Console to Screen: Metroid

Metroid was released in
1986. Could it make it
to the big screen?

In 1986, Nintendo released Metroid for the NES. The game was an instant hit as Nintendo continued an impressive run of games that couldn't stay on the shelves. It was about a bounty hunter named Samus Aran that fought against the Space Pirates and a cybernetic life form called Mother Brain on the planet Zebes. In the early part of the decade, Nintendo was the first video game company to use story to drive the game. Metroid was another example of it, but there was a twist that shocked gamers in the mid-80's: the hero was a woman. Suddenly most gamers felt like they had to shower and impress their female heroine, but alas that would be the closest some of the gamers got to a woman. Metroid stopped dead in the 90's, but returned in 2002 with a new look and a more in-depth story. Years ago, Metroid was rumored to be attached to John Woo to direct a feature, but since then Metroid has developed three more games with good stories and great action. It was one of the first games that showed the Wii's potential, but what pitfalls would Metroid cross before hitting the big screen?

Story:

Metroid Prime revamped the
dormant series in 2002.

If you use the Metroid Prime story, Samus Aran is called to Tallon IV to stop the Space Pirates from growing an powerful and volatile chemical called Phazon. Through the process, Samus stops a Space Pirate mining operation only to discover that there was a plan to create an ultimate weapon called Metroid Prime. Unlike it's brethren that would attach to a life form and drain it's energy, Metroid Prime was a larger creature that could adapt to different environments and different attack weapons. Samus destroyed the creature, but in a secret ending it's revealed Samus gave life to something much worse. The Metroid Prime trilogy is one of the most successful franchises released by Nintendo and could spawn a series of films.

Metroid: The Other M was the first
Nintendo game that let the lead talk.

However, if Hollywood follows the latest edition -Metroid: The Other M- the series could go in a different direction. In The Other M, Samus details that she used to be a member of the Galactic Federation Army, but left after a dispute with her commanding officer to become a bounty hunter. After defeating Mother Brain and watching the baby metroid that saved her killed, Samus is "cleaned up" by the Federation doctors. After answering a distress call, Samus travels to "the bottle ship" where she finds that the planet Zebes was recreated in this structure. Through her adventure, she re-encounters the rest of her old platoon -including her superior officer Adam Malkovich. Little-by-little, Samus finds out that the Federation "cleaned up" Samus by taking all of the DNA off her suit to make these creatures- including Ridley and Mother Brain. As a result, Samus must defeat her enemies- including the enormous Queen Metroid- while she tries to find out who killed the members of her old platoon. The story was crafted well and Samus was flushed out as a character better in this edition.

Samus is as attractive as she's deadly. Who could play her and do her justice?

Jennifer Lawrence has two
franchises going right now.
She'd be perfect for this one.

Casting:

There's really only one character to cast in this series- Samus Aran. In all editions, Samus looks the same; blonde hair, blue eyes, athletically slender build and perfect looks. She has the look of Kate Upton, but the attitude of Alien's Ellen Ripley. Now, Hollywood would love to get another heroine to the screen as they're hard to come by. In recent years, they got The Hunger Games, Twilight and Prometheus but one more couldn't hurt. As a matter of fact, one of those films has the ideal actress to play Samus Aran: Jennifer Lawrence of X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Games. Lawrence has two aspects that would make her perfect: she looks the part and can act. A former Oscar nominated actress for Winter's Bone, Lawrence has proved herself over-and-over again in various films over the last couple years and proved she could be an action star in the last two years. Give her a good script and Lawrence will deliver.

Mother Brain was a powerful enemy,
but Hollywood would need to expand
her character.

Hurdles:

Metroid never really clarified their story until Metroid Prime, but that's not the major hurdle. In most Nintendo games, their heroes (or heroines) were mute. In Metroid: The Other M, Samus finally spoke. To hard core fans, Samus was too sensitive and too overcome by feelings, but some found the story compelling and moving. The scenes between Adam, Anthony and Samus were good, but the feel for the other members will have to improve. Another problem that arises is Samus' enemies are mute. There's no feel for what the Space Pirates, Dark Samus or Mother Brain's motives are, unlike the atmosphere you get with the Legend of Zelda or Super Mario series. Perhaps that's why The Other M would make a better film, but executives wouldn't like starting a series at what's essentially part 3 of the story. Without a good supporting cast, even with great action, Metroid would be doomed.

