19 Jun 2019
Metroid Prime 4, Uncategorized Permalink

Kensuke Tanabe: Metroid Prime 4 “A Little Tricky” In Brief Comment During E3 2019

June 19, 2019

A small mention was given to Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2019 in an interview between Kensuke Tanabe and Eurogamer. While the focus of the interview was the upcoming Luigi’s Mansion 3 (a project that Tanabe-san is also producing) Eurogamer did ask if the Prime 4 Producer had an update for its fans. Tanabe response was that the focus for him at E3 2019 was to promote Luigi’s Mansion 3.

Tanabe: I shouldn’t say, it’s a little tricky… To be completely honest, at this E3 I just want people to pay attention to Luigi. If I mention something about Metroid Prime 4, people will focus on that. But when the time comes, I am so ready to talk about it!

Back in January 2019, Shinya Takahashi of Nintendo confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 had restarted development, and was now being worked on by Retro Studios, and produced by Kensuke Tanabe. At the time, he was quoted to say that it “will be a long road until the next time we will be able to update you on the development progress“.

While it’s likely to be a while until we hear more about the state of Prime 4’s development, we can only speculate what Mr. Tanabe meant by Metroid Prime 4 being “a little tricky” and that he “shouldn’t say”. Fingers crossed that Metroid Prime 4 under Retro Studios is moving more smoothly after its restarted development, than before!

Source: Eurogamer

18 Jun 2019
Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Permalink

Metroid Prime Technical Engineer Andy O’Neil Dies

June 18, 2019

We are saddened to learn of the passing of former Retro Studios employee Andy O’Neil, a former Technical Engineer who worked on Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Andy passed away on Monday, June 10, 2019 at his home in Austin, Texas. He was 47 years old.

Andy’s work on the Prime series included (but was not limited to) Samus’s Morph Ball movement, various weapon effects and split-screen multiplayer in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. After he parted ways with Retro Studios, he went on to co-found Bluepoint Games with Marco Thrush, who have remastered several notable titles including the God of War and Uncharted franchises. Their most recent release has been a remaster of Shadow of the Colossus for PlayStation 4.

On behalf of the team at Shinesparkers, we offer our condolences to Andy’s family and friends during this difficult time, and will remember him for the work he contributed to the Metroid series.

Source: Games Industry

07 Jun 2019
Super Smash Bros. Permalink

Feature: Smash Bros Ultimate Metroid Character Guide

June 7, 2019

In our latest feature, we are pleased to share a feature by Glaedrax, his very first full feature in fact! He has written an in-depth guide to using Metroid characters in Super Smash Bros: Ultimate! Whether you’re a Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Dark Samus or Ridley main, you should give this guide a read, for it may hold some tips that could be the difference between winning and losing against your friends. We hope to update this feature over time as the game continues to be updated, and will be listening to feedback from our audience.

Click here to read the feature

31 May 2019
Uncategorized Permalink

Community Spotlight: Shiryu Music

May 31, 2019

Today we are sharing a brand new Community Spotlight, focused on Gonçalo Lopes, aka Shiryu Music. Shiryu has been creating digital music for over twenty years, creating many remixes of Metroid music. In addition to his work as a freelance musician, he contributes to gaming news website Nintendo Life, and to independent publisher, Bitmap Books. In this Community Spotlight, Shiryu talks about following his passions in music and video games into adulthood, and his life as a self-confessed “Bedroom Producer”. We truly appreciate his contribution to our Community Spotlight series, wish him the best of luck with all his future endeavours, and hope you will all check out the links to Shiryu’s work in the links contained within the feature!

Click here to view the feature

16 May 2019
Metroid: Samus Returns Permalink

EB Games in Canada lists Metroid: Samus Returns Collector’s Box

May 16, 2019

The video game retailer EB Games has recently listed a Collector’s Box inspired by 2017’s Metroid: Samus Returns, although only on its Canadian website. The package is the result of a partnership between Nintendo and CultureFly, a company that prepares various “boxes” inspired by popular media franchises.

