Metroid Database.com

While no Metroid for Wii or 3DS has been launched yet (which isn't surprising, considering how Yoshio Sakamoto hadn't had time to play around with the Wii U when Other M launched back in August), but Nintendo still managed to give us a little Metroid love through a little shooter demo for Wii U called Battle Mii! The game, part of a collection of demos to illustrate the power and gameplay abilities of the Wii U, is a three-player mini-game where one player controls a chibi-style version of Samus' starship, and the other two control Mii's in Samus' battle armor (there will be the Varia and Fusion suits, and hopefully other suits to select as well). The Mii's move about on the TV in split-screen, using the Wiimote/Nunchuck to move about and shoot at the starship, which is controlled exclusively using the New Controller tablet. The ship can fire beams (and zoom in for greater accuracy using a shoulder trigger) and missiles (by holding down the fire button, the second trigger). The Mii's can also fire missiles back at the starship by charging their shots. Missiles create a sizable explosion. Power-ups for the foot soldiers come in the form of health-restore hearts, and the battle takes place in a futuristic city with Metroid battle music playing. And of course you can create your own Metroid-themed Mii's to spice up the battle! Anyone else felt the urge to fire a few missiles at James? Check out footage of Battle Mii in action at the 2:00 point in the video below or watch the original footage on Nintendo's E3 site (higher-quality):

For the starship controls, analogs sticks on the tablet are used to control height, horizontal movement for strafing, and acceleration - but movement is controlled using the tablet's gyroscope. IGN reports that using the gyroscope rather than analog sticks takes "some adjustment", but once you get the hang of it, you can "pull off some truly slick maneuvers that sticks would never allow". I'm thinking of Mario Kart Wii where players who use the wheel tend to score far better than those using the Gamecube controller - same principle for more fluid movement - though perhaps not so analogous to Samus' starship controls in Other M?

Battle Mii combines hide-and-seek with shooting action, and the 3-on-1 battle system that Nintendo has taken for many of the Wii U minigames is reported to be highly balanced, the matches "incredibly tense", while Kotaku called it "a family-friendly third-person shooter". While Battle Mii doesn't appear to have been announced yet as part of a software pack ala Wii Sports, you can bet if it comes out, Metroid will once again find its way to a Nintendo system as a 'killer app' - though not without Samus behind the helm (at least for now...). We'll post any more screens and videos as we find them!

UPDATE: IGN's Peer Schneider playing against Nate Bilhdorff on the show floor.

Until next time...
Captain Commando