Random: Forget Dread, It's All About Metroid: Other M On Twitter Right Now

I personally enjoyed the gameplay, but it did feel like a strong departure from the Metroid feel. And seeing Samus so tiny compared to other human characters was kinda jarring. I appreciate the attempt to do something more character-wise was there, and I don't hate on the Ridley stuff as much as others, but it's on the lower side of middle of the road for me, I think. But definitely not a waste and I would play it again.

I love the backstory of Samus and the humanization of her. It was a very stylish game typical of Team Ninja, but despite its black sheep nature with the rest of the series, it was a joy to play for me and I couldn't find a reason to hate it. That and there were far worse things to play on the Wii.

Can't just let a dead horse lie in its grave, huh?

Other M offers nothing. The intended story does not align with the prior story beats. Samus really hasn't shown to care about the freaking baby metroid in the regard Other M REALLY wants to drill into your brain she does. She's the one who ditched the thing like the lost child it was, as per the character's freaking very words. The version of Adam as a live human offered nothing to help the A.I. one we already knew prior in Fusion, it just tried really hard to want to make us demonize him. Samus doesn't grow at all from this, and the receding that took place DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. Forcing Other M to work like its narrative wants it to is akin to forcing Star Wars to accept the Holiday Special and Muppets crossovers as important canon for no real particular reason.

Gameplay if nothing else can be more open to one's own opinion on how much they like the rigidity of its 3D Ninja Gaiden transplanted onto 2D Ninja Gaiden. Both, of course, NOT being Metroid games so one would also likely be against it at a fundamental level as well, but whatever. That's a lot more easier to case an argument over liking or not than the story that wants nothing else to be canon towards it other than half the manga and handwaving why Ridley's body is in Fusion.

It's frankly disappointing to see this beast of a topic rise again. I thought we were past this. Even the Dread pre-release content made fun of Adam's authorization hubbub.

Other M is in my Top 5 now right behind Dread. Dread actually made me like Other M more, and I have been having an urge to revisit the game. The way Samus is portrayed in Other M overall, minus some of the questionable authorization moments, feels right for a story taking place right after the major losses in her life at the conclusion of Super Metroid. Lost Zebes, Metroids are extinct and the Space Pirates are wiped, what exactly would cause her character to not go through a low point? This is the only entry that makes sense for Samus to be off from her usual self.

I liked it a lot, it's a great game and is so much fun.
plotwise is not as good as other metroids and the varia suit situation and the "look for the tiny pixel on the screen to continue" were not great but overall it has some of the most spectacular and fun gamplay for the series. I think a lot of people hate it just for the sake of it, you should really try it.

I hope people are trolling. Other M is a good Wii game (in terms of gameplay), but having the Metroid moniker tarnishes its reputation. Samus was always supposed to be a badass and not an emotional mess as she was portrayed in Other M. I liked the way Sakamoto used the storytelling in Dread, way more than in Other M, as in Dread he kept Samus the way almost everyone knew and adored her, and turned it up to 11, instead of her constant blabbering about DABABY.
Not to mention the acting in Other M was at cringe-levels of horrible, I prefer Samus being a mute protagonist, much like Link (although I was pleasantly surprised of that one scene in Dread where she talked).

At this point fans just want their fan fiction to be right. I'll leave it to the writers and devs on how characters are depicted. Other M for me is fun because I thought the gameplay is fun. I skip the cut scenes. Personally I think ADAM is dumb and the whole "lady" nickname is dumb. Was almost sad he made it into Dread.

Other M is still to this day the only Metroid game I’ve beaten and I really like it. It has flair, it has neat environments, it has a great chilling tone, great enemies, a good combat system and fun set pieces. There are definitely some terrible aspects to it, such as the half-baked “Deleter” arc, or the forced D-Pad controls, or how frustrating the end portion is, when it comes to freezing Metroids and especially the pixel hunt sections of the game. All in all, I think it’s a game that just has unavoidable faults, compared to a series that many would describe to be otherwise perfect, or completely down their alley. I can get if Other M is a blemish to the series for fans. The game outright doesn’t play to neither 2D Metroid, nor Prime’s strengths. I’m fine with the series diverging myself, but I won’t argue against someone who says they don’t care for Other M, or if they even think it’s bad.

I thought not only was the story garbage, but so was the gameplay. The gameplay was mostly a joke because of the controls though. Nothing about the game felt like a Metroid game in anyway.

And now I feel like playing Other M.

Was a really fun game! Not among the best Metroid games, but it was pretty good, I wouldn't mind to play a new 2.5 Metroid like that, with a better story.

Adam's portrayal in Other M ruined everything for me.

So the Galactic Federation has been working on genetically modifying metroids to remove their weakness to cold. Adam knows this. So what does he do when he sees a metroid hovering over Samus? Shoot her in the back, disabling her power armor and leaving her defenseless, then shoot the metroid with the very weakness they've been trying to remove.

What!? It was complete luck that the metroid froze. He even admits that he doesn't know why it froze when Samus asks him about it later. He DID NOT know it would freeze.

Not to mention restricting the use of defensive items. I understand the weapons and all that, what with rules of engagement, use of necessary force, all that stuff, but there's NO reason to not allow defensive equipment. You're not going to send soldiers into a firefight but only give them bulletproof vests AFTER they've been shot in the chest.

Really puts a damper on Samus' admiration for him, especially in Fusion. "Perfect military mind" my left foot.

Maybe they could've fixed some issues if they divorced the story from the gameplay and just made it a movie, but shooting Samus first... Seriously, shoot the dang metroid! If it freezes, Samus is safe and you can explain what's going on. If it doesn't freeze, she's immediately aware that they're an even bigger threat than before.

It’s absolutely terrible. I played it when it first came out and hated it. Bear in mind the only other Metroid games I’d played then were Prime 2 and 3. The story’s laughably bad, the villain is silly, the suit permissions are a meme and the gameplay just doesn’t ever feel right on that dodgy Wii D-Pad.

Terrible game.

I can't read this article, Adam hasn't told me to equip my reading helmet yet

I appreciate what they were trying to do with the story, especially after Fusion gave Samus much mote of an inner voice compared to Super, but it must also be underscored how badly they have failed.

There are better ways to humanize your silent protagonist than to make them an emotional wreck (hell, the new Doom games do a fine job of it from inside the character's skull!) and Other M (and Smash) is the main reason Samus went from 2m-tall muscular Amazon shown in Super and Fusion to Generic Hollywood Action Supermodel in the character's promo portrayals everywhere.

It took everything that made Samus a standout female protagonist and made her a generic one instead. And that is just sad.

I was just rethinking my ranking now that I beat Dread, sand yeah. Other M is still very close to the bottom. Unless they overhauled the dialogue, the Ridley scene, the crying for Adam scene and the control scheme, it stays down there.

I'm on team anti-Other M. Not much good fleshing out a character when it doesn't fit with what we know about the character. Plus, in many ways, Samus is a bit of an avatar so the lack of information lets people wonder and try to fill in the blanks based on their own experiences. It's fine that people like the game though. But I have to say, and this doesn't get said enough, Other M is a laughably-terrible title for a game.

Story was fine but the gameplay sucked for me.

I played Other M for the first with my friend earlier this year when he was visiting and I still feel terrible for putting him through that. I was expecting it to be mediocre but it was way, way worse than I expected. Less said about the story the better, it wasn't even funny bad, it was just bad. But the real travesty were those controls, who the hell thought it was a good idea to have the player flippy dippy the controller all around to shoot missiles and in the process plant Samus' feet firmly on the ground in hectic boss battles with projectiles flying all over the place? The music was super generic too, what a waste of orchestra that was. It also takes the already linear Fusion structure and makes it even worse, also those "cinematic" behind the back walk slowly to a thing sections really were sooo cool weren't they.

I guess it looked nice and had good use of color, but that's all the praise I have for it, the game was actual garbage and I cannot believe how favorably it got reviewed over here and how many people were defending that game, I mean I don't like Mercury Steams Metroid games much, but I can at least understand how those who just want an action game with Samus doing cool stuff in it would like those, with Other M I don't see any appeal.

I don’t remember much about Other M. I bought it and sold it off pretty quickly. I never do that.

@JRokujuushi @Clod Having heard recently from a avid Metroid fan of a friend I know about the differences between the original and the localization of the story... The Japanese version makes more sense, but I generally agree the story in general isn't great.

The Japanese version has Samus showing she has lost confidence in herself due to the loss of the Baby Metroid, and that the hell run through the Pyrosphere was a self-imposed test to see if she still has the stones for what she is doing, for which Adam berates her for doing something so obviously reckless. It also underscores why she experienced such a severe trauma response to Ridley: she was mentally and emotionally compromised, and she was not prepared for his re-emergence as a clone due to the aforementioned cracks in her proverbial armor.

It doesn't fix everything bad about the story-writing if you follow the Japanese version, but it does make a lot of the stuff in Other M make more sense and feel less ham-fisted overall.

Also from what I was told, the portrayal of Samus between the two versions is very different.

Best Buy had Other M on clearance for $5, so I bought it for the Club Nintendo points. I still haven't gotten around to playing it. Maybe someday...

I actually really liked the gameplay of Other M. It was a fast-paced 3D Metroid, which the Prime games fail to capture. Apart from a few story beats, the narrative isn't terrible.

@moodycat
Just curious, what made you not like Samus Returns?

Sakamoto getting his base worked up he wants Other M HD he can smell it, it’s already mirroring what happened with BOTW to SSHD and that took years. Nintendo and its Sakamotos and Aonumas don’t wanna give you another Dread or BOTW which were games that tapped into what the market wanted, this will become blatantly obvious depending on what the untitled sequel to BOTW actually is.

Return of Samus, Fusion, Dread and the Prime Trilogy are my favorites.

were the 3 likes, one reply tweets really noteworthy enough to draw attention to on a big nintendo news website? feels more rude than anything

While it certainly has flaws, it is not even close to as bad as people make it out to be. Play it. It’s short, interesting, and unique. I’d really love to see another shot taken at that style of Metroid. You can see how it could be so much better if they tweaked a few things.

I think that a game where a character has traumatic responses like Other M could be amazing, just not with Samus, or a supporting character like Adam

I've been playing Metroid since Metroid 2 on the original Gameboy. I read all the manga as soon as they were fan translated. Metroid Other M instantly became my favorite game in the series when I played it. I never understood the hate. That game shows Samus at her deepest and most bad-ass.

But, bottom line, at this point, can we just let people who love the game love it, and let people who hate the game hate it and move on with our lives?

@MegaVel91 The localization story you're talking about is the video that has been circulated somewhat recently within the Metroid fanbase, the past year-ish, called "The Other M That Never Was" or something like that as I recall without looking it up again. Haven't seen it in a while but I know what you're talking about.

