@@BlackTideLive everyone made that joke, it's such an obvious reaction. every analysis of the trailer and review of the game that tried to have a sense of humor anyway.
"from adam's stern expression, constant swearing and repeated kicks to my face and stomach i realized he must have been a little bit upset about something"
I know what you're trying to say, but that's not only just snobbery, it's also unapt for this situation. Sakamoto is not a painter in a kitchen, he's the 2nd-biggest name in Metroid's design history and he still fucked it up.
"Adam has not authorized the use of the bombs yet" That is like... the OPPOSITE of good narrative design. That is the BEST way to make sure that players will hate that character (because he hinders them in their path). The only way that would've made sense would be an intuitive 'foreshadowing' that he's gonna become a turncoat villain, and players would get to shoot him in the face in a bossfight. Holy crap. Like, the best equivalent in the Metroid series would be that part in Super Metroid where Ridley shows up at the beginning, steals the baby Metroid and beats the crap out of you - so when you face him, you have your sweet revenge. This is like... next level of clueless game design.
Also, 'game' and 'story' being separate is also terrible, horrible approach to narrative design. That kind of stuff was maybe okay in the 1980s where 'story' was just a blurb in the manual to justify what you're doing, but in 2010, we have LONG had ability to make the story be a natural PART of the gameplay, something to enhance it. Games like System Shock 2, Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid knew how to use the gameplay to enhance the storytelling (and the opposite) as early as 1998. If the gameplay doesn't really factor into a story, to a point where you can just view all the cutscenes as a 'movie'... why is there even a game? Why is this not just a direct-to-DVD animated OVA? Why freaking bother?
@@ShinoSarna A year late but there are often cases where gameplay is there to supplement story or the story itself is why people follow a series and they have great gameplay to accompany it. Yet the story is what people get attached to. A couple of examples for gameplay supplementing story rather than the other way around. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, it has pretty decent gameplay but it gets very reptitive and downright painful at some points. But you are always happy when you get to a cutscene where your character interacts with his friends. And you realize, he doesn't care about the busy work either. Just like he wants to see his friends, you do the busy work as well and feel a very strong connection due to it. A more relevant/recent example is Death Stranding. The game is tedious, very intentionally. Your hand gets tired moving through the game, you get bored at times, you get frustrated with it all. Just like the protagonist you play as. You are then right there with him the entire time and grow attached because the gameplay supplements the story, not the other way around. Series like Metal Gear Solid and Kingdom Hearts have great gameplay, and ludicrously complicated stories that many people focus on. KH games has some of the best gameplay on each console and era they release in. But many people (including myself) follow it for the story and don't give 2 craps about gameplay. I do agree though that story can supplement gameplay and give you motivation. BOTW (or any Mario game) is unplayable to me because the story is so irrelevant that the only remaining area is gameplay.
@@haruhirogrimgar6047 While i need gameplay before anything else (i even avoid anything too story driven that will interrupt my game flow, in love with botw or any souls like) I agree that the focus on context and all the different types of narrations are an awesome thing of modern gaming. Some games manage to tell whole stories without any text while some are just like movies or series, all types of flavors.
THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY
The only good way to utilize that same principle is by making it out as Samus's own decision. If it was, "I should catch up with Adam first," then yeah, you can be annoyed that Samus is forcing you to follow this character, but at least then you understand "This is a more linear Metroid game. I can get to exploring after I complete this objective."
15:15 Yeah, the Prime series conveyed Samus’ badassery so well... with the space pirates referencing her foiling their plans on computer logs, the Federation revering her as a hero... she being a badass on screen with no little to no mention of her gender... and those were western developers, who had nothing to do with the original games... yeah, maybe its a cultural thing, but Samus was more respectfully portrait by Retro.
Yea. The best characterization in the prime games is seeing her reflection in her visor. Usually happening during trying moments, it perfectly showed her beautiful yet stoic and determined stare. So understated and perfect.
I don't know though. I don't think it's a case of a bad idea, just bad execution. I would like to see them attempt it once more but with a smaller and more localized writing team. To break down a well established character in a tasteful way is not an easy thing to do but it can be done. The biggest mistake they made is to start Samus off from a position of weakness. They should have started her from a position of strength to get people on board and then slowly chip away at that strength. Make people feel like her strength is an unhealthy façade. Moments of her clearly feeling but not allowing herself to feel, moments of her being overstressed from suppressing them. They just never really presented it in a way that would make people sympathize with Samus or make them feel her original part is still there.
Now with Dread, we got a perfect mix of Samus being an absolute badass with even subtle things like her body language in boss fight cutscenes, but also showing subtle emotion like the scenes with Quiet Robe.
Samus Returns may have retconned Other M out of existence, while confirming the Prime trilogy is part of canon. It does it in a very smart way, entirely through subtext and implication...but it very subtly implies a different origin for the frozen Ridley in Fusion. You fight Ridley on SR-388, he still has a couple of his Meta Ridley enhancements. After the fight, he leaves those behind (leading into Super Metroid where he is organic again). You see a hornoad playing with them, then said hornoad gets taken over by an X parasite. The X would've had Ridley's genetic material from those cybernetic parts he left behind. It looks like Other M has been removed from the timeline...it didn't fit anyway. It blatantly contradicted not only the Prime trilogy, but also Fusion.
@Chelline R. No, the Prime series happens before Metroid II and its remake where the decision was made to wipe out the metroids. Other M is supposed to happen after Super Metroid.
@Chelline R. No, before nintendo said anything, we knew the timeline. It's pretty obvious where everything fits, since most of the games happen immediately after eachother. Certain characters, places, and stations existing, being dead or missing let us piece that together pretty easily. The only anomoly was Other M. Maybe your head-canon would like to see the Prime series after Other M, but you'd still have to explain why the scans in Prime 1 reference the events of the first Metroid as if they just happened, meaning Prime 1 is an immediate follow up (in the timeline) to Metroid/Zero Mission. Other M was meant to take place at the end of the timeline but before Fusion, because Nintendo wanted to keep Samus' iconic armor for the rest of the series. The events of fusion show that the fusion suit is just apart of Samus' body now. She's part Metroid.
@Chelline R. There is literally no subjective thing about the timeline at all. In Prime 1 there are logs that mention how they have lost Zebes base. The games flow from one to the other following the timeline very clearly.
@Chelline R. Well it still wouldn't work. Meta Ridley lost his armor from Prime 1 and 3 in the Metroid 2 remake which it self leads directly into Super Metroid ans Other M says it takes place right after Super so we Know the Prime games happen before Metroid 2 and by proxy before Other M.
@alan bane *Josh:* The comment sections on these videos always seem to be civil and respectful. *Me:* *reads this comment and looks into the camera like I'm on The Office*
Adam: the comms are broken, so the members of the 7th platoon must regularly use navigation booths for reports. Also Adam: manages to have a 24/7 1080p60fps stream of Samus' view.
To play devil's advocate here, I think the actual reason Adam couldn't uplink with the other squad members was because the traitor (I don't wanna say Deleter because that's a dumb name) sabotaged them. It's not outright stated that the traitor is James Pierce, but considering how he's the last body found (apparently K. G. was dunked in lava to dispose of his body), that's what's implied. And since he's the squad communication specialist, it'd make sense that he could break that sort of thing. Samus is unaffected because she's a rogue element, and he never has a chance to break any comms elements in her suit.
Another suggestion: Have MB hack Samus when she arrives, instead of Adam authorising things, he's restoring the corrupted subroutines that she needs to use her equipment It would explain the moments when he takes a while to authorise something obvious, for example, when entering the super heated area he turns his attention to prioritise restoring Varia functionality, finishing restoring it just as the boss fight starts That way we get the same gameplay beats, the tension and everything, while removing the blatant nonsensical aspect of not just immediately authorising a non-threatening defensive ability
@@Brandonious15987 Also it would have allowed the sacrifice Adam has been inside Samus' armours systems the entire game that way Instead of shooting her while she's already in danger like an idiot, he could lock her armours hydraulics as she reaches for the door, and takes that moment to enter in her place
Samus' displayed personality in this game was just... _so_ bewildering to me. This is just _not_ the same person who saved a planet and then just pimpwalked off it, giving nothing but a mere wave of the hand over her back. The kind of warrior who doesn't even make a sound in battle until she gets hurt so damn much that she just dies, the kind of person who just kinda quietly and calmly moves her head to the side a bit to dodge getting shot by her freaky phazon clone - that's Samus.
This is why Other M should've happened at the start of the timeline and been about Samus's time in the Federation. This stuff makes sense before all those epic adventures and shows excellent growth within her, but it makes no sense in the 2nd to last (now 3rd :)) game in the timeline after she's defeated Ridley so many times and saved countless worlds.
@@AniGaAG Oh yeah she's more badass in that game than she's ever been, and I'd say it even humanized her correctly unlike Other M with the Chozo stuff.
@@speedude0164 Yep, Dread is a great game, I just wish it had more memorable musical scores. I also wish people would quit giving Sakamoto credit for it like it's some kind of "redemption". It's not. He never apologized for Other M. He to this day thinks he made a perfect game, and blames the fans for "not getting it". Sakamoto is a no talent hack who got where he was by taking credit for other people's work. He is not a "co-creator" of Metroid. He was brought on near the end of development of the first game as one of several character artists by the ACTUAL creator of Metroid (Gunpei Yokoi). The only game in the series he made was Other M. He did not make Dread, MercurySteam did. THEY deserve the credit for it being good. If someone deserves praise for Dread, it's the game director (Jose Luis Márquez). And the designers (Jose Maria Navarro Herrera, Carlos Zarzuela Sánchez, Jacobo Luengo).
"Becoming small and round was a certain maneuver I had done enough that it felt natural. But doing it knowing that Adam was watching, that certain maneuver became thrilling." "Because I am about to drop a trail of unauthorized power bombs across this ship."
29:02: Okay, this just makes me want to vomit. You're not even doing that much of a parody here because that's exactly how this game is. "Ugu~ Daddy allowed me to fight for my life instead of accepting death. Daddy is good and just."
You know in some stories having a character completely defined through their relationship with another character can be interesting. This is not one of those stories. Simply put Samus is not that character. Painting her as such is kind of degrading. Also there relationship is super creepy and it makes me want to shower. And not in the "wow this author understands how disgusting this relationship is and is not holding back on displaying it in it's full horror." And more of "oh my God they dont realize! They dont realize how gross and offputting this is! What were they thinking!"
@@Voidling242 Link is one of the great heroes, yet even then, almost any Link is pretty much a bitch compared to Samus and getting degraded and stripped of dignity like that wouldn't be as jarring as it is for Samus.
So, the thing about the Gravity Suit contrast in Other M was that Sakamoto thought that the serious scenes in the game would be ruined by a large purple figure just being there, so he changed it to just being the aura around the suit that we see in the final game. Makes no sense to me since I never heard anyone complain about being pulled out of the endings to the 2D games or Prime because Samus's Gravity Suit colors stuck out, but whatever.
the wired thing is that a muted purple suit actually would have fit better with the dark blue every one else is using its so odd. if he really thought it looked weird he could have even adjusted the color a bit as or given it the same glow effect it had in prime 3 corruption.
SHe doesn't have big voice acting serious scenes in those. They could of had just be orange in cutscenese and had the suit change to it's gravity colors while she was in the water or in the gravity section.....
Another possible fix is to make the Gravity Suit go first, so the purple is out of the way in the midgame, then the dramatic climax and endgame scenes can have the iconic red/orange
I'm actually in favor of this glowy version. Because when I got the Gravity Suit in Prime the things that Sakamoto was thinking about did happen to me. I thought it looks incredibly silly.
Sakamoto said he brutally murdered the awesome Gravity Suit design because *he thought having a partially purple suit would make the cutscenes too silly*. Good thing the cutscenes are as great as they are or it just wouldn't make any sense!
Samus without the suit is 6'3 and weighs 198 pounds. The top of her head doesn't even reach Adam's shoulders and her waist is the same thickness has one of his legs. She is still shorter and thinner than him even when in her suit. Funky miscalculations there.
Actually is for the same reason that Adam "saves" Samus in sector zero, to show him as an incredible strong man that cares about the others etc. Because Adam is towering over Samus. And because 5' 7" is the medium height for women in Japan.
Yep. I think he pretty fairly assessed the game. I haven't actually played Other M myself, but I can definitely see how things like the plot holes in the story, the clunky control scheme, and the overpowered moves like dodging could ruin the game.
That Bird-Dad rant made me crap the hell up. One of the things the game fucked up compared to Fusion is that while Samus was being bossed around by the AI, there was dramatic tension between the two because it's established that Samus doesn't enjoy taking orders. You didn't even know if the AI could be trusted, Samus would end up disobeying the AI at different points or accidentally stumble off the path laid out for her and into these moody side paths of the ship where she was isolated, and would sometimes see something she wasn't supposed to. Samus just deciding she feels like going along with Adam even when it makes absolutely no sense to do so doesn't work in comparison, and the weak attempts the game makes to make us think Adam might be secretly evil just fall flat. He acts like a dick but nobody in-game seems to aknowledge that fact, it's just something we're aware of and not really sure if it's supposed to come across that way or not. So we've got a character dynamic where a powerful hero is just willingly submitting to the whims of an incompetent jackass and we just have to accept that this is the status quo. It's irritating at best and makes the entire game feel like the tutorial section of Undertale, except here it's not supposed to be funny and you never leave the ruins. Also, Fusion married it's action-packed gameplay with elements of horror and isolation so that the game still felt like Metroid. The boss battles provided frantic, exhilarating bursts of action, and the main sections of the areas had a thrilling tone set by the music, but breaking these parts of the game up were the parts where you went off the grid (literally, off the mapped part of the area) into the hidden corners of the station. These parts were quiet and dripping with atmosphere, and you never knew exactly what to expect, running into bosses and powerups that weren't outlined as part of your mission parameters. Other M fails to strike this balance and the game feels very noisy, it lacks that kind of subtlety and nuance of tone that made Fusion great. Oh yeah, I'm fine with the design of the Power Suit in Other M. Much like Fusion, this game was meant to be slicker and more action-packed, so it makes sense for the power suit to be slimmer and more acrobatic. Prime's bulky look established a powerful look for Samus that reflected the game's slower, deliberate gameplay. Both designs match what their games set out to do. The Zero Suit design is where things go wrong. I don't know if it was intentional or due to poor communication between teams, but the fact that Samus shrinks two whole feet when she removes her Power Suit in this game is not only ridiculous, but by making her seem frail and tiny without her Power Suit it gives the impression that the suit is the only thing that makes her strong, and that is *not* a good way to portray your story's hero.
Especially when this game is considered to be After Zero mission, "Frail Zero suit Samus" uh? Say that to that poor Alien Seafood that got himself stunlocked for eternity.
@@Regunes Speaking of Zero mission in some of the ending pics is Samus in even less than her Zero suit and looks hell of a lot more buff than in the Zero suit in Other M.
Fifty Shades of Kraid. Anyway, that "relationship" is all Sakamoto's doing. Adam is his self insert. And the way Sakamoto talks about Samus is downright creepy, like he's a stalker or something (he also seems to know nothing about her personality).
@@StormsparkPegasus Not really. Other M was not really written by a person but by a very complicated and oversized group. Sakamoto didn't really have a writing staff that could assist him but a hopelessly disorganized group that couldn't agree on anything.
@@StormsparkPegasus Sakamoto is partially at fault but it doesn't take blame away from the structure around him that should have kept him in check and ensured quality control.
Here's a suggestion to fix the Adam death scene. Instead of Adam shooting Samus to make her vulnerable and then freezing the metroid and just telling us that the Metroids are freeze-proof, the game should have done this: Samus shoots at the metroid, but surprisingly, her ice beam doesn't affect it. Samus starts spamming other weapons, but none of them work either, and she gets increasingly frantic. The metroid finds an opening and latches onto her and starts sucking her dry. Unlike the baby from Super Metroid, this one has no reason to stop at 1 HP; it's going to kill her. As she's about to die, Adam rushes to her and with enough force, he manages to pry the metroid off her in time. Angered, the metroid latches onto him instead. In his final moments of getting drained by the metroid, he tells Samus the metroids are immune to freezing, and she needs to activate the detach/self-destruct feature now, leaving his body behind. He tells her that some metroids may have gotten loose in the Bottleship, and the only way that they can be stopped is that Samus has to kill MB because she's really *gasp* Mother Brain. Any objections, lady?
They showed Crocomire's skin melting off in Super Metroid, so I don't see why they wouldn't show that. It's not like there would be blood or gore, his body would just turn grey and dull.
Jokes aside.... Other M literally did not mention the Chozo, even once. That is absolutely ridiculous, how can you claim to make a Metroid backstory game, without having the Chozo? Even the simple SCANNED lore from the Prime games venerated the Chozo as hyper-intelligent quasi-gods. In Other M... apparently Adam is the closest thing she has to a father!? bull. Sakamoto didn't create Samus, and after getting total control, he showed he doesn't truly understand her either.
@@autobotstarscream765 Second cousin that lives in another state (galaxy) that you only know about because of both of your parents talking about them to each other and then they tell you about them.
@@metaknight115 Retro just put out a lead game producer hire ad for it this month August. Which means they've finished pre-production and have entered production. I'd say another year or year and half.
I can sum up Other M in one word: Pretentious. Other M is a game written and directed and micro-managed to death by a man who has exceedingly high expectations of himself and utterly fails to be anything but bloated self-indulgence. It's Yoshio Sakamoto's amateur fanfiction. No. I've seen _actual fanfics_ that don't start off with writing as fucking atrociously bad as the "Baby's Cry Bottle Ship THE SYMBOLISM DO YOU GET IT" opening of this game.
I want to say I dunno if Sakamoto actually was the one sabotaging the project as much as the rumors would have it. Japanese work culture is so that the one highest up the chain of responsibility always takes the entire blame for any failing down the ladder.
@dbenson31 I just have an AquaTeen reference in my head about how the D on the grave stands for Dracula... THE M IN OTHER M STANDS FOR MOTHER! OH MY GOOOOOOO-
You could say the same about the Star Wars prequels. So naturally some future Metroid game is going to receive rave reviews from critics but fans will start bashing it and start praising Other M at its expense. Though while I'd consider Other M and Phantom Menace to be of roughly comparable quality (in so far as a film and a video game can be compared), I can at least realize the latter is just not for me. So I guess that makes Other M even worse, since it's more something I'd be interested in yet I still have a hard time choosing which is less bad.
In regards to why we watch your videos. Why I watch them (And I can't think I'm alone here) comes down to two reasons. First you take time to go into the kind of depth that gives us an hour long video about a game that you have no feelings toward. That shows dedication to your craft and to us as the audience. Secondly, and I think more importantly, you have an understanding of the relationship between the emotions we feel about games and the games themselves. You just have such a solid grasp on what it means to be a gamer, and because of that you can speak to gamers on a far deeper level, and we can understand where you come from because we've been there too. I think The Geek Critique is a far more fitting name for you than I initially realized. Never stop Josh, never stop.
Samus’s dialogue towards taking orders from Adam makes it sound like it should be in a Metroid spin off of Fifty Shades I actually shuddered at the morph ball bit
If a lab technician would have told me to do something "just the way I like it ' with that face and that tone, I would have smashed the window and sent a power bomb right on that shitty smile.
Listen to Sakamoto talk about Samus sometime. It's downright creepy. He sounds like a stalker. He also seems to know nothing about her as a character. Adam is obviously his self insert, and I think he has *ahem* fantasies about her being really submissive. It's really damn creepy, you get the impression that his only goal is to bang Samus.
Okay, I just noticed that the title of the video changed AGAIN. First it was "The Franchise Corrupted". Then it changed to "The Decay of Samus". And now it's "The Unmaking of Metroid". Is Josh doing this for a reason, or can he not settle on how to refer to Other M? If this is the last time this happens, then I hope his Samus Returns critique is called "The REmaking of Metroid." Edit: Nearly a year later, the title has changed to "The End of the Prime Era." Either this has become some weird tradition, or this is potentially hinting at a Samus Returns critique. If you can hear me, Josh, please send me a sign! I've been waiting for so long!
Galactic Panda that's a little lame but I'll watch it eventually, while waiting for prime 4 and smash ultimate I'm playing through the entire Metroid series in conon order. Though I'm skipping the NES Metroid for zero and 2 for Samus returns
You know something about the story that I realized while watching this video really annoys me? It simultaneously assumes you did and did not read the manga. There are two major aspects of Samus's past that have never been firmly established in the games, only in the manga: that Samus was raised by the Chozo, and that Ridley killed Samus's parents. Yet the game decides it can ignore the first, but hinge a pivotal scene on the second. So basically, people who didn't read the manga won't take issue with Samus saying that Adam was the closest thing to a father she had, but her Ridley panic attack will make absolutely no sense. But people who have read the manga will understand why she literally turns into a child at the sight of Ridley (I mean, disregarding how poorly executed that moment was, they'll at least understand what's going on), but the line about Adam being her closest thing to a father will probably inspire their own Bird Dads rant.
I wouldn't really say those *firmly* establish it. It would be entirely understandable if someone played Zero Mission and didn't pick up on Samus's backstory from the little stick figure drawing. And there were actually some ending screens in Fusion that did a better job at telling these things, but they were all exclusive to the Japanese version. Curiously, the most explicit references to Samus being raised by the Chozo were in some Metroid Prime scans. But Sakamoto doesn't even consider those canon. And still, that just makes it worse. Though it's never really been a core part of any game's story, there are references to Samus being raised by the Chozo, but the only reference to Ridley attacking her as a kid is in a single Japan only Fusion ending. Yet the Chozo thing is what's ignored and the Ridley thing is what's referenced.
I haven't really read the manga so I could be very wrong, but didn't samus ovecome her problems with ridley by the end? Plus that one top of the fact that Other M's kind of near the end of the canon, meaning she's went through fighting ridley over and over already? I could be wrong though so correct me if Im not.
Isaac Argesmith - Yes, by this point, Samus had fought him a bunch of times. So it doesn't really make sense no matter how you slice it. But I at least get the intent of the scene, showing Samus have a PTSD flashback to when Ridley killed her parents. Whereas the player who didn't know that bit of Metroid lore would probably have no idea why she literally turns into a child in that scene.
*Samus Returns spoilers here after Read More* Which is why everyone saying "MUH MANGAAAAAAAAA" are fucking stupid. I believe I read the manga either shortly before Other M came out or shortly after before I knew of the story problems, so I got to read it without knowing of Other M's bungles. To see people blindly defend the Ridley scene in Other M by screaming MANGA while simultaneously ignoring that Other M has a fucking vendetta against the Chozo that said manga utterly revered is absolutely insane to me. don't cherry pick your outside sources if you plan on using them. Oh, and the manga was deliberately made to transition into the Zero Mission remake...where Samus has no such PTSD reaction to Ridley. Nor does she in Super. Nor does she NOW IN AN OFFICIAL METROID 2 REMAKE. She has now fought Ridley in literally every game except Prime 2 (which Prime is most definitely canon now), she has no reason to fear him when she clearly got the fuck over it. It's a video game, you're allowed to say they got over their previous PTSD completely.
I think this whole game was a weird allegory for a mother coping with a miscarriage. Samus loses "the baby," she goes to "the bottle" (alcohol) ship to cope with her loss, experiences terrible flashbacks while on "the bottle," etc. etc. What was Sakamoto on while writing this game? -Can I have some??-
I think it's even worse than a pretentious fanfic. I'm pretty sure Adam's character here is the writer's self-insert. Complete with all the horrible tropes of a bad Mary Sue--or here, Marty Stu--character. Samus, who has never acted this way, suddenly pines for the adoration of a character who winds up taking her place in her own story. How the heck are these guys simultaneously so good at making cutscenes, but so bad at writing them?
