All Your History: Metroid Part 4 – The Cursed Franchise

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The Metroid series had always been the victim of a terrible paradox: while its games were routinely considered stellar, their sales were terrestrial at best.  The original Metroid had released on the Famicom Disk System, a platform almost nobody bought.  Super Metroid, hailed as one of the greatest of all 2D games, released at the very end of the Super Nintendo’s life.  Nintendo considered the series a bust, and didn’t make any Metroids for the Nintendo 64.  But in the early 2000s, they decided that they would give the struggling series to a struggling developer in Texas, Retro Studios.  Metroid couldn’t sell, and after four failed projects in a row, it was clear Retro couldn’t make a game.  But as it turned out, putting the two together was just crazy enough to work.  They released Metroid Prime in 2002 to absolutely glowing reviews, and it went on to be a defining title of the sixth console generation.  But for the first time, a Metroid game did more than just get good reviews: it actually sold.  Prime went on to be the second best-selling title on the GameCube, more than even the Mario and Zelda games.  At long last, it seemed like Metroid was ready to play in the big leagues.  But as it happened, even as Nintendo ordered more Metroid games than ever before, the Metroid curse returned with a vengeance.

-The Cursed Franchise-

After the success of Metroid Prime in 2002, Nintendo greenlit a slew of Metroid titles.  The first new game to come out wasn’t a new game at all.  Metroid: Zero Mission released for the Game Boy Advance in February 2004.  It was a loving recreation of the original Metroid, but with updated graphics and some new areas.  Appropriately enough, the game was made by the same team that had made the original Metroid almost twenty years earlier: Yoshio Sakamoto and the R&D1 studio.  It allowed younger gamers to experience Samus’ beginning.  But as it happened, this beginning was the end.  After Zero Mission finished production, Nintendo did some internal reorganzing, and as part of that process, R&D1 was shut down for good.  While nobody was fired, just reassigned, it was the end of the development house that had made Nintendo’s first ever video games.  GG.

But out West, Retro was putting the finishing touches on their sophomore effort.  Metroid Prime 2: Echoes released in November 2004, only two years after its predecessor, a record turnaround time for the series.  As such, the title largely followed in the first game’s footsteps, with the same basic gameplay and graphics.  Story-wise, the game was the darkest yet, involving our hero Samus dealing with horrific bio-weapons and yet more Metroid monsters.  And because every great hero needs an evil twin, the titular Metroid Prime has returned in the form of Dark Samus.  Similarly, Samus soon finds the planet itself has been split into light and dark sides, and both the exploration and the combat ended up revolving around this central mechanic.

But in addition to the 20+ hour campaign, Metroid Prime 2 would showcase an entirely new feature to the franchise: multiplayer.  About a year before Prime 1 released, Halo: Combat Evolved had hit Microsoft’s new Xbox console and forever proved that strong multiplayer was a key selling point for console games.  Now, Prime 2 would attempt to bring addicting shooter gameplay into Samus’ world.  It was further evidence that Metroid was Nintendo’s franchise for hardcore gamers.  Unfortunately, the end result was underwhelming and just felt tacked-on.  The only mode it had was deathmatch, and worst of all, it was split-screen only: you couldn’t take the game online.

And this was the Metroid curse: that exact same month, Halo 2 released on the Xbox bringing full online functionality and an entire suite of different multiplayer modes.  And if that wasn’t enough, the long-awaited PC shooter Half-Life 2 from Valve Software released the next day.  That made for three high-profile science-fiction shooters in one month.  Sadly, the hype machine favored Halo and Half-Life.  As such, Metroid did not sell as well as Nintendo had been expecting.  It didn’t matter that, once again, reviews were glowing and word of mouth was terrific.  Most gamers’ dollars went elsewhere.

Still, the series was already rolling and wasn’t about to stop.  Only a year later, a new Metroid Prime game released, though not the one most people were expecting.  Metroid Prime Pinball was… a pinball game.  Yup.  Of course, the title from Fuse Games did introduce enemies, weapons, and boss fights into the mix.  It was also the franchise’s debut on Nintendo’s new handheld system, the DS.

Meanwhile, in the June 2005 issue of Game Informer, it was revealed that Nintendo was also working on a 2D Metroid game for the DS, called Metroid Dread.  But Nintendo never formally announced the project, and as the years went by, nothing was ever seen of it.  It became the Big Foot of the Metroid series, with some fans claiming they’d seen screenshots of it, but with no real proof.  By now, the project has almost certainly been cancelled.  But some fans still believe.

However, in 2006 an actual game released.  Metroid Prime Hunters was a full-fledged 3D shooter-adventure game, all fit onto the DS by Nintendo Sotware Technology in Redmond, WA.  Oddly enough, the game’s reputation became the reverse of the norm: it was the campaign that was considered weak and the multiplayer that was considered first-rate.  Imagine that.