The issue with that is that video is a fandubbing of his own reinterpretation to his own preference. Changes he makes are also not one-for-one with the Japanese version. To say nothing of this all in the end, the final redubbing is STILL NOT GOOD. Plus, as we know first-hand Sakamoto made changes for the English version to better fit his vision, all of this ultimately doesn't matter, because what the Japanese version says doesn't matter, it's not what he wanted. Even though what he wanted was clearly a foolish errand, dubbing the game himself in a language he does not understand.

The difference in Samus in official Other M English as Sakamoto dictated as the way he wants it being subservient to her new daddy father-figure forgetting the Chozo upbringing to the retranslated version of Samus being so in awe of Adam's presence she needed to prove to him she can kill herself in his name....is NOT a pleasant visage of a character upgrade.

Graphically, Other M still looks really nice, especially in HD on Dolphin. It looks better than Dread in some areas, even.

I really enjoyed it at the time and liked how different it felt. I always took it as just another take on the character and so never felt any of the "NOT MY SAMUS/METROID" stuff.

That said, I haven't played it or really thought too much about it since that time and certainly don't recall a lot of the details so I wouldn't bother arguing with someone who hates it.

@Clod Oh. I see...

I loved Other M at launch and I still like it. Gameplay-wise it's great. It's the writing where it kind of falls apart. Some of the problems could've been fixed in translation, considering how much of the spoken lines are actually internal monologue...it's just so very...Japanese sounding in terms of phrasing, even in the English version.

The writing isn't bad overall, it's just clunky. And the game, as a whole, is great. I included it in my Pre-Dread Metroid marathon.

People say it's the worst Metroid game ever...it's not perfect, but it isn't THAT bad. Only issue I had was with controls, and most of those "pixel finding" segments. As for Samus...I don't know what everyone wants out of her...she's supposed to be human...not a silent badass robot girl, plus this was more towards the beginning of the series timeline. So her reaction from seeing Ridley again seemed fine to me...or her losing Adam.

I liked Other M. I thought it had extremely high production values and gave a LOT more (canonical) insight into Samus' history and thought process...but of course, people freaked out over that ONE cutscene/boss battle and labeled it a stinker....sad really.

Other M was hot garbage. People liking it, probably did because they were kids while playing it.

other m is completely trash samus having pstd which was dumb,using her abilities only if she was told was lame,and missle expansions only give you just one dam missle which was even worse of course the plot didnt make sense either.

Did I seriously read some list saying that Metroid Prime and Super Metroid were "garbage" ? o_O

@moodycat Samus Returns was a rough testbed for what Dread became so yes, its combat over-reliance on the counter was annoying and they hadn't gotten bosses quite figured out yet, but the music remixes are....kinda of some of the best the series has gotten as a whole?

Unless you're a super-purist and ignore remixes altogether, you would be missing out skipping over Samus Returns' soundtrack.

Can't speak much on the Castlevania front much, but it seems a bit much to title them the ruiners of Castlevania when they did work on an already from the bat spin-off non-canon reboot universe....that Konami all the while wanted dead because it wasn't a casino game. Castlevania would have taken its series hibernation LoS or not simply because that's what Konami are these days.

Other M's a waste of silicon that only diehard contrarians would attempt to defend as a whole, but it warms my heart that not even the most dedicated trolls can attempt to defend Federation Force in all this, lmao. Maybe that'll start up when Prime 4 releases

This is the only core series Metroid game I've never played (I want to, but it's overpriced used at the moment due to Dread coming out). It seems every series has an entry from which people on the Internet try to get fandom cred by hating harder than everyone else, while other people join a rival gang which defends everything about the same game.

Both groups try to claim that they're "objectively" right. Both get emotional when other people disagree with them. It's pretty tedious really.

Other M port now!

(Just kidding, people who rate Super Metroid as garbage can’t be taken serious.)

Not the biggest Metroid fan out there but I remember Other M being a big topic back then. Some people liked it, others hated it. Some say Samus was a weak character in that game. And I think another issue was that Other M had a game breaking glitch and in order to fix it you would actually have to send the game off to Nintendo I think. Anyways, I don’t think Other M got as much hate as Federation Force did. I should really try to get into this series. 🤔

@EriXz "Oh, you weren't born before 1986? Guess your opinion's invalid"

@Joeynator3000 See, what you're not seeing why people are getting bent out of shape over is specifically related to where you think this game takes place.

Other M takes place almost at the end of the series. Until Dread, it was the filler mold between Super and Fusion, ultimately there in that timezone to fill in why Ridley's body gets to Fusion at all. And, of course, said reasoning is the most flimsy handwave-y excuse any one of us could chuck at a wall and see if it sticks.

Her relation with Adam is both pretty much made up on the spot while also telling us to just believe he's been a big deal, whilst also undermining her to elevate him. When, frankly, who CARES about Adam?

And the Ridley deal, if nothing else, requires you to recontextualize every single time you beat him prior in the series entire, Samus off-screen apparently was curling up into a little ball weeping at his return. Insert Morph Ball joke here.

@shonenjump86

Other M deserves about as much hate as FF, but it had the benefit of releae time and better trailers. The game did LOOK slick, with trailers showing off well-animated action CGI and cinmatic finishing moves. It was also releasing only a few short years after Prime 3, and on the same console, no less. The 'Cube had got 2 Prime games, The DS even got 2 if you count Pinball, and now the Wii was getting 2. We weren't at a loss for Metroid games. And hey, even though the new direction of Other M worried several people, most were willing to give ia try since hey, about 8 years ago people were saying the same thing about Prime 1, and that game went on to be one of the best games of all time.

Federation Force, on the other hand, was revealed half a decade after Other M. People were desperate for a return to form for Samus, both character and gameplay wise, and got... well, Federation Force. Most people haven't played enough of FF to realize it, but that game's story manages to make Samus even weaker and lamer than Other M, and it does so with much more efficiency.

And even if you look past everything the franchise name implies and judge FF on its own, it's a piss-poor co-op FPS on a system already not built for such a game, with ugly and repetitive environments that almost never feel like you're in a huge mech, encounters that are actually boringly easy for one player (and don't scale at all for multiple players) and levels featuring multiple soft lock points where an AFK/disconnected/trolling player can easily stop the entire team from progressing, with nothing the others can do about it.

I have a lot of respect for Next Level Games, they brought back Punch Out and Luigi's Mansion with style, and really hoped that somewhere under the ugly trailers that they'd struck gold again with Federation Force. But it was just awful.

I'll defend it begrudgingly.

I loved the gameplay, with a few hickups I really enjoyed myself a lot! I must admit some of the areas have stuck with me better than prime.

Story wise I'm a fan of the mystery part. What is that cute fluffy thing and especially : who of those crew members is sabotaging and killing the rest of the crew!
(fans found the answer, it's a shame the game never gave it to you more clearly! )

It falls flat story wise because they put this game in the wrong part of the timeline. Samus can definitely be Adam's lapdog, but not after super Metroid! (4 prime games, and 3 known missions later! )

If they had put this before the original Metroid. With a scene of Ridley killing her parents and being destroyed in the explosion while she's saved by Adam, or federation troops. Then her training and talk of the mastermind behind al this, the famous mother brain..

You could've kept the rest!
An obedient girl trusting her orders blindly, the shock of seeing her parents murderer alive again, the whole MB thing. And the distrust she slowly builds towards the federation when she questions if they weren't making little Ridley for their own goals!!
(the reason for her split from the organization, and establishing her as a bounty hunter! )

God this game would be good!!!

Got a good laugh from that one Tweet saying a good Metroid game coming out was an opportunity for Other M fans to ride the coattails lol

I didn’t like the story much, but loved the gameplay.

Apart from the awful gameplay, level design, controls and all the stupid decisions they made, it's... at least a very pretty Wii game.

While I will agree that the combat was somewhat intriguing; everything else from the writing, lack of exploration even by Metroid Fusions standards, voice direction, environments, music direction, spot the clue sections, slow walking sections, and general lack of isolation overall isn't what most people, including me, think of when we think of Metroid and the sales as well as fan backlash shows that.

And that's not even counting the game breaking glitch that locks a certain door in the pyro sector that you need to progress and forces you to reset your game file.

It was an underrated game IMO. Not top top draw or anything and not a true great, but good. The story was fine. "Alternative" Samus....cool. Gotta be open minded sometimes.

@Rosalinho This radiates paper Mario energy! 😂

And usually it's total middleground for me: yhea I wouldn't buy these black sheep at 60 bucks. But thrown them in with a discount and lower the expectation a tad and there's a lot of fun to be had!

(my favorites are Color Splash, with an undefendable battle system but amazing everything else.

And Zelda 2 which is not a Zelda game, and a bit too hard at the end... But so much fun in its first 2/3! 😁)

@moodycat

Other M has thé series best combat. Samus has never been this agile and brutal. Her counter and the theatrical flare added to her attacks in Samus Returns and Dread are because of Other M

@BLD How is Samus weaker in Federation Force than Other M? The smallest Space Pirates in Federation Force are the size of the Omega Pirate in Metroid Prime, and she successfully carried out investigations in spite of dealing with an army of that scale. I don't even think Other M has Samus against one threat that is as large as an Omega. The iteration of Samus in Federation Force, especially after her recovery in the Doomseye, would absolutely obliterate every other iteration of Samus in the series.

My opinion has not changed, Metroid: Other M sucked.

I'm not even upset at seeing Samus venerable and having some form of mental trauma, I can live with that.

My issue is the borderline abusive relationship her and Adam has where he orders her not to use her Varia Suit when she goes into a super hot area.

It was a cheap gimmick that was added in so they could limit Samus' abilities.* without outright stripping her of them like in other Metroid games.

But it does not work and does not click with how Samus refers to Adam in Fusion.

Why would she want to honor anything with a jackass that treated her like dirt?

Also, the control scheme in this game blows and I don't understand why anyone thought a Wiimote only control scheme was a good idea, especially in a 3D game that forces you into FPS mode at certain time.

They could have at least added Nunchuck support.

Other aspects of the gameplay were terrible ideas like the removal of item pickups to restore weapons and health in favor of a weird focus system that forced Samus to stand around.

Other M deserves it place as the worst Metroid game ever made, and there is nothing redeeming about the game in my opinion.

@Bizzyb I agrée. I beat all the Metroids (except Federation Force) and Other M is my favorite. The story can be criticised at some points, yes. But the combat is still awesome imo

@Caryslan Other M has Energy Tanks, Missile Tanks, Energy Parts, etc. that a player can collect. The Concentration mechanic too is optional.

Other M is daring, and that always provokes a variety of reactions.

Personally I loved it. I’d instabuy a hd rerelease.

i think is ok for everyone to express your concerns about the game, but there is a lot of taste for the games, some people enjoy it and others don't, for me Metroid other M is ok, is not the best not the worst but i enjoyed it, the story and gameplay feel weird in some parts but is enjoyable, i can't force others to try it, i don't mimd if you hate ir or like it, i just keep enjoyimg the game every time i play even if i don't like it, i think that's the matter for me atleast, if you don't want to try it is ok, if you do is ok too, sometimes i think some games are for some people not for everyone.

