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Have no clue, whatsoever.

The creator of metriod (Gunpei Yokoi) was also the creator of the Virtual Boy. Probably due to the VB's failure he left Nintendo early on in the N64's life cycle. Gunpei Yokoi died in 1997 in a car accident. Nobody probably wanted to mess with Metroid until Retro Studios did later on with Metroid Prime.
Source

Four words, Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. That is, if Nintendo was planning on making Metroid FPS...

Was it Quarterman in EGM that reported that Nintendo was considering remaking the original Metroid NES game for the Nintendo 64 console. But I never saw another mention of it again.

Wow, so he was the one who kept the Game Boy without color for so long!

ok thanks for the info!

ok thanks for the info!

I heard there wasn't a Metroid 64 because Nintendo "couldn't come up with any concrete ideas" (From an IGN interview about the first Metroid Prime years ago as said by Miyamoto) for such a game. Seeing that this was beginning of the 3D revolution in gaming (For lack of a better term), it's understandable, plus I'd of thought it would be quite difficult to market the game if they did it as 2D, so it would probably have had to have been 3D to sell. Gameplay-wise, that could have made it difficult to have come up with a solid idea for such a game. Thank god Retro came along when they did.

They were developing it, but then the Gamecube came put ad they moved it.

Gunpei Yokoi was awesome. He was Miyamoto's mentor. And the legendary creator of the GB. I would have love to see a N64 metroid.

I have no idea. But I assume it was either A) Because Rarr's shooters were hogging up all the spotlight, or B) Metroid didn't fit into Ninty's kid-friendly image at the time. I think the extra development time that came with Metroid Prime was worth it in the end. Prime 1 was phenominal.

The only rumor I remember reading about Metroid 64 was that it was going to be for their Disk Drive system. The N64DD was a flop and didn't come out until Dec 99 and only in Japan so why waste a great game on a sinking ship system?

I always was under the impression that the Metroid games were always more popular with the Western audience so I'm sure they could care less if Nintendo really does them anymore.

the bit about them just not knowing what to do is correct. Go over to GameTrailers, they have a Metroid retrospective that explains the history of the series in terms of real world development, gameplay, and plot very well.

Keep in mind that back in those days, 3D was VERY much not something game companies were confident about. Go back and see how many 2D -> 3D games have held up at all in terms of gameplay, camera, graphics, etc. Most of them (Mario 64, OOT, etc.) were Nintendo doing an extremely good job. Others basically kept 2D gameplay, but added 3D visuals (Metal Gear Solid for the most part). Look at how rough the transition was. Sonic, as a brand, STILL hasn't recovered from 3D.

Well, the closest we came to having Metroid on the Nintendo 64 console was a playable Samus in the original Smash Bros.
Who knows, had the Virtual Boy did well perhaps Mr. Yokoi would've stuck around to Produce a Metroid title later on in N64s lifespan.

Another theory would be Mr. Yokoi was planning on leaving Nintendo anyway ( in-which he did ) to head his own studio
"Koto Laboratory". Mr. Yokoi was indeed a passionate toy/game Producer. But I wonder if Retro Studios would've been sought after regardless had Mr. Yokoi lived. I guess we'll never know.

It was a blessing to have met the legendary Gunpei Yokoi when I did about 14 years ago (E3 1995). Yokoi and Miyamoto combined have shaped modern gaming. Without these key figures I seriously doubt there would've been a thriving game industry today.

In Memory of Toy & Game Inventor Gunpei Yokoi-san 1941 - 1997:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anyTBA46eyY

There are some rare screen shots from the early development of a Metroid 64 on the internet. They are extremely hard to find. I think it is good that they didn't end up making one, because I feel like it would have been terrible.

http://www.geekosystem.com/metroid-n64-canceled/

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