Except that you already implicitly agreed with me when you acknowledged Other M as th black sheep. Whether or not people take a kinder view of Other M in ten years says nothing about the state of things right now, when Other M is the black sheep, to which you agreed.

@gumby_trucker  oh i remember the praise OOT got, but while MM didnt get as much (how could it) black sheep seemed like a weird title to give it. Id always imagine that Zelda 2 was the black sheep of the series, that game doesnt play like anything b4 or after it was released in the series outside of the occasional 2d sections in the GB games. And kudos to you for liking Ninty when they are trying different things, IMHO i rather have them try to make something like Other M than give me yey another Prime, how much of those can you play?? Variety is the spice of life, but im sure im not in the majority, hell i truly believe that Ninty does its most interesting work when they do what the hell they want and not appease to the masses.

@lordtheknight ill look into that, i didnt have good internet back then so i probably missed all that

@kenryoku Maxis  oh i dont deny that OOT was bigger and better reviewed than MM by the vast majority, my issue is the "dissapointing" thing. THat just seems a bit harsh to say about one of the "best" games on N64 but i could be reading to much into it. 

I take it that you are now removing the original Metroid from you equation?

The original game is as much an outlier as Other M is, i would contend

Maybe. But it's the reason Metroid even exists. And the reason I called him out to begin with was that he downplayed the exploration aspect of the original.

Fair enough regarding Zelda 2 being the black sheep. I didn't mean to be that harsh about MM, I was just trying to say it can be hard to follow a genre-defining game in a series, regardless of quality. To be honest, I would love it if Nintendo changed things up more frequently (in which case games that repeat an established formula would be considered "black sheep" lol).

Speaking of unique Nintendo games, have you played Endless Ocean Blue World? Some of the exploration and discovery in that game gave me a Metroid vibe... especially the parts where you discover hidden archeology or hidden caves..
What I wouldn't do to see a game like EO set IN SPACE! It could be like a video-game version of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey .  (Just like how to me, MM feels at times like a David Lynch movie lol)

This is a very good point and the single most important reason I wanted Other M to sell well.
It's not that the game doesn't have many issues, it's that it opens the door to a whole new exciting direction for the series.
A game made in the style of Other M featuring a more expansive over-world, more room for exploration and less emphasis on cheesy cut-scenes could be a Masterpiece and an instant classic if it were ever made... kinda like Super... The thing is, now we'll never know... We'll never see the good qualities in Other M taken further to where they truly fulfill their potential...

That, to me, is a much greater loss than a few blemishes in the existing game.

I never downplayed the exploration of the original.  I mearly stated Super (and the original) have a general path for you to go down, eventhough it allows you to explore elsewhere.  And in the first game, that freedom to explore is actually a negative because you die so often and upgrades are in abstract places.  Whereas in Super and its remake, Zero Mission, its a benefit.

And again, these were all just points I was making to show how Prime is even less like the 2D games in terms of 'exploration'.  That being, Prime doesn't have a general path to follow and forces you to explore everywhere, even when you won't get items to proceed for several hours.  Compare this to a game like Super Metroid, where you find all the necessary items very close to when you need them.  Heck, you only see a handful of Grapple Beam or Super Bomb spots before you actually stumble upon them.

Other M also has this problem.  Noticably, not being able to use the Super Missile, Grapple Beam until near the end of the game.  And Power Bombs until you've beaten the game.

And once again, eventhough I've aknowledged all the faults, even of Other M, I'm ready for a dozen people to jump down my throat and come up with things I supposedly said.

This.  This is what I've been trying to say the whole time.  Other M did a lot of unique things.  It tried to make a Metroid game that had a REASON for not being able to use all the items from the beginning.  It made a viable 2D game in a 3D world (with gameplay concepts I've been waiting for since the N64/PSX days).  And it tried to develop Samus' character beyond 'bad ass silent Bounty Hunter'.

Did it do all these things correctly?  No.  I'm right up there with the camp who thinks the story and flow of the game was done poorly.  But that doesn't mean the WHOLE game was.  No matter what you say, I will still think the main game engine and concepts were sound.  If they had just focused less on story (and probably didn't make Samus talk), it would have been one of the best games on the Wii.

I still do not understand what you mean by this. What exactly is the general path in Metroid? The only times I remember the game following a path are at the very beginning and at the very end, in the area with the Metroids before the final boss. Everything else is pretty much a blank slate.

Meaning the path has limitations based on your item upgrades.  In order to gain access to Norfair, you need the High Jump Boots.  In order to progress in Norfair, you need the Super Bomb to open doors.  Its pretty straight-forward how the game wants you to progress.  yes, you do get to explore to find the items.  But there are set roadblocks to keep you from going to a new area or boss.

In Prime on the other hand, you enter countless areas that require certain items (Super Missile, Power Bomb, Spider Ball, Grapple Beam) but you can't enter those areas for upwards of 10 hours after you find them.  I was mearly saying Metroid Prime is too focused on 'free roaming exploration' to the point that it went beyond the balance Super Metroid had in progression and exploration.

My OVERALL point is that people need to sto complaining about Other M being 'too linear' while claiming all the other games are 'total free roaming'.  They have set roadblocks and do not allow you to roam freely unless you get certain items.