The release of Metroid: Other M has marked many changes to Metroid as we've known it. Aside from the updated gameplay, embellished story and even a voice for Samus, it has also marked a return from the Metroid Prime subseries.

Those of you who have visited the MDb for many years may recall the Metroid Prime 2 Review Diary, a day-to-day account of the Metroid Prime 2 experience by the MDb's founder, TJ. What began as an open-minded and optimistic dive into Planet Aether gradually sank into a dispirited account of his frustration with the game's blandness, difficulty and overall departure from what made the Metroid series so great in the beginning. And so, TJ walked away from his fandom for the series.

But with Other M's marked return came a return to Metroid's roots... A return to the classic trilogy's storyline, a return of classic abilities, and a return to some good-old-fashioned third-person fixed-perspective gameplay. And so like these, TJ has returned to Metroid as well. And he will be journaling the experience.

We will be periodically publishing new entries to TJ's Other M Review Diary. Check out his first entry now, and be watching our Remixes column for more to come!

-Jesse D

MDb Forum user and contributor VGMStudios has uncovered some images of the Japanese boxart of Metroid: Other M from a Yahoo Japan Auction. In the tradition of Japanese boxarts being better than our American counterparts, this one excels over ours on many levels: the suited Samus on the outside is the slipcover, which reveals the GFed Young Samus underneath. They even took some extra care to make the disc art better than ours as well. Check 'em out:

--Infinity's End

I'd like to take this opportunity to make a very fond thank you to Nintendo for sending me this review copy of Metroid Other M, even though I didn't get it until the 30th. I was able to beat the game in a single day of straight playthrough, and complete the rest the next day. For those still in doubt, my spoiler-free review might shed some more light on the game. Please enjoy!

--Infinity's End

I've been a little busy here playing through Metroid: Other M that I didn't notice the latest updates on the Nintendo Channel (well, that and my Wii isn't wired 24/7). There are three new Metroid-related updates here, including the Action Trailer, an official translation of the Sakamoto/Yosuke/Kitazura interview, and the 8/30 Nintendo Show demo of Metroid: Other M by the game's translator and localizer, Nate Bihldhorff. Admittedly, it's a little strange to watch this video after having played through most of the game, but the Sakamoto interview is still interesting to watch, particularly since they added new graphics for the intertitles.

Metroid.com has also seen some massive updates, including new video footage of all of Samus' abilities (except Gravity Suit) and some nifty wallpapers. Sadly, the second half of the Iwata Asks interview with the Other M staff has not yet been translated, but they are probably on it as we speak.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

As all the world's Metroid fans head to their local game stores to unwrap the latest in the series, you would think there would be no hopping place to be other than the Nintendo World Store in NYC. Yet leave it to Nintendo to have absolutely nothing awesome going on there for the release of Metroid: Other M, super-hyped on TV ads and websites, but with a presence all but absent from Nintendo's only official store in the United States, located in Rockefeller Center. Whereas the store was all decked out for Muramasa: The Demon Blade (a third-party title, albeit one that sports GORGEOUS animations), Nintendo's 'other' star franchise received next to zero fanfare, with not a hint of pomp and circumstance, and certainly no swag (as reports the MDb's own - now-disappointed - Samuel Ward). Interestingly, the store has had a big display of all the Metroid games for play and a giant poster of Samus from all the games (as well as a display of the First4Figures Samus starship), even though many of the games are no longer reasonably available for purchase new. C'mon, Nintendo! Do you REALLY want people to resell Metroid Prime Trilogy for $70 on Amazon? Or $90 for a new copy of Other M's sequel, Metroid Fusion?

Until next time...
Captain Commando

WAHOOOOO!! Metroid: Other M is officially released in stores around the country. I actually just got finished playing through my review copy yesterday and will be writing a review very soon for the site. Go pick up your copy today!

On the fan music front, the ever-talented band Metroid Metal has released a sampler track on their upcoming Expansion Pack album. Expansion Pack (EP) features clean, remastered versions of Metroid Metal tracks that were not on their previous album, Varia Suite. We will probably have a full review of the album once we get it in our hands. The band will be releasing the album officially at this year's PAX, on Sept. 4th.

SWAG ALERTS:
Some Metroid Other M wall scrolls have appeared on eBay. We don't know yet if this is official merchandise or not, but considering Nintendo has never made wall scrolls for any of their games, it's likely that it's not official. On top of these, Nintendo has sent out official Metroid canvas prints featuring Other M artwork on it to various media outlets such as Kotaku. I think I can speak for the rest of the staff members here when I say it's very disappointing that Nintendo didn't consider sending us one.

