Metroid: Other M


 * "MOM" redirects here. For the official term for the month of August, see Month of Metroid.

Metroid: Other M (メトロイド アザーエム) is the eleventh Metroid game, announced by Nintendo at E3 2009 and a collaboration between Team Ninja and Nintendo. An interquel between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, the game focuses on Samus' character more than in previous games with an emphasis on the game's storyline. Other M is played with a sideways Wii Remote similar to the NES Controller, while aiming it at the screen switches the view to a first-person perspective similar to the Prime series.

Plot
The game begins shortly after the end of Super Metroid, with Samus Aran dreaming about her climactic battle against the Mother Brain and the death of the Baby Metroid - the last surviving Metroid from planet SR388. She awakens in a Galactic Federation HQ in her Zero Suit. Samus is directed into another room by the Head Quarantine Officer to enter a training sequence. Satisfied with the results, Samus reports to the Federation counsel that the planet Zebes and Metroid species had been annihilated in the mission. Weeks pass, and while reflecting more on the loss of the Baby, she picks up a distress signal, dubbed Baby's Cry, from a derelict BOTTLE SHIP. Samus is compelled to follow it, believing that it is specifically crying for her.

Not too long after landing in the seemingly deserted BOTTLE SHIP, Samus encounters the Galactic Federation 07th Platoon, and is recognized and greeted by Anthony Higgs, an old friend from her days in the Federation Army. Leading them is Commander Adam Malkovich, her former commanding officer when she served under the Federation Army. Adam asks why she is here. After explaining the circumstances asking the same from Adam, he responds that such information was not for an "outsider". Samus decides to stay on board for the sake of the others. Out of respect, Samus decides not to use her Bombs or Missiles until authorized by Adam. The team discover a dead body of a Lab Worker, and are soon attacked by a collective mass of purple insects, a battle in which Samus and the platoon work together in taking it down.

After destroying it, Adam requests Samus' cooperation in their mission, under the condition that she obey his orders and does not use certain weapons and equipment until he authorizes their use. Samus is then invited on the team, and is briefed on the details of the mission. Due to the critical situation the BOTTLE SHIP is currently in, Adam orders everyone to gather information about what happened, and secure the safety of any survivors. He sends Lyle Smithsonian to Sector 1, Maurice Favreau to Sector 2, Anthony to Sector 3, James Pierce to the Control Bridge, and K.G. Misawa to the Bottle Ship Residential Area to investigate.

Samus is first ordered to reactivate the BOTTLE SHIP's electrical system. Samus manages to do so after destroying a Reo hive that had been preventing the systems from functioning. Samus is then ordered to find the Exam Center in Sector 1. She runs through the creature-infested tropical area, on the way encountering a small, furry creature that does not attack her. Samus finds a lab area amidst the forest where she finds the remains of a researcher's corpse that had been savaged by a smaller creature than the previous body. Later, Samus notices a piercing scream seems to agitate the wildlife to extremely aggressive levels of behaviour. Travelling through a Kihunter nest, the residents are enraged by this scream, forcing Samus to destroy it for her survival. She finds the furry creature from earlier violently devouring the remains of their hive. This creature used her strengths to scavenge its food, much to Samus' disgust.

