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Ideas for a New Metroid Game

JuicieJ

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Alright *Cracks knuckles* I'll try to make this as on topic as possible.

I don't think side scrolling has aged well. It works for indie games, and games in general that try to be retro. If they went for a retro, nostalgic feel for the next Metorid game, I'd be kind of fine with that. I just feel like gaming needs to stop living in the past and move on. 2D gaming, and sidescrollers really don't translate well into modern gaming. I don't think it would be easy to make a modern Metroid with old gaming styles. ALBW worked with an overhead camera view because it used those retro elements and was thriving for that nostalgic feel, but if you tried to make the same design and camera view with modern elements it wouldn't work.

I think gaming should move on. The nostalgic stuff was good for a bit, but those retro styled games have run their course, and are becoming overused. I think it's time to start experimenting and building up the modern gaming. I personally feel that gaming needs more innovation. Enough with these rehashes. I don't care if it's on the Wii U or the 3DS, Metroid feels more natural and free in a 3D environment.

I fail to see how a sidescrolling game in modern day can only succeed by feeling "retro". Look at two of the games I mentioned earlier, Donkey Kong Country Returns and Rayman Origins. These were sidescrollers, yet they were ANYTHING but retro. They had a seemingly endless supply of new ideas & new mechanics, and they never ONCE relied on nostalgia to get the job done. Rayman Legends took what Origins did and went even further with it, and DKC: Tropical Freeze looks to be doing the same with Returns. The original New Super Mario Bros. is also a pretty good testament to this. It brought back the sidescrolling Mario style and completely revamped it -- basically the same thing the aforementioned games did.

I'd like to know exactly why exactly you think sidescrolling is outdated given what I've just gone over. You act as if innovation is impossible unless a game is full-fledged 3D when the fact of the matter is that's just not true.
 

CynicalSquid

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to know exactly why exactly you think sidescrolling is outdated given what I've just gone over. You act as if innovation is impossible unless a game is full-fledged 3D when the fact of the matter is that's just not true.

I never said or meant to imply that. I didn't even mean to accuse all sidescrollers as nostalgia grabbers. It's mostly just 2D gaming, and 2D and sidescrolling gaming that rely on nostalgia. This isn't about power, but doing something new. All the games you listed (besides New Super Mario Bros.) were innovative from what I've seen (I never played them), and they also used 3D models and platforms. This isn't about power or other games using sidescrolling though.

I am not against a 3D sidescrolling Metroid. I just personally feel that Metroid works better in a 3D world. Metroid's glory is exploration, and having a fixed camera limits exploration. I'm not saying they are less adventurous. I just feel more free to explore if it's a 3D, non-linear world.
 

HeroofScotland

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I never said or meant to imply that. I didn't even mean to accuse all sidescrollers as nostalgia grabbers. It's mostly just 2D gaming, and 2D and sidescrolling gaming that rely on nostalgia. This isn't about power, but doing something new. All the games you listed (besides New Super Mario Bros.) were innovative from what I've seen (I never played them), and they also used 3D models and platforms. This isn't about power or other games using sidescrolling though.

I am not against a 3D sidescrolling Metroid. I just personally feel that Metroid works better in a 3D world. Metroid's glory is exploration, and having a fixed camera limits exploration. I'm not saying they are less adventurous. I just feel more free to explore if it's a 3D, non-linear world.
On the other hand, you're less likely to miss something in a 2D plain than on a 3D one. The first time I decided to 100% Prime 1, I had many frustrations when I was missing one missile tank which happened to be behind a breakable wall with no visual clue whatsoever.
 

JuicieJ

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I never said or meant to imply that. I didn't even mean to accuse all sidescrollers as nostalgia grabbers. It's mostly just 2D gaming, and 2D and sidescrolling gaming that rely on nostalgia. This isn't about power, but doing something new. All the games you listed (besides New Super Mario Bros.) were innovative from what I've seen (I never played them), and they also used 3D models and platforms. This isn't about power or other games using sidescrolling though.

I never tried to make it about power. I'm not He Who Shall Not Be Named, lol.

"Doing something new" is exactly what I was getting at. It's absolutely possible to do that with sidescrolling games, even with 2D sprites -- did you forget that's what Rayman Origins & Legends used? ;p

I am not against a 3D sidescrolling Metroid. I just personally feel that Metroid works better in a 3D world. Metroid's glory is exploration, and having a fixed camera limits exploration. I'm not saying they are less adventurous. I just feel more free to explore if it's a 3D, non-linear world.

Come on, bro, you can't deny that a 2.5D sidescroller Metroid akin to that of Zero Mission regarding exploration wouldn't be badass.
 

