Discussion What hurt Federation Force most?

[Linkstrikesback]

The biggest reason was it was a bad game. It's easily the worst game the series has had by a significant distance.

It didn't help that it was tied to a franchise people loved but was seemingly dead at the time, for sure, but if it wasn't a Metroid game, it'd still have been completely forgettable like Chibi robo zip lash or Hey Pikmin. Even if it released now as a switch game, it'd still be widely known for being the low point of the franchise and one of the weakest games Nintendo had put out.

 

[Sheldon]

It wasn't what it hurt Federation Force the most, but was another own goal where a little bit of positive momentum could have been salvaged instead.

Releasing a demo? Good idea for a title people are skeptical of without having played it.

Making the demo the soccer-based mini-game? Bad idea. By some accounts the main gameplay was at least interesting and novel, and letting people try a handful of missions of online co-op could have turned a few opinions around.

 

[OctoSplattack]

It wasn't what it hurt Federation Force the most, but was another own goal where a little bit of positive momentum could have been salvaged instead.

Releasing a demo? Good idea for a title people are skeptical of without having played it.

Making the demo the soccer-based mini-game? Bad idea. By some accounts the main gameplay was at least interesting and novel, and letting people try a handful of missions of online co-op could have turned a few opinions around.

I haven't thought about it a good while, but holy shit, Blast Ball. The first thing we saw of Federation Force was the Blast Ball side mode that I remember most people just instantly writing off as a small-scale eShop title. Then you hit us with the reveal that, surprise, it's actually a Metroid spin-off. That plus the demo being for Blast Ball instead of the actual game (seriously, what???) almost gave the impression that they made a sci-fi soccer game first then decided to staple the Metroid IP onto it. And reading interviews to see why they presented the game in this manner... like, okay, I get not being comfortable with the state the main game was in, and Blast Ball was enjoyable and does serve as a good controls tutorial. But damn was the focus on Blast Ball weird as hell and not help the perception of the game at all.

 

[Weebos]

It's not about what hurt it the most, it's about who hurt it the most.

 

[Hylianhero777]

The biggest reason was it was a bad game. It's easily the worst game the series has had by a significant distance.

It didn't help that it was tied to a franchise people loved but was seemingly dead at the time, for sure, but if it wasn't a Metroid game, it'd still have been completely forgettable like Chibi robo zip lash or Hey Pikmin. Even if it released now as a switch game, it'd still be widely known for being the low point of the franchise and one of the weakest games Nintendo had put out.

It's easily worse than Other M. That game is at least interesting in the ways it's bad, Federation Force just has absolutely no soul. Which is crazy considering it's an NLG joint and their other games are so well known for having a huge amount of personality

 

[grobla123]

Everyone kept telling me it was actually good and so I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I regret that. There was not one element from the level design, presentation to the controls that I actually enjoyed. No one element was enough to make me think it was shovelware, but everything was below par, for me.

 

[LiamRobertson]

I guess the whole concept of it. People wanted Metroid. They didn't want some experimental spin-off with a weird chibi art style. It's hard to pinpoint just one aspect of that. It was all so misjudged from a PR standpoint.

 

[xghost777]

A combination of factors hurt it including terrible gyro controls for those without Circle Pad Pros, but generally it was the wrong game at the worst time that hurt it most. People are ok with spinoffs if they know a main proper game is coming and it following the insulting Other M together set up a recipe for disaster.

Samus Returns also would have had a very different reception around it had Metroid Prime 4 also not just been announced.

 

[Krvavi Abadas]

Nintendo just really had a bad streak of poorly timed annoucements during that period, Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze (for who was developing it, not the IP itself) had the exact same issue.

it's incredibly obvious in hindsight that a new Animal Crossing game (or even the major update for New Leaf) and a more "mature" title from Retro Studios would eventually happen. but the gaming discourse always has to be fed constantly with negative news.

Most likely, SR came out like a year after Federation Force, so they probably started around 2015.

bingo, the takedown of AM2R (to avoid it competing with their take) was about a week before Federation Force launched.

