Yoshio Sakamoto, Nintendo’s long-time developer of 2D Metroids, and Yousuke Hayashi, head of Tecmo’s Team Ninja, wouldn’t tell me and Brian Crecente how Metroid Other M controls.

They wouldn’t clarify how much of a 2D or 3D game Other M is.

Those fundamentals were kept secret during our E3 interview with the two men leading the collaboration between Nintendo, Ninja Gaiden development studio Team Ninja and a cut-scene production team led by a Team Ninja collaborator named Mr. Kitaura. That group, dubbed Project M, is creating the 2010 Wii exclusive Metroid Other M that closed Nintendo’s E3 2009 press conference.

And while we did squeeze out of them that the game wouldn’t support MotionPlus or the Wii Balance Board (they knew that was a joke question), Sakamoto and Hayashi were more eager to promote two aspects that Nintendo doesn’t often use to sell its games: stylishness and story.

“Our goal is to provide the most interesting gameplay and deliver the most cool Metroid ever,” Sakamoto said. It should be noted that Sakamoto has one of the most impressive resumes in the industry, so his desire to top past Metroids is a desire to top his own work. Back in the 80s, he did character design for the original Metroid. He directed or supervised most of the games in that series. He also did game design for Nintendo Entertainment System cult classic Kid Icarus and has produced most of the WarioWare games that followed the first of that series.

A legacy of Metroid development isn’t all it takes to make Other M. In 2006, for all of Sakamoto’s credentials, he found that his team of 2D-Metroid developers needed help to develop an idea he had for a Wii Metroid game. He wanted to make a game using 3D graphics.

Retro, the Nintendo-owned, Texas-based team responsible for the well-reviewed 3D Metroid Prime games, two of which were out by then, was, curiously, not an option. “Retro has their own approach toward Metroid games,” Sakamoto said. “They had their own producer. Their approach to Metroid games has traditionally been the FPA — first person adventure — but my concept was kind of different than that and I was looking for a team that could bring my idea to life.”

Enter Team Ninja, which, Hayashi said, “is very fond of Samus as a character. We’ve all got huge soft spots for her.” Hayashi, a Team Ninja veteran whose youthful looks could let him pass for the almost-50 Sakamoto’s son, most recently directed the well-regarded Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword on the Nintendo DS.

Interviews about Mario and Zelda games with Nintendo developers typically focus on gameply, but story and character were what Sakamoto wanted to emphasise, noting how the game fits into the timeline between the Super Nintendo’s Super Metroid and the Game Boy Advance’s Metroid Fusion: “With Fusion, that game was very story-driven. In that game, I believe I was able to explain Samus as a character, as a person, not just somebody in armour. And I was not only explain Samus but the characters around her… with Super Metroid I showed, through her relationship with the baby Metroid, some of her maternal instincts. Between those two stories I feel I was able to explain Samus as a person. But because Metroid equals Samus, I’d like to develop her character further, as a soldier, as a human, also as a woman. That’s what they’re hoping to do with Other M.”

The two developers described the new project as one targeted right at Metroid fans. When I asked if there would be anything in the game for the Wii’s expanded audience — say, for my mum — Hayashi said: “When Mr. Sakamoto approached me and my team with the game concept, it was definitely something I and my team felt would be a new challenge for them. Our take on this whole thing is we see the possibility to explore new territory within the Wii system. So we’re hoping to create something that will appeal not just to fans of the series but to new users as well.” Still, that lack of Balance Board support makes it clear that this Metroid game is unlikely to be going the casual-game route.

“Our goal in developing Other M,” said Sakamoto, “Is to deliver the kind of Metroid that all fans want to play.”

Morph ball and ice beam? Of course.

New abilities? Yes.

Progressions of the character’s powers? That’s the goal. Said Hayashi: “Metroid has definitely been one of those games where as the player progresses through the story you can really feel yourself powering up. You can really feel Samus evolving in terms of her abilities. I’d like to maintain that essence of the Metroid series. In addition, just the feel of the game, by being in there, the emotional experience for the player is something I feel responsible to maintain true to.”

