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115-558: Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Nintendo based in Austin, Texas . The studio is best known for its work on the Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong series and has contributed to several other Nintendo-developed projects, such as Mario Kart 7 . Retro was founded on September 21, 1998, as an alliance between Nintendo and Iguana Entertainment founder Jeff Spangenberg , hoping to create games for

230-588: A database , Voice over IP , or add-in interface software; this is also known as middleware . Examples of this include SpeedTree and Havoc . Independents are software developers which are not owned by (or dependent on) a single publisher. Some of these developers self-publish their games, relying on the Internet and word of mouth for publicity. Without the large marketing budgets of mainstream publishers, their products may receive less recognition than those of larger publishers such as Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo. With

345-647: A "present" for them. A soundtrack album, Super Metroid: Sound in Action , was published by Sony Records on June 22, 1994. It contains 38 tracks and has a running time of 58:49. It includes the original Metroid soundtrack by Hirokazu Tanaka , and additional tracks arranged by Yoshiyuki Ito and Masumi Ito. The game was released by Nintendo in Japan on March 19, 1994, in North America on April 18, and in Europe on July 28. It

460-682: A Game of the Month for May 1994, gave it an Editors' Choice award, awarded it as the Best Action Game of 1994, and named it the best game of all time in 2003. IGN ranked Super Metroid 3rd (2003), 10th (2005) and 7th (2007) in its top 100 games of all time lists. Likewise, IGN readers ranked the game 11th in its top 99 games of all-time list in 2005, and 4th in its top 100 games in 2006. Richard George of IGN also ranked Super Metroid 3rd in its top 100 SNES games, crediting its "flawless action, impeccable level design, out-of-this-world atmosphere,

575-424: A composer, a sound programmer and a sound effect creator gave Yamamoto ideas to produce a distinct Metroid soundtrack "with a sound programmer's ear, with a sound effect creator's ear, and with the approach methodology and theory of a composer". The arrangements and remixes of the game's themes were used in Metroid Prime and its sequels, because Yamamoto wanted to satisfy old Metroid fans, describing it as

690-452: A culture of "toxic geek masculinity" within the workplace. In addition, the conditions behind crunch time are far more discriminating towards women as this requires them to commit time exclusively to the company or to more personal activities like raising a family. These factors established conditions within some larger development studios where female developers have found themselves discriminated in workplace hiring and promotion, as well as

805-571: A first-party company. As a balance to not being able to release their game for other platforms, second-party developers are usually offered higher royalty rates than third-party developers. These studios may have exclusive publishing agreements (or other business relationships) with the platform holder, but maintain independence so that upon completion or termination of their contracts, they are able to continue developing games for other publishers if they choose to. For example, while HAL Laboratory initially began developing games on personal computers like

920-410: A fixed period and generally work similar hours as full-time staff members, assisting across all areas of video game development, but as contractors, do not get any benefits such as paid time-off or health care from the employer; they also are typically not credited on games that they work on for this reason. The practice itself is legal and common in other engineering and technology areas, and generally it

1035-403: A game on schedule. The complexity of workflow, reliance on third-party deliverables, and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones. The use of crunch time is also seen to be exploitative of the younger male-dominated workforce in video games, who have not had the time to establish a family and who were eager to advance within

1150-518: A game to equal Super Metroid . In late 2002, Nintendo released Metroid Fusion , a 2D sequel developed for the Game Boy Advance by Nintendo R&D1, and Metroid Prime , a first-person game developed for the GameCube by American developer Retro Studios , and the first Metroid game to use 3D graphics . Both Fusion and Prime garnered acclaim, with Prime winning several Game of

1265-406: A game's profits. Current examples of first-party studios include PlayStation Studios for Sony, and Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Gaming . Second-party developer is a colloquial term often used by gaming enthusiasts and media to describe game studios that take development contracts from platform holders and develop games exclusive to that platform, i.e. a non-owned developer making games for

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1380-478: A higher jump, and the Space Jump allows Samus to jump in midair. The Grapple Beam can be used to swing across open areas. The X-ray Scope is used to see items and passages through hidden walls and other surfaces. The heads-up display shows Samus's health , the supply mode for Reserve Tanks, icons that represent weapons, and a map display showing her location and its surroundings. The inventory screen allows

1495-469: A new Donkey Kong game, and Tanabe recommended Retro. Kelbaugh had worked on the Donkey Kong Country series during his years at Nintendo of America, and had interest in continuing with the franchise. Retro accepted the task, and thus started development of Donkey Kong Country Returns . Similar to New Super Mario Bros. , the game was developed with the intention to invoke nostalgic feelings in

1610-437: A position in a medium to large video game company. An experienced game-development employee, depending on their expertise and experience, averaged roughly $ 73,000 in 2007. Indie game developers may only earn between $ 10,000 and $ 50,000 a year depending on how financially successful their titles are. In addition to being part of the software industry, game development is also within the entertainment industry; most sectors of

1725-624: A roundtable discussion with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA), the professional association for developers. Statements made by the IGDA's current executive director Jen MacLean relating to IGDA's activities had been seen by as anti-union, and Game Workers Unite desired to start a conversation to lay out the need for developers to unionize. In the wake of the sudden near-closure of Telltale Games in September 2018,