There's this theory that Adam is Sakamoto's self insert. To me seems pretty plausible as I recall, years before Other M happened, that Sakamoto claimed things like having a sequence of Super Metroid Game Over screen with Samus naked, or claiming being the only one who knew where her "charm point" or something like that was.
maybe it was Sakamoto's way of saying, that he's going to RETIRE from the franchise, as did Adam ;) :P And ONE LAST TIME, he had ALL THE CONTROL and ALL THE DECISIONS over Samus ...
@@cursedex80 Oh, Adam is definitely Sakamoto's self insert. He fantasized about Samus as this really submissive person too. I'm sure the only reason it didn't go completely into NSFW territory (this was Team Ninja after all) was due to Nintendo reining it in. I'm sure Sakamoto would've gone along with it if Nintendo would have allowed such a thing. This game is a BAD fanfic, and he absolutely should never be allowed to direct a game again. Or at least, not a Metroid game. The best part when Team Ninja said that Sakamoto eventually acknowledged that the control scheme was broken and could never work, but went ahead with it anyway because changing it would've meant "admitting he was wrong".
There are two super easy ways you can have the same result that remains in character for what both Adam and Samus should be. 1) Adam is like the Adam from Metroid Fusion. Someone who absolutely respects Samus while also being higher ranked. Someone who can crack jokes and remain serious. 2) Samus has ACTUAL PTSD, recognizes that, and follows Adam's orders because she asked him to give her them. There. Samus now follows Adam's orders to a fault because she understands that entering a grunt soldier mentality will keep her mind focused. And we have an Adam that gives orders as her commander, but also cares for Samus and encourages her to regain her confidence.
I would have actually cried real tears if they had given some cutscene time to the two Chozo they introduced in Zero Mission. Those are the father figures of Samus Aran. Those are the two noble people of a race so far beyond anything else in the galaxy that they literally ascended (though Samus Returns (2017) throws a little doubt on that), but had enough compassion to take in one little terrified girl and make her one of the most noble and capable figures in the galaxy. THAT'S WHAT FATHERS WANT TO DO FOR THEIR CHILDREN! Oh and easy answer to a question: How do you have Samus unlock her upgrades so the game isn't broken from the start? Why not have HER DECIDE WHEN SHE USES HER GEAR! It goes like this: *Area before the power bomb would be unlocked* Player: Uses power bomb. Samus (soliloquy aside): I don't think I should use that here. OR That's a little overkill. OR It'd be too dangerous to use that now. Or have some other character come over comms and chastise her but don't make it sound like she's under someone's thumb.
You mean Old Bird and Grey Voice? if I am not wrong those are their names, and yes, they should've show something about them, specially Grey Voice, I men, he died with a badass chozo power suit fighting ridley 1vs1, fucking ridley 1v1, fuck, he died like a legend
Here's an easier solution to making Samus lose her upgrades at the beginning of Other M... just say that Mother Brain's Hyper Beam attack on her suit back in Super Metroid caused so much damage in the long run that her upgrades were rendered useless.
@@elvampe13 Yeah, I'd thought of that, too. Perhaps the Federation injected her with nanobots to make repairs, and the same story beats are when individual repairs are complete.
elvampe13 yeah I was thinking that the moment it told us that it was after those events. I mean it actually makes perfect sense.... holy shit what a missed opportunity
I agree with the idea of Samus deciding when she uses her gear, but I also like the idea of her looking to Adam for permission. Granted, the Adam I would want is someone who recognizes Samus as a powerful person who has earned her status, but as a former mentor he can take a few jabs at her and be that one friend you don't have to be afraid of joking around with. That, and Samus recognizes her own emotional compromise and defers to Adam. He recognizes that she needs a hand to point her in the right direction, though not necessarily forcing her into anything. This relationship has an Adam who chastises Samus for running into the lava area without asking permission for her Varia Suit and an Adam who teases Samus for not asking permission for the Wave Beam when she saw the button.
New Headcanon: Metroid Other M is a really bad movie adaptation of Samus's real life adventures in her universe. EDIT: Well Phantoon is a ghost. Him being connected to the undead (or flat out being undead himself) is a good reason to his return. It makes more sense than the Feds thinking it's a good idea to clone THEIR SWORN ENEMY AND MOST DANGEROUS AI IN THE GALAXY!!!
I thought the explanation for him being in the post-game was because the Bottle Ship was now a wreck/ghost ship, thus he as a ghost was able to manifest on/haunt it... but that's probably just my brain auto-correcting bad writing to be better then it is.
If you are ever in doubt of yourself, I have a short story to tell you. My only sibling is my brother, and he is 5 years older than I am. I love my brother dearly, and when we were kids, we were very close and shared many video game memories together. When we got older, my brother went to college and then moved away from Montana to the east coast--as these stores often go, a woman was involved. As I grew older, I too moved away from my parents, and eventually ended up in Washington. We still both love each other very much, but we often go several months without talking. Despite our age and distance gap, both of us found your channel, subscribed, and though he suggested it to me first to check your channel out (not knowing I was already subscribed and watching every release), the odd connection between us had me planning to suggest watching this channel to him at the very time he suggested it to me.
Art direction is everything. Prime 3 and Other M both released on the Wii, and yet I can't help but feel like Prime 3 is the better looking game in every single way. Enemy design is unique from location to location, the environments are lost alien civilizations, and nothing looks like it's made of Gunpla plastic. So I don't feel like it's a hardware issue by any means.
@@cancerstinks1 the small up-res the first two games received in the trilogy collection really proves how well the visuals hold up. Really wish they would bring the trilogy to the switch already, the games would look so good!
I remember (get it?) vividly when MBD - known at the time as Mysterious Black Dude - was all the rage on places like GameFAQs and TH-cam. I enjoyed that moment in time more than everything the actual game ever offered.
This review was the best and fairest critique of Other M that I've seen from ANYBODY, including the fandom. You actually gave the game it's fair share of chances. You said where it fell flat, as well as gave it's strong points. You listened to those of us who enjoyed and defended the game. Honestly, seeing it from this perspective changes how I personally view the game, too. I won't defend it as hard as I used to, but I still won't take absolute hate for it from those who insult me just because I liked it. Thank you for the Metroid Series Critique, it has made Metroid my most favorite game series, even more so than the Legend of Zelda.
Out of curiosity, what do you see in Other M? Because most of the Other M defenders I've seen focus mainly on Samus' characterization, and I barely ever hear Other M defenders' opinions on the actual gameplay and game design.
Charles A. I found it's Gameplay super fun at the time! A lot of times, it felt like a Metroid game, and I could see Other Metroid games being made in this Style if it got positive attention. The 3Rd to 1st person transition was personally easy for me, because I was excellent at Wii games. I beat Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, so I was well calibrated for that system. Like TGC said, All that needed to be fixed was the lack of buttons and the Dodge should be nerfed as well. Also, Maybe scanning should be easy, too. But it shouldn't be another Metroid Prime ripoff, that's for sure. As for the Game Design, I loved Fusion, which is my favorite Metroid game, and this game was basically an attempt at recreating Fusion, so I was right at home. Fighting through man-made structure, as the atmosphere felt along the lines of a Horror movie. I don't mind being lead to a different area, as long as the Story was enticing. And Other M's story was definitely enticing for my 13 year old mind at the time. Sure, now I think it's Meh, cause I played it so many times, but it was still fun and I enjoyed it.
Daimon Shaw I wouldn't know, I do not watch his videos. But I checked for it, and apparently he did review it, so maybe I'll check the rest of him out!
SomeKidOnline Metroid fusion was my entry to the series and has largely held up as my favorite metroid game (granted i've yet to play super yet). That said it was how close it mirrors fusion while, in my opinion, doing all those same elements extremely poorly with more of it that just made me hate the game outright.
"who would have more history, and more familiarity with this series than one of the people that created it in the first place"...... ....retro, apparently.
"Metroid: Other M" is so hated because it is, essentially, not a Metroidvania game. I'll go as far as suggest that it is, in fact, an ANTI-Metroidvania game. Allow me to elaborate... (after the jump) Metroidvania games are defined by three essential elements: 1. Exploration 2. Discovery 3. Empowerment The elements of Exploration and Discovery are nearly completely absent in "Metroid: Other M". Exploration is severely limited as you can't go back to places you already visited (even "Fusion" allowed some degree of backtracking before the "point of no return") while Discovery is limited to finding missile upgrades and pixel-hunting while Samus is in first person mode. And then we reach the third element, the element of empowerment... ...Strap in guys, this is going to be a long one... Metroidvania games are all about gradually empowering the player as they progress through the game. The character that the player controls whether it's Samus, Soma, Shantae, Alucard, Shinoa, or Link starts the game extremelly weak and he/she has to fight hard for survival. Even weak enemies pose a credible and deadly threat that can kill in seconds if the player is not carefull. However, as you fight through and progress through a Metroidvania game, you gain new abilities and upgrades, which makes your character stronger. You start wiping the floor with the enemies that scared you previously, and you take on bosses and challenges you couldn't tackle before, thereby gaining even more abilities and upgrades. When you finally reach the end-boss you feel like you are in top-condition, and defeating him feels like a huge accomplishment, because you went through a big ordeal, you empowered yourself through hardship and made it through. This sense of self-empowerment and accomplishment is ultimately what makes Metroidvania games so appealling and so popular. In "Metroid: Other M" something very strange happened... It seems that the production team of "Metroid: Other M" felt like it was stupid and troublesome for Samus to somehow lose all her powers in every single game she was in, so in "Metroid: Other M" they introduced the "Authorization Mechanic". Now Samus starts out strong and willingly shuts down her powers and upgrades in order to show respect to her former commander Adam Malkovich. The upgrades are no longer found by the player, but they are authorized by Adam when the player reaches certain points in the game, at which point the player gains the ability to use them. At this point let me say that there is nothing wrong with Samus following orders. There is nothing wrong with Samus showing respect to her former commanding officer and following through with his plan in order to complete her mission. The problem is that the "Authorization Mechanic" was executed in a way that made Adam look like stupid and incompetent at best, downright abusive and sadistic at worst. And while he gave a very good reason for disabling Samus' weapons, he didn't give a reason (not even a bad one) for disabling things like the Varia Armor or the Power Jump, or for not allowing her to use them when her life was in imminent danger. It also made Samus look like a weak-willed individual who can't think for herself or defend herself in the presence of her Commanding Officer/ Father Figure. Every interaction between Samus and Adam, degrades her and belittles her. Hence, the "empowerment" aspect of the game, an essential part of every Metroidvania title (even the relatively linear "Fusion") is completely REVERSED. You don't feel "empowered" as you progress through the game, you feel like more of a helpless idiot for doing so. You, as a player, seriously have no idea why Samus considers such a petty and vindictive man to be so important to her, why she is willing to throw her life and her dignity away for him, and why she acts so out of character when she is around him. The most plausible explanation, in fact the ONLY one in which the entire narrative of the game makes sense is that Samus and Adam are "traumatically bonded" and are engaged in an abusive relationship. Samus on her own is the woman who single-handedly defeated the Space Pirates and wiped out the Metroids. Samus with Adam on board is an emotionally unstable mess who gets infantilized by him and breaks down with PTSD in front of an enemy she has already defeated twice in the "Other M timeline" (Thrice if you include the Manga in there). And the worst part is that "Metroid: Other M" romantisizes this sort of thing by giving us an image of the stars painting Adam in the end credits. I don't know, but for some reason I enjoy "Other M" a whole lot more when I give the ending credits image of Adam the finger and treat him as an outright villain. (I suggest googling and reading Mentalguy's excellent essay named "Metroid: Other M-The Elephant in the Room" for more on the Samus Aran/Adam Malkovich abusive relationship theory) In the end, when you finish the game, you get no feeling of accomplishment. You have achieved nothing, and your actions have barely made a difference. Samus, the player's avatar, is completely degraded and powerless, and there is nothing you can do about it. In short "Metroid: Other M" is the very antithesis of a Metroidvania game. There is hardly any exploration and discovery, and the main character is depowered, endangered and degraded. There is no sense of empowerment and accomplishment, but one of helplessness and futility. This doesn't necessarily mean that "Metroid: Other M" is a bad game. On it's own, "Metroid: Other M" can be a harrowing and thought-provoking experience. But it's not a Metroidvania game, it's the very opposite of a Metroidvania game, and that, understandably, infuriated longtime fans of the series which felt like "Other M" not only betrayed Samus' character but also everything that the series stood for up until that point.
Petros Laoudikos other mother Also Had the same control scheme as super paper Mario O which had the controller sideways without the nun Chuck and was a piece of garbage and felt like a hard Box that hurt my fingers really really badd after less than an hour of playing rather than the metro aide prime trilogy which I could play for over 10 hours without feeling badd in any way metred prime trilogy is the best game ever and it needs to be released on of the R system which nintendo is completely stupid to not have AVR system I played VR and VR is awesome VRM used to be expanded upon they went backwards by going to the 3-D S which was not needed though VR should have been the are is the future the we mode is a future the nun Chuck is the future America is the future
Petros Laoudikos Well said. That's in line with how I feel about the game. I will disagree though and say it IS a bad game. It's certainly not a metroidvania game but the story is objectively bad and the gameplay is objectively boring and simple too. I really can't understand how some people actually like this game.
Please watch Gajin Goombah's video on Other M. He explains a lot of Samus's character is lost in translation and cultural differences. "You, as a player, seriously have no idea why Samus considers such a petty and vindictive man to be so important to her, why she is willing to throw her life and her dignity away for him, and why she acts so out of character when she is around him." I mean she explains that she saw him as a father figure within the first 10min. How is that so hard to understand the importance? Or how she is action taking the mission to relive her past...almost like a game to her. Not saying the story is perfect but I guess a lot of people either never played the game,watched someone else's review/play-though or a missed a lot of things.
thaneros 3 problems. 1. Her characterization in other m didn't match how we came to see her through the other games. 2. Regardless of how she was presented, it was still a bad story. 3. Regardless of the story, it still had gameplay that was NOT metroid-like and at worst was just outright not fun or interesting.
But here is the thing though, her characterization was never fully realized.....ever until Other M so when people say, "match how we came to see her through the other games" its really someone's interpretation. Like for me the only scenes that bothered me were the Ridley and Varia suit as it didn't make sense. As far as not fun, each to there own. I like the game because it felt more like classic 2D Metroid mixed with an action game like DMC or GOW.
You know, I've been a Metroid fan for as long as I remember and I'm now a professional journalist reviewing video games. When Metroid Other M came out, it was really well received by the critics of my country. Calling it a flawless experience and one of the best game. But in my review, I pointed out EVERY single thing you mentionned, from the bad acting, to linearity and the stupidity of just taping the D-Pad to dodge everything and shoot when the time is right. And I recieved so many insults for that, from the fans of the serie and also from the people who never played Metroid before, as if I was too old school and don't like change. I'm happy to see that, so many years after, somebody discovered Metroid Other M whitout really knowing about the game and point out the SAME EXACT things I did at that time. You didn't have to share with hundreds of people and make a collectiv hiveminded opinion about the bad or the good of Other M. I mean, debating with others to have a clear view of something is good, but to be good at criticing you need to be able to do that yourself. I'm glad you did see the game as I did. I'll just come back to one point. At the beginning of the video, you were saying about how your alternativ you would have been so excited about the trailers and the things announced before the release of the game. Since I feel I would have been your alternativ you, at that time I can say you already knew the game would be bad. The movements of Samus made it obvious it was a D-Pad game in a 3D environnement requiring precize jumps. Sakamoto was proud of that, saying publicly to Team Ninja that if they can't make a 3D Metroid with the same amount of button there was on a NES Controller, they were a failure as game developpers. It was so infuriating. You could already see so many flaws in this game, so when it went out, I already was afraid that this game could kill the franchise. And it was even worse when I played it... PS : Phantoom is a creature that prey on empty ships. It's actually more justified to see him there than any other monster, haha.
Well, This was an amazing in depth review, and the best part is there was no just "UGH THIS GAME FUCKING SUCKS!" like other reviews or channels, but instead a full depth review that explains the flaws both from a fan's point of view and also from a gamer's point of view. That's why I like your reviews and critiques so much, they come across as honest and with time given to check the game. in the end, it was a case of Lucas huh? Give the director full control of EVERYTHING and then you just have a mess instead of something the franchise was recognized for, you just have a very stiff, artificial product than rather something that the series was known for, and just because someone was part of things, doesn't mean by giving them full control they can deliver a product like the ones before, that's why I feel it's important to always have someone in check with things. Well, I went a bit off tangent perhaps, but thank you so much for covering the Metroid series, and I'm glad that at the end you became a fan and love the franchise, because with Samus Returns and eventual Prime 4, it's a nice time to become a fan huh? Amazing series of videos once again!
I think the core problem with this game is that the story and characterization of one of the most badass characters in gaming as a weak woman who needs a big strong man to make decisions and take care of her. That doubles as terrible writing and terribly problematic. It fails on so many other fronts but that's my number one issue.
I didn't enjoy the gameplay but I can see how someone else would. It's fine. Nobody would claim it's great but it's not a complete mess either. Which is why the story and writing stands out.. it's the only memorable part of the game. And it's terrible.
@loliquatsch Well okay, rather than presenting your argument like a crapsack, you could explain what you believe is the worst part. You did enter this conversation in a rather condescending way if I do say so myself. If you have a different opinion, explain yours rather than trying to discredit and invalidate his.
But this was the game to explain her old XO Adam, the one she references in Fusion. And to be honest, it would make sense if she had some sort of PTSD over the super metroid MB fight. She almost died
Other that the whole portrayal of Samus stuff, I think Other M's other major problem is how its plot does a pretty bad job being the plot of a video game in and off itself. It has two major problems, which I will explain in long detail, so: Wall of Text Warning, I guess. The first problem is that the player's freedom is severely lacking, especially when compared to what you normally expect from a Metroid/Metroidvania game. This freedom can come in form of action (the player has relative freedom to explore and experiment) or in the form of characterization (the player can easily project their own feelings unto the player character). Other M effectively refuses the player both of these at every turn: Adam is actively hampering the player's ability to explore, and does this by locking doors or putting restrictions on equipment (and, as so many other articles on the game has noticed, arbitrarily so at times), and Samus remains consistently submissive towards him throughout the game, always insisting he is right about everything all the time, even though the player sometimes has very good reason to doubt this (like with his claims of frost-resistant Metroids in Sector Zero). That combination is quite aggravating to say the least, and makes it difficult to for the player to identify with Samus. The second problem is that Other M is very bad at managing the player's expectations. When playing a game, the player should always have a general idea of what their next goal is and what immediate consequences that will follow from completing it. Consider what the player learns from the second encounter with the fake Madeline Bergman: There are Metroids aboard the ship, and they are located in Sector Zero, a previously unvisited area. The video sums up that kerfuffle pretty well, Adam outright steals what should by all appearances be a logical endgame section right from underneath the player. But at least he gives Samus a new series of goals before doing so: Track down Room MW, save the survivor, and kill Ridley. The last part actually does make a lot of sense as a goal and it even arises pretty naturally from the plot: The association between Ridley and Samus' trauma has been set up (even if it was in one of the worst manners possible), so it would make sense that the player is to finish that subplot by defeating Ridley and in the process helping Samus to overcome her fear and avenging Anthony. Well, guess again; while Samus is making her way back up, Ridley is killed off-screen by the Metroid Queen, and once again, what would by all means be a natural resolution to a plotline is stolen from the player. So you are left with tracking down Room MW and the survivor. In doing so, Samus discover Metroids outside Sector Zero. Obviously, there is more work to be done. The following conversation with the real Madeline Bergman supports this: Samus is told that a clone of Mother Brain is at large on the ship and she is in control of the escaped experiments and responsible for this whole mess. This certainly also appears be a natural end-game goal: hunt down MB somewhere on the ship and put a stop to her reign of terror. But once again, that would be both a sensible and non-forced plot development, and we can't very well have any of that in this game. Yeah, the video again sums that bit up very well; MB just shows up immediately after that, and then the player don't even get to kill her themselves. That final segment of gameplay that has been constantly set up ever since the player was first told of Sector Zero just never appears, effectively making the game fizzle out in a prolonged round of bait-and-switch, before it just sort of limbs over the finishing line to all the fanfare of a long, wet fart.
I think you're forgetting the important fact that the last fight which can be genuinely counted as a boss, sans the post credits scene, is built up and far more fitting than Ridley could have ever hoped to be at this point and which MB would have a very hard time surpassing due to the fact its concept is so inherently similar while MB would be significantly lesser in terms of this; additionally, you merely glossed over this fact in your summary which leads me to the conclusion you really weren't paying very close attention to the story before critiquing it. The fight pejoratively called the final boss of Other M is the clone of the baby metroid. How is that not a fitting connection to Samus's personal demons and trauma that ties into the game's current storyline, especially considering all of the shit the internet likes to throw at Samus's (preexisting, and arguably even downplayed) connection to the baby metroid in this game? The confrontation between Madeline and MB is essentially a mirror of the fight which just occurred between Samus and the Baby clone; Madeline striking down Melissa. It's NOT a confrontation meant for Samus; it isn't quite as fitting considering Melissa isn't *truly* a clone of the original Mother Brain, unlike the Queen Metroid which is a direct and unaltered clone of the baby Metroid, a relationship which, again, is paralleled in the following confrontation. Ridley being drained, while it does rob Samus of a considerable amount of catharsis in her personal storyline, was a necessary evil to set up the storyline of Fusion (where they establish Ridley is a Metroid husk via sprites and behavior of the frozen Ridley) and also serves as an ominous callback to Super Metroid; the baby metroid clone rampaging and draining Ridley calls to mind the baby metroid's rampage through New Tourian where it drained many powerful life forms. If Samus DID fight Ridley, a random Metroid would have to swoop in and drain Ridley regardless, or else the storyline of Metroid Fusion would not make sense without an additional game between Other M and Fusion (read: Other M 2), and this is a plot point a lot of people seem to gloss over or just don't even pick up. The fact that you missed this and instead decided to focus on two less fitting (albeit, not entirely illogical) potential endgames for the storyline Other M is conveying leads me to conclude you weren't paying particularly close attention when Samus realized the Queen Metroid had to have been a clone of the baby metroid in the scene prior to the confrontation with MB.
Forgot the other plot-line that Samus has no active role in the conclusion of: the Deleter. He's killed off screen and you have to do process of elimination to figure out who it was.
@@JacobNintendoNerd99 except that Samus didn't care about the infant Metroid. First thing she did with it was stick it in a container and deliver it to scientists for testing. MB could very well have been a much better boss, but if she had been the boss, we all know it would just have been a 3D replay of the Super fight. As for Ridley, I'm absolutely sick of him. Including the Prime series, there have been 8 Metroid games. Samus has fought him eight times. She should never be surprised at seeing him, especially this late in the timeline.
@@Alakaizer also who gives a shit about how in Metroid Fusion there's a Ridley Corpse?he always comes back again anyway with no explanation whatsoever, nobody was complaining about it
Me trying to turn Super Metroid into a written story: I'm worried that this could end up ruining Samus as a character. The voice in my head: Fire that charge beam, just the way I like it... Me: nevermind, it cannot get worse than that.
Becoming small and round was a certain maneuver I had done enough that if felt natural. But doing it knowing that Adam was watching... that certain maneuver became thrilling.
