What would an N64 Metroid have looked like?

[gbpxl]

For whatever reason, the Metroid series has been present on all the Nintendo home consoles except the N64. I always assumed this was because 2D gaming was no longer the "in thing" anymore and that 3D was too rudimentary for the vision that Nintendo wouldve had for a proper FPS Metroid game.

If Nintendo HAD went ahead and made a Metroid 64, do you think it would've looked something akin to Jet Force Gemini, maybe? That's the closest I can think of to what they likely would've done. I think 2D just wasnt in the cards for Nintendo at this point, circa 1997-1998 when the big push was for 3D gaming. Konami essentially wanted to filled the "Metroid gap" with the release of SotN and obviously that was a 2D game but Nintendo seemed to want to steer away from this style of game.

The only 3D model we have of Samus Aran for that generation is in Super Smash Bros. and it would be interesting to have seen maybe a 2.5D Metroid game that utilized full polygon Samus and full polygon environments but still side-scrolling gameplay.

My wish is for Nintendo to release an official Metroid 64 on an N64 cartridge with that 2.5D gameplay. Yeah yeah I know, snowball's chance in hell, but I can still dream right???

[Greg2600]

Body Harvest was kind of Metroidy.

[Gameguy]

You mention how Nintendo was done with 2D games at that point as being a reason no Metroid game came out, but look at what they did with Mario and Zelda games. Funny enough with Castlevania, I imagined a Metroid 64 game being like how Castlevania 64 was for the N64, basically a poor attempt at converting a 2D oriented style of game into a 3D game. I would expect Metroid 64 to have been pretty terrible if it existed.

[gbpxl]

You mention how Nintendo was done with 2D games at that point as being a reason no Metroid game came out, but look at what they did with Mario and Zelda games. Funny enough with Castlevania, I imagined a Metroid 64 game being like how Castlevania 64 was for the N64, basically a poor attempt at converting a 2D oriented style of game into a 3D game. I would expect Metroid 64 to have been pretty terrible if it existed.

I cant think of any 2D Nintendo games that came out for N64 besides Yoshi's Story.

[Gameguy]

I cant think of any 2D Nintendo games that came out for N64 besides Yoshi's Story.
Also Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Kirby, Mario Golf, Paper Mario(change in style from Super Mario RPG), Wave Race, and various Pokemon games, were all Nintendo franchises previously 2D that were converted to new 3D versions. I'm thinking Tetris should count too with Tetrisphere as Tetris is sort of a Nintendo exclusive on consoles and were always published by Nintendo themselves, excluding the unlicensed games pulled from market.

There was also Dr Mario but it's basically the same as the older versions, no new conversion to 3D. Mario Tennis would also be mentioned but it was always a 3D series starting on the Virtual Boy, assuming NES and Gameboy Tennis doesn't count as Mario isn't playing in it but is still there as a referee, and was sort of a 3D perspective anyway. I guess these count as Mario games but they're not main series games.

[gbpxl]

Also Donkey Kong, Excitebike, Kirby, Mario Golf, Paper Mario(change in style from Super Mario RPG), Wave Race, and various Pokemon games, were all Nintendo franchises previously 2D that were converted to new 3D versions. I'm thinking Tetris should count too with Tetrisphere as Tetris is sort of a Nintendo exclusive on consoles and were always published by Nintendo themselves, excluding the unlicensed games pulled from market.

There was also Dr Mario but it's basically the same as the older versions, no new conversion to 3D. Mario Tennis would also be mentioned but it was always a 3D series starting on the Virtual Boy, assuming NES and Gameboy Tennis doesn't count as Mario isn't playing in it but is still there as a referee, and was sort of a 3D perspective anyway. I guess these count as Mario games but they're not main series games.

Well either way, like I said, 2D gaming wasnt in the cards foe them anymore at that point, as is was the case with Sony at the time as well.

[calthaer]

The answer about why we didn't have a Metroid on the N64 may have nothing to do with 2D / 3D gaming.

It may have more to do with the fact that Gunpei Yokoi had just left Nintendo and, as the lead of the team that created Metroid, there wasn't a champion inside the firm to get the game done. The company outside the firm that they approached (https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Metroid_64) for Metroid 64 may not have wanted to follow in Yokoi's footsteps...which might explain why the next Metroid was made by a Western developer.

Hard to say. There are probably multiple reasons, but this one seems plausible to me.

[gbpxl]

The answer about why we didn't have a Metroid on the N64 may have nothing to do with 2D / 3D gaming.

It may have more to do with the fact that Gunpei Yokoi had just left Nintendo and, as the lead of the team that created Metroid, there wasn't a champion inside the firm to get the game done. The company outside the firm that they approached (https://metroid.fandom.com/wiki/Metroid_64) for Metroid 64 may not have wanted to follow in Yokoi's footsteps...which might explain why the next Metroid was made by a Western developer.

Hard to say. There are probably multiple reasons, but this one seems plausible to me.
They didnt have the confidence to make an N64 Metroid that would compare to Super? Wonder why. Technical limitations? Or because they felt the game was just a masterpiece and as an outside company, they felt anything that would be made would look like an inferior product and theyd bear the burden of being the "company that ruined the Metroid series." I am assuming the company in question was Capcom.

[Greg2600]

Yokoi I don't think mattered, but as with any company, you have finite resources and time, they have to be managed properly. Super Metroid's Yoshio Sakamoto admitted that Nintendo wished him to continue the franchise, but in 3D. He himself could not come up with the vision for that. It's been rumored that perhaps Rare, whose Jet Force Gemini wound up with Metroid elements, was offered Metroid but declined.

http://lavacutcontent.com/why-no-metroid-64/


“I was actually thinking about the possibility of making a Metroid game for N64 but I felt that I shouldn’t be the one making the game. When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around. So for me it was just too early to personally make a 3D Metroid … Nintendo at that time approached another company and asked them if they would make an N64 version of Metroid and their response was that no, they could not. They turned it down, saying that unfortunately they didn’t have the confidence to create an N64 Metroid game that could compare favorably with Super Metroid. That’s something I take as a compliment to what we achieved with Super Metroid.”

By the time the Gamecube was in development, Miyamoto was presented with a FPS engine by Retro Studios, and he liked it, and told them to skin it as Metroid, and the Prime series began. Obviously by that point development resources were largely done for N64. Could he have seen an early Perfect Dark, and told Rare to turn that into Metroid? I guess, and while he obviously tried, there were no takers for what would have been a fairly daunting project.