Metroid co-creator Sakamoto doesn't want to return to traditional games
Nintendo's Sakamoto doesn't rule out returning to Metroid, but he wants to work on something "completely different and that brings new emotions."
One of the co-creators of Nintendo's long-running Metroid franchise, Yoshio Sakamoto, said in an interview recently that he's not looking to return to making traditional games.
It's hard to get more non-traditional than Sakamoto's recent work on the incredibly quirky social game Tomodachi Life, but in an interview with CVG, Sakamoto responded to a question about whether he planned on returning to the types of games he used to make. "I do not intend to do so," he said. "There might [currently] be various tasks I might be involved in with past series. However, even if so, I would always like to introduce new entertainment and new fun to those series."
He added that while he wanted to "satisfy fans of those series," he also wanted to "create entertainment that's completely different and that brings new emotions."
Sakamoto was director of the Team Ninja developed Metroid: Other M, but his other more recent works have skewed in unique directions. He had producer credits in Rhythm Heaven and various Wario Ware games, as well as a supervisor role on Picross DS.
"This might be indirect," Sakamoto said, "but if we can make new types of gamers enjoy video games for the first time through Tomodachi Life, then they might eventually become interested in the more conventional games. I think we need to ensure that video games remain attractive to consumers, and in order to do so, new concepts and ideas are important. I would like to challenge myself to do that."
We recently talked with Nintendo's Bill Trinnen about Tomodachi Life (a mash-up of The Sims, Animal Crossing, and crazy fever dreams), which doesn't bear much resemblance to Metroid on the surface, but Sakamoto said, "Although the types of games are different, what I think is the same for each development is the process of deciding which kinds of emotions we should bring to players. ... I think in the end what is most important is hospitality towards consumers. When we develop games we always think, 'What do we have to do to make players happy or satisfied?'"
His comments don't rule out a new more traditional Metroid game from an outside studio in the future, but, it does show the series co-creator wants to keep working on new games with a broad appeal. But what do you think: would you rather have a completely re-imagined Metroid directly from Sakamoto, or something more traditional?
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