I am a PRIME person. But I did love OTHER M. The combat was amazingly fluid and addictive. Flipping the controller around to go into first person felt like you were really aiming Samus' missile launcher and a quick flick would send you dodging any incoming attack. I felt like it was a Metroid title trying to bridge the gap for older players.

I understand all the hate Other M gets, but I also think it doesn't deserve it. It's definitely the worst mainline Metroid, but it's still pretty good in its own right.

i'll happily agree with everyone that Metroid Dread is 10/10. But when Other M starts trending, I have to wonder if we agree why lol. It's not as bad as some folk say...and not as good as others claim.

But naturally Nintendo would bring M to switch over Prime trilogy as thats just what Nintendo do.

That teir list from mr spooky can’t be for real…

@Alpha008 It isn't. Check his reply and he says he got it the wrong way round.

I liked the game. I think it got more hate than it deserved. Glad to hear that public opinion/perception has been changing with the years, just like it did with Skyward Sword, and inversely Breath of the Wild

Every time Samus said “the baby” I died a little inside. They tried to make it sound like she lost her child when in reality she dumped that Metroid with a bunch of scientists to perform experiments on. She only went after it to make sure the Space Pirates didn’t use it as a weapon.

I really liked the gameplay and the atmosphere, but Samus' character and that "You can only use that, if I say so!"-bullcr*** was absolutely dumb and improbable.
It maybe would have worked in a prequel or something, but given what Samus already had experienced, it was very unrealistic.

Loved Other M. So did most publications (at the time, at least). It's a bit like Skyward Sword. Everyone loved it at the time but seem embarrassed to admit it now for reasons I can't quite understand. It really needed the nunchuk though. Controls were the only downside for me. (except for the pixel hunt sections obviously) To this day I can't understand why a patch wasn't released to utilise the Nunchuk. U could still point to aim but have the benefits of the analogue stick for traversal.

There are people seriously starting to defend this game? Why? The gameplay for Other M is ok for the most part, but the horrendous writing alone negatively affects its rating by a large margin. I and many other people way smarter than me have already given good examples and reasons as to why the writing is trash. Anyone who says otherwise clearly played it when they were kids and are blinded by nostalgia.

Seeing the person that put Super Metroid and Prime into the garbage rating almost got me. If you look into his Twitter account, you'll see another message made shortly after that he "accidentally" got it backwards and uploaded the correct image. It was just a troll post and nothing more.

haha, you stay classy you internet

It is by far, my favourite Mtroid game and I would love a rerelease.

Here's your unusual reminder that Other M has a poorly translated story that exaggerates the script to the point of making everyone sound out of character.

If you were tonplay this game in Japanese, subtitles and all, the tone of the story changes drastically.

Didn’t vote because there was no “middle ground” answer for those that played it. Overall I enjoyed playing Other M although ultimately Si found it forgettable as I’ve never had the desire to re-experience it.

Although the gameplay was gimped by the insistence on a Wiimote only control scheme. The story and characterisation of Samus was also too much in the opposite direction. What I’ve been most impressed with Mercury Steam about is that they’ve managed to heavily characterise Samus with emotions and personality in their 2 games without even removing her helmet and barely uttering a word. She’s determined, intrigued about her past, understanding, caring yet can loose herself to anger.

Other M put a bit too much of the whining mimsie into her characterisation. They could have easily have made portrayed Samus suffering from PTSD, except it felt more like they were portraying a completely different character suffering from PTSD.

Oh and the Power Bomb mechanic to finish one of the late game bosses was purely bad game design. After a whole game having your abilities locked and only explained how to use it at the start, you are expected to know it’s now unlocked, remember how to use it and all in a smalll time limit before dying if you don’t. Whoever thought that up should have been forced to clear their desk.

I'll never understand the metroid fandom. I like this series hope it makes great decisions in it's game play. But all those years ago, seeing comments especially from this sight bemoan and throw shade at Smash for daring to use her model from Other M to now seeing fans of it raise defense. Just makes me call into question.

Based on all I've heard and seen of Other M, it's already one of my most anticipated playthroughs in the whole Metroid franchise - to the point where I'm tempted to forego the release order and have a shot at it by in-universe chronology right after Super Metroid (which will take a while anyway, but maybe we'll even finally get a port in the meantime😉). I believe I need not reiterate where the fandom can shove its pseudocritique of the game and its "deviations from character portrayal" as usual.

I'm happy and surprised that Other M is in favor. I do think most people who rage about it have not played it. Also the hack journalists that criticised the characterisation of Other M now criticise the opposite approach in Dread.

I have played it first time in 2019 and enjoyed my time with it. Have no problems with the narrative and portrait of samus. The game has some very good (and hard) boss fights but it works fairly poorly on the sideways Wii remote. In the end is a middle of run entry (not groundbreaking but also not a shame in the series)

@Clod Can't just let a dead horse lie in its grave, huh?

...writes a wall of text.

Can't just let a dead horse lie in its grave, huh?
Obviously not.

I think I have mentioned this before, but Other M was actually my first Metroid game. I remember liking the gameplay, even if it felt a bit clunky. The story was very... shrug. My favourite character in Other M was K.G Misawa with his two voice lines "Yes sir!" and "Got it!". Well, in all seriousness, Anthony was probably my favourite character in the game simply because he left the most impression. I liked Adam, but so many of his decisions are questionable in Other M. I remember seeing the Ridley cutscene and being very confused because I was fairly sure he was a series regular as I had heard of Metroid before; so seeing Samus' reaction kind of baffled me.

I then played Super Metroid, followed by Prime 3 Corruption. Playing both of those, I felt like those games did better on atmosphere and general exploration; not to mention the story felt more robust and interesting. Other M is probably my least favourite of the series, but I wouldn't mind playing through again if for no other reason than to laugh at the characters,

People don't like change. They much rather had Prime 4 at that time, wich would have been even more lineair then 3 with (maybe) no new ideas and a milked story (the Prime series was done).

But now years later they can deliver a fresh and (hopefully) open world Prime 4 (or at least far less lineair then 3) and I think they drop the "Prime" moniker alltogether. It will feel like a fresh start for Metroid.

Regardless of what you personally think of Other M, remember that NintendoLife gave it a 9/10 review score. Take that as you will.

Although I can agree on some aspects of the story being contentious, I still enjoyed the game and the fact you could have it playable on a single remote and make it look that good on the Wii is an achievement in on itself

I actualy quite like Other M tbh... like the game play is realy good and I'd love to see more in that stile 2D with 3D inviroments plus the inclusion of first person segments (while cool wear also heavily flawed with the controls in Other M at times having to stop what you wer doing and point the wiimote at the TV)

I think the story is fine in the game aswell.. defintly some issues in there that thay culd do with clearing up in a remake/port like getting chapter Zero playing as Adam fighting the true form of MB and to actualy have a proper resolution to what was going on with the assassin (that culd well be Sylux... also on that iv thought for a while that Adam might be Sylux having not SEEN him die i mean come on let's be real here we have seen ridly come back from death befor so its not impossible in the metroid univerce)

My other big issue with other M is the Sound track...... its just so generic scyfi horror esq... I sooooorta have the same issue with dread personally I need to sit down and actualy listen to the dread ost befor I decide but there wasn't mutch that stood out to me in my playthrough.. but back to other M theres like 2 songs in there that I'd hear and say were "Metroid Songs" and one is the entro the rest is just a bit characterless the one I find unforgivable is NIGHTMAREs theam being absent in place of generic boss fight music 2

-All in all though Visuals are amazing in other M 10/10
-Story is decent but some holes so idk... 7/10?
-Sound track is very meh so 5/10 as its passable.
-Voice acting... was very hit or miss... and sadly I feal samus' voiceless were all misses imo... dunno the delivery felt way to obviously wired off a script so probably a 4/10 on there...
-Secret end boss 9/10 not saying annymore on that.
-now something I didnt like was the way thay did linearity in Other M... the way random doors locked behind you (perminantly might I add) making it impossible to back track to sertant locations meaning if you missed that one missile tank in the Ice place after the avalanche your s* out of luck there start a new file or reset to your last save befor saving so that for me gets 3/10

Idk in total id say its around a 7.5-8/10 as I do like the game play in the game and ultimately thats what matters. Its not my favorite metroid game nor is it my least favorite (I have played and 100% every game. Minus the hard mode in Other M as F that its too hard XD) I never got the amount of hatred the game received.. yes the baby thing is a bit annoying but... it was always the baby.. just the NoA trancelators changed it to the Metroid Hatchling or Lava... (the 2 things I didnt like around the baby stuff was the disstresscall being baby's cry and the fact the space station was... the Bottle ship.... like a baby's bottle... I though that was WAAAY to in your face.. but Eh)

I got it for 3 euro new in the store but still haven't open the plastic wrapping around it.

Why does Metroid need a message?

Confession Time.........
It was alright I guess.

Honestly, gameplay wise the game is fine. Not the best Metroid experience, but I really like what they tried to do. And Samus looks great in it! As for the story, there’s a great analysis of the difference in translation on YouTube https://youtu.be/KTuMfsWwd0E , which doesn’t quite fix everything, but explains a lot.

I think it's a 6/10 game. Good gameplay, looks great, but never really feels like a Metroid game and the story and Samus characterisation is bad.

Can we rehab federation force

It was a decent attempt at humanizing Samus. The problem lies with Adam and all that nonsense associated with him

@Link-Hero That was kind of obvious, but weird that if you turn it the other way around, it seems he liked Prime 3 much better than 2, which is a complete mystery to me.

I was a bit tipsy when I gave it a shot for about 10 minutes of actual gameplay and I wasn't so great at it so I put it down. Won't lie, at the time, I was also influenced by the general negativity surrounding the game so I just didn't pick it back up. After replaying Fusion and when I beat Dread, I think I'll dig it up and give it another go.

Also, the Nintendo cycle will never get old. Lol

I like it but I don't love it. The story is cringe worthy and the controls were a chore. I feel the gameplay would have been much better and more fluid if it used the analogue stick.

In the post game however the game is really, really fun! With all the story out of the way and no more randomly locked doors the game plays a lot like other Metroid games. But getting to that part is just a bit of a slog.

My favourite Metroid for me. I don’t care about the story and whatnot, the gameplay is fantastic and I love it. Loved the controls . My most repayable Metroid xxxx

Not my favorite by a longshot, but I remember enjoying it to some degree. It has major faults, between the story and the controls. I understand though how they were trying something new, and that’s okay. Longtime franchises sometimes need to mix it up a bit, but it won’t always work out to everyone’s tastes.

