15 Jul 2022
Metroid Dread Permalink

Feature: Izuki Kouji Tweets

July 15, 2022

For our latest feature, we are delighted to have reached out once again to Idzuki Kouji, the mangaka (author and illustrator) of Samus and Joey and Metroid EX, a four-part story for Metroid that was a manga series, published in Comic Bom Bom between December 2002 to April 2005 in Japan. Since we last spoke with Kouji-san in our interview back in 2019, Samus and Joey has been re-released as an eBook by Kodansha. The feature we have produced here, is a collection of his tweets over a ten month period between March 14th 2021 to January 8th 2022. With Kouji-san’s permission, we sought to translate these tweets in an attempt to preserve a record of his thoughts, feelings and his memories of working on Samus and Joey. Additionally, Kouji-san discussed his experiences playing Metroid Dread in these tweets.

Kouji-san also left a closing message on the feature for fans, which we hope you will read!

Click here to check out the feature

15 Jul 2022
Uncategorized Permalink

Shinesparkers Legacy Content restored

July 15, 2022

We have restored twelve pieces of classic content from the original Shinesparkers website (2010 – 2017), which wasn’t originally available upon relaunch in 2017. We’ve been chipping away at this for the past few years when we have had the spare time, and made some quality of life improvements to many of the pages, including new photographs, header images and a good ol’ spell check (no one is perfect). They can be found on our Features page, and on the following links:

End of Year 2010
End of Year 2011
Metroid Arrange Review
Metroid Blast Preview
Metroid Cinematica Review
Metroid Wii U Concept
Other M: Two Years Later
Shinesparkers 1st Anniversary
Super Metroid 20th Anniversary
Super Metroid Symphony Review
Varia Suit Metroid Other M Figma Review
Zero Suit Metroid Other M Scale Review

We hope you’ll take the time to see some of our early content, as much as we appreciate you taking the time to see our more recent content!

27 Jun 2022
Metroid Dread Permalink

Chuck Lorre and John Cena are Metroid Dread fans

June 27, 2022

Yesterday, we learned of two high profile fans of Metroid Dread in Hollywood. The first is Chuck Lorre, a TV sitcom legend who created shows such as Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, United States of Al and Bob Hearts Abishola. Lorre writes vanity cards that are shared at the end of every episode of his shows. Card #702 mentions that he’s been playing Metroid Dread for six months, and is finally approaching the battle with Raven Beak. The card has so far aired three times at the end of United States of Al, Bob Hearts Abishola and Young Sheldon this past April.

John Cena was also revealed to be a Metroid fan. According to Giant Bomb’s Dan Rychert, Cena participated in a photoshoot promoting the Nintendo Switch in 2017 and told Nintendo staff who were there that he wanted a new 2D Metroid. When Dread was released, they sent him a copy, and his representatives told Nintendo that he loved it. Today, former Nintendo Minute host Krysta Yang confirmed she was with Cena at the time and he was enthusiastic for a new Metroid game.

Thanks to Dread, Metroid’s becoming much more popular. Brie Larson filmed a sponsored ad for it back in November 2021, and we can now add Chuck Lorre and John Cena to the list of famous fans!

Source: Chuck Lorre/Dan Rychert/Krysta Yang

26 Jun 2022
Uncategorized Permalink

Community Spotlight: SpotArt Station

June 26, 2022

Our latest Community Spotlight is now live. This month we are highlighting the great talent of SpotArt Station, an animation and character design student with a massive passion for Metroid. At the time of writing, their big project is a fully illustrated Metroid Dread NES manual, just like the ones you would see back in the heyday of the system! We hope you enjoy it, and we wish Spot all the very best of luck for the future!

Click here to check out the Spotlight

18 Jun 2022
Uncategorized Permalink

DoctorM64 joins Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus development team

June 18, 2022

We learned of an exciting development today – DoctorM64, the creator of AM2R and level designer on Ori and the Will of the Wisps, has joined Squid Shock Studios as an Associate Designer. Squid Shock Studios is developing Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus, a hand-drawn Metroidvania game based on Japanese folklore. DoctorM64 isn’t the only AM2R veteran on the project – Robert Sephazon, a playtester for AM2R, is an Executive Producer of Bō! From what we’ve seen of the game, it looks like it’s going to be a load of fun with a beautiful art style and fluid, dynamic gameplay. It has exceeded its fundraising goal and is planned for release on Steam. To keep up to date with Bō, you can follow Squid Shock on Twitter. Best of luck to the team!