Samus later reaches the Exam Center, and finds James doing something under the desk of the main computer. The rest of the platoon then arrive, although Lyle is missing. Investigating the Center, Samus discovers the cybernetic body of a Space Pirate Zebesian with the insignia of the Galactic Federation on its chest. The platoon discovers that the purpose of the BOTTLE SHIP was to conduct research on bioweapons, a practice that is strictly prohibited by the Federation. They learn the person in charge of the project is a woman called "Dr. Madeline Bergman". When investigating if she was still anywhere in the building, Samus is ambushed by more cybernetically enhanced Zebesians and ordered by Adam to take them out while the others evacuate the building. After destroying them, she finds the platoon being attacked outside by a large lizard-like creature, who sees Samus watching through the tower window. The creature viciously attacks Samus upon her arrival, pinning her down with the others fending off a swarm of other creatures. After being wounded by Anthony Higgs' Plasma Gun, the creature flees. The group discovers the body of Lyle, whose body has been torn to shreds by someone or something. Samus also discovers a trail of green blood, which leads her to the molted shell of Little Birdie, the creature that used her to get at the Kihunter's honey. She is ordered to follow the lizard creature. Descending down a shaft into Sector 3, Samus finds the area coated with green blood. Ascertaining the creature isn't in the immediate area, she ponders that she will eventually have to find "Madeline Bergman" to get to the bottom of this mystery. As Samus moves into the Pyrosphere, she is attacked by Vorash, a large lava-dwelling fish-like predator with a taste for her flesh. Narrowly escaping, Samus is ambushed by a group of pyro-adapted enemies and Zebesians who are resistant to her current weaponry, so Samus activates her Ice Beam at the bequeath of Adam. After dealing with them and a Asborean, Samus again travels through a super-heated area, which damages her due to the lack of the Varia Suit's activation. Oddly, Adam does not authorise it until a while after, when Samus enters a volcano and is forced to escape the area after it begins filling with magma. While doing so she is attacked by an unseen creature. Now in possession of her Varia Suit, Samus faces her attacker, the Goyagma. After its destruction, Samus travels on to the position of the monster that attacked the platoon at the Exam Center, only to be blocked by a Grapple Point. Opting not to authorise use of the Grapple Beam to progress, Adam orders Samus to the ice-simulating Sector 2, using a high survivor probability as his reason.

While there, she discovers the body of Maurice who has frozen to death with his visor open. Samus spots a a young woman overlooking the scene in a building. The woman flees when she realizes Samus has seen her. Samus gives chase and enters the building, telling the woman that she wants to secure her safety. Mistrusting Samus, however, the woman refuses to cooperate, believing that the Galactic Federation is there to silence the scientists on board the ship, and that Samus works for the Federation. The woman also implies that Maurice was killed by another soldier. The two of them are then attacked by a soldier wearing a Galactic Federation Power Suit driving an industrial construction vehicle, and the woman is separated from Samus. Samus manages to land a charged shot to the vehicle's exposed battery, causing it to go haywire and smash into the cargo boxes around the room. After the vehicle is destroyed, Samus finds its driver missing. It appears they escaped in the confusion.

Adam then notices that the wavelength of the lizard-like creature's roar is causing some creatures aboard the ship to become more aggressive. He orders her to return to Sector 3 and destroy it. Along the way, Samus wonders if the woman she saved could be Madeline Bergman, and that the whole station is turning into a nightmarish replica of Zebes. She concludes that there is a traitor within the 07th Platoon, and nicknames him "the Deleter" until she learns his true identity. Somewhere in the Pyrosphere, a member of the 07th Platoon kicks the body of one of his comrades into pit of magma, and watches as he burns to death.

On the way out of Sector 2 Samus is ambushed by a squadron of powerful Super Zebesians, who trap her in a glass cage. Activating her Wave Beam, Samus takes them out and lowers the barriers. As she uses a heavy materials lift to get out of the area, more Pirates appear. She defeats them, just as a large insect-like creature called a Rhedogian attacks her. She manages to fend it off but it flees before defeat. In the Pyrosphere, Samus discovers Anthony being attacked by the Rhedogian, which is about to drop him into a pool of lava. Samus manages to reach him in time with her newly authorised Grapple Beam, and the two fight the creature. The beast makes an escape into the lava pool before it can be killed.

Anthony explains he was sent to open the Magma-eruption port in the Geothermal Power Plant by Adam, along with the rest of the platoon. However when none of his comrades showed up at the rendezvous point, he was attacked by the creature. Anthony asks how Samus feels about Adam, causing her to reminisce about the time Adam's brother Ian was killed in an incident. Samus tells Anthony that it wasn't anybody's fault that Ian died, but that she made Adam's decision to let him die (rather than letting over 300 people trapped on a ship do so) harder by saying she could save Ian in time.

