Metroid Database.com

15 years. I see those words and let it settle in for awhile. 15 years is how old the Metroid Database is today. That's older than the smartphone and the iPad; the Xbox, Facebook, and Winamp. We're about as old as Hotmail and eBay. We're older than IGN, who consider themselves 13. We're even older than Google and Wikipedia, man!

15 years is a LONG time for a website. That's several lifetimes in terms of technology. Back in 1996, 3D gaming was still a novelty, with the PlayStation coming out in 1994 and the Nintendo 64 released 15 years ago in November. The words for Xbox, iPod, Napster, BitTorrent, smartphone, and crowdsourcing didn't even exist. And we were still using Windows 95 and single-core processors, where 5GB hard drives and 64MB of RAM was a LOT.

There also aren't too many websites that have survived 15 years, let alone fan sites for videogames. Technology moves fast; webmasters grow older and move on to other things. Kurt Kulata, founder of the Castlevania Dungeon and Contra Headquarters, has since handed over the reins to new webmasters (he now runs Hardcore Gaming 101). When TJ Rappel founded the Metroid Database in 1996, Super Metroid, one of the greatest games of all time, was only two years old, and hopes for a 3D Metroid on the Nintendo 64 were high. He went to E3 back when it was cool and witnessed the exciting launch of Metroid Prime and Fusion, then gave the site a design overhaul before finally passing on the torch in 2006 and moving on to what he loves best: tattoos.

And that's actually how a lot of sites like this survive: through new generations of webmasters eager to contribute to the communities they are a part of and the games they love. That's why I like to translate Metroid comics and interviews and listen to music and work on this website: Metroid is so damn awesome.

That's also why the Metroid Database is still here at all, delivering the types of content fans expect: the people who have worked together over the years to make this site run. Without the coding expertise of Jesse D (and our new coder, rondus18), we would still be chugging along on ca. 2003 web standards. Without Infinity's End's design skills and passion for the community, we wouldn't have all these contests, and the site would look kinda boring. Without the dedicated moderators on the message board, we might have turned into anarchy: Sheep born with two heads and cats lol'ing at cheezburgers and all that. And without all our readers and fans, we wouldn't have as much great material to share with you!

I think nothing demonstrates this level of collaboration more than the Metroid Bestiary, a project kicked off by Infinity's End and involving some of the best fan artists I've seen on the web. I've been kind of quiet as the project unfolded behind the scenes, but seriously, some of these guys should be working for Blizzard! Seeing all this fantastic artwork has made it so much more fun looking back at these old enemies and speculating about their biology and behavior. We've run through some tricky times getting the thing off the ground, but we're finally able to unveil the Bestiary, along with a new contest. This stuff really is incredible. Thank you so much to everyone!

And, of course, thank YOU for visiting our site for all these years! YOU are who this site is made for.

Cheers, guys! See you throughout another 15!

Until next time...
Captain Commando