The Future of Metroid

[Zephyr]

There are a lot of holes that could still be patched up in later games, they mention at least one more "ultimate race" (like the luminoth and chozo) a few times in the prime series, and the ultimate race in the hunters game (I can't recall what they're named) is obviously advanced. How come they all just "disappeared" maybe there's more the the universe than we know about.

Also, it'd be awesome if she went against the federation. I'm not sure if Hunters or Prime 3 comes first, but if Hunters came first then the easter egg at the end of Prime three *Spoilers*

Sylux's ship appears and follows Samus as she flies off this could possibly mean that there would be a whole game of Samus versus Sylux, which I think would be wicked, but since he hates the federation maybe he would persuade samus to fight back against them (provided some of this came after Fusion) Either way I think it would be a cool addition to the storyline.

We also don't know a lot about this "Alex" fella from Fusion, and are the X parasites really gone? Also, IIRC the prime games come between metroid 1 and 2, so at some point the pirates need to keep mutating the metroids to get the strains seen in Metroid 2.

[NNY]

Yeah, Metroid is one of the worst offenders when it comes to repeating the same powerups, IMO. Of course people would otherwise start to complain "But you can't have a metroid game without _____________".

Eh, we don't need the X-ray vision in a 2D Metroid.

[Thalzon]

I personally wouldn't remove any of the previous power-ups, I'd just add more. Getting rid of something that worked perfectly in a past game just seems like regression to me. *coughBRAWLcough*

And that's why you're not a game designer. Thankfully.

[Eten]

Let me combine a bit of the manga with all of the various Metroid games to sum up a cool story. The Chozo were a super highly advanced civilization, but as they are dieing off from their old age they intend to leave behind a legacy of galactic peace. They turn to the new and young Galactic Federation to do so. They also create a supercomputer, one operating on their home planet, Zebes, called Mother Brain, to be their caretaker. In their long history of exploration and discovery, they find the most vicious and devastating lifeform ever, the X-parasite, and create an equally formidable creature to keep the X-parasite at bay, the Metroid. Lastly, you have Samus, adopted by the Chozo in their very last years much by accident, who is charged with the very old, ancient relics from way back when the Chozo were still a young race.(read: it's old and is almost mystical compared to everything else which is why Samus can do what others can not)

The supercomputer AI the Chozo left behind(Mother Brain) adopts the Space Pirates as the race to carry out its plans for galactic peace(through military dominance and control, of course), also has its corrupted goals reaching into the Galactic Federation(primarily through the network of supercomputer AIs that they employ, technology based off of the design of Mother Brain). And so while both sides superficially appear to be opposed at one another, their goals and methods ultimately end up being the same and they are both ultimately run by the same corrupted strain that is part of the legacy of the Chozo. Both the Galactic Federation and Space Pirates have and will seek to exploit any and all technologies left behind by the Chozo. And note: The Galactic Federation isn't all bad, they're are plenty of those who are like Adam.

However, neither of them fully grasp just how dangerous either the Metroids or the X are and that they can't be controlled. (and that was already literally proven once with the Metroid hatchling attacking Mother Brain on Zebes.)

So, originally, Samus was only trying to end the threat the Metroids could have on galactic civilization, and was the only one truly capable of doing so due to her ancient Chozo powersuit(Zero Mission and Metroid II). After that, she focused on ending the threat of the Space Pirates.(The Prime games) Super Metroid is where she ended the major threat of Mother Brain and hit the Space Pirates home base, where she believed she finally ended it all. In Fusion, she finds a new enemy(which is the Chozo's old enemy), and realizes the corruption of the Galactic Federation.

You want the feeling of loneliness in bizarre alien worlds without not also seeing all that the Metroid universe has to offer? Don't let Samus have any friends. She's number 1 enemy to the Space Pirates, she's a criminal to the Galactic Federation, and she's the only one who understands that the Metroid and the X are too dangerous to not be eliminated.

So, for Metroid 5, let's say that the Galactic Federation gets their hands on some surviving X-parasites. You know, because in the end they're assholes and their strongest ally blowing up the X-parasites home planet doesn't make them listen, it just makes them pissed off, so they went and did specifically what you tried to prevent them to do. We can assume the Galactic Federation also still has access to Metroids, so knowing now that they are the natural enemies of the X, they use them on the X-parasites that they obviously are not going to be able to contain. The X-parasites provide an abundant amount of food for the Metroids, and so wherever the X-parasites expand the Metroids follow, both are heartless, and so there is a rapidly spreading great affliction throughout the Galactic Federation that Samus aims to stop, while being pursued by the Galactic Federation as a criminal.

