Director Yoshio Sakamoto Interview: 'Metroid: Other M' is Heavy on Action and Story. Says the game will be the ultimate Metroid experience
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E3 2009: Metroid: Other M Heavy on Action and Story
Interview: Director Yoshio Sakamoto says the game will be the ultimate
Metroid experience. Also, Metroid Dread lives!
by Matt Casamassina
June 4, 2009 - At E3 2009 in Los Angeles we had the chance to chat
with famed Metroid series influencer and Metroid: Other M director
Yoshio Sakamoto about the forthcoming Project M-developed game.
Sakamoto spoke candidly about the ambitious title's focus and also
confirmed that Metroid Dread for DS is not yet forgotten.
IGN: Metroid: Other M was a huge surprise for us at E3 2009 and we're
really excited for it. We're wondering how the partnership with Team
Ninja came about.
Yoshio Sakamoto: I've been working on Metroid games for quite awhile,
but in 2006, having seen the Wii, its capabilities and the features
available through it, I wanted to challenge myself to see what I could
produce for that particular system and it was at that point that I
started mulling other concepts. My team and myself have had experience
working on Metroid game, but it's all been in the handheld realm and
it's all been in 2D, so we lacked both the experience and the manpower
to create a 3D Metroid experience. It was at that time that I realized
I needed to find a partner help me realize my concept.
When I was considering what I was going to look for in this partner, I
not only wanted to find somebody who was going to understand my
concept as it existed, but could also contribute based on their own
experience and expertise and I was very fortunate when I proposed this
idea to members of Team Ninja and they seemed to really be able to
understand and grasp my idea and they were happy to jump on board as
well.
During those initial meetings, I did not approach Team Ninja knowing
that they were Team Ninja and had that experience behind them.
Granted, I appreciated the fact that they did have game development
experience, but not specifically with regard to action games. What I
was looking for was a partner that could contribute their strengths
and possibly balance out our weaknesses, assuming we could do the same
for them. We have the experience of creating Metroid games. They have
the experience of creating action games. Together, instead of being
Nintendo and Team Ninja, we became Project M. And our goal is to
create the best Metroid: Other M that we can.
IGN: How is Project M separated between the teams? How big is the
overall team?
Yoshio Sakamoto: In addition to the members of the staff from Nintendo
and Team Ninja, as you saw in the trailer, there are a lot of
cinematics that help us tell the story within Other M so we're also
working with a company called D-Rockets, led by a director named Mr.
Kitaura. In total, with the the three companies combined that make
Project M, we have over 100 people on our staff.
IGN: We're all huge Metroid fans. We loved Super Metroid and Metroid
Prime. So we're really psyched that we're finally going to get some
real back story on Samus. How much in terms of story and cinematics
can we expect?
Yoshio Sakamoto: One thing I need to explain is that I was really not
that involved directly in the development of the Metroid Prime series.
What I was involved in was the development of the initial NES Metroid,
the GBA Metroid, Super Metroid and then finally Metroid Fusion. And
within that timeline, the Other M story will take place between Super
Metroid and the Fusion stories. What I hope to achieve with Other M is
answer those questions -- you know, who is Samus? What is her
background? Who are the characters that made her what she is? All
these questions and more will be answered. I could tell you a little
more about the details of what you might expect, but I don't want to
ruin it for you so I'll just leave it at that.
IGN: Can we expect a lot of storytelling and cinematics in the game?
Yoshio Sakamoto: That's actually a really interesting question. A lot
of times movies within games are handled as decorations as augment the
experience, but my goal is to make the whole experience very seamless.
So when you're going from an action sequence where you're controlling
it and then the game will naturally progress into the cinematics. So I
hope the experience is very seamless and natural.
IGN: Has working with Team Ninja brought about a more action-oriented
Metroid with less focus on adventure?
Yoshio Sakamoto: I think Metroid has always been a little bit of
action as well as adventure, but because we are teaming up with Team
Ninja, I do think that they will bring things to the table that we
haven't been able to do in the past. But again, a huge part of Metroid
is the adventure aspect and we do want to stay true to that as well.
IGN: Can you give us some idea of how the controls work?
Yoshio Sakamoto: I'm terribly sorry, but I can't give you details on
the controls at this time.
IGN: How do the third-person and first-person action coexist?
Yoshio Sakamoto: Unfortunately, I can't give you details on how the
perspective is going to be used in the game either, but if you take
the time to really dissect the trailer, you should get a pretty good
idea of maybe how the game is going to play. Our goal ultimately is to
create the ultimate Metroid experience so really pay attention to the
trailer and I think it should give you some good impressions. That
said, though, development is progressing at a pretty good pace, so I'm
think I should be able to supply a demo for you guys to experience
pretty soon.
IGN: When you beat the original Metroid, there's a warning of 'another
Metroid.' Is that what 'Other M' refers to in the title of the Wii
game?
Yoshio Sakamoto: The NES Metroid? I don't remember.
IGN: [Laughing] We guess that answers it then. Okay, we have to ask
about Metroid Dread. It popped up on an internal Nintendo release list
awhile back and we haven't heard anything about it since.
Yoshio Sakamoto: This is quite awhile ago. A few E3s back. I can only
say right now that this is Other M, it is not Metroid Dread. But as a
concept the Metroid Dread idea does still exist within my mind so
maybe sometime in the future I will be able to bring that to you.
IGN: Are you burned out on the prospect of doing another 2D Metroid,
or does the possibility still excite you, maybe for WiiWare or
DSiWare, if nothing else?
Yoshio Sakamoto: It's not as though my team or myself have grown tired
of creating 2D games, but I think it's all what the concept is, what
the game design is, and what best suits that whether it's on the Wii
or DS. So moving forward, if an idea comes up that is best suited for
DS then we'll pursue that.
IGN: Great. Any final comments on Metroid: Other M that you really
want Metroid fans to know about?
Yoshio Sakamoto: What my team and I are shooting for is the ultimate
Metroid experience. Up until now we've created the Samus who, yes, is
indeed a strong, charming and very cool heroine. But what we're hoping
to create is a Samus now that not just fans of Metroid will
appreciate, but everyone who is experiencing the game. So I'm hoping
that everyone looks forward to exploring that Metroid world and
experiencing Samus as a character.