Pumyra Thundercat Last I saw a copy someone offered to pay me $5 to take take it from them. I declined as I knew they were just trying to pass the curse to me. Gotta be smarter than the average bear!
The Jam Man I was a kid that almost ten years ago, that game feel so short also. I even get my way into de hard mode, then I understand this was not a really good metroid. I even enjoy metroid prime trilogy, it cost me time, but I really enjoy it a lot, first when i was really young as a kid, in gamecube, I got the original titles. Cheers!
You know, I am one of those old-school NES/SNES neckbeards who greatly resented Metroid Prime's dive into the third dimension. So I had actually gotten a bit hyped over this game when it was announced. And by 'a bit hyped', I mean we're talking Fallout 4 levels of hyped. We're talking Diablo 3 level hyped. Holy crap, I not only boarded that hype train, I damn well insisted on being the conductor of that train. I had reached maximum evolution Super Sayan Fanboy Primal. I was a fool. A naive, ignorant, desperate fool, whose dreams were to be crushed in the most cruel manner possible. To say that I was disappointed is about the understatement of the century. Even the Ultima 9 meme doesn't begin to describe it. We could do a whole Anikan Skywalker 'NOOOooo' scene over it, and it still wouldn't be dramatic enough. I tried, god knows I tried. I wanted to believe that this was a good game, to believe that this was the game I had asked for. And then the dialogue started. Samus was the one female character in the NES era who was NOT a helpless princess needing to be rescued. As you pointed out a few times, Samus's gender is just kinda... there. It didn't matter. She could've been a guy or a girl for all the reaction her gender had with anyone, and that was good. Granted, part of that was that most of the time she was in her suit and her gender was obscured (it wasn't until I discovered the speed ending scene that I realized she was, in fact, female), and that was awesome. It was, in a real way, the ultimate note in gender equality, because it literally did not f**king matter. She was a woman, but she didn't need to prove herself because of it, didn't have any gender barrier she felt necessary to break on through, didn't overhype it the other direction and make it a mockery... she just was Samus. It was almost like... I dunno... like we'd FINALLY gotten over gender discrimination, after a few centuries of societal development and spacefaring. That undertone was awesome, it was optimistic. Then this game happened. I could've forgiven the abysmal controls, the flawed mechanics, and the complete mess it made by trying to conform to the controller. I could've forgiven basically copying a game and rendering it in 3d, in fact that was what I was actually actively hoping for (although I was hoping for either classic Metroid or Super Metroid to be redone with a third dimension). But the whole Fifty Shades of Adam drew the line. I get it, the Waifu hoping that Senpai will notice is a common trope in Japanese culture, but it... it just doesn't f**king work here. Samus is twelve kinds of badass. She's saved the world multiple times. She's defeated literal existential horrors. She even speaks in that emotionless monotone which, okay, came off flat but I actually understood the context of the Japanese culture of the stoic survivor who has just seen too much sh*t and can't really summon emotional responses anymore as a result. But to make Samus an emotional fangirl? No, just... no. The worst part? My wish for a 2/3d remake of classic Metroid games without doing a Metroid Prime control system will never happen now, because of this flustercluck of a farce. Because of the tremendous backlash from the entirety of the fanbase, from the entire gaming community, they would never greenlight any such project. My hopes and dreams are forever dashed.
You said it. Even if this didn't claim to be a Metroid game, it STILL would've been irredeemable trash. This is the worst game I've ever played that wasn't a broken glitch fest. I have seen worse games, but it takes something on the level of Big Rigs (unfinished and broken) to be worse than this.
"My wish for a 2/3d remake of classic Metroid games without doing a Metroid Prime control system will never happen now, because of this flustercluck of a farce." Samus Returns : Am i a joke to you?
@@thomasfowler2140 Well, I think he meant a 3D game in the style of a 2D with fast paced 2D Metroid gameplay. I personally wouldn't mind seeing that as long as it doesn't ever do what this game tried to do again.
Like you said in the review, the Metroid series is one of the only series out there that features a woman protagonist who's gender plays no role in her characterization, and is barely acknowledged in-universe. Not only that, she's a badass bounty hunter. And I'll never get over how this game comes along, and through incredibly sexist writing, completely destroys her characterization. On top of that, the whole game's narrative feels skeevy and uncomfortable. Having a core story and gameplay beat be focused around the power that Adam has over Samus makes me sick to my stomach, especially seeing how demeaning Samus is treated. It's like, when writing this game, they saw the powerful and badass character Samus was, and decided that she wasn't "womanly" enough. And then proceeded to not only throw multiple sexist tropes onto her but also re-contextualize her whole character around a man. It's not even like she was never allowed to feel emotion in the past games. Obviously the end of Metroid 2 is incredibly emotional for Samus, but it's still cool as hell. Metroid Other M is just... really bad. Here's hoping Prime 4 steers Metroid back on the right direction.
I've always found it Weird to see Metroid fans say Samus' characterization as vulnerable and approval-seeking after a traumatic personal loss is sexist [in a long absent father figure no less] and repeatedly give a pass to the fan service outfits used as a reward for the player. You could even argue it's more sexist to only reference Samus' gender when you want to talk about what a strong female character she is, and ignore it when she's being consistently objectified.
@@KingMomo360 I'd venture a guess that many of the same people who say her portrayal is sexist also find progressive pandering in later games to be obnoxious, because they aren't _really_ focusing on the politics themselves, they're focusing on how _unwelcome_ the politics are in the specific story they're being forced into. The _real_ complaint isn't "Samus is being portrayed as a weak woman because Japanese cultural politics," it's "This _isn't_ Samus. I mean, fuck, she kicked Ridley's ass half a dozen times before this without skipping more than a single beat, and she did it again afterwards in Fusion." While this might get me screeched at by certain people, a story _can_ have politics in it, hell, it can even make them the main focus, but it at least needs to be internally consistent and believable. (Ex.: Crysis 2 and 3 were exceedingly anti-corporate and arguably left-leaning in the way that they handled their conflicts but it worked well in the context of the story.) Other M utterly fails to be this way, even if you count that obscure comic defenders of the game reference as proof that Samus can and does have moments of vulnerability. The problem is that comic is of exceedingly questionable canonicity _and_ it occurs earlier in her career. She outgrows her fears in that very same comic. Why suddenly revert when dealing with Ridley is old hat for her by now? Even if we accept it as canon, she _just_ killed Ridley again, chronologically. For the...what? Fourth time? Lessee...Zero Mission, Prime 1, Prime 3 (Two defeats in a row), and Super Metroid. Yeah, four times. The way she almost always blindly follows Adam's follows orders when it's firmly established that she hates doing so and even parted ways with the Galactic Federation Army over it is no help, either.
No kidding. Makes you wonder what exactly Adam did to Samus...I have trouble believing he can really do anything to harm her given she's supposed to be 6'2" genetically altered super athlete human/chozo hybrid...but if you go by the size comparison of Samus and Adam in Other M...he's a full head taller than her...so like 7' tall wearing normal combat gear.
It's possible that is team ninja or d-rockets fault though. In fact I think D-rockets are the reason the gravity suit is an aura and not a color swap, because they rendered the cutscenes with only the normal suit so they couldn't change it (Because rerendering is too costly and time consuming to do)
Out of all the videos I've watched about this game, I think yours is my favorite. I like how you've attempted to deconstruct the rationale behind this game's mechanics and storytelling, and explore why they do and don't work. I like how you explored how the game was made and the left some food-for-thought about this particular approach to game-design. One tends to learn FAR more from mistakes than successes. Flawed games are inherently ripe for examination and learning. The best ones have great potential but stumble in interesting ways. My personal favorite game for study was Sigma Star Saga on the GameBoy Advance.
I remember liking that game. I still have my original complete copy of it. I never finished it though, and I've never been able to make myself go back to it.
Yeah, I think in hindsight it is actually a good thing this game ended up so bad (Though I enjoy it) because if Super Metroid is the rulebook on how to make a good Metroid we now have the rulebook on how not to, and that is actually really important since even with super Metroid, many others could still fail (personally I think prime 3 suffered In a lot of ways that other m could make more apparent, but I still enjoy it too). But because of this game Sakomoto could more easily understand what he needs to do to make a Metroid game, since he wants to change up the style because the series has been so reliant on super Metroid and he wants to freshen up the series and hope to evolve, and Samus Returns is the next step to it's future hopefully, but it wouldn't be like that if it weren't for this game. Like how with Zelda they had to understand the fundamentals boiled down so they could so radically shake up the formula but keep the feel of the series with BotW.
Weird, I don't see any video. Makes sense though, you're talking about a game that doesn't exist, never existed, and never will exist. I'm so glad that after the great Prime trilogy, Nintendo left appropriate distance and waited until the right time to release Samus Returns.
@Chelline R. federation farce was doomed from get go. if it was released in 2009 like when it was supposed to, it may remembered like how people remembered prime pinball which is "oh, that spin off game. i played it few times when i was kid" instead of what we remember it right now.
Despite her short stature, she was like balm on the eyes at least, the only thing I'd change is make her taller and add some muscle to her, as inefficient as sumersaulting at every jump that is quite physically demanding
Elijah Aitaok uh you don’t need big muscles to sumersault when your suit does it for you... remember how weak Samus was without her suit in zero mission?
@@emarythomp She could still do giant jump and wall jump. Anyway, the cannon samus appearance is Super metroid one to me. She looks so badass, imagine in 3 D. I want her muscular, not barbie like.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 I like the design for Samus in Super Metroid as well. They should have used that design as inspiration for her modern look and made it better.
Man, I have been WAITING for this video anxiously. I knew you would critique it in a fair way, trying your very best to see anything positive in it, and I really think that you did an amazing job at it. In the end though, sadly other M is just too bad that even you couldn't really love it. There's so much you adressed in this video that I am practically speechless at the amount of content you managed to put in this hour long video. During the full video, I kept thinking of stuff to comment about this, wanting to adress, but in the end, it was too much to adress and I don't want to write you a huge story here in the comments section. So my conclusion here is, thank you for making this, it had been one hell of a trip with you through the metroid franchise. It absolutely warmed my heart to hear your story throughout all these videos where you started indifferent and eventually became a real fan. I will be sure to get back to this video multiple times again in the future. I will also still watch your videos in the future, you even got me to watch vids on franchises I had no interest in. PS: That other M maxximum is completely new to me and seems pretty good, I might want to look into that some time. That gravity suit looks mighty fine in that.
The crazy thing about Other M is that I probably could've made a video twice as long if I'd wanted to. There's a ton of stuff in the plot especially that I just glossed over. But I decided to focus on the part that I enjoy breaking down the most, the gameplay, especially since I'm well aware of how much the plot's been dissected. It is pretty wild to think back on that first Metroid video, when I was still marking my individual play sessions so I could give myself an out if I couldn't finish a game, haha. I'm glad you've enjoyed the journey, thanks for the kind words!
Somebody may have said this already, but on the subject of Adam shooting Samus - it was supposed to be a fake-out to trick the player, for a brief moment, into thinking Adam was "The Deleter". That's it, really. I don't think Sakamoto even thought out any of the subtext behind how that looked, he just wanted to trick the player for a moment. Of course, you didn't mention The Deleter even once in your hour-long review. And I don't blame you at all, considering the game itself forgot about The Deleter, too.
Technically, if you look in my notes, you can see me mentioning him. :P But yeah, he ended up having so little importance, I didn't find myself with much to say about him.
I believe that Samus being shot by Adam makes more sense when you think of the context that he has been lying to Samus this whole time. This stems from the scene where Samus discovers Adam signed off on the whole thing, to which he says was a forgery. But if we assume he is lying to save face (He does still want Samus' respect) then suddenly a lot more of the scenes make sense including how he could shoot her in a way that deactivated her suit. I wrote in more detail about this in the current top comment, the one about that scene.
Honestly, I thought the story was easy to follow and don't understand how so many people didn't figure out who the deleter was. The deleter was the soldier with the thin mustache named james, samus clearly busted him in the scene inside the tower where he was deleting evidence of what the GF was doing in that ship, but used destraction to not be noticed. Also I thought adam shooting samus was obvious after he explained about the unfreezable metroids, he shot her directly in the spine with the freeze gun, any real metroid fan knows that her armor is activated with focus and will which was temporarily disabled with a freeze shot to the spine which connects to the brain and controls bodily functions. His reason was to keep samus from stopping him from making his sacrifice cause he knew she would stop him with little effort due to her power and still try to take on the metroids she couldn't kill, or blow herself up like he did which he felt was unacceptable cause he felt the galaxy needed her. I have no idea how this bit of story telling was missed by so many, but I totally understood what sakamoto was goin for story wise with this game. While other m was by NO means perfect, I really liked the game regardless of its flaws and truly hope that Nintendo makes another attempt at a 3rd person story driven metroid game in the future, cause I honestly feel that the series needs its universe opened with story and more dynamic gameplay in 3rd person view. IMO this game has been torn to shreds unfairly simply for trying something new.
Coming here after beating Metroid Dread just sheds a light all the more intensely on Other M and how badly it fumbled everything, especially Samus’ characterization. There is no way you can convince me that this Samus and the one from Dread are the same person.
I treat Other M like it was the Hollywood of the Metroid universe trying to make a movie about Samus without asking her for creative direction. I could picture her watching her free copy at her place saying stuff like: "Why didn't they show me destroy Mother Brain?" "This actress doesn't have nearly the muscle or the height to play me, and what's with that voice?" "Ok, yeah I was kinda sad when the Last Metroid died, but I wasn't mopey and depressed like that." "Hold up, Adam did not try to boss me around like that, and there's no way I would wait for his approval to use my abilities like that. They entirely skipped the part where the Mother Brain clone remotely jammed up my suit when I arrived; Adam helped me locate the jamming relays so I could destroy them." "Um, Adam was not a father figure to me; more like a respected leader. Aren't they going to mention Old Bird? Gray Voice? Or even my real dad Rodney?" "NO! NO I DID NOT TREMBLE IN FEAR WHEN I SAW RIDLEY! I WAS FURIOUS! THAT WAS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES I'VE EVER LOST MY COOL!" "Anthony was probably the only thing they got right in this thing; they even got his size correct.
OtherM is one of the rare instances where if you throw the entire story away, even if you don't put anything in it's place, the game will be better for it. The story in OtherM is so bad that it's worse than nothing, and that's ridiculous.
It's the metroid equivalent of sonic 06. It: 1) pretty much ruined the series for way longer than a bad game should 2) has an abominable story 3) messed up design decisions.
@@koopabound6481 06 is worse than Other M in a lot of technical ways. But Other M is more insulting by a landslide. Also, Samus Returns is a good game. And I have confidence that Dread will be just as good if not better.
You know, modifying Metroids to be immune to cold is a rather dumb idea on any level. Because if not for that Weakness they are basically invincible otherwise in most cases. So by doing so you simply make it much harder to actually control them for whatever use you planned be it as Military Weapons or a source of energy as was speculated in some earlier metroid games. Though my biggest annoyance with Other M, though admittedly I have not played it personally merely read the story as well as watched cutscenes. Is not so much that Samus chooses to obey Adam's orders, but just how...submissive she is about it. She doesn't feel like the Samus Aran the other games portray, the tough as nails bounty hunter that doesn't waver and does what she needs to do to get the job done. I'd rather have had some contrived critter steal all her upgrades than seeing samus be willing to die when she has the equipment necessary to get through an obstacle solely because someone told her not to use anything without asking.
I like how in the lava area Samus is literally cooking alive because she won’t turn on her heat protection because Adam didn’t authorize it. A galactic savior, a bounty hunter is willing to die to follow orders. Makes samus seem more idiotic. Also love how Adam is seen as a father figure yet he actively limits her abilities which puts her life at even more risk. I mean he even allows an ice beam among his solders but not samus? I was fucking cheering when that piece of shit died. Good riddance.
Samus is so seemingly submissive because it's like she's dealing with a father figure she fell out of favor with, and them meeting up again is awkward. Doesn't excuse the execution, but it's at least not a completely bad idea, though admittedly it does kind of go against the whole appeal of the character. The whole thing about modifying Metroids, why do so many sci-fi franchises take this route where the monsters are captured or cloned for study? Alien popularized it, and it caused virtually all the conflict in the first three films there. Now Jurassic Park is doing it too. What the heck? TBH I'm a little disappointed in the lack of references to Alien in TGC's Metroid videos, but oh well. He probably hasn't seen them.
@@emarythomp To be fair there's not much space between safe areas at the time, and the Varia Suit is authorized when Adam realizes Samus will be doing lengthy combat there. Still leaves both characters looking bad, but oh well. Adam is probably meant to be akin to an aloof father figure from a Spielberg movie, like say Henry Jones Sr. or Dr. Alan Grant, but he's so underdeveloped we're left with a lot of awful implications on his relationship with Samus. Oh, and they have a grand total of one scene together, joy. Samus talks him up but we rarely see him do anything aside from sit in a safe command chair and order her around.
In Super Metroid, you actually DON'T need to freeze Metroids and hit them with missiles or super missiles to kill them. The other option is using THREE POWER BOMBS. I only learned this recently, but there WOULD still be a way for Samus to kill unfreezable Metroids, and look at that, Adam can't do it. And if they don't care about collateral damage to the sector anyway, sending Samus in, authorized to power bomb the place to hell would have been FUN.
This was the best critique of Other M I have seen. You did not just blindly bash the game nor overlook it's faults, it was very honest. Great work! The only thing I wished you talked about in regards to the plot was the abandoned subplot of a traitor (A.K.A the deleter) who was killing soldiers. It really confused me the first time I played this, thought I missed something but no. There are a couple theories about who it is, but there is no definitive answer.
He's the dude you find dead in the room where Samus got an expo-dump from MB. I forget his name, but it's confirmed. Although the game doesn't outright resolve or tell you through dialogue, so confusion is warranted
They should have built the game around an “Adam compliant” or “Adam defiant” mechanic allowing the player to to activate upgrades at will or follow Adam’s rules and have the gameplay/story shift based on it. Not a fix all but I think that along with better conveyance could make a big difference.
I mean this was never going to happen because Sakamoto had a very specific bizarre vision for this game, but that's certainly an interesting idea that would go a long way towards making the story more palatable.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think Adam shot Samus because he could still hear her over the radio (even though she couldn't hear him) when she got to that chasm, got SUPER PISSED like the sick control freak he is, and wanted to get back at her for "talking back."
I have said it in the past, but Adam's death could have allowed for a satisfying sacrifice and a Power Bomb tutorial all at the same time. If he and Samus were fighting together through Sector Zero, only to find these supposedly unfreezable Metroids, here's an idea. Samus and Adam are trapped, surrounded by these seemingly invincible creatures. He turns to her and says "Samus, I'm authorizing use of Power Bombs." Knowing the implications of that statement could give the player a few moments to build the suspense before Samus kills the Metroids as well as Adam, sort of like Gray Fox and the Stinger scene from MGS1. Samus gets no time to grieve before giving you a satisfying escape sequence as Sector Zero starts to lock down due to damage with lots of Speed Boosts and Shinesparks. It just feels like when it comes to the narrative of this game, ANYONE could do better than the final product.
Lancun That's pretty good but sadly I don't think it would fit the parameters set up by the story, because the context in fusion makes it known that Samus didn't kill him, and in other m, sector z locks down when it closes it's doors, so there would be no chance for escape, this is why Adam wouldn't let her come in, because damage doesn't lock the door, it's always locked and it keeps it from being unlocked.
GBDupree You are assuming that the doors would lock down in literally any other narrative but the dumb one they made. A rewrite of any kind changes the rules of the Bottleship to fit the narrative. Just like the change of rules they made to turn an ice beam into a one-shot on Samus
(I actually have a theory that explains the Ice beam thing, but that is off topic) That is true that they could change it, but honestly it does make more sense as it is, since it would be a more secure way to do it. But either way they could do that and I still think your idea is cool if they had thought of it, it could have been a great moment that would have stuck out in this game. Though I do wonder if they wouldn't do it that way because it could be seen as overly violent for its age rating, or what Nintendo deems proper, and that they don't want to portray Samus as someone who killed someone good (basically it wouldn't look good for a hero to kill another hero) not that they can't, but that they didn't want to basically.
It would be hilarious if they released a sequel to Fusion and m midway through the game, Samus finds this "movie" playing and it turns out that it's a propaganda movie made by the Federation in an attempt to slander her.
The only reason why it is so confusing that someone who has been there from the beginning in the creation of the Metroid Franchise could go as badly as Sakamoto did with "Other M" is because he did not have the huge involvement that Nintendo has made believe he had. To begin with, Sakamoto wasn't there from the start, he was a last minute addition to the NES Metroid game development team, and in fact, as his bogus credit stated, he didn't run the game; Satoru Okada did. Sakamoto was brought there to help with pixel art; not game design, not storyboard, not character development, PIXEL ART. Knowing how weird the credits were presented in the first Metroid game, I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened with the Super Metroid ones, and the one trully directing the game was Makoto Kanoh, and Sakamoto's role as "Director" was for the art or pixel art department, or director assistant.
@@Mike14264 Yes it is. And with the launch of Metroid Dread it has come an influx of videos talking about metroid, and sadly alot of youtubers wrongfully credit Sakamoto as the "father" or creator of the Metroid franchise.
@@Mike14264 TH-cam seem to not like link to other pages, so the only thing that I could tell you is that look an interview he and Hiroji Kiyotake did during the release of the NES Classic Edition system. You didn't have any experience with regard to how to polish up a game like that. Kiyotake: None at all. At the time, we were just thinking about how we could make it an enjoyable game. Sakamoto: I didn't join development of Metroid until about the last three months. He had so little faith in the project, that he didn't even want to be credited as part of his development team (look him up, you won't see his name in the end credits of the original NES game, just a pseudonym) and he didn't care for the Metroid franchise to the point that, when he was invited to work on the Game Boy sequel, he refused to do so.
@@mesogot welp, there we go. That does explain a lot. I bet that, after the cult following gathered by the second game, as well as realizing the stuff they wanted and managed to do just on the GameBoy, Sakamoto stuck around to see if they could hit a home run or so. And then Super Metroid happened.
There's a manga that retcons Metroid 1 but was semi-canon or so. The Samus and Adam depicted in that are completely different characters to Other M's portrayal of them. Samus points her arm cannon at Adam in the manga and his response is essentially "Well, if you're going to go do your own thing anyway, here's a tip for you." That Fusion Samus would revere the Adam from the manga makes sense. Her impulsiveness and will to act on her own judgement shows in both Fusion and the manga. Other M completely contradicts both Samus and Adam from the manga. Sure, the manga is only semi-canon given it retcons Metroid 1 but it doesn't contradict the basic characters even if there's a lot of specifics that definitely aren't canon. That manga even features Samus crying and getting emotional but it's properly built up to and doesn't feel like it comes out of nowhere. There's even a panel where you see young Samus's view of Ridley holding both her parents by their heads with a giant wall of fire is in the background like he's some demon from hell. Other M tried this with putting him in the lava room but the imagery doesn't work the HALF as well with Ridley just casually screaming at her. While I haven't played Other M myself, every analysis of the story makes me compare it against the manga. My conclusion from those comparisons eventually ends with "Other M is totally trying to tell parts of the story the manga already told." The issue? The manga did it better. Manga has Samus getting over the death of her parents. Other M has Samus getting over the death of a Metroid she bonded with. Ridley is supposed to be some big climax to all this but since the death of her parents isn't established in Other M it makes no sense in a vacuum. Manga Adam is a gruff military man but he's ultimately understanding of Samus's mindset, methods, and skill. Other M Adam is a control freak that likes to micromanage his army. Adam doesn't end up sacrificing himself for Samus in the manga but if manga Adam did so for the sake of manga Samus it'd be infinitely more believable and poignant. I just can't buy that Other M Adam, somebody Samus looks up to, having such little faith in Samus's ability to fight Metroids and not die in the process. Whether it's a fault on Adam or on Samus that just doesn't make any sense. Heck, manga Samus has not onyl her real father but another father figure die for her to stop the bad guy and both times I can actually buy it. Overall, half of Other M strikes me of nostalgia pandering but the other half strikes me of trying to go through the themes and some of the story beats from the semi-canonical manga but without any self-awareness as to what made those moments work in the original.
