Though this shouldn’t be news to those who were glued to their computers watching Nintendo’s Treehouse coverage the other day, it’s worth noting that MercurySteam is developing the 3DS remaster, Samus Returns. While I was initially concerned by this announcement, since I didn’t like how that team handled Lords of Shadow, I quickly calmed down. The reason is, even though the plot of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow games was subpar, the gameplay mechanics were fine tuned. In the 3DS Lords of Shadow entry, Mirror of Fate, the combat was very well executed and dynamic. Since Metroid games aren’t known for their story, but rather their atmosphere, I am now much more confident hearing MercurySteam is handling Samus Returns. Nintendo must be confident as well, since handing off such an iconic series is a big deal. To read some more of the details regarding this announcement, check the PR below.
MercurySteam proudly announces being the developer behind Nintendo’s recently announced Metroid: Samus Returns game
San Sebastian de los Reyes, Spain – June 14, 2017 – MercurySteam, the award winning independent development studio behind the multi-million selling Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series announces a collaboration with Nintendo on the latest Metroid game for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
Metroid: Samus Returns was announced on Nintendo Treehouse: Live at E3 2017 and will be exclusively available for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
“Metroid is one of the most recognized Nintendo franchises and we are so honoured to collaborate with them on the latest game in the saga of space-faring bounty hunter Samus Aran,” said Enric Alvarez, Head of Studio at MercurySteam. “Our collaboration with Nintendo will give gamers around the world the chance to play this fantastic adventure in a completely new way not seen before”.
“The development of this Metroid game with Mercury Steam has gone very smoothly and more than anything, it has been very exciting,” said Yoshio Sakamoto, senior officer of Nintendo’s Entertainment Planning & Development Department, and the producer of the overall Metroid franchise. “Metroid: Samus Returns is based on the GameBoy classic Metroid II: Return of Samus, and we are very confident that this collaboration with Mercury Steam is the reason we have been able to successfully pull together various features like actions never seen before in the Metroid series, a stunning recreation of the planet SR388 and classical Metroid gameplay elements into a single powerful package.”
Metroid: Samus Returns launches exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems on Sept. 15, 2017. For more information, please visit https://e3.nintendo.com/games/metroid-samus-returns-3ds.
About MercurySteam
MercurySteam is a multi-award winning independent game developer based in Madrid, Spain, best known for successfully rebooting the Castlevania series for Konami. MercurySteam’s other big game on display at the E3 expo, Raiders of the Broken Planet is a pulp sci-fi adventure with a unique 4 divided by 1 online focus. This innovative 3rd person shooter combines shooting and close quarter melee combat, is heavily story driven and is able to be played as a single-player experience too. Raiders of the Broken Planet will debut on Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows 10 sometime in 2017.
