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[bomblord1]

The recent E3 2015 backlash has been giving some strong GC era WW vibes. However it also got me thinking about the Prime 1 reveal. The WW backlash is well documented and there are plenty of sources that have archived the general reaction. However Metroid is oddly absent from similar discussions.

I might be wrong but I can't help but feel that the overall reaction to having an unknown studio take a side scrolling platformer First Person would have been negative. Even today I see a few people who seem to be upset that Metroid went first person.

I've tried poking around the Gaming Age forum archives and using the wayback machine but I can't find anything specific. Were any of you around here back then who could comment on the general reaction?

 

[bigkrev]

It wasn't really bad at all, because they also announced Metroid Fusion (which is the game everyone wanted) at the same time

 

[massoluk]

If my mind isn't playing trick on me, the skepticism and hostility to the changes never went away until the very first review came in.

 

[Übermatik]

It wasn't overwhelmingly positive, but was far form the Federation Force reaction.

I remember most negative opinions changed upon release, however... It was critically acclaimed and is an outstanding game even today.

 

[Servbot24]

There was a lot of skepticism, but people were open to trying it.

That said, if you're making this thread because of the MP:FF reaction, they are in no way comparable.

 

[Hayama Akito]

"Eww Metroid FPS, Nintendo is doomed"

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

Since Halo came out the year before, I assume many people were pissed that it had lock-on aiming.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

I remember not being happy about it, and I didn't play the game until the Trilogy came out for the Wii.

It's one of the best games I have ever played, I need to play 2 and 3 someday too.

 

[Golgo 13]

I wasn't on GAF that long ago but I was an active member on other game forums. The reaction was disappointment and skepticism, generally speaking. Taking a beloved franchise that worked so well in 2d and putting into first person (helmed by a studio no one had heard of, mind you) seemed like a really bizarre mistake. People thought it'd ruin the franchise. Of course, what followed was one of the best games ever made, but no one had any idea it would turn out that way.

 

[60EffPeeEss]

I wasn't paying attention to media back then, but at least Prime was still featuring Samus Aran in a recognisable form. It was still quite Metroid, whereas this spin-off is quite far apart from it.

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

Much like the Wind Waker reveal, this is in no way comparable to Federation Force.

 

[Moff]

if I remember correctly the game was not hyped very much until the first reviews. a bit similiar to goldeneye.

 

[TheSpaceBetween]

It wasn't really bad at all, because they also announced Metroid Fusion (which is the game everyone wanted) at the same time

This.

There was a lot of skepticism, but people were open to trying it.

That said, if you're making this thread because of the MP:FF reaction, they are in no way comparable.

And this.

 

[SerTapTap]

I remember not being happy about it, and I didn't play the game until the Trilogy came out for the Wii.

It's one of the best games I have ever played, I need to play 2 and 3 someday too.

Whaaaaat play that shit. Not the most popular opinion, but 2 is my favorite in the series, definitely a looker and does some cool stuff. 3 is still great.

 

[Servbot24]

"Eww Metroid FPS, Nintendo is doomed"

You really trying to defend this?

 

[Bloodrage]

Weird at first since it was my first FPS.

 

[Neon_Icarus]

When was Prime really revealed though? There was a Metroid segment in the very first Gamecube trailer reel, but that was prerendered and didn't really say much about the game. I think it was around that time that we found out it was being made by Retro.

 

[Brandon F]

If my mind isn't playing trick on me, the skepticism and hostility to the changes never went away until the very first review came in.

I also recall a shitstorm, on this very forum even, until close to release. Lessened by the simultaneous reveal of fusion and the sheer fact that prime looked astounding visually with plenty of franchise callbacks, but the skepticism was palpable, particularly stemming from the yet unknown western team at retro.

 

[kiunchbb]

People hate it, not only it turned into a fps, it has "auto aim", and the concept of scanning stuffs aunt really popular.

People think of it as fps for children.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Whaaaaat play that shit. Not the most popular opinion, but 2 is my favorite in the series, definitely a looker and does some cool stuff. 3 is still great.

I played Prime 1 before checking out Other M, let's just say that I needed a long break(still on it) after that game.

 

[Servbot24]

People hate it, not only it turned into a fps, it has "auto aim", and the concept of scanning stuffs aunt really popular.

