is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by Tecmo Koei's Team Ninja and Nintendo and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the eighth main Metroid game, taking place between Super Metroid (1994) and Metroid Fusion (2002). The player controls the intergalactic bounty hunter Samus Aran, who investigates a derelict space station with a Galactic Federation platoon, including her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich.
The Metroid director and series creator Yoshio Sakamoto approached Team Ninja to develop Other M, while the animation studio D-Rockets handled the cutscenes. The development team employed a simple control scheme to appeal to modern players, and focused on plot and characterization, with extensive cinematics and voice acting. Other M is played from a third-person perspective using only the Wii Remote, and focuses on exploration and combat. It introduces melee attacks which can only be executed when an enemy's health is reduced.
Metroid: Other M received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised its elaborate cutscenes, graphics and action-oriented gameplay, receiving honors from several publications. However, its story was criticized by critics and fans. Despite being the third-best-selling video game in Japan during its first week of release and the ninth best-selling game in North America during September 2010, sales were disappointing for a flagship Nintendo franchise. No new main Metroid games were released until Metroid Dread in 2021.
Gameplay
Metroid: Other M is an action-adventure game with 3D graphics. Players control Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who investigates a derelict space station, the Bottle Ship. The main environment is the vessel interior, known as the Main Sector, along with the other environments that are contained in "sectors" or gigantic spheres within the ship: the Biosphere, a lush, tropical region; the Cryophere, an arctic environment; and the Pyrosphere, a heated, lava-filled area. The gameplay involves solving puzzles to uncover secrets, platform jumping, and shooting enemies. The game unfolds in a linear manner, and the in-game map highlights the next objective.
Other M moves between two perspectives with differing controls, depending on the orientation of the Wii Remote. Normal gameplay features a third-person perspective, where players hold the Wii Remote horizontally. Samus can jump, fire the arm cannon, and turn into a morph ball, which can roll into narrow passages and drop energy bombs. While gameplay is similar to 2D Metroid games, the environments are three-dimensional and movement is not limited to a two-dimensional plane. When the Wii Remote is pointed towards the screen, the angle switches into a first-person perspective, where players can look around, lock onto targets, and fire missiles, but cannot move in this perspective. There are several instances where players will have to constantly switch between play modes; for example, fighting off a horde of flying enemies in third person, while switching to first person to destroy their spawn points. Additionally, the first-person mode is also used in exploration, such as locating hidden items.
Other M is the first game in the Metroid series to feature melee attacks. With well-timed button presses, players can use special techniques, such as the Sense Move, which allows them to dodge enemy attacks, and the Overblast, where Samus jumps on the enemy and fires a charged shot at point-blank range. Unlike other Metroid games, enemies do not drop items, with the restoration of health and ammo performed via use of either the Navigation Booths or the Concentration mechanic. The Navigation Booths can also be used to save progress. While there are power-ups scattered around the Bottle Ship, a few items are already equipped by Samus, but she agrees to wait to use them until commanding officer Adam Malkovich authorizes her to do so. Players can find items that will augment Samus's abilities, such as Energy and Missile Tanks.
As a special feature, players can unlock "Theater Mode"—a two-hour film presentation—after completing the game. Divided into chapters, this film contains every cutscene, along with clips of gameplay footage recorded by the developers for bridging purposes.
Plot
Metroid: Other M takes place after Super Metroid, narratively connecting it to its sequel Metroid Fusion. After awakening in a Galactic Federation facility, Samus Aran departs for space and picks up a distress signal from a derelict vessel known as the "Bottle Ship". Soon after landing, Samus encounters the Galactic Federation 07th Platoon; among the Platoon are Anthony Higgs, an old friend from her military career, and her commanding officer Adam Malkovich. After Samus saves the platoon from monsters, Adam allows Samus to cooperate in their mission, under the condition that she follow his orders. Samus and the 07th Platoon head to the Exam Center in the Biosphere, and learn that the Bottle Ship was conducting research on bioweapons and the person in charge of the project was Dr. Madeline Bergman. After being attacked by a large lizard-like creature, Samus is ordered to follow the monster to the Pyrosphere, but is quickly directed to the Cryosphere to search for survivors. While there, Samus encounters a young woman, but the two are attacked by a soldier piloting an industrial robot. Samus realizes that there is a traitor among the 07th Platoon and decides to call him the "Deleter" until she learns his true identity.
