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Retro was working on an original FPS for GameCube, which was eventually turned into Metroid Prime

by rawmeatcowboy
26 June 2017
GN Version 5.0

Coming from a Switch Player interview with Senior Designer Mike Wikan...

“When I came on board, the Engine group was significantly behind schedule and there was no way to create gameplay demonstrables in an effective fashion. I was told, quite literally, by leadership that designers would design the game on paper, then hand it off to engineering and art to create it. In my opinion that was insanity.

When Nintendo arrived suddenly, wanting to see demonstrables of all the games that the teams were working on, only our FPS had demonstrable real-time scriptable content. Nintendo liked what they saw and proposed we adapt that game and viewpoint, but restart it as a Metroid game. The moral of the story is that if you see a problem, work to solve it; don’t assume someone else will take that responsibility on.”

Now that's pretty insane when you think about it. Metroid Prime only exists because of a FPS prototype Retro was toying wtih. If Retro didn't have that FPS engine to show off, Nintendo would have never asked them to adapt it to the Metroid series. We almost missed out one of Nintendo's most beloved franchise entries!

[Link]