Nintendo First Half 2010 Lineup -- Mario, Metroid Other M, Sin & Punishment 2 Q1/Q2!

[A Black Falcon]

Metroid: Other M will be the next game I buy. The trailer looks amazing, and as much I love the Prime trilogy, I'm excited for the new direction the series is taking.

Hmm, I'm not sure... I mean, the Metroid Prime series was so, so amazing... it could be good, and it could have an interesting story, but I don't know. We'll see, I'm reserving judgment for now.

I've always wondered why Bowser and the Kupa troopers keep kidnapping the princess? What do those reptiles want with her?

It's because Miyamoto hates games with stories and thinks that "rescue the princess again" is a good enough plot, so why bother putting in anything more than that?

For instance Zelda games really only have stories because back in the early '90s one of the guys working on Link's Awakening snuck plot elements into the game, against Miyamoto's wishes. He hasn't changed -- evidently Mario Galaxy 2 essentially has no story, unlike the first game, because Miyamoto doesn't like making games with real plots.

... I know that it results in some amazing gameplay, which is always his focus, but the lameness and sexism of "rescue the princess" saddens and frustrates me as a plot, as does the lack of playable female characters... the only Zelda games with playable female characters were two of the CD-i games, made by European or American studios, and the only Mario games are Mario 2, where it's all a dream, and the spinoff sports/puzzle games... Super Princess Peach excepted (made by Tose not Nintendo itself, though), but there instead they stereotype women as hyper-emotional. Great.

I mean, Mario games don't need great stories. That's not what the series is about. But come on, why are none of the playable characters in NSMBWii female, and why is the plot "Peach was an idiot and got kidnapped again because she's a moron despite supposedly being in charge of the country"? You should be able to do better than that...

(The gameplay itself of course is amazing, but the plot... I know it's a NES reference, but still. At least in Mario 3 on the NES Peach only got kidnapped before the 8th level, not at the beginning of the game.)

But it's really not just about sexism, it's just that "rescue the princess" is a lame plot in my opinion, even for a plotless game.