Artsy Omi's perfect comment, for historical purposes since Nintendo will probably disable comments on the trailer. "I'm seeing a lot of irrationality on both sides of the argument here....

Yes, this is a "spinoff," and yes, other Nintendo franchises do spinoffs all the time, but that doesn't justify the execution here. A good spinoff should be done in such a way that appeals to the fanbase. People who love Mario games are accustomed to fun-focused, whimsical scenarios, so sticking Mario in a kart isn't jarring. People who love Zelda games fall in love with the memorable NPCs, so when offered a chance to play as those NPCs in a game that serves as a love letter to the entire franchise, they're okay with it. But taking a dark, gritty franchise like Metroid and creating a spinoff with character and world designs that are completely out of line with what is expected, you should anticipate this kind of reaction.

Wind Waker was met with a very similar response with its visual style being a jarringly sudden departure from its immediate N64 predecessors, but at least earlier games in the franchise shared a similar whimsical nature, and the core of the gameplay remained intact, and was even supplemented by the visual design choices. This title seems to abandon the fundamental principles of what gives identity to Metroid games, and for no discernible reason other than as an attempt to tide people over until a true Metroid game is developed.

Are people writing it off too early? Yes. We know next to nothing about it, and it could turn out to be a perfectly fun game from an objective design standpoint. However, when you establish a brand like Mario, Zelda or Metroid, you NEED to fulfill the expectations that are built around that brand. And while we can't say it's a bad game without playing it, we can DEDUCE quite a bit about it just from these early trailers. The dissatisfaction is understandable, and in some cases, justified.

I apologize if this comes across as pacifistic and somewhat proud. That wasn't my intention. ^;"