After a trip into the first person perspective in the Prime series, the Metroid series is returning to its side-scrolling roots… sort of. Metroid: Other M takes place immediately after the the fall of Mother Brain at the end of Super Metroid. Other M promises to flush out Samus as a character and help explain [...]
As Kotaku reports, this reel included Mega Man 2, Castlevania, Urban Champion, Kid Icarus, Yoshi’s Island, Smash Ping Pong, Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros., Tennis, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, and Mystery of Murasame Castle. They all were shown with 3D effects that gave them a “pop-up book feel,” and when asked whether they were all actually planned for eventual release on the 3DS, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said that yes, yes they were.
He also said not to think of them as full-blown “remakes,” but that they might be “potentially getting more than just ported over.” Other than that, there weren’t any other details on this gaggle of planned old-school rereleases, so there’s no telling when or how they’ll be coming (this is pure conjecture, but perhaps they’ll be released as downloadable games, like the Wii’s Virtual Console?).
Some time ago, I launched a new tradition for myself. Every few months, I go to VG Maps, find an interesting videogame map image, crop it to fit my screen resolution precisely, and set it as my laptop’s desktop wallpaper. It’s a different way to look at pixel art, creating contiguous worlds out of images we normally see one screen at a time, and many’s the time I’ve found myself wishing I could actually play a Metroid or Castlevania game with this perspective.
Turns out Konami’s Koji Igarashi has been thinking along the same lines, too. When he introduced his new game, Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, at yesterday’s E3 press conference, he spoke to this basic interest. Harmony, he said, was borne of a desire to “paint an HD screen with pixels.” To realize this ambition, he’s pulled together 2D graphics from several recent portable Castlevania games, built them into massive maps, and placed them pixel-for-pixel in standard Xbox 360 resolution. Portable Castlevanias have been designed around the DS’s 256×192 screens, so taking them into 720p resolution means that you can pack a whole lot of these screens together.
VG247: Yoshio Sakamoto has said that the reason he and the development team chose Team Ninja to work with on Metroid: Other M was because of the developer’s experience with console titles.
Nintendo has just announced that Metroid: Other M and Sin and Punishment 2 have been delayed. New dates have been issued for those titles as well as WiiWare/DSiWare releases.
A recent Gamestop listing seems to have revealed the release date of the highly anticipated Wii title, Zelda Wii. According to the listing, the game will emerge in the U.S on 1st November 2010. The fact that the dates for titles such as Monster Hunter 3 and Metroid: Other M which are also mentioned in the listing, matched with the calendar dates that Nintendo had unveiled, makes this a very strong case.
Some of the video game industry’s brightest talents are contributing to a unique series of microgames for the upcoming WarioWare: D.I.Y. game for the Nintendo DS family of products and the downloadable WarioWare: D.I.Y. Showcase game for the WiiWare service. Starting March 29, fanboys who own either of the games and have a broadband Internet connection will be able to download microgames created by big name developers, each of whom has been invited to create an original microgame using Nintendo’s newWarioWare: D.I.Y. game. New microgames will be available for download under the “Big Name Games” banner every Monday through July 26, at no additional cost to users with broadband Internet access.
The list of “Big Name Games” participants reads like a roster of gaming all-stars. 5TH Cell (Scribblenauts), WayForward (A Boy and his Blob), and Gaijin Games (BIT.TRIP series) are just some of the names to be featured in the weekly series. To kick things off in grand style, Nintendo will debut new games by Japanese designers Masahiro Sakurai (Super Smash Bros.) and Yoshio Sakamoto (Metroid) on March 29. Fans can also visit the Nintendo Channel on the Wii console to view exclusive videos and behind-the-scenes peeks of some of these remarkable games. The first video, featuring Masahiro Sakurai, is now available on the Nintendo Channel.
We’re including the following screenshots to whet your Wario whistle. Enjoy !
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VGChartz writes: "The game looks really impressive in the cutscenes and pretty slick in-game as well. I didn’t know what to expect walking in, but I came out wanting to play more. I’d like to see some games to start focusing more on story (without sacrificing gameplay, of course) and Metroid: Other M is doing just that. The game is a thrill to play and I cannot wait to pick up my copy on June 27th."
Yoshio Sakamoto, co-creator of Metroid, just finished his lecture at GDC. He spoke about Metroid: Other M, Tomodachi Collection, and Nintendo in general.