 

[Tentacle-tropes]

I’m gonna go with a little bit of everything for 500$. Shame because a game like this could’ve helped flesh out the wider world of Metroid more. Guess I’ll have to wait & see if Prime 4 wants to change that up.

 

[Gabev]

Launching with no mainline metroid game during a very long drought of metroid games.

 

[WhyS]

It's a mix of everything, but a major factor that wasn't in the poll is how the game was revealed. They didn't show us Federation Force at first. They showed us Blast Ball and people thought it was going to be a cheap little 3DS eShop game. The next day they revealed that it was actually Metroid Prime: Blast Ball and people were very upset by that because of all the factors mentioned in this thread on top of people thinking that had just taken the good name of Metroid Prime and stuck it on a random little game to sell more copies. After that they finally revealed that Blast Ball was a side mode of an actual full game, Metroid Prime: Federation Force. By the time they got to the main reveal, the damage had already been done with the Metroid Prime: Blast Ball reveal. The game was never going to be successful, but it would have been better received if they never let people believe that Blast Ball was all there was to it.

 

[Aurc]

The final boss of that game is really its crowning glory. Unbelievably bad.

It really is the silliest bs they could've possibly mustered. "You fight a giant Samus in Morph Ball form, and she tries to run you over" is parody territory.

Heck, back in the late 2000s/early 2010s, I distinctly remember people saying a Prime spin-off focusing on the Federation would be a cool way of expanding the universe. I don't think every Metroid fan was opposed to the idea of Federation Force, but its timing couldn't have possibly been worse.

Not only am I not opposed to the idea of Federation Force, but I'd be totally cool with another attempt at a spinoff revolving around the Galactic Federation. One with actual characters instead of Jim Bobs, a non-chibi art style, and a compelling gameplay + story combo. I think the well on this has been pretty thoroughly poisoned though, unfortunately.

To this day, the only Metroid games I haven't beaten are Hunters and Federation Force. How playable is Federation Force for single-player? If it's doable and not a complete slog I might attempt to actually beat it one day.

I played the Hunters single player campaign for the first time in 2021, and it was a rough experience, to say the least. It consists of fighting multiplayer bots in Magmoor Caverns (but not!), Phendrana Drifts (but not!), etc. All the bosses are the same two on repeat, which is painful. I can't recommend it. I'm sure it was pretty great back when it was being played for its multiplayer component though, which is where the "real game" actually lies.

 

[TheCongressman]

For me it was mostly because of the multiplayer focus. I think the art style would have also been less of a big deal if Samus was the player character instead of some troopers no one cares about. Their designs are already pretty generic, and really aren't helped by the chibi style. Watching a playthrough I noticed that I didn't really have a problem with the look when I wasn't seeing the characters themselves.

 

[Joe]

It really is the silliest bs they could've possibly mustered. "You fight a giant Samus in Morph Ball form, and she tries to run you over" is parody territory.

Not only am I not opposed to the idea of Federation Force, but I'd be totally cool with another attempt at a spinoff revolving around the Galactic Federation. One with actual characters instead of Jim Bobs, a non-chibi art style, and a compelling gameplay + story combo. I think the well on this has been pretty thoroughly poisoned though, unfortunately.

I played the Hunters single player campaign for the first time in 2021, and it was a rough experience, to say the least. It consists of fighting multiplayer bots in Magmoor Caverns (but not!), Phendrana Drifts (but not!), etc. All the bosses are the same two on repeat, which is painful. I can't recommend it. I'm sure it was pretty great back when it was being played for its multiplayer component though, which is where the "real game" actually lies.

I gave the single-player of Hunters a shot a few years back and I really didn't think it was for me. I missed out on Hunters when multiplayer was active and the single-player seems to be very much an afterthought. That plus the controls makes me feel I probably will never be compelled to beat it. Federation Force, on the other hand, I'm willing to give a try if single-player is doable.