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Metroid: Other M is a Wii video game released in 2010 by Nintendo. Developed with the cooperation of Team Ninja, Metroid: Other M bridges the gap between the video games Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion and is unrelated to the popular Metroid Prime video game series. It is the second Metroid game designed from the ground up for the Wii (the other being Metroid Prime 3: Corruption).

Plot

The game takes place between the games Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. The game will focus on the events that took place between the games and a character named Adam Malkovich who was mentioned in Fusion. What happened to Adam will be revealed in this game since he wasn't present in a physical form in Fusion. The lady at the end of the trailer will also be a character who has an important role in the story, and the developers of the game have confirmed that it is not a clone of Samus. During the game a character says "Remember me?", and the developers of the game have explained that this is a new character who is a soldier of Adam. Various villains from the Metroid universe also appear, such as Ridley and Mother Brain. The scene where Mother Brain destroys the Baby Metroid from Super Metroid is also present in CG form. A scene where Samus is a child is also found within the trailer.

Gameplay

Metroid: Other M is played with the Wii Remote held on its side, similarly to New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Samus is moved via the d-pad on the Wii Remote, while the rest of her actions can be performed by pressing the controller's several buttons. To go into first person mode, the player is required to point the Wii Remote at the screen. While in this perspective, Samus is capable of shooting missiles more precisely (used primarily for large enemies) and lock onto targets. The downside of going into this first person perspective is that the player is unable to move Samus while in this mode.

When attacking enemies, the player can swiftly dodge the oncoming attacks by pressing in the opposite direction on the d-pad. This will cause Samus to spectacularly avoid the attack. The player is also for the first time in the series able to execute melee attacks against enemies. To counterattack an enemy, the player must at the right moment press the 1 button on the remote.

Development

When the Wii was released, Yoshio Sakamoto of Nintendo SPD1 desired to revisit the Metroid franchise after a long hiatus. His previous venture with the series was the Game Boy Advance video game Metroid Fusion which, in 2002, was released alongside the Retro Studios developed Metroid Prime. His team, however, was not accustomed to developing 3D video games for Nintendo's home system, primarily being a handheld developer. With the approval of Nintendo, Sakamoto approached Team Ninja, asking for their assistance. The team, big Metroid fans, agreed to take on the challenge.

Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja took on the role of director. Upon seeing Hayashi for the first time, Sakamoto was shocked to see just how young he was. Hayashi proved himself, however, upon fully realizing what it was that Sakamoto wanted in his new Metroid game. Sakamoto explained that several people were confused after hearing his requests, but Hayashi understood him perfectly. Basically what Hayashi got out of his discussions with Sakamoto was that he wanted to develop an "NES game with the latest technology". This feeling was shared with the developers of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a game that, like Metroid: Other M, is played with the Wii Remote on its side and is very similar to the initial title.

With Team Ninja and their parent company Tecmo on board with the new project, the team also recruited D-Rockets, a relatively young company, to construct the cut-scenes in the game. Very few Nintendo-published titles have ever featured CGI cutscenes, though Other M is littered with them. After Sakamoto came to realize the talent of the studio, he also asked that they create the cut-scenes in the game that utilize the in-game graphics. In total they created over 2 hours of cut-scenes, all of which can be viewed as a single movie.

Very early on in the development of Other M, Sakamoto revealed that the game must be played exclusively with the Wii Remote and not with the Nunchuk attached to it. The development team revealed that they had established a "one Wii Remote only" rule. Hayashi revealed that this decision was made for various reasons. One was to evoke the sense that this is basically an updated Nintendo Entertainment System game. Perhaps the main reason was not to frighten those who are typically afraid of 3D action titles. Upon the realization that the game is played with very few buttons, it was assumed that players would feel more welcomed to playing it, especially those who had never touched a game in the series before.

Nintendo unveiled Metroid: Other M at the end of their E3 2009 press conference. The announcement was welcomed to thunderous applause. A year later at E3 2010, a second trailer was revealed during the press conference. The game was finally released on August 31, 2010 in North America, September 2, 2010 in Japan, and a day later in Europe.

Legacy

In the Nintendo 3DS video game Dead or Alive: Dimensions, a stage based on Metroid: Other M appears. Dimensions, like Other M, was developed by Team Ninja.

Gallery

  Main article: Metroid: Other M/gallery

External links

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