Metroid Database.com

Merry Christmas from all of us at the Metroid Database! As we celebrate the holidays and the closing of 2008, we'd like to present you a few goodies, courtesy of Santa Samus!

First up is a new site addition, the Comics and Manga section. Once spread about the site, all the comics have been put together in one page at the sidebar under MDb World.

Included as well is the complete translation of the Metroid Zero Mission Manga by Team Snoopycool. They've been working on this for over a year now and it's great to see it finished! You can download zips of Volume 1 and Volume 2 as well and view them in a program like CDisplay. Congrats, guys!

We've also done a reworking of the Features section to make it easier to read. There are some more neat features planned that will be coming down the pipe here before too long!

Anyway, best wishes to everyone well into the New Year! Hope you have a great time with your friends and family.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

We've got a first-ever for Metroid: a Metroid Burger King toy! That's right, Burger King is the first fast food restaurant ever to offer a Metroid toy. It's part of their Wii lineup, which has been on sale for awhile now. It's a cheap 'morph ball maze' with Metroid on the orange case and the Prime 3 box art in the background. Other odd things with their lineup is the overwhelming representation of Donkey Kong and the complete lack of Zelda toys. WUT?!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Red_3183 constructed a completely awesome fully posable Samus Aran action figure and is now listing it on E-bay! The original required more than 250 hours of work, and this second model with 25 points of articulation ran roughly 30 thanks to the use of molds. The model was based heavily off the Metroid Prime 2 concept art, which is also what she looks like at the beginning of Prime 3. Check out his YouTube photo montage:

Here's the model specs:

• Molded and Cast with Smooth-On resins & rubbers
• Painted with Tamiya Acrylic paints
• Glued together with epoxy
• 1/6th scale (12" tall)
• 25 Points of Articulation
• Removable Helmet-Attachable Pony Tail
• Composed of 65 different parts
• Shoulder, hip, and ankle joints are covered in molded rubber to preserve aesthetics while maintaining articulation
• Over 250 Hours to complete
• 100% Handmade from scratch

In his own words:

"She started as a sculpting class assignment. Originally she was a statue with a static pose. At the end of class she still wasn't complete, but I still got an A. When I was half way done, I saw First 4 Figures prototype shots and thought "Dang... someone beat me to it." So yeah, I decided to 1up them by making mine into an action figure. I told the instructor that I was going to convert her into an action figure, he called me crazy and told me good luck. That's when I started to do research on mold making and casting. So several months and $$$ later, here she is."

If you want my opinion, while the First 4 Figures look hot, this one definitely takes the cake. I must say, we've seen a bunch of Metroid figures, but this one is definitely the best of the bunch! We'll have to see who the lucky guy is who picks this one up, but too bad the auction won't be over in time for Christmas!

Again, if you're interested in bidding on the figure, head on over to his E-bay listing.

Speaking of which, First 4 Figures just announced they will be making Samus's gunship based off the Metroid Prime 2 designs. Currently there are no production images, just this gnarly CG mockup. The Varia Suit model is currently set to be shipping sometime in January, with the Gravity Suit in February.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Well folks, we've got a pretty amazing update today: DarkeSword, who you may remember as the composer of some pretty rockin' Metroid mixes like Yellow Valkyrie and Torvus Clockwork, helped organize the OCR community to help his friend, bLiNd, who had been sick and bedridden. Community support was overwhelming, with dozens of mixers from the community submitting 'get well songs' in the form of remixes from bLiNd's favorite game, Super Metroid. Well, the album has finally been completed and is now available for download from several mirrors linked through DarkeSword's own website.

To help with the bandwidth crunch and enrich our site, the MDb has graciously agreed to make an exception to our Fileplanet rule by directly linking files from a folder on the site itself. Users who already have Fileplanet accounts can download the whole thing in a single zip. All others, right-click to save! Please visit DarkeSword's homepage for the artist notes. Listen to them below:

ZIP Containing entire album (Fileplanet, 139MB) *Link Fixed

01 - Heat Vision (Darkesword)

02 - Edenal (TheWingless)

03 - Energy Recharge (Another Soundscape)

04 - Lonely Petals (Lonely Petals)

05 - bLiNd Metallic Hope (Tensei-san)

06 - Unknown Origin (k-wix)

07 - In your Prime (Big Giant Circles)

08 - Photosymbiosis (bLiNd Version) (Radical Dreamer)

09 - Speed Run (AMT)

10 - bLiNd's Snowy Brinstar (Nario)

11 - The Planet's Call (Bren)

12 - Redemption (Bren)

13 - Health Item (Bundeslang)

14 - Eat This, bLiNd (Strike911)

15 - Groovin' to a Star (Sengin)

16 - I Ain't Afraid of no Pterodactyl (Vivi22)

17 - Jazzed Up 'Troids (Foxhull)

18 - Uplifter (Mano)

19 - My Minute (Electric Concerto)

20 - Sleeping Thought (Chicken Warlord)

21 - The Galaxy Awaits (Nutritious)

22 - From Brinstar, to bLiNd (Jewbei)

23 - Just How Deep (Jose the Bronx Rican)

24 - Power-Up (CN)

25 - One More Time, Just Once! (Prototype Raptor)

26 - Samus in the Inferno (short edit) (Audix)

27 - Brinstar's Good Enough (The Coop)

28 - Kindred (pixietricks, zircon)

29 - The Man Who Could Suddenly See (zykO)

Bonus - Jade Catacombs (bLiNd)

Cover Art

There's a LOT of interesting stuff on this album, and I have to admit I'm still listening through it as I write this! It's got metal, trance, alternative, orchestra... While there's admittedly a lot of Brinstar mixes on here, that just shows how popular the song is! The album's been under construction since the summer, and so it's great to finally see it live!

