Part 10: Sakamoto Says Part 2
I’ve mentioned various Sakamoto quotes throughout this thread, and this post compiles them together for easy linking in the OP. Within the next couple video updates I'll try to roll out Part 3 so there's new material to talk about; people who have been reading the thread up to now should probably skip this post. Otherwise, enjoy the ride!
Please note that whenever I can, I cite my sources in the name of the interview being quoted. Unfortunately, some of these interviews contain
SPOILERS, so click on those links at your own risk. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!Let’s start with some feedback I received for the last Sakamoto Says segment:
KevinCow, in response to Sakamoto Says Part 1 posted:
In defense of the "on-rails" comment, that was most likely a mistranslation. He just meant he wanted 2D gameplay, and then Team Ninja showed him that they got it working pretty decently in 3D with only the Wiimote, so they went with that.
Gonna level with you here, Mr. Cow: I was playing things up for laughs there. I'm aware it was a mistranslation, but thought it was a pretty funny thing to include by itself at the end of that entirely-too-long post.
Here's Sakamoto in an IGN interview right after he made that disastrous on-rails comment at the 2010 GDC:
IGN Interview, March 17th 2010 posted:
IGN: You also mentioned that Metroid Other M was originally to be an on-rails design. How far into the design did that change to what we're playing now?
Sakamoto: I want to clarify, I've seen lots of news stories out there that misinterpreted what I said about the on-rails part and may have gotten the wrong idea. What I meant, in the original concept, Samus could move back and forth but only on a fixed path, not that it was automatic movement forward constantly like in rail shooters...
Basically, he wanted Other M to be like Shadow Complex. Which isn't that bad of an idea, actually. If Samus had been able to go "fuck this noise" and leave the BOTTLE SHIP in the middle of the story, I would've considered that the canon ending.
While we're on the subject, has anyone mentioned Shadow Complex to Sakamoto? In an interview with Joystiq, he had this to say:
Joystiq Interview, March 12th 2010 posted:
JOYSTIQ: Last year there was a "Metroidvania" game called Shadow Complex for Xbox Live Arcade that was very popular. Many people saw it as a surrogate for a new 2D Metroid game. Have you had a chance to play it, and, if so, what do you think about it?
SAKAMOTO: I haven't had a chance to play it, but I have seen movies of it and think they certainly do share a lot of similar features. There certainly were some Metroid staff members that early on told me that there was a similar game out there, but once I started to look at it, I realized there were similarities, but this is not really something we created. It's not quite an equal in our eyes. But the idea of having 3D visuals with a 2D play-style is certainly very attractive. And if people really want some more 2D Metroid, then I would love to suggest that they play Other M.
So there we go. Shadow Complex is not in any way equal to Other M. I agree; the latter is far inferior.
SatansBestBuddy, in response to Sakamoto Says Part 1 posted:
Wait, storyboards? Those quick pencil sketches that are done in maybe 10 seconds apiece so they can show the barest bones of the basics of a minute long scene? Those made him speechless?
Yep. Here's a quote from an interview with Wired where Sakamoto talks about Ryuzi Kitaura, the guy who drew those storyboards:
Wired Interview, June 16th 2009 posted:
Sakamoto: I also feel very fortunate that Mr. Hayashi and Team Ninja have already established this relationship with D-Rockets, because like I mentioned before I was looking for someone who really understood the concept that I had in mind, and it’s not just Team Ninja but also Mr. Kitaura who really went to that extra effort of really making sure that they understood and reassuring me that they could bring that back to life.
So it probably wasn't technical skill that took Sakamoto's breath away, but rather Kitaura's ability to pander. Or maybe it was a sudden high from a power trip, who knows.
Lance Streetman, in response to Sakamoto Says Part 1 posted:
I feel that now might be a good time to link this interview with Toshihiro Kondo, the President of Falcom (Ys, The Legend Of Heroes).
Damn, son. That dude knows how it is done.
Incidentally that also happens to be the approach Shigeru Miyamoto takes with Mario games. What does Sakamoto think about that?
