Metroid - The Black Sheep of Nintendo's Frachises?

Hmmm...

A surreal and moody atmosphere? Check

Scary and believable creatures? not sure

Actual Character Development? arguable

Game Plots that contradict with each other? Check

A protagonist with a personality, depth, and a true backstory? Check

A Grim and Gritty Environment? Check

No Comedic Value? Check

That pretty much sounds like Metroid. And ONLY Metroid 100%

...unless, I miss something...

Metroid never(as far as I can tell) had any comedic moments. It's arguably the most mature of All of Nintendo's franchises. The Character you play as isn't some blank slate avatar the player has to fill their shoes in(if it was, then they shouldn't expose her) and she looks like she doesn't fit in the universe on Nintendo. Her series has an actual, ongoing continuity, as opposed to those with minor continuity(Donkey Kong, Kirby), alternative continuity(Pokemon, Fire Emblem) or NO continuity whatsoever(Super Mario Bros, Mii on Wii; The Legend of Zelda should NOT have a continuity, considering how screwed up it is). Metroid is also one of the most realistic and believable franchises in Nintendo History. Dark, Gritty, if the trope "Real Is Brown" would apply in any Nintendo Title, it would be this series, Compare EVERYTHING this Series has to the other Nintendo Titles.

Someone at Destructoid also seems to have this thought. http://www.destructoid.com/blogs/BlindsideDork/metroid-black-sheep-of-nintendo-49604.phtml

Yep, I'm still here.

I'd say Fire Emblem is the grittiest and most realistic, despite being fantasy. Other than a few cute critters I guess there's no comic relief in Metroid.

It's certainly bigger outside of its native Japan, but the same can be said of Zelda.

As for the checklist... well, Zelda can get pretty grimdark when it feels like it, as can Kirby, Pokemon, and... really, Nintendo's pretty good at luring us in with bright colours and then slamming down the Surprise Creepy in general. Metroid's just more upfront about how weird and creepy it is. And the Space Pirates are hilarious in the Primes, so there at least we do have some admittedly dark comic relief.

edited 4th Dec '10 8:52:13 PM by SparkyLurkdragon

Hi asiacatdogblue.

[[color:#789922:>A suit that is powered by thinking really hard where you fight a purple fire breathing dragon is soooooo realistic.]]

Edit: FUCK! The coloring syntax worked on the wiki pages, why won't it work on the forums?

edited 4th Dec '10 9:08:40 PM by MedicoreNed

Okay. Yeah, I did it again, but all I got from there was debates of how much ONE Metroid game(Suprise Suprise, Other M) sucks and considered the black sheep of only the Metroid Series(a different black sheep than Return of Samus)

All right, some of the stuff is out there, but what is that compared to a plumber constantly saving a mushroom princess from a fire-breathing turtle with spikes?

Yep, I'm still here.

Don't forget the Morph Ball. Patent is pending!

Metroid's really about as ridiculous as any Nintendo game, it just has a fairly coherent internal rule system going.

Edit: Ninja'd.

Actually, I'm beginning to wonder if part of why I had such a hard time enjoying Other M's story was the above linked trope. Yeah, maybe it came about because Retro and Nintendo Japan were playing with different magic systems, so to speak, but for just one of a multitude of examples, the Space Pirates turning out to be dumb animals with a hive mind in their "natural state" was jarring as hell after the logs.

edited 4th Dec '10 9:08:19 PM by SparkyLurkdragon

Before we plunge into a Other M flamewar  ^*

, what is the defining factor(s) for being a black sheep of nintendo? If it's "dark" or "mature" Metroid does not fit this since Eternal Darkness and Geist are both M-rated games.

edited 4th Dec '10 9:18:56 PM by MedicoreNed

I'm pretty sure we meant Nintendo's franchises rather than individual games. By Nintendo's franchises we mean things that are likely to show up in Super Smash Bros. And not Snake or Sonic.

Nintendo acknowledges the existence both of those M-rated games if we're going by the chart in Brawl, that means Eternal Darkness and Geist are nintendo games. Granted both of those games aren't part of series, but that doesn't mean we should ignore them.

To be honest, most of Nintendo's series really do kinda creep me out a little at some point or another. They are mostly happy-go-lucky fare, but when things get weird, things get very weird indeed. Metroid just has a much higher creepy-to-happy ratio than the others.

Metroid is the Black Sheep out of the big four main franchises Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, [[black:Metroid]] or even their other main franchises Kirby, Star Fox, Pikmin, Punch Out...

