Will Tuttle asks: My first question is a two-parter. First, did Nintendo give any explanation about what "Other M" is supposed to mean? Second, I think I need someone to explain the whole perspective thing. Do you guys consider this a 2D game or a 3D game?
Brian Altano: While Nintendo didn't outright define its new Metroid title, the game's intro video depicting Samus as she defeats the Super Metroid era Mother Brain leads me to believe that the "other M" is another Mother Brain entirely. Regardless, it's a less hamfisted title than say, "Metroids From Anutha Mutha" because that sounds like an intergalactic Maury Povich episode. As for the perspective thing, we were pretty surprised when the intro video ended and the screen told us to pick up the Wii Remote and hold it sideways like we were playing an NES game. Samus is controlled with the d-pad, jumps and attacks with the one and two buttons and rolls into a morph ball with a press of the A button.
After a few quick battles, the tutorial asked us to hold the B button and point the Wiimote at the screen, instantly bringing up the familiar Metroid Prime-esque visor HUD as we shot missiles from a first-person perspective. You'll be switching between these two perspectives quite frequently as you solve environmental puzzles or target enemy weak points during big boss battles. Imagine Shadow Complex with an FPS button, or better, imagine Super Metroid and Metroid Prime having a baby. Or just imagine the baby; them actually conceiving it would be horrifying.
Will asks: So wait, you can switch between side-scrolling and first-person at any time, or just when the game sees fit to offer the choice? Are there any benefits to playing one way or the other?
Anthony Gallegos: From the part we checked out it seemed you always had the option to switch to first-person on the fly. You'll sometimes have to use it -- such as to fire missiles -- but it also appears to be implemented as a method to scan the environments, a la the Metroid Prime series. One thing that's important to note, however, is that they don't allow you to move when you're in the first-person perspective. The FPS mode is useful for specific instances, but Other M is largely a third-person game where you follow Samus rather than see through her eyes.
Ryan Scott: And if you ask me, that's a smart decision. Maybe it's just my pro-third-person bias talking, but I feel like this series kind of lost its way somewhere around Metroid Prime 2. The third-person viewpoint just feels more like what Metroid is supposed to be, and the comparatively sparse first-person sequences work well for missile barrages and environmental scans. And, as Brian indicated, this acts as a direct sequel to Super Metroid; I think this was a smart narrative choice, and I'm intrigued to find out what the "Other M" is. Personally -- given Samus' deep attachment to the Metroid hatchling that Mother Brain mauled at the end of Super Metroid (something that Other M is obviously set to elaborate on) -- I'm wondering if the subtitle will effectively turn out to be an anagram for "Mother."
Will asks: First, that's the crappiest anagram ever. Second, does the game follow the "Metroidvania" formula of exploration followed by item collection followed by backtracking?
Anthony: We only got to play about 20 minutes of the game, but in that short time we did complete an objective and then backtrack all the way to where we came from in order to receive another mission. So yeah, I would wager you can expect a lot of backtracking.
What I think bears further discussion, though, is the way they work the traditional Metroid/Castlevania removal of all your super powers -- Castroiding, as I like to say -- into the game. Instead of having Samus lose her powers due to some weird accident or what have you, she instead is granted "permission" to use her powers by a Federation commanding officer. Why the hell she has to listen to the orders of some military yahoo is anyone's guess, but she listens dutifully, and in turn we get to hear ridiculous lines like, "You do not currently have permission to use Super Bombs," uttered in a far too serious tone.
Ryan: Yeah, the game kicks off with Samus answering a distress call originating from a decommissioned space station; a group of her old military buddies is holed up there looking for survivors after some sort of unexplained (i.e. "Metroid") attack, and Samus -- freelance bounty hunter, mind you -- falls into lockstep with them after her former superior starts getting all emo. So she obeys the gamey-game-game orders to refrain from using certain weapons, despite strutting around in the Iron Man Mk. XXVIII. They even make it a key point to underscore how devastating her power bombs are, and how she should never, ever use them because of how catastrophic the resulting destruction would be. HMMMMM.
Will asks: Yep, sounds like a Metroid game! Just curious, did you guys ask why Nintendo's releasing it in the summer? That's usually a bad time to put something out.
Brian says: Well the Metroid games in generally are never really known for being epic blockbusters in the sales charts, so I assume Nintendo's getting the game out quickly because Wii owners have been starved for first-party software like this for ages now. I was pretty surprised to see that Other M had come so far along considering we hadn't seen or heard anything about it since last year's E3 trailer, and even that inspired more questions than anticipation. But Nintendo has a strong history of releasing its big-name games "when they're ready," so I wouldn't be shocked to see it get delayed by a few months, mostly because I'd be too busy weeping to be shocked.
Will asks: Finally, did you guys get to fight any bosses in your demo? The boss fights were always my favorite part of the early Metroid games, so I'm hopeful they're just as awesome this time out.
Ryan says: I fought a big purple people-eater with a giant eyeball that came to life and turned into a creepy-crawly mutant eyeball after I bombarded the host body with missiles. It really amounted to a "here's how to use your missiles" tutorial, but it was an okay first boss. As long as we don't get any so-infuriating-I'm-about-to-literally-snap-my-disc-in-half fights like Metroid Prime's ice boss (oh god, the ice boss), I'm happy.
Oh, and it needs more "Samus got a power-up so we're playing the rad Metroid music" music. Get on that, Nintendo.
