Other M sounded good on paper, it was just the controls that let it down. Maybe that U controller can fix that.

If it's Metroid Other M 2, given the sales, Nintendo would finally have gone insane (defined as, no longer interested in making money).

A 2D Metroid would take them a third of the time to make with fewer people and likely sell more.

Can't see why. Prime was the best selling game in the series by far.

(I mean, the first one likely sold a lot too, but it has been, well, 25 years since it)

Let's assume another Prime game would sell about 2m. A 2D Metroid would sell about 1m judging from Fusion. But the 2D one would cost much less to make so I think they could make more profit from it overall and also need to commit fewer resources that they could use on other games.

While I enjoyed MoM... it definitely wasn't better than SM.

However, I think more people liked the Prime series than the 2D classic Metroid series and that is the real opposition.

They're probably compensating for completely fucking ditching the franchise for eight years. (1994-2002)

I have Endless Ocean 1 and 2 and I like them both and I think they are very good games. But what makes them special is their timming, slow, and the fact that they don't push players in the direction the game wants, they just "hint" where could you go.

And while these 2 aspects are very good and in fact are essential for Endless Ocean, they are the exact opposite things that a Metroid game needs. Metroid always tells you where do you have to go and force you to do it in order to advance, and they are also fast, you don't walk from point A to point B, you jump, run and/or roll to get there as fast as possible.

And that's why Arika would have big troubles to succeed, get the right timming in a game is essential, and I don't think they would be able to do it with Metroid.

Yeah, Metroid: Other M lacks in exploration parts, until you wanna do the 100% run, but it's not enough.
If they are capable to do a 2.5D Metroid in visuals with enough explorations good, in any other case it's better an FPA.

What i'm trying to say, it's that i hope the can see what direction the game is taking an see if it's good or not before going blind and ahead till the end.

By "timing" do you mean pacing? as in how fast or slow the game progresses? I'm pretty sure that Arika know how to make fast paced games too, they've made games in the Street Fighter series in the past, as well as Mega Man Network Transmission for GC and other more arcady, action-heavy games. One of the things I like about them as a company is that they really seem to be quite versatile.

As far as just "hinting" at where to go but still giving you several options to explore, isn't that kind of similar to classic Metroid? I thought more exploration was something fans of the series wanted. Regardless, if anything, Metroid is a more linear experience than EO with one main quest, which should make it easier for Arika to develop than a branching side-quest ridden game like EO. They will be able to focus their already high levels of talent on making less content, so the quality should be even higher.

Once again, regarding the running and jumping: Obviously Endless Ocean had slower movement since it was under water, but it's not like Arika couldn't handle a different, more acrobatic move-set. Like I said, they have tons of experience with fighting games.

If I am misunderstanding what you mean by "timing", please correct me and explain what you mean. Also, remember that no matter who is making Metroid, they will be under the supervision of Nintendo to make sure it feels right.

Having said all that, I still think it could be one hell of a game!

Yes, I ment pacing. Sorry.

I didn't know about their past work with Street Fighter, that makes it more feasible.