I think Other M was a desperate effort by Nintendo to finally make Metroid the hit in Japan it has been here in the states? I see a lot of traditional "anime-esque" representations of Samus as a woman, and Americans just don't seem to be all about that. Maybe if they'd kept the gameplay Metroid instead of Ninja Gaiden lite it would have fared better? Actually, no. The gameplay, though defferent and WAY linear I think would have done better if they hadn't decided that "oh, wait! Samus is an attractive woman! That must mean she's not a take-no-prisoners, no bullshit badass heroine, no! She has daddy issues."
We can compare Other M roughly to Civilization V, a game released at around the same time that gets a lot of flack from fans of previous games in its series (for good reasons IMO, not really a bad game but it doesn't compare to Civ4), but which actually became the best-selling entry in its franchise. The key is that Metroid just does not have the wide appeal that allows it to get away with pissing off fans like this in the same manner as a franchise like Civilization or, say, Star Wars and still rake in the dough. The only thing I think is particularly sexist about Samus's depiction in this game is that her maternal instincts constantly hinder her - when you compare her to someone like Ellen Ripley in Aliens, Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, or The Bride in Kill Bill, who are all motivated by their maternal instincts to act like badasses (almost to a fault arguably), this makes Samus look particularly bad. Even worse considering the aforementioned three are just normal human beings while Samus is most assuredly not. However, Samus is younger than all three of them so that might go some way towards justifying it. Adam is the clear elephant in the room, but I'm going to say something shocking: he isn't in the game enough. No really. He and Samus have ONE scene together, which is actually pretty good aside from the latter's monologues and the forced symbolism that permeate the game. Honestly, take those two things out and this game's writing improves pretty drastically. But anyway, Adam is a horribly underdeveloped character for how much he's talked up, and that leaves all sorts of unfortunate implications regarding his relationship with Samus on the table. I would have liked to see more attention placed on this relationship, instead of an awful lot of Take Our Word for It sentiments on the part of our heroine for someone who acts like a Spielbergian father figure at best and an outright Hate Sink at worst. TBH I don't really think Samus's portrayal in this game is really that badly divorced from how she is normally and it can be rationed out, but it's still really freaking jarring because Samus is an escapist character, so for her to have all these problems out of nowhere just draws ire from the fans, just like Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi more recently. It doesn't necessarily go against Samus's established character, but it does go against her appeal pretty bigtime. However, if this game came out now, maybe Samus's portrayal here would be received better, since I get the feeling much of the backlash has to do with Samus's place as one of the premier heroines of gaming, and we have plenty more now. Plus many of the criticisms of her character here run completely counter to many of the criticisms of more contemporary heroines like Rey from Star Wars - I guess you could say that Other M Samus is the other extreme from a Mary Sue. However, I do think that Samus's character and backstory would have to be addressed at some point, so maybe that's why I don't viciously hate this game. Actually I remember liking it both times I played it, but I really get the feeling I wouldn't if I returned to it.
@@LinkMarioSamus I'll still disagree with you there, as there were still major things they changed about get character. From small things like her size shrinking or her claiming to not have any other father figure, to major confusions such as a seasoned veteran getting overly emotional about a rival she's defeated numerous times (and over an event long passed). And the other fact that such a seasoned veteran would put her life in more danger then necessary when she has the tools to fix those problems. It's like seeing a Batman story where he freaks out over his parent's murder during the 20'th encounter with him. And at this time he decided to fight with one hand behind his back and without a utility belt because Gotham police said anything more was "too dangerous".
#1 Legitimately if this were the prequel to Metroid 1, it would have been exponentially more solid. Serve it as an introduction. The nostalgia coming from series wide noteworthy enemies would have only been nostalgic because we as fans already knew who they were. #2 Adams death should have come from either the Metroid Queen or from Ridley. Not the BS we ultimately got from this. #3 the Other M story problem becomes more increasily apparent when you break it down at all. There are at least two paths they started to take and then completely dropped. One of which includes "The deleter" who was seemingly forgotten a short time later. Its easy to see that this game was a nightmare for the story even during development. #4 Visuals and gameplay are passable in many regards. Controls and the limitations with controls really killed this game from a gameplay perspective. In game graphics while a different art style were done differently on purpose to set itself apart from the outgoing Prime Trilogy. #5 If anything what Metroid 2 Samus Returns did was reaffirm some of the things that Other M did correctly. She was much quicker and mobile in the new game, retained some of her physical attacking and the game took visual cues from Other M. What I did not like was the lack of musical compositions that came from the new game and just how undetailed samus really was in the 3ds game. If it were a 2d sprited game comparable to Fusion but with better resolution it would have been incredible. I understand that is not going to happen but I would have at least liked better 3d model resolution.
And yet it's still better written than almost half of what Hollywood puts out. I'd rather watch the compilation movie over Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the 1998 Godzilla, and the Wild Wild West movie.
@@LinkMarioSamus Hollywood is kind of a lost cause. Only few in the Western movie and TV business still make art - most of them just make products now. Now shut up and watch Marvel flick #437895, and YES, we totally DO need that many, and it totally DOESN'T violently brutalize the pacing of the long-term story arcs, and it definitely just comes from a love for the material, and not from all the money it makes to just make a million of those movies!
Honest to god, knowing little of Metroid when I saw Other M for the first time, I assumed this had to be early in her career, because of, uh, everything. Only much later would I be shocked to learn that this is chronologically late in the series, after Samus has blown up whole planets, eradicated evil races, saved the galaxy, and all that stuff.
Let's be real: Sokomoto did NOT know what he was doing even if he says he knew what he wanted. Having an idea doesn't mean anything with poor execusion
Your point about how this should have been the first game in the timeline is right up my alley. I’d still hate the story, but at least having Samus be insecure and subordinated and afraid of Ridley could make some kind of sense if she was just a youngster. But this takes place after Metroid Prime? Where I butchered Ridley numerous times and saved entire star systems from utter ruin? What the hell were they thinking? I can’t even suspend my disbelief here... what kind of shyte... sigh.
Your girlfriend is the perfect 90ies-action-tv-series-Samus. Imagine Xena in Space :) Also, Gaijin Goombah would cry tears of joy that some one finally speaks of the japanese stoic voice and what the cultural meaning is. This Vid is an Magnum Opus and for me it hits the same beats like somecallmejohnnys Sonic 06 review. Perfect Job!
Stefan Siegl Was gibt es da nicht zu verstehen? Ich sage, dass du es leicht übertrieben hast, mit deiner dezent hochgelobten Beschreibung eines Videos. Weißt du, was ein Magnum Opus überhaupt ist?
Chris Purolover Ich schätze guten Journalismus, wenn ich ihn sehe. Und darf ich fragen, warum Sie mich unter einem englischsprachigen Video auf deutsch ankommentieren? So fragmentiert man Kommunikation.
Stefan Siegl 1. Bitte hör auf, mich zu siezen. Wir sind auf einer Internetplattform, noch dazu einer derart offenen Plattform, wie TH-cam. Formalitäten kann man sich hier sparen. 2. Von gutem Journalismus zu reden, finde ich persönlich leicht übertrieben, da es sich um ein Internetvideo über ein Videospiel handelt. Etwas Nachgooglen ist jetzt keine journalistische Leistung, ganz besonders kein "Magnum Opus", was ursprünglich meine Frage war. 3. Ich rede mit dir auf Deutsch, weil ich gesehen habe, dass du Deutscher bist, es meine Muttersprache ist und die Konversation keiner Ausweitung bedarf. Ich habe dich etwas gefragt und benötige keine dritte Meinung, sondern bevorzuge es, diese Konversationen zwischen uns zu halten, wenn es schon die Möglichkeit gibt.
Your girlfriend as samus??? 15/10 STARS!!! That attitude!!!! LOL!!!! She needs to be the official VA NOW!!! *ahem* I've finally gotten around to getting to playing fusion (and nearly finished) and my goodness I've become a metroid fan overnight!!! I've already gotten super metroid to open up on Christmas day and I plan on buying samus return really soon!!! Ive seen nearly all of your metroid vids and I've love your voice, scripting, and overall critical perspective. Keep up the good work!!!
For me, the whole of the game’s problems are embodied in one boss. Nightmare. MoM’s version of Nightmare is spastic, loud, and almost Looney Toons-esq in its movements. MF’s Nightmare is deliberate, stiff, and intimidating in its coldness. MoM’s creature doesn’t deserve the name because so little of the original Nightmare exists in MoM’s creature. And that is the perfect example of the game. This game wasn’t supposed to be a great Metroid game. It was a cash grab. And it failed. I’m not opposed outright to new directions to take the Metroid franchise. Hell. One game I would love to play is just playing a Federation Soldier trying desperately to survive a situation that would call for Samus’ help. I would liken it to Metal Gear Solid, where the idea is to avoid fights. And any fight you did get into, you are HORRENDOUSLY outgunned. There could also be a section where you try to hide information from Samus (breeding Metroids, X, or cloning Ridley or something) which culminates in you having to run away from her. Imagine that. Fleeing Samus Aran. Every vent. Every ledge. Every straightaway. She can get you. She WILL get you. It would be awesome.
Other M story is one of the much more rare stories where I think it's concept is flawed more then anything else. Most stories that fail, at least those from large companies or publishers, I think they fail due to execution not concept. But the entire concept of Samus being all heartbroken over her pet and bowing to Adam who dies in a pointless way was never going to go over well.
The B.S.L. station in fusion was an undercover weapons research lab. They used it to experiment on samples that samus recovered or that the federation recovered from Samus' previous mission sites. This would mean that would be the 2nd appearance of Nightmare before samus. Since it's remains were recovered from somewhere and brought there, then taken by the X and revived into a powerful monster. And subsequently making it's appearance in Other M it's original appearance. Unless Other M ripped off even more than just the general layout and setting of Fusion. The bottle ship being an undercover weapons research lab and do you see where i'm going with this?
I can almost get this, but there's one issue. The Nightmare on the BSL Station was intact and not infected prior to the section being destroyed, meaning it was another Nightmare, not just the remains of one revived by the X
"Any objections, Lady?" Was supposed to be a sarcastic comment from Adam and is stated as such. He's saying it endearingly but it's also a joke about her being a girl well knowing she's a badass it isn't supposed to be literal as calling her a delicate flower or whatever it's uttered in a mutual confidence and understanding.
If only any of that was actually communicated well in Other M. Once again, bad voice direction and worse writing, as well as direct attention being called to Samus's femininity on other occasions as well tend to paint a much worse picture. This explanation doesn't defend Other M at all, it's just a slightly different way that Sakamoto screwed up than the one we thought. Aka, this doesn't change anything.
I’m playing through Other M for the first time. Just started this week. 1 like = 1 prayer. Oh, and I’ve never been so entertained by a 1-hour review. Absolutely amazing.
2 things not enough people talk about is Adam's death, it really should've happened before zero mission, maybe even the reason why she left the federation, and the scene when she's hugging the helmet is the most awkward cyt to an alarm it really feels like a parody of metroid instead of an actual escape sequence
The authorization part could have been explained so easily. An environmental change on the ship could cause a chain reaction by the usage of the weapons. Badabing. Adam is scanning it, telling you what you can use safely while you clean the infection to use the weapons.
Here's something I don't think I've seen anyone talk about in how this game got made: Other M was very clearly trying to be Alien. The entire series was inspired by Alien and you can see a lot of ideas used throughout (especially in Fusion), but Other M is unique in that it's the first that really tries to use Alien's themes as part of its story. Now I won't go into a detailed analysis as others have already done that a lot, but the themes of maternity are pretty prevalent in Alien if you know where to look (ie the alien bursting out of the dude's chest and the android mentioning something along the lines of him giving birth). Other M takes these subtle themes and makes them as unsubtle as possible. You have the Bottle Ship, there's "The Baby", "Baby's Cry", Other M is an anagram for Mother, Metroid Other M abbreviates to MOM, the main villain is a version of Mother Brain, said Mother Brain views her creator as a mother figure- It's clear what Other M's primary theme was supposed to be and in both themes and plot it's trying to be Alien super hard. But where both are stories about being stuck on a spaceship with a monster that's killing everyone, an android traitor, a government conspiracy, and underlying themes of motherhood, Alien manages to do it so much better thanks to both its subtlety and characterization. Ripley is a character with a tough exterior who is also capable of showing vulnerability and caring for others. This lends itself extremely well both to herself as a character and the underlying themes. Samus may as well not even be a character since she just tells you every exact thing that she's feeling and on top of that beats you over the head with the theme so much that it may as well not mean anything. Rather than being something I can excitedly analyze, it makes the whole thing come off as pretentious at best and outright offensive at worst in how Samus is portrayed. It's clear that Sakamoto really really wanted this game to be Alien and that he had some understanding of common interpretations of Alien- But what he didn't understand was why Alien was so effective at doing what it did. What resulted is a total mess of a story that just doesn't work.
I like how you pointed out the fact that the silted robotic acting was done on purpose to try and give Samus that calm emotionless vibe that Japan sees in strong characters. From what I heard, Sakamoto wrote the story with a Japanese audience in mind because while Metroid is very popular in the west, its never gotten very much attention in Japan itself. Sakamoto's goal, from what I heard, was to break that curse and help Metroid gain popularity in Japan.
I finally came up with a way to redeem Adam's character to the point where his sacrifice would have made a little impact. First, cut out the moment Samus sees the last GF trooper dead. Second, when Samus is hesitating at the infant Metroid, have it pan in front of her and, for 5-10 frames and the end of the flashback, cut it back to reality to show a GF trooper, helmet on, pointing the freeze gun at her. The scene plays as it was after that until she asks why Adam shot her, at which point he says he didn't, and the screens transitions to where they both look to the now dead eraser's body. Finally, give an actual consequence to the entire scenario. When the ice shot hit her, it "somehow" disabled her Varia suit, activating a fail-safe where the ice and plasma beams are shut offline because the suit can't take it, and she can no longer fight the Metroids, so Adam, seeing her weakened state, sacrifices himself in her place. Not only would this redeem him, at least a little bit, but it also allows the later Metroids spawned by the Metroid Queen to be frozen, not because they were the only group out of hundreds that aren't immune, but because they never were immune in the first place, Samus just lost the ice beam for a while. THIS would at least salvage Samus' reverence towards Adam. I could personally ignore, though maybe not forgive, the other problems with this game if this were how the scene played out. Sorry for the wall of text.
Your idea makes it "better" but doesn't remedy the problems caused by the authorization nonsense. Unless you're saying the whole point is for Adam to have an arc where he slowly realizes Samus's independence and capabilities and becomes a better leader. I can see that working, but it would need to be rewritten pretty heavily.
@@jacobmonks3722 True. But as I said, this was to redeem him enough for his death to have a little impact. It wouldn't fix the story, I just wouldn't be so bitter about him stealing my place in sector zero.
*Adam has not authorized this critique yet*
*Adam has now revoked monetization*
Gilly Monster Adam has not authorized jokes.
David Riley Is Adam’s ego as fragile as the ship?
Gilly Monster yes. His ego is made of the corpses of tallon 4 metroids.
*You don't talk until I say, you don't think until I say so*
"Remember me?"
"NO!"
10/10
I watched this bit like ten times in a row
ironically, that scene is probably the most memorable part of Other M...
@@BlackTideLive everyone made that joke, it's such an obvious reaction.
every analysis of the trailer and review of the game that tried to have a sense of humor anyway.
Lmaooooo
Pathetic comment
"from adam's stern expression, constant swearing and repeated kicks to my face and stomach i realized he must have been a little bit upset about something"
Will you fucking emote?!
Sup Yahtz....hey wait a minute! Lol.
Daimon Shaw When did he ever swear?
He looked at Samus's grand resume.
He's making a joke about Adam overreacting to something Samus did because Adam never emotes at all.
When I heard the line about Samas rolling into a ball with Adam Malkovich watching, all I could think of was Fifty Shades of Kraid.
Delete this
Don't give Nintendo ideas...
OH DEAR SWEET AETHER NO! REMOVE THIS IMAGE FROM MY MIND IN LOWER NORFAIR!
Glad I wasn’t the only one 😏
You sir, just won the internet
This is so sad, Adam, authorize Despacito
lole
Lmao
haha
Don’t bring internet historian here. He does not need to suffer
Rofl
And the lesson is: Don't have a painter cook a three-course meal and expect it to be as good as his paintings.
Actually the head chef became senile.
Thank you, Arikado!
Especially if he's from Italy and berates the Chinese dude trying to make the Chinese desert
(OK I shouldn't have pitched into this metaphor)
It’s true for me, I’m experienced in a variety of arts, culinary is not one of them
I know what you're trying to say, but that's not only just snobbery, it's also unapt for this situation. Sakamoto is not a painter in a kitchen, he's the 2nd-biggest name in Metroid's design history and he still fucked it up.
"Adam has not authorized the use of the bombs yet" That is like... the OPPOSITE of good narrative design. That is the BEST way to make sure that players will hate that character (because he hinders them in their path). The only way that would've made sense would be an intuitive 'foreshadowing' that he's gonna become a turncoat villain, and players would get to shoot him in the face in a bossfight. Holy crap.
Like, the best equivalent in the Metroid series would be that part in Super Metroid where Ridley shows up at the beginning, steals the baby Metroid and beats the crap out of you - so when you face him, you have your sweet revenge. This is like... next level of clueless game design.
Also, 'game' and 'story' being separate is also terrible, horrible approach to narrative design. That kind of stuff was maybe okay in the 1980s where 'story' was just a blurb in the manual to justify what you're doing, but in 2010, we have LONG had ability to make the story be a natural PART of the gameplay, something to enhance it. Games like System Shock 2, Half-Life and Metal Gear Solid knew how to use the gameplay to enhance the storytelling (and the opposite) as early as 1998. If the gameplay doesn't really factor into a story, to a point where you can just view all the cutscenes as a 'movie'... why is there even a game? Why is this not just a direct-to-DVD animated OVA? Why freaking bother?
@@ShinoSarna A year late but there are often cases where gameplay is there to supplement story or the story itself is why people follow a series and they have great gameplay to accompany it. Yet the story is what people get attached to.
A couple of examples for gameplay supplementing story rather than the other way around. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days, it has pretty decent gameplay but it gets very reptitive and downright painful at some points. But you are always happy when you get to a cutscene where your character interacts with his friends. And you realize, he doesn't care about the busy work either. Just like he wants to see his friends, you do the busy work as well and feel a very strong connection due to it. A more relevant/recent example is Death Stranding. The game is tedious, very intentionally. Your hand gets tired moving through the game, you get bored at times, you get frustrated with it all. Just like the protagonist you play as. You are then right there with him the entire time and grow attached because the gameplay supplements the story, not the other way around.
Series like Metal Gear Solid and Kingdom Hearts have great gameplay, and ludicrously complicated stories that many people focus on. KH games has some of the best gameplay on each console and era they release in. But many people (including myself) follow it for the story and don't give 2 craps about gameplay.
I do agree though that story can supplement gameplay and give you motivation. BOTW (or any Mario game) is unplayable to me because the story is so irrelevant that the only remaining area is gameplay.
@@haruhirogrimgar6047 While i need gameplay before anything else (i even avoid anything too story driven that will interrupt my game flow, in love with botw or any souls like) I agree that the focus on context and all the different types of narrations are an awesome thing of modern gaming. Some games manage to tell whole stories without any text while some are just like movies or series, all types of flavors.
THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY THE BABY
The only good way to utilize that same principle is by making it out as Samus's own decision. If it was, "I should catch up with Adam first," then yeah, you can be annoyed that Samus is forcing you to follow this character, but at least then you understand "This is a more linear Metroid game. I can get to exploring after I complete this objective."
15:15 Yeah, the Prime series conveyed Samus’ badassery so well... with the space pirates referencing her foiling their plans on computer logs, the Federation revering her as a hero... she being a badass on screen with no little to no mention of her gender... and those were western developers, who had nothing to do with the original games... yeah, maybe its a cultural thing, but Samus was more respectfully portrait by Retro.
Yea. The best characterization in the prime games is seeing her reflection in her visor. Usually happening during trying moments, it perfectly showed her beautiful yet stoic and determined stare. So understated and perfect.
I don't know though. I don't think it's a case of a bad idea, just bad execution. I would like to see them attempt it once more but with a smaller and more localized writing team. To break down a well established character in a tasteful way is not an easy thing to do but it can be done.
The biggest mistake they made is to start Samus off from a position of weakness. They should have started her from a position of strength to get people on board and then slowly chip away at that strength. Make people feel like her strength is an unhealthy façade. Moments of her clearly feeling but not allowing herself to feel, moments of her being overstressed from suppressing them. They just never really presented it in a way that would make people sympathize with Samus or make them feel her original part is still there.
Now with Dread, we got a perfect mix of Samus being an absolute badass with even subtle things like her body language in boss fight cutscenes, but also showing subtle emotion like the scenes with Quiet Robe.
KAWWWW!!!
I was so unprepared for the "Bird Dad" section that I had to pause in order to let the laughing stop being painful.
Oh gosh!! Hahahaha!!! Me too!! Hahaha!!
The "Bird Dad" section is awesome, I was laughing so hard!
read this comment and i worried it would be spoiled but i forgot about it by the time it came up. i died laughing
13:00
@@nabeelnitro6447 God Bless you for this time stamp.
Samus Returns may have retconned Other M out of existence, while confirming the Prime trilogy is part of canon. It does it in a very smart way, entirely through subtext and implication...but it very subtly implies a different origin for the frozen Ridley in Fusion. You fight Ridley on SR-388, he still has a couple of his Meta Ridley enhancements. After the fight, he leaves those behind (leading into Super Metroid where he is organic again). You see a hornoad playing with them, then said hornoad gets taken over by an X parasite. The X would've had Ridley's genetic material from those cybernetic parts he left behind. It looks like Other M has been removed from the timeline...it didn't fit anyway. It blatantly contradicted not only the Prime trilogy, but also Fusion.
@Chelline R. No, the Prime series happens before Metroid II and its remake where the decision was made to wipe out the metroids. Other M is supposed to happen after Super Metroid.
@Chelline R. No, before nintendo said anything, we knew the timeline. It's pretty obvious where everything fits, since most of the games happen immediately after eachother. Certain characters, places, and stations existing, being dead or missing let us piece that together pretty easily. The only anomoly was Other M.
Maybe your head-canon would like to see the Prime series after Other M, but you'd still have to explain why the scans in Prime 1 reference the events of the first Metroid as if they just happened, meaning Prime 1 is an immediate follow up (in the timeline) to Metroid/Zero Mission.
Other M was meant to take place at the end of the timeline but before Fusion, because Nintendo wanted to keep Samus' iconic armor for the rest of the series. The events of fusion show that the fusion suit is just apart of Samus' body now. She's part Metroid.