IGN Interview, Mar 17th 2010 posted:
Sakamoto: To be honest, we're actually pretty separate from the Miyamoto-led teams so I'm really not sure what they're up to right now. The nunchuk may be great for some types of games but we wouldn't want to force people to use just one type of control because that would be restrictive. As a personal goal of mine I've been trying to find a way to present the most amazing game I can and have it use a control scheme with a relatively limited amount of buttons. This has been a fixed idea for us for awhile, but this may be completely different from the design philosophy of other development teams.
So he avoided forcing people to use one type of control by...forcing people to use another single type of control?
Here’s a relevant tidbit from the previously-mentioned IGN interview:
IGN Interview, Mar. 17th 2010 posted:
IGN: So, to address the cries on the message boards, is there going to be a nunchuk option for those who want to play it the "core" way?
Sakamoto: No, there is no alternate control setting in Metroid Other M. Honestly, If we felt there was any more comfortable way to play the game then what we were envisioning, then we would have certainly would have just done that. But we do feel that this is the most appropriate and most comfortable way of playing the game and I don't think we made the wrong choice. We want to emphasize that this is the best way, we stuck with a single control scheme and were very committed to that from the beginning.
Man, you guys are so bad at video games, how could you not realise that fumbling around with the Wiimote while trying to switch views is actually the most comfortable control scheme ever? Bunch'a scrubs.
And here’s another tidbit from the same interview, less relevant but no less funny:
IGN Interview, Mar. 17th 2010 posted:
IGN: Is that the reason why Metroid: Other M has taken on a more Japanese style and flavor, to get the Japanese market more interested in the franchise?
Sakamoto: We are conscious of that, and Japanese market acceptance is in our mind. There's an expression in Japanese, where someone dislikes a food without ever having eaten it. You have to offer those people a certain incentive to taste the food to prevent them from saying that they don't like it. So, we're trying a new approach here and we're trying to pull a new audience in to see if they like it. Having said that, we're still going for a global acceptance with Metroid Other M, but we're trying a game style that has worldwide market appeal that even Japanese people will like.
See guys, all he was trying to do is make Samus taste good.
Moving on: at one point in the thread there was lots of talk about Metroid Prime: Hunters and online multiplayer. Why hasn't Nintendo tried making a second multiplayer Metroid game? Let's ask Sakamoto!
Joystiq Interview, March 12th 2010 posted:
JOYSTIQ: Will there be any online component to Other M? And, if not, why isn't online a priority?
SAKAMOTO: There's no online functionality in this title, and the reason for that is that Other M does not rely on that as one of the core design ideas. They're thinking more about the single-player style that you've seen in all Metroid games up until this point. And one of the specific goals here is to convey the charm of Samus as a character and to bring forth several perspectives on what kind of personality she has and how she reacts to situations. So online wouldn't really factor into that kind of character development as a core idea.
So charming.
It just about sums up my reaction to her situations, too.Can you guys even imagine trying to play this game online with multiplayer? Maybe you'd play Samus while your friend plays Adam and chooses which of your abilities you're not allowed to use in combat. Or maybe everyone would play Anthony, because why the fuck would you want to play anyone else?
In that same Joystiq interview, a very interesting topic was brought up: Sakamoto’s opinion of the Metroid Prime trilogy. What did he have to say?
Joystiq Interview, March 12th 2010 posted:
SAKAMOTO: After E3 and the initial announcement a lot of people were making comments like, "Oh, it seems like they've dumped Retro for this series and they want to go with another developer," as if it was a big switch-off. But, in actuality, that is far from the case; rather, we just wanted to put together the best team that we could to make this project, which turns out to be Project M.
See guys, Retro didn't get dumped, they just weren't good enough.
From the same interview:
Joystiq Interview, March 12th 2010 posted:
JOYSTIQ: Retro obviously produced the Metroid Prime series; very successful, very influential. Do you consider this a reboot of the series after Metroid Prime? Is this the direction for future Metroids or just another direction?
SAKAMOTO: The games that I've been involved with in the Metroid series have been on the NES, GameBoy, Super NES and the GBA. I actually didn't have a lot of input on the Prime series. But what they're doing with Other M here, it's not so much a different universe, it's just a different part of the story. You can't say that there's no relation here; it's probably best to think of them as being in parallel in this world.
