Possibly one of the most controversial things to come out of this years E3 was Metroid Prime: Federation Force, a new title in the Metroid series exclusive to 3DS.

The title in question takes a drastic change of direction from the original Prime trilogy, in that it's a team-based shooter with chibi-like visuals without series heroine Samus Aran. 

Ever since it's reveal a few days ago, fans of the series have been furious about the title in regards to it's art-style and gameplay which are far from what most were hoping for from a new entry in the series, with some claiming it is merely a new IP with the Metroid title thrown on, and thousands going as far as signing a petition to stop development of the title altogether. 

Nintendo of America COO has seen the outcry though, and believes that the title just needs a little more time for gamers to grow fond of it, and that if people give it a chance and try it out for themselves, their opinion might change. 

[On Metroid: Federation Force] One of the things I find interesting is that if you look at E3 historically for Nintendo, typically what happens is a press briefing happens or our digital event happens and then over the course of the next couple of days people see the games get to play the games and the appreciation and understanding of what we're doing increases over those three days and continues to build into the holidays.

Splatoon is a game that people are loving right now, but if you rewind to E3 last year, Splatoon was being viewed as, 'Yes, it's innovative and it's different, but the controls are a little hard and I don't understand the mechanic of turning into a squid and going through the ink.' There were all of these complaints. But now you look at the finished product and the satisfaction is huge.

For us, our goal is to make sure we announce the content, help people understand the content, but most importantly get hands on with the games. I haven't heard the feedback (for this year's Best Buy demonstrations), but I think the feedback is going to be quite positive because what we do is make great games and they show well and they really lead to consumer excitement."

Kensuke Tanabe, producer of the Metroid series, explained to Engadget why Samus isn't in this latest entry and why the chances of a Wii U title are very low. 

The inspiration for the title came from the unveiling of the New Nintendo 3DS and its C-Stick, upon seeing this dual analouge set-up, Tanabe thought it'd be great to see a Prime title on the handheld. It's with this in mind that they got to work on Federation Force. 

He said the inpspiration for the different play style in this title comes from the fun had in the multiplayer mode of Metroid Prime 2. This multiplayer aspect is ultimately why Samus isn't going to make an appearance. 

In Metroid Prime 2, we included multiplayer, but here we wanted to focus on the co-op aspect. But then, if we have four "Samuses", that would be odd. And that's where the Galactic Federation came in. Controlling the game, and in terms of how it feels, it feels like a Metroid Prime game.

Tanabe also reveals that at one point a Wii U version was also on the cards, but ultimately it never came to fruition because the resources weren't there. 

So, whilst Federation Force will not be making its way to Wii U, will we see another Prime title on the console? Sadly not, according to Tanabe in an interview with EuroGamer. 

"If we started for Wii U now, it would likely take three years or so. So it would likely now be on Nintendo's NX. It's a long time but it would need to include a lot of content, which would take a lot of work on the development side."

With a bit more information about why and how the title came to be, as well as an explanation for the lack of a Wii U title, will the opinions of fans change? Ultimately it lies in the quality of the title when it arrives next year, so let's hope it can prove people wrong and be a worthy entry in the Prime series.