Our newest feature is now live! One of my long term passion projects has been documenting the rooms of Metroid on Wikitroid. Every single alcove, chamber, corridor and grand hall has a story to tell, an untold number of secrets and a piece of importance in the life of Samus. Although this work is ongoing, I wanted to share my thoughts on Metroid’s rooms, and how fun and personally rewarding it has been to study and document every single one. Because the wiki’s coverage of rooms is incomplete, there has been a knowledge gap for a long time and myself and others are doing our best to help close that gap. Anyone who wishes to do so is welcome to help contribute to achieving full coverage of all Metroid rooms on Wikitroid.
Metroid Dread patch 1.0.3 released
Today, Metroid Dread received its third update. It will automatically be downloaded when your Switch is connected to the internet. The patch notes are below:
- Fixed an issue where Samus’ damage detection would disappear under certain conditions.
- We made the decision to fix this issue because there is a possibility that it may occur unintentionally, and if it does, it will result in a play experience that is far different from the way Metroid Dread was originally intended to be experienced.
Source: Nintendo Support
Metroid Dread nominated for GOTY at The Game Awards
It’s official, Mercury Steam’s Metroid Dread has been nominated for Game of the Year and Best Adventure Game at The Game Awards!
The event will air on December 9th, and will celebrate and award the best games that were released this year.
Episode 19 – Traditional Metroid’s Future
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Our nineteenth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast is now available! This episode welcomes back industry veteran Eric Kozlowsky to the podcast, who was a Level 3 artist at Retro Studios and worked on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and currently Art Director at indie video game company, FuzzyBot. The team discuss where we want to see the traditional style of Metroid game go next after Metroid Dread, and Eric shares his thoughts and opinions on Metroid Dread’s art and environments, based on his background in the games industry. The podcast is hosted by Amanda, with team members Darren and Roy.
Please be aware that this episode will contain major spoilers from Metroid Dread. If you wish to avoid spoilers, please listen to this episode later.
01:21 – Main topic: The Future of the traditional Metroid series
19:07 – Topic: Eric Kozlowsky on the Environment and Art of Metroid Dread
33:22 – Mailbag: What is your favorite boss or character from Metroid Dread?
38:52 – Bloopers
Metroid Dread sells a staggering 854,000 units in North America
Market research company NPD Group has published data for the best selling video games in North America during the month of October. Metroid Dread had an extremely strong first month of sales! NPD ranked Dread as the third best selling game in North America during October 2021 (behind Far Cry 6 and Back 4 Blood). These numbers do not include digital sales, however.
At the same time, Nintendo of America CEO Doug Bowser has told The Verge that Dread sold 854,000 units, in the United States, which in his words make it “the best start for any Metroid game ever”.
Separately, Famitsu has confirmed that Dread’s lifetime sales in Japan, as of November 7, 2021 are 128,257 units, which confirms that Dread has sold almost one million physical and digital units (source) in these regions alone.
We will update this news post with more information as it comes.
Source: NPD Group/Oscar Lemaire/The Verge/Famitsu
Interview: Kynan Pearson
Today we are excited to announce that we have a brand new interview to share! This time with Kynan Pearson, a former Retro Studios employee who worked as a Level Designer on Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, and Senior Designer for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Kynan spent some time talking to us, sharing several anecdotes from the games he helped develop, his feelings about working at Retro Studios, and with the colleagues he befriended. We are happy to finally share this interview with the Shinesparkers community, and hope you will enjoy hearing Kynan’s insights.
Brie Larson films Metroid Dread ad for Nintendo
Yesterday, Brie Larson, a well-known fan of Samus who’s campaigned to play her in a Metroid movie, filmed a sponsored advertisement for Nintendo that she shared on Instagram. In it, she plays Metroid Dread on her Nintendo Switch OLED system, while sharing her memories of past Metroid games and playing as Samus in the Super Smash Bros. series. It’s great that she loves Metroid Dread as much as we do. You can check out the ad at the link below.
Source: Brie Larson
Metroid Dread patch 1.0.2 released
A new update for Metroid Dread is now available. It contains some general fixes, which will be applied to the game once you connect your Switch to the internet. Nintendo have outlined the changes coming in 1.0.2 on their support page, listed below:
- Fixed an issue where retrying after a game over would cause the play time to be added only when retrying a specific boss fight.
- Fixed an issue where the game would force-quit if you hit an enemy frozen by an Ice Missile with the Shine Spark in a certain way.
- Fixed an issue that caused Samus to move strangely when jumping at certain times in the Morph Ball Launcher.
- Fixed an issue where the final boss would get stuck on a wall and not be able to move during a certain attack, making it impossible to progress in the game.
- Fixed an issue where Samus would get stuck in the wall when defeating the E.M.M.I. in Ferenia in a certain position.
What do you think to the update? Share your thoughts with us on our social media channels!
Source: Nintendo Support
Feature: Nintendo Switch OLED Model Review
For our latest feature, we are happy to share our first ever video game hardware review for Shinesparkers: the Nintendo Switch OLED Model! The console launched on the same day as Metroid Dread, and features a beautiful OLED screen which helps games look even better when playing in handheld or tabletop mode. But what did we think to it? Is it worth upgrading your current hardware? Are the new features and improvements worth the price? How does Metroid Dread compare on the new console?
Be sure to check out our review and make an informed decision by clicking here
Metroid Dread demo now available
In a surprising move, Nintendo have released a demo for the recently released Metroid Dread, that launched on October 8th 2021.
Nintendo Switch owners who have yet to experience Samus’s latest adventure, can now do so by navigating to the Nintendo eShop and downloading it to their consoles.
While we are sure many of our readers already have the game, or have the intention of picking it up in the future, this may be the perfect opportunity to convince others who may be undecided.
Source: Nintendo