Nintendo, Let’s Have Great Metroid & Zelda 25th Anniversaries

On September 13, 2010, Nintendo celebrated the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. In 2011, two of its other great adventures, Nintendo Entertainment System games Metroid and The Legend of Zelda reach the same milestone. We should celebrate, Nintendo.

The 25th birthday of Super Mario Bros. had an air of importance to it. Nintendo released a special edition version of the Wii along with a special anniversary edition of Super Mario Bros. for the NES—but that video game was only made available in Japan. The company also released a compilation of four Mario games from the NES era, the Super Mario All-Stars Collection, for the Wii—but it was comprised of Super Nintendo remakes of those four classic games, not the 8-bit NES originals it was supposed to be celebrating.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata interviewed the developers of Super Mario games old and new. Mario’s creator, Shigeru Miyamoto picked the brain of fellow creator Shigesato Itoi. Nintendo released limited edition goods and tickled our nostalgia with commercials, all in the name of celebrating Mario’s milestone.

For 2011, when Link and Samus become a quarter of a century old, we think Nintendo can (and should) do better.

Nintendo’s Super Mario All-Stars Collection for Wii was well-received commercially. It looked nice. But Nintendo should strive higher for the games some people love more than Mario.

Metroid turns 25 years old this summer. It was originally released in Japan on August 6, 1986 for the Famicom Disk System, the add-on for the Japanese version of the NES that played games stored on floppy disks. It wouldn’t release for another year in North America. (That means you have plenty of time to celebrate this one properly, Nintendo.)

Here’s what we’d like to see for Metroid.

The Metroid 25th Anniversary Collection

At a minimum, the decades of great Metroid games should warrant its own archival compilation for the Wii and contain the following games, from the Famicom to the Wii.

  • Metroid (NES)
  • Metroid (FDS)
  • Metroid II (Game Boy)
  • Super Metroid (SNES)
  • Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
  • Metroid Prime Trilogy (Wii)

At the very least, a Metroid 25th anniversary edition should feature the great soundtracks of Metroid, Super Metroid and Metroid Prime games. We’ve seen great artwork from this series, some of it tucked away in Retro Studios’ games.

The Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Collection

Link’s 25th birthday is rapidly approaching in Japan. It may be too late to properly celebrate his video game contributions at home, but like Metroid, this classic series was born on the NES in North America in 1987.

Everyone should have the opportunity to play that game on the Wii, from a disc, along with the following games that made The Legend of Zelda series so memorable. (We don’t think we’re being greedy here, as this is but a small slice of the Zelda library.)

  • The Legend of Zelda (NES)
  • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (NES)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (GB)
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
  • BS Zelda no Densetsu (SNES)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (N64)

Nintendo, what say you? Will you give Metroid and The Legend of Zelda the celebratory re-releases they deserve this year, if not the next?


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