Metroid Database.com

Japan's Nintendo Online Magazine (NOM) can be seen as a precursor to Iwata Asks, with dozens of staff interviews, as well as previews of upcoming games. One of these was an interview with Metroid Zero Mission's development staff conducted in 2004. Well, we've now got a full translation up on the site!

The article goes into some detail on the art style and development process, noting that Zero Mission turned out very well because of all the experience they had working on Fusion. However, one one of the most interesting bits of information here actually regards this beta footage:

This video was originally shown on Nintendo's E3 2003 website, but was quickly taken down and replaced with newer game footage. The clip shows a chibi Samus blasting her way through Brinstar. Her appearance and movement is very similar to the original Metroid sprite - you can also see chibi Samus in this concept art for Kraid. Well, graphic designer Takayasu Morisawa brings it up, saying the abrupt change in art style came from Nintendo of America: "It seemed a little cute, and we had finished all the designs to match it, but NOA told us to stop." As you can see in the video, many of the tiles and character sprites were also changed to look less cartoony - although Samus still has the motion echoes like in the final version. Map designer Ryuichi Nakada elaborates:

They told us that a Metroid game that wasn't realistic would never work. Of course, this is a title that sells extremely well overseas, so NOA's opinions were essential. It turned out that when our global demographic saw it, they said realistic was better, so we changed directions.

So there you have it! NOA canned chibi Samus because they didn't think Western audiences would have accepted it. As a result, we had a fluid, more realistic Samus with an art style strongly influenced by American comics.

Be sure to check out the full interview here!

Until next time...
Captain Commando