not even out for a year

[Chipou]

and its already 15 dollars on amazon.com. well this isnt new news, its been hovering on and off at like 20 dollars and what not, and a week before it even came out it was on sale for 30.

whats you opinion/reaction to this?
http://www.amazon.com/Metroid-Other-M-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B002BSC4ZS/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_1

[kronoridley]

Sad to see such a great game rake in so little money. I blame it on the marketing, and bad release date.

[Not Authorised]

I blame it on the reviews. They sadly did a very good job of warning potential buyers of what they wouldn't like about the game. It IS a great game, but that greatness is buried underneath many layers of idiotic design decisions like the authorization system, the monotonous droning monologues, the universally hated pixel hunts, the gameplay forcing you to be a sitting duck whenever you want to use missile*, and a characterisation of Samus Aran completly opposite to everything the previous games have led players to believe.

I really like Metroid: Other M the video game. It's tons of fun. But Other M: The Movie is utter garbage. Two thumbs down.


*Disclaimer: I know how to play the game. I'm really good at the game. Don't quote me and tell me how to use missiles without getting hit - I'm awesome at it, yet in any other Metroid I wouldn't need that much skill to fire a bloody missile safely

[FacelessGriffin]

So what?

[HYRUL3]

Sad to see such a great game rake in so little money. I blame it on the marketing, and bad release date.

They used more marketing than they did with other Metroid games.

If they had released it later it wouldn't have sold at all in competition with bigger titles. If they had released it earlier maybe it would've done better.

I agree with Not Authorised. The reviews didn't help, and the game was surrounded by controversy from the very first trailer.

So what?

A game that is less than a year old selling for $14.99? Grave news for a series.

[FacelessGriffin]

A game that is less than a year old selling for $14.99? Grave news for a series.

But good news for cheapskates like me, even though I already own the game.

[Chipou]

but for a metroid fan it also kinda plants seeds of doubt as to weather theyll ever make anoughter metroid. true its a large franchise, but this bombed pretty bad.

[Not Authorised]

but for a metroid fan it also kinda plants seeds of doubt as to weather theyll ever make anoughter metroid. true its a large franchise, but this bombed pretty bad.

I say fear not! Nintendo loves its core franchises every bit as much as their fans. And I it'll take more than one bad Mario, one bad Zelda, or one bad Metroid to halt those franchises.

Heck, just look at Sonic and Mega Man. They've been on life support for ages, but survive still.

[FacelessGriffin]

^What he said.

[HYRUL3]

Selfish as this may be maybe they'll wait long enough to give me time to write my book, study game design, and get noticed so I can make a worthy sequel to Fusion that won't disappoint.

...nah. Pipe dream.

[KingBroly]

Thing is, when Nintendo makes a game that doesn't sell, they don't really continue that franchise. It happened with F-Zero, it happened the NPC games, it happened with Earthbound to Mother 3. And besides, if you listen to Nintendo's commentary on the game it sounds like they really don't know why people didn't buy it. They really aren't addressing why we are pissed.

Other M also feels like a lot of sacrifices were made for the story in regards to gameplay. The only thing I can't truly understand is the pixel hunt segments except for the last one, or at least, I have a theory about it which may or may not pan out. The authorization system has a point, but it's not closed off on both ends. Things in the story come across as 'oh, you already knew this, so there's no need to explain it.'

[Emperor Ing]

I guess this is what happens when you take too big of a risk with an established franchise.

And I thought that Mother 3 was a huge seller in Japan, but it was copyright and licensing issues that kept it out of the west.

And considering the fact that they're reviving Kid Icarus of all franchises, I don't think you can say that Nintendo abandons franchises that don't do well. Though you are right on F-Zero; I blame Nintendo being absolute morons wishing to push the increasingly dumbed-down Mario Kart series as their flagship racer, as opposed to a racing series with consistent merit.

I speculate that Nintendo might try to hand Metroid off to another outside developer much like they did with Retro. Which means yet more time going on till we see Metroid 5.

[KingBroly]

What they need to do is make Metroid 5 themselves and basically say "We're taking control back of this franchise." No Team Ninja, no Retro; just Nintendo. It'd be a symbolic statement of authority that'd go a long way into restoring peoples' faith in Nintendo's commitment to the franchise.

The thing is though, I really don't think Nintendo knows why we're angry. I don't think they're reading message boards or reviews about it, nor do I think they ever did. The story's goal comes across to destroy Samus. It comes across as something Team Ninja put together. If Sakamoto's name wasn't in the credits as writer, we'd all believe Team Ninja wrote the thing. That's just the perception we have of Team Ninja and of the story, intentional or not. And a lot of peoples' first impressions have been 'how could Nintendo let Team Ninja do that to Samus' in relation to the story. That's really the gut reaction everyone has about it the first time you play it.

[yodanut]

but for a metroid fan it also kinda plants seeds of doubt as to weather theyll ever make anoughter metroid. true its a large franchise, but this bombed pretty bad.

I say fear not! Nintendo loves its core franchises every bit as much as their fans. And I it'll take more than one bad Mario, one bad Zelda, or one bad Metroid to halt those franchises.

Heck, just look at Sonic and Mega Man. They've been on life support for ages, but survive still.

There is a key difference there, at least as far as Sonic is concerned: recent Sonic games, even bad ones, sell well. If a game loses money for Nintendo, they will not greenlight sequels.

I don't know that Other M did this poorly. Depending on its budget, half a million in sales may have been enough to break even, and other Metroid games apparently have always done well enough to justify follow ups so a single poorly-selling title probably won't doom the franchise in this instance. However, at the very least they'll probably re-evaluate the direction a follow will take and be far more cautious in its development, which could be good (maybe a less story-focused, more exploration-based game) or bad (re-interpreting the franchise for a new audience as a Call of Duty clone).

[KingBroly]

The problem would really be at the retail side of things. Even though Nintendo has big pockets, sales of Other M hurt the prospects of retailers wanting to carry copies of future games. That's the issue, not if it made a profit or not.