In Memory of Daniel Woodyer (Pirate Crab)

I am deeply saddened by the news that Daniel Woodyer, a.k.a PirateCrab, has passed away. Daniel contributed to three of our albums, making his debut on Harmony of Heroes with Pirate’s Road, and There’s No Metal on Zebes. Shortly after, he contributed a third track called Shadow of the Core for the follow-up album, Harmony of Heroes: Final Smash. His most recent work for us was in Harmony of a Hunter Returns, with Kraidosaurus.

Daniel was an outstanding musician, and incredibly hard-working. He could be counted on to deliver a high quality track to deadline, and never backed down from a challenge. He was flexible and enthusiastic about each project he was involved in, and an absolute pleasure to work with. While we didn’t speak too often outside of projects, I knew him well enough as a pretty chill, laid back guy, with a great sense of humour. I will always be thankful for his contribution to our albums, and his music will live on with us all.

On behalf of Shinesparkers, and the Harmony teams, we share our condolences with Daniel’s friends, family and those who loved him during this difficult time.

Interview: Nathan McGuinness

We are thrilled to share our latest interview with Nathan McGuinness, who directed Iron Woman, the live-action North American commercial for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes! Nathan shared how he became a filmmaker and many other details from behind the scenes, including the filming location, the visual effects, and the name of the actress. It was fantastic to hear from him and to learn more about a beloved commercial for Metroid Prime 2. We hope you’ll enjoy the interview!

Click here to check out the interview

Community Spotlight: Noababoa

Our next Community Spotlight of 2023 is now live! This month we are featuring Noababoa, a talented 3D artist whose redesigns of Samus’s different suits have become very popular. These include revamps of the Power, Varia, Gravity and Fusion Suits, with more on the way. Be sure to give his spotlight a read, and follow him on his social platforms to keep up with his work!

Click here to check out the spotlight

Mario movie actors want a Metroid movie next

Last week, we reported on a Gizmodo interview with Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, the voices of Mario and Luigi in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, who both expressed interest in a Metroid movie being made. Now, in a new interview from GameSpot, Pratt, Day and Seth Rogen (voice of Donkey Kong) all reiterated they want Metroid to be adapted next.

Rogen, proposing a “Nintendo Cinematic Universe” (NCU) said: “I always thought Metroid was cool. I don’t know how it fits into this world necessarily, but I always thought that would make a cool movie.” Pratt and Day also said a Metroid film would be “cool”.

A live-action Metroid film was in development in 2005, but only made it as far as a treatment before being cancelled. Since then, a number of Hollywood actors and producers have called for Samus to come to the big screen, most notably Brie Larson, who’s volunteered to portray our favorite bounty hunter. If the Mario movie is a success, and it certainly appears to be, maybe Nintendo will revisit the idea of adapting Metroid.

Source: GameSpot

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day call for a Metroid movie

Mario and Luigi themselves, Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, recently gave an interview to Gizmodo about The Super Mario Bros. Movie. One of the questions they were asked was, if the movie is a success and Nintendo decides to adapt their other games to film, which ones would they want to see? Day said he and Pratt had talked about Metroid, and added, “How interesting and creepy and cool a Metroid [movie] would be?”

Many fans will remember a live-action movie directed by John Woo was in the works for a time, before being cancelled when Nintendo didn’t approve of the intended story. Since then, a few people in Hollywood have said they want to direct or star in a Metroid movie, such as Brie Larson. Maybe if the Mario movie goes down well, the chances of seeing Samus on the big screen will increase!

Source: Gizmodo

Feature: Metroid Prime Remastered Review

Our next feature is now available, and it’s a review of Metroid Prime Remastered written by team member Leon. They evaluate the updated visuals and controls of the game, how the gameplay holds up after twenty years, and whether it is a worthy update to a timeless classic. You can check out Leon’s review at the link below. We were provided a day of release code by Nintendo for this review.

Click here to check out the feature

Interview: Bruce Hunt

The Shinesparkers team is thrilled to present an interview with Australian filmmaker Bruce Hunt, the director of the live-action commercial for Metroid Fusion! Bruce shares how he got into film production, and provides behind the scenes details for Parasite, including where it was filmed, the animation of the enemies, and who played Samus.

Earlier this week, we uploaded two high-definition versions of Parasite, provided by Bruce, to our YouTube channel. One of them is a director’s cut with extra shots of Samus and the SA-X, which was an amazing find! Links to them are at the bottom of the interview page. We hope you enjoy them, and the interview!

Click here to check out the interview

Metroid Prime Remastered nearly outsells Hogwarts Legacy in the UK

A new report from GamesIndustry.biz has revealed that physical copies of Metroid Prime Remastered are selling extremely well in the United Kingdom. In fact, as of this writing, it is only 1,000 units behind Hogwarts Legacy, which is currently the top-selling physical game in the UK for four consecutive weeks. Remastered received a physical release in Europe only four days ago, and has been available digitally for a month, so this is hugely significant. It’s now the fourth biggest physical launch of a Metroid game in the country, and the second biggest physical release of the year, surpassing Fire Emblem Engage and the Dead Space remake.

Source: GamesIndustry

Episode 27 – Kit and Krysta

Shinesparkers Podcast
Shinesparkers Podcast
Episode 27 - Kit and Krysta
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For our second podcast of 2023, we are joined by Kit and Krysta, the former hosts of Nintendo Minute, who now host The Kit & Krysta Podcast! They answer our burning questions about Nintendo’s approach to marketing the Metroid series, and we share our reactions to Metroid Prime Remastered, which was announced and released only one day before our recording. We also answer our mailbag on the question of which Metroid game we’d save if we could only have one.

Podcast is hosted by Amanda, with team members Darren and Roy.

00:00 – Introductions
00:54 – Interview: Kit and Krysta
36:19 – Topic: Our Thoughts on Metroid Prime Remastered
45:03 – Mailbag
49:12 – Bloopers

The fanart contest submission and AM2R ending mentioned in this podcast: