30 Dec 2020
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Feature: End of Year Feature 2020

December 30, 2020

Our final piece of content for the year is now available! Our annual End of Year feature focuses on the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, and how the Shinesparkers team have contributed to the website this year, which many have done in an effort to distract themselves from the difficult circumstances we have all been facing.

As the Creative Director of Shinesparkers, I want to congratulate my team for their amazing work this year, they have been incredible. Together, we have been working on a range of content for Shinesparkers, and have put together some great interviews, features, community spotlights and a podcast for our readers to enjoy. Additionally, thank you to all the people involved in our content and allowing us the opportunity to share their contributions. Finally, I want to thank our readers for engaging with us in 2020 across social media and by listening to our podcast on the website, iTunes and Spotify. We hope that you have enjoyed what we have produced, and can’t wait to begin working on new content for 2021!

Click here to read our End of Year 2020 Feature

On behalf of the team, we want to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

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Episode 11 – End of Year 2020

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 11 - End of Year 2020
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For our eleventh podcast, the team close out 2020 by discussing a year of working on Shinesparkers, and how Metroid has helped them through the challenges of the global pandemic. The team also highlight the tenth anniversary of the community and their favourite features, and highlight some of your comments in our mailbag! This podcast features host Amanda, and team members Darren, Roy and Leon!

01:45 – Topic: A year of Shinesparkers
21:23 – Mailbag: How our readers have dealt with the pandemic
30:03 – Topic: Ten years of Shinesparkers
49:30 – Bloopers

23 Dec 2020
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Nordisk Games acquires 40% share of Metroid: Samus Returns developer MercurySteam

December 23, 2020

Nordisk Games have become a minority shareholder in MercurySteam, taking a 40% share in the company responsible for developing Metroid: Samus Returns with Nintendo, which released back in 2017. MercurySteam have confirmed the news in a recent blog post, welcoming Nordisk Games as their new partner. The blog also shares quotes from Enric Alvarez (CEO and co-founder of MercurySteam) that both parties shared the same DNA, ambition and objectives; and from Nordisk Games Senior Partner Martin Walfisz that his company was very proud to have the company join their portfolio. Walfisz also confirms that MercurySteam have new games currently in development that are promising and exciting.

We warmly welcome Nordisk Games as a new MercurySteam partner. Since the first time we met with them, we were very clear that both parties shared the same DNA, ambition and objectives and we are convinced that we are entering a new era of consolidation and growth for our studio. The saying “The best is yet to come” takes on all its meaning now – Enric Alvarez, CEO and co-founder of MercurySteam

After meeting the founders and team at MercurySteam we immediately recognized their fantastic talent and creativity at work. The studio is undoubtedly one of the premier PC and console game developers in Europe, and we’re very proud of having the company join our portfolio. MercurySteam’s track record speaks for itself, and the games they now have in development are extremely promising and exciting – Martin Walfisz, Senior Partner at Nordisk Games

Source: MercurySteam blog

18 Dec 2020
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Feature: Civilisations Lurking Beyond

December 18, 2020

The universe of Metroid is a pretty large place, and outside of Samus Aran, Dark Samus, Ridley and other recurring characters, there are several that we still don’t know a great deal about. There are a number of cool facts out there though, some of which were revealed through official marketing materials, or through our own interviews and investigations here at Shinesparkers! Our team member Quadraxis has attempted to highlight some of the lesser-known characters referenced in Metroid Prime Hunters, such as the Kriken, Vhozon and Phrygisians for his latest civilisation series of features for Shinesparkers. We hope you will check it out, and hopefully learn a few things about these cool additions to the series!

Click here to read the feature

04 Dec 2020
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Community Spotlight: VGMStudios

December 4, 2020

For our final Community Spotlight of the year, we are very happy to be sharing the very impressive Metroid collection of VGMStudios with you. Within the collection are some very rare and wonderful items that many fans have probably never seen before, mostly sourced from Japan. Some are so special, that they are one-of-a-kind. VGMStudios explains how he became a collector in the first place, and what his collection means to him, and we hope you will check it out by clicking the link below!

We are looking for new Community Spotlights for 2021, so if you or someone you know is a cosplayer, artist, musician, speedrunner, YouTuber or has an interesting Metroid project that you feel could use a bit more attention, don’t hesitate to share it with us via social media!

Click here to check out the feature

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Episode 10 – Rainfall Films (Metroid: The Sky Calls)

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 10 - Rainfall Films (Metroid: The Sky Calls)
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For our tenth podcast, we are joined by Sam Balcomb and Jeff Dodson of Rainfall Films, a company that specialises in production, post-production and audio, and were responsble for the fan film Metroid: The Sky Calls. The movie was created back in 2015 and starred Jessica Chobot and America Young as Samus Aran. To mark its fifth anniversary, we prepared an interview to find out more about the project. The podcast also features host Amanda, and team members Darren and Dalagonash. Check out our feature-length podcast below!

00:31 – Guests: Sam Balcomb & Jeff Dodson
1:22:27 – Topic: Our favourite moments from Metroid: The Sky Calls
1:31:10 – Bloopers

22 Nov 2020
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Feature: Why is Metroid Prime 4 Important to Nintendo?

November 22, 2020

Back in early 2019, Nintendo announcd that it was restarting development on Metroid Prime 4, a title that was received with open arms when it was first announced back in June 2017. Fans may be questioning how important Metroid Prime 4 is to Nintendo, and how it views the series as a whole. Our team member Dalagonash has kindly shared his opinion on why Metroid Prime 4 is important to Nintendo in our latest feature for Shinesparkers.

Click here to check out the feature.

13 Nov 2020
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Community Spotlight: Metroid Trainer

November 13, 2020

Our latest Community Spotlight is now available! This month, we are featuring The Metroid Trainer, a YouTuber whose content includes detailed explanations of bosses in the Metroid series, his theories about mysteries, and imagining Metroid enemies as Pokemon. His videos are a great resource for Metroid fans new and old, and we felt he was very deserving of a Spotlight.

We continue to look for talented creators across the Metroid fan community. If you are creating something that you think we might be able to promote, please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Click here to read The Metroid Trainer’s feature

02 Nov 2020
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Gigi Hadid dressed up as Samus for Halloween

November 2, 2020

Following in the footsteps of Brie Larson, American fashion model Gigi Hadid dressed up as Zero Suit Samus for Halloween this year. Sharing photos of her costume via Instagram, Hadid captioned her post with “choose your player”, potentially a reference to Super Smash Bros. One photo features a gif of Zero Suit Samus doing the default dance from Fortnite. She shared additional photos in her Instagram stories.

Several gossip and media sites have been describing Hadid’s costume as that of a video game character, without naming Metroid or Samus. Regardless, it’s always nice to see celebrities taking notice of Metroid and Samus, and we appreciate the costume.

Source: Screen Rant/Gigi Hadid

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Episode 09 – Kabutroid (Planet Zebeth Webcomic)

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 09 - Kabutroid (Planet Zebeth Webcomic)
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For our ninth podcast, we invited sprite comic artist Kabutroid to join us to discuss Planet Zebeth, a long-running series of comics she created seventeen years ago. Kabutroid explains more about her creation, and the team discuss our favourite moments from the comic. We hope you will check out Planet Zebeth, one of the oldest pieces of Metroid fan content on the internet! Podcast also features host Amanda, and team members Darren and RoyboyX.

00:40 – Guest: Kabutroid
12:37 – Topic: What are our favourite moments from Planet Zebeth?
19:35 – Bloopers

Check out Planet Zebeth on the link below:
https://zebeth.shinesparkers.net/planetzebeth/