What could have been...?

There was no Metroid game on Nintendo 64, Samus Aran skipping the console altogether save for a cameo appearance in Super Smash Bros. Series creator Yoshio Sakamoto has revealed in an interview with UK magazine GamesTM that the heroine's history could have been very different, as Nintendo approached a third-party to develop an Aran adventure, but the developer declined.

Sakamoto himself stated he didn't want to develop a Metroid game for the machine as he couldn't understand how Samus would be controlled using the N64's now-iconic controller. Nintendo then offered an unnamed company the chance to bring Samus to the machine, which was turned down as the studio believed it couldn't top seminal SNES shooter Super Metroid. Regrettably Sakamoto did not state who the company was, creating yet another Nintendo mystery.

[source gamestm.co.uk]