Live Blogs Mother, May I See Metroid: Other M

Korval2013-03-13 02:21:48

What do you say to that?

Metroid: Other M is an abomination. It's truly amazing just how systematic this game is about going through the Metroid franchise and significantly damaging each game one after the other. This game seems to take perverse pleasure in rewriting previous scenes to make them subscribe to a different vision. Fusion is hurt the most, but the other games each receive some measure of Other M's absolute disgust for the franchise.

And nowhere is this made more evident than by its treatment of the protagonist. The very idea of Samus Aran is methodically dissected, so that every aspect of her character can be properly and fully annihilated in turn. Her boundless courage is absolutely murdered by her behavior towards a beast she fought 7 times prior. Her independence is crushed under the yoke of co-dependence towards Adam Malkovich. The unstoppable force that brought low entire specieses now can be taken out with a single gunshot. The ultimate warrior who happened to be a woman becomes the female object of the ideal sexist father/daughter relationship, and she likes it that way.

Where once there was a strong, iconic protagonist, all that remains is the empty husk of a character. The true "Other M" is the Metroid that leeched the life from Samus Aran, leaving only a Samus-shaped statue in its wake.

The game's best aspect is its gameplay, and even that is only mediocre. Basic locomotion is pretty tight, but the combat system is a mixed-bag of modern, 00's style action games that take control away from the player in exchange for cool-looking moves. The overarching gameplay is antithetical to basic Metroid design principles; no Metroid game strays as far from the Metroidian ideal as this. The game disrespects the player as often as the story disrespects Samus. Which I suppose has the effect of putting the player in Samus's shoes effectively.

The game commits crimes against even the most basic principles of storytelling. The use of language is so bad that it should be used as a textbook example of how not to write. Characters spontaneously know things that they haven't been told. The game is poorly directed, preferring flashbacks and monologues to active storytelling. The voice acting ranges from stiff to Ent. Visually the game is technically pretty yet boring. Not even the music achieves a level of quality, ranging from blaring and blandly orchestral to boring and banal.

The plot is terribly structured; the story has many plotlines, several of which are unceremoniously dumped the moment their purpose is served. The "main" plot is so anemic that the villain's plans and motivation have to be info-dumped at the end. The characters never grow or evolve; it even has entire scenes designed to remind you how characters have not grown. It tries to have a theme of motherhood, but it comes and goes, never really being established. And even when it is used, the game has nothing to say about the concept besides giving it a thumbs up.

This game is basically Metroid: Fusion, with all of the good parts stripped out and all of the bad parts magnified. Samus monologues a lot in Fusion. Well, you ain't seen Samus monologuing till you've seen Other M. Does computer Adam seem a little overbearing, with his orders getting rather grating in Fusion? That's nothing compared to the living Adam ordering Samus into a fire area without her Varia. If you thought Fusion was linear, then hold on to your hats for Other M.

Did you like the atmosphere of being hunted by a neigh-unkillable adversary in Fusion? The clever way the game actually changed stage layouts without warning, giving the sense of a battleground environment against an implacable foe? Yeah, that's gone in Other M. The Deleter gets a single boss fight with zero buildup, and you never feel like he's a threat. And we go from seeing damage done to stages to the game simply sealing doors behind you to funnel you to different areas. If Fusion wanted to close you in, it would usually justify it by saying that something destroyed a door, or an X turned into an indestructible thing or something. This game just has Adam lock a door or not tell you to use something.

Indeed, I rather like Fusion, which is one of the reasons I hate this game so much. The relationship that was hinted at in Fusion is viciously stomped on in this game, going from a respectful friendship to Samus fawning over a guy who abuses her. The reveal of the GF having a Metroid breeding program is ruined by the existence of this game; Samus shouldn't even have been surprised. Other M even makes Samus's monologues in Fusion hard to read by reminding you of the constant monologuing from this game. Any praise Samus offers Adam in Fusion forces you to think about the asshole she's praising as shown in Other M.

Want to know what Metroid: Other M really is? It's fan-fiction of Metroid: Fusion. Bad fanfic often comes from an inexperienced writer trying to ape something that they don't really understand. They do it poorly, without grace or subtlety. Isn't that what Other M's gameplay is? The hyper-linear level designs are nothing more than Fusion's linear design only without the atmospheric elements that made them work.

The story is bog-standard for bad fanfic. It takes some undeveloped element of the main work and develops it. Badly. Adam is a classic example of a self-insert Mary Sue, and like most Mary Sue's, he overshadows the actual protagonist. Samus becomes far less effective and strong, being shown to be easily cowed and frightened by events. All intended to add "depth" to her character, but without any understanding of how to really do that or what to do with that depth. The plot structure is schizophrenic like many bad-fics, never able to focus on any one thing. And the story handles theme as though the author had no idea what that word means.