Parting from Anthony, Samus continues until she stumbles upon the empty husk of the lizard creature, woven onto the wall by a web, with its torso ripped open at the back. Samus enters the dimly lit Geothermal Power Plant, the area where the creature is located and turns to find a laser sight pointing at her head. Fearing it may be the Deleter, she reacts too quickly for her mind, instinctively pointing her weapon at Anthony. Realising her mistake, Samus jumps out of the way as he fires at the creature behind Samus, the same one that they had been hunting earlier, which has now developed wings is breathing fire at them from the shadows. Samus decides to confront it alone. Authorized by Adam to use her Super Missiles, she opens the magma port. To her horror the creature is revealed to be none other than her nemesis Ridley, who she thought was annihilated with the destruction of Zebes. Overcome with shock and unable to respond due to Posttraumatic stress disorder, Adam tries to get through to her when he is suddenly attacked. Noticing Anthony's presence, Ridley then grabs Samus and flies into the air with her, her Power Suit deteriorating due her lack of focus. Ridley then dodges a blast from Anthony's Plasma Gun, dropping Samus. Anthony draws Ridley's attention and challenges him, but is struck by the creature's tail and knocked off the ledge into the lava below whilst Samus lies on the other side of the room in pain. Samus reactivates her suit and attempts to rescue him, but Ridley blocks her path, intentionally preventing her from saving him. Samus' anger empowers her to battle Ridley once again.

After defeating Ridley, he falls to the ground, the beast's unstirring body gives Samus the sign to relax, but Samus is consumed by the thoughts that her weakness was the cause of her friend's death, and that she even accused him of being her enemy before the fight. Suddenly, Ridley awakens, and charges at Samus, narrowly missing her, he crashes into a wall and escapes by weakening the opposite wall and smashing through it.

Leaving the Pyrosphere, Samus realizes she cannot contact Adam, and fears that the Deleter may be or already has targeted him. She arrives at the conclusion that Adam may have known everything that was going on from the very beginning, and would now be aware of the Deleter thanks to Samus' work, making him the biggest threat in the assassin's eyes. She then spots one of her comrades walking away at the main elevator room. Samus secretly pursues him to the Biosphere. Realizing he is being followed, the trooper hinders Samus' pursuit by disabling a bridge and destroying its controls. Overcoming the obstacle by defying Adam in activating her Space Jump and Screw Attack, she pursues the Deleter to the Bioweapon Research Center.

Once there, Samus instead finds the mysterious young woman again, who runs away at the sight of her. After Samus assures her that she is not a member of the Galactic Federation, the woman introduces herself as Madeline Bergman, confirming Samus' suspicions of her identity. She informs Samus about the secret operations there: the Federation was gathering Zebesians and other deadly organisms to serve as bioweapons. The Zebesians were also enhanced through cybernetics to serve as a Special Forces Unit for the Galactic Federation, modeled after the Space Pirates on Zebes. The project became disastrous when a "certain presence" caused the life forms to suddenly become aggressive beyond their control. Samus assumes to herself that this presence must be Ridley. Madeline continues to say that she grew fearful that the situation could result in the full resurrection of the Space Pirates, thus causing her to send the distress signal. Samus finds holes in this argument, as only a malicious force would lead the Zebesians down that path. She doubts that Ridley could maintain complete control over the Zebesians, instead theorizing that they would become no more than feral creatures otherwise. She also ponders that the Federation could have easily destroyed the BOTTLE SHIP in order to erase their mistake, and yet they sent an assassin to silence everyone. They must be trying to protect something on the ship.

