10 Disastrous Followups To Great Video Games
2. Team Ninja - Ninja Gaiden 2 To Metroid: Other M
Nintendo is usually very, very protective of their most iconic IPs, so when Metroid: Other M, fronted by external developers Team Ninja was announced, it came as something of a surprise.
Turns out Nintendo probably should have stuck to their guns and kept Metroid in house, as Other M really isn't good at all.
The problem with Other M was its narrative just wasn't up to scratch for what we'd expect from Metroid; Samus' characterisation was terrible, and the plot just dragged along from point to point with little to actually enjoy. It also implements a really weird first-person view for Samus at various points, and it just doesn't work very well.
Team Ninja were probably chosen for the project because they had a good reputation developing quality action games. They are particularly well known for the Ninja Gaiden franchise, and they'd just came off the back of developing the commercially-successful Ninja Gaiden 2 before they released Metroid: Other M.
Unsurprisingly, Other M didn't set the world on fire and the series has again been reinvigorated with Metroid Dread and presumably the upcoming Metroid Prime 4.