Through the efforts of dataminers of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack service, the next title to arrive on the service, Metroid: Zero Mission, may have been leaked. NSO Expansion Pack subscribers recently got access to a host of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles this past February. One of the first GBA games to arrive after the launch of the NSO's GBA service was the fourth mainline entry in the long-running Metroid franchise, Metroid Fusion. When Metroid Fusion landed on NSO’s library, it also came with some evidence that the other critically acclaimed Metroid GBA game would be coming soon.

Metroid: Zero Mission is the GBA remake of the first Metroid game from the NES, updated in the style of both Super Metroid and the aforementioned Fusion. This includes upgrading the presentation by using brand-new sprites, recomposed music, and even animated cutscenes. The remake also introduced a section right after the game’s original ending, where players got to play as Samus without her Power Suit for the first time. A dataminer who looked through the files of the Nintendo Switch Online service found that this game will be potentially the next one added to the service.

This was discovered by Yakumono on Twitter, where they were snooping through the files for the Japanese version of the GBA NSO service, which they denote it being version 1.1.0, the current version of the service. In the Metroid Fusion folder, they found screenshots of Game Boy Advance link functionality that were unused, and that there’s not text about how to use it. Yakumono noted that these are specifically screenshots from Metroid: Zero Mission too, meaning that there is an intention to eventually introduce the GBA’s Link Cable functions to NSO.

Japanese GBA NSO 1.1.0 is interesting... they accidentally left these screenshots about link functionality in Metroid Fusion folder. pic.twitter.com/aJ0q3STmGt

— Yakumono (@LuigiBlood) March 9, 2023

Considering these are Metroid Zero Mission screenshots, this might be interesting in the future if they intend actual link compatibility between games from a single player perspective...

— Yakumono (@LuigiBlood) March 9, 2023

Metroid: Zero Mission in particular had a feature that was tied to this cable, where if one GBA was connected to another one that had Metroid Fusion loaded, it would unlock an additional gallery of images in Zero Mission. These in particular depicted events from Samus’ childhood, including the times when she was raised by the Chozo. These images originated from the Japanese version of Fusion, with this link between the two games allowing players to view them from the options menu, even without beating Zero Mission.

There is a lot of precedent for Metroid: Zero Mission to arrive on NSO. The franchise is seeing a bit of a revitalized renaissance, with Metroid Prime Remastered releasing shortly before Fusion’s arrival on NSO, making all of the mainline Metroid games now available on Switch. Much like other game leaks, however, fans should take this information with a grain of salt until more official information about Metroid: Zero Mission on Nintendo Switch Online is revealed.



Posted: Mar 17, 2023 12:01 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://gamerant.com/nintendo-switch-online-metroid-zero-mission-leak/