Metroid

Sorry to go back to a previous topic, but I just wanted to point this out: how many people in this thread have fully memorized the entire surface of the planet Earth, as well as all subterannean layouts? Zebes is not a small town. It is a planet. The only justification required for her having to explore the place again is that the game takes place in a part of Zebes whose layout has not been committed to her memory.

My Tumblr. Currently liveblogging Haruhi Suzumiya and revisiting Danganronpa V3.

Except the area around the Tourian complex, where most of the game takes place, was actually her home. Most of Crateria, Tourian, and Brinstar at least.

edited 24th Nov '13 7:00:23 PM by unnoun

The layout of Zebes in the game obviously isn't what the interior would have been like in reality. Otherwise that means Samus moved solely in a two-dimensional plane the entire time and didn't walk around columns that were blocking her path.

We're getting a touch too literal here...

My original point was that even if you take your time, the games rarely take longer than 5-10 hours depending on your completion rate (not counting game-overs, which would definitely be non-canon). Samus' missions are not particularly long, like deep-cover infiltration ops or something.

What says which aspect is exaggerated and which isn't?

So, question.

Where does the fan nickname of "Colonel Burrito" for the grouchy colonel at the end of Other M come from? All that a Google search brought up was this thread (Where he was mentioned earlier) and a thread on a Metroid forum that doesn't provide any context for the nickname either (Though it calls his troops the Taco Squadron, too).

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

Retsuprae, I think.

Oh.

I generally don't like using memes/injokes spawned from LP'ers and the like, though I think I'll make an exception here and consider Colonel Burrito my nickname for him.

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

Metroid has left us with a little world building and a lot of unanswered questions. You know what would be a cool setting for a future game?

A one-off scan from the first Metroid Prime. Imagine the kinds of aliens that could adapt to life in such an environment and what even a small sliver of the world would be like to explore. I am thinking the Metroidvania equivalent of a Rogue Like.

It would also be nice to get some more information on Miteralis, the sentient gaseous global exterminator virus, though they should probably hold off on actually encountering it for a little while, after we have a higher volume of games with antagonists not like phazon or the X parasites. (Nothing suggests Miteralis alters victims but it still seems like a remarkably un-personal adversary, just like X and Phazon were and unlike the Space Pirates, Ing, Gorea or even MB, who you could actually shoot in the face). Or maybe they could turn the tables on us an reveal Miteralis is actually and ally to Samus? And she need to help it exterminate some planets!

Another idea for another game where Samus flies around in her gunship like Hunters or Corruption that place on Zebes, or rather, it takes places on the two moons of Zebes that now orbit each other while orbiting the star Zebes just orbited while surrounded by debris that used to be Zebes. That would be three initial places Samus could touch her ship down, perhaps enemy bases, abandoned labs or whatever would be a good reason for Samus to be there at each one, her choosing which to start at and eventually gathering enough data for further places to fly to.

Then there is the part of Metroid that has always been there but we have never gotten a chance to stomp around on, Earth! Earth invaded by Space Pirates, Metroids or X parasites! Or maybe an attack from an Outside-Context Villain? An unexpected assault from beneath the Earth, Moleman meets the tripods from the Tom Cruise War of the Worlds Remake? Samus investigating the aftermath of a Super Volcano eruption and venturing into the magma filled depths with her gravity suit to discovers something sinister? See how architecture has advanced in the space age and see it toppled, torn apart, infested!

Miteralis is a funny concept.

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

More gunship gameplay sounds great. I'd certainly clamor for a piloting level. Prime 3 hinted at it, but now it'd finally be time.

Not sure about visiting Earth. Part of the coolness of Metroid is that the places we visit are so obscure and secret, whether as Earth is a big center of life and attention. But a level in a high tech city could be cool. As long as it's not as long and confusing as the Sanctuary Fortress.

We already have a taste of that sort of thing- Norion is a pretty Earth-like planet controlled by the GF.

edited 6th Jan '14 6:52:53 PM by Pulse

I sure said that!

It'd be nice to do some actual bounty hunting.

Like track guys down and cuff them. Or missile them in the face, whatever.

