Metroid: Other M bug forces restarts

By Oli Welsh Published 17 September, 2010

Nintendo "aware of the issue".

IGN has discovered a "game-breaking" bug in Metroid: Other M.

The bug leaves players stuck in Sector 3 if a certain door remains locked. It's not known what causes the error.

Contacted by the website, Nintendo customer support confirmed that it was aware of the issue, but that the only solutions were to load an earlier save, if available, or start the game again from the beginning.

Nintendo did not mention if a fix is planned, although IGN notes that it might be possible via a Wii firmware update.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • GamesConnoisseur #1 2 years ago

    How many gamers had this game destroying problem?!

    Quite embarrassing for Nintendo and a proof that online patching is crucial, but do hankers for old days of patches free gaming!

    /recalls Jet Set Willy bugs which means impossible to finish unless adding in poke codes

  • telboy007 #2 2 years ago

    I've yet to start playing this, would be good to know how to avoid the bug!

    Edit: Sigh.
    Edited by telboy007 at 17/09/10 @ 16:41

  • wizlon #3 2 years ago

    How to avoid playing it, I dunno, burn your Wii, commit a serious crime, get married (amirite guys!)

  • Armoured_Gideon #4 2 years ago

    Well, holy sugar. Nintendo can make mistakes after all. It's like that bit in Independence Day when the first missile gets through the shield.

  • electrolite #5 2 years ago

    Wow, this makes me nostalgic for the days when games worked. Don't come to me with your 'Seal of Quality' again Nintendo, you've changed man.

  • Gillespionage #6 2 years ago

    I finished the game the other day and luckily didn't come across this bug.

    I did find a lot of annoying bits though.. all of which were listen in the review mind

  • INTELIGENCIA #7 2 years ago

    I've never came across this and I'm currently on my 3rd playthrough, I'm not sure if this has happened to someone with the PAL version of the game either, this could be a NTSC problem only...
    Also some people say that one way to get past this is to copy your save file to another save slot and load from there.

  • Diogo_Ribeiro #8 2 years ago

    "Wow, this makes me nostalgic for the days when games worked."

    Bugs date back to the 8-bit days except back then, news outlets were constantly hammering the point home with every single bug in every single game.

  • Golgo #9 2 years ago

    ...I haven't started it yet, and this brings from me "a can I be arsed" kind of feeling...

  • VeggieWokker #10 2 years ago

    I have a fix for you: buy Metroid Prime Trilogy, play it, enjoy it, forget about Other Mediocre.

  • makeamazing #11 2 years ago

    Wow, this makes me nostalgic for the days when games worked."

    Ah well you obviously are not going back that far then, because in the spectrum days you might have to send a letter off with a small amount of money to get a new tape, or in Frontier Elites case, a disk (amiga).... if i remember correctly. It certainly is alot easier to get a patch these days, but Nintendo do really need to work on their networking side when they bring out the next Wii... I think they will definitely go down the MS/Sony online connected route (+HD).

    But saying that... even games that have sold millions dont necessarily get patched from these types of issues, FO3 had some serious issues on the PS3... had alot of crashes towards the end of the DLCS... so i guess us users cannot win either way.
    Edited by makeamazing at 17/09/10 @ 19:21

  • Incarta #12 2 years ago

    I never came across this bug either. Other M had its frustrating moments, but overall, I enjoyed it.

  • Kashmir774 #13 2 years ago

    Why dont they just use WiiConnect24 to deliver a patch while you are sleeping?

    That was the whole point of WiiConnect24, right?

    Oh...

  • mrboshingles #14 2 years ago

    Metroid: Other oh shit i'm going to have to start the cunting game all over again
    Edited by mrboshingles at 17/09/10 @ 21:27

  • Phishfood #15 2 years ago

    Seriously IGN a firmware update? Not even a patch?

  • MORZTAN #16 2 years ago

    Stop crapping on about pathes. Patches makes developers lazy.

    This is the first game-breaking slipup from Nintendo since forever. That's how you make games. Not by fucking patches.

  • lostlain #17 2 years ago

    "Stop crapping on about pathes. Patches makes developers lazy. "
    No they don't. Games are vastly more complex than they used to be, they are also worked on by teams of people rather than one or two, which increases the complexity greatly. Maybe it's because I am traditionally a PC gamer that I am fine with patches.
    I doubt any games company happily releases something knowing it's bugged and think 'fuck it we will patch it later' It always goes down badly in the reviews. So I doubt it makes them lazy.
    I might just be saying this because at the moment I'm testing software (not games) and it's pretty tricky to keep on top of every possible variation that a user can go through, especially seeing that even with good version control software it's hard to keep on top of new fixes and changes.

    So no it's not laziness.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #18 2 years ago

    @lostlain: I don't agree. Quality has been going down a lot since the ability to patch games on consoles. Of course there is more to it than just lazy programmers (who probably don't even see their code running in full context to actually debug everything) but also much poorer testing and more aggressive deadlines.

    How often do you read about bugs in 360 games compared to Wii games? It's no coincidence that there are so many more bugs in 360/PS3 games than in Wii games. Both consoles have extremely complex games; How many polygons the engine throws at you really makes not that much of a difference. Still it's not often the case that you read about game breaking bugs in Wii games. Since it is highly unlikely that Wii programmers and development teams are simply so much better than their HD consoles counterparts don't you think that the ability to correct problems later has no influence at all on the overall quality of the game?

    Being able to patch a game has a lot of pros and cons. Personally I think it has more pros than cons and I'm glad that there is a way to patch games on the 360 and the PS3. Still, one huge downside is that patching nowadays is often a necessity. However, I still prefer waiting a few days for a patch than waiting for Nintendo to announce a product recall, even if a recall will only be necessary every few years (the last game I remember with a huge bug was Perfect Dark, but then again it only affected 3 player multiplayer).

  • Sabreman64 #19 2 years ago

    MORZTAN: This is the first game-breaking slipup from Nintendo since forever.

    Not quite. Didn't Zelda: Twiglet Princess have a game-wrecking bug?
    Edited by Sabreman64 at 19/09/10 @ 16:22

  • Lawlost #20 2 years ago

    Expects price crash, remember when this happened on the Xbox for Thief the price dropped like a stone