Despite all of that, it might not be a bad idea to search the game out and watch it. Why? Because quite frankly, my description of it cannot do it justice. It really is that bad. I had heard about many of the major problems before watching, but the reality was so much worse. I never imagined that the Ridley scene was as bad as it was, and nobody ever pointed out the fact that she never gets her revenge for it. You can only appreciate the "quality" of the voice acting by hearing it.

You can find videos on You Tube that show Theater Mode; there is also a good Long Play of it available. Neither have commentary, if that's what you're concerned about. However, if you don't like suffering alone (and I don't recommend that on your first outing), there's an absolutely epic Let's Play available. It's available on the archives. Slowbeef and Diabetus of Retsupurae (and Let's Play) fame took a look at Theater Mode, with the usually hilarious results. They managed to make even the Ridley scene tolerable.

The saddest part of all? This game may be the herald of the future for Metroid. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is ultimately the father of the series. While I'm grateful that the game didn't sell well (even in Japan, despite shockingly good Famitsu reviews), I don't know if that's going to be enough. Whoever gets to make a new Metroid game isn't going to be allowed to overrule or reject this game; Other M is canon now. The best they could do is try to stay out of its way and ignore it, treating it like Star Trek 5.

My biggest concern for the future is if they do what they did before: hand the license to someone else. Whether it's Retro again or some other studio, it doesn't matter. Because while they might do better, it's going to come back home sooner or later. And considering how much roughshod this game loves running over prior games, little-to-no respect will likely be paid to them. We would just be getting another Other M 6-8 years from now.

It's one thing when someone else takes a property and screws it to hell. But when the creator does it, there's little that can be done to fix it. Our best hope is that Nintendo recognizes that Metroid still holds value and that Other M was a failure. Thus, they'll keep future installments of the game out of his hands. Or at least provide greater oversight. How likely is that? Who knows.

Final number of times that Other M shat upon the Metroid franchise? Fifteen. On average, Theater Mode alone shit on the Metroid franchise once every 10 minutes.

That's a lot of shit.

Comments

nomuru2d Since: Dec, 1969

May 30th 2012 at 10:14:41 PM

Hate to bring this up again, but the bits where Samus monologued about things she "couldn't possibly know" were in fact her commenting on stuff that was implied to have been told to her. The writers were too lazy to fill in the whole conversation and give the real Madeline more lines than they deemed necessary, so we're left with Samus' narration mixing things up terribly as a result.

Scardoll Since: Dec, 1969

May 31st 2012 at 1:28:25 AM

This review was amazing, and I commend you for going through with it. It's one of the best looks at Other M I've seen; it addresses every flaw throughly, leaving no wiggle room. Even the summary you provide on this final entry is very comprehensive.

Bravo.

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

May 31st 2012 at 5:11:44 AM

Hate to bring this up again, but the bits where Samus monologued about things she "couldn't possibly know" were in fact her commenting on stuff that was implied to have been told to her.

I stand by my statement because that's how I interpreted what was going on. And considering the fact that the game was perfectly willing to narrate that something was said earlier, I think this is the simplest explanation. So again, it's down to either the writers having no idea how to communicate through dialog, or them just communicating really, really badly.

Enlong Since: Dec, 1969

May 31st 2012 at 10:29:31 PM

And so, having seen this, I think I'm going to avoid this game.

In general, I'm going to treat this as out of canon, because it is sorely outnumbered in terms of the games that have to be re-written for it to have ever happened, from her previous work with the GF in destroying Phaaze, to her actions in II and Super. This BS on the BS adds nothing to the plot, gives us nothing that previous games didn't already do better, and actively removes stuff we already knew happened.

Samus, as seen in Corruption, is not the kind of person that this game shows us. In Corruption, she worked well with the GF, but under her own initiative. She is consistently shown to be their best soldier, enduring pain (of Phazon corruption) and danger (Skytown nuke drop) that nobody else could weather, without flinching.

Adam, as alluded to in Fusion, absolutely could not have been this sort of person. In Fusion, Samus draws a distinct line between Adam and the AI with his name. Specifically, she mentions that, unlike an unfeeling machine, he had some level of human decency and compassion. She distrusts the AI because it is cold and unfeeling.

If Adam truly was like he is in this game, then the AI, before the final mission, would have been a perfect replica.

As far as I'm concerned, Adam's involvement with Samus and his death are the Metroid equivalent of Castlevania's War of 1999. We may speculate, but we'll never know how it went about.

And if something like this is the alternative? Then never knowing is just fine with me.

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

Jun 1st 2012 at 11:01:18 AM

If Adam truly was like he is in this game, then the AI, before the final mission, would have been a perfect replica.