Now I’m wishing I hadn’t sold my copy 😵‍💫

For me Other M was a good action game, but not a good Metroid game because of the overbearingly linear structure.

Storywise it's the same thing as with The Last Jedi: I enjoyed the narrative just fine, but seeing people on the internet pointing out all the flaws and inconsistencies has kind of soured it for me, even though I don't share all the criticisms.

The game wasn't completely terrible. It was Samus' dialogue and voice acting that failed hardest in Metroid Other M.

In Dread, the voice acting was far better (even though Samus was only speaking Chozo, she didn't sound like a little wuss, as she had in Metroid Other M).

It's true Samus has been through a lot. Her parents were murdered by Space Pirates when she was a kid then she was raised by the Chozo, who trained her in combat and science. They taught her how to dicipline her mind. And by the time she reached the Other M era, she had already beaten several versions of Ridley in battle. It made absolutely no sense for Samus to go so deep into shell-shock when she encountered Ridley during Other M.

Lol this is straight up dumb. This is like the walugi effect where some garbage thing gets meme'd into being relevant to ppl. Other M was not good. Stories can be about trauma but that story has to be told well not through dead narrative lines, out of character moments and ham fisted themes. Other M is entirely ridiculous and at most ironically and mockingly enjoyed. Also who the f even cares about these themes when I just want to see Samus kick ass. Not everything has to be some expression of inner tormoil. Especially in a game series where environmental story telling was a stronger and more appreciated aspect and the source inspiration is more sci-fi action films. To be honest this whole this is just bizzare to me. Just plain WEIRD imo.

I feel smug validation because it was my favourite game on Wii. Nintendolife was right to give it 9/10.

I haven't played Other M, so I'm running in blindly with the only knowledge being that this game split the fans. When comparing a bad game to its franchise, is Other M something that's far worse than the "worst Mario game" or "worst Zelda game?"

Other M is awesome and the gameplay IS like classic Metroid.
It's the other, fast paced side of Super Metroid that the Prime Games lost.

Most of the posts I've seen are just confirming how terrible the game is. Makes me wonder how hard Nintendolife had to dig to find so many posts defending the game in order to spin this narrative that Other M is somehow this "secretly good" game. I mean, at least one of these posts has been a confirmed troll post by the author.

Just let this topic die already. This game was a complete joke, even Dread makes fun of it. The whole scene with Kraid was basically a mirror opposite of the infamous Ridley scene in Other M.

EDIT: In fact, in one of the twitter posts you posted, they're literally laughing at you Nintendolife.

EDIT 2: The author of another one of those posted tweets also muted her own tweet (and basically accused anyone who disagreed of being sexist) when people massively disagreed with their stance and dismissed everyone with a series of "LOL"s. I don't think there was any intention of an actual discussion there and writing it off as yet another troll. Batting 0-2 here, Nintendolife.

Hard to "defend" a game that released to almost universally positive critical acclaim. More like ... fans reminding space marine loving testosterone junkies that hate this game because it has some feels in it that they are wrong.

Sales were ... fine. I mean Metroid is a pretty poor selling franchise to begin with and when you add on digital sales this is likely the 3rd or 4th best selling Metroid game. It didn't meet sales expectations, but that's only because with all the Wii craze Nintendo thought it would outsell Prime.

So what are you defending? This game rated really well and is one of the best selling in the series.

@ModdedInkling
I promise you bro, it's not at all the worst Metroid.
Gameplay wise, one of the best!

Hey look I enjoyed it. But like all games they are subjective. I only had the prime series to relate too so I didn't find it a problem or have any preconceived notions of the character

Just started playing Other M last weekend. I remembering liking it quite a bit when I first played it...
I have no idea how though, because it's complete garbage. EVERYTHING is wrong with it.
The story and characterization of Samus is as bad as people say it is.
The gameplay is tedious as you spend half the game plodding through long linear hallways and the other half in a clunky combat system. Double that up with frequent long cutscenes and this game is a master at wasting your time.
It doesn't even hold up graphically. The game manages to be too dingy and too shiny at the same time and lacks the art direction that make the rest of the series (aside from Samus Returns) so memorable.
Easily the worst in the franchise.

alot of vitriol for a game that is a reasonable 7/10, yes it has a bad story (storytelling to be specific) but metroid doesn't really have a strong central narrative anyway, so its hardly sacrilege.

In terms of presentation and visuals, I find it kinda disappointing and embarrassing for Nintendo 2021 that Other M actually looks nicer than Dredd in many ways imo. It shows me that Nintendo is not really trying to push things to the next level and just going through the motions in many ways these days with stuff like this.

Was Other M really well-received at the time? I remember it actually being widely disliked on release but I could be mistaken.

In any case I feel like this is standard for games that were shot down at the time. Same thing has happened to Pokemon's fifth generation. Now it's the darling.

There are some valid criticisms of this game, and a lot of invalid criticisms. For example, yes, the game is too linear, anyone who says otherwise is lying. There is a bad balance between narrative, exploration and combat.

However, I disagree with the criticisms over Adam and the story. They handle Samus in a believable way considering what happens in Metroid 2 and Super Metroid. A being she considered an enemy saw her as it's mother, then sacrificed itself to help her and take down Mother Brain. That sort of thing would leave a person with some sort of trauma and lasting effects. It makes sense that she is having an existential crisis. However, freaking out over Ridley doesn't since she has already defeated him numerous times.

As for Adam, well, we know Samus has a deep respect for him as a commander so she is following his rules. She may be a bounty hunter, but she respects the chain of command. This isn't a mission she was hired to do, she tagged along on a military operation. Adam is in charge, not Samus. He tells her not to use things, so she doesn't. Though, using her full arsenal is weird when she clearly needs more power at times.

@impurekind Seeing that 80s scifi look in a console metroid was pretty cool, also, those 2d environments in other M are the most ambitious pieces of 2.5D I have ever seen

I love Other M, but I understand the complaints.

Honestly, I don’t think the issue is the story — though I prefer a solo Samus who only speaks in Chozo! — I think it’s the writing.

Samus’ inner monologue is written in a “authorly” tone... it’s written to be read, not spoken aloud. It makes her thoughts sound incredibly awkward and cringey, like you’re hearing someone read their diary at a poetry slam. THAT is the disconnect. I think the story is fine to even good, but the writing and voice acting tanks it.

I think playing the game with foreign language audio increases the quality of the experience dramatically.

@Maximumbeans The media pounced on Other M at the time. I think Game Informer — which was at it’s peak then in the US — gave it a 6. It tanked the series.

@Spiders Ah, that explains a lot of it then. I didn't follow Nintendo so closely back then so only had a passing knowledge of it. Thanks!

Love other M, brilliant game in my opinion, for me personally the third person to fps is superb. Would of loved to see more of this style of Metroid. Love Metroid dread as well though its stunning on every level.

@HeadPirate Are you kidding? It was universally panned in the media and the sales were very bad for the expectations — Other M was supposed to bring the series back from the declining sales of the Prime series. It was a failure. It literally sank the series for almost a decade.

And this is from a big fan / apologist!!!

Seriously?! It's A TERRIBLE METROID GAME

@GrannyWhiskey
She didn't kill the metroid due to "motherly instincts", but because not only it didn't immediately attack her when it hatched, but it was also a freaking baby. Would you kill a baby even though it was a bloodthirsty monster?

@N8tiveT3ch True, but it teed up some great fan service in Dread for those who didn’t like Other M’s portrayal of Samus.

@Offolsense Exactly my feeling about about it. It alsways felt like the “lost” title we never got in the N64 era. Though I think Prime is a better game and ultimately had more rewarding exploration, I always thought Other M “felt” more like Metroid, as a fan from the NES original on.

@Kirby_Girl Bull. I bought it the day it came out and loved it, on the tail of a series marathon leading up to it! It’s divisive, for sure, but it earned it’s fans.

Kid Icarus: Uprising has a similar split.

I've always liked Other M and I've seriously never understood the hate it got. It's not my favorite Metroid, not by a long shot, but I always liked it a lot

I always hate it when people blindly bash a game for years and years then suddenly everyone loves it. It's almost like one person played it, hated it and everyone else hadn't even played it but just assumed it was bad because one person said it was, then one day everyone starts actually playing it and realizes it's actually good.

For comparison, I put the controller down about a bit over halfway through Dread. I could "feel" the boss giving me trouble was within my abilities; just did not care enough to do so; kept wishing I was playing anything else in my lineup...so I did. I can get why people enjoyed it, just did NOT feel like a "zomg record setting Metroid". Not from the people who ***** all over Other M. Other M likewise had its issues and definitely got some creative language out of me, but I enjoyed myself enough I WANTED to keep playing. With Dread, I only kept playing bc I'd paid 65 dollars for it. The EMMI were also a huge letdown for me. They were just boring. :-/

@Spiders
Yeah! I love Prime but part of what I loved about Super Metroid was the fast paced action.

Also, I think you can say Other M earned critical acclaim.
Most of the big reviewers gave it 7-9s.
At what point is a game planned by critics? lol.
I'll always point to the 70-something score on metacritic even all these years later after more negative reviews came out.

Kind of wish there was a middle option on the vote. For fine but flawed.

It's been awhile, I should revisit Other M. I remember it being not nearly as bad as people were making out to be. My biggest gripe was playing with the wiimote and its comically small d-pad. And shifting between 2d and first person view felt a bit awkward at times.

I personally loved this game. It was an incredibly good looking game for the Wii, ran very solid and the gameplay was great. Yes the Story was a bit iffy but overall a great game. Never understood the hate, especially as it reviewed well at the time.

I played Other M for an hour in 2013. Beat the first boss, entered the next area, saved and quit the game. It's still waiting for my return...

Jesus, this like when people started defending the Star Wars prequels even though they clearly had problems. Did people randomly just decide they’re okay with it now and conveniently forget how theIt original judgment contributed the series going on indefinitely hiatus until at least 2017 when the remake of Samus Returns came out. Between Dreads development controversy, Prime 4’s delay and now this, I really don’t know what’s up with Metroid now or what to believe.

People are going to like what they like and dislike what they dislike. Just how the world goes. As long as you keep your passion for whatever side you fall on to why you feel the way you do. I'm seeing a handful of reactions to people questioning the judgement of others. No need to go down that road.

Personally, I enjoyed Other M. But then I admit to being in the very far end.ofnthe Metroid fandom spectrum. So maybe my opinion doesn't mean much

In the context of the manga other M’s characterzation of Samus makes sense. It makes sense to have a monotone, detached Samus with PTSD if NONE of the other games exsisted.

The writing still blows. The dialogue. “The baby.” “Remember me?” The deleter side plot. The Madeline Bergman identity thing. It’s all a bunch of nonesense.

Gameplay was too easy. Pixel hunts were stupid. Third to first person mode was clunky. And forcing to play with a single Wii Remote was a misstep. Just because you can do it Sakamoto doesn’t mean you should.

