New speedrunning world records have been set, for the Metroid franchise, this February 2019.
Metroid (any%) Speedrun World Record is now 9:49 via Twitch by MetroidMcFly
Super Metroid (any%) Speedrun World Record is now 41:11 via YouTube by Zoast
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes (any%) is now 53:00 via YouTube by LivingCircuitry
A somewhat bittersweet apology and explaination from Nintendo Co. Ltd’s CEO, Shinya Takahashi:
According to Mr. Takahashi, whoever was previously working on Metroid Prime 4 has provided Nintendo with unsatisfactory results. This has caused Nintendo do what they did with the first Metroid Prime and “Up end the tea table” which basically means they’re starting from scratch.
I know a lot of fans will also be both surprised and greatly satisfied to find out that Nintendo is giving development back to Retro Studios, the original studio that created the Metroid Prime Trilogy. It gives me great pleasure to know MP4 will be developed back in my town of Austin, TX. That being said, Retro Studios has literally none of the same leadership of the original games currently working at the studio. This includes people like former producer Bryan Walker, game director Mark Pacini, design directors Karl Deckard, Mike Wikan, Lead Artist Todd Keller, and engineering leads Jack Matthews and Andy O’Neil. One would hope the talent currently working at the studio is prepared to handle a next-gen Metroid Prime that will push the Switch’s hardware to its limit.
Big downside of course is an added wait to an already long wait. My realistic prediction is we won’t get anything until 2021 now, (maybe nothing more than a teaser trailer) which will be very close to the Switch’s twilight years. And 2022 may be when it’s released. Maybe longer, who knows? All we can do at this point is provide our support and hope for the best. Of course we will keep you up to date on all the latest and greatest Metroid news. Stay tuned.
Resetera forum user Collige has created an HD Texture pack, via A.I. neural network program ESRGAN, that retexturizes the entire GameCube (GameID GM8E01) version of Metroid Prime for the PC Dolphin emulator.
As you can see below, the results are amazing!
According to, HD Pack creator, Collige:
This is for the Gamecube version (GameID GM8E01), not Metroid Prime Trilogy. This retextures virtually the entire game. There’s about 7000 textures upscaled with ESRGAN (manga109 model) and an additional 2000 upscaled with waifu2x-caffe (UpRGB model).
Some useful links below, for the interested:
Dolphin Emulator FAQ:
https://dolphin-emu.org/docs/faq/
Texture Pak download link (1.80GB):
https://mega.nz/#!GUEhAaDC!knvXl6CAG14rwCqZ94A2XEEFBq12ih-nIinkQqzrhos
How to install texture packs:
https://forums.dolphin-emu.org/Thread-how-to-install-texture-packs-custom-textures-info
Remember, this is ONLY for the PC Gamecube/Wii emulator Dolphin. Also, this texture pack WILL NOT work on Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Who loves the 90s? I know that’s probably most of you. And most of you also know, the color combo that defines the 90s is teal and pink.
Once Upon a Tee is offering this fly af, 90s inspired Metroid t-shirt for a super limited time. It’s gone in less than 2 days!
Four equally badass Metroid-inspired tshirts are also available for only $13, or get all four designs for $11 each. OUAT offers excellent quality clothing and accessories and comes highly recommended. Theses prices are only good until Monday morning, January 21, so order before they’re gone!
Or check out these optional product packs:
We’d like to remind you to be sure that you’re clicking through the images in order for us to get a commission on the sale. Your purchases from Once Upon A Tee, and our store directly helps our website thrive and we thank you for it!
First 4 Figures has opened up pre-orders for the latest in their Metroid Prime series of statues, Meta-Ridley. The massive statue is being offered in a regular (REG) version as well as an exclusive (EX) version and is the first in F4F’s new “Metroid Villains” line. Reservations opened today and will go for the next 3 weeks, those who wish to try for a low number in this new line or are interested in F4F’s Signature Card will want to return on January 25th at 10AM EST to validate their order early. Price may be an issue for some and to assist those on a budget, First 4 will be offering a 2 year payment plan. This won’t necessarily equate to a 2 year production as many are already wary of the amount of time the 1/4 Varia Suit has taken to come out (just shy of 3 years), but extenuating circumstances with fan requested changes, Nintendo approvals as well as Nintendo changes at the last minute created a longer then usual delay. With the majority of work done with Meta-Ridley, we will hopefully not see the same delays and keep within the 1-2 year normal release schedule.
