Metroid Database.com

Last year, one of our forum users, VGMStudios, sent me a large collection of scans from various magazines he collected. One of these was an article from Nintendo Dream, a Japanese magazine. I flipped through the images and was delighted to see the word 'Metroid' prominently portrayed in many of the subject headings. After considerable time (both translating as well as coding the HTML for the website), I finally finished the article: "Famicom Disk System: The More You Play It, the More You'll Want to Play".

This is a truly amazing article that was published around the time of the Famicom Mini release (the Japanese equivalent of the Classic NES Series). It is an in-depth retrospective on the development of many famous Famicom games, especially Metroid and Kid Icarus, from the memories of Yoshio Sakamoto, Toru Osawa (creator of Kid Icarus and long-time collaborator with Mr. Sakamoto), and Hiroji Kiyotake (the original designer of Samus). Many mysteries behind the development of some of the era's most famous games are revealed, creating a fascinating look into a not-too-distant past and a great sense of the camaraderie of the people who make games. Want to know where the names for Metroid and Samus came from? Did you know Kid Icarus was completed three days before release date? Or that Hip Tanaka was a character in Kid Icarus? To find out more, jump right in!

The article is 9 pages long, and so goes into considerable depth. It joins the growing collection of other articles I've translated, which you can find in our features section. Remember, if you have an article or interview in Japanese that has something to do with Metroid, please let me know! Translating has become something of a hobby of mine, and I'm always ready to learn more about the series. I also feel translations like these increase our understanding of the game development process and would like to see more efforts like these from the community at large.

Until next time...
Captain Commando