-
Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!
Metroid Prime: Federation Force flops in the UK
- Thread starter Jimmyfenix
- Start date
Pancakes R Us
Member
For what it's worth, Nintendo has been dead in the UK for a little while now.
Nintendo's E3 plan is just further fuel for the idea that they know that what they're making is C-tier, unappealing stuff.
At E3, only the good stuff matters. They knew they had gold in Zelda, and a lot of crap elsewhere. By focusing on Zelda exclusively, they were able to have nothing but positive press. And by getting the 'only Zelda' news out of the way far before E3 rolled around they were able to let fans process the negatives of that approach before E3 itself.
It worked out really well for them. If they had tried to do a traditional E3 it would have been a bloodbath and Zelda would have potentially been lost in the negative trend pieces.
Since before the Wii U launched, that's for sure.
SomedayTheFire
Member
So does this thread have more replies than copies sold yet?
kunonabi
Member
Less than half the games in the franchise actually follow that model at this point and Nintendo has been experimenting with the franchise as early as Metroid II in all honesty. People loved Fusion, for reasons I'll never understand, and it certainly don't follow that template at all. I'd love for more games in the series to be like Super Metroid since I don't think the imitators really get what makes that game great but it's been obvious for most of the series that neither Retro or Nintendo was really interested in continuing in that vein.
Crimsonclaw111
Member
Mine has like 15 of them lol... $10. Also sitting next to it is 10 copies of Sin and Punishment 2 but they keep that one at $40
To be quite honest, the basis of this thread was going to be more obvious than the not very surprising Japanese sales.
Even Nintendo's biggest games in the past 4 years haven't done shit. I'm 80% positive that the majority of nintendo releases within the past 5 years have sold better in every other individually tracked European nation.
Do you have an actual retort other than incredulity that the game is good?
There is some nice rail shooter bloodlines in Federation Force, gamefaqs actually had it right for once and stuck the game's genre under "arcade".
Even Nintendo's biggest games in the past 4 years haven't done shit. I'm 80% positive that the majority of nintendo releases within the past 5 years have sold better in every other individually tracked European nation.
Do you have an actual retort other than incredulity that the game is good?
There is some nice rail shooter bloodlines in Federation Force, gamefaqs actually had it right for once and stuck the game's genre under "arcade".
What's funny about this game is that if someone leaked details of it before the reveal, people would have got real excited.
If I told you in 2014 that Nintendo was making a federation trooper spin-off that returns to the prime universe, it's got co-op and customizable mechs, and it's meant to lead up to Prime 4, you would go nuts.
If I told you in 2014 that Nintendo was making a federation trooper spin-off that returns to the prime universe, it's got co-op and customizable mechs, and it's meant to lead up to Prime 4, you would go nuts.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Oh yeah, you are the guy from the other thread.
We expalined there but seems you didnt listen or didnt want to.
Maybe making points will be easier for you.
-making games for those toy makers to get the cash and stay alive is going to give you the usual results. Most smaller 3rd parties need to survive with those type of deals, and let me say those deals are usually shit. It jas nothing to do with the third party being bad, hell they probably have that dream game they want to do after they make this barbie game deals. They just tried to be more professional when winning money instead of making a kikcstater like now indies do.
-they made great games when the studio that contacted them to work gave a shit. In this case Nintendo. They did amazingly well with 2 mario striker games, games were the direction was ALL them. Then they were given a loved property that was dead like punch-out!! and they made the best game of the franchise. A game universally loved that sold pretty well at the end of its live. And then Luigis Mansion that maybe inferior for some was still a great sequel for the majority.
-those 4 games had one thing in common, they were Next Level games in nearly all its apsects. You could see how good were in the animation department, in the gameplay aspects and how faithful they were to their original sources. NLG made personal interviews with the press in all those 4 games, it was their games, full stop.
-and here lies the end of the problem. Tanabe. It was his dream game, he made all the interviews, he didnt let NLG to talk.
Tanabe made it, Tanabe failed at it. Not NLG.
So the next time you want to talk about how you can pinpoint the quality of a small dev studio because their first games were crap to pay the bills and stay afloat or start with some mediocre games (and this is not only NLG, studios like rocksteady started the same, same with the rocket league guys, Frontier has done some crap for other toymakers to pay the bills...) shut up and listen to people who know more than you.
Hope this doesn't affect Next Level too much. Even if the game didn't look great, it seemed like it had a good level of polish that you come to expect from them on Nintendo projects.
I agree Nintendo should be more open to listening to its fan base, but damn if the Metroid community didn't come off as childish over this inoffensive game
I agree Nintendo should be more open to listening to its fan base, but damn if the Metroid community didn't come off as childish over this inoffensive game
I don't think that would be exciting to a lot of people, to be honest. Even if there wasn't outright backlash, there would be substantial caution over the lack of Samus.