One last thing... I can't say what it is right now, but we may have some extremely awesome things in store for you fine folks that visit us... Stay tuned!

--Infinity's End

Longtime Metroid fan and previous MDb editor Asaic played Other M early and has returned to the site to give us a very positive review (9/10), highly praising the gameplay. Asaic is an expert at Super Metroid, contributing our Super Challenge Walkthrough and has been eagerly awaiting the release of a third-person 3D Metroid for over a decade.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Metroid: Other M's review scores have been posted online through several different sources, and for the most part, the game is mostly receiving mid-8's (including an 8.5 by Nintendo Power, Gamespot, and IGN - as well as the Metroid Database), with one 9 by Worth Playing - though Game Informer gave the game an abysmally low score. 1Up's B- seems poorly weighted at 75% (when's the last time you got a C-grade % for a B score?), but Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the game a very respectable 35/40 (9/9/8/9), which is a very high score for both a Metroid game and any game in general (the title ranked higher than Metroid Prime 3 (33). Other M's average meta-score of about 82% on Gamerankings, though this is likely to fluctuate over the next couple weeks, as the listing is currently incomplete.

Due to the experimental nature of the game and new things Nintendo and Team Ninja tried to implement, Metroid: Other M is more than a little controversial, with some people enjoying it highly and others disliking the changes. Most reviews praise the game's tight action and abilities, classic exploration feel and wonderful environment, but mark the game down for its lumbering story and wordy script (and the expected complaints about the voice acting). There have been more than a few complaints about the first person mode as well, though I personally didn't have any problems with it. Wired praised the game's blend of 2D and 3D action while IGN in particular thought the game could have used the nunchuck. The general consensus seems that the game's graphics look nice (and the FMV sequences are phenomenal), but in-game textures are ultimately not as good as Prime 3, and the audio is either very good (ambient) or disappointing (minimal). Hilariously, Wired also said they hated the male character models.

I'd like to reiterate that a score of 85% isn't that bad for a game (especially when you consider a 75% to be 'average' and an 85% it will get you an Editor's Choice on IGN), but ultimately it isn't quite the level of quality we expected from such a well-respected series. Other M is by no means the worst in the series (it's far better than Metroid Prime 2 and can rival the series' GBA outings in some places), and if the range of reviews is any indication, you may enjoy the game a lot more than some of us have.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

If you were living in Tokyo over the past week, you may have had a chance to visit the VACANT noidea gallery in Harajuku where there was an exhibit for Gumpei Yokoi entitled "The Man Who was Called the God of Games". The exhibit showcased the design work of Gumpei Yokoi, the man who created the Game Boy and served as producer for the first three Metroid games. In addition, the exhibit opened with a two-hour lecture on August 21 that included speeches by Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka (the composer of the original Metroid), media artists Daito Manabe and Toshio Iwai, and Gumpei Yokoi biographer Makino Takehumi. In addition, there was a second lecture on August 27 with Nintendo collector Yamasaki Kou, Dr. Akira Kone Kazunari, game idol Anno Haruna, and the group 10 Dreams Kawada. The short exhibition ended on August 29.

Photos of the gallery have been made available through a French blog and the blog of Nintendo World Report's Japanese correspondent, gypsyOTOKO (actually, the blog doesn't seem to be working right now, but you can view the full text of his report via the NWR forums).

Designer t-shirt company Tokyo Pistol Co., Ltd. also produced a limited-edition series of shirts for the exhibit. Inspired by Game and Watch and Gumpei Yokoi's toy inventions, these expensive shirts will set you back 3500y (about $40) (click to page 2 to view the shirts).

The Gumpei Yokoi exhibit follows on the shirt-tails of Makino Takehumi's two books, Gumpei Yokoi's House of Games Returns and Father of Games: Gumpei Yokoi, the Man Who Created the DNA of Nintendo. We've found out that Pix 'n Love Publishing is working on an English translation of Father of Games, but no word yet on House of Games. Pix 'n Love is publishing a series of books on game history, including the history of Nintendo.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

I got my hands on a review copy of Metroid: Other M! However, I'm not sure why some places have released their reviews early - in the copy of the game I received, they placed a moratorium on reviews until 10 AM PST of August 27. Now that I've foregone sleep to achieve a 100% completion rate, I think it's time to offer a review of my own... So let's take a deep breath and dive in!

UPDATE: The Story/Action Trailer has been given an official translation with the English dubs! Check it out here (courtesy of NWR):

Until next time...
Captain Commando