Support NeoGAF

[LSauchelli]

Metroid should just have characters that rip off horror and sci-fi monsters. Metroid = Alien and SA-X = The thing. I'm sure there are a lot of other monsters that could fit.

 

[d31m0s]

That is how Other M happened. They tried to make a "human" villain, and it was a disaster.

Various aliens, showing their logic via actions, is the best kind of villain.

I agree i was fine with the gameplay but they shoehorned all this story that was not needed metroid tells a story better through subtleties such as planet changes enemy behavior battles and most of all what happens around you

 

[Valjean Lafitte]

You need to play the Prime games, bro, I mean the REAL Metroid games. REAL character designs that kick Ridley and Kraid's weak-ass Japanime style.

 

[Toxi]

You need to play the Prime games, bro, I mean the REAL Metroid games. REAL character designs that kick Ridley and Kraid's weak-ass Japanime style.

...Ridley is in the Prime games.

While I like the Prime game games' visual style, the only boss that I feel holds a candle to the Ridley, Kraid, and Mother Brain trio is Quadraxis. Because seriously, a fifty foot tall demon-possesed spider robot with separately functioning head and body sections is awesome.

 

[HardRojo]

Metroid needs new games.

 

[Deleted member 231381]

...Ridley is in the Prime games.

While I like the Prime game games' visual style, the only boss that I feel holds a candle to the Ridley, Kraid, and Mother Brain trio is Quadraxis. Because seriously, a fifty foot tall demon-possesed spider robot with separately functioning head and body sections is awesome.

I'm not sure I agree with this one. While there are a surprisingly number of "meh" bosses for such a fantastic series, the Prime series does have a few absolute gems which I feel match up to the Kraid, Ridley and Mother Brain fights from the classics. In particular, Flaaghra, Metroid Prime, Dark Samus, Quadraxis, Rundas, Ghor, Ghandrayda and the Aurora Unit are all stunning designs with excellent fights.

 

[thefro]

Enough said!

Well, Mother Brain actually had some character in that cartoon (even if it was just an Audrey II ripoff).

 

[NewGame]

Metroid should just have characters that rip off horror and sci-fi monsters. Metroid = Alien and SA-X = The thing. I'm sure there are a lot of other monsters that could fit.

Why say something like this? Do you want to make everyone mad, is that it?

 

[wsippel]

Can somebody explain to a Metroid newbie the appeal of Ridley? I think he (she?) looks stupid. Like one of the worst ''dragon'' designs I have seen in games.

Is Ridley even a character or just a reoccurring Godzilla?

You wouldn't know just from playing the games, but Ridley is a very old, extremely intelligent and really sadistic creature. And yes, he actually can speak (would be pretty hard to lead the space pirates if he couldn't). He's also pretty much immortal, but nobody in the Metroid universe seems to know that, let alone how it works.

 

[HardRojo]

I wouldn't mind a new Metroid with a darker tone, I don't care if they rip off the opening of Dead Space, that shit was scary and amazing and Metroid's iconic solitary and perilous environments fit just nicely.
I know Fusion started it with the X but they could take it to the next level with a sequel, I don't want them to turn Metroid into a Survival Horror game but it would help a bit to borrow some things from that genre.

 

[MikeE21286]

I think they need no sidekicks. Ever.

 

[Haunted]

Yeah, I don't think a series like Metroid needs a "villain" at all.

Villains are saturday morning cartoon and hollywood stuff, doesn't really fit the kind of story Metroid is telling.

 

[Jorok Goldblade]

You wouldn't know just from playing the games, but Ridley is a very old, extremely intelligent and really sadistic creature. And yes, he actually can speak (would be pretty hard to lead the space pirates if he couldn't). He's also pretty much immortal, but nobody in the Metroid universe seems to know that, let alone how it works.

Also, depending on which game is defining the fiction at the time, Ridley is either second in command to Mother Brain, or the real leader of the Space Pirates, with Mother Brain being his computer system.