1840-530: A sense of familiarity. Shortly before the game's release, the North American Entertainment Software Rating Board , a self-regulating organization, was formed in response to the increasing violence in games such as Mortal Kombat (1992). Asked whether he thought the controversy would cause a backlash for Super Metroid , Sakamoto explained that Samus's purpose is to maintain peace in the galaxy, saying: "It's not violence for

1955-407: A single publisher; one canceled game may devastate a small developer. Because of this, many small development companies are short-lived. A common exit strategy for a successful video game developer is to sell the company to a publisher, becoming an in-house developer. In-house development teams tend to have more freedom in game design and content than third-party developers. One reason is that since

2070-403: A strong STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) background for women at the secondary education level, but there are issues with tertiary education such as at colleges and universities, where game development programs tend to reflect the male-dominated demographics of the industry, a factor that may lead women with strong STEM backgrounds to choose other career goals. There

2185-567: A totally badass heroine and an enormous overworld to explore". GamesRadar named Super Metroid the best SNES game of all time, while Nintendo Power named it the best game in the Metroid series, beating out Metroid Prime and Metroid: Zero Mission . GamePro listed Super Metroid as one of the fifteen must-play retro games on the Wii . Game Informer placed the game 29th on their top 100 games of all time in 2001. In 2018, Complex listed

2300-595: A true action game, and set the stage for Samus' reappearance. Super Metroid received acclaim, with praise for its atmosphere, gameplay, music and graphics. It is often cited as one of the greatest video games of all time . The game sold well and shipped 1.42 million copies worldwide by late 2003. Alongside Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , Super Metroid is credited for establishing the " Metroidvania " genre, inspiring numerous indie games and developers. It also became popular among players for speedrunning . Super Metroid

2415-682: A unique case where nearly all parts of its labor force, including white-collar jobs such as video game development, may engage with labor unions under the Employment Protection Act often through collective bargaining agreements. Developer DICE had reached its union agreements in 2004. Paradox Interactive became one of the first major publishers to support unionization efforts in June 2020 with its own agreements to cover its Swedish employees within two labor unions Unionen and SACO . In Australia, video game developers could join other unions, but

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2530-833: A version of Echoes modified for the Wii and shown at the Tokyo Game Show in 2005. Originally envisioned as a launch game for the Wii in November 2006, Corruption suffered many delays, but eventually being released in August 2007 generally positive reviews, and over 1.60 million copies sold worldwide. While Retro was busy with the Prime sequels, they had to pass on the Nintendo DS game Metroid Prime Hunters . The eventual developer, Nintendo Software Technology (NST), worked closely with Retro to design

2645-421: Is "more of an experience than a game", likening it to watching a late-night movie due to the cinematic structure and atmospheric graphics and sounds. He found the game so compulsive that he was tempted to play "without eating or sleeping". Super Play critic Tony Mott cited the atmosphere as its best aspect, and described it as a mixture of Aliens , Turrican , Exile , and Nodes of Yesod . Mott applauded

2760-413: Is "one of the best 2D action adventure games ever produced". In Japan, Super Metroid was the ninth-best-selling video game of 1994 , with 531,000 copies sold that year. In North America, despite receiving critical acclaim, Rus McLaughlin of IGN said that Super Metroid arrived at a time when the lifecycle of SNES platform was coming to an end. Robinson similarly noted that, in a series tradition,

2875-473: Is also a significant gap in racial minorities within the video game industry; a 2019 IGDA survey found only 2% of developers considered themselves to be of African descent and 7% Hispanic, while 81% were Caucasian; in contrast, 2018 estimates from the United States Census estimate the U.S. population to be 13% of African descent and 18% Hispanic. In a 2014 and 2015 survey of job positions and salaries,

2990-483: Is depleted. The game also features an automap to help players navigate the different areas of the game. Additionally, the player can use the map computer found in each part of the planet to reveal unexplored areas. To save their progress, the player must find and use one of the save stations scattered around the planet. The game can also be saved at Samus's gunship , which fully recharges her health and ammunition as well. Super Metroid has three endings based on

3105-449: Is expected that this is meant to lead into a full-time position, or otherwise the end of the contract. But more recently, its use in the video game industry has been compared to Microsoft 's past use of " permatemp ", contract workers that were continually renewed and treated for all purposes as employees but received no benefits. While Microsoft has waned from the practice, the video game industry has adapted it more frequently. Around 10% of

3220-533: Is generally illegal, companies often target their oldest workers first during layoffs or other periods of reduction. Older developers with experience may find themselves too qualified for the types of positions that other game development companies seek given the salaries and compensations offered. Some of the larger video game developers and publishers have also engaged contract workers through agencies to help add manpower in game development in part to alleviate crunch time from employees. Contractors are brought on for

3335-494: Is still their primary activity they are generally described as "publishers" rather than "developers". Developers may be private as well. In the video game industry , a first-party developer is part of a company that manufactures a video game console and develops mainly for it. First-party developers may use the name of the company itself (such as Nintendo ), have a specific division name (such as Sony's Polyphony Digital ) or have been an independent studio before being acquired by

