10 Potentially Great Video Games That Were Dead On Arrival

7. Metroid: Other M

While many titles on this list botched their stories, few managed to so effectively destroy any semblance of their hero€™s dignity as Other M. Following on from the smash hits of the Metroid: Prime series and Metroid Fusion, Other M was set to introduce the franchise to a new generation. Abandoning previous series staples in favour of acrobatic third person combat, it was planned to be a much more in-depth story examining Samus Aran€™s history. Written and directed by co-creator Yoshiro Sakamoto himself, writer of the Metroid manga, this looked to be a major advance in the series. Or so fans thought. Upon shipping it was quickly clear things had gone horribly wrong. Within days of its release, a major coding error was discovered which prevented access to the plot-critical Ice Beam weapon, and the Wii-mote combat system was unwieldy at the best of times. However, these could be forgiven, what truly ignited a terrible firestorm of fan-rage was the terrible writing which seemed to go out of its way to destroy Samus as a credible character. Contradicting even the manga is was supposed to build upon, Other M turned Samus from a shell-shocked survivor forced to overcome great fear into a shrieking, subservient caricature. Even ignoring the monotone voice acting and storytelling narration even Hideo Kojima would balk at, the writing was downright disturbing at times. Nearly all of this blame can be levelled at Sakamoto himself, who took a near dictatorial control over the entire project. Despite a hefty promotional campaign on the part of Nintendo, the game failed to meet even half of its intended sales. Copies can still be found filling up bargain bins everywhere, and with no sequel in sight this may have killed off the entire series.