Nintendo rep says Metroid Prime: Federation Force "got a bad rap", game "was a great package"

Metroid Prime: Federation Force is arguably the black sheep of the franchise. From the initial reveal to release, things did not go well for the game. Unfortunately, it was just not received warmly in the slightest.

[SCW1982]

I say it was a huge middle finger to us.

[FallenAngel1984]

This could’ve been any other IP. It was using the Metroid name just to increase its attention

[3-4-5]

If it would have had a different name could have sold better as a game "similar to metroid" and probably worked that way.

[NovusTerminus]

Shocking, you leave a franchise out to die for so long, when you finally unveil it, its nothing like what the fans knew and loved.

This game might have been better received if they announced the M2 remake and Prime 4 along side of it.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Pretty much this.

Quality of the game and absence of Samus aside, the biggest reason Federation Force failed is because Nintendo, in one of their worst Metroid-related screw-ups since Other M [a game I loved despite its silly story], decided to release a game that did not look or feel like a Metroid game, under the Prime series label, during a time when the Metroid fanbase was almost literally gnawing at the bit for a new entry in the Prime series, or at least in the 2D series.

Giving the fanbase an out-of-left-field spin-off during such a sensitive time was almost what it would have been like if the devs behind HL1&2 had been teasing Half-Life 3, then announced it as a trading card game.
Ya don't do that to a fanbase.
You just DON'T.XD

[Jaypi03]

I played it for a bit, it was actually pretty solid, it just wasn't what fans were expecting is all.

[TheColbertinator]

Could have been a new solid IP. But its not a good Metroid game in my opinion.

[Yohshida]

Just dont call it metroid and make it a new IP, this was an insult for the franchise and just a way to cash in.

[subtenko]

read this a Fedora Force...lol this probably explain the bad rap if more people like me misread that

[Theknightofnights]

In my opinion, they should have made this a 20$ eShop title and announced the other two Metroid games along with it. This way it's more of a "here is something while you wait" instead of a "This is all you get right now".

[Oninioh]

Nope. It was a spit on the face of many metroid fans.