3450-409: Is too similar to its predecessor . Super Metroid is often regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time. Jeremy Parish of USgamer remarked that Super Metroid is a "game you can return to time and again and always come away with some fresh insight or observation". Andrew Webster of Ars Technica found the game's atmosphere impressive, and noted that the developers had perfected

3565-474: Is usually conducted in a casual business environment, with t-shirts and sandals as common work attire. Many workers find this type of environment rewarding and pleasant professionally and personally. However, the industry also requires long working hours from its employees (sometimes to an extent seen as unsustainable). Employee burnout is not uncommon. An entry-level programmer can make, on average, over $ 66,000 annually only if they are successful in obtaining

Retro Studios - Misplaced Pages Continue

3680-639: The AFL–CIO writing an open letter to video game developers encouraging them to unionize. In January 2020, Game Workers Unite and the Communications Workers of America established a new campaign to push for unionization of video game developers, the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE), in January 2020. Initial efforts for CODE were aimed to determine what approach to unionization would be best suited for

3795-674: The Donkey Kong -themed levels, but the number evolved to the stage design of sixteen tracks in the late stages of development, as the Nintendo EAD crew started working on other projects and the game would not be finished before the December 2011 deadline. In 2012, it was revealed that Retro Studios had received a Wii U development kit, and was reportedly working on a Wii U game. Miyamoto has said he would like to work with Retro Studios in an installment for The Legend of Zelda ; however, he says that

3910-456: The International Game Developers Association (IGDA), are conducting increasing discussions about the problem; they are concerned that working conditions in the industry cause a significant deterioration in employees' quality of life. Some video game developers and publishers have been accused of the excessive invocation of "crunch time". "Crunch time" is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch

4025-508: The MSX , they became one of the earliest second-party developers for Nintendo, developing exclusively for Nintendo's consoles starting with the Famicom, though they would self-publish their mobile games. A third-party developer may also publish games, or work for a video game publisher to develop a title. Both publisher and developer have considerable input in the game's design and content. However,

4140-517: The Me Too movement and have tried to address the symptoms of these problems industry-wide, the video game industry has yet to have its Me Too-moment, even as late as 2021. There also tends to be pay-related discrimination against women in the industry. According to Gamasutra 's Game Developer Salary Survey 2014, women in the United States made 86 cents for every dollar men made. Game designing women had

4255-557: The Nintendo 64 (N64). According to Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto , Nintendo did not develop a Metroid game for the N64 as they "couldn't come out with any concrete ideas". Sakamoto said he could not imagine how the N64 controller could be used to control Samus. Nintendo approached another company to make an N64 Metroid , but the offer was declined because the developers thought they could not make

4370-603: The Nintendo 64 . Retro began with 4 key people in late 1998 and opened an office in Austin, Texas in early 1999 with a staff of 25 people, including several former Iguana employees. Despite not having access to GameCube development kits , the studio immediately began work on four projects for the GameCube: an action adventure game named MetaForce , a vehicular combat game with the working title Car Combat (also known as Thunder Rally ), an American football simulator named NFL Retro Football , and role-playing game Raven Blade . By

4485-566: The Nintendo Switch Online subscription service in September 2019. Super Metroid was one of the highest rated games on review aggregator GameRankings . Chris Slate of the Game Players video game magazine thoroughly enjoyed Super Metroid , claiming that it "easily lives up to everyone's high expectations". He was satisfied with how Nintendo mixed "smooth", "complex" gameplay, with "state-of-the-art" graphics and sound. Slate found

4600-504: The Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) union doing work for video games struck several major publishers, demanding better royalty payments and provisions related to the safety of their vocal performances, when their union's standard contract was up for renewal. The voice actor strike lasted for over 300 days into 2017 before a new deal was made between SAG-AFTRA and

4715-669: The Space Pirates . Samus escapes from the colony during a self-destruct sequence and follows Ridley to the planet Zebes. She searches the planet for the Metroid and finds that the Pirates have rebuilt their base there. After defeating four bosses including Ridley in various regions of Zebes, Samus enters Tourian, the heart of the Pirates' base, and fights several Metroids that have somehow reproduced. A single Metroid that has grown to enormous size attacks and nearly destroys Samus, but relents at

Retro Studios - Misplaced Pages Continue

4830-678: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System . It is the third installment in the Metroid series, following the events of the Game Boy game Metroid II: Return of Samus (1991). Players control bounty hunter Samus Aran , who travels to planet Zebes to retrieve an infant Metroid creature stolen by the Space Pirate leader Ridley . Following the established gameplay model of its predecessors, Super Metroid focuses on exploration, with

4945-584: The WiiConnect24 feature to provide additional content for the game that would be accessible from the Internet. Retro announced that Corruption would be the final chapter of the Prime series and would have a plot "about closure, told against the backdrop of an epic struggle". After the Wii Remote was revealed, Nintendo demonstrated how Metroid Prime 3 would take advantage of the controller's special abilities with

5060-439: The programming . The opening was narrated by Dan Owsen , a Nintendo of America employee. Super Metroid was released almost a decade after the original Metroid . Sakamoto said: "We wanted to wait until a true action game was needed. [...] And also to set the stage for the reappearance of Samus Aran". It took half a year for Nintendo to approve the project, and two further years to develop. The developers' primary goal