 

[Aostia]

to me, in Metroid there are great design and gameplay wise villains. not-speaking villains, and that's probably something not memorable in the actual videogame scenario, don't know (like the not-speaking Link in Zelda, let's say)

 

[vareon]

Melissa Bergman not good enough villain for you?

Spoiler

I had to google her name. Completely forgot about her lol.

 

[Dark Octave]

I can't see Ridley and Kraid as villains more than just creatures that inhabit planet Zebes or roam the galaxy. I've never seen it (it probably exists) but I would cringe if anyone ever attempted to make them anything more than that. Sure creatures who instinctively want to infest the planet or galaxy or destroy a space station or two. Maybe they are working together in conjunction with Mother Brain or being controlled by it, but I would laugh pretty hard if someone tried to give them motivations of money, status or power.

But with that said, I think Metroid should be just that. Alien(s) the movie with a Varia suit. There is no real villain. Aliens/animals simply infest human colonies and space stations for their own primitive reasons and it's Samus' job to investigate what happened and stop the threat from spreading.

But in reality I'm sure it's pretty horrible. She's a bounty hunter if I remember correctly. I bet she is meant to hunt and bring in to custody (or kill) Ridley and Kraid for space crimes because they're space pirates. lol Jesus Christ...

 

[The Awesomest]

I always pictured a more intelligent lifeform whenever I heard that term growing up. When I say Ridley for the first time I was disappointed-- it (he?) didn't look intelligent enough to operate any space machinery nor direct his equally unintelligent looking henchmen. Am I looking at this all wrong?

Yes, you are a racist. The worst kind of racist.

A SPACIST

 

[zoukka]

Yeah, I don't think a series like Metroid needs a "villain" at all.

Villains are saturday morning cartoon and hollywood stuff, doesn't really fit the kind of story Metroid is telling.

Maybe not a villain then, rather another central character. I think it's relevant to speculate what could make the IP more popular rather than just say everything is perfect already.

 

[Dark Octave]

I always pictured a more intelligent lifeform whenever I heard that term growing up. When I say Ridley for the first time I was disappointed-- it (he?) didn't look intelligent enough to operate any space machinery nor direct his equally unintelligent looking henchmen. Am I looking at this all wrong?

Nah they're right, your wrong. I mean, look at these prehistoric pirates as proof of that.

Look close and you can see Ridley's great, great, great grandpa.

 

[Femmeworth]

The closest the series has come to having a good villain is the SA-X. As much as I love the Prime series, Dark Samus is just a nuisance.

 

[SuperAngelo64]

I thought the drab environment, droning music, and generic enemies were the reasons people liked the Metroid series.

They tried to romanticize the series a little bit (Other M) and people flipped their shit.

 

[GrotesqueBeauty]

I thought the drab environment, droning music, and generic enemies were the reasons people liked the Metroid series.

I take exception. I don't believe you've thought at all.

 

[TestOfTide]

They need to bring back this guy in a mainline game:

Spoiler

I'm probably the only person who thinks this, though...

Retro was going to put him in the sequel to prime 3.... before nintendo decided to give metroid to sakamoto and team ninja.

 

[grandjedi6]

The main villain in the Metroid series is isolation.

.


Can't have a more charismatic villain with a theme of isolation. Best you can get is a more terrifying faceless enemy like Alien (they tried to do this somewhat successfully with X in Fusion).

 

[Mr Swine]

I love the Metroid franchise and I've bought every game that has come out since the first one for the NeS when I was just a wee little lad.

I think that Mother Brain is the best villain the franchise has. Not only does she control all life forms on Zebes, she controls literally the whole freaking planet and the whole Zebesian army. She uses that advantage against Samus in both Metroid (Zero Mission and Super Metroid. Turning once shy creatures into blood thirsty rabid animals.

I really hope that there comes out a new Metroid game and that both the X Parasites and Mother Brain are in the game. The X should simply infect Mother Brain creating a really gross giant alien Brain. Kinda like it did to Neo Ridley

 

[Kurt]

I do not agree with this.
Metroid should have bosses with no personality in it.

And above all issolated. No hunter things please, that screw everything up.