Wipe out X-parasite breeding clusters and/or take on the SA-X like X that are targeting the Metroids, Metroids mop-up, axe the Metroids, while chasing down the corruption(the networked supercomputer AIs, of course, but Samus doesn't realize that, she'll be more worried about what would happen if the X assimilate the biological components and then the knowledge of one first) within the Federation, which obviously draws the Federation's ire. You know, patented kill-everything approach.

2D is better in terms of gameplay unless they come up with something new for the 3D realm, like the tools to make Samus more agile, and the pretty worlds that they make are more flexible for an agile Samus. Prime 3 was almost there in terms of being awesome in gameplay, stuff like using the X-ray visor plus the Nova(aka Wave) beam to bypass armor and headshot Space Pirate Commandos was a brilliant idea and more of that sort of visor+weapon mixing would be fun without making the game fall into the color-coded weapon style that was Prime 1.

[JCvgluvr]

And that's why you're not a game designer. Thankfully.

Please elaborate. Why do you disagree?

[NNY]

words

Wow, that wall of text is almost as bad as a Ctrl-Alt-Del "comic" strip.

Could you post the manga?

[Eten]

Wow, that wall of text is almost as bad as a Ctrl-Alt-Del "comic" strip.

Could you post the manga?

http://www.onemanga.com/Metroid/1/00-cover/

[Overflow]

Also, IIRC the prime games come between metroid 1 and 2, so at some point the pirates need to keep mutating the metroids to get the strains seen in Metroid 2.

Actually, the Metroids seen in metroid 2 are actually the natural growth stages of Metroids, which is probably why they're only found on SR388.

The space pirates did, however, manage to mutate metroids with phazon as seen in Prime 3.

Also, about the Sylux thing: A while back I was making my own storyboards for a Metroid movie, and I had created (Out of necessity for character development) a secondary character named Alex who stays behind in Samus' ship and helps her through her mission when possible. I had planned that when her ship is downed by space pirates after she escapes the self-destruct (as cued in Zero Mission) that only she escaped, and Alex was presumed dead.

After the mission was complete, the federation did a short clean up job on the surface and recovered Alex's body. They decided to try some tests on him (Without Samus' knowledge, of course) and kept him in cryostasis in an experimental body suit, in essence creating Sylux. He awakes at some point, destroys the lab and obtains forbidden and experimental technology and tracks down Samus, maybe out of spite, maybe because his brain was damaged and all he remembered was Samus and the pain he suffered from the crash and experiments, hating her as a result.

Just a little bit of trivia. I think that he should return as a larger role in Metroid 5, maybe even becoming a partner of Samus'.

[JCvgluvr]

think that he should return as a larger role in Metroid 5, maybe even becoming a partner of Samus'.

The idea of metroid games is the sense of loneliness you feel, exploring an alien world all alone, remember?

[Overflow]

The idea of metroid games is the sense of loneliness you feel, exploring an alien world all alone, remember?

Yes. I was thinking along the lines of the other hunters from Prime 3 or Admiral Dane, just occasionally showing up.

[Wintermute]

Nix on that.

Sense of loneliness, exploring an alien world all alone.

Emphasis on ALONE.

[Dhsu]

You might want to check your turntable because you're starting to repeat yourself.

[Zephyr]

I like the whole Alex is Sylux thing, nice story-writing.

[Thalzon]

Please elaborate. Why do you disagree?

By simply piling on the power-ups, the game would soon become glutted with them, and most of them would never get used enough to justify their existence in the game. Unless you're also proposing the game's length be increased to accomodate the power-ups, in which case... Good luck getting any developers on board with that idea.

Power-ups are nice, but if they're only used once or twice in an entire game you'll be left wondering why they even bothered to implement them. By limiting the number of power-ups to a maximum of 10, minimum of 4 (or whatever the gameplay demands in terms of flow, difficulty curve, risk/reward, etc), the developer can not only ensure they get enough use by the player, but can also get more creative with how they are implemented.

[JCvgluvr]

By simply piling on the power-ups, the game would soon become glutted with them, and most of them would never get used enough to justify their existence in the game. Unless you're also proposing the game's length be increased to accomodate the power-ups, in which case... Good luck getting any developers on board with that idea.

Power-ups are nice, but if they're only used once or twice in an entire game you'll be left wondering why they even bothered to implement them. By limiting the number of power-ups to a maximum of 10, minimum of 4 (or whatever the gameplay demands in terms of flow, difficulty curve, risk/reward, etc), the developer can not only ensure they get enough use by the player, but can also get more creative with how they are implemented.

Fair enough. I too wouldn't want too many power-ups in a game. But I also couldn't support the removal of, say, the Ice Beam, or the Speed Booster, or the Space Jump, or the Super Missile, or anything else that added to the overall gaming experience. That's what I was trying to get at.

