Metroid: Other M

Metroid: Other M
Full Title	Metroid: Other M
Developer	Team Ninja
Publisher	Nintendo
System	Nintendo Wii, Wii U
Release Date	Wii US August 31, 2010 JP/AU September 2, 2010 EU September 3, 2010 Wii U JP March 17, 2016 PAL March 31, 2016 US December 8, 2016
Genre	Action
Gallery	GH Gallery
Rating	ESRB: T

Metroid: Other M is the second Metroid game developed for the Wii. Unlike the Prime subseries, this game was developed by Team Ninja in conjunction with Nintendo. It features a number of departures from other Metroid games, such as trying to combine 2-D and 3-D gameplay styles as well as providing more of an emphasis on a dramatic storyline.

Story

The game is set shortly after Super Metroid and begins as Samus Aran has finished recovering from her last battle with Mother Brain. She has not returned to space for long when she decided to answer a Baby's Cry distress signal from the mysterious Bottle Ship. There she meets with a Galactic Federation force commanded by her former superior Adam Malkovich and including her other former colleague Anthony Higgs. Adam initially forbids her from interfering with her mission due to retaining some bitterness towards her from the past. However, Samus insists on following and helping anyway, with Adam eventually reluctantly letting Samus help them on his terms.

So Samus begins her exploration of the Bottle Ship and a mysterious new conspiracy.

Gameplay

The game is controlled with the Wii Remote held like a normal controller. It uses a unique control scheme in that Samus moves in three dimensions, but is controlled with the control pad which makes it similar to the 2-D games from the earlier games. Pointing the Wii Remote to the screen will cause the game to switch to first-person perspective, at which point she can scan certain areas and fire missiles.

Samus is equipped with most of her inventory from previous games, but most of them are cut off from Samus at the beginning with the excuse that Samus is waiting to earn permission from Adam to use them. She also has a variety of new moves such as a dodging move and a special move in which she can mount fallen enemies to finish them off.

Continuity Notes

• The game is explicitly set between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, and it references the storylines of both. It even opens with a recreation of the final battle from Super Metroid, and the Metroid hatchling is mentioned throughout the plot, referred to as "the baby".
• Adam Malkovich appears after Metroid Fusion set up his existence. The game depicts his relationship with Samus as well as his death. Ridley and the Nightmare also appear in the game, which sets up their own respective appearances in Fusion.
• The secret Federation projects in the game (particularly the secret Metroid cloning program) act as precursors to the activities aboard the BioLogic Spacestation in Fusion.
• This is also the first time that parts of Samus's backstory are told within the games themselves, as previously her background was only told through supplementary material and hinted at in image form (such as in the bonus ending images for Fusion).
• The final boss of the main storyline is the Queen Metroid, which acts as a callback to the final battle of Metroid II: Return of Samus, and the boss is even finished off in the same manner.

Legacy

The game received mixed reception, and after its release the series ended up on hiatus for several years.

Ports/Remakes

• In 2016, it was released for download through the Wii U's eShop.

Sequels

A spin-off of the series, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, was released for the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. This game featured Galactic Federation soldiers as playable characters instead of Samus.

Metroid Prime 4 has been announced as the next new Metroid game for the Nintendo Switch.