Despite the critical success of Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo, we didn't receive a follow up to the classic until Metroid Prime and Metroid Fusion were both launched on November 17, 2002. It was a full 8 years until Nintendo wanted to create the next entry into the series and the franchise totally skipped the Nintendo 64. Well, Lava Cut Content, a website and YouTube channel that revisits cut content from both new and old games, revisited the game along with some past interviews to dig up why the series didn't make its way to the console.

Lava Cut Content dug up an old interview between GamesRadar and the director of Super Metroid, Yoshio Sakamoto. In the interview, Sakamoto dived into why a follow up was never created. He stated:

"I was actually thinking about the possibility of making a Metroid game for N64 but I felt that I shouldn’t be the one making the game. When I held the N64 controller in my hands I just couldn’t imagine how it could be used to move Samus around. So for me, it was just too early to personally make a 3D Metroid … Nintendo at that time approached another company and asked them if they would make an N64 version of Metroid and their response was that no, they could not. They turned it down, saying that unfortunately, they didn’t have the confidence to create an N64 Metroid game that could compare favorably with Super Metroid. That’s something I take as a compliment to what we achieved with Super Metroid."

According to Sakamoto, he said the weird design of the N64 controller pushed him away from creating the next rendition of the series. I mean, I was never a fan of the design myself, but I would have never thought that it had the power to scare off developers. I wonder if there were any other games that could have possibly come to the Nintendo 64 if it had a more appealing controller?

On top of that, it must feel pretty good to say you created a game so great that other developers avoided creating another because yours was just too good.

If you are a fan of cut content, make sure to take a look at some of this material that was cut from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was fascinating to see some different designs that almost made it into my favorite game of all time.