Other M was always mediocre. Anyone who scored the game above a 5 was wrong.

@Spiders I'm sure everything has its fans. Even the lowest of garbage and those ppl are honest about it but generally this game is dismissed and it would be foolish to think things trending online don't have a band wagon effect when we know that's an internet phenomenon that happens regularly. It was definitely the case with stuff like Waluigi and this. If you honestly loved it good for you but I'm far from believing you are the representative feeling of this trend that happened to come back as Dread released. This is a campaign from a vocal minority.

@Spiders

Aggregator Score

Metacritic 79/100

Review scores

Publication Score
1Up.com B_
Destructoid 6.5/10
Edge 8/10
Eurogamer 8/10
Famitsu 35/40
AUS 8/10
GamePro 4/5 stars
GameSpot 8.5/10
GameSpy 3/5 stars
GamesRadar 3.5/5 stars
GameTrailers 8.6/10
IGN 8.5/10
NWReport 7/10
ONM 91%

Universally panned indeed!

Why even try to post easily variably incorrect information? Not everyone lives 10 feet up their own ass like you do, and for them, fact checking is like ... a thing.

Loved the gameplay, but didn't enjoy the woeful voice acting. Literally no emotion, yet she deals with very emotional things. You could argue she's blocking the emotion from her recounting of events, but the language used is counter intuitive, so she comes off as matter of fact and robotic. Still, Metroid rocks (as does Samus).

@fluggy i remember some polarizing reviews and comment wars the day the game launched.

Just seen theres an Other M Nunchuk patch for Dolphin Emulator. Downloading the controller profile just now. This would really elevate it to a 9.5 for me.
EDIT: Works great with Nunchuk. Obviously you don't get analogue movement (walking to running) as you run at one speed throughout but the controls work perfectly with Dolphin and Dolphinbar sensor. Upscaled to 4K too. All mod cons.

Average game. Awful METROID game.

it’s still a great game, just not a great Metroid game, but a great action game that takes place in the Metroid universe. The gameplay, graphics, overall it is a decent game. It just that with unskippable cutscenes and them turning Sami’s into a whiny protagonist instead of the badass she is, it ruined the game for fans who were hoping for a sequel to super Metroid, which is how they sold it…
I also will say I beat it more times then the prime games, and even 100%/0% completed it on hard mode. It’s a great action game, and I’d love to see a port on switch.

Metroid: Other M is definitely flawed, mainly due to some questionable story decisions, off-beat characterizations (Though other than THAT one scene, Samus's wasn't bad IMHO) or a lack of them, and how suit "upgrades" are obtained. That said, the visuals for the time were amazing, the gameplay was (mostly) fun, some boss fights were among the most memorable in the series for me, and much of the soundtrack is decent; in fact, the game has my favorite version of the main Metroid theme to date.

I'd already played most of the games in the series when I picked it up new off Amazon for roughly $6 a few years ago. Sure, it doesn't compare well to most of the other titles, but I'm glad I gave it a chance; I would've been satisfied if I'd paid 3x that amount. To date, the only entries I haven't played are Metroid Prime: Hunters (Eventually; might grab on Wii U), Federation Force (Avoiding due to the multiplayer elements; I was burned by Tri Force Heroes), and Metroid Dread (Waiting until Christmas).

So yeah, not a perfect game, and it does have some warts. But it receives way more hate than it deserves.

Im here to say that I liked Metroid: Other M before it was cool. Yep. Now come and get me, angry mob.

It's flawed, but so is Dread in different ways. Still, Other M was very memorable and I found the wackidoo finale more distracting than the other story elements which some people had a gut reaction to.

It was a gutsy set of gameplay experimentations, too. Most of it could have worked great in a Metroid game but, like Dread, they sort of pushed the core exploration gameplay elements to the side to accomplish other goals.

@ChromaticDracula Haha. It reminds me of my experience when it was first released. When I came up for air after finishing it, I was surprised to see the parts people were reacting to. I found it flawed, but really enjoyed it overall, I just had completely different flaws.

I think this is one that every Metroid fan should play because it sure seems to hit people differently.

I thought the gameplay was fun. I’ve never paid attention to storytelling in any video game. I’ll always skip cut scenes, or mash “next” my way through text dialogue. So I have no recollection of the story, or writing being bad here.

I'm sure these kids are only ironically praising it.... but honestly, if you skip the cut scenes and look past the missle waggle, it's an excellent game.

Other M is better than Prime 3. Very well done game.

I see this happening with a few Wii games, mainly this and Skyward Sword. People forget these games were pretty dissapointing in respect to their series. Obviously the hate has been over blown, but Other M is still no higher than a 7 in my eyes.

I can't stand the "actually this thing that is universally agreed upon as bad is actually GOOD!" hot takes that pop up on the regular about all kinds of things. Same thing happened with Skyward Sword.

It's nothing more than attention ***** using contrarianism to get people to look at them.

Glad to see the results. There is more people with goid taste it appears. As flawed as the writing may be, you can found little on the wii more action packed than other M.

@NintendoArchive the environments in Other M were not 2D or 2.5D. are you sure you played the game?

@aaronsullivan I agree there-- every Metroid fan should play the game. I don't know if I'm going to be attacked for this but I really enjoyed the cinematic, dialogue, and story-telling because it has that same dramatic flair that Metal Gear Solid brings. At the time I played it, those were my thoughts and that's what I was telling people but I've only ever beaten it through once. I started a new file on Wii U but never completed it a second time... I'd certainly play it again if I had the chance though. And honestly, I can see why people would say the game was like... oppressing women with a man telling her what she can and can't do yet, but also, how many times can you start a game and have your powers "stolen" from you. I liked how they at least tried something refreshing with handling the powers.

Other M is a great game. Just because there are Metroid games out there that are even better, doesn't mean this isn't good.

It wasn't a bad game, just not a good Metroid game.
I did not like it, playing it just felt off.
Never finished it and truth be told I never want to revisit it.

@Offolsense
What's the worst? Federation Force?

Definitely, is NOT the greatest Metroid game ever, but it is fun and is a different formula that Sakamoto tried. IT didn't worked as he hoped but at least it was fun. At least is better than Federation Force. Now that game sucks

Gotta think Detective Spooky’s tier list in the article is completely ironic… right?

I enjoyed Other M’s gameplay and the story was a fun, if occasionally melodramatic ride that fleshed out the Metroid universe more. As an older gamer now, I can appreciate the game incorporating things like mental health and PTSD, and appreciate it even if the narrative constantly trips over itself.

Other M’s message could be that Samus isn’t a brave badass warrior because she is a robot and shows no emotion. She’s a brave badass warrior because she visibly struggles with past traumas and inner demons and still tries to move forward for the sake of helping others. That’s a lesson many of us could learn from.

I’m not a blind fanboy of Other M- it’s the most notably flawed game in an otherwise nearly pristine franchise; excluding Other M, and the DS/3DS spin-offs, mainline Metroid entries are synonymous with excellence. Other M’s gameplay is clunky in many ways, as is the plot, and Samus’s dynamic with Adam is downright awful for a multitude of reasons. But what does exist is a fun and different package that gives more to the series than it takes.

I am huge fan of Metroid after starting with the first Prime game and then playing Fusion and Zero Mission. I stayed clear of Other M based on the reviews and other gamers comments on the story elements. When It went on sale for 5$ I gave in and decided to give it a shot.

I did not hate the game in fact there are lots of good stuff on display. The cinematic elements and graphics were amazing for a Wii game and the best Samus has looked. I also enjoyed the voice acting which was at a time where only Nintendo was still doing the silent protagonist for all of their first party titles. the 2d exploration was also fun and snappy with the melee counters.

What didn't work well game play wise was having to go into first person for... really anything. Combat it was difficult to become immobile and having to point at the screen to do things. It didn't work well and was clunky. If they made this a complete 2.5D game it would have been a better design decision.

The story elements involving Adam also just didn't work. Using him as the vessel to unlock abilities, his relationship with Samus and general actions all don't work.

I wish they kept more of the cinematic and voice acting bits for dread and the upcoming Prime 4 game. I did like what they did have in Dread but they were very conservative.

I like it despite its flaws. On one hand, it has a terrible story, the NES controls is bafflingly (does that word exists?) stupid and the levels are boring both visually and gameplay wise.

On the other hand, the controls are surprisingly reactive despite the stupid design choices, it's actually fun to move around and shoot at all the badies. Also I don't care much for the story.

So I definitely don't hate it. The linear level design is certainly due to the Wii era ***** philosophy that pleagued pretty much every Nintendo game. They tried so hard to make their games accessible to anyone that they forgot about the core Nintendo audience that love games. I'm so glad that Nintendo is back from this madness.

Having recently played other M for the first time a few months ago, apart from the hole Adam blocking your upgrades and the lack of nunchuk support it's great! The bosses were awesome and I liked the linear gameplay like fusion more than super metroid. A remaster would be great just to fix the controls!

To all the Other M haters, there's always Federation Force

I have no real interest in these sort of debates, but I will say that if you think Other M has the best portrayal of Samus, I will shove a copy of Dread in your face, tell you to play it, and realize how wrong you are

I'm glad some people are enjoying themselves with this game. Me personally, I'm not convinced Other M is at all a good entry. To each their own! 🙂

I played and beat it recently. I liked it, it's a very good action game. Didn't care a whole lot for the story though. The areas also look pretty bland and generic. I wouldn't mind to see more story in Metroid games for sure, flesh Samus out a bit more. But then again, her being a silent protagonist is part and parcel of the series.

@Aerona It's the truth, sorry.

@EriXz What's that logic? That means that in 100 years no one is going to have an authority about Metroid because they were born too late? Tf?

Wait, that's the Metroid where we find out that X is a pokemon and metroids hatch from yoshi eggs, and Ganon is Ridley, right?

@Tyranexx Metroid Prime: Federation Force can be played as a single player game. You're not going to be heading into missions expected to regularly coordinate 4 Mechs as you would 3 Links in Tri-Force Heroes. As a single player game, I really enjoyed Federation Force more so than most Metroid games, including Other M and the latest Metroid Dread. It is even better if you have the means to unlock the amiibo Paint Jobs: Bounty Hunter, Zero Suit and Flying Life-Form.

I haven't played much of Other M, but what I got to play I really liked it.
My only gripes with it are the Power Suit looking like a piece of origami and the "locked in first person until you find what the game wants you to find but won't tell you what it is" moments. One of those took me an entire hour to find it, mostly because I was called to eat and I didn't want to turn off the console in the meantime.

I actually liked that they wanted to show the human side of Samus, which we hardly ever see.

Come to think of it, I need to give it a go and get the downloadable version on the Wii U along with Metroid Prime Trilogy.

