To round off the month, our latest Community Spotlight is now available, featuring an artist called Neal Anderson, who has created some awesome Metroid artwork over the years. He has recently completed a seven-piece project called Metroid Lifecycle, which is available to view in the feature. We are very proud to continue to showcase the amazing talent within the Metroid community, and hope you will consider checking it out!
Metroid Nominated for World Video Game Hall of Fame
The NES classic Metroid has been nominated for The Strong’s World Video Game Hall of Fame for 2018. It is a finalist for selection with 11 other games, including Half-Life, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII, to join the likes of Super Mario Bros. and Tetris to be displayed at the National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
A player’s choice ballot is available to select three titles to be displayed at the museum, with voting lasting from March 27th to April 4th. The top three highest voting games will be announced on May 3rd and will join 27 other International Selection Advisory Committee chosen ballots in the hall of fame.
This is what The Strong have to say about Metroid in their nomination of the title.
Nintendo’s Metroid launched in 1986 and inserted players into a futuristic world brimming with innovative adventure and evocative music. The game combined the platforming of Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. and non-linear story elements from The Legend of Zelda, offering a new game play experience. The protagonist, Samus, also gave the gaming industry its first playable human female character in mainstream video games. The game launched a franchise with 13 core titles that has sold more than 17 million units worldwide.
Source: World Video Game Hall of Fame
Nintendo Apply For New Metroid and Metroid Prime Trademarks
Nintendo have applied for nine new trademarks under “downloadable videogame programs”, which are Dillon’s Dead-Heat Breakers, Luigi’s Mansion, Mario & Luigi, Metroid, Metroid Prime, Smash Bros., Wario Land and WarioWare. It isn’t unusual for Nintendo to apply for trademarks often, however it is worth noting that “Wario Land” and “Metroid” are the only two trademarks have no announced plans at the time of writing.
We will update this news post with further information as it becomes available.
Sources: Japanese Nintendo , j-platpat
Guest Feature: Sonny Santa Maria – My Metroid Experience
We are delighted to be sharing a guest feature with you today from Sonny Santa Maria, a video game contract animator who worked on Metroid Prime 3: Corruption who discusses his first visit to Retro Studios, his memories of Metroid Prime 3 and what happened post-Retro Studios. We want to thank Sonny for taking the time to share these memories with us, and we hope you will enjoy reading them!
Feature: Stepping Into The Boots Of Samus Aran (Memories of Metroid Prime)
Today marks fifteen years since the release of Metroid Prime in Europe. I wanted to take the opportunity to mark the occasion by sharing my own personal memories of the game in a new written feature for Shinesparkers. If you’re willing to hear me ramble on about how much I appreciate this game, you can find a link to it below. I am sure you have your own memories of the game, and I would love to hear them! So be sure to send them to us on social media via our Twitter and Facebook pages!
Feature: Our Hopes for Metroid Prime 4
With Metroid Prime 4 on the horizon in the next year or two, the Shinesparkers team got together to share their hopes for Metroid Prime 4. The feature covers thoughts on story and world building, tone and atmosphere, gameplay, music and sound design, a potential multiplayer feature and general expectations about the game. We hope you enjoy it!
Perhaps you have your own ideas of what you would like to see in Metroid Prime 4? Be sure to share them with us on our Twitter and Facebook pages!
Community Spotlight: Planet Zebeth (Historic Metroid Sprite Comic)
Our first Community Spotlight of March 2018 is now available! This one focuses on the historic Metroid sprite comic Planet Zebeth, which was first created back in 2002 and focuses on the character of Kabutroid and other unique individuals. It’s an important creation within the Metroid fan community and worthy of a feature here on Shinesparkers.
Super Smash Bros. is coming to the Nintendo Switch!
At the end of the Nintendo Direct today, it was announced that Super Smash Bros. will be coming to the Nintendo Switch this year! Samus appears in a silhouette among the other fighters under the fiery Smash symbol as the Inklings look on. Stay tuned for more information.
Feature – Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes Q&A
Today, Shinesparkers has an exciting new feature to share with our readers: an exclusive translation of a Q&A on the Japanese Metroid Prime 2: Dark Echoes website! Similar to that done by Yoshio Sakamoto for Metroid: Zero Mission, this interview with the Echoes development team answered numerous questions about the game, as well as the mythology of the series. For example, it gives away the name of Phaaze, well before we discovered it in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. This translation was sponsored by yours truly, and would not have been possible without the generous help of freelance translator Leah Hicks. On behalf of Shinesparkers, I would like to thank Leah for her great work on translating this Q&A!
Community Spotlight: Torby Brand (Musician, AM2R)
Our latest Community Spotlight is now live. It focuses on AM2R musician Torby Brand, who has had a presence in the Metroid community for many years. Our readers may recognise him as our Assistant Director for Harmony of a Hunter: 101% Run, and played a key role in helping that album come to fruition. In recent years, Torby Brand has grown in leaps and bounds with his contribution to the popular Metroid fan game AM2R, as well as maintaining his own YouTube channel!