Bear in mind that not all of these tracks may have made their way past the judges at OCR - but that's not the point of the album. The point of the album was to send get-well-cards in the form of Super Metroid mixes, not to have an album that would make Stemage cringe with jealousy (though there's a few cool tracks here worth the listen!). So everyone put a LOT of their love and friendship into their work. OCR's strong community came together to create a fantastic collaborative Get Well album that bLiNd says helped him recover much faster than he normally would have! On the behalf of everyone here at the MDb, we wish bLiNd good health well into the New Year and through many more to come!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Another quick update -- fellow forum member Mason has once again brought to our attention the creation of an amazing cake of Samus's helmet. It was a groom's cake for a gamer's wedding courtesy of custom cake maker, Debbie Does Cakes, and as they say, it's pretty sweet. You can read more about the cake and see more pics at the bride's blog. She even used the MDb as a reference to the shape of the helmet! Also, be sure to read the fifth and final page of my feature, "The Woman Behind the Visor." I had a great time writing this article, so if you'd like to give me some feedback, please, by all means, let me know in our forums! Later.

--Infinity's End

Just a quick update today. I have added Part 4 of my "Woman Behind the Visor" feature today, so be sure to check that out. Also, fellow MDb fan and forum member Mason brought to our attention a pumpkin carving contest held by the site Halolz. The winner of the contest made a carving of none other than Samus's head, but they went to the detail of making it look like you can see through her visor when lit n the dark. It's pretty badass, and is way more advanced than last year's offering that I made. Check it out!

--Infinity's End

Wassup all you wonderful Metroid fans? As you can see above, we've added a new feature bar above to emphasize our features and let people know they are there for those who may have missed them in the past. And speaking of features, I have added in Part 2 of my "Woman Behind the Visor" feature for your reading pleasure. Please be sure to come back next week and read Part 3 of this 5-part feature!

As Capcom has already posted this on our brand-new forums, let me call to your attention a website/blog called Yokoi in Credits. The site, though not quite complete, is completely dedicated in bringing you every bit of input that can relate to that brilliant man. There are links to a couple video biographies of Mr. Yokoi as well, and you can still enjoy the first one even if you don't understand Japanese. If you're interested in finding out more about the legacy of one of the true pioneers of the game industry, please check out this site.

I will leave you all with a reminder that the latest Castlevania title, Order of Ecclesia was released to the masses. From some time with the game, I can safely say that it's without a doubt the most graphically and aurally impressive Castlevania game to date. And it's damn hard too! Igarashi and his talented crew have outdone themselves once again. If Nintendo were to ever make a new 2D Metroid game, this is the bar that they'd have to reach or surpass, and I doubt they could pull it off... Go out and get it ASAP!

--Infinity's End

*Whew!*
What else to say? Cap, Inf and I have been working and planning for a long time to make the MDb's 12^th the most memorable yet. With tons of new content and even a new Message Board deployed, I'm proud to say the site and community are as strong as ever.

I've spent my spare moments planning and designing the theme for this new board. While it still needs work, I'm sure it'll prove to be an extremely handy and robust piece of software.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more site features and content updates from all of us!

-Jesse D

Happy birthday to the Metroid Database! As you can see, a dozen years on the internet and we're still kickin' Metroid ass! Thanks to you readers and fans, we are STILL the #1 Metroid fansite on the entire internet. While TJ has basically turned over the site for good to Cap, JD, and myself, (he's just not as big a Metroid fan as he once was) we assure you that we won't be going anywhere anytime soon. Sometimes it gets a little difficult to dig around for new Metroid content since Nintendo has pretty much closed the door on the franchise as of late (other than the Wii ports of the Primes). Now if only they would make an amazing 2D Metroid game like either Wario Land Shake It! or the upcoming orgasm-inducing Muramasa: The Demon Blade. These games are living proof that 2D is not dead!

The gift I have to give you all is my new special feature covering the biography of Samus Aran called The Woman Behind the Visor. I will be releasing a new page every week so please be sure to come back and read this in-depth look at our favorite bounty hunter.

I'd like to thank Capcom, Jesse D, TJ, our new forum mod Sharonlover, and of course the MDb forum community for all the great times and those to come! Cheers.

--Infinity's End

Well folks, it's the 12th Anniversary of the MDb, and we've got a few updates to start this new year off. I'd like to thank Jesse D and Infinity's End for all the help they've been putting into the site over the past year and a half, as well as YOU, our visitors and fan contributors, and all the folks over at the message board. It's people like YOU who help make the Metroid community as awesome as it is! And let's not forget the site's progenitor, TJ Rappel, who's still alive and kickin' it, even if he doesn't hang around here that often anymore!

