History Trivia / MetroidOtherM

* DummiedOut: Data exists for a fully-functional Zebesian enemy, rather than the hologram from the tutorial or the cyborgs on the Bottle Ship.

* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Inverted with Samus's VA Jessica Martin, who was energetic in interviews and willing to reach out to fans, despite her admitted unfamiliarity with the series beforehand. It helped that Samus's [[DullSurprise infamously dull voice]] was more a result of poor voice directing than anything else, with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3WPpD5IyTM a surprisingly good rendition of Auld Lang Syne]] displaying how much talent was wasted perfectly.

* ProtectionFromEditors: Yoshio Sakamoto, despite a lot of skepticism from Team Ninja, was adamant about the game using a Wii Remote-only control scheme over the Wiimote-and-Nunchuk setup used by countless other games on the system. This was infamously the only gameplay design choice he wouldn't budge on, despite the team urging against it, as he reasoned that the Nunchuk would ruin the "NES-style" simplicity he was aiming for. He also pushed for a heavy emphasis on story over the gameplay to help differentiate his 3D outing from the American ''Prime'' games, which included an insistence on directing the English voice acting despite not being an English speaker himself.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Yoshio Sakamoto viewed the story as the best in the franchise, and as something that finally made Samus a fully-developed, well-rounded and sympathetic character, stating in interviews that he even cried when he saw some of the scenes of the game for the first time. In contrast, the story is the biggest reason why some fans vilify the game, witha few even calling it a disgrace to Samus' character. He also seems significantly more proud of the game overall, even with its mainly western backlash and disappointing sales figures, and has even gone on record in the years following its release that he still would not change a single thing about the game, gameplay or story wise. Although when ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' was announced at E3 2017, while he reiterated that he still had made what he wanted to make, [[https://kotaku.com/metroid-samus-returns-feels-great-to-play-1796236226 he said]] the criticisms had given him the ability to look at her from another point of view, and to reconsider what to show about her.

* FranchiseKiller: While the game received decent critical reception and sold as usual in Japan, ''Metroid'' fans were viciously negative towards it, leading to poor word-of-mouth and low sales in the West. Creator/YoshioSakamoto would temporarily step away from the series as a result of the backlash, which when combined with Creator/RetroStudios choosing to develop ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' rather than return to the ''Prime'' series, caused the franchise as a whole to go on a six-year hiatus after a decade of almost yearly releases. ''Metroid'' would skip the UsefulNotes/WiiU entirely (save for the "Metroid Blast" minigame in ''VideoGame/NintendoLand''), with the next entry in the franchise being a SpinOff game: 2016's ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. It would be another year before fans got a new entry in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', and it would take until 2021 for the franchise to get a new, non-remake installment with ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

* FranchiseKiller: While the ''Metroid'' series has never been the best-selling of Nintendo's [=IPs=], ''Other M'' technically flopped even by those standards. Though the game received decent critical reception, the ''Metroid'' online reaction was viscerously negative in a lot of fronts. Creator/YoshioSakamoto would temporarily step away from the series as a result of the backlash, which combined with Creator/RetroStudios choosing to [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze have a second outing with Donkey Kong instead of a fourth with Samus Aran (due to feeling burnt out with Metroid)]] caused ''Metroid'' to go on a six-year hiatus after a decade of almost yearly releases. ''Metroid'' would skip the UsefulNotes/WiiU entirely (save for the "Metroid Blast" minigame in ''VideoGame/NintendoLand''), with the next entry in the franchise being a SpinOff game: 2016's ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. It would be another year before fans got a new entry in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', and it would take until 2021 for the franchise to get a new, non-remake installment with ''VideoGame/MetroidDread''.

* FranchiseKiller: While the ''Metroid'' series has never been the best-selling of Nintendo's [=IPs=], ''Other M'' technically flopped even by those standards. Though the game received decent critical reception, the ''Metroid'' online reaction was viscerously negative in a lot of fornts. Creator/YoshioSakamoto would temporarily step away from the series as a result of the backlash, which combined with Creator/RetroStudios choosing to [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze have a second outing with Donkey Kong instead of a fourth with Samus Aran (due to feeling burnt out with Metroid)]] caused the series to go on a six-year hiatus after a decade of almost yearly releases. ''Metroid'' would skip the UsefulNotes/WiiU entirely (save for the "Metroid Blast" minigame in ''VideoGame/NintendoLand''), with the next entry in the franchise being a SpinOff game: 2016's ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. It would be another year before fans got a new entry in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', and it would take until 2021 for the franchise to get a new, non-remake installment with ''VideoGame/MetroidDread''.

* FranchiseKiller: While the ''Metroid'' series has never been the best-selling of Nintendo's [=IPs=], ''Other M'' flopped even by those standards. Though the game received decent critical reception, the ''Metroid'' fanbase loathed it, causing poor word-of-mouth that doomed the game to low sales and a newfound home in gaming store bargain bins. Creator/YoshioSakamoto would temporarily step away from the series as a result of the backlash, which combined with Creator/RetroStudios choosing to [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze have a second outing with Donkey Kong instead of a fourth with Samus Aran]] caused the series to go on a six-year hiatus after a decade of almost yearly releases. ''Metroid'' would skip the UsefulNotes/WiiU entirely (save for the "Metroid Blast" minigame in ''VideoGame/NintendoLand''), with the next entry in the franchise being a SpinOff game: 2016's ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. It would be another year before fans got a new entry in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', and it would take until 2021 for the franchise to get a new, non-remake installment with ''VideoGame/MetroidDread''.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Yoshio Sakamoto viewed the story as the best in the franchise, and as something that finally made Samus a fully-developed, well-rounded and sympathetic character, stating in interviews that he even cried when he saw some of the scenes of the game for the first time. In contrast, the story is the biggest reason why fans vilify the game, calling it a fantastic example of how NOT to write a story and female characters in a video game. He also seems significantly more proud of the game overall than many would expect given its backlash and disappointing sales figures, and has even gone on record in the years following its release that he still would not change a single thing about the game, gameplay or story wise. Although when ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' was announced at E3 2017, while he reiterated that he still had made what he wanted to make, [[https://kotaku.com/metroid-samus-returns-feels-great-to-play-1796236226 he said]] the criticisms had given him the ability to look at her from another point of view, and to reconsider what to show about her. If ''SR'' and ''Dread'' are any indicator, it seems he chose to emphasize the powerful and determined side of her in those games.