I went into it with low expectations, and while that helped, it was still a frustrating experience to actually play. I never lost the sense that I was fighting the controls and it wasn’t until I had unlocked every last one of Samus’ abilities that I felt like I was having genuine fun. In spite of that, I have to admit to myself that not only did I complete it (I’ve given up on much better games), I 100%ed it. I think a rerelease with a more traditional control scheme would help (worked for Skyward Sword), but I’m not surprised that it’s found an audience that loves it.

@Jayvir Nonsense? It's pretty straight forward. Without spoiling anything; he was a father figure and once commanding officer for Samus that she held great respect, admiration and even love for. To the point where she followed he rules and orders often without question.

@ModdedInkling
Lol idk, never played it.

Prime Hunters or Prime 3 for me.
Both great games tho!

I'll chime in with my 2 cents. Other M is not a great game, but it's not a bad one either. There are some questionable decisions (mainly do to story and some character portrayals), but there are also some standouts moments, stand out game design, and can be just really fun. There were times when I had a LOT of fun in the game. I do like how it tries to flesh out Samus's backstory (and some of it really works!), but there were several in game moments that go against much of what made Samus, well, Samus. I also think some of the voice actors were not up to snuff. It's definitely flawed, but not nearly as bad as some make it out to be. It is easily the 2nd worst Metroid game imo (Federation Force being the lowest)... but I don't think there is any actual bad Metroid games. There are great ones, good ones, and ok ones.

... oh, and Metroid Prime: Pinball does not get the respect it deserves!

@moodycat The Metroid fights are repetitive and not terribly exciting, but they're not "bad" by any means. Meanwhile Diggernaut is among the better bosses in the series.
I'll agree with your take on the melee counter, there are too many enemies who essentially force you to wait until their counter-able attack, but it's used better in boss fights.
I know MercurySteam's Castlevania titles are... controversial, at best, but Samus Returns is decent, and Dread is fantastic.

Remaster Metroid: Other M for Switch with better controls, quality of life improvements and HD and I'm in there like swimwear

Metroid: Other M is sexist trash, and it tries to normalize an abusive relationship. You can like the gameplay all you want but that still doesn't make the game any less problematic.

@somerando
That and Federation Force lol.

@somerando What about the time between Super Metroid and fusion/prime? Was that also Super Metroid fault?

@KainXavier Abusive?

@Moistnado about 25-30 percent of the game takes on a side view perspective, roughly

@ModdedInkling Federation Force released in 2016, Samus Returns in 2017, Dread in 2021 and Prime 4 has been in development since 2017. The negative reception to Federation Force didn't result in any hiatus for Metroid.

@Shiro28 federation is actually really good, great controls, questionable character design but the environments look nice, & the missions have a lot of variety

@Devlind

The whole Pyrosphere thing. Samus has the Varia Suit but Adam decides to make her suffer and risk dying by not "authorizing" it.

Love how much attention Samus is getting. Perfect time to greenlight a movie

The gameplay alone makes Other M my favorite Metroid game of all time. Too bad I probably won't ever play another 3D Metroid that isn't a FPS. Prime 4 had some rumors floating around years ago that it wouldn't be exclusively in FP, but I doubt it.

@NintendoArchive No point debating it really. In my book Dread is 2.5D, Fusion is 2D and Other M is 3D. I see what you mean though, it does try to emulate the feel of a 2D game in places.

@Crono1973 Yeah, it's strange how questions proposed work like that. You have an open forum, people discuss it? Questions pending answers? Crazy.

I sure got egg on my face for writing this article and posting it, that I sure do. Again, crazy, man.

Don't act coy. The fact that it's a nuisance that this topic won't stay dead for frankly the better of the franchise by this point doesn't mean one stay's quiet when someone tries to propose that the collective opinions people have on something is wrong. Especially over contradicting actual hard info.

@Moistnado emulate is probably the optimal word, its very unique whatever the case, & as a result (along with other things) I think the game's environments are more interesting than people give them credit for, & are more successful in fleshing out the artificial biome idea that fusion had.

@Clod If you don't want to talk about this game, you should try not typing a wall of text about this game.

That's all I am saying.

Loved other M, but i like hollow knight better than every single Metroid game, so what do i know 🤷🏻‍♂️

As a writer, I enjoy a story. And I've always wanted to know more about Samus' story. Other M gave me that. Was it the best story? Probably not, but it was better than nothing if you ask me.

Plus, they rectified a mistake that I thought they made with Prime 3 and finally gave Samus her own voice. Why everyone except Samus in Prime 3 had a voice was and is beyond me.

I have heard that part of the reason why the game is so poorly received is because of a botched localization job. Maybe if they redid Other M and kept the translations in dialogue and monologue closer to the original Japanese, it would be received better.

@KainXavier Ah yeah, that bit I guess that was just lazy. They wanted to have something urgent about the fire area so that was the only way to do it. It is a game design fault. It would have been better if Adam authorized it, but moments before Samus could do it, the fire boss attacks her and then we have the lava chase scene until she finally can activate the suit. Serves both ways. Makes the area dangerous and doesn't make Adam look like an @$$.

@Crono1973 I don't mind posting my opinion of the title, because over a decade of it causing the decline of one of my favorite series out there, I have many opinions on the matter.

But we'd all be the better for it if we stopped trying to revive interest in the title that explicitly put the series on life support for years and seemingly straight-up killed it outright for reasons the head views specifically as its positives.

I have Metroid Other M and I don't think it's a terrible game, but aside from the script, I felt the choices for control were less than ideal. I'd have preferred the option of analog control stick movement and being able to use missiles without having to be little more than a sitting duck with a limited view.

The most boring game in the series, with terrible writing and characterization, an abysmal map design, and one of the worst supporting characters ever. Graphics were nice... and thats it.

Sure, instead of talking about a long-lost-Metroid-project taking place after Fusion and being released almost two weeks ago, let's divert that discussion to the game that effectively put the series in another hiatus. This is what makes Twitter the cesspool that it is.

@I-U That's a little more reassuring. At least with TFH, it was obvious that the single player mode was tacked on as an afterthought. Earlier stages are fine, but the later stages and boss fights are frustrating and hectic as it's very difficult to coordinate a living Link with two clones. My main concern is difficulty. I don't mind some challenge, but not when it's artificial due to poor mechanics.

I always liked the game and the story points don't bother my at all. It's a bit clunky and all - maybe it could have been told a bit better, but it's still a good game in my book.

It's a good game on it's own, it's just not as good as the Metroid games that came before. It has several story and gameplay issues don't even exist in the previous games.
-Samus suddenly being afraid though she's encountered a certain something seven times
-You can only shoot missiles in 1st person
-You have to lock-on to shoot missiles
-You can't move when you are shooting missiles in 1st person
There's even more I could list. Though the most infamous issue involves going into a lava area and the Varia suit. EVERYONE that I saw review the game at release, even Nintendo Power, mentions this moment. EVERYONE who has played the game knows what I'm talking about. I still enjoyed bits of the game, but it's far from the best.

I always defend "Metroid otherM " since it's release. It's problems are obvious, fan splitting Samus behavior and cutscenes that are NOT skippable the first time thru the game. And while the bottleship is quite impressive and large...there just isn't enough emphasis on exploration....at least not until the first final boss is killed and Samus comes back with super bomb ability , then you actually get a decent navigation challenge and entire map to explore again.
The good tho....i loved the controls, I loved the fps view at any time. I loved the bottleship and it's holographic environments, very cool. The dodging ability, the interesting enemies, and even YES some parts of the story were great....just not so much the Samus origin part. OtherM is NOT a bad game overall by any definition but it does have glaring annoyances.
Metroid prime: federation force on the 3ds is a MUCH better debate. It's not ALL bad either, but it has ridiculous things to legitimately complain about. So many pure NONSENSICAL decisions in that game made it very HATED

@GrannyWhiskey
Yeah, don't force that sexist bull that all women have that "motherly instinct". First off, that's all just made-up lies that older generations tell their kids in hopes to get grandkids. Second, there are millions out there that are either uninterested in having kids or just straight don't like them. The "fatherly instinct" is also in the same category.

Other M was the only one that suggested the instinct crap, not Metroid 2 or Super. In Return of Samus, she didn't kill the baby metroid to show the player that she's human and not a heartless monster. I don't care if the alien is a killing machine, no sane human should kill a baby that has no intention of harming anyone. Also, freshly born or hatched babies very commonly get attached to the first living thing it sees, so it isn't unusual for this to happen.

In the sequel, Samus immediately brings the metroid to a scientific research station in hopes they would be able to get something out of it. Shortly after leaving, Ridley invades the station and steals the Metroid. She then goes after them not only to take down Ridley, but to prevent whatever they're trying to do with the Metroid. After finally finding it in Mother Brain's base, the alien nearly kills Samus but stops after remembering who she was. Of course, in the end, the Metroid sacrifices itself to save Samus from Mother Brain and escapes the activated exploding planet. With the planet gone and no semblance of the Metroid left, she flies off to find more missions.

That's the basis of both games' stories. Does it mention anywhere that she did all this out of "motherly instinct"? No, it doesn't.

@Flashlink99

I would like for Samus to speak more often, but in the same manner as the Master Chief in the original Halo trilogy. John didn’t speak too much, but when he did it carried intense weight.

I hope in Prime 4 that Samus talks a little more than we are used to. But not Other M levels. It should be restricted to important events and her personality should be that of a special forces warrior. Which is what she is. She’s a lot like the Master Chief. She suffers from a lot of trauma as a veteran of numerous conflicts, but she’s by the book and when she speaks she should be making serious points about the mission or the enemy. Not idle chit chat or anything like that.

@GrannyWhiskey You're trying to pidgeonhole essentially what you're both saying being the same thing, but you're trying to tie it to a specifically female attribute. A)That whole concept falls apart immediately at the fact Samus kills, like, billions of babies, within-the-minute newborns at that through various games. Monsters are monsters, it's a video game with enemies and they're the small variants.

But B) The baby metroid was saved for its practical purposes. This is directly referred to in the Super Metroid opening. You can expand that some parental sentimentality formed after the infant died, seeing that's the hard left turn Other M is hyper-focused on so that appears to be Sakamoto's intent in the end, but the whole of Super Metroid had nothing to do with motherly instincts.

Also not for nothing, if we were to follow Sakamoto's logic and Samus was genderswapt, he'd have the same post-mortem parental issues Other M placed on Samus. It's a general "parent sad over dead child", it's not strictly maternal.

@Jhomesjones What are the so many nonsensical decisions made in Federation Force that earned it its hate? The majority that seem to have had problems with Federation Force had those problems before release and likely never grabbed the game as a result. 81,000+ Dislikes weren't garnered by the final product.

To each their own i guess, and I hate Other M. Awful game. Screw you authorization system.

