Metroid Prime series not finished?

By Robert Purchese Published 25 September, 2009

Producer considering multiplayer.

Metroid Prime veteran producer Kensuke Tanabe has hinted that the series may live on, despite the story coming to a close in Metroid Prime Corruption.

Talking to Kotaku, Tanabe toyed with ideas for future iterations

"As all I take part in is the Prime series, I am not capable of commenting on the whole Metroid series. But we will keep considering multiplayer for the Prime series," said Tanabe.

"For instance, I think I can come up with some unique ideas using the Morph Ball, which is a specific skill of Samus."

It's tenuous, but then a scenario where Nintendo keeps a successful fire burning isn't hard to imagine. "We all love Mario," as Reggie Fils-Aime told us at E3 this year.

The Metroid Prime Trilogy - released earlier this month - bundled all three games of the series on Wii, lending the two GameCube instalments nifty motion-sensing controls.

Head over to our Metroid Prime Trilogy review for the verdict.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Retroid #1 2 years ago

    Oh sod OFF with multiplayer.

    Metroid does *not* need that, it was always about isolation, not people bunny-hopping around rooms!

  • JohnnyWashnGo #2 2 years ago

    Yup - I fully agree. Multiplayer is not required in Metroid. The games were about fighting against the odds as a single player.

    Would love more Metroid on the Wii as I find the conrol system really quite pleasant to use, but it has to be a solo experience.

  • Zoro #3 2 years ago

    I've always regarded Metroid as a purely singleplayer experience. Just because first person perspective worked well for the series it doesn't mean they should try to tack multiplayer on. And it's not like the producer's ideas will go to waste if he doesn't aplly them to Metroid, he can very well try to build something from scratch.

  • penhalion #4 2 years ago

    @Zoro

    Are you suggesting ORIGINAL IP!

    Go wash your mouth out with soap ;)

  • kinky_mong #5 2 years ago

    They already tried multiplayer twice in MP 2 and Hunters and it wasn't very good at all. Best leave alone.

  • sneetch #6 2 years ago

    Tacking on MP for the sake of ticking a box on some feature list is always a bad idea. I remember the N64 and all the god-awful 4 player MP mode nonsense they wedged into just about every game.

  • Malek86 #7 2 years ago

    What? No, not Prime again. Please make a new 2D Metroid. That's all I ask.

    Unless you want to make a 2D Prime... I guess it would be ok too.

  • speedjack #8 2 years ago

    Yup 2D would be far better... on DS please.

    Or even a nice '2.5D' version just like Shadow Complex on WiiWare ?
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 13:34

  • Eraysor #9 2 years ago

    What's the point of adding multiplayer to Metroid? Nobody's going to want to scan anything when they're being shot at by a bunch of 10 year olds.

  • SirJohnny #10 2 years ago

    I frankly don't like the profile Retro ended up giving to the series, and particularly to Corruption. It's like if, after the excellent Prime, they went on disrespecting more and more the original spirit of the series, to the point of making of Samus a sort of pawn of the Galaxy Army in the third episode. And now, multiplayer! I mean...must they really use the Metroid brand for a fps, which may be good, indeed, but only as a Halo wannabe?
    I hope Other M will do justice to the uniqueness of the series....

  • HermitUK #11 2 years ago

    The Prime 2 MP side of things was entertaining for a bit of messing about, but I'm not sure how you could up it to a full game. Prime Hunters on the DS tried, but it just wasn't a Metroid title in the end. I wouldn't be adverse to seeing a Multiplayer game set in the universe without Samus though. Federation Troopers vs Space Pirates could work as a (fairly generic) setup for a multiplayer game. Halo with Motion Control, if you will.

    If they want to make use of stuff like Morph ball in multiplayer though, there's always the possiblity of going back in time - Actually put some Chozo in the battle armour for once. Presumably they used all this tech fairly regularly, given it's found on any planet they visited.