Source: Kickstarter

14 Jun 2022
Metroid Prime: Federation Force Permalink

Full Sylux Model from Metroid Prime: Federation Force Discovered

June 14, 2022

A full model of Sylux from Metroid Prime: Federation Force has been discovered by Wikitroid user Bearborg, who experimented with the in-game cameras to show a different angle to the secret cutscene from the very end of the game, where Sylux infiltrates a research station to steal a larval Metroid. This is the first time we have seen Sylux in full from the game, as the original cutscene is made to be shown from a first person perspective.

Sylux was first introduced in Metroid Prime Hunters, and was also confirmed to be inside the ship giving chase to Samus in the post-credit scene of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Sylux is also rumoured to be in the upcoming Metroid Prime 4, due to the events of Federation Force, as explained above.

UPDATE: We have updated this article to include a gallery with some additional shots of the model, courtesy of Bearborg.

Source: Wikitroid

Permalink

Episode 25 – Chozo Language Course

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 25 - Chozo Language Course
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Our twenty-fifth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast highlights the rather impressive Chozo Language Course, which has taken data such as symbols and voice clips from Metroid Dread’s Chozo language, along with promotional materials and other official sources, and created a guide on how to learn this constructed language. The podcast features guest Deadweight, a linguist who has worked closely on the project, and details the story of how the community came together to work on it, and create learning material so others can learn it too!

Podcast is hosted by Amanda, team member Roy, and guest Deadweight.

00:00 – Introductions
01:37 – Chozo Language Course
29:21 – Mailbag
36:49 – Bloopers

Chozo Language Course on Twitter

01 Jun 2022
Uncategorized Permalink

Your Favorite Metroid Game 2022 (Poll Opens)

June 1, 2022

The poll to discover the communities favorite Metroid game for 2022, is live! People are now welcome to vote for their favorite Metroid title, with votes being collected between June 1st to July 31st 2022. On August 6th 2022, we are aiming to reveal the results! In 2021, 705 of you voted to crown Super Metroid as your winner, but with the release of a brand new Metroid game since then, will this impact the result this year? We will be looking to compare last year’s scores to see where each game will place, and are excited to see the final results!

Votes can be cast in our Google forms document here

Please spread the word and share it with your Metroid loving friends! The more votes cast by individual fans, we can get a clearer picture on what fans love.

Permalink

Episode 24 – Lawrence Schwedler (Composer, Metroid Prime Hunters)

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 24 - Lawrence Schwedler (Composer, Metroid Prime Hunters)
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Our twenty-fourth episode of the Shinesparkers Podcast stars Lawrence Schwedler, the composer of Metroid Prime Hunters, and many other video game soundtracks during the Nintendo 64 and GameCube era, while at NST (Nintendo Software Technology). Lawrence shares his memories of working on Metroid Prime Hunters, and answers our questions, and shares his thoughts on topics such as adaptive music, and how people can get into the video game music industry. We also answer our mailbag on the topic of accessibility improvements discussed on our last podcast.

Podcast is hosted by Amanda, with team members Darren and Stephan Wells, who is new to the podcast!

00:00 – Introductions
01:43 – Interview: Lawrence Schwedler
1:03:33 – Topic: Adaptive Music in video games
1:27:52 – Mailbag
1:35:06 – Bloopers

Links mentioned in this podcast:

Invisible Sound Design in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (By Scruffy)
GameSoundCon

15 May 2022
Uncategorized Permalink

Coming Soon: Your favourite Metroid game 2022

May 15, 2022

Shinesparkers will be hosting a new poll soon to discover which game the community considers to be their favorite. Last year, 705 people voted in our very first poll, and this year we want to do it all again. Since then, new Metroid games have released, but how will that impact the results this time around? On June 1st 2022, we will be opening our poll up to the public, and they’ll have two months, until July 31st 2022, to submit their choice. Only one game can win!

We are hoping to gather even more results this year so a wider pool of Metroid fans can decide their favorites, and we are urging people to get behind the game they want to see win!

Stay tuned for the announcement soon!