Episode 33 – Accessibility in Metroid (featuring Laura Kate Dale)

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 33 - Accessibility in Metroid (featuring Laura Kate Dale)
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Our second podcast episode of 2025 features Laura Kate Dale, a video game journalist and advocate for accessibility in games. Laura and our team members discuss their ideas for how Nintendo can improve accessibility in Metroid Prime 4: Beyond and their games generally. We also hear from Laura about a peripheral she co-created for the Joy-Con 2 with @theprintbed.bsky.social, a mouse grip that makes using the Joy-Con 2 in Mouse Mode easier. Laura also dishes on getting to play Beyond at the Nintendo Switch 2 Experience in London. Additionally, Amanda reads from the mailbag.

Podcast is hosted by Amanda, with team members Roy and Irene.

To get the Joy-Con 2 Mouse Peripheral that Laura designed, visit this link: https://makerworld.com/en/models/1005945-switch-2-joycon-mouse-adaptor#profileId-984385

00:00 – Introductions
01:31 – Topic: Accessibility in Metroid
30:09 – Topic: Laura’s Joy-Con 2 Peripheral
46:52 – Mailbag
54:19 – Bloopers

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond has entered the Milk-Radius

We are really close to the release of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond!

It just so happens that the best-by date of store-bought milk is now
past the release date of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond!

It is an exciting time for us all, so let’s grab a cold one (glass of milk) and just wait out a tiny bit more… GAH IT’S SO CLOSE JIFYUUJHKGHGHFDYG

Do you have any personal and weird ways to celebrate something you look forward to?

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond demo will be playable at EB Games Canada in December

Throughout 2025, Nintendo has held demos of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond at various events worldwide, including their own Switch 2 Experiences, Gamescom, Fan Expo Canada and PAX Australia. Today, along with announcing their Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals for this year, Nintendo have announced that demos of Beyond will be playable at local EB Games stores in Canada on December 6 and 7. This will come two days after the game’s worldwide release, so anyone will have the opportunity to visit an EB Games and try it out for themselves! If you end up trying the demo, let us know how you liked it!

Source: Nintendo

Feature: Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective Review

Our next feature is a review of Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective, written by Roy. In this review, Roy evaluates the Visual Retrospective’s print quality, the artwork included, development notes from Kensuke Tanabe himself, and whether it is a worthwhile addition to your Metroid collection. You can check out Roy’s review at the link below. Thank you to the publisher Piggyback, who provided us with a copy of the Visual Retrospective for this review.

Click here to check out the feature

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond gets new Survive trailer

Minutes ago, Nintendo dropped a brand new trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, entitled Survive. Most of the footage shows what we’ve seen before, but there are new glimpses of interior facilities on Viewros, a puzzle with invisible platforms, and combat with Psy-bot Soldiers, the flying androids witnessed in the trailer from the Nintendo Direct this past September.

There’s also an epic music track playing, which could be in the game. At the end of the trailer, a brief clip of a metal remix of Samus’s theme plays as the amiibo for Beyond are shown, with “The journey to launch continues” displayed above.

Click below to watch!

Source: YouTube

October 2025 News Roundup

Now that November 2025 is here, Shinesparkers has prepared a roundup of the Metroid news we had in October. See below:

October 2 – MercurySteam denies accusations of poor work conditions by Spanish union

October 4 – Impressions of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond at Gamescom

October 10 – Book about the MetroidVania genre’s history to be released in March 2026

October 15 – Metroid Prime: Federation Force’s General Alex Miles has a face

October 18 – Further accusations of crunch culture at MercurySteam surface

October 20 – Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective digital sample released

October 21 – Metroid II: Return of Samus has been added to the Nintendo Music app

October 21 – Metroid desktop metal display available via My Nintendo

October 22 – Nintendo Dream magazine shares Metroid Prime 4: Beyond details (Spoiler Warning)

October 22 – Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective anecdotes begin trickling online

October 23 – Two unlisted boss videos for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond discovered

October 29 – Metroid Prime 4: Beyond pre-order bonuses announced for Korean fans

In addition, we published two new features: The News Cycle of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, a recap of all hints and news we’ve had for the game since Metroid Prime 3 in 2007, and Metroid Prime 4 in Nintendo Dream, a translation of a Nintendo Dream article that was subject to misinterpretation.

We have more content planned through November, ahead of Metroid Prime 4’s highly anticipated release on December 4th! As always, we will continue to share any Metroid news that comes up in the interim. See you next mission!

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond pre-order bonuses announced for Korean fans

Nintendo of Korea has announced that pre-orders of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond will be open for Korean fans on October 30th. Pre-ordering may also net a few extra goodies depending on the store that was pre-ordered from.

If a pre-order is set at “Daewon Shop”, you will get a print of the box art which can be hanged:

 
If a pre-order is set at various game stores nationwide, or at major shopping malls such as Nintendo Brand Hall, Lotte Home Shopping, and Yes Twenty-Four, you may acquire a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle of the box art:

A really long mouse pad may be acquired at Lotte Mart Online:

 

This news post used translation tools such as Google Translate and it may not be completely accurate!

Both the regular version and the Switch 2 version of the game is eligible.

Source: Nintendo of Korea

Feature: Metroid Prime 4 in Nintendo Dream

We have another new feature to share with you!

Last week, we reported on a feature in the October 2025 issue of Nintendo Dream, the official Japanese magazine, about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. The Portuguese site Universo Nintendo published a translation that was cited by gaming news sites, including us. However, some readers picked up on inaccuracies in the translation and began to question its veracity.

As it turns out, Universo Nintendo has now deleted that article after scrutiny. We decided to translate the Nintendo Dream feature ourselves in an effort to correct the record and reveal what it really said. We can confirm that Universo Nintendo’s claims about Sylux’s origins and connection to Samus are untrue. The article only reiterates that Sylux hates the Galactic Federation and Samus by proxy, while implying his true intentions will become clear in Metroid Prime 4.

Additionally, it was claimed there was a character named “Ais Raxus” that could be a friend or foe depending on your actions; we believe this was a mistranslation of “Aberax”, the first boss fought in Metroid Prime 4. Lastly, the Vi-O-La bike does not have more attacks beyond the Speed Boost, Power Slide and Projectiles that have already been discussed, and the article does not reveal what the new amiibo unlock.

Big thank you to Darts for the translation! You can read it below.

Click here to check out the feature

Feature – The News Cycle of Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Shinesparkers is sharing a new feature with you today! We wrote a recap of all the crumbs of information we’ve had about Metroid Prime 4: Beyond over the years. For new fans who are discovering the game and the Metroid series since the trailer last year, Metroid Prime 4 has been in development in various iterations since 2017. It’s been hinted at long before. Many of you know about Kensuke Tanabe’s 2015 interview with Eurogamer, which was the first hint of Beyond and Sylux’s involvement in it, but did you know he spoke about a fourth Prime in 2009? We’ve covered everything from the secret ending of Metroid Prime 3, to the Nintendo Dream article and unlisted ads that were discovered this week.

Check it out below!

Click here to check out the feature

Two unlisted boss videos for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond discovered

Two videos have been found on Nintendo of America’s official YouTube channel. They are both titled “Power Up Your Holidays”, and one of them show a new boss we haven’t seen yet! We will not give out anymore details, but you can check them out on these links:

Nintendo Switch 2 – Power Up Your Holidays (New boss)

Nintendo Switch 2 – Power Up Your Holidays (Carvex)

The same videos are also available in YouTube Shorts format:

Nintendo Switch 2 – Power Up Your Holidays (New boss)

Nintendo Switch 2 – Power Up Your Holidays (Carvex)

Source: Nintendo