As one of the most beloved franchises belonging to Nintendo, Metroid has garnered a huge fanbase since its very inception in 1986.
Loyal Nintendo fans are understandably dismayed by the announcement of Metroid Prime: Federation Force at E3 2015, and with good reason: it's not really much of a Metroid game. It's a four-player co-op title that also features a mode called Blast Ball–not much for players to be excited about, there.
Gamers have been waiting nearly a decade for the release of a true Metroid game, since the release of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Other M only served to annoy fans of the series with its, ahem, corruption of Samus Aran with gameplay that arguably failed to live up to the rest of the series, and spinoffs like Hunters and Pinball did little to satiate anyone.
As a result of the announcement and the ensuing unhappiness over the direction of the Metroid franchise, fans have taken to downvoting the Metroid Prime: Federation Force video on YouTube and starting a petition asking Nintendo to cancel the game and develop a title gamers actually want: a true Metroid Prime.
As it stands, the upcoming game feels like a poor, and even failed attempt at a cash-grab aimed at fans of Metroid who want nothing to do with it. Rather than dedicate their resources to the development of a full Metroid Prime title, Nintendo has opted instead to disappoint fans with a Metroid title that looks nothing at all like a Metroid title.
While the petition to cancel the game might seem a little extreme to outsiders or people who aren't fans of the series, imagine what the uproar would have been like if, after years of making players wait for a new Fallout title, Bethesda announced a Fallout pinball game instead of Fallout 4. Not only would the announcement of such a title disappoint fans, it would have also served only to water down a franchise practically begging for a new main entry.
So far, some rather out-of-touch members of the gaming press have taken to calling Metroid fans "entitled babies" in news posts for having the gall to ask for a proper entry into the series. Instead of empathizing with them, or at the very least reporting the news for what it is, these aloof personalities have taken to showing their contempt for gamers passionate about Metroid.
The gaming media doesn't have to champion the industry at every opportunity, but it exists to serve its readers and protect consumers from being swindled by corporations like Nintendo, however beloved the company's reputation may be, when they are trying to make a quick buck by releasing spinoffs nobody asked for.