This has basically been my view from the beginning.
It's also hard to try and convince people it's a good game and that they're hating on it unfairly when it's sitting at 65 on metacritic. It's cool if some like it, don't let anyone rain on your parade, but trying to paint the people who don't as crybaby metroid fanboys is inane to me.
If you really lead with "it's a spin-off. SPIN-OFF. It's a gaiden game. It's NOT going to address Other M or bring Samus back in all her glory. We PROMISE this isn't the path all future Metroids will follow", it might have tempered some of the knee-jerk reactions a bit...
But you still have some Metroid fans that have been waiting patiently and impatiently for another great game for years and years, and for some fans, a traditional side-scrolling title for well over a decade.
TannerDemoz
Member
A game no one asked for and a game that was also terribly advertised - I've barely seen any mention of it in magazines, online or on the internet.
It's a shame because I love the series.
It's a shame because I love the series.
You know Tanabe wanted to take the series in this direction like Sakamoto wanted to take Metroid down the Other M route (because he, Sakamoto, said as much). It's pretty easy to read Nintendo Directors when they talk about plans for games, because they say it without directly saying it.
He said "I always wanted to do a game about the Federation."
... So he did. He still produced four other Samus-led Prime adventures.
While the plot Tanabe constructed is of questionable amounts of interest, it's generally far more stable than what Sakamoto wants to do with it.
Not to mention IIRC Sakamoto said he doesn't want to work on the franchise anymore, while Tanabe has been saying he still wants to do another game, so under most probabilities if there was to be another metroid within the next 3 years, it would be another Tanabe project.
ForkNetwork
Banned
Sir, Have you played Metroid?
When you have Tanabe out there saying 'we really care about this series' it's him saying 'we care about this direction we're taking it in.' Meaning, just like Zip Lash, it succeeds, they'll make more of the spin-off and the main series dies. It's trash management.
One throwaway cutscene at the end of a game can't justify why you slap a brand on a series, especially when it's clear it was unnecessary.
On your edit, the comment by Sakamoto was made when Other M came out, not after it's horrific failure. He said something like 'oh, if this game sells, it means people care enough that we can continue the series.'
DeuceGamer
Member
I'm interested in trying the game, but I'm not going to pay full price when it's likely going to be clearanced out cheap just like Codename STEAM was (which I thought was great). Will pick it up cheap and give it a try with little expectations.
Perhaps not this "generation", but it feels like these past few years. As someone currently slogging my way through Tri-Force Heroes, I have to remember that I really, truly adored A Link Between Worlds just a few years earlier.
That's some... interesting... extrapolation.
Of course he cares about the series. He's in charge of a big chunk of it. That includes spin-offs - like Hunters and Pinball, which was also under his watch. It's no different than Aonuma saying he cares about the Zelda series while Tri-Force Heroes comes out, or Nintendo saying they care about Pokemon as a thousand-and-one spin-offs come out.
I mean, if it had been enormously successful, even that's no guarantee we'd see another like it (because Nintendo works in mysterious ways...). I'm still waiting on another Pokemon Snap, after all these long years...
Tanabe just envisions a bigger Metroid universe for games to be played in than just "Samus - Metroids - Space Pirates" and nothing else. I'm fine with the Federation getting more exposure, I'm fine with more bounty hunters joining the mix, I'm fine with new planets, new aliens, new species, new technology, new factions, new cultures, and a world and universe that's bigger than Samus herself. To me, it's like losing my mind over a Mass Effect spin-off game like Galaxy or Infiltration, which only existed to expand their game's universe.
It's only "throwaway" if you don't think it's important. A great many Nintendo fans have been very excited or curious about what's next for the Metroid series following that final cutscene.
LOL. We would never know what would have happened, unless you invent the time machine, go to January 2015, and leak all the info by yourself.
Acerac
Banned
If they want us to remain fans, yeah, they kind of do.
Oh. I have more context for this post now. -_-
Literally how could they learn a wrong lesson from this? Think people don't like "Metroid" games? The audiences' objections are loud and clear.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Okay.
I was referring to Sakamoto's comment about how he didn't feel like going back to metroid: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/04/15/sakamoto-and-the-future-of-metroid
Starwolf_UK
Member
So I did a quick text search of the thread and not once was there a mention of the word stock. As in stock shortages (stop giggling). I've heard stories of GAME stores getting like 10 display cases for the game but then only one actual game to sell and the opposite of getting six copies of the game but no display cases so you have to ask at the counter for the game like it is some sort of contraband and the clerk sees it on their computer and finds it in the stock room/toilet stacked on top of the guitar hero controllers.
Of course generally in these situations you see a surge in sales in the next week or whenever it is resolved so time will tell if that is a truth. Maybe that is more of a story of GAME having logistics gaffes (my favorite was a manager accidentally ordering the entire countries gift card stock).
