To many Nintendo fans, the Metroid series is a sacred part of Nintendo's long history of great franchises. While the mainline games have been praised as genre-defining titles, Metroid has also been viewed fondly by fans for taking risks with spin-offs on various Nintendo platforms. The Metroid Prime series has been one of those success stories that people love from the GameCube era, which led to its success over the years up to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on the Nintendo Switch 2. But the legacy of the series isn't without its failures.

Nintendo took another risk with the Metroid series with the release of Metroid Prime: Federation Force on the Nintendo 3DS in 2016. As much as people love the franchise deeply, it received the most criticism out of any entry in the series to date. Many were disappointed at how much it deviated from the best parts of Metroid, and because of its ill-timed release after years of Nintendo not returning to Metroid Prime in any significant way. Here's why nine years ago, Nintendo released the worst Metroid Prime game that nobody wanted.

A detour from Prime

Not a terrible concept

The Metroid Prime games are in of themselves a big deviation from what the core Metroid series was in 2002, when the first entry in the saga was released for the GameCube. The third game, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, came out in 2007 and the series remained dormant before Metroid Prime: Federation Force was released. By that time, people were starving for anything related to Metroid, and Nintendo had finally decided to do something about it.

What fans got wasn't what they were expecting, or even wanted, back then. As a concept, Metroid Prime: Federation Force isn't a bad idea for a spin-off game. It takes place in the same universe and within the same continuity as the Metroid Prime saga, but with a shifted focus on the Galactic Federation. The series protagonist, Samus Aran, is still part of the game, but not a central aspect of it. For many people, this felt too much of a deviation because the games were always about Samus going on adventures, or engaging in some kind of conflict. Without her being the center of it all, it wouldn't feel like a Metroid game to them.

But beyond that, the idea of the Galactic Federation taking on missions set in the same universe is still not a terrible concept to start from. Cooperative gameplay with up to four people taking on the roles of Federation soldiers and fighting aliens and space pirates sounds like fun. But even with a solid idea like that, the foundation that Metroid Prime: Federation Force was built on was not sturdy enough for fans to get behind it.

Mediocre results

It really didn't work out

The biggest complaints about Metroid Prime: Federation Force range from the controls on the Nintendo 3DS to the story and content of the game itself. Playing as a generic soldier from the Federation is a big change of pace for Metroid fans, where the emotional connection to someone like Samus Aran is completely nonexistent. Even as a co-op game that can be experienced with others, both the story and the missions that players take on don't have the same impact or relevance as what previous Metroid Prime games had. The other part of the game, Blast Ball, was even more irrelevant to fans who were not interested in seeing such a spin-off, even when it was offered as a free download.

The design of the Federation marines was also met with a lot of criticism from everyone. The visuals on the Nintendo 3DS did it no favors by rendering out blocky mech suits that were piloted by soldiers, which felt like a cheap imitation of Samus Aran's suit. The visual presentation of the Metroid Prime series was always something praised by everyone, and Federation Force was nowhere near that level of quality on the 3DS. Environments felt lackluster and lifeless in comparison to previous games, even when playing with a full group in cooperative play.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force also lacked a few key parts that were beloved in the original Metroid Prime games, such as scanning the environments. The 3DS touch screen was primarily used for the map display for navigating areas. While part of the experience in previous games was taking in the environment and learning more about the world, this spin-off completely abandoned that. Taking down enemies with allies was a big part of executing missions, especially with various abilities that can help allies or damage enemies. But none of it was a replacement for the better aspects that people loved about Metroid Prime, nor was any of it executed well enough for the game to stand on its own.

Not what fans wanted

The worst timing ever

The failure of Metroid Prime: Federation Force can be viewed as a result of bad timing and poor execution. By the time the game was released, it was the 30th anniversary of the Metroid series, which was in the middle of a drought following the release of Metroid: Other M on the Nintendo Wii. Fans were hoping to see something special from Nintendo to celebrate the legacy of the series, as well as usher in the next era for it in some way. And what they were met with was something they knew they didn't want, or feel was the right thing to release at that time.

Around E3 2015, when the game was first revealed, there was a lot of backlash from everyone. Comparisons to other spin-off titles like Metroid Prime Hunters on the Nintendo DS were abundant. Even though that game was received well by fans, it was viewed as a Metroid Prime game more than what Metroid Prime: Federation Force was trying to present.

Trailers for the game were met with a lot of criticism and negative feedback, to the point that then Nintendo president Reggie Fils-Aimé commented on the reaction from fans. He stated that there was no getting around the reaction being negative, and that fans saw something they were not expecting. By the time reviews for Metroid Prime: Federation Force were out, it received a lot of negative scores and harsh criticism from everyone.

Looking back at the failure

Since the release of the worst game in the series, Metroid has undergone a renaissance on newer Nintendo consoles. Games like Metroid Samus Returns and Metroid Dread brought things back to the roots of the series that people love. And eventually, the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond came to fruition, much to the delight of fans. But for a period of time, the Metroid series was not in a good place, and part of it was due to the release of Metroid Prime: Federation Force in 2016. It's still the worst Metroid Prime game that Nintendo has ever released, which taught the company some harsh lessons back then. Sometimes, it's just better to stick with the basics and go with what fans have always wanted.