How would you like to be part of an elite club with only 1,000 members? I’m talking about the official “People Who Own a Limited Edition Physical Copy of the New Bad Dudes Metroid Album” club. It’s very exclusive, but we can make it happen (we know a guy).

Club benefits include having a copy of Metroid Arrange 25th Anniversary Album by the Bad Dudes (including a bonus track not available in the digital version), the ability to feast your eyeballs on a glorious, double-sided poster and four panel comic, and the satisfaction of knowing that you’re now just a bit better than everyone else out there.

All you have to do is follow the instructions below and let us know what your favorite Metroid powerup is in the comments of this post. Do you like tearing through enemies with the screw attack? Or maybe you prefer turning enemies into platforms with the ice beam. Space jump over to the comments section and let us know!

Contest Rules:

1. Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite powerup from the Metroid series
2. Limit one entry per person
3. All entries must be made by legal U.S. residents
4. Entries must be accepted by 5:00pm PST on Friday, December 30th. We will then randomly select one winner

If you thought we were done paying tribute to the 25th anniversary of Metroid, well… then you haven’t met the Bad Dudes. They don’t play by our rules. They don’t celebrate when we celebrate. But they do make music that will save the galaxy.

I’m talking about the same dudes that brought you the fantastic CHRONOTORIOUS album and fought the OverClocked ReMix community in musical combat. We are talking about some seriously bad dudes here. Dudes so bad they were commissioned by Samus herself to make the Metroid Arrange 25th Anniversary Album (if their totally rad trailer below is to be believed).

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Let me be clear: Metroid is my absolute favorite video game series of all time. While I realize it’s quite common for longtime gamers to identify with a particular Nintendo franchise, I’ve always felt that Metroid was something special. The isolation, the atmosphere, the sense of progression; everything about the franchise reaches out to me.

That being said, I realize that the franchise has fallen on some hard times. The release of Metroid Prime 3 was practically ignored by Nintendo and its PR teams, Trilogy is almost impossible to find in stores and even harder to get for a decent price, and Other M was such a disappointment (both in terms of quality and in sales) that many a fan’s faith in Nintendo’s ability to handle the franchise has been shaken.

That’s why I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Below, I’ve compiled a list of the top four things that I believe should be done with the next entry in the Metroid franchise.

Note: these are just this writer’s opinions. Currently, Nintendo has announced no plans regarding a new Metroid title.

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It is a hard thing for me to admit, but the original Metroid is a tough game to go back to. While the graphics and controls hold up well, its insane difficulty and incredibly tedious health replenishment make it a frustrating ride. But I’m not here to focus on the few bad things. I want to talk about the things it did amazingly right.

The 8-bit era was a time when many developers were unsure how to make games for the home market. Looking through the NES library, you’ll find a huge selection of the games, particularly the early ones, are ports of arcade classics. The quarter munching arcade mentality was so ingrained in developers that even some of the best entries on the NES still have that feeling that they are after your allowance.

Let’s look at what set Metroid apart from the pack.

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Image Credit: Chris Furniss. Click the image for more or to order prints.

“I had a concept that the music for Metroid should be created not as game music. . . . I wanted to create the sound without any distinctions between music and sound effects.”

This quote from a Gamasutra interview with Hip Tanaka (composer of the original Metroid) sums up the beginning of the atypical sound the Metroid series is now known for. While it has definitely evolved as the series progressed through the changes in composers and hardware, the spirit and tone of the original has mostly remained throughout.
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On a very special episode of “Barrel Roll! A Video Game Podcast”, Jonah, Jesse and Adam Milecki talk about Metroid.

OK, that might be a little bit of an understatement. They don’t just talk about some of the games, they go through all of the games. It’s a super sized episode of ridiculous proportions and may have nearly been too big to process in Jonah’s audio editing software. We also announce the winner to our Humble Bundle Giveaway.

All music is taken from “Harmony of A Hunter“.

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While Nintendo has been awfully quiet about the 25th anniversary of Metroid in favor of pushing Zelda, fans have been putting together their own tribute. Metroid fan site Shinesparkers.net enlisted the help of artists from the OverClocked ReMix community as well as other musicians from around the net to put together a two disc album of music covering the entire Metroid series.

Harmony of a Hunter concentrates pure Metroid fandom into a two and a half hour musical celebration. 24 different artists including Zircon, Stemage (of Metroid Metal), Mazedude and many others contributed to the album covering a variety of styles. You’ll hear music from the game that started it all right up to Other M.

There’s talk of a very limited physical release, but for now space jump over to the official site and download the album and all its artwork for free. It’s guaranteed to increase your life’s completion rating.

Source: Shinesparkers Download the Album: Harmony of a Hunter

Taking the road less traveled when it comes to Metroid art, designer Chris Furniss recently put together a rather adorable collection of pieces in a series he calls “31 Days of Zero Suit Samus.” Each piece depicts Samus (and occasionally other Nintendo characters) in a variety of silly situations. The project was a collaborative effort between Chris and Ross Rosenberg who provided ideas for each image.

The series will soon be collected into a book, but in the meantime you can order a 5″x7″ print of any piece in the series for $10 on Etsy. Chris also mentions the prints are done in-house, signed, and include extra goodies like stickers and buttons.

With 31 pieces to choose from, what’s your favorite? As a fan of Samus’ ship design, I couldn’t help but order this one.

Source: Wasabi Sunshine Buy a Print: Etsy