However when they create a new side scrolling metroid (like it should be) than i would like to see the default enemies return with amount of new enemies.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Well they really did miss out on the amazing opportunity to make Mother Brain an actual character. Think Shodan/GlaDOS, but more planning, computer-y and scientific and less psychotic/crazy/funny.

Would be pretty cool in my book. And don't let her transform to strange mutant forms. The scary brain-in-a-jar look is perfectly fine and much more alien than some Resident Evil ripoff monster.

 

[Femmeworth]

Mother Brain, even in Zero Mission, is pretty unremarkable.

 

[Jac_Solar]

I love the Metroid series, but I do feel like this is something of a legitimate complaint. Ridley is supposed to be a tactical genius and while I'm not asking them to give him some sort of dialogue, I just want them to showcase this side of him more. Yeah Ridley is this badass giant fire breathing space dragon. Fuck that's awesome, but they need to make it so that he just isn't some the villain in terms of strength and size to Samus. Have him deliberately lure her to a planet, after he finds out that she's in the way of his operations somewhere else. Make him a threat in a way that isn't purely a physical one but also a psychological one or something.

I do however also agree with what others have said about the environment and atmosphere. The isolationist feel of the Metroid games are a great "antagonist" to Samus. That whole post on why SR-388 is one of the villains was a great analysis of the series. Living planets, the harsh environment that you need to overcome. Nature itself basically is one of the recurring Metroid "villains". I really love the way these environments are shown.

I haven't played Other M but I feel like another story driven Metroid wouldn't be a bad thing. We had Prime who told an amazing story but only through the logs the Space pirates left behind and other scanned items. Fusion also has an interesting story and a good antagonist in SA-X who kept the player on their toes the entire time through psychological pressure. I just wish they would head in this direction going forward with some of the more notable creatures from the Metroid series. Ridley, the Space Pirates, Mother Brain, Kraid whoever. Make them be both threatening physically and psychologically to the player, that coupled with an oppressing environment and maybe a living planet working against you would make for a fantastic new Metroid game all told through a subtle story like the logs from Prime 1.

Maybe they should just introduce a new opponent for that? Since you're already familiar with many of those you mentioned, that is. But I wonder if such a villain would have an effect on the way you perceive the environment, or, at least, make it much more difficult to balance the environment threat AND a psychologically scary villain.

I do not agree with this.
Metroid should have bosses with no personality in it.

And above all issolated. No hunter things please, that screw everything up.

However when they create a new side scrolling metroid (like it should be) than i would like to see the default enemies return with amount of new enemies.

Yeah, a modern 2D Metroid sidescroller would be extremely interesting. A 3D Metroid on a 2D plane could be interesting, like Shadow Complex, and would probably be cheaper and easier to make.

 

[Magnus]

I'm going to have to concur with this. Super Metroid's iconic visual designs aside, they're pretty blah and forgettable.

 

[Caayn]

They need to bring back this guy in a mainline game:

Spoiler

I'm probably the only person who thinks this, though...

A Prime 4 game where, Sylux has formed a (temporary) Alliance with the Space pirates can work. Only for him to be infected with Phazon later on in the game.

I just really want another Prime game

 

[Shig]

There could stand to be more memorable enemies, but I disagree with the idea of giving them more complex and humanized motivations. The villains need to be organic, the more Metroid tries to inject a human element, the less right it feels. The furthest it should go is something like MP2's Luminoth, a rather hands-off NPC that's appropriately mystical and exotic. Fusion's AI guide was a good framing device that allowed some dialogue without breaking the whole isolation aspect, but was interjected way too much and then got twisted into that whole schmaltzy Adam Malkovich thing. At the other end of the spectrum you've got MP3, which starts you off checking in with Colonel Dorkhat at the Space Ranger HQ and thrusting you into this weird Empire Strikes Back-wannabe bounty hunter hullabaloo... really way off the tracks for the tone the series set up to then.

Samus should be a lone wolf cast in a strange world, and the enemies should be just feral, unrelatable forces of nature throwing themselves at her. You can still have memorable fights come from that with some good, minimalistic framing; Crocomire, Nightmare, and SM's Mother Brain finale come to mind.