Metroid Database.com

Remember that awesome data cloud on the Metroid Prime homepage? It provided information on the game using an interface similar to the in-game logbook clusters. It was like you were immersed in the Galactic Federation's computer system. You could click on different entries in the cloud and synthesize them to unlock new entries (for instance, synthesizing Phazon with a Tallon Metroid might generate a Hunter Metroid). The entries were linked together using the node-and-cluster structure of Metroid Prime's logbook system. This was a really neat interface that I'm pretty sure won a design award someplace and had a little game-like quality to it to boot. I myself have shared it with other people when they were looking for cool flash interfaces. Plus, it was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, I can't show it to you anymore because it, along with most of Nintendo of America's official Metroid homepages, has been removed.

That's right, the homepages of Metroid Prime, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Prime 3, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Zero Mission have all been removed. The only ones that remain are Metroid.com, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Metroid Prime Pinball, and Metroid Prime Hunters - and we're afraid it's only a matter of time before these start to disappear as well. What's worse, you cannot view most of the old content on even The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine because the sites were highly flash-based with data linked outside the .swf files the Internet Archive normally backs up.

Apparently, this problem also extends to many of Nintendo's other franchises, where Gamecube and Gameboy Advance homepages have reportedly disappeared, taking with them all kinds of goodies such as wallpapers, AIM icons, artwork, and neat little Flash interfaces such as the Metroid Prime data cloud (thankfully, we have the Metroid Zero Mission wallpapers archived in our Fanapps/Downloads section). What's more, this has been taking place fairly recently, as you could visit the Metroid Prime homepage at least as late as August 2010. Not surprisingly, NCL seems to care more about their games, considering you can still visit the Japanese homepages to Metroid II and all later games in the series. Supposedly, about the only NCL page to go MIA is the Super Mario Bros. 25th Anniversary homepage.

I cannot begin to express my disappointment with Nintendo. Only recently I had been discussing problems of game preservation, but it appears that the problem of disappearing games extends beyond software and development materials to include official websites. The only reason I can think NOA would have done something like this is to save a few bucks on network storage space and web traffic - and I don't think that tradeoff was worth it, particularly considering how little space these took up. Another possibility is they want everyone to find their game information straight through NOA's Master Game List, but this is nowhere near the depth of content included on the official homepages, so it is also a big loss.

By removing cool systems like the Metroid Prime data cloud from the web, Nintendo is supporting a philosophy of games as throwaway media, designed to be picked up, played, and then removed from the market. While Metroid and Super Metroid are available on Wii Virtual Console, is already impossible to buy many of the Metroid Prime, GBA, and DS Metroid games new. If Nintendo wants to support fans of their games, this certainly isn't the way to do it. What's more, it sends us a message that they just don't care about people who like their games. It also proves just how valuable fan sites are to the gaming community.

We are waiting to hear from Nintendo with regards to the decision behind these sites' removal. Until then, if you want to voice your concern over the loss of these and other websites by contacting Nintendo's Customer Service.

Until next time...
Captain Commando