Actually, I found AI Adam to be far more likeable than Other M Adam. AI Adam was all business and professional. He may have been a cold and unfeeling machine, but that's just the indifference of a computer. Other M Adam's abusive behavior towards Samus suggests active hatred and disdain for her.

Grobi Since: Dec, 1969

Jun 30th 2012 at 3:57:38 AM

This. This was FINALLY the perfect analysis of everything - and I mean EVERYFUCKINGTHING - that's oh so wrong with Metroid Other M. There's nothing to add and (even better): nothing to argue, you're just right. With everything.

God, this feels so good. Every single flaw mentioned, every "argument" of its fans deconstructed, it's DONE. Finally.

This really feels like some kind closure for me. I can FINALLY forget about this piece of bullcrap, this monstrosity, this abomination of a "game". Everything's said and done, and I especially like the "Shitting on Metroid" count. It really helps to reinforce the fact that this is in no way a Metroid-game.

This is a "game" (the quotation marks are important, because an actual game has something to do with being fun) that only wants us to believe that everything about Metroid - and especially about its main character - is just plain wrong. It wants us to believe that ALL the Metroid-games we played so far are in fact antithetical to what Metroid is "really" about (that is, being an obedient slave if you're born without a penis). Acts of heroism? Not what Other M wants us to play. Overcoming a threat? Hell no, it's not the player character's job to do something of value! Showing that female character might be capable to be efficient atNO THEY AREN'T. I mean, WHAT THE HELL?

But that's over. You analyzed it completeley. The moronic writing, the misogyny, the sexism, EVERYTHING. There's no point in discussing it any more. We can finally end this.

Thank you.

Diabolo Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 2nd 2012 at 3:31:19 PM

Grobi, we cannot end this yet, there is just one more strawmen that has a sizeable fanbase that CANNOT think for themselves and have to be saved by the revelations of this.......magnus opus of deconstruction.

We need to let the word spread out to reach........MOVIE BOB's fans!!

Diabolo Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 3rd 2012 at 11:38:05 AM

So.... what now? what do you plan to deconstruct next? a movie perhaps? Prometheus or Cabin In The Woods?

Diabolo Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 3rd 2012 at 3:18:04 PM

Oh and some people have actually defended the game for having this "monologues" that remind them of Legacy of Kain........i shit you not.

LordSeth Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 8th 2012 at 8:15:25 PM

You know, I have to wonder if the writing was better in the Japanese version. You do mention how awkward "Deleter" sounds in English and that it probably sounded better in Japanese, but it makes me wonder just how much of the dialogue sounded better in the original.

thefavs Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 13th 2012 at 3:38:42 PM

Thank you, Korval. Like Grobi said, it feel's good, almost like a closure to it.

I wish I could narrate this and make a video on Youtube so that more people can see this. This NEEDS to be more out there. More people NEED to see this. Nintendo has to get the message as to why people HATE this game so much, and why it should NEVER be repeated.

Thanks again for all the time and effort you put into this. I only wish the creators of Other M had put HALF as much effort into the game.

Diabolo Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 14th 2012 at 10:07:07 AM

Lord Seth:

Well, the game actually TANKED on Japan even with the miraculously good reviews it got. But still makes you wonder what happened and would be nice to have someone in contact with the people there.

Or even better, what would the actress that did the voice of Samus AND Sakamoto would think once they find this blog and read it?

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 14th 2012 at 11:12:17 PM

Or even better, what would the actress that did the voice of Samus AND Sakamoto would think once they find this blog and read it?

The voice actress for Samus had nothing to do with how the game worked out. She's not a bad actress, and she can actually deliver emotion (as she did in a couple of scenes). The problem is that she was directed by Sakamoto. Let me repeat that, to make sure you fully understand this:

Sakamoto, a man for whom English is not his native language, directed Samus's English voice actress.

If you want to lay the blame for anything in particular that is bad in this game, odds are good that it's Sakamoto's fault. Like 95% of everything that is bad in this game came from him. He was a very controlling influence on virtually every aspect of the game.

Diabolo Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 15th 2012 at 1:38:31 AM

I am not blaming the actress, instead i am just wondering if she actually FEELS the gravity of how far the game that she participated in sucks.

Imagine yourself as being part of the production of, say, the movie "North" (that you referenced by putting the infamous Roger Ebert quote) and you know that the people hate it but you are not exactly sure of WHY. After all, most people dont find THIS kind of analizis unless they look really hard into the Internet and beyond the "angry review" stick that is never going to die apparently. But most importantly, since you were part of the production team of the movie, you kinda know what was the ACTUAL point of the movie (it is just that you are not sure if this is the way to execute that point)

Dont you wish you had THIS kind of clarity when the shitstorm came?

