Current Events > Why wasn't there a Metroid 64?

(+) Yeah! (+)

If there was a Metroid game on the N64, I probably would've been into the series.

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It would have had to be 2D and Nintendo didn't want that.

Imagine a Metroid game with Saturn-quality 2D graphics tho

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wasnt jet force gemini originally a metroid game during development

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VigorouslySwish posted...

wasnt jet force gemini originally a metroid game during development

Now this game, right here, was my jam.

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It was def the closest n64 came to a metroid game

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My bet?

They didnt want to compete with themselves - Samus is a way more serious character than the rest of the cast at the time - she became an ugly duckingling around then, and Nintendo kind of rode the Pokmon Japan fixation people had lol, by making the characters more family friendly in general & they were planning on trying to use Metroid in the handheld market instead.

Funny, because GameCube off & went totally edgy in contrast.

And the Wii.... Was like a phenomenon. For all of like 8 years or whatever - Nintendo transformed.

Probably just didn't know what to do with her during that generation. Probably had trouble translating her into a 3D environment, especially since such a game would have likely been from a third-person perspective instead of what the later Prime series did.

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I read an interview with Yoshio Sakamoto, one of the creators and lead developers of the Metroid games, just a little while ago when Dread was announced and he talked about this.

Basically he didn't like the N64 controller and refused to try making a 3D Metroid with it. So Nintendo searched for a third-party developer to do it while Sakamoto and his team worked on a handheld Metroid (which became Metroid Fusion). However it took years to find a company willing to take on the project and the N64 was late enough into it's life that it was developed for the Gamecube instead.

Shishiwakamaru posted...

It would have had to be 2D and Nintendo didn't want that.

Imagine a Metroid game with Saturn-quality 2D graphics tho

A janky proto-Prime 3D Metroid on the N64 would've ruled
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Metroid was Gunpei Yokoi's project. The series was temporarily retired out of respect following his untimely death in 1997. Samus was given a role in Super Smash Bros., but Nintendo didn't revive the Metroid series until after the Nintendo 64 ceased producing new games.

Today marks the anniversary of Gunpei Yokoi's passing. October 4th, 1997.

geno_16 posted...

I read an interview with Yoshio Sakamoto, one of the creators and lead developers of the Metroid games, just a little while ago when Dread was announced and he talked about this.

Basically he didn't like the N64 controller and refused to try making a 3D Metroid with it. So Nintendo searched for a third-party developer to do it while Sakamoto and his team worked on a handheld Metroid (which became Metroid Fusion). However it took years to find a company willing to take on the project and the N64 was late enough into it's life that it was developed for the Gamecube instead.

FortuneCookie posted...

Metroid was Gunpei Yokoi's project. The series was temporarily retired out of respect following his untimely death in 1997. Samus was given a role in Super Smash Bros., but Nintendo didn't revive the Metroid series until after the Nintendo 64 ceased producing new games.

Today marks the anniversary of Gunpei Yokoi's passing. October 4th, 1997.

@FortuneCookie @geno_16

Which is it? Yokois passing or the controller? Could be both.

Metroid 64 absolutely could have worked. I imagine it would have looked and played a lot like Shadows of the Empire.

FortuneCookie posted...

Metroid 64 absolutely could have worked. I imagine it would have looked and played a lot like Shadows of the Empire.

I had this game. Was I just bad as a kid or was this the hardest game in the world?

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Kitt posted...

I had this game. Was I just bad as a kid or was this the hardest game in the world?

It was challenging, but I 100%'d it as a kid.

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