The very first Metroid game was released for the Famicom in Japan on August 6th, 1986. A sequel, Metroid II: Return of Samus, was released in North America on the Game Boy in 1991, and remains one of the series’ less well-known entries. However, years of hard work by one dedicated Metroid fan, Doctor M64, might just change that.
His fan-made game, Another Metroid 2 Remake (or AM2R) is finally near completion, and according to an update on the game’s official blog, the full game will be available on August 6th — the 30th anniversary of the series’ introduction.
In the post, simply titled “The last stretch,” Doctor M64 writes “I know we’ll make it in time. See you then,” and includes a countdown clock for August 6th, 2016. As you might expect, AM2R includes updates and changes to the now 25-year-old game to make it more similar to recent 2D Metroid titles. In the original game, for example, Samus only had to eliminate all of the Metroids (grouped into Alpha, Gamma, Zeta, and Omega evolutions) and the Queen Metroid to complete her mission.
The “about” page for AM2R, however, promises “Metroid Zero Mission style gameplay,” new areas, a map system, a new “high quality” soundtrack, more minibosses, and “completely redrawn enemy and Metroid sprites,” among other things. Indeed, the game looks and feels like a spiritual successor to 2004’s Metroid Zero Mission, a fantastic remake of the original Metroid for the Game Boy Advance.
For those that can’t wait until next month, the newest AM2R demo, version 1.41, is available for free right now, featuring much of the game world. The soundtrack for 1.41 is also available, along with two wallpapers (one of which you can see above) created by ZimK.
It will be interesting to see the fan reactions to AM2R compared to Nintendo’s official release, Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which is currently slated for release on August 19th.