5175-508: The video game industry . He told the Los Angeles Times : "Someone who was part of the co-creation of that world and those characters isn't getting a credit or a nickel for the work they put into it. Maybe we need unions in the video game industry to be able to protect creators." Super Metroid Super Metroid is a 1994 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for

5290-446: The IGDA found that people of color were both underrepresented in senior management roles as well as underpaid in comparison to white developers. Further, because video game developers typically draw from personal experiences in building game characters, this diversity gap has led to few characters of racial minority to be featured as main characters within video games. Minority developers have also been harassed from external groups due to

5405-494: The Metroid, but upon death, the Metroid gives Samus the Hyper Beam, a powerful weapon strong enough to kill Mother Brain. Samus escapes Zebes as it self-destructs. Super Metroid was developed by Nintendo R&D1 with a staff of 15 managed by Gunpei Yokoi . It was written and directed by Yoshio Sakamoto , and produced by Makoto Kano . Intelligent Systems , who co-developed the original Metroid with R&D1, handled

5520-511: The NES. Yamamoto decided that rich and expressive sounds, such as a female chorus, would be required to portray the setting realistically. He composed the main theme by humming while riding his motorcycle from work. Yamamoto also served as a sound programmer, and wrote a program that sends sound data to the audio chip. He also created sound effects , including those created for an infant Metroid to convey different emotions. The simultaneous roles as

5635-499: The Year awards. Metroid Prime received three spin-offs, 2009 compilation Metroid Prime: Trilogy , containing Prime , its 2004 sequel Metroid Prime 2: Echoes , and 2007 Wii sequel Metroid Prime 3: Corruption , and an upcoming fourth sequel . In 2010, Metroid: Other M was released, taking place between Super Metroid and Fusion . After a long development period, a fifth 2D game and sequel to Fusion , Metroid Dread ,

5750-521: The acquisition of Activision Blizzard , stated it supported these unionization efforts. After this acquisition, the employees of Bethesda Game Studios , part of Zenimax under Microsoft, unionized under the Communications Workers of America (CWA) in July 2024. Over 500 employees within Blizzard Entertainment 's World of Warcraft division also unionized with CWA that same month. Sweden presents

5865-572: The advent of digital distribution of inexpensive games on game consoles, it is now possible for indie game developers to forge agreements with console manufacturers for broad distribution of their games. Other indie game developers create game software for a number of video-game publishers on several gaming platforms. In recent years this model has been in decline; larger publishers, such as Electronic Arts and Activision, increasingly turn to internal studios (usually former independent developers acquired for their development needs). Video game development

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5980-447: The aspect on solitude, a concept introduced in the first Metroid game. Game Informer writer Joe Juba cited the game's ending as "one of the most memorable and empowering moments in gaming history". In 2009, Official Nintendo Magazine called the game "challenging, deep and undeniably epic", placing it 24th on a list of the greatest Nintendo games. As Super Metroid gives players awards based on how long it took them to complete

6095-716: The best games for SNES platform. Edge criticized the graphics and short length, but praised Super Metroid as "intensely playable" and "full of memorable moments". IGN called Super Metroid ' s Virtual Console version a "must-own", commenting that although the game was released nine months after the Wii launched, they felt that it was worth the wait. For players who have never played Super Metroid , IGN claims that they owe themselves as gamers to "finally find out about what you've been missing all these years". In his review for GameSpot , Frank Provo found it "absolutely astonishing that Nintendo let 13 years go by before making Super Metroid readily available again", but considered

6210-431: The closest equity, making 96 cents for every dollar men made in the same job, while audio professional women had the largest gap, making 68% of what men in the same position made. Increasing the representation of women in the video game industry required breaking a feedback loop of the apparent lack of female representation in the production of video games and in the content of video games. Efforts have been made to provide

6325-532: The company as a first party developer and division of Nintendo. Steve Barcia , the founder of Simtex , replaced Spangenberg as president of the company. During the final nine months of Metroid Prime' s development, Retro's staff worked 80- to 100-hour weeks to reach their final milestone. Despite its troubled production cycle and initial skepticism from fans, the game was released on November 17, 2002, in North America to universal critical acclaim and commercial success, selling over two million units worldwide. After

6440-539: The company ended development of both NFL Retro Football and Thunder Rally , laying off about 20 employees. Although Retro demonstrated Raven Blade at E3 in 2001, the development team was plagued by technical setbacks. In July 2001, Retro canceled the project, retaining only nine team members to work on Metroid Prime . Notably, artist Android Jones served as lead concept artist on the development of Metroid Prime . On May 2, 2002, Nintendo secured $ 1 million worth of Retro Studios stock from Spangenberg, and reclassified

6555-416: The console manufacturer (such as Rare or Naughty Dog ). Whether by purchasing an independent studio or by founding a new team, the acquisition of a first-party developer involves a huge financial investment on the part of the console manufacturer, which is wasted if the developer fails to produce a hit game on time. However, using first-party developers saves the cost of having to make royalty payments on

