The point is to get the character of Samus out of the way and return people's attention to the gameplay and the world that surrounds it. The original game was not called Samus, it was called Metroid.

And hey, the way Samus was portrayed in Metroid: Other M, I think being a damsel in distress would fit quite nicely.

I think Nintendo's office would be burnt down to the ground would they do something like that...

The different areas is an interesting point though. I think it would be easy to do if you have lots of totally different locations to visit instead of having just one. Some kind of city could function as a hub. There's two concepts that I can think of right away.

Bear in mind that my ideas contain a decent bit of story.

1. A prequel. When you begin Samus has just obtained her suit and you pretty much follows her early years as a warrior. I think this could be a pretty cool game, Samus being a rebellious youth and all. However, I don't know how revisiting locations would work exactly.

2. A game set after Other M or Fusion. You have Samus temporary living on a distant planet where she works as a bodyguard or something like that. Here you could have missions take place in populated areas.

Nooo, you can't have Metroid without Samus! That's like Legend of Zelda without Link!

Metroid 2 remake for 3DS, using the Other M engine.  Do it Sakamoto!

i think they should stick with Team Ninja.. Retro is fine but i want them to work on other titles other then Metroid... besides any game can be improved

Get Nintendo to team up with the people in Konami who make the 'Castletroid' Castlevania games

I really enjoyed Other M and hope they use what they learned from it and move forward. If they dont do that then just make it the good old 2D style. Even though I did enjoy them please do not go back to FPS Metroid. They are fun but not near as fun as Metroid should be.

a full 2D metroid but with 3D graphics (a la DKCR). No cutscenes, No dialogues. No human or humanoid charachter besides samus. Story should be told in the beginning and ending sequences and in few logs and inscription you find during the game. Massive non-linear world, with very limited hint system so that you actually have to figure out yourself what you should do next. Enviromental puzzles. Massive and epic boss fights. Scrap the Other M and Fusion story and make it a prequel or a reimaging.

I would like to see them remake Metroid 2, mostly because it has aged BADLY. Heck, I was surprised at how aged Super Metroid felt when I got around to finally playing it (from a purely mechanical standpoint Fusion, Zero Mission, and Other M are WAY superior) so it might be best for them to update the game ala Zero Mission. Of course Sakamoto finally needs to bite the bullet and tell us what happens after Fusion what with Samus blowing up the BSL station.

I'm a usual suspect now? I thought our opinions were mostly in line about what was best for the franchise (or have you changed your mind and become one of those "just give it back to Retro!" people?): keep Sakamoto on a tighter leash or at least get him a writer, keep the general playstyle of Other M (plus or minus a few of the finer points), and move forward from there.

Our disagreement was largely over Samus' portrayal in Other M, the difference being that Other M Samus was (sans the pre-Ridley freeze-up) largely how i pictured Samus to be anyway, so it was far less jarring to be introduced to this character

Mortono's actually hanging out on the Demotruk/Soleron end of the spectrum with his opinion, saying that the character of Samus is getting in the way of Metroid, so just make her into a damsel in distress completely (given that they already did in Other M according to people on that side of the argument), introduce somebody else, and make it about the gameplay again.