It is hard to grasp that 2024 is already over. As the team at Shinesparkers like to do every year, we are recapping what happened in the world of Metroid in 2024, and highlighting the content that we published throughout the year.
We started 2024 off in January with a translation of a page on Smabura-Ken, the official Japanese website for Super Smash Bros. Melee, regarding the secret Samus Unmasked trophy. The icons for Metroid Prime Remastered that were previously released via Nintendo Switch Online returned for a limited window, and Nintendo’s Minoru Uenaka published a feature outlining his process for designing the Samus and E.M.M.I. amiibo for Metroid Dread. There was no Metroid news in February.
March marked a significant milestone: the 30th anniversary of the release of Super Metroid on March 19, 1994. We celebrated all throughout the month with a retrospective feature that sought input from the team and community, a commemorative episode of the podcast, and our first livestream on YouTube in a long time, hosted by our team member Leon. Elsewhere in the month, we published a Community Spotlight for Domus Populi, and got the news that Metroid was again nominated for inclusion in the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
In April, Shinesparkers continued its coverage of the 30th anniversary of Super Metroid with a “Where Are They Now?” feature, which examined the careers of Super Metroid’s development team and what they have worked on since. Many have continued contributing to Metroid into the present, while others have retired or are sadly no longer with us. We also received confirmation for the first time that Epic Games wanted to include Samus in Fortnite, but Nintendo refused the possibility when Epic didn’t want to make her exclusive to the Nintendo Switch version.
May brought us the announcement of Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition, this generation’s answer to NES Remix that featured Metroid minigames among other represented Nintendo franchises. Retro Gamer magazine approached Shinesparkers to participate in a feature marking the 30th anniversary of Super Metroid. Roy (Creative Director), Darren (Director Emeritus and the creator of Shinesparkers) and Glaedrax (Community Manager) were interviewed, along with previous Metroid developers Jack Mathews (Metroid Prime 1-3) and Jacobo Luengo Gomez (Metroid: Samus Returns, Metroid Dread). We published a feature that served as an oral history of the Japanese Metroid II and Super Metroid commercials, and translation of magazine articles pertaining to both. Sadly, the World Video Game Hall of Fame passed on including Metroid for a second time.
June was the biggest month of the year for Metroid fans. On June 18, 2024, Nintendo revealed during their Nintendo Direct presentation that Metroid: Zero Mission was coming to Nintendo Switch Online. Much more importantly, the presentation ended with the first trailer for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond! Metroid fans have been waiting for more than seven years at the time of writing, since its original announcement, for even a glimpse of the game. Finally, five years after it restarted development under Retro Studios, we were given a subtitle, gameplay, and confirmation of Sylux’s long-speculated involvement. We and the rest of the Metroid community are eager for its long-awaited release in 2025.
Shortly after the Nintendo Direct, icons based on Metroid Dread were released through Nintendo Switch Online, and Dread and Metroid Prime Remastered went on sale worldwide. We recorded another episode of the podcast with our raw reactions to the reveal trailer and it was published a few days later.
July brought a few more updates in the Metroid space. Jon Wofford, a user interface artist for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, posted about his work on his ArtStation profile, generating widespread press coverage. We published an interview with Ai Kobayashi, the Japanese voice of Samus in Metroid: Other M. Lastly, First 4 Figures announced a new statue based on the Gravity Suit in Metroid Prime.
At the start of August, the month of Metroid, we published the results of 2024’s edition of our annual favorite game poll. For the third year in a row, Metroid Dread won, with Metroid Prime a very close second. We also shared an interview with Cid Newman, the CG Technical Supervisor of Retro Studios, who worked on the 2001 iteration of Metroid Prime, but was left out of the finished game’s credits. It was important that we recognize his contribution to the game. Elsewhere in the month, Nintendo Switch Online icons based on Nintendo World Championships, including two based on Metroid, became available. Nikki García shared a drawing of herself as Samus that she was gifted by Aeternum Game Studios for her role in their game Eden Genesis. A group of artists in the Metroid community shared a fanzine, Sector Zero, themed around the relationship between Samus Aran and Adam Malkovich. Lastly, the recurring Metroid Mania Spirit Board event in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate returned for four days.
In September, we published part 2 of Quadraxis’ feature on The Chozo, this time focusing on the Thoha, Mawkin and Zebesian Chozo tribes. In October, we published an interview with Jacobo Luengo, a Game Designer for Metroid: Samus Returns and Metroid Dread who had participated in the Retro Gamer interview with us earlier this year. We also published another episode of the podcast, featuring Dread speedrunner Arkandy. In other news, the singer Grimes posted a photo of herself playing Metroid Prime Remastered, a Morph Ball was discovered in the rafters at the Nintendo Museum in Japan, Metroid was an answer in The New York Times’ game Connections, and at the very end of October, Nintendo announced Nintendo Music, a new app that lets you play music from their games, including the NES and Famicom versions of Metroid, and Metroid Prime.
November began with the wonderful news that Metroid has sold 4.99 million physical units on Nintendo Switch to date. This is compared to 0.98 million units on Nintendo 3DS, a significant increase. It also marked the 20th anniversary of Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, which we celebrated with a feature that included input from the Metroid community. Near the end of November, we got the incredible news that Metroid Prime 1-3: A Visual Retrospective, a massive anthology of artwork for the original Prime series, would be released in the summer of 2025! We also published news of development assets for Metroid Prime shared by artists James Dargie and Greg Luzniak, and episode 1 of our new YouTube series, Shinesparkers Archives, which outlines incredible secrets and facts revealed in our interviews.
In the first week of December, Metroid HQ began their annual MHQthon livestream, benefitting Child’s Play Charity. Jessica Erin Martin, the voice of Samus in Metroid: Other M, made a special appearance during their run through Other M, and The Great Metroid Bake Off. She wore a Samus shirt she bought from Etsy, and signed an Arm Cannon to be given away as a donation incentive. A generous gift in support of a wonderful cause.