The stories aren't in different universes but at the same time they're parallel. Why do I feel like Doc Brown just explained time travel to me?
Joystiq Interview, March 12th 2010 posted:
JOYSTIQ: What, if anything, has the team learned from Prime?
SAKAMOTO: I've been working on 2D Metroid games all the way up until now, so when we had a chance to see the Prime games, which suddenly take the series to the 3D space, we realized people found it to have a really good visual impact, and they really did want that kind of enhanced visual experience. And so, I have to say I'm certainly influenced by people's desires in that direction.
There are some points in Other M that are going to feel a bit like the Prime series in terms of the visual experience they offer. But what we're really trying to do is bring the ease of play you found in the 2D series forward. But certainly Prime was a very cool series and we've taken some notes there.
"Note: use visor HUD and charge beam SFX, they are super cool. Ignore everything else."
Joystiq wasn’t the only website to ask Sakamoto about the Primes. Here’s what he told Wired.com in an earlier interview:
Wired Interview, June 16th 2009 posted:
Wired.com: Metroid Prime, for a lot of people, was a great console Metroid experience. What is it that you want to do differently?
Sakamoto: You might be aware of this, but I actually wasn’t that involved in the development of the Prime series. The goal in creating Metroid Prime was to create the ultimate first-person adventure, and I do think that Retro was able to do that. My approach, my concept, is a little bit different in terms of gameplay. And the story I want to tell with Other M can’t be achieved with that approach. So I think my take on this project is quite a bit different than Retro’s.
Look at that! Ol' Sakie gives mad props to the Retro folks. Too bad he doesn't want his games to be anything like theirs.
Now this next one is pretty interesting. It's an interview with Revogamers, a Spanish-language gaming site. Unfortunately, as you’d expect, the original interview is in Spanish, which I haven't spoken for years now. I tried to make do with Google Translate instead.
Crappy Google Translation posted:
RG: Samus Aran has been a few years 'living' in the United States. Now that you have returned to Japan, how has it changed? What is the difference between Retro Studios Samus and the Other M?
Sakamoto: He has been a time out and now comes to the principles. In Japan goes on sale tomorrow, I think many fans of the Metroid series are waiting and feel very satisfied with his return to Japan. On 'the Samus' is a complicated question. Almost everyone asks me about the Prime series, which ingress into the same line, but are different. They have nothing to do, but can be a way to represent different facets of the personality of Samus. I do not want to make divisions between Samus Samus Western or Eastern, for me, the real Samus for everyone is that you will become acquainted with Metroid Other M.
I love silly translations. The Samus Samus Western has been in a time out, but now he's returned to Japan to come to the principles! Hooray!
Regardless, that last line is ominous. Sakamoto doesn't care what Retro did with Samus, because the only true Samus is the one in this game.
Now for the longest quote yet. This comes directly from a Kotaku article published in March of 2010.
Metroid: Other M and the Great Samus Schism posted:
"You saw in the original Metroid series titles and then through Prime there were different glimpses of the Samus character," [Sakamoto] said. "But this is our best opportunity to date to present everything all together about Samus, to give the definitive character sketch and that is going to be something people can draw from as a resource as we pull them into the Metroid universe in the future as well."
The idea of a single cohesive Samus detailed in one Metroid game does have a flaw though: The Metroid Prime games.
Texas-based Retro Studios started creating a new series of Metroid games in 1999. Metroid Prime and its successors used 3D graphics and were played from a first-person perspective. Sakamoto had little say in their development.
When I asked Sakamoto about the future of Prime and whether other games in that series would use this definitive "character sketch" of Samus, he sort of danced around the question.
"I didn't have a lot of input on the Prime series, I still don't know much about the future of the Prime series as well, I haven't been involved in that either," he said. "As to whether our Samus is going to be used in the Prime series going forward. You really have to defer to the wishes of the creator in this regard. Maybe think of it as the same universe but a different world view.
"There are different emphases in the two series of games. The Samus that we present here is very much our own, but the creators of the Prime series might have different goals and different areas that they want to stress as they go forward."