People think of it as fps for children.

Who are these people?

Most people think of it as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) games ever created.

 

[epmode]

GAF was definitely down on Prime until the moment it was released. Almost everyone expected it to be garbage. At best we hoped for a decent game that missed the point of Metroid. Prime being fuckawesome was the best kind of surprise.

I still don't think it's comparable to the situation with Federation Force.

 

[CalamityPixel]

If I remember correctly, a lot of people were complaining about it not being 2D anymore.

 

[baconcow]

Metroid Prime Hunters already was meh. I could understand comparing it to Metroid Prime if that wasn't the first 3D Metroid attempt.

 

[TedMilk]

I was skeptical as hell until I played it at a friend's house.

It made me buy a Gamecube to play it and now it's my favorite game of all time.

 

[Synth]

I wasn't really posting on forums at the time, but I remember when I first saw the trailers for Metroid Prime at E3, my first reaction to it was "Holy Shit!". To some extent, it seemed like the logical evolution for the IP to take (preserving 2D gameplay wasn't much of a thing back then), and it just simply looked like it would be a better game than pretty much everything else at the time (I first saw a trailer for Halo around the same time and thought it looked comparatively shit).

I think not fearing that most of my favourite gaming series were dead made me more receptive to different takes on an IP.

 

[Glowsquid]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=39880308&postcount=151

Well, now that we have Unrea... Oops, Metroid on the way, who wants to take
bets on how much it'll suck? It's clearly totally divergant from everything
that made the past Metroid games worth playing.

Bring it on. Just don't ever call it Metroid again.

Well, it may be a premature judgment, but there has been A LOT of talk about
the trouble they've been having with this game. It's my understanding that
they only reason that it even is a first person game is because that's the
only way they could get it to not suck. I wouldn't be surprised if it
totally changes between now and release. On the bright side, Nintendo would
never release a game unless they loved it, so chances are, whatever form
this game comes out in, it will be fairly solid.

but the big difference is that when those games made the jump to 3D they were
still developed by Nintendo, Metroid is being made by a shitty US developer

That, and it'll play nothign lime Metroid. Great Unreal MOD tho.

m surprised no one is talking about the announcement that the new
Metroid games is going to be a first-person shooter...

I hope I'm not the only one extremely disappointed by this news. Even
worse is the fact that the game was being developed as third person
game but Nintendo forced Retro Studios to change it to a first person
shooter because they don't like the camera issues that pop up in third
person action games....last I checked Metroid was an adventure game
with more of a focus on exploration than button mashing.

Metroid is probably dead as a 'creative' line anyway. The driving
force behind the series who kept it all tied together to some overall
vision, has passed away. It's now just a license for Nintendo to
milk and farm out.

And the simple truth is that a FPS perspective will require the
loss of a lot of the things that define a Metroid game as a Metroid
game. (Well, the gameplay things that fit a 'Samus' game.
Technically you can make a Metroid game with only Metroid carrying
over and an entirely new protagonist who fights and controls
entirely different.)

That's why I say that it will probably be a good or even great game
but it just isn't going to be a Metroid game. They'd be better off
creating a new franchise if they want to create a sci-fi FPS/adventure
game. Hell, they already have Perfect Dark which is supposedly going
to be a launch title. That said, if they were still planning on making
a more traditional Metroid game I'd be all for a Metroid FPS in the
same way that it'd be cool to see Zelda turned into a fighting game
knowing that a proper installment is forthcoming.

 

[Hayama Akito]

You really trying to defend this?

Not at all, it was the feeling of those years. At the time Halo was hugely popular and some people consider Nintendo making a FPS with a non-Japanese company was a "sellout" move. People was waiting for a new Metroid for so much time, and even if Fusion was pretty decent a FPS on Gamecube was not expected at all.

 

[akidnamededdy]

I think most of you are misremembering the backlash the Prime reveal received at the time. They took Metroid and turned it into an FPS developed by a bunch of Americans. In TEXAS.

Spoiler

Of course at the time many people didn't realize that Texas is the best state. Some still don't. It ain't easy being number one.

People were more than a little worried before the game actually came out.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Who are these people?

Most people think of it as one of the greatest (if not the greatest) games ever created.

These were reactions before the game was released.

 

[Servbot24]

These were reactions before the game was released.

