Metroid might do OK, afterall

From Famitsu, with Shigeru Miyamoto:

Famitsu: Let us talk about Metroid Prime. Honestly, we think that fans of the series are worried. In short, they are worrying that Metroid is going to become Doom.
Miyamoto: Yes. That is often said.

F: (laugh) Well it is not that we are saying Doom is a bad game, but the first person shooting games have a tendency to appear as a foreign game.
M: It is not going to become the so called “Western game.” We have no intentions for it to become that. People still think that despite the fact that we are working on the game together from Japan. People from overseas also said this kind of thing. It is probably because people seems like they tend to categorize games by genre. (laugh) Since we only released still screen shots, it gives you that kind of impression just by only looking at the screen shots.

F: I see.
M: Well, Metroid is originally an exploration game. Of course you have situations where you are attacking enemies, but at heart it was a game where you had fun exploring. And if you look across the series, in Metroid games the rooms and passage ways are not very wide. Within that narrow area, if you take and move the camera outside of the character (editor note: a 3rd person shooter), it becomes relatively difficult to control. This is very detrimental to an exploration game.

F: I see.
M: That is why we are very troubled if you tag Metroid as a jumping game. We think that Metroid is an exploration game, an adventure game. As a result, as an adventure game that takes place in narrow places, we chose the first person perspective because it was the best view. In other words, we never thought about making a “first person shooter.” So when this game releases, it should be an adventure game that sports a smooth controlling scheme.

F: We understand.
M: Of course, we will always have the option to make a side-scrolling jumping Metroid game. When we want to make that game, we will. Metroid Prime does not mean that Metroid is going to stay forever in the first person perspective.

F: So you are saying that this time you decided to go with a first person shooter emphasizing on the adventure aspect.
M: Yes. And when you look at the GameCube lineup, there are quite a lot of third person shooters. So you could say that the fact that Metroid Prime diversifies the GameCube lineup has also more or less influenced the decision.

Quick summary for those with short attention spans: Metroid is still designed as an adventure game and was only given the first person perspective because it gave the best view of the narrow passages.

I guess if you\'re still not sold, then Metroid 4 for GBA will be more up your alley.

-Eik

I was questioning the game\'s integrity when Retro Studios was working on it alone..

But once EAD stepped in and started co-developing it with Retro, a lot of my doubt was cured.

Sounds ok. Ive never played a metroid game in the past so the 3rd person to 1st person probally wont affect me.

[Bobs_Hardware]

im still not so sure about it  :/

[Living-In-Clip]

It sounds like Nintendo realized it was a bad idea and are trying to fix it, while not setting themselves back to far. Not that, that is a bad thing, infact it sounds like they may be on the right track. Still, I\'m skeptical as the final gameplay.

Why be so skeptical? Even without EAD backing it, it\'s not like Retro Studios is unexperienced.

Zoid works at Retro.. he\'s practically started the whole Quake mod movement; he made CTF a FPS gametype!

Besides.. with Miyamoto directing the project, I don\'t see how they could screw it up that much.

[Living-In-Clip]

Originally posted by Blade
Why be so skeptical? Even without EAD backing it, it\'s not like Retro Studios is unexperienced.

Zoid works at Retro.. he\'s practically started the whole Quake mod movement; he made CTF a FPS gametype!

Besides.. with Miyamoto directing the project, I don\'t see how they could screw it up that much.

Anytime you make a move as drastic as Miyamoto and his crew have with a well established franchise, such as Metriod, diehard fans of the series are going to be skeptical of the game and it\'s true\'ness to the series. That is just the way it is and Miyamoto knew when he made this choice he would have a hard time selling it to the hardcore Metriod fans.

I\'m not saying it will suck (though I have before). I am just saying, I remain skeptical on how this will play out and if it can bring back fond memories of playing as Samus and also induce its own great moments.

I feel the same way, LiC.

After they viewed a video of the game (unreleased) IGN remarked that it\'s holding surprisingly true to the 2D Metroid games. So it\'s a good assumption that Metroid might just be able to move to 3D just as smoothly as Mario and Final Fantasy did. People were a little skeptical about their 3D adventures.. but in the end, they ended up being two of the most popular games of the decade. At E3, we\'ll be able to get some hands-on reviews of the game.

I\'m looking forward to hearing what people think..