The most recent entry in the long-running Metroid franchise, which turns 30 this year, was 2010’s Metroid: Other M, an uncharacteristically lackluster game in a series filled with quality titles. Six years later, as E3 looms on the horizon, the only Metroid title Nintendo has announced (so far) is Metroid Prime: Federation Force, which for the first time seems to shift the emphasis away from series heroine Samus Aran. But even if Nintendo hasn’t given the series much attention recently, one fan on YouTube is doing it justice.
YouTube user Rabbit MACHINE’s anime short, entitled “METROID short animation,” is a fantastic tribute to Samus and her adventures. Clocking in at only 55 seconds, the video starts with the bounty hunter’s iconic gunship landing at an outpost on a desolate planet. She finds a previous inhabitant (perhaps a soldier belonging to the Galactic Federation) slain before being ambushed by laser fire.
True to form, Samus dashes into the fray (with a rendition of the Metroid Prime main theme playing in the background), holding off several attackers through a combination of hand-to-hand combat and her trusty arm cannon before finishing the last attacker with what appears to be a Super Missile. The video ends with Samus coolly walking away from the billowing flames in her own personal “cool guys don’t look at explosions” moment.
Rabbit MACHINE’s video is stylish, and it serves as a quality tribute to the franchise. Hopefully Nintendo will go back to showing Metroid this kind of attention again soon.
