Team Ninja: Nintendo did Metroid's story

By Tom Phillips Published 23 September, 2011

Other M's plot "all" Sakamoto's work.

Metroid: Other M's polarising plot was entirely the work of Nintendo's Yoshio Sakamoto, Team Ninja has stated.

Team Ninja's Yosuke Hayashi, speaking with G4TV, singled out Sakamoto as being entirely responsible for the game's widely-criticised story.

"We definitely worked with them on the project, but that was all him," Hayashi said, adding that forthcoming title Ninja Gaiden 3 would be "different in a lot of ways".

"There are definitely things we learned from Other M by working with Mr. Sakamoto and with Nintendo," Hayashi concluded.

Previous comments from Sakamoto, Nintendo's resident internal Metroid director, suggested the entire project was a collaborative effort.

Hayashi and Sakamoto both received director credits for the project.

Chris Donlan rated Metroid: Other M 8/10, criticising its "heavy-handed exposition, and that inane rambling from Samus".

"The clumsiness of Other M's scene-setting and characterisation eventually erodes a little of the texture of the rest of the Metroid universe," he wrote.

Metroid Other M's story.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 8 months ago

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  • Kami #1 8 months ago

    Umm.. he did it.

  • [STARS]TyranT #2 8 months ago

    Well I really enjoyed the insight in the character of Samus for the first time. I know it didn't wash with most people, but it doesn't hurt for a character to have a weakness of two here and there.

  • vyseofhr #3 8 months ago

    Sorry to go against the whole anti-Nintendo vibe of EG at the moment... but I really enjoyed Other M, cod exposition and all.

  • TonyHarrison #4 8 months ago

    I would like to criticise the story, but much like Samus, I had to ask my 'superiors' permission to do so, and was ultimately denied.

  • MORZTAN #5 8 months ago

    Other M is the worst Nintendo game I have played in a long long time. I think it was totally stripped from atmosphere and the story was so very boring...

  • kassmageant #6 8 months ago

    "There are definitely things we learned from Other M by working with Mr. Sakamoto and with Nintendo," - coming soon, " dead or alive extreme rich internal life and strong characters of female protagonists" - instead of volleyball in bikini's, we'll get deep conversations about paolo coelho by cup of cappucino

    somehow i don't see that happening

  • Kaonazhie #7 8 months ago

    Damage control. Hayashi has already displayed how he has no grasp on Ninja Gaiden's world, nor on Ryu Hayabusa himself.

    We've killed Vigoor, Vazdah and Demon, but there's still Gogohn and two others who probably won't even make an appearance in Ninja Gaiden 3. Hayashi seems intent on ruining Ryu by making him a generic "oh I'm so dark and edgy" hero that would be well at home in any terrible JRPG. The reason myself - and many others - like Ryu, is because he just gets the job done.

    Example? In Ninja Gaiden 2, Zedonius goes on a 2 minute long rant about how he supposedly gave fire to the humans in the first place, giving birth to their civilisation, when he asks Ryu whether he thinks it's foolish to be attacking him, considering that, Ryu replies: "I don't care". From what I've seen of NG3 so far, I expect that Ryu will be whining at the bosses and telling them they are wrong and preaching at them before fighting them anyway.

    I've heard that Other M had similar stupid changes to an established and well-liked character. Samus, Dante, Ryu and in some aspects, Sonic. Why do game developers/publishers seemingly delight in ruining characters? Who is next? Maybe Lucasarts can reboot Jedi Knight franchise with Kyle Katarn now being Kyle Jedikiller, the angsty teenager who has little hair, less personality, and fourteen red lightsabers.

  • Lemming81 #8 8 months ago

    " Why do game developers/publishers seemingly delight in ruining characters? Who is next? Maybe Lucasarts can reboot Jedi Knight franchise with Kyle Katarn now being Kyle Jedikiller, the angsty teenager who has little hair, less personality, and fourteen red lightsabers."


    Didn't play Force Unleashed, then?

  • eviroboy #9 8 months ago

    There was nothing wrong with the story, or the entire game to an extent, I would however have preferred it to be entirely in the Prime style rather than a half and half platformer, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

  • MattyD #10 8 months ago

    THE BABY

  • johnson81 #11 8 months ago

    Most game stories are awful anyway so it didn't bother me anyway. I really enjoyed the game though.

