Saturday, June 11, 2011

25th Anniversary of Metroid: Speculations



It's E3 2011, the Nintendo press conference is about to begin. Lights go dark and an orchestra starts to blast the Metroid theme, while the big screen shows moving images from all important Metroid games (not the Pinball one). Thousands of Metroid fans burst into tears while watching this moving moment. Then Yoshio Sakamoto enters the stage and announces Nintendo's plans for commemorating 25 years of Metroid. Of course Metroid II - Return of Samus will be the first GameBoy game to appear on the new Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console. Also, this year the sucessor of Metroid: Other M will be released for the Nintendo 3DS and there will be a new Metroid Prime Hunters game for the Nintendo Wii, developed by Retro Studios. The game will be bundled with a Metroid style Wiimote and Nunchuk. It's a great time to be a Metroid fan!

Well, this is how it would have looked like if Metroid was in Zelda's place. But it's not and because of the underwhelming sales of Metroid: Other M, the chance of a new Metroid game in the near future looks not too good. Metroid will be turning 25 in August and it is doubtful, that this will get as much attention as the Anniversaries of Mario and Zelda then. Still, there might be some small features.

Releasing Metroid II - Return of Samus on the 3DS Virtual Console on that date might be a safe bet. Metroid or Super Metroid could also reappear as 3D Classics, though I don't think that a side scroller could make good use of 3D layers, so this is quite unlikely. But the US could get more copies of the Metroid Prime Trilogy. Luckily here in Europe they still sell this collection, it was never limited here. And of course the typical coverage like Iwata Asks interviews and videos featuring the entire series is always a welcomed option. The biggest thing, they'll could do, is announcing a new Metroid game later this year.

Well, I ran out of ideas already... too bad. I don't expect anything as big as for Mario or Zelda, but I doubt that Nintendo won't do anything.

1 comment:

  1. i kinda liked other m - wasnt a bad game. Ok, except for the elephant: http://moonbase.rydia.net/mental/blog/gaming/metroid-other-m-the-elephant/article.html

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