6670-503: The console. This established the use of licensing fees as a model for third-party development that persists into the present. The licensing fee approach was further enforced by Nintendo when it decided to allow other third-party developers to make games for the Famicom console, setting a 30% licensing fee that covered game cartridge manufacturing costs and development fees. The 30% licensing fee for third-party developers has also persisted to

6785-464: The controls as often awkward or difficult and said that many of the power-ups are either lifted from other Super NES games or simple upgrades of other power-ups in the game, but praised the game's massive size along with the auto-mapping feature. Andy Robinson of GamesRadar was pleased with the game's "phenomenal" soundtrack, complimenting it as "one of the best videogame scores of all time". Super Play critic Zy Nicholson said that Super Metroid

6900-604: The course of the game, the player can acquire power-ups that enhance Samus's armor and weaponry, as well as grant her special abilities, allowing them to gain access to areas that were previously inaccessible. The Morph Ball allows Samus to curl into a ball and roll into tight places; while in this form, she can plant bombs once a Bomb power-up is acquired. The Spring Ball adds the ability to jump while in Morph Ball form. The Speed Booster can be used to run at high speeds and crash into barriers and enemies. The Hi-Jump Boots allow for

7015-453: The critical and commercial success of Metroid Prime , Nintendo asked Retro Studios to produce a sequel. The developers decided against recycling the features of the first game while creating Metroid Prime 2: Echoes , and instead used new sound models, weapon effects, and art designs. A multiplayer component was also added to the game. In April 2003, Steve Barcia left the company. Michael Kelbaugh, who had worked with Nintendo for over 15 years,

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7130-452: The current game Retro Studios was working on is not related to Zelda . At E3 2012 , Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé told IGN in an interview that Retro is currently "hard at work" on an untitled project for the Wii U. On February 28, 2014, Kensuke Tanabe announced that Retro Studios was working on a new game, which CEO Michael Kelbaugh declared had been in development for a few months since Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

7245-444: The developer if the game is not meeting expectations. When each milestone is completed (and accepted), the publisher pays the developer an advance on royalties . Successful developers may maintain several teams working on different games for different publishers. Generally, however, third-party developers tend to be small, close-knit teams. Third-party game development is a volatile sector, since small developers may depend on income from

7360-417: The developers are the publisher's employees, their interests align with those of the publisher; the publisher may spend less effort ensuring that the developer's decisions do not enrich the developer at the publisher's expense. Activision in 1979 became the first third-party video game developer. When four Atari, Inc. programmers left the company following its sale to Warner Communications , partially over

7475-467: The entertainment industry (such as films and television ) require long working hours and dedication from their employees, such as willingness to relocate and/or required to develop games that do not appeal to their personal taste. The creative rewards of work in the entertainment business attracts labor to the industry, creating a competitive labor market that demands a high level of commitment and performance from employees. Industry communities, such as

7590-506: The first video game-specific union, Game Workers Unite Australia, was formed in December 2021 under Professionals Australia to become active in 2022. In Canada, in a historic move, video game workers in Edmonton unanimously voted to unionize for the first time in June 2022. In January 2023, after not being credited in The Last of Us HBO adaptation, Bruce Straley called for unionization of

7705-457: The game "may well be the best action adventure game ever", calling it the "wave of the future", and they praised the game's graphics, sound, and controls. Electronic Gaming Monthly gave Super Metroid their "Game of the Month" award, comparing it favorably to the original Metroid and applauding the graphics, the many weapons and items available, and the music. Each of the four reviewers gave it scores of nine out of ten. GamePro criticized

7820-428: The game 3rd on their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time". They opined that Super Metroid is "tour de force from Nintendo" and described the gameplay as perfect. In 1995, Total! rated the game 17th on its "Top 100 SNES Games". In 1995, Flux magazine listed Super Metroid 62nd in their "Top 100 Video Games". They praised the game for its challenging gameplay and haunting atmosphere, although they felt that it

7935-550: The game was released at wrong place and time. With the help of strong marketing from Nintendo, Super Metroid sold well in North America, topping the Super NES sales chart in May 1994 . A year after its release, Nintendo placed it on their Player's Choice marketing label. By late 2003, the game had shipped 1.42 million copies worldwide. Super Metroid received several awards and honors. Electronic Gaming Monthly named Super Metroid

8050-426: The game's art and characters to make sure that they fit into the overall Metroid series. In April 2008, Retro saw the departure of three key developers, designer Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and principal technology engineer Jack Mathews, who went on to form their own company, Armature Studio . Around the same time, Shigeru Miyamoto asked fellow producer Kensuke Tanabe to recommend a studio that could develop

8165-566: The game's mechanics with altered game mechanics, graphical overhauls, and new stories. Nintendo did not release another Metroid game for eight years, as the series had not matched the success of the Mario and Legend of Zelda franchises. Yokoi left Nintendo in August 1996, amid the failure of the Virtual Boy , and died in a car accident in October 1997. Fans eagerly awaited a Metroid game for

8280-601: The game, and because its open-ended structure lends well to sequence breaking , it has become a popular choice for speedrunning , a style of play in which the player intends to complete the game as quickly as possible. Super Metroid , alongside Konami 's 1997 game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night , is also credited for establishing the " Metroidvania " genre. It was cited as an influence on other Metroidvania games, including Shadow Complex and Axiom Verge . Several ROM hacks for Super Metroid were released by fans, which added new features that are not included in