You dont want me to use the "North" example? ok, then lets think about "John's Carpenter The Thing" BEST HORROR MOVIE OF ALL TIME...........at least, that is what people say TODAY because when it came out, it flopped and was critically panned. Now imagine yourself as Carpenter being a bit down because the movie sucked even if you poured your hearth and soul in it with all the best things you could offer (the masterful soundtrack, the use of paranoia as tension builder and the practical effects of that era) and you fucked up somehow...........and yet, now everyone loves you for it when its already late. "what is the point now?" you say to yourself. "when i needed you the most you left me, i never obtained a clear answer for my failures, couldnt growth as a Director for it and my career almost went to shit."

Again, dont you wish to have the clear answers in a situation like that? Having to doubt you skills for such a long time can mess you up in the long run.

And before you ask, no, English isnt my first language either.

Kostya Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 17th 2012 at 5:26:29 PM

I think Nintendo pull a Gene Roddenberry and remove Sakamoto from all future Metroid projects. Strangely I actually support the idea of remaking this game but in doing so I would fundamentally alter the story and gameplay. It would basically be an entirely new game that uses this as its base and strips out all the bad parts, so...pretty much everything but I think some stuff can be pulled from this husk and fashioned into a good game.

Kostya Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 17th 2012 at 5:27:10 PM

In the above post there needs to be a should after Nintendo. Sorry about the grammar error.

Diabolo Since: Dec, 1969

Aug 28th 2012 at 4:56:09 AM

Korval, i have a bad feeling about this. Dont you feel that you are going to be exploited at some point? What i mean is that there is this "feminist" (sarcastic quotes) named Anita Sarkeesian that exploited people for money for information that is just free to everyone (like this very website) so i am wondering what would YOU do if she COPYPASTED the very same blog here (or at least the important complains) word for word?

Why would she be rewarded with diplomas and gain political influences for the effort that she didn't EARN in the first place?

PoisonedFire Since: Dec, 1969

Sep 3rd 2012 at 8:37:16 AM

Whew, what a read. I registered just to say something nitpicky :P. The SA-X is well capable of killing Samus in just a few shots, unlike you stated. And the SA-X didn't actually lay a trap, it was Nettori's roots that caused her to go to Sector TRO. Those are just the tiniest of errors and most readers wouldn't even care, but I do care since Fusion was my first Metroid game :P

Scardoll Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 17th 2013 at 11:24:56 AM

^^Wow, this post is bizarrely paranoid. It feels like you have a bone to pick with this person, whoever she is.

Cider Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 18th 2013 at 2:11:22 PM

I would like to point out that "he who must not be named" is not the "father" of the franchise. That director only stepped in during the very final phases of production on the NES game and suggested a maze to finish things more quickly.

In that since we may thank him for the genre but only for the idea, he did not do the work, he made a suggestion. He was absent for the sequel, was one of many in Super, Fusion can be considered his but he had nothing to do with Hunters or the Prime Trilogy.

His remake of the first game omits the one thing he suggested that established the genre in the first place. "Oh, but it sequence breaks!" The original game had hardly any sequence too break. In short, we should have listened to Sean Malstrom, who predicted much of this.

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

Apr 23rd 2013 at 4:12:15 AM

That director only stepped in during the very final phases of production on the NES game and suggested a maze to finish things more quickly.

Well, considering that you're talking about the worst game in the series (pre-Other M), that's not saying much. Ultimately, Super Metroid is the progenitor of all modern Metroid games, and he owned that.

It also seems rather silly to be dismissive of him by saying that he was "one of many" in Super Metroid, yet tie Other M around his neck as though he were the only human being who did anything. I bet if Other M had been awesome, people would be talking up his leadership role in Super Metroid a lot.

People are good sometimes and bad other times. I'm totally fine with denigrating someone's effort when they do poorly. But that doesn't mean we should start retroactively pretending that their prior, good contributions weren't important, just because he's doing terrible work now.

Super Metroid is his. He had the title of "Director", so it's his.

Metroid: Other M is his too.

It's sad when someone who makes good stuff starts turning out crap. But that's no reason to suddenly start taking away accolades that they rightfully earned. Nobody demanded Jamie Foxx's Oscar for Ray back, just because he did hackwork like Stealth.

His remake of the first game omits the one thing he suggested that established the genre in the first place.

... What exactly is it that Zero Mission omits from Metroid 1? Was it the part where Metroid 1 was pointlessly difficult to navigate? Was it where Metroid 1 was horribly obtuse? Was it where Metroid 1 was brutally unfair to the player? Was it how Metroid 1 sucked ass?

Because I'm totally fine with games that omit all of those things.

In short, we should have listened to Sean Malstrom, who predicted much of this.

Really? He predicted the horrible misogyny and deprotagonization? He predicted the Ridley scene or the Adam scene?

