No Metroid until Q3 at least

By Tom Bramwell Published 4 April, 2007

Reggie wants it to be 'perfect'.

Nintendo has confirmed that Metroid Prime 3: Corruption won't be released in the first half of 2007 because Nintendo and developer Retro Studios want to make sure it's "perfect".

"Where is Metroid? Metroid is not going to ship by June. We've announced all of our games through the end of June," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Newsweek.

"And the fact with Metroid is we want to make sure that that game is perfect. Unfortunately, Metroid Prime 2 didn't live up to our expectations, it didn't live up to Retro's expectations [from a sales standpoint]."

Nintendo has Mario Party 8, Big Brain Academy, Mario Strikers: Charged Football and Pokémon Battle Revolution confirmed for release in Europe in the first half of 2007, with Super Paper Mario down for US release next week, but Metroid Prime - along with Super Mario Galaxy, which has already slipped toward the end of the year - is held up as one of the Wii's potential killer applications, and its absence is certainly being felt.

Not least in light of some disappointing first- and third-party stopgap releases, and a lack of interest in certain titles, like Excite Truck.

But Fils-Aime was adamant that Prime will be worth the wait. "We want the sell-through as well as the critical acclaim for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption to be the best in the series, and that's a lofty bar," he said. "To do that is taking a little bit more time than we had anticipated. But it's coming. And it will be great."

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000. Follow him on Twitter.

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

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Comments (36) Latest comment 5 years ago

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

  • captain_cupcake #1 5 years ago

    You'd better give it an eleven in the review then ;)

  • Blerk #2 5 years ago

    No good games until you buy all the rubbish ones! It's the law!

  • peterfll #3 5 years ago

    Too little too late?

    YOU decide.

  • NegativeZero #4 5 years ago

    So I guess they'll see whether MS announces Halo for September or November, and then choose the other month?

  • afray #5 5 years ago

    Excite Truck excites. Buy it!

  • richardiox #6 5 years ago

    So if all their releases until June have been announced I guess that means we're gonna have a big wait for Paper Mario.

    I mean, it's taking them 7 months to localise Trauma Centre for us.

  • Artemis_Matsas #7 5 years ago

    Yeah thank you very much Nintendo... classic move.

    When will i ever learn???

  • jonsaan #8 5 years ago

    I have this horrible feeling that EU won;t see Paper Mario till 2008.

  • Killerbee #9 5 years ago

    The main thing that worries me is that if Metroid and Mario Galaxy are going to be "late 2007" in the US, that might mean slippage into 2008 for Europe. Which would be bad.

    And anyway, where's our Super Paper Mario release date!?!?!?!?!?!?

  • Cloudane #10 5 years ago

    @afray:

    'Excite' Truck is no longer as exciting as it once was after playing MotorStorm.

    I just KNOW that Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid: Corruption will be released in late December or early 2008 but if the games come out shortly after the US date then we will all be pleased.

    Another problem for Nintendo is Grand Theft Auto VI and Halo 3. If they launch Metroid: Corruption close to the release of the two games then it will most probably fail to grab attention except for the fans.

  • lambtron #11 5 years ago

    The problem with Metroid 2 is that it was too much aimed at the hardcore. It was a brilliant, extremely polished game but you can't exactly imagine Casual Gamer #19809898 sitting down and enjoying a blast on it.

    That's why it didn't sell well guys.

  • andromeda #12 5 years ago

    Retro will deliver.

    Agreed that Prime 2 wasn't up to the oringinals standards. That moment when Phendrana Drifts opened out in front of me - fav moment in gaming history.

    I'll buy a Wii for Prime 3

    Then flog it, of course.


  • Lemming81 #13 5 years ago

    "Another problem for Nintendo is Grand Theft Auto VI and Halo 3. If they launch Metroid: Corruption close to the release of the two games then it will most probably fail to grab attention except for the fans."

    Not really. the majority of the planet only buy one console. So it doesn't matter what comes out on Xbox360/PS3 if you've already bought a Wii.

  • Kazzahdrane #14 5 years ago

    "Not really. the majority of the planet only buy one console. So it doesn't matter what comes out on Xbox360/PS3 if you've already bought a Wii."

    In my experience (I work in a games shop) this isn't proving true this generation. A LOT of people who already have a now-current-gen console either have a Wii or are looking to get their hands on one.

    I do worry that Nintendo have missed the boat though, the Wii was riding the crest of a very big wave until the end of February when people started asking where all the games were. Making Europe wait 9 months for Trauma Centre is particularly insulting.

  • The-Bodybuilder #15 5 years ago

    So late 07 early 08 for the Wiis two biggest apps?
    And what other killer aps are there even after those?

  • The-Bodybuilder #16 5 years ago

    Can EG question someone at ninty to ask them why they keep screwing over EU? MS understood how to treat the EU, and even sony finally understands it too (atleast that's what they say. Can't see any reason not to believe them).

    But why you ninty?

  • dcangel #17 5 years ago

    J*sus f*ck, not again. I'm hardcore OGN all the way, but I'm really starting to get peeved with the lack of new quality releases that aren't movie/TV tie-ins. Good feeling and a decent pack-in will only sell consoles for so long.

  • space_ace #18 5 years ago

    vapourware :p

  • CitizenGeek #19 5 years ago

    Does anyone else get annoyed just by seeing Reggies's name?

  • CallousB #20 5 years ago

    "So late 07 early 08 for the Wiis two biggest apps?
    And what other killer aps are there even after those?"