8395-555: The games except for their demonstration of the MetaForce game engine , which led Miyamoto to suggest that Retro could use the engine to develop a new game in the Metroid series. Shortly before the 2000 Nintendo Space World conference, Nintendo granted Retro the license to create Metroid Prime , and Retro shifted all development resources from MetaForce to the new game. Retro eventually canceled development of their other projects to focus solely on Metroid Prime . In February 2001,

8510-404: The gaming industry, while a 2017 IGDA survey found that the female demographic in game development had risen to about 20%. Taking into account that a 2017 ESA survey found 41% of video game players were female, this represented a significant gender gap in game development. The male-dominated industry, most who have grown up playing video games and are part of the video game culture , can create

8625-452: The industry by working long hours. Because crunch time tends to come from a combination of corporate practices as well as peer influence, the term "crunch culture" is often used to discuss video game development settings where crunch time may be seen as the norm rather than the exception. The use of crunch time as a workplace standard gained attention first in 2004, when Erin Hoffman exposed

8740-431: The lack of respect that the new management gave to programmers, they used their knowledge of how Atari VCS game cartridges were programmed to create their own games for the system, founding Activision in 1979 to sell these. Atari took legal action to try to block the sale of these games, but the companies ultimately settled, with Activision agreeing to pay a portion of their sales as a license fee to Atari for developing for

8855-447: The last Metroid to the Ceres space colony for scientific study. Investigation of the specimen, a larva , reveals that its energy-producing abilities could actually be harnessed for the good of civilization. Shortly after leaving, Samus receives a distress call alerting her to return to the colony immediately. She finds the scientists dead, and the Metroid larva stolen by Ridley , leader of

8970-493: The last moment. It is the larva that was stolen from Ceres; because Samus was present at its hatching on SR388, the Metroid has imprinted on Samus, recognizing her as its "mother". Samus fights Mother Brain , a biomechanical creature that controls the Zebes systems. Mother Brain overpowers Samus and again she is nearly killed, but the Metroid intervenes, crippling Mother Brain and healing Samus. Mother Brain rises again and kills

9085-518: The most important thing was that players "can now play this masterpiece without having to track down the original Super Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge or fumble with legally questionable emulators". Despite admitting that the Virtual Console version was essentially "nothing more than a no-frills, emulated version of a 13-year-old SNES game" that was no longer cutting-edge, he was still pleased with it and reiterated his belief that Super Metroid

9200-551: The movement again called out for the industry to unionize. The movement argued that Telltale had not given any warning to its 250 employees let go, having hired additional staff as recently as a week prior, and left them without pensions or health-care options; it was further argued that the studio considered this a closure rather than layoffs, as to get around failure to notify required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988 preceding layoffs. The situation

9315-448: The nature of the video game culture. The industry also is recognized to have an ageism issue, discriminating against the hiring and retention of older developers. A 2016 IGDA survey found only 3% of developers were over 50 years old, while at least two-thirds were between 20 and 34; these numbers show a far lower average age compared to the U.S. national average of about 41.9 that same year. While discrimination by age in hiring practices

9430-496: The newly added auto-mapping feature something that players really needed, saying that it was the only feature in Super Metroid that the original Metroid should have had. Slate said that action fans will not miss Super Metroid , but also remarked that due to the large space available to explore and numerous secrets, the players will have to play through several times even after they have beaten it. Nintendo Power mentioned that

9545-529: The news, there have typically been followup discussions towards the potential to form a union. A survey performed by the International Game Developers Association in 2014 found that more than half of the 2,200 developers surveyed favored unionization. A similar survey of over 4,000 game developers run by the Game Developers Conference in early 2019 found that 47% of respondents felt the video game industry should unionize. In 2016, voice actors in

9660-423: The original game. Super Metroid: Redesign , created by "drewseph" in 2006, features new items, expanded areas and modified physics. In 2011, a Japanese hacker named "SB" released a ROM hack titled Metroid: Super Zero Mission , which intends to combine elements from Super Metroid and Metroid: Zero Mission . Later hacks, such as Hyper Metroid by "RealRed" and Super Junkoid by "P. Yoshi", further expand on

9775-463: The planet for a Metroid that has been stolen by Ridley , the leader of the Space Pirates . Samus can run, jump, crouch, and fire a weapon in eight directions; she can also perform other actions, such as wall jumping —jumping from one wall to another in rapid succession to reach higher areas. The "Moon Walk" ability, named after the popular dance move of the same name , allows Samus to walk backwards while firing or charging her weapon. Throughout

9890-418: The player searching for power-ups used to reach previously inaccessible areas. It introduced new concepts to the series, such as the inventory screen, an automap , and the ability to fire in all directions. The development staff from previous Metroid games—including Yoshio Sakamoto , Makoto Kano and Gunpei Yokoi —returned to develop Super Metroid over the course of two years. The developers wanted to make

10005-504: The player to enable and disable weapons and abilities. While the beam weapons can be combined, the Spazer and Plasma beams cannot be used simultaneously. At the game's end, Samus obtains the Hyper Beam, a powerful weapon generated by the energy given to her by the "super Metroid", the matured version of the larval creature that she seeks over the course of the game. The backup units called Reserve Tanks can be used automatically when Samus's health