To help celebrate the Big 12, we've added this great Fan Music section under the MDbWorld header! This is a section for all the Metroid remixes we've gotten permission to host! There's a lot of classics from Overclocked Remix and the old VGMix 1 and 2 as well as 3! I've also had some great contacts with some other bands and the Dwelling of Duels stuff thanks to Brendan Becker of MagFest! The guys at Arm Cannon were grateful enough to let us host a couple tracks from their album, Leg Vacuum, and it's pretty awesome stuff!

I'd like to thank again everyone who agreed to let us host their music! I'm always glad to help others in the community hear such great music. Hopefully, we'll have more stuff from VGMix 2 and elsewhere on the net over the next few months! If you've got some of your own music you'd like to submit, send us an e-mail!

I'll leave the other major updates to Jesse D and Infinity's End! Here's to another great year at the MDb!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Just a small quick news update today. Fangame maker Doctor M64 has released the 2nd demo of his "Another Metroid 2 Remake," which was made with a combination of graphics and sounds from Zero Mission, Fusion, and Super, but features custom level design work, 3 levels of difficulty, and even Joypad support (YES!). The name of the demo is entitled "Confrontation," and it even comes with its own storyline. Head on over to his site and download the demo for free. Stay tuned to the MDb later this week as we are going to have some great new content for you!

--Infinity's End

A few days ago, Von Richter finally dropped the bomb and made his website open to the public. The site is currently just a single page, but will be the homepage for any and all information regarding the fangame Metroid SR388. Von is also currently looking for someone else to graciously host his website and forum, so if you think you could possibly be of any service to him, please let him know.

Metroid SR388 website
Metroid SR388 Forum
Metroid SR388 Blog

Von also promises us a demo is coming very soon, so for those of you that are highly anticipating this game and seeing it in action, stay tuned to the MDb for any development as I am also a part of the dev staff and we will probably be hosting it too. IE out.

--Infinity's End

Hi all! We've got some actual official Metroid news for you. Remember back in June when we reported that Retro Studios was interested in porting Prime 1 and 2 to the Wii? Well Famitsu has confirmed this rumor! In Nintendo's latest press conference, they've posted a listing of about a dozen new games coming to the Wii, some of which are Wii ports of Gamecube games! So if you scroll down this page about halfway (JUST past those kickass Punch-Out!! pictures!), you'll see a couple listings of "Metoroido Puraimu" for 2009! Yup, that's Prime 1 and 2 coming to the Wii with the late Mark Haigh-Hutchinson's genius engineering and interface design skills. His work will continue to live on through these games! Now while we'd like to see them for $20 apiece, they'll probably sell for $30 each. If you didn't pick the games up before, these releases will be a good time to start!

Now if you check the other games on the list, there's a lot of other hot stuff coming to the Wii, including Punch-Out!! (which has been on hiatus for longer than Metroid was!), Sin and Punishment 2, Muramasa (the spiritual successor to last year's awesome Odin Sphere!), and a new DS with a built-in camera! Check out the videos. Oh, and did I mention Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is coming out within three weeks? That ought to give you a 'Metrovania' fix until a new 2D title comes out. (Did I just say 'Metrovania?' Oh well - it's better than Castleroids! That sounds like a medical condition you DON'T want to have!

Speaking of 2D Metroids, November's issue of Nintendo Power has a big hooplah in the letters section about "What directions hould the Metroid series take?" While the letters were overwhelmingly supportive of a 2D sequel, I have to wonder why nobody mentioned a little website called 'The Metroid Database' where we've been screaming for a new one for years! Oh well. Maybe Intelligent Systems has something in store for our favorite bounty hunter...

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Well, this may have been a slow week for updates, but we've got some interesting announcements for you. First off, good old Grant Henry (aka Stemage) from Metroid Metal is heading to MagFest!! He'll be performing an as-yet-unnamed (and possibly brand-new!) mix with Chunkstyle, Danimal Cannon, Kirby Pufocia, and Illzbury Flowboy.

What is MagFest, you ask? MagFest (the Music and Gaming Festival) is THE biggest videogame music rock-out in the States! Every year for the past five years, Brendan Becker and company have been hosting this in Alexandria, Virginia and inviting TONS of bands from across the country. The Minibosses, Jenova Project, Neskimos, and Select Start have all made it here, and now it's Metroid Metal's turn! Our most heartfelt congrats! If you're planning to be in the Virginia area come January 1-4th (that's Thursday through Saturday), be sure to check it out! There's more info at the Metroid Metal forums!

The second thing we've got is an ANCIENT fanfiction from the mid-90s. This is Blood of the Chozo, the famous interactive story produced by the Nintendo Power Source's Epic Center. The story was about an evil branch of the Chozo who invades the galaxy. Nintendo fans created their own characters and played out their roles in the biggest Metroid Interactive Fanfiction ever seen! The whole thing literally took up over 6,000 posts.

While Blood of the Chozo predates the Metroid Interactive FanFiction (MIFF), myself and the rest of the MIFF community did a LOT of digging about eight years ago and contacted Cerberus, one of the original participants, who sent us this MASSIVE 110-page document containing all the posts he had saved. This weekend, through a special request, I dug through the entire document and cut it down into over a dozen easily digestable chunks. So head on over to the fanfic section and scroll ALL the way to the bottom to check it out!

Our collection of Blood of the Chozo material is by no means complete. It only covers the story of The Rebellion, one of the many narratives that took place throughout the game. We're very interested in finding out more information on this amazing story, so if you have any information, please contact us!