Regular Version – Price $599.99 H:37″ W: 33″ D: 22
As with most Nintendo licensed statues, Meta-Ridley’s pose is based off of official Metroid Prime artwork in a flying attack position. The statue is made of resin with high attention to details such as worn armor and multi-layer paint with a round base inspired by the Artifact Temple floor. Meta-Ridley’s wings will also glow in the dark. The statue will be packaged in molded foam inserted into a full-color art box, the authentication card for registering on the website, and be shipped in a brown shipper to protect the art box/statue.
Exclusive Version – Price $599.99 H:37″ W: 33″ D: 22″
The Exclusive version of the statue will be the same as the Regular version above but will also include a light up feature in the chest (core) area as well as the eyes.
Validation Day
Validation Day will be on January 25th starting at 10AM. As Meta-Ridley is the first in the Metroid Villains line low serial numbers will be available to those who validate soonest. This is basically a button that appears on your order page that allows you to confirm your order. All orders made prior to Validation Day are still valid; however, they will only be eligible for signature card bonus’ if the consumer returns on 1/25 to ‘validate’. What’s the benefit of validating on 1/25? Validation will allow you the opportunity to reserve a low number. Whether you get that number or not will be unknown to you until the package arrives on your doorstep. Additionally, validation will include a special Meta-Ridley art card with Alex Davis’ (the owner of F4F) signature on it, a special hologram sticker, and extra bonus reward points on your account.
First 4 Figures flies into 2019 by announcing pre-orders for their massive polyresin Metroid Prime based Meta-Ridley statue will go up starting Friday January 18th after their weekly Q&A session. Meta-Ridley was first teased December 2016 when the statue was still in 3D development and now, after 2 years, it is finally ready for prime time. Alex Davis of F4F provided a short 43 second teaser trailer (see below) which provides a brief close in fly up of the statue. Since the original tease, Alex has warned consumers that this statue is going to be expensive. How expensive? That won’t be known until pre-orders go up on the 18th. Based on this statues size and level of detail, expect to see this statue hit wallets hard by falling into the $800 – $1000 price range. If the price doesn’t deter you, then his massive size may.
While official dimensions have not been been announced, a teaser picture acquired shows that Meta-Ridley will be at least TWICE as tall as Light Suit Samus. According to the website, Light Suit Samus sits at 20″ tall meaning that Meta-Ridley will likely top the height chart at around 40″. That, is a lot of Ridley and a lot of real estate to take up in a collection. During the Q&A session, Alex has stated that he intended to scale Meta-Ridley to fit in with his 1/6 Metroid Prime series. While scaled to match the OG suits, this iteration of Meta-Ridley is not intended to continue First 4 Figures 1/6 scale Metroid Prime line, instead it has been announced that Meta-Ridley will be the first in First 4 Figures “Metroid Villains” line. No indication as to what future villains will make an appearance but we know Alex has mentioned wanting to do a Metroid (the creature) at some point and has even informed the First 4 Figure community that he has one ‘in the vault’ (the place where dead or canceled projects go). This is the same vault that Meta-Ridley came out of and the one that currently holds Trace and Sylux statues that were up for pre-order in the past before the line was cancelled.
Pre-orders are scheduled to begin after the Q&A session on January 18th. The stream starts at 9:00AM Eastern and orders open at the completion of the stream. Keep an eye to our Facebook page for updates on when pre-orders go live.
Hey fam. We have done our best to carry the Metroid community through this lull. We’re used to it by now though – we’ve done it several times in the past. I think when it comes to Metroid fans, we’re quite hardened with the wait. We waited 8 years between Super and Prime/Fusion, and we waited 7 years between MOM and Samus Returns (Not counting Fed Force for obvious reasons). So yeah, at this point most of you should be like, “We’ll wait, it’s worth it.”
I am ecstatic that Ridley and Dark Samus were added to Smash Ultimate, however Dark Samus being a near-exact duplicate echo fighter has proven to be a huge disappointment. No cool Phazon-based moves beyond her charged shot? C’mon guys, you could’ve done a little better than that. You can watch a Let’s Play of any of the Dark Samus battles and imagine countless different ideas and ways to improve or spice up her moveset. For me, Samus in Smash has been going way downhill ever since Brawl. She just doesn’t seem to be able to knock people off the stage that well. And though they did give her a little more power this time around, she’s still slow and floaty and her smash attacks are still weak and easy to miss. At least her Screw Attack seems to be a little more improved. Maybe it’s time to main someone else, perhaps ZSS or Corrin? That Ridley, though.