Does that mean, I asked, that the Metroid series might do what other popular series have done in the past, essentially splitting the game's timeline between two versions of the same starring character? Prince of Persia created two separate takes on their hero with the release of Prince of Persia in 2008. The games of the popular Legend of Zelda series also don't rely on a single cohesive timeline.
"Of course in these two series the approach is a little bit different and that is something essentially unavoidable," Sakamoto answered, referring to the Prime and Metroid games. "Samus is a character that fights and she has a lot of deep backstory and a lot of emotional content. That is what is essential here."
"I can't say what will happen in the future with Prime but I can say there is no reboot planned as such. You just need to keep in mind that different creators, different producers have slightly different visions and the end product will differ slightly as a result."
Snippy much, Sakamoto?
At one point in the thread there was some serious raging over a stupid plot point early in the game. In the midst of all this, LP Co-Commentator Olive Branch encountered a dumb video by some guy named the Game Overthinker that tried to defend Other M, warts and all. Olive Branch was less than appreciative and made a
SPOILERIFFIC post containing a point-by-point rebuttal of the video. I was inspired by his well-thought out arguments and chipped in my two cents, basically saying that Other M has the wrong idea and gameplay should come before plot in video games. I whipped out this quote in the middle of it:GameSpot Video Interview, Sept. 10 2010 posted:
SAKAMOTO: There are two reasons behind the robust story of Other M. One is my concern over the Metroid fans: each different player may have their own understanding of the characteristics and nature of Samus Aran. It's not good for the entire Metroid franchise - for its past or its future - that each player has a different understanding about what kind of person Samus Aran is. So, I wanted to clearly depict what kind of past she has, and how she acts in certain ways.
SAKAMOTO: The second reason is the missing link between Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. As you might know by now, the story takes place between the two. Because something significant was missing there, I wanted to be able to take this opportunity to link the two.
SAKAMOTO: So, basically, these are the reasons behind the story of Other M.
Everything we know is wrong.
Sakamoto played a Metal Gear Solid one day and concluded that the only way forward for the Metroid franchise is to be extremely plot heavy from now on, which therefore necessitates that Samus's character be set in stone. He and Kojima ought to just go ahead and direct a movie like they really want. It'll be terrible, but at least they'll get it out of their systems.
Finally, at another point in the thread, people began to get annoyed by all the negativity going on:
CharismaticHorsey posted:
Here's the thing, guys, this game is not the literal worst.
If you haven't come to expect humorous hyperbole from this website by now then I'm not sure what to tell you, other than maybe
[CLARIFICATION: I am not being serious. See what I did there?] Nobody is claiming that this game is literally Hell itself, and if they are, they're not being serious either. I really enjoy mocking Sakamoto and exaggerating my dislike of this game, but it's all in good fun. I don't wish a pox on his house or anything.
You're correct that this game isn't the worst ever, but it is bad, and it deserves criticism both to show the uninformed what it did wrong and to make sure its failures don't happen again. Everything else is for the sake of entertainment.
Quoth the Sakamoto:
GameSpot Video Interview, Sept. 10 2010 posted:
SAKAMOTO: I'm afraid as of now it is difficult for me to tell if future Metroid games will go in the same direction as Other M. What I'm really looking forward to is listening to the feedback of the players, because we have challenged ourselves with something completely new. We really want to hear the reactions of the players, and I'm not necessarily saying that we will try to incorporate any and all the opinions of the fans, but we do want to hear their feedback, and depending on them we might want to make some significant change to the future direction of the Metroid franchise or we might want to go ahead with the direction set forth by Other M. But unfortunately we've just launched the product, and I have no way of knowing what kind of reactions people will have, so I'd like to listen to their opinions first.
Nintendo Promotional Video, June 2010 posted:
SAKAMOTO: It's been a while since we launched the last Metroid game for a home console. We developed this game so that all the Metroid fans would say, "This is the Metroid that I wanted to play" or "This is the Metroid that I've been waiting for." At the same time I am asking those players, "Is this the Metroid you wanted?" I assume this game meets fans' expectations. I hope you will enjoy this.