GDC: Metroid Creator Yoshio Sakamoto Speaks
One of the most interesting things to come out of this year’s GDC for Nintendo fans has been Metroid creator (and Other M producer) Yoshio Sakamoto’s openness regarding just about everything. He’s talked about the fabled Metroid Dread, his diverse inspirations and body of work, and he’s even shed some positive light on the prospects for Kid Icarus Wii, while seemingly shooting down any rumors of its existence in the process. He’s also hinted that Other M may have been on-rails featured classic controls if not for Team Ninja’s input, and provided a comical demonstration of his Japanese hit Tomodachi Collection for GDC attendees. This guy runs the gamut.
N Rumas - March 12th, 2010 - 
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IronROB on March 12, 2010 at 4:39 pm
“I thought Samus should move along a set path. That’s right. Samus would be moving along a rail, as long as the camera angle was capable of keeping up with the action.†– Yoshio Sakamoto
Eh 4cr guys? I think he meant a 2.5D gameplay. You know,simply walking left to right, or forward and back on a set path in 2D with a 3D environment. There’s just no way he would ever make Metroid on-rails and strip away the exploration. On-rails goes entirely against the Metroid formula.
However You can read about how Sakamoto was against having the nunchuck included as part of Other M’s controls, even though Team Ninja suggested it.
Now that was a unfair choice, he should’ve left it as an extra option for those of us who want to be in control when we lock on to whatever we will be locking on to.
Michael Tucker on March 12, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Thanks for pointing that out IronRob. After checking the Kotaku post though, I noticed that there’s not enough context given to that quote to know for sure if he just meant 2D gameplay or full on rail-shooter gameplay. If I can track down some more info about his statement then I’ll go in and clarify this post.
I’m pretty curious about this now.
DKR on March 12, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Yeah, the Kotaku post was a bit misleading. IGN also had an article about his comments which cleared thing up a bit.
“Sakamoto used a specific instance as an example: he insisted that the game would be an on-rails side-scrolling adventure that used the Wii remote exclusively like an NES/Famicom controller.”
Sounds like old school Metroid style of gameplay to me.
Here’s the link:
http://wii.ign.com/articles/107/1076861p1.html
N Rumas on March 12, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Fixed! Hopefully.