    Also, @SirJohnny

    Actually, I thought highlighting Samus' relationship with the Galactic Federation was done exceptionally well in Prime. Let's not forget, her trip to SR388 in Metroid 2 is also a mission from the Federation. She even delivers them the hatchling in Super Metroid, and the results of that are made pretty plain in Fusion. It seems to me they're going into more depth about the Federation because any game post Fusion in the timeline is going to show quite a different relationship between them and Samus, and for that to work we need to know a lot more about them. Trailers for Other M suggest there will be Federation involvement. "Any objections, Lady?"

  • fredrikpj #12 2 years ago

    +1 on a new 2d metroid on ds. Multiplayer is not interesting at all...
    Edited by 1 at 25/09/09 @ 14:39

  • YenRug #13 2 years ago

    I see this as something they could do on WiiWare, personally, rather than a fullblown release.

  • Razorus #14 2 years ago

    I'm inclined to slightly disagree with some of you on multiplayer for Metroid.
    Of course, Metroid works as God intended, a single-player quest, with a creepy and often melancholy atmosphere of loneliness and exploration. It's a very unique atmosphere and I wouldn't want a Metroid game to be marred by a poorly designed multiplayer component. MP2 was not a fantastic game, and the multiplayer didn't help. Hunters on DS was a great multiplayer game with a shit campaign. Corruption was a great game but perhaps they opened the Metroid Universe too much; I get it.
    But would a multiplayer-only spin-off be that bad? I love the gameplay and targeting elements of Metroid, the lock-on combat and the items and abilities etc. Hunters was great in established other characters with unique abilities so I reckon a Wii online multiplayer or Arena based game wouldn't go amiss, to be honest.
    Other M looks set to further develop the Universe which is good, as long as the campaign retains the atmosphere of Prime 1 and the older 2D games. I'm just saying, a multiplayer game using the cool bits of the the series and not sucking would be pretty cool.

  • jaguarwong #15 2 years ago

    If you need any evidence of how bad Multi player turns out when forced into a Single player game then go play... sorry... TRY to play MGS online.

  • SG #16 2 years ago

    Multiplayer Metroid wouldn't work unless it was akin to Zelda multiplayer - which personally I wasn't a massive fan of; these ar single player franchises, unless it's fully co-op.

    But just a thought:screw phazon, etc - Metroid Prime doesn't HAVE to be set at the same point in time either, it could be set after Fusion - I mean how many Metroids were there in MP2? Just like the Zelda games, they can have the name without the namesake (as obviously there are no Metroids post Super Metroid, nor do all the Zeldas have Zelda).

  • Stuz359 #17 2 years ago

    I really don't see the point in sequels. I think Nintendo should really almost do a Zelda with Metroid and retell the story in new and interesting ways. Explore a single concept but with a fresh perspective every time.

  • smelly #18 2 years ago

    >Are you suggesting ORIGINAL IP!

    Maybe they should call it Metroid ODST?

  • malloc #19 2 years ago

    Changing tack slightly, but anyone know what Retro have been doing other than copying and pasting the Prime trilogy into one game? Not heard a peep out of them other than this since Corruption.

  • SirJohnny #20 2 years ago

    They're likely hard at work...maybe they are making a (decent, after all these years!) Starfox game.

  • smelly #21 2 years ago

    >other than copying and pasting the Prime trilogy into one game?

    I'd imagine it was more complex than that - remember new control system?

  • SG #22 2 years ago

    I think malloc meant Trilogy...

  • malloc #23 2 years ago

    Yes, probably was a bit more complicated than copying and pasting, but not the entire development house working on it, that's all.

  • robson_wii #24 2 years ago

    Maybe I'm just tired from holiday but the trilogy has a multiplayer mode already in part 2??? Gonna have to check now.. unless this is MMO which will need a completely new game mechanic...I was scanning this this object and all of a sudden I was killed....again...and then again...

  • smelly #25 2 years ago

    Prime 2 had a multiplayer mode.. not online though