It seems the Metroid Prime series wasn't the only Metroid series being worked on at Retro Studios. Did You Know Gaming has been able to uncover one of the developer's other projects that never saw the light of day.
Metroid Tactics was a concept pitched internally by Paul Tozer - a member of the Metroid Prime team. This mysterious project was aimed at the Wii, with the pitch written up in "late" 2007 after the completion of the third Prime game. It would have been a "series prequel" - with events taking place "long before all other games in the Metroid series".
"It marks the very moment when Samus Aran first separates from the Chozo who raised her from childhood, encounters humanity and becomes a bounty hunter. The game also marks humankind's very first encounter with the Space Pirates and Metroids.
"Samus must cooperate with an elite team of highly trained Galactic Federation Troopers and colourful bounty hunters to stop the incursion on several Galactic Federation planets, at various locations on planets such as Norion and Earth and eventually take on the Space Pirates at their outpost on planet Zebes."
Tozer describes how the game would have been similar to the turn-based tactical series XCOM:
"It's basically XCOM, it was XCOM in the Metroid Universe except instead of fighting aliens, you're fighting Space Pirates - who are also aliens but different"
Samus would have been the main character in the game, but she was apparently just one of many soldiers the player would have commanded. Players would have controlled one commander, in particular, known as Justin Bailey (a throwback to the famous passcode in the original Metroid game on NES). Tozer adds:
"The player takes the role of a galactic federation commander...it even has a name for him, I'm not going to repeat. Pretty stupid name"
The project was going to utlised the Wii's unique controls, and for Retro it was going to be a "relatively cheap" project, as it could have reused much of the engine, art assets and animation from the Prime series.
So, what was the conclusion to Metroid Tactics? This project was only being worked on by Paul Tozer and it was rejected by Retro's "higher-ups", so Nintendo never ended up seeing the pitch. Did You Know Gaming's latest video goes into more detail. You can check it out on YouTube.
Would you have been up for a game like this? Comment below.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 38
The dumb mechanic in Metroid Other M where you hold the Wii remote sideways to move/position the character, then hold the Wii remote straight forward to aim would've been perfect for this game!
I need this game in my life now. Now. Now! NOW!
That could've been an awesome final product. 😭👾
Sounds like a fun idea, shame it got canned in such an unfair way.
Given there is Mario Rabbids as a spin on XCOM formula, and it is rather GREAT.. maybe this was a blessing in disguise?
Not saying this wouldn't have been, but there would probably be place for only one, and I love my Metroids as they are.. (being overly cautious I know)
aw man, that would been such a neat metroid game to play. a shame that it end up being rejected.
“ Would you have been up for a game like this?”
Yes. Yes I would. Absolutely. Can I still have it please?
There’s also the one where, before it became Federation Force, NextLevel was making a “pretty straightforward multiplayer deathmatch”. “That was like a standalone version of the multiplayer modes in Metroid Prime Hunters.”
Hopefully the “could have been’s” still have a chance to become the “could be’s”.
Especially when we’ve now got great tactical games like Mario+Rabbids.
Ah man, that would have been sick. Probably.
But nope instead we got a strategy game out of mario and freaking rabbids... Because that just makes more sense I guess...
The concept sounds promising. Maybe one for the Advance Wars team to take on.
Speaking of which... NINTENDO?!!!!!!
Instant buy! Can't believe Retro didn't go for this.
This sounds like it could've been really cool. I would certainly tried it.
That sounds really cool, shame it didn't happen. Sadly seems that Nintendo strategy games outside of Fire Emblem seem to disappear.
And thank god they rejected that idea 😮💨. That, to me, sounded like milking the franchise and we dont need that (its bad enough that they do that with Mario 😒)
Oh! I'd love a decently made Metroid Tactics!
Idea - a tactics game using a plethora of characters, like Smash Bros. Mario x Rabbids taken to higher levels!
That would have been so siiiiick! Really wish they would have made it.
Metroid deserves more love. Sad that all the games/ideas dried up with the failure of Other M and the series was regulated to a drip release over the last decade. Still, Metroid gets far more love than other series like Golden Sun or F-Zero
Always funny reading the reactions to this kind of information. You pretty much always get people that don't understand that if this was approved then another game that actually came out wouldn't exist. It is never an easy decision to reject a project or even approve a project, there's always risk involved. There's a very limited amount of studios working on Nintendo IP at any given time.
