When you consider how beloved the Metroid series is, it’s remarkable that more people don’t talk about Metroid Prime Hunters.
One of the key early titles for the Nintendo DS (a demo was memorably bundled with the console at launch), Hunters was a spin-off of a spin-off; it formed part of the Prime sub-series that began on the GameCube but was intended to be a real showcase of the DS’ unique talents. It was developed by Nintendo Software Technology rather than Retro Studios, with Masamichi Abe (Pikmin, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again) acting as director.
Richard Vorodi worked as a designer on the game and has been speaking to Kiwi Talkz about his time at NST. He reveals some interesting pieces of info, such as the fact that Nintendo has a “Metroid Bible” that it hands to anyone who is working on the series and that some of the bounty hunter names had to be changed because they were found to be registered trademarks. Vorodi also explains that the hunter ‘Weavel’ was inspired by the painful experience of being bitten by a weevil bug as a child.
Given that Hunters is fading into memory and the fact that Nintendo has remastered many of its other classic titles, would Vorodi be open to a remake of the game on Switch?
The selfish side of me would say no – it’s perfect the way it is – [but] that’s the thing, it’s not my game, it’s the world’s game. It’s actually incredibly flattering; if there is an audience for that game, if there’s a way to usher it into the 21st century or the post-pandemic world, that’d be great. It would be great to see those guys at full resolution, it would be great to see the ponytail swinging… there’s been so many advances. FPS more than any other genre has seen the most growth… it would be unbelievable to see how that game would play today. So yeah, I’m all for it.
Is Metroid Prime Hunters a game you’d like to see remastered for Switch, or do you think it should remain on DS hardware? Let us know with a comment.