What's Already In Place:
A great sci-fi angle and a good main character, but Metroid's action sequences could be impressive. With several different creatures and bad ass bosses like Ridley, film adaptation should be great. The scenery is impressive and gives you a different feel for the areas. The presentation of Metroid through the years makes it interesting how to deliver it. It began as a side scrolling game, then first-person shooter and then a 3D interactive side-scroller. All those presentations will not matter if adapted to the big screen, but it's still important to understand the feel of the series.  However, the music is what separates Metroid. It's style was more like a techo-score and mix that in with flashy action and it'll get your blood pumping. The Metroid Prime series was listed on my Best Music in Video Games.

Who could pull this off:
Renowned action director John Woo would have been a decent choice, but it's not the only option depending on what you want out of this franchise. If you want better story, Ridley (no pun intended)  Scott or James Cameron would be a homerun, but the chances of them taking on a Video Game movie is unlikely. The horror would be that Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov gets the gig, which would make fans clammer for Woo again. Perhaps a studio could discuss Jon Favreau as a possibility after his success with Iron Man and mixed reviews of Cowboys and Aliens.

Will we ever see a Metroid film? Hard to say. Nintendo was burned by their Super Mario Brothers movie and they tend to shy away from the big screen. That said, sooner-or-later, Nintendo is going to give it a shot and it's more likely that Metroid would get it's number called before any of their other franchises. That way, fans of Zelda don't get mad if their movie sucked or another black eye if Super Mario movie failed again. Metroid is just popular enough to take the chance without alienating it's fans if the results are... well... Resident Evil-esc.

Best Music in Gaming History

In the genesis of the video games, music wasn't needed to soothe the savage beast. Pong didn't have music, neither did Asteroids or Missle Commander. Hell, even Donkey Kong and many early Nintendo games didn't have music except a bit in the beginning. However, as games evolved into bigger experiences with better storytelling, a great score was needed. Some of these games have scores that blockbuster films would envy and set the mood brilliantly. Sometimes it wrenched your guts and sometimes it keeps you going to the next level. The music of these games inspired the constantly sold out show "Video Games Live", where fans get to hear the music of games they loved.

Let's take a look at ten: (will not include Mass Effect, Halo or Dead Space for lack of experience with them and all Star Wars games are out since their music comes straight from the movies.) 

Mega Man gave you a different
feel for every level.

Mega Man - The theme of different tones for different worlds and characters come up a lot and Mega Man was one of the first that used that tactic well. All of the worlds had a their own traits and their own music, but Dr. Wily's was always most ominous and frantic style. This would not be Capcom's only entry in this blog.

Ninja Gaiden's music was key for
the action as well as the cinema
scenes.

Ninja Gaiden (NES) - Probably the earliest game that used cinema cut scenes, but music drove the engine of Ninja Gaiden. Whether it was in the gameplay- where each stage had it's own identifiable music- or the cinema scenes that used the music to build the suspense during Ryu Hyabusa's search for his missing father. Throughout the game, Ryu encounters enemies, friends, counter-agents and even loss of those friends as they are captured or killed. The twists and turns of the story are all given extra juice by the score.

Arkham City put you in the
Dark Knight's skin.

Batman Arkham City - The Arkham games are the one place that DC Comics have conquered Marvel and it's music was a primary reason. Nick Arundel and Ron Fish create a score closer to the Danny-Elfman style, but it's used more like the Christopher Nolan movies that don't overpower the audience. During gameplay, the music stays in the background, but during fights or predator battles, the music leaps to the forefront as the panicking henchman desperately endure the Dark Knights tactics.

With a new techo-style, Metroid Prime
sparked gamer's adrenaline.

Metroid Prime - Metroid didn't use much music that would be memorable until it hit it's stride in Metroid Prime. With a more techno style by Kenjo Yamamoto, Metroid Prime created the style that made you listen to the game as well get your adrenaline pumping. Take the final fight of the first game against Metroid Prime or the battles with Dark Samus, you can't help but slide to the front of the couch as you attempt to destroy your nemesis. The series continued with great music in Metroid: The Other M and continues to reinvent itself all the time.