No, he predicted that it wouldn't be a good game, that it would have a crap story. That's not a prediction; that's a coin-toss.

Saying that a videogame has a crap story is not a hard prediction. Videogames often have crap stories; hell, you'd probably be 95% correct if you predicted that every game that comes out this year with a story would have a crap story.

You don't make money on the short odds.

YamiryuuZero Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 16th 2013 at 2:09:33 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a few days since I've re-read your article, but there are some things you forgot to mention:

1)The introduction scene. You described it as it happened, but you forgot to mention this: that scene is the same as the official manga where Samus is being infused with Chozo DNA. That said, the game never bothers to tell you this, and discards it right away. Only fans would know what that scene was about, and even so, that scene made nothing. As you said, it was pointless, and only took precious space in disk that could be used to put more into level design and gameplay.

2)I don't remember if you mentioned this or not, but the game never tells who Ridley actually is (the leader of the Space Pirates), and what he represents to Samus (he's the one who killed her parents when she was 3 years old). The game does state that Samus lost her parents when she was young, but never mentions how (after all that infodump, I believe they had enough time and space in disk to say - or show - how her parents were killed and by who), which leads to the next point:

3)The game erases completely the existence of the entities known as Chozo. never once in the game the name of the race appears. There isn't a single structure, like there are in other games, resembling Chozo architecture (understandable, as this is a GF made station, but even in Fusion there was that fake Chozo Statue, showing how they could've made something similar). Specially when Samus calls the cybernetic Space Pirate a "Zebesian": the purpose of calling it Zebesian is to erase the existence of any other entity that could be Samus's father figure (a.k.a. the Chozo race, specially Grey Voice, if you've read the official manga), thus, rendering the "Adam is the father figure" plot point impossible. Oh yeah, it also serves to completely erase the existence of Corruption, where the Pirate Homeworld was shown.

4)Regarding gameplay, there's something awful in Hard Mode: it's a Metroid game, it's supposed to be about collecting power-ups throughout the complex scenarios; even so, the Hard Mode completely erases any power-up! Other Metroid titles had other ways to deal with it, by either the fake difficulty mechanism (more damage on you, less on enemies), in Prime titles, or limiting to half the ammount of ammo and energy you receive per power-up, on 2D titles. They would never think of taking away the core gameplay of the series, which is based in exploring and finding items scattered around the map; Other M completely negates the core gameplay of the franchise on it's Hard Mode.

5)Although, in western versions, Samus calls the larva Metroid a "hatchling", in the Japanese version of Fusion, she does indeed call it "Baby" (ベビー). But it was never for the sake of motherhood complexes, like in Other M; it was merely a name, a way of calling it, a title, she used when referring to it. If you read those instances where she calls it "baby", she sounds pretty could.

That said, you've also pointed out a lot of stuff I hadn't realized, even after reading other pretty competent analysis, like the fact that the station is pretty clean even though there was a massacre there (only two bodies found), or that the Power Bomb couldn't hurt Madeline Bergman, like Adam said it would.

You made a real deep analysis, extremely well constructed, and showed lots of undeniable arguments! Congratulations, it's a master piece!

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 17th 2013 at 2:26:14 PM

1) I hadn't really read the Metroid Manga, so I didn't notice the similarities.

2) Really, it's not that they didn't say what Ridley was. It's that they basically changed what Ridley was. He's supposed to be the leader of the Pirates, but Samus's monologue strongly suggested that Ridley alone wasn't enough to control them.

3) This was [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/lb_i.php?lb_id=13373815860B43920100&i_id=13374932470I54940100&p=3 #2 on my Shitting on Metroid count]. Though I didn't go into as much detail as you did.

4) That's because exploration isn't "core gameplay" for Metroid: Other M. Which reminds us of just how not a Metroid game this is.

YamiryuuZero Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 18th 2013 at 1:37:11 PM

You should search for the manga. Although not a masterpiece, it's interesting to know how Samus lost her parents, and how the Chozo saved her. The manga is cannon until the part where she gets her Power Suit and leaves Zebes (you can search for 'Metroid e-manga' for that). The author adds a "pre-Zero Mission" story, following the cannon, but not being officially accepted by Nintendo. The manga also shows Ridley controlling the Space Pirates alone. I think Metroid Database has it translated.

Aside from that, I think Nintendo tries too hard when it comes to Metroid. It's a more mature series, not like Zelda, Mario, Pikmin, where their area of expertise lies. I think they've ran out of ideas to make a new Metroid game, and used Retro to try new areas where the game could go into (3D transition), but with the safety of making them spin-offs, since they would be developed by a second party. If they saw the transition wouldn't be a success, they could just go back to the old style.