Oh really when?

I prefer it when Metroid stays away from the Galactic Federation. They tend to be the most boring part of the series for me.

That planet Oormine II though... I would love to see that, and I would love to see just what mistakes reduced it to that nuclear wasteland.

Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.

Plot twist. Turns out Ridley was actually just a bounty hunter that just got hired by the pirates so much they considered him their general. Now some wacky employer has hired both of them and wants them to team up to retrieve *insert MacGuffin here*.

I still want to see Metroid 5: Dread. Preferably a 3DS game that's similar to Fusion and Zero Mission while being 3D like Other M. I want a Super Metroid or Prime style overworld though. No more empty hallways or linear mission structure.

Yeah, but not hideously in first-person like Metroid Hunters. It looks and controls godawful on a handheld.

I'd honestly rather have a 2.5D game in the style of Super, to be honest. 3D Metroid worked so well in first-person and so poorly in third...

edited 6th Jan '14 9:14:58 PM by Pulse

I sure said that!

Really? I was okay with the basic control scheme and setup of the third person. The only things that bothered me were the authorization mechanic, the linearity, and the first person. Take that stuff out and I think you've got a decent base for a 2D style Metroid in a 3D world.

Ugh...yeah. No first person, period. Hunters is my least favorite Metroid for a reason. It doesn't work on a handheld and I'd like to see what an Other M style game without it would be like.

edited 6th Jan '14 9:22:03 PM by Kostya

I have a little harder time enjoying Fusion nowadays. Before the arbitrarily locked doors were just something I got used to. Now I just find them aggravating, as if I will get lost or something when most of the map is given to me right off the bat.

Anyway, I dispute Hunters looking or controlling awfully. Yes, it is a visual downgrade from the Game Cube games but I can honestly say I did not care. Nothing was overly blocky, foggy or unrecognizable. The DS as a whole has the best first person shooter controls I ever saw on a console up until the Wii (discounting arcade peripherals). The single player had a tacked on waterdown Prime feeling to it though, which Corruption utterly humiliated later. I think NST should have given access to the entire map from the start, since the only thing you find are new weapons, so they might as well have gone for a completely open ended experience. Alternatively, they could have kept their railroading if they had told given more depth to the story or given the hunters a more tangible rolll (as said, Prime 3 did both of these things better) Secondly, we should have only fought the Slench and Cretapid twice a piece. A couple more boss types would have been welcome. Also, it would have been nice if half the enemies were not using watered down versions of the hunter affinity weapons (or, alternatively, there was some justification for it)

Anyway, I have to disagree about Federation space being the most boring parts of the series. Norion was not a whole lot to look at, admittedly but the Valhalla was awesomely creepy (unless you decided to try and clean it out "early", then it could suck). I will even say the BSL was alright, locked doors aside...but that may have more to do with the fact the X were on it. Otherwise it probably would have been a downgraded version of Zebes.

I thought the first person in Hunters worked fine. That wasn't the problem.

And I think another problem with Other M was the controls. Being limited to the Wiimote alone and stuff.

Of course, I don't think any of the problems were with the first person perspective itself.

Also, the Sense Move and finishers. Cool concept. Dumb execution.

edited 7th Jan '14 6:07:43 AM by unnoun

I recall a reviewer from Nintendo Power saying that Hunters' control scheme was pretty good, but needed an option to be able to switch between control pad aiming and stylus aiming whenever you wanted, instead of having to go back to your ship to flip them.

That's true. And there are, in fact, a handful of problems stemming from the relatively small number of buttons. Of course, the 3DS has a circle pad now. And there's the circle pad pro.

@Indirect: I suppose graphics are a matter of taste, but I find block low-res 3D games visually hideous. I don't have the same problem with pixelated 2D games. Eh.

As for the controls, FPS's and portable games do not mix well. It's just awkward and uncomfortable on a handheld. It's really unpleasant to play like that, whether or not it's difficult to use. Much better suited on the PC and consoles.

I have to say that the touch screen aiming worked well though. Ignoring the ergonomics of the DS design itself, the actual controls were rather gorgeous.