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Yoshio Sakamoto viewed the story as the best in the franchise, and as something that finally made Samus a fully-developed, well-rounded and sympathetic character, stating in interviews that he even cried when he saw some of the scenes of the game for the first time. In contrast, the story is the biggest reason why fans vilify the game, calling it a fantastic example of how NOT to write a story and female characters in a video game. He also seems significantly more proud of the game overall than many would expect given its backlash and disappointing sales figures, and has even gone on record in the years following its release that he still would not change a single thing about the game, gameplay or story wise. Although when ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'' was released, while he reiterated that he still had made what he wanted to make, [[https://kotaku.com/metroid-samus-returns-feels-great-to-play-1796236226 he said]] the criticisms had given him the ability to look at her from another point of view, and to reconsider what to show about her. If ''SR'' and ''Dread'' are any indicator, it seems he chose to emphasize the powerful and determined side of her in those games.

* FanNickname:
** Mysterious Black Dude, Remember Me Guy, or Manthony for Anthony Higgs.
** BSL (Blonde Scientist Lady or BOTTLE SHIP Lady) for the important woman at the end of the trailer (who turned out to be named [[spoiler:MB]]). Interestingly and coincidentally, this happens to be the same name as the space station that is the setting for ''Metroid Fusion''.
** "Hell run" for the section of the game where Samus has to get through part of the [[LethalLavaLand Pyrosphere]] without the Varia Feature that shields her from the heat. While this name is also used for deliberately going through hot areas in other ''Metroid'' games without the Varia Suit to {{sequence break|ing}}, it's heavily associated with this particular instance due to it being mandatory.
** "El Pollo Loco" for the Mystery Creature AKA the [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100913061556/metroid/images/c/c8/Adolescent_Ridley_battle.jpg chicken lizard]]...[[BuffySpeak thing]] which turns out to be [[spoiler:adolescent Ridley]].
** [[spoiler:Ridley's]] infant form is [[http://www.metroid-database.com/mom/choogle.jpg a creature]] that looks like either a furby with legs, or a cross between [[Franchise/FinalFantasy a Chocobo and a Moogle]]. Fans have nicknamed him "Choogle" or "Choogu". It also has an in-universe nickname courtesy of Samus herself: Little Birdie.
** After both creatures were [[spoiler:revealed to be forms of Ridley]], Little Birdie and the Mystery Creature were given [[PunnyName Punny Name]]s by the fans, which are [[spoiler:Furbley and Ugley]] respectively.
** [[spoiler:Ridley himself]] is affectionately called [[spoiler:"Roidley"]] because of his sudden change in bulk compared to previous games, where he was [[LeanAndMean skinny as a rail]].

* MagnumOpusDissonance: Yoshio Sakamoto viewed the story as the best in the franchise, and as something that finally made Samus a fully-developed, well-rounded and sympathetic character, stating in interviews that he even cried when he saw some of the scenes of the game for the first time. In contrast, the story is the biggest reason why fans vilify the game, calling it a fantastic example of how NOT to write a story and female characters in a video game. He also seems significantly more proud of the game overall than many would expect given its backlash and disappointing sales figures, and has even gone on record in the years following its release that he still would not change a single thing about the game, gameplay or story wise.

** "Hell run" for the section of the game where Samus has to get through part of the [[LethalLavaLand Pyrosphere]] without the Varia Feature that shields her from the heat.

* FranchiseKiller: While the ''Metroid'' series has never been the best-selling of Nintendo's [=IPs=], ''Other M'' flopped even by those standards. Though the game received decent critical reception, the ''Metroid'' fanbase loathed it, causing poor word-of-mouth that doomed the game to low sales and a newfound home in gaming store bargain bins. Creator/YoshioSakamoto would temporarily step away from the series as a result of the backlash, which combined with Creator/RetroStudios choosing to [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze have a second outing with Donkey Kong instead of a fourth with Samus Aran]] to cause the series go on a six-year hiatus after a decade of almost yearly releases. ''Metroid'' would skip the UsefulNotes/WiiU entirely, with the next entry in the franchise being a SpinOff game: 2016's ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeFederationForce'' for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. It would be another year until fans got a new entry in ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', and it would take until 2021 for the franchise to get a new, non-remake installment with ''VideoGame/MetroidDread''.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** At GDC 2010, Sakamoto admitted that, due to his demand for a single Wii Remote control scheme and his inexperience with 3D game design, one of his initial ideas was to make 2D sidescroller like previous entries (though the way he phrased it had people believe [[http://web.archive.org/web/20190218161412/https://kotaku.com/metroid-other-m-might-have-been-on-rails-if-not-for-t-5491158 he wanted to make it a rail shooter]]).
** It's interesting to ponder how much different the game's reception might've been outside Japan if it hadn't had such a [[https://youtu.be/KTuMfsWwd0E terrible translation]]. While some aspects of its plot and characterisation probably still would've come in for criticism, there's a decent chance they wouldn't have been ''as'' divisive.