2006 was also supposed to see the release of the latest game from Retro Studios, to coincide with the launch of Nintendo’s boldest console to date: the motion-controlled Wii.  However, adapting the winning Prime formula to the Wii’s new remote took more time than expected, and the game didn’t release until August 2007.  Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was the conclusion of the series Retro had begun in 2002.  While its new motion control scheme turned off some long-time fans, critics praised it as the single-best FPS on the Wii.  Once again, Retro had proved that their games were the gold standard that all others would be judged by.

That said, many also stated that there was little brand-new in the game, other than the controls.  In some ways, it felt like Retro had fallen into a bit of a rut, rehashing the same basic principles that had made the original Prime such a success.  Of course, since that game was one of the most critically praised in history, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

They also learned from their mistakes, dropping the unpopular multiplayer.  But while the gamer couldn’t play with others, he wasn’t alone.  Samus Aran would be on her quest with several other bounty hunters this time around, each of whom would be voiced, although Samus remained silent.  While this was an attempt to break up the gameplay, it broke the series’ signature sense of isoloation.  The epic storyline finished with Samus’ final showdown with Dark Samus, who is, of course, the Metroid Prime itself.

For what it was worth, players could still scan items for more backstory.  One of these contained a message that claimed the “Project Dread” was near completion.  Many excited fans claimed this was proof that Metroid Dread was about to release.  It wasn’t.  Retro later claimed it was just an inside joke.  Fans who were fooled weren’t laughing.

All told, it was another stellar entrant into the now-classic series, with many critics citing it as the best game available for the Wii.  But as you can probably guess by now, none of that helped it sell.  Nintendo’s last reported figure was 1.3 million units sold globally — while the original Prime sold 1.5 million in the US alone.  Making matters worse, Metroid Prime 3 once again went up against an equally-numbered Halo game, Halo 3.  More hardcore gamers went with the HD multiplayer game than the motion-controlled single-player one.  Later that fall, the monster hit Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare would also drop, which would take even more dollars from the hardcore crowd.  Meanwhile, the casual crowd had plenty of other games to check out on the Wii, leaving Metroid only a small audience that was interested.

Sadly for those who did play it, Metroid Prime 3 was also Retro’s last Samus game, after five years of absolute excellence and some of the highest rated games ever made.  Nintendo has since put the studio onto other projects, including Donkey Kong Country Returns and Mario Kart 3DS.  It is widely believed that they are currently at work on a blockbuster title for Nintendo’s new console, the Wii U.  However, shortly after Prime 3 released, a number of Retro’s top people left to form their own company.  Whether or not Retro can continue at the same quality without them, only time will tell.

But just because Retro was done with Metroid didn’t mean Nintendo was.  At E3 2009, the company shocked the world by announcing that the next Metroid game would not be made internally, by third-party Team Ninja, famous for their Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden series.  The stated goal was to make Metroid a more mature game, while also focusing more on story.  Likely, this was an attempt to appeal more directly to the hardcore crowd.  The original game’s director, Yoshio Sakamoto, was producer on the new game, and in fact it was his decision to give it to Team Ninja, since he didn’t believe his own team had enough experience in 3D gaming.  In addition, another company named D-Rockets would be handling the many, many, many cutscenes of the game, which was called Metroid: Other M.

Team Ninja’s take would be a third-person action-platformer, with a somewhat old-school arcade vibe to it.  It would be a fast-paced, intense actioner perfect for gamers with twitchy trigger-fingers.  It would also feature more narrative and dialogue than any other game in the franchise, and for the first time, Samus would have a voice.  Unfortunately, Team Ninja’s genuine attempt to make the game more story-driven fell flat on its face.  The script and voice acting were terrible, and most fans found Samus’ wimpy new personality to be insulting to the heroine.  And like Corruption before it, it went completely against the sense of isolation that had defined the earlier series.  Nintendo’s internally developed games had never cared much about story — they’d always been about the gameplay.  In finally trying to break into narrative, Nintendo just embarrassed itself.

And gamers voted with their wallets, or rather, never showed up at the ballot.  By the end of 2010, Metroid: Other M had sold less than a million units — not good by any standard, but terrible when put up against Mario or Zelda titles on the Wii.  It puts into question the future of the Metroid series.  Despite having one of Nintendo’s most devoted fan bases, it is simply not good business.  Miyamoto’s children never fail sell through the roof, but Samus has never fared the same.  Rumor has it that Nintendo has  finally decided to put Metroid on back in the attic.  It doesn’t mean that Samus won’t return again; it just means it probably won’t be for a while.

That said, on August 6, 2011, Metroid celebrated 25 years of changing the art form.  From appealing to older gamers, to establishing alternate endings, to portraying a female hero who wasn’t objectified, the franchise has left a lasting impact on the broader gaming world.  Critics and fans alike recognize its gameplay and design to be among the very best the medium has yet produced, whether in two dimensions or three.  Nevertheless, it also stands as a warning that just being a good game isn’t enough.  The industry is an industry, and it won’t tolerate something that won’t sell.  Even for all that, Nintendo has continually supported Metroid, even when it didn’t seem like the best business decision.  And gaming as a whole is the better for it.  For the moment, the future is an inaccessible area.  But all Samus needs to get there is one more power-up.

SOURCES

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