Does not compute, sorry bub.

point is that the prime series isn't definitively better, just different. most people have a preference for one or the other but i consider the trilogy equal with super metroid and don't want to weigh them against each other. the prime games were great but there are lots of people out there who, after 8 years of them, want a taste of the old metroid style again. that's what sakamoto was delivering.

as far as being a different series, all that really makes metroid prime a metroid game is the atmosphere. it does a great job of nailing the mood of the old games, but when you think about it barely anything else is the same. samus doesn't move the same way, fight the same way, explore the same way... she's controls like a completely different character. in super metroid she's a flying space ninja, in prime she's a highly observant tank. if it weren't for some similar powerups and enemies it very well could be mistaken as a new series on it's own.

I'd go Prime > Corruption > Other M > Echoes if we're just comparing the 4. I started playing Corruption again, and those load times are very bad.

I sorta wish you could play Other M in both styles of play: Space Ninja or Tank. Maybe in a future game we'll see it.

Alright gang I need some help. I'm writing a little article on Metroid Other M, and I'm trying to find a quote that from one of the Sakamoto interviews. It's about the duality of Samus; how on the outside she's sort of a bad but beneath the visor she's conflicted (I'm paraphrasing, obviously). Can anybody tell me which interview this is from? The problem is I think it's a video interview, so I'm having trouble finding it.

Sounds like one of the video interviews from E3 this year. Not exactly sure though.

I don't have a problem with them giving us something new after 3 games in FPS mode, but if they are going to do it...I want them to do it well. Despite all it's faults I still enjoyed Other M, but to me it's always at the same time a reminder of how much better t could have been.

ok so I just got to the super secret Bioweapon lab area that only exists to reveal new plot stuff and the hatred of the voice acting became really apparent really quickly. Between Rhythm Heaven and this I think NOA loves women that suck at conveying emotion.

I agree. It could've been better. But in terms of storytelling, this isn't something Nintendo is very keen at doing. Some parts worked, some things didn't. Considering it's Metroid, expectations are always through the roof. Because they didn't execute flawlessly on something entirely new to them, some people are crying that the series is ruined forever. Where were these people when Hunters released?

about voice acting. metroid prime was actually going to have jennifer hale deliver a monologue at the start of the game to introduce the story, similar to super metroid. it's actually very similar in tone to the samus in other m: http://wiki.rustedlogic.net/Metroid_Prime#Unused_Audio

two different parties, retro and then sakamoto, came to the conclusion that samus should be emotionless and deadpan in her delivery, so maybe there's something to it. with all that she's supposed to have been through i honestly can't imagine her sounding any other way.

So what you're saying is Hale as Samus probably wouldn't have improved things much.

what i'm saying is that there's nothing to improve. that's how samus is supposed to sound.

I think I'm one of the few who thinks Metroid was born to be first-person. In my opinion, it was the best bold decision ever made in gaming. I've played Metroid and Super Metroid, and they were... fun. It's easy to see why Metroid became popular, anyways. But I don't know that I would want to pick up Other M. Sadly I'm just not a Metroid fanatic, I don't really know a lot of the lore, but I do know that I played every Prime game, eagerly scanned every nook and cranny of every new room I entered, and enjoyed it very much. Watching cutscenes and being fed the information while I sit there and stare seems perhaps disjointed to me, though I guess it's more "traditional" since there wasn't any scanning in the older side scrollers. I always prefer games where the player can learn as much of the story as they want to through exploration of their surroundings.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you are...

There was nothing bold about it. Nintendo had no idea what a 3d Metroid should look like at the time and they also needed a FPS for the GameCube. Voila!

Other M plays more like a Dino Crisis 3/Resident Evil 4 hybrid. It has a lot more action like Metroid Fusion and it's really good aside from the story and short game length.

@Gamesake

I thought it was pretty bold... no?
It doesn't seem like FPS is the first logical step when trying to convert a 2D exploration based platformer into a 3D game. But maybe that's just why I don't design games for a living. But I totally want to.

Who wouldn't want to? I read Bioware was able to start up with a hundred thousand dollars.

first person wasn't bold as much as it was a matter of necessity. retro couldn't get it feeling right in 3rd person and miyamoto suggested they scrap it and start over as a FPS. it suited looking around and shooting really well, so it was a logical choice, but it made a lot of compromises and i wouldn't call it the ultimate way to play metroid because of that.

other m succeeded in 3rd person because it was made by nintendo's 2D staff, who knew from experience exactly how samus is supposed to move and feel. unlike retro they were unwilling to compromise that feel from the old games, which led to a lot of very bold changes to the formula to accommodate a very fast and agile samus in a 3D world that had previously made it impossible.

both games took a huge amount of work and made very tough decisions about how to make metroid work in 3D, so i wouldn't say either one is more important than the other when it comes to advancing the series. i will say that other m is much closer to being the ultimate style for metroid, but there's still a ways to go. get nintendo together with both retro for the art direction and team ninja for the action and i think that'd about do it.

I would honestly like to see both full play styles incorporated into a single package, fully accessible at any time. It'd be the best thing ever.

No it wouldn't.

And I don't mean for the shooting aspects, because first-person shooters bore me. I mean for the exploration aspects. Exploration is a lot more fun in first-person. The only trade-off is that jumping is not...