I’ve been hearing a lot of bad things about the Wii U, and yeah, its sales have not been good enough so that Nintendo may never give it a sequel. The problem is this could be an end to certain beloved characters like Mario, and I’ve heard it said that even a new Legend of Zelda gamed could not resurrect Nintendo’s glory. That is a shame, because I would hate to lose Metroid.

If you are not familiar with Metroid, it is a science-fiction game about a bounty hunter named Samus Aran, and I honestly don’t really understand a lot of the space adventures after that. Apparently, it involves a lot of Space Pirates and the titular Metroids.

My first encounter with Metroid was with Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. I enjoyed this game a lot for the Wii, and it is an excellent first-person shooter. The Metroid series began on the NES, and it was an original side-scroller adventure. I recently had a chance to play the most recent offering of Metroid: Other M for the Wii, and it is interesting as it combines both side-scrolling and FPS. All you need to do is point the Wiimote at the Wii Sensor bar and you can shoot from Sanus’ eyes.

I’ll just say that I find the shifting from first person to side scrolling a little bit confusing, but at least the gameplay is unique. I haven’t really played that much of the game to give it a proper review. I truly enjoy the Metroid games as they really probe deep into Samus’ character, even going into flashbacks. The scenery reminds me of the first Alien movie, and it was the genuine inspiration.

I also like the fact that Samus is a woman, which is rare, if not a first in video games. Normally women in video games are the ones needing saving, but Samus has a gun and is seriously kicking butt! I believe that the first Metroid game had Sanus’s gender as the big reveal at the end.

Believe it or not, I have heard that there was a plan to make a Metroid movie. John Woo was even slated to head it up. I’m not going to say that it would ruin Metroid, but video game movies just plain don’t work, and I might write that article later.

It is a shame that Other M could be the last incarnation of Metroid, because the concept is cool and the character is cooler. Come on, there has got to be some way to keep her alive.