Resident Evil's score made you
live in a horror movie.

Resident Evil - The original installment relied on silence and mostly ominous tones, but hauntingly crept when the situation called for it. As the series progressed it used the music in the background effectively in a horror movie style. The music was appropriate; never overpowering and never letting you feel safe. Take the fights with Mr. X or Tyrant, where the music is absent and slowly builds to make you sweat. *Music by Akari Kaida, Makoto Tomozawa and Masami Ueda

The music in Street Fighter was
intricate for every stage.

Street Fighter II - The fighting game that spawned the craze. Sure Karate Champ was first, but this was separated from all others by it's music. Every character had their own home and their own theme highlighting the opponents personality. If you fought Zangief, the music would give you a more Russian flare. If you were in America, rock music would play and so on. Sure, some of these stories (PunchOut is also guilty of it) are comically racist, but that's not what we're talking about here. 

Final Fantasy VII was an epic experience
with an epic score.

Final Fantasy VII - Probably the best example of music enhancing the storytelling. From the into of the game to the end, the Final Fantasy series used music better than most other franchises. The composers didn't treat this like a video game- more like an opera. All the characters had their own music. You could have been blind folded and still known when Sephiroth comes on screen. You felt Cloud's decent into madness, when danger came to the group, or even when the members of the group had romantic feelings for one another (by the way, even Barrett could fall for Cloud). Perhaps on of the best moments in gaming history was the Aeis' death (FFVII), which was largely without music, but when inserted beautifully, made many gamers weep. The epic 60 hour experience was full of great music and few were better than it. *Music by Nobuo Uematsu

Who didn't hum the Mario Bros theme?

Super Mario Brothers - Possibly the most famous of all video game music, but it stuck in many gamers heads when they were done popping quarters in the arcade or when they turned off their NES consoles in 1986. The game had different music for the different worlds you'd visit, different tasks you accomplished (like warping: wa, wa, wa) and especially when you grabbed a star. That sounded like to composer took some cocaine and just went nuts. The only thing Mario didn't have was different music for Luigi...but at that time no one cared. This is the first mention of Koji Kondo on the list, but won't be  the last.

If Gear of War becomes a film,
it already has the perfect music.

Gears of War - Believe it or not, this series produced exceptional music throughout it's trilogy. Kevin Riepl's score made it feel like a blockbuster summer action movie. It made a fire fight with hordes of grubs engulfing and kept you fighting until it you heard that tone signaling the last locus had his head blown off. All that is good, but this series gave you fantastic music during it's cinematic scenes. Whether it was watching Kim get killed by General RAAM or the soul crushing scene of when Dom finds Maria in Gears of War 2, this series pulled you in with it's tone, heightening the peril, exciting you with the danger and even breaking your heart. The booming tones of the series echo in your brain hours after you shutdown the game. If you don't believe me, play the end of Gears of War 3 and try not to hum the theme in the end.

The Best of the Best when it comes to video game music.

The Legend of Zelda - The cream of the crop when it comes to video game music. Koji Kondo created the greatest of all video game themes and adjusted the music from game to game in a way that made every installment unique. In fact, the one time the music for the series was criticized was when they didn't include the famous Legend of Zelda theme in arguably their greatest game (Ocarina of Time). Still, every edition of this series has not just given fans good music- it's been great music. Every aspect of the music accentuated each main (and even most minor) characters, the story, the time of day, the mood and even broke you emotionally. Music has also been a weapon used by Link in every edition of this series. Whether it was saving Zelda, facing Ganon (or Ganondorf in later games) to surprise twists or that tone when you solved a mystery. Most people can tell you exactly what game it is from the first couple bars of the theme. It was so popular that Nintendo gave away a CD of the series popular themes. Most fans would agree that it was worth the extra money for the "special edition".