The Samus Returns box contains eight items based on Samus’s adventure in SR-388:

  • A vinyl miniature of the Baby Metroid;
  • A beanie with colors inspired by the Varia Suit;
  • A Morph Ball squishy;
  • A notebook shaped like Samus’s helmet;
  • A pen with colors inspired by the Zero Suit;
  • A duffel bag with artwork of Samus;
  • A Metroid keychain; and
  • An art print showing Samus’s gunship headed towards SR-388.

According to EB Games’s Canadian website, the box will release on September 27, 2019, for the price of 59.99 CAD (approximately 45 USD or 40 EUR), and it can already be pre-ordered. Although EB Games is a subsidiary of GameStop, the box is not available for sale on EB Games’s or GameStop’s websites in other countries.

Nintendo has previously worked with CultureFly in 2017 to produce a collectible box based on the NES, SNES and Game Boy consoles, but no official announcement by either company has been made regarding the Samus Returns box.

Source: EB Games Canada

12 May 2019
Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid II, Metroid: Samus Returns, Metroid: Zero Mission, Super Metroid Permalink

Feature: The Case for Traditional Metroid

May 12, 2019

Today we are sharing another feature to our growing collection, this one written by yours truly! I put the case for traditional Metroid to our readers, Nintendo and the wider Metroid fanbase. I wanted to highlight the importance of 2D Metroid games in an era of the Metroid Prime titles, especially with its fourth installment currently in the works by Retro Studios. My feature goes into the success of Metroid: Samus Returns and why it proves that there is a healthy appetite for traditional Metroid, and that the time is now for a sequel to Metroid Fusion (Metroid 5).

Click here to read the feature

08 May 2019
Uncategorized Permalink

Metroid was almost made into a cartoon… with a twist

May 8, 2019

Those of you who grew up in the 90s may remember the Mario and Zelda animated cartoons from DIC Entertainment, as well as the crossover series Captain N: The Game Master, where Mother Brain was the antagonist (and Samus appeared in the comics). Personally, I’ve always wondered if they ever considered producing a Metroid cartoon. It’s been discovered tonight, that they did. Promotional art cells have surfaced from the estate sale of a former DIC employee, showing proposed cartoons that never went into production. One of them was Metroid. In a scene inspired by Alien, that art cell shows “Samus” (I’ll get to that in a moment) attempting to push a large alien creature through an open air lock. Astonishingly, here Samus is shown to be a man!

The producer of the Captain N show said Samus was never in it because he’d never heard of her. The lack of awareness about her clearly extended to other staff at DIC back in the day. Whatever resulted in this proposed show’s demise, perhaps it was for the best we never got to see this version of Samus. The art cells are currently being auctioned, with the bid at $61 US as of this writing.

Source: Kotaku

30 Apr 2019
Uncategorized Permalink

Community Spotlight: Woman of Wonders

April 30, 2019

We are delighted to shine another Community Spotlight today, on Gina John Crosland, the Woman of Wonders. Gina is a very talented cosplayer whose work has turned heads and won competitions. Her Assassin’s Creed cosplay even earned her recognition from Ubisoft. We’re excited to bring her recreation of the Gravity Suit from Metroid: Samus Returns to the wider Metroid audience. Gina’s Gravity Suit is a fine example of the creative capabilities of Metroid fans.

Click here to read the feature

28 Apr 2019
Uncategorized Permalink

Retro Studios is hiring for Metroid Prime 4

April 28, 2019

In January, Nintendo announced that the development of Metroid Prime 4 was restarting under Retro Studios. A few days ago, Retro announced that they are hiring several key positions for the game’s development. These include art director, IT and gameplay engineer positions, character, cinematic and environment artists and physics engineers. Some of the jobs are either internal or external.

The fact that many key positions need to be filled in suggests that Prime 4 is still in the very early stages of development, three months after it was given back to Retro Studios. If you have the experience required and are interested in applying, you can do so at this link. On behalf of Shinesparkers, we wish luck to any applicants to these jobs, and to Retro in developing this long-awaited game.

Source: Twitter