Happy 35th, Samus
It’s wild to see how Nintendo handles some of its golden franchises. I mean, they obviously have access to internal figures and market research. But seeing how they trot out some series every now and then as Easter eggs or cameos for other games is fascinating. F-Zero is pretty much the perfect example of something that is basically dead in the water, but Nintendo is proud of showing off. For a time, Metroid fit that bill too. Now we’re at the point where Nintendo is celebrating a Metroid 35th anniversary, and we have a 2D and a 3D game in the works. Go figure!
Yep, on this day in Japan 35 years ago, Metroid was released. It blew my mind after playing it (at least, when it was later released in the US), and it changed how I looked at platformers, which had mostly consisted of games like Mario up until that point. Over the years I’d follow Samus to the ends of the Earth, through the thick and thin, into the great unknown of Other M and Federation Force.
But one year later after the Federation Force debacle, Samus Returns came out, and things looked hopeful yet again. Four years later Nintendo would announce Metroid Dread and the rest is currently history in the making, as we enter the Metroid 35th anniversary day and date, two months from the release of Dread. It was shaky for a while there, though! It took seven full years to go from Other M to Samus Returns, and it’s been 14 years since we saw a new Metroid Prime game.
Look, Nintendo even acknowledged the Metroid 35th anniversary in a tweet! Perhaps a sign that things are back on track, so long as Dread and Metroid Prime 4 deliver.
On this day 35 years ago, bounty hunter Samus Aran landed on planet Zebes when #Metroid launched in Japan. pic.twitter.com/UtwHbUl7DL
— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) August 6, 2021