Though honestly if nobody pre-ordered it I can see why retailers ordered no copies.
Of course generally in these situations you see a surge in sales in the next week or whenever it is resolved so time will tell if that is a truth. Maybe that is more of a story of GAME having logistics gaffes (my favorite was a manager accidentally ordering the entire countries gift card stock).
Though honestly if nobody pre-ordered it I can see why retailers ordered no copies.
Isn't that what the Metroid Prime™: Federation Force Blast Ball Demo download effectively was?
-Mutsukki-
Member
Jesus, that's really entitled. Just don't buy the damn game, they owe you nothing.
From the little I saw people playing this game it looked to be actually pretty solid and fun. A real shame it got such a hate boner just because it unfortunately borrowed a beloved IP for it.
I don't think it deserves this at all, they did what they wanted to do with the game, is that really that bad? It's not like it's some soulless cash-in.
TannerDemoz
Member
Was blastball just hunters shooting around a giant ball?
Wouldn't it have made more sense to release a morph ball racer/platformer or something as equally mad?
Wouldn't it have made more sense to release a morph ball racer/platformer or something as equally mad?
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Is a shame most people don't agree with you.
While I AM an optimistic and I think Nintendo has a Metroid in the works, Nintendo has been tone-deaf before on some blatantly obvious things, so I wouldn't put it past them.
... I'll just keep waiting for Mother 3 while they spend millions of dollars animating a segment of themselves lighting Mother 3 fans on fire.
I'll agree with him. I think most people who are complaining haven't even played the game (judging by its sales numbers, that's highly likely).
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Actually it's quite far from a soulless cash-in.
I know what you're talking about. But I'm bringing up the time frame of the comment I talked about to mention that the direction he wanted to take the series in (the Other M design route, and probably with Team Ninja again) is what he wanted before it blew up in his face, and how Tanabe clearly wanted to do the same with Federation Force.
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Can anyone defend their point without relying on entitled toxic fanboy manbaby hate boner rhetoric?
Did professional reviewers have a hate boner for it?
-Mutsukki-
Member
See, that's the thing, who's most people? I've seen a lot of people who actually played it say it wasn't that bad.
They're people and fans just like everyone else, I've seen these so called "professional reviewers" give really unfounded and biased argurments over and over.
And they sure did report a lot of negative press for it even before it was released
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Clearly they didn't buy it in the UK or Japan thern
Allan Holdsworth
Member
I'm gonna get this game out of morbid curiosity if it's clearanced. And I hate first person games, got bored of Prime 2 hours in while I love the 2D Metroids. I see this game getting ultra expensive in the future too with its low stock.
Single or multiplayer?
Excitebike64.jpg
Single or multiplayer?
Excitebike64.jpg
It's trying its best to "look" like 2D Metroid while being in 3D.
the narrative is going nowhere since 2002 as far as Japanese made Metroid games.
control scheme is the way it is to ape NES games.
The visual style is a vomitted version of what the 2D Metroid are with recycled enemy designs up the wazoo.
The level design and the core of the serie is not there! Who would want to play a Metroid game when you buy something with Metroid on it after all.
The coat of paint is skin deep too, considering how badly they mishandled the audio department too.
FF has a distinctive look, it's not trying to look like Metroid.
If Nintendo is smart, they will think that people didn't like FF because it didn't look like Metroid enough.
Hopefully they don't go just changing the coat of paint and pushing crap like Other M either, because that one tried very hard to "look" like Metroid (even though it played nothing like it as you said)
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Who specifically and what did they say?
NintendosBooger
Member
Pretty ambitious.
Outside of Monolith Soft, I can't think of a Nintendo developer with the pedigree to pull it off (maybe Intelligent Systems, they've created some great lore with Fire Emblem).
They didn't think about it with Other M, and Other M was far more important to them than FF, at least by the end when it was known that fans weren't having any of their shit anymore.
I wouldn't use the time machine for that.
I would go back to 2005 and show people screenshots of the daytime levels in Sonic Unleashed and tell them that everything's gonna be fine.
-Mutsukki-
Member
I'm not being specific, but do you really REALLY put your trust that much in reviewers? I'm not saying every single reviewer who didn't like the game had a hate boner, I'm literally saying they're not above that at all. Besides, the game has 65 on Metacritic, opinions aren't that similar
NintendosBooger
Member
I seriously doubt Tanabe will be producing another Metroid game.
There is absolutely no evidence that Federation Force was intended as anything more than a one-time spinoff. In fact judging by its development cycle, it was intended to be released closer to a Samus-led game.
Try 2008. Ever since Other M, people have been more and more revolted by Metroid's storyline and the Galactic Federation.
Probably use it looses as a tax write off
ElectricBlanketFire
Member
Can you give an example of someone who included false information in their review?
Similar threads
- Poll