10120-410: The player with its art style and sound, while trying to provide them with new gameplay experiences. Returns employs fully polygonal 3D graphics with three times the amount of textures and polygons that Corruption offered, and over the course of six months, two thirds of the game's tools and engine had to be rewritten by the programmers. Development accelerated at the outset of 2010, and the project

10235-694: The present, being a de facto rate used for most digital storefronts for third-party developers to offer their games on the platform. In recent years, larger publishers have acquired several third-party developers. While these development teams are now technically "in-house", they often continue to operate in an autonomous manner (with their own culture and work practices). For example, Activision acquired Raven (1997); Neversoft (1999), which merged with Infinity Ward in 2014; Z-Axis (2001); Treyarch (2001); Luxoflux (2002); Shaba (2002); Infinity Ward (2003) and Vicarious Visions (2005). All these developers continue operating much as they did before acquisition,

10350-782: The previous studio had not met Nintendo's standards. Nintendo's shares fell by 2.8 percent in the week following the announcement. Video game developer A developer may specialize in specific game engines or specific video game consoles , or may develop for several systems (including personal computers and mobile devices ). Some focus on porting games from one system to another, or translating games from one language to another. Less commonly, some do software development work in addition to games. Most video game publishers maintain development studios (such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios, Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EPD and Sony's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ). However, since publishing

10465-414: The primary differences being exclusivity and financial details. Publishers tend to be more forgiving of their own development teams going over budget (or missing deadlines) than third-party developers. A developer may not be the primary entity creating a piece of software, usually providing an external software tool which helps organize (or use) information for the primary software product. Such tools may be

10580-429: The publisher's wishes generally override those of the developer. Work for hire studios solely execute the publishers vision. The business arrangement between the developer and publisher is governed by a contract, which specifies a list of milestones intended to be delivered over a period of time. By updating its milestones, the publisher verifies that work is progressing quickly enough to meet its deadline and can direct

10695-463: The publishers. While this had some effects on a few games within the industry, it brought to the forefront the question of whether video game developers should unionize. A grassroots movement, Game Workers Unite , was established around 2017 to discuss and debate issues related to unionization of game developers. The group came to the forefront during the March 2018 Game Developers Conference by holding

10810-430: The refined controls, and called Super Metroid "undoubtedly the best game I've played this year so far" and "a game destined for classic status". James Leach agreed with Nicholson and Mott that Super Metroid was what Mega Man X should have been, containing "everything I look for: playability, hidden tricks, powerful weapons and steamingly evil baddies". All three reviewers in their verdict called Super Metroid one of

10925-520: The sake of violence". The game was demonstrated at the Winter 1994 Consumer Electronics Show , and was named the best Super NES game at the show by GamePro . The music for Super Metroid was composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, and uses 16-bit versions of music from previous games. The Super NES's sound hardware allowed the playback of samples simultaneously on eight channels, as opposed to three PSG channels and one noise channel of

11040-546: The studio that developed the previous Metroid Prime games, but would be produced by Kensuke Tanabe , the producer of the previous games. In 2018, Eurogamer reported that Prime 4 was being developed by Bandai Namco Studios in Singapore. However, in a video released on January 25, 2019, Nintendo EPD general manager Shinya Takahashi announced that Metroid Prime 4 had been delayed, and that development had been restarted with Retro Studios. Takahashi said that development under

11155-545: The target of sexual harassment. This can be coupled from similar harassment from external groups, such as during the 2014 Gamergate controversy . Major investigations into allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct that went unchecked by management, as well as discrimination by employers, have been brought up against Riot Games , Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard in the late 2010s and early 2020s, alongside smaller studios and individual developers. However, while other entertainment industries have had similar exposure through

11270-399: The time development began, the studio had already grown in size to 120 employees. The company continued to grow during production, eventually peaking at over 200 employees. The working environment was chaotic, with development getting behind schedule, and Nintendo executives complaining on how the games turned out. In 2000, producer Shigeru Miyamoto visited the studio. He was disappointed by

11385-528: The time taken to complete the game, which determine whether Samus poses with or without her suit. The best ending is achieved when the game is completed under three hours. Additionally, an optional task alters the game's end slightly. If the player chooses to rescue the Dachora and the Etecoons, friendly creatures encountered by Samus in the game, they are shown leaving the planet in the distance. Samus Aran brings

11500-484: The toxic nature of the video game culture. This racial diversity issue has similar ties to the gender one, and similar methods to result both have been suggested, such as improving grade school education, developing games that appeal beyond the white, male gamer stereotype, and identifying toxic behavior in both video game workplaces and online communities that perpetuate discrimination against gender and race. In regards to LGBT and other gender or sexual orientations,

11615-415: The upcoming GameCube aiming at an older demographic. The company began work on four games, all of which were canceled once Retro focused their resources on Metroid Prime , the first Metroid game developed outside Japan. The success of Metroid Prime led Retro to work on three sequels and later to become involved with reviving the Donkey Kong series with Donkey Kong Country Returns . Retro Studios