Madeline then reveals that there was more; the scientists were propagating Metroids as well, cloned from remains found on Samus' armor after she destroyed Mother Brain and Zebes. Samus states that they must have recreated Ridley in the same way. Madeline confirms this and explains that the scientists did not recognize the small white creature as Ridley, and believed it was harmless, giving it the nickname "Little Birdie" and raising him as a pet, until one day the creature escaped after playing dead and murdering an unfortunate scientist. Madeline reveals that an AI named "MB", modeled after Mother Brain, had been created for the purpose of controlling the Metroids, in response to Samus questioning her about the creation of a Mother clone. MB and the Metroids were stored in Sector Zero, a recreation of the inner sector of the Space Pirate base on Zebes, Tourian. Samus leaves Madeline in the laboratory for Sector Zero, saying the Commanding Officer will help her. Before she can leave Madeline asks if the C.O. is Adam Malkovich. She goes on to say that Adam was the one who is behind the Metroid bioweapon project. With Samus gone, Madeline is then approached by the Deleter, who had been hiding during the conversation. A gun is fired.

Arriving at the entrance of Sector Zero, Samus encounters an Infant Metroid that reminds her of the Baby (having a flashback of its hatching in Metroid II: Return of Samus). Unlike before, she decides she must kill it, but before she can she is suddenly struck from behind and is knocked unconscious. After she passes out, the Metroid decides to take advantage of the situation, but is struck by a freeze gun. Adam carries the unconscious Samus to a wall where he sets her down and waits for her to awaken. Samus recognizes her attacker as Adam, who claims that Metroids in Sector Zero were genetically manipulated to be unfreezable (although they apparently are still vulnerable when they are infants). He also explains why he is credited on the military report. He had written it with the explanation of why it shouldn't happen, and despite the Federation's agreement, a small group within the Federation co-opted it for their own purposes. Adam reveals to Samus that he plans to enter Sector Zero to set off its self-destruct mechanism and cause it to detach from the BOTTLE SHIP (strange that this couldn't be done outside of the capsule somewhere within the station). Before leaving to Sector Zero, he orders Samus to locate a survivor in Room MW toward the rear of the Bioweapon Research Center and to defeat Ridley. Because she barely regained consciousness, she was not strong enough to stop Adam. Despite her pleas for him to stop (along with a final thumbs-down after he asks his signature catchphrase "No objections, right Lady?"), Adam leaves Samus for Sector Zero which detaches with him inside and a loud sound of an explosion can be heard.

Swearing to finish the mission, Samus returns to the research center, and finds the body of James Pierce, as well as the drained remains of Ridley in another room. She later discovers the survivor Adam mentioned, who opens a large, dark room. Samus discovers that the room is filled with Metroid Eggs, and battles a Queen Metroid occupying the area. Samus faces the Queen in a long, difficult battle when the ship's emergency brakes suddenly become active. In a sudden move, Samus resorts to an old tactic and grapples into the Queen's mouth to Power Bomb her stomach.

The survivor absconds from the destroyed chamber. Samus manages to catch up and calm the woman down, who also identifies herself as Madeline Bergman. Samus is confused, but is settled when the woman shows her identification, and the real Madeline explains that the young woman Samus met earlier was actually MB. At first the android displayed amazing skill and learning capability, and developed a consciousness of sorts with the Metroids, but soon began to develop emotions with an nascent sense of self, eventually developing the same personality as Mother Brain. Becoming self-aware, she began to disagree with the scientists and argue against them, to the point where they thought it was necessary to alter her programming. Feeling betrayed by the scientists and calling out to Madeline to help her, who could only stand by and watch, the android fought back and unleashed all of the experiments to run rampant throughout the station, killing all scientists but Madeline and leading to the current state of the BOTTLE SHIP. Samus and Madeline are then confronted by MB herself, pointing a Freeze Gun at them. Despite Samus' protests, Madeline attempts to negotiate with MB, who insists that all humans should be judged. Madeline pleads with MB to recall her human side, promising she'll never fail her again. It seems to work as MB lowers her weapon.