Well, that's it for this week. We're getting things organized for the big 12th Anniversary bash next month, so expect some more exciting things. Oh yeah, one thing we'll have before then is the credits information for the Metroid Manga. We were using the Snoopycool translation as a reference, and they've just brought out Chapter 9, so check their translation out!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

To start off, I just would like to preface this update with a personal statement that may not exactly reflect the views of my fellow staff members. Behind the scenes at the Database, we are constantly trying to update this site to give you the latest and greatest Metroid content. Though a lot of you guys crave this stuff on a daily basis, I just want to emphasize once again that we who run the MDb also have lives outside of this site. We are busy, busy people. The MDb makes no money, even though it is still the #1 Metroid site on the internet. As many old fans should know, the MDb is not unfamiliar with a lack of updates. Seeing as how Nintendo likes to treat this franchise as of late, it's very difficult at times to find and bring you guys *official* content from this series of games. So there is absolutely no way the MDb can have daily, or even weekly, updated content. The site in general is, however, always being tweaked and changed behind the scenes though you may not instantly notice it.

The latest we have today is the new Super Smash Bros. Brawl Trophies Page. We have created a page for those of you that may have not purchased this game but still love the Metroid series. You can now see orthographic views of all the trophies, and read the descriptions that HAL has made for each of them by easily hovering over the icons with your cursor. Once again, big thanks to Falcon Zero from our sister site, Metroid Recon, for taking pictures of those trophies that myself and the rest of our staff were unable to unlock due to the trophy-collecting tedium imbued in the game.

Don't forget that Spore was released a couple days ago! As I have constantly been tinkering with the Creature Creator since its release, we should expect the full version to give us tons more features for us to play with. Expect to see some wonderful fan-made, Spore-related, Metroid-based (whew!) content in the future for all you wonderful people! In the mean time, please take a look at a few of the creature videos I have uploaded to the MDb's YouTube Channel. IE OUT!

--Infinity's End

We have been working round the clock the past week to get this update out for you! This is one MASSIVE update for manga and comics sections throughout the site. By far the BIGGEST thing on the list is the FULL-COLOR VERSION of the Metroid Zero Mission manga! That's right, folks, the Metroid Zero Mission manga that was originally translated by Mechadrake and again by Snoopycool has been compiled into full-color pages with a brand new translation from the Metroid Database! There was an incredible amount of labor and love involved in this and we're proud to announce what we believe to be THE DEFINITIVE version of the first two chapters of the Metroid Manga. You should expect new translations of the other chapters coming down the pipe over the next few months. Check it out without delay!

As if that wasn't all, we also added the legendary Metroid Prime 2 manga by Comic Bom Bom, which was floating around on a photo sharing site many years ago. The manga is currently incomplete at only 2 chapters, but we're starting a hunt to find the rest!

In addition, we'd like to announce a very special surprise! Infinity's End has discovered a never-before-seen doujinshi of Metroid Prime Hunters! The manga is called 'Pirates' and is exceptionally well-drawn in full-color! While doujin is usually associated with hentai and pornography, it is actually any unlicensed fan-based work. It's basically fan-fiction or fan-remixes, though in Japan they are usually sold! We don't know yet who the author is, but he (or she!) has done a fantastic job! There's a little bit of artistic nudity, but I want to stress that it is by no means pornographic. Check it out!

Finally, the folks over at the Captain N Network have graciously allowed us to mirror pages from the Captain N comics by Valiant! These are fun, cheesy little romps through the old days of late '80's Nintendo merchandising. We've included all the adventures Samus had in Videoland for you to look at! This comics collection has been added as a memorial to N-Finity (Webster Swenson), the original founder of the Captain N Network, who passed away in February 2007. "He found his way into Videoland."

But wait! There's more! We've got some fantastic wallpapers from the Official Metroid Prime 3 site in Japan! This is some really fantastic stuff and we've got the large size images available for download all the way at the bottom of the fanapps section! Take a look at these and spruce up your desktop with some Metroid lovin'!

*WHEW!* Well, this looks like that's all we have in the Santa Chozo bag for you today! Please stay tuned to this page or check out our RSS feed for when new updates show up!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Hey everyone!.
As you can tell in the "remixes" column on the right, we've been hard at work behind the scenes constantly updating the MDb with more exclusive content. So be sure to check out all the new artwork and images added to all of these sections. We've even added a full scan of the entire Official Super Metroid Player's Guide for your downloading pleasure.

And now, a slightly different change of pace. The MDb was able to discover an artist named Levi Buffum, who goes by the alias "Doctor Octoroc." One of his main passions is "bead sprite" art, and some of his favorite subjects are Samus and other Metroid-related sprites. As you can see, his bead sprites are incredibly well-made and we got the chance to interview him. So don't forget to read our interview with him and take some time to look at Doc Octoroc's wonderful bead sprites! IE Out.

--Infinity's End

As any dedicated fan of Metroid (or non-fan who just likes reading MDb headlines) ought to be aware, Nintendo Of America's very own Metroid.com website has been mostly dead for the past few months. It gave a simple "error" message and a pair of links for NOA's official sites for the Nintendo DS and the Wii.

