11 Sep 2020
Uncategorized Permalink

Community Spotlight: Step

September 11, 2020

This month’s Community Spotlight features another talented musician from Harmony of a Hunter, Stephan Wells. Also known as Step, he created beautiful arrangements of classic Metroid tracks for Harmony of a Hunter: 101% Run, and served as the Assistant Director of Harmony of Heroes. Additionally, Step has been an asset to Shinesparkers in editing our content and podcast. We are incredibly proud to feature Step and hope you will take the time to read more about him by clicking below!

On a side note, we are always keen to feature talented Metroid focused projects in the community. If you are a cosplayer, speedrunner, artist, musician or someone that has a really cool and unique Metroid focused project that could do with a bit more attention, don’t hesitate to reach out to us on our Facebook and Twitter social media pages, we would love to hear from you!

Click here to read the Community Spotlight

09 Sep 2020
Metroid Prime 4 Permalink

Dylan Jobe joins Retro Studios as Metroid Prime 4 development director

September 9, 2020

It has been brought to light that Dylan Jobe, a gaming industry veteran, has joined Retro Studios as its Director of Development. Having been hired earlier in 2020, Jobe has more than 25 years of experience. Among his credits are Warhawk (2007) on the PlayStation 3, for which he was the director, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, and DOOM and ReCore (both 2016), for which he was a designer.

According to a job description from Retro, Jobe will be responsible for handling the development schedule and scope of Metroid Prime 4, while also overseeing employee performance reviews. He is one of a number of industry veterans who have been hired during the development of Prime 4.

We wish Mr. Jobe well in his new role and hope to hear more about the game soon.

Source: Twitter/VGC

31 Aug 2020
Uncategorized Permalink

Feature: Shinesparkers Tenth Anniversary

August 31, 2020

Today marks ten years since Shinesparkers was created. It’s incredible for me to think that our little community celebrating Metroid would still be around after all this time. Over the past decade, we have brought you interviews with the people that made our favourite games, highlighted the creative talents of the Metroid community by sharing their work with our Community Spotlight features, brought you opinion pieces written by our team, and created exclusive content to entertain you, such as our Metroid fan-arrangement albums like Harmony of a Hunter. To mark this occasion, I have shared my thoughts on ten years of Metroid, from how the community came to be, to the current and future ambitions of Shinesparkers.

We really love what we do, and we have enjoyed seeing our community grow and thrive. Whether you’ve been there from the beginning, or have just heard about us, thank you for engaging with us!

Click here to read the feature

14 Aug 2020
Metroid Prime 4 Permalink

Retro Studios is looking for a Lead Producer for Metroid Prime 4

August 14, 2020

Today, Retro Studios shared a tweet promoting an open position for Lead Producer on Metroid Prime 4. The job has been open since May 11, 2020, so it seems they have not been able to find one. The job listing is below. Some of the requirements include experience with JIRA, Confluence and MS Office Suite, communication and organizational skills, and a minimum of ten years of production experience in game development.

It is important to remember that jobs are filled and reopened all the time in game development. There was staff turnover during the development of the first Metroid Prime, with some team members leaving after completing their work and some staying onboard. This is no different, and should not be taken to mean that Metroid Prime 4’s development process is stalled. To anyone who applies for this job, we wish you good luck, and we hope that everyone at Retro Studios and Nintendo is staying safe and healthy during these challenging times.

Source: Twitter/Nintendo Careers

14 Aug 2020
Metroid: Other M Permalink

Feature: Redeeming Samus

August 14, 2020

Whether you were a fan of the game, or felt it didn’t live up to expectations, it is clear that Metroid: Other M is a title that has caused controversy and division for almost a decade. Team member RoyboyX offers his thoughts in an attempt to redeem Samus, by exploring her past beyond the games we all know so well, and trying to assuage criticisms from those who held stronger views about the games’ direction. We want to thank RoyboyX for taking the time to share his thoughts with us.

Click here to read the feature

Permalink

Episode 08 – Jessica Martin

Episode 08 – Jessica Martin
Shinesparkers Podcast

 
 
00:00 / 1:30:41
 
1X
 

For our eighth podcast, we are thrilled to be joined by Jessica Martin, who provided the voice of Samus in Metroid: Other M, to celebrate its tenth anniversary! In this feature-length podcast, we asked Jessica many questions, including why she became an actress, her dream roles, and her thoughts on Other M’s reception. The team also share their favourite scenes from Other M. Podcast also features host Amanda, and team members Darren and RoyboyX.

01:27 – Guest: Jessica Martin
1:17:12 – Topic: What are our favourite scenes from Metroid: Other M?
1:26:37 – Bloopers

06 Aug 2020
Metroid Prime Hunters Permalink

Interview: Richard Vorodi (Metroid Prime Hunters)

August 6, 2020

Today the Metroid franchise celebrates its 34th anniversary. To mark this moment, we are proud to share an interview with Richard Vorodi, formally of NST who was the Single Player and Story Designer for Metroid Prime Hunters. We spent some time asking Richard a variety of questions about his time at NST, what it was like to work on a Metroid game, and questions around the gameplay and lore of the game. He also shares some pictures of his personal memorabilia from back in the day. We believe there are quite a few things within this interiew that have never been seen before by Metroid fans, so we hope you enjoy what we have prepared for you!

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Richard for taking the time to speak with us, and wish him the best of luck on his current and future endeavours!

Click here to read the interview

01 Aug 2020
Uncategorized Permalink

Community Spotlight: Oszaj

August 1, 2020

For this spotlight, we are sharing an impressive artist called Oszaj, who has created a variety of different Metroid focused pieces throughout his time. Metroid has built a strong connection to his childhood, which has inspired him to make some really special art pieces. (He even provided his own header for his feature!) We were incredibly proud to feature such a talented individual, and hope you will take the time to read more about Oszaj and his work by clicking below!

Click here to read the Spotlight

25 Jul 2020
Uncategorized Permalink

Brie Larson Volunteers to Play Samus in Potential Metroid Movie

July 25, 2020

Brie Larson recently made comments about wanting to play Samus Aran should a Metroid movie be on the table for production. In the Animal Crossing based talk show Animal Talking, where people join the host Gary Whitta in a talk show set within Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the subject was brought up and she had this to say:

“I would love that so much,
…
She was always my character that I played in Super Smash Bros., and I just loved her. I definitely want to make that movie, definitely want to participate in that. So Nintendo, once again, I’d love to do it.”

This wouldn’t be the first time Brie has expressed interest in the role, as she has tweeted about it when asked back in November 2018. She has also dressed up in the Zero Suit for Halloween 2018, which we covered previously.

You can view the Twitch clip of the specific moment, and also view the entire show in the source.

Source: Animal Talking

17 Jul 2020
Uncategorized Permalink

Feature: Metroid V – My Concept

July 17, 2020

Almost eighteen years since the release of Metroiid Fusion on the GameBoy Advance, fans of the Metroid series have yet to see a continuation of Samus’s story. What happened to her after the events of the B.S.L. Research station? Where did she go after she sent the station hurtling through SR388’s atmosphere? Like many fans, I have had ideas for a continuation of Metroid’s timeline for years, and for this months feature I have decided to touch on five things I want to see from Metroid 5, if Nintendo ever decides to release it. I hope you will consider giving it a read!

Click here to check out the feature