It’s clear, though, that there will be a twist. The Project M team, Sakamoto said: “Will create a new Metroid unlike anything ever experienced before.”

And when they’re done, he wants them to work together again.

Metroid Other M is slated for release next year. Later this summer, Nintendo will release a Wii compilation of Retro’s Metroid work, entitled Metroid Prime Trilogy.

Company president Reggie Fils-Aime dishes about why the company signed the developers to do Metroid, “We could’ve done a fine job on our own. But, we saw the Team Ninja group as a way of adding a little extra special sauce, if you will, to make it a really compelling experience.” Just like Team Ninja has made its own games compelling.

So far, the industry reaction to the Team Ninja announcement seems to be good. “One of the pieces of feedback I’ve heard is that as we made that announcement,” says Fils-Aime, “that there were a lot of development teams and publishers who started to say to themselves, ‘Wow, Nintendo is open to these types of partnerships. Let’s think of other ideas to bring forward.’ Which I find exciting.”

Then those same publishers say to themselves, “Wow, I wish I had know that Nintendo has had these kind of partnerships for a long time.” Game Boy Advance Zelda games from Capcom, anyone?

Reggie Interview [GameSpot]

He’s also back to fill the vacuum of Japanese game developer trash talk. From an Itagaki interview with 1Up comes this bit about Platinum Games developer Hideki Kamiya, who is currently making Devil-May-Cry-in-heels action title Bayonetta:

1UP: What do you think about Bayonetta, as a game? Do you think Kamiya is right to follow the Devil May Cry formula so closely?

TI: If I made a similar game as a game I made in the company I quit, people would say, “What an idiot, can’t he make anything else?” Well, that is more or less the opinion I have for, uh, that Bayo-something game.

1UP: What do you think of Bayonetta’s character design? She’s covered in hair.

TI: Covered in hair, is she? I dunno, Mr. Kamiya must have a lot going through his head. Well, in any case, I would first recommend laser eye surgery. I’m sure he’s not that strapped for cash, right?

A bit of background: Bayonetta designer Hideki Kamiya stated previously that he had never played Itagaki’s Ninja Gaiden because he said the game “didn’t have the power” to pull him in.

Moving beyond the smack talk and Itagaki’s recommendation that Kamiya get laser eye surgery if he’s not strapped for cash (ouch), this chatter could provide clues regarding what the former Team Ninja lead ninja and his team are up to. Elsewhere in the interview, he says he’s gotten tired of making games with girls that have enormous breasts and won’t be making games with Aerosmith music anymore.

“I have to apologise to my fans, but since I won’t be making Dead or Alive games,” Itagaki explains, “I won’t be using Aerosmith’s music anymore. I want to send the deepest gratitude to Aerosmith and Steven Tyler. The power I needed to make DOA came from Aerosmith and the movie Armageddon.”

Developer Interview: Itagaki Skewers the Competition [1Up via Sega Nerds]

Well, someone else has to work on the series. And that someone else is Yosuke Hayashi, the new leader of Tecmo’s Team Ninja, and the man responsible for where the series goes from here.

Since I had the chance to speak with Hayashi at E3, I put the question to him: what’s next for Ninja Gaiden?

“I think the series has a definite future”, he said. “In fact, I already have a concept for the next game in place”. As for what that concept is, Hayashi was coy, though he did tease that some aspects of the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma might make their way into a future Ninja Gaiden game.

“The online co-op in Sigma 2 is one step, maybe. It could be a testbed for the future”, he hinted. “But regardless of whether that works or not, yes, the foundations for a future game are already there”.

So relax! There will be more Ninja Gaiden. In some shape or form. Whether you like it or not.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is a remake of Ninja Gaiden II, first released around a year ago on the 360, only this time it’s bound for the PlayStation 3. It has a few new game modes, some new characters and a whole range of fixes for the problems that plagued the 360 edition. While I didn’t get any hands-on time with the game, I did sit down and watch new Team Ninja boss Yosuke Hayashi play through a few levels.

