Mitterrod: Fusion, a 2003 interview with Kawayo Sakamoto
Interviewee: Supervisor/Screenwriter Kawayo Sakamoto (circa 2004)
After Super Metroid landed at Super Nintendo, Game Boy Color wasn't powerful enough to support us in making another sequel. When the Game Boy Advance came out, the functionality finally surpassed that of Super Nintendo, and we were very eager to develop games for it, which belonged to the handheld game division.
Sams' new armor
In Metroid Fusion, Sams has a new set of designs. The first planners who took over the design work from me came back with a bold request: "We want to change her design." When I asked why, they replied, "This version of the design has been used for too long." [Laughs]
Sams in Super Nintendo Smash Bros. Melee
But changing the design of the game's protagonist is a big deal, right? They racked their brains to try to convince us. Sams in Super Smash Bros. has a new design that's popular. Still, I told the team that changing Sams' design should not be taken lightly, not just by adjusting the appearance, but by thinking about the new gameplay elements that can be introduced from it, and giving reasons why it must be changed in the game.
Frankly, the team behind Fusion was the team that developed Wario. I'll start by figuring out what kind of game Mitterrod is. I said to them, you are like an unknown singer (traditional Japanese song category) singer, suddenly bursting into popularity... But I don't think they understand what I'm talking about at all. (Laughs) Of course, my goal is to make them realize that the team that made Mitterrod had to fully understand the core thrust of Mitterrod.
Of course, everyone on the team has a slightly different understanding of what super Mitterrode is. Some people have told me that they think the game is one of the hardcore suffering games of Nintendo's past. Copying the way a game from a nine-year-old game handles difficulty is obviously difficult for today's players to disarm. I had everyone on the team play the previous game, and they all said, "This is definitely a game for hardcore players." ”
A map of super-Mitrod games
So, during the development of this game, the first question in our minds was: how to make this Mitterrod more acceptable to players? Super Mitrod will slice the entire game into zones so that players don't feel overly stressed. But on the other hand, you can't tell the player directly what to do, so in some parts of Super Mitrod, the narrative unfolds naturally as the player plays. You'll explore disparate locations without guidance, eventually realizing where you should go through exclusion. I think this issue belongs not only to developers, but also to players.
Game map of Mitterrod: Fusion
In my opinion, despite the quest to create a more enjoyable game, we managed to retain the core fun of Mitterrod. This is crucial. Through the crisis facing Sams in the opening setting and the introduction of "SA-X" (SAMS-X), I think we managed to retain the core fun of this series while introducing an enhanced and guided narrative flow.
"SA-X" appears
The difficulty settings of modern games are far from those of older games. As for the advantages and disadvantages of the two, I can't be 100% sure, but naturally I hope that more people will play their own games. We are definitely not willing to give up our dignity as game planners, but at the end of the day, we also hope that modern players can understand our games and really get started. During the development of Fusion, this was our consistent goal. Compared to earlier titles in the series, I think it's easier for light gamers to enjoy this game.
As for how to make the game a little simpler, we've greatly simplified the operation and spent a lot of time on it. Take missile launching, for example: in Super Mitrod, you have to use the selection key to pick items, but for modern players, this won't work. We also worried that players would think we were making the game simple, but in the end it was decided that making the game more playable was more important. Personally, I'm an old-school player who prefers the way it used to be manipulated, but the team told me that the simplified operation is better. Eventually I agreed and felt "Great! "Other Nintendo developers also provided some great ideas for the Fusion team, and the whole development process was fun. My identity is a bit more backwards than Super Mitterrode, but it's still a very development experience.
Mitterrod: Mission Zero, a 2004 interview with Kawayo Sakamoto
When we developed our predecessor, Fusion, we focused more on the narrative, so many of the design approaches differed from the series tradition. Many players were exposed to the Mitterrod worldview for the first time through Fusion, and through Metroid: Zero Mission, I wanted to give players a taste of the old-fashioned Mitterrod recipe, an action game with a high degree of freedom. To achieve this, I needed to update the gameplay, story, and worldview of the first game in the series. In addition, the new second half of "Zero Mission" can also allow players who have played the original game to get a new experience.
Mission Zero
At the beginning of the development of Mission Zero, we decided to explore the "untold follow-up story" of the first generation of the series. In this game, after defeating the mother brain, Sams runs out of luck and is in deep crisis. But it wasn't until the end of development that we decided we were going to make Sams lose its armor. Our creative process is more or less like this: first there are some big ideas, and then step by step. I think the end result is satisfactory, but the whole team is stressful. [Laughs]
Fully upgraded armor in Mission Zero
Sams' new equipment after escaping Zebeth is a reference to the "SA-X" in Fusion. We hope to challenge ourselves again to see if we can better integrate it with the game system.
Zero Armor Sams in Mission Zero
We thought that the image of Sams, who was unarmed and completely helpless, could stir up the player's excitement and make her situation more real and dangerous. It's like a scene in a classic horror movie: an ugly and evil beast is chasing its prey, and the latter's weakness has been exposed. I think this very direct way of expression can best enhance tension. Sams is at the peak of her own strength when she fights her mother brain, so she is helpless after stripping herself of all abilities to create her ultimate challenge, which is one of our goals.
Cutscenes from Mission Zero
Cutscenes have been added to reinforce the mystery of Sams's journey. I realized that many players said that not narrating through words can bring a stronger sense of mystery.
Mitterrod Ultimate 2: Echoes
Our next project is Metroid Prime 2. I'm in the role of a watchdog in this game, and I'm not sure if I'll be directly involved in the production, but I've accumulated a lot of new ideas!