But today, we've discovered that Nintendo has finally brought the site back to life. Kinda. Witness the glorified nonchalant return of Metroid.com as it was eleven months ago. The official pages for Metroid Fusion and Metroid Zero Mission are completely absent from here, despite the fact that their respective websites still exist.

Glad to see that your lethargy still outweighs your outright disregard for Metroid, Nintendo!

-Jesse D

We've got a couple of big news announcements, one of which is Metroid-related, and the other which is pretty awesome and related to one of our admins! First off, the folks at The Speed Gamers are planning a 72 hour Metroid Marathon in early August where they hope to play through all the Metroid games (excepting Pinball) in 72 hours or less for charity! Read up on their official statement:

"The 72 Hour Metroid Marathon starts on Augusts 15th. We will be raising money for St. Jude Children's Research hospital [who does research into cures for cancer and other diseases in children. -CC]. The marathon will be streamed live via webcam on our website. The webcam feed will give you both a view of the games we will be playing and also a view of the action going on in the room. We will give out prizes following each game to viewers regardless of where they live. The Game list is :

Metroid, Metroid Zero mission, Metroid II: Return of Samus, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime1, Metroid Prime Hunters, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime 3, Metroid Fusion"

We wish best of luck to the Metroid Marathon team, and if you're interested in donating or just watching, don't hesitate to check out their website! Who knows if they'll decide to do a Marathon Marathon next!

The second bit of information is that the massive fan remix project, Blood on the Asphalt, a Street Fighter II Remix Project done through Overclocked Remix, is now officially announced as part of Street Fighter II HD Remix for Xbox Live Arcade! This is pretty awesome news as this is the first time that fan music has been accepted for such a high-profile game (or pretty much any game for that matter!). The Metroid Database is proud to announce that our own Infinity's End (aka Ryan Barrett) did the album art! There are a bunch of interviews on this historic announcement, so please check the album out! Vurez's "New Mexican Thunderbird" is pretty awesome.

In other news, you probably noticed that there was nothing Metroid-related shown at E3 this year. While we're disappointed, it's not surprising (and the entire event was pretty disappointing, but that was also to be expected). Perhaps we'll see a bit more at TGS, though chances are it will be at least next year before we hear what Intelligent Systems and Retro Studios are working on next. By my estimates, the biggest announcement at E3 was that Final Fantasy XIII was coming to Xbox 360. While the game itself isn't the most important thing, it's the fact that Square-Enix is giving support from their top franchise that is really significant, as it means other companies will be willing to do the same to increase profits. With all kinds of awesome games coming to 360 like Bionic Commando and Fable 2 as well as the XBLA awesomeness called Castle Crashers, a 360 purchase for this Metroid fan seems looming in the near future!

Lastly, Inf would like to direct your attention to the Fan For Life feature where we've got another sweet tattoo by vissago. That's it for this week! We'll bring you more interesting Metroid updates in the future.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Our big news for site updates today is that we have finished uploading full-quality gallery art from Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2. These are unlockable art galleries that are achieved by completing the game, getting 100% of all items, getting 100% of all scans, and beating the game on hard difficulty. This can be particularly difficult for Metroid Prime 2 as that's a really tough game! The incredibly awesome development art for the Metroid Prime games were made by Andrew "Android" Jones.

Lower-resolution images from these galleries have been floating around the web for some time, but it was only recently that we received a collection of 100% full quality images courtesy of Psychomax. On behalf of everyone here at the MDb we'd like to extend a very special thanks to Psychomax for his hard work at sharing these with us! There's no annoying watermarks on these, either! We'll have more images of rare and never-before-seen Metroid art in the future!

Yesterday First 4 Figures also announced the latest addition to their Metroid statue line, Phazon Suit Samus. The figure is fancy schmancy with 25 LED lights, making it designed for ideal presentation in the dark (which means you either (a) won't get any sleep or (b) won't get any work done. However, it's a tad pricey at $225 and is the same exact pose as the Varia Suit figure (though unsurprising considering how it took about two years to make the first model). Only 1500 of these will be produced.

For the record, a complete set of F4F figures will run you a scorching $1060 at MSRP - shipping not included (and it's quite a bit!). To quote Luke Skywalker, "We could almost buy our own ship for that!" The complete set currently includes seven figures: Varia Suit, Gravity Suit, Phazon Suit, Zero Suit, Zero Suit LE, Trace, and Samus' Gunship, though right now only the Varia and Gravity Suits have been released. Bear in mind these are limited edition statues and the Varia and Gravity Suits have already sold out, so you'll have to search E-bay and other resellers.

Infinity's End has also updated the Fan For Life feature with new tattoos from Ashley, Conyeezy, Alli Foster, Rich Criado, Stephan, and Unfilter (*whew!*). Be sure to check 'em out. If you've got your own Metroid tattoos you'd like to share, please contact Infinity's End: infinitysend12180 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Hey guys. Infinity's End here with a few bits of news. While things are nearly silent on the Metroid game front, we at the Metroid Database are still dedicated in bringing you every ounce of Metroid-related news possible.

For those that are into Metroid apparel, my awesome girlfriend just brought to my attention that Hot Topic is selling two cheap Metroid Prime 3 shirts for under $5 in their clearance section. So make sure to go over there quick and get them before they sell out! (Unfortunately, they are out of XL.)