@I-U
It was partially a joke, but to a certain point, it was true. The reception from Other M and Federation Force seems to have caused Nintendo to reassess their standards on the Metroid franchise as a whole, which is why we got Samus Returns as opposed to Dread, and potentially why Nintendo has been holding Prime 4 in such high regard compared to even the biggest Switch titles.

@Kirby_Girl Firstly, not everything has it’s fans, especially garbage. Other M had a small but hardcore fanbase before “Walugi” or even “internet memes” were a thing, and even still, you’re using that as a dismissal is inappropriate. Attitudes change about art all the time. Bad movies become cult classics become influential works. Some ideas are ahead of it’s time. Is that the case with Other M? I don’t think so, but I don’t think it’s impossible, or an elaborate internet joke at your expense, that some of it’s idiosyncrasies and flawed storytelling resonate for some people.

I tried the game 3 times. Loved everything about it except I kept getting stuck at the same spot and quit. Typical of me & Metroid games, tho I've been putting more effort into Dread...which still only makes the game more of a chore than a good old fun time.

@NintendoArchive yes I agree. It is a really nice game and the different environments do work to well recreate Fusion's biome concept in 3D, which is a nice excuse to cherry pick the best locations from past games, and also had these layers of simulation which made for great environmental storytelling. I doubt we'll get a HD remaster but I am tempted to dust off my Wii.

@Devlind

I could chalk it up to poor and/or lazy design if that was the only issue. It's not.

Samus reflects on her time as a cadet and equates maturing into a woman with becoming submissive to Adam. That's all kinds of wrong.

There's also Samus's weird obsession with the baby Metroid. It's entirely possible that Samus longs to become a mother, but she spends most of her time alone, and no other game has ever mentioned or hinted at this. It just comes across as kind of sexist, honestly.

Lastly, the way the game handles PTSD comes across as disingenuous. It's entirely reasonable to assume Samus suffers from PTSD due to her encounter with Ridley as child. But what was it about Other M's encounter that makes it different from past encounters? Why did Samus not comment on that? I feel like this whole scenario was designed to make Samus appear weak, and that's gross.

my main issue with other m is how out of character both adam and samus where as she was never that submissive to him and by the time she went down to zebas he had no control over her nor did he try to control her.

The only Metroid I didn't complete (not including remakes). I didn't like the story but I hated the controls. Especially the awful way of healing and no nunchuk support.

Haven't played Other M yet, but I enjoyed Federation Force, it was a good spin off game.

I'm so tired of living in a time where people can't just play a game to enjoy it everybody wants to sit around at a table and talk about video games like if it was a microbrewed beer at a local distillery. It's beer it's a game it's meant to be enjoyed and played not to sit there and think of every little detail of the story or the character. To hear people get upset over a character calling somebody lady or whether she was too small compared to the male characters it's a game it's Samus she was the star of the game she will always be the star of the game people are just nitpicking and trying to find things to argue about this is why the times we live in now are so ridiculous because you can't just enjoy things for what they are everything has to have a deeper meaning and not everything is meant to have a deep meaning.

I find Other M to be a terrible game for a whole host of reasons, the least of which is the story, or whether it makes sense that Adam gets to tell you when you can and cannot use your abilities.

Not going to write a blog post about it here, but the game has issues. Of course you are allowed to enjoy it, and doing so proves you to be a considerably more forgiving person than I myself have the strength for.

@HeadPirate It's one thing to aggregate every review, but why not look at the one people are actually reading?

I can play games with numbers too:

Game Informer (The #1 circulation in US at the time): 63/100
1UP.com 67/100
Gamespy: 60/100

Plus the content of the positive reviews are not as glowing as the numbers suggest:

Digital Chumps: 84/100
"While its implementation of the 2-D/3-D hybrid perspective and basic controls work well, far more tampering has occurred here, and much of it for the worse."

Gamepro: 80/100
"It does misfire in several key areas..."

GamingTrend: 80/100
"While I can't call it a worthy successor to the more recent titles, it does manage to approximate the feel of a Metroid game."

Some of these reviews are straight-up contrarian reactions:
Nintendojo 91/100
"For some, this new window into Samus’ soul has been jarring and unwanted."
"Perhaps addressing an action game’s story before its gameplay seems backward, but so much angst has been made about Samus’ mood swings that the intriguing story and the solid gameplay has been nearly pushed aside"
" “OMG, Samus has emotions and daddy issues! Sexist!” Whatever. Then there are complaints that the game’s too linear and directed, which is a bit more understandable coming from series traditionalists. "

...and let's put it all in some context:

Metroid Prime: 97/100
Metroid Fusion: 92/100
Metroid Prime 2: 92/100
Metroid Zero Mission: 89/100
Metroid Prime 3: 90/100
Metroid Trilogy 91/100
Metroid Other M 79/100

Do you even want to talk about the user scores?

Also, I worked in a game store at the time! You can try and gaslight me with your aggregate reviews from 11 years on (many of them reactions to the initial ones) all you want. I was defending the universal criticism of Other M then— present even in your "positive" reviews — and have been since.

@Pod I always thought that was a very "meta" criticism. It's the same lock-and-key setup as every Metroid. Instead of a power-up, it's a cutscene.

Maybe I just play different and don't engage with the story like others do, but I saw it as 12 of one, a dozen of the other... and even in the story context I saw it as a poorly represented defiance... like, how much harm are you willing to put me in for your ego?

I think the criticism for it's linearity is way more constructive, as annoying as the "authorization" premise is.

I think what ultimately hurt Other M was that much of the context behind Samus as a character was never released in the West.

I actually really liked Other M I thought it was a solid Metroid entry. I really don't get the hate.

The poll needs a fifth option. Something along the lines of:
I saw all its problems but still had a pretty good time playing and have my own head canon for parts of the story.

@Spiders
Absolutely. I can't really be all that bothered with the story being stupid in an action game. There are so many other things wrong with Other M.

I started Metroid Dread the other day and did stop and wonder whether I should play Other M first but decided to go ahead with Dread. Still feel I want to play Other M though.

I honestly figured something like this would happen down the road, though for myself personally, I haven't played it yet. I do want to play it someday though if I ever get the opportunity. There are still so many Metroid games I have never played. I think I will start with Super Metroid on the SNES Online app. My brother loves that one, and I think it is a great place to start.

@chiptoon

Same here. I'd love a remastered HD Switch port of Other M. I think it'd be more accessible to naysayers and haters if they permitted left stick analog movement, added movement to the 1st person mode, made switching between 1st and 3rd person modes activated with a button press and possibly make missile firing possible in 3rd person mode.

A reminder that a lot of Other M's story complaints stem from localization blunders; omitting any reference to Planet Earth and its own parliament.

@KainXavier The thing with Adam is not that she's submissive with him. He's a like father figure to her and she admits that he probably understands her better than anyone. That said, she left the Federation shortly after Adam's brother incident, it was like the first time that he stopped her from doing something that we know about and that was enough for her to quit. About how the mission was handled in the bottle ship, he's basically her employer so he calls the shots. He also knew how strong she was, so limiting her abilities was due to protect his squad and/or any survivors left. It was poorly done, but I barely felt it was submissive at all.

With the baby, again, it was poorly done. I saw from another perspective though. When Samus first encountered it, I felt like Samus saw herself in the baby. We know that she approached Ridley trying to be his friend and we know how that turned out. For the baby, she was like Ridley, so she took it under her wing. Samus Returns retconned the fight with Ridley at the end, so we also see how the baby helped her. When the baby was kidnapped and then sacrificed its life for her, it made a huge impression on her. That's why she can't forget. The manga shows she is very caring, and Metroid 2 does that too when she let the baby live. She isn't a killing robot. If you find it sexist, then, do you find it sexist that Adam probably saw her as her daughter? Or do you find sexist that Grey Voice did too? For me, it seems like a normal development, expected even. She doesn't long for a child, she longs for a family, like the one she lost and keeps on losing.

I felt the PTSD needed more work. Like foreshadowing so people wouldn't go crazy over it. The encounter in Other M was different because it was after Ridley finally died. From Zero Mission to Super Metroid (and the prime series in between) it was the same Ridley. She thought he was finally gone, so her guard was down. Seeing him appear again after losing the baby and the stress of the mission surely was enough to trigger the episode again. And yeah, I think people don't get she is supposed to look weak due to the circumstances. The story was about recovering from that mental state, which leads us to the Samus we see in Fusion and Dread. Legend of Korra S4 handles the topic better, but at its core is the same. Again, it was poorly done since we need to fill those holes by ourselves, but then again, I don't feel it is nearly as bad as people try to frame it.

@EpicPieFace Is there any way to get a direct translation of the japanese version?

@Devlind I'm still struggling with finding it myself, I learned about it from this video a couple days ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTuMfsWwd0E

Like, did you know that planet Earth, as in, our Earth, not a habitable planet, exists in the Metroid series? I sure didn't, because they rename it to "Federation HQ" in English! It also suggests that the game didn't intend to discuss PTSD, but rather that there is a general theme of weakness and childishness that we do not see.

I've completed it again last night, replaying all the titles in preparation for Dread.

Putting the story aside, it's a perfectly functional game that despite its linearity, it does encourage the player to explore each area for hidden items and expansions. It's not until the post-Queen Metroid section that you realize how many items you've missed the first time around, and you're forced to come up with clever ways to find them.

And yes, the game is brimming with atmosphere and tension. Try playing the game at night. Slow walking through Sector 0 is an experience in itself.

@Devlind Oh I tell a lie - here it is!!

https://youtu.be/XvZG-TJes4w

@EpicPieFace Great, thanks! I'll check it out once I get home.

@Turbo857 It would be interesting, but I’d hope they keep the Wiimote mode too. Besides personally enjoying it, it’s such an interesting design artifact from the Wii era. Nothing has ever, or likely will ever control like that.

For anyone defending this game with its 79 metacritic score I would like to remind you of two things that indicate how reliable metacritic is when it comes to game quality...

Ff13: 83/100 meta
Ff15: 81/100 meta

That is all

@Moistnado regarding the simulations, its a simple thing but I love when early on in the game, you turn one of artificial biome simulations on to reveal a glitch in the simulation that is roughly the size of a morphball, its simple but I love it.

I actually like it. It's not my favorite Metroid game but I don't think it deserves all the hate it gets either. The story is bad, no question. It had some good ideas but the execution was poor and stripping Samus of any agency was dumb. The gameplay, however, the most important part of any game, was really fun and I give Team Ninja a lot of credit considering Sakamoto basically put the shackles on them.

Since when Twitter represents the real world?

Never has and never will.

M:OM is bad, And that is that.

I didn't like what they did with the Suit designs (especially the Gravity Suit).

Other than that, the game is solid. The story and dialogue get much maligned but I think in the growing context of the series, Other M is fitting in more and more. Samus is someone who's been through a lot of trauma and survived it. Honestly, Samus Returns' focus on creating a bond between Samus and the Baby really made her traumatic loss of the Baby in Super and its ripple effects upon Other M reawakening her old trauma over Ridley make so much sense.