In regards to other things, I was very impressed with the Prime 3 Samus Figma which I apologize for still not writing a review on. Don’t worry though – it’s gonna happen someday! Hopefully next year. Speaking of merch, we also seem to be getting a little bit harder than the usual trickle of Metroid merch, so someone at Nintendo must be listening. Still waiting on a Metroid series artbook, Nintendo. Ball’s in your court, guys.
A bit of an uneventful year for Metroid fans. The most disappointing news being the lack of new (or any for that matter!) information on Metroid Prime 4. I was so sure that this years Gaming Awards would have a teaser of sorts to keep us satiated but that was not the case. Even the rumored Metroid Prime Trilogy, for the Nintendo Switch, was a no-show.
The most interesting development this year, for me, was Brie Larson’s desire to portray Samus in a Metroid film. Regardless of what said film would/could be, just having someone of influence expressing interest in the Metroid franchise is a positive in my eyes. Keeping a high-profile public interest in Metroid can hopefully get the message across to Nintendo that we need more Metroid games in our life!
Here’s hoping 2019 is filled to the brim with substantial Metroid goodness!
2018 was a bit of a lackluster year for Metroid. Although we got Ridley and Dark Samus in Smash Ultimate, there have been no real updates on the platform title Nintendo has previously announced. I have hopes for 2019 to be the Year Of The Metroid, but only time will tell if we’ll get anything. A trailer, some game footage, something, PLEASE! A Prime Trilogy remake might be enough to tide me over ’til the new game…. but I’ll have to wait and see. Onward to 2019!
Greetings, Metroid fans! Santa CapCom is back today with a very special gift to our readers: Twinetroid, a text adventure game built in Twine. This game is a translation of the Japanese gamebook Metroid: Zeebesu shin’nyu shirei, which roughly translates as “Zebes Incursion Directive”. The book was published by Futabasha in 1987 as part of the Famicom Game Book Series. It was written by Nobuyuki Shioda and contains illustrations by Arisaka Sumi (Which are now included in the gallery! VGMStudios provided most of the scans).
The game consists of an impressive 95 rooms, and like Zero Mission, contains a special endgame section. In each room, you encounter an enemy, then search the room, and choose which direction to go next. I’ve included an auto map so you can tell your location (just note it will load slower on some platforms). The text has been kept loyal to the original, even in places that don’t match with canon, like Zebes being called an “asteroid”. About the only new material are descriptions for secret passages: in the original, you were given an incomplete chapter number and had to flip through the book until you found the missing chapter number – even the author admitted this was tedious, but he felt this was the best way of preserving the feel of exploration from the game. I tried a bunch of different tricks for secret passages here – have fun discovering them!
Work on Twinetroid started WAY back in 2010 when I found a text dump of the game on a Japanese Geocities page, which I then translated off and on for a few years before getting my own copy. Come October, I finally decided to port it over to Twine, an easy-to-use text adventure platform. The digital version takes all that book flipping and dice rolling and automates it into what should be a fun retro adventure.
I hope you enjoy it!
Canadian cosplayer and all around awesome fan Allison Robinson has admitted her life was drastically altered due to the Metroid series – especially Super Metroid. I think we can all share that sentiment in some form or fashion. Like myself, Al has decided to signify that dedication in the form of tattoos. Interestingly, though her first was a Metroid, her other choices have been of things a bit more obscure to the series – familiar enemies. Fortunately, in the search for creature artwork, Al discovered our site a few years ago, and fell in love with our Bestiary. As you can see in the photos below, she has gotten her tattoo artist to make designs based on the Torizo, Skultera, Dragon, and (most recently) Work Robot artworks. She tells us more are on the way of course, acknowledging the addictive, but expensive nature of tattoos. And of course let’s not forget her entire spinal column was endowed with a design inspired by Ridley’s tail.
It’s times like these that make doing this job all worth it. As you know, I directed the entire Bestiary project, gathered all the artists, directed many of their artworks and helped refine all of the ideas they brought to the table. Even though the Bestiary’s still not really finished, I’m very flattered to be able to inspire people like Allison to get these beautiful artworks permanently etched on their skin. And I know all the original artists who drew them share the same sentiment. The tattoos themselves were inked by Sharky Jones of Ironside Tattoo & Piercing.
Thank you for sharing these photos with us Allison – they are so gorgeous! We can’t wait to see what’s next.
Starting today, we are officially re-launching the S-Logo pin that we had released in 2017. I hope I had enough made this time around. Furthermore, from now until the 9th, we’re offering an exclusive discount, you can get 20% off the cost using the coupon code below:
We’ve also cut the cost of our decals in half, permanently. So head on over to the MDB Store to get the pin! Samus approves!
Thank you all for your continued support of this site.
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