Why poor timing caused Metroid Prime: Federation Force’s backlash

There's a time and place for everything, this wasn't it

The extreme backlash to Metroid Prime: Federation Force is expressly caused by poor timing on Nintendo's part. The game's quality is completely irrelevant, it could turn out to be the most entertaining game in the entire Metroid series, but it won't matter. Metroid Prime Federation Force comes at the absolute worst possible moment.

Samus Aran has been absent from her bounty hunting escapades since Metroid: Other M released roughly five years ago. To find a good Metroid game featuring Samus Aran, you have to go back almost eight years ago to the last entry in the Metroid Prime trilogy. That's a long time to wait for one of gaming's most influential characters, female or otherwise.

Hand down, Samus is the greatest female protagonist in gaming's history, the elements of her adventures rarely captured by other titles.When fans asked for a new Metroid Prime, they wanted just two things:  More of the tough, independent Samus that saved galaxies and destroyed planets, and the atmosphere that made the Metroid Prime trilogy special. You can't get these combined elements anywhere else in gaming today.

Alien: Isolation

Alien: Isolation is the closest you can get to Metroid Prime.

It also doesn't help that Nintendo has been stoking these flames intentionally and inadvertently for years now. We all heard how Nintendo big wigs talked up Retro Studios for their work on Metroid Prime. We all saw Reggie wear his Samus pin. We all felt that Retro's secret project, which they began working on after Tropical Freeze was wrapped, had to be Metroid Prime for Wii U.

With E3 2015 right around the corner, Nintendo began making announcements about new material. Fans speculated that these bits of information just weren't good enough to make it into the content packed Nintendo Digital Event.  Unexpected information on Devil's Third's proper reveal, the Chibi Robo reveal, the Mario and Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games announcement, and more didn't make the cut. When the Smash Presentation leaked and the world learned that the groundbreaking crossover  of Ryu entering Smash wasn't going to be in the Nintendo Digital Event, fan hype actually started to go nuclear.

What mind-blowing announcement would Nintendo make?

Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival

It turns out they had none.

The only mind-blowing things about their presentation were how poorly it was organized and how they thought Metroid Prime: Federation Force would be received with anything other than absolute repugnance at this juncture in time. Could you imagine if Shenmue 3 came out and Ryo Hazuki wasn't in the game? Instead you played as some guy working at Yokosuka Harbor, beating up random gang members and playing soccer with forklifts. All in stylized chibi art.

That's exactly what Metroid Prime: Federation Force is. A subversion of fan expectations when they were at their highest, on the biggest stage of the year no less. Fans have a right to be royally pissed that a company would do such a thing. It's either outright trolling or utter incompetence when it comes to understanding fan desires, and either way it's kind of disgusting.

Now don't misunderstand me. Fans can be angry, that's fair, but to sign petitions for the immediate cancellation of a project because you don't like it? That's worse than Nintendo's failing. Human beings are working on that game and putting real effort into it, whether they like the limitations placed upon them are not. Others still want to enjoy the game, even if rabid Metroid fans don't like it. To start a petition for its cancellation is outright stupid, narrow-minded, and selfish. If you'd rather have nothing, then have nothing by not buying the damn game, not taking it away from others.

This isn't the first time Metroid has taken a direction people found suspect either. People once thought turning a labyrinthine, exploration-based platformer into a first person shooter was heresy. Now that heretical Metroid Prime formula is what the fans want most. It's to the point that changing the newer formula is producing a never before seen level of vitriol in the community.

Metroid Prime

Metroid Prime changed the formula and had its detractors when it was revealed.

The similarities of  circumstances around the releases of Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime: Federation Force are almost shocking. Both titles changed aspects of the Metroid series. The original Prime came eight years after the last Metroid home console release. Metroid Prime: Federation Force comes eight years after the last traditional Prime game. Original Metroid Prime changed the formula by adding making it first person and the setting in 3D, while Federation Force removes Samus Aran and adds cooperative multiplayer. Funnily enough, both of these games possibly arose from the repurposing of scrapped idea.

The biggest difference between them is timing. Contrary to what rose tinted nostalgia visors will tell you, Metroid was almost forgotten by the gaming community at large when Metroid Prime burst onto the scene. It was never a large franchise to begin with, and it wasn't until Metroid Prime that it had its first multimillion seller.

However, Metroid Prime: Federation Force comes when the series is decidedly more visible. The Metroid Prime series became the biggest success the franchise had ever seen. Though it has been a while since the last release, Nintendo recently double dipped with Samus  and Zero Suit Samus in Smash, while Ridley got her HD debut in the same title. After the disappointing Metroid: Other M, and Nintendo's constant teasing, fans were more than ready for the return of Metroid Pime. Just not like this.

Metroid Prime Pinball

 The original dumb spin-off.

Metoid Prime Pinball is a great example of how timing affects the reception of a goofy spin-off title. It's silly and it's dumb, but it came out when Metroid was being released consistently. Pinball was less than a year removed from Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and was followed up with Metroid Prime: Hunters within six months. Coincidentally, there were no disgruntled fans making petitions for its cancellation.

Time and the reveal of the next serious Metroid game will allow all of the muck to settle. Perhaps then we'll be able to see how Metroid Prime Federation Force stands on its own merit. More than likely it will be another rock solid Nintendo experience. Until then though, it's just an unfortunate scapegoat for the frustration of rabid Metroid fans.