But, after the success of 4 Prime games, they couldn't just go back to the old formula. Even though the Prime series was a success, it wasn't as strong as Zelda or Mario games, as per usual, so I believe they tried to tie everything they could into the game: make it for old gamers fan of 2D titles, for the newer fans of the 3D Prime titles, and make something that would attract more players that have never played a Metroid title before (hence the game being extremely linear and full of tutorials everywhere). they just shot everywhere and missed all of the targets. It's incredible how some people think of that crap as a masterpiece...

Just hope the next game comes to take off Other M of the cannon.

Cider Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 21st 2013 at 10:19:32 PM

I remember that Gunpei Yokoi was considered the father of Metroid up until this new E3 title was announced. This e3 title I could not really get hyped for since I just beat Prime 3 and was ready for a Metroid break (which now seems to be lasting longer than I anticipated it would) so I would be saying as much no matter how good Other M was. (I will even say Yokoi gets too much cred for sister game Kid Icarus but that is another story.)

As for tying Other M around his neck and diminishing his role in Super Metroid, according to the staff interviews for both games there was a lot more positive feedback from Super Metroid's staff while Other M's saw a lot less input from the team as a whole. It is like claiming the success of the attitude era was thanks to Vince Russo when it was really the result of multiple contributers and Russo has never seen any kind of comparable success without them. To credit whatever people see in Star Wars to George Lucas when he really had a lot of help and noting how much praise his work lost once he no longer had to deal with editors.

What is omitted in Zero Mission is freedom progress and re-playability. In the original there was hardly as much emphasis on using beam, jump and armor upgrades to advance and there were no "sequence breaks" because there was no sequence. You could finish the whole thing with just ice beam, missiles, morph ball and bombs. You probably wanted the high jump and long beam but screw attack, varia suit, wave beam, those were mere bonuses. The problems with the original game were no that all the rooms looked the same, there was no map and no convenient way to save progress. Beyond that it was not too difficult (especially with its sister game for reference) but rather than just make the original more accessible for modern audiences Zero Mission completely changed the game's structure. Taking what was almost completely open ended up to the Metroids and making it "Fusion, but you can go the wrong way if your try hard enough".

No, Malestrom did not predict just why we would not be liking other M, but he did tell us exactly why we should be skeptical of anything attempts the director used to tell a "serious" story, instead we allowed the fandom to get lost in the hype train which probably resulted in this game selling more than it should have. Maybe could have dropped their 40USD on Sin And Punishment Star Successor or whatever else was running against Other M?

Cider Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 21st 2013 at 10:27:05 PM

That said, I will give He Who Must Not Be Named credit for Fusion that I will not so readily give for Super because departure that it was I did greatly enjoy Fusion's dynamic environment and parasitic antagonists. I will give him Wrecking Crew and Wario Ware as well unless someone convinces me why I should not.

I do not think he is a bad director, I was just turned off by a lot that was contributed to him in on the hype train leading up to this title.

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

Aug 8th 2013 at 8:09:38 AM

What is omitted in Zero Mission is freedom progress and re-playability.

Freedom? It's the first Metroid game with sanctioned sequence breaking. How can you call that not being free? You can sequence break it from minute one. You don't even need the Long Beam, the first powerup you can get in the game.

As for replayability, again, sanctioned sequence breaking. There are entire areas of the game that exist for the sole purpose of doing a Ridley-first, Varia-less run. If you didn't replay the game to find and explore these, that's your fault, not the game's.

Yes, the game has a sequence. But see below for why that's a good thing. And again, the game lets you ignore it if and when you want.

You could finish the whole thing with just ice beam, missiles, morph ball and bombs.

You can finish Zero Mission with just those, the Speed Booster (taken from Kraid, who you were going to kill anyway), and possibly some Super Missiles and Charge Beam. I don't count the 3 Unknown Items and Power Bombs, because those are post-game items that you get after Metroid 1 would have ended.

So yeah, I'm not seeing much difference here.

The problems with the original game were no that all the rooms looked the same, there was no map and no convenient way to save progress.

Um, no; there was a lot more than that. And the best way to explain that is to look at quite literally the first thing Zero Mission fixed.

Where do you go first in Zero Mission? To the Kraid/Ridley statue room. Why? Because it is vitally important that you see it. If you don't see it, if you don't know it's there, you will never know what your goal is.

That's one of the major failings of Metroid 1: it communicates horribly with the player. It basically dumps you into a maze with no idea that there even is a goal. And yet it expects you to know that you're supposed to find 2 guys and kill them, then go to this one room that was a total dead end with nothing in it, which will magically grow a bridge for some reason.

There's also the lack of beam combining, or any knowledge that you had better get the ice beam (back) before going into Tourian. Without that, it's very possible to run into Metroids while using the Wave Beam and die a quick death through no fault of your own.

