Metroid Fans Are Showing The Worst Of The Nintendo Community Right Now

Despite getting blinded in pain by a botched tooth procedure, I was able to catch all the E3 conferences fairly quickly this year. Nearly all of it was able to grab me, with highs and lows, of course. Bethesda wowed the crowd with Fallout 4, Microsoft generally wrecked shop, EA showed a confident Battlefront, Ubisoft has more stabbing and shooting, Sony destroyed all other conferences and Square eventually had some good games too. Nintendo, quaint as they are, chose the video approach, yet still managed to show off a bunch of new games and other titles to get excited about. Hell, in the year of revivals that is E3 2015, we were even served with a new Metroid game, after so much waiting. I was definitely excited about that. Here’s my full reaction:

New Metroid!!! #NintendoE3

— Daav'Clickbait'Puke (@DaavPuke) June 16, 2015

I mean, it's arguably Metroid and not just some mini-games, but I'm sure fans will take what they can get. #NintendoE3

— Daav'Clickbait'Puke (@DaavPuke) June 16, 2015

Now, here’s the internet’s reaction to Metroid Prime: Federation Force on Nintendo 3DS.

Clearly, I was wrong. Fans would rather salt the Earth than being given something they deem is below them. You can find similar reactions in multiple forum threads, including a NeoGaf thread with some choice words. That’s really sad. More than sad, that level of vitriol makes the Metroid crowd the worst part of the Nintendo community right now. It also makes no logical sense on several levels. As always, a quick jab is best spent on some internet social media, so this is the illustration I came up with:

That’s you, Metroid fan. You’re being a caricature; enabling Nintendo to repurpose the same content over and over, then bashing your head against the wall at the first sight of any change. It’s not a good look. This is exactly what your detractors throw into their rhetoric, when they say Nintendo sells you the same game for ages. The world is mocking you. And you can go ahead and be all bitchy and defensive about it, because it’s not like we’re getting anywhere right now. Apparently, seeing recent articles, addressing this would make me an “antagonistic” part of media. Well, I’ve been there before. Maybe, just maybe, a bunch of different voices are taking this route, because they’re fed up with silently watching you actively destroy things they’re also a part of. Maybe, just maybe, the aggressive tone being bounced back at you is something you need to listen to from your opposing brethren. You know; perspective. For once, maybe, just listen. If I can even convince one of you that this attitude is completely stupid and irrational, I think I’ll have done my job. All the rest of you can call me names, like you always do. It’s a chicken versus egg thing anyway.

So, lest this just be a series of insults, let’s try to at least move past it with some explanation. Let’s address the first inconsistency: “This is not what we asked,” in reference to not getting the specific, exact format you wanted, doesn’t make sense. You already got side-scrolling Metroid games, you already got a first-person trilogy. You can’t get those again, because then you’d complain there’s no innovation. You didn’t even like the last ones, I might add.

For better or worse, Metroid Prime: Federation Force on 3DS innovates in a major way. Granted, it might not have the gravitas of a serious franchise release, but that’s splitting hairs. It’s especially embarrassing since that same Nintendo event revealed The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes in a similar theme, which wasn’t lambasted, because it builds on Four Swords. Tri Force Heroes is not a lone wolf Zelda adventure either, but we’ve already established that such a mechanism can totally be entertaining in its own right. Consider Federation Force the Four Swords of Metroid with bonus soccer, for whenever you really want to throw any seriousness out the window. Again, I’m totally on the same wagon as you that it’s hardly the core Metroid experience, but it shouldn’t be immediately thrown away for trying something different and that also has its reasons.

Credit: VGchartz.

See, the problem is, like I stated before, Metroid isn’t popular. Sorry, fanboys; Metroid Prime made the GameCube relevant, but aside from that, it’s been a long time since anyone’s been peering into Samus’ baby blues. I grew up revering Super Metroid and you did as well or heard it from someone like me, but that word of mouth isn’t expanding as much as it should be. Nintendo’s younger generations, those who are with us from the last ten years, only know Samus as the girl from Smash Bros. Metroid Prime: Federation Force is likely reaching out to them specifically; we’re a secondary market range. With an unserious tone and low entry barrier, this light-hearted game might attract new people, who will transition into the more hardcore stuff later. This is a good thing. We want more people to join our ranks and love Metroid, but it’s not going to happen by bashing their heads in dry cut games they aren’t ready for; not yet. For illustration, I can't let people get into Europa Universalis, without first letting them get into games like Warlock.

Nintendo wants to save Metroid as much as you do. It’s their franchise and they haven’t been able to let you, the hardcore crowd, come to terms with it. You didn’t buy it. They can’t try another main release right now, because you aren’t there to pick it up. It’s a double issue for the company, because given the previous percentage of consoles versus copies sold, translated to current Wii U sales; well, it would be a disaster from a numbers point. Nintendo doesn’t want to ruin itself by selling a few thousand copies of a main brand name.

I like arcade sports. I like Metroid too. I see no loss here.

Is Metroid Prime: Federation Force going to sell as well? I hardly think so, but I also don’t think that’s the point, nor the design specification at hand here. Likely, this is a low cost game with a “family friendly” theme (I hate that colloquial term), placed in the larger user base of the overwhelming 3DS crowd, to get more people on the bandwagon towards the next Metroid project. Nintendo wants to sell you a “serious” Metroid, but they also want to sell, period. Nintendo needs more than just those few, already pretty damn ungrateful, fans. This 3DS multiplayer spinoff will give the company a shot. Just to really solidify how hard up the series is right now, a recent interview revealed that Nintendo isn’t even touching Metroid right now. Any new game would likely be part of whatever the “NX” cycle will be.

Look, you didn’t get specific thing you wanted to get. That happens. Look at Splatoon; you didn’t know you wanted that until it was a thing. Look at amiibo; you didn’t know you wanted that, but you really clearly do, for some inexplicable reason. Nintendo Land sold 3 million copies! Who knew that was a thing you liked? The point is: Stretching ideas into weird, eccentric models is the foundation that makes Nintendo what it is. And truth is the Nintendo crowd loves it. If some of you disagree, then that’s unfortunate, but the reality of the numbers doesn’t lie.

Bottom line: Change isn’t bad. Change is good.

I don't know; looks like a Metroid game to me.

There’s currently a petition going to cancel Metroid Prime: Federation Force. That’s what I’m talking about when saying this is the worst sort of behavior. You embarrass yourself. But sure, go ahead; cancel whatever shot Nintendo is attempting to save Metroid. That, however, will kill the franchise for a much longer time, because even though Nintendo is financially stable enough, it’s doubtful they like throwing money away. You kill this Metroid; you’ll kill future Metroid too, because you’re showing the company that you’re done with the series. So, maybe just work your way to accept a light-hearted take on your property. Hell, maybe you can even pick it up and try it out. You enjoyed other things in the past; you just don’t know you like this one yet. Or don’t; I’ll certainly enjoy playing a new Metroid game. You’ll just have to play; what’s the other recent Metroid release again? Right.