[Overflow]

Fair enough. I too wouldn't want too many power-ups in a game. But I also couldn't support the removal of, say, the Ice Beam, or the Speed Booster, or the Space Jump, or the Super Missile, or anything else that added to the overall gaming experience. That's what I was trying to get at.

If they could also bring back the spider ball in all its original glory...

Maybe they could even implement a couple new ideas, like a pushing mechanic like in the fangame Metroid SR388.

[Eten]

Pushing mechanics are pretty bland, I'd say. Why make me do it? I say either A)Leave those little dungeon puzzles to Zelda, 2)Find some Samus-fancy way to climb up the shaft, or finally, blow it up if it's in the way with the giant assortment of weaponry you have.

Zero Mission+Grapple Beam would the winning formula of item upgrades imho, and Super Metroid's momentum physics makes it the best of the 2D Metroids. Fusion/ZM had the best control scheme with the missile toggle(although lacking the dash button control). The X-ray visor is pretty worthless in the end for the 2D games, but the Prime game's use of visors and Samus's helmet HUD are nice.

[Wintermute]

You might want to check your turntable because you're starting to repeat yourself.

ricka-ricka-ricka ALONE

[NNY]

Twilight Princess is a prime example of a game full of weapons that you only use once or twice and never need again.

[Eten]

Twilight Princess is a prime example of a game full of weapons that you only use once or twice and never need again.

Made a lot of the items lose their neato factor. =/

[Shadow Wolf]

I'm not gonna get too into this conversation because I love Metroid and all my nerd will fall out all over the place if I do. However. Metroid Prime makes it very clear that the Meta Ridley is the exact same Ridley from the original Metroid, with numerous enhancements. After that point, it's difficult to tell if the Ridley in all the ensuing games is the same one.

As far as whether or not the Space Pirates have been completely obliterated, the first Pirate Data scan from Prime could be an interesting story hook:

Fall Of Zebes

Log 09.992.3

Zebes has fallen. All ground personnel are presumed dead, either killed by the

Hunter clad in metal or in the subsequent destruction of the underground

facilities. Our research frigates Orpheon, Siriacus and Vol Paragom where in

orbit at zero hour and managed to retreat. Frigate Orpheon is now docked at

Vortex Outpost. Orpheon's cargo appears to have a 100% survival rate; Metroids

are healthy but on restricted feeding schedules due to uncertain supply status.

We are ready to begin research on the Metroids and other promising life-forms.

Security status remains at Code Blue; no signs of pursuit from the Hunter.

Since this scan is found on the dead frigate at the beginning of Prime 1, it's safe to assume it's not Orpheon, Vol Paragom, or Siriacus. You have 3 huge frigates worth of Space Pirates here. Presumably, one of them went off and found Aether, explaining the Space Pirate presence in the second game. Orpheon was at Vortex Outpost, wherever the hell that is. The games never say. That still leaves the actions of at least one frigate theoretically unaccounted for. Where'd they go? You could do a lot with that, even tying it in after Fusion.

The point is, these stories don't actually exist yet. Unless they go in with the specific intent of making a continuing series, like Retro did with the Prime story arc, they simply find an interesting place for a hook later. There are countless little tidbits in the scans throughout the Prime games that would make for amazing side stories and new games. Unfortunately, the coolest of these ideas will probably never be capitalized on, because as far as story, Nintendo likes to stick with the tried and true ad nauseum when it comes to their games. It;s unfortunate, because Retro gave us more lore and unfinished business to wonder about with the Prime series than any other game.

[Strike911]

Sorry to burst the bubble but the next Metroid will be a small collection of mini/party games.

You heard it here first folks.

@ Torzelan!!

DUDE! I have that one from when I was a kid but in English, but it didn't come with a tape or anything! I also have a Zelda one, same style.

That makes me ridiculously happy.

[Thalzon]

Uh, Frigate Orpheon is the first area in Prime 1. It's named as much in-game, I believe (it later crashes onto Tallon IV in a swamp area). Even if it isn't clearly defined in Prime 1, Frigate Orpheon is a stage in Brawl, and has the Parasite Queen in it there.

[Tables]

incoherent idea:

okay so you know how in the new castlevania game you don't get to go to dracs castle until half way through the game and it ends up being even better?

well get this how apart a game it starts all gay like metroid prime 3 with a bunch of buddies and stuff but then they ALL DIE OF DECOMPRESSION like half an hour in or shit I dunno

then its like ho shit I'm all alone this time around

its even more 'whoa' when you've had something and it's taken away then when you start with nothing you dig

[Gollgagh]

except it would make no sense whatsoever to just give Samus a bunch of allies just to take them away immediately