On June 18th, EA/Maxis released Spore Creature Creator for the Windows and Mac platforms. You can also download the free trial version, which still gives you many options to make your own creatures. Of course, myself and other fellow MDb board members have been recreating all of our favorite creatures from the Metroid series. Maybe once the full game comes out, the MDb might dedicate a section to downloadable Spore creatures so you can create your very own planet Zebes. And feel free to visit the thread dedicated to the fan-made Metroid spores by all our talented members.

Last but certainly not least, a very small update to those that are curious about Von Richter's ambitious Metroid: SR388 project. The game is coming along very smoothly, as new art assets are being created every day. There are some brilliant and talented people helping out with this game, and you can rest assured that we will be creating the absolute best Metroid experience possible for you guys. For the official word, head over to Von's Destructoid blog if you are interested.

As we look to the future of Metroid and the Metroid saga, it troubles me greatly to see Nintendo's stance on one of their most cherished franchises in the US. Metroid.com is a shining example of this, as it only brings you to a black screen with "error" at the top, and links to their official Nintendo DS and Gamecube sites. It has been this way for months. Not to mention how they completely disregarded any kind of update to the official Prime 3 website, and it now seems to be taken down completely. Let's not forget how their Japanese site still gets the royal treatment, along with epic 5-page developer interviews by President Iwata himself like the one with the Producer and Assistant Producer of Prime 3, Kensuke Tanabe and Risa Tabata. Unfortunately, a translated version of this interview is nowhere to be seen on the US Wii site, so for now, you can try and make your way through the poorly Google translated version.

Their advertising campaign was also a major disappointment, and it wouldn't surprise me that their apparent lack of faith in the series may force Samus back into hiding for another 8 years. Only time (and possibly this year's E3) will tell. To me, I find it extremely frustrating that Nintendo decides to treat Metroid in this fashion. And I highly doubt I'm the only one that feels this way. IE out.

--Infinity's End

First, an announcement: First 4 Figures' Zero Suit Samus statue has been finalized. There are two versions of this figure, the first a basic statue in a print run of 2500 and the second a limited edition version with a lighted stand to produce neat lighting effects, limited to a print run of 250.

The basic model runs for $110, the limited edition at $135. Not sure how long those will last, but the Gravity Suit has sold out. We've already had some comments about it on the board, and some like it, some don't. It's scheduled to come out "Q3-2008" though considering their track record, I'm going to go ona whim and say you might get yours in January if you're lucky. If you happen to stop by the Nintendo Store in New York City, they often have F4F models on display in the main lobby.

Next we have a compilation of rumors. We've already mentioned the state of Metroid Dread before (see the 09/26/07 article), and there has been no new word on it, so it remains just rumor and speculation, so here are a couple other rumors that you may not have heard about.

The first rumor has it that Retro Studios is interested in updating Metroid Prime and Metroid Prime 2 for the Wii using Prime 3's acclaimed Wiimote controls. This is certainly likely, considering there had been a rumor before the Wii launched that old Gamecube games would be updated for the Wii as budget titles. At the same time, it is highly unlikely that any other significant changes will be made to the games (you should not expect to find updated graphics, for instance, though it's possible the audio might be remastered at a higher quality), though we can only hope that Retro will clear up the discrepancies between the US and EU/JP/AU versions of Metroid Prime's narrative, which have caused so much confusion and frustration among fans.

The second rumor regards the Metroid Movie. Back in 2004, it was reported that John Woo had bought the rights to the film, but there's been no news since. Well, actually there was a little piece of rumor back in April that turned out to be a hoax. Some Swedish dude had posted on his blog what is a doctored pic of Samus said to be from a poster for the film.

Destructoid's statement fits this best: "Shady grainy photo is shady and grainy." Not to mention stolen and Photoshopped from a deviantART gallery. IMDB doesn't even have a listing anymore, so I'd say the film's existence is nebulous at best.

In short, these rumors are for the time being just rumors and wishful thinking. Anything official regarding Metroid will surface at some future conference (E3 is July 15-17; Leipzig's Games Convention in late August (at roughly same times as the Democratic National Convetion); E for All October 5-8; Tokyo Games Show in October 9-12; and the Penny Arcade Expo in late October). My guess is any new Metroid announcements would happen at E3 or TGS, so mark your calendars!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

The folks at Screw Attack have released a completely awesome song entitled "Lamar the Magic Metroid" about the metroid hatchling and its many adventures with Samus. Put to the tune of 'Puff the Magic Dragon' (and you can probably start considering yourself old if you heard the original), Lamar is the name of one of the headcrabs in Half-Life 2. And yes, we know it all goes down to Hitoshi Sakimoto rather than the old master, but we love Gunpei Yokoi so much that we can enjoy a good laugh! Screw Attack is full of other great stuff such as this, so be sure to check out some of their other videos (and with a name like that, you can expect some Metroid love). Click on the image below or the link above to check out the music video.