@Chelline R. There is literally no subjective thing about the timeline at all. In Prime 1 there are logs that mention how they have lost Zebes base. The games flow from one to the other following the timeline very clearly.
@Chelline R. The prime logs hold more water than the entirety of OM, though Samus' character model is awesome
@Chelline R. Well it still wouldn't work.
Meta Ridley lost his armor from Prime 1 and 3 in the Metroid 2 remake which it self leads directly into Super Metroid ans Other M says it takes place right after Super so we Know the Prime games happen before Metroid 2 and by proxy before Other M.
"Remember me?"
"No!"
I am actually tearing up laughing at that. It's so funny and I don't even know why.
When does that happen?
@alan bane *Josh:* The comment sections on these videos always seem to be civil and respectful.
*Me:* *reads this comment and looks into the camera like I'm on The Office*
The “Remember me?” “No” bit was ripped from GCN’s video.
Adam: the comms are broken, so the members of the 7th platoon must regularly use navigation booths for reports.
Also Adam: manages to have a 24/7 1080p60fps stream of Samus' view.
Probably a software issue. Adam had Twitch on his comms and Samus is streaming the action.
*shot*
yeah also, how exactly did he have that stream? 💀 go pro? usb in her ancient chozo suit? the bottle ship computer must be the most advanced tech ever
Even higher res than our view
To play devil's advocate here, I think the actual reason Adam couldn't uplink with the other squad members was because the traitor (I don't wanna say Deleter because that's a dumb name) sabotaged them. It's not outright stated that the traitor is James Pierce, but considering how he's the last body found (apparently K. G. was dunked in lava to dispose of his body), that's what's implied. And since he's the squad communication specialist, it'd make sense that he could break that sort of thing. Samus is unaffected because she's a rogue element, and he never has a chance to break any comms elements in her suit.
It is just another characteristic of samus’ suit…
Another suggestion:
Have MB hack Samus when she arrives, instead of Adam authorising things, he's restoring the corrupted subroutines that she needs to use her equipment
It would explain the moments when he takes a while to authorise something obvious, for example, when entering the super heated area he turns his attention to prioritise restoring Varia functionality, finishing restoring it just as the boss fight starts
That way we get the same gameplay beats, the tension and everything, while removing the blatant nonsensical aspect of not just immediately authorising a non-threatening defensive ability
This is by far the best solution to authorising in M.O.M. That would make MB more relevant to the story while helping me not hate Adam.
@@Brandonious15987 Also it would have allowed the sacrifice
Adam has been inside Samus' armours systems the entire game that way
Instead of shooting her while she's already in danger like an idiot, he could lock her armours hydraulics as she reaches for the door, and takes that moment to enter in her place
Wow this whole comment change made the story way better
@@nikkof5384 Thank you, I appreciate that ^_^
This could actually why Samus has to re-unlock all her upgrades at the beginning of every Metroid game, at least the ones with MB in them
Samus' displayed personality in this game was just... _so_ bewildering to me. This is just _not_ the same person who saved a planet and then just pimpwalked off it, giving nothing but a mere wave of the hand over her back. The kind of warrior who doesn't even make a sound in battle until she gets hurt so damn much that she just dies, the kind of person who just kinda quietly and calmly moves her head to the side a bit to dodge getting shot by her freaky phazon clone - that's Samus.
This is why Other M should've happened at the start of the timeline and been about Samus's time in the Federation. This stuff makes sense before all those epic adventures and shows excellent growth within her, but it makes no sense in the 2nd to last (now 3rd :)) game in the timeline after she's defeated Ridley so many times and saved countless worlds.
@@speedude0164 Since your remark in brackets already alluded to Dread - yeah, _THAT_ is Samus. My favorite portrayal of her yet, even.
@@AniGaAG Oh yeah she's more badass in that game than she's ever been, and I'd say it even humanized her correctly unlike Other M with the Chozo stuff.
@@speedude0164 Yep, Dread is a great game, I just wish it had more memorable musical scores. I also wish people would quit giving Sakamoto credit for it like it's some kind of "redemption". It's not. He never apologized for Other M. He to this day thinks he made a perfect game, and blames the fans for "not getting it". Sakamoto is a no talent hack who got where he was by taking credit for other people's work. He is not a "co-creator" of Metroid. He was brought on near the end of development of the first game as one of several character artists by the ACTUAL creator of Metroid (Gunpei Yokoi). The only game in the series he made was Other M. He did not make Dread, MercurySteam did. THEY deserve the credit for it being good. If someone deserves praise for Dread, it's the game director (Jose Luis Márquez). And the designers (Jose Maria Navarro Herrera, Carlos Zarzuela Sánchez, Jacobo Luengo).
@@StormsparkPegasus Yeah, people like to latch onto recognizable names a bit much.
"Becoming small and round was a certain maneuver I had done enough that it felt natural. But doing it knowing that Adam was watching, that certain maneuver became thrilling."
"Because I am about to drop a trail of unauthorized power bombs across this ship."
Hahahahahaha
That's amazing lol
Samus: "Adam was the closest thing to a father I had."
Gray Voice and Old Bird: "Are we a joke to you?"
To be fair, Samus probably connected better with a human being than old ass Chozo birds. But your point is pretty spot on nonetheless
Taking in account her comment about how thrilling it was that Adam saw her going Morph ball? I think it was less "Father" and more "Daddy"
@@Kurotaisa hysterical!!!
Remember, this game was trying to say that prime series of Metroid did not exist. So why do you think it would consider the manga?
Alexander Zheng It even contradicts Fusion on multiple occasions.
29:02: Okay, this just makes me want to vomit. You're not even doing that much of a parody here because that's exactly how this game is.
"Ugu~ Daddy allowed me to fight for my life instead of accepting death. Daddy is good and just."
@Joshua White Actually I thought that too at first.
You know in some stories having a character completely defined through their relationship with another character can be interesting. This is not one of those stories. Simply put Samus is not that character. Painting her as such is kind of degrading. Also there relationship is super creepy and it makes me want to shower. And not in the "wow this author understands how disgusting this relationship is and is not holding back on displaying it in it's full horror." And more of "oh my God they dont realize! They dont realize how gross and offputting this is! What were they thinking!"
Skyward sword kind of does that.
@@Voidling242 Link is one of the great heroes, yet even then, almost any Link is pretty much a bitch compared to Samus and getting degraded and stripped of dignity like that wouldn't be as jarring as it is for Samus.
So, the thing about the Gravity Suit contrast in Other M was that Sakamoto thought that the serious scenes in the game would be ruined by a large purple figure just being there, so he changed it to just being the aura around the suit that we see in the final game.
Makes no sense to me since I never heard anyone complain about being pulled out of the endings to the 2D games or Prime because Samus's Gravity Suit colors stuck out, but whatever.
the wired thing is that a muted purple suit actually would have fit better with the dark blue every one else is using its so odd. if he really thought it looked weird he could have even adjusted the color a bit as or given it the same glow effect it had in prime 3 corruption.
SHe doesn't have big voice acting serious scenes in those. They could of had just be orange in cutscenese and had the suit change to it's gravity colors while she was in the water or in the gravity section.....
Another possible fix is to make the Gravity Suit go first, so the purple is out of the way in the midgame, then the dramatic climax and endgame scenes can have the iconic red/orange
I'm actually in favor of this glowy version. Because when I got the Gravity Suit in Prime the things that Sakamoto was thinking about did happen to me. I thought it looks incredibly silly.
Yeah, the yellow armor with the glowy green lights and sharp angles is way more understated. I definitely see his point.
Sakamoto said he brutally murdered the awesome Gravity Suit design because *he thought having a partially purple suit would make the cutscenes too silly*. Good thing the cutscenes are as great as they are or it just wouldn't make any sense!
Samus without the suit is 6'3 and weighs 198 pounds. The top of her head doesn't even reach Adam's shoulders and her waist is the same thickness has one of his legs. She is still shorter and thinner than him even when in her suit. Funky miscalculations there.
Her height was retconned to 5'7" in other M. Yeah, that too. Then it was re retconned back to 6'3"
Actually is for the same reason that Adam "saves" Samus in sector zero, to show him as an incredible strong man that cares about the others etc. Because Adam is towering over Samus. And because 5' 7" is the medium height for women in Japan.
@@1billionbees Samus isn't Japanese. She's an Irish space colonist.
@@RokuroCarisu I know but the height change was probably made to make Adam seam super tall near to Samus
@@1billionbees Even with 5,7, he must be a giant.
The Geek Critique makes an hour-long video on one of the most hated Nintendo games of all-time? This is gonna be good.
Was it?
Yep. I think he pretty fairly assessed the game. I haven't actually played Other M myself, but I can definitely see how things like the plot holes in the story, the clunky control scheme, and the overpowered moves like dodging could ruin the game.
Also the character assassination.
It's not even a bad game. Sometimes knowing that people despise the game ruins it for you aswell.
@@UroOnCyberscore it would have to be significantly better to even qualify as bad
That Bird-Dad rant made me crap the hell up.
One of the things the game fucked up compared to Fusion is that while Samus was being bossed around by the AI, there was dramatic tension between the two because it's established that Samus doesn't enjoy taking orders. You didn't even know if the AI could be trusted, Samus would end up disobeying the AI at different points or accidentally stumble off the path laid out for her and into these moody side paths of the ship where she was isolated, and would sometimes see something she wasn't supposed to. Samus just deciding she feels like going along with Adam even when it makes absolutely no sense to do so doesn't work in comparison, and the weak attempts the game makes to make us think Adam might be secretly evil just fall flat. He acts like a dick but nobody in-game seems to aknowledge that fact, it's just something we're aware of and not really sure if it's supposed to come across that way or not. So we've got a character dynamic where a powerful hero is just willingly submitting to the whims of an incompetent jackass and we just have to accept that this is the status quo. It's irritating at best and makes the entire game feel like the tutorial section of Undertale, except here it's not supposed to be funny and you never leave the ruins.
Also, Fusion married it's action-packed gameplay with elements of horror and isolation so that the game still felt like Metroid. The boss battles provided frantic, exhilarating bursts of action, and the main sections of the areas had a thrilling tone set by the music, but breaking these parts of the game up were the parts where you went off the grid (literally, off the mapped part of the area) into the hidden corners of the station. These parts were quiet and dripping with atmosphere, and you never knew exactly what to expect, running into bosses and powerups that weren't outlined as part of your mission parameters. Other M fails to strike this balance and the game feels very noisy, it lacks that kind of subtlety and nuance of tone that made Fusion great.
Oh yeah, I'm fine with the design of the Power Suit in Other M. Much like Fusion, this game was meant to be slicker and more action-packed, so it makes sense for the power suit to be slimmer and more acrobatic. Prime's bulky look established a powerful look for Samus that reflected the game's slower, deliberate gameplay. Both designs match what their games set out to do. The Zero Suit design is where things go wrong. I don't know if it was intentional or due to poor communication between teams, but the fact that Samus shrinks two whole feet when she removes her Power Suit in this game is not only ridiculous, but by making her seem frail and tiny without her Power Suit it gives the impression that the suit is the only thing that makes her strong, and that is *not* a good way to portray your story's hero.
Justin Hurowitz very much yes
Especially when this game is considered to be After Zero mission, "Frail Zero suit Samus" uh? Say that to that poor Alien Seafood that got himself stunlocked for eternity.
@@Regunes Speaking of Zero mission in some of the ending pics is Samus in even less than her Zero suit and looks hell of a lot more buff than in the Zero suit in Other M.
*CAW!*
where's the rant at again?
Adam and Samus's relationship is like the one in fifty shades of gray, YOU DO NOT wanna be compared to fifty shades of grey
Really? Fifty shades of grey is absolutely nothing like this.
Outside of the bondage scene's it's actually a very vanilla romance novel.
Fifty Shades of Kraid. Anyway, that "relationship" is all Sakamoto's doing. Adam is his self insert. And the way Sakamoto talks about Samus is downright creepy, like he's a stalker or something (he also seems to know nothing about her personality).
@@StormsparkPegasus Not really. Other M was not really written by a person but by a very complicated and oversized group.
Sakamoto didn't really have a writing staff that could assist him but a hopelessly disorganized group that couldn't agree on anything.
@@StormsparkPegasus Sakamoto is partially at fault but it doesn't take blame away from the structure around him that should have kept him in check and ensured quality control.
@@MrMarinus18 Maybe, but he was completely in charge of that disorganized group, and he wrote most of it himself.
Here's a suggestion to fix the Adam death scene. Instead of Adam shooting Samus to make her vulnerable and then freezing the metroid and just telling us that the Metroids are freeze-proof, the game should have done this: Samus shoots at the metroid, but surprisingly, her ice beam doesn't affect it. Samus starts spamming other weapons, but none of them work either, and she gets increasingly frantic. The metroid finds an opening and latches onto her and starts sucking her dry. Unlike the baby from Super Metroid, this one has no reason to stop at 1 HP; it's going to kill her. As she's about to die, Adam rushes to her and with enough force, he manages to pry the metroid off her in time. Angered, the metroid latches onto him instead. In his final moments of getting drained by the metroid, he tells Samus the metroids are immune to freezing, and she needs to activate the detach/self-destruct feature now, leaving his body behind. He tells her that some metroids may have gotten loose in the Bottleship, and the only way that they can be stopped is that Samus has to kill MB because she's really *gasp* Mother Brain. Any objections, lady?
RayquazaFlyer I want to be in this timeline!
Hey would never show a death scene directly on screen though, so I don’t think that’s a reasonable option
They showed Crocomire's skin melting off in Super Metroid, so I don't see why they wouldn't show that. It's not like there would be blood or gore, his body would just turn grey and dull.
Reading it sounds emotional ;w;
(I don't know if is rightly written my sentence. I hope it don't become in very bad consequences.)
What about fucking Rundas in Prime 3! Holy shit! That death had me sad and jarring.
When does the hit sitcom Bird Dad air? I must know.
I think it was the spin-off of Horsin’ Around
Jokes aside.... Other M literally did not mention the Chozo, even once. That is absolutely ridiculous, how can you claim to make a Metroid backstory game, without having the Chozo? Even the simple SCANNED lore from the Prime games venerated the Chozo as hyper-intelligent quasi-gods. In Other M... apparently Adam is the closest thing she has to a father!? bull.
Sakamoto didn't create Samus, and after getting total control, he showed he doesn't truly understand her either.
Love the profile pic lmao
My 2 bird dads. Reruns coming to an ABC Family near you.
@@theunemployedyouth9311 Two and a Half Birds, And Also Samus' Human Biological Parents. Watch now on Apple Plus!
+1in loving memory of Samus's BIRD DAD.
CAW!
I wonder where Falco sits in the family tree?
Two of them, in fact!
That bit made me laugh so hard!
Plus, with Dread, I know for sure that at least the DNA infusing thing is correct!
@@autobotstarscream765 Second cousin that lives in another state (galaxy) that you only know about because of both of your parents talking about them to each other and then they tell you about them.
"Now that I know Metroid Prime 4 is over the horizon"
Me in 2020: Yeah, about that.
Me now: Hi....so....pretty sure corona has delayed it to some time in 2050
@@hibahhussain2944 it keeps getting delayed for some reason
I'd rather it be delayed and be good than it be a broken mess
It’ll probably come out at the very end of the switch’s life tbh cuz they restarted development so it will probably take until like 2022 or 2023 sadly
@@metaknight115 Retro just put out a lead game producer hire ad for it this month August. Which means they've finished pre-production and have entered production. I'd say another year or year and half.
I can sum up Other M in one word: Pretentious.
Other M is a game written and directed and micro-managed to death by a man who has exceedingly high expectations of himself and utterly fails to be anything but bloated self-indulgence. It's Yoshio Sakamoto's amateur fanfiction.
No. I've seen _actual fanfics_ that don't start off with writing as fucking atrociously bad as the "Baby's Cry Bottle Ship THE SYMBOLISM DO YOU GET IT" opening of this game.
I want to say I dunno if Sakamoto actually was the one sabotaging the project as much as the rumors would have it. Japanese work culture is so that the one highest up the chain of responsibility always takes the entire blame for any failing down the ladder.
@@Mordaedil Did Sakamoto himself take the blame for the game's flaws? I thought that most of the information about his decisions came from Team Ninja
He'll I've read erotic doujinshi with better story lines than TOM
@dbenson31 I just have an AquaTeen reference in my head about how the D on the grave stands for Dracula...
THE M IN OTHER M STANDS FOR MOTHER! OH MY GOOOOOOO-
You could say the same about the Star Wars prequels. So naturally some future Metroid game is going to receive rave reviews from critics but fans will start bashing it and start praising Other M at its expense.
Though while I'd consider Other M and Phantom Menace to be of roughly comparable quality (in so far as a film and a video game can be compared), I can at least realize the latter is just not for me. So I guess that makes Other M even worse, since it's more something I'd be interested in yet I still have a hard time choosing which is less bad.
In regards to why we watch your videos. Why I watch them (And I can't think I'm alone here) comes down to two reasons. First you take time to go into the kind of depth that gives us an hour long video about a game that you have no feelings toward. That shows dedication to your craft and to us as the audience.
Secondly, and I think more importantly, you have an understanding of the relationship between the emotions we feel about games and the games themselves. You just have such a solid grasp on what it means to be a gamer, and because of that you can speak to gamers on a far deeper level, and we can understand where you come from because we've been there too. I think The Geek Critique is a far more fitting name for you than I initially realized.
Never stop Josh, never stop.
Oliver Johnson +
This review was very lame honestly
@@isauldron4337 from reading your comments I’ve seen no reason why that is
"so it can't be that bad, right?" *cut to ad for kitty litter* welp
Hah! How appropriate!
I was rewatching this and when I got to that part I got some disturbing ad where there’s a cyclops Jesus for some reason.
However I'd rather eat kitty litter then play other m
I got an ad for Sword and Shield at the same exact time, and while I was reading this comment. TH-cam really does love to send a message
@@Edgeperor nah
Samus’s dialogue towards taking orders from Adam makes it sound like it should be in a Metroid spin off of Fifty Shades
I actually shuddered at the morph ball bit
Same... I felt dirty just by listening to that.
If a lab technician would have told me to do something "just the way I like it ' with that face and that tone, I would have smashed the window and sent a power bomb right on that shitty smile.
Jesus christ why is there a fucking fifty shades line
Listen to Sakamoto talk about Samus sometime. It's downright creepy. He sounds like a stalker. He also seems to know nothing about her as a character. Adam is obviously his self insert, and I think he has *ahem* fantasies about her being really submissive. It's really damn creepy, you get the impression that his only goal is to bang Samus.
This game feels like a fanfic erotica with Adam as their self insert. It really does.
Okay, I just noticed that the title of the video changed AGAIN. First it was "The Franchise Corrupted". Then it changed to "The Decay of Samus". And now it's "The Unmaking of Metroid". Is Josh doing this for a reason, or can he not settle on how to refer to Other M?
If this is the last time this happens, then I hope his Samus Returns critique is called "The REmaking of Metroid."
Edit: Nearly a year later, the title has changed to "The End of the Prime Era." Either this has become some weird tradition, or this is potentially hinting at a Samus Returns critique. If you can hear me, Josh, please send me a sign! I've been waiting for so long!
YEs please....
He should use all three
Franchise corrupted: the unmaking and decay of metroid
You absolutely nailed it. What did you think of his review?
@@victorhugocosta1127 awesome, i'm glad he made it available to non patreon viewers in the end
I actually thought u was going mad when u thought I saw the title change
your review is more entertaining to watch than the whole Metroid other M movie
I actually watched it when i was 14 save my soul.
i watched too but i was like 19 lol :(
There's an other m movie???
Galactic Panda okay I'll have to go back and check that out cause I've beaten it before
Galactic Panda that's a little lame but I'll watch it eventually, while waiting for prime 4 and smash ultimate I'm playing through the entire Metroid series in conon order. Though I'm skipping the NES Metroid for zero and 2 for Samus returns
You know something about the story that I realized while watching this video really annoys me? It simultaneously assumes you did and did not read the manga. There are two major aspects of Samus's past that have never been firmly established in the games, only in the manga: that Samus was raised by the Chozo, and that Ridley killed Samus's parents. Yet the game decides it can ignore the first, but hinge a pivotal scene on the second.
So basically, people who didn't read the manga won't take issue with Samus saying that Adam was the closest thing to a father she had, but her Ridley panic attack will make absolutely no sense. But people who have read the manga will understand why she literally turns into a child at the sight of Ridley (I mean, disregarding how poorly executed that moment was, they'll at least understand what's going on), but the line about Adam being her closest thing to a father will probably inspire their own Bird Dads rant.
Kevin Stevens but what about the flashbacks in chozodia in zero mission?
I wouldn't really say those *firmly* establish it. It would be entirely understandable if someone played Zero Mission and didn't pick up on Samus's backstory from the little stick figure drawing. And there were actually some ending screens in Fusion that did a better job at telling these things, but they were all exclusive to the Japanese version.
Curiously, the most explicit references to Samus being raised by the Chozo were in some Metroid Prime scans. But Sakamoto doesn't even consider those canon.
And still, that just makes it worse. Though it's never really been a core part of any game's story, there are references to Samus being raised by the Chozo, but the only reference to Ridley attacking her as a kid is in a single Japan only Fusion ending. Yet the Chozo thing is what's ignored and the Ridley thing is what's referenced.
I haven't really read the manga so I could be very wrong, but didn't samus ovecome her problems with ridley by the end? Plus that one top of the fact that Other M's kind of near the end of the canon, meaning she's went through fighting ridley over and over already? I could be wrong though so correct me if Im not.
Isaac Argesmith - Yes, by this point, Samus had fought him a bunch of times. So it doesn't really make sense no matter how you slice it. But I at least get the intent of the scene, showing Samus have a PTSD flashback to when Ridley killed her parents. Whereas the player who didn't know that bit of Metroid lore would probably have no idea why she literally turns into a child in that scene.
*Samus Returns spoilers here after Read More*
Which is why everyone saying "MUH MANGAAAAAAAAA" are fucking stupid. I believe I read the manga either shortly before Other M came out or shortly after before I knew of the story problems, so I got to read it without knowing of Other M's bungles.
To see people blindly defend the Ridley scene in Other M by screaming MANGA while simultaneously ignoring that Other M has a fucking vendetta against the Chozo that said manga utterly revered is absolutely insane to me. don't cherry pick your outside sources if you plan on using them. Oh, and the manga was deliberately made to transition into the Zero Mission remake...where Samus has no such PTSD reaction to Ridley. Nor does she in Super. Nor does she NOW IN AN OFFICIAL METROID 2 REMAKE. She has now fought Ridley in literally every game except Prime 2 (which Prime is most definitely canon now), she has no reason to fear him when she clearly got the fuck over it. It's a video game, you're allowed to say they got over their previous PTSD completely.
I think this whole game was a weird allegory for a mother coping with a miscarriage.
Samus loses "the baby," she goes to "the bottle" (alcohol) ship to cope with her loss, experiences terrible flashbacks while on "the bottle," etc. etc. What was Sakamoto on while writing this game?
-Can I have some??-
Wtf. That’s really smart.
I see the bottle as a baby's bottle 🍼
I hate the name of the BOTTLE SHIP even more now.
@@Alienldr Pretty sure that's EXACTLY what it's supposed to be. This game isn't exactly one for subtlety.
Why does this work better than the "milk bottle" interpretation they intended?
I think it's even worse than a pretentious fanfic.