After returning to the Pyrosphere to follow the reptilian creature, Samus discovers that it is actually a juvenile stage of the dragon-like Ridley. Anthony draws Ridley's attention and challenges him, but is seemingly killed. Samus fights Ridley, who subsequently escapes. Samus leaves the Pyrosphere and realizes she cannot contact Adam. She follows the "Deleter" to the Bioweapon Research Center where she meets the same woman from before, who introduces herself as "Madeline Bergman". Madeline reveals that the scientists were propagating the Metroids in the Bottle Ship, reproduced from the remnants of the infant Metroid found on Samus's power suit after her return from the planet Zebes. Madeline adds that the scientists have created a Mother Brain-based artificial intelligence called "MB" in order to control the Metroids, which are hidden in Sector Zero, a recreation of Tourian. Before leaving, Madeline informs Samus that Adam is the creator of the Metroid operation. Samus heads to Sector Zero, but Adam shoots Samus in the back and stops her from entering, warning her that the Metroids in Sector Zero cannot be frozen. When Samus asks Adam why he is credited as the Metroid military report's creator, he explains that the Galactic Federation headquarters requested him to write the report. In his report he explained why the operation should not be attempted due to potential dangers. Adam states his intention to enter Sector Zero and to destroy it; he explains that, by causing enough damage to the sector, it will detach from the Bottle Ship before self-destructing, thus destroying MB and the Metroids. Before sacrificing himself to destroy Sector Zero, Adam commands Samus to secure a survivor in "Room MW" of the Bioweapon Research Center and to defeat Ridley.
Samus returns to the research center, where she finds the body of one of the 07 Platoon members, and the mummified remains of Ridley. She also finds a survivor, and defeats a Queen Metroid. Samus pursues the survivor, who reveals herself to be the real Madeline. Madeline explains that the woman Samus met earlier was in fact MB, an android created from Mother Brain's genetic material to establish control over the Metroids. Feeling betrayed by the scientists and Madeline, MB telepathically commanded the Space Pirate special forces to attack those on board and had managed to propagate the Metroids in Sector Zero. Samus and Madeline are then confronted by MB herself. A group of Federation troopers rushes into the room, and MB summons the Bottle Ship's most dangerous creatures to attack. Samus clears away these monsters to allow Madeline to shoot at MB with an ice cannon, leaving her defenseless and helpless for the Federation soldiers to finish her off, ending Mother Brain's reign of terror once and for all. The colonel compliments Samus's efforts but orders a soldier to escort Samus back to her ship; the soldier reveals himself as Anthony, the only surviving member of the 07th Platoon. Samus, Madeline and Anthony leave for the Galactic Federation headquarters in Samus's gunship.
Days after the incident, Samus returns to the Bottle Ship to retrieve something that is left there. After battling Phantoon, one of the monsters Samus had fought on Zebes, she arrives at the control room and recovers Adam's platoon helmet. The Bottle Ship's self-destruct protocol is remotely activated, which an armorless Samus escapes with Adam's helmet.
Development
Metroid: Other M was developed by "Project M", a team of over 100 people that includes staff from Nintendo, Tecmo's Team Ninja, and D-Rockets, with production lasting for three years. When the Wii console was released, Nintendo producer and chief Metroid designer Yoshio Sakamoto decided to create a new Metroid game for it, but opted to work with an outside company, as his usual development team did not have experience in producing a 3D game. Sakamoto eventually approached Yosuke Hayashi of Team Ninja to discuss the incorporation of the flashy engine used for Ninja Gaiden (2004) into a new engine to encompass his new vision of a 3D Metroid game. Sakamoto served as producer and scenario designer, and main design was done by three designers from previous 2D Metroid games—Metroid Fusion (2002) and Metroid: Zero Mission (2004). Team Ninja took charge of the programming and 3D modeling, and D-Rockets handled the CG cutscenes. Hayashi described the work as "a great honour" since he was a fan of the series, and stated Team Ninja tried to include as many creatures seen in previous games as possible. Development was unaffected when Tecmo merged with Koei to form Tecmo Koei months before the release of the game.
While Retro Studios tried to create "the ultimate first-person experience" with the Metroid Prime series, resulting in an experience resembling first-person shooters, Sakamoto's approach with gameplay was different, particularly for the story Other M intended to tell. Sakamoto's intent was to create a game with "controls as simple as those of a NES game", so it would appeal to modern players. Team Ninja agreed with that approach, as they felt control schemes with excessive buttons were possibly turning players off the action genre, and tried to use only the Wii Remote, without the Nunchuk. The development team also tried to use the simpler controls to provide flashy action, with varied special attacks that would need few button inputs to be executed. Sakamoto focused on 2D-like gameplay because he considered it more "comfortable" for audiences, particularly during shifts from gameplay to cutscenes, as he thought 2D "[doesn't] have the same distractions when you want to give them story sequences". While the developers felt no need to integrate everything from the Prime series as they were games with different concepts, a few of the elements that "made those games unique" were implemented into Other M, such as the "immersive sight" of the first-person mode. When questioned if Other M would be too similar to Ninja Gaiden, Hayashi responded that while the new game will feature heavy action-based sequences, there will still be the exploration-based sequences characteristic of other Metroid games. Sakamoto said that Other Ms story progression was in the same manner as Metroid Fusion, and that the collaboration between Nintendo and Team Ninja is "unlike anything that's ever been done at Nintendo; it's more than just a collaborative effort — it's one group working toward a common goal".