11730-487: The use of crunch time at Electronic Arts , a situation known as the "EA Spouses" case. A similar "Rockstar Spouses" case gained further attention in 2010 over working conditions at Rockstar San Diego . Since then, there has generally been negative perception of crunch time from most of the industry as well as from its consumers and other media. Game development had generally been a predominately male workforce. In 1989, according to Variety , women constituted only 3% of

11845-504: The video game industry typically shares the same demographics as with the larger population based on a 2005 IGDA survey. Those in the LGBT community do not find workplace issues with their identity, though work to improve the representation of LGBT themes within video games in the same manner as with racial minorities. However, LGBT developers have also come under the same type of harassment from external groups like women and racial minorities due to

11960-678: The video game industry. Whereas some video game employees believe they should follow the craft-based model used by SAG-AFTRA which would unionize based on job function, others feel an industry-wide union, regardless of job position, would be better. Starting in 2021, several smaller game studios in the United States began efforts to unionize. These mostly involved teams doing quality assurance rather than developers. These studios included three QA studios under Blizzard Entertainment : Raven Software , Blizzard Albany , and Proletariat; and Zenimax Media 's QA team. Microsoft , which had previously acquired Zenimax and announced plans to acquire Blizzard via

12075-504: The workforce in video games is estimated to be from contract labor. Similar to other tech industries, video game developers are typically not unionized . This is a result of the industry being driven more by creativity and innovation rather than production, the lack of distinction between management and employees in the white-collar area, and the pace at which the industry moves that makes union actions difficult to plan out. However, when situations related to crunch time become prevalent in

12190-446: Was appointed president, a job he retains to this date. Retro tried to include some extras, such as a hidden version of Super Metroid , but were halted by the short development time. Producer Kensuke Tanabe later revealed in an interview that the game was just about thirty percent complete three months before the strict deadline Nintendo had set for a release in the 2004 holiday season. The critical reception for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

12305-711: Was argued to be "exploitive", as Telltale had been known to force its employees to frequently work under "crunch time" to deliver its games. By the end of 2018, a United Kingdom trade union, Game Workers Unite UK, an affiliate of the Game Workers Unite movement, had been legally established. Following Activision Blizzard 's financial report for the previous quarter in February 2019, the company said that they would be laying off around 775 employees (about 8% of their workforce) despite having record profits for that quarter. Further calls for unionization came from this news, including

12420-565: Was distributed on a 24- megabit cartridge . It was re-released through the Nintendo Power service in Japan on September 30, 1997. Super Metroid became available as a Wii Virtual Console game in North America on August 20, 2007, in Japan on September 20, and in Europe on October 12. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl , it is also one of the trial games available in the "Masterpieces" section, which uses Virtual Console technology to emulate older hardware and have time constraints. The game

12535-513: Was finished. In August 2015 however, during an interview about Metroid Prime: Federation Force , Tanabe said that he was not quite sure about what Retro Studios was working on, leaving the impression that he was no longer involved with their unannounced project. Nintendo announced Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2017 , showing only the logo. Shortly after the announcement, Bill Trinen , Director of Product Marketing at Nintendo of America , confirmed that Prime 4 would not be developed by Retro Studios,

12650-409: Was followed in 2002 by Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime . It has been re-released on several Nintendo consoles and services. Super Metroid is a 2D side-scrolling action-adventure game , which primarily takes place on the fictional planet Zebes from the original game—a large, open-ended world with areas connected by doors and elevators. The player controls Samus Aran as she searches

12765-468: Was founded on September 21, 1998, as an alliance between Nintendo and industry veteran Jeff Spangenberg . Spangenberg subsequently launched the company from his home on October 1, using funds he generated with his previous ventures, including Iguana Entertainment . Nintendo saw an opportunity for the new studio to create games for the upcoming GameCube targeting an older demographic, in the same vein as Iguana Entertainment's successful Turok series for

12880-450: Was just "beginning to cohere as a game" around the time of E3 , when it was officially announced to the press. Although the game was set for release in autumn that year, the team still had 70 levels to create or refine. At E3 2011 , it was announced during Nintendo's Developer Roundtable that Retro Studios would be involved in the development of Mario Kart 7 for Nintendo 3DS . At first, Retro would contribute assets to developing one of

12995-609: Was later released on the Wii U Virtual Console in May 2013, initially available during the trial campaign for a cheaper price before reverting to its regular price the next month. The New Nintendo 3DS -specific Virtual Console also received the release in April 2016. In September 2017, Nintendo released the Super NES Classic Edition , which included Super Metroid among its games. Super Metroid and other Super NES games were added to

13110-468: Was to make a "good action game". It is the first Metroid game to let Samus fire in all directions while moving. It is also among the first open-world games with a map feature, which shows the outlines of rooms and indicates important locations and items. The team wanted to create a large map, but found it difficult to organize the amount of graphic data involved, and so broke it into smaller parts. Areas from previous Metroid games were included to create

13225-466: Was very positive, but earned some criticism on the game's high difficulty. Sales for Echoes were lower than the first Prime , with a total of 800,000 units. Retro Studios was then put to produce the next game in the Metroid Prime series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption . Retro intended to give Metroid Prime 3: Corruption larger environments than Echoes . The developers were also interested in using

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