Metroid Database.com

Today at 9am PDT, Nintendo gave their annual E3 press conference. The conference focused almost entirely on the WiiU, and Nintendo promises they have even more surprises in store for us. The WiiU's main focus seemed to be not only getting entire families involved in gameplay experience more than ever, but connect everyone across the world using a unique networking system called Miiverse. They are also trying to please hardcore fans, with plenty of 3rd party titles in the lineup such as Batman Arkham City Armored Edition, ZombiU, Darksiders 2, Mass Effect 3, and more. You can watch the official WiiU lineup trailer below:

Another thing to note is that Metroid made a *tiny* cameo appearance during the Nintendo Land video. Nintendo Land will feature 12 different game "attractions," each based on a well-known Nintendo franchise. We were shown footage of a robotic Ridley statue, a Samus helmet icon (which likely allows you to access the attraction in the game), Samus's starship and a Metroid statue. It is unknown what the specifics of the game are yet, but it's likely that it will be the Battle Mii game that Nintendo showed at their 2011 conference last year.

We will update you as soon as we get more information! Stay tuned to e3.nintendo.com for all the latest updates.

Update 1: Nintendo updated their official Facebook page with the icons from Nintendo Land. As you can see, there is a Samus helmet clearly among them. Our guesses for the rest are Zelda, Pikmin, Mario, Luigi's Mansion, Animal Crossing, Yoshi, Game & Watch Octopus, Donkey Kong, Takamaru's Ninja Castle, F-Zero, and Balloon Fight.

Update 2: The cover image also appears to reveal a metroid statue that players will likely be able to purchase using the game's built-in coin reward system.

Update 3: Close examination of the Nintendo Land main hub reveals the giant mechanical Ridley, which is initially hiding behind the big tower in the center on the opposite side of the park from the entrance. Next to the statue is a tiny (in comparison) Metroid statue, along with Samus's starship. The Ridley statue will fly up and breathe fire when the train goes past. Note the large power button on Ridley's chest. Oddly enough, these statues are not immediately in front of the Metroid ride (which is labeled 'currently under construction').

You might also remember back at last year's E3 that the game's developer, Animal Crossing creator Katsuya Eguchi, mentioned possibilities for Metroid on the WiiU when interviewed by Kotaku:

Now that we have a Wii in HD - the Wii U - there are games like Zelda or Metroid or Star Fox, that definitely will benefit from the ability to display those detailed graphics... I can't give you any details now, but I'm sure there will be a new Metroid release making use of the new controller, not just to control Samus and her ship but also to give the player a new source of information. Maybe the player is looking at the screen but has the information that they need to defeat the enemy in their hands.

Quite the sneaky response now that we know he was working on Nintendo Land at the time! While it's tempting to extrapolate how the Metroid ride will operate based on this statement, it is a healthy reminder that Eguchi-san has been working on this game for quite a long time and no doubt has some excellent plans to make this an enjoyable Metroid experience for Nintendo Land.

--Infinity's End