Our latest group feature is now live! Our team have come together to share what game series we dream of Metroid crossing over with. We exchanged a lot of interesting ideas, including Mario Kart, F-Zero, and even Bayonetta! While it is fun to fight alongside characters from those series in Smash, we wanted to imagine Samus in racing, hack and slash and RPG settings, which are out of the element of traditional Metroid. We hope this leads to a discussion among the community about crossovers. If Link and Fox can appear in SoulCalibur II and Starlink: Battle for Atlas, who’s to say Samus can’t make a guest appearance or two herself?
Community Spotlight: Roar and Clank
Today we are delighted to share a brand new Community Spotlight in the form of Roar and Clank, a cosplayer from the Netherlands who got famous online for her awesome Dark Samus cosplay. She goes into detail about her three year journey as a cosplayer, and how participating in competitions has motivated her to push her craft further. She has big plans for the future, including more Metroid cosplay, which we will be following closely!
Metroid EX manga could get a volume release
You may remember that the Metroid Database translated a rare Metroid manga called Samus and Joey between 2011 and 2015. This 4 part story was published in the now defunct Comic BomBom magazine, and later collected into three volumes. However, the last part, known as Metroid EX, was never bound into a collection. Now, it could finally get its chance.
The original mangaka (manga artist), Idzuki Kouji, is seeking to prove to Fukkan.com, which handles printing and reprinting of out-of-print books, that there is demand for an official volume release of Metroid EX. As of this writing, there are currently 166 votes calling for its re-release. If you’d like to vote, you can sign up at this link and click the red vote button at the bottom of the page. Please give it the support that you can, so these stories can be viewed for generations to come.
Source: Fukkan/Siliconera
Feature: The Decisions of a Remake
Today marks the fifteenth anniversary of Metroid: Zero Mission. The title made its debut in North America on February 9th 2004 on GameBoy Advance. To celebrate this great milestone, our team member Renan has written a new feature called The Decisions of a Remake which demonstrates how game design evolved over the years since the original Metroid for the Nintendo Entertainment/Famicom Disk System.
Community Spotlight: Anaugi
Our latest Community Spotlight feature is now live! This time around its artist Anaugi, who focus on cartooning and illustration. He currently works as a freelancer, taking commissions and printing designs to various products. His passion for Metroid and its universe fuel his inspiration. We hope you’ll check out the feature below and follow him on social media to spread the great work he does!
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate update buffs and nerfs Metroid fighters
A new update is out for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, bringing a number of adjustments to the power and capabilities of each fighter. The four Metroid fighters – Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley and Dark Samus – have each received some buffs, and some nerfs. Most of these fixes are to shorten the amount of time that a character cannot grab an edge after they use a move.
Metroid Character Changes
| Character | Move | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Samus | Side Special | Extended the range of the missile and reduced the vulnerability when using the move in the air. |
| Samus and Dark Samus | Down Special | Reduced vulnerability. |
| Zero Suit Samus | Side Smash Attack | Shortened the launch distance when the attack hits the middle of an opponent’s body. |
| Zero Suit Samus | Forward Air Attack | Shortened the amount of time you cannot grab edges after using the move. |
| Zero Suit Samus | Up Air Attack | Shortened the amount of time you cannot grab edges after using the move. |
| Zero Suit Samus | Down Special | Shortened the amount of time undamaged opponents are buried. |
| Ridley | Neutral Air Attack | Shortened the amount of time you cannot grab edges after using the move. |
| Ridley | Forward Air Attack | Shortened the amount of time you cannot grab edges after using the move. |
| Ridley | Down Air Attack | Shortened the amount of time you cannot grab edges after using the move. |
| Ridley | FS Meter | Increased power. |
The full list of character adjustments is available on the Nintendo website.
Source: Nintendo
Feature: Shinesparkers reacts to the delay of Metroid Prime 4
Last week on Friday the 25th January, Nintendo shared a development update for Metroid Prime 4, confirming that the title has restarted development. Kensuke Tanabe, the producer of the game, is now working in trust and collaboration with Retro Studios, the studio responsible for the original Metroid Prime trilogy of games, and the Metroid Prime Trilogy compilation between 2002 and 2009.
Over the weekend, our team got together to create a feature to share our reactions to this news. In addition to this, we reached out to our community on Twitter and Instagram to get their reactions, and publish their thoughts. We would like to say a huge thank you all of them for taking part!
Metroid Prime 4 delayed, Retro Studios now working on the project
Nintendo have released a video today with some unfortunate news regarding Metroid Prime 4’s development.
Shinya Takahashi, responsible for development at Nintendo, has confirmed that the project hasn’t met the required standards Nintendo seeks, and development will be restarted from scratch. He went on to confirm that Producer of the Prime series Kensuke Tanabe is now working in collaboration with Retro Studios, the original developer of the Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Hello everyone. I am Shinya Takahashi, and I’m responsible for development at Nintendo. I wanted to speak with you today to give you an update on Metroid Prime 4.
Ever since the announcement, we have not been able to give you an update, but as a result of the continuing development since that time — although this is very regrettable — we must let you know that the current development progress has not reached the standards we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series. If we’re not satisfied with the quality, we aren’t able to deliver it to our customers with confidence. From this perspective, we have determined that the current development status of the game is very challenged, and we had to make a difficult decision as a development team. We have decided to re-examine the development structure itself and change it.
Specifically, we decided to have the Producer, Kensuke Tanabe, work in trust and collaboration with the studio that developed the original Metroid Prime series, and restart development from the beginning. By collaborating and developing with Retro Studios, we believe we can make this game something that will meet our fans’ expectations. We did not make this decision lightly. This change will essentially mean restarting development from the beginning, so the completion of the game will be delayed from our initial internal plan.
I’d like to extend my deepest, heart-felt apologies to everyone that the launch will be delayed. It will be a long road until the next time we will be able to update you on the development progress, and development will be extensive. However, we will continue developing the game so that when it is completed, it will stand shoulder to shoulder with the past Metroid Prime series titles.
On behalf of Nintendo and Retro Studios, I sincerely appreciate your understanding.
Community Spotlight: Samuel Lidström
Our first Community Spotlight of the year is a talented musician, music producer and sound designer, Samuel Lidström! Samuel has played a huge role in many Shinesparkers projects, originally debuting arrangements to Harmony of a Hunter: 101% Run, then later with Harmony of Heroes and Harmony of a Champion. Samuel is an award-winning musician who has worked professionally on the music of Magnetic: Cage Closed and Medusa’s Labyrinth. In this Community Spotlight, he highlights the origins of getting into music and his love for MIDI. Be sure to check out the Community Spotlight below to learn more about Samuel, check out his arrangements in the linked videos and support him on the links provided.
Reminder of Wii Shop Channel Closure
It won’t be long now until all Wii Shop Channel content, which includes Virtual Console and WiiWare games, will be unobtainable for good. You have until January 31st to re-download any already purchased content (though you can’t add more points to buy anything new, but you can use up any you happen to have already purchased). Metroid for the NES and Super Metroid for the SNES were released on this platform.
While it might not affect everyone, especially seeing as many Virtual Console titles have been released again elsewhere, it’s also the only place to obtain certain games. Specific WiiWare games have not been released anywhere else, such as the Konami Rebirth games, or have features only available on the Wii, like Lost Winds. Don’t let this opportunity pass by if you do happen to have anything uninstalled as they will cease to be available for download very soon.
Source: Nintendo of America, Nintendo UK