CynicalSquid

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On the other hand, you're less likely to miss something in a 2D plain than on a 3D one. The first time I decided to 100% Prime 1, I had many frustrations when I was missing one missile tank which happened to be behind a breakable wall with no visual clue whatsoever.
That's what makes exploration better in a tedious annoying way though. :P
I never tried to make it about power. I'm not He Who Shall Not Be Named, lol.

"Doing something new" is exactly what I was getting at. It's absolutely possible to do that with sidescrolling games, even with 2D sprites -- did you forget that's what Rayman Origins & Legends used? ;p

Come on, bro, you can't deny that a 2.5D sidescroller Metroid akin to that of Zero Mission regarding exploration wouldn't be badass.

I guess you're right? I have never played Rayman Origins & Legends or Zero Mission. XD

I'm not against it. I guess I was being a bit closed minded at first. :P Both sides have their advantages and disadvantages, but I guess it just an opinion based on preference. I just prefer exploration in 3D. :P
 
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Come on, bro, you can't deny that a 2.5D sidescroller Metroid akin to that of Zero Mission regarding exploration wouldn't be badass.

I would be so much more confident about the direction of the series, and just the health of the series in general, if this would happen. The thing about 2D exploration.... It's a different kind of animal when it comes to the Metroid series in the way that 2D exploration can give a completely different experience when compared with 3D. I can't say I would ever advocate a 2D side-scrolling Metroid game on the Wii U, just because the other styles of Metroid gameplay can have such greater success on a platform with better controls and ideas than what the current 3DS has to offer. But I DO think that classic Metroid can have a very nice home on handheld devices, just like Zero Mission, and even Fusion to an extend, did. The Castlevania games on GBA were amazing, and even the newest Lords of Shadow game for 3DS was okay (I'm a huge Castlevania fan, so I'm kind of blinded to its flaws I guess. I really liked playing it.) I don't think it's too much to ask for just another game like Zero Mission on 3DS.
 
Joined
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It's a little hard for me to say precisely what I want, because I think Nintendo has a lot of options for Metroid this generation which all could have good outcomes. Both Wii U and 3DS are capable of a pretty wide array of play styles, each with about as much merit as the other.

I believe a more traditional Metroid ,in the style of Super Metroid, Zero Mission, etc., is long overdue. Other M tried to at least compromise with those wanting a return to traditional Metroid, but it unfortunately fell short in a couple significant areas which basically left it in a sort of limbo between traditional and new (as opposed to reinventing the series and becoming a play style in its own right, like Metroid Prime did). Were Nintendo to take another crack at Other M's third-person gameplay, vast improvements over Other M would need to be made regarding the exploration and the environments and the story(writing?). The pure gameplay of Other M was actually very well done (save for the first-person segments), and improvements in that area would only be profit. The fact that this style could be achieved on Wii U or 3DS is a bonus as well. Personally, though, as I am an avid lover of 2D platformers, I would like a Super Metroid 2, and on 3DS. Seeing another 3D Metroid in third-person wouldn't break my heart, though, and I think the style has a lot of potential.

I'd also definitely like to see another game in the style of Prime. A couple of conditions of mine, though: 1) Samus is alone throughout most, if not all, of the game; 2) The environments are contained to one planet, or perhaps one main planet with some smaller, extra places such as space stations or moons or asteroids or the like, which could house expansions or minibosses; and 3) I'd prefer the story to be told indirectly, similarly to Metroid Prime. No real reason other than that I like that kind of storytelling and thought it worked well for what Metroid is. A 3D, first-person Metroid which takes full advantage of Wii U--beautiful, vast, full of secrets and adventure--is at the very top of my wishlist for this generation.

A couple of general preferences:

- Multiple interchangeable beam types
- Scanning remains in 3D styles
- No mandatory use of gyroscope

I'm confident Nintendo isn't stupid enough to let this masterpiece of a franchise die out, and I'm excited to see what the generation has in store for Metroid.

P.S. Those who are trying to say 2D gameplay is 'outdated' are silly.
 

Salem

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May 18, 2013
On the other hand, you're less likely to miss something in a 2D plain than on a 3D one. The first time I decided to 100% Prime 1, I had many frustrations when I was missing one missile tank which happened to be behind a breakable wall with no visual clue whatsoever.
Pretty much this.

As mush as I like Metroid Prime, I still like Super Metroid better. In Prime it takes me a while to just look at everything in a room just to make sure there isn't anything I need to do. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I just wanna move on but I then I realised there's something I missed.

Also, the scanning is really boring, I tried to do 100% completion, I never want to do that again.

In Super, the gameplay just feels faster. The side scrolling exploration just takes a lot less time.
 
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