If you want to get to the Revolution, you're going to have to go through Samus Aran. The first big production from Nintendo for 2006 is not the Revolution nor will it even be The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: it's Metroid Prime Hunters for the DS. In a collaborative, trans-Pacific effort between developers at Nintendo Company, Ltd. (NCL) in Kyoto, Japan and Nintendo Software Technologies (NST) in Redmond, WA, Nintendo's plan is nothing short of making Metroid the first immersive adventure with multiplayer gameplay for a handheld system. "I had originally thought to create this game for the GameCube," says Kensuke Tanabe, lead producer of the Metroid Prime series, "But when we realized the multiplayer capabilities of the DS we realized the potential to expand the Metroid franchise into brand new directions."
Where in the Metroid Universe?
To get a clear sense of where Metroid Prime Hunters is headed, it's probably a good idea to set your bearings...something that's not always easy to do with Nintendo games. The Metroid Prime series takes place between Metroid and Metroid II, and Metroid Prime Hunters takes off somewhere between Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime: Echoes.
Samus has been advised by the Galactic Federation that although she is not being "ordered" she is "highly advised" to investigate the discovery of ancient artifacts in the Alimbic system. The artifacts are sources of a mysterious energy of unknown origin and potential power.
Just as blood in the water is a shark magnet on planet Earth, the promise of unlimited power sets off a rush by bounty hunters across the galaxy to secure the artifacts. Six ruthless hunters in particular have set the object in their sights, each for their own reasons both political and personal.
However, this DS game isn't meant to follow a strict continuity between the other two Prime games. "Hunters skews off between Prime and Hunters, and it's more of an offshoot than part of the Metroid lineage," says Rich Varodi, lead designer, at NST. "That gives us the freedom to feature the other hunters and explore new worlds."
Combat for the Masses
The other Hunters are a set up of sorts. Nintendo hopes that Prime for the DS will produce spin-off games starring Samus's new rivals. The six Hunters are each outfitted similarly to Aran with multiple weapons, unique morph abilities, and their own spaceships. "We hope a few of the new Hunters become really popular so we can build new games around them," Tanabe emphasizes.
Moreover, Hunters DS is a multiplayer, Wi-Fi capable game, and the six antagonists provide an obvious way to create that experience in the Metroid universe. There will be a variety of multiplayer games including deathmatches, capture the flag, and king of hill style contests. Up to four players can choose to play as Samus or any of the six hunters in 25 plus maps, based on five worlds from the single-player game. "No one's ever created a serious shooter like this for a handheld machine," Varodi adds.
Gamers will be able to use to the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection to challenge other Metroid players worldwide, and Nintendo says Wi-Fi will go live on March 20, the date of Metroid's release. You can even use a single cart to hook up with three other friends.
Mission to Mayhem
But lest you think the mass player version will dominate the action, the NST crew is quick to sing praises for the single-player adventure, too. "This is another mission for Samus Aran, Varodi says, "she's a bounty hunter and this is what she does. She goes on mission after mission, and this is one she took after the events of Metroid Prime."
New for Metroid fans will be the ability to pilot Aran's ship to the five worlds in the game in a race to arrive before the other Hunters. And the other Hunters are not going to make it easy for you. The worlds of Prime Hunters are huge, but now you have an entire galaxy to contend with, too.
If a rival grabs an artifact before you do (or steals it from you), you might have to chase him to another planet and beat him into submission to take it back. Where he might go, when, and under what conditions is cunningly calculated by the A.I. according to the best scenario for that individual Hunter to escape your pursuit and complete his mission. So no two Prime Hunter players are going to have the same single-player experience.
Prime Example
NST is on a mission to make Metroid Prime Hunters the most ambitious, most complex DS game ever. In addition to being the latest addition to the Metroid legacy, it is clearly a message from Nintendo that it is going to push its technology all the way to the next generation. "This game is huge," says Varodi, "the joke around the office is: nobody told us to make a DS game. We made this Metroid adventure and it happens to fit in the DS."
Samus Aran is leading her fans, DS gamers, and even Nintendo itself on a grand adventure into the next generation. "The next Metroid Prime game," says Tanabe, "will be for the Revolution
