CaptainDurangis made note of a little problem with Super Smash Bros. Brawl up until now--the problem being for us in particular. What might be any problem, you ask? Where is all the Metroid? So far, we have Samus as a character, a song, a Metroid assist trophy, and a stage for Norfair (info here). Seems like there should be a little more so such an old and well known series. He explains in one of his posts:

I'm still waiting for ANY playable Metroid characters. And no...Zero Suit Samus does not count as an extra character even if she's separate...it's still Samus. Ridley in one of his forms? Dark Samus? Something else? Come on...we need some representation here...this being one of Nintendo's top franchises.

Some more Metroid-themed ATs would be nice too. We know we've got a Metroid...what about Ninja Space Pirate, Etecoons and Dachoras, or a boss character? Actually, now that I think about it, an X Parasite AT could be pretty cool...it comes out and makes a bunch of copies of a character.

I don't really care. Metroid is just too under-represented.

My own opinions? I think it is still too early to be demanding much... though that stage or assist trophy up on the website would be some good coverage. I'm half expecting to see Dark Samus as a character in the end, what with all the attention she's been getting for the past two Metroid titles.

Labels: Metroid, ssbb

The title says it all. Everyone's favorite Metroid sprite comic, Metroid Third Derivative (Calculus joke for Metroid 3-Prime) has finally returned! After a long period of inactivity, I just checked back on the site and found that the comic had been updated quite a few times. Granted, the new comics weren't as classically funny as I remember M''' to be, but there were still some good ones, and it's nice to see the comic coming back.

Labels: calculus, comic, Metroid

Whether it be that dread message or just the general future of Metroid in general. Lets ask ourselves what we want in the next games to come. Anything come to mind?

Well, I know what comes to mind for quite a few of us at TSC. A game with very large scales... environments of unsurmountable composure! Something you may find interesting is that most of us--maybe like you--aren't looking for innovation. Just the same old greatness of Super Metroid and/or Metroid Prime. Might as well make a combination of those, and we're set. 2.5d, as some might call; Smash Bros. style... Capt. Durangis shows some good reasoning for this:

The amount of space that can be saved by switching to 2D, even 2.5D, should be used for fleshing out the rest of the game to fill it. Unfortunately, most 2D games don't take advantage of this. Indeed, they actually seem to be even less fleshed-out than their full 3D counterparts. A lot of high-poly, high-res 3D games fill up the entire software space, some even taking on multiple discs. Imagine a game with the graphical quality of Super Metroid taking up two discs - how massive would that game be?

But who's to say innovation wouldn't be good? Personally, I'll take anything they throw at me as long as it sticks to the Metroid formula, but I too have a deeper desire for something like Super Metroid on a much grander scale. Whether I really would like it that way or that I just hate being the one to have missed the glory days of Super Metroid (at least I played it), I don't know. At least we can be sure of one thing: Metroid is sticking around. Gearmaster makes a suitable argument for that.

I doubt anyone would let a big moneymaker drop off the charts. Someone, somewhere, and sometime will restore it to whatever glory it is assigned. As for me, I bet nintendo will take it again, after all they ARE a corporation and DO want money.

Labels: future, Metroid