The post I was replying to was speaking in present tense, but maybe that was on accident

 

[bomblord1]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=39880308&postcount=151

Great stuff

 

[Vanillalite]

There was a lot of skepticism because of what we knew and what looked look bad.

It's concept was cool though (even if some weren't sold on it not being a side scroller). It was just the execution was bad. We know this because even Nintendo hire ups in Japan thought so. That's why they pushed so hard on fixing shit with so much oversight from within the rest of Nintendo outside of Retro studios proper.

 

[tanooki27]

people have always been reactionary and shitty when Nintendo shows something a bit different.

 

[Squall5042]

You really trying to defend this?

Who would defend a terrible screenshot?

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

I didn't browse gaf in 2000, but I remember the consensus everywhere I went being that the game would be hot garbage. It didn't look great in the first video we got, and retro had been cancelling horrible looking games (they had like 5 in development) one after the other (even raven blade that didn't look too bad) amid rumours of massive mismanagement, with nintendo having to take direct control of the studio. Nintendo magazines seemed pretty lukewarm on it too.

People were all saying "why the hell are THESE guys making this awful looking metroid". It was shocking when it released and was actually good.

people have always been reactionary and shitty when Nintendo shows something a bit different.

This was entirely different, the scepticism was due to the studio making it.

 

[Soulflarz]

People hate it, not only it turned into a fps, it has "auto aim", and the concept of scanning stuffs aunt really popular.

People think of it as fps for children.

People dislike prime?
What?

 

[Rambler]

I can't speak for others but when I first saw it I thought it was going to be awesome. For some reason I expected a game that was Metroid mixed with Quake.

What I ended up getting...wasn't really for me I guess.

 

[Cosmo Clock 21]

Wasn't it a TPS at some point? I remember seeing a screenshot in Nintendo Power.

 

[chaosblade]

I remember there being a lot of skepticism. It wasn't entirely unfounded since "FPS Metroid" could have gone any number of ways, but ultimate it did end up being "Super Metroid in first person."

I don't think there is any chance of that sort of redemption for Federation Forces based on what we've seen. It reeks of a Star Fox Adventures situation of slapping an existing IP on a new, unrelated concept.

 

[antitrop]

Fans weren't as angry as they are about this Federation Force thing, but there was a substantial backlash that didn't let up until the 10s started rolling in.

 

[nuttyevans]

I swear I must be the only person who thinks FF looks cool.

 

[lethial]

I remember lots of man baby like reactions calling it a "bro shooter".

 

[Glitchesarecool]

I swear I must be the only person who thinks FF looks cool.

It's the internet hate machine up to full speed. I'll play it when it comes out and shit on it then if it's bad. It might be super awesome!

 

[massoluk]

People take Federation Forces way too serious. The petition is particularly mean-spirited.

 

[wrowa]

The reactions were quite bad when Nintendo showed the first trailer and people thought that Metroid Prime was just a Metroid-themed FPS. I think it wasn't until its E3 gameplay demo a year later (?) that people started to warm up to it when it became clear that Metroid Prime is indeed still very much a Metroid game and not a shooter.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

People were pretty damn mad. We'd just come off of the N64, so Nintendo had just developed their reputation for baby games, and then they announced a Metroid game which was what precisely nobody wanted. And those first screenshots were ugly.

Obviously, things turned out a bit better than expected.

 

[EatinOlives]

Wasn't it a TPS at some point? I remember seeing a screenshot in Nintendo Power.

Yeah, Retro originally envisioned the game as a third person game. Then Nintendo came in and said "make it in first person". I believe it was Miyamoto specifically who said that. He has a fascination with games in first person perspective (he's expressed multiple times he has wanted to have a Zelda game in first person, but he doesn't direct that series), so it wasn't too surprising.

 

[Htown]

You really trying to defend this?

the art style is lame; that doesn't mean the game is going to be bad

 

[Fury451]

I'm assuming this is in reference to the Metroid Prime: FF reaction?

Not comparable. Even if people might've been skeptical, at least it was a game taking place in the universe with the beloved main character. This thing that they're advertising now is just not interesting in any of the same ways.

It might even be a decent spinoff game, but it doesn't change the fact that it's a game really nobody asked for, and in fact it's quite the opposite of what everyone had been wanting.