Magicpaint
Member
Given how Prime Hunters sold, it's not surprising we got Federation Force, unfortunately the timing of that game couldn't have been worse.
I honestly think it's because Metroid lacks a central simple hook that completely defines it. The games are well made, but they're seemingly going against design trends in every era it participates. The only games that play Metroid are all indies and none of them have caught fire either.
What makes Metroid special is what holds it back from reaching the mainstream zeitgeist. That's not bad thing I think. You just have to make the game knowing there's a small ceiling.
It's not a series that needs lots of entries. One game every 5-6 years is plenty.This will happen with Prime 4 and then the sequel titles will sink Metroid again. I feel like I've said this already.
Given how Prime Hunters sold, it's not surprising we got Federation Force, unfortunately the timing of that game couldn't have been worse.
Metroid might be a series that doesn't need an update every year or two. It might benefit from breaks. But the nearly 10 year break it has been is way too long. Maybe the 5 year cycle that Zelda is on is appropriate.
I also think that the current gaming market is different than the 2000s and would be more likely to buy them. So it could probably get away with coming out more frequently.
I wonder if coming out the same day as Prime hurt it. Prime was one of the best looking games I ever seen when it came out but I still had a GBA with no backlight and passed on Fusion at the time.
Ōkami;241038646 said:Lasting 2 hours probably hurt it.
Being past the whole "Metroid is back!" also did, this in turn hurt Prime 2 as well.
ZM came out a lot earlier than Prime 2.Fusion came out the same day as Prime. Zero Mission came out a few months after Prime 2.
Seems like the series sells like a million regulary enough just like Kirby.
So why not keep it around just like Kirby
Kirby has an entire company backing him up.
Ever since Iwata shuffled Nintendo's internal development teams back in 2005, Metroid hasn't really had a consistent team to keep making games for it. There was Retro, but they moved on to Donkey Kong Country. It's somewhat telling that Sakamoto seems to keep having to bring in outside studios like Team Ninja or MercurySteam to assist developing his new Metroid games.
Who knows whats going on with MP4's developer. I'd assume it's just a new internal team they brought together to make it, but a lot of people like Shikamaru Ninja seem to think it's Next Level Games...
Hopefully the 3DS game becomes the "FE Awakening" of the series in that it finally finds its mainstream appeal and becomes an anchor franchise for Nintendo.
I didn't.
I'm sorry but there's is no chance in hell that a remake of a 27 year old Game Boy game released in 2017 for a dying handheld can achieve what you want it to. I'm sure it'll perform well within expectations and turn a profit but this game will not be the FE Awakening of the franchiseHonestly, Metroid seems the kind of series that people bought once due to hype or to experience the Smash character and then forget about it. At least for the casual. I have the Trilogy and was only able to beat the first one and got lost and frustrated with the second one. I like the 2D games much better.
Hopefully the 3DS game becomes the "FE Awakening" of the series in that it finally finds its mainstream appeal and becomes an anchor franchise for Nintendo.
The funny thing about Federation Force is that it probably wouldn't of been completely shitted on if it had met the following three criteria:
- It didn't have a stupid artstyle
- It wasn't released on 3DS
- It came out during a time when real Metroid games were being made
Federation Force had the potential to sort of be like Metroid's answer to Star Wars: Republic Commando, a action focused shooter game where you play as common troopers instead of the main characters. If FF had met all three criteria above, then it probably would of just been seen as a fun harmless spinoff.
No its not.Super Metroid was just as long
This is fundamentally untrue. Batman Arkham Asylum and Tomb Raider 2013 are both Metroid style AAA games that were hugely successful. Arkham Asylum sold over 2 million copies in 3 weeks and Tomb Raider 2013 had sold around 4 million copies during its first 6 months after release.
This was despite both games having darker tones then a typical Metroid game that would limit their audience.
But Other M looked good pre-release. It had a fantastic reveal trailer, looked pretty fun in gameplay videos, and came with the "from the developers of Ninja Gaiden" cred attached to it. I would have thought it would have been able to quickly push out a million units before the bad word of mouth set in and all the unsold copies were moved to bomba bins.
I'm actually more surprised that Other M didn't crack a million.
Zero Mission was a late gen remake that was like the 4th Metroid game in as many years. It's quite easy to see why it didn't sell as well as Metroid 1-4.
But Other M looked good pre-release. It had a fantastic reveal trailer, looked pretty fun in gameplay videos, and came with the "from the developers of Ninja Gaiden" cred attached to it. I would have thought it would have been able to quickly push out a million units before the bad word of mouth set in and all the unsold copies were moved to bomba bins.
By the time Other M came out any real audience for "mature" software had long abandoned the Wii. The game's insultingly low quality just sealed it's fate. By late 2010 the Wii could only sell family friendly software.
This is a little revisionist. Several core titles released later and sold better than Other M.
The only answers that make a lot of sense are release date, franchise fatigue, or it being a remake.
Great game though. I bought it the instant it released on Wii U and loved it.
Prime 2 sold half of what the first Prime sold and it's not a significantly worse or less accessible game; I think Prime and Fusion were both beneficiaries of the "omg Metroid's back!" hype and the direct followups sold fewer copies for the simple reason that they weren't as novel and many of the people who bought into the hype the first time around simply didn't care to go back.
It was awful which is why I skipped it.
Both Batman and Tomb Raider have hooks that go behind being Metroid-like. Batman had his combat system being hailed as innovative and being a critically well received Batman game not long after the Dark Knight was released. Notably Batman completely dropped its Metroid like level design after the first game and went completely open world from then on, and was just as commercially successful if not more so. I haven't played Tomb Raider but my impression from marketing was that it was invoking a very Uncharted type experience which was very popular at the time.
Ōkami;241042732 said:No its not.
Same question, since it is a lot better than Fusion