MB is then frozen by a group of Federation Marines, but she quickly thaws off. With her patience at an end, MB summons the BOTTLE SHIP's most dangerous creatures to attack everyone. Madeline stops the battle by using the Freeze Gun on MB. Then, on The Colonel's orders, MB is killed by the Marines. Madeline, devastated and heartbroken at the sight of her "Melissa's" death, is quickly restrained. The Colonel compliments Samus' efforts but orders a Marine to escort her back to her ship, as she is no longer an official part of the operation due to the deaths of all the other members of the 07th Platoon. Much to everyone's surprise, the soldier reveals himself to be Anthony, and due to Adam's orders being authorized by the chairman, he and Samus are allowed to take Madeline with them. He also reveals that he was the one responsible for hitting the emergency brakes on the BOTTLE SHIP while Samus fought the Queen Metroid. The three of them leave for Galactic Federation Headquarters, with Samus questioning whether MB was truly evil all along, or if she was a mere android who had a consciousness awaken in her, only to be driven mad by the greed of humans.

Days after the incident, the Galactic Federation has decided to destroy the BOTTLE SHIP by utilizing its self-destruct mechanism. Before then, Samus flies back to recover an important treasure. She re-explores the BOTTLE SHIP and is confronted by her old foe Phantoon before she is able to work her way back to the location where Adam sat in the command booth and left his helmet. He had witnessed the conversation where Samus told MB that she would go to Sector Zero to destroy the Metroids, quickly grabbed his guns and hurried out to stop her, leaving his helmet behind. Samus clutches the helmet in an emotional moment. It is interrupted when the ship's self-destruct sequence is activated. With Adam's helmet in her possession, Samus quickly escapes the BOTTLE SHIP suitless before it is destroyed.

The events of Metroid Fusion follow almost immediately afterward.

Development
Yoshio Sakamoto has said that the primary focus of the game was to show Samus' personality, since the Prime series left many players with their own idea of who she was, and he wanted her to be consistent for any future titles. The game was also intended to seamlessly blend cutscenes with gameplay. As a result, the story and gameplay were developed simultaneously. Sakamoto said that he sees the game as another 2D Metroid game due to its simple controls and "elegant" gameplay, and calls it an extension of Metroid Fusion. 

He claimed later in an interview that he regretted absolutely nothing about the project and felt that very little could have changed or been done better. It entirely reflected his original vision of the game. He was concerned about how the fans would take the Search View feature's lack of movement, but he didn't want to add the confusion of figuring out where players were after switching between the two views; he anticipated backlash but felt it was still the right way to go.

Many aspects of the original Metroid game came about due to technical limitations—he cited the Ice Beam as an example. They couldn't add any major changes to the code for upgrades, but simply changing enemies' color and collision settings led to one of the most iconic and dynamic features in the series. He sought to recreate these limitations in  Other M' s development by forcing the use of only one Wii Remote, hoping this would lead to inventive workarounds for issues rather than just powering through them like other companies do.

Gameplay/differences from past games
Samus Aran does not collect her Power-ups in this game as in previous games. Rather, Adam Malkovich will authorize her to use certain power-ups, as she has apparently retained all her items from Super Metroid rather than losing them prior to or at the beginning (except for the High Jump Boots and the Spazer Beam, which do not appear in the game at all). Some "new" power-ups, such as the Energy Parts, E-Recovery Tanks and Accel Charges, are collected in a more traditional manner, however. 

Like on the Ceres Space Colony in Super Metroid, Doors no longer need to be shot with a beam to open; they open automatically on approach.

If Samus is hit by an attack that would normally kill her, instead of dying, she will be put in a fatal state where her energy count will constantly flash 1 and 0. If she gets hit once more Samus will die. This does not apply to Hard Mode, however.

The pause menu, in addition to the traditional map and Samus Screen, features a new Characters sub-menu, where Samus can view details on most of the people she has encountered on her mission.

Enemies do not drop health and ammo, rather Samus generates them herself through a new game mechanic called Concentration. All missiles can be regenerated by holding the Wii Remote vertically and holding the A button down. If Samus' health is 24 or less with no energy tanks full, she can replenish one or more energy tanks (based on the number of E-Recovery Tanks she has) by holding the A button down longer after Missiles are regenerated.