I'm pretty sure Adam's character here is the writer's self-insert. Complete with all the horrible tropes of a bad Mary Sue--or here, Marty Stu--character. Samus, who has never acted this way, suddenly pines for the adoration of a character who winds up taking her place in her own story.
How the heck are these guys simultaneously so good at making cutscenes, but so bad at writing them?
There's this theory that Adam is Sakamoto's self insert. To me seems pretty plausible as I recall, years before Other M happened, that Sakamoto claimed things like having a sequence of Super Metroid Game Over screen with Samus naked, or claiming being the only one who knew where her "charm point" or something like that was.
@@cursedex80 If this is true, Sakamoto is living proof that some people dont deserve their jobs.
maybe it was Sakamoto's way of saying, that he's going to RETIRE from the franchise, as did Adam ;) :P
And ONE LAST TIME, he had ALL THE CONTROL and ALL THE DECISIONS over Samus ...
@@cursedex80 Oh, Adam is definitely Sakamoto's self insert. He fantasized about Samus as this really submissive person too. I'm sure the only reason it didn't go completely into NSFW territory (this was Team Ninja after all) was due to Nintendo reining it in. I'm sure Sakamoto would've gone along with it if Nintendo would have allowed such a thing. This game is a BAD fanfic, and he absolutely should never be allowed to direct a game again. Or at least, not a Metroid game. The best part when Team Ninja said that Sakamoto eventually acknowledged that the control scheme was broken and could never work, but went ahead with it anyway because changing it would've meant "admitting he was wrong".
There are two super easy ways you can have the same result that remains in character for what both Adam and Samus should be.
1) Adam is like the Adam from Metroid Fusion. Someone who absolutely respects Samus while also being higher ranked. Someone who can crack jokes and remain serious.
2) Samus has ACTUAL PTSD, recognizes that, and follows Adam's orders because she asked him to give her them.
There. Samus now follows Adam's orders to a fault because she understands that entering a grunt soldier mentality will keep her mind focused. And we have an Adam that gives orders as her commander, but also cares for Samus and encourages her to regain her confidence.
I would have actually cried real tears if they had given some cutscene time to the two Chozo they introduced in Zero Mission. Those are the father figures of Samus Aran. Those are the two noble people of a race so far beyond anything else in the galaxy that they literally ascended (though Samus Returns (2017) throws a little doubt on that), but had enough compassion to take in one little terrified girl and make her one of the most noble and capable figures in the galaxy.
THAT'S WHAT FATHERS WANT TO DO FOR THEIR CHILDREN!
Oh and easy answer to a question: How do you have Samus unlock her upgrades so the game isn't broken from the start?
Why not have HER DECIDE WHEN SHE USES HER GEAR!
It goes like this:
*Area before the power bomb would be unlocked*
Player: Uses power bomb.
Samus (soliloquy aside): I don't think I should use that here.
OR That's a little overkill.
OR It'd be too dangerous to use that now.
Or have some other character come over comms and chastise her but don't make it sound like she's under someone's thumb.
You mean Old Bird and Grey Voice? if I am not wrong those are their names, and yes, they should've show something about them, specially Grey Voice, I men, he died with a badass chozo power suit fighting ridley 1vs1, fucking ridley 1v1, fuck, he died like a legend
Here's an easier solution to making Samus lose her upgrades at the beginning of Other M... just say that Mother Brain's Hyper Beam attack on her suit back in Super Metroid caused so much damage in the long run that her upgrades were rendered useless.
@@elvampe13 Yeah, I'd thought of that, too. Perhaps the Federation injected her with nanobots to make repairs, and the same story beats are when individual repairs are complete.
elvampe13 yeah I was thinking that the moment it told us that it was after those events. I mean it actually makes perfect sense.... holy shit what a missed opportunity
I agree with the idea of Samus deciding when she uses her gear, but I also like the idea of her looking to Adam for permission. Granted, the Adam I would want is someone who recognizes Samus as a powerful person who has earned her status, but as a former mentor he can take a few jabs at her and be that one friend you don't have to be afraid of joking around with. That, and Samus recognizes her own emotional compromise and defers to Adam. He recognizes that she needs a hand to point her in the right direction, though not necessarily forcing her into anything. This relationship has an Adam who chastises Samus for running into the lava area without asking permission for her Varia Suit and an Adam who teases Samus for not asking permission for the Wave Beam when she saw the button.
New Headcanon: Metroid Other M is a really bad movie adaptation of Samus's real life adventures in her universe.
EDIT: Well Phantoon is a ghost. Him being connected to the undead (or flat out being undead himself) is a good reason to his return. It makes more sense than the Feds thinking it's a good idea to clone THEIR SWORN ENEMY AND MOST DANGEROUS AI IN THE GALAXY!!!
I thought the explanation for him being in the post-game was because the Bottle Ship was now a wreck/ghost ship, thus he as a ghost was able to manifest on/haunt it... but that's probably just my brain auto-correcting bad writing to be better then it is.
@@RipOffProductionsLLC was phantoon stuck to the ghost ship when it left zebes in the save the animals ending?
Bs explanation
If you are ever in doubt of yourself, I have a short story to tell you.
My only sibling is my brother, and he is 5 years older than I am. I love my brother dearly, and when we were kids, we were very close and shared many video game memories together. When we got older, my brother went to college and then moved away from Montana to the east coast--as these stores often go, a woman was involved. As I grew older, I too moved away from my parents, and eventually ended up in Washington. We still both love each other very much, but we often go several months without talking.
Despite our age and distance gap, both of us found your channel, subscribed, and though he suggested it to me first to check your channel out (not knowing I was already subscribed and watching every release), the odd connection between us had me planning to suggest watching this channel to him at the very time he suggested it to me.
Art direction is everything. Prime 3 and Other M both released on the Wii, and yet I can't help but feel like Prime 3 is the better looking game in every single way. Enemy design is unique from location to location, the environments are lost alien civilizations, and nothing looks like it's made of Gunpla plastic. So I don't feel like it's a hardware issue by any means.
Even Prime 1 looks *much* better than Other M.
B I R D D A D
EVERY Prime game looks better. One of the reasons 1&2 are still classics today is due to how well they’ve aged graphically
@@cancerstinks1 the small up-res the first two games received in the trilogy collection really proves how well the visuals hold up.
Really wish they would bring the trilogy to the switch already, the games would look so good!
Cri Cat The up-res doesn’t mean a whole lot when the PAL versions of Prime games had added effects to the og North American versions.
"Remember me?"
"NO! :D"
Ripura-kun I loved that response because that was my same reaction when I saw that E3 trailer too XD
What that obscure game that no one actually remembers because of that ironic name or?
I remember (get it?) vividly when MBD - known at the time as Mysterious Black Dude - was all the rage on places like GameFAQs and TH-cam. I enjoyed that moment in time more than everything the actual game ever offered.
This review was the best and fairest critique of Other M that I've seen from ANYBODY, including the fandom. You actually gave the game it's fair share of chances. You said where it fell flat, as well as gave it's strong points. You listened to those of us who enjoyed and defended the game.
Honestly, seeing it from this perspective changes how I personally view the game, too. I won't defend it as hard as I used to, but I still won't take absolute hate for it from those who insult me just because I liked it.
Thank you for the Metroid Series Critique, it has made Metroid my most favorite game series, even more so than the Legend of Zelda.
It's been years, but didn't Somecallmejohnny have a fairly positive review too?
Out of curiosity, what do you see in Other M? Because most of the Other M defenders I've seen focus mainly on Samus' characterization, and I barely ever hear Other M defenders' opinions on the actual gameplay and game design.
Charles A.
I found it's Gameplay super fun at the time! A lot of times, it felt like a Metroid game, and I could see Other Metroid games being made in this Style if it got positive attention. The 3Rd to 1st person transition was personally easy for me, because I was excellent at Wii games. I beat Resident Evil 4 on the Wii, so I was well calibrated for that system.
Like TGC said, All that needed to be fixed was the lack of buttons and the Dodge should be nerfed as well. Also, Maybe scanning should be easy, too. But it shouldn't be another Metroid Prime ripoff, that's for sure.
As for the Game Design, I loved Fusion, which is my favorite Metroid game, and this game was basically an attempt at recreating Fusion, so I was right at home. Fighting through man-made structure, as the atmosphere felt along the lines of a Horror movie. I don't mind being lead to a different area, as long as the Story was enticing. And Other M's story was definitely enticing for my 13 year old mind at the time. Sure, now I think it's Meh, cause I played it so many times, but it was still fun and I enjoyed it.
Daimon Shaw I wouldn't know, I do not watch his videos. But I checked for it, and apparently he did review it, so maybe I'll check the rest of him out!
SomeKidOnline
Metroid fusion was my entry to the series and has largely held up as my favorite metroid game (granted i've yet to play super yet). That said it was how close it mirrors fusion while, in my opinion, doing all those same elements extremely poorly with more of it that just made me hate the game outright.
Your girlfriend did a great job critiquing with you in this video. She knows what Samus is really all about.
Yeah, that bit was both cool and funny as all heck.
@@blitzwing1 Samus deserves it.
Not really
"who would have more history, and more familiarity with this series than one of the people that created it in the first place"......
....retro, apparently.
God fucking bless you retro. Did due justice to both DK and Samus.
Fuck no please you're just saying stupidities
"Metroid: Other M" is so hated because it is, essentially, not a Metroidvania game. I'll go as far as suggest that it is, in fact, an ANTI-Metroidvania game. Allow me to elaborate... (after the jump)
Metroidvania games are defined by three essential elements:
1. Exploration
2. Discovery
3. Empowerment
The elements of Exploration and Discovery are nearly completely absent in "Metroid: Other M". Exploration is severely limited as you can't go back to places you already visited (even "Fusion" allowed some degree of backtracking before the "point of no return") while Discovery is limited to finding missile upgrades and pixel-hunting while Samus is in first person mode.
And then we reach the third element, the element of empowerment...
...Strap in guys, this is going to be a long one...
Metroidvania games are all about gradually empowering the player as they progress through the game. The character that the player controls whether it's Samus, Soma, Shantae, Alucard, Shinoa, or Link starts the game extremelly weak and he/she has to fight hard for survival. Even weak enemies pose a credible and deadly threat that can kill in seconds if the player is not carefull.
However, as you fight through and progress through a Metroidvania game, you gain new abilities and upgrades, which makes your character stronger. You start wiping the floor with the enemies that scared you previously, and you take on bosses and challenges you couldn't tackle before, thereby gaining even more abilities and upgrades. When you finally reach the end-boss you feel like you are in top-condition, and defeating him feels like a huge accomplishment, because you went through a big ordeal, you empowered yourself through hardship and made it through. This sense of self-empowerment and accomplishment is ultimately what makes Metroidvania games so appealling and so popular.
In "Metroid: Other M" something very strange happened...
It seems that the production team of "Metroid: Other M" felt like it was stupid and troublesome for Samus to somehow lose all her powers in every single game she was in, so in "Metroid: Other M" they introduced the "Authorization Mechanic". Now Samus starts out strong and willingly shuts down her powers and upgrades in order to show respect to her former commander Adam Malkovich. The upgrades are no longer found by the player, but they are authorized by Adam when the player reaches certain points in the game, at which point the player gains the ability to use them.
At this point let me say that there is nothing wrong with Samus following orders. There is nothing wrong with Samus showing respect to her former commanding officer and following through with his plan in order to complete her mission.
The problem is that the "Authorization Mechanic" was executed in a way that made Adam look like stupid and incompetent at best, downright abusive and sadistic at worst. And while he gave a very good reason for disabling Samus' weapons, he didn't give a reason (not even a bad one) for disabling things like the Varia Armor or the Power Jump, or for not allowing her to use them when her life was in imminent danger.
It also made Samus look like a weak-willed individual who can't think for herself or defend herself in the presence of her Commanding Officer/ Father Figure. Every interaction between Samus and Adam, degrades her and belittles her. Hence, the "empowerment" aspect of the game, an essential part of every Metroidvania title (even the relatively linear "Fusion") is completely REVERSED. You don't feel "empowered" as you progress through the game, you feel like more of a helpless idiot for doing so.
You, as a player, seriously have no idea why Samus considers such a petty and vindictive man to be so important to her, why she is willing to throw her life and her dignity away for him, and why she acts so out of character when she is around him.
The most plausible explanation, in fact the ONLY one in which the entire narrative of the game makes sense is that Samus and Adam are "traumatically bonded" and are engaged in an abusive relationship. Samus on her own is the woman who single-handedly defeated the Space Pirates and wiped out the Metroids. Samus with Adam on board is an emotionally unstable mess who gets infantilized by him and breaks down with PTSD in front of an enemy she has already defeated twice in the "Other M timeline" (Thrice if you include the Manga in there).
And the worst part is that "Metroid: Other M" romantisizes this sort of thing by giving us an image of the stars painting Adam in the end credits.
I don't know, but for some reason I enjoy "Other M" a whole lot more when I give the ending credits image of Adam the finger and treat him as an outright villain.
(I suggest googling and reading Mentalguy's excellent essay named "Metroid: Other M-The Elephant in the Room" for more on the Samus Aran/Adam Malkovich abusive relationship theory)
In the end, when you finish the game, you get no feeling of accomplishment. You have achieved nothing, and your actions have barely made a difference. Samus, the player's avatar, is completely degraded and powerless, and there is nothing you can do about it.
In short "Metroid: Other M" is the very antithesis of a Metroidvania game. There is hardly any exploration and discovery, and the main character is depowered, endangered and degraded. There is no sense of empowerment and accomplishment, but one of helplessness and futility.
This doesn't necessarily mean that "Metroid: Other M" is a bad game. On it's own, "Metroid: Other M" can be a harrowing and thought-provoking experience. But it's not a Metroidvania game, it's the very opposite of a Metroidvania game, and that, understandably, infuriated longtime fans of the series which felt like "Other M" not only betrayed Samus' character but also everything that the series stood for up until that point.
Petros Laoudikos other mother Also Had the same control scheme as super paper Mario O which had the controller sideways without the nun Chuck and was a piece of garbage and felt like a hard Box that hurt my fingers really really badd after less than an hour of playing rather than the metro aide prime trilogy which I could play for over 10 hours without feeling badd in any way metred prime trilogy is the best game ever and it needs to be released on of the R system which nintendo is completely stupid to not have AVR system I played VR and VR is awesome VRM used to be expanded upon they went backwards by going to the 3-D S which was not needed though VR should have been the are is the future the we mode is a future the nun Chuck is the future America is the future
Petros Laoudikos
Well said. That's in line with how I feel about the game. I will disagree though and say it IS a bad game. It's certainly not a metroidvania game but the story is objectively bad and the gameplay is objectively boring and simple too. I really can't understand how some people actually like this game.
Please watch Gajin Goombah's video on Other M. He explains a lot of Samus's character is lost in translation and cultural differences.
"You, as a player, seriously have no idea why Samus considers such a petty and vindictive man to be so important to her, why she is willing to throw her life and her dignity away for him, and why she acts so out of character when she is around him."
I mean she explains that she saw him as a father figure within the first 10min. How is that so hard to understand the importance?
Or how she is action taking the mission to relive her past...almost like a game to her.
Not saying the story is perfect but I guess a lot of people either never played the game,watched someone else's review/play-though or a missed a lot of things.
thaneros
3 problems.
1. Her characterization in other m didn't match how we came to see her through the other games.
2. Regardless of how she was presented, it was still a bad story.
3. Regardless of the story, it still had gameplay that was NOT metroid-like and at worst was just outright not fun or interesting.
But here is the thing though, her characterization was never fully realized.....ever until Other M so when people say, "match how we came to see her through the other games" its really someone's interpretation. Like for me the only scenes that bothered me were the Ridley and Varia suit as it didn't make sense.
As far as not fun, each to there own. I like the game because it felt more like classic 2D Metroid mixed with an action game like DMC or GOW.
You know, I've been a Metroid fan for as long as I remember and I'm now a professional journalist reviewing video games. When Metroid Other M came out, it was really well received by the critics of my country. Calling it a flawless experience and one of the best game. But in my review, I pointed out EVERY single thing you mentionned, from the bad acting, to linearity and the stupidity of just taping the D-Pad to dodge everything and shoot when the time is right. And I recieved so many insults for that, from the fans of the serie and also from the people who never played Metroid before, as if I was too old school and don't like change.
I'm happy to see that, so many years after, somebody discovered Metroid Other M whitout really knowing about the game and point out the SAME EXACT things I did at that time. You didn't have to share with hundreds of people and make a collectiv hiveminded opinion about the bad or the good of Other M. I mean, debating with others to have a clear view of something is good, but to be good at criticing you need to be able to do that yourself. I'm glad you did see the game as I did.
I'll just come back to one point. At the beginning of the video, you were saying about how your alternativ you would have been so excited about the trailers and the things announced before the release of the game. Since I feel I would have been your alternativ you, at that time I can say you already knew the game would be bad. The movements of Samus made it obvious it was a D-Pad game in a 3D environnement requiring precize jumps. Sakamoto was proud of that, saying publicly to Team Ninja that if they can't make a 3D Metroid with the same amount of button there was on a NES Controller, they were a failure as game developpers. It was so infuriating. You could already see so many flaws in this game, so when it went out, I already was afraid that this game could kill the franchise. And it was even worse when I played it...
PS : Phantoom is a creature that prey on empty ships. It's actually more justified to see him there than any other monster, haha.
Drink every time Samus says "The Baby". They'll be showing off your carcass at the morgue in no time!
The baby
They say phazon in metroid prime 3 way more
@@isauldron4337 that’s cause it’s literally a plot point across the trilogy that is killing planets through its mutation
@@isauldron4337Phazon actually held narrative relevance.
Well, This was an amazing in depth review, and the best part is there was no just "UGH THIS GAME FUCKING SUCKS!" like other reviews or channels, but instead a full depth review that explains the flaws both from a fan's point of view and also from a gamer's point of view.
That's why I like your reviews and critiques so much, they come across as honest and with time given to check the game.
in the end, it was a case of Lucas huh? Give the director full control of EVERYTHING and then you just have a mess instead of something the franchise was recognized for, you just have a very stiff, artificial product than rather something that the series was known for, and just because someone was part of things, doesn't mean by giving them full control they can deliver a product like the ones before, that's why I feel it's important to always have someone in check with things.
Well, I went a bit off tangent perhaps, but thank you so much for covering the Metroid series, and I'm glad that at the end you became a fan and love the franchise, because with Samus Returns and eventual Prime 4, it's a nice time to become a fan huh?
Amazing series of videos once again!
I think the core problem with this game is that the story and characterization of one of the most badass characters in gaming as a weak woman who needs a big strong man to make decisions and take care of her. That doubles as terrible writing and terribly problematic.
It fails on so many other fronts but that's my number one issue.
I didn't enjoy the gameplay but I can see how someone else would. It's fine. Nobody would claim it's great but it's not a complete mess either. Which is why the story and writing stands out.. it's the only memorable part of the game. And it's terrible.
loliquatsch The expected response from a smelly little weeb like yourself.
@loliquatsch Well okay, rather than presenting your argument like a crapsack, you could explain what you believe is the worst part. You did enter this conversation in a rather condescending way if I do say so myself. If you have a different opinion, explain yours rather than trying to discredit and invalidate his.
Honestly nintendo was already softing her up good when they made her zero suit. I say we totally saw this coming.
But this was the game to explain her old XO Adam, the one she references in Fusion.
And to be honest, it would make sense if she had some sort of PTSD over the super metroid MB fight. She almost died
Other that the whole portrayal of Samus stuff, I think Other M's other major problem is how its plot does a pretty bad job being the plot of a video game in and off itself. It has two major problems, which I will explain in long detail, so: Wall of Text Warning, I guess.
The first problem is that the player's freedom is severely lacking, especially when compared to what you normally expect from a Metroid/Metroidvania game. This freedom can come in form of action (the player has relative freedom to explore and experiment) or in the form of characterization (the player can easily project their own feelings unto the player character).
Other M effectively refuses the player both of these at every turn: Adam is actively hampering the player's ability to explore, and does this by locking doors or putting restrictions on equipment (and, as so many other articles on the game has noticed, arbitrarily so at times), and Samus remains consistently submissive towards him throughout the game, always insisting he is right about everything all the time, even though the player sometimes has very good reason to doubt this (like with his claims of frost-resistant Metroids in Sector Zero). That combination is quite aggravating to say the least, and makes it difficult to for the player to identify with Samus.
The second problem is that Other M is very bad at managing the player's expectations. When playing a game, the player should always have a general idea of what their next goal is and what immediate consequences that will follow from completing it. Consider what the player learns from the second encounter with the fake Madeline Bergman: There are Metroids aboard the ship, and they are located in Sector Zero, a previously unvisited area. The video sums up that kerfuffle pretty well, Adam outright steals what should by all appearances be a logical endgame section right from underneath the player. But at least he gives Samus a new series of goals before doing so: Track down Room MW, save the survivor, and kill Ridley.
The last part actually does make a lot of sense as a goal and it even arises pretty naturally from the plot: The association between Ridley and Samus' trauma has been set up (even if it was in one of the worst manners possible), so it would make sense that the player is to finish that subplot by defeating Ridley and in the process helping Samus to overcome her fear and avenging Anthony. Well, guess again; while Samus is making her way back up, Ridley is killed off-screen by the Metroid Queen, and once again, what would by all means be a natural resolution to a plotline is stolen from the player. So you are left with tracking down Room MW and the survivor. In doing so, Samus discover Metroids outside Sector Zero. Obviously, there is more work to be done.
The following conversation with the real Madeline Bergman supports this: Samus is told that a clone of Mother Brain is at large on the ship and she is in control of the escaped experiments and responsible for this whole mess. This certainly also appears be a natural end-game goal: hunt down MB somewhere on the ship and put a stop to her reign of terror. But once again, that would be both a sensible and non-forced plot development, and we can't very well have any of that in this game. Yeah, the video again sums that bit up very well; MB just shows up immediately after that, and then the player don't even get to kill her themselves. That final segment of gameplay that has been constantly set up ever since the player was first told of Sector Zero just never appears, effectively making the game fizzle out in a prolonged round of bait-and-switch, before it just sort of limbs over the finishing line to all the fanfare of a long, wet fart.
Good explanation. Other M is a very frustrating game overall.
I think you're forgetting the important fact that the last fight which can be genuinely counted as a boss, sans the post credits scene, is built up and far more fitting than Ridley could have ever hoped to be at this point and which MB would have a very hard time surpassing due to the fact its concept is so inherently similar while MB would be significantly lesser in terms of this; additionally, you merely glossed over this fact in your summary which leads me to the conclusion you really weren't paying very close attention to the story before critiquing it.
The fight pejoratively called the final boss of Other M is the clone of the baby metroid. How is that not a fitting connection to Samus's personal demons and trauma that ties into the game's current storyline, especially considering all of the shit the internet likes to throw at Samus's (preexisting, and arguably even downplayed) connection to the baby metroid in this game? The confrontation between Madeline and MB is essentially a mirror of the fight which just occurred between Samus and the Baby clone; Madeline striking down Melissa. It's NOT a confrontation meant for Samus; it isn't quite as fitting considering Melissa isn't *truly* a clone of the original Mother Brain, unlike the Queen Metroid which is a direct and unaltered clone of the baby Metroid, a relationship which, again, is paralleled in the following confrontation. Ridley being drained, while it does rob Samus of a considerable amount of catharsis in her personal storyline, was a necessary evil to set up the storyline of Fusion (where they establish Ridley is a Metroid husk via sprites and behavior of the frozen Ridley) and also serves as an ominous callback to Super Metroid; the baby metroid clone rampaging and draining Ridley calls to mind the baby metroid's rampage through New Tourian where it drained many powerful life forms. If Samus DID fight Ridley, a random Metroid would have to swoop in and drain Ridley regardless, or else the storyline of Metroid Fusion would not make sense without an additional game between Other M and Fusion (read: Other M 2), and this is a plot point a lot of people seem to gloss over or just don't even pick up.