Other M was unfortunately maligned to the detriment of the series. Dread is a very different sort of game in terms of world design and gameplay, and perhaps the criticism of Other M led to the heights of Dread doing a 180º. But Other M comes from an era of Nintendo doing streamlined, railroaded experiences that are a heck of a lot of fun (Skyward Sword comes from the development same period). We're now back in that Open World genre period at Nintnedo, and that's great too. But just because Breath of the Wild and Dread are amazing and open world and value the intelligence and experimentation and exploration of the players, doesn't mean that Other M and Skyward Sword aren't intensely fun and skill-focused games. They're just honing different skills and bring joy in different ways.

If exploration is everything for you in a Metroid game, then yeah, Other M will feel like the Black Sheep. It's trying to do something different with the franchise, and really almost lives in a different genre entirely. But it's not bad by ANY MEANS.

@DK-Fan Other M is good, and that is that.

It's a great game that lots of people who had probably never played it moaned about. Everyone else cried about, and still cries about character development, that doesn't impact the enjoyment of the game whatsoever, nor is it actually bad at all. It's a game, not an actually botched autobiography.

@Spiders

I agree - actually enjoyed using the Wiimote sideways to control the game. Very interesting way to control a 3D action platform/shooter (I wish they would use this type of control scheme for a 3D Megaman classic or X game) There's probably no gettin' away from controlling Samus with an analog stick but an HD remastered Switch port should definitely include a single Joy-Con control option as well.

@Turbo857 And hopefully a “Wiimote” compatibly somehow too... the single Joy-Con might be a bridge to far for us “purists” haha.

I always wondered if how people feel about the controls has anything to do with handed-ness. For me as a lefty, the motion going from sideways D-Pad to pointing Remote felt really good and natural. I can “drop” the controller into my palm and “catch” it as I turn the wrist to point. For righties it seems a little more awkward as you have to “choke up” to get a natural grip on it.

This plus the fact the I could swap hands for Metroid Prime Trilogy and other IR games like Sin & Punishment makes me miss that system and feature a lot.

@Spiders Hmm, you got a really good point there actually. I didn't consider how lefty accessible the Wii controllers were compared to the Switch.

That would require some Wiimote compatibility added to the Switch. Which granted, would be cool, but not sure if Ninty's gonna go for that. Would be a welcome feature though

@marandahir Putting into a generational context is interesting too — I guess Galaxy is a bit of an outlier in that regard, but you had ‘New’ series as well.

Your theory fits, and I wonder how much that was by design.

Other M is pretty much the only Metroid game that made the Manga story relevant. It’s the most cinematic game that’s why samus is more (not less) than just a badass. Maybe some don’t like the writing but it’s typical video game stuff in my view, it was cool to have a story driven cinematic Metroid for me. Made me want to Check out the Manga like I said. The other games always seemed to have a cheese story to make an excuse for a game. The manga and other m at least had ambition in the story department and are the one only ones that really touch on how samus feels.

Any fanboy defending Other M, is not a Samus or strong female character fan. And I care nothing about anything they say.

@blaisedinsd Except she is not a badass at all, she is a submissive weak willed woman, which lines up with a lot of Manga stories. That doesn't mean the Manga and Other M do not destroy her as a strong female character. Defending her cowering to a villain she has fought for decades without issue or refusing to use power ups until her master unlocks them verbally is a good story...

@YANDMAN A lot of reviews ignored the story and come to the correct interpretation that the game play is mediocre and doesn't excel or innovate in anything. It is passable, but to pretend it is a gem or classic, even Team Ninja didn't want to use that control scheme. A lot of people agree that if they had just used the nun-chuck the game would have been much better, but they decided to allow a writer to make a decision that destroy the game play and story of Other M.

I don't think bad games use the nunchuk because there are a lot of great games that do, there's a certain image created with the nun chuk, it's a bit of a barrier in accessibility because it's a "different" control. -Yoshio Sakamoto

Yet he used a control scheme that was a much larger barrier to entry, accessibility, and constant uneccessary shifting between sideways and pointed at the TV. The Nun chuck does this already by default and allows more buttons which limited what they could even do and Team Ninja spoke about that, which is why the game play is so boring and limited. This is why you leave the decision making to the smart people.

It's literally not 'Constant' though is it. if you watch the Japanese advert for the game you'll better understand what they were trying to do, did it work out perfectly, no, is it terrible like everyone claims...no.

@bound4earth That's pretty close-minded. In any case, if you're not willing to engage, then don't engage. Simple as that.

Pretty good game. I found it memorable mostly for the unique control scheme. I don’t think it was the best game to implement said control scheme, and I wish other games used it as it was truly fun. Funny enough, taking kid icarus uprising into account, there could have been a really neat on rails shooting leading to 2d and 3D sections using the d pad. Also, the story was okay. Let’s this be a lesson to those that hate this game but want Link to talk in the next Zelda game. Be careful what you wish for.

@bound4earth Generic character would have been better, I suppose. They did make her too vulnerable in other M, but if a character never shows emotion like previous Metroid games? That’s worse.

Defending it as Jon did in the best Metroid games YouTube video, you mean?

I find this genuinely distressing. It's vile and parasitic for the Alt-Right who defend this game to claim that it does anything positive for those with neurodiversity and related concerns, that the language of "mental health" is used at all is a little telling. I actually do have PTSD from over a decade of being imprisoned by an abuser, and I can tell you that it's functionally nothing at all remotely like what Samus experienced.

I mean, let's get out of the way that Samus has fought Ridley many times by the point of Other M, and for her to suddenly have "PTSD" for no reason is incredibly insulting and demaning for those who live with actual PTSD, as it does nothing to help the neurotypical public gain a better understanding of how PTSD works. If anything, I'd say it's more somewhere between a sexist depiction of a panic atack and a parodical take on the public's existing view of PTSD.

It isn't fun for me as an actual PTSD sufferer that this is what people think PTSD is. It's dehumanising. Often the media is very dehumanising with how it depicts such topics. It's why I wish they wouldn't unless they'd not only had an expert on hand to explain it to them, but also have actually spoken with PTSD sufferers about their own experiences with it first. This is "best guess" scenario, and when dealing with armchair experts, it's never an accurate guess. Worse, it's a pervy, fetish-y best guess.

Let's come back to the other word, too. Sexist.

I mean, not only is Samus suddenly obsessed with the baby (the baby, the baby, the baby, the baby, the bloody baby because I guess she's a woman and women never think about anything other than babies), and not only is the station called the Bottleship, not only is the game called M:OM (Metroid: Other M, and that's sickening in how clever it thinks it is), but there's just so much in the game that's fetish fiction porn, character assassinating fetish fiction porn.

I mean, I'm leery of fiction involving established characters myself as I don't want someone who isn't the creator changing how I or others see the character. Still, everyone must be entitled their fetishes and kinks. If Other M had been on a fetish site, properly tagged, I wouldn't have batted an eyelid at it. Except it wasn't, was it? It was an officially published game by Nintendo. Nintendo, the family friendly business, published fetish porn. At kids. Yay.

(Continued.)

(Continued.)

I mean...

"Daddy, hey daddddeee... Can I use my protective suit dadddeeee? Lava is hot, it hurts daddddeeee..."
"No, daughter. I forbid you. I am your father and you must obey."
"Awwww... Daddeeee. Okaaay. Ow. Ow. Ow."

NOAP. NOAP. Friggin' NOPE! That's so many levels of nope.

I mean, okay, I have plenty of fetishes and kinks myself. A sexually healthy person would. I GET THAT. The difference is is that I keep my interests to adult porn sites, among other friggin' adults. I don't put them in front of children who might be damaged by them. I especially don't put sexist daddy-fetish porn in front of young gamer girls who might have their perspective of Samus scarred forever by ths *****.

There's so many examples of daddy fetish throughout the game, too. I mean, even that ***** "rescuing" Samus when she was oh so helpless, left adrift in a "PTSD attack." Other M makes me feel genuinely, legitimately ill. It's horrible. It's absolutely horrible.

You'd have to be kind of psychopathic to defend it, you'd definitely need to have a complete lack of empathy.

This took a badass character and assassinated her just so some creepy bugger could have his daddy fetish porn, using established characters acting entirely out of character. That's indefensible. It's also something that someone should get arrested for, in all honesty.

Nintendo still haven't stopped their shenanigans either. I mean, I'm a little put off by how the EMMIs in Dread assume a dominant, top position over Samus in order to forcibly, aggressivley penetrate her. It's not nearly as bad as Other M as it wouldn't be so obvious to a kid that there's anything wrong there. You'd have to know what you were looking at more in this case, whereas Other M was so blatant with its unrelentingly undermining sexism that any young girl playing it would've gotten the message loud and clear.

I'm not happy that Nintendo are still doing this otaku rubbish, but at least they're hiding it better now. Small blessings, I guess.

https://youtu.be/KZ4akBGUw50

I mean, this? This isn't great. What's going on here is clearly obvious to any adult, but... like I said, at least it isn't as bad as Other M where it would actually scar a child. It still makes me leery as the body language of Samus, her being a woman, and the masculine-looking EMMI robot doing its thing? It paints a very clear image.

I'm just tired of it. I wish we could just leave sexism behind and let Samus be a badass. The best game to ever do that was Metroid Prime, because Nintendo had the least involvement with it. It was also the game where Samus looked the least like an oversexed, underaged waifu to boot. I hope Nintendo will be hands-off with the new upcoming Metroid Prime game... I really do.

I feel genuinely bad for Samus.

@Devlind - You understand—as outlined in my giant post—that him "being like a father to her" is actually a part of the problem, right? That they have such a daddy-daughter relationship, and that she is so completely, entirely, wholly obsequious and obedient to him, in such a slavish, child-like way is actually a part of the problem.

The problem is that it was that, and not...

"Samus, you don't have authorit—"
"I respect authority, but anyone telling me not to use my best means to protect myself clearly shouldn't be in any kind of command position, 'Sir.' So, with all due respect, ***** you. Varia suit ON."

...is actually a big part of the damn problem. It's fetish-y daddy-daughter stuff and that should NOT be in a video game that targets children. Japan has a weird relationship with porn and children that I'm not exactly a fan of, and it should NEVER make it into a video game that kids play.

Anyway. Samus should be more like Beckett Mariner, frankly.

@LupinePariah You seem to be reaching quite a bit to see it like some kind of perverted stuff, but that's why there's a saying that goes like "When you are hungry, everything you can think of is food".

About the Varia suit, it seems to be a localization slip off. Look it up, the actual japanese to english translation. Even Adam is screaming at Samus for not activating her Varia on time instead of calmly authorizing it. The abusive relationship you mention seems to be, ironically, a result of a terrible localization, not a result of how you think Japanese people are.