There are four upgrades (three being new items) in the game. The upgrade that was previously used in other installments are the Seeker Missiles. The newer items are the Diffusion Beam which appears to be similar to the Diffusion Missile in Metroid Fusion, the E-Recovery Tank, which increases the number of energy tanks filled when continuing after death or using the Concentration ability, and the Accel Charge upgrade, which increases how quickly Samus can perform a charge shot or Super Missile.

Besides the new upgrading system, Samus's character model has also changed as well. The Power Suit is now yellowish in color (like in Super Metroid), with a redder helmet, and Samus's face cannot be seen through the greenish glow emitting from her visor, unless in a cutscene. Samus only seems to activate the greenish glow during cutscenes when attacking or when she is under attack. The Gravity Suit appears, but no longer alters the colour of the suit and instead adds a purplish glow and makes the lights on the suit pink. It has the same use as other games. Damage reduction returns, having been missing in the last Wii Metroid game, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Hard Mode is also different in this game. It can only be obtained by beating Normal Mode with 100% item collection, which requires coming back and defeating the optional boss after the credits. The enemies in Hard Mode are identical to Normal Mode in that their attacks are the same and the damage output has increased, but they take no less damage from Samus' attacks. However, Samus is unable to acquire optional pickups such as Energy Tanks, Missile Tanks and Accel Charge upgrades, which limits her to 99 Energy and 10 Missiles for the duration of the mission. Beating Hard Mode does not unlock any rewards, and the post-credits epilogue cannot be played. The game is not saved after MB's death, so loading a Hard Mode save after seeing the credits will place Samus at the last time she saved before the end of the game. If the player saves as often as possible, that means the save will be right before the Queen Metroid battle.

Finally, Samus has learned the ability to dodge when sensing an incoming attack, called SenseMove. If an attack is about to hit Samus, pressing any direction on the control pad will cause her to dodge in the pressed direction, making her invulnerable for the duration of the dodge. If the fire button is held down during this time, she can also instantly build up a fully charged shot while dodging. SenseMove cannot be used to dodge all attacks; some must still be jumped or otherwise avoided.

Teaser site
Metroid.jp revealed a small teaser site for the game on January 29, 2010, that consisted of an image from the trailer, a new song, and Samus speaking in Japanese, "A dream. It's as if I was watching a playback of a tragedy that really happened." Metroid.com has also since been updated with the English-speaking line, "A dream. I had been reliving the tragic moments of my recent past." A short video titled Teaser Movie, with no actual gameplay, was added to the site on March 2, 2010. A gameplay movie was also added to the site in late March 2010, showing off several features. On June 3, 2010, the entire Japanese site got revamped. On 21 August 2010, the English site was also updated to include the same features as the Japanese site. Links to the main Nintendo website are also present now.

Reception
Early reviews of the game were mostly positive, with some negative/mixed reviews.


 * Metroid: Other M received a score of 8.5 out of 10 from IGN.
 * X-Play gave Metroid: Other M a 2 out of 5, saying that Samus's character was unacceptable and the controls were too clunky.
 * GameInformer Australia gave Metroid: Other M an 8, but GameInformer US gave it a 6.25 out of 10.
 * GameSpot gave Metroid: Other M an 8.5 out of 10.
 * GameTrailers gave Metroid: Other M an 8.6 out of 10.
 * GamesRadar gave Metroid: Other M a 7 out of 10 in its Super Review.
 * Joystiq gave Metroid: Other M 4.5 stars out of 5.
 * The Official Nintendo Magazine gave Metroid: Other M 91%.
 * Nintendo Power gave Metroid: Other M an 8.5 out of 10.

Much of the criticism was aimed at the long unskippable cutscenes (which actually could be skipped in the final version of the game after a few seconds from the beginning of the cinematic by pressing the - button, but only after beating the game at least once), poor script and plot writing, the scene of Samus's reaction to Ridley compared to her attitude in previous games, and some overly melodramatic dialogue. However, some reviews praised these qualities and did not view them as negative.