Metroid 1 is a terribly unfair game. Zero Mission took the game and made a fair one from it.

Taking what was almost completely open ended up to the Metroids and making it "Fusion, but you can go the wrong way if your try hard enough".

Um, no. I didn't do any sequence breaking in my first playthrough of Super Metroid. I sequence broke Zero Mission by accident in my first playthrough. Fusion cannot be sequence broken.

So which game is Zero Mission more like? Fusion or Super Metroid.

The game was not trying very hard to keep you on the rails.

Maru Since: Dec, 1969

Aug 11th 2013 at 1:51:55 AM

The original Metroid was fair to people who knew to RTFM.

Greener223224 Since: Dec, 1969

Aug 26th 2013 at 10:03:15 AM

Technically, the Justin Bailey code gives you a Wave-Ice combo beam, but that's unrelated to anything.

Why does Japan hate this series? Why do they see it as a niche like we do anything that comes from Intelligent Systems?

And why does Persona have such a colossal fanbase?

Scardoll Since: Dec, 1969

Nov 13th 2013 at 10:14:27 AM

Persona has a large fanbase because it combines the characterization of visual novels with the customization and upgrading of RP Gs.

At least, that's my reasoning. I tried to play Persona 3 and I wasn't a fan of the battle system or the dungeons, but my friend loved the game's characters.

bubblebuttz Since: Dec, 1969

Nov 25th 2013 at 7:29:40 AM

I think Other M is getting a lot more hate then it deserves. Not to mention how many times the author had to reach to valid his claims and hate.

Trollblade69 Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 22nd 2013 at 1:29:59 PM

How was he reaching? All his claims were valid, and Korval's never reached beyond interpreting what Sakamoto was trying to portray, which seemed to him like forcing Samus into a maid outfit to serve as Adam/Sakamoto's mistress.

IndirectActiveTransport Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 10th 2014 at 5:21:29 AM

Yes, but without the manual, the original Metroid is...painful, and you likely did not read the manual if you played it through Fusion, Prime, Zero Mission or the Virtual Console (my NES owning babysitter did not grasp the concept of instruction manuals).

Reading that manual I find the contrast between what Samus started as and ended as amazing. A bounty hunter shrouded in myth who has completed numerous impossible missions. His body has been surgically altered with mechanical parts, giving him super powers and even space pirates fear his suit which can absorb any enemy's power. (AKA health and Ammo pickups). Wait, he is a she? She is six foot three and built like an Olympic track star and her suit has shoulders of doom, can climb walls and fly (sort of). She is actually restrained, not the unrelenting killing machine the very presence of an arm cannon suggests? She is a being of such courage and resolve that even incorporeal apparitions who have ascended beyond three dimensional space can only marvel at unhindered progression through the planet ravaged by the great poison. She is also learned in biology, mechanics and the sport of glider swinging?

The "manga" was annoying enough when it came out. Everyone knew Samus was a girl. Suddenly she had no interest in academia yet saw the need for doing constant contemplation the games never implied she was doing. In fact, everything talked too much. But now I miss manga Samus even. She didn't take shit from anybody, not counting her own Ridley scene, least of all Adam. Adam's role may have been inflated (I found bombs and missiles myself, thank you) but he was not joking when he called her a lady. Manga Adam did not value Samus as a weapon.

deltanine Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 28th 2014 at 7:08:21 PM

I think I have a good idea as to why Sakamoto portrayed Samus the way he did in Other M. According to this quote from the "Elephant in the Room" article from Yoshio Sakamoto, he hates the Prime games and thinks they are contradictory to how he depicts Samus. He's mad at the Prime games, which he didn't work on, for being so critically and publicly acclaimed, and so he wanted to lash out at the fans for it. This quote makes me think this:

"Depicting the story of Samus Aran in this game was one of the most important game design concepts from the very beginning because before Other M I did not think about what kind of person Samus Aran was and how she thinks and her personality….Plus because of the existence of the Metroid Prime series many people might have different ideas about what kind of person Samus Aran was….So with Other M I really wanted to determine and express what kind of human Samus Aran is so that we can really tell what kind of natural step she should be taking in the future."

deltanine Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 28th 2014 at 7:31:13 PM

I have been sending e-mails to Nintendo urging them to remove Other M from series canon and putting the Prime games back into it. And I even started a forum for anyone willing to urge Nintendo to un-canonize it. Wanna sign up and say something?

http://www.nintendoforums.com/topic/722-remove-other-m-from-canon/

TuviaDulin Since: Dec, 1969

Feb 20th 2014 at 3:27:05 PM

Standing ovation. I'm ashamed I never stumbled on this essay until now.

