The Metroid: Federation Force Backlash Is Downright Embarrassing It's time to start acting like grown-ups

A couple of weeks ago at E3, Nintendo premiered a trailer for a new Metroid spinoff game called Metroid Prime: Federation Force. And for the crime of making a Metroid spinoff game with a different art style and no Samus, Nintendo has been feeling the heat of spergy fan rage since. Just look at the Dislike/Like ratio on their trailer’s video.

I Just Don’t Get The Anger

I’ve thought about this for the past week or so, and I just don’t get this level of rage. Fans actually started a petition to cancel this game. Not a petition to make the game they want, but to cancel the game they disapprove of.

One of the haters’ major complaints seems to be after waiting so long for a Metroid game, they should get something more traditionally Metroid.  Look, I freely admit I’m not a long time Metroid fan here, since I only recently got into the series. So I get that I haven’t been waiting years for a new Metroid game. But so what? Really, Metroid fans have it pretty good compared to, say, F-Zero or Earthbound fans. Despite their reputation for milking franchises to death, I would say Nintendo actually lets franchises sit on the shelf for too long, with the exceptions being reliable cash cows like Mario and Pokemon.

Another complaint I hear is the art style. People say it’s too cartoony and not in line with the typical Metroid art style. You know, I seem to remember another time when Nintendo introduced a new game in a series and fans initially reacted negatively to the cutesy art style, only to have that game considered by many to be one of the high points in the series.

And the last major complaint is that is doesn’t have Samus in it, essentially complaining that a spinoff game is a spinoff game. “But it doesn’t feel like a Metroid game!” I wonder, had Internet culture been around in 1992, if fans would have had a similar knee-jerk reaction the first time Mario found himself behind the wheel of a Go-Kart?

Everyone Needs To Calm Their Tits

Look, I’m not saying Federation Force looks amazing. And I understand the disappointment for fans of the series whose ears perked up when they heard the theme music, only to be greeted with something that wasn’t what they hoped for. And I would understand a petition being started to get a more traditional Metroid game on the Wii U.

But trying to get a game canceled because it doesn’t appeal to you? That sounds like what SJWs try to do. And you know what? This might end up being a pretty decent game. It might end up fleshing out the fictional universe of Metroid in new and interesting ways. Or maybe—and honestly more likely—it will be mediocre and quickly forgotten. At best, you get an interesting spinoff series, att worst you get an odd little footnote in the history of the series. But either way, it’s not like this is what Metroid is from now on.

Either way as a fellow Nintendo fan, I find these sorts of aspie-like tantrums embarrassing.