We are excited to share a new feature with you: a tribute to legendary Metroid composer Minako Hamano. Today is her 50th birthday and we wanted to shine a light on a musician we felt deserved recognition for her incredible work. You’ve heard her music, but you may not know her name. Hamano-san is responsible for some of the most iconic themes across the Metroid series, in particular Ridley’s now signature battle music from the original Super Metroid. The Shinesparkers team came together to share our thoughts and messages for her in this group feature, and earlier this month we went to our community, collecting fifty birthday messages for Hamano-san. The Metroid series would not be the same without her contributions to its score, and our goal with this feature is to ensure that Hamano-san finally receives recognition for her work.
Official Metroid 2020 Calendar now available for pre-order
Abrams Calendars have put up pre-orders for an officially licensed 2020 calendar for Metroid, as well as ones for Super Mario: History of a Hero, Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It features artwork from all games across the series (except for Pinball, sadly).
The calendars will launch on July 30th.
Source: Amazon
See also: Super Mario: History of a Hero, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Smash Bros Ultimate Metroidmania
Various Metroid characters will invade the upcoming Smash Bros Ultimate spirit event for three days starting the 28th of June. Make sure to bring Samus, Zero Suit Samus, Ridley and Dark Samus for this smashing occasion to “welcome” these spirits and claim them for your own collection. So check the Spirit Board in-game and smash them off the walls and through any portal they will be coming from.
The three-day #SmashBrosUltimate spirit event “Metroidmania” starts on 28/06! Check your Spirit Board, because #Metroid characters are coming out of the walls! Defeat them in battle to earn more SP than usual.
Make sure to gather them all if you do not want to miss out, and do smash any Luminoth spirit extra hard as retribution is demanded by the Ing…
Source: Nintendo of Europe
Community Spotlight: Cardtroid
Today we are sharing yet another Community Spotlight, focused on Cardtroid, a Metroid card game created by Ben, a.k.a. Deadweight. He’s a newer Metroid fan who was inspired to create a tabletop game after seeing his friends make their own. The project has allowed him to deepen his knowledge of Metroid and share it with fans. Cardtroid is still in development and will be made public in the future. With this entry in our Community Spotlight series, we hope you will give him your support as he completes this passion project!
Kensuke Tanabe: Metroid Prime 4 “A Little Tricky” In Brief Comment During E3 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
Metroid Prime Technical Engineer Andy O’Neil Dies
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
Dark Samus amiibo unveiled, coming in 2020
While there has been no announcements related to Metroid out of the Nintendo Direct today, or the Treehouse broadcast (so far), we do have some good news: Dark Samus’s amiibo has been unveiled! She will be part of the next wave of fighter amiibo, which also includes Incineroar, Richter and Chrom, in 2020. More as it develops.
Source: Nintendo
Feature: Smash Bros Ultimate Metroid Character Guide
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.
Community Spotlight: Shiryu Music
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!
EB Games in Canada lists Metroid: Samus Returns Collector’s Box
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