Particular criticism was directed toward the Ridley scene, which confused many. Her posttraumatic stress disorder kicks in upon seeing Ridley again on the BOTTLE SHIP. This is odd given that if the chronological order of the games is taken into account, this would be the fifth time Ridley has been encountered by Samus after he killed her parents: Metroid: Zero Mission, Metroid Prime, twice in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, and Super Metroid. Her behavior in this scene is not consistent with that of the other games, where she remains calm and in control of her actions, and her Power Suit, and many complained about this. Even the Metroid manga, the first source to hint at Samus's PTSD and the basis for the scene, had Samus overcoming her PTSD and even mocking Ridley nearing the end of the manga. The most likely explanation for the reaction is that she presumed him permanently dead following Super Metroid since his body was on planet Zebes when it exploded, not thinking the Galactic Federation would use the cells found on her suit to create another Ridley on the BOTTLE SHIP.

Others criticized the authorization system. They were annoyed that Adam restricted the use of the non-offensive Varia Feature, Gravity Feature and Grapple Beam upgrades when they were first needed, with the Varia being authorized after Samus has taken a long trek through several superheated rooms, which she would have been protected from by the Varia Feature (however, the amount of energy she loses in the heat is dropped to one unit per second, instead of the traditional five).

Arguably the most critically panned element of the game was its depiction of Samus herself, which was found by most to be too different from what the general perception of her was. Players were shocked to discover the Samus in this game was not as independent or strong as she had been in previous and subsequent games, and experienced much self-doubt and followed Adam's orders too willingly, something no veteran bounty hunter (let alone Samus herself) would ever do. Her voice-actress, Jessica Martin was criticized for her "droning" monologues and bland voice when Samus is narrating.

The game was also accused of sexism, by making Samus' character more appealing to Japanese males through stereotyping her as a more "perfect" woman: timid, weak, attractive and submissive. Camera angles were accused of "male gaze" cinematography, and making Samus' body proportions too large (particularly her hips, which were almost disproportionate). These accusations were additionally backed up by the fact that all of the females in the game wore high heels for no apparent reason, and were perfectly capable of running quite fast in them. Motherhood is a recurring theme in the game, but it has been complained that it shows up too much, most notably in Samus' continuous references to the baby, but also in that the other main female characters show similar motherhood complexes.

Gameplay-wise, the game was criticized for eliminating basic elements of the franchise such as pick-ups and adding new ones like SenseMove, which many players felt took away any kind of challenge by making virtually every attack relatively easy to dodge. In stark contrast, Search View was criticized for making it too easy to get hit due to fixing Samus on the spot.

The game was generally positively received by critics, and most reviews believed that it was a good example of the traditional Metroid formula, although it did not have as much impact as previous groundbreaking titles. Despite the mostly positive critical reviews, currently, Metroid: Other M ranks as one of the lowest-rated Metroid titles, with an average score of 79% (second only to the black-and-white Metroid II: The Return of Samus). It has been featured in many worst/not recommended game of the year articles. As a result of the sales of Other M falling quite short to Nintendo's estimates (they planned to sell millions of copies by the end of 2010), Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime wanted to know from fans what went wrong with Other M.

In a September 2011 interview with G4 TV, regarding of Ninja Gaiden 3, Other M producer Yosuke Hayashi explained that the game's story was entirely written by Yoshio Sakamoto, not Team Ninja:

As of March 2014, Metroid: Other M was one of the three games in the series to not reach 1 million units shipped to retailers worldwide, with Metroid: Zero Mission and Metroid Prime: Pinball being the other two.