Oh yeah, and in other news, 1UP has posted a news article about a guy who is trying to make a 3D glasses projector for modern gaming consoles. It's got some mock-ups using Metroid Prime 3 screenshots you might be interested in checking out. While I suppose it's kind of got a retro feel to it, it ain't no Virtual Boy and this kind of red/blue projection for 3D has gone the way of the dinosaur.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

We've just received word that Retro Studios design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and principal technology engineer Jack Mathews have left Retro Studios. No clue on why they left, but they were reportedly "escorted off the premises" (whatever that means, though I doubt it's as bad as it sounds). However, Retro Studios is in no danger of closing and still has a strong staff. Retro Studios has said that their next game isn't going to be a Metroid title, so their loss won't affect the series -- but that doesn't mean it won't affect their next project. While we're sad to see them go, we wish them best of luck in their future endeavors.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Hello everyone, we have some great Metroid news today. After years of staying shrouded in secret, independent game developer/composer Von Richter has blessed us with a glimpse of what could be the greatest Metroid Fan Game EVER MADE. It is called Metroid: SR388, and to fans like us, the title alone instantly brings fond memories of the metroid's birthplace to our heads. Other than completely new graphics with contributions from yours truly, the game also features Super Metroid's beloved Samus sprite, but now with hundreds of more frames of animation to allow super-smooth 60fps movement. It also has phenomenal particle effects and explosions, bringing 2D adventure gaming to the next level. You can choose to watch the YouTube version or directly download the higher-quality trailer exclusively from the MDb hosted through FilePlanet. It's a good time to be a Metroid fan, folks. This one looks like it's here to stay!

High Quality Trailer Download
Official Metroid Database Message Board Thread
Digg Link
Project Blog

Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with the creator himself, Von Richter!

--Infinity's End

The big news is the First 4 Figures Varia Suit Samus statue has finally been shipped! I got mine in the mail and but if it isn't impressive! Check out our photo feature of this amazing piece of art!

In addition, the Swag section has been updated in the right side bar to include some new goodies I found. Hot Topic has not only re-released their Metroid Classic "Beat the Mother Brain" T-Shirt, but they've also got not one but TWO Metroid Prime 3 T-shirts, one of which is on sale! Hurry as I doubt they'll last long! The other goodie is a Metroid Prime Hunters DS cartridge carrying case made by Nintendo. This holds six DS cartridges in individual slots as well as a stylus. It also comes with a generic stylus as a spare. It retails for about $10 and you should be able to find it about anywhere that sells DS games.

I've also finally gotten around to writing a review of The Dark Side of Zebes, a super-ambient Super Metroid remix album by Jason Vincion of Concatenation Records. If you're into ambient music, you might want to check it out; there's a free sample of The Galaxy is in Captivity on the CD page. Only 100 copies were manufactured.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

The big news is you can now copy your Smash Bros. Brawl screenshots from your Wii using an SD card and this nifty piece of software. We've got a whole thread dedicated to posting screenshots on the message board. JUST BEWARE OF SPOILERS! In addition, thanks to the work the folks at Halley's Comet Software I've been able to get high-quality rips of more Metroid soundtracks. Some Gamecube and Wii audio formats are now supported as well as the Nintendo DS audio formats, meaning I am now able to get SFX-free rips of Metroid Prime Pinball and the WarioWare Metroid tracks. If that weren't enough, they've also managed to get audio out of the Metroid Prime Trial Version that you could play at E3 2002 or in Gamecube demo kiosks prior to the final version's launch. This is truly an interesting find considering the presence of early versions of the introductory cutscene and Phendrana. Definitely worth checking out. Expect more updates in the future as I fill out some of the holes in the Prime 3 and Hunters soundtracks.

Insomniac By Choice also sent me the latest files in his fanfic The Best There Is, so now we have the only existing 'complete' copy of this fanfic online. Personally I think it's one of the best fanfics out there and a really good read. Be sure to check it out in the fanfic section!

Lastly, longtime MDb fans should note that one of our resident veterans, Justin Bailey, has aggreed to let me upload his legendary Samus MP3. Bear in mind this was made about a decade before Portal came out and it's still as ridiculous as it was ten years ago.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

As you should be very well be aware by now, today marks the US release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I've spent about three hours with the game so far. Needless to say, we'll keep this news post brief so that I can get back to playing more of it as soon as possible!

So then, the game's out, now what?
We've concocted somewhat of a system for exchanging friend codes and coordinating online multiplayer matches among members of the MDb Message Board community. Visit the Super Smash Bros. section of the board for more info.

Expect reviews and Samus strategy guides for Brawl in the coming weeks.
But in the meantime... Get Smashed.

-Jesse D

We've managed to get our hands on some awesome Metroid music from Super Smash Bros. Brawl! Though we still have to wait one more month for the game to come out over here, the folks in Japan have already played the game and uploaded some of the audio for us to listen to! We've compiled a collection of Metroid music found in the game and put it on the database...including the Chosoju Mecha theme? What!?

However, be wary! There are spoilers here for the kinds of music you'll be listening to that can also indicate where you'll be playing and who you'll be playing against! For this reason, we've left everything in a single zip file in case you happened to accidentally click there!

After listening to a lot of the music, I must say they've put an incredible ammount of work here to making the game sound just great! Brawl is looking to be not only a playable, but also visual and aural masterpiece of fun! In fact, the game has already sold over 820,000 copies in Japan! You can bet we'll all go out on March 9th and break that record!

My only complaint...why is there no Metroid 2 music? Several other notable Game Boy games got the treatment, but not Metroid? Boo! Oh well, maybe Nintendo will give us some more love for this lost classic eventually...

