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Gallery | REMics – Rewriting Metroid: Other M page 01 |
Metroid Other M is a game where a very talented game developer tried to handle something outside of his range, and an entire franchise suffered for it.
However, when one summarizes Other M’s story, it sounds like a really potent concept. It’s a character focus on a hero that’s still a big mystery, even to the players who’ve journeyed alongside her. It promised to reveal secrets of her past, put her through a crushing tragedy, see the revival of newly cloned nightmares long thought dead, and set up a future threat with the secretly corrupt Federation. I immediately preordered when I first heard of it – but then immediately cancelled that preorder when I saw the first cutscenes.
Execution is just as important as ideas and intentions, and the end product executed those ideas very poorly. It was inconsistent with the setup and the previous stories, it failed to flesh out its plotlines or structure, it misused pivotal characters, as well as a myriad of other missteps, Other M’s story could have used some rethinking and revisions before release.
So, as a creative exercise, here’s a few thoughts on how I, way after the fact with plenty of hindsight in my favor, would re-think Metroid: Other M.
PART 1: SETTING UP THE STORY
Other M needed to establish a lot at the beginning and spent far too long on ‘Samus is sad.’ Which is important! The baby did mean a lot to her! But it was only one part of what could have been a very complicated and emotional journey for Samus.
Not only was the end of Super Metroid the most tragic moment of Samus’s life, it was also the most definitive. She had just killed Mother Brain and the Space Pirates and Ridley, and the galaxy was at peace. Her parents and Chozo were avenged.
Her very life mission is complete.
But – the baby is dead.
Those two factors could conflict and clash in her mind and break to the point where she feels like her life mission was over – and it ultimately ended in failure. The galaxy would be cheering her as a hero (and not just forget it like in the game), but it wouldn’t matter – The mission to save the Baby Metroid was a failure.
And when she arrives at the Bottle Ship, those feelings are compounded by her first act – and first mistake.
Wounding innocents (Malkovich here) reveals that she is not at the top of her game at all, that her full power is dangerous in this setting, and provides a solid reason why she would yield command to someone else. In the game, they tell us her powers could be dangerous here, but we need to show that.
So, yeah, she wounds Adam accidentally, one last straw telling her she’s just not good enough. In her mind now, if her life of independence and going solo led to failure, then, maybe, working under others is the way to go.
In all Metroid games, the gameplay starts at the surface. We’re at our weakest at the beginning, and by going deeper and facing greater challenges, we grow in knowledge and strength to cross barriers that were previously impassable. Being so narrative-focused, this will also be the formula for Other M’s story and exploration of Samus herself.
We start with Samus at her worst, we get to know her at every point of her life as she reaffirms her life decisions, for better and for worse, and accept them.
And just like typical gameplay, she’ll end up even stronger than when she began. She’d learn a lesson that she, as a silent solo hero, has to learn – to work with others, and, eventually, to lead others. She may have lost the Metroid, but she’ll find new ‘children’ in her new teammates.
This could be the character arc that Other M needed. So now the question is: who are her new teammates?
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