do so many things that Federation forces can't (Chozo technology), why there are such an insidious creature like the metroid to begin with (a little too heinous to be able to explain away with evolution), and just what it is both sides (Federation/pirate) are after beyond just a trite good vs. evil fight.

Re:I really hope..

[zonker]

yes, because space marines killing hellspawn isn't tired yet... (doom1-3,quake1-3) *yawn*

sometimes you go to the movies for the film, sometimes you go for the popcorn. it's up to you.

Yipee! Whatever it is, it should be good, probably

[SamBC]

The look of the graphics looks to me like an attempt to recover as much, stylistically speaking, from the original NES game as possible.

However, ignoring timelines for a moment, Super Metroid on the SNES rather struck me as an extended remake of the original Metroid anyway - how much scope is there to do this again?

Looking back to timelines, then it strikes me that this could go either way - it could sort out the minor hiccups in the timeline, *or* it could confuse it more. Just have to wait and see.

Chrzzzzz...

[12ahead]

Oh, another Gameboy "nes-snes-remake-prequel-sequel-whatever-can-play- on-emulator-story-as-thin-as-paper" game.

Can they please come up with more innovative games for our handhelds? I do not want to play another platformer that looks/feels/plays like games from 10 years back. And yes, even if the graphics _are_ better, on that small screen it is kind of hard to distinguish between 256 or 16 Million colours.

Come on now, use handhelds in combination with GPRS to make location based games, make random interaction with other players part of the game, think of _something_!

In short: MOVE ON AND INNOVATE!

grrr....

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[NickV]

You're right.. the GBA is a BIG "let's re release games to a portable platform from our glory days" type of platform. But if you want an innovate, completely different type of game for the GBA, check out Wario Ware.... it's awesome. And, it's like nothing you've seen before.

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[n_jed]

The new Mario and Luigi gba game coming out looks innovative. You play as both characters and it's a co-operative effort.

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[AlexMax2742]

Metroid Zero looks more like a 'remake' or a 'true prequel' of the origional Metroid than a 'retexture' and 'beautification'. Some of the screenshots of the game I didn't recognize from anywhere, and the structure seems drasticly different. Even if it is a remake, I think it will be different enough to warrent a purchase.

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[Guppy06]

"I do not want to play another platformer that looks/feels/plays like games from 10 years back."

RTFA. The only way it "looks/feels/plays" like the original game is a slight tip of the hat to the graphical style. Everything else is new and plays almost exactly like Metroid Fusion, a game less than a year old. New weapons, new abilities, new bad guys, and a new map to take into account both these new abilities and new baddies that have become "staples" in recent years. If it weren't using the same back-story, it'd be considered a completely new game.

"And yes, even if the graphics _are_ better, on that small screen it is kind of hard to distinguish between 256 or 16 Million colours."

Get out from under the rock you're living under and pre-order your Game Boy Player already.

"Come on now, use handhelds in combination with GPRS to make location based games,

What, was is the new GBA alone not expensive enough for you?

"make random interaction with other players part of the game,"

You mean like Pokemon?

And what about us people who don't know a bunch of other GBA owners to interact with? Zelda: Four Swords, looks pretty damned interesting (perhaps even "innovative"), but I'm not going to get it because I have nobody else to play it with.

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[PainKilleR-CE]

And what about us people who don't know a bunch of other GBA owners to interact with? Zelda: Four Swords, looks pretty damned interesting (perhaps even "innovative"), but I'm not going to get it because I have nobody else to play it with.

You know Four Swords is just the multiplayer part of the game, and not the whole game, right? The whole 2 or 3 people I know that actually have the game have only played Four Swords a couple of times, and mostly just stick to the single-player stuff (which is a lot like an original Zelda remake, maybe it is entirely that for all I know).

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[Guppy06]

You know that Link to the Past was originally released for the SNES, right?

Re:Chrzzzzz...

[PainKilleR-CE]

You know that Link to the Past was originally released for the SNES, right?

All the more reason for me to play it, since I never owned an SNES ;p Good to know, though, since I pretty much ignored the series after the 2nd game (Adventures of Link?).

I agree.

[Inoshiro]

That's why, despite owning all the Metroids, I've only not beaten Prime. Prime was ok, but felt like Super Metroid in 3D.

At least in Metroid is remade, it'll be like playing FF Origins: yes, it's the same, but it's a fresh taste of a classic.

Re:I agree.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why, despite owning all the Metroids, I've only not beaten Prime. Prime was ok, but felt like Super Metroid in 3D.

My thoughts exactly. With Prime having the difference of being less atmospheric.

Zero

[Anonymous Coward]

Does anyone notice Japanese people seems to like the letter "Z" or the word "Zero"? I see that all the time for anime and game titles. For example Dragon Ball Z, Street Fighter Zero. Just an observation.

How about something *Somewhat* Different?

[dbretton]

Enough with the Metroid already, and enough with the remakes of the biggies.

Yaknow, the most enjoyable game I ever played on the Gameboy was good ol' Tetris.

How about bringing some fun puzzle games to the platform like Marble Madness, Bejeweled, Devil Dice, or Intelligence Cube?

You mean...

[Paersona]

Samus is a CHICK??!

Dangit Editors, thanks for ruining another game ending for me.

or how about...

[5 Second Rule]

a new game with Samus and metroid-style gameplay without any metroids in the plot? A new plot with space pirates or something else. The Metroid brand is strong enough to make it without "metroid" in the title. That way both of you are happy. The remakes are getting tired.

I'd prefer the remake.

[Inoshiro]

While the GBA doesn't have some of the features of the SNES (the lack XY buttons and 8-bit sound being my disapointment with a GBA SP), I'd love to see a Metroid pack with 1, 2, and 3 remade for the GBA. Even if they were released separately, it'd be really nice. Nintendo could even include a feature, ala Golden Sun, where beating the first one unlocked features in the second (..).

I think that'd be much nicer than making the plot continuity be broken and laugable.

If you think a cool Samus adventure would be good, I know I'd like to see more about the Col. and Samus than was revealed in Fusion. But, please, no more Metroids.

You know..

[Inoshiro]

that's actually a really good summary. I hadn't even thought about that stuff. Perhaps I am too jadded to noticed it, since I was happy with, "the last Metroid is in captivity. The Galaxy is at piece." :)