Why Video Games Movies Haven't Worked

Remember the days when playing a video game was just simply popping a quarter into a machine and trying to finish a level? Whether it was playing Donkey Kong, Spy Hunter or Arknoid, people had fun with arcade games before it moved in the home with Pac Man, Super Mario Bros and Sonic the Hedgehog leading the way. Let's just say things have evolved since then. Now video games are well-written narratives that engross their player into a story -where some even evoke an emotional response- all tuned to music from a full orchestra written by the same guys that write the scores for blockbuster motion pictures. Hollywood is trying to get more video games on bigger screens than your flat screen at home. However, these stories haven't been able to be adapted to the big screen. Why? Were their casts not good enough? Did they not have top notch directors? What went wrong?

For starters, look at the facts. Despite making about $678 million worldwide during it's series, the Resident Evil movies have been mediocre at best. Their Rotten Tomatoes score never broke 34% so critics and audiences didn't like it too much despite what box office grosses have to say. Part of the problem to the hardcore RE fans is that the addition of Alice changed the story completely. The RE game was about a special OPs team that was dropped into a strange situation, only to discover that one of their own agents assisted in creating the ultimate biological weapon. The movie... went another way. It begins with the incident and turns into a bizarre retelling of "Alice in Wonderland". Does that sound like the same story? Of course not, but somehow this spawned THREE more movies and a fifth coming in September. In spite of low quality of these films, it keeps making money. Guess that proves movies don't have to be good, just slapped with a brand name.

The fundamental part of the video game storytelling is gone when put on screen. Plug in your console and pop in a random action game. Usual formula now is cinema scene (tutorial maybe) and then a task that leads to the expanding story. A film needs to introduce the character and have an inciting incident to draw the viewer in. A video game already has the viewer and the experience expands the story, whereas a film has to tell the story. Hence why a game like "F.E.A.R." works well, but if made into a film wouldn't using the exact same formula would be dreadful. Take "Gears of War" (always rumored in production) uses a 5 act structure. There's only three acts in a movie. So right away there's two acts that needs to be removed and that's not including that the original Gears game focused on Marcus Fenix without explaining E-Day. It wasn't until the second story that Gears developed Dom's story and the history of the War. "Gears of War" cannot do that if they make a film, especially if the producers want the trilogy. 

Part of the problem with video game films is that the player is meant to be in a game for several hours. A film is meant to hold you for 2 hours. Now, how do you just remove bits of story without hurting the overall experience your audience has already enjoyed? Take "Super Mario Bros" -the first video game movie- which made up a story about plumbers who travelled to another dimension to take on Koopa, who is a crime boss and not a giant turtle-like creature. This film was doomed from the start. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Italian plumbers? Really? None of the film embodied it's more successful namesake and what's worse is that it proved what not to do with a video-game-movie. At least "Double Dragon" didn't make the same mistake... oh wait.

The other way around is true as well, look at "Street Fighter" and "Mortal Kombat" which were two games that had minimal story and yet were expanded to make 90 minute movies. The result was two films with weak storylines and characters you weren't sure if you wanted to root for them in the first place. A fighting game doesn't really have a hero. It has heroes. So there's no clear person to root for and what if your favorite characters was Ryu and Johnny Cage and the film centers around Guile and Liu Kang. Seriously, did anyone think Raiden was a good guy?

Now, it is possible to make a good video game movie. If you consider "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" as one. Instead of making a film about their highly successful "Final Fantasy VII", Square Soft told another story with new characters. This film featured the voices of Ming Na, Ving Rhames, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, Steve Buscemi and James Woods. It was the highest rated video-based film... that was not based of a game. "Silent Hill" and "Prince of Persia" focused on their stories a little bit more and lead to a better product, but there still hasn't been a "Citizen Kane" for video game films. There were rumors of John Woo being attached to "Metroid", but there still hasn't been any activity from Nintendo with rumors that "The Legend of Zelda" will never find it's way to the big screen. One good thing came from the failure to make "Halo", Peter Jackson ended up using Neil Blomkamp to make "District 9" when they couldn't get a script for the game.

Maybe Hollywood gets it right sometime soon. They're going to have plenty of opportunities coming up.  Internet rumors have up 20 games being optioned to become features, but will they ever be the same quality as the comic book films that have come out in the last decade. Hard to tell, but don't let this ruin you from popping back in your favorite game and playing it again.