Metroid: Other M

Metroid: Other M is a new Metroid game announced by Nintendo at E3 2009 to be developed by Team Ninja and Nintendo. Taking place between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, Other M is said to feature a similar storytelling style to Fusion while retaining the "traditional Metroid feel". It will not make use of the Wii MotionPlus or Wii Balance Board. The designers are putting an emphasis on adventure, and aim to have a "seamless and natural" interaction between gameplay and cinematics. The game will be played with a sideways Wii Remote, while aiming it at the screen switches the view to a first-person perspective similar to the Prime series.

Plot
According to Yoshio Sakamoto and Yusuke Hayashi, the game takes place between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. The blond-haired woman at the end of the trailer is not "a second Samus" of any kind, but another "very, very important character". The Living body arms development lab and the Bottle Ship are the only new named locations, thus far. Cutscene segments show a Galactic Federation base as well as Tourian. 

The game begins with a cinematic detailing the battle with Mother Brain during Super Metroid. After escaping the exploding Planet Zebes, Samus awakens from the dream on a Galactic Federation ship. After leaving, she receives a distress call from a dormant Bottle Ship, which is floating a short distance away from a Federation vessel.

Upon stepping into the ship, Samus encounters a group of Galactic Federation soldiers, led by Anthony Higgs, who fought alongside her before she defected from the Federation. She also finds Commander Adam Malkovich, who used to be her commanding officer when she was in the Federation Army. Something happened that caused Samus to leave the army, causing Adam to be standoffish and guarded, calling Samus an "outsider" and ordering his team not to reveal any details of their mission to her.

However, after defeating a [[ULF 27 large purple tentacled creature], Samus is welcomed onto the team and briefed on the details of their mission. They all split up to explore different parts of the ship, in hopes of the discovering the threat that they are up against...

Trailer
The trailer demonstrates combat and movement mechanics in third-person, with first person segments for ranged attacks. It featured Ridley, Mother Brain, and Adam Malkovich as well as Samus Aran. Recurring creatures include a swarm of Reos, Ki-Hunters, Geemers, and a type of Space Pirate that has only been seen in Metroid Fusion and the 2002 Metroid manga. The trailer did appear on the Nintendo Channel, along with several other previews and trailers for other games.

Samus is seen wearing both the Power Suit and Varia Suit during the trailer, most resembling their appearances in Super Metroid. Suit upgrades seen include the Power Beam, Charge Beam, Missiles, and Speed Booster. Outside of the trailer, the Morph Ball and Ice Beam have also been confirmed for the game. This adventure sees Samus making heavy use of dynamic melee attacks, along with her usual abilities.



Date Speculation
During one of the ending scenes of the Metroid: Other M trailer, two sets of numbers briefly appear in the upper-left hand corner of the 2010 screenshot. The numbers show 3 and 25 in what looks like a Missile count.

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 a woman speaking in Japanese, "A dream. It's as if I was watching a playback of a tragedy that really happened." The site has since been translated to English, and the voice says, "A dream. I was reliving the tragic moments from my recent past."



Title
The title of Metroid: Other M is abbreviated to "MOM", and the subtitle is an anagram for "Mother", strengthening this game's connection to maternal themes from the series history, such as Mother Brain (who appears in the trailer).

It may also refer to an infamous line from the end of Metroid: "THE GALAXY MAY BE INVADED BY THE OTHER METROID. PRAY FOR A TRUE PEACE IN SPACE."

Yoshio Sakamoto, the co-creator of Metroid, confirmed that the name will have significance in several instances, indicating that Other M is the final title.

Trivia

 * Because Samus speaks in the trailer, this will mark the first Metroid series game where Samus actually speaks vocally (not counting Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion, as she spoke in text boxes; her voice was previously only heard as grunts of pain in the Metroid Prime trilogy, or the Zero Suit Samus taunts in Brawl).
 * Yoshio Sakamoto claimed in an early Super Metroid that he was the only person to know "where Samus's beauty mark is," which was not visible until the Metroid: Other M trailer, where it could be seen under the left side of her lip. []

Links

 * Official Site
 * Japanese Official Site
 * Living body arms development lab
 * Bottle Ship
 * Anthony Higgs
 * USR 3
 * UMS 5
 * ULF 27
 * ULF 28
 * ULF 29

Video

 * GameTrailers (420p, poor sound)
 * GameVideos
 * IGN (Poor sound)