Firstly, and most importantly, the camera has been vastly improved over NG2’s shoddy system (which was the main reason I never really got into the 360 game). No longer will it get stuck behind walls, or lag too slowly behind your character; it’s crisp, maintains a constant following distance and zooms in and out of the action smoothly.

Also improved are the game’s visuals. You’d expect this, with the remake coming a year after the original, but the fact remains, this looks better than the 360 edition. Cleaner textures, better effects, that sort of thing.

The one other significant change to the original is the addition of some extra characters: Ayane, Momiji and Rachel. Hayashi spent most time showing off Ayane, and using her makes for quite a different game, her shorter reach and greater speed changing the way you approach the game’s enemies.

Aaaaaaannnnnd that’s about all I could gather from the demo: the fact this is Ninja Gaiden II, only with an extra 12 months’ worth of polish, fixes and a few new additions. Since the game went down so well on 360, it should be received just as well on PS3 when it ships sometime this Fall.

Oh come on. Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking it. The studio’s games, with or without former boss Tomonobu Itagaki, have always been as well known for their T&A as their swordplay and volleyball. So there are bound to be people hoping/fearing that they’ll soon be seeing Samus bouncing around in naught but a thong and a helmet.

Don’t worry. Hayashi says Team Ninja will be keeping things classy.

“Every female character in our games is as attractive as possible, both inside and out”, Hayashi said. “There has to be something attractive”.

“But as long as we provide that in the one place – the inside – that’s what’s important with this game”.

Touching. Maybe they’ll save the jubblies for Super Metroid Beach Volleyball Extreme?

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Team Ninja looks like it will do wonderful things with the Wii hardware, giving Metroid fans who crave a return to third-person action something to look forward to. And the promise of Team Ninja artists and Samus Zero Suit action is practically too much to bear.

A trio of new screens on the link.

That’s because Itagaki can now trashtalk Tekken and whatever happens next in the Dead or Alive series, given his new position at a game development start up that’s comprised of more ex-Team Ninja developers than you’d expect. Itagaki and team tell 1UP that more than 22 developers jumped ship from the Ninja Gaiden team after a disagreement with Tecmo management that saw team members heading for the door.

So what’s Itagaki and crew up to now? Well, he and top level staff formerly of Team Ninja—Hiroaki Matsui, Katsunori Ehara, Yoshifuru Okamoto—are already working on something under the unofficial “Tokyo Vikings” name. That something we won’t see for awhile, as Itagaki says they won’t be showcasing their product at this year’s E3.

But they have a lot to say. Check out the full interview for hints about what they have planned.

Tokyo Vikings: Tomonobu Itagaki and Crew Return With a New Team and Xbox 360 Game [1UP]

New Team Ninja lead ninja Yosuke Hayashi hinted to website Kikizo that there very well could be more in store for Ninja Gaiden. “Regardless of what Itagaki-san said before,” Hayashi said, “in time, what the consumers, the gamers are looking for is going to be the next chapter — the future of an outstanding series.”

And that future is? Hayashi kept his cards close to his vest, but added, “We feel that we’re in a position of being able to make that call, and to provide pure entertainment that’s going to be enjoyed by action gamers and our fans. That calling is already there — we feel it, and therefore we will continue to work towards a future for the series.”

Just promise us one thing: You’ll act surprised when Tecmo announces Ninja Gaiden III, IV and V. Oh, don’t forget to get up in around about those future PS3-only Ninja Gaiden Black ports.

Hayashi Interview [Kikizo]

The trailer for Xbox 360 title Ninja Gaiden II was a pure gore porn, complete with bloody slicing and dicing. The trailer of the PS3 reworking Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 seems, well, different.

For starters, the action scenes don’t look like a butcher shop. In place of decapitation, the trailer shows innocuous red slashes and vaporiffic blood. Since when is “Sigma” Greek for “toned down”?