Sounds like one of the BEST Metroid games ever.
I'm not much of a TRPG fan, but this sounds like the game that would have changed that.
It seems like Retro and Nintendo hold Metroid at a higher standard than even the fans. Probably why we've never really seen Metroid dive into other genres.
What has me thinking even more is that devs at Retro seem to be fans of tactical RPGs. They tried to do a similar concept with Heroes of Hyrule, but gameplay ultimately got too complicated, and that project also got canned. I'm curious to see if we'll ever get a tactical RPG from them, because I'd like to see what they can bring out.
Damn would love an xcom made in the Metroid universe!
I’ll add this to the list of other games I’ll likely never get like wave race and pilotwings etc
@mr_somewhere Nah, it sounds like a neat idea, but there's nothing unfair about it being scrapped. Companies probably go through pitches like this on a regular basis, and of course they can only pick so many to move forward with. Several other cool pitches we'll likely never hear about probably got rejected as well until Donkey Kong Country Returns was picked up.
I hadn't watched that particular DYKG video yet might want to do that then. This and Bioshock Vita as a FF Tactics game would have been interesting. Sure they have Advance Wars (system name wars), Fire Emblem, Mario Rabbids and Codename Steam but still while I don't mind Federation Force I think if Metroid Tactics if it was made then or alongside Other M it wouldn't have been too bad. Retro had many interesting ideas but we will never get to see them or maybe they were made into some other games when staff left, maybe even if under a different name?
One with Samus and as a more powerful character/hero and the Galactic Federation or others in such a way could have led to some interesting abilities and strategy. Playing Disgaea 5 with the overlord abilities when the red bar charges up really added depth to the game more than I expected besides dual wielding so I can see some cool ideas being likely if Metroid Tactics was a thing. Never played a XCOM or style Tactics game (only western tactics game I've played is Heroes of Might and Magic by 3DO, still don't get how to play it but I might some day) but still I'd have been interested.
I think it's cool they wanted to do something different with the IP but like the prior articles with the Halo and other comparisons (even though was Retro higher ups not Nintendo seeing it being different) I can see why they didn't get to make it. I think a cheap game on the side would have been interesting to see. Oh well like Project Hammer we won't get to see some of these projects.
I've always loved FF Tactics style games like this, where there is a main character who is unique and powerful, and a party of normals. However, I do like that Samus is such a lone wolf. When she is at peak power, normal people cannot be in proximity to her because she is that dangerous.
@SuntannedDuck2 Yeah, my fav subgenre of tactics are those with heroes. Not overpowered, but you have to thread the needle of overdepending on their abilities while also proving you understand the game mechanics by leveraging their abilities at the right moment. Ramza Beoulve comes to mind. Samus could make an interesting hero of this sort.
Not much of a fan for tactical games (save for a few expectations) but this sounds like it had good potential atleast.
Now that we have Mario Rabbids, I don't think there is a need for another Nintendo IP going xcom.
I'd prefer Retro to make a third DKC instead.
@Switch_Pro Except Retro has put out absolutely nothing for a long span of years, partly because none of their game ideas were greenlit. So no, theoretical Game X coming out does not always preclude real Game Y’s release.
@LastFootnote Except this was supposed to be on the Wii so that makes no sense.
But noooo Nintendo felt it was more natural to do a Mario game. I mean also a great decision, but of course Metroid would be a perfect fit and the Wii would have been a great platform for that controlscheme.
But happy that on the Switch we didn't just get Mario x rabbits but also Xcom, both amazing games.
would rather have this than kingdom battle of course.
ugh I would have loved this
Well, if R-Type worked well as a tactical game, then I'm sure Metroid would've as well.
Missed opportunity to have a Chozo character named Spoony Bird.
...and once again, Nintendo chooses to make crappy musou spinoffs instead.
@Maulbert Yeah, it's a pretty d*** move for a company that never knew about this, to cancel a game they weren't pitched by. Don't you hate it when companies do that?
This could have been pretty good
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