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E3 didn’t deliver everything Nintendo fans wanted last week, but it did give us some surprisingly divisive announcements. Chief among these was undoubtedly Metroid Prime: Federation Force for 3DS, a spin-off of the venerable franchise that featured four player co-op missions and three-on-three Blast Ball (imagine soccer but with a much bigger ball that is moved with energy blasts from arm cannons instead of your feet). Also, Samus was nowhere to be seen in the E3 trailer or gameplay; instead, players took on the role of soldiers working for the eponymous Federation, the government and military organization that runs things in the Metroid universe. Reactions were mixed, with some people excited to see Nintendo experimenting with new gameplay ideas and expanding the Metroid universe, while others reacted with unbridled outrage, with some going so far as to sign petitions demanding the game be canceled.
Despite the reactions from people who have actually played the game being generally favorable, Nintendo has still made an effort to address the less enthusiastic fans. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime stated that the company is aware “the community wants to see a straight-up Metroid game.” He also said, “”We also know that the best way to launch a game like that is to surprise and delight them, to give them a launch date, in an environment like this, let them play it versus what other companies do which is to announce a project that you may not see for five, six years.”
In other words, yes, a new Metroid featuring Samus and plenty of exploration will come out sooner or later. Then again, anybody could have told you that, regardless of what Nintendo said/didn’t say at this or any other E3. Furthermore, Reggie has a point about making needlessly early announcements and I would be willing to bet that Nintendo actually regrets announcing the next Zelda for Wii U as early as it did, because it ultimately led to having to announce a delay. But another thing worth considering is the state of Wii U; when Zelda was announced it was at a time when the system desperately needed momentum, and while the console still isn’t setting sales charts on fire, the company’s position has stabilized thanks to the success of Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros., and the fact that Amiibo sales are way beyond expectations. Finally, we also need to take into account that Wii U’s successor is on the horizon in the form of NX, and seeing how Nintendo has been rather outspoken about its believe that the Wii U’s weak start was due to a lack of compelling software at launch, then you can bet it will want plenty of its big guns ready to go at launch.
Or maybe Nintendo should have just showed an ambiguous trailer with some nonsensical, pretentious dialogue playing over images of generic yet pretty scenes before showing the back of Samus’ head just to reduce fans to tears. Of course, there would be no talk about gameplay or even a release window, but at least it would have the hype train a-rollin’!
Source: IGN
Right on Reggie! That’s why you’re the boss.
Hopefully they’ll make Metroid: Zero Mission available on the North American virtual console soon.
I hope with the next system, depending how it turns out of course; they get back to what they used to be. All these constant gimmicks the last few years have been interesting, but I just want a new Metroid title with NORMAL controls. No wiggle stuff, no aiming with a gamepad, etc. Focus on gaming, Nintendo. This new system has me a bit worried, but it’s a wait and see thing at this point. I’ll probably hold off on buying the NX or whatever it turns out to be until I see some actual games. The Wii U is underrated, and has great games; but still look what has happened. Please, whatever you do Nintendo DON’T name it Wii 3 or some other horrible name. Start fresh! Give us GOOD games we have been wanting for years!