Trivia

 * Metroid: Other M is the first canon Metroid game where Samus Aran speaks, as she did not speak in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. She had previously spoken through text during the intro of Super Metroid, at various intervals during Metroid Fusion, and in two instances in Metroid: Zero Mission. Samus had grunts of pain in the Metroid Prime Trilogy, and spoke in all of her taunts and in one of her victory poses as Zero Suit Samus in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * Yoshio Sakamoto claimed in a Super Metroid developer interview that he was the only person to know "where Samus' beauty mark is," which appears in Other M under the left side of her lip. A mole was also marked on concept art for Samus' face in Metroid Prime, but was not added to the model.
 * During the ending scene of the first Other M trailer, two sets of numbers briefly appeared in the upper-left hand corner as "2010" was displayed. The numbers showed "3/25" in what resembled a Missile count. At the time, many fans believed it was the release date (3/25/2010 or March 25, 2010).
 * The title most likely refers to the character of Melissa Bergman, or "MB", implying that Melissa is a "Second Mother Brain." Other M can also be rearranged to form the word, "Mother"; the acronym of the title is "MOM".
 * Other M is the first Metroid game to receive a 16+ PEGI rating.
 * Other M is the first game in the Metroid series to have orchestrated music.
 * Other M is the only game that forces Samus to run through superheated areas before obtaining protection from the Varia Feature. Due to this, superheated areas damage Samus by one energy unit instead of the traditional five.
 * These sections resemble somewhat her runs on Dark Aether in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, as she was forced to receive damage from the atmosphere constantly and had to find safe places to recover energy, and she later gains suits that protect her from the damage.
 * Metroid: Other M is the third game in the Metroid series to not have a Special Ending based on clear time or completion percentage, the first being Metroid Prime Pinball (which didn't have an ending at all) and the second being Metroid Prime Hunters. The Zero Suit is playable during the countdown sequence, which is most likely intended to be the special ending.
 * Strangely, at the beginning of the game, a scene of an unidentified area of space filled with the remains of machinery (possibly a space station) are shown floating, then are struck by meteors. It is unknown why this image was shown, since it has no clear relevance to the storyline. It is possible that it is the remains of the BOTTLE SHIP, but the pieces do not seem to be numerous enough to form the whole BOTTLE SHIP, and it does not seem likely that there could be several meteors hitting the remains at once.
 * It is possible the rubble is from Ceres Space Colony, as several pieces are curved and it is located near an asteroid belt.
 * Metroid: Other M features one boss from each of the previously released 2-D titles: Ridley from Metroid/Metroid: Zero Mission, the Queen Metroid from Metroid II: Return of Samus, Phantoon from Super Metroid, and Nightmare from Metroid Fusion.
 * In Metroid: Other M Samus's visor can change between transluscent and opaque. Samus seems to activate this feature at will; she will keep her visor transparent when examining something or talking to someone, but tint the visor when in battle or if she senses an enemy presences. When she gets to low health, the tint turns orange-yellow. In other games it is partially transparent most of the time.
 * Like in Super Metroid, Other M features two nearly identical versions of Vs. Ridley, both for the fight with Ridley and for the escape sequence. In both games, the escape soundtrack has emergency siren sound effects added.
 * Other M was the third best-selling video game in Japan during its week of release with 45,398 copies sold, ranking it behind Wii Party and Monster Hunter Diary: Poka Poka Airu Village.
 * The game was originally intended to be released on June 27, 2010, but was delayed.
 * Other M is the first game developed by Team Ninja that is unrelated to Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden.
 * The music in the ending cutscene where Samus leaves the BOTTLE SHIP the first time is similar to the theme of Kalisto from the French film The Rain Children. It was composed by Didier Lockwood.

Videos

 * GameTrailers (420p, poor sound)
 * GameVideos
 * IGN (Poor sound)
 * Trailer 2, Nintendo Everything
 * Trailer 2 (Japanese version), GameTrailers
 * Trailer 3
 * Metroid: Other M NEWEST action trailer (720p HD)
 * Metroid: Other M Commercial 1 (Japanese)
 * Metroid: Other M Commercial 2 (Japanese)
 * Metroid: Other M UK Commercial 1
 * Metroid: Other M UK Commercial 2
 * Metroid: Other M US Live Action Commercial
 * "Metroid and Me" Retrospective

Gallery
For concept art, see Metroid: Other M's Gallery.