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When it comes to the Metroid series, Metroid Prime: Federation Force certainly has an art style all its own that sets it apart from the other games. But what exactly prompted this obvious change in appearance?
In a recent “Mission Briefing” video shared by Nintendo, we get a look at a lot of gameplay from the upcoming Nintendo 3DS title, as well as some commentary from the game’s producer, Kensuke Tanabe.
In regards to Federation Force’s unique art style, Tanabe cited “many technical hurdles” in trying to make a great multiplayer game on a handheld system. “But, most of all, the biggest issue was that objects you need to shoot will be so tiny on the small screen of the handheld system,” Tanabe said. “That is why we decided to change things up and use this more rounded art style for the characters.”
He also went on to explain that, by changing the characters and enemies to this rounder appearance, they also compressed the game’s terrain vertically which, in turn, increased the amount of information that could be displayed on the screen. “This resulted in a different aesthetic but we wanted to prioritize providing the very best gameplay experience,” Tanabe went on to say. “After that, we tested out a version of this art style and we confirmed that it definitely offers the best handheld experience in the Metroid Prime world. That’s when we gave the go ahead to proceed in this direction.”
Metroid Prime: Federation Force will release for the Nintendo 3DS on August 19th in North America, August 25th in Japan, and September 2nd in Europe.
