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
Feature: Super Metroid – The Unexpected Masterpiece
Our first feature of the year Super Metroid – The Unexpected Masterpiece is now available to read! Staff member KomodoZero shares his thoughts on how one of the most notable Metroid titles in the history was a success, largely by accident. He highlights how gamebreaking bugs could have ruined a game, but in Super Metroid’s case, expanded the game to even greater heights.
A big thank you to KomodoZero for taking the time to put this together for us!
Datamine reveals SNES games on Nintendo Switch includes Super Metroid
Nintendo Switch’s online service launched last September, and brought with it a growing library of NES titles to play as part of its paid online subscription. Thanks to a recent datamine by modder Kapu, it looks like a selection of SNES games could be on the way, including Super Metroid! A total of twenty-two games were found in the datamine which includes Samus Aran’s third outing as the beloved bounty hunter.
Super Mario Kart
Super Soccer
Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past
Demon’s Crest
Yoshi’s Island
Stunt Race FX
Kirby’s Dream Course
Pop’n Twinbee
Star Fox
Contra 3
Kirby Super Star
Super Ghouls ‘n Ghosts
Kirby’s Dream Land 3
Super Metroid
Super Mario World
Pilotwings
F-ZERO
Star Fox 2
Super Punch-Out!!
The Legend of the Mystical Ninja
Super Mario All-Stars
Breath of Fire 2
This list doesn’t confirm when or if the games will be added to the online service, but it would make sense for Nintendo to expand and enrich the library of games it currently offers as part of its online service. Making Super Metroid available to Nintendo Switch owners with an online subscription would be an amazing opportunity for many first time players to try one of the most popular titles in the franchise.
Source: Kapu on Twitter, Pastebin
First 4 Figures Meta Ridley Teaser Released
First 4 Figures announced a while back that they were working on a Meta Ridley statue in their Metroid range of statues, you can see the prototype figure from our post from nearly a year ago. Now they’ve produced a teaser trailer for the upcoming statue.
Reservations for the statue start on Friday 18th, alongside a Q&A session to answer any questions you may have.
Source: First 4 Figures on YouTube