The fact that you missed this and instead decided to focus on two less fitting (albeit, not entirely illogical) potential endgames for the storyline Other M is conveying leads me to conclude you weren't paying particularly close attention when Samus realized the Queen Metroid had to have been a clone of the baby metroid in the scene prior to the confrontation with MB.
Forgot the other plot-line that Samus has no active role in the conclusion of: the Deleter. He's killed off screen and you have to do process of elimination to figure out who it was.
@@JacobNintendoNerd99 except that Samus didn't care about the infant Metroid. First thing she did with it was stick it in a container and deliver it to scientists for testing. MB could very well have been a much better boss, but if she had been the boss, we all know it would just have been a 3D replay of the Super fight. As for Ridley, I'm absolutely sick of him. Including the Prime series, there have been 8 Metroid games. Samus has fought him eight times. She should never be surprised at seeing him, especially this late in the timeline.
@@Alakaizer also who gives a shit about how in Metroid Fusion there's a Ridley Corpse?he always comes back again anyway with no explanation whatsoever, nobody was complaining about it
Me trying to turn Super Metroid into a written story: I'm worried that this could end up ruining Samus as a character.
The voice in my head: Fire that charge beam, just the way I like it...
Me: nevermind, it cannot get worse than that.
That was awesome. Also kudos to your girlfriend for the snarky samus comments CAW
Becoming small and round was a certain maneuver I had done enough that if felt natural.
But doing it knowing that Adam was watching... that certain maneuver became thrilling.
Porkpie Johnny Gaming
I never knew it was this bad....
So is there a full video of those.
Kirrim Kerman those were great and cracked me up.
Porkpie Johnny Gaming That line sounds so skeevy.
You spent $5 on this game? You got ripped off.
Pumyra Thundercat Last I saw a copy someone offered to pay me $5 to take take it from them. I declined as I knew they were just trying to pass the curse to me. Gotta be smarter than the average bear!
@@malikoniousjoe if I had the time, money and a sledgehammer, I'd hunt down every single copy of this game and smash it
@@snekladyrobin would you need money? Or would you be doing them a favor
I spent $20. I feel hurt.
The Jam Man I was a kid that almost ten years ago, that game feel so short also. I even get my way into de hard mode, then I understand this was not a really good metroid. I even enjoy metroid prime trilogy, it cost me time, but I really enjoy it a lot, first when i was really young as a kid, in gamecube, I got the original titles. Cheers!
You know, I am one of those old-school NES/SNES neckbeards who greatly resented Metroid Prime's dive into the third dimension. So I had actually gotten a bit hyped over this game when it was announced. And by 'a bit hyped', I mean we're talking Fallout 4 levels of hyped. We're talking Diablo 3 level hyped. Holy crap, I not only boarded that hype train, I damn well insisted on being the conductor of that train. I had reached maximum evolution Super Sayan Fanboy Primal.
I was a fool. A naive, ignorant, desperate fool, whose dreams were to be crushed in the most cruel manner possible. To say that I was disappointed is about the understatement of the century. Even the Ultima 9 meme doesn't begin to describe it. We could do a whole Anikan Skywalker 'NOOOooo' scene over it, and it still wouldn't be dramatic enough. I tried, god knows I tried. I wanted to believe that this was a good game, to believe that this was the game I had asked for.
And then the dialogue started.
Samus was the one female character in the NES era who was NOT a helpless princess needing to be rescued. As you pointed out a few times, Samus's gender is just kinda... there. It didn't matter. She could've been a guy or a girl for all the reaction her gender had with anyone, and that was good. Granted, part of that was that most of the time she was in her suit and her gender was obscured (it wasn't until I discovered the speed ending scene that I realized she was, in fact, female), and that was awesome. It was, in a real way, the ultimate note in gender equality, because it literally did not f**king matter. She was a woman, but she didn't need to prove herself because of it, didn't have any gender barrier she felt necessary to break on through, didn't overhype it the other direction and make it a mockery... she just was Samus. It was almost like... I dunno... like we'd FINALLY gotten over gender discrimination, after a few centuries of societal development and spacefaring. That undertone was awesome, it was optimistic.
Then this game happened.
I could've forgiven the abysmal controls, the flawed mechanics, and the complete mess it made by trying to conform to the controller. I could've forgiven basically copying a game and rendering it in 3d, in fact that was what I was actually actively hoping for (although I was hoping for either classic Metroid or Super Metroid to be redone with a third dimension). But the whole Fifty Shades of Adam drew the line. I get it, the Waifu hoping that Senpai will notice is a common trope in Japanese culture, but it... it just doesn't f**king work here. Samus is twelve kinds of badass. She's saved the world multiple times. She's defeated literal existential horrors. She even speaks in that emotionless monotone which, okay, came off flat but I actually understood the context of the Japanese culture of the stoic survivor who has just seen too much sh*t and can't really summon emotional responses anymore as a result. But to make Samus an emotional fangirl? No, just... no.
The worst part? My wish for a 2/3d remake of classic Metroid games without doing a Metroid Prime control system will never happen now, because of this flustercluck of a farce. Because of the tremendous backlash from the entirety of the fanbase, from the entire gaming community, they would never greenlight any such project. My hopes and dreams are forever dashed.
Sad that such a well written comment has no likes
You said it. Even if this didn't claim to be a Metroid game, it STILL would've been irredeemable trash. This is the worst game I've ever played that wasn't a broken glitch fest. I have seen worse games, but it takes something on the level of Big Rigs (unfinished and broken) to be worse than this.
"My wish for a 2/3d remake of classic Metroid games without doing a Metroid Prime control system will never happen now, because of this flustercluck of a farce."
Samus Returns : Am i a joke to you?
"Dear Diary..."
@@thomasfowler2140 Well, I think he meant a 3D game in the style of a 2D with fast paced 2D Metroid gameplay. I personally wouldn't mind seeing that as long as it doesn't ever do what this game tried to do again.
Like you said in the review, the Metroid series is one of the only series out there that features a woman protagonist who's gender plays no role in her characterization, and is barely acknowledged in-universe. Not only that, she's a badass bounty hunter. And I'll never get over how this game comes along, and through incredibly sexist writing, completely destroys her characterization.
On top of that, the whole game's narrative feels skeevy and uncomfortable. Having a core story and gameplay beat be focused around the power that Adam has over Samus makes me sick to my stomach, especially seeing how demeaning Samus is treated. It's like, when writing this game, they saw the powerful and badass character Samus was, and decided that she wasn't "womanly" enough. And then proceeded to not only throw multiple sexist tropes onto her but also re-contextualize her whole character around a man.
It's not even like she was never allowed to feel emotion in the past games. Obviously the end of Metroid 2 is incredibly emotional for Samus, but it's still cool as hell. Metroid Other M is just... really bad.
Here's hoping Prime 4 steers Metroid back on the right direction.
Gonna comment here a year later to say that Metroid Dread certainly did more with less for Samus' characterization
I've always found it Weird to see Metroid fans say Samus' characterization as vulnerable and approval-seeking after a traumatic personal loss is sexist [in a long absent father figure no less] and repeatedly give a pass to the fan service outfits used as a reward for the player.
You could even argue it's more sexist to only reference Samus' gender when you want to talk about what a strong female character she is, and ignore it when she's being consistently objectified.
@@KingMomo360 I'd venture a guess that many of the same people who say her portrayal is sexist also find progressive pandering in later games to be obnoxious, because they aren't _really_ focusing on the politics themselves, they're focusing on how _unwelcome_ the politics are in the specific story they're being forced into. The _real_ complaint isn't "Samus is being portrayed as a weak woman because Japanese cultural politics," it's "This _isn't_ Samus. I mean, fuck, she kicked Ridley's ass half a dozen times before this without skipping more than a single beat, and she did it again afterwards in Fusion." While this might get me screeched at by certain people, a story _can_ have politics in it, hell, it can even make them the main focus, but it at least needs to be internally consistent and believable. (Ex.: Crysis 2 and 3 were exceedingly anti-corporate and arguably left-leaning in the way that they handled their conflicts but it worked well in the context of the story.) Other M utterly fails to be this way, even if you count that obscure comic defenders of the game reference as proof that Samus can and does have moments of vulnerability. The problem is that comic is of exceedingly questionable canonicity _and_ it occurs earlier in her career. She outgrows her fears in that very same comic. Why suddenly revert when dealing with Ridley is old hat for her by now? Even if we accept it as canon, she _just_ killed Ridley again, chronologically. For the...what? Fourth time? Lessee...Zero Mission, Prime 1, Prime 3 (Two defeats in a row), and Super Metroid. Yeah, four times. The way she almost always blindly follows Adam's follows orders when it's firmly established that she hates doing so and even parted ways with the Galactic Federation Army over it is no help, either.
Other M: Fifty Shades of Metroid.
Seriously, the relationship between Samus and Adam comes off in this game as severe Stockholm Syndrome.
No kidding. Makes you wonder what exactly Adam did to Samus...I have trouble believing he can really do anything to harm her given she's supposed to be 6'2" genetically altered super athlete human/chozo hybrid...but if you go by the size comparison of Samus and Adam in Other M...he's a full head taller than her...so like 7' tall wearing normal combat gear.
I thought the stockholm syndrom was about...
*THE BABY*
adam: I'm fifty shades of fucked up
She even says she was strangely excited by adam's abuse lmao
@@Gillymonster18 its pretty clear hust being near him she shrinks to 5'1"
You know what I just noticed? Samus is supposed to be like amazonian woman, tall strong...and yet Sakamoto chose to make Adam taller. Lol.
Everybody who complained about Other M noticed, actually.
It's possible that is team ninja or d-rockets fault though. In fact I think D-rockets are the reason the gravity suit is an aura and not a color swap, because they rendered the cutscenes with only the normal suit so they couldn't change it (Because rerendering is too costly and time consuming to do)
Sakamoto was the reason for the purple haze. He didn't feel that the Gravity Suit was Samus.
In reality, Amazon women aren't white and they are short.
Morguls Tower he isn't talking about women from the Amazon..
Out of all the videos I've watched about this game, I think yours is my favorite. I like how you've attempted to deconstruct the rationale behind this game's mechanics and storytelling, and explore why they do and don't work. I like how you explored how the game was made and the left some food-for-thought about this particular approach to game-design. One tends to learn FAR more from mistakes than successes. Flawed games are inherently ripe for examination and learning. The best ones have great potential but stumble in interesting ways. My personal favorite game for study was Sigma Star Saga on the GameBoy Advance.
I remember liking that game. I still have my original complete copy of it. I never finished it though, and I've never been able to make myself go back to it.
Yeah, I think in hindsight it is actually a good thing this game ended up so bad (Though I enjoy it) because if Super Metroid is the rulebook on how to make a good Metroid we now have the rulebook on how not to, and that is actually really important since even with super Metroid, many others could still fail (personally I think prime 3 suffered In a lot of ways that other m could make more apparent, but I still enjoy it too). But because of this game Sakomoto could more easily understand what he needs to do to make a Metroid game, since he wants to change up the style because the series has been so reliant on super Metroid and he wants to freshen up the series and hope to evolve, and Samus Returns is the next step to it's future hopefully, but it wouldn't be like that if it weren't for this game. Like how with Zelda they had to understand the fundamentals boiled down so they could so radically shake up the formula but keep the feel of the series with BotW.
"failed in execution" is probably the best description for other M I've ever heard.
Weird, I don't see any video. Makes sense though, you're talking about a game that doesn't exist, never existed, and never will exist. I'm so glad that after the great Prime trilogy, Nintendo left appropriate distance and waited until the right time to release Samus Returns.
Same
@Chelline R. federation farce was doomed from get go. if it was released in 2009 like when it was supposed to, it may remembered like how people remembered prime pinball which is "oh, that spin off game. i played it few times when i was kid" instead of what we remember it right now.
@Chelline R. *_Looks nervously at Kingdom Hearts 3..._*
This game is so forgettable you might as well be right.
@@BknMoonStudios This.
Parody Samus is unrealistic, too much emotion and effort
Despite her short stature, she was like balm on the eyes at least, the only thing I'd change is make her taller and add some muscle to her, as inefficient as sumersaulting at every jump that is quite physically demanding
samin90 next video when?
Elijah Aitaok uh you don’t need big muscles to sumersault when your suit does it for you... remember how weak Samus was without her suit in zero mission?
@@emarythomp She could still do giant jump and wall jump. Anyway, the cannon samus appearance is Super metroid one to me. She looks so badass, imagine in 3 D. I want her muscular, not barbie like.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 I like the design for Samus in Super Metroid as well. They should have used that design as inspiration for her modern look and made it better.
Man, I have been WAITING for this video anxiously.
I knew you would critique it in a fair way, trying your very best to see anything positive in it, and I really think that you did an amazing job at it.
In the end though, sadly other M is just too bad that even you couldn't really love it.
There's so much you adressed in this video that I am practically speechless at the amount of content you managed to put in this hour long video.
During the full video, I kept thinking of stuff to comment about this, wanting to adress, but in the end, it was too much to adress and I don't want to write you a huge story here in the comments section.
So my conclusion here is, thank you for making this, it had been one hell of a trip with you through the metroid franchise.
It absolutely warmed my heart to hear your story throughout all these videos where you started indifferent and eventually became a real fan.
I will be sure to get back to this video multiple times again in the future.
I will also still watch your videos in the future, you even got me to watch vids on franchises I had no interest in.
PS: That other M maxximum is completely new to me and seems pretty good, I might want to look into that some time.
That gravity suit looks mighty fine in that.
The crazy thing about Other M is that I probably could've made a video twice as long if I'd wanted to. There's a ton of stuff in the plot especially that I just glossed over. But I decided to focus on the part that I enjoy breaking down the most, the gameplay, especially since I'm well aware of how much the plot's been dissected.
It is pretty wild to think back on that first Metroid video, when I was still marking my individual play sessions so I could give myself an out if I couldn't finish a game, haha. I'm glad you've enjoyed the journey, thanks for the kind words!
well spoken friend
These videos got me through a really tough period of my life. They'll always hold a special place in my heart.
Nowhere to go but UP
Somebody may have said this already, but on the subject of Adam shooting Samus - it was supposed to be a fake-out to trick the player, for a brief moment, into thinking Adam was "The Deleter". That's it, really. I don't think Sakamoto even thought out any of the subtext behind how that looked, he just wanted to trick the player for a moment.
Of course, you didn't mention The Deleter even once in your hour-long review. And I don't blame you at all, considering the game itself forgot about The Deleter, too.
Technically, if you look in my notes, you can see me mentioning him. :P But yeah, he ended up having so little importance, I didn't find myself with much to say about him.
BLD it was the guy with the mustache, who they found dead in the room the Deleter tried to kill MB in.
"The Deleter" felt like a translation error the entire time, honestly.
I believe that Samus being shot by Adam makes more sense when you think of the context that he has been lying to Samus this whole time. This stems from the scene where Samus discovers Adam signed off on the whole thing, to which he says was a forgery. But if we assume he is lying to save face (He does still want Samus' respect) then suddenly a lot more of the scenes make sense including how he could shoot her in a way that deactivated her suit. I wrote in more detail about this in the current top comment, the one about that scene.
Honestly, I thought the story was easy to follow and don't understand how so many people didn't figure out who the deleter was. The deleter was the soldier with the thin mustache named james, samus clearly busted him in the scene inside the tower where he was deleting evidence of what the GF was doing in that ship, but used destraction to not be noticed. Also I thought adam shooting samus was obvious after he explained about the unfreezable metroids, he shot her directly in the spine with the freeze gun, any real metroid fan knows that her armor is activated with focus and will which was temporarily disabled with a freeze shot to the spine which connects to the brain and controls bodily functions. His reason was to keep samus from stopping him from making his sacrifice cause he knew she would stop him with little effort due to her power and still try to take on the metroids she couldn't kill, or blow herself up like he did which he felt was unacceptable cause he felt the galaxy needed her.
I have no idea how this bit of story telling was missed by so many, but I totally understood what sakamoto was goin for story wise with this game. While other m was by NO means perfect, I really liked the game regardless of its flaws and truly hope that Nintendo makes another attempt at a 3rd person story driven metroid game in the future, cause I honestly feel that the series needs its universe opened with story and more dynamic gameplay in 3rd person view. IMO this game has been torn to shreds unfairly simply for trying something new.
Coming here after beating Metroid Dread just sheds a light all the more intensely on Other M and how badly it fumbled everything, especially Samus’ characterization. There is no way you can convince me that this Samus and the one from Dread are the same person.
Yeah, they really seem to want to leave this damsel in distress behind.
I treat Other M like it was the Hollywood of the Metroid universe trying to make a movie about Samus without asking her for creative direction.
I could picture her watching her free copy at her place saying stuff like:
"Why didn't they show me destroy Mother Brain?"
"This actress doesn't have nearly the muscle or the height to play me, and what's with that voice?"
"Ok, yeah I was kinda sad when the Last Metroid died, but I wasn't mopey and depressed like that."
"Hold up, Adam did not try to boss me around like that, and there's no way I would wait for his approval to use my abilities like that. They entirely skipped the part where the Mother Brain clone remotely jammed up my suit when I arrived; Adam helped me locate the jamming relays so I could destroy them."
"Um, Adam was not a father figure to me; more like a respected leader. Aren't they going to mention Old Bird? Gray Voice? Or even my real dad Rodney?"
"NO! NO I DID NOT TREMBLE IN FEAR WHEN I SAW RIDLEY! I WAS FURIOUS! THAT WAS ONE OF THE FEW TIMES I'VE EVER LOST MY COOL!"
"Anthony was probably the only thing they got right in this thing; they even got his size correct.
Yeah Dread really did the “Show and rarely tell” method really well.
@@johnleonard9102 every time I think of how cool a Hollywood produced metroid movie is, I remember MOM
@@johnleonard9102 considering it was supposed to be written like a movie I can see it as the Hollywood versions
OtherM is one of the rare instances where if you throw the entire story away, even if you don't put anything in it's place, the game will be better for it.
The story in OtherM is so bad that it's worse than nothing, and that's ridiculous.
It's the metroid equivalent of sonic 06. It:
1) pretty much ruined the series for way longer than a bad game should
2) has an abominable story
3) messed up design decisions.
@@Voidling242 I wouldn’t say 06’a is nearly as bad as Other M, plus Sonic atleast had good games come out after 06.
@@koopabound6481 06 is worse than Other M in a lot of technical ways. But Other M is more insulting by a landslide.
Also, Samus Returns is a good game. And I have confidence that Dread will be just as good if not better.
And yet said story also manages to hurt the actual gameplay!
I've always found it fitting it was called "Other M".... like yep, that's that other metroid. We dont talk about that.
You know, modifying Metroids to be immune to cold is a rather dumb idea on any level. Because if not for that Weakness they are basically invincible otherwise in most cases. So by doing so you simply make it much harder to actually control them for whatever use you planned be it as Military Weapons or a source of energy as was speculated in some earlier metroid games.
Though my biggest annoyance with Other M, though admittedly I have not played it personally merely read the story as well as watched cutscenes. Is not so much that Samus chooses to obey Adam's orders, but just how...submissive she is about it. She doesn't feel like the Samus Aran the other games portray, the tough as nails bounty hunter that doesn't waver and does what she needs to do to get the job done.
I'd rather have had some contrived critter steal all her upgrades than seeing samus be willing to die when she has the equipment necessary to get through an obstacle solely because someone told her not to use anything without asking.
and people could say "But they had MB" yeah, and the Chozo had Mother Brain and we all know what happend
I like how in the lava area Samus is literally cooking alive because she won’t turn on her heat protection because Adam didn’t authorize it. A galactic savior, a bounty hunter is willing to die to follow orders. Makes samus seem more idiotic.
Also love how Adam is seen as a father figure yet he actively limits her abilities which puts her life at even more risk. I mean he even allows an ice beam among his solders but not samus? I was fucking cheering when that piece of shit died. Good riddance.
Samus is so seemingly submissive because it's like she's dealing with a father figure she fell out of favor with, and them meeting up again is awkward. Doesn't excuse the execution, but it's at least not a completely bad idea, though admittedly it does kind of go against the whole appeal of the character.
The whole thing about modifying Metroids, why do so many sci-fi franchises take this route where the monsters are captured or cloned for study? Alien popularized it, and it caused virtually all the conflict in the first three films there. Now Jurassic Park is doing it too. What the heck?
TBH I'm a little disappointed in the lack of references to Alien in TGC's Metroid videos, but oh well. He probably hasn't seen them.
@@emarythomp To be fair there's not much space between safe areas at the time, and the Varia Suit is authorized when Adam realizes Samus will be doing lengthy combat there. Still leaves both characters looking bad, but oh well. Adam is probably meant to be akin to an aloof father figure from a Spielberg movie, like say Henry Jones Sr. or Dr. Alan Grant, but he's so underdeveloped we're left with a lot of awful implications on his relationship with Samus. Oh, and they have a grand total of one scene together, joy. Samus talks him up but we rarely see him do anything aside from sit in a safe command chair and order her around.
In Super Metroid, you actually DON'T need to freeze Metroids and hit them with missiles or super missiles to kill them. The other option is using THREE POWER BOMBS. I only learned this recently, but there WOULD still be a way for Samus to kill unfreezable Metroids, and look at that, Adam can't do it. And if they don't care about collateral damage to the sector anyway, sending Samus in, authorized to power bomb the place to hell would have been FUN.
This was the best critique of Other M I have seen. You did not just blindly bash the game nor overlook it's faults, it was very honest. Great work! The only thing I wished you talked about in regards to the plot was the abandoned subplot of a traitor (A.K.A the deleter) who was killing soldiers. It really confused me the first time I played this, thought I missed something but no. There are a couple theories about who it is, but there is no definitive answer.
Yeah, I had quite a few notes about that, but then it wasn't resolved at all, and I decided the video would be long enough anyway, haha.
He's the dude you find dead in the room where Samus got an expo-dump from MB. I forget his name, but it's confirmed. Although the game doesn't outright resolve or tell you through dialogue, so confusion is warranted
@@jaredcrane3845 James
They should have built the game around an “Adam compliant” or “Adam defiant” mechanic allowing the player to to activate upgrades at will or follow Adam’s rules and have the gameplay/story shift based on it. Not a fix all but I think that along with better conveyance could make a big difference.
I mean this was never going to happen because Sakamoto had a very specific bizarre vision for this game, but that's certainly an interesting idea that would go a long way towards making the story more palatable.
Sakamoto, the genious that designed a 3D action game that you have to play with a D-Pad and fixed camera.
"How much budget went into this?"
Enough to put the game on a dual-layer Wii disc.
Ι *_guarantee_* that 70% of the disc is prerendered cutscene
@@DarkLink1996. Zoomed in on Samus's butt while waxing melodramatic. 🙄
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I think Adam shot Samus because he could still hear her over the radio (even though she couldn't hear him) when she got to that chasm, got SUPER PISSED like the sick control freak he is, and wanted to get back at her for "talking back."
Which would be really weird, since he doesn't explain that. He just sorta owns it...? I don't see Sakamoto doing that.