    In terms of 1st party announced games that will likely be big sellers -

    Super Smash Bros, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic games ...oh and probably Wii Fitness and Wii Music (both down for this year in Japan at least). Animal Crossing as well but I suspect that will definately be 2008.

    If they are smart then we should expect "Nintendogs & Cats" for the Wii in 2008 along with Mario Kart Online.

  • Moz #21 5 years ago

    They're lucky the Wii's cheap. I'd be trading in right now if it had cost me Ł300. The lack of games is frankly shocking, they knew they couldn't rely on thirdparty, so why was more 1st party stuff ready for launch?

    Or are we paying for it's success, are prime and galaxy really already finished and they're just holding on to them until sales start to drop off.

    /EDIT maybe we should hold Ninty to ransom and refuse to buy any more Wii games until they release at least one of Prime or Galaxy. Just seems to much like they are trying to increase sales of games like Mario Party 8 by not giving us any other choice.
    Edited by Moz at 04/04/07 @ 10:54

  • MoGamer2006 #22 5 years ago

    @Cloudane

    Interesting - I think Excite Truck pisses on Motorstorm in terms of speed and fun. Not as good looking of course, and I haven't played MS online, but I found MS distinctly underwhelming in terms of its gameplay - at least in ET you don't have to play tracks over and over just to work out where to go next!

  • spongebob #23 5 years ago

    Well, it's going to be good at least. Better not to rush these key titles.

  • Golgo #24 5 years ago

    Given the cash Nintendo have been creaming ever since the launch of the DS, it wouldn't exactly kill them to expand and speed-up their development just a tad. Hell, maybe even set up a couple of new studios to develop new IP?! I understand some fairly talented chaps were recently cut adrift from Capcom for a while - Nintendo should have given them a home.

  • mostly_harmless #25 5 years ago

    "So if all their releases until June have been announced I guess that means we're gonna have a big wait for Paper Mario. "

    Not neccessarily (at least, I hope not). Reggie said 'we've announced', which could have meant 'NOA has announced'. People sometimes forget that Reggie aint the boss of NOE.

    Though saying that, I wish someone as enthusiatic and talkative as him was. Then maybe we'd remember they existed more (and they might remember that we exist...)

  • ProfessorLesser #26 5 years ago

    "Suits me fine. If it takes 2 years to make it perfect, I'll wait. :)"

    Perfect as in 'Twilight Princess' perfect?

  • tomkuryakin #27 5 years ago

    Damn you, Reggie!

    Even if I could find a shop that had a Wii in stock, I wouldn't buy one because there aren't any games for it. Rayman and Wii Sports look fun but that's not enough to get me to shell out and I've finished Twilight Princess on the GC.

    Hear this, Reggie: I won't be buying a Wii until MP3 is released.

  • ST.. #28 5 years ago

    To release MP3 and Super Mario Galaxy within such a short space of each other would be silly......

  • parhelic #29 5 years ago

    Is the lack of games on a Nintendo machine truly surprising? I'm shocked that people are shocked. It's been this way ever since the Super Nintendo. They don't learn and its my belief that the Wii will prove to be one mistake too many.

  • CallousB #30 5 years ago

    "To release MP3 and Super Mario Galaxy within such a short space of each other would be silly...... "

    Not really. Both games cater to different audiences.

    I'd be more worried about Super Mario Glaxy, Super Smash Bros and Mario & Sonic at the Olympics being released too close together.

    Metroid Prime 3 will flop in sales anyway. It wasn't its quality that gave MP2 reduced sales..it was the fact they released it against Halo 2 and it got lost in the hype...a problem they look certain to repeat this year.

  • Skeletor #31 5 years ago

    @CallousB
    Haha, you serious?! Nah, man. See the thing is Metroid 3 looks like it's gonna be the ONLY console FPS with controls that will match or even exceed the mouse+keyboard combination of the PC ones. This and the fact that you won't need an HDTV to enjoy it in its full glory might turn it into a very competent adversary to Halo 3 which in turn will have the better online experience.

    I REALLY hope that they make it perfect!

  • MattyD #32 5 years ago

    Metroid 2 not up to expectations!? Dude, they launched it at more-or-less the same time as Halo 2 and San Andreas. That can't have been good for sales. I'm sure it would have done better had they chosen to release it some other time.

  • mostly_harmless #33 5 years ago

    Seems I was wrong!

  • Sid-Nice #34 5 years ago

    Europe has had Heatseaker, Wii Play, Kororinpa and Super Mario Strikers Charged before the US; with Sonic, SSX Blur, Tiger Woods and Excite Truck following only days after the US launch. Nintendo have improved slightly; sadly the problem with games like Super Paper Mario is that it is a text based RPG and the text has to be converted to every European language.

    I can understand that Nintendo want to keep their big hitters for the build up to Christmas; so I suggest that early Wii adopters should stay patient and play on their super duper Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles or play some unfinished Cube titles.

  • Skeletor #35 5 years ago

    "Nintendo have improved slightly; sadly the problem with games like Super Paper Mario is that it is a text based RPG and the text has to be converted to every European language."

    Those excuses are bullshit, especially with a title like SPM which features extremely simple dialogue that can be translated in a couple of days by a small team of skilled translators. Though a game like Okami is much more difficult to translate because of all the allusions to Japanese mythology the delay shouldn't be more than one or two months if its really because of the translation. The translation teams work simultanously so the excuse that EU has so many languages is mostly ridiculous imo.

  • dllord #36 5 years ago

    I've sold my Wii so i dont give a shit