Though going more obscure, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars/Battlion Wars, then more obscure Sin and Punishment and Metroid feels less like a black sheep in comparison. Though Advance Wars only recently became serious, Battalion Wars has been that way consistently, if only because its harder to water down war in real time battle at ground level as opposed to turn based battle on a grid.

edit Nintendo does hold the rights to Eternal Darkness and Geist, but seems to have no interest in turning either into a franchise, which is too bad. Geist could have been good with Wii controls and a competent developer, like the guys who did Dementium. Eternal Darkness was already good, all it needs is competent marketing this time around.

edited 4th Dec '10 9:54:11 PM by Cider

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Metroid isn't completely without humor. The Space Pirate logs in the Prime games, especially the second, contain some dark-yet-hilarious entries, and some of the dialogue in Prime 3 and Other M is pretty funny and snarky.

Anyway, yeah, Metroid is the most upfront about its maturity. Other series can be darker at times, but it's usually as Fridge Horror or Surprise Creepy.

edited 5th Dec '10 11:26:02 AM by Anomalocaris20

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!

Mah boi, I think you need some flame-proof armor, a flame-proof shield, and then get into a flame-proof starship and run away as fast as you can before the invariably angry Metroid fanboys/fangirls drop in to flame Other M for various reasons.

Personally, I have never played Other M, but since I was boring enough to read the manga, I find the breakdown that Samus had realistic in a sense that can only be obtained by reading the manga (there's a link on the Metroid page to one of the manga pages, I believe). That is all that I will say on that subject.

I do find Metroid to be a bit darker than the commonly known Nintendo franchises (at least, first-party style). That's not a bad thing, I find the changes to be refreshing. Now if only I had a Wii so that I can play the latest Metroid games (my most recent happens to be Hunters).

Edit: Huh. It vanished. Here's one picture, And here's the important one.

edited 5th Dec '10 2:32:56 PM by GeneralTommy

Still need More Dakka, and it's about time to start a real WAAAAAGH.

Oh wow, those images look ridiculous.

On the actual topic, Metroid is probably one of the few Nintendo games that doesn't have elements you'd see in a Fantasy. It's pure Sci-Fi. Even StarFox had Funny Animals.

It also tends to take itself more consistently seriously than other Nintendo games do, even if a lot of it was through the isolationist atmosphere.

Is it possible not to talk about Other M on this thread?

Yep, I'm still here.

Generally speaking, the longer a Metroid thread goes on on these forums, the chance that the thread begins to discuss Other M and devolve into a flame war approaches 1.

Still need More Dakka, and it's about time to start a real WAAAAAGH.

So let's eject this before it's too late?

Sakamoto's Law?

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!

Yeah, guess so.

Good idea. Of course, I doubt the Mods will pull the "Eject! EJECT!" lever because of the possibility. Some post thumping, yeah, but probably not a lock.

Still need More Dakka, and it's about time to start a real WAAAAAGH.

Furthermore, the rate of probability increases as Genre Savvy posters talk about the probability of Other M conversation, thus indirectly changing the subject to Other M conversation in the first place.

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

Why don't we all agree just to not speak of Other M subjectively?

You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!

x4 Well he is responsible for breaking the fanbase in half.....

@Candy Crazy:What do you mean by "more consistently seriously"?

Well, the series certainly is under-represented in the Super Smash Bros roster. Dark Samus, maybe? Anthony Higgs, after Other M's unequivocal success  ^*

? As much as I hate to agree with Sakurai's Hand Wave, Ridley is rather large to be fitting as a playable character.

Wait! I've got it! Fake Kraid!

Consider also that Metroid didn't get a release on the N64 when even F-Zero did.

Well, at least Nintendo doesn't pretend the franchise doesn't exist, as it seems to with Earth Bound/Mother.

edited 5th Dec '10 4:28:07 PM by Turtle

(´･ω･`)

Nintendo games tend to be silly and lighthearted... for the most part, anyway. Even Zelda tends to alternate between serious stories like Twilight Princess and silly ones like Wind Waker. Metroid, on the other hand, has few to no titles that could be called "silly". Prime Pinball doesn't count.

Fire Emblem falls into that category too, but I kind of forgot about that. It stil falls under the "contains Fantasy elements" part though.

edited 5th Dec '10 4:33:25 PM by CandyCrazy

I wouldn't call famicom detective club lighthearted.  ^*