In other news, Zero Suit Samus's Final Smash has been officially revealed on the Smash Bros. DOJO!! Yes, the Crystal Flash is back and shinier than ever! If you remember from Super Metroid, this hidden ability filled up Samus's life meter - here, it fittingly gives Samus back her Varia Suit! Go on over and check it out!

Until next time...
Captain Commando

Today's daily update over at the Super Smash Bros Dojo website has revealed a list of default music tracks that can be heard in the different levels of the upcoming Super Smash Bros Brawl. Of interest to us Metroid fans are the following songs:

Norfair:

• Main Theme (Metroid)
• Theme of Samus Aran (Super Metroid)
• Marionation Gear (Chosoju Mecha MG)

• Versus Ridley (Super Metroid)
• Opening/Menu (Metroid Prime)
• Sector 1 (Metroid Fusion)
• Versus Meta Ridley (Metroid Prime)

The Brinstar stage from Melee is making a return, as well as its rockin' remix of the classic Brinstar song from Metroid. It's great to see the recognition for Metroid Fusion, Metroid Prime, and... Chosoju Mecha MG??? Yes, the developers of Brawl are sneaking in a reference to the Japan-only mech title for the Nintendo DS.

It's important to remember that this list of tracks is by no means comprehensive. These are what can be heard in the game right out of the box, but we can expect many more to be unlockable throughout the course of the game.

The next little tidbit that wasn't on the Dojo is the confirmed appearance of another beloved character from the Metroid franchise. I think the image below should pretty much sum things up:

These contain a series of spoilers from Brawl! View at your own risk!
Super Smash Bros Brawl Spoilers #1
Super Smash Bros Brawl Spoilers #2

-Jesse D

On January 15, 2008, Mark Haigh-Hutchinson, Metroid Prime's lead programmer, passed on after a long battle with cancer. While you probably haven't heard of him before, you certainly know about his games, and he was a well-known and well-liked industry veteran. In fact, when you begin to learn about what all he accomplished, Mark should be considered nothing less than one of game development's finest.

Originally from England, Mark started out in the industry porting early titles like Paperboy (1987) and programming Zombies Ate My Neighbors (1993), the latter of which he got famous for. Afterward, he worked for LucasArts on such well-known games as Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995), Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (1996), and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron (1998). He was the project leader for both Shadows of the Empire and Rogue Squadron, and we've also been told he programmed all those memorable boss sequences in Shadows of the Empire.

Mark Haigh-Hutchinson was one of the founding members of Retro Studios. He was the senior engineer throughout the Metroid Prime series, and is credited with creating the game's excellent camera system as well as the critically acclaimed Wii-mote control system for Metroid Prime 3, certainly one of the finest control systems ever designed. His book, Real-Time Cameras, should be completed later this year with help from his co-workers at Retro Studios.

On behalf of the Metroid Database and our community, we would like to send our most sincere condolences to Mark's family and friends. His memory will live on in his games, from the urban dystopia of Zombies Ate My Neighbors to the lurking depths of Xizor's Palace, and the melancholy vistas of alien worlds seen through Samus's visor he helped create as well as in the hearts of those who knew him. Mark was 43 years old and will be dearly missed.

A wonderful memorial article is available at Game/AI.

You can read more about Mark's work at Wikipedia and in an interview with The Amstrad CPC Games Resource (1996).

This news has also been reported at Gamasutra.

Please feel free to discuss Mark's life and work here.

On a final note, we'd also like remember a few other big names in gaming who have passed on in the past couple weeks, Richard Knerr, creator of the hula hoop and publisher of the frisbee; Bobby Fischer, the famous chess champion; and Kyle Mannerberg, lead designer for the Legacy of Kain and Tomb Raider series.

Until next time...
Captain Commando

While poking my head around looking for web information, I found this neat little T2002 hack-in-progress, Metroidican! T2002 is a level editor for Turrican Forever, a very powerful tool that lets you make some pretty sweet Turrican fan games.

What is Turrican, you ask? And just who is that stubby little guy standing next to our favorite bounty huntress's spaceship? Turrican is an action game that originally came out for the Amiga computer in the late '80s. It was created by Manfred Trentz, and many of the guys who worked on the game are now at Factor 5. A cult classic, it's one of my favorite games. Heavily inspired by Metroid (as well as Super Mario Bros.) - and also taking a lot of art design from Alien and Terminator, Turrican also had some pretty sweet music by Chris Huelsbeck, massive mazes with lots of hidden secrets, and screen-size bosses long before games like Super Metroid and Contra made them commonplace. In fact, it's one of several games currently missing from our Recommended Games feature, which I might add we are certainly intending to update!

As for who the guy in the suit is, he's basically 'the guy whose name you can't pronounce and isn't very important to understanding the game anyway.' Essentially, he's the 'Turrican Man', but his real name is Bren McGuire, something long-time fans of Battle of the Posters might remember from BotP4. (BTW, Outerverse, glad to see the site is still up! :)

If you want to know more about Turrican, you can check out Turrican SETA, the essential Turrican database, as well as HG101's article on the series. Unfortunately, the original games aren't that easy to find, though Super Turrican was re-released for the Wii (though Super Turrican is certainly not well polished). Let's hope they bring over Mega Turrican! Be forewarned though as these games can get pretty tough!

Until next time...
Captain Commando