The Paul Gale Network blog, which reported first on the upcoming Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale, is reporting a rumor--and reemphasizes that it is a rumor several times--that Retro Studios is working on a Star Fox/Metroid crossover game for the Wii U.
What is Nintendo thinking? While I have faith in Retro Studios to produce a fun game, I have no idea what is to be gained by crossing over these two properties. Although I hesitate to call any of Nintendo's franchises "realistic," Samus Aran deserves better than than to occupy the same gamespace as an anthropomorphic fox and a talking toad.
Now, I'm not opposed to crossovers in principle. Marvel vs. Capcom has always sounded interesting. I might pick up Tekken x Street Fighter if Namco can avoid the pitfalls that Capcom has fallen into regarding downloadable content (EDIT: and apparently, that's only one of the game's many woes). Super Smash Brothers is an all-time classic. Notice anything about all of these games? They're all fighting games. Fighting games are perhaps the most mechanical of all video games, and things that define a good fighting game are balance, depth, and character design. Note how none of these things have anything to do with story. I have finished the story mode for multiple Tekken fighters, and I could not tell you how any of them ended. I don't really care how any of them ended. But man, do I love to play as Marshall Law, because he's fast, looks just like Bruce Lee, and produces little explosions whenever he hits somebody.
Crossovers in other genres could work. I'm not saying they couldn't. If characters inhabited similar universes, I would have no problems throwing them together for one game. Want to put The Legend of Zelda in with Kid Icarus? I'm okay with that. Contra and Ninja Gaiden? Similar style games... why not? But Retro has created a serious backstory for Samus Aran (despite what Team Ninja tried to do to it), and they did it in a subtle way. Star Fox does not fit into that backstory. Fox McCloud does not fit the mold of the aliens who appear in Metroid games.
Look at The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It's generally acknowledged that Wii Sports Resort was a test ground for the mechanics that Nintendo was going to include in Skyward Sword. When the team went to make Skyward Sword, nobody suggested that they needed to do a crossover with Wii Sports Resort! "Uh... why don't we make Link into a Mii character? It'll be a crossover!" It's because they respected the sanctity of the Zelda property. There's no room for incongruous characters shoehorned in for marketing or mechanical purposes. Why can't Retro Studios take Star Fox elements and program them into a Metroid game? Why can't they include 3D shooting levels featuring Samus's ship WITHOUT including Peppy Hare? Can we seriously imagine Samus having a conversation with Falco Lombardi? Or Slippy Toad?? SLIPPY TOAD???
Or how about if they create a new IP that features third-person shooting elements and 3D space shooting? This smacks of a marketing push to have recognizable names available at the Wii U's launch. You know what will raise consumer interest? The next great Nintendo game. The people are waiting for something new. Give us a reason to believe, Nintendo.
Source:
Paul Gale Network-RUMOR: Is Retro Studios' Wii U game "Star Fox - Metroid: Fusion Saga"?
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