Design doc brings ton of information, concept art on rejected “Metroid 1.5”

A “Metroid 1.5” design document from level designer Tony C. Giovannini has been discovered on the staffer’s website. The 7,000 word file will be quite interesting to fans of the series, as it is quite in-depth. Information such as co-op play, new enemy types, the game’s backstory, and tons of other features are detailed in the document. The title would have taken place between the original Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2, though the project was rejected. Check out concept art above, and a ton of information below.

Metroid 1.5 Design Concept
Single player Mission Pitch (11.18.02)
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A New section regarding co-op multi-player gaming
(An Update 11.26.02)
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New Enemy types (Genetic Experiments) 12-03-02
New Melee attack for Samus 12-03-02
Power-up System (and its cruel trick) 12-03-02

Text: Tony Giovannini
Creature Art: Andrew Jones

Back story:

This adventure would take place immediately after Samus takes off from the surface of Talon IV. Upon exiting the planets surface, Samus decides to take a long rest in her Cryo chamber as her ship autopilots home. However, something goes wrong and Samus’s ship computer hones in on a distress signal. The distress signal is coming from a huge alien vessel (huge like the size of several Star Destroyers) that is drifting out in space. As Samus’s ship approaches the alien craft, a tractor beam activates and the Ship is pulled into one of the gigantic docking bays. As the ships doors close, the gigantic vessel folds and enters a parallel dimension, thus begins Samus’s new adventure…

Upon awakening, the ship appears to be abandoned, there is no power except for auxiliary lights and telemetry from computers. It is up to Samus to unravel this mystery. The mystery being that the ship’s AI has gone mad and the ship is actually a war vessel that is on a collision course with a peaceful planet. It’s goal? The entire enslavement of the race of beings on said planet as well as natural resource stripping as its (the planets) destruction. So in essence, the ship AI has split into several different personalities, and is playing a deadly game with Samus. The Alien inhabitants of the ship are also in a state of suspended animation because as the ship travels through the parallel dimension, the alien inhabitants are being created and refined for warfare until the ship arrives at its destination and assaults the planet…However, the robotic and automated entities are not, these will be the primary enemies that Samus must deal with. In addition, Samus must also deal with the ships cunning AI, who will all the while be taunting her and trying to trick her at every opportunity.

The Main reason Samus and possibly other Bounty Hunters are being pulled into this ship is to assimilate their best and most deadly abilities into the personality construct of not only the ships AI, but also into the actual Alien Inhabitants in order to further their quest for perfection. As the ship reaches its target, it will unfold into this dimension and begin its attack. This has what the ship and Alien race who created it has have been doing for past thousand or so years, going from planet to planet, assimilating the most violent parts of a culture and asserting it into its own being.

The main goal for Samus is to disable the engines of the ship, destroy the AI, and eradicate all life forms on the ship. The catch is that even though Samus is all powerful from her previous item acquisition on Talon IV, she will be limited to use them in certain areas of the ship due to the containment matrix that the Rogue AI has set up all over the ship. This will force the player to handle situations differently than expected, and once the containment matrix is disabled, Samus will be free to use all of her abilities. Due to being in a parallel dimension, there are areas within the ship where floors may become ceiling due to gravity being reversed, Time may run backwards, (illustrated by creatures and machines moving in reverse, water moving up into a faucet) and other sorts of environmental weirdness, that Samus as well as other Bounty hunters will have to learn to adjust to in order to survive.

World Layout:

The ship will take up the same real estate as the ruins and mines combined. These are two of the largest levels in the previous game and I think that by combining the size of the two, we will have a healthy amount of game space to course though. In addition, we can further expand the 2.5D ball mode areas and expand the scanner game play. I guess this adventure would be more about solving puzzles (scan mode) and utilizing alternative methods of navigation (ball mode).

Example areas of the ship:

• Hangar bays where Samus can actually go inside transport and fighter vessels.
• Science bays where Samus could gather information about the Alien Race’s grotesque scientific experiments.
• The super structure of the ship where ball mode would be utilized much more than the previous game.
• The computer core where Samus would have to destroy the rogue AI.
• Cryo Chamber hall, where Samus shuts down life support to the hostile alien race
• Industrial factory section, where all weapons of war are made, lots of conveyor belts and mechanical machinery would make for challenging navigational game play.
• On the surface of the ship out in space, which could make for some interesting low gravity or spider ball game play
• Robot factory section, where Samus would have to sabotage the machinery that is responsible for the creation of all robotic entitles on the ship.
• Robot control HQ; here Samus could control robots in various sections of the ship via remote monitor.
• Communications array, which Samus has to destroy in order to stop the onslaught of other ships heading towards the planet. Perhaps she could divert the signal to the other ships so they collide into a near by sun, who knows.
• Reactor Core, the final area of the game where Samus sets the ship to self-destruct by overloading the engines.