Nintendo Europe has announced that Metroid II will be appearing on the Virtual Console section of the Nintendo 3DS eShop this Thursday and will be priced at £3.60/€4.00. Nintendo of America has yet to announce when the game is coming to North America.
Metroid II: Return of Samus will be released on the Japanese Nintendo 3DS eShop this week. The game will be available to Japanese gamers on September 28 for 400 yen. Metroid II is expected to come to the West before the end of the year.
Tokyo Hunter has posted some fantastic models of Zero Suit Samus and Samus standing proud in her Power Suit. I believe the models are currently only available for purchase in Japan but let’s hope someone brings them over to the West. They certainly look like must-have purchases.
Yosuke Hayashi, the head of Team Ninja, has urged Metroid fans to get behind the critically acclaimed franchise to ensure the series becomes even more successful. Hayashi paid tribute to the Metroid series in an exclusive video made by Shinesparkers to celebrate the series 25th anniversary.
“Happy anniversary to the Metroid series. I am personally a Metroid fan as well. I hope all us Metroid fans can get together and really support Metroid to make it even more successful in the future.”
Animal Crossing developer Katsuya Eguchi, a Nintendo veteran and producer on upcoming Wii U projects, has spoken to Kotaku about an unannounced Metroid title for the Wii U. Whilst it appears as though Eguchi was simply musing about the title, it’s extremely likely that there is a new Metroid game in the works at Nintendo. Well, he clearly knows more about the game than we do. What would you like to see from a new Metroid title on Wii U?
“I can’t give you any details now,” he said, “but I’m sure there will be a new Metroid release making use of the new controller, not just to control Samus and her ship but also to give the player a new source of information. Maybe the player is looking at the screen but has the information that they need to defeat the enemy in their hands.” Maybe you could hold the Wii controller up to the screen and scan your enemy, I suggested. “You could look through the screen and scan your enemy and find where it’s weakspot is.”
Acclaimed development studio Retro Studios are apparently hard at work creating a brand new title for Nintendo’s forthcoming home console which is currently referred to as Project Cafe.
The development studio behind the Metroid Prime franchise and most recently the superb Donkey Kong Country Returns have told The Paul Gale Network that they’re working on “a project everyone wants us to do.” Any guesses to what it is?
Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has expressed his disappointment at sales for the reasonably well received Metroid: Other M for the Nintendo Wii.
“We believe that it could be, should be a million unit title. We’re not going to get there, not through the holiday. And we are doing a lot of thinking as to why. Because it’s a great game. The consumer reaction because of the quality has been strong. We’re doing a lot of thinking about why we didn’t get there. I think the marketing was strong, advertising was very good, the social media we did was very positive. [It's] getting close to half a million.”
“First off, [I have] nothing but the greatest respect for the development team. Mr. Sakamoto did a wonderful job. His partnership with us in promoting the game was stellar. Team Ninja [is] absolutely fabulous. I’m not going to sit here and criticize a style of the game, but have I read the same feedback that said, broadly, that the portrayal of Samus felt different than how the player in the past had internalized the character? I’ve heard and read the same feedback. Do I think it’s warranted or not? I’m not quite sure yet… I don’t yet believe that that is the driving factor to the performance of the game.”
- Nintendo of America president, Reggie Fils-Aime
Yoshio Sakamoto, the co-creator behind the popular Metroid franchise has stated that he may make some significant changes to the next entry in the well received series if the fans demand it.
“I’m afraid that as of now it’s difficult for me to tell if future games will go in the same direction of Other M. What I’m really looking forward to is listening to the feedback of the players because we have challenged ourselves with something completely new.
“We really want to hear the reaction of the players and I’m not necessarily saying that we’ll try to incorporate any or all of the opinions of fans but we do want to hear their feedback and depending on them we might want to make some significant change to the future direction of the Metroid franchise or we might want to go ahead with the direction set forth by Other M., but unfortunately we have just launched the project and I have no idea what kind of reactions people will have.”
- Yoshio Sakamoto, Nintendo
The unexpected collaboration between Team Ninja and Nintendo is most definitely a success.
Many gamers out there were shocked when Nintendo announced that they were co-developing the next edition of the highly revered Metroid franchise with Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden developer, Team Ninja.
Thankfully I can say the fruits of both teams labour have paid off with an action packed adrenaline fueled rush that at times can feel relentless but always keeps the player entertained and effectively glued to the screen.
The controls at first feel rather strange as the game requires only the Wii remote without the nunchuck accessory. When in third person mode you use the Wii remote as if it was a NES pad you then point the Wii remote at your screen to enter first person mode. As I said it initially feels strange but you’ll soon become accustomed to the controls.
Graphically the game is one of the finest looking titles I’ve encountered on the Nintendo Wii only challenged by the sublime Super Mario Galaxy 2. The game feels exceptionally polished and it’s readily apparent that Team Ninja have seriously packed some punches when it comes to pushing the graphical capabilities of the Wii.
This is definitely a Metroid game at heart that successfully manages to fuse together elements of the Metroid Prime series and Super Metroid to create something that doesn’t feel tacked together but something elegant in its own right. I honestly can’t wait to see what both teams can deliver next.
9/10
Team Ninja’s hard work has paid off on Metroid: Other M with Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto stating that he couldn’t imagine a sequel to Other M being made without another collaboration with the Japanese development studio.
“As far as my opinion is concerned if we are going to make something similar to Metroid Other M in the future I cannot think that it would be possible for Nintendo to make it without collaborating with Team Ninja. After all they are that good a partner to us and we are pretty valuable to them as well.”
- Yoshio Sakamoto, Nintendo
