Acclaimed developer MercurySteam have been hard at work on Metroid: Samus Returns which is out this month on the Nintendo 3DS. Game Informer have recently produced a huge feature about the latest Metroid title which you can read here. Interestingly the developer initially pitched a remake of Metroid Fusion to Nintendo, however, Sakamoto declined and gave them this project to work on.
With all of Nintendo’s internal studios busy with other projects, Sakamoto needed to find a development team that could tackle his dream project. Fortunately, one studio had been pounding on Nintendo’s door with a Metroid pitch. After finishing work on a few Castlevania projects for Konami, the Madrid-based developer MercurySteam pitched Nintendo on the idea of remaking Metroid Fusion – the 2002 GBA title where Samus got infected with a parasitic organism. Sakamoto was impressed with the studio pitch and their love for Metroid. He told them no, they couldn’t remake Metroid Fusion…but he did need their help on another remake.
Thanks to those who sent this in.
And that’s how is born Metroid Samus Returns
Fusion is incredible, it honestly doesn’t need a remake.
However, it being my favorite Metroid game, I wouldn’t mind a remake.
Imagining Fusion in HD… that would be amazing.
Really can’t wait for Samus Returns though, Metroid II desperately needed an overhaul!
I hope the remake happens, but instead it comes to switch. I would love to see it as a modern 3D side scroller. Especially with voice acting and cut scenes.
I’d be all for that.
Not sure how I feel about Fusion… it wasn’t a bad game overall, and introduced some cool bosses and ideas, but it introduced a lot of things I didn’t particularly care for, like getting rid of Samus’ traditional armor, being the first 2D game to include the “hand hold-y” map, and being the first game to give her dialog (which wasn’t bad in this one, but opened the doors for some… less desirable future results). I think they made the right choice remaking Metroid 2 instead.
While I agree that the game holds your hand too much, it somehow worked, because it was designed to be like that from the get go, it is the most linear Metroid game besides other M, but hopefully they abandon that idea already, no all Metroid games have to be the same, as long as they hold core elements, so is better to appreciate Fusion for what it did right, instead of looking at what it did not copy from its predecessors.
It was handhold-y until you had to find the security locks- remember, per protocol, they aren’t marked. I remember getting really stumped on the last two during my first run.
Actually, Super Metroid was the first with dialogue. The entire intro is her telling the back story, starting right after a synthesized voice says: “The last metroid is in captivity, the galaxy is at peace.”
I actually agree with this. Return of Samus needed a remake way more than Fusion did; so much of RoS was outdated that it just made sense to give it an overhaul.
That said I wouldn’t mind seeing a remake of Fusion in the future. Just one thing… PLEASE add more encounters with the SA-X- for such an antagonist with an important role, we didn’t see much of it, and every encounter was scripted. I wanna see random run-ins to make the game more stressful (“okay, heading back to AQA to get that energy tank I couldn’t get befo”- *SA-X enters the room from the same door you entered from; music changes; the intimidating footstep sounds begin* “OHH fuck, ohhhh where can I hide? Can it hear my movements?”
That’s the one thing I want in a Fusion remake.
That idea is awesome. What’d make it even more awesome is if the remake actually has an open world of sorts in a 3D environment to give you plenty of spots to hide in from SA-X. Oh & in 3rd person as I want a 3D Metroid that isn’t first person & isn’t widely hated like Other M is.
lol “no no no no you ain’t remaking MY ‘masterpiece’… *whispers* remake that game I have no affiliation with instead…”
Scumbag Nintendo: “Oh Next Level you want to make a 2D Metroid? Tough you are making Luigi’s Mansion 2”.
“Oh ok you can make Metroid…….. Federation Force is something Mr. Tanabe had in mind since DSI” *Troll face*
“Oh MercurySteam you want to make Fusion? Tough you are making Metroid II”
Honestly Metroid II is dated to the netherworld. And while Fusion’s cutscenes would benefit from a modern makeover the game as a whole was good enough to stand the test of time. That is why nobody asks for a remake of the original (because Zero Mission fixed it).
Honestly the only other one that needs remaking is Super. Still bugs me when I forget an upgrade or go back to one thinking I missed it. And the Grapple Beam controls need fixing but Metroid really, really, REALLY needed it.
Actually, I’d like to see Super Metroid on the Switch with Metroid Zero Mission’s controls. Leave the sprite work alone though, the graphics are perfect.
Speaking of remakes, I want Zero Mission on my 3DS already so I can add the download right next to the other Metroid games I got digitally on my system.
A remake of Super would be nice some day, too, but I’m not sure if I’d want to lose the use of sprites since that game’s graphics do look great. They’d maybe even look better in HD. But the remaster can’t be a cheap one, though, as the games might not translate well into HD if it’s just a simple port with HD slapped on to it with little to no work.