Metroid Fusion

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Metroid Fusion.

Development Timeline#

2000

• August 23 - A preview of Metroid Prime is shown at Spaceworld 2000.¹ According to former Retro Studios employee John Whitmore, the hype this reveal generated led to Nintendo starting development on Fusion, a companion game for the Game Boy Advance.²

2001

• March 23 - Nintendo confirms a brand new Metroid title for GBA at a press event called Camp Game Boy Advance.³
• May 18 - The game is shown at E3 2001 as Metroid IV. The game's visual presentation at this point is derided.⁴

2002

• May 21 - The game is shown at E3 2002 under its final title, with an aesthetic much closer to final and better received by folks.⁵
• August 22 - Nintendo reveals the fact that Fusion and Prime will have "connectivity features".⁶ They also reveal the game's release date of November 18th, 2002.⁷
• August 29 - The first screenshots of the SA-X are released.⁸
• September 11 - A European debug prototype is built.
• September 16 - The final packaging for the North American version is revealed.⁹ Additionally, another [https://hiddenpalace.org/Metroid_Fusion_(Sep_16,_2002_prototype_-_Debug) European debug prototype] is built.
• October 18 - The Metroid series timeline for all games at that point is revealed, with Fusion confirmed to take place after Super Metroid.¹⁰
• October 25 - Nintendo reveals the feature of connecting Prime and Fusion via the GBA-GCN Link Cable, mentioning the original game and the Fusion Suit in Prime as unlocks.¹¹
• November 18 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in North America.¹²
• November 22 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in Europe.¹³
• November 29 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in Australia.¹⁴

2003

• February 14 - Metroid Fusion is released for Game Boy Advance in Japan.¹⁵¹⁶

2006

• March 2 - Metroid Fusion is released for the iQue Game Boy Advance in China.¹⁷

E3 2001 Footage#

Watch on YouTubeCalled "Metroid IV", and looks very different from the final game. However, a few elements from it are more or less implied, such as:

• The Samus/Metroid "fusion" element is shown through an animation, and the phrase "Fusion completed." being visible.
• Unknown floating enemies (early X parasites?) getting grabbed using the Grapple Beam.
• Samus is seen traveling through an abandoned space station or a space ship, and even a map is shown, revealing its shape.

Other elements to note, which make "Metroid IV" heavily based off Super Metroid:

• The intro shows the Screw Attack logo from the ending of the SNES game, but with a slightly different appearance.
• Samus looks larger, and is seen interacting with a station object simiar to Super Metroid's map stations.
• Samus' animations seem to be directly based off her SNES design, same as the Sidehopper-like enemy she kills.

Finally, a few mechanics which never resurfaced in the final game are shown here, such as the (already mentioned) Grapple Beam, a timer (which starts from around two hours), and some kind of zero-gravity/magnet system shown here to be used with the Screw Attack, and allowing Samus to run on walls and ceilings.

PGC E3 2002 Footage#

Watch on YouTubeDespite this build being mere months before initial release, there are still a LOT of differences.

Prerelease	Final

• Title screen is wildly different, going for a more stylistic and jaggy approach instead of the final's uniform, simplistic styling to coincide with Prime's release.
• The HUD has a Pokemon-esque energy meter instead of the classic "NUMBER | ETANKS" format.
• There is a radar-like object of some sort next to the map, which displays either nothing or a wavy line. Although one might assume it's an enemy or X Parasite detector since it's seen inactive in Data Rooms and other shots that lack enemies, this doesn't explain why it's inactive during the Arachnus fight.
• X parasites use purple recolors of Super Metroid's Boyon sprites and have no absorption animation.
• Every room is drastically different, with a good handful of them perhaps being made to display features for the trailer (zombie power bomb room at 0:24, etc).
• Sector 1 (SRX) has a drier and rockier tileset. The Skrees whose unused graphics can be found in the final game are seen attacking in one of its hallways.
• Doors have a very different appearance featuring boxy shutters with yellow and black warning stripes. They seem to react to proximity instead of needing to be shot.
• Zombie scientists have a more traditional greenish "rotten corpse" color palette. Their sprites also seem to have a more skull-like head with one huge eye.
• Power bomb explosions don't draw in X Parasites.
• Yameba have an orange and purple color palette and all have one hit point no matter the size. It appears like they were going to be found in the Main Deck instead of the hallways of SRX they inhabit in the final.
• The gunship is much more angular and mirrored across one tile rather than two.
• Location banner is black, centered to the middle-top of the screen and expands/contracts horizontally.
• The gunship has a completely different landing room, referred to as "STAR SHIP".
• Location names are entirely capitalized akin to what Zero Mission eventually did.
• Infested atmospheric stabilizers have a radically different sprite and used to be vulnerable from 4 sides.
• There is a curious section of the Main Deck's ventilation with wide open spaces and wall ladders. The enemies seen are only encountered in a much tighter segment of it visited during the power outage.
• A room resembling Sector 2's (TRO) entryway chamber is shown with a very different tileset and background. The tiles seem to be more mechanically cluttered, and there's static green tubes in the background instead of the water tanks seen in the final.
• The red PYR elevator is seen in a larger scrolling room rather than in the single screen one from the final game.
• Speed booster sound is different, cutting in and out with a flatter pitch.
• Navigation and Data Rooms are shown with the same floating plates seen only in Save Rooms in the final game, and the Data Room shown seems to have a much more irregular multi-screen shape. In the final Data Rooms are single screen.
• Arachnus looks like it was encountered as a boss in Sector 1 in this version, being shown in a much larger room with wall ladders. It also seems to fire three smaller projectiles instead of its single giant slash attack from the final.
• The SA-X reuses Samus's sprites from Super Metroid and doesn't make any firing sounds.
• The freeze sound is a simple click.
• Maps don't seem to be totally reliable at this point, with the player cursor often appearing in empty space instead of on a drawn tile. Interestingly, the large Data Room seen looks like it's offset by one from a room of the same size with the Recharge Room R written on it, and during the Arachnus fight what appears to be a room labelled M (for Map?) can be seen nearby.

References#