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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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 thirty-seventh episode of the hit internet dramedy, “Barrel Roll!”, the guys are in a real pickle when Wes accidentally has two dates on the same night! It’s up to the rest of the gang to dress up like waiters and fool the unsuspecting dates that Wes is a real “Stand-Up” sort of guy!

He’s also been playing Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which he gives a glowing review. Jonah has been playing a mysterious game he can’t talk about and a little bit of Trine. Brittany continues to run her highly successful farming scheme in Harvest Moon: The Tree of Tranquility and Jesse has once again gone back to Metroid Prime Trilogy, as well as continued his dragon training in Breath of Fire IV.

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"Strong Bad VS Little Mac"

On a very special fifteenth episode of Barrel Roll! - A Video Game Podcast, we are joined by our friend Dan Diemer, graphic artist extraordinaire. That is, until he got sick and had to leave (feel better, Dan).

What have we been playing this week? Thanks for asking, the internet. Jonah finished episodes one and two of Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People. Jesse continues to work his way through Sir Togsef, but also played every character class in the new Monster Hunter Freedom Unite demo on the PSP. Brittany continues to play World of Warcraft in the Blueberry Muffin Tops JPAG guild. She also gave Personal Trainer: Cooking to the test, being someone who has taken real life culinary arts classes. Dan and his wife have been taking on the mind bending XBLA hit Braid, as well as a few iPod games.

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