Last year was a big year for Metroid fans. For in one E3, Nintendo announced a game for the Nintendo Switch (Metroid Prime 4), and a game for the Nintendo 3DS, Metroid: Samus Returns. What made Samus Returns so special though wasn’t just that the game was a remake of the second title, but that it was only a few months away. Sure enough, when the game launched last September, both gamers and critics agreed that it was a great return for Metroid, and it’s still being talking about today.
In an interview, Yoshio Sakamoto, who was a producer on the game, talked with a Spanish website about some of the things that for him was most important when making Metroid: Samus Returns.
He noted that the biggest challenge was overcoming the reputation of previous entries in the series and fans’ memories of them. Which makes sense, as gamers have been asking for the return of Metroid for years, and its return was going to have a lot of scrutiny on it.
In regards to music, Samus Returns reuses sounds from Metroid Prime and songs from Super Metroid; Sakamoto feels there are certain sounds that fit well with certain things, so it was inevitable that the same sounds and melodies were used; they weren’t just reused for the sake of it.
Speaking of reuse, he apparently was fine with the idea that Ridley (who was not in the game originally) would be the final boss of the title, he felt that this would be a great surprise to fans who love this rivalry. It wasn’t his idea though, it was the MercurySteam team’s.
In regards to MercurySteam, Sakamoto praised them a lot during the interview, including saying they were the perfect team to bring Samus Returns to the 3DS.
He wouldn’t speak on future Metroid games.
