Meanwhile, Europe gets Punch-Out!! and Super Mario Bros. for the NES.

Cue Samus appearance fanfare.

The original Metroid first came into being as our desire to create a game that took place in a gloopy, alien-like world. In early development, there were only rows of blocks, and the backgrounds didn’t give you the sense that they were alive.

While the NES games do not have save states, your progress is saved if you switch to another application, return to the home menu or turn the system off.

Max Factory are working on two Samus figurines based on Metroid: Other M for release in 2012.

The entire Metroid: Other M concept art gallery present in the game has been translated into English, and provides some interesting little tidbits of information.

In a 2004 interview with Japanese magazine, Nintendo Dream, Nintendo’s Hiroji Kiyotake and Yoshio Sakamoto revealed how both names came about.

A Metroid II remake based on the feel of Metroid: Zero Mission.

A list of proposed figures to be released under Bandai’s D-Arts line reveals characters like Samus Aran, Haseo, Izanagi from Persona 4, and Mega Man, Medabots and Digimon characters.

Series director Yoshio Sakamoto reveals it was because no one had the confidence to develop it.

Metroid: Other M producer, Yoshio Sakamoto, didn’t go easy on his development partners.

Other M’s writing really isn’t as terrible as you might think. In fact, it does quite a few things right. [ENDGAME SPOILERS INSIDE]

We took Metroid: Other M for a speed-boosted test run. Twice. How did it perform?

A few words before our Metroid: Other M playtest goes up.