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

Additional Multiplayer Goodness (Semper Fi! Do or Die!):

Another route we could go…Samus and a group of Bounty Hunters are hired by the federation to explore this vessel drifting though space and take care of the problem by “any means necessary”. Again, this would require teamwork, but instead of a game of trust and deceit, it’s a game of teamwork where all the players are Allies…similar to the troops in Halo. Again, the main focus of this game is teamwork. By having bounty hunters utilize their different abilities to solve puzzles and progress through the game, we could insure a rewarding Multi-player experience. Also, as Mike W, stated in the design meeting, this would insure multiplayer by limiting progression for a single player.

What that in mind, we can focus on “Mission Impossible” styles of missions where teamwork and timing are crucial to success. When I reference Mission Impossible, I am referring to the television show of the 60’s, and not the Tom Cruise Mega-hit movies. Types of missions would include:

• Hacking into and disrupting dataflow at several key locations through out a ship or base in order to clear a level goal. In order to succeed, the players would have to hack the computers in sequence and upload a virus or some sort of malignant program at the proper moment. Missions like these could also have a time limit, thus creating tension.

• Placing charges on certain mechanical structures of the base/ship and setting the timers off that the proper moment, then as the timers are counting down, the team makes a daring escape to avoid being blown to bits. Again, this is another mission where timing is crucial to the success of the mission.

• Space Marines vs. Giant Bugs: We have pretty much all seen or read Starship Troopers…Exe what about missions where Alpha beetles are coming from all directions, and the squad has to work together in order to defeat them? Sure, its mindless fun, but its also very satisfying at the same time.

• Artifact retrieval: four artifacts are spread throughout a map and must be brought to a central totem/location to be utilized. The team must split up and find the artifacts on their own, since each Bounty Hunter has his or her own unique abilities, we could custom tailor each path. This would also increase replay-ability due to the fact that the right Bounty hunter would have to use the right path. If there is one path, to claim the artifacts, the bounty hunters could work together to get past obstacles…exe… locked door, morphball tunnel to other side…Samus has to go through, and unlock the door from the other side, to let the rest of the Bounty Hunters though

Focusing on Co-op multiplayer, would be wise considering it’s basically a single player style of game and mission-base that will scale up in difficulty depending on the number of players, similar to Diablo and Phantasy Star online. Missions like this can be a lot of fun due the fact that creature encounters would become more intense as the number of players increase.