As a little Christmas present, TJ Rappel scanned his official developer’s map of Super Metroid at a much higher resolution, so we can now make out the details! I’ve picked out a few interesting details so far, mainly some boss names were changed later in development:
- Crocomire is listed as トケラ (Tokera) which is derived from the word for “melt” (tokeru) and might be a pun on Godzilla (Gojira) – basically “Melting Lizard”. After all, the developers were big fans of monster movies.
- Phantoon was called オバケーン (Obakeen) which is derived from the word for “ghost” or “phantom” (obake). So Phantoon is a really good way of rendering that.
- Draygon didn’t have a development name before the NOA team got the map.
- I can’t tell what Spore Spawn is since the writing is so blurry. I think it says スリコ (Suriko) but can’t make sense of it.
- Botwoon is named the same, as are, of course, Kraid, Ridley, the Torizo, and Mother Brain.
We’re not sure yet if the level design changed any after this map was made, but it’s pretty cool to finally get a good look at this treasure!
Our good friend Kurt Kalata over at Hardcore Gaming 101 recently posted a series of reviews for the Metroid series! He’s covered all the sidescrolling games, including AM2R. Check ’em out!