I'm one of the writers of "Metroid Other M: the Elephant in the Room." When Mental Guy and I wrote it, we considered doing a much longer piece like this that took into account the many, many, many other stupid things in Other M, but we decided to focus on the abuse and misogyny because that was the thing that ruined it the most for us, and we didn't want to spend even more time than we did. But you, my friend? You covered the sexism and romanticized abuse at least as well as we did, and also deconstructed everything else. My hat off to you. This is the definitive Other M review.

metroidfreak64 Since: Dec, 1969

Jun 5th 2014 at 5:08:34 PM

I think there's one more thing that needs to be discussed: the fact that there exists gamers who would be perfectly okay with the next Metroid game (assuming there is one) being just. like. Other M.

That is absolutely terrifying. It floors me that there are enough people who would be more than willing to play a second Other M-like game. Another game that unintentionally condones sexism, poor game design, character assassination as a result of shitty writing.

I seriously hope Nintendo isn't listening to those people. 18 pages was a very long read, but this could pretty much be a book. A small-sort of publication w/o the fanfare, but something that needs to exist as a counter-argument to Other M's existence. Something the CE Os of Nintendo should be forced to read. After all, freedom of speech is a total bitch, neh?

Or make them play the game and give their honest opinions about how truly shitty the game is and that they should be ashamed this pile of crap even carries the official Nintendo Golden Seal of Approval.

BonsaiForest Since: Dec, 1969

Oct 22nd 2014 at 11:25:09 AM

I loved this review. I have nothing more to add, other than that it got me in the mood to replay Super Metroid, which I haven't played in forever. I'm rediscovering that game, how awesome it is, and realizing that I remember so little of it, which only makes the experience better.

I also liked Fusion, and I'm in the mood to replay that, and Zero Mission, possibly after I finish Super.

Korval Since: Dec, 1969

Nov 28th 2014 at 9:24:48 AM

Why does Japan hate this series?

I think (and I claim no expertise in this area) that Japanese gamers in general prefer linearity than Metroid's non-linear style. They also seem to prefer direct forms of storytelling over the Prime series more indirect style. It's simply a matter of different cultural preferences.

the fact that there exists gamers who would be perfectly okay with the next Metroid game (assuming there is one) being just. like. Other M.

As I said in the gameplay section, the point of view and controls are not a bad idea. I wouldn't mind seeing a Metroid game made using the basic gameplay of this one. Now, I would certainly want real sequence breaking back (see most of Zero Mission) and the whole 3rd-person/1st-person switching thing can go straight to hell. But the basic foundations of the game engine aren't a terrible starting point for a solid Metroid game.

There are elements of Other M which can be salvaged. But it's actually quite rare to find a game (or most works of fiction) which are truly rotten to the core. There's usually something that's a good idea in a work, just like there's often a kernel of corn in a log of shit.

That doesn't mean that feces is an optimal source of quality corn...

Valiona Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 5th 2015 at 11:33:35 PM

I enjoyed reading the liveblog, and I'm glad I never played this game. It's a nice analysis of the various problems with the game, and the various ways it "shits on" established facts of Metroid, including, in some cases, things that Other M itself established. It was well-written, quite witty, and very enjoyabl to read.

SpectralTime Since: Dec, 1969

Jul 3rd 2015 at 2:37:37 AM

After going through your retrospective, I find I mostly agree. I just wish you'd spent a little more time on Anthony, who's basically the best everything about the game, from his being the only person who treats Samus like the old friend and badass space heroine she is to his heroic aversion of the usual Token Minority stuff.

Then again, I guess you spent about as much time on him as Samus's narration did, so fair enough.

deltanine Since: Dec, 1969

Aug 15th 2015 at 9:56:07 AM

I have absolutely no idea why people claim that there's nothing wrong with Other M when in reality, as you and others like you have pointed out, there's so much wrong with it it's not even funny. Here's an entire playlist of videos I found that sum it up: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEcjNvww1mHdRzIXSFJebjJdBGz2Y7FXg

Also: https://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2010/09/15/sakamoto-says-metroid-revolves-around-his-impulses-audience-can-go-to-hell/ http://www.screwattack.com/news/arguments-other-ms-defense-and-why-they-are-all-bullshit

MaskedAndDangerous Since: Dec, 1969

Dec 21st 2015 at 5:21:13 PM

Sakamoto is NOT the father of Metroid. Gunpei Yukoi is.

Sakamoto is a butcher who got jealous that an American team's interpretation of Nintendo's flagship female lead was better received than his own, so he deliberately wrote a story that could not be reconciled with the most successful games in the series.

Scipion3 Since: Dec, 1969

Jan 17th 2019 at 1:53:01 AM

I\'ll be clear. Metroid Prime Federation Force is more cannon than Other M. A freaking assumed spinoff is more cannon that this thing