Samus Aran returns: Metroid:
Other M delves deeper into the
female bounty hunter's back
story. Samus Aran, the power-suited bounty hunter hero of the new Nintendo Wii game Metroid: Other M, out this week, has a dual mission: to overcome the alien enemies in the game — while helping the Wii fend off increasingly tough competition.
Though the Wii may have sold 30 million in the USA since its arrival in November 2006, its rivals, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, are gaining ground this year.
And the all-important holiday season looms without a new Wii game starring Nintendo's standard bearers, Mario or the Legend of Zelda's Link. Super Mario Galaxy 2 came out in May; The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword has been delayed until next year.
Looks like trouble ahead for the Wii, right? Not necessarily.
Samus of Metroid: Other M ($50, rated T for ages 13-up) is one of several characters revived from Nintendo's historical troupe to champion the Wii for the rest of the year. Samus — one of the first female main characters in a video game — appeared in 1987's Metroid on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Other older Nintendo characters aiming for a comeback (though they've made guest appearances in games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl):
A peek at Pikachu: The
character is back in PokePark
Wii, due Nov. 1.• Kirby's Epic Yarn (Oct. 17) finds the cute, round, pink Kirby in a Little Big Planet-like fabric world. He weaves himself into a car, submarine and other objects made of yarn in this first appearance for the character on a home system since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards on Nintendo 64 in 2000.
• PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure (Nov. 1, all ages), the first Wii retail Pokémon game in three years, features a playground packed with Pokémon.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns (Nov. 21) is a sequel to the popular series that last appeared on the Super Nintendo in the mid-1990s. The new twist? Two players can play together, as Kong or smaller sidekick Diddy Kong.
From the outside looking in, Mario and Link seem to represent the video-game giant's A-team. But don't call these other characters "second string," says Nintendo's Marc Franklin. "Each franchise plays a certain role, and they are all important in their own way," he says. "So many people grew up with their first video-game experiences playing Metroid or Donkey Kong or Kirby. These have long histories."
Nintendo's upcoming lineup can hold its own, analysts say. "Nintendo could certainly take better advantage of Mario's popularity with a new Mario game or by bundling evergreen Mario titles with the Wii and/or the (handheld system) DSi," says Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with M2 Research. But the Kirby, Donkey Kong and Pokémon games will be hits especially with kids, and Metroid with teens, he says.
Metroid: Other M has an interesting lineage. Longtime Metroid designer Yoshio Sakamoto teamed with Tecmo's Team Ninja, creators of the Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series, on the game. "They have helped us to perfectly realize a game that plays like a classic title from the past, yet is implemented with cutting-edge technology," said Sakamoto, the game's producer, director and story lead, in an e-mail interview.
The classic look Sakamato references is the third-person, side-to-side scrolling motion of the original Metroid games, paired with a newfangled, first-person 3-D point of view. The new game picks up the story from 1994's Super Metroid, in which Samus thwarted space pirates trying to turn energy-based organisms called metroids into weapons.
Other M, which delves into the hero's past and how she became a bounty hunter, is an "epic action adventure," says Victor Lucas of The Electric Playground (elecplay.com).
Nintendo's upcoming games may not match the production values of games on the PS3 and Xbox 360. "But in terms of thumb candy," he says, Metroid, Kirby and Donkey Kong "are going to be hard games to beat."
'Metroid' through the years
A closer look at one of Nintendo's signature video game franchises.