I have said it in the past, but Adam's death could have allowed for a satisfying sacrifice and a Power Bomb tutorial all at the same time. If he and Samus were fighting together through Sector Zero, only to find these supposedly unfreezable Metroids, here's an idea.
Samus and Adam are trapped, surrounded by these seemingly invincible creatures. He turns to her and says "Samus, I'm authorizing use of Power Bombs." Knowing the implications of that statement could give the player a few moments to build the suspense before Samus kills the Metroids as well as Adam, sort of like Gray Fox and the Stinger scene from MGS1. Samus gets no time to grieve before giving you a satisfying escape sequence as Sector Zero starts to lock down due to damage with lots of Speed Boosts and Shinesparks.
It just feels like when it comes to the narrative of this game, ANYONE could do better than the final product.
Lancun
That's pretty good but sadly I don't think it would fit the parameters set up by the story, because the context in fusion makes it known that Samus didn't kill him, and in other m, sector z locks down when it closes it's doors, so there would be no chance for escape, this is why Adam wouldn't let her come in, because damage doesn't lock the door, it's always locked and it keeps it from being unlocked.
GBDupree You are assuming that the doors would lock down in literally any other narrative but the dumb one they made. A rewrite of any kind changes the rules of the Bottleship to fit the narrative. Just like the change of rules they made to turn an ice beam into a one-shot on Samus
(I actually have a theory that explains the Ice beam thing, but that is off topic)
That is true that they could change it, but honestly it does make more sense as it is, since it would be a more secure way to do it. But either way they could do that and I still think your idea is cool if they had thought of it, it could have been a great moment that would have stuck out in this game. Though I do wonder if they wouldn't do it that way because it could be seen as overly violent for its age rating, or what Nintendo deems proper, and that they don't want to portray Samus as someone who killed someone good (basically it wouldn't look good for a hero to kill another hero) not that they can't, but that they didn't want to basically.
It would be hilarious if they released a sequel to Fusion and m midway through the game, Samus finds this "movie" playing and it turns out that it's a propaganda movie made by the Federation in an attempt to slander her.
27:15 "the gameplay at the core is so SOLID" Was that intentional?
The only reason why it is so confusing that someone who has been there from the beginning in the creation of the Metroid Franchise could go as badly as Sakamoto did with "Other M" is because he did not have the huge involvement that Nintendo has made believe he had.
To begin with, Sakamoto wasn't there from the start, he was a last minute addition to the NES Metroid game development team, and in fact, as his bogus credit stated, he didn't run the game; Satoru Okada did. Sakamoto was brought there to help with pixel art; not game design, not storyboard, not character development, PIXEL ART.
Knowing how weird the credits were presented in the first Metroid game, I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened with the Super Metroid ones, and the one trully directing the game was Makoto Kanoh, and Sakamoto's role as "Director" was for the art or pixel art department, or director assistant.
Welp, that explains quite a bit.
@@Mike14264 Yes it is. And with the launch of Metroid Dread it has come an influx of videos talking about metroid, and sadly alot of youtubers wrongfully credit Sakamoto as the "father" or creator of the Metroid franchise.
@@mesogot do you have sources for that other info about Sakamoto being a last minute appearance?
@@Mike14264 TH-cam seem to not like link to other pages, so the only thing that I could tell you is that look an interview he and Hiroji Kiyotake did during the release of the NES Classic Edition system.
You didn't have any experience with regard to how to polish up a game like that.
Kiyotake: None at all. At the time, we were just thinking about how we could make it an enjoyable game.
Sakamoto: I didn't join development of Metroid until about the last three months.
He had so little faith in the project, that he didn't even want to be credited as part of his development team (look him up, you won't see his name in the end credits of the original NES game, just a pseudonym) and he didn't care for the Metroid franchise to the point that, when he was invited to work on the Game Boy sequel, he refused to do so.
@@mesogot welp, there we go. That does explain a lot. I bet that, after the cult following gathered by the second game, as well as realizing the stuff they wanted and managed to do just on the GameBoy, Sakamoto stuck around to see if they could hit a home run or so. And then Super Metroid happened.
There's a manga that retcons Metroid 1 but was semi-canon or so. The Samus and Adam depicted in that are completely different characters to Other M's portrayal of them. Samus points her arm cannon at Adam in the manga and his response is essentially "Well, if you're going to go do your own thing anyway, here's a tip for you." That Fusion Samus would revere the Adam from the manga makes sense. Her impulsiveness and will to act on her own judgement shows in both Fusion and the manga. Other M completely contradicts both Samus and Adam from the manga. Sure, the manga is only semi-canon given it retcons Metroid 1 but it doesn't contradict the basic characters even if there's a lot of specifics that definitely aren't canon. That manga even features Samus crying and getting emotional but it's properly built up to and doesn't feel like it comes out of nowhere. There's even a panel where you see young Samus's view of Ridley holding both her parents by their heads with a giant wall of fire is in the background like he's some demon from hell. Other M tried this with putting him in the lava room but the imagery doesn't work the HALF as well with Ridley just casually screaming at her.
While I haven't played Other M myself, every analysis of the story makes me compare it against the manga. My conclusion from those comparisons eventually ends with "Other M is totally trying to tell parts of the story the manga already told." The issue? The manga did it better. Manga has Samus getting over the death of her parents. Other M has Samus getting over the death of a Metroid she bonded with. Ridley is supposed to be some big climax to all this but since the death of her parents isn't established in Other M it makes no sense in a vacuum. Manga Adam is a gruff military man but he's ultimately understanding of Samus's mindset, methods, and skill. Other M Adam is a control freak that likes to micromanage his army. Adam doesn't end up sacrificing himself for Samus in the manga but if manga Adam did so for the sake of manga Samus it'd be infinitely more believable and poignant. I just can't buy that Other M Adam, somebody Samus looks up to, having such little faith in Samus's ability to fight Metroids and not die in the process. Whether it's a fault on Adam or on Samus that just doesn't make any sense. Heck, manga Samus has not onyl her real father but another father figure die for her to stop the bad guy and both times I can actually buy it.
Overall, half of Other M strikes me of nostalgia pandering but the other half strikes me of trying to go through the themes and some of the story beats from the semi-canonical manga but without any self-awareness as to what made those moments work in the original.
I think Other M was a desperate effort by Nintendo to finally make Metroid the hit in Japan it has been here in the states? I see a lot of traditional "anime-esque" representations of Samus as a woman, and Americans just don't seem to be all about that. Maybe if they'd kept the gameplay Metroid instead of Ninja Gaiden lite it would have fared better? Actually, no. The gameplay, though defferent and WAY linear I think would have done better if they hadn't decided that "oh, wait! Samus is an attractive woman! That must mean she's not a take-no-prisoners, no bullshit badass heroine, no! She has daddy issues."
loliquatsch nah she has a bird daddy so she good
loliquatsch how exactly does she have daddy issues???
We can compare Other M roughly to Civilization V, a game released at around the same time that gets a lot of flack from fans of previous games in its series (for good reasons IMO, not really a bad game but it doesn't compare to Civ4), but which actually became the best-selling entry in its franchise. The key is that Metroid just does not have the wide appeal that allows it to get away with pissing off fans like this in the same manner as a franchise like Civilization or, say, Star Wars and still rake in the dough.
The only thing I think is particularly sexist about Samus's depiction in this game is that her maternal instincts constantly hinder her - when you compare her to someone like Ellen Ripley in Aliens, Sarah Connor in Terminator 2, or The Bride in Kill Bill, who are all motivated by their maternal instincts to act like badasses (almost to a fault arguably), this makes Samus look particularly bad. Even worse considering the aforementioned three are just normal human beings while Samus is most assuredly not. However, Samus is younger than all three of them so that might go some way towards justifying it.
Adam is the clear elephant in the room, but I'm going to say something shocking: he isn't in the game enough. No really. He and Samus have ONE scene together, which is actually pretty good aside from the latter's monologues and the forced symbolism that permeate the game. Honestly, take those two things out and this game's writing improves pretty drastically. But anyway, Adam is a horribly underdeveloped character for how much he's talked up, and that leaves all sorts of unfortunate implications regarding his relationship with Samus on the table. I would have liked to see more attention placed on this relationship, instead of an awful lot of Take Our Word for It sentiments on the part of our heroine for someone who acts like a Spielbergian father figure at best and an outright Hate Sink at worst.
TBH I don't really think Samus's portrayal in this game is really that badly divorced from how she is normally and it can be rationed out, but it's still really freaking jarring because Samus is an escapist character, so for her to have all these problems out of nowhere just draws ire from the fans, just like Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi more recently. It doesn't necessarily go against Samus's established character, but it does go against her appeal pretty bigtime. However, if this game came out now, maybe Samus's portrayal here would be received better, since I get the feeling much of the backlash has to do with Samus's place as one of the premier heroines of gaming, and we have plenty more now. Plus many of the criticisms of her character here run completely counter to many of the criticisms of more contemporary heroines like Rey from Star Wars - I guess you could say that Other M Samus is the other extreme from a Mary Sue. However, I do think that Samus's character and backstory would have to be addressed at some point, so maybe that's why I don't viciously hate this game. Actually I remember liking it both times I played it, but I really get the feeling I wouldn't if I returned to it.
And the irony is that Other M also alienated what Japanese fans the series had.
@@LinkMarioSamus I'll still disagree with you there, as there were still major things they changed about get character. From small things like her size shrinking or her claiming to not have any other father figure, to major confusions such as a seasoned veteran getting overly emotional about a rival she's defeated numerous times (and over an event long passed).
And the other fact that such a seasoned veteran would put her life in more danger then necessary when she has the tools to fix those problems.
It's like seeing a Batman story where he freaks out over his parent's murder during the 20'th encounter with him. And at this time he decided to fight with one hand behind his back and without a utility belt because Gotham police said anything more was "too dangerous".
I never - never - fail to crack up when it shows the militaristic soldiers standing in a line before cutting to Samus standing there awkwardly
#1 Legitimately if this were the prequel to Metroid 1, it would have been exponentially more solid. Serve it as an introduction. The nostalgia coming from series wide noteworthy enemies would have only been nostalgic because we as fans already knew who they were.
#2 Adams death should have come from either the Metroid Queen or from Ridley. Not the BS we ultimately got from this.
#3 the Other M story problem becomes more increasily apparent when you break it down at all. There are at least two paths they started to take and then completely dropped. One of which includes "The deleter" who was seemingly forgotten a short time later. Its easy to see that this game was a nightmare for the story even during development.
#4 Visuals and gameplay are passable in many regards. Controls and the limitations with controls really killed this game from a gameplay perspective. In game graphics while a different art style were done differently on purpose to set itself apart from the outgoing Prime Trilogy.
#5 If anything what Metroid 2 Samus Returns did was reaffirm some of the things that Other M did correctly. She was much quicker and mobile in the new game, retained some of her physical attacking and the game took visual cues from Other M. What I did not like was the lack of musical compositions that came from the new game and just how undetailed samus really was in the 3ds game. If it were a 2d sprited game comparable to Fusion but with better resolution it would have been incredible. I understand that is not going to happen but I would have at least liked better 3d model resolution.
And yet it's still better written than almost half of what Hollywood puts out. I'd rather watch the compilation movie over Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, the 1998 Godzilla, and the Wild Wild West movie.
@@LinkMarioSamus Hollywood is kind of a lost cause. Only few in the Western movie and TV business still make art - most of them just make products now. Now shut up and watch Marvel flick #437895, and YES, we totally DO need that many, and it totally DOESN'T violently brutalize the pacing of the long-term story arcs, and it definitely just comes from a love for the material, and not from all the money it makes to just make a million of those movies!
Honest to god, knowing little of Metroid when I saw Other M for the first time, I assumed this had to be early in her career, because of, uh, everything. Only much later would I be shocked to learn that this is chronologically late in the series, after Samus has blown up whole planets, eradicated evil races, saved the galaxy, and all that stuff.
"Did I just download missiles?"
That actually made me chuckle I never thought about it like that. But that's because you're right, it's a game.
I had always been under the impression that she was basically downloading driver software.
I mean, it makes about as much sense as random wildlife dropping missiles and power bombs.
"You wouldn't download a car."
Ha ha Samus go vroom vroom
@@autobotstarscream765 Like hell I wouldn't download a car if it was remotely technologically feasible to do so. I totally would.
@@TheWolfgangGrimmer 3D printers that can work aluminum when?
29:30
Jesus, you liked Sonic Adventure so much that you referenced the name of an ice level's music? *In a Metroid video?*
_best game reviewer ever_
Thank you for the comment pin. Did *not* think you would do that when the video was so old.
Let's be real: Sokomoto did NOT know what he was doing even if he says he knew what he wanted. Having an idea doesn't mean anything with poor execusion
Also some metroid fans: samus spared the last metroid to sell it, not out of mercy
What i'm trying to Say: sakamoto tried a risky idea that's it
Your point about how this should have been the first game in the timeline is right up my alley. I’d still hate the story, but at least having Samus be insecure and subordinated and afraid of Ridley could make some kind of sense if she was just a youngster. But this takes place after Metroid Prime? Where I butchered Ridley numerous times and saved entire star systems from utter ruin? What the hell were they thinking? I can’t even suspend my disbelief here... what kind of shyte... sigh.
BS
It's a double standart
prime made screws Up to the timeline but people never mention that
@@isauldron4337 please tell me how it screws with anything
Your girlfriend is the perfect 90ies-action-tv-series-Samus. Imagine Xena in Space :)
Also, Gaijin Goombah would cry tears of joy that some one finally speaks of the japanese stoic voice and what the cultural meaning is.
This Vid is an Magnum Opus and for me it hits the same beats like somecallmejohnnys Sonic 06 review. Perfect Job!
Stefan Siegl Leicht übertrieben, Brudi?
Leicht stark übertrieben?
Chris Purolover Bitte sprechen Sie in vollständigen Sätzen, ich verstehe nicht, was Sie sagen wollen
Stefan Siegl Was gibt es da nicht zu verstehen?
Ich sage, dass du es leicht übertrieben hast, mit deiner dezent hochgelobten Beschreibung eines Videos.
Weißt du, was ein Magnum Opus überhaupt ist?
Chris Purolover Ich schätze guten Journalismus, wenn ich ihn sehe.
Und darf ich fragen, warum Sie mich unter einem englischsprachigen Video auf deutsch ankommentieren? So fragmentiert man Kommunikation.
Stefan Siegl 1. Bitte hör auf, mich zu siezen. Wir sind auf einer Internetplattform, noch dazu einer derart offenen Plattform, wie TH-cam. Formalitäten kann man sich hier sparen.
2. Von gutem Journalismus zu reden, finde ich persönlich leicht übertrieben, da es sich um ein Internetvideo über ein Videospiel handelt. Etwas Nachgooglen ist jetzt keine journalistische Leistung, ganz besonders kein "Magnum Opus", was ursprünglich meine Frage war.
3. Ich rede mit dir auf Deutsch, weil ich gesehen habe, dass du Deutscher bist, es meine Muttersprache ist und die Konversation keiner Ausweitung bedarf.
Ich habe dich etwas gefragt und benötige keine dritte Meinung, sondern bevorzuge es, diese Konversationen zwischen uns zu halten, wenn es schon die Möglichkeit gibt.
Your girlfriend as samus??? 15/10 STARS!!! That attitude!!!! LOL!!!! She needs to be the official VA NOW!!!
*ahem* I've finally gotten around to getting to playing fusion (and nearly finished) and my goodness I've become a metroid fan overnight!!! I've already gotten super metroid to open up on Christmas day and I plan on buying samus return really soon!!! Ive seen nearly all of your metroid vids and I've love your voice, scripting, and overall critical perspective. Keep up the good work!!!
snailgirl6 you should try zero mission next if you haven't already, it's the only way to play the original
And play AM2R
For me, the whole of the game’s problems are embodied in one boss. Nightmare. MoM’s version of Nightmare is spastic, loud, and almost Looney Toons-esq in its movements. MF’s Nightmare is deliberate, stiff, and intimidating in its coldness. MoM’s creature doesn’t deserve the name because so little of the original Nightmare exists in MoM’s creature. And that is the perfect example of the game. This game wasn’t supposed to be a great Metroid game. It was a cash grab. And it failed.
I’m not opposed outright to new directions to take the Metroid franchise. Hell. One game I would love to play is just playing a Federation Soldier trying desperately to survive a situation that would call for Samus’ help. I would liken it to Metal Gear Solid, where the idea is to avoid fights. And any fight you did get into, you are HORRENDOUSLY outgunned. There could also be a section where you try to hide information from Samus (breeding Metroids, X, or cloning Ridley or something) which culminates in you having to run away from her. Imagine that. Fleeing Samus Aran. Every vent. Every ledge. Every straightaway. She can get you. She WILL get you. It would be awesome.
Other M story is one of the much more rare stories where I think it's concept is flawed more then anything else. Most stories that fail, at least those from large companies or publishers, I think they fail due to execution not concept.
But the entire concept of Samus being all heartbroken over her pet and bowing to Adam who dies in a pointless way was never going to go over well.
The B.S.L. station in fusion was an undercover weapons research lab. They used it to experiment on samples that samus recovered or that the federation recovered from Samus' previous mission sites. This would mean that would be the 2nd appearance of Nightmare before samus. Since it's remains were recovered from somewhere and brought there, then taken by the X and revived into a powerful monster. And subsequently making it's appearance in Other M it's original appearance.
Unless Other M ripped off even more than just the general layout and setting of Fusion. The bottle ship being an undercover weapons research lab and do you see where i'm going with this?
No man. It was all just a bad dream she had after she watched Twilight on her way back from Fusion.
I can almost get this, but there's one issue. The Nightmare on the BSL Station was intact and not infected prior to the section being destroyed, meaning it was another Nightmare, not just the remains of one revived by the X
@@ancient7421 I mean they could've easily repaired it.
@@edmanbosch7443 actually, what about Ridley? Wasn’t he left for dead as a husk then revived in fusion?
"Any objections, Lady?" Was supposed to be a sarcastic comment from Adam and is stated as such. He's saying it endearingly but it's also a joke about her being a girl well knowing she's a badass it isn't supposed to be literal as calling her a delicate flower or whatever it's uttered in a mutual confidence and understanding.
If only any of that was actually communicated well in Other M. Once again, bad voice direction and worse writing, as well as direct attention being called to Samus's femininity on other occasions as well tend to paint a much worse picture. This explanation doesn't defend Other M at all, it's just a slightly different way that Sakamoto screwed up than the one we thought. Aka, this doesn't change anything.
Ah, I see! It's kinda like a nickname only he is allowed to call her as, right?
❤️
The problem is its NOT what you said. It was in fusion. In other m he's just being an obsolete sponge
"CAW!"
That made me burst out laughing.
Also, ironically enough, Team Ninja insisted the game be 3D, it was originally intended to have 2D gameplay.
Dude I lost it when you called him Best Jeanist. Go Beyond. Plus Ultra my dude
When?!? I must know!
Sandy handy Bandity it’s at 24:35 👌
I’m playing through Other M for the first time. Just started this week. 1 like = 1 prayer.
Oh, and I’ve never been so entertained by a 1-hour review. Absolutely amazing.
Daniel Evans IKR He's so good at it!
I honestly didn't even notice that was an hour.
While I don't hate the game itself, the final boss I never beat can go fuck herself with an iron rod
Daniel Evans The Seven Hour Chore.
The best thing about the game is Zero Suit Samus
2 things not enough people talk about is Adam's death, it really should've happened before zero mission, maybe even the reason why she left the federation, and the scene when she's hugging the helmet is the most awkward cyt to an alarm it really feels like a parody of metroid instead of an actual escape sequence
Should've retitled it "No Longer in Her Prime"
The authorization part could have been explained so easily. An environmental change on the ship could cause a chain reaction by the usage of the weapons. Badabing. Adam is scanning it, telling you what you can use safely while you clean the infection to use the weapons.
Here's something I don't think I've seen anyone talk about in how this game got made: Other M was very clearly trying to be Alien. The entire series was inspired by Alien and you can see a lot of ideas used throughout (especially in Fusion), but Other M is unique in that it's the first that really tries to use Alien's themes as part of its story. Now I won't go into a detailed analysis as others have already done that a lot, but the themes of maternity are pretty prevalent in Alien if you know where to look (ie the alien bursting out of the dude's chest and the android mentioning something along the lines of him giving birth).
Other M takes these subtle themes and makes them as unsubtle as possible. You have the Bottle Ship, there's "The Baby", "Baby's Cry", Other M is an anagram for Mother, Metroid Other M abbreviates to MOM, the main villain is a version of Mother Brain, said Mother Brain views her creator as a mother figure- It's clear what Other M's primary theme was supposed to be and in both themes and plot it's trying to be Alien super hard.
But where both are stories about being stuck on a spaceship with a monster that's killing everyone, an android traitor, a government conspiracy, and underlying themes of motherhood, Alien manages to do it so much better thanks to both its subtlety and characterization. Ripley is a character with a tough exterior who is also capable of showing vulnerability and caring for others. This lends itself extremely well both to herself as a character and the underlying themes. Samus may as well not even be a character since she just tells you every exact thing that she's feeling and on top of that beats you over the head with the theme so much that it may as well not mean anything. Rather than being something I can excitedly analyze, it makes the whole thing come off as pretentious at best and outright offensive at worst in how Samus is portrayed.
It's clear that Sakamoto really really wanted this game to be Alien and that he had some understanding of common interpretations of Alien- But what he didn't understand was why Alien was so effective at doing what it did. What resulted is a total mess of a story that just doesn't work.
Very interesting, never looked at it like that.
DylanYoshi I Metroid it was inspired by alien in its early days but no longer.
I like how you pointed out the fact that the silted robotic acting was done on purpose to try and give Samus that calm emotionless vibe that Japan sees in strong characters. From what I heard, Sakamoto wrote the story with a Japanese audience in mind because while Metroid is very popular in the west, its never gotten very much attention in Japan itself. Sakamoto's goal, from what I heard, was to break that curse and help Metroid gain popularity in Japan.
I finally came up with a way to redeem Adam's character to the point where his sacrifice would have made a little impact.
First, cut out the moment Samus sees the last GF trooper dead. Second, when Samus is hesitating at the infant Metroid, have it pan in front of her and, for 5-10 frames and the end of the flashback, cut it back to reality to show a GF trooper, helmet on, pointing the freeze gun at her. The scene plays as it was after that until she asks why Adam shot her, at which point he says he didn't, and the screens transitions to where they both look to the now dead eraser's body. Finally, give an actual consequence to the entire scenario. When the ice shot hit her, it "somehow" disabled her Varia suit, activating a fail-safe where the ice and plasma beams are shut offline because the suit can't take it, and she can no longer fight the Metroids, so Adam, seeing her weakened state, sacrifices himself in her place.
Not only would this redeem him, at least a little bit, but it also allows the later Metroids spawned by the Metroid Queen to be frozen, not because they were the only group out of hundreds that aren't immune, but because they never were immune in the first place, Samus just lost the ice beam for a while. THIS would at least salvage Samus' reverence towards Adam. I could personally ignore, though maybe not forgive, the other problems with this game if this were how the scene played out.
Sorry for the wall of text.
Your idea makes it "better" but doesn't remedy the problems caused by the authorization nonsense. Unless you're saying the whole point is for Adam to have an arc where he slowly realizes Samus's independence and capabilities and becomes a better leader. I can see that working, but it would need to be rewritten pretty heavily.
@@jacobmonks3722 True. But as I said, this was to redeem him enough for his death to have a little impact. It wouldn't fix the story, I just wouldn't be so bitter about him stealing my place in sector zero.