  • Ror1984 #12 8 months ago

    I'm halfway through it at the mo, and really enjoying it. Sure, it's not Prime, but the atmosphere and mystery is still there, the gameplay is great fun, and I really like the slow-paced, over-the-shoulder moments.

    I also agree with [STARS]TyranT about the characterisation - I'm really enjoying getting inside the mind of Samus. The only problem is that the VA sounds like she's on light tranquilisers.

    I picked it up brand-new in Game a few months back for a tenner. Couldn't be happier with that.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 8 months ago

    Other M was ok. I had quite a bit of fun. The game had nowhere near the depth of any of Prime series but the story wasn't that bad. The production of the cutscenes, the voice-overs etc. all felt a bit out of place but it was by no means catastrophic, just not up to the usual Nintendo standards. I really would not blame the story for this though.
    Edited by Der_tolle_Emil at 23/09/11 @ 13:57

  • ProtoformX #14 8 months ago

    That's quite surprising, considering that the Other M storyline seems to borrow heavily from Fusion, especially with the whole "Secret part of lab where Metroids are being bred" bit. It made me think that the writer evidently hadn't seen Fusion. However, the gameplay is absolutely solid. I keep wanting to replay it, but Nintendo currently have my Wii for fixing. :-(

  • [STARS]TyranT #15 8 months ago

    The only problem is that the VA sounds like she's on light tranquilisers.

    Depressingly she's also the voice of Jill Valentine in Resident Evil Revelations.

  • benfresh76 #16 8 months ago

    just picked up other M for 4 quid; quite looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about, although my understanding was that, besides the story shit, the game itself is pretty good...

  • Ror1984 #17 8 months ago

    @[STARS]TyranT - I didn't know that, thanks for the heads-up. I'm looking forward to Revelations, so let's hope she has a few coffees before recording!!

  • Raiko101 #18 8 months ago

    Some games can get away with poor stories if the mechanics are fun, which was definately the case with Other M.

  • Kami #19 8 months ago

    Indeed Raiko, I think what annoys some people is Other M was touted as being some back-story about Samus herself, therefore pitched into the market based upon the story. Which wasn't fantastic. But c'est la vie. Want it all, can't have it all...

  • KDR_11k #20 8 months ago

    Then they shouldn't let Sakamoto near Metroid again. Elaborate stories about the characters are what happens when you overthink a universe that doesn't need thinking about, he grew too attached to his vision of the Metroid universe and threw the fundamentals of the series under the bus to tell his stories. Let someone else take over. Someone who's willing to take the "backstory" of Metroid at face value and doesn't need to add stupid characters or plots to a game that's supposed to be about you vs the environment.

  • smelly #21 8 months ago

    I dont play games for the plot.

    As such - i rather enjoyed it.

  • evnewell #22 8 months ago

    How to make Metroid good again:

    A) It takes place on a hostile planet, which Samus must burrow into in order to get to the evil alien intelligence deep within, no space stations unless it's prologue level.

    B) intense brooding atmosphere complimented by diverse level design and proper metroid music.

    C) Samus gets all of her upgrades through exploration and boss fights... and from Chozo statues.

    D) Don't explain to me why she starts the game with no upgrades, I already know why - simply, that's what makes the game good

    E) have the entire game executed using classical animation in HD (put it on the Wii U).

    I could go on, but I think that's quite enough.
    Edited by evnewell at 23/09/11 @ 18:06

  • MrVengeance #23 8 months ago

    Other M is a classic game, and my Game of 2010. An underrated, astounding video game that if given a chance, rewarded the player with an incredible gameworld, superb combat, amazing boss battles and excellent puzzles.

    I could go on all day about how ace it is :)

  • Phishfood #24 8 months ago

    I didn't mind the story but the voice acting was so bad. It was like the Eng-dub actress was trying to mimick the Jap-dub actress and it came out all wrong. It would have helped